Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: or Nick Stokes. The whole episode 'Grave Danger' isn't mine either. I only own the idea and Morgan Lynn Rodriguez (She is mine).

jenn - A thousand apologies. I had a problem with my computer and well.. you know the rest. School has been tough. I hope you're still enjoying the story. Here's some more.

Arwennicole - Thanks. Glad you like. Here's some more.

EmSyd - Thank you. Here's the new chapter. Hope you enjoy it too.

Facing Grave Danger

Chapter 21

"Pupils are even." – The EMT that was checking on Grissom's condition said aloud.

"He blew himself up and left us with nothing…" – Grissom murmured, thinking. He had some cuts on his forehead, from the impact of the explosion that had thrown him back against the floor. The cuts weren't too deep but they were bleeding nonetheless and Brass had insisted for him to be seen by the paramedics. But Grissom wasn't worried about himself; he was worried about Nick. The only thing that still connected them with their colleague that was buried six feet under had just vanished.

"Sir, are you experiencing any ringing in your ears?" – The EMT asked.

"No, I'm just experiencing being about to lose a friend and not being able to do a damn thing about it!"

"We got the kidnappers truck. Nevada tags: 374 – Robert – Charlie – David. Run the plate." – Brass ordered to the phone, coming out of the storage. Right now, this was the only clue that they had. He had already called the Police Station, for Detective Vartann to bring Morgan to help analyzing the scene. That moment, as insensitive as it might seem, he couldn't care less if she was affected or not. They all were… and Grissom couldn't process the storage. The team was already one element short. Now, more than ever, they needed Morgan's skills. As Brass as said once, a few years back, these were the guys that he would like to have investigating his murder… And now, that this young woman had joined them, they had become stronger and the whole Lab knew it. That was the reason why, when Sofia had been around, everyone would hate those two… they, alone, would kick out the day-shift blondies anytime, anywhere… No one could deny that.

Inside the building, Warrick and Greg were taking care of the kidnappers truck, a Ford Expedition. They had opened the hood and were now trying to connect the black box of the engine to Warrick's laptop.

"That's the wrong box, Greg." – Warrick said.

"Well, pick one. There's three." – Greg answered, using the same accusing tone the other male had.

"That one, right there!" – Warrick pointed to the right box, his voice even more aggressive.

"Give me a break. I haven't done this before." – Greg defended himself, as he connected the box to the laptop.

"All right, let's go over it again. The diagnostic unit gets attached to that black box, which gives us the mileage of his last trip. Like an airplane."

"That gives us the radius for the search area." – Greg added.

"Right." – Warrick agreed. He knew he was being too hard on the rookie CSI but he couldn't control his attitude that moment. Nick was still missing… and until they got him back, alive, he wasn't going to give anyone a break…

"Got it." – Greg said, nodding his head and moving over to look at the laptop monitor. Mere seconds later, it beeped.

"Twenty three miles." – Warrick read. "We know that he was heading east on the 215…"

"I'll get a map." – Greg completed his train of thought and moved away from the truck to get it. Catherine passed by him, her hair pulled up in a ponytail, her feet covered with blue plastic. She step on a bloodied bill and lifted her left foot up to grab it.

"Somebody bag this money, please?" – She asked, hading the bill to an officer that was near by. "And don't get any funny ideas either." – She warned, walking to the inner room, where the kidnapper, who was still a John Doe to them, had blown himself.

"What I had to do to get this money… and for what?" – She muttered, looking around to the destroyed room. The money was sprawled everywhere. In the middle of the room, David and Sara surrounded a lump of flesh, what was left of a man. He was searching the scattered clothes of what seemed like a human chest, trying to find anything. She was by his side, patiently waiting.

"There's no ID on him." – He informed. Sara sadly got up and started walking around the room, carefully trying not to smash anything. She didn't know what she was looking for as she scanned around, moving randomly over the amount of bills and blood splatter. She finally spotted something on the floor and leaned down to pick it.

She brought it up to her eyes and examined it for a while before exclaiming, almost shocked. – "I got a thumb."

(At the Crime Lab)

Warrick had returned from the exploded storage and he got himself a cup of coffee and walked to Archie's working room, to check on Nick's condition, before having to leave again.

"How's he doing?" – He asked, sitting down next to the Archie. The video expert looked at him and shrugged.

