A/N: Once again, many many thanks for your comments. For those that leave a guest review, I can't reply back, but know that every comment is very much appreciated. Once again, another amazing beta from JellybeanChiChi. Her help is so invaluable for this story, and is also very much appreciated.

CHAPTER 5

When Sara walked into the briefing room the next morning, Jake's attention was taken up by another daytime CSI, Karen O'Shea. She and Sara didn't always get along and Karen looked too pleased when Jake's attention shifted towards Sara when she entered the room.

But Sara did nothing to reciprocate the attention, and watched as Karen managed to recapture Jake's interest. The scene made Sara mentally shake her head. If Karen fancied Jake, she was welcome to him. Sara had more important things to do.

Since Karen was keeping Jake occupied, Sara headed for the evidence locker, ready to make a start on the last remaining tapes of CCTV footage. After gathering her boxes, she passed by her supervisor's office to give him an update. On her way out she bumped into Nick.

"Hey, Love Bug!" he greeted her, drawing her into a hug, a delighted smile on her face as she hugged him back. "How's that little Cricket doing? We haven't seen him in awhile."

Sara released him, a happy smile still on her face. She loved to hear Nick's long standing nickname for Daniel.

"He's good," she nodded. "Don't think it'll be too long before he's starting to crawl."

Nick grinned. "Crawling is when the fun, really starts, and you need eyes everywhere."

"I think I have Gil convinced to have people over for a barbecue soon."

"That sounds good. I'll have to tell the gang…"

Nick paused as Jake came to stand beside Sara. He didn't take much notice of Karen, who had been walking with Jake and passed by the three of them with a knowing smile on her face. She sauntered down the hallway and started to make a phone call.

But Nick's attention was on Jake who immediately put his hands on Sara's shoulders.

"Good morning, Princess," Jake said sweetly to Sara. "How're your shoulders today? Did the massage help?"

Even before Nick could open his mouth to set Jake straight, Sara ducked out of Jake's grasp and put a good amount of space between them.

"Cool it, Jake," she said. Although Nick could tell she was trying to keep her calm, he recognized the edge in her voice, her slightly louder tone and the way her eyes blazed as she turned to face Jake.

Jake might have responded had it not been for a text that both he and Sara received. They looked at their phones simultaneously.

"They found the car at long-term parking," Jake said. "How long does it normally take to get it to the garage here?"

"It's at the impound lot now, so maybe 15 minutes," Sara said as she put her phone back into her jeans.

Nick put a supportive hand on Sara's shoulder. "I'll let you go. Tell Griss, I said 'Hi,' and give Cricket a cuddle from me," Nick said with a smile as he glanced at Jake, "Good luck… with everything."

"Thanks Nick," Sara said with a smile. "No worries."

As soon as a Nick was out of earshot, Sara turned to face Jake.

"Jake. You are in Vegas for one reason and one reason alone. To solve your case. I am working with you under the advisement of my supervisor and because I want to see this case through. We are not working together because it is written in the stars, and I would hope you are a good enough CSI to figure out the signals I am throwing you. I am not interested," Sara said resolutely. "Now, stop stepping over the professional line and making this whole situation personal."

Jake scoffed, his smile shark-like. "I stepped over the line?" he asked, pointing a finger at his chest. "That's rich, coming from the woman who started sleeping with her boss! Guess sleeping with him didn't quite work out as well as you wanted since you're still a Level 3 and he's out on his ass."

"My husband, left on his own accord to teach at a university," Sara said, not at all surprised that Karen dished out gossip about her relationship with Grissom. "It's amazing how you still believe any piece of office and locker room gossip as Gospel. You'd think a man your age would know better."

She turned abruptly on her heels, heading swiftly down the corridor towards the CSI garage. As far as Sara was concerned, the quicker the car arrived, the quicker they could move this case forward and the quicker he'd be out of her life again.

Before beginning a thorough examination of the car, Sara shot photo after photo of the car, which was covered in a thin film of dust and grime.

A claim ticket on the dash had a time stamp of four days ago. The beige 2002 Mitsubishi Galant sedan was in worse shape than the CCTV footage from the gas station had indicated. There were dents above the right front tire, the driver's side door, and the passenger side rear bumper. The tires were worn and clearly needed changing.

It was obvious that the vehicle wasn't road worthy, and hadn't been for some time.

Opening the rear passenger side door, Sara took a few more pictures before beginning her search. She frowned in concentration, noticing a familiar wear pattern on the back seat. Two straight parallel lines, and another on the backrest.

"I think they might have had a toddler with them," Sara mused almost to herself, putting the pieces together in her mind.

"What gives you that idea?" Jake wanted to know, as he continued to work on the outside of the car.

"See these?" Sara pointed to the indentations as Jake bent down to take a look. "They're from a car seat. We know she's pregnant…and Ashwood was distracted by something or someone in the back seat…"

Her voice trailed off, as something fluffy and orange from under the front passenger seat caught her eye. Reaching over she pulled out a plush toy tiger. It was worn threadbare in several places, where small fingers had rubbed the plush fur in comfort. One of the eyes was missing. It was obvious that the plush tiger was very much loved.

