Synopsis: A grudge upsets the Halloween plans of the investigation team.
Rating: PG-13

Gil Grissom walked into the room and everyone from the rookies to Captain Jim Brass of Homicide got quiet and ready to watch “the master” at work.

“What do we have, Jim?”

“Dead body in the bathtub. Windows open so the neighbors could smell it. Suicide recorded on a tape player in hand.” Brass said, thinking of the same person his friend was, Paul Milander.

Grissom tried to hide his surprise. After all, no one had heard from or about Paul Milander for nearly a year, not since he’d sent them on the wild goose chase and then been on the office surveillance cameras. Still it was the week of Halloween, the last Halloween for nineteen years to have a full moon. He shook the cobwebs from his brain and got to work on the crime scene.

Sara Sidel walked into the break room to get some coffee and overheard Nick Stokes talking to Warrick Brown. “All right, I’ll get the shaving cream; you get the toilet paper.”

“And you’ll both get time in jail for vandalism.” She said with a hint of a smile.

“I guess Sara’s out.” Warrick commented.

“Come on, Sara, you never wrapped houses?” Nick laughed, laughing inside, but trying to hide it.

“No.”

“No what?” Catherine Willows asked.

“The guys were talking about getting shaving cream and toilet paper…” Sara began.

“What? No eggs?” Catherine asked, teasing.

“Sara’s never wrapped houses.” Nick told Catherine.

“You never wrapped houses? I used to do it all the time.”

“Wanna come?” Warrick asked.

“I’d love to, but I’m taking Lindsay to a party.”

“What did she finally decide to go as?” Sara asked.

“She’s going to be a princess.”

Grissom silently walked into the room. “What we got, boss?” Nick asked.

“Thomas McAllan, age 44. Dead body in bathtub, windows open so the neighbors could smell it, and a suicide recorded on a tape player in hand. I want all of us on this, but you two are lab only.” He said, looking pointedly at Catherine and Sara. He handed Warrick the red creeper powder and the boys left. Noticing that both girls were near boiling, he said, “If there’s evidence this isn’t Milander, I’ll let you into the field.”

“I don’t see why I can’t go. I mean, after what happened last time, I can see your point about Catherine…” Sara began.

“I can’t.” Catherine interrupted, still mad.

“On the first case, Brass and I worked it and I became targeted. The second case, all three of us worked it and I just want to make sure…”

Paul Milander watched the three silently from his hiding place. All four of Grissom’s colleagues meant a great deal to him, despite his protests to the contrary, but if favorites had to be picked, it would be the two women, Sara and Catherine. Sara was one of his students, the one most like him. She had come, at Grissom’s request, from San Francisco to investigate Holly Gribbs’s death and stayed on in Las Vegas. She had no family and no steady relationships, no one but Grissom and the team. Catherine, on the other hand, was divorced with an eight-year-old daughter, Lindsay. The divorce had been bitter and violent; Grissom had ended up being drawn in the middle to protect Catherine. Grissom was in love with Catherine, but no one knew how she felt about him, even though they’d dated since May. Yes, there was no doubt about it; the women in Grissom’s life would be the easiest hit.

Nick turned out the lights and the boys looked for fingerprints. “Nothing.” Warrick said, disappointed.

“It’s sterile,” Nick commented.

“Maybe Grissom’s right. Maybe it is Milander.” Sara said, sitting at a table with Warrick and Nick.

“He say why you two can’t come with us?” Nick asked.

“He’s worried since we worked the last case with him, Milander will come after one or both of us.” She yawned.

“Why don’t you go home? Catherine’s already left.” Grissom asked. She started to protest, but yawned again. “Go home. We can handle things.”

“All right. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“Make it nine.” She nodded and drove home; Grissom went back to his office.

“What was that all about?” Warrick asked.

“He’s worried about the girls.”

“We all are.”

“Some things happened in San Francisco. Sara’s like his daughter.”

“How do you know?” Warrick asked, but received no response.

Catherine came back to the office. “I thought I told you to go home.” Grissom said, looking up from his files.

“Yeah, seven hours ago. I’ve slept; Lindsay’s at school, we’ve got to catch this guy before he does something else.”

“What time is it?”

“Eight-thirty.”

The phone rang and he answered it. “What? If you hurt her, I’ll find you. Leave her alone, Milander!” He slammed down the phone and Catherine looked at him, startled.

“Go get the boys. We’re going to Sara’s.”

The team ran into the apartment, calling Sara’s name. Nick found her lying on the floor, bleeding heavily. Catherine found the knife that was used to stab her friend nearby.

“I’ll call Brass.” Warrick said, pulling out his cell phone while Catherine bagged the knife with a sandwich baggie.

The ambulance came to get Sara. “Nick, go with her. We’ll be there in a little while, but I don’t want her to be alone.”

“Okay, boss.” He said, reluctant to go. He hated that Sara was hurt and he hated whoever did this to her.

Warrick, Catherine, and Grissom took the knife back to the lab and had the fingerprints analyzed.

Mandy looked at Grissom. “There’s two sets of prints, sir. Yours and Catherine’s.”

“Well, Cath picked up the knife, her fingerprints came off of that.” Warrick said.

“And Milander’s managed to get your prints again. He probably used gloves this time.”

Brass came in. “I hate to do this to you, Gil.”

“What?”

“I have to take you in. If Milander’s fingerprints had been on the knife, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“You know that whether his fingerprints were on there or not, he was the one that stabbed Sara. I need to get to the hospital, I don’t have time for this!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Okay, tell me something. Why would I stab Sara?”

“Grissom, this isn’t my idea. It comes from above.”

“It’ll be okay, Gil. We’ll take care of Sara and finish this up.”

