Thanks for the reviews. I guess if you're reading this, you survived the last chapter. Good for you! Things are about to change. :) Due to Catherine's recent behavior on the show, I had a hard time forcing myself to post this chapter as is...but it was already finished, so what the heck.

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Sara awoke later that afternoon to the ringing of her cell phone. She fumbled for the item sitting on her nightstand and answered groggily, "Sidle."

"Sara, it's Nick."

Sara heard the desperation in Nick's voice and quickly sat up. "What's wrong, Nick?"

Nick's voice faltered as he responded, "It's Lindsey."

Nick didn't have to explain. Sara shot up out of her bed and quickly pulled on her clothes. "How long?"

"She never returned from her lunch break. Somehow she got off campus. The principal called Catherine and asked her if she had picked Lindsey up early…and now Catherine's a basket case. She called her mother, her sister, all of Lindsey's friends and their parents. No one's seen her."

"Who-"

Nick answered before she could finish asking. "Dayshift is on the case, but it's not technically a case yet. She's only been missing a few hours, but you know that time is critical in these cases. So, we're all meeting at Catherine's, and we're gonna start searching from there."

"We have to find her, Nick. I don't want to have to process a scene w…" She shook just thinking about the possibility.

"Don't start thinking like that, Sara. We'll find her. We have to put up a brave front for Catherine. Lindsey's rebellious; she's probably just out getting into trouble. We'll find her." Nick sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Sara.

"I'll be there in five," she said, as she grabbed her keys and flew out the door.

"See you then."

Sara had never driven so fast on a city street in her life. She was pretty sure she had broken just about every traffic law there was. She kept praying during the drive that Lindsey would be found safe and sound. Sara made it across town to Catherine's house in five minutes, just like she said. She arrived at the same time as Grissom, who shot her one of the coldest looks she had ever seen. She brushed it off, figuring he was just worried about Lindsey and Catherine.

Sara and Grissom entered Catherine's house to find her crying in Warrick's arms. Nick, Brass, Greg, Archie and Mia were all standing around her living room, worried looks on their faces. Catherine's mother was sitting on the couch next to her sister. The older woman was crying into the younger woman's shoulder.

Grissom quickly made his way across the room to Catherine's side. She noticed him, released her hold on Warrick and wrapped her arms around Grissom's neck, pulling him in for a hug. "Promise me you'll find her," she pleaded into his ear.

Grissom gently pushed her back, holding onto her upper arms. "I will do everything I can to find her."

Catherine calmed down a little. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. Trying to gain control, she said, "Let's get out there and find her then."

Brass took command. "I've got every available officer out on the street looking for her. Nick, you and Archie take the north side of town. Greg, Mia, take the east. Warrick, you take the south-"

"I'm going out looking too. I can't just stand here and do nothing," Catherine cut him off.

Knowing not to argue with her, Brass continued, "Warrick, Catherine, you take the south side. I'm going to meet up with Vartan on the west side of town. Sara, Grissom, why don't you guys take the strip first and then the rest of downtown."

Everyone just nodded in agreement and gave Catherine sympathetic hugs and shoulder pats as they left to look for Lindsey.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was getting to be late in the evening and the team had been looking for Lindsey with no luck. Having looked just about everywhere they could think of, Grissom and Sara were now cruising the hotel parking garages hoping to find the young girl. Every minute that ticked by made Sara's heart sink more and more. She refused to let her mind think that the Slice N Dice killer had abducted Lindsey.

Grissom hadn't said a word to her since they left Catherine's house. In fact, he hadn't said a word to her at all at Catherine's house. She had just chalked it up to his concern for Lindsey, but something was nagging at her, telling her there was more to his silence.

She looked over at him, concerned. "You okay, Grissom?"

"I'm fine," he replied harshly.

"Sure you are," Sara mumbled.

Sara slowed the car in front of the Rampart Casino. Grissom looked out the passenger window and said, "Let me out."

She looked at him confused. "What? Why?"

"I'm gonna go inside and see if anyone has seen Lindsey."

"You're going to talk to Sam Braun," she stated.

"Just stop the car, Sara." She did as told and he hopped out. He leaned in the open window and said, "Why don't you go check the parking garage, while I'm inside."

"Okay."

Sara was on the second floor of the garage when she saw a man standing between two cars. The man appeared to be talking to someone, but Sara couldn't see another person. She tried to appear inconspicuous as she slowly maneuvered the car closer to the man. When she was about forty feet away, she caught a glimpse of who the man was talking to—it was Lindsey.

