Author's Note: I struggled with this chapter. I'm not entirely happy with it, but here it is.
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine unfortunately.
It's sad, isn't it, doc?
Guys like us. Couple of middle-aged men who've allowed their work to consume their lives.
The only time we ever touch other people is when we're wearing our latex gloves.
We wake up one day and realize that for fifty years we haven't really lived at all.
But then, all of a sudden… we get a second chance.
Somebody young and beautiful shows up. Somebody … we could care about.
She offers us a new life with her… but we have a big decision to make, right?
Because we have to risk everything we've worked for in order to have her.
I couldn't do it …but you did.
You risked it all… and she showed you a wonderful life, didn't she?
But then she took it away and gave it to somebody else, …and you were lost.
So you took her life. You killed them both, and now you have nothing.
His last conversation with Dr. Vincent Lurie came crashing back into his mind like a freight train. It had taken him far longer than he would ever admit to get over the Debbie Marlin case. He and Sara never talked about it.
"So, I see you finally did it." Lurie's voice spoke. "She certainly is beautiful, isn't she?"
"If you lay a hand on her, I will kill you with my bare hands." Grissom spoke in a voice that he didn't recognize.
Catherine's hands flew to her mouth and she knew whoever was on the other end of the phone had Sara.
"It's amazing." Lurie continued on. "When I first saw her, I thought I had been given a second chance. My Debbie had come back to me."
"She's not Debbie!" Grissom growled.
"No, but she could be." Lurie simply replied.
"Let her go. Please." Grissom was pleading now.
"Oh no, no Dr. Grissom." Lurie tutted. "I'm afraid I can't do that."
Grissom could hear Lurie moving around and then he heard screaming in the background and he knew it was Sara, his Sara. He gripped his phone so tight that he feared it might crush in his hand.
"GIL!" He heard Sara scream his name.
"SARA!" Grissom yelled into the phone. He heard more yelling and then a groan of pain from Lurie.
"My, my. She is a feisty one." Lurie huffed. "Much more than Debbie was. I think I'll enjoy that."
"You better pray that I'm not the one who finds you." Grissom spoke slowly, his entire body vibrating with rage.
"Don't worry, Dr. Grissom. I'll take very good care of her." Lurie said and then the line went dead.
Grissom immediately redialed Sara's number but it went straight to voicemail and he knew Lurie had disabled the phone.
"No, no, no!" Grissom yelled as he kept trying to call Sara's phone back to no avail.
"Gil, who was that?" Catherine rushed to him with Brass at her side.
They both took in the broken look on Grissom's face. He just continued staring at the phone in his hand like it was his only life line.
"Grissom!" Brass yelled. "Who the hell was on the phone?"
"Lurie." Grissom's voice cracked.
"Lurie?" Brass repeated. "Vincent Lurie?"
"Yes." Grissom sounded hollow. "He has Sara."
"Wait a minute." Catherine spoke up. "Vincent Lurie…the doctor from the Debbie Marlin case?"
Grissom only nodded his head. All of his feelings and fears from that case came rushing back in full force and he was almost choked with the heaviness of it.
"What does he want, Gil?" Brass questioned. "Why does he have Sara?"
Brass took one look at his friend's face and he knew the answer to his own question. He remembered the Marlin case quite vividly. He remembered how much Sara resembled Debbie Marlin. He also remembered how they had to let Lurie walk.
"She was screaming." Grissom could hardly breathe. "She was screaming for me and I'm not there!"
"Grissom, we will find her." Catherine said slowly as she put her hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him down. She was afraid he was either going to hyperventilate or collapse.
"Griss, they're finished processing Sara's car." Warrick approached them with Nick. "Ecklie wants to head to your house. I told him we would meet him there."
"I'll drive." Catherine said as she led Grissom to his Denali with Warrick following.
Brass grabbed Nick and they headed to his car, following the SUV out of the parking lot.
"You okay, Nicky?" Brass asked the younger man.
"I should have never left her alone." Nick mumbled from the passengers seat.
"Nicky, you couldn't have known something like this would happen." Brass answered as he glanced over.
"I promised Griss I'd take care of her." Nick sniffed.
"We're gonna find her." Brass's voice was full of determination.
"What if we don't?" Nick rambled, nearly hysterical. "Grissom is like a ghost right now. If something happens to Sara, he's not gonna survive it. Especially now that she's pregnant!"
"Nicky!" Brass yelled. "Get it together! We can't let Grissom see any of us fall apart. He needs all of us right now. Sara and that baby needs all of us."
Catherine pulled the Denali into the driveway of Sara and Grissom's house. Grissom hadn't spoken a word the entire forty five minutes they had been driving. Warrick had spoken very little, relaying the evidence that Ecklie's team had found at the scene around Sara's Denali.
Once Catherine put the SUV in park, Grissom fumbled to get the door open before getting out and shuffling toward the front door. He handed Catherine his keys so she could unlock the door. Brass and Nick pulled in behind them and followed them into the house. They were greeted by Hank, his tail wagging as he followed Grissom to the couch. Grissom sat down and put his head in his hands. Hank took in the other humans in the room before running back to paw at the front door.
"She's not there, Hank." Grissom finally spoke.
Hank ran back to the couch and looked up at Grissom, turning his head to the side.
"Mom's not there, buddy." Grissom whispered, tears streaming down his face as he rubbed the dog's head.
The group stood in silence as they took in their leader and friend. Grissom was always the strongest one of their group, he always had all the answers and knew what to do. Now he was a broken shell of the man they all knew. They all looked at each other, silently conveying what none of them would say. If something happened to Sara, Gil Grissom would never be the same.