I Need You in My Life

Disclaimers: I do not own CSI nor any of the characters

Summary: Story based on Way to Go. Sara and Grissom aren't together and Sara is the one that gets held hostage by the guy who shoots Brass. Brass also doesn't get shot in this story. Willie's brother, Sammy, isn't dead. Make sense?

A shot rang out and a man fell to the floor. Grissom pushed Sara to the floor incase another shot would be fired. He partially covered her body with his. Security flooded the casino floor looking for the person who possessed the gun. Meanwhile, the man in question, Willie Cutler, was running toward the elevator on the other side of the casino floor. Grissom removed himself from Sara and stood up. He held out his hand to her and helped her up.

"Thanks." She said once she was on her feet.

They heard a commotion coming toward them and then suddenly Sara was grabbed and dragged toward the elevator by Willie. "GRISSOM!" She screamed.

Grissom ran after them and reached out to Sara. As she went to grasp his hand, Willie stopped just in front of the elevator, put the gun up to her head and looked directly at Grissom.

"Back away and I won't hurt her." Grissom made no move to step back. Willie cocked the gun and looked to Sara then back to Grissom. "I don't want to shoot her; she's too beautiful to die. I would rather have my way with her first." He accentuated his point by licking the side of Sara's face. She whimpered. Grissom couldn't take it.

"Get the hell off her!" This only pushed Willie further. He turned Sara round and kissed her full on the mouth. She tried to resist and kept her mouth shut. This agitated him and he released her mouth and backhanded her across the face. She whimpered again and Grissom lost it.

"You asshole. Keep your fucking hands off of her!" Willie raised his gun, this time to Grissom's head.

"Back off now. I told you I didn't want to hurt her but she pushed me to it. Now if you leave us alone she won't die." He reached behind him and pressed the call button for the elevator. "Now, I appreciate the audience," he waved his gun at Brass and the group of cops and CSI's that surrounded them "but we have an elevator to catch and if you follow or corner us off, she dies. Got it?" He was looking at Grissom again and waited for him to nod. He did. He heard the elevator arrive behind him and walked backwards into it, keeping Sara in front of him the whole time to ensure he wouldn't get shot.

As soon as the doors to the elevator shut, Grissom spun around and came face to face with his CSI Graveyard crew. Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, Catherine Willows and newest CSI Greg Sanders were all standing there looking helpless.

"We have to do something, anything." Grissom stated to everyone surrounding him. Jim Brass walked up to him.

"Gil... I don't think there is anything we can do right now. You heard him, if we do anything he'll kill her and based on what this guy has done, I tend to believe him." This drew a very bad reaction from Grissom.

"So, we are just going to stand here and wait for him to do God knows what to her and then dump her body for us to find and process? Sorry Jim but I can't do that; I can't just stand here and let him do what he wants to her. She means too much to me. You of all people should know that." At this point Grissom looked like he was on the verge of tears. The team was sh0cked. They knew Grissom cared for Sara but they never thought he would publicly admit it. An officer walked up to Brass, whispered something into his ear and then went back into the surrounding crowd. Brass then turned to Grissom.

"He has taken her into a room on the 4th floor. Video footage got them going into room 410. I wasn't going to just stand here and do nothing Grissom; she is like a daughter to me. N0w lets go get her back." Everyone nodded and started separating, some headed to the stairs and some headed to the elevators. Grissom, Brass and the Graveyard crew were among the group of people that took the elevator to the 4th floor. When they got there, a negotiator was waiting outside the room. He nodded to Grissom and then turned to Brass.

"He won't co-operate, I have already tried talking him into releasing the hostage." Every-one visibly winced at the word 'Hostage'. "I have asked what he wants; according to him he has all that he wants, just her. I can't think of anything more to try. I'm sorry." He headed away from the door but stayed close. Grissom turned to the group.

"Let me try. I'll see if he will trade me for Sara." He could see Brass was going to try to talk him out of it. "Jim, I need to do this. I have to, for Sara. I love her and I can't let her die because some moron doesn't know what he wants." Again everyone was shocked by the public display of emotion from Grissom. Brass gave in.

"Okay. Good luck and don't get both of you killed. If I have to I will contact you by your cell. We are going to give you a wire and bullet proof vest so that you can have a kill word and some protection. If things get out of hand, say 'Gil' and we will get you two out of there. Got it?" Grissom nodded and someone handed him a small microphone and a vest. He fastened the microphone to his shirt but gave the vest back. At Brass's questioning look he said.

