Brass and Catherine knew this wouldn't end well but they went with the reverse forensics anyways due to McKeen. In the previous chapter "Goodbye" we see Sara is entrusted with the lab by Grissom. Catherine maybe acting supervisor but Sara would keep the integrity in place and help Catherine where needed.

Needless to say that Sara has to keep her temper under wraps every minute of this episode.

Catherine Willows found herself at breakfast with Keppler, Brass, and McKeen. It was a business breakfast, but only because McKeen didn't want to meet at CSI or LVPD. It meant that whatever they were doing was to be kept under wraps. She had Sara back at the lab going over the car from the Watson case that had landed in her lap four days before and the boys were working on whatever case they were a part of. It surprised Catherine that Sara could get in, out, and under a car without breaking a sweat at eighteen weeks pregnant. She wasn't able to do a lot past her fifteen week mark and she'd been younger than Sara at the time.

McKeen looked at the three sitting with him. "The biggest drug supplier on the West Coast kills a public official, and we can't find him. I'm just the undersheriff. I have one job: make the sheriff look smart. You aren't helping."

Brass looked at Catherine for a moment before speaking. "We busted our hump trying to find this guy."

Catherine followed him up. "Science can only do so much with a cold trail."

"You ever seen a man's face change into that kind of demon?" McKeen asked them.

Keppler didn't help with his comment. "My eggs are runny. I couldn't have been more specific with the waitress." He glanced at Brass. "You gonna eat those."

Brass looked down at this plate. "Oh, you want my pancakes? Yeah, sure, knock yourself out. Here." He handed Keppler his plate.

"Thank you."

McKeen looked between them. "I don't hear a solution."

Catherine didn't know what to say but then Keppler spoke. "We could try something I did in Philly. It's, um, a little unorthodox."

"I only want to know if it works."

"Philly, yes. Baltimore, no."

"Is that why you're in Vegas?" Catherine asked him.

McKeen glanced at them all again. "Fifty-fifty, I can live with those odds."

Brass looked at the CSI who was eating his pancakes. "So, are you waiting for a drum roll?"

"It's called reverse forensics."

Catherine had heard of it but it wasn't just a little unorthodox, it was outside the box. "Oh. We fake a crime scene."

Keppler nodded. "Basically."

McKeen looked straight at Keppler. "How do we get around entrapment?"

"Well, it's not entrapment if you're not enticing anyone to commit a crime. The goal is to make Simon think he's off the hook."

"So what's the catch?" Brass inquired while McKeen watched them speak.

"The whole thing's a catch." Keppler looked straight at Brass with side glances to Catherine. "The hardest part is stopping leaks. You've got to be willing to deceive the people you work with."

Catherine knew if Grissom had been sitting with them, he'd have walked away. Sara too. That made her mind reel. Sara would not be going along with the whole thing. "Assuming they can be deceived. Which they can't."

"Not your call." McKeen told her.

Brass looked between them. "You know, I can think of nine, no, ten ways that this could screw up."

Catherine decided to stop the train before the coal was being shoveled into the engine. "Jeff, I don't think you understand what I mean by they can't be deceived." She put up a hand and looked the Undersheriff in the eyes. "Grissom has basically programmed all of them to not jump ahead of the evidence. My team won't do it, even with me as their supervisor. Even if I could get Nick and Warrick to go along with this, the biggest issue we have isn't leaks. It's Sara. And Greg follows Sara's lead."

Brass understood immediately. "She's right. If Sara gets even a whiff of this, she'll be all over this faster than a dog on a bone."

McKeen tapped his hand on the table. "It's Wednesday, tell her to take the rest of the week off. Make something up."

"I can't do that." Catherine sighed, "she's halfway through her pregnancy and she's saving days at this point to take off after the birth."

The Undersheriff's brow furrowed. "She's pregnant?" He asked in complete disbelief, or so Catherine read on his face.

"Surprise." Brass told the man sarcastically.

Nodding as he thought, McKeen looked up at her. "Grissom's seminar will likely fall under our continued education program. Tell her to take the next three weeks as paid leave for educational purposes."

The redhead shared a look with Brass. "She'll really smell a dead body if I suggest that. There is no way this doesn't go south Jeff. Sara is our biggest issue so I'm going to have to read her in. If I can get her onboard, we'll be able to go forward."

"The last thing we need is the one CSI whose temper is well documented being involved." McKeen pointed to Catherine. "No one else is to be read in. It's you and Keppler taking lead on this."

Sara found herself walking down the hall after getting a package from Judy at the front desk. Seeing Keppler putting up plastic sheeting on the garage door confused her and so she caught Catherine as she neared the door.

"What's going on?"

The redhead turned around and looked at her. "Nothing I can talk about. Keep me posted on the 419. Greg's going to meet you at the scene."

