"Nick, Greg," Grissom said, walking up to the two CSIs who stood next to each other in the break room. The two CSIs had been going out, and Grissom knew that. He didn't mind though. Looking to them as they turned slowly to him, he finished his sentence. "You two have a homicide on 19th, in an abandoned house. Anonymous 911." Grissom nodded at them as they nodded at him and then he started out of the room.
Nick frowned, squeezing Greg's hand that was interlaced with his own. Nick looked down to Greg, and Greg looked at him with an odd frown on his face as Nick's squeeze.
"You okay?" Greg asked, holding Nick's hand.
"I have a bad feeling," Nick answered. "Like something bad is going to happen."
"Don't worry," Greg said, smiling generously, reaching up to hold Nick's cheek and have him bend over so he could kiss him on the cheek. "Nothing will happen, I'll protect you." Nick squeezed Greg's hand still, looking into Greg's eyes, feeling like he was the one who should have been protecting Greg.
..::XXxxXX::..
Captain Brass had already filled them in about the crime scene, and the two CSIs stepped into the empty house, feeling cold air rush around them almost instantly. Greg took an instinctive step towards Nick, the feeling rushing about in his stomach now too.
They walked into the kitchen, the scene of the crime. They inspected the body. The man was caked with blood, soaking in a pool of his own red plasma-liquid. Nick began to take pictures of the crime scene, of the body, the shattered glass back door as Greg followed a short trail of blood. Pulling out his camera, he took a picture of the blood trail, following it out the door. It was a pair of shoeprints, left in bloody red ink.
"Greg!" Someone yelled and Greg whipped around quickly, running back to Nick after having the wits scared out of him. "I'm going to look for any sign of a struggle out front, I just wanted to tell you to be…" he was cut off as Greg pulled him into a very deep and passionate kiss. "Safe…" Nick continued, stunned. "What was… that for?" Nick asked, his cheeks still in Greg's hands.
"I don't know," Greg said. "I just felt like I had to do it." Greg said, pulling Nick again into the same kiss, but forcing Nick's lips open with his tongue. After a few minutes of kissing, Greg pulled them apart, adding in an "I love you, be safe." Nick pulled away to after kissing Greg's forehead, the turned away from Greg. Greg smiled to himself, feeling he did the right thing somehow. He now turned back to his bloody shoeprints, following their very distinctive trail.
Greg hadn't noticed, but he was a few feet away from a shed that the foot prints led into. Blindly, he kept stepping closer to the shed, not even noticing he was getting closer.
He was a foot in front of the shed when he noticed he almost ran into the wall of the shed. He followed the trail with his eyes, a scream catching in his throat. Something was lurching out for him, a bloody arm! He shrieked Nick's name, the feeling in his stomach exploding out in a furious rush.
"Niiiiiiiiiiiiick!" He shrieked as the arm's hand lunged for his throat, grabbing hold and cutting off his other shrieks for his lover. Greg choked on his screams for help, being picked up now by the hand. Not caring about himself anymore, only about the crime scene, he recalled the arm touching the camera's button and a flash reeling out of the camera. His moved his shaky hands away from the strong arm and reached quickly for the camera, ripping it off his neck and throwing it towards the crime scene so Nick could find it.
"Niiiiiiiiiiiiick!" Nick heard his name and he swung around instantly, recognizing that scream anywhere.
"Greg!" He shouted as he now charged down the stairs, heading toward the door to the backyard. "Greg!" He called out again, awaiting Nick's answer. He ran so fast he tripped over something and he rolled toward the shed, blacking out momentarily. He opened his eyes quickly, looking to what he tripped over. Greg's camera! He reached out for Greg's camera, taking it into his rubber-gloved hands. He looked around him, noticing the same bloody shoeprint trail that Greg had followed, leading straight into the shed. He cursed himself, knowing he shouldn't have left Greg.
..::XXxxXX::..
"What?!" Sarah screeched at him. "Nick, how could you just let him go like that? Why didn't you stay with him? None of this would have happened if you stayed with him!" She was blaming Nick and that didn't help him anymore, it only made his cry into his shaky fingertips.
"Sarah!" Grissom snapped at her, cutting off her insults and blames. "It wasn't Nick's fault! Greg should have called for back up! I… I should have given them more CSIs to help them!" Grissom blamed himself.
"Grissom!" Sarah said, slightly surprised. "This isn't our fault! It's Brass's! He should have given Nick and Greg more officers!"
"Me?!" Brass snapped at her. "I'd blame you if I were you!" Brass yelled at her. "My officers had nothing to do with this! It's your own damn fault!"
"Shut up!" Warrick yelled, gritting his teeth. "Your blames are fucking helping Greg or Nick!"
Grissom nodded in response. "Sarah, Warrick," Grissom said. "I want you two to investigate Greg's disappearance." Warrick nodded and Sarah sighed, both leaving the room to go investigate. "Nick, I want you to go home." Grissom said firmly and Nick looked up slowly. "You've had it rough already, you can rest. But you have to come back to work tomorrow," Grissom considered, giving Nick a stern nod. Nick nodded back, leaving Grissom and Brass now.
..::XXxxXX::..
Nick stared at the ceiling, the back of his hand to his forehead as thoughts pulsed through the mind that lay beneath his hand. He blinked, slowly rolling over. He expected to see the same, beautiful sleeping face next to him, but all he saw was a pillow. He sighed, wondering how Greg was, hoping Warrick and Sarah would find him soon, and put whoever had taken Greg behind bars.
..::XXxxXX::..
A lot had happened since Greg's kidnapping. Warrick and Sarah had narrowed it down to a guy named Thomas Gallagher. They had figured it out by going through the photos on Greg's camera and taking up a finger print off Greg's camera that wasn't Greg's. In the picture, there was a man, wearing a pin that had the name of a docking truck company and the man's name- Thomas Gallagher- on it. Warrick and Sarah had gone into conversation with the company's owner and figured out that the man in the picture was Thomas Gallagher.
Going out on a hunch, they got Gallagher's print from the owner, and compared it to the one of the camera. It matched up. Now, Warrick and Sarah were going out on a hunch and looking up Gallagher's truck. Now, Nick was awaiting their answer.
"Grissom, Nick!" Warrick called. It had been one day since Greg had disappeared. "Quickly!" Nick was already there though, Grissom coming in after him. Warrick turned the screen to them, showing them the map of blocks and dashed and dotted lines. Warrick pointed to a same red block on the screen. "Here," Warrick said. "He's in this truck." Nick studied the map, instantly knowing where the truck was. Nick's eyes wide, he noticed that it was down the road, heading out towards the desert. Nick bolted, heading toward the exit immediately.
Now, the last mile in the race of life had begun.