As I said, I skipped 7x11 and went to 7x12.

I think I watched the episode a dozen times.

Sara looked up from where she stood making herself decaf coffee when Warrick came in the breakroom. He chuckled as he watched her yawn, covering it with the back of her hand. Grabbing the coffee pot for regular coffee, he poured himself a cup and she handed off the creamer and sugar to him silently. Only once she had taken one sip of the hot beverage did Warrick say a single word to her.

"That tired?"

"I'm growing a human, so exhaustion is pretty much a constant state at the moment. Also, the heartburn is killing me."

Warrick glanced at her. "I'm sure the doctor can give you something for that."

"She did but I don't have to tell you that there is always a period of time before medications work." She moved to sit down at the table and he did the same, watching her run her hand subconsciously across her seventeen week belly.

"How's our little scientist doing?"

Sara looked up at him. "Well I don't know about anyone else at my stage, but this baby is active. Today it took me hours to get to sleep because while movements aren't huge punches yet, they're present enough that I can't ignore them. I called my OB because seventeen weeks seems to early according to the books, but she said if it's the same feeling every time, it's probably movements. After all the embarrassing questions, she said every pregnancy is different. So yeah, maybe I have a genius who is growing faster than they should."

"I'm sure Grissom contemplated flying home immediately when you told him."

"Which is why I didn't tell him." She stated and picked up her coffee again. "He let me know that the students aren't looking forward to having to identify a small collection to pass the course. Due to it being winter, it'll be shipped specimens instead of local."

Warrick nodded. "How many is a small collection?"

"Twenty to thirty, he's still trying to get specimens before he gives a definitive number." Sara waved her hand. "So, what is this I'm hearing about a day shift temp working with us since Gil is gone?"

"Yeah, I rolled up to Catherine and him working a scene. Now, personally I don't get the guy. Something about him rubs me the wrong way." He pointed to her. "Your sixth sense about people could probably be a better indicator than mine."

A man walked into the breakroom. "Coffee still fresh?"

"Uh, probably." Warrick stated and pointed over his shoulder while mouthing 'Keppler' to Sara.

"I'd like to thank you for the assist earlier." Keppler stated and looked to Warrick. "Brown, am I correct?"

Warrick nodded. "Yeah, and it's no big deal. Just be warned we're not into formality around here so you can call me Warrick."

"Call me Keppler until I feel comfortable with you using my first name." Keppler stated while pouring himself coffee.

"I'm just saying, it's suspicious if you ask me." Greg stated to Nick as the two walked into the breakroom. "I mean, first she tells me we have no secrets, but suddenly she won't tell me what's wrong. What am I supposed to think?"

Nick looked straight at Sara. "Please tell him that he doesn't need to overreact about Sofia."

"Greg, do you trust Sofia?" Sara asked even though she knew the answer.

"Yeah." It was a honest, finite answer.

"Then trust her to tell you when she's ready." Sara smiled at him. "Sometimes women need time to think everything over or else you risk us saying something you don't want to hear."

Catherine walked into the breakroom. "Well, I don't know what we've done but Judy has nothing for me. So, let's focus on active cases and no playing hooky." She pointed to Sara, "the car from the Drapper case, no go for you."

"Why not?"

Nick chuckled. "Trust me Sara, they transported active biohazard in the backseat without anything other than an unsecured cooler. Jackknifed off a k-rail, you do the math on that one."

Catherine looked towards Keppler and then turned back to the team. "Guys, this is Mike Keppler. He was originally going to be a filler for Day Shift but Ecklie sent him our way due to Grissom being gone. So, for the next three weeks he's ours."

Keppler nodded to the team. "I hope I can help while I'm here."

Nick was the first to move. "Nick Stokes, Level III."

"You already know Warrick." Catherine told him.

Greg shook the man's hand. "Greg Sanders, Level I."

Sara spoke next. "Sara Sidle-Grissom, Level III. I'm also the Mass Casualty Event Coordinator."

"Impressive." He looked at her as he spoke. "Grissom, the guy I'm filling in for. Are you two related?"

Sara ran her hand over her belly. "My husband."

Catherine looked at Sara. "How's our little scientist?" They'd started calling the baby 'our little scientist' after Brass had used the term affectionately.

"Moving a lot, which seems odd given how I'm on the early side of my second trimester. The doctor told me it's fine though so I'll go with it." Sara told her, "between them and the heartburn, sleep was hard to find today."

"How many weeks are you?" Keppler's question sounded like genuine curiosity.

Sara glanced his way before speaking. "Seventeen."

Keppler seemed confused. "And you both work Night Shift?"

