A/N: Don't own CSI, or anything else that CBS owns. You know the deal-eo;)

Okay, mid-term exams, not that bad, I suppose. I should be studying, but meh. You can only study so much before you start to feel your brain start to combust. Thus, I had time, so here is a new chapter. Oh, and once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed...you're awesome:D


CHAPTER 12: ENDURING

"Go to hell!" Sara screamed from where she stood, in front of the crib that Matthew and Gabriel were in as they looked with wide blue eyes at the scene before them. She had her gun drawn, and trained on the barricade.

"We're not letting you get them!" Nick bellowed, backing up slightly and drawing his gun as well. They saw the makeshift wall bend uneasily against the force of the men on the other side, but it held fast. "Go away!"

Another gunshot rang out, and though no one knew where it had come from, everyone stopped. This shot sounded closer. "Look!" One of the caretakers pointed to a smoking hole in the wall. They were shooting into the room.

"Everybody down!" Sara hissed as she holstered her gun and took up the twins. She awkwardly grasped the two of them in her arms, and crawled against the wall, making sure she was protecting the frail bodies of Matthew and Gabriel. Everyone else followed suit, grabbing up children and, getting low on the ground, crawling against the walls. Nick, who remained standing with his gun still out, ducked behind a wall. Two more shots rang out, and stuck themselves in the wall next to the other bullet. "Don't be stupid! Let us in!"

"Go away!" Nick shouted again. His eyes flicked to the exit door, and he knew that they needed to get out of there quickly, before their wall collapsed and they were forced to face the onslaught of Dragons. Bending his knees, he started to stealthily make his way to the emergency exit door. Careful not to make a sound and get his head blown off by a bullet, he sidled up to the door, and he reached up and turned the knob. Nick was low to the ground, fortunately for him, because as soon as he cracked the door open another bullet was fired, lodging a few feet above his head in the hallway wall. "Too close!" Nick thought as he slammed the door closed and locked it, and crawled frantically back behind the wall as another barrage of bullets rained down on them from the people behind the barrier.

"This is crazy." Nick spoke to Sara as he dropped near her. "There's no way out. Those people will have the barrier broken down soon. How're we going to get out of here?"

"We don't." Sara breathed back, still holding the twins in her arms. She laid Matthew down on her leg, and took out her gun again. She passed it to Nick. "Whatever happens, we have to protect these kids with all of our power."

Nick nodded, and took Sara's gun along with his own, and stationed himself behind a jutting corner of the door. Then they had to wait until one of the groups broke through.


Greg crashed into the wall for the third time and fell ungracefully to the floor with a thud. Lying on his side, he groaned as he felt the spots on his body that were sure to be bruised when – and if - he ever got out of this mess. However, as he awkwardly got back up on to his feet, he moved his arms and felt the old and rotting pieces of wood wiggle; they were finally starting to crack.

Remembering his original observation on the state of the place, and of the chair, Greg had come up with the brilliant plan to break the already weakened chair. Though it had taken him a few hours to come up with that plan, he was confident that it would work. Although his movement was limited, using himself as the driving force, he didn't believe that it would take very many hits to break the chair. But it had taken more than he had thought it would. It was more painful than he at first thought as well, to ram full speed into the wall while half-sitting in a chair.

Greg walked and waddled back to the opposite end of the shack, facing the door. He took a few bracing breaths, gathered up his nerve and started racing backwards towards the wall. Closing his eyes, he kept going until he felt the familiar jerking, twinge, shaking, and then the memorable feeling of falling in a heap to the floor.

Greg shook his head, trying to regain his senses, and when the room stopped spinning, he tried moving his arms again. The give in the wooden spindles was greater this time. "I don't want to run myself into the wall again…" Greg spoke to himself, gathering his thoughts, "The wood is weak enough now. Maybe if I just add a little strain to it, it'll break."

Taking his arms, Greg tried to bring them towards each other while also applying pressure to the cracked wood of the chair backing. Gritting his teeth, he gave it all the strength he could, and he suddenly felt it give a little more, and he heard a louder crack, and in an instant, his arms came together, and the backing fell away.

"Ha!" Greg cried triumphantly as he stood up straight. He ignored the dull ache that had formed in his arms, and the rest of his body, as he set himself to work on getting up the pluck to do the next part of his plan. Looking at the little lamp, still burning despite the winds outside, he grimaced as he thought of how much the next part of his plan would hurt.

