Title: Appearances Author: Amy aka Lady Julieanne Pairing: C/S Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own the rights to the show or the characters. I am still coming to terms with this. Feedback: Please? Pretty Please? C'mon I'm begging here... js1n2001@yahoo.com Distribution/Archiving: Just ask. I like to know where my work goes. Summary: A string of strange murders causes the whole night shift to pull extra shifts to try to catch the killer. A/N: Oh where oh where did the time go? I remember when I used to post one part a day, and there was that amazing day when I got three done. Now look, it's been five days since the last part. I really am trying, and I promise to try harder. I just need to figure out how to put reality on hold for a while.... **************************************************************** Sara went meticulously through the scene. The coroner had come and gone hours ago. Sara found precious little evidence at the scene that would mean anything later. The perp was starting to get sloppy. There wasn't much evidence, but what she did find should be useful. Hairs with skintags, more epithelials, and this time a partial print from the faucet in the bathroom. She hoped Grissom had better luck with his scene. Sara exited the hotel into the early morning hours of another hot day in Vegas. Today was supposed to be her day off she realized. She knew that it wasn't likely to happen. Her shift had technically ended about an hour ago, and she had yet to return to the lab with her samples. She hoped Greg would keep up his end of the deal and she would return to the lab to find all the evidence from yesterday and whatever Grissom had given him had been run. At the lab, Sara couldn't find Greg and so she dropped the evidence off in his lab and headed into the break area for a much needed caffeine fix. Sara noticed that Greg had brewed yet another pot of that wonderful vanilla roast. Sara snagged the last cup and headed off to her office. One step into her office and she knew she should have just stayed in the relative quiet of the breakroom. Sara found all the reports she was looking for sitting on her desk. She couldn't help but think, great, more reading. Well, at least Greg did what I asked him to. Sara buried her nose in the reports and discovered little that was useful. Mostly more of the same on the evidence that came in. The victim at the Luxor was another prostitute. No big surprise there. It seemed to Sara that nearly half of the victims lately were of this occupation. There were DNA and toxicology reports ready on the woman, whose name was Gina Shepherd. Gina had massive amounts of cocaine and Percocet in her system. The pattern was developing. Greg had apparently also finished the mass spec on the salve. Common, drug store first aid salve. No help there. Sara was still immersed in the reports when she heard a voice calling out her name. She looked up to see Grissom at the door. "Sara?" Grissom questioned for the third time. "Yeah boss?" Sara said as she turned towards him. "Did you get your evidence to Greg?" All business, even when shift is supposed to be over, and neither of them are actually supposed to be working right now. "Yeah. I just wanted to read these reports and then I was going to find a microscope and help him out. But he does seem to have gotten a lot done for you." "Yeah he did. Whatever you told him sure worked. He even managed to find a new trace lab tech from upstairs and got her to help him. He practically worked in record time. And he didn't fool around like usual, all business." Grissom said with a smile. "Greg? Serious?" Sara asked incredulously. "Yeah. I couldn't believe it either. I gave Warrick a couple hours off, and when he comes back, I expect you to take a few as well. I can't have you two being too tired. I need everyone on top of their game for this. Catherine and Nick will be coming in early to help out. I'm not sure what this guy's up to, but I know he's getting sloppier with each kill and that we'll get him soon." Grissom explained before walking out of Sara's office. Sara walked in the opposite direction to find the microscope that she would sit at for the next few hours as she examined the fibers from the scenes. She examined the fibers and entered the individual information in the crime lab's database for comparison. Sara finished entering the information and headed off to the break room to grab a fresh caffeine fix. The coffeepot in the break room was still empty so Sara settled for a can of soda. She headed back into her office to catch up on the paperwork that was rapidly overtaking her desk. Sara grumbled in dissatisfaction realizing that if she didn't spend some quality time over the next few days doing paperwork, she would soon find herself deskbound with no chance of getting into the field. Three