"We have a cross-supervision system." Catherine explained. "Usually when he's here, he supervises me, Nick, and Warrick. I supervise him, Sara, and Greg. Since he's gone, I have supervision over everyone."

"Cross-Supervision system? I've never heard about it. Is it a common system?"

Catherine nodded. "A few labs have it. It's a test method that works for various labs when supervisors and employees are found to be having a relationship. It makes sure that there is no bias or favoritism. Some of the labs testing or have implemented it are us, Seattle and Shreveport, Burlington as of last month, oh and Tallahassee as of last week."

"Wow, these supervisor-employee relationships just keep coming out of the woodwork." Nick stated.

"Tallahassee was a huge scandal." Catherine told him. "I had to call over to see if it was true or not after the rumor I heard. Five years it was ongoing and no one knew."

"Five years?" Sara asked. "How does that even happen? I get a few months, maybe a year at most, but five years?"

The redhead nodded. "Got confirmation myself. Apparently, everyone had to undergo additional training because the lab director felt that if they missed that fact about their coworkers, he was worried what else they missed."

"I doubt them two could have gone five years, but I'd go a step further and give you two an additional year Sara." Warrick told her. "You two are too good at your job and with the history, we'd take silence as a fight, and light banter as flirting."

Sara smirked. "Thanks for the confidence we could pull the wool over your eyes for two years."

"Sara, let's be honest." Catherine looked right at her. "You two were like a ping-pong ball on steroids the first five years. Will they or won't they, fighting or flirting, murder contemplation or non-murderous contemplation, peas in a pod or pushing buttons, threating to leave one day then closely working and testing theories the next." She saw Sara's cheeks turn red, "need I go on?"

"No, you about covered it."

Keppler looked truly confused. "How did you get any work done?"

"Trust me man," Nick waved him off, "Sara and Grissom, they did all that while working cases together and maxing out overtime. They're two peas in a pod even when they're fighting."

"Which they don't do." Catherine stated, "I really hate that about you."

Sara smirked. "I keep telling you that we do fight, we just make up rather quickly."

"In under a day!" The redhead stated, "which shouldn't actually be possible."

"Cath is right, I'm married about as long as you two have been together and it takes days for Tina and me to make up."

"Rick, your marriage is on the rocks." Nick told him, "them two spent eight weeks just talking before they went on a date. Look where that has gotten them." He went on to elaborate, "one of the strongest relationships any of us have seen."

Warrick turned to Greg. "You going to input anything?"

"Silence is self-preservation with everything Sofia and I know that you don't." He shrugged, "I'd end up on decomp duty. Or worse!"

Keppler put up a hand. "If they're commenting, why aren't you? I doubt you'd actually be put on decomp duty."

"He will!" Everyone but Greg and Sara stated.

Catherine decided to elaborate. "I'm his supervisor technically, but I don't do a lot of Greg's daily supervision. Grissom either."

"Sara kind of owns his ass." Warrick stated. "Metaphorically speaking."

Nick motioned to Greg. "There was a running joke around the lab until Ecklie put a stop to it. He stated it was immature and if he gets wind of it from anyone, there would be write ups."

"Running joke?"

"The joke was that Sara and Grissom were his 'lab' parents." Warrick told him, "they basically took him from a DNA lab tech to a CSI Level I."

Keppler nodded. "I see."

Half-way through the night, Sara found herself in the layout room with Catherine, Keepler, and Nick. Once everything was laid out and all reports were in hand, the small meeting started. It was strange to be standing around a table like normal with a virtual stranger. There was something about him that created an uneasy feeling in Sara, something that was both subtle and a large neon sign. There was an air about him that seemed more clinical than scientific, as if he saw CSI and the science they did as a necessary method to get a result rather than a scientific journey running jointly with the legal system.

Sara picked up a photo as she spoke. "Jane Doe '99 was discovered naked in a stretch of dirt off Paradise behind the old Hotel Continental. Based on the photos, her hair was matted with dirt, which suggests it was wet when she was dumped. It's likely that her body was washed." She'd been handing the photos off to Catherine consistently.

"That's consistent with the latest victim." Catherine stated once she had the photos in hand.

Keppler looked to Sara. "Any traces of alcohol or cotton swabs?"

"There's nothing indicated, but there's almost nothing in this file." Based on TOD, the body was found less than four hours after death. Yet other than a general canvas, not a single person was interviewed." She looked down at the report, "the homicide detective's summary is less than a page."

"Sound like shoddy police work." Nick told her.

"Sounds like no police work." Keppler told them.

