~~ Chapter Seven: On My Own ~~
(For those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to see Les Miserables, that song is from that play. Ooh, and I'm bringing Bobby in this chapter. BOBBY ROCKS MY WORLD! LOL!)

~~

Lizzie smiled, as she left the lab. The only six people left in there were the usual last four people to leave: Grissom, Sara, Greg and Cecilia, plus Nick and Emma. Lizzie, Archie, Emma, Nick and Bobby Dawson (the ballistics technician) always left in a group of three, right before those four did. Tonight, though, it was just her and Bobby. Nick and Emma decided to stay a little later, to hang out with Greg and Cecilia until they got results back from some case they were working on together. Bobby was like a brother to Lizzie. They always talked, and he was always giving her advice. She had just told him about how she and Archie were going to hang out at his house tomorrow, rather than go to the movies, and Bobby just shook his head and laughed. "Looks like he couldn't wait until tomorrow to see you…" Bobby pointed to Archie's car. "That kid is crazy about you, you know that, right?" he asked, as he turned to head to his car.

"No, wait…Bobby, if Archie came back to see me, why…something doesn't feel right," Lizzie approached Archie's car. "This car hasn't moved since lunch break…" she shook her head. "Something is definitely wrong here, Bobby," she looked around, trying to find some sign of Archie's whereabouts.

"What do you think happened?" Bobby asked, shaking his head at the shakiness of his colleague. Then it struck him. He remembered the news report. "Lizzie, we need to go tell Grissom. You can look at the security camera tapes. If it happened in the parking lot…"

Lizzie didn't wait for another word, and rushed back into the crime lab. "GRISS!" she yelled, knowing that the only remaining people there wouldn't get mad if she yelled. "GRISS! COME HERE!"

Bobby put his hand on Lizzie's shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Lizzie, you need to go to his office…" he told her, starting to worry.

Nick, Emma, Greg and Cecilia all came rushing out of the DNA lab, while Sara and Grissom came running from Grissom's office. "Lizzie? What's wrong?" Emma asked, sensing the trouble in the atmosphere.

Lizzie could barely breathe, let alone speak. She looked at Bobby, hoping he could tell them what had just gone down. Bobby nodded, and looked at all the anxious faces, awaiting his explanation. "Lizzie thinks Archie was kidnapped," he nodded, then saying, "And so do I."

Emma, Cecilia and Sara gasped, and all rushed to hug Lizzie, who they all knew was probably torn up inside. Nick, Greg, Grissom and Bobby all exchanged looks of shock. "So, what do we do?" Greg asked, wanting to be as involved as he could.

"Well, first we need to find out if it's true…do any of you know where Archie lives?" Grissom asked, glancing at all the younger people in the room.

Greg stepped up to the plate. It was admirable how Greg was a squeamish kid at the sight of anything too weird, but when it came to his friends, he was willing to do anything, even go to a potential crime scene. "Yeah, he and I hang out all the time. I'll bring Cecy to check his place out," he suggested.

Lizzie looked at Greg and Cecilia, and flashed them a smile, as though to thank them. "What are the rest of us going to do?" she asked, looking back to Grissom.

"Well, Emma and Nick can check out the front parking lot, around Archie's car and everything, and Sara and I'll look around close to the building…" Grissom looked to Sara, to see if this worked for her.

Sara nodded. "We'll find him, Lizzie, no matter where he is…" she reassured her friend, who was calming down slightly.

"Thanks, Sara…" Lizzie had a small smile on her face. "I'll go look at the security cameras. Bobby, you can go home if you want to…" she told him, knowing that was what he originally had planned.

"No, it's ok…I'll stay here with you, Lizzie. You don't want to be alone right now, do you?" Bobby asked Lizzie, hanging his coat back up on the coat rack, and giving Lizzie a comforting hug.

Bobby knew Lizzie so well. She was thankful for that, too. "No, I don't. Thanks…" she hugged Bobby back, and turned to head to the A/V lab.

~~

Greg looked at Cecilia, who was knocking on Archie's door. "Arch, you in there?" she asked. "Archie! If you're in there, and not decent, cover up! Greg and I are coming in!" she reached up, and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair.

"Cecilia! You're breaking and entering!" Greg yelled. "I swear…we better not tell Grissom about that…" he kissed Cecilia, as she stood up straight. "You'd get in so much trouble, it wouldn't even be funny!"

Cecilia accomplished her goal, and opened the door a crack. "Archie?" she called, entering the house. "Ok, either Archie hasn't been home, or he's a neat freak…" she looked around, noticing that everything in the one room apartment was perfectly clean. "My guess is he hasn't been home…" she sighed. "Poor Lizzie. She's probably freaking out right now…" Cecilia looked at Greg.

Greg was grinning at a picture that was sitting on Archie's coffee table. "Look," he held it up to Cecilia. "You remember this?"

Cecilia immediately laughed. Greg was holding up a picture that had been taken at Sara's Halloween party. Cecilia was dressed as Britney á la 'Baby One More Time,' Greg was dressed as a pimp, Lizzie was dressed a fairy, and Archie was dressed as a really realistic looking vampire. Cecilia and Greg were having a 'push fight,' and Lizzie was jumping onto Archie's back. "Lizzie kept calling me your ho all night…she said I had the outfit right…and wasn't that the night that Archie confessed to liking Lizzie?"

"Yes! It was! That was hysterical!" Greg put the picture back on the table. "I still have my copy of that picture…it's in my picture box…" he laughed. "I should get that framed."

