A/N: Hai :3 I. Love. You. Guys O_O let's get together and have cake sometime. OMG I can't thank you enough for all the amazing reviews and the amounts of follows and favourites, or even if you're just reading! You've made me a happy little elf! So, SO sorry this update took a few days but my exams are early this week so once I get them out the way we'll be back to quick updates I promise! Anyways the angst steps up a notch this chapter. And by the way, nobody panic, the Greg Whump is coming XD

Keep forgetting -_- … disclaimer: I own nothing to do with the CSI franchise.

Review, please? They're like little presents :3

Chapter 2: The First to Go

Nick and Warrick arrived at Marshall Rodriguez's house to find Detective Brass and a couple of his cops already there waiting for them.

"You guys ready?" Brass asked as he got ready to knock on the door and Warrick and Nick nodded. "Marshall Rodriguez LVPD, open up!" Brass called but there was no answer. He tried to open the door and did so with ease, it had no lock. "You two stay here whilst we clear the place" Brass instructed Warrick and Nick and then indicated for the two officers to follow him inside. Warrick and Nick waited patiently outside until Brass gave the all clear a few minutes later.

"I'll take upstairs, you stay down?" Warrick suggested and Nick nodded in agreement.

Nick went into the living room first; the place was an absolute dump. Furniture was turned over, pieces of paper thrown everywhere and there was a smashed mirror on the wall. Someone had definitely destroyed the place in a fit of rage. Nick took a few photographs and found some blood on the smashed mirror which he took a swab of. He noticed the papers on the ground had started to move around in a sudden draft coming from down the hall. The CSI followed the draft and into the kitchen. The room was just as messy as the last and obviously hadn't been cleaned in a while. He realised the draft had been coming from the back door which was wide open.

Nick looked out the door and noticed the gate at the bottom of the dark garden was repeatedly banging shut and then opening again in the wind. I wonder… he thought as he stepped out the house and headed towards the garden gate. He knew he should go back and get a cop to follow him but he was just going to look out onto the street, he wouldn't leave the perimeter…

Nick opened the gate and just seconds later someone pulled him to the left and put a hand over his mouth before the CSI even had chance to call for help. Nick struggled with his attacker and tried to go for his gun but the attacker got there first, ripping it from Nick's holster and digging the barrel in to the back of the CSI's head.

"Now you're going to walk and you're not going to try anything or else I'll shoot you right here, right now" a gruff voice said "nod if you understand me" going wide eyed in fright Nick nodded and his assailant started to nudge him forward.

It was late at night so there was nobody out on the backstreet who could offer Nick any help, he couldn't get to his phone either as it was in his back pocket. As if the man had read his thoughts he reached into Nick's pocket and threw his phone onto the ground. The stranger led the CSI to the top of the street where a large black van was waiting the doors open. Oh my God Nick panicked, he started to try and call for help and kicked at the guy but he just got thrown into the back of the van.

"I'm not having that all the way" the stranger snarled and Nick felt a hard force make contact with the back of his head, he fell to the floor of the van and felt his body go limp and white spots started dancing in front of him as his vision blurred. The last thing he saw was the man's evil smile as he slammed the doors shut and left Nick alone in the darkness of his own mind.

Warrick was walking along the upstairs of the house peering in every room. There were only two words he could think of to describe the place, total and dump. He walked into the bathroom and looked around, that's when he spotted a drop of blood in the sink. Warrick pulled out his torch and shone the light down the plughole, more blood. He took a swab and then looked around for a possible source; he spotted a knife handle sticking out the trash can. He took a picture and pulled out the knife, it was covered in blood and seemed a consistent size to the stab wounds that Craig Dawson had died from.

"Grissom?" Warrick called him on his mobile to tell him the news.

"Yeah go ahead" Grissom replied.

"I think I've found the knife that was used to kill Craig Dawson. It was in Rodriguez's bathroom. By the looks he tried to wash some of the blood off in the sink but then did the stupid thing of leaving it in the trash" Warrick explained. "I swear these murderers are getting dumber and dumber"

"Ok, grab Nick and I'll meet you back at the lab for processing" Grissom Instructed.

