A/N: I start this Author's notes with a huge thanks to Emmithar who betaed this chapter as well, although it was late for her. Also thanks to all who read and reviewed and to Jenny for her encouragement when I once again think my chapters are cold and lifeless.

I guess it was a rhetorical question, but yes, I know that I'm evil. However, I'm not quite finished with Greg yet. :D

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Chapter 10 – When she says

Soon the search was stopped for the day, as the night had fallen in, and the risk to miss anything crucial in the darkness seemed greater than a possible advantage that could be gained with a quicker find.

Sara and Catherine were staying at a hotel in a town about fifteen miles away from the village that was the center of their search. Both CSIs had not really done anything so far; there was nothing for them to do. The only purpose their presence had served so far was for informational reasons. Of course that was for what Grissom had intended them to be there.

The two women had shared a short conversation in Catherine's room after they had gotten a small dinner and Sara was just about to retreat to her room for the night, when Catherine held her back by speaking again.

"We both hope that they don't find anything out in the forest, don't we?" she stated.

"Of course," Sara replied, although it was almost certain that Catherine had only wanted to ensure Sara that she shared her sentiments there. "I mean, I hope they find something that will lead us to Greg, but…"

Catherine nodded, clearly affected. While they had been out during the day Sara had not been able to see that so clearly, as opposed to now.

"I think that Greg is still alive," Catherine said now, voicing what Sara had been telling herself not to consider as a given.

"As long as we don't have another lead," Catherine added, "this place out here is the only thing we have."

--

Jim Brass had received the call only two minutes ago. Sofia Curtis had turned their car into the direction they had been given immediately, as it had been only some streets away.

Now they were standing next to the car, the police officer who had made the call still waiting there. The description fit, they had already seen that when they had approached the car from their own parked vehicle. The number on the license plate told them that it was exactly the car they were searching for. Brass did not hesitate and opened the door on the driver's side. He found lying in there what he had expected: a wallet that contained Greg Sanders' driver's license, and a cell phone that would probably turn out to be his as well. Greg's car was still in Las Vegas, or maybe it was again here.

Brass stood up from his brief search inside the car and told Sofia about his find. She had remained standing behind the car, looking at the trunk.

"We have to open it," Brass stated. Sofia's glance told him that she was thinking of what he was fearing as well. Greg Sanders was missing for almost two days and they were expecting the worst now that his car was found.

"Let's do it," Brass suggested. They had to get it over with.

"I can't," Sofia replied weakly and Brass remembered that she had worked together with Greg for some time when she had still worked as a CSI.

"I'll do it," he said. Sofia stepped some paces back and Brass went to open the trunk. He had seen a lot during his career at the police department and at the crime lab, but losing one of their own was always hard again, so Brass braced himself briefly before he swung the door of the trunk open. He could hear Sofia behind him breathe a sign of relief. The trunk was empty, save for Greg's kit, some other work utensils, and the spare tire.

"I'll give the lab a call. Maybe they'll get some more out of this car," Brass said, turning around to his colleague. "And let's hope that Greg's still hanging in there."

--

It was early in the morning when Sara thought she heard a cell-phone ringing after she had already rolled around in her bed restlessly for some hours. It definitely was not her own phone that she had laid in her reach on the bedside table, the ringing was too distant and quiet for that. A moment later the ringing stopped and Sara could hear Catherine's muffled voice in the next room without that she was able to understand what she was saying.

It had to be something important, something urgent that they called her this early in the morning; it was not even six, the sun had only brought the first light of the day. Had the search in the forests already been resumed? Had they found something, found Greg? It was probably too early for that; Sara doubted that the search would be continued before it was light enough. Sara had not heard Catherine talking for a minute now and assumed that she had finished the call; it had probably not been about their search. But what if some random person had made a gruesome found in the woods? Someone could have taken a walk in the morning and…

Sara's distressing thoughts were interrupted when she heard brief knocking on the door to her room. Assuming that it was Catherine, Sara called her in and the door opened, revealing indeed her co-worker to her. Catherine's expression was serious and Sara braced herself for the confirmation that her suspicion had been right.

