Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Thanks to Joan and Susan for the great beta job.

SPOILERS: Living Doll, Empty Eyes, and The Good the Bad and the Dominatrix.

CHAPTER ONE: Lost and Found

Grissom sat on the bench outside the interrogation room with his head buried in his hands. Tears stung his eyes as he thought of how he let everyone down, his team, himself, and especially Sara. He had pleaded desperately for Natalie to tell him where Sara was.

He had failed. Failed- verb, meaning: to prove deficient. Deficient he felt.

It wasn't just the past few hours which pulled the strings of his heart. It was everything that had happened in the past few weeks, months even. He had heard the same rumours she had. Though they weren't true he couldn't prove they were wrong. He had left Sara out of what he was doing, he had been distant and cold to her; he walked away from her and stayed the night at Lady Heather's. He hadn't slept with Heather; the thought never entered his mind. He knew if he were to cross that line he would lose the love of his life forever.

Trust. In his mind he had broken her trust, even though she told him she believed him when he said he hadn't done anything. However, he could still see the pain in her eyes. He couldn't take that away, and he wished with everything that he could. All he wanted to do was to fix things and he feared he lost his chance. He had become just like every other man in Sara's life who had hurt her deeply.

"Gil." Brass touched his friend's shoulder. "I think we should go with the bleach now." Getting no response, he took a seat next to his friend. "Look, I know how you must be feeling. When Ellie was in danger..."

"Ellie is your daughter, Jim." Grissom turned his eyes to the man next to him. "Your daughter! Sara...she's my...everything." He didn't care that tears were sliding down his cheeks. There were more important things than holding up his tough exterior.

Brass shook his head. "Gil."

"No! Don't Gil me. Sara could be dead somewhere and it's my fault. Don't you get that? Can't you see that?" Grissom stood, walked over to the opposite wall and punched it. He rested his head against the wall and continued to softly beat his fist against it. "I let her down. I promised..." His words caught in his throat. He just couldn't take it anymore. He was trying to hold out some hope, but he knew Sara was likely dead somewhere.

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Rain fell steadily, causing the earth to become soft and thick. Thunder crashed somewhere in the vast Nevada desert as the temperature slowly began to drop. Sara laid on her stomach pinned underneath a Mustang. Her eyes fluttered open once again as she hoped it had all just been a nightmare.

Stuck. She was still there and still stuck in the same position. She had one arm along her side and one arm free to the elements. Every breath she took hurt worse than the last one. Her mouth was so dry that it was impossible to swallow. She wanted to give up. The pain was too much for her. As she was about to surrender herself to a peaceful sleep, she felt someone grab her hand.

It took a minute before Sara was able to see the person. "Cammie?"

Cammie Brookston had died in Sara's arms a couple months prior. Killed by a nut job who not only killed her, but slaughtered the all the women who lived with Cammie. Now she was there kneeling in front of Sara. She looked different. The woman had a reassuring smile, and she seemed to glow. "Shh." She touched Sara's hair softly. "Save your strength." Cammie was happy to be there for Sara, just as Sara had been there for her a few weeks prior. "Just speak with your thoughts...I can hear them, as you can hear mine."

As a wave a pain rushed through Sara's body once again, she clenched Cammie's hand harder. The surge of pain brought fresh tears to Sara's eyes. She could taste the mud caused by the rain starting to seep into her mouth. All attempts at coughing just caused more filth to enter her body. 'I never got to tell him goodbye. I've been so upset with him. He'll never know I...' Sara started to gag on the sludge sliding down her throat.

'Just hold on a bit longer.' Cammie's words of comfort fell on deaf ears as Sara slipped back into unconsciousness.

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Back at the lab Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and Greg were all in the break room looking over Natalie's sketch book, the mini of Sara's death, and all the other miniatures.

"I've never seen him like this." Catherine took a seat next to Warrick in the break room. "He's taking this so hard. I don't know how he's going to get through this." She pinched the top of her nose as she shook her head.

"Damn it!" Nick punched the table. "We should be doing something besides sitting here. We can all go out looking. There's nothing here, no clues, not a damn thing."

Greg stood up throwing the sketch book down. "I'm with Nick, we haven't made any progress. None of this is helping, it's just keeping us busy and we should be out looking for her before it's too late."

"Look I know you're frustrated but we'll find something. We need to stay here; us going out and getting lost won't help," reasoned Catherine. Picking up the sketch book, she began to flip through it.

"I should've known you'd say something like that." Nick turned and narrowed his eyes at Catherine.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Catherine as she put the book aside for a moment.

"You know what it meant!" Nick had enough and was overly pissed off.

"Obviously I don't." Catherine looked from Nick to Greg to Warrick. "One of you wants to clue me in here?"

"Look Cath it's just you seem more concerned about the affect this will have on Grissom than you do about Sara dying somewhere." Warrick spoke softly. "Sometimes it comes across as if you don't really care about her or her safety. We know you do, but you two have bumped heads several times in the past. She's out there alone and dying and you don't seem too upset."

"You guys really believe that?" After a few moments of silence, Catherine stood up. "Fine, carry on here I...I'm going to see if Hodges has anything." With that she sulked out of the room.

