Hi guys, first off thank you so much for all the reviews

Secondly, I'm sure you're all wondering about the fire and I promise that I will get to it eventually. First, however, we have to get through 6 months worth of drama This chapter doesn't really explain much, but things will start to make more sense soon. So, without further ado, enjoy!

x x x x

"You hauled ass from the California state line for this?" Catherine's astonished voice drew Sara's attention to the door. The young brunette released a frustrated breath, placing her hands on the minimal available space left on the cluttered table.

"If you've come to mock me, don't bother." She exhaled. "I'm too busy." Cath grinned, sailing into the room.

"I heard Grissom called you in on your day off and stuck you with a solo case." She explained with a shrug. "I closed my B&E, thought you might appreciate some help."

Relaxing her shoulders a little, Sara sent her a tired smile.

"I do, thank you." She murmured.

Flashing a bright grin, Cath snapped on a pair of gloves and gestured to the evidence scattered haphazardly across the layout room table.

"Okay, so catch me up. What am I looking at?"

"You are looking at the garbage from an entire street in Henderson."

"Oh boy," The older woman whistled. "You must have really pissed him off." Sara narrowed her eyes, pointing to the far end of the table.

"Start over there." She instructed bluntly, electing not to rise to the comment.

X x x

"Adoption, seriously?" Nick exclaimed. "Wow, congrats."

"Thanks." Bobby Dawson grinned bashfully. It was no secret around the lab that he was as gay as a maypole, but he rarely discussed his private life with his colleagues – beyond his gun collection, of course.

But today he just couldn't hold it in. He simply had to tell someone. Today was the day he and his partner had been waiting for.

Today was the day that social services had deemed them fit to be parents.

"We can't wait," he gushed excitedly. "We met with a lady in Connecticut and she's agreed to us adopting her baby when it's born; so, paperwork pending, we could be bringing our baby home in as little as three months."

"Awesome." Nick patted him on the back somewhat awkwardly. "I'm sure you guys will make great parents."

"Thanks Nick." The two Texan's shared a smile, before the ballistics tech cleared his throat and gestured to the comparison microscope behind him. "Uh, right … your cartridge cases."

X x x

"So," Catherine drawled after a few minutes of silence, sending Sara a shifty glance across the table. "What were you doing in Pahrump?"

"I was at a Vineyard." Sara answered, keeping her gaze firmly fixed on her notes.

"Alone?" Cath pressed pointedly. Sara looked up, narrowing her eyes at the blonde. She didn't appreciate the prying, but she couldn't resist using the opportunity to mess with her colleague a little.

"No." She answered slowly, biting back a coy smile as Catherine tapped her fingers impatiently on the table.

"Well, are you going to tell me?" She asked at last.

"Tell you what, Catherine?" Sara asked sweetly. Cath quirked an eyebrow, exhaling through her nose.

"You know damn well what." She said pointedly. "Who's occupying your days off lately?"

"No one you know." Judging by the older woman's disgruntled snort, that was not the answer she was hoping for.

"Sidle." She chastised sternly. Sara laughed, greatly enjoying the blonde's growing agitation, when her pager began to vibrate at her hip.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're cute when you get angry." She teased absently as she checked the device, before drifting past Cat into the hallway in search of the results that had just come in.

Catherine blinked after her retreating form. She didn't know what was more surprising about that conversation; the fact that Sara had managed to evade answering her question so successfully or the fact that Sara Sidle had just called her cute.

X x x

"Cool." Warrick nodded approvingly, doling out two mugs of black sludge.

"Yeah, but …" Nick snatched one of the cups and the two men wandered over to the centre bench to sit down. "I mean, don't get me wrong I'm thrilled for them." He insisted, swallowing. "I just think babies should be raised by a mother and a father."

"I don't know." Warrick hummed distractedly, thumbing through a nearby journal. "They can't screw it up any worse than some straight parents – maybe it's time we give them a shot."

"Maybe." Nick exhaled uncertainly, electing to drop the subject for now and shifted topic – slightly. "Hey, I read somewhere the other day that one in ten people are gay."

"Really, that many huh?" Warrick agreed, barely listening to his mate anymore.

"So, by that theory-" The younger man continued obliviously. "-someone in our team is."

"Hmm."

"Rick?"

"What?"

"Well, who would you guess?" Nick asked exasperatedly.

"Guess what?"

"Who do you think out of our team is most likely to be gay?"

The question – conjectural, of course – finally captured the dark-skinned CSI's attention.

"Oh no." He held up his hands, gathering his coffee and his journal and standing up. "I wouldn't touch that question with a ten-foot pole."

"Hypothetically." Nick hollered after his friend as he departed in search of a quieter place to read.

Left alone, Nick drummed his fingers against his chin in thought.

"Well, I know who'd be my first choice." He muttered idly to himself.

X x x

When Cath finally tracked Sara down she was in a separate part of the lab, monkeying with a laptop.

"I never got my answer." She pointed out casually, strolling up to the bench.

"So you didn't." Sara agreed nonchalantly.

"Sara." The strawberry-blonde sing-songed playfully, nudging her shoulder. Sara bit back a smile, doing her best not to drop any tell-tale clues. Afterall, this woman could read people like a book.

"Sara." Grissom poked his head into the lab, diffusing the awkwardness. He paused, flicking his blue eyes to other occupant with surprise. "Catherine, what are you doing here?"

"Helping." The blonde smiled.

"Feel free to take her back." Sara said dryly, straightening up. Grissom quirked an eyebrow at the pair but quickly shrugged it off. He had bigger fish to fry today than whatever spat these two were having. Or not having, if Catherine's response was anything to go by.

"DB in North Henderson. You can both take it."

The women shared a look and Catherine beamed brightly at the prospect of having longer to press her colleague for information. Sara rolled her eyes, snapping her laptop shut and strutting back into the hall to get her things.

"Thanks Griss." She muttered sarcastically, snatching the offered case-brief on her way out.

"Thank you." Catherine chirped genuinely, practically skipping after her.

Left scratching his head in their absence, Gil frowned. He wasn't sure what had just happened but it appeared that he was at least partially to blame … maybe.