Scene 1:

It used to be just an ordinary apartment, but now it remains a story to talk about among the nearby neighbors. Inside the apartment was dark. Sara and Greg walked slowly into the apartment, waiting for their eyes to adjust. As soon as they left the entry way, the smell of decay hit them; more Greg than Sara. This was nothing new to Sara. Unfortunately for Greg this was his first decomposed body. Everything was neat and tidy. A female’s apartment with no roommates. Passing the living room into the hallway, there was a couple shelves filled with china dolls and other assorted ornaments. Greg was a little nervous, this being his first real case. His face went pale; he coughed trying desperately to keep his lunch down. He began to squirm as he placed his field kit into his other hand; so that he could cover his mouth and nose to avoid the smell. Greg had to stop before reaching their destination. The last door on the left, where the body had been lying awaiting their arrival.

Sara stopped and smiled a little. She had forgotten that this was his first decomposed body. Remembering her first time, she said, “Smile Greg, this is your first.”

“Ha ha Sara, make fun of the new CSI.” Greg glared, but still a little embarrassed. He hoped to God he would get used to this horrific smell.

Sara laughed, “No, I’m serious. Smiling represses the gag reflex.” Listening to her, Greg gave her a huge smile, but Sara could tell by his eyes that the smell was still bothering him. “Cute, remember, breathe through your mouth, smile, and take lots of fun photos. Alright, you ready?”

At first Greg saw nothing wrong with the room with his first glance. The room was painted a dark red, with a horizontal black stripe along all four walls. The bedroom of a wild child. A nightstand was to his left; make-up piled everywhere. Pictures of friends, and party gatherings were taped to the mirror. To Greg’s left a bed, queen size of course. The bed was made. In front of him was a fairly large closet that had no doors. Clothes were stuffed in the corner, and also hung on hangers in no particular order. He wondered where the body was, until he noticed two legs on the other side of the bed on the floor. The color in the legs had changed a dark blue. He watched Sara approach the body with such caution; he thought he should do the same. Approaching the body, he observed what the vic was wearing. A black mini-skirt and a red halter top. “Must be her favorite colors.” He stated looking around noticing everything was either black or a dark red. He pulled out his notes; he added a few more. “So, the vic was found by her landlord, after several tenants complained about the “weird” smell. The landlord says he never touched her, and—“

“Greg…” Sara interrupted staring closely at the body. “Do you notice anything wrong here?”

Greg moved over to look at the entire body. Then it hit him, “Whoa!” He exclaimed with almost excitement, yet with fear. “Her head is gone!”

Sara snapped her head back towards Greg trying to figure out if he was scared or happy about the situation. “Yeah…..Greg…uhhhmmm, do you want to take some photos of the body and the surrounding area.” She pulled herself closer to the neck of the body. “Looks like maybe she took a couple hits to the collar bone.” She let out a sigh. “Doesn’t look like there are any other wounds; poor girl. Up close in personal, there were no defensive marks anywhere. She must have not seen it coming.”

Not looking at the body anymore, but taking pictures at the bed, where he had found blood drops leading away from the body onto the bed where it had stopped. He put the camera to his eye, and took a couple photos, “I guess she will never get ahead in life…” He joked.

Sara grinned with amusement, “I guess not Greg.” She nodded towards him still bent over the body, “What do you got there?”

“Blood droplets, I will swab them, but chances are they belong to the vic. They started beside the pool of blood and worked their way over to the bed, and then they just stopped. The killer must have taken the head for a trophy.” Greg described taking more photos.

“What makes you think that?” Sara questioned with firmness trying to keep Greg on his toes.

Greg defended his theory, “Well the head is missing. Plus, there is no more blood drops anywhere else.”

“Good, you’re a natural…” Sara complimented as she winked at Greg. “There is no blood splatter higher than 3 meters. If you’re going to chop someone’s head off, you would raise the weapon of choice above your head to get enough force. Leaving blood splatter from 0.5-3.0 medium velocity impact” She imitated the motion in which she was suggested. She paused looking, observing the room carefully. “Well there is definitely an arterial spurting pattern from the neck, so I’m betting that’s how she died. Then what…the killer takes the head walks to the bed, puts it in something, like a small box, then what?”