"Sara doesn't have a vest so I'm not going to have one, and don't try to talk me out of it because it won't work." Before anyone could answer he carried on "OK I'm ready. You guys might wanna stand around the corner; he might not let me in if he knows I'm not alone." Everyone nodded and went round the corner whilst Grissom walked up to the door. When he was sure the others were out of sight, he banged on the door. "Willie! Open the door. I have a proposition for you." He saw a shadow appear over the peep-hole in the door. He raised his arms and rotated 360°. "See? I'm not armed and I'm alone out here so just open the door." The door opened and Willie's face appeared through the gap. Grissom could see that he had Sara next to him and was holding the gun to her side whilst blocking her escape with his arm and the wall in front of her. Sara's cheek was bruised from his earlier backhand. Her nose was newly bloody and this disturbed Grissom, but not as much as the tear down the front of her shirt. He forgot about Willie and spoke to Sara instead. "Jesus Sara. Are you OK?" She nodded but had a look on her face that said 'Please get me out of here.' He noticed this. "Don't worry Honey I will." Willie had had enough of their conversation and shoved Sara back into the room so he could talk to Grissom.

"So what is this proposition you have for me?" He looked Grissom in the eye and waited for him to speak.

"A trade. Me for Sara." Grissom couldn't hear Sara in the background. She had stopped moving when she heard his 'proposition.' Then suddenly he heard her.

"Grissom don't be stupid! Don't trade yourself for me. It's not worth it!" Willie slammed the door shut in Grissom's face and went to Sara. Grissom could hear everything.

'You stupid bitch!' Slap 'You keep your mouth shut!' Slap. Thump. 'If you do anything like that again I will kill you with my bare hands. Get it?' Slap... 'You will learn.' 'AAH!' Smash!

By the first slap Grissom was banging on the door as hard as he could. "SARA! Willie you leave her alone you bastard!" The door shot open and the gun appeared around the door. Willie's other hand came out of the door and grabbed hold of Grissom's shirt. He was then pulled into the room. As soon as the door was shut, Grissom was released. He looked frantically around the room for Sara. He found her lying on the floor next to the wall and a smashed lamp. He ran over to her and dropped to the floor next to her crumpled body. He checked her over and found her still conscious, just scared. "Sara? Sara talk to me Honey. Please." He stroked her cheek. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Griss?"

"I'm here Baby. Jesus look what he did to you."

"You just called me 'Baby.' Why?"

"I'm sorry. It just slipped out. Sara, I wanna know if I'm too late for us."

"No. You could never be too late." She smiled up at him.

"Thank God." He bent his head and kissed her slowly.

Meanwhile, outside, the team and Brass were all nearly in tears at what they had just heard. Grissom, Mr. unemotional, had just opened up and fixed things with Sara. Now they just hoped that they would both get back out.

Back inside the room Sara and Grissom pulled apart from their kiss breathing heavily.

"I love you Sara."

"I love you too."

"When I was outside I heard a thump. What was it? Did he hit you with the lamp?"

"No he didn't. When he hit me the second time I fell and he just threw the lamp at the wall. It didn't touch me."

"Good." Grissom pulled her up and walked her over to the bed. He sat her down on the edge and sat next to her. He grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers. He used his other hand to turn her face around to his. He looked her in the eye and leaned in for another kiss. Their eyes closed at the same time. Just before the kiss could deepen, Willie stopped pacing and caught what they were doing. He raced over to them and grabbed Sara by the hair pulling her off the bed and to the other side of the room with him. Grissom got up and was prepared to fight him to get Sara back but Willie had the gun against Sara's head again.

"I wouldn't Mr. Grissom." He turned Sara's head away from Grissom's direction and towards him. He looked her in the eye, the gun still poised at her head. "Now why would you go and do that Sara? You are mine and only mine." He ran his other hand up her side.

"How can you say I am yours? You never met me until today when Grissom and I interrogated you." This seemed to piss him off. He grabbed her around the throat and pushed her into the wall. Sara's hands shot straight to Willie's to try and remove them from her throat. He tightened them. Grissom charged at them and tried to pull him off of Sara. When Willie's hands wouldn't loosen, Grissom began punching him on the back as hard as he could. This got his attention and he released Sara. He lunged at Grissom and began to fight him. Grissom was punched in the face by Willie. He crumpled to the floor. Willie turned to Sara, who was still trying to catch her breath. He ran to her again, picked her up and carried her over to the bed. He threw her on it and then crawled on top of her. Sara tried to fight back, but Willie grabbed hold of her hands in one of his and pinned them by her head. He began kissing down Sara's face as his free hand went to the button and zipper on her jeans. Grissom dragged himself off of the floor and over to the bed. He saw that Willie had Sara's jeans unbuttoned but was fumbling with the zipper. Sara looked at him with fear in her eyes and tears running down her face. Grissom grabbed Willie around the neck and dragged him off of Sara. Willie dropped the gun onto the bed as he fell to the floor. Sara picked it up before Willie had a chance to. Grissom moved over to Sara to check she was alright. Whilst he was looking at her, Willie crawled behind Grissom and was about to pounce when a shot was fired. Willie crumpled to the floor grabbing his thigh. He was cursing at Sara.

"You stupid BITCH! Look what you did to me!" The door burst open and Brass and the cops ran in. The cops called for some paramedics and stayed with Willie, reading him his rights. The Graveyard crew burst into the room and found Sara and Grissom in each others arms on the bed. Sara was crying whilst Grissom was holding her like he would never let go.

TBC