Sara continued, "after the autopsy, COD confirmed asphyxiation by strangulation. There was absolutely no follow up whatsoever." She looked to Nick, knowing he'd get her issue with the fact. He also had the file on the victim ten years before hers.

"Well, there was a follow up in spades on Jane Doe '89. She was found in a vacant lot off 28th Street near Boulder Highway. Uh, stripped of her clothing. Like the others, several peri-mortem bruises, but check out this hair." He handed Catherine the photo.

The redhead glanced at it. "Yeah, it's crimped. I remember those days. There's no way that styles survives a shower."

"Killer didn't wash that one down."

Keppler accepted the photo from Catherine. "Methods evolve. Practice makes perfect."

"Again, the cops didn't come up with a single suspect." He looked down at his files to see reports and crime scene sketches. "There were detailed sketches of the crime scene, microscopy on errant hairs and fibers, even ran the vic's prints through WIN."

Sara knew the year and the program were useless to them. "'89, that database was barely on the internet."

"The guy that worked on this case was very thorough. Just didn't close it."

Catherine looked to Keppler, "okay, Jane Doe '75."

"Well, she was found in an alley off of Bridger near Fremont Street. Based on the level of decomp, she'd been lying there two days before they found her. Only thing about this one is, she had her clothes on." He handed the picture to Nick and Nick handed it to Sara. "Might have been his first."

"Or maybe the first one found." Nick suggested.

Keppler continued while reading a report. "Isolated contusions on her neck, arms, and shoulders." He handed the report to Nick and again he handed it to Sara. "COD was listed as heroin overdose."

"Junkies do bruise easily." Nick told them.

"And, the 'waving good-bye' hand position is a natural way to fall. This one is a coincidence." Sara stated as she looked up from the report she held.

"It's not." Keppler stated.

Catherine seemed curious. "How do you know."

"Because I do." Keppler insisted. "This guy pays attention to the details. Knows what he likes, he doesn't mix it up." He paused and looked up instead of at the table like he had been the previous few moments. "Thing that gets me is the discipline, though. He's got a habit, but he seems to be able to control it. Only needs to kill once every ten years or so, and when he does, he's got a type."

Nick spoke. "Pretty but not pricey."

"And not likely to be missed."

Catherine jumped onto his work quickly. "You're a CSI, not a profiler."

"What's the difference?" That made Sara's stomach drop because it meant he put more stock in psychology than evidence.

"Evidence." Catherine told him and that reassured Sara that Catherine was taken aback by her new CSI and his views. "I want leads and IDs. Follow up on what you've got."

Sara followed up on finding the detective who was assigned to her victim. He'd left Las Vegas for a precinct closer to his home in Henderson. He agreed to meet her so she meet him and escorted him into the precinct so no one raised any alarm with officers. Her beside him would make no one raise any eyebrows. He looked around as they walked through the halls.

"When I left this place, it was all grey walls and cinder blocks." He looked impressed with their glass castle, as Sofia had called it one day during a random conversation. "Oh, oh, very fancy."

Sara asked him a question she had. "What made you transfer to Henderson."

"Cost of living, better commute. I socked away a few bucks, bought a nice place in Green Valley."

"Ah, I take it you're a shortcuts kind of guy." Sara made the comment as they sat down.

"I guess you could say that. I like to get to the heart of things right away."

Sara didn't find herself surprised. "Any reason that you didn't get to the heart of this?" She laid out of the file so he could see it.

"Whoa." He turned pages. "October 17, 1999."

"You remember the date?"

He looked up defensively. "Yeah."

"Why is that?" If he decided to cut corners, she didn't expect him to remember a single murder.

"Hey, I'm not sure I like your tone."

Her heckles were raised as she cocked her head and looked at him. "Answer the question, Detective." She saw Baker out of the corner of her eye and knew Brass was just across the hall, her back was covered.

"It's my son's birthday." He looked back down at the file. "Day I caught the case, my wife went into labor. It was rough. There were complications." He looked back up at her, hard thoughts quickly forgotten. "Anyway, I was out for weeks taking care of her. Used up all my vacation time. When I got back, there were half dozen cases on my desk. My captain told me to let it go." He handed her back the file. Sara shook her head as she let out an exasperated sigh, but when she didn't accept the file back, he looked down at it. "Look. We canvased the neighborhood. She was homeless, hooking for drug money."

Sara raised her head and ran her finger under her chin. "You do not know that. You didn't even ask for tox." She looked at him directly.

"We didn't need to do a test. We found her at Paradise and Flamingo. What else would she be doing there?" He was defensive also.