Greg walked slowly over to the lamp, careful not to put out the little flame by creating air from walking. Carefully sitting down and looking over his shoulder, he guided his hands to the glass covering. His fingertips touch the hot surface, but he ignored it and picked it up in his hands. He tossed it in an odd way to the side, and then started to pull up his sleeved with his teeth. The last thing he wanted was to set them on fire in the loose flame. Once they were up to his elbows, Greg was ready. But he stopped. He took a few deep breaths, trying to get up his nerve, but he couldn't seem to do it.

"I don't actually need to get rid of this, do I?" Greg said softly to himself. "I can just do what I did before, and ram the door down with my shoulder. It's what I planned on doing anyways, even if I free my hands. And even if that didn't work, I could always crawl out through the window by standing on the chair. I can get out if I try, and maybe I can find an easier way to break the zip-tie?"

However, he knew why he needed to get rid of it now. He had already rationalized it. "No…I'm probably in the middle of nowhere, or right in the middle of a war-zone, and I'll need my hands to get out of there without getting killed. I need to do it."

He took a few more deep breaths for good measure, and then stuck his hands a tiny bit above the flames. The heat immediately made his raw wrists scream in pain, and Greg shut his eyes as the little, yet very hot, flame licked at his hands. He felt the plastic zip-tie start to heat up, and it added to the agony that Greg was feeling at that very moment. He cried out after a minute of the heat and flames, but he willed himself to keep his hands above the flame. All the while he kept a certain strain on the bonds, pulling his arms apart so that as soon as the bonds weakened enough, he could break it and end the self-torture he was putting himself through. Greg opened his watering eyes after a while, and looked out through the window. The sky was still a bright azure blue, with lazy, wispy clouds floating serenely past, propelled by the wind. The sun was still nowhere in sight, though it was obviously out. Greg had no idea how much time had passed, or how much time he had left. He never had a watch on at the crime scene, and he couldn't feel his cell phone in his pocket.

Greg clenched his eyes shut again as a wave of pain pulsed through him. He felt the sweat rolling down his back and down his forehead from a combination of resisting the pain and his close proximity to the little oil lamp. Wind blew into the ramshackle shed and the flame got momentarily higher, making Greg's hands sizzle. He roared in pain, and he had to hold himself in place to make sure he didn't pull his hand away. He sobbed, and tried pulling his arms apart with more force. The zip-tie snapped, and his arms came flying apart. As fast as he could Greg hopped up from the flame and took his hands in front of him to see how badly they were injured.

Through still-watering eyes, he could see the bloody imprint of the zip-tie on the outsides of his wrists, made deeper by his constant pulling away. His hands were of a red three shades darker than the rest of his arm, some parts with visibly charred skin on it. They stung horribly, but Greg was free; and that fact alone was worth the pain. All that was left was for him to get out. He had two choices.

"I can ram the door down," Greg spoke low and shakily, his wrists still bothering him immensly, "or I can try and crawl out through the window. "He thought about it, and decided against causing himself more pain than he was already enduring. "I need to look out anyways, and see what I'm dealing with. I don't even know where I am."

Greg walked towards the remains of the chair, which now resembled a stool, and picked it up. Greg hissed; even moving his fingers to grasp objects pained him. But he kept his grip, and brought the chair back to the hole. He stepped carefully onto it, balancing himself by placing a flat hand against the wall. Looking out, he didn't know what to think. Outside he saw the outskirts of Las Vegas. Though it was like a hazy mirage on the horizon, Greg recognized the city, and he was elated at the fact that he knew where he was, if not about the distance he would now have to walk.

He lifted his arms and braced his elbows on the outside of the wall, and vaulted himself out and onto the sandy earth of the desert. Once he was out of the lasting shade of the shed, the full face of the sun looked down upon Greg, and he immediately felt its heat being absorbed by his body. Looking up at the sky and posotion of the sun, he gauged the time to be at about one in the afternoon. If Perkasa had given him the right time, it meant that he had been captive for nearly seven hours. Greg felt uneasy. "What if I'm too late and he's gotten to the twins, to Nick…Sara…"

He looked again towards the city, wavering in the hot air in his vision. It would take him a few hours at least to get back to the city, if he could last that long. He took the back of his sore hand and wiped some sweat from his face. He had gotten through one large trial, and he could get through this one.

He needed to get to Sara, Nick and the twins and do what he could to protect them before Santosa Perkasa could harm them.