Greg shrugged, “Clean up and leave?” He stood up, and walked back over to his field kit and put several samples in it. “Do you want me to check out the bathroom?”

Sara nodded. “There isn’t much left here we can do. I will stay here for a bit, and make sure we got everything.”

Scene 2:

Sara exited the autopsy. Sitting across the hallway, Greg was sulking. He couldn’t stomach his first autopsy. He left within 10 minutes. Sara sat down beside him and gave him a friendly nudge, “Don’t worry; you aren’t the only one who has had to leave the room on their first autopsy. My first one, I ended up throwing up on the medical examiner.” She confessed.

“So, does this mean your going to go for dinner with me to cheer me up?” Greg smiled a little, only half serious about the invitation.

“Yeah Greg, You're really funny, and I think I was wrong about you the whole time. I definitely think we should date sometime.” Sara retorted.

Greg was amazed, “Really??”

“No, Greg….” She laughed getting back on topic she said, “Doc Robbins said he is still doing tests, so far we don’t have much. Rose Matthews, got her head chopped off that’s for sure, Doc is pretty sure that the head was decapitated post-mortem, but cause of death is indeed the laceration of the external carotid artery, she bled out.” She got up and gave Greg a reassuring smile.

Getting up Greg replied, “Alright but it’s your loss. I will be remembering this moment when you're begging for a date though…”

Sara giggled; in all honestly she did think Greg was funny. Though she would never let him know she liked the idea of him being a CSI, and that she got to work with him. They walked down the hall silently. Around the corner there was a man pacing around, he looked confused. She asked Greg to pull the company Tahoe to the front, and that she would be there in just a second. She stopped and observed the stranger’s exact movements. He was fairly good looking. He had brown wavy hair, with scared baby blue eyes. He was wearing a black jacket, with a grey muscle shirt, and faded blue jeans. Although, it has been over a year since she has dated, since she found out about Hank. She walked up to him, a little nervous she said, “Umm… Hi, can I help you with something?”

“Thanks…I-I don’t know who to talk to about getting some uhhh release forms.” He said smiling a little, brushing his hand through his hair.

“What’s the name?” Sara asked.

“My girlfriend died, my name is Will Davies.” He said quietly.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, but what was her name, that’s what I meant.” Sara replied.

"Uh, sorry, Things have just been a little confusing since I found out. Her name is Rose Matthews. “

Sadness swept over Sara’s emotions, “Oh, I’m sorry about your loss. My name is Sara Sidle –“

“Listen Sara, was it? If you can’t help me out here, I would really appreciate if you just pointed me in the right direction.” Will cut off bitterly.

“I was going to say that I work for the Las Vegas Crime Lab and that I am working on your girlfriend’s case. The medical examiner is still running a few tests, so they won’t be able to release her until tomorrow at the earliest. Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?” Sara said quietly understanding that he was upset from the loss.

The questions were short, as well as the answers. Sara said her goodbyes and gave him her card so that he could call her if he remembers anything else. She walked out of the morgue and hopped into the Tahoe where Greg had been sitting for the last twenty minutes.

“Not even five minutes after I ask you to dinner, you already hit it up with another guy in a morgue?” Greg pouted pulling out of the parking lot.

“It wasn’t like that Greg,” Sara began, “He was our vic’s boyfriend.”

“So, you questioned him without me?” Greg protested.

“I didn’t know who he was until I talked to him. You were already gone. Don’t worry Greg, you didn’t miss much…” she said a little disappointed. “Come on, lets get to the lab and see what Hodges has.”

Scene 3:

The city of Vegas may never sleep, but Sara needed it badly. She slipped off her shoes, and headed for her room. Closing the door behind her, she got into some shorts and a blue tank top, and hopped into bed. She didn’t even bother pulling the blankets on, because it was already hot inside her apartment. Her brown shinny hair fell in front of her face, but she didn’t care. She looked at her alarm clock through the strands of hair. 8:34am. Sara’s eyes slowly drifted shut, and she knew that sleep would come soon.

