New story up! Please be aware that there are violent themes in this one so if you are a little sensitive to this sort of stuff, maybe reconsider reading. This is based in the 3rd season. I have no doubt that there will be some liberties taken with believability at times. My apologies in advance for the 'far fetchedness' which this story may contain.

CHAPTER 1

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS

It was the picture of perfect domestic bliss.

Julia Gable sat up on the bed of her eldest child, who was cuddled in beside her teetering between awake and asleep as her mother read to her. The story had been Julia's favourite when she was her daughters age - 'Harry the Dirty Dog'. It brought back memories of a happy childhood. Julia had been born into a large family and, for as long as she could remember, her books were a respite from the noise and bustle of the family home. But she had adored growing up with a lot of siblings. There were occasional fights but there was also the close bond known only to siblings - a bond that had survived childhood and had grown and flourished as each child had matured and left the family nest to pursue their respective lives. And that's what she hoped for her own children. A blissful childhood and the joy of always having each other to rely on through life's challenges. She had been voicing these very dreams to her younger brother on the phone before bed time duties began.

She finished the story and looked down at her now sleeping daughter. Smiling with contentment she slowly got up and resettled her little girl with a kiss while tucking the covers in tightly around her little body. She took one last long look at her before smiling again and switching off the bedroom light.

The door to the next bedroom was only partially opened with a weak greenish light filtering out into the corridor. Opening the door a little more, Julia leant in and checked on her sleeping twin boys. The toddlers were both tucked into their 'big boy' beds, sleeping soundly with the comforting glow of their nightlights keeping away the imagined monsters which lived in the dark.

One final room to check and she could spend the rest of the evening spending some quality grown up time with her husband. Wine, a pizza and a movie would be the perfect cap for a perfect day.

Walking into the bedroom, she smiled as two sleepy eyes looked back at her. The baby girl kicked her legs and gurgled happily at the sight of her mother.

"Shhhh, baby girl." Julia whispered, gently picking her up from the crib and carrying her to the change table. "A new diaper and it's back to sleep for you."

After quickly changing her diaper, Julia cradled her baby gently, soothing her back towards sleep. When her little eyes finally closed, she placed her back into her cot and covered her over with the handmade blankets her mother had made for her.

A deep thud from downstairs caught her attention and she smiled. Her husband was notoriously clumsy. He had enormous feet which even tripped himself up. They were feet that often got in the way, but did have the benefit of making him an excellent swimmer. They were feet that his twin boys seemed to have inherited.

"Goodnight, Sasha." she whispered to her sleeping daughter. "Remember, Mommy loves you."

Padding quietly down the stairs to the living room, she smiled at the bottle of red wine sitting on the living room table, illuminated with the glow from the large television mounted on the wall. And then she saw the red stain running freely on her light gold carpet.

"Jesus, Paul!" she cursed under her breath. Red wine on a carpet - that was never going to come out. But something didn't seem right. Time seemed to slow down as realisation suddenly merged with assumption. Not red wine. Blood.

Her breathing increased in the millisecond it took for everything to kick into place and she drew in a breath to scream.

But the scream never made it out.

Instead she felt cold hands on either side of her head and was dead before she could register the loud crack as her neck was snapped.

She fell lifelessly to the floor as the lights of a car pulling into the driveway of her house shone through the window.

The bright pink elephant of the pizza delivery van cast an eerie glow across the room.

But there was no-one left to notice.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Fifteen hundred miles away, it had been a quiet night for the Grave Shift at Las Vegas crime lab - a rarity in the city.

Nick Stokes was using the opportunity to catch up on paperwork. He had spent the earlier part of the shift attending a routine break and enter at a high end jewellery store. The manager had provided him with video footage showing clearly the perpetrator smashing a window, grabbing a handful of gold bracelets from the window display - cutting his hand in the process on the jagged broken glass - and legging it two blocks down the road where he was apprehended when a bystander had intervened. Open and shut case. The jewellery had been returned to the store manager, the man had been arrested and the truth had come out. He had lost everything over the course of a 4 day gambling bender. The more he lost, the more he tried to bet to increase his winnings - the winnings that, unfortunately for him, never arrived. It never ceased to amaze Nick the sheer number of people who ended up in the same position in this city.

Fortunately, most didn't resort to ludicrous attempts to get rich quick.

"Nicky."

Nick looked up from the file he was working on to see Catherine Willows standing in the doorway of the break room.

"Grissom is looking for you. He wants to see us both in his office."

Nick frowned. A summons like that usually meant he was going to get a Grissom 'talking to'. He sighed at Catherine as he closed the file and pushed himself to his feet. At least whatever he had done this time hadn't been a single handed effort - clearly Catherine had been involved too.

Nick admired Gil Grissom very much and fought hard to get his respect, but sometimes he felt nothing he every did would satisfy the critical eye of his boss. He had been a CSI Level 3 for almost 8 months and still his work was scrutinized by his mentor.

Catherine watched his reluctance with good humour and winked at him cheekily when he made eye contact with him.

"Come on, Nicky. He probably just wants to know something about the Jackson case."

They walked together down the corridor and knocked on Grissom's closed office door. Nick gave a small frown as he was summoned in. Grissom rarely closed the door to his office.

