Hey guys, another Greg/Morgan story for you all! Hope you'll enjoy, it's spoiler free! :D

Chapter 1

"Oh, good, you're not busy!"

Greg and Morgan both looked up from the paperwork they were filling out in their office. They had just wrapped up their case – Greg and detective Crawford had gotten their suspect to confess – and now they were just finishing off the last bit of paperwork. Their work was interrupted by their supervisor, however.

"Eh, actually we are, especially since you're the one who's always going on about us having to do our paperwork," Morgan said, a meaningful smile in Greg's direction. He smiled back at her, quickly hiding his face behind his computer after that. He was never sure how well Russell could handle comments and he didn't want to take any risks.

"Only because your father wants me to push everyone, but it doesn't matter," Russell said. Morgan raised her eyebrows, but before she could say anything, Russell already continued: "This just came in: dead body found in a cabin in the woods. I need you two to go there now."

"In the woods?" Morgan repeated.

"What's the rush?" Greg carefully asked.

"Do you know Lana Everett?" Russell asked in return. Greg nodded. "Yeah, sure I do!"

Lana Everett was one of the most popular women in Las Vegas. She was the presenter of a TV show with millions of viewers every week, she had three hit singles and she was well known for doing yoga and meditating.

"They think it's her body," Russell explained why he wanted them to go right now. "She was reported missing at the beginning of the afternoon. Friends remembered her talking about going up to the woods for some quiet time to prepare for her concert on Friday."

"But if the body they found really is Lana Everett's, then at least one police officer should be able to confirm her identity, right?" Greg said. "I mean, everyone in Vegas seems to know her, even the little girl who lives across the street from me and she's only three!"

"According to Brass, who's already at the scene, the body can't be recognized," Russell told them. "It looks like she was attacked by a bear… who scratched open her face so badly that you can barely see the skin…"

Morgan made a face of horror, Greg just frowned. "A bear?"

"Get why you need to go now?" Russell said, handing him the information they needed to get to the scene. "This paperwork can wait!"

"I'll go and get my kit," Morgan decided. Greg, who had refilled his kit after the interrogation with Crawford and hadn't brought it back to the locker room yet, nodded. "Sure, I'll meet you at my car."

He took the sheet of information from his supervisor, grabbed his jacket and kit and left for his car. He patiently waited for Morgan, enjoying the view of the clear night sky. Even though the day had been warm as usual, the temperature had dropped quickly after the sun had set and the clear sky told him it would probably get even colder. Only till the sun rose, of course, then it would just be another hot, Vegas day.

"Ready!"

He looked up and smiled at Morgan. He would never dare to say it out loud, but he thought she looked incredibly beautiful this evening. Instead of wearing her hair down like she usually did, she had tied it back in a curly pony tail, something he liked more because he could see more of her face now. She was dressed casually as always: jeans, stylishly tucked into her boots, and her, which he knew was her favorite, black leather jacket.

"Great, let's go!" he said. He waited for her to put her kit in the trunk of his car before getting in. As she got in as well, he tried starting his car. The engine made a bit of a sound, but wouldn't start.

"That sounds good!" Morgan commented.

"Yeah, I think it's due for a check-up!" Greg grinned. "It's starting to sound more like my great-grandfather every day. Eh… eh… pff…"

He pretended to cough like his great-grandfather used to do. Morgan started laughing.

"Well, if it's anything like my great-grandfather, it'll probably do anything for a cigar and a glass of whiskey!" she laughed.

"Great, you got any?" Greg seriously asked her. She laughed again, which made him smile. He loved seeing her laugh! His car seemed to like it as well, because after another failed try, it finally started. Greg programmed his navigation system and left the parking lot.

"So, tell me, what about these woods?" Morgan asked when they were about a block away from the CSI building. "I thought Vegas was a city in the middle of the desert, I never knew they had woods!"

"Yeah, there's a few areas around Vegas with mountains and trees," Greg said, trying to get his car to signal he wanted to turn left.

"A few even? Wow, I guess I really need to get out of the city more!" Morgan said.

"You've been out of the city for cases, haven't you?" Since his car still didn't want to signal left, he just checked if there weren't any other cars around and turned left.

"That's not the same," Morgan thought out loud. "You get to the place, you check for evidence and then you leave. You don't get a chance to look around, you're just checking if there aren't any footprints or cigarette buds or whatever. And what about that bear Russell talked about?"

"There aren't any bears in this area," Greg reassured her. From the corner of his eyes he could see she gave him a questioning look.

"At least not that people know about," he changed his answer. "So it probably means either someone somehow smuggled a bear into the area or it's a fake bear attack. I'm putting my money on that last option."

"Well, I'm not putting my money on anything until I know for sure I'm not gonna run into a bear while I'm out there," Morgan said, leaning back into her seat. When he looked at her, he saw she was looking at his navigation system. "Is that thing right? Is it really over an hour until we're at the scene?"

