I am just going to up front apologize to the Greg fans out there and say sorry for not having any Greg in this chapter. There are of course mentions, but hey, I have to introduce the plot for the people who are going to try to find him. Still, I hope you guys like this one. I will say though, I realized with writing this chapter, I really do enjoy writing Greg scenes more; I tend to get more descriptive.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I promise, the next one will be another chapter FILLED with Greg like the last one.

Also, I know I promised that I was going to have this chapter up by Tuesday, and now its Thursday, but hey, I was thinking… I would rather post a chapter that I new was good instead of posting something just to make a deadline I gave my self and submitting something that I was disappointed in. So sorry about the delayed deadline once again, but it's a lot of work to try and get out a chapter in two days, especially when your juggling school, work, homework, a story, and then trying to squeeze in a couple hours of sleep, I just don't want to overwhelm my self, which I think I did. So yeah, right now, here is chapter 4, and during this weekend, I'll post another chapter for you guys to read. Thanks again to all my followers and I hope you guys like chapter 4.


Chapter 4: The Nightmare Begins

When Nick called her, Catherine could hear the panic in his voice. He had refused to tell her anything beyond that fact that she needed to get to the crime scene that he was assigned right away. He said that it would all just be easier to explain everything in person, which basically translated to it's a long, complicated story, and I don't want you to worry. And had Nick known it, with the lack of information that she was given, it caused her to jump to conclusions, which only made her worry more.

Catherine had finally arrived at Nick and Greg's crime scene, but as she was about ready to pull up to the building, she could see the hue of blaring blue and red neon lights filling the alley way. As she finally turned the corner, police cars, assisting officers, and search dogs were already at the scene. What the hell is going on?

She parked her SUV right next to what she saw was Nick's cars, and looking at his car, she could see that two of his tires were flat. She finally saw Nick, who was leaning up against a wall with his hand holding his neck; she could instantly tell that he was stressed, which was rare for Nick so it never meant that it was something good.

Catherine got out of her car and ran over to Nick, but as she approached him, she could feel small cracks coming from under the soles of her feet. She looked down at the concrete and saw broken glass covering the ground. Stepping off to the side, minding if this was actually evidence, she made her way over to Nick. Once he was in a hollering distance, she called out to the frazzled CSI. "Nick."

Hearing his name, he looked up to see Catherine making her way toward him. He could see a look of shock in her eyes that he figured was due to the ciaos that was covering the crime scene. As she finally approached him, looking at him dead in the eyes, she demanded an explanation. "Nick, what the hell is going on?"

Nick didn't know even where to begin with an explanation. He didn't want to bluntly state the events that had just happened, but he didn't know of a way to easily explain that your friend was just kidnapped.

Catherine could tell that Nick was lost in though, but at this moment, patience was the last thing that she could tolerate. "Nick!" she firmly demanded.

"Greg was taken."

Hearing this, she didn't know how to react. "Greg was kidnapped?"

Nick silently shook his head.

"Well what happened?"

"Greg and I were working the crime scene and after a while we split up. He went down stairs and then 10 minutes later I hear yelling from outside and I look out the window and Greg is being forced into the back of a van and I started shooting at them but it wasn't enough and then they took Greg and then I called you and now we're here and," Nick explained in a frantic panic all at once; he fear being shown in he voice.

"Nick, you need to calm down okay."

"How the hell can I calm down Catherine? Greg was just kidnapped right in front of me! I could have saved him but I fuckin didn't!" Nick snapped back at her.

Catherine could understand why Nick was up set; for he was mainly that he was up set with him self. "Nick, you tried to save him okay, and that's what matters right now."

"If I did save him, then we would be here right now. Hell if my damn Officer didn't leave again then Greg would still be here."

"Wait your Officer left?"

Nick just shook his head.

"You're kidding?" she asked in utter disbelief. Opening her mouth to speak again, a full blown rant ended up spilling from her mouth. "These Officers know that they're not supposed to leave the scene, so why the hell do they frickin leave? Hell they figured that it would have sunken into their thick skulls once Holly Gibbs got shot. And why did she get shot? Her Officer left the scene. Then with you five years ago, your Officer left the scene, and what happened, you got kidnapped. Dammit, you two are supposed to be in their sight at all times or they are supposed to be guarding that door the whole damn time. Where the hell was your Officer?"

"He was leading a lost drunk guy back to the strip so that he could find a place to stay tonight."

Hearing about the carelessness in this Officer left her in a state of shock. "Who was your Officer?"

