A/n: Any cases Simone is involved with are based on Bones. The first few chapters are based off of the episode "The Skull in the desert". I don't own CSI or Bones.

Simone Sanders was a simplistic girl. Well, as simplistic as a genius twenty year old forensic anthropologist can be, while working with her big brother in Las Vegas. Sure, she had the money to buy an pricey apartment in Miami or Cali, but instead she lived in the basement of a small two storey house she rented out with Greg. Yeah, she had the brains to work at the best schools in the country, but instead she was the Forensic Anthropologist identifying the odd dead body that was too damaged or decomposed for LVPD to identify. She had the money to buy the best cars possible, but she stuck with the beat up Trans Am she got when she was seventeen. Simone was simplistic. The date she was on right now wasn't at all.

He was terrible. Sure, he was dressed nicely, and he was wearing the expensive cologne that made most women wild with passion. He wasn't shy about spending thousands, either, sitting with Simone in an expensive resturant in the middle of the Strip. She was unimpressed. In fact, the only reason she'd ageed to this date was for two reasons. 1) He was Greg's friend, by name of Raymond, and 2) she really needed to get her mind off of him. It wasn't working. She's spent the past hour comparing Raymond to him.

He always dressed casual. Nice but not overly nice, even for work. He had a natural wood scent that was fifty percent cedar, fifty percent pine and one hundred percent him. He had no problem just going out to get burgers or to sit in the breakroom snacking on left overs. No to mention that irresistable accent that made her shiver.

"And then, this homeless man came up to me and was like 'Can you spare a dollar, sir?' and I was like 'Yeah, sure, I can. But I won't!' and walked away. I mean really, who was that guy thinking he was?" Raymond laughed alone. He then looked at Simone. "Enough about me. What did you do today?"

Simone sighed and smiled falsely at him.

"I identified the remains of a twelve year old girl who was murdered by her father because he didn't like the way she talked to him. He bashed her skull in during a lapse of his insanity."

Raymond stared at her, disturbed.

"That's nice..."

"And not true. Greg didn't call me-" She was cut off by the sound of her cell phone ringing in her pocket. "Scratch that. Yet. Greg didn't call me yet." She turned away from Raymond and answered her phone. "This is Sanders."

"Yeah, no duh. Listen, found a skull on the porch of Spring Valley's Sheriffs office. How fast do you think you can get away from Ray and down to where Grissom is?"

"Now wouldn't be fast enough, Greg," Simone laughed and stood. She faked a sorry smile in Ray's direction, mouthing 'gotta go to work'. "I hope you don't mind the dress. "

"I hear about anyone looking up your legs I'll have Grissom shoot them in the balls."

"Yes, Greg. You do that. I'll be there in ten." She exited the resturant and got into the standard issue CSI vehichal and drove off without another word to the now fuming Raymond.

Simone arived at the scene two minuets before she said she'd be there.

"Hello, Simone," Grissom handed her a pair of gloves. Then he held up a jacket, undoubtedly Greg's. "Greg, uh...Wanted me to tell you to put this on."

"Right," Simone rolled her eyes, and slipped Greg's jacket over her shoulders. "Where's my Skull?"

"This way," Grissom led her away from her car and over to where Sara was taking pictures of the skull. Simone smiled at her as she knelt down. Sure, Simone didn't like Sara too much, but Sara was new, that meant that Simone wouldn't judge right away.

"Okay." She pulled on the gloves, and picked up the skull. "Prominant brow ridge indicates the Victim was male. Caucasion, judging by cranial shape and nasal passages. Why'd we get called?"

"We're the only crime lab with a Forensic Anthropologist on pay roll. Grissom and Sara both got next to her.

"Age range?" Sara began writing down what Simone was saying.

"Thirty to thirty-five." She grabbed a swab from Grissom and scraped black residue from the skull. She sniffed it. The Sheriff watched, disgusted. "Putrescine. Early stages of decomp." She handed the swab back to Grissom and he bagged it.

"Cause of death?" Asked Grissom.

"Well, a man get's caught unawares in the desert, he could be dead in a few hours." The sheriff explained.

"Uh oh," Simone mumbled, examining the base of the skull more closely.

"What uh-oh?" Sara asked.

"Base of the skull here, detached from the spinal cord." She pointed it out to Sara. "See the bevel marks? Peri-mortem contact gunshot. It wasn't just the desert who caught this man unawares. It was someone with a gun."

"Tell you what. Go back to the lab and relax till we get your skull there." Grissom told her.

"Okay, boss." Simone mock saluted. "Good thing I left a change of clothes back at the lab, I am not liking this dress. See you, Griss."

Just Simone's luck, he was in the locker room when she got there. Shirtless. Why did he have to be shirtless?

"Nick,"

"Sims," His own personal nickname for her sent shivers down her back. "You look nice. Date?"

"Ew don't remind me. Do me a favor," She couldn't believe she had to ask him this. "Unzip me?"

"Sure," Nick laughed and slid the zipper down carefully before walking out. "See ya, Darlin'"

"Thanks," She called helplessly after him. She then sighed and growled angrily at herself. She took all her jewlery off and placed it in the locker she shared with Greg. They had shared a locker in grade school and highschool. They had even been aloud to share dorm rooms in college because of their parents calling the school board.

She slipped the dress off next, putting on a corset, purple-ish pink with buttons up the front, and a black, see through summer top. Then her skinny jeans and burgandy converse. She and Greg still had a little of their old high school/college flare. She wasn't afraid or ashamed to admit she'd at one point been part of the punk/emo scene. She was just the geek of that particular group.

She walked to her brother's self proclaimed kingdom and took a seat across from him. He was sitting in his geeky hawaiian shirts they both loved, though Simone only slept in them so he'd have to do the wash sooner. Greg was rocking out to his hardcore music.

"Greg, you'll go deaf." Greg looked up at his sister, grinned and shrugged. He was doing tests for Nick's current case.

"Hey," Sara knocked on the door. "For you," She handed Greg and Simone each a few things to test. "Grissom says to get back to him with the results on DNA ASAP."

She left again, with Greg checking out her ass. Simone laughed and playfully smacked him, slipping on her lab coat.

Hours later, Simone was looking for Grissom. She came across Nick. Well, actually, she physically ran into him.

"Oh, hey Nicky, you seen Griss anywhere?"

"Yeah, he's back at his other crime scene. But you wanna come with me and Catherine to see about some Dean of a school's death?"

"Sure," Simone smiled. Any opertunity to spend a little time with Nick.