Chapter Rating: R
Chapter Title: I'm Ok – Inspired by a Christina Aguilera song
Author's Note: Hmm...I'll end it either this chapter or next one...and at the end, I'll ask if I should do a sequel...DON'T answer me until then, though. Muchos gracias to Dawn for the review.
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Marah turned around, infuriated. "Why the hell did you guys follow me? What if the one way we didn't go is where they are! You guys!" she cried. "Oh...my God..." she hugged Harmony. "I'm sorry...I didn't wanna yell at you...I'm so sorry...I just..."
"It's ok...I understand totally..." she hugged Marah back. "You're going through emotional hell right now...it's ok, Marah..."
"GUYS! GUYS, there you are!" Bonnie's voice came around the corner. "We found Stenbeck and Crane...Stenbeck sent me back to get Marah...and Crane has everyone else hostage now, too...with the exception of Brass and O'Reilly, who are holding Stenbeck at gunpoint..." she gasped for breath.
"What? How did he manage that?" Harmony asked, completely surprised.
Bonnie took a deep breath and started to explain. "Stenbeck threatened to have both Paul and Greg killed, wherever they were, unless they followed him. So, Nick, Grissom, Sara and Neleh did. They told me not to come, and then Brass and O'Reilly sent me here after Stenbeck refused to talk for them..." she told them.
"Did you find Paul...or Greg? Where are they?" Marah jumped up. "Oh my God!" she looked at Harmony and Warrick. "Keep looking around here, please? Just in case Paul is back here...it's not like criminals to stick right by their hostages, is it? Greg is with him? Oh my God, they're together, I'm so relieved..." she started to ramble. "What if one of them is hurt?" she panicked, then looked at Harmony and Warrick, and seeing that they were waiting for a turn to speak, she shut up.
"We'll keep looking..." Warrick nodded. "Go on..."
Marah took of in a steady run with Bonnie. "Did they say anything about Greg? Or Paul?" she asked, hopeful. "Like, if they were hurt or something?"
"No, not yet...they refuse to talk unless you're there..." Bonnie explained, leading Marah to where they were. "Right around this corner..." she told Marah, standing a step or two behind her.
Marah stopped running, and took a deep breath before she turned the corner. She put her hand on her gun, in case she had to pull it at a moment's notice. "Here goes nothing..." she told herself, as she walked around the corner. "You wanted me, James?" Marah choked back fear.
"Oh, how you've grown, my darling daughter...you look just like your beautiful mother..." James pretended to be caring. "Yes, I wanted to see you...I take it you've heard about your brother? Someone has a big mouth..." he looked at Bonnie. "After I put the gag order on you..."
"What, you expected her to keep quiet? No, not likely, James...where is Paul? And where is Greg?" Marah demanded, eyes narrowed, and standing her ground firmly, in spite of the fear coursing through her body.
"Imperative, aren't we, my darling daughter? Maybe I'll tell you, maybe I won't!" James taunted.
Bonnie opened her mouth to speak, but Marah hushed her. "Don't say anything to him, Bonnie...you'll give him the satisfaction of having bothered you..." Marah explained with a growl in her voice, her free fist clenching.
"It's sweet, Rah-rah...the way you defend your big brother like this?" James poked at Marah, trying to rile her even more. "But, I'm not saying anything with these two officers around...they and Bonnie have to go find Harmony and Warrick..."
Sergeant O'Reilly refused. "No! We're not leaving Detective Ryan here with you..."
"Detective Stenbeck, you mean?" James asked, grinning maniacally. "She is my daughter, you know? Oh, that's right, my precious Barbara had you and Paul drop the Stenbeck from your name, like I was some kind of vermin or something..."
Marah snarled. "That would be the most accurate description I've heard Barbara give..." She and Paul never called Barbara mom, or James dad.
"You're funny, Rah-rah..." James laughed, approaching her slowly. "Rid us of these charming officers, and I'll take you to your brother and friends..."
Marah's eyes pleaded with Brass, knowing somehow that he was easier to convince than O'Reilly. "I can handle him, Brass...please, let me do this?"
Brass glanced at O'Reilly and nodded. "Ok..." he looked back at Marah, then signaled for Bonnie to follow them. "Come on, Miss McKechnie...we're going to go find Detectives Brown and Munson..."
O'Reilly glanced from Brass to Marah. "If you need anything, scream as loud as you can, ok?"
Marah nodded in understanding, and watched her last witnesses walk away. She had just gone from scared, to terrified to death. She was alone with James, and he could do anything to her, without anyone to witness it. "Ok, James...where are Paul and Greg, and everyone else?" she asked, prepared to pull her gun back out at any moment.
James put his hand on Marah's shoulder, and started to lead her somewhere deeper into the sewer. "Follow me...I'll take you to them..." he flashed the infamous Stenbeck grin.