"Okay." She was perplexed by the whole encounter.

Hodges found her seconds later. "Ten to one, it's Internal Affairs. Got a vibe off Keppler the minute he blew in. Always with a suit." He leaned in once on the other side of her. "If you or Grissom got any dirty laundry, I hope you use bleach."

Getting to the locker room, she sat down on the bench and proceeded to open the box. Inside was a branch with a cocoon on it. A smile tugged at her lips as she twirled it in her fingers. Looking inside the box, she found nothing else, not even a note. There was a bit of disappointment but she knew he was relating the cocoon to her pregnancy. About the beauty and the new life that came with it. Plus, anything he had to say to her could be said over text or video chat. There had been one well-written and romantic letter that he'd sent via mail. It had made her grin as she read the small message and sonnet that lay on the inside.

The scene was a mess when she got there, David was there and the smell hit Sara like a slap in the face. She put the back of her wrist to her nose and inhaled the lavender and peppermint essential oils she'd started putting there. It helped her not get sick from the smell of a dead body and while she could tolerate a lot, this one was strong for some reason.

"Toys are all here." She stated while shining her flashlight at the table. "Needle, syringe, tubing, candle, spoon." She picked up the drugs. "Looks like heroin."

Sofia came up behind her and gently took the drugs from her. "I don't want even a trace of this getting into your system." Sofia told her, "why Catherine sent you here is beyond me." Once Sara nodded, the blonde continued with what she learned. "The manager said he found her like this when he came by for a visit. He said they were friends but he was a little unclear of her name. Monique something or another."

Sara took a breath due to the smell once again. "Maybe she was working off the rent."

"No ID on the body." David told them.

"I'll take a look around for it." Sofia told him and separated from Sara after putting the heroin in a bindle and let Sara sign it.

"Needle marks are sclerotic." He looked back at Sara, "chronic user. Probable OD."

Sara started taking photos of the body and bent over to see the tattoo when David mentioned it. "Scorpio, ruled by Pluto." Squatting down, she winced slightly as she was still learning how to move with a baby inside of her. She was only halfway through the pregnancy but her center of gravity was starting to shift. Sara spoke to David. "Although since it's not a planet anymore, I'm not sure how that works."

David watched her wince while squatting. "You okay there?"

"Yeah, still learning where my new center of gravity is as the weeks progress." She smiled at him, "the decomp smell doesn't help."

Deciding to distract her, David continued the planet discussion. "Maybe it's a dwarf sign. Like Pluto is, you know, a dwarf planet now."

Sara tried not to laugh so she suppressed it by looking down. "Maybe."

Sofia spoke as Sara paused in her photos and flashed her light around. "Keys, cell phone. No 'mom' or 'dad' listed." Seeing all the food, the blonde spoke. "This is a lot of food for a junkie."

"Maybe she had a roommate." Sara suggested.

Robbins was finishing his autopsy when Sara walked in, she smiled at the coroner as he finished his stitching. She waited patiently for him to finish and as she waited, her hand went to her belly. The baby was usually active in the daytime and she was working her way into a double. Catherine had waved her off when she tried to go home, telling her it was okay to stay. So, Sara ran her hand across her belly as the baby moved, almost willing it to go to sleep.

"The baby active?"

Sara glanced up at Robbins. "How could you tell?"

"After three kids, I know what a pregnant woman with an active baby looks like." He chuckled softly. "You guys debating names already or waiting till you find out?"

"That's our secret." Sara told him with a slight smirk. "We decided not to tell anyone the name until they're born. I can say that no one will guess our choices in the baby name pool."

The coroner finished and waved Sara over. "COD was blunt force trauma to the right temporal region. Wounds inconsistent with a fall." His phone rang so Sara looked back at it. You fall into something, say a coffee table, wound's always deeper on one end." The phone continued ringing. "Depth here is uniform." He paused and yelled behind Sara. "Would someone please answer that phone?" The phone stopped ringing. "I'm sorry. Tox confirms high level of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine in her system. I opened up her arm under a fresh needle mark, drew out one milliliter of dark liquid." Looking at the girl's arm, Sara saw a puddle of black goop. "The drugs were puddled. Means they didn't circulate in her bloodstream. Injection was postmortem."

"Dead girls don't shoot up." Sara told him as David entered the room with the phone.

"Catherine needs to speak to you. Says it's urgent."

Robbins nodded. "Right."

Within a day, things were a mess and Sara was trying to keep her temper under control. Nick and Warrick didn't think she noticed everything they mentioned, cataloging it in her brain. Then she found her victim was linked to the case Catherine and Keppler were working on. They refused to tell her about their case, despite the connection with her case. She also had her sources within the lab to know that shit was going down that could cause the integrity of the lab to be called into question. Nick caught her in the breakroom and waved for her to follow him. Greg was at the doors to the front of the crime lab with Warrick. They headed outside so she followed, Greg held the door open for her.