Regaining consciousness, Sara realized her cell phone was ringing. She let it ring, she felt as if she hadn't fallen asleep. She groaned, as the phone stopped ringing, but she didn’t move. The cell phone rang again. “Ughhhh” Sara managed to push out as she reached for the phone on her night table. Lying in bed she grumbled into her phone. “Sidle…”

“Jesus…Christ….Sara??” The other end yelled.

“Yes…Who is this?” Sara sat up alarmed. Looking at her alarm clock, 11:28am.

“Oh God, please…” the distressed voice called out.

Sara was more concerned, “Hello? Who is this?? What’s happening..?”

“It’s Will Davies, I met you the other night, you said to call if I remembered anything. Jesus….” Will cried out. “You gotta help me, Rose, her…..her head. Oh God.”

Sara threw on some clothes that were lying on the floor, and rushed for her vehicle. “Where are you?! Did you call the police? Did you touch anything?” She demanded as she started her car, and ripping out of the driveway. Trying to memorize the address and figure out where exactly Will had worked, Sara told him to leave his office, but not to touch anything or let anyone in. Sara closed her cell then re-opened it. While dialing Greg’s number, she wished she had bought the voice activated cell phone instead of the one she owns now. She swerved in and out of the lane’s trying to get to Will as fast as possible, while trying not to get pulled over. Finally she heard Greg’s voice on the other end. She explained what had happened, and gave him the address. He told her that Grissom wanted to talk to her. Oh great… She thought.

“Sara?” Grissom called out into the phone.

“Yeah, I got a hot head…” Sara replied to Grissom.

With a bit of a pause Grissom said, “What did you just say?”

“I found the head, well…It sort of came to me. It showed up at the office of the vic’s boyfriend. He called the police, and then called me. I talked to him, and asked him a few questions.” Sara responded.

“Listen to me Sara. Don’t start working the room, until Greg and I get there.” Grissom ordered.

Sara was confused, why was Grissom tagging along, this was Greg’s and her case. She let out a sigh of disappointment, “Alright…See you there.”

Scene 4:

Walking into the room, Grissom was the first to go in, followed by Sara then Greg. Grissom walked along the side, until he had reached the desk, where the parcel laid. Although this was not his case, he took charge. He waved Greg and Sara over. He opened the parcel flaps with a pen that was lying on the desk. He raised an eyebrow. Lying inside the parcel was the head of Rose Matthews. Her face had left the expression of shock. Her mouth was open, as though she were screaming silently. Something was covering her eyes, a piece of paper. A note was nailed into the forehead of the late Rose Matthews. “Not so pretty is she?” Grissom recited from the note.

“She would be good looking if she wasn’t sooo…” Greg mentioned trying to find the word he was looking for.

Sara looked at him; “Dead?” she spoke up. She shrugged as he looked back at her.

“I was going to go for decapitated.” Greg smiled as Sara laughed.

Grissom looked up at the both of them. Whatever was going on, he didn’t like it for some strange reason. He sensed something between them he could not understand. “Are you almost done over there?” He questioned trying to get their attention.

Greg coughed a little to clear his throat. He leaned over Grissom’s shoulder to get a better look at the parcel. “The head does a body good…” he said to himself. He looked down, as Grissom looked at him strangly. “Not so pretty is she? The killer knows the boyfriend then huh?” Greg quickly changed the subject.

“Is there a return address?” Sara asked titling her head trying to get a better look at the box.

Grissom flipped back the flaps covering the head, nothing. He smiled, “Revenge, at first though sweet, bitter ere long back on itself recoils”

“Shakespeare?” Sara wondered.

“John Milton.” He answered. Observing the evidence he said, “Sara go talk to the boyfriend again, see what you can find out. Greg, I noticed that there were camera’s put up around the building, see if you can find anything on the tapes, I will stay here with the head.”

Sara and Greg both looked at each other. Just as Greg was about to leave, Sara blurted out, “No Greg, stay.”

Grissom looked up. “What?” he questioned.

