Author's notes: Thanks to those of you that reviewed. Things are crazy here, getting ready for the State Fair and two birthday parties. I appreciate the reviews, please keep them coming. It really helps when you get the feedback.

It's now time for our CSIs to make their appearance. Enjoy.

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The bright sun was beginning to slide off to the west, the shadows lengthening. Nick had wheeled his pickup into the parking lot, glancing for a spot. Finding one next to a small car, he pulled in and shut off the truck. Before he could open his door, another vehicle pulled in next to him. Climbing out, Nick waited for his co-worker, Catherine Willows, to exit from her car.

"Good afternoon sunshine." Nick greeted her brightly. "Ready for another madcap day of solving crime?"

"You're sure in a good mood today for someone coming in to pull overtime."

"Nothing like a good 10 hours of sleep. I got home took a quick shower and hit the hay." Nick smiled broadly. "I take it that you are not so excited about the extra hours."

"I'll love the paycheck, but no, I'm not really up for extra time in the lab."

"Ah, but isn't it nice to be needed." Nick held open the door and allowed Catherine to pass through. "It's too bad that Ecklie's team can't solve their own crimes."

They walked past the break room and the glass windows of the labs on their way to the locker rooms. "Looks like we are the only two working extra." Catherine commented.

"It would be nice if Grissom would request a little overtime for someone to help us," Nick groused slightly. "With Sara being gone and no replacement for her yet, things are getting a little tight."

"You're right. Gil doesn't seem like he wants to make a decision there yet." Catherine stopped in front of the women's locker room. "I stopped by his place to talk with him and he just seemed so down."

"Oh, so that's back on is it." Nick rolled his eyes slightly.

"What's back on?" Catherine's eyes narrowed slightly.

"The Catherine that stands by waiting for Gil Grissom to wake up and see that she wants to be more than friends."

"Nick, you know we are just friends." Catherine was indignant.

"Don't play that game with me. How long have we worked together? Ever since I started here, you and Gil keep dancing around the fact that you both want each other."

"Right." She replied sarcastically. "He wanted me so much that he and Sara started dating and eventually living together. Boy, that sure is a crafty plan to get me to see how much he wants me."

"Hell, Sara has had a bad case of hero worship since she followed him here. The reason she took off was because she woke up and realized that she was back in the middle of a relationship she didn't want. Give yourself some credit Cath, you are an incredible woman and Gil Grissom will kick himself when he realizes what he has been missing." Nick put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

Catherine gave one last look at Nick, trying to be as convincing as possible. "There is nothing going on between Gil and myself." She turned and let Nick's hand fall from her shoulder as she entered the locker room.

Outside the door, Nick paused a moment and then shook his head as he walked over to the men's locker room, his inner voice speaking to his friend. "Keep telling yourself that Cath and someday you might believe it."

Several hours later Catherine looked up from blood splatter she was analyzing and noticed her friend and boss, Gil Grissom, entering the lab. Walking directly over to her, he gave her a puzzled smile. "I didn't know you were pulling overtime."

"Lindsay is getting her license soon and that means my insurance is going to go up."

"Have you decided what type of car you are going to get her?" Gil had always felt somewhat like a surrogate uncle to the girl.

"As far I'm concerned, a bus pass. However, I'm sure she and her grandmother have conspired to convince me she will need something sporty." Catherine smiled, she loved her daughter but she tried to rein in her own desire to give the young girl everything she wanted. "I suppose it's a good thing her father isn't around, Eddie would have her in a Corvette convertible."

"That's a father's job; spoiling their little girls." Gil returned the smile.

"Says the man with no children."

"Touché" Grissom looked at his watch. "Shift starts in 45minutes, do you want to catch a quick bite to eat?"

"Sounds good, let me secure this evidence and I'll be ready to go."

"Swing by my office when you are done." Gil exited the lab.

Putting the blood-splattered shirt back in the evidence bag, Catherine looked up and saw Nick looking her way. He gave her a look that she knew meant "I told you so". She turned and left the lab, not wanting to rehash the earlier conversation.

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The moment the hotel door closed, Michelle began pulling at Colby's shirt, undoing the buttons to expose his firm chest. Once exposed, she ran her hands over the warm flesh and bent to take one of his nipples into her mouth. The groan of pleasure that escaped from his lips indicated she was being successful with increasing his arousal.

Her hands went further and came to rest on his waistband, sliding her fingers towards the zipper. Suddenly Colby's hands came to her shoulders and he moved her physically away from him. She peered up at him in surprise. "Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

"Hell no," Colby voice was laced with passion. "Michelle, you are so beautiful and have been so much fun to be with tonight. But," he hesitated for just a moment. "I can't take advantage of you like this. It might be hard to believe, especially the way I've acted, but I don't like to treat a lady like just a warm body. I don't think a one-night stand is fair to you."

