Title: Stop
Rating: G
Disclaimer: The characters of CSI belong to CBS…the story, however, is mine.
A/N: Spoilers for "Pirates of the Third Reich".

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He knew pain.

Knew it before, knew it now, knew it after.

Pain was a feeling he lived most of his life with, the type of pain that stabs you straight in the heart and lets you bleed, even after the scars begin to fade. And here, pain gripped him still as he saw the sign.

Sparks, two miles.

Headlights illuminating through the darkness revealed two shadows, and the pain held tighter as the tires spun off the concrete, sending dust into the air.

Brakes screeching quietly to a halt, he flinched inwardly as the black strip of leather sliced through the air, creating a different kind of pain. The kind of pain that stings, that burns, that heals.

He didn't know that man's pain, but the haunting sadness in her eyes-he knew hers.

Calling her name, once, twice, he made a grab towards the braided whip, wrapping it around her hands. When fury and revenge turned towards him, he moved forward as angry words bit their sorrow.

Then he remembered.

Pain.

Three years, and it was forever seared in his memory, when she told him about his pain and that it could be released whenever he chose.

He chose now.

"Stop!"

He watched as her pain still lingered, and Grissom knew as he held her tears on his shoulder-it couldn't stop.