"Thanks." Nick, Warrick, and Greg were huddling so she joined them. "Uh, it's freezing. Why are we having a meeting outside?"

Nick looked at the building. "Because Catherine and Keppler are in there."

"What, have you guys been listening to Hodges?" Greg asked because usually it was Hodges who spread chaos in the lab.

"No, and this isn't about Keppler being IA anyway. This is about Catherine having a false confession and standing by it." Nick told him and looked between Sara and Warrick also.

Warrick looked concerned. "You'd better be able to back that one up, man."

Nick looked at his friend. "Zamesca knew Sara and Greg's vic. He's dead, she's dead, same drugs are found at both scenes, and then those same drugs showed up at your crime scene?"

"Could have come from the same supplier." He suggested.

"We see that all the time. I don't think it's a coincidence." Greg tried to offer up an explanation.

Nick looked at Sara. "You're awful quiet over there."

"You know, Catherine," she looked behind herself, "Catherine ordered Henry to step out of his lab without putting drug evidence away."

All three looked at her but it was Greg who asked the question. "Why would she do that?"

"I did see Keppler checking out Zamesca's file yesterday. I didn't think anything strange about it then, but now…" Warrick trailed off.

Sara held her arms around herself tighter. "Okay, so maybe there is an IA investigation."

"Sara, you do the investigating." Warrick reminded her. "Every IA investigation, barring the issue with Nick's car last year, you investigate us. Grissom doesn't let IA within a mile of this building."

"He's right." Nick told her before sighing. "I can't find the Holstein evidence."

"What?" Sara looked at him with fury in her eyes. "What do you mean you can't find it?"

Warrick put up his hand as if trying to calm her. "Catherine put it in a temporary locker. It's not missing."

"Yeah. Why doesn't she put it where it belongs?" Nick asked firmly.

Warrick looked between them again. "The Holstein bullet was a little bit too clean, and Keppler didn't seem at all concerned about it. He said that we would see at autopsy."

Nick chuckled darkly. "Well, it's kind of hard to have an autopsy when you don't have a body, man. I talked to Doc Robbins; he's still trying to track it down. And the mortuary has no record of Catherine's phone call whatsoever."

"Do we have access to any of the Holstein evidence?" Sara asked.

"We got the car." Warrick told her before sighing. "Catherine sent it to the impound."

Greg tried to be positive. "Well, at least we know where it is."

Nick shook his head. "All right, that's it. We're a team now, the four of us. We can't trust Catherine and we can't trust Keppler." He received looks of surprise. "I'm serious. I'm gonna run with this one." He looked at the three with him.

Warrick nodded. "I'll run with you." Nick slapped his shoulder and they looked at Sara.

"Sara, if you want to stay far from this, we'd understand." Nick told her, "you got more than your job to worry about now."

Sara shook her head. "Before he left, Gil showed me a lot of things pertaining to being a supervisor. He wanted Catherine's hands off of them in case there was a situation with her dad being involved. He entrusted the lab to me and I won't let Catherine and Keppler destroy it's integrity."

Nick looked to Greg and the man nodded. "You know me, if Sara's in, I'm in."

"The first thing we need to figure out is how to get into that temporary locker without destroying the lock." Nick looked to them. "Any idea?"

Warrick glanced around. "We can always replace the lock or the door, or even the locker. Just depends on how much time you got."

"I could get Sofia to lock pick it." Greg suggested.

Sara pulled her coat tighter around her body as Nick spoke. "Yeah, Sofia would be willing to help us if we asked." He continued after a moment. "Or take it off it's hinges. That's less damage."

"We could just use the master key." Sara told them and all three looked at her. "I know where it is." She shrugged, "I told you he showed me a lot of things pertaining to being a supervisor. Master keys and vital documents are just a few."

The evidence room door was closed as Sara returned from Grissom's office with the key. Nick was at impound while Warrick handled the evidence locker. Greg was on distraction duty. Warrick was on the phone with Nick when she entered it.

"…Sara's here. And she has the key. Got to go." Warrick hung up his phone.

"You know. I really hate deceiving people because, eventually, you get what you give." Sara told him as she put the key in the temporary locker.

"I hate being deceived." Warrick followed up as the door to the locker opened. They saw two boxes inside. He grabbed one, "yes. Alright." Sara grabbed the second box and put it on the table. "Anything I collected, we ignore."

Sara sat with anger on her tongue as she watched Catherine and Keppler try to explain what they'd done. She knew Catherine was aware of what mshe'd done wrong, that she let the higher-ups tell her what to do instead of following the evidence. She risked the lab in the process of trying to catch a suspect. Usually, Sara would leave the situation to Grissom or Ecklie, but Grissom was gone and Ecklie was out for the week, and Catherine was in charge. By following instead of leading, Catherine risked everything.