“Warrick…” Grissom looked at Catherine and the other male CSI nodded, then Brass and Grissom left.

“Damn it.” Catherine cursed softly. “I can’t believe this. There’s not one shred of evidence connecting Milander to this, but we all know he did it.”

“He’ll be all right. Brass will see to it. Come on. I’ll take you to see Sara.”

“No. One of us has to go look at the crime scene again. Maybe there will be something to connect Milander to this.”

“All right. I’ll go. But first I’ll drop you off at the hospital.”

“I can drive.”

“I promised Grissom I’d take care of you.”

She smiled at him. “That’s real sweet, but I can take care of myself. Just go over the crime scene and find something that will get Grissom out of this.”

Nick was sitting in a chair in Sara’s room when Catherine arrived. “How is she?”

He turned towards the door. “She’s doing good. She passed out from the pain; they’ve got her drugged now.”

“Hi, Sara.” She told her friend softly.

“Where’s the others?” Nick asked.

“Warrick went to Sara’s to try to find something to connect to Milander. The only fingerprints on the knife were mine and Grissom’s.”

“Milander’s weren’t?”

“No. Brass took Grissom to the station.”

“They arrested him?”

“It’s not an arrest, more like a custody, but still…”

“The idea that he’d hurt Sara is absurd.”

“And it’s hurting him that he can’t take care of Sara and he’s worried about me. He told Warrick to take care of me.”

“You told Warrick to go?”

“Yeah. I have a gun and I know how to use it. Warrick needs to go get evidence so Grissom can get out of that place.”

He turned and looked at her. “You look tired.”

“Just a little stressed.”

“I’ll stay here. Why don’t you go home and get some rest?”

She nodded. “Call me if Sara wakes up or if you need something.”

“I will.”

Twenty minutes later, Sara opened her eyes. “Hey, you.” Nick said, smiling at her.

“Nick.”

The phone rang. “Hello? Hey, Warrick. No, she just woke up. Really? That’s great. Okay.”

“What’s great?” Sara asked after Nick hung up.

“We can prove Grissom was with us when you were hurt.”

“Yeah…someone actually thought Grissom hurt me? Who would be that dumb?” She made a face.

He smiled. “Police. Warrick’s going to get him out.”

“Go.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m tired. I want more sleep.” He smiled again.

“All right. I’ll be right back.” He hurried out of the room and to the station.

Warrick and Nick went back to a cell where Grissom was. “What the hell are you two doing here? Who’s with the girls?”

“Sara’s asleep in the hospital, if anyone can get to her in there, I’ll do doubles for two weeks straight.” Nick said. “Cath went home. She has her gun.”

“Warrick, get back to the hospital. Nick, come with me.” Grissom said as the metal bars opened and the older CSI ran to his Tahoe and drove to Catherine’s.

She was tied to the bed and had bruises on her face. Milander was waiting for Grissom and Nick.

“Hi, Mr. Grissom. Or should I say Welcome Home?”

“Get away from her, Milander.”

“How’s our Sara, Nick? You know, it would be such a shame if she died. She’s so pretty.”

“Leave her alone. This has nothing to do with any of my people.”

“I know exactly what upsets you, Grissom. You’re not a people person, but the girls are your favorites. I knew that attacking them would hurt you the most. I used your weaknesses against you, just like the guards did to my father.”

“I’m not your father. I’m sorry about what happened. Let Catherine go.”

Milander ignored him. “You know, you are something else. You say you’re Catherine’s friend, but you didn’t tell her about her husband’s infidelities. You let her go through a horrible divorce with an asshole of an ex-husband. You say you’re Sara’s friend, but you know that she’s in love with one of your CSIs and you won’t let them be together because it would upset your order, make you lose control. Two of your people can’t be together, even though you and Catherine are.”

Brass came to stand beside Grissom, his gun extended and pointed at Milander. “You are under arrest. Let Catherine go.”

Milander pulled a string and a cloud of smoke came out from the small smoke machine in the corner. When they fought their way over to where he had been sitting, he was gone. Grissom untied Catherine.

“You have so much explaining to do.” Catherine said.

“Later. Come on, we’re going to get you checked out and then we’ll go see Sara.”

“Since Cath’s Tahoe’s already here, I’m going to go ahead and go see Sara.” Nick left to drive to the hospital while Grissom helped Catherine outside.

While Catherine was waiting to see a doctor, she asked again. “Okay, I know what he was saying about me, but what do you know about Sara?”

“Nick likes her.”

“You do know.”

“In your words? ‘Oh, yeah.’”

After Catherine was checked out, she walked to Sara’s room with Grissom. “Catherine, are you okay?” Sara asked, opening her eyes and looking at her friend’s bruised face.

“I’m fine. I’ve got to go in a little bit; I just needed to make sure that you were all right.”

“Where are you going?” Grissom asked.

“I have an eight-year-old daughter. This is Halloween.”

“Take pictures so we can see.” Warrick said.

Catherine laughed. “I will. Get some rest, Sara. Walk me out, Gil?” He nodded and walked outside with her.

“Well, I’ve got a date tonight. I better go.”

“Be careful she’s not a witch.” Nick said with a smile.

“Wait, I thought you guys were going to roll houses tonight.” Sara said.

“Well, we were, but both of us got dates tonight. I’ll see you later, Sara.”

“Bye, Warrick.”

“Bye, man.” Nick said as their friend left.

Nick sat on the edge of her bed. “So who’s your date with tonight?” Sara asked.

“Oh, she’s beautiful, smart, and funny. You’d love her.”

“What’s her name?”

“Sara.”

“What?”

“Her name is Sara.” She smiled at him and he smiled back.