"Hard to say. About the same, I guess…" – He answered, his eyes tired of staring at the same image for a very long time. "I'm going to get some coffee." – He said, getting up and leaving. Archie didn't express it, but he also needed to get some air, clear his head a little bit, wave Nick's trapped image away from his thoughts.

"Yeah." – Warrick murmured. He put his cup down and watched the monitor. As they were losing the feed, every two minutes, he automatically would click the 'Watch' button to get track of it again.

On a room near by, Sara was processing the thumb she had found in the scene. She clean it the best she could, careful not to ruin any piece of evidence, and she was able to get out a print from the thumb. Feeling a new hope, she hurried to scan the print into the computer and run it through CODIS.

NO MATCH FOUND.

"Dammit!" – Sara cursed.

(Someplace else)

The damn light was driving him insane. Who the hell was torturing him like that? Couldn't they keep it off? It was cutting down the oxygen, for Christ's sake. Was that how they were going to kill him?

Nick decided to do something about the light. "I'm not going to die so soon… I'm not going down so easily!" – He told himself. Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, he took the pack of gum out and picked one. He popped it into his mouth, giving it two or three chews and then spitting it off and breaking it in two halves, placing each one on his ear. Afterwards, he reached for his gun and cocked it, making sure it was ready to shoot.

Taking a deep breathe, he pointed the gun right to the light and, without thinking twice, Nick shot.

(At the Crime Lab)

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" – Warrick shouted, startled by the blackness that now covered the monitor. How did he dare? Nick had just cut off the only connection that they had with him. "Damn bastard!"

Suddenly, a bright green hue appeared in the screen and he saw his buddy's face again.

"Oh…" – Warrick murmured, his gaze still fixed on the monitor, watching Nick laughing triumphantly, as he was feeling the fresh air right on his face. Warrick nodded, a small grin on his lips – "You're still alive."

(A little later)

Sara was now waiting to see if Mia could get anything further out of the thumb. She had been staring at the water fountain, just watching the water run in front of her, for about five minutes. It was getting harder and harder for Sara Sidle to maintain it all together, as she was worried and anxious. She didn't even noticed when Mia pushed the DNA Lab's door open and called her out.

"Sara…I got something off your thumb." – Mia informed, excited. Sara turned her head to her and ran there.

(Down at the Police Station, in one of the Interrogation Rooms)

Sara and Brass were interviewing Kelly Gordon, the kidnapper's daughter, trying to get something, some detail that could help them find out where Nick was. Morgan had insisted to be there too. However, she was watching the Interrogation on the side room, standing next to Vartann who was still following Brass's orders and wouldn't take his eyes off her, not even for a moment.

"You do know you don't have to baby-sit me just because Brass said so, right?" – She asked, her eyes fixed on the woman sitting in front of Brass and Sara.

"Don't even think about it, Rodriguez… I do not intend to take my eyes off you. And it's just not because Brass said so. It's because I think I know all too well what you're capable off and I don't want to have to lock you up in a cell for you to stay still. I'm worried about you…"

"How many dinners did Sofia promise to pay you for you to watch over me?" – She asked with a small grin on her lips. She knew that Vartann and Sofia were close, very close indeed and she had always had some sympathy towards the Detective.

He smiled – "That's confidential…" – He said, looking back to the show in front of them.

"Did you know what he was planning to do?" – Sara asked.

Kelly shook her head – "No, I don't know. What did he do?" – She was a little shocked with the news from her father's death, but she didn't seem much affected by it.

Brass answered – "He kidnapped a friend of mine. A CSI. And then he blew himself up. Tried to take some cops with him."

"How many did he get?" – She asked, and they could see a little glimpse of joy in her eyes.

Brass gave her an ironic smile – "Hey, we're all still here." Sara interrupted him – "Nick is still missing."

"Who's Nick?" – Kelly asked, confused.

"The CSI is still missing. Do you know where he is?" – Sara asked, impatient. Kelly turned to her and it was her time to show an almost ironic smile, as she commented – "That's pretty funny… you guys not being able to find something."

"Yeah, look, if you cooperate, we can get your sentence reduced." – Brass informed.

Kelly nodded - "You know what I used to do before this? Back when I was alive? I used to grow things. Outside. I was studying horticulture. Flowers. My cellmate, Trish, gave me one for Valentine's Day." – She said and stretched her arm along the table, opening her hand. On her palm, there was a tattoo of a white flower.

"Do you want to smell it?" – She asked. As she got no response, she snapped - "I hope your friend dies!" Sara and Brass stared at her, not moving even a muscle.