"Copy that" Warrick said before hanging up the phone.

Suddenly there was a high pitched screech from the street below and Warrick ran to the window to see what was happening. He got there just in time to see a black van leave the street at quite an alarming speed and disappear around the corner. Warrick frowned in deep thought, who would be going anywhere in a hurry at this hour? As a CSI it had become his second nature to question anything that seemed suspicious or out of place, relevant to a case or not.

Thinking nothing more of it, Warrick made his way down the stairs "Nick?" He called but there was no answer, he walked around all the rooms but Nick was nowhere to be seen, he must be outside with the officers already, Warrick thought…or rather hoped.

"Hey Jim you seen Nicky?" Warrick asked the detective who was waiting outside the front of the house. He still couldn't see the Texan.

"No I thought he was with you?" Brass said raising an eyebrow and Warrick started to get a little worried.

"I'll try calling him" Warrick said and he walked back into the house, Brass following.

"Back door is open" Brass pointed out "maybe he's outside." He went to investigate whilst Warrick continued to call Nick, but there was no response, it would just ring and go to voice mail. "Erm 'Rick…" Brass said quietly. This doesn't sound good… Warrick thought as he slowly turned to face the very solemn looking man. "I found this on the street" and with that he held up Nick's cell phone.

"No…" was all Warrick could say as he realised what all this implied "No this can't be happening…" he ran passed Brass, right out the back door and into the street. He looked desperately left and right hoping Nick would appear but he knew there was no such chance. Then something else dawned on him "That van!" he exclaimed as he turned to Brass "I saw a van leave here at high speed about ten minutes ago, I think they might have got Nick"

"Can you give a description?" Brass asked and Warrick gave a weak nod as he was too overwhelmed to speak "Ok give it to me and I'll get people on the lookout right away, they can't have that much of a head start" Warrick sighed and felt tears begin to well in his eyes, he never cried, not ever. But Nick was his best friend, his brother and he was gone…how was he going to break it to the others?

Catherine and Sara were back at the lab after collecting all the evidence from their case. They sat in the break room drinking coffee whilst they waited for the results.

"Did you seriously not notice the way Greg looked at you when you entered his lab just then?" Catherine asked Sara teasingly, Sara just shook her head "He's like a love struck puppy whenever you're around!" the older woman said with a laugh "I think it's cute that Greg has a little crush" she said with a smile and taking a sip of coffee.

"What? No come on" Sara protested. She was still choosing to plead ignorance. Sure, she'd only been with the team a few months and Sara and the lab rat had clicked instantly, but it didn't mean anything. "Greg's sweet and everything but he's just a friend." Sara said assertively, she cared too much for him as a little brother "I mean I'm a lot older than him for a start!"

"That won't stop our Greggo" Catherine said with a wink and Sara rolled her eyes, although she was pleased to be joking with the older CSI, it seemed they were finally starting to accept each other as friends.

Moments later and Grissom joined them in the room looking rather disgruntled.

"Hey boss" Catherine chimed "What's up?" her old friend looked like one of his spiders had gone missing or something.

"Have you guys seen Nick and Warrick?" Grissom asked sitting down with them "I thought they'd be back for Rodriguez's by now but I can't find them anywhere, I tried to call both of them but Nick wouldn't pick up and Warrick's phone isn't on"

"Sure I've seen Warrick" Sara said and Grissom looked at her to elaborate "He's right behind you" she said with a smile and Grissom sighed and turned to look at Warrick who had just walked through the doorway.

"Guys I need you to listen to me because I'm not sure how to say this…" Warrick said quietly and the three other CSI's gave him their full attention, he seemed really upset about something "Somebodies taken Nick" he said quickly and quietly, wanting to get it over with. However, that didn't make it any less hard to say or less painful for the others to hear.

"What?" Catherine said with a slight laugh, she thought this was one of their stupid tricks. It had to be, it had to… but Warrick looked genuinely broken.

