Chapter Eleven ;

Make the Memories Fade

Grissom's world fell apart as different outcomes of what he had heard went through his mind. As he ran to the room where the gunshot came from, different scenarios rushed in and out of his imagination.

Dani's hand clutching her chest, where the bullet had penetrated, and Sara hugging her sister close as Dani's last breath escaped her lips. The kidnappers were feeling no guilt whatsoever for shooting the little girl.

Sara falling back, as she felt the impact of the bullet force itself through her body. The bullet went through the wall behind her and stayed there. Sara felt the hole in her stomach bleed until she had lost too much blood. All she heard in her last minutes were Dani's cries as the kidnappers took her somewhere else.

Grissom shook his head as he got to the room. He looked around, at Dani and Sara first, making sure neither of them were shot. They weren't. He looked and saw a man lying on the ground, trying his hardest to breathe. He looked at Jim, who was putting his gun away and calling for the ambulance crew to come to the apartment. Gil looked at Sara, who was pointing her gun at a young man, who wasn't a day over 30.

Dani, who was tied up, on a bed, was staring at Gil. She was smiling. She was alive. Dave walked up to the young man, whose hands were on his head. Dave cuffed him and lead him out of the room. Paramedics came into the room with a stretcher. They lifted the man up and onto the stretcher, then carried him out of the room.

Jim and the other police officers left the room. Grissom cut the ropes that bound Dani's legs and arms. As soon as she could move, Dani sat up. Sara ran and threw her arms around Dani, she was crying. Dani hugged Sara back, she was also crying. Grissom put his arms around the both of them, and rested his head on top of Dani's.

The family let go of each other. "I was so scared," Dani admitted, she was still crying. "I'm sorry, Sara, I should have hid better, we should have called the police as soon as we heard them come in. I-"

"Dani, it's not your fault, you helped us catch two murderers; they kidnapped and killed two other girls… and you helped catch them," Sara said, trying to make her feel better. Dani put her hand to her mouth, and put her head on Sara's shoulder as she cried some more.

Half an hour went by, and then the three of them got up and left the room. Sara was holding Dani's hand as they walked out of the apartment. They walked down a set of stairs and then out of the apartment building. Adam was talking to Ken, about thirty feet away from where Dani, Sara and Grissom were. As soon as Dani saw Adam, she let go of Sara's hand and started running as fast as she could towards him.

Dani flung her arms around Adam, causing him to almost fall back. Adam hugged Dani back and started crying. Adam rocked her back and forth in his arms as he heard her crying too.

"What did they do to you?" Adam asked through sobs.

Dani sniffled then spoke, "Nothing, Sara came in before they did anything, they just tied my legs together." Adam nodded and that was the last that was said about it. Neither of them wanted to remember anything about the horrid experience, neither of them wanted the memories to last.

--

Dani and Adam were sitting on the couch in the living room part of Sara's apartment. Adam's arms were around Dani protectively. Sara was sitting in the other chair, lost in her thoughts. Grissom was at the crime lab, watching Jim and Catherine interrogate the two men that had kidnapped Adam and Dani.

Adam looked at Dani, and knew that she was thinking about something. She was trying to make a decision, Adam could see it in her eyes. All of them were quiet, it was a painful silence, but breaking it would have been worse.

"I want to go to court," Dani said simply.

Sara turned her head to her sister, "What?"

"I want to go watch the trial," Dani said, her eyes had remained in the same place since she had been thinking about it.

"Dani," Sara started then paused, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I want to," Dani said, her tone was emotionless, and had been that way since she had started talking.

"I want to go too," Adam said, he turned and looked at Sara. Sara's mouth was open, she didn't know what to say. She didn't really want the two of them to go, because things could go wrong if a victim went to a suspect's trial.

"Adam, I can't speak for your parents," Sara finally said, she thought about it for a moment. "Actually, I haven't seen them since…"

"They were waiting at the crime lab, and they saw you run out of the building with Grissom, so they just waited. The officer, Ken, let me call them when we were outside the apartment building," Adam explained.

"What about me?" Dani asked. "You still have to speak for me, I want to go, I want to hear their sentence."

Sara looked at her sister with empty eyes, she wanted to say no, but she wanted to say yes. "I'll talk to Grissom about it," she finally said.

Then the silence re-instated.