"Oh, you're going to love this," Nick said with a snide arrogance, knowing that once he told Catherine, she would practically lose it.

With the tone in his voice, she had an idea at who the Officer was that Nick was referring to. "Tell me that it was not Michaels."

"Hell, he left at my crime scene when I got kidnapped, so why wouldn't he leave at the scene that now Greg has been kidnapped from," Nick ranted with hate covering his voice.

Michaels was standing off to the side, once again being scolded by Brass for leaving the crime scene, but over hearing Nick, he turned his attention away from Brass and turned it to Nick. "Hey Stokes, I said I was sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen" Michaels apologized, but in a way as if he was trying to defend himself.

Nick caught that though, he heard the defense in Michaels' voice, and it started to get under Nick's skin. "You know Michaels; a sorry isn't going to bring him back now is it. You're just walking around with a sad look on your face, but you don't seem to realize that this is once again, your damn fault!"

"Listen Stokes, I didn't mean to leave the crime scene" Michaels retorted back at Nick.

"That doesn't matter, you left the crime scene! The Officer is NEVER supposed to leave the crime scene! You think you would have learned after the first time that a CSI was kidnapped when you stepped away from the crime scene, that you maybe shouldn't leave the scene! You left me and I was kidnapped, and now, you left both of us, and Greg got kidnapped!"

"What are you saying Stokes" knowing what he was referencing in Nick's debatable tone.

"Why the hell are you still working? No, wait, that's not the right question. HOW the hell are you still working? YOU LEFT THE CRIME SCENE AGAIN AND A CSI WAS KIDNAPPED AGAIN!"

By this point, Catherine was struggling to hold Nick back. With every word, he proceeded to move closer and closer to the Officer that she knew he despised, and feeling the anger in his clenching muscles, she knew that if Nick got in reach of this man, she wouldn't be able to hold him back.

"Fuck you Stokes" Michaels snidely replied, defending his honor, as what he thought, a respectable cop.

Brass wouldn't have at it though. He was equally furious at the man, and now hearing him cuss off one of he's CSI's when he was in absolutely no position to, Brass finally set off on the careless cop. "Michaels, shut the hell up and get the hell back down to the station. Ecklie already wants to talk to you and you better not be surprised if you walk out of that office without a job."

"Brass, I didn't mean for this to happen" Michaels defended again, knowing that he was now going to be in deep shit.

"But it happened, and you were supposed to be the one to stop it, but you didn't. Now get down to the damn station" Brass sternly ordered.

Being left without a chance to defend him self any further, Officer Michaels complied with his Captains orders for what he thought would be the last time. He walked off to his squad car, and drove off to CSI headquarters for another brutal scolding.

Left alone now with his two CSI's, Brass turned to Nick, offering his apologies for the events that were happening. "You doing okay Nicky?"

The stress that Nick felt like he was already bearing was already taking it toll on him, feeling he was almost being pushed to the brink of tears. With his friend being kidnapped right in front of him, and now a careless Officer holding true to his arrogance; Nick already felt as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I'll be better once we get Greg back."

"Well speaking of him, I need to get your statement. For the record," Brass said as he took out his note pad and pen from the pocket in his suit.

Nick nodded his head, knowing that this was standard procedure.

"So starting from the beginning Nick, I need you to explain everything that happened."

Nick took a deep breath before he began explaining the details that he knew about Greg's abduction. "Greg and I arrived at the crime scene, we talked to Michaels for a few, and then we went inside the building to the second floor. We both processed the second floor, and after a while, based on the witnesses statements and the evidence, we both determined that the crime scene could have been staged. After that, we decided to split up; I took the third floor and Greg took the first. I was up stairs for about 10 minutes and then I heard yelling, and it sounded to be coming from outside. I ran down the stairs, and I saw out the window Greg, tied up, and being forced into the back of a van. I shot at the window, breaking it, and then started to shoot at the van. The van then drove out of the alley way, I called Catherine, and now, we're here" Nick explained.

"Did you see the kidnapper's faces ever?"

"I wasn't close enough to see their faces, but I remember that one guy seemed substantially large. Best guess, I could probably guess that he was maybe more then 6' 3''. One of the kidnappers was a really big dude."

"Alright, that's good. And what about the van that he was taken in; did you get a look at that?"

"Well I was on the second floor when I was shooting at them, so I wasn't able to see their plates, but the car its self, I'm pretty sure that it was a Chevy Express. As far as the color; it could have been black, navy blue, I really have no idea. I just know it was a dark van."

