Chapter Rating: Strong PG13/R again
Chapter Title: Suddenly – Inspired by an Otown song...
Author's Note: I seriously think this is my best story yet...I'm truly proud of it, and hope you all like it too. That's all I have to say this chapter...LOL!
~~
Nick peered into the room, and signaled for Neleh to follow him in. "Hey Marah, hey Bonnie..." he waved to them, then whispered to Neleh, "I've never even seen Griss this somber..."
Neleh agreed. "Yeah...but he is Bonnie's boyfriend...and Marah's brother...and if I'd ever seen a brother/sister relationship closer, I'd have to be worried..." she whispered back.
"Oh, hey Nick, hey Leh..." Marah faked the slightest twinge of happiness, then wend back to her angry state. "What's up?" she asked.
"Hey guys..." Bonnie waved, then her jaw dropped. "Marah! I think I may have found James' hideout!"
Marah jumped up from her seat, and in a flash, she was at Bonnie's side. "Where?" she screeched, being suddenly joined by Nick and Neleh.
"James' style is dark, right?" Bonnie asked.
"Uh huh..." Marah and Neleh nodded, while Nick just listened.
"Well...where better than in an alleyway, I thought at first..." Bonnie shrugged. "But then...it hit me...where is darker than an alley?" she asked.
Marah gave Bonnie an off glance, asked, "Where?" and shrugged.
"The sewer!" Bonnie shouted.
"Bonnie! You're a genius!" Marah gasped, hugged Bonnie, then immediately went into serious mode. "Neleh...can you find me a map of the Vegas sewer system?" she asked.
"Sure thing..." Neleh stood up, and ran out of the room.
Bonnie looked at Marah. "Now what do we do?" she asked.
"We follow this lead..." Marah explained. "Nick...can you drive? I don't think either Bonnie or I are in the condition to drive...we'll go tell Grissom..."
"Sure thing..." Nick grabbed his keys out of his pocket. "Meet you out in back in about fifteen minutes, ok?" he dashed out of the room, to his car. "Man, I guess when your family is in trouble, it really brings out the CSI in you..."
Marah knocked on Grissom's door, and waited for any response.
"Come on in..." Grissom looked at Marah's expression, and saw that something big must have happened.
"Bonnie has a theory...and I was wondering if we could follow it..." Marah looked at Bonnie, signaling for her to tell Grissom her theory.
"What's the theory, Bonnie?" he asked, suddenly becoming interested, and setting his glasses on the table.
"Well...James is into deep, dark places and at first I thought maybe an alleyway, but then...I asked myself if there was anything deeper and darker than an alleyway, and immediately I came up with...the sewer!" she explained, knowing Grissom would think her theory was outlandish.
"Go ahead...but Bonnie has to stay here...how many of you are going?" Grissom asked, looking at the clearly offended look on Bonnie's face.
"Nick, Neleh and I...and, Griss' right, Bonnie...you should stay here..." Marah explained. "I'll call you with any info, ok?" she touched Bonnie's shoulder, and after seeing the look on her face, looked at Grissom, as if to say 'just let her come...'
"This is my theory, can I please go?" Bonnie begged. "I wanna see Paul when we get there...I don't want to have to wait..." she clapped her hands together, and pleaded to Grissom.
Grissom flashed Marah an annoyed look, but sighed. "Since it is your theory, I suppose you can go..." he picked his glasses back up, and stood up. "But I'm coming too...and Bonnie, as well as the rest of you...need a bulletproof vest. And, I'm also calling Brass and O'Reilly..." he took out his cell phone.
"Ok, Griss," Marah nodded to Grissom. "Remember, Bonnie...this is just a theory, so if it doesn't check out, don't be too upset...because it is a good theory..." she encouraged her friend, feeling happiness for the first time in hours.
"I know, thanks for reminding me, though..." Bonnie followed Marah and Grissom to suit up. "Is someone gonna go get Nick and Neleh?"