"I think her feelings were hurt," stated Greg as he looked at the two men.

"Like I care!" Nick went back to the table to take a seat. With a sigh he picked up Natalie's file, but stopped when he caught the two pair of eyes grinding on him.

"What!"

Warrick just shook his head. He knew Nick was just lashing out because he felt helpless and fearful. He could see the fear of losing Sara eating at his friend. "Nothing man. Let's just continue to look, there has to be something."

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Down an old beaten nearly abandoned road in the Nevada desert, a car caring carrying three women neared Sara's location. "I think we're lost." Melanie took her eyes off the road for a moment to look at the passenger next to her. "Chris?"

Christa was holding the map and turning it one way as she turned her head the other. "We're not lost."

"No? Then what are we?" Melanie sighed heavily as she watched the rain drops crash against the windshield.

"We are temporary unaware as to our location." Christa laughed turning to Mel.

Melanie shook her head and smiled. She rubbed the back of her neck a bit. "Man it's hot in here." She flipped off the air condition and rolled her window down. "No point in wasting fuel. We might need it later." The wind blew through her dark brown hair as she listened to nothing but silence.

Christa leaned her head against the head rest and closed her eyes. 'Peace and quiet'. She loved the quiet sound of the wind rushing in the car window.The silence was suddenly broken when the third and youngest of the women started to sing from the back seat.

"Oh here she comes
Watch out boy she'll chew you up
Oh here she comes
She's a man eater
Oh here she comes
Watch out boy she'll chew you up
Oh here she comes
She's a man eater"

Christa looked back and saw Kacee wiggling as she was laying down on the back seat. Kacee's eyes were closed tightly and she tossing her iPod from one hand to the other.

"I wouldn't if I were you
I know what she can do
She's deadly man, and she could really rip your world apart
Mind over matter
The beauty is there but a beast is in the heart"

A mischievous grin crossed Christa's face. "Let's do it."

Melanie giggled.

"On three." Christa turned around and faced forward once again. "One, two, three..."

"AHHH!" Both women in the front seat screamed at the top of their lungs causing Kacee to jump up screaming as well.

"Frogs in a bucket." Kacee tried to catch her breath over the sound of laughter. Once she realized there was no danger, she let out an exhausted breath. "Not funny you two, so not funny. Why on Venus would you do such a thing?"

Both Melanie and Christa started to sing...

"Oh here she comes
Watch out boy she'll chew you up
Oh here she comes
She's a man eater"

"I wasn't singing that loud!" Kacee sat back in her seat. She smiled as she looked out her window. "Are we there yet?"

"No." Christa looked back at Kacee.

"Hmm" Kacee placed a bag on her lap and pulled out her cell phone. "Oh fiddles, no signal." Sighing she pulled a hair brush out of her bag and started to brush her hair. "Are we there yet?"

Mel sighed and looked in the rear view mirror. "No. Einstein here got us lost. So who knows when we will get there or where we are."

"I know where we are." Kacee smiled as she continued to brush her hair out.

"I'm afraid to ask." Christa turned to Mel then the Kacee. "Where are we then?"

"Planet Earth." Kacee laughed and looked out the window. "Although...by the looks of it, Mars perhaps."

"Ha, ha, you think you're so cute." Melanie shook her head.

"I am." Kacee leaned forward.

"Well you're not as cute as you think you are my dear." Christa blew into Kacee's hair.

"I know." Kacee smiled at Christa. "I'm cuter."

"Yeah, in your head!" Melanie smiled to herself. "Kacee Face could you do me flavour?"

"Chocolate or Vanilla? And I like it in my head, I never get lonely there." Kacee wiggled her eyebrows.

"Not funny. But could you please try to call information." Melanie asked the younger woman. "We need to find a way to civilisation."

"Hmm." Kacee pulled out her phone and waved it around the air. "No signal."

Melanie sighed. 'What a crappy network.'

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Trying to hold her composure Catherine walked into the tech room. "Hey Hodges, got anything?"

"Not really. I took the results from the sand sample and compared them with the scale of Sara's..." Hodges' voice trailed off a moment before showing Catherine his computer screen. "Going on the results and the scale, there are twenty matches in a five hundred mile radius where she could be." Hanging his head in defeat he looked at her. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Catherine turned to walk out of the room.

"Too bad you don't know how long it took Natalie to take her and return to Vegas." Hodges mumbled.

"What did you say?" Catherine turned to Hodges and walked back to him.

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Melanie yawned as she carried on with the drive. The car had become quiet now with Christa fast asleep- her head against the window and Kacee sitting listen to her iPod once again.

Kacee took an earpiece out and leaned forward. "You want me to take over so you can have a break. You've been driving for like nearly nine hours now."

"That would be great if you don't..." Melanie stopped when something on the side of the road caught her eye. Quickly she turned the car sharply and pulled off of the road. "Do you see that?"

"It looks old." Kacee looked at the sight before the car. The red Mustang lay on its top off to the side of the road. "Maybe we should find the nearest town and send help." She couldn't see any sign of life around the car. She pulled out her cell and checked it. "Still no signal. Mel please, let's just go."