Realizing she wasn't going to get an un-bias comment or conversation, Sara stood up. "Detective, you should have been more thorough. I'm allowed to tell you that she is part of a pattern of murders stretching back to the 1970s." She saw his expression turn to shock as he looked up at her. "Look, I'm going to tell you something as a scientist, not as a cop or detective. Assumptions cover up the real truth of what has happened to a victim. She could have been a junkie but she's part of a pattern, a pattern you missed by allowing badges to tell you how to run your investigation."

The man nodded. "Okay, I screwed up."

"Lucky for you, my team has this case and we'll find whoever it is." Sara held out her hand and he took it, shaking it. "I'll let you get home to your family."

As Sara walked away, he inquired to her "hey, uh Miss, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name. Just so I know who to expect a call from if you need more information."

"Sara Sidle-Grissom." She supplied.

There was an expression of astonishment. "Grissom? There was a CSI who arrived at the scene that night who had the same name. I made a radio call to my lieutenant and he was pulled back by his supervisor, we decided he wasn't needed." He shook his head, "I guess my lieutenant and I were wrong."

"I guess so." She motioned to Baker and since the man was still afraid of her husband and his spiders, he instantly made his way over to her. "Baker, can you escort the detective out?"

"Yes ma'am, whatever you need."

"Relax Baker, he's out of town for a month." She watched the man breathe and she left them, chuckling as she did. She did have a bone to pick with Brass though as he'd been Grissom's supervisor at the time.

Sara sat on the bed with Grissom's laptop, he rarely ever used it except to talk to his mother. The office computer was hers, had become hers during the time they dated, so he bought a laptop and it was actually expensed out for work to her shock. So they didn't lose the money. Waiting patiently for the call to connect, she reached out to pet Hank. The boxer had his head against her leg. The screen suddenly changed as she saw her husband on the other end of the call.

"Sara." His voice made her feel warm. "Oh how I miss you, my darling."

The brunette chuckled as she sat against the headboard of the bed, the laptop on her thighs. Reaching out, she grabbed a nearby mug of tea from her nightstand. "I miss you too. It's been two weeks now, three more to go. Did you get the collection you needed? If not, I can see if one of the girls would mind hiking with me to collect some."

"I got what I needed but thank you." He seemed to smile and the beard he wore once again just made her grin back. "How's the baby?"

"Oh you know, causing all type of mayhem like yours truly." Sara told him without the sarcasm that the comment sounded drenched in. "No, just some heartburn and," she put down her tea and pointed to him. "You have to swear not to get on the first plane home with what I'm about to say."

Grissom's brow furrowed. "That sounds ominous."

"Promise me Gilbert." She was being stern with him.

"I promise not to fly home today, my darling. What do you have to share that you believe I'd fly home immediately?"

"A lot of movement." She told him, "yesterday it took me twice as long to fall asleep because of heartburn and movement. It's not punching yet, more like how your fingers run so lightly over my skin I get a shiver, just internally."

A grin covered the man's face. "They're moving already?"

"Yeah, mostly during the day. I haven't felt a lot of movement while I'm at work, probably because I'm moving around and focused on other things."

"Going non-stop like you already."

Sara smiled softly. "So, do you want to know what you've missed?"

"If you'd like to tell me."

"First shift had a temp coming in and since you're gone, Ecklie has him assisting us. He rubs me the wrong way Gil, like I almost don't trust him with anything. He doesn't think there is a difference between a profiler and a CSI. I feel like he sees CSI as a method to arrest instead of a scientific journey that backs up the police." Sara reached for her tea once again.

Grissom was quiet for a second. "Do you think he's dangerous?"

"I want to say yes but that won't do any good. He's slated for Days after you get back and if it's permanent, Ecklie won't like me raising a flag for nothing." She shrugged before taking a sip of her tea, "I personally want to keep myself in his good graces. He's taking the sudden pregnancy rather well. Even stop me in the hall yesterday and asked if I needed anything to make my job easier. I told him I'd let him know but for now, the baby isn't slowing me down."

"I got a call from the bank this morning regarding a huge transaction on the joint card. I guess they tried to call you but didn't get ahold of you."

Sara nodded, "I already called them back and cleared it. I was in the shower when they called."

"Three hundred in one go. I was a little shocked given you're more of a penny pincher than me."

She winced as she set her tea down again. "Yeah, well I'm blaming you for that one."

"How is you spending three hundred in Vegas while I'm out of town, my fault?" He seemed genuinely perplexed.

"I had to buy new clothes since I'm outgrowing mine. Catherine and I went shopping at my usual discount stores, but I also had to get new bras. Those are going to be bought at a standard store and that comes with a full price tag." Sara told him.

