Grissom looked over at Sara as she stood beside him in his kitchen helping to make dinner. The brunette was slicing eggplant to be used for their eggplant lasagna. The sun was just starting to set and that meant dinner before heading into work. Sara was off after a double but he had to go in and work on a backlog of paperwork. She looked up and over to him, seeing him watching her from the stove where he was stirring the marinara sauce that he'd learned from his mother.

"I wish I was going in with you." She stated as she'd finished the eggplant, moving to wash her hands at the sink.

"You need rest. You pulled a double and while I have little to no say in your schedule, Catherine put you off because you're on the verge of maxing out." His phone rang and he pulled it from his hip to see it was Catherine. "Speak and she shall hear." Sara chuckled as she took over stirring the simmering sauce while he answered the phone. "Hello Catherine." Listening, Grissom watched as Sara grabbed a small spoon from the nearby drawer to taste it. "If that's what you want, I have no problem with it. We'll figure out another day to switch. Good luck." He closed the phone and put it on the counter. "Catherine wants my shift instead of her being off. Apparently, she and Lindsey got in a fight about a boy."

Sara turned to him, "so I get you tonight?"

"You do." He watched her turn back to the stove and reach for the pepper.

It was the sound of an infernal ring that woke Sara and she groaned, rolling away from the ringing as a light was turned on. The sound of Grissom answering the call made her blink awake, rubbing her eyes with her left thumb and forefinger. Hearing him talk to Catherine, Sara moved to her back and looked over to see Grissom's back to her. Reaching out a hand, she grazed the back of her hand against the grey shirt he wore. He turned to her and she used her finger to ask him what it was by just signing 'question' in ASL. He reached a handout and put it on her arm.

"Yeah Catherine, we'll be right there." He hung up and put the phone aside. "402 and 419 in one, according to Brass. Everyone is being called in because it caused a gas main exploded feet away."

"Well, at least we tried to sleep." She sat up and ran a hand over head to push back the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. Grabbing her watch from the nightstand, Sara looked at the face to see it was later than she expected. "A whole five hours." She saw Hank at the end of the bed and turned to Grissom as he went to the closet for clothes. "You know, at least Ecklie can't bitch to Catherine about my timesheet due to everyone being called in."

Grissom turned to look at her, "you've done well not pulling triple after triple."

"Only because you didn't let me when you had hold of my schedule." Sara pushed the covers back and Hank got down off the bed due to the movement. She disappeared into the bathroom after leaving the bed.

"I'm going to take Hank out then call the sitter." He didn't get a reply but he heard the start of the shower.

Sara was standing in the kitchen with a piece of toast in her mouth and making two cups of coffee when Grissom left the bedroom ready to go fifteen minutes later. He chuckled as he worked to feed the dog, leaving Sara to her tasks knowing when she wasn't caffeinated and tired, she could be cranky. Once he'd rubbed Hank's back as the dog began eating, he stood straight and was met with a travel mug of coffee. "Drink, we're going to need it. According to Greg, they're on scene and it's chaos erupted."

"Define what that means." Despite knowing he didn't like undefined meanings, she only shrugged and grabbed their cases that sat on floor by the couch. "Sara, give me the keys." She turned and he held out his hand, "please Honey. You just got off a double less than eight hours ago." Handing them over without contest, she held out her arm so he could go before her.

They arrived after a call for directions to see a trailer park with wild flames erupted. Parking the SUV among the others, Sara hopped out first, suddenly wide awake after coffee and food in her belly. Grissom shut the door and grabbed their kits from inside as the brunette headed towards the group as they waited patiently, unable to enter the scene yet.

"You made it and in record time." Catherine told him.

"Brass said it was all hands." He turned to Greg and pointed to the scene, "chaos erupted I assume?"

Greg nodded, "just about. We don't know anything other than a gas main is on fire along with a trailer."

"Hey Sara," Nick turned to her, "you still carry that beef jerky?"

"For bugs, not you." It was stated so simply before she smiled and accepted the kit Grissom handed her, having heard the whole exchange. "But since we're not bound to find any in a fire, be my guest." She knelt down and opened it to remove the jerky, handed it over.

"Thanks, I never got dinner." He nudged her, "I thought you were maxed out."

She shrugged, "I tend to either to be told to go home or asked to come home. Either way keeps my hours under. I even got a nice email from Ecklie last week telling me he appreciated I failed to keep my winning streak for the first time since my employment."

Warrick looked straight at her, "hold on, you didn't max out? Sara Sidle, the woman that practically is the reason for max outs, went home on time? Should I ask if you're okay?"

"I have a new distraction, that's all." She smirked and they all chuckled, Grissom's smile was borderline but there. "He has four legs."

That caused everyone to look at her, everyone but Grissom who was focused watching the Fire Department work. "Wait, you have a pet?" Catherine seemed taken aback.

"Hank's my dog, I've had him for about a year. He just has a habit of preferring Sara over me."

Greg supplied the obvious answer. "Duh, it's Sara." He turned to his friend, "he really has a dog?"

"Oh yeah." Sara pulled her phone from her waist and flipped it open before showing them a picture. "60 pounds of pure lap dog, except he's huge."

Warrick shook his head, "looks like he'd bite someone's hand off."