"You're serious?" Sara said thinking in the same mind as Catherine. She felt a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when Warrick gave a solemn nod.

"Ok, ok, tell us what happened" Grissom said getting ready to hang on every detail. Warrick told them about how he wasn't sure and he'd only seen a van leave the street which Brass now had people on the lookout for, but even then they couldn't be certain Nick would be in it.

"Oh my God" Catherine said as soon as Warrick had finished explaining. She could hardly believe what she was hearing; she refused to believe it… Not Nicky, her as good as son.

"What do we do?" Sara asked desperately, in the few months she'd known Nick she'd grown rather close to him as he was the only team member other than Grissom willing to accept her from day one.

"Oh, hey guys" They all looked up to see Greg stood in the doorway smiling at them, he'd bought Sara and Catherine their DNA results, but Greg frowned when the CSI's did not smile back. Have I done something wrong? He thought but their faces were more upset than angry. "What's wrong?" Greg asked, his face falling too.

"Greg, honey, sit down a moment" Catherine said. She knew that the kid was rather fond of Nick and would undoubtedly be upset when he found out. Greg cautiously made his way to the table and sat down next to Catherine, she put her hand on his.

"Catherine what's going on?" He asked quietly, he could always rely on Catherine to be honest with him "You're kind of scaring me…"

"Greg…Nick has been kidnapped from a crime scene" She saw all the usual happiness leave Greg's eyes as soon as she said this, he looked around the room desperately as if he'd just noticed the Texan was missing for the first time.

"What….is he…" Greg started but stopped himself as he couldn't bear the thought. He really looked up to Nick, he was his big brother and he was always there for Greg…always.

"We don't know" Warrick said and his voice was near breaking point. Sara got up from her chair and went to stand beside him putting an arm around him and rubbing his arm gently.

"We'll find him" she said comfortingly "We'll find him" the more she said it the more she'd believe it.

"Ok, Sara and Catherine I want you two to go to the street where Nick was taken, see if you find anything useful, Warrick I want you to go and collect any CCTV footage from the area that could have caught sight of the van so we can try and get a clear image. I need to go and find Brass and see if we can track down Marshall Rodriguez, I bet he has something to do with this."

"You got it" Catherine said determinedly and she and Sara practically ran from the room as they knew there wasn't a second to be wasted, that second could cost Nick dearly.

"Warrick" Grissom called before the younger CSI was about to leave the room. The tall man stopped and leaned heavily against the door frame, he needed the support as he started to feel sick with guilt and worry. He slowly moved his sad eyes to look at his mentor. "We'll find him" Grissom said certainly "if we act fast, work hard and keep it together, we'll have him back in no time."

Warrick gave his boss a very small smile in appreciation, but he couldn't allow himself to believe his words as he slowly walked down the hall trying to pull himself together.

Back in the room, Grissom looked down at Greg who was still sat trembling as it was clear the horrible news still hadn't sunk it. The poor kid was looking at the wall wide eyed and quivering, he'd never experienced anything like this before so close to home. Grissom sighed; he wished he could say something comforting to the lab rat, but he barely knew the kid and it just wasn't in his nature.

"What can I do?" Greg suddenly asked in a quiet voice. "Please, I want to help" Grissom could see the desperation in the young man's eyes.

"I'm sorry Greg but you know it's against lab policy for you to do anything other than process evidence" Grissom said regrettably and Greg just bowed his head.

"Oh…" he said in upset and feeling totally useless, he stood up and trudged his way back to his lab. Grissom wanted to let the kid help and make him feel better but he knew right now everyone's attention needed to be on Nick. He went to try and track down Brass.

Now in his lab, Greg stood twizzling the dials on his microscope absentmindedly, he wasn't sure if it was the magnifier making the image blurry or the tears in his eyes. How could they just expect him to stand there and process stuff that didn't even matter anymore, he wanted to help. Greg just sniffled to himself as he went back to processing everyone else's evidence; he prayed that Nick would be alright.

But then again Greg thought after a while of trying and failing to work when had I ever done what I'm told?