Everyone was happy to have Leila back. Everything just seemed to be calmer and everyone was smiling, joking and laughing like they hadn't since Leila had left. But there was one person that didn't seem happy that Leila was back in Vegas: Conrad Ecklie. He had threated to put Leila on swing shift but Grissom wouldn't allow and unless Leila did something that required disciplinary action, there was nothing that Ecklie could do. Greg was the happiest to have Leila back. No one was as happy as he was now that she was back. He was smiling and joking more than he had in a long while. And he seemed to have an extra bounce in his step. He was back to his normal, fun-loving, geeky self.
Right now, Grissom had just given them a case and they were to meet Brass and Nick at the scene. Someone had called in about two young female DB's found in the woods. As Greg pulled up to the crime scene, they saw that David was already there and Nick was taking pictures of the vics. Brass stood behind him, watching David examine one of the female victims. Leila and Greg grabbed their kits than joined them.
"Hey Nick, David, Brass." said Leila.
"Hey Leila." Nick said simply.
"Good to see ya Leila, heard you were back." said David.
"Hey Leila, welcome back." said Brass.
"Thanks." said Leila with a smile. She then turned serious. "What do we got?" she asked, kneeling next to the vic David was examining.
"Erika and Vicky Jameson. They were camping with their boyfriends for the weekend. When they didn't come home, their parents called to report them missing. Officer came to check it out and found the girls. Boyfriends are MIA." said Brass.
"Seems pretty suspicious to me." said Greg.
"Everything is suspicious to you honey." said Leila.
Greg turned and glared at Leila but couldn't hide the smirk on his face. It actually felt good to have Leila teasing him. It felt like old times again.
"Greg, why don't start processing the other vic. Leila, since you're technically a newbie again, you get to process the perimeter." said Nick.
"Yippie, my favorite." said Leila sarcastically before heading off to get started.
Nick just shook his head and smiled at Leila.
"Really is good to have her back. I believe I missed her sarcasm." said Brass.
"Yeah me too." said Nick.
"Well anyway, I'm gonna go see if I can dig up anything on the two missing boyfriends." said Brass.
"Alright, see you later Jim." said Nick. He then collected the evidence he had found and got to his feet. "Hey Greg, I'm gonna go ahead and get this stuff back to the lab. You and Leila got this covered?" he asked Greg.
"Yeah, no problem." said Greg.
"You sure?" asked Nick.
"Nick, we're not kids anymore, we're adults and we're CSI's. You don't need to hold our hands anymore. I'm a big girl and...well, I don't know about Greg being a big boy." said Leila.
"Hey, I resent that." said Greg.
"What's the matter baby, truth hurt?" asked Leila.
"I take back everything I said about it being good to have you back." said Greg.
Leila smiled but didn't appear too hurt by Greg's words.
"You two are something else. No wonder you got married. I'll see you guys back at the lab." said Nick, heading over to his truck.
"See you Nick." said Leila before getting back to work.
"Hey Leila, let me ask you something. Why are you so mean to me?" asked Greg.
"'Cause I love you darling." said Leila.
Greg gave her a skeptical look.
"Hey, just think of all the stuff I could do if I didn't love you." said Leila.
"I should be so lucky." said Greg sarcastically.
"Oh you know you love me sweetie, you wouldn't have married me if you didn't." said Leila.
"Whatever you say sweetheart." said Greg.
Leila just gave Greg a playful look than turned back to what she was doing. That's when she noticed something in the dirt.
"Hey Greg, come here and take a look at this." said Leila.
Greg got up from where he was kneeling next to the second victim and walked over where Leila was standing, staring at something on the ground.
"Find something?" he asked.
"Yeah. Looks like there's at least three sets of footprints here and it looks like there's some blood drops going in the direction of the foot prints." said Leila.
"Looks like our boyfriends didn't go missing on their own." said Greg.
"Should we follow?" asked Leila.
"It's evidence. We follow the evidence." said Greg. "Ladies first."
Leila gave Greg an amused look than followed the footprints and blood drops, Greg following behind her. The footprints led deeper into the woods. Every few feet, Leila took photographs of the footprints.
"You think maybe whoever killed the two girls took the boyfriends to hold them for ransom?" asked Greg.
"It's a possibility." said Leila. All of a sudden, she slipped and fell down into a small ravine. She came to a stop just before she hit a small pile of dead dogs, rabbits and deer.
