Gilbert Grissom awoke to darkness. His limbs were heavy, and he was alert, but felt groggy, as though he'd been whacked in the head with a baseball bat. Slowly, he sat up, holding his forehead in pain. He had a terrible migraine. He peered around, but could see only black.

"Hello?" he asked weakly, testing his voice. "Is anybody here?"

The air was hot and sticky, which he knew meant that there was water nearby. He felt around the area he'd been laying in. Despite the heat of the air, the surface was cold. Ice cold. And very smooth, like a freshly waxed floor. There was a large, soft piece of cloth next to him; a blanket, he guessed. His head had been resting on something soft and... fluffy. 'A pillow, maybe?' he guessed. 'But why?'

He stood up, only to be blinded by the sudden opening and closing of what appeared to be a trapdoor, high above his head. "Hey!" he cried, "Anyone there?! Help!" He received no answer. Something fell with a crash and a few subsequent thuds underneath where the trapdoor had opened, and then silence. It was purely black again.

Gil's phone rang, echoing in the darkness. He jumped, startled, then fished it out of his pocket. The caller ID read "Unknown". He opened the phone and asked, "Hello?"

"Dr. Grissom. Have you figured out where you are yet?" a gruff voice replied. Gil was confused.

"Who is this?"

"It doesn't matter, Grissom. You'll never see me--or anyone else, for that matter--again." A row of lights flashed on, fifty or more feet behind him. "Are you enjoying this? You like puzzles, so solve this one! You have seventy-two hours worth of food and water, but only, what, one day's worth of cell phone charge? Less? Tsk, tsk, Grissom, you were so easy to pick off. You won't be nearly so easy to rescue. Your friends will find that out. Bye, CSI guy." The line went dead.

'Oh no, please,' Gil pleaded, silently, panicking for once in his life. 'I can't be victim to abduction. Not now.'

He turned around, looking through the faint light given off by the row of lights. He couldn't see any walls, which meant that if he was in a basement, it couldn't possibly be very sturdy, and if he were above ground, he could be in any large building.

He listened intently, trying to hear anything that might clue him in; a generator, air conditioner, or anything else electrical that was housed outside.

It was to no avail. He heard only silence and his own breathing. He sat back down on what he was now sure was the floor and pulled out his phone. He knew that all the criminalists' cell phones had GPS chips in them, and if he called anyone at the lab, chances were he would be found. But he only had two bars of battery life left, and anything more than a two minute conversation would be pushing the limits of his battery.

He decided to walk toward the row of lights and try to find a wall. Because if he found a wall, chances were he could find a ladder or some stairs. At least that's what he hoped.

!!

It was nearing the beginning of the graveyard shift at the Clark County Forensics Lab, and the supervisor was nowhere to be found. This struck his team as odd; Grissom was usually the first of them to get to work every night.

"Hey, Ecklie, have you seen Grissom?" Catherine Willows, the beautiful but aging redhead of the team, asked as she passed him in the hall.

"No. Then again, I don't really keep tabs on him, you know, I have my own shift to watch, Catherine. He's probably off staring at some 'wonderful, amazing!' species of spider that inhabits the entire country or something." Conrad Ecklie, the day shift supervisor, continued on his way without stopping.

"...Well, thanks anyway," Catherine called after him. She continued to make her way through the lab, stopping periodically to ask lab rats if they'd seen or heard from Grissom yet.

"Hodges, you seen Grissom?" She knew she was getting a little desperate.

"Well, I hate to state the obvious, but why haven't you just tried calling him?" was Hodges' reply.

Catherine was actually almost stunned. She hadn't thought to try calling him. She whipped her cell phone out and hit Grissom's speed dial button, all the while laughing at herself for having her boss on speed dial.

!!

Grissom jumped at the echoed noise of his phone ringing. It was so quiet, he'd gotten used to the silence to the point where he thought he was deaf. It took him a moment to register that it was his cell phone and to answer it.

"Grissom," he said without checking the caller ID.

"Gil? You're late for work, you know that, right?" Catherine asked, relieved to hear his voice.

"Catherine!" Gil exclaimed, ecstatic to hear a familiar voice. He'd been afraid to call anyone because of his battery. "There isn't much time. I've... I've been abducted. I don't know where I am and my cell phone is almost dead."

"You're joking, right?"

"No, Catherine, you have to get the team together right now. Search my phone's GPS, I don't know how much longer it will stay on."

"Wait, Gil, you're serious? Where are you?"

"I have to get off the phone, the battery is low. Please find me." He felt horrible having to hang up. He was truly afraid for his life. He knew how much work it was trying to find a missing CSI, how afraid Nick had been. How afraid he'd been for Nick. His team were like brothers, sisters, and children to him. He knew they were capable of finding him, he just didn't know if they would find him in time.

'And what about Sara?' he thought. 'I don't even have enough cell phone power to call her if the lab is going to use the GPS in my phone. I can't call her. If I don't make it out of here alive, I-'

His phone rang again. He stared at it, waiting for the caller ID. It was Nick. He picked up and answered, "Grissom."

"Boss, Cath said you've been abducted. Are you all right? Where are you? Can you tell us anything?" Nick asked, talking a mile a minute.

"Nick, slow down. You need to go to the lab and search my GPS unit in my phone."

"We tried that, you aren't showing up anywhere in Nevada. We're going to search surrounding states but we can't promise that it will pick you up. Do you think you're underground?"

"I could be. Nick, my battery is almost dead, I'm down to less than one bar here."

"Hold on, boss, we'll find you. I promise."

"Nick, can you do me a favor, if you can't find me..." He sighed, "Can you tell Sara what happened?" He could tell that Nick was surprised that he'd been chosen to tell Sara the bad news, should it turn into bad news. "Please, Nick."

"Yeah boss. I'll do it. For now you just focus on staying alive. We'll be getting you out of there very soon. I promise."

"Thanks, Nick."

The phone went dead.

"Grissom? GRISSOM?"