"More likely to drool on you then bite." Sara put her phone up, "so sweet, so gentle." She looked over towards Grissom, "but then they say pets resemble their owners."

"Should I question if you're delirious, my Dear?" The pet name seemed to be his constant when at work. Sweet but subtle enough not to raise eyebrows.

Sara glared at him for a half second, "not if you want to see your dog again." The subtle movement of her eyebrow seemed to be daring him to comment but he looked back where he'd placed his gaze moments before.

With Catherine and Warrick on the strip, Grissom found himself leaving to have to handle a meeting with Ecklie so he looked to see Greg cataloging items while Sara photographed and Nick searched for evidence of the origin of both the trailer fire and the gas main explosion. Knowing he only needed two CSIs out, he quickly made the decision to pull Greg. Nick and Sara had the longest field experience of the three and while Sara needed sleep, he knew Greg was the one more likely to fall asleep when exhausted. He'd just been out in the field under a year so he wasn't skilled at pulling doubles and triples in the field yet. He was safer in the lab overall and he could process evidence at a faster speed if necessary.

"Greg, you're going back to the lab with me." He noticed all three watching him, "Nick, you're in charge of the scene. Find that source."

Nick pointed at him, "you got it."

Grissom stopped in front of Sara, she was knelt down photographing items. "When the uniforms go out for food, eat. You're already tired, hunger won't help you."

"Same to you." She smiled at him, "see you on the cooler side."

Greg leaned in to whisper to Nick. "So, in this weird family, Grissom is the dad, so does that make Sara or Catherine the mom?" He motioned to where the couple was talking quietly. "You know, given this whole dynamic."

"Uh, I don't even want to contemplate that weird family tree, Man."

"Catherine could be the mom and ex-wife and Sara the stepmom." Greg shrugged, "makes sense. Or maybe Catherine the aunt and Sara's the mom."

Nick turned to his colleague and friend. "You have thought about this way too much. Especially given you use to have a thing for Sara."

"Puppy love." He shrugged, "happens."

"Man, you need to get a girlfriend." Nick motioned to Grissom, "if he can, you definitely can."

With Grissom and Nick at the scene, Sara found herself in the breakroom of the lab eating an early dinner. It was just leftover lasagna she'd stopped at home for, making sure she brought enough for both her and Grissom. A voice she hadn't been expecting made her turn and she found Sofia making her way over to the coffee machine.

"Good seeing you Sara."

"Uh, good to see you too." Sara pulled open the microwave as it beeped and grabbed a fork from the drawer to sit down. "I thought you were in Boulder City."

Sofia chuckled, "I transferred back in as a detective instead of CSI. I just thought I'd stop by and say hello to some people."

"Sidle!" Sara looked up to see Ecklie in the doorway. "Tell Grissom to stop dodging my calls when you see him. He's late on this month's evals and despite the change in leadership, Catherine got hers in already."

Her mouth a fraction open, the brunette cleared her throat. "I'll do that."

"Good." He left seconds later and Sara pulled her phone from her side.

Sofia motioned to the doorway, "why's he acting like he has a stick shoved up his ass?"

"It's Ecklie, I stopped trying to understand him years ago." She dialed a number on her phone and put it to her ear. After a moment, she spoke. "You know Ecklie just demanded I tell you to stop dodging his calls." Shoving her fork in her lasagna, Sara continued to speak. "I know that and you know that but the last thing any of us needs is Ecklie on a warpath." Grabbing her bottle of water from the table, Sara ended the call. "Okay, bye."

"So, anything changed while I've been gone?"

With her food near her mouth, Sara nodded. "Some things. Not a lot. We have a new supervision system that is modeled after another city's crime lab." With that she took a bite and chewed.

Light from the morning sun was entering his office when a knock on the door made Grissom look up. He was working on a the evaluations that Ecklie ontop of all the ongoing reports for the case. Everything had to be double checked and everyone's reports had to be signed off. He glanced up to see Sofia in the doorway and he waved her inside.

"I thought you wouldn't miss the lab." He stated while pulling off his glasses, holding them between his fingers.

The blonde smiled as she stood in front of his desk, "I said there were somethings I'd miss." Taking a moment to breathe before she spoke, she then continued. "Listen, I was wondering if you'd like to g…"

Before she could finish, Sara's voice floated through the doorway. "Hey, I'm leaving early." She paused in the doorway, ignoring Sofia as her eyes connected with Grissom. "I have that appointment I have to get to. If Catherine asks, make something up for me."

"You should tell her Sara, she's your supervisor." He prompted.

"She's yours too." Sara smirked, "nice seeing you back in town Sofia."

"You too Sara."

Grissom stood after Sara left and Sofia pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. "Sara mentioned a new supervision system. Is Catherine the supervisor now? Did you get demoted?"

"No, it splits the responsibilities so neither of us are having to take on all the tasks." Stacking a few files, Grissom left them as he walked around the desk. "It's a good system and Seattle showed promise so Ecklie implemented it." Taking his jacket from the back of chair in front of his desk, he nodded to her. "Have a good day, Sofia." It was stated specifically because it prevented her from asking him out like she'd tried to do moments before.

Sofia walked out of his office with him. "You too Grissom."