Marah was disbelieving, but followed in case for once, he was telling the truth. James rambled on and on about father daughter bonding time, and how they needed more of it, while Marah went into another world. What if Paul is hurt? What if Greg is hurt? What if they're both hurt? What am I going to do? I should have at least compromised to have someone come with me...I am so scared. She looked over her shoulder, and her eyes widened, then narrowed. Warrick and Harmony were following her, closely followed by Brass, O'Reilly and Bonnie. She mouthed the words, "What are you doing?" but hearing James ask a question, immediately looked back at him.
"Right dear?" he asked, grinning.
"I'm sorry, I missed that last part, dad..." she painfully spat out the word dad, because calling James dad was like a punishment to her.
James looked a little irritated. "We need to spend more time together, I said...I hadn't seen you since you were eleven, and it was starting to bother me."
"Oh...uh, yeah..." Marah played along. "Definitely...how did you and Nigel meet up, anyway?" she acted like she was interested, to get information.
"You think I'm going to give a CSI that information? I'm not that stupid, darling..." James gave Marah an off glance, and shook his head.
~~
Greg was very hoarse. "DO YOU THINK THEY'RE STILL LOOKING?" he sounded like he was getting laryngitis. "IT'S BEEN AWHILE...WHAT IF LARRY AND FRANCES GOT THEM..." he stopped.
"NO WAY...THEY'RE TOO CLEVER...AND MY SISTER IS TOO QUICK FOR HIM...THEY'RE STILL LOOKING," Paul yelled a little softer, because he was starting to get a scratchy voice.
"I have a plan..." Greg stopped yelling for a second, and sounded like he was whispering. "Are you willing to listen?"
Paul nodded, trying not to strain his voice anymore.
"How about we save our voices for if we hear footsteps again, and we talk in normal voices now?" Greg suggested.
"Ok..." Paul nodded, then brought up the question that was on everyone's minds. "How do you feel about my sister?" he asked, with a grin, knowing the answer.
Greg scoffed, and mouthed the words, "Can't talk...sore throat..."
Paul rolled his eyes, and leaned against the wall. "Do you think...I mean, of the little bit you saw," he began. "That Bonnie feels about me the way I do about her?"
Greg nodded. "Definitely...that girl is crazy about you. When we found out that you were missing, she was hysterical with tears..." he sighed, remembering the look on Marah's face. "So was Marah...I should've never left the lab that night..."
"You know what? Don't blame yourself, because I think if I had listened to Marah and come back the first time she told me something about a James dream, or a freaky phone call...all of this could have been avoided," Paul let his head hang, and followed Greg's sigh.
"I don't think we should blame anyone, aside from the obvious...which is James. We all know Marah is gonna blame herself, but we have to conspire to stop her from that, ok? Bonnie, too..." Greg nodded.
"Definitely..." Paul nodded in agreement.
Greg looked inquisitively at Paul, and then asked, "What are your plans for after this whole ordeal is over with? Are you going back to Oakdale?" he leaned against the wall, the side effects of almost a week without sleep starting to kick in.
Paul shrugged. "I mean, Oakdale holds a lot of good memories, but at the same time, some of them aren't so good...I'd love to stay out here, to be closer to Marah and all. I think that'd be great...but affording a place would be a problem."
Greg nodded slowly in understanding, then leaned his head against the wall, thinking. That's a great idea...was the last thing to go through his mind before he got his first sleep in six days, which was very brief. The second his eyes closed, he was awakened rudely by the slamming of a door, and voices. "What the hell is going on in here...whoa..." he looked around, seeing Grissom, Sara, Nick and Neleh. "Hey, everyone..." he looked from them to Paul, whose face held pretty much the same look his did.
Paul looked around. "Let's see if I remember this properly...I know Leh...Grissom, Sara and Nick?" he asked, glancing from person to person.
Nick nodded. "That would be us..." he felt strangely calm, regardless of the fact that Neleh had the death grip on his arm.
Neleh looked up at him. "How can you be so calm? What's going on? What am I missing?" she asked, filled with confusion.
"That's a simple question..." Grissom went into Professor mode, and answered Neleh. "Look at how calm Greg and Paul are. If they're this calm, and they've been here as long as they have, we'll be fine."
Sara rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Professor Grissom..." she laughed. "I wonder where Warrick, Harmony, Marah and Bonnie are..." she stood near the door, waiting.
~~
Bruises fade, father but the pain remains the same
And I still remember how you kept me so afraid
**Strength is my brother for the love he gave**
Every morning that I wake, I look back at yesterday
And I'm ok
**In the actual song, the line is 'strength is my mother, for all the love she gave' but I changed it to follow the situation**