Grissom nodded, "besides the heartburn and the movement, anything else going on with the pregnancy?"

"Nope, baby is just growing. They're the size of a bell pepper now."

"How are you doing? Any episodes?"

Sara reached for her tea. "One, on Tuesday. It was a rough case and brought up some memories. Do you remember the case from my first year? The Collins case?"

"I do. I assume you had episodes during that case and after."

"Yeah, every day. Anyways, I guess Catherine thought sending me with the kid to the hospital was probably the least traumatizing position I could be in. I told her to never do that again after it was over. That a bloody crime scene is less traumatizing."

Grissom watched her through the screen. "Did she say anything to that?"

"When she inquired, I told her to leave it alone. That she knew about what my mother did, but she wasn't getting the day to day effects it has on me also. She dropped it immediately."

"Good. If she didn't, I'd have had some choice words to give her."

"Anyways, the kid is nine, totally innocent on everything that happened. There wasn't incest in the case but the older brother murdered the family because they wanted to use him. It's similar to the Alicia Perez case." Sara shrugged, "I've been by Child Welfare twice to see him. He's mute at the moment, traumatized for sure, but he recognizes I'm safe so his case worker wants to see if I'd come by and help transition him to the home he's going into. I told her that could go one of two ways and the more I'm there, the less he'll transition smoother. I think they're going to try to do a transition before calling me. It'll be a disaster and that's putting it gently."

"How's visiting him affecting you?"

Sara took a sip before speaking. "It hasn't, surprisingly. I had an episode during the case but after, nothing. Maybe I subconsciously know he's safe now, at least as safe as CWS can be."

"He's lost everything and you know what that feels like."

She nodded, "I do. I went by the crime scene and with Catherine and Brass's permission, got some of his things. I never had anything of mine given back to me, everything I got was from a box of donated clothes or bought by CPS. I think that helped; he hugged me, which surprised his case worker."

"I should let you sleep. I'm due to head to class in a few minutes anyhow."

"I love you."

Grissom smiled at her as he told her a quote. "'I exist in two places, here and where you are.' Margaret Atwood said it and that's how I feel at the moment."

"Charmer." She told him and shook her head. "I don't want to hang up, your students be damned."

"Coming from one of my former students, I find that surprising."

"Okay, I'm hanging up." She reached her hand out to the mouse pad.

"Wait." He said suddenly, "stand up please, Honey. I want to see how big you are."

Sara quirked her lips, "there is a better way to say that." She put the laptop aside and positioned the screen as she stood up, knowing the angle had to be right to see her waist. "See?" She put one hand on top of her bump and the other under. The shirt she wore, one of his grey undershirts, was smoothed enough that she knew he could see her growth. "Only a little growth since you left two weeks ago, not much."

"Every day you're growing." Grissom watched her sit on the bed and moved the screen so her face showed. "I know about pregnancy and I'm reading through books at the moment but it seems miraculous to me that your body is doing what it's doing."

"Yeah, well we know the odds of every pregnancy. The genetic issues that cause miscarriage before most women know their pregnant, the genetics that cause disease at random, etc. Knowing and experiencing a healthy pregnant can be miraculous to those that know the odds." She smirked, "then again, you could just be referring to the fact I'm pregnant."

"Always you."

Sara laughed. "Okay, I'm going take my heartburn medicine and try to attempt to get to bed. Your child may not let me get sleep and that Gilbert, is definitely your single-mindedness coming to the surface."

"I came up with a name." He said last minute. "Or found one, is probably the more accurate to say."

"Are we still on this deal we struck where I get boy names and you get girls?"

Grissom chuckled softly. "Do you want to hear, or not?"

"Okay, tell me what you found."

"Yara, it means 'little butterfly' in Arabic. I figure it suited a girl."

Sara's smile softened. "I love it."

"I figured we use my mother's name as her middle. Yara Elizabeth Sidle-Grissom."

"Just Grissom, Babe. I don't want my family name to come into contact with our child. They'll be so innocent and loved selflessly that they shouldn't be touched by my maiden name. If we have a boy, and I'm 99 percent sure we're not, he's still being named after your Dad. Joseph Gilbert Grissom."

Grissom smiled, "he would have liked that. My mom definitely will."

"I know, that's why I picked it."

"Sara you need sleep and I have to get to class. 'I have found who my soul loves.'"

"I love you too. I'll call you Saturday at our normal time." Sara sighed before signing off. They had a standard video chat on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Texts were sent periodically throughout the day.

I think Sara would have called Grissom and kept him up to date on the lab, herself, and the baby.

Let me know what you think if you so choose

Next chapter 7x13 Redrum is a dozy.