A strange night

Brass walked up to Grissom and Sara after they had parked their car. "I want you two to keep your firearms with you. This scene is secure, but with these woods you never know. The body is up there." Brass pointed to a faraway point. Grissom and Sara grabbed their kits and firearms and followed the officer to the body, where they met David who had just proclaimed the body as officially dead. Not that anyone needed that official statement, but it was policy.

"This body is yours, Grissom. He is dead, but that is very obvious."

"What was the cause of dead?"

"Well it seems like a gunshot wound to the head and chest. I will take the body with me when you have finished with it, Grissom."

"Thank you, David." Grissom opened his kit and with Sara he started to collect the insects that were crawling all over the dead body. As Grissom and Sara worked side by side, neither seemed to notice that the insects were almost walking in to their jars. After some minutes Grissom was convinced he didn't need Sara anymore, so he asked her to check out the perimeter: "Sar, I can handle the rest, will you check out the perimeter?"

"Sure Griss." With that Sara grabbed her kit and walked around, sometimes waiting to check out something or pick something up. She soon found a few footprints and decided to follow them, so she yelled out to Grissom: "He, Griss, I found some footprints leading away from the man. I already made a cast, but I am going to follow them." Grissom turned to watch Sara standing at the end of what seemed to be a trial, in front of some bushes. He was about to call back that it was alright; when he saw the bushes move. "Sara! Watch out behind you." But it was too late; as Sara turned around the person who had been hiding in the bushes came out and grabbed Sara from behind. He held her to his chest, with one arm around her waist and his other hand, which held a gun pointed to her temple. Grissom saw everything happen quickly; he scrambled to get on his feet and stood facing the man. Grissom felt anger, fear and frustration well inside him; the dance that Sara and he always so effortlessly performed on a crime scene was rudely interrupted in a way that was very disturbing. Grissom feared for Sara's live which now laid squarely in the hands of someone neither of them knew, but was very likely connected to the crime they were investigating, he would have no other reason to come here. He could see the fear in Sara's eyes, but also the determination to get out of there alive, and the frustration of not being in control. Grissom looked around him, but he could not see any officers around, where was everyone?

"They are not here; they are trying to put out a fire that suddenly burst out in one of the cars." The man said, almost reading Grissom's mind.

"What do you want?" Grissom asked, remembering everything he had learned about dealing with these situations. He tried to remain calm, and even though his face didn't show his emotions, he did feel them coursing threw his veins. Grissom could feel his anger and fear pouring into every part of his body. He was frantically trying to find a solution for the situation.

"What do you want?" the man asked, with a sickening smile on his face, as if he already knew the answer, but wanted to force Grissom to answer, so Grissom would hear it. Grissom was trying to figure out what he had to do. If he answered him then he would give away the power of the situation to the man, but not answering could anger him and cause him to do something rash.

"I want you to let her go." Grissom said calmly, not showing his emotions.

"Not happening." The man taunted.

"Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare." The man replied, adjusting his hold on Sara, so he could hold her better. Grissom felt utterly powerless and wished he would have a means to reach the man, before Sara was going to get hurt. Still wondering who the man was, Grissom took the surroundings in, to see if there was anything that could help him. But Grissom saw nothing that could help him, Grissom was feeling cornered, forced to watch the inevitable. He had to do something, racking his brains Grissom found himself remembering the insects that they had found. The insects that would tell him at what time the victim had died, the insects that he knew so well. Their behaviour was predictable, less complex then human behaviour. But those insects couldn't help him now, but Grissom was wishing for some venomous insects or insects that would cause immediate pain, so that they could distract the man from Sara, giving Sara a chance to get away. And clear as sunlight Grissom suddenly saw several insects crawling up the leg of the man.

"You know you can't do anything. Now you will watch your loved one die. It only takes one of you to break the power, so I can be free." The man started to speak again and Grissom turned his attention back to the man. He could see the murderous glare in his eyes; Grissom forced himself to look at the man and talk. Talking would buy Sara time, and those insects.