"Did they…?" she started, unable to finish her sentence.

"They found Greg's car," Catherine told her, and while it was somewhat of a relief, the realization came with it that finding Greg's car out here in the forest was not good, was not good at all.

"In Las Vegas," Catherine added now and Sara was surprised.

"In Vegas?"

The blonde woman nodded. "They've found his kit, cell phone and wallet inside," she continued. "It tells us that he's probably been abducted in another car. They're processing his car for anything that could tell us who did that, assuming that they've been in Greg's car which we don't know for sure."

Sara nodded, frowning. It was now that they had finally a possibly lead in Las Vegas, finally something to work with, and she was not there, but was here, sitting in a hotel room in the middle of nowhere, unable to do anything.

"They'll still pick up the search here again," Catherine stated.

"Are we going to stay here or go back to Vegas?" Sara wanted to know. She would have given anything to be in Las Vegas now, being able to work on their new lead there. But she had wanted to be here as well and it was still possible that they found something.

"We're going to stay until tonight."

The day did not bring any success for the search teams, not that the find Sara and Catherine were dreading would have been seen as a success. No trace of Greg or his kidnapper was found, or at least non that could be clearly attributed to either of them. There were naturally many items found in the woods, mainly garbage that could have been lying out there for years, but nothing that could be identified as having belonged to Greg.

Frustration had settled both with Catherine and Sara when they made their car ready for the drive back. The anxiety of finding a body was lifted from them for now, even though the search would be continued without them for some days with less people. But nothing had led them any further to Greg, and that they did not have a sign of life from him for more than two days now, did not give them new hope.

The drive was silent, save for the news that was sounding out of the radio. Sara stared out into the darkness of the night. If I had not been for the news station that had just announced the time, Sara would have thought that they had already driven for half the night. She wondered how long and far Greg had been driven away. He had been taken in the morning as far as they knew and had been hundreds of miles away from Las Vegas already in the afternoon, which the letter had told them. They could not know how far away he was maybe now, almost three days after his disappearance.

In his letter he had written that he was alright. Was that true at all? Had he not just written that to not worry them, or maybe because the abductor had wanted it this way? They could not know how he was treated. Actually they knew hardly anything and without Greg's letter it would have been nothing.

Catherine was lost in her own thoughts, but watched Sara out of the corner of her eye from time to time. Her expression showed that her mind was somewhere else. It was not hard to guess where.

"What will we do if we don't find a new lead?" Sara asked all of a sudden.

"There's still the search in Utah, and we'll see what they'll get out of Greg's car," Catherine replied evasively.

"And if that all leads to nothing?" Sara returned quietly. Catherine was silent, although she knew the answer. It was not really the lab's case anymore, there would be nothing for them to do, nothing to investigate. They would have to leave any further investigation to other authorities and would have to turn their attention to their own cases again, something that had been somewhat neglected in the last two days with two investigators gone to follow the search in Utah.

"We'll have to see," Catherine could give Sara only a rather nothing-saying answer again. Sara was silent for a long time before she spoke again, even more quietly than before.

"Somehow I have the feeling that Greg and I won't see each other again."

Catherine could not believe it. "Sara Sidle, what are you talking about? Of course you will." Catherine was actually not so sure of that, but she just did not feel like giving up on Greg right now, and she could not let it happen that Sara did.

"It's a feeling," Sara repeated.

"Since when do you have 'feelings'?" Realizing how odd that sounded, Catherine added quickly, "I mean, be rational, use your head. This isn't over. Don't give up just now."

Sara did not answer right back, but it took some moments before she spoke again. "We could've been more."

Catherine had only a slight hunch what Sara was meaning, so she decided to let her talk. She did not expect Sara's next statement though.

"I have a confession to make."

TBC