Brass finished taking the notes in his notebook before turning back to face the two concerned CSI's. "Well, I'll get an APB put out on the van; maybe someone saw it."

As soon as Brass mentioned this, she remembered pulling up next to a van right before she was heading over here. She remembered seeing people staring at it, but didn't pay much attention due to the fact that she was more worried about why Nick had called her, asking her to come to their crime scene. There was one other thing though that she remembered; hearing her name. It was faint so she didn't pay much attention to it, but now considering the events that have just taken place; she began to consider if in fact she had pulled up next to the van that held Greg Sanders as a captive.

"Nick, I think I pulled up next to that van."

"What?"

"When I was heading over here, I was at a stop light and pulled up next to a van. I didn't pay much attention to it, but people were staring at this van. I then remember hearing someone calling my name, but I ignored it because I only heard it once and it was faint. But now I am thinking, what if Greg was in that van Nick?"

"Where was this?"

"It was right down the strip. I was at the intersection by Caesars Palace, and that is where I took my U-turn so I could get here. So the van was heading North on Las Vegas Boulevard.

"Well I don't think they would hang around the strip. Populated area, plus a kidnapping within city limits; they seemed too organized too organized to pick a careless location."

"I'll have Officers search the I-15. They could have gone west onto Sahara Ave. and easily gotten on the I-15 from there. If the kidnappers have a planned location out side of city limits, the interstate is a good place to start tracking them seeming that its right off the strip."

"Well I'll go and get that APB put out. So what are you two going to be doing?"

"We're gonna start processing the first floor."

"Catherine, technically you can't work this case."

"Because he's a member of my team. Brass, I don't want some random CSI getting put on this case and to try and find him because they are just doing their job. Nick and a can work this case, and we will work this case. We're going to be the ones to find him."

"Ecklie isn't like it."

"Ecklie doesn't like a lot of things, and I don't care about Ecklie right now, all I care about is Greg and getting him back."

Brass was silent for a minute. He knew it was against procedure to allow CSI's to work personal cases, but he completely understood why Catherine would prefer being the CSI looking for one of her own. He knew Ecklie would be upset with his decision, but he knew that Nick or Catherine would rather suffer his disapproval if it meant that they could find their friend. "If Ecklie gets pissed at me, I'm throwing your asses under the bus."

"I'll personally tell him that I wouldn't take no for an answer. Thank you Brass."

"Sure, just I need to take off. We're going to be bringing in the guy that Michaels helped out and we'll be interrogating Michaels as well," Brass informed as he started walking away from Nick and Catherine.

As Brass left the two CSI's, Nick and Catherine just stood in the alley way, side by side, and stared at the ciaos covering the already contaminated crime scene. Careless cops and practically useless search dogs had already harmed a lot of the evidence that ended up being where most of the trace from Greg's abduction was. Other then the alley, the only other place to process was the first floor of the building.

"We should probably head inside; get started processing what Greg was probably grabbed," Nick suggested.

Catherine nodded her head. "Yeah, with all the Uni's out here, even if we tried to process the evidence that's out here, there would probably end up being too many variables; it would be hard to point out what belonged to Greg or the kidnappers from the cops."

Nick just nodded his head. There was a question stirring around in his head though, and he finally ventured to ask Catherine. "Hey Cath, do you think Michaels could have been in on this, do you?"

This wasn't something that had crossed her mind, but she figured that it didn't because she didn't believe that being an accessory to kidnapping was something that Michaels would commit. "I'll be honest Nick, I highly doubt it. Michaels cares too much about his job to knowingly put it at risk. He's just a careless cop, but one none the less, and he takes pride in that. I don't think Michaels is apart of this. I think we need to interrogate the guy Michaels helped out though; the guy who was lost. He could have been a lure or something. He's probably going to be the best place for us to start out."

"And if that turns up a dead end?" Nick retorted.

Catherine knew this was already a stressful situation, but still, being negative wasn't something that was going to get them any where right now. "Nick, I think right now would be a better time to be more positive. In any other case, what would we do? We would search for more clues; find more evidence. That's what we're going to do here." She then turned too look at Nick and said, "We're gonna find him Nick."

There was a short silence, but Nick finally acknowledged her. "I know we'll find him."

"I'm gonna go grab my kit from my car and then we'll head inside and start processing the first floor," Catherine said. She then quickly ran over to her car and collected her field kit and ran back over to Nick. The two CSI's then walked to the entrance of the building, and enter the room that was now their new crime scene.