All eyes were trained on the barricade in the narrow hallway. Every movement it undertook, every lurch and list it made was watched by wary eyes. Nick was on his knees, his gun and Sara's trained to shoot whoever was the unfortunate soul who took that first step in. Sara sat next to Nick with the twins in her lap, pale but fiery and determined. The twins would not fall into Perkasa's hands while she was alive. She would protect them with everything she had. Her maternal instinct raged inside her and made her wild. She felt like she could pounce and rip the throats out of every one of the Dragon's if they came in.

But until they did break in, she would not, and could not, do any such thing. With held breath, everyone in that room watched and waited, anticipating the door to break down at any moment. They heard the random curse thrown at them through the barrier, the rough voices demanding the twins be handed to them, and the constant thumps of men taking down their barrier piece by piece, or even simply trying to ram it down.

The waiting was the hardest part. It always was. And now, every second felt like years. Sara almost wished that they would break in, so that the seal that seemed to be placed on times flow would break. Everything was so still and quiet that Sara swore she could hear her sweat hit the ground in beads. Even the babies in the room, Matthew and Gabriel included, never made a sound. Every soul in the room was watching the makeshift wall, hoping it would hold fast and save them.

Suddenly, a large plastic changing table fell down, and a gaping hole was left linking both sides of the hallway. Everyone jumped up; this was it.

"Stop right now or I will shoot!" Nick shouted as he saw an arm spring through the hole. "I will shoot!"

"So will we, unless you hand over the kids." Said a voice form the other side. "So just give them to us."

"Never!" Sara screamed as she stood up with everyone else. "We're not letting you have them. Accept it. Go tell Perkasa that he's not getting what he wants this time."

The people on the other side of the wall stopped speaking, perhaps surprised that anybody knew who was really behind it. "Just hand them over, and you won't all die."

Sara never replied, but looked at Nick, who still had his gun trained on the door. "Nick, what are you doing?" Sara shouted at him, "Shoot them before they shoot us."

But Nick remained still, his gun trained on the blockade. His eyes looked at something past Sara, and then shifted towards their fixated position on the barrier, but Sara followed their path, and she saw what Nick had seen. That wonderful beacon of red and blue shone in through the small windows of the room, and Sara smiled. The police had come at last.

Sara looked back at the arm that was still trying to take down the barrier, and suddenly she saw it withdraw quickly. "Damn it, the police are here already?"

"I thought you said we'd have plenty of time?"

"Never mind that. Run you idiots! Run!"

"Las Vegas PD, put your hands up!"

A barrage of screaming voices came through the barrier, and a series of hurried footsteps followed by large thumps hit the people in the nursery. A few gunshots were heard at first, but it was quickly dispelled. The confused noises went on for a few minutes, with everyone still holding their breath. And then, nearly ten minutes later, an eye could be seen at the eyehole.

"Nick? Sara? You in there?"

"Ah, Warrick!" Nick yelled in joy as he dropped his gun and ran towards the heap of old toys and wood. He started to shovel them away, along with a few of the workers who had not suffered from a severe case of shock and realized the horror was over. It took only a minute for what remained of the barrier to be heaved aside, and Warrick and Nick exchanged a brotherly embrace.

"Man, am I glad to see you!" Nick said again.

"You're a total idiot, you know that? You and Sara." Warrick replied, though not completely angrily. "You knew what you'd be getting into, and you still went in and got yourself in trouble."

"Yeah, but we have a good reason." Nick said, allowing room for Warrick to pass. They walked back into the room, where some of the workers were finally coming out of their stupor and tending to the kids, and up to Sara who was comforting the twins, though somewhat awkwardly. A child in each arm was a little to much to handle. Nick walked over and picked up Matthew.

"Hey, Warrick." Sara greeted him, the relief and pure appreciation so apparent in her voice that it was enough of a thank you. "Meet Matthew and Gabriel Powell. They're the kids of that murdered couple from about a week back. The one's we believe Perkasa is after."

Warrick looked at the kids and, like everyone else who had ever gazed upon them, he smiled. "Hey little guys." Warrick greeted them gently. He smiled wider as they laughed, but then he looked back up at Nick and Sara. "This is serious matter."

"We figured that out when we were being shot at, Warrick, thanks for the update." Sara replied bitterly. She immediately felt guilty though, and shot him an apologetic glance. "Sorry, Warrick. I'm a bit stressed, if it isn't already obvious. Have you heard anything on Greg?"