Sara felt as stunned as Grissom did. “I mean… Well…This is our case Grissom. Greg isn’t a trainee anymore, and neither am I. I have worked enough cases to know what I am dealing with here. To be honest, it feels like you're just barging in on our case. I know you wouldn’t like it if Eckley started to snoop around in your cases, so why are you in ours?” Sara confessed a little scared what Grissom might say next.

Grissom looked at both Sara and Greg, and then looked down almost ashamed. He knew she was right. “Okay…” He said firmly but understanding. “I’ll go check the tapes if you want me too. “

Sara nodded, and then waited for him to exit. She looked over at Greg; he was as shocked as Grissom was by Sara’s performance. They all knew she was right though. “Do you want to take the pretty head, while I talk to Will again?” She asked.

“I can’t believe you just did that. He makes me nervous.” Greg said amazed.

Sara smirked and shook her head, “Shut up Greg…” She opened the door, and noticed that the people who worked on the same floor had been told to leave. Only a few officers and Will Davies remained. She looked at the cops, they were staring at her, wanting to catch everything she was about to say to Will. “Would you mind giving us a couple minutes officers?” They nodded and left the area. “Mr. Davies. Do you know who could have done this?” She asked professionally taking out her notebook.

“This could have been avoided. I told her we could leave Vegas, change our names, but Rose thought it was silly. She never backed down from anything or anyone, especially not Rachael.“ He said looking down at his feet.

“Who is Rachael?” Sara asked.

“My ex-girlfriend, we broke up two months ago; I had met some else. I met Rose. I told Rachael it was over, but she didn’t take no as an answer. Rachael thought I replaced her because Rose was more beautiful than her. I just thought Rachael would get over it ya know? She phoned threatening to kill us, but I didn’t think she was serious. I-I-I should have known.” He became very angry all of a sudden. “You know what’s going to happen next don't you? She is going to come after me…She wont stop until it’s over!”

Sara tried to stay cool, although she felt a little scared by his temper. “I’m going to need your fingerprints Mr. Davies. It will eliminate you from being a suspect…”

Will began to yell over her voice. He was clearly pissed off. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN TAKE MY FINGER PRINTS?! I TOLD YOU WHO DID THIS, GO GET THE BITCH!” He walked towards her, and she pressed up against the wall in almost fear. “YOU WANT MY PRINTS GET THEM OFF THIS!!!” Will Davies slammed his hand against the wall right beside her head. She had let out a cry for help as she ducked down fearing that he was aiming for her.

Just as Will hit the wall, Greg rushed over pulling Will away from Sara. “Back off right now!” he yelled just as the near by cops grabbed Will’s arms. “She’s just doing her job! She’s just trying to help you, and you treat her like this?! You should only be so lucky to have her help your sorry ass!” He screamed as the police officers dragged him out of sight. Greg turned to Sara, “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Sara said getting herself together. She looked up as Grissom walked back with a couple pieces of paper. Grissom was unaware of the incident, so she flashed a look to Greg telling him not to say a word to Grissom. “What do you got Griss?” Sara asked scratching the back of her neck.

“Photos from the security tapes.” Grissom said holding them up. “Where is the boyfriend? Maybe he knows who the mystery lady is.”

“He is over there.” Greg pointed where they had seen Will last. Both Sara and Greg did not want to see Will after what just happened, so they let Gil question him alone. They sat in silence for a couple minutes, until Greg decided to bag up all the evidence from the office. He could feel Sara watching him, but he didn’t mind.

Grissom walked back to the office, “Ex-girlfriend’s name is Rachael Thacher. I got the address here. I have already called Brass for a warrant—“ He said just before his cell phone rang. He answered it, but only said “ok” a couple times and hung up. “I guess you two will have to meet Brass there. Catherine’s got a DB in the desert. She needs my entomology advice.” He shrugged handing some notes to both of them, and then walked away.