Walking into the building, both Nick and Catherine immediately began process the scene. Though the room was filled with a disturbing atmosphere, this was something that they had to put behind them. This was not the time or the place to dwell on the events that had taken place, right now, it was the time to piece together the evidence and find Greg.

Nick and Catherine walked over toward Greg's field kit that was still sitting in the center of the room. They figured that it would be a good idea to try to see the crime scene from Greg's perspective, so they started here as well.

Nick eyes were first drawn to the broken camera that was lying right next to Greg's kit. He photographed the broken evidence and after removed the memory card.

Catherine saw Nick remove the card from the camera, and saw him looking through the images. "Did Greg take any while he was down here?"

"I'm not there yet; still looking" Nick blandly replied, his voice sounding as if here was in a trance, which he practically was, with his eyes firmly glued to the pixels in front of him.

Catherine started off by taking pictures of Greg's abandoned field kit. She saw a new pair of latex gloves and an evidence bag placed off to the side, but everything else seemed to be in its rightful place.

Nick was still skimming through the countless images that Greg had taken of the floor above them, but he had yet to find any of the first. But after skimming about 50 frames of practically the same bloody picture, Nick finally found the images that were from the first floor. About the first 20 pictures were just of the cardboard boxes, but he then stumbled upon one that looked to be evidence. "Hey Catherine, did Greg ever bag a small note?"

"No," she simply replied. "All that's in here is a bloody swab."

Hearing her response, Nick immediately looked over at the boxes. If the note was still there, then this could be their first possible lead. Nick walked over toward the cardboard boxes and he instantly found the small piece of paper that was sitting on the floor. With his latex hands, he reached for the note and picked it up.

As Nick turned back around, she could see the piece of paper in his hands, and her eyes lit up, thrilled to see that they possibly had a piece of potential evidence. "Nick, what's that?"

"This was something that Greg found. The struggle HAPPENS here," he read aloud.

"Is that what the note says?" Catherine asked in confusion.

Nick just nodded his head. "Hand me an evidence bag. Maybe there are some prints on here; well run it back at the lab."

Catherine did as Nick asked and handed him the bag. As she did this though, she looked back at the bag that was next to Greg's kit. "I think Greg was getting ready to bag it."

"Well he found it; the picture was on his camera so he probably was."

"Then why'd he set down the bag. I don't think that Greg grabbed the note, because he couldn't. He was getting a new pair of gloves, so he was probably putting them on so he could then grab the note without contaminating it. Do you think Greg could have been grabbed while he was getting the evidence to bag the note?"

"I don't think so. If that were the case, then why is the bag and gloves undisturbed and why is his camera broken? I think he was looking at his camera when he was grabbed, and then dropped it."

"Do think they grabbed Greg because he found the note?"

Nick looked down at the note again. Reading its short passage, Nick's mind started to process the meaning behind the note. "I think they wanted him to find the note. Greg and I thought that the room up stairs was staged. If that is true, then a struggle never happened up stairs. If they were intentionally planning on grabbing Greg, then this note was meant for him. The struggle HAPPENS here; happens is a present tense word. If the struggle was going to happen, it was going to happen here, in this room, and it was going to happen now."

"Well do you think they were planning to grab Greg? Could the kidnappers just have been going after you or a CSI in general? I mean, there is no way that these guys would have known that Greg was going to be sent to this crime scene, or that he was going to be working the first floor. Was it just dumb luck or intention?"

"I think we're getting a head of the evidence here. Seriously, I don't think we're going to find that out until we talk to the kidnappers."

"Well right now, I think we need to get back to the lab and get started on processing what we've got. And if that guy ends up being an accomplice, the guy who was lost, then we've got someone who can give us information."

"If that's the truth, then he better tell us where Greg is."


I for some reason struggled with the dialogue in this chapter. I personally think the end sounds a bit choppy. This chapter was one of my least favorite to write. It was actually a lot shorter and was the second half to chapter 3, but when I edited chapter 3, the first half ended up getting so long, that the second half just turned into a chapter of its own.

Anyway, enough babbling about this chapter, now on to my thanks to my readers.

Thank you to CjaMes12, LovingYourWork, crimescenelover, catindahat, JodsRaine, almostkaity, and The Walking Chill Pill for all of the awesome reviews. I am glad to see that you have been enjoying the story so far.

Thanks for alerting my story CjaMes12, Catindahat, Bravest Little Toaster, almostkaity, and agentcherub.

And The Walking Chill Pill, thank you for adding this story as a favorite. ;)

Anyway, thanks for reading chapter 4, and reviews are always appreciated. Adios for now everyone.