Finale

Catherine walked into the office she knew so well. "You finally made it. Congratulations," she told Sara, meaning every word.

"Thank you, Catherine." Sara smiled. "But there is something I need to ask you."

"Anything. You know that." She smiled back at her old friend.

"I can't do this alone, and, now that Russell and Finn are gone, I am short staffed. I need another person, someone I can trust to do the job properly and still get along with everyone. So, Catherine, I wanted to know if you would be second in charge? I know it might be hard since this was your lab for awhile, so it's okay if you don't want to."

"Are you sure you don't want to ask Nicky first?" She asked gently.

"He made it clear he won't come back to Vegas for anything other than to spend time with me."

"Then of course. Are you sure that Greg will be okay with it? It should technically be his promotion to second."

"I know, but you have done this job with Grissom for a long time. I know you can do it well."

"I would like being back in Vegas. I missed it. I missed my family."

"We all miss you. Especially Lindsey."

"Now that Mom and Sam are both gone, besides Lindsey, the people in this lab and Griss are all the family I've got." She smiled slightly. "I am sorry about Finn. I know the three of you girls were close."

Sara sighed. "I miss her, but it's been really hard on Morgan. They were so close."

"I heard what happened to Morgan. It's...it's hard losing a friend anyway, but doubly so when you have to wonder why it wasn't you."

"She's gone through so much. We try to help, but it's not easy."

She nodded. "I remember. When Warrick...When Warrick died, Nick and I were both crushed. I just didn't do a very good job at helping him, not like you guys are doing with her. I was so angry at Gil at the time, I let things slide."

"That isn't your fault, trust me. It's easy to be angry with him."

"i was actually angry at you too for a time. I thought maybe if you'd stayed longer, maybe he wouldn't have left, but I get it now. You couldn't. I do apologize for that. We...we should have helped you more." She paused. "Anyway, yes, if you still want me to, I'll come back. I'll help."

"I really would love you to be here. And, just for the record, no matter how much you guys tried to help, I wouldn't have stayed. Grissom always told me to take it easy, not work so much, but work was all I knew, so I never listened. I burned myself out and that was my own fault. Don't blame yourself."

"I can understand that. I stayed longer than I should have. Years longer. I didn't know how to stop either. We'll help each other prevent that this time, right?" She offered a smile.

Sara smiled too. "Definitely. And make sure Lindsey doesn't copy what we did."

Catherine looked relieved. "Definitely. I'm hoping Greg and Morgan can help with that too." They weren't Lindsey's age, by any means, but they weren't her mom or 'aunt' either.

"I'm sure they can. And to be honest, now that you are coming back, I have to admit, I'm a little lost in this job. I know what I need to do, but I also feel like I may have taken on more than I can handle."

"I know that feeling," Catherine said as Grissom appeared.

"Catherine," he said before turning his attention to Sara. "Can we talk before I go?"

"I'm outta here. Time to take my favorite CSI to breakfast," Catherine said. "I'll catch up later." She left the room.

Sara sat back down behind her new desk. "I watched the tape. That was very sweet."

"I meant it. I...I made a lot of mistakes in my life, especially over the last few years."

"I just want to know one thing. When I needed you, where were you?"

"That's one of the things I made a mistake about." He paused. "I wasn't a good friend, let alone a good husband."

"You were a good husband. You came and found me when I left. But you made bad choices."

He nodded. "You're happy now, right?"

"Yes."

"That's all I wanted for you. If it wasn't me, I'm glad someone could."

"He has. I still want to be friends."

He nodded. "Sara...our marriage...The divorce wasn't your fault. It was mine. I didn't know how to be married. I don't think I ever will. I want to work at the friends though. I owe a lot to you...and Jim. I haven't been here for either of you."

"You definitely need to apologize to Jim."

"I should have been here for him with Ellie." He paused. "I knew she was troubled, but not that much."

"None of us expected that. Especially not poor Morgan."

"I like Ecklie as a dad. He's a lot less..." He tried to think of the perfect word for his former boss.

"Mean? Yeah. Although, I have to say, he's been very supportive of me since he found out about our divorce."

Grissom couldn't help but smile, although he tried not to and it faded quickly. "I left for a couple of years and Greg became a grownup."

"He's been wonderful too."

"And Nicky?"

"By my side and ready to kill you when he found out. Actually, it's probably good he wasn't here cause he's still angry with you."

"I need to try to make it up to Nicky too. If you and I are going to be friends."

"Good luck."

"Catherine's going to stay in Vegas?"

"She's my second in command."

"She's a good one." He paused. "Who knows? Maybe I should move back to Vegas too...Not to the lab though." His face showed his emotions about that.

"If you want to, then do it."

"Would you want me to?"

"I don't know."

"We'll see how it goes."

*****

Greg looked up when Catherine walked in. "Hey. You leaving yet?"

"Looking for Linds, actually."

"She was on her way to a scene, I think."

She groaned. "I wanted to take her to breakfast to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?"

"I'm staying in Vegas."

"Really?" Greg's face lit up.

She nodded. "At the lab."

"You're coming back to us?"

She nodded. "I missed my family. And I'd like to get to know Morgan better. She's good for you, Greg."

"I think that too." He blushed.

"So..." She teased like a big sister, like she'd always done Nick.

"So nothing. Ecklie would kill me."

"C'mon. I'd like to be an aunt before I'm a grandmother and I've given up on Nicky and Sara."

"I wouldn't just yet. They are together."

"But hours apart. And don't change the subject."

"I would like to be with her."

"Take my word for this, Greg. Don't wait. Don't hesitate. Don't waste time. Russell did and look what happened. Sam wasted decades. I've had my screw-ups too and I don't mean Eddie."

"Are you sure?"

"She's a good girl. She's good for you. And you've grown up so much since the kid that used to dance around with test tubes in his nose," she teased him. "You're a good person, Greg. And I'm sorry if we didn't tell you that enough."

"It's fine, really. Maybe I will go tell her."

"She'd like that. Give her something to think about besides Finn."

"Yeah..."

"I think I'm going to go see if I can help out at the casino anymore. Let me know how it works out. And either way I want to have you guys, Sara, and Nicky when Nicky's home next time, over for dinner with Lindsey and me one day."

"That would be great."

Nick answered his cell phone, walking out of his office. "Hey."

"Hi, Nicky."

"Hey, peanut. Long time, no hear. You okay? Everyone else?"

"Sorry. We had a new case that was really hard and Russell gave me the lead and Cath came home and Grissom too and I got the promotion and Cath is coming back to work..."

"Babe, slow down."

"Cath is home."

"She is? She see Linds?"

"Yeah."

"Russell put you as lead? That's awesome. Did you like it?"

"Yeah. He used it to see if I could lead everyone."

"And of course you could."

"I got the promotion to lab director."

"I'm so proud of you, babe."

"Thank you. And Cath is going to be my second in command and she promised to help me run things."

"So she's going to be there all the time now? That's great. I felt bad that I missed her."

"She feels bad too, actually, but it's okay. You'll be home soon."

"Sara..." He paused. "Can I react about the rest of it yet?"