Strong Isn't Invincible

By: Liv-x-Case-Benson & dcmasters

Chapter Eight: Wrench

Over the next few months their relationship went from strength to strength and the couple grew closer, as did Lindsay's bond to both of them.

It was mid morning and Grissom had called a meeting asking for everyone to concentrate, but as the meeting went on, Catherine's phone rang loudly. Without looking at the display, Catherine quickly answered, throwing her boss an apologetic look as she went to the corner of the room. "Willows..." she answered.

"Hi, Miss Willows. I'm sorry to bother you at work, but is Lindsay home sick today?" the secretary asked. "Her teacher said she never walked in."

"What?!" Catherine replied loudly with a frown.

Sara walked over, after seeing Grissom frown in concern at the disturbance. "Is everything ok?"

"The teacher never saw her at her locker either. Would she be trying to get out of something?" the secretary asked.

"No, she's a good kid!" Catherine said defensively.

"Then you didn't know?" the secretary asked as Sara put a hand on Catherine's arm in support.

"No, I didn't know. Are you sure? I dropped her off myself."

The secretary nodded nervously. "No one has seen her. Would you like us to look for her?"

"Please. I can be there in ten minutes," Catherine replied, her face pale.

Sara wrapped an arm around her. "What's happened? Is it Lindsay?"

Catherine ended the call, nodding. "I drooped her right outside, but they said she never showed. "

Grissom stood. "Take Sara with you. If you need us, just call ok?"

"Thanks," Catherine nodded, trying to focus as Sara lead her from the room.

Sara wrapped her arm tighter around her. "We'll find her," she said as they entered the elevator, hitting the button, then hugging her tightly, "I promise."

Catherine nodded. "I hope so. She's my little girl..." she said, tears forming.

Sara rubbed her back. "I know, baby. We'll find her. We'll have the whole team search if we need them," she said, kissing her gently and wiping her tears.

"Promise me she'll be ok? Promise me..."

Sara knew she couldn't promise that, but Catherine needed reassurance. She smiled. "Of course she will. The most she'll probably have are scrapes and scratches."


Catherine nodded, allowing Sara to drive her to the school, running inside. Spotting the Lindsay's teacher, she quickly joined her. "Any sign?" she asked hopefully.

Sara quickly followed.

The teacher shook her head. "Not of her, but we did catch something on the cameras we have pointing into the school," she said as the principal walked out from his office.

"This way ladies."

Catherine rushed into the room, Sara hot on her heels. "What is it?"

He hit 'PLAY' on the footage. It showed Lindsay walking in, then someone with a black jacket with a silver key imprinted on the back, then she was gone. The voices were garbled, but "MOMMY!" was clearly yelled.

"Do either of you know the person?"

It was Lindsay calling out for her that finally broke her as her eyes filled with tears again, quickly coursing down her cheeks. "I... I don't know... He looks familiar."

Sara quickly grabbed a few tissues, handing them to her. "Can we have this video? He does look familiar. His face was very blurry, but we can probably clear it up."

"Sure, we'll do whatever we can to help," he smiled as Catherine left the room for some air.

Sara nodded, calling the team. "We need to canvas the school. She was kidnapped."

"I'll pull everyone available. Keep Catherine there and once the school is clear we'll all head back there and look at the evidence."

"All right. The principal has the video footage," she said, closing her phone. "We're going to need to do an evacuation once the team is here."

Catherine paced outside where Lindsay was taken. She couldn't help but blame herself. Why didn't she wait for her to go in like usual?

Sara walked outside. "Cath?"

Catherine wiped her cheeks before looking over at her. "Yeah?"

Sara walked over, hugging her tightly. "Shhh, It's ok to be upset," she said, walking her back over to the car so they could sit down. "The team's on their way." Sara sat in the driver's side, holding her close. "It's going to be ok."

"It's my fault! I didn't stay until she went inside like I usually do!"