Catherine looked at the four across from her and Keppler. It was Keppler who spoke. "It's called reverse forensics."

"Reverse forensics?" Greg looked confused.

Sara put up her hand to stop them from speaking. "Reverse forensics is a crock. There's a reason it's not a valid science." She glanced at Keppler, "but you already know that. Three different cities, only once did it work, but you lost the guy in court trying to prove your evidence wasn't planted."

Keppler nodded. "I deserve that."

Catherine looked straight at Sara. "Simon had to believe it when he saw it on the news."

"He was a fugitive. The only way to get him to show his face was to make him think he was off the hook." Keppler added.

Warrick shook his head. "And your only option was to fabricate evidence and make me process it?" It was asked but Catherine knew the tone meant disappointment.

"How could you think that we wouldn't figure it out? It's kind of what we do." Greg told her. "Grissom trained us to follow the evidence to get a conviction, not fabricate it."

Catherine's face dropped. "I understand how you all feel. I am sorry. I did not have a choice." She paused before adding something. "McKeen twisted my arm."

"We trust you with our lives, Catherine. You could have trusted us with this." Nick stated as they all stared at her.

Looking to the other woman in the room, Catherine asked her a question with just her name. "Sara?"

Sara paused her hand where she'd been tapping a nearby notepad with her pen. "Catherine, if I have something to say to you, I'll say it in private." She sent Keppler a glare that had the boys uncomfortable because it was an expression one didn't want to put on Sara's face. "No offense."

Catherine nodded, understanding what Sara was saying. "Okay, look. We can still get Simon. He only walked on Zamesca. He drove Monique Carter's vehicle out into the desert. Nick's established that. Did he kill her, too?" They looked at the redhead in disbelief because she was jumping back into the fire after having been pulled out.

It was near morning when Catherine looked up at a knock on her office door. She found Sara there, the woman didn't have a smile for the first time in a while. Catherine waved her in and Sara entered the office, closing the door behind herself. The click of the door had Catherine setting her pen and the file in hand aside.

"I assume you're here to tell me what you really think." Catherine started as Sara sat down in one of the chairs across the desk.

Sara took a moment before addressing her supervisor. "You could have come to me."

"I tried to read you in but McKeen wouldn't let me." She stated honestly. "I knew if you got wind of the situation, it wouldn't end well." Catherine watched Sara think, her hand rubbing across her nearly five month belly. "I'm sorry Sara. I honestly am."

"I believe you." Sara told her, "I just find it shocking that you didn't bring Ecklie into it. He would have come in from vacation for this. He would have been a buffer regarding McKeen, preventing this circus from happening."

The redhead nodded. "My arm was twisted. I know if Gil was here, he'd have put his foot down with McKeen. Unlike him, saying 'no' would have risked my job."

"Catherine, you're one of the smartest people I know and you're a people person. You're able to engage and work with people in a way Gil and I can't. Our communication beyond the team is complicated on a good day, horrible on a bad. We aren't people persons." She sighed, "why did you let Keppler lead this mess? He has no business leading this team when you're acting supervisor."

"I don't know." Catherine finally told her. "I don't have a good answer for you."

Sara's nose flared as she tried to contain her anger. Eventually, she spoke to Catherine once again. "Next time something happens, just read us in. The four of us can keep our mouths shut, you know that, no matter what McKeen thinks."

"I do have a question." Catherine sat up in her chair straighter. "How'd you guys get into the locker?"

"Master key." Sara told her. "Gil has copies of all the keys for the building. I used the master key to open the locker before putting the keys back in his office." Standing up, the brunette looked at her supervisor. "I have to go; I have to pick up Hank and get home to eat and get some sleep before coming back tonight."

Watching her employee leave, Catherine spoke softly. "I am sorry Sara."

"I know." She said while opening the door. "That's why I'm not blowing up at you. This was McKeen's fault, Keppler's too. As you said, your arm was twisted."

Catherine called her back. "Hey Sara, probably a bad time to ask but do you want to go to Williams for the remainder of Gil's sabbatical? McKeen suggested sending you at no expense to your PTO. It was to get rid of you before you got a whiff of this disaster but we told him if we did, you'd really smell the dead body. I'm willing to send you and have him pay the bill." The brunette stood watching her supervisor. "It'll cover your yearly credentials and since the UNLV fall semester seminars occur right after the baby's born it wouldn't hurt to get it out of the way now."

"I'll think about it and let you know tonight." With the final word, Sara left Catherine to her paperwork.

Let me know what you think of this chapter if you so wish.

I don't know if I should send her to Williams or keep her at he the lab. Let me know you're opinion.