"Get a copy, too…for me. Now, Archie's not here, and I feel intrusive, so let's go…" Cecilia put her arm around Greg's back, and sighed. "I wonder where he is…"

"Kinda creepy to think, isn't it?" Greg put his arm around Cecilia's shoulders, and led her to his car. "That could have been any one of us…this job may have its perks, but it definitely has some serious downs…"

"Yeah, and imagine what's going on through Lizzie's head right now?" Cecilia opened the front door to the building. "She must be terrified…"

"We'll just have to be there for her double time, although I'm sure we'd already planned to…" he kissed Cecilia on the cheek. "We'll work extra long hours with her, and make sure she doesn't feel alone…"

"You're so considerate, baby!" Cecilia lay her head on Greg's shoulder. "Bobby is gonna stay at the lab with her tonight…" she told him. "But, I'm sure she could use a little more company."

"I bet you anything it's going to be a Crime Lab slumber party…" Greg opened the passenger side door for Cecilia. "Only, no one will get any sleep."

"So, a Crime Lab 'up all night' party?" Cecilia asked, just before Greg closed the door, and looked out the window to see him nod his head 'yes.'

~~

Sara watched Nick and Emma approach them, after completely failing to find anything around Archie's car. "I don't think they were anywhere near his car…" Emma explained, approaching Sara, who was kneeling over a cloth on the ground. "What's that?" she asked.

"It's a handkerchief," she explained to Emma, who handed Sara the unused pair of rubber gloves in her hand. "I'm wondering what this would be doing here…" she put it in a bag, and handed it to Emma. "Can you give this to Greg or Cecilia when they get back, so they can bring it to the lab and test it?"

Emma nodded. "Definitely," She looked at Nick, who was helping Grissom look around a bush. "I'll be right back, Sar…it looks like Nick and Griss found something…" she turned and headed toward Nick.

"Wait for me…that was all I found here…" Sara stood up, and followed Emma. "Plus, it looks a lot more eventful over there," she walked with Emma, over to see their men. After a couple seconds worth of silence, she looked at Emma and said, "Imagine with poor Lizzie is going through right now?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders, and said, "I don't really have to imagine…I kind of know. Remember the whole Nigel Crane incident?" she asked, referring to the time when Nick was pushed out of a second story window, by a stalker named Nigel Crane.

"How could I have forgotten?" Sara asked, half-smiling. "That was horrid on you, wasn't it?" she shook her head. "Kind of like the whole Syd Goggle thing…when Catherine told me what happened, I nearly had a heart attack!" she remembered the time that Grissom was almost killed by a murder suspect, Syd Goggle. "God, sometimes I wonder if this job is even worth it, at the end of the day!"

"Yeah, it is…" Emma replied to Sara's gripe. "It may be dangerous, but when you think of it, we bring a lot of justice. I mean, sure, we've all had some pretty creepy times, but I know that none of us would quit even if we wanted to," she observed out loud, as they came up behind Nick and Grissom.

Sara smiled at Emma. For one of the youngest people at the lab, she was definitely one of the smartest. "That's true, Em…"

Emma turned her attention from Sara to Nick and Grissom. "What did you guys find?" she asked, putting her hand on Nick's shoulder. "Anything good?"

"Well, Griss found something…apparently someone cut themselves on their way out of this bush…" Nick pointed to a blood drop on the ground. "It could be fresh, but at the same time, it could be old…"

"Swab it…I'll bring it to Greg along with this…" Emma held up the handkerchief, just as Greg and Cecilia pulled into the parking lot.

~~

Lizzie stared at the computer screen, and tried to figure out who it was that kidnapped Archie. "Ok…there's Archie…" she pointed at the only familiar looking face. "Now…let me see…"

"Hey, coffee man to the rescue!" Bobby entered the room, carrying two cups of coffee. "Figured you'd need a little wake-me-up…" he told her, as he set a cup of coffee beside her, and sat down.

"Ah, Bobby, you're a saint…" she exclaimed, as she immediately took a drink. "Tell me…am I overlooking something obvious here?" she asked, as she stared at the computer screen.

"Yes…" Bobby nodded. "Remember the two people who escaped from prison?" he asked, pointing to the TV in the corner of the room, as the report came on.

"Oh my God…" Lizzie covered her mouth, and almost choked on her coffee. "Tammy and Darin! How could I have forgotten?" she shouted, as she furiously pounded the table.

"There's so much going on right now, Lizzie, it probably just slipped your mind…it's ok," Bobby reassured her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Ok…let me enhance the pixels here…" she typed in a couple words, clicked a couple buttons, and right away, the picture on the screen was a lot clearer. "And let me zoom in right here…"

"That's her!" Bobby exclaimed. "That's Tammy Felton!" he looked at the computer screen, and then to the TV screen. "And that's…"

"Darin Hanson!" Lizzie's heart could have pretty much stopped. "Oh my God, what did they do to him?" She jumped up, and ran outside to meet up with everyone else. "Guys!" she shouted, as she burst through the door. "We saw who got Archie!" she gasped for breath.

"Who?" Emma asked, looking from Lizzie to Bobby, who had just exited the lab. "Lizzie said you found out who has Archie?" she decided to let Bobby explain, figuring he could probably do a better job at this point in time.

"Yeah, we were looking at the security tapes…and we saw Darin Hanson and Tammy Felton attacking Archie," Bobby explained to everyone.

They had found out who had kidnapped Archie, when it had happened, what they had used and how they had done it, and they already knew why it had happened. Now all they needed to know was where he was…

~~

On my own, pretending he's beside me.
All alone, I walk with him till morning.
Without him I feel his arms around me.
And when I loose my way,
I close my eyes and he has found me
In the rain the pavement shines like silver.
All the lights are misty in the river.
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight,
And all I see is him and me, forever and forever.
And I know, it's only in my mind,
That I'm talking to myself and not to him.
And although I know that he is blind,
Still I say there's a way for us.