Sara slowed the car to a stop, while pulling out her gun. She quickly jumped out of the car and approached the pair, her gun pointing at the man. "Don't move a muscle," she said.

The dark haired man looked up and quickly put his hands in the air, a wad of cash falling from his grasp to the ground. Lindsey's eyes were as big as saucers as she threw her hands up in the air as well. It took a second for the recognition to set in, but when she realized who was holding the gun on them she dropped her hands and spat out, "What in the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for you," Sara replied calmly, her body language and voice not betraying how anxious she actually was. "Your mother is worried sick about you."

Lindsey rolled her eyes. "She'll get over it."

"What's your name?" Sara nodded at the man.

"Steve."

"Alright, Steve, I want you to turn around and put your hands on the roof of that car. Nice and slow."

Steve swallowed hard and did as told. Sara pulled one hand off her weapon and grabbed her phone. She hit the speed dial for Grissom and waited for him to answer. "I found her. We're in the parking garage, level two."

"I'll be right there," Grissom said, relieved.

"Can you hurry up? I kind of have a situation here. You need to call Brass."

Grissom quickened his pace as he made his way through the casino. "Are you two safe?"

"We are for now, but just hurry up and get here."

"Okay. I'm gonna call Brass right now."

"Thank you," Sara said, she hit the end button and shoved the phone back in her pocket. "Lindsey, I want you to lay that bag of weed you have in your hand on the hood of that car."

Lindsey crumpled her fist tighter around the baggy. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not a fool. I was young once too."

"Yeah, how long ago was that?" Lindsey asked nastily.

Sara shook her head at the young girl. "You know, you're lucky you're not my kid."

"Thank God for that."

Steve started to turn around. "I told you not to move!" Sara yelled.

"Sorry, lady. I forgot," he squeaked out as he resumed his position.

A breathless Grissom arrived just at that moment. "What the hell is going on here?"

Sara brought her gun down, relieved that someone else was finally there. "I saw this guy selling Lindsey some weed. So I pulled my gun and made him lean against that car."

Grissom walked over to the young girl and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Lindsey, are you okay?"

Lindsey pushed his hand off her shoulder. "What do you care?"

The screeching sound of tires turned everyone's attention to an SUV that skidded to a halt a few feet from Sara. Catherine flew out of the vehicle and to Lindsey's side, noticing with alarm that Sara had her gun in her hands. Warrick hopped out of the truck and stood beside Sara.

Catherine pulled Lindsey into a hug, which she did not return. She squeezed the breath out of her for a moment before pulling her back by her shoulders and shaking her. "What is wrong with you?" she asked, tears beginning to stream down her face. "I have been so worried about you. Do you have any idea what you put me through? I though that something horrible had happened to you. How can you just run off like that with a killer on the loose, who's out there kidnapping, torturing and murdering teenaged girls?"

Lindsey tried to wiggle out of Catherine's grip. "I was doing just fine until your friend showed up." She directed the dirtiest look to Sara.

Catherine, not knowing what else to do, pulled her into another fierce hug. Lindsey rolled her eyes. Grissom just stood by their side, relieved that Lindsey was safe.

Warrick leaned into Sara's ear. "Who's the scumbag up against the car?" he asked in a whisper.

Feeling it was safe now; Sara put her gun back in its holster. "I caught him selling weed to Lindsey," Sara replied in a low voice.

Not a low enough voice, as Catherine pulled away from Lindsey and looked at her astonished. "You what!"

"Uh…check the fist that she's clutching so tight," Sara replied.

Catherine grabbed Lindsey's hand and ripped the baggy out of it. She looked at the weed and then tossed it towards Grissom. "You were buying drugs? Have you lost your mind?" Catherine screamed.

"Like you never did any."

"Where did you get the money?"

"From my grandfather."

"Sam gave you money for drugs? I am going to kill him." Catherine grabbed Lindsey by the arm and dragged her over to the SUV. She forced the girl into the backseat and closed the door. She leaned back against the door and let the tears fall freely down her face.

A patrol car pulled up behind the SUV and Brass hopped out of the passenger side. "Am I late for the party?" he asked trying to lighten the obvious serious mood of the group.

"You're just in time to read this guy his rights," Sara said. "I caught him selling weed to Lindsey."

Brass looked over at Steve, who was still leaning against the car. "Really?" Brass took delight in busting scumbags who sold dope to kids.