"Chris." Melanie nudged Christa until she was awake and alert. "Look."

Christa looked out the window. "What is that? Is someone in there?" She opened the car door and got out.

"Wait for me," called Melanie, as she jumped out followed by Kacee.

"If we get killed..." Kacee shouted as she walked behind the other women. "I've seen the slasher movies you two force me watch. This is how it always goes. Women alone in the middle of nowhere. Some psycho is going to be in there ready to jump out and kill us."

"You mean the movies you bury your head into a pillow over?" Melanie looked back as all three walked closer to the car. "And if this were a scary movie, you'd have nothing to worry about." She snickered as they reached the car.

All three women froze as they walked around the side of the car and saw a hand sticking out. "Oh my..." Christa managed to get out. Before anyone else could say something they watched the hand claw at the thick mud.

"They're alive." Melanie's voice cracked. "We've got to get help." She led the way as they all rushed down to the mud and gunk. "Kace call for help."

Kacee pulled her phone out and then remembered the signal issue. "Damn guys, I have no..." She looked down at her phone in amazement. "Full signal?"

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Catherine came rushing back into the break room. "We may have something. Sara left here just after four and Sofia said they arrived at her apartment just before six.

That's almost a two hour window. That still gives her plenty of time to take her somewhere."Nick shook his head two hours was a long time and he didn't think it would really help.

"No, but she would to have had help." Catherine started to flip though the papers on the table. "She doesn't have a driver's licence. So renting a car would be nearly impossible. That leaves us with either borrowing a car or she had help. Plus there's the fact that she would've had to have gotten the mustang out to the desert. And I would assume she'd need some help moving Sara..."

"Really?" I mean it's not like Sara weighs a lot. She's tiny." Greg's frustration was increasing by each moment and it became more apparent by the way he replied to Catherine.

"I know that, but Natalie isn't that big either. She would've had to drug Sara or incapacitate her somehow. There's no way Sara would go quietly. And lifting dead weight into a car, then removing her and placing her under it, something is off." Catherine spoke quickly as she explained what she was thinking. She knew if they cross referenced as much information as possible they could find her. It was just a matter of time; time she knew that was greatly ticking away.

"Catherine." Hodges stood at the door of the break room. "I did some more cross references." He walked over to Catherine and handed her the paper. "I've got it narrowed down to four possible locations. And I have this friend in search and rescue. I went to call in a favour but he's out on a call..."

"Why are you wasting our time with this?" Nick snapped at Hodges. He couldn't see what this friend being out on a call had anything to do with finding Sara.

"He was sent to help some women who came upon an accident. They said there was a woman pinned under a car." Hodges watched as their faces turned white. "I also called Officer Witman, another good friend. He said he knew about it and Sofia was sent ahead to find out if it was Sara."

"Should we go?" Warrick asked as he jumped up.

"No...yes..." Catherine rubbed the back of her neck while trying to think. "Alright here's what we're going to do."

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Sara thought she was dreaming. She thought she could hear voices near her. As she forced her eyes open she could see two women looking in on her. One was holding her hand and the other was keeping the mud away from her nose and mouth. "Please...help."

"Help's on the way, dear. I can hear a chopper. Just hang in there." Christa softy spoke as she removed more mud from around Sara's face. "One of my friends is going to set a flare off so the chopper can see us, it might be a bit noisy."

Sara slammed her eyes closed when she heard the bang of the flair gun. It seemed like an eternity until she heard the roar of the helicopter. The down drafts of the blades gave her a sense of hope.

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Greg and Warrick stopped at the end of the corridor. They watched Brass and Grissom as they sat and talked outside the interrogation room. "Remember Greg, not a word to Grissom. Not until Nick or Catherine call."

"Got it." Greg took a few deep breaths before following Warrick. His stomach started to get knots as he got closer to Grissom. He had a feeling his boss wouldn't be happy to see them. That feeling increased when the older man saw them coming.

"What are you two doing here?" Grissom started to raise his voice as he walked towards Greg and Warrick. "Did you find something?" Do you know where she is?"

Both men stood in silence. They didn't know what to say at first. "Catherine...she umm, she wanted us to collect Natalie's clothes and process her." Warrick had finally thought of a good excuse for being there, although he wished he would have thought of one beforehand.

Grissom glared at the two men before him. Something was up. They both looked as if they were hiding something, plus their hands were empty. "Shouldn't you need your kits then?"

"Oh." Greg snapped his head to Warrick. "I knew we were forgetting something. We'll just run back and get them."

"Do that." Grissom shook his head and walked away. He didn't understand why Catherine would send the two of them and not come herself. Plus, he knew Greg and Warrick wouldn't just forget their kits. Something smelled fishy and he was going to get to the bottom of it. He walked into the observation room and pulled out his cell phone. Staring at Natalie through the glass he dialled Catherine's number and waited for an answer that didn't come. His suspicions were confirmed at that moment. He knew what was going on, and what Warrick and Greg were really doing there. It wasn't collecting evidence.

---TBC---