Warrick frowned. "No, and it's really starting to worry me. If they haven't contacted us already, well…"

Nick and Sara looked alarmed. "It doesn't mean anything." Warrick covered swiftly. "Maybe Perkasa is waiting until he sees that this plan works or not."

"I hope so." Sara sighed sorrowfully. "Because if Greg doesn't come back I don't know what I'll do, because it's my fault that he's in this mess."

"Don't do that Sara." Nick chided, "It's not your fault. It's Perkasa's. He's going to pay for this if it's the last thing I do. And he's not getting the twins."

"I doubt he will either." Warrick said cryptically, and it caused Nick and Sara to look at him.

"What does that mean?" Sara asked. "Why do you seem so confident?"

"The police are now arresting the people who were here, from the back and front exits. Seeing as this was the second attack, the twins are being moved to the police department for special protection."

Sara gaped at him. "Are you serious? Really?" She broke out into a smile. "That's wonderful! The twins will definitely be safe now!" But thinking of what Greg's reaction would be to the news sobered her immediately, and she felt even guiltier for being happy while he was enduring who knows what.

"Does Perkasa know that fact?" Nick asked, not noticing Sara's split-reaction change in feelings.

"No, I doubt it. None of the Dragon's crew knows it either, and I know all of these officers well. None of them are moles." He referred to Officer Craig Werner, who had exposed them the first time. "They wouldn't spill something so important to some crooks."

"Is there some way we can use that to our advantage?" Nick asked. "I mean, this is a very useful piece of information."

"The last time we tried using information to trick Perkasa, we lost Greg." Sara reasoned. "I think it's too much of a risk."

"Well, whatever we do, we do it after lunch. A late lunch, anyways. It's nearly one now. You guys just went through a rough one, you should go get some lunch from the safe part of town, take a breather. I'll keep working on finding Greg. We'll question these bozos."

"There's a safe part of this town?" Nick asked as he placed Matthew back in his crib, but saw Warrick's expression. "Yeah, we'll take a lunch break. I personally need it. Thanks Warrick."

Sara went and placed Gabriel next to his brother, and she paused at the side of the crib to run her hand through his blonde hair. It was bittersweet; while two people she loved were safe from danger for now, another was somewhere, being held captive by a crazed power-hungry madman. She took a shuddering breath. "Where are you, Greg?" She thought helplessly. "Please be safe, wherever you are."


Nick took a large chomp out of his hamburger, hardly taking the time to chew before he swallowed. He looked over at Sara, who hadn't touched much of her leafy green salad. "Sara?" He enquired, making her look up from where she was staring at her reflection mournfully in her spoon. "What's on your mind?"

"The same thing that's on yours, I would hope." Sara replied, taking her fork and savagely piercing a piece of lettuce. "Greg."

"Yeah." He replied, taking another bite. Sara looked at him, and then went back to her spoon. Nick frowned. "Look, Sar, really, if you're blaming yourself…"

"It's not going to help, I know." Sara finished his sentence. "But I can't control how I feel."

"No, but think about it. Greg wanted to help the twins of his own accord. It's not your fault he's kidnapped."

"So what, we blame him for this and leave him?" Sara hissed as she shoved a tomato forcefully into her mouth, grinding it into pieces with her gritted teeth.

"I never said that." Nick answered back, fitting the remainder of the hamburger into his mouth. "We just need to wait to see what our options are."

"Oh, hold on." Sara muttered in an irritated tone. She searched her pockets for her ringing cell phone and finally produced it from the pockets of her jeans. She checked the I.D. and went as white as a sheet.

"Sara?" Nick asked with concern as he saw her go pale. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Sara held up a finger and shushed Nick as she listened to the speaker. She became even paler throughout the conversation, but her face was set in hard lines, fury and worry in every aspect of her face. The conversation was one-sided with Sara never speaking a word, and lasted only a minute. When Sara took the phone from her ear, she was very well near tears.

"Sara." Nick demanded, "Who was that?"

"That was Santosa Perkasa." Sara whispered.

Nick's eyes popped. "What? Sara, how could he have gotten your number?"

Sara let a tear finally fall from her eye. "He was using Greg's cell phone."


This is going on longer than I though it would...awesome! Haha, anyways, hope you guys enjoy, until next chapter, please R&R, and have a good day!!!