"Leila! Leila, you alright?!" exclaimed Greg, clearly afraid she was hurt.
"Yeah, yeah I'm okay." said Leila as she carefully got up. That's when she noticed the horrible smell. "Oh God." she said, covering her nose and suppressing the urge to throw up.
"Oh man, that smell is horrible." said Greg.
"Yeah well, be glad you're not the one down here." said Leila. That's when something else caught her eye. It was two bodies but they weren't any animal. "Greg. I think I just found our missing boyfriends. Only they're not missing anymore." she said, pointing with her free hand to the direction of the bodies, which were in the middle of the dead animals.
Greg looked where Leila was pointing and spotted the two male db's.
"I'll call Brass." said Greg, taking out his phone and dialing.
While Greg was on his phone, Leila carefully made her way around the animal carcass's, trying to get a better look at the bodies. She didn't, however, notice the figure quietly making his way up behind her. But Greg did.
"Leila, behind you!" he yelled.
Leila turned around in time to dodge the fist that came at her. She quickly stepped off to the side and sent a hit of her own but the guy blocked it before slapping her and knocking her down. She kicked his legs out from under him than kicked him in the stomach. She quickly got up and made a run for it, trying to climb back up the ravine she had fallen from.
"Come on, give me your hand." said Greg, reaching down and offering out his hand.
Leila reached up and tried to grab it but she felt the guy grab her ankle and try to pull her back down. She quickly kicked him in the face and he let go. She once again tried to grab Greg's hand but couldn't quite reach it.
"Come on Leila, come on you can make it." Greg encouraged.
Leila tried again to grab his hand but her fingers only managed to brush his as the guy grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back down, both of they hitting the grounds. He then forced her back onto her feet and before she could fight back, he slammed her into a nearby tree. She hit her head and fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Leila!" yelled Greg.
The guys walked over to Leila's unconscious form and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder.
"Let her go!" yelled Greg.
The guy just ignored him and started walking away with Leila.
"I said get your hands off of her!" yelled Greg, getting up and trying to find a way down, being careful not to let the guy and Leila out of his sight. He found a way down and quickly climbed down than ran to try to caught the guy holding Leila but in the seconds he had let them out of his sight, they had vanished.
"No. Leila." said Greg, unable to believe he had let them out of his sight.
Grissom showed up at the scene. There were several squad cars there and he saw Brass talking to Greg. Nick, Warrick and Catherine were nowhere in sight. He quickly parked his car than quickly made his way over to Greg and Brass.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Apparently the killer came back." said Brass.
Grissom turned to Greg. He could tell that he was upset and a little guilty, probably blaming himself.
"Greg." he said gently. "Greg, you have to tell me what happened."
Greg took a deep breath before he spoke.
"Leila found three sets of footprints so we followed them deeper into the woods. She slipped and fell into a ravine where we found two more bodies, figuring they were the missing boyfriends. I called Brass while Leila tried to get a better look at the bodies. That's when someone came out and attacked her. I tried to get her out but he pulled her back down, knocked her out and then he took her. We have to find her Grissom, we have to get her back." said Greg.
"We will Greg, we will. I promise." said Grissom, trying to calm the younger man. "Listen, why don't you go back to the lab. You've done all you can here. Get yourself a cup coffee, get yourself something to eat. Call Sarah and Ronnie, we may need their help."
Greg looked like he wanted to argue but chose not to and simply nodded his head and walked off.
Grissom followed Brass to where Catherine, Nick and Warrick were processing the spot where Leila and Greg found the bodies.
"Find anything?" he asked.
"Well, other than a bid of blood on this tree and the two bodies, there's nothing. No signs of a struggle, no trace, no hair, no fibers. It's like nothing happened here." said Nick.
"Greg did say the guy threw her into the tree and knocked her out." said Brass.
"Looks like he came back to cover up the evidence." said Grissom.
Leila slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes to only see pitch black. She tried to move her hands but found them bound. And she guessed she had also been blindfolded, as well as gagged which make her calling out for help difficult. She just hoped Greg was okay. She knew he was going to be pretty upset about this, probably blaming himself. He had just gotten her back only to have her taken away again. She could only imagine how he felt right now, but she wouldn't give up. She would find a way out of this and back to him, no matter what.