Scene 5:

Walking up the flight of stairs towards the apartment, Greg watched two police officers and Jim Brass pull their guns. Brass had told Sara and Greg to stay behind so that they could clear the room. One of the officers kicked down the door and entered the room. Just like on COPS Greg thought to himself. Thirty seconds later Brass called for them. Greg walked into the apartment first. The room was completely empty. Everything was sparkling clean, and all evidence was destroyed. One thing stayed behind in the apartment though. A Traditional Sawback Machete was placed in the dead center of the living room. “Do you think it was left behind on purpose? A sign to say 'I did it'?” Greg asked squatting down beside it to get a better look.

“It’s probably been cleaned. Nothing to link it to the vic. Lets bag it anyway.” Sara said frustrated. “We have nothing. We have a victim, a crime scene, but our suspect got away!” Sara rubbed her eyes. She stood in the living room and took everything in, trying to find the solution in her head. “What hotel did Grissom say the boyfriend was staying at?”

“The Blue Belle hotel.” Greg looked up. “Why?”

“Just want to make sure he isn’t around this place, because she could be near by that’s all. I’m going to call him to keep a low profile until we find her.” Sara said pulling out of her cell phone. She called 4-1-1, to get the number of the hotel. She called the hotel, but the desk clerk said there was no answer. She didn’t leave a message. Sara said she would call back later.

Scene 6:

Going into the autopsy room again, Greg was going to force himself to stay no matter what. He held the door open for Sara as she walked past him. She gave him a smile. “Round two” Greg said out loud feeling more confident this time.

“Greg…” Doctor Al Robbins smirked, “Coming back so soon? Well…There is nothing really I can say that will help you on your case, other than this is the head of Rose Matthews.”

Greg glanced around the room listening to Robbins’ report. He wondered how Doc Robbins could do this so easily. Being around the dead wasn’t as easy as it looked. He lifted a cover over one of the bodies just being curious. To his surprise he knew the person. “Hey Doc, is this who I think it is?”

“Oh that guy, He was brought in this morning. He was found in the compactor of a garbage truck. The garbage man must not have seen him at first, because his lower body got squished pretty badly. I haven’t put his prints through AFIS just yet; I have been working on your vic's head”

Sara walked over towards Greg. She threw the sheet that was covering the body, and to her surprise it was Will Davies. She was too late, she couldn’t help him now. She had nothing. Rachael got away with murder…two of them. Rachael was probably on the other side of the world by now. They had nothing but an address of an empty apartment. The machete came back cleaner than clean, there was no fingerprints anywhere, no hairs, no fibers, nothing to trace. Nothing but a name, Rachael Thacher.

Scene 7:

Standing in front of the large fish-shaped corkboard in Grissom’s office, Sara looked down at the photos and a piece of paper. This was the first time that Sara ever posted a fish; the ones that got away. She never thought she would ever have to post something on the strange large fish. She grabbed a thumb tack off of the desk, and pinned the photos and sheet on the board. She took a step back, and folded her arms. Not noticing that Greg had walked in, she just stood there thinking about William Davies.

“Hey…” Greg said softly. He walked up beside her looking at the corkboard.

“The ones that got away…” Sara said trying to explain what she was doing. She sighed, “Hey Greg…” she paused thinking whether or not to say anything.

Greg looked at her, “What is it?”

“I just...” She paused again. “I just wanted to say thanks.”

He smiled, “For what?”

“For the other day. When Will blew up like that. I just want to say thanks for sticking up for me. It was really sweet.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” He winked at her. “All in a days work.”

“What you said, well, I really appreciate it. You’re going to be one hell of a CSI. I mean that. For your first case, you did well.” Her voice cracked a little as she tried to keep from getting emotional.

“Hey... come here, don’t you get emotional on me.” He hushed as he pulled her closer to give her a hug. They embraced each other thinking about that moment in the office building. He felt her face dig into his shoulder, but he didn’t mind. He patted her back trying to comfort her. Even though his first case wasn’t a complete success, he thought it was an experience he would never forget. “Lets go get some chicken ok?” He joked still holding her.

Walking into his office Grissom lifted his head from reading some files to see who was in his office. Walking in to see Sara and Greg hugging was not what he expected, and his mouth dropped.