Grissom looked serious as he sat behind his desk. Jim Brass was there too, standing to the side of the desk looking just as grim.

"Nick, come in and sit down. We need to talk."

Nick glanced at Catherine, but she was looking as confused as he felt.

Nick walked further into the office but shook his head when Jim gestured to one of the two empty chairs.

He turned back to meet Grissom's eyes.

"Gris, what's going on?" he asked, a stab of anxiety and fear hitting him with the look of regret that was mirrored back at him.

Grissom removed his glasses and pinched his fingers into his eye socket briefly before standing up and moving to lean back against the front of his desk.

"Catherine, can you please shut the door. Nick…..sit down…..please. We have…..bad news."

A look of deep concern passed over Catherine's face as she quickly shut the door before moving to place a gentle hand against Nick's back, urging him towards the vacant chair. He didn't resist - his mind and body didn't feel connected all of a sudden. There was a roaring in his head and he could suddenly hear his heart beat whooshing in his ears. He felt physically ill as he waited for news he knew he didn't want to hear. To be put through this it was clear that someone in his family had been hurt…or worse.

Jim Brass moved in closer and knelt with creaking knees in front of Nick so that he was at eyelevel.

"We've just been contacted by PD in Bloomington." he said quietly.

All the colour left Nick's face.

"Julia?" he whispered hoarsely.

Jim nodded and dropped his gaze momentarily.

"She was murdered in her home earlier this evening." he said quietly. "I'm so sorry, Nick."

It felt as if someone had just kicked him in the chest. All the breath was suddenly knocked out of his body and he felt a sudden wash of nausea. It was if he was in a terrible nightmare but wasn't waking up. His skin felt oddly clammy all of a sudden. Almost subconsciously he heard Catherine gasp with shock at the news and heard her move behind him, feeling her hands come to rest on his shoulders in sympathy. But he did not respond.

"No, no, no. I was just talking to her. She rang just before I came in to work." he mumbled, dropping his head down to stare at the floor.

"I'm sorry, kid." murmured Jim

Nick's head snapped up suddenly.

"The kids!" he said suddenly, adding in a voice slightly more than a whisper, "What about Paul and the kids?"

Jim brought his hands up to rest on Nick's arms.

"Her husband's body was found nearby." he said "The children are all safe. They've been moved to protective custody."

Nick's body had started shaking with the shocking news but he managed to push himself up from the chair. Jim staggered back on his heels before catching his balance and pushing himself back up on his feet with effort.

"I need to go." said Nick simply. "I need to get to Illinois. I need to go."

"Hang on, kiddo." said Brass reaching a hand to grab Nick's wrist as he turned to head for the door.

"I've got to get to them!" Nick cried as he pulled his wrist free. "I have to get to the kids! I need to be there for Jules." He was almost frantic with his need to get out.

"Nick."

It was the quiet but commanding voice of Grissom.

"I'm sorry, Nick. But you can't go"

Nick stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to meet his eyes. The tired intensity of his boss' gaze was too much for Nick and the tears which had been gathered in a lump in his throat finally broke through.

"Grissom, this is my family! I've got to be there!""Nick, sit down…please. There's more."

It was like a slap to the face. He stood staring dumbly at his boss.

More? How much worse could it possibly be?

"It doesn't seem to be random, Nick." continued Grissom solemnly, "Local investigators believe it was deliberate attack."

Nick swiped angrily at the tears coursing down his face.

"Who would want to hurt Jules and Paul?" he choked out. "Paul's an accountant and Jules is a stay at home Mom for Christ's sake! They're good people. They get on with everyone."

Grissom glanced briefly at Catherine before turning his attention back to Nick.

"We believe whoever did this was targeting your sister." he said gently. "We believe it's in retribution for a judgement your father handed down in a drug trafficking case. He handed down the death penalty to Carlos Escoband who was convicted of first degree murder after a triple homicide when he murdered the family of a drug courier. Your father received an anonymous call to his home this evening informing him of your sister's death. The caller told your father that his punishment was not over. We suspect there is a plan to target the rest of your family. Escoband's father has a long record on drug related crimes and we suspect he is responsible for your sister's death. We believe he is taking revenge on your father by targeting his children."Nick stumbled to the chair and collapsed down in it heavily, dropping his head into his hands.

"Mom…Dad….are they safe?" he murmured.

"They're in protective custody as well." said Jim quietly. "Your brother and three of your sisters and their families are being evacuated to safe houses. The foreign affairs department is also trying to locate your sister travelling through Spain."

Nick nodded dumbly and was silent for several long moments. Catherine noted his shoulders starting to shake as the tears of grief and shock broke through for a second time. She looked at Grissom - in shock herself - before moving to kneel in front of Nick and bringing her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a comforting hug. He buried his head against her shoulder and cried for his sister and brother in law. Catherine brought a hand up to rest against the back of his head and murmured word of comfort to him.

Grissom moved to the back of the office to give them some privacy. Jim followed close by.

"We have to move him, Gil. I'll organise a safe house and a couple of armed officers. We need to get him out of here before whoever did this to his family works out how to find him."Grissom shrugged, strain evident on his face.

"What makes you think they don't already know?"

Jim looked Grissom straight in the eyes.

"Because he's still alive."

As always, please consider taking a moment or two and just hitting that review button. Please.