"The address Russell gave me is up in the mountains, deep into the woods," Greg told her. "Not exactly the kind of place where they have decent roads…"

"Hmm… Can I turn on the radio then? If your car can handle it, of course…"

Greg grinned. "I certainly hope so! Go ahead, choose any station you want, I don't mind. As long as they're playing some decent music of course!"

Smiling, Morgan started to find a station she liked. She soon came across a popular radio show which played Top 40 songs. Greg quietly drove as he listened to her sing along. After the third song, he couldn't keep quiet anymore: "You really got an amazing voice, you know that?"

Morgan smiled shyly. "I'm not that good…"

"Yes, you are, you're amazing!" Greg said. "Sara and Finn told me about the karaoke you did during your girls weekend. They weren't kidding, you really have a wonderful voice! How come you never told me?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno…"

"Didn't your parents and friends at school ever tell you how amazing you are at singing?" He wasn't ready to let the subject go yet. Morgan looked at him. "My friends at school never cared about music, they just cared about boys, clothes, make-up and their nails and my parents were a little too busy divorcing to notice my singing voice…"

"Right… Sorry…" Inside he got angry with himself for mentioning her parents. He knew how difficult the divorce had been on her, why hadn't he thought about his comment before just blurting it out?

"No, it's okay," Morgan said to his relief. "The truth is that I never sang much around people. At school I just murmured along during music class and I only sang at home when there was no one else there. I guess I was just afraid to let people hear my singing voice…"

"So… you got on stage in a crowded bar in front of two of your colleagues?" Greg mentioned, pretending to be very confused. She playfully nudged him. "Do you have any idea how much alcohol I had already had by then?"

"Well, if it's as much as I think it is, then you must definitely have an amazing voice, because Finn and Sara loved your singing and most people sound at their worst when they're drunk!" Greg commented.

"They weren't exactly sober either," Morgan reminded him. He groaned. "Okay, alright, I'll give up! You have a horrible voice, there, happy now?"

She nudged him again, an amused smile on her face. "No, because I liked your compliment. Thank you."

"You're welcome!"

Their conversation had made them forget to pay attention to their surroundings for a while. Now Morgan looked out the window, suddenly noticing how dark it was around them.

"I guess these are the woods?" she said. Greg didn't reply, trying to concentrate on the road, or at least: where the road was supposed to be. He suddenly missed all of Vegas's bright lights and blinking signs.

"You sure this is the right way?" Morgan carefully asked him.

"How many roads do you think lead up this mountain?" he asked in return. She leaned back in her chair again. "Right…"

He took his eyes of the road for a moment to look at her. Was it him or did she look paler than usual? She wouldn't be… scared?

"According to the navigation system it's only about another twenty minutes," he said, trying to reassure her. Morgan sat up. "You do know it says 'Lost GPS signal five minutes ago', right?"

"What? No!" He slowed down so he could look at the navigation system. It indeed said it had lost the GPS signal minutes ago already.

"Maybe I can use my phone to figure out how much further it is!" Morgan suggested.

"And you think you'll have cell phone reception out here?" Greg brought up. Morgan sighed. "No, of course not…"

"Look, it's just one straight road, if we keep following it, we'll probably end up at the cabins," Greg said. He tried to stay positive, but he knew it wouldn't be as easy as he made it sound. It was one straight road now, but for how much longer?

"Okay, go ahead," Morgan said, shrugging her shoulders. "Don't think we have a choice anyway!"

He checked the time on the clock and then gently hit the gas again. After twenty minutes of driving in complete silence he had no choice, however, but to admit his idea wasn't as good as he had made it sound. He had even already tried Morgan's idea to turn on the flashing lights on his car so they could see more of the road, but it was still the same road which seemed to lead nowhere.

"Look, this is useless," Morgan said. "Just turn around, go back to where we do have cell phone reception and then find out where we are."

"Where do you expect me to turn? Around a tree?"

The flashing lights showed he had nothing but trees on the left side of him and on the right side as well. Morgan pointed ahead. "What about that clearing over there?"

He stopped his car to see what she meant.

"That's not a clearing, that's just the end of the road," he said. Morgan groaned. "Great! Okay, I'll get out and see if you can make a safe turn. Just… If you see anything moving out there, warn me, you promise?"

"I promise," he quickly said, already noticing she had checked if she had her gun with her. He watched her get out of the car and then put it in reverse. Her hands waved that it was safe for him to start his turn. After about three inches of driving the engine suddenly went silent. He tried starting it up again, managed another three inches and then groaned in frustration as his car went silent for the second time. This time it didn't even want to start anymore. He looked up at Morgan, who had rushed back into the car.

"What's going on?" she asked him, a worried look in her eyes.

"Well, apparently my car has decided this is the best time to give up on us," Greg told her. "It looks like we're stuck out here!"