Grissom held up the baggy of weed and pointed to the money that was still lying on the ground. Brass waved the officer over. "Officer Kersh, I'll allow you the pleasure," Brass said as he pointed to Steve.

Officer Kersh smiled happily at Brass as he made his way over to the drug dealer. He patted him down and read him his rights. He quickly cuffed him and shoved him in the back of his patrol car. Grissom handed him the weed and the money and he put them in an evidence bag and threw them in his trunk.

"You guys got it from here?" Brass asked.

Grissom nodded. "Yeah."

"I can't wait to book this guy," Brass said as he started back to the patrol car. "Sara, you'll need to come by the station and fill out a statement."

She nodded at the captain as he got in the car. The officer turned the car around and they were gone.

"I better get these two home," Warrick said. He walked around the car to Catherine and pulled her into a hug. She cried into his chest. He pulled her back after a minute and said, "Let's get you two home, okay?"

"Okay," she answered as she stepped back from him. She looked in at Lindsey. "Can you keep an eye on her for a moment while I got talk to Grissom and Sara?"

"No problem."

Catherine walked up to Grissom and immediately pulled him into a hug. "Thank you so much."

He uncomfortably hugged her back. "I didn't do anything. It was all Sara."

Catherine pulled back and flashed him a teary smile. She hurried over to Sara and pulled her into a hug. "I can't breathe, Cath," Sara chuckled.

Catherine let her go. "Sorry. Thank you so much, Sara. I can't tell you how grateful I am that you found her. I owe you so much."

"You don't owe me a thing. You would have done the same for me. That's what friends do…they help you out when you need them the most. If not, well, then they aren't really friends."

Catherine started tearing up again. "Well, I have the greatest group of friends a person could ask for then."

"Take you daughter home and hug her 'til she can't breathe and then ground her until she's eighteen," Sara said wrapping an arm around Catherine's shoulders and walking her to the SUV. Sara opened the back door and closed it after Catherine was safely inside. She watched the truck as it left the garage.

Sara turned to Grissom. "You ready to get going?"

"Yeah," he said on a sigh.

Sara hopped in the driver's seat of her car and waited until Grissom was seated before she started the engine. She looked over at Grissom and noticed that he was holding his right arm funny, like he was in pain. She looked at his face and saw the slight grimace.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You look like you're in pain," she stated.

"That's because I am in pain," he replied.

"What happened to you?" she asked worriedly.

"My fist kind of ran into someone's face."

"I'm sure it was an accident, right?"

"Yeah. My arm just happened to have this strange spasm thing happen while I was standing right in front of Sam Braun."

"You decked Sam Braun?" Sara asked, thoroughly surprised.

"I prefer to say his face ran into my fist," Grissom said with a smirk.

"Wow! I'm impressed! I wish I could have been there to see that."

"I wouldn't have wanted you to see that," Grissom said softly.

"Why?"

"I don't like people seeing me lose my temper."

"I don't know. It could be kind of exciting," Sara said thoughtfully.

"Probably not as exciting as making out with Greg in the parking lot," he mumbled.

He heard about that? That's why I've been getting the silent treatment all day. Damn him, she thought. "That's why you're mad at me? Why you didn't speak to me all day? Office gossip about me and Greg?"

"It wasn't office gossip, Sara. Warrick saw you and more importantly—Ecklie saw you. Warrick told me what he saw, just in case Ecklie decided to go after you," Grissom explained.

"Well, he hasn't come after me yet."

"Yes, he has," Grissom said tiredly. "He came directly to my office and started barking orders at me. He told me to fire you. I refused. He started complaining about the case and how we weren't making any progress. That's when I told him to go to hell."

"Bad career move," Sara said, starting to feel guilty.

"It doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"Because after he stormed out of my office, I went straight to the director and told him everything. He seemed to be understanding and said he would look into the way Ecklie was handling things. I also informed him that if they fired you, I would resign."

That last part shocked the hell out of Sara. "You would resign if I got fired?"

"Yes."

"Why would you do that?"

Grissom took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was time for total honesty. "Because…you're the best CSI I have ever worked with. You're almost as good as me and you're only at the beginning, Sara. In a few years, you'll fly right past me. You're an asset to the lab."

"Ah, the lab," she said, disappointed.

"You didn't let me finish."

She looked at him quizzically. "Go ahead."

"If you left the lab, there wouldn't be much left for me there. It just wouldn't be the same with you there. It just wouldn't seem worth it anymore." Grissom looked out the side window not wanting her to see the emotions in his eyes.