Morgan, who had been leaning against the glass that separated the two rooms, reacted as if she had been hit by something. She almost ran out of the room, quickly opening the door of the Interrogation Room, and walking to the table. Before anyone could stop her or respond to her movements, she grabbed Kelly by the collar of her orange prison suit and dragged her off the chair, pushing her back hard against the wall.

"Rodriguez!" – Brass shouted, standing up from his chair.

She ignored him and stared at Kelly, looking deep into her eyes with rage and hate all over her face. Then, she spoke in a very, very low tone, almost whispering – "You listen to me and you listen to me good because I'm not going to repeat this: you better pray with all your strength that we're able to find Nick alive and bring him back in one piece… Cause if we don't, I swear to God, in this very split second, that, if he dies or is rescued with any serious or minor injury, I'll make my own personal task to wait for you to get out and hunt you down, Kelly. You will regret the day that you even thought about stepping this planet and beg to go back to prison because I'll make my goal in life to turn yours into a living hell, even worse, even more miserable than it is right now. If something happens to Nick, Kelly, I'll make sure that you'll pay for what your dear daddy made him bear and, believe me, you'll hate your life even more than you currently do. So, if you know anything about where the hell your father buried Nick, you better say it and say it now. Keep my name and my face in your memory, Kelly, cause if something happens to him just because you kept your damn mouth shut for your dead father's sake, the next time you'll see me, will be about the same time you'll see anything on this Earth for the last time!"

With this, she released Kelly and walked out of the Interrogation Room, avoiding Brass, Vartann and Sara's eyes, whose she knew that were fixed on her. She headed to the locker room, hoping that no one was there so that she could relieve all her angst and desperation. On her way, she accidentally ran into Catherine, who had just finished analysing some traces that they had found on the storage where Walter had blew himself up. Without stopping, she muttered an apology and kept going straight without looking back; she knew that she would break down in the middle of that hall if she stopped there, that moment.

"Rodriguez! Hey…" – Catherine called. She went after her and, when she walked inside the locker room, she saw Morgan leaning against her locker, trying to catch her breath, her hands sliding down her long hair.

Catherine approached her – "Hey… how are you holding up?" Morgan turned to her and sighed heavily – "Obviously, I'm not, right?" – She answered. "I almost ripped Gordon's daughter's head off, during her interrogation…. I'm losing it, Catherine."

"Don't give up kiddo. Clear your head and keep yourself together, as you always do when you're working. Don't lose hope, Rodriguez."

"Evidences and time are taking me the other way… We're racing against it and we're losing. The only thing that tells us that Nick is still alive is that damn monitor over there!" – She snapped. They fell into silence for some minutes, until Morgan confessed – "Something had happened to him in NY…"

Catherine looked at her – "What are you talking about?"

"He said he needed to talk to me and that it was important. But I had covered for Lisa, of the day shift, remember? I had just worked three straight shifts, I hadn't slept in over 36 hours and I've done so many doubles this week that I just needed to sleep. I was so, so tired that I told him that we would talk the next day. I had promised him, some time ago, that I would always be there for him… And I failed, in the most damn important moment!" – Morgan took a quick breath – "I was so busy being selfish and just thinking about myself that I totally ignored that he needed me, he needed to talk to someone and I turned my back on him. Now, he's there, trapped in that damn box, buried in some unknown place… Relying on a whispered hope that we will find him… Fooling himself."

Catherine was speechless. "Morgan, don't start it. Please." – She asked.

"I can't lose him, Catherine…" – Morgan confessed, out of nowhere, blushing almost immediately at the intimacy revealed by her confession.

"Look at me…" – Catherine made her face her – "Listen, when you look at that monitor, what do you see?" – She asked. Morgan looked at her, quizzically, not getting the point of that inquisition. She explained – "You see Nick fighting. He's trapped in that box, only God knows where and he's struggling to keep living. He's relying on us and he hasn't lost hope yet. Nick trusts us; he trusts you, Morgan. And we can't leave him alone, not now, not yet, now this way… Just because we lost hope."

Morgan looked at her and nodded. Catherine hugged her – "Hang in there, kid… We'll get him back in safety… I promise."

Morgan felt a new strength building inside her, all because of Catherine's words. However, the blonde wasn't so sure herself if she was going to keep her promise. She was a very experient CSI already, and she knew that it was going to be really tough… what if they weren't able to save him? How was she going to explain to the shattered young girl, sitting next to her, that her promise was a lie?