"What power are you talking about?" Grissom asked. The man stopped and looked at Grissom, unbelieving.

"You don't know what power you two hold?" he asked incredulously.

"I have no idea what you mean." Normally Grissom didn't like to admit ignorance, but in this case he was more than willing. It could save Sara's life; he could see that Sara was also listening intently.

"You really don't know. Wow, that is even … Hey, what is this? No, get off, get off." The man was slapping his legs and dancing around. Sara quickly placed her elbow in his stomach and sprinted off, when the man released her. She then grabbed her weapon and saw that Grissom had done the same thing. Both had their weapons aimed at the man, who was now furiously rubbing his legs.

"He, stop that, stand still." Grissom called at the man. But the man refused to do as he was told, he looked up and realised what was happening. He turned around and started to run off. Sara by then really furious at the man that had held captive, shouted at him: "He, the man asked you to stop and stand still." The man stood stock still at the moment the words had left Sara's mouth. "That is better, now turn around." Sara didn't stop to think how and why the man reacted so strangely, without a shot fired. At that time the frozen man turned, but not on his feet. Grissom and Sara remained still as the saw that the man was slightly lifted in the air and then midair turned to face Sara and Grissom.

"What are you doing to me?" The man asked, looking scared. "You do know you hold great power, no let me go." He demanded. Sara looked sideways to find Grissom staring at her too. Neither knew what was going on, but this man was defying the laws of physics. "And were did those insects come from?" You do know you hold great power." The man shouted again. At the mention of the insects, Grissom looked at the ground, where earlier the man had stood. There were still some insects scurrying around, Grissom recognized several. Sara saw Grissom looking around, but she didn't dare take her eyes of the man floating in the air. But then the sudden rustling of leaves behind her, caused both her and Grissom to look around and point their guns temporarily at another target.

"Who is there?" Grissom ordered, as Sara turned around to the other man.

"It is me, Brass. Are you alright?" Brass emerged from the bushes. Grissom sighed and lowered his gun.

"Barely, where were the officers? Sara was attacked, she was almost killed." Grissom ranted.

"What?! The officers were putting out a fire. What happened here?" Brass demanded.

"That man was hiding in the bushes and grabbed Sara and threatened to kill her." Grissom threw his hand at the general direction of where the man was lifted in air. Brass followed the direction and then turned to Grissom: "What man?"

Grissom turned around and saw that the man was gone. Sara to saw what had happened: "Where did he go?" She said. Grissom looked around and walked to the direction where they had last seen the man.

"He is gone. Damn." Grissom swore, which he never did. It showed how disturbing he had found this small episode. Brass watched Grissom and saw that he was troubled.

"I am going to get some officers to search these woods. He couldn't have gotten far." Brass turned to walk away, but a shout from Sara stopped him mid-step.

"Don't bother, his footprints end here. He disappeared, much like Paige did I reckon."

"Great…" Just as Brass was about to say something a cloud of bleu lights appeared out of nowhere and from it came Aelithe and Paige.

"What happened here?" Aelithe asked, turning to Brass, as she saw which persons were present. "I got a signal of a magical presence here."

"That would have been the man, who has just escaped." Grissom surly said. He wasn't handling this well. He had been here to do his job and these people were making that job a lot harder. He had just seen Sara at gunpoint about to have her head blown off and these people were popping up again.

"What man?" Paige asked, looking around.

"Well he just escaped, but he had hid here, while Sara and I were processing this scene, doing our job." Grissom was not amused and this wasn't helping. He was looking around for Sara and saw her sitting on a tree trunk. She was also just barely hanging on; he could see that all she wanted was some peace and quiet. "Listen, we still have our job to do. Could you all leave us to that?" Grissom asked, with his eyes trying to ask Brass for some help.

