BOND

Grissom and Warrick headed back to the lab at about three-thirty that morning. News of Phoebe's abduction had already covered CSI and everyone was worried. When Warrick took his evidence to Greg; he could tell the young lab tech was clearly shaken. He was knocking things over; re-doing tests he'd just done and that well known Greg Sanders humor appeared to lay dormant behind his stony demeanor.

"How you doin', Greg?" Warrick asked as she entered.

"Fine." He replied. "Just fine." He turned and took Warrick's evidence out of his hands before he even asked for it. "I'll get this done a-sap, ok?"

Warrick sighed. "Greg; we're all worried about Pheebs, ok?" he leveled with him. "But right now we need to stay focused. Finding her is the lab's number one priority."

Greg nodded while looking at the floor.

"Besides; Nick'll have your ass if you skimp on his girlfriend's case." Warrick realized.

That snapped Greg's head up. "Girlfriend?" he paused. "Nick and Pheebs hooked it up? Really?" A smile crept upon Greg's face.

Warrick nodded. "Yeah. We gotta find her fast so we can make fun."

"You got it." Greg nodded purposefully; pushing aside everything he was doing and getting started on Warrick's evidence.

xxx

"Nick?" Sara called from his doorway. The policeman had let her by after a quick call to Brass. She'd just come off a double shift and had heard the news about Phoebe. Having always been close to Nick; she'd come over to talk and eat pizza. She entered the house and found Nick sitting on the couch staring at the turned off TV. "Hey; I brought pizza and beer." She said unloading her gifts onto his countertop. Nick didn't respond; she hadn't really expected him too. Sara wandered over to the couch and sat beside him. "Any news?"

Nick shook his head. "Brass is threatening jobs at the prison; asking why they let Nigel out when he's so obviously insane." Nick spoke in a defeated tone; no emotion in his voice. "They said he broke out when they were moving him from one facility to another. That was two weeks ago. Two weeks, Sara, he's been out there. I could've warned Phoebe."

"How the hell were you supposed to know he'd break out?" Sara asked him; annoyed that he was blaming himself for something completely out of his control.

"I've had two years to tell her about Nigel; I didn't." Nick admitted to Sara. Phoebe had been on vacation in Australia when Nigel had attacked Nick two years before. She'd flown back the moment she'd heard but by the time she arrived the case was solved and Nigel was locked away. Nick wished above all else that he'd taken the time to explain to her what Nigel had done; what a dangerous guy he was.

"Phoebe is strong, Nick. You know that better then anyone." Sara told him. "She'll get through this."

Nick didn't respond. Then a few moments later; he spoke. "He went after her because of me."

"What?"

"He was stalking me." Nick turned and looked at Sara for the first time since she'd arrived. "He killed that girl for me. He thought we had a 'bond', he thought we were friends. He killed that psychic guy because he 'got in the way'. And now he has Phoebe…" Nick couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence. "If he thinks strangers 'got in the way' what the hell is he gonna think of my girlfriend?"

Nick turned away from Sara again. She reached out and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.

xxx

Brass, Warrick and Catherine all convened in Grissom's office later on that morning discussing the case. Grissom sat in his desk chair with his arms folded, trying to get his head around Nigel Crane.

"He stalked Nick before." Brass said. "So why go for Phoebe now?"

"He's enamored by Nick." Grissom answered. "Nick is like a God to him; he aspires to be just like him."

"So since Nick has Phoebe now Nigel wants Phoebe?" Catherine asked; not really believing it.

Grissom nodded once. "Perhaps."

"Nah; can't be. Hell; none of us knew those two were together until today." Warrick brought up. "How would this joker know?"

"Well; he likes to watch." Catherine reminded him. "And he knows how to do it without being spotted. Plus; he knows Nick's house. Maybe he went back there to see Nick and saw him with Phoebe."

"Crazy boy sees his Dream Date Nick with a woman; freaks out." Brass surmised.

"He's created a whole relationship between Nick and himself in his mind." Grissom said. "A world we're they are the closest of friends…Nigel may feel Phoebe stands to jeopardize that."

"Will he kill her?" Catherine asked the question she knew they were all thinking. And when it was answered with dead silence; she didn't take that as a positive sign.

"I don't think he will." Grissom finally answered. "Killing Phoebe would devastate Nick; Nigel must know that…otherwise he'd have killed her immediately."

"He just wants to take her outta the equation." Brass said; nodding along with Grissom's theory.

"Where do we even start looking?" Catherine asked; sounding more hopeless then she intended to.

"Warrick and I are waiting on the security video from Phoebe's apartment." Grissom spoke up. "We'll get Archie right on it."

Catherine nodded. Then a horrible thought of realization hit her. "What about her parents?"

"I called them." Brass spoke up. "They're coming in from Miami right now."

"How'd they react?" Catherine inquired.

Brass shrugged. "Just like us." He muttered.

xxx

When she woke up, Phoebe knew she'd been drugged. Her inner elbow of her left arm stung like when she got her flu shot and her whole body was lethargic. Her eyes were still covered and her hands bound. Her ears were her only unshackled sense so she used them as best she could. She couldn't tell the time of day; the cover over her eyes was too thick, but she was still cold; more truth to her theory she was in a basement. She didn't think the man who called himself 'Nick' was still there, although he may have been sleeping. She made some obvious movements; so if he was watching her he could see she was awake. But his creepy voice didn't enter Phoebe's eardrum. The uncomfortable thought popped into her head that he might just be sitting there; watching her. Or, if he was the same guy who'd been stalking Nick, that he had cameras on her. She realized the latter was more likely.

Phoebe had remembered a case from a couple of years before where Nick had been stalked. She was now acting under the assumption that this was the same man. She'd been in Australia on vacation at the time and when she'd returned it was all over; the guy was in prison and Nick was fine. But everything about this man reminded him of what little Phoebe knew about the man who stalked Nick. He acted like he and Nick knew each other, he was worried someone would get in the way of them being friends, he was creepy; it all fit. From memory Phoebe knew his name was Nigel something; but she wasn't confident in letting this on her captor. She was using all her training to stay alive. She kept quiet, she didn't struggle and she stayed calm. Although staying calm was proving almost impossible. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest she wondered if Nigel, had he been there, could hear it.

Phoebe shuffled closer to the pole she was bound too and curled up into some form of ball to try and get some sleep. She managed to get her hands close to her face, but she didn't take off her blindfold. Her mind showed her images of Nigel leering at her when she removed the cloth or a bomb going off or something. She just kept still and kept quiet. She wanted to survive.

xxx

Sara left Nick's at sunrise to go home and get some sleep. Nick found himself wandering aimlessly around his apartment. Finley had taken refuge on his bed. It took him a few moments to realize the cat was sleeping on Phoebe's pillow. She insisted bringing one of her own to Nick's because she liked to cuddle it when she was sleeping. No matter how many jokes Nick made about the fact that she was more then welcome to cuddle him, she didn't want to give it up. She left it there if she was staying for a few days at a time. Nick felt the sudden urge to shove the cat off the pillow; to leave things as they were for when Phoebe came back. But he suppressed that feeling and left the animal alone. After all, Finley was missing Phoebe, too.

When there was a knock at Nick's door; he wondered who the hell would show up at six am. He assumed the police officers were changing over and just letting him know. He opened his front door. He was wrong. Phoebe's mother, Penny, and step-father, Jack, were standing on his doorstep.

Penny looked at Nick with tear-filled eyes. "Where the hell's my daughter?"