"We already figured it out..." Neleh explained, taking her bulletproof vest out of her locker. "We figured...working with psycho's? Yeah...definitely bulletproof vest time..." she rushed to the car.
After they changed, they all headed to the car, where Nick and Neleh were already waiting. Grissom ousted Nick from the driver's seat, which caused Nick to oust Neleh from the passenger's seat. "Cram into the back with Marah and Bonnie...you're tiny enough..." Nick laughed, watching Neleh pout.
~~
Greg awoke to a sharp pain in his head. "What the?" he asked, sitting up.
"Morning, sleeping beauty..." Paul watched Greg sit up, and laughed a little. "Nice to have some company of the...non-evil...kind."
"Paul? Whoa...where are we?" Greg asked, looking around. "And what is that smell?" he sniffed a little, smelling something that smelled like rotting eggs and excrement. "Are we in the..."
"Don't ask me...I have no idea..." Paul shrugged. "What happened to you, anyway?"
Greg looked curiously at Paul. "What do you mean?"
"Take your hand and place it on your forehead...then, look at it..." Paul instructed Greg.
Greg hesitantly obeyed. "Ow! What the? Oh...man!" he looked at his hand, and saw blood dripping from it. "Lovely...I remember what happened now. I came to an intersection, and my breaks were messed up...so I reached for the emergency break, and that was also broken..." he rolled his eyes. "So, I swerved, and when I got outta my car...I heard this freaky sounding voice..."
"That would be James...or his little lackey...Nigel Crane..." Paul sighed, then started to worry about Marah. "Was Marah in the car with you?"
"Whoa...wait a sec...did you say Nigel Crane?" Greg asked, starting to panic.
"Yeah, why?" Paul shrugged. "He seemed harmless..."
Greg laughed. "Yeah right! Nigel Crane? Harmless? Oh man...he stalked Nick...and tried to kill him!"
"Oh...uh oh..." Paul ran a hand over his hair. "Man...we're in trouble, aren't we?"
"Not necessarily...Bonnie and Marah were working so hard on this...we'll be outta here in no time..." Greg tried to be optimistic.
"Oh...ok..." Paul nodded. "Oh man...what's Marah gonna do when she finds out you're here, too?"
Greg started to worry, too. "Oh...jeez...just hope that she comes up with something before she has to call me..."
~~
Marah was staring out the window. "Shouldn't we have run into a sewage drain by now?" she asked, watching the side of the road. Her heart practically stopped, and the color drained from her face. "Oh...my God...Grissom..." she called Grissom's attention. "Stop the car! STOP THE CAR!" she screamed.
"What? What's wrong?" Grissom hit the breaks.
"What's wrong, Marah?" Bonnie put a hand on Marah's shoulder.
"That's...is that...it is...oh my God!" Marah shoved Bonnie's hand off her shoulder, jumped out of the car, her face white as a ghost, and rushed to a junked heap on the side of the road. "You guys...this is Greg's car!" she started shaking uncontrollably, then looked in the window. "And...he's not in it..." Tears filled her eyes, and she fell to a sitting position on the ground.
Bonnie gasped, and ran up to Marah. "Marah?" she touched her shoulder. "Are you ok?" she asked, knowing the answer.
Nick and Neleh joined Marah and Bonnie by the car, and helped Marah up. "Marah?" Neleh wrapped her arms around her friend, in a gentle hug.
"James will pay for this!" Marah automatically assumed that James had something to do with it, and looked into the woods. "He better not be hurt, or I swear it..."
Nick sighed. "I may as well stay here...and investigate the car..." he looked at Neleh. "You gonna stay with me?"
Neleh nodded. "You three continue to the sewer...we'll stay here..."
~~
Suddenly I'm standing at your door,
And the steps don't feel like they did before
The radio's playing loud, but it's not our song
Suddenly I'm all alone
(I skipped a part here...so sue me...)