Sara didn't know what to say. She looked at him in amazement. He wouldn't or couldn't face her. She turned on the interior light and reached over and gently took Grissom's injured hand in hers. His head snapped around quickly, his questioning eyes meeting hers. "Just checking your hand," she said softly as she looked it over. He let her pull his hand closer so she could get a better look at it under the light. "How hard or how many times did you hit him?"

While her eyes were focused on his hand, his eyes were looking at her face lovingly. "I only hit him once, but I may have directed my anger towards a wall on my way out of the casino."

"We need to get this cleaned up. I don't want you to get an infection."

Grissom shrugged. "I'll be fine."

"You have an open cut and you're still bleeding." She released his hand and turned to pull on her seatbelt. "Do you need help buckling up?"

He reached his left hand over and buckled himself up. "I'm not completely useless, yet."

Sara smiled at him as she maneuvered the car out of the garage. Several minutes later they pulled up in front of her apartment building. Sara unbuckled and hopped out. She turned back to look at a still Grissom. "You coming?"

"This is your apartment."

"Very observant of you. Are you coming in so I can clean up your hand? Or would you rather do it in the car?"

Grissom's brain froze for a moment when she said 'do it in the car'. He shook that image out of his head and climbed out of the vehicle. He apprehensively followed Sara to her apartment. She opened the door, flicked on the lights and said, "Make yourself at home," before disappearing down the hall.

Grissom tried to quell his natural curiosity by sitting on the couch and staring at the floor. Sara reappeared in front of him, a first aid kit in hand. She sat on the coffee table in front of him and opened the kit. She set the contents on the table and reached over and pulled his hand over to her, resting it on her knee.

You're touching her knee. She doesn't seem to mind at all. Would she let me touch her—don't think like that, Gil. She's just being nice. She's with Greg now. Deal with it.

Sara quickly cleaned up his wound and placed a bandage on it. She held his wrapped up hand gently in both of hers, her thumbs gently rubbing over the back of his hand. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Grissom met her eyes. "Not bad at all."

They stared at each other for a long moment, before Grissom looked down. "Sara…"

"Yeah?" she replied softly.

"Are you and Greg…are you…I mean, do you…never mind." He pulled his hand away and stood.

She watched him walk over to her window and peer out. She stood and slowly walked up behind him. "I'm not with Greg. We're not dating…if that's what you were trying to ask."

He turned to face her, eyes staring a hole in the floor. "What about..."

"I'll be honest with you…that wasn't the first time we…kissed."

Grissom looked up at her, not even trying to hide the hurt in his eyes.

"I don't know how to explain this to you," she said, her voice thick with emotion.

"You don't have to explain anything to me," he said more harshly than he had intended.

"I think I do. You know this case is getting to me. I needed someone to be there for me…"

"I was trying to be there for you."

"That night we found Charlene Burks was just too much for me. The case was eating away at me and then there was that scene in your office…I just needed someone."

"And Greg was that someone?"

"I needed someone to be there for me in a way you didn't want to be. I needed someone to comfort me."

"I never said I didn't want to be with you," Grissom said in the softest voice Sara had ever heard him use.

Sara was momentarily stunned by his words. "But you weren't there," she tried to explain, "Greg was. I went outside to clear my head and he came and found me. He cheered me up, made a little of the stress go away. We kissed. It was no big deal. It didn't mean anything to me."

"So why did you feel the need to repeat it?"

"Same reason. I just needed someone. Sometimes no matter how much you like to be alone, you just need the touch of another human being. I needed comfort and I asked him for a hug…things kinda escalated."

"I don't want to hear anymore," Grissom said, tiredly.

"There's nothing more to tell. We kissed twice. I never slept with him. Greg's a great guy, but he's not the one I want."

Grissom looked at Sara with such intensity, it was almost too much for her. "What do you want?"

She never wavered. "You."

Grissom took a step closer to her, never breaking eye contact. He reached his uninjured hand up and lightly grazed his fingers over her cheek. "I've been trying so hard to reach out to you, to get closer to you. I just didn't know what to do…I still don't," he admitted.

"You're doing fine now," she whispered.

"Sara…" He glanced at her lips and inched his way closer. Before his lips could reach hers, he was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He quickly pulled his hand back and ran it over his face. He jerked his phone out of his pocket and answered it, annoyed. "Grissom."

"Okay, we'll be there." He shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"We have another victim?" Sara asked.

"We have a victim—female body found in a dumpster behind McDonalds. Brass said she was covered in cuts."

"Let's get to it then," Sara said, heading for the door.