"Little guy left his stuffed animal behind," Sara's tone was wistful and held a note of sadness to it, that wasn't lost on Jake.

"What makes you such an expert?" he asked, indicating the wear pattern and toy.

Still looking at the tiger, lost in thought, Sara responded in a low voice. "I have a son. He has something similar and he takes it everywhere with him."

Surprised, Jake could only stare at her.

"You have a kid?" he asked, his tone reflecting his surprise. "How old is he?"

"Eight months."

"Well, aren't you just full of surprises? Marriage… kids…the whole nine yards. I never would have guessed the old guy had it in him."

Sara refused to rise to the bait. Instead she turned her attention back to processing the car. After a minute or two, Jake took the hint and returned to work.

They worked in silence, for the next half hour. Sara found more evidence of a toddler after she discovered a pacifier under the driver's seat. She bagged it.

She documented and photographed her way to the front of the car, collecting more evidence as she went. As she opened the driver's door, she spotted a photo wedged under the seat, almost as if it had been dropped without the occupant's knowledge. Sara snapped a few photos, before picking it up.

It was a photo of Ashwood and Tessa with a toddler Sara guessed was around 2 years old. If that was the case, then that could mean that Tessa was pregnant when she and Ashwood ran off together. It was a possible motive.

In the photo, Tessa was smiling broadly, her green eyes bright. It was abundantly clear that she was happy, as was the matching grin from Ashwood, who had his arm around Tessa and the toddler.

It was obvious that they genuinely loved each other.

Sara shook her head absently. When they were finally caught, it would mean tearing a family apart, for there was no doubt they were a family. As it was, Ashwood was facing at least twenty years in prison, with little hope of seeing his children or Tessa again. Even if he made a deal, serving fifteen years instead, there would be little chance he'd see them again.

Although she didn't condone what they'd done, she couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness at the thought. She couldn't ever imagine Gil not being a part of either her or Daniel's life. It would tear her world apart.

If only Ashwood had waited three more years, then his relationship with Tessa would have been legal, if not conventional. She found a part of her, hoping that if a deal were offered, Ashwood take it.

Over the next three days, Sara and Jake continued their investigation. DNA on the pacifier confirmed the child was male and he shared alleles at all loci with the DNA samplers entered into CODIS three years previously for Tessa and Ashwood. The toddler was their son.

After exhaustive searches of flight records, it was finally established that they hadn't boarded any flights, at least under either Ashwood or Driscoll.

Jake had mentioned before that they had become adept at blending in and keeping a low profile over the last three years, and Sara was beginning to understand his frustration.

Grissom eyed the boxer with an upturned eyebrow. The dog whined under Grissom's gaze.

"You know, buddy, these were my favourite walking boots," he teased Hank, as Grissom placed the chewed boots into a garbage bag.

Hank whimpered, his head drooped, his eyes mournful and almost pleading. His tail wagged half-heartedly. He gave a small bark, as he slinked towards Grissom, his tail tucked contritely between his legs.

"Don't get like that with me," Grissom said, as he bent to pet his beloved pooch. Hank licked his face gratefully for his efforts, and Grissom chuckled.

Grissom rose to his feet, as Sara's Prius pulled up to the garage. She was home early, after having spent the day in court.

"Hey, honey, how was court?" he asked with a smile, as he placed the bagged shoes into the trashcan.

Sara's smile spoke volumes.

"Twelve years," she said with a grin. "With a minimum of at least eight before he'll be considered for parole. What's Hank apologising for this time?"

Grissom sighed. He looked down at the dog again and asked, "Should I tell her, or will you?" Hank titled his head askance, and whined.

"Coward," Grissom huffed before placing his hand on the small of Sara's back as he guided her into the house.

"Remember those favourite walking boots of mine…?"

Much later, their breathing and heart rates returning to almost normal as they snuggled in the afterglow, a satiated drowsiness began to settle over them, as they drifted off.

It had only felt like ten minutes, when both Sara and Grissom were startled awake by the sound of Hank's furious barking.

Afraid that it would wake Daniel, Grissom headed out to discover what had disturbed Hank. Fastening his robe, he found the dog whining and sniffing at the door. He growled low in his throat.

Grissom whistled, and Hank obediently came to him, before returning to the front door, still agitated.

When it became clear that something had clearly unsettled the dog, Grissom headed back to their bedroom, stopping first to check on Daniel. His soft, relaxing breathing was enough to convince Grissom that his son was still slumbering peacefully.

Returning back to their room, he quickly redressed.

"Something's got him spooked, so I'm going to take him for a walk. He didn't wake Dan. Try and go back to sleep, honey." Grissom explained, giving her a quick kiss, before quickly heading back to Hank, and heading out into the darkness.