"Are you sure that the magic was coming from that man?" Aelithe was oblivious to the silent plea that Grissom was sending.

"Yes. Now please leave. Brass can escort you off the scene." Grissom said as he held his arms out to escort the women away.

"But." Paige wanted to protest, but Brass had understood Grissom's plea and escorted her and Aelithe. "No, let's go Paige. I am sure Grissom will call you after this scene has been cleared and he has some time."


Grissom waited for the three people to disappear and then walked to Sara. "Are you alright, honey?"

"I am not sure. I am just a bit on an adrenaline high, a bit scared and very confused." Sara admitted, looking into Grissom's blue eyes. He wrapped his arm around Sara's shoulders and sat down next to her, making sure to have his gun free to reach.

"God, I was so scared, Sara."

"Me too. What was that about insects?" Sara asked.

"I saw some insects scurrying into his pants, just before he started swatting his legs."

"Where did they come from?"

"I have no idea, but they have vanished. I did see some of them and it were insects that don't live in these woods. Some of them only live in the rainforests."

"Then how did they come here?"

"I have no idea, but I am sure glad they came, because I don't know how I would have been able to get you away from that man. What happened to that man, when you told him to stop?" Grissom wondered aloud.

"I have no idea. Do you remember what he kept repeating? About us having a power?" Sara said.

"Yes. Sara I think we need to talk to the Halliwel family and Aelithe. I honestly don't know what else to do." Grissom sighed.

"I know. I feel the same. We need some help in this." Sara said. Grissom looked around him and started to talk: "We will finish this scene, get back to the lab and go home get some sleep, before we will go to the Halliwel family and Aelithe. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, we were almost done here."

"Yes we were. You are going to stay with me, though, for the remainder of the time we are here. No arguments, I can't have a repeat of this episode, my heart won't take it." Grissom said as he squeezed Sara to his side and kissed her cheek. "I was really scared of losing you, that isn't getting easier. I hate seeing you in danger." Sara just leaned into Grissom's embrace.


Several hours later Grissom walked into the break room, trying to find Sara. "Do you know where Sara is, Greg, Nick?" Grissom asked the two men sitting in the break room.

"No, last I saw her she was walking to the locker room." Greg replied, not looking up from the magazine he was reading. Just then Grissom's cell-phone chirped, indicating he had a new message, quickly checking it, Grissom felt relieved when he saw it was Sara who was telling him she was waiting in their car. "I know where she is, we are going home. You should do the same thing."

"Nah, we have to wait for some results from Hodges, after that we are getting home." Nick said as he lifted his hand in a farewell salute.

Sara heard the knock on the window and opened her eyes. She saw Grissom standing on the other side of the window, signalling that she should open the door.

"Sorry, but I didn't want to be disturbed."

"Why are you here? I did ask you to stay with me."

"I know, but I needed to find a quiet place and the lab was anything but that. I am sorry that I made you worry about me." Sara apologized again.

"It is okay. I can understand. I think it is time to return home. What do you think?"

"I think so to. I need some food and a nice warm bed to sleep." Sara nodded. Grissom sat behind the wheel, but before he started the car he heaved a sigh and let his head rest against the headrest. He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Sara asked.

"Yes, just tired. It has been a strange night."

"You could say that again. A very odd shift. Come on Gilbert, let's go home." Grissom smiled at the use of his given name. Only Sara ever used his complete given name and only when they were alone.

"Okay." Grissom turned his keys and started the car. They returned home and ate, as they always did, as if their lives weren't turned completely upside down. Then they spent the morning together and retired to bed on the hours they normally did. The next night would come soon enough, reality would hit them again as it always did. These hours together, without victims, suspects and murders, were there to remind them that live didn't only exist of bad things. The simple things they enjoyed together balanced them and strengthened them to be able to deal with Las Vegas at night. And that Las Vegas had gotten a new dimension for Sara and Gilbert that night.