cans of soda and two hours later, Sara heard a knock at her door. "Sara? Gris says it's time for you take off. You've got four hours to get back. I suggest getting some sleep. It looks to be a long night." And with that Warrick was off to his own office. Sara realized that she barely made a dent in the paperwork, but she needed to get away from the office, so she headed home. She was tempted to take the flowers home with her, but decided against it. If she left them here, they would be a small reminder of a beautiful thing while she was stuck in the dreary confines of her office. And for that, she would put up with endless amounts of teasing from Greg. What seemed like minutes later, Sara was once again pulling her car into the lot at the CSI building. Rested and refreshed, she hoped this case would be wrapped up soon. She never used to have a problem when one shift suddenly turned into a double, or worse, but she now had someone to spend her off time with, and she desperately wanted to do just that. She walked into the lab and was immediately greeted by Greg. He seemed too happy to be at work. But he was back to his goofy self apparently. He practically skipped down the halls with Sara. “Greg? You didn’t happen to dip into the illegal substances samples did you? You seem pretty chipper.” Sara smiled at the tech. “Nope. Definitely not,” he was acting like a hyper two year old. “Just wanted you to know that I finished all the work that you told me too, and I did some extra work for Grissom. I’ve got reports ready for the team and everyone’s waiting in the breakroom.” “So why the happy mood? Sounds to me like you probably worked you ass off and should be in need of sleep. You’re way too hyper to have been working since yesterday.” Sara said still smiling. She knew what Greg was all excited about. But it was too much fun to act like she had forgotten their deal. “C’mon. Give.” Greg said sticking his hand out. “Give what?” “You know what I’m talking about. The card. You told me if I was a good little worker I’d get to read the card.” Greg was close to throwing a child’s fit. Sara enjoyed every minute of it. “Okay, okay. Give me a second, I’ll go to my office and grab it for you.” Sara ducked into her office and grabbed the card, surprised that Greg hadn’t already snuck in and read it while she was out. On her way to the break room, she handed the card to Greg. He silently read what was on the card and looked up at Sara. “Dammit. You tricked me. You said I’d get to find out who the mystery man was. All that work for nothing.” Greg huffed. “Not for nothing, Greg. I said you’d get to read the card, which you did,” Sara was grinning from ear to ear. “But he didn’t put his name on the card. I want to know who he is.” “Greg, you want to do the field work with the rest of the team. Here’s your first chance to put the clues together and figure it out.” Sara grabbed the card from Greg and left him standing in the hall as she headed to the breakroom to meet with the rest of the team. Sara walked into the breakroom and noticed first thing that Catherine’s attention shifted briefly from Grissom to her. No one else noticed the look that passed between the two. Sara’s body was tingling with sensation, just from being near Catherine. Once again, she is transformed into a hormone driven teenager as her eyes take in the subtly sexy outfit that Catherine is wearing. And she can only see the blouse. Sara is tempted to turn and walk back out of the room to get her body back in check. She hadn’t realized just how much she missed Catherine. And it had really only been two days. That pesky smile wouldn’t go away and Sara was certain that this would be something she would have to work on. She was definitely not known around the office as a happy person. And if Greg had already picked up on it, and now that he knew about the flowers, she was certain Greg would bug everyone in sight until he figured out who was making her so happy. Grissom was apparently briefing Catherine and Nick on the case. Neither looked particularly happy to have been called in. On the table in front of Catherine was a small stack of newspapers. On the top newspaper Sara could read a headline that proclaimed “Three Prostitutes Found Murdered in Area Hotels”. Sara reached over Catherine’s shoulder to grab the top paper. No one in the room noticed that her hand brushed against Catherine as she pulled back or that Sara had leaned in close enough to Catherine to whisper a quiet hello in her ear. For a room full of trained investigators, they all sometimes had the ability to miss the obvious with their attention easily distracted by the evidence Grissom was discussing. Sara silently thought to herself that it was definitely a good thing that when they worked in the field, everyone was quite a bit more focused. It was a