Michelle was taken aback. She had never had a man speak like this before. Usually when she was with a guy and things had gotten to this stage of the game, sex was a foregone conclusion.

Not knowing what to make of her silence, Colby continued. "I'm sorry if I've hurt you Michelle."

She smiled; this guy was so sweet. In several years she had never really thought of herself as being treated with this type of respect. However, there was an overriding need that she had to fulfill. "Colby, I really appreciate that. Please forgive me if I came on so strong. It's just that I really want to be with you and I won't think any less of you." She reached behind her back and slip the zipper down on her dress, the garment slipped to the floor leaving her standing there in just a thong. "I need you Colby."

Moving to him she took his hands and placed them on her breasts. Pushing slightly into him, she could feel his hesitation. "Please Colby."

He wasn't sure. A moment ago he had felt firm in his resolution not to do anything, but now with Michelle almost naked and offering herself to him he was torn. His head felt light; he must have drunk more than he had thought. He felt Michelle's hands moving his own, helping him to manipulate her breasts. The flames of passion that hadn't been extinguished flared not even with his chivalrous talk and now they raged within his body.

Removing her hands from Colby's, she was pleased to see that he no long seemed hesitant. As she traced her nails up and down his back she rubbed up against him. The firmness of the erection pressing against his pants made her smile, everything was good.

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By the time the graveyard shift started there had been several cases reported that required the crime lab's investigators. Gil Grissom looked at the three cases; a gas station robbery, a murder in a restaurant and dead body found behind the wheel of their car. He mentally assigned the cases and waited for his CSI's to assemble.

"Alright," he spoke firmly since Warrick and Nick were busy giving Greg a hard time about the bruising on his neck. "If you two are done delving into Greg's sex life."

Greg sputtered, "Honest, I got it while working on my car."

"Right Greggo, that's the oldest excuse in the book." Nick teased.

"Gentlemen, are we finished?" Gil looked over his glasses at them. Taking the slips of paper, he read them as he handed them out. "Warrick, you and Greg have a suspicious death at a restaurant over on Vera Cruz. Catherine and Nick, a gas station robbery out on Commercial. I'm heading over to a db at the Flamingo."

Each group grabbed their gear and headed out. In the parking lot Warrick Brown climbed behind the wheel of the vehicle. "Greg, you are going to need to come up with a better excuse for your hickeys."

The youngest CSI shook his head in denial. "Don't believe me, but I'm serious. I got this while working on my car."

The rest of the ride to the scene was filled with Greg's denials. Pulling up outside of a Chinese restaurant, the men got out and ducked beneath the yellow crime tape.

Greg spoke as they entered the backdoor, "I bet it was a robbery gone bad."

Warrick shook his head, "Don't jinx us Greg. When you think it will be simple and you say "it's going to be simple", it turns out to be something else. Spotting the older detective speaking to several uniformed officers Warrick called out. "Hey Brass. We got a body?"

"Body? Nope," the detective deadpanned. "They were having a sale, we've got three."

"Three?" Greg questioned. "Grissom mentioned only one."

"Initial sweep only found the one, further investigation resulted in finding the other two."

"So what we know?" Warrick asked.

"Restaurant had closed at 10 pm, boyfriend came to pick up his waitress girlfriend. Front door was locked. He tried her cell phone and got no answer, so he goes to the back and finds the back unlocked. Goes in and finds her dead. Calls us. We then find another body in the office, safe opened. Looks like a robbery gone bad."

"Thought so." He looked smugly at Warrick. "That accounts for two bodies." Greg piped in.

"I'm getting there. So they start to sweep the building and discover that there is a basement. In addition to take out boxes there is a body tied to a chair and it looks like he was tortured."

Warrick gave a sideways glance to Greg. "See what I mean? It's never that simple."

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They had finally made it to the bed; a trail of discarded clothing in their wake. The sounds of passion filled the room.

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It had taken a little longer for Catherine and Nick to arrive at the gas station because of its location on the edge of town. The trip out had been relatively quiet, Nick had mentioned Grissom again and Catherine had indicated that she was done talking about a non-existent relationship. The remainder of the time she had questioned herself about what she might be feeling.

As they pulled up, Nick spoke. "I'm sorry Cath, I shouldn't be poking my nose into you business. I just don't want to see you upset."

She smiled at him reassuringly, "Thanks Nick. I appreciate your concern, but there is nothing to worry about."

"Right." Nick thought to himself as he parked the SUV.