"It's not your fault. I know you think it is, but it's not. You didn't know this would happen. Besides, we saw her basically merge in with the crowd. We will find her, Cath. I promise."

"Yeah, I know. It's the dead or alive bit I'm struggling with..." she sighed, wandering off. She needed to clear her head, clear the images of her daughter being taken from her mind., the sound of Lindsay screaming for her that continually rang in her ears, but she couldn't.

Sara followed her, keeping her distance.

Catherine still wandered as the others arrived. "How is she?" Nick asked as he pulled some gear from the car.

Sara sighed. "How would you feel it were your kid?"

Nick nodded. "We're going to collect what evidence we can find, the reinforcements will search the school."

"Do you guys mind if I stay with Catherine and keep an eye on her? I'm not saying it's likely she'll do anything rash, but..."


They returned to the lab a few hours later. Catherine had tried to convince Grissom to let her process some evidence, but he wouldn't have it. Instead she paced the room, watching the CCTV over and over on her computer, which she hadn't stopped doing for the past few hours.

A few minutes later, her phone beeped with an email from an unknown sender that said "The Ticking Child", but Catherine couldn't see the video on her phone.

Catherine frowned, forwarding the email to her work address. She minimized the CCTV footage, clicking into the video. "Lindsay!" She screamed.

Sara was at her side in minutes. "Oh God! Guys!" she yelled. "We need you in here!"

The room quickly filled with their colleagues who all stood around, watching the video. It contained what appeared to be a live link to Lindsay in some sort of container, strapped to a chair covered with what seemed to be wires attached to an explosive device, a clock clicking in the corner of the screen.

"Where are we with the school footage? Is it clear yet?" Sara asked.

"It will be in a couple of minutes," Greg replied as Catherine's fingers brushed her daughter's face on the screen.

Sara rested a hand on Catherine's shoulder. "For some reason, that jacket looked familiar..."

Catherine's eyes widened. "Sam..."

"Sam?"

"He's a rival of Sam... I don't know his name..."

"Wasn't her the one who killed that friend of a judge's family? Then when you questioned him he got obsessed with you, and then wanted Lindsay out of the picture thinking you'd be happier or something like that?" Sara asked.

"Shit... We have to find her! He'll kill her!" Catherine panicked. "We only have three hours!"

"We'll find her. Is there anything in the streaming video that we can go off of? Like a logo?" Sara asked.

Nick studied the video. "There..." he said pointed to some initials on the back wall. "I'll check it out."

"Send Nick the link. He can analyze it," Sara said.

Catherine fowarded the email to him, then glued her eyes back to the screen. "Go with him."

Sara nodded. "I''m a yell away," she said, following Nick.

Catherine nodded, watching Lindsay closely. "It's ok baby, Mummy will find you," she whispered.

"This is weird. Why now?" Sara said.

"It's the anniversary of when they first met. Look at the date."

Sara looked at the corner of the screen. "So this is what...his version of romance?"

"Fulfilling his promise?" Grissom suggested from the corner of the room.

"Promise? I don't remember..."

"To get Lindsay out of the picture... so he and Catherine can be together."

Sara sighed. "Do we have an idea where she is yet?"

"The markings match a warehouse about 20 miles away."

"Anything else?"

"No. We should get down there. Every second counts."

"I'll grab Cath and before you say it, if she's not there with me, Lindsay will freak out," Sara said. "Catherine, let's go!"

"Where?" Catherine asked, following them out.

"In a warehouse about twenty miles away," Sara said.

Catherine nodded, getting into the car, taping her foot nervously.

Sara got into the driver's seat, making their way there.

"Please be ok, please be ok..." she repeated, whispering to herself.

Sara rested her hand on Catherine's thigh. "It's going to be ok."

Catherine nodded, squeezing Sara's hand gently.


Author's Note: So, what do you think?

Review thanks to: EmmaB13 & Gardenia2