bit amazing that the team worked so well and so hard at solving some of the most difficult cases, when they couldn’t even pick up on some of the most obvious clues. Sara read the article in the paper wondering where they got their information. At this point, only two of the victims were known prostitutes, and the article went on to explain that the victims had been found in a way that resembled suicide, with a noose around their necks, but was classified as murder. Well, at least they got the murder part right. Sara finished the article, happy to see it was relatively small. The paper underneath the one she had chosen also seemed to have a relatively small article relating to the murders. At least the press didn’t seem all that interested. Once the press got wind of things, everything seemed to move forward too fast. The Sheriff’s office would push the team too hard and too fast to wrap things up. Sara knew, much to her dislike, that these things took time. There was no room for error and all the pushing from Mobley just opened the gap. For the time being, it seemed they were free from the influence of the Sheriff. Grissom finished his miniature dissertation to the team and a quiet buzz filled the room as everyone began talking about what the next steps were. Sara was happy to have the whole team on this because she knew the more people they had, the sooner the case would be solved. And seeing as how she had basically been forced to give up her one day off this week, she was more than happy to have the extra help. Sara grabbed a bottle of water from the tiny fridge and headed off to her office. She wanted to put her flowers in fresh water before she got started on what looked to be a long night. She had her back to the door and didn’t notice as Catherine slipped in the room. She only heard the soft click of the door as Catherine closed it behind her. “Hey.” Was all that Catherine said. “Hey yourself,” Sara replied as she turned to face Catherine. “So you got the flowers, huh?” Catherine was quickly discovering she was bad at this kind of small talk. All she wanted was to sweep Sara into her arms and plant a long, lingering kiss on her lips. “Yes. Thank you, but I think you should know,” Sara said as she stepped closer to Catherine, “that Greg is person who signed for them and brought them into my office. So he has been relentlessly attempting to figure out who the mystery man in my life is.” Sara pulled Catherine into her arms. “Ah.” Catherine melted into Sara’s embrace. “What did you tell him?” “At first, only that there wasn’t a mystery man.” Sara leaned down and placed tiny kisses on Catherine’s cheek. “And then, when I needed him to be a good boy and run all the lab tests, I told him he could read the card.” Sara’s kisses had moved down Catherine’s neck and she was kissing her way back up towards Catherine’s ear. A spot she knew Catherine loved. “You did what?” Catherine tried to sound upset, but her voice was shaking and her words came out barely above a whisper. Sara began sucking and nibbling on Catherine’s ear. “I missed you, you know? I haven’t seen you in so long. Just seeing you in the breakroom was enough to make me want you.” Sara’s breath against her ear was sending shivers down Catherine’s spine. “I let Greg read the card. It’s not like your name was on it or anything.” Sara said, remembering that Catherine had asked her a question. Catherine may have been about to object to what Sara was saying, but before any words could form, Sara’s lips were on hers and she lost the ability to think. Sara’s hands lazily ran up and down Catherine’s back feeling the softness of the silky fabric as it moved against Catherine’s even softer skin. Sara’s moan vibrates through the two of them. What seems like minutes later, Sara pulls back. Her breath is ragged and Catherine sees the fire burning in her eyes. Catherine knows that look. It is the look that Sara gets when all the world has faded away and the only thing left is Catherine and Sara and their mutual hunger for each other. It is the look Sara gets when she wants to hear Catherine scream in pleasure. Sara tries to control her breathing. Slow deep breaths. She wants Catherine too much right now. Stolen minutes on the floor of her office will not diminish her need. Sara felt the way Catherine’s body responded to her. Catherine wanted her, and if the heat building between the two of them was any indication, Catherine wanted her badly. Sara fights a losing battle with her control and just as she pulls Catherine to her again, her ears ring with the shrill beeping of her pager. Cursing under her breath, seconds later Sara hears Catherine’s pager go off as well. **************************************************************** Thanks for sticking with this far. Now all I ask of you is feedback. mail to js1n2001@yahoo.com