They entered the gas station and spoke with the uniform that was questioning the clerk. Moving away from the young woman who was obviously upset, the officer spoke quietly to the two CSIs.

"Our clerk here doesn't remember much, she said there were two of them, and both were white and looked, to quote "normal looking".

Catherine shook her head, "Not a surprise, she looks scared out of her wits. I don't know why these gas stations insist on staying open late and having only one worker. They make it so easy for the crooks." She bent down and flipped open her kit. "I'll start finger printing the counter."

Scanning the front, Nick pointed towards a surveillance camera pointing towards the counter. "Looks like we're in luck. Let's hope it's real, has tape and was turned on."

At that moment the owner entered the building. Seeing him, the clerk ran over and gave him a huge hug. "Daddy, I'm so sorry!"

The older man held her tightly, "It's alright baby, it's alright." He looked up at the CSIs and police and spoke. "I'm Dan Bergen and I own this place. My daughter wanted extra hours, so I let her take the closing shift tonight. Normally I work it, we can't afford the extra workers."

"Sir," Nick began. "I see you have surveillance cameras, do they work."

"Hell yes. I got robbed two years ago and invested in the best camera I could afford. Come back to the office and I can give you the tape." The man looked at his daughter. "Your mom is coming. Will you be alright until she gets here?"

The girl nodded and the owner led them to the office. He rewound the tape and played it back. The images of two men, one displaying a gun appeared on the monitor.

Nick smiled to himself as the two men stood at the register, both of their faces clearly identifiable. "Excellent! Between this tape and the fingerprints both are leaving on the counter we should be able to make a case stick against both. We'll take the tape and get a copy made and turned it over to you." He spoke to the officer.

By the time they had collected the evidence and returned to the lab to get the tape copied and sent to the police, several hours had elapsed. Catherine walked into the lab were Nick was waiting with Hodges for results on the fingerprints. "Come on Nick, we've got a call."

"Strip club?" Nick joked making his voice seem hopeful.

"No, out on the Strip."

"Well, a guy can always hope."

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On their way to find food, David and the others had cut through the casino looking to see if they could find Don and Charlie. Finally locating the two men, they had convinced them to join them in a bite to eat.

Charlie had walked away from the table up slightly as he cashed in his chips. The men proclaimed that between him and Colby, both were luckier than the rest.

"Colby picked up a girl?" Charlie questioned.

"A real hottie," LaVarn commented.

"I'm going to bunk with Matt tonight." David filled in the Eppes brothers.

Having arrived at the restaurant, the thoughts turned to bacon and pancakes. It was over an hour later when the men left and started back to the hotel. Yawning, David looked at his watch. "So, what's on the agenda for tomorrow?"

"Sleeping in." Joked his brother Matt. "I hope you still don't snore like you did when we shared a room."

"I don't snore!" David claimed.

Riding the elevator up to the 12th floor, the men continued their good-natured joking. Reaching their block of rooms, Don pulled out his room key to open the door.

Charlie stepped back to give him more room and then stop, looking at the door next to his. "Hey, Colby's door is open." He motioned towards the door that was shut, but had missed the lock.

"Damn, he was so busy that he didn't even notice." David commented. Smiling, he turned to the others. "What do you think guys?"

"If you don't lock the door, you are bound to get visitors!" Matt replied. "He'll be cool with the interruption?"

Catching the drift of the conversation, Charlie looked concerned. "But what if, he's…" He trailed off slightly. "You know, occupied."

"Even better!" Joked David. "Ok, I'll push the door open and if the lights are off, Marcus you hit them. Now, on the count of three."

The men lined up behind David who pushed open the door quietly. The room was dark, the hall lights barely making a dent. "One, Two, Three!"

The lights went on and he heard someone say "Damn", and when his eye adjusted to the sudden light, Don noticed the body of a women sprawled on the floor, blood soaking the carpeting beneath her. Colby lay face down on the bed, he was naked and blood was visible on him..

David moved quickly to the woman's side to check her condition.

Moving to Colby, Don rolled him over looking for injuries. Relief flooded his body, as he was unable to find any wounds. "Colby!" He tried to rouse his friend.

"Don, she's dead." David moved to the bed.

"Colby," Don shook Colby. "Colby, wake up."

Mumbling groggily, Colby tried to open his eyes. "Don? What doing?"

"Colby! Colby what happened?" Don's voice was serious.

"Why?" The younger agent sounded a little more awake.

"Colby, there is a dead woman in your room."

"What?" Colby tried to sit, but was unsuccessful. "What happened?"

Don looked at his friend, blood staining Colby's hands. "That's what I want to know."