13- "Ayudeme"

It took a very large pothole to awaken Ari, still drugged, but she did and struggled to stay conscious. They took her purse. She felt around blindly.

In the pitch blackness, it was hard to notice if she had blacked out or not, but she was sure she did at least twice. Finally, she summoned all her courage to feel her sock.

Her small cell phone was still there! They didn't think to check her socks.

She struggled to scrunch up so she could reach her sock (no easy task for a pregnant woman) and thought of only one thing: Greg.

She grabbed the phone and turned it on and dialed Greg's number, praying he was home.

Greg snorted as he awoke, looking at the clock. It had been fifteen minutes since he tried to get to sleep and he grabbed the source of the noise: his cell phone.

"Yeah?" Greg asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Greg...?" It was Ari, but she sounded weird.

"Ari?" Greg asked, sitting up, immediately noticing something was wrong.

"Greg, I've been kidnapped. I don't know who, or why, but it is giving me a bad feeling. Then again, no one would ever have a good feeling about this-" Greg had never heard her babble like this before, "But I am in a trunk of a car and my battery's going to run out any second."

By this time, Greg was out of the bed and already dressed, wearing mismatched socks and his shirt was inside out.

"Stay calm, Ari, I will..."

"Greg, I don't know where they are taking me."

"Tell me what you can remember..."

"Well, I was in my parking lot, outside of my car, and had put my cell phone in my sock because I had no pockets. Then, a noise behind me... chloroform... he said, 'remember me?'"

She started to fade away.

"Oh God, Greg, it's the battery. They stopped the car. Greg, I see lights. I still must be near the strip. Oh God, Greg, please find me, I-"

The line fell dead.

"... You hadn't of gotten all excited, none of this could have happened. You forgot to check her stupid ties and she escaped."

"She was drugged, though. It's not like she remembers any of this. There was no way she could have found out-"

"Yeah, except the little mistake she is carrying around."

"Just shut up. Shut up."

Ari had began to awaken, and could feel her hands were bound. The putrid smell of copper burned her nostrils. Blood. It was the smell of blood.

She slowly opened her eyes. She was on a bed, her hands were tied above her head. The room was dark, but she could see that there was no telephone or window. She must be underground.

She could see two people in the corner. A tall man and a woman. They were the sources of the voices.

"Honey, she's awake." The man spun around and spotted Ari on the bed.

He walked over to her, and she could finally see his face. It was at that moment she began to recognize him... like she had seen him before.

"Hello, my dear... my sweet, innocent child..."

He stroked her hair, and then placed a hand on her stomach.

"How are you treating our baby?"

Greg arrived at the scene, which was already surrounded by crime scene tape. Greg showedhis badge and was allowed in.

Catherine was already there, and saw Greg and ran over.

"Greg, you can't be here, and you know you can't. I am so sorry about your wife and your child, but you can't be here."

Greg was being pulled back by Warrick and Nick, fighting the entire time.

Everyone was there. How they got there before him Greg didn't know, and at that moment didn't really care.

"You have to find her! She called me! She needs help! Why is everyone just sitting here?"

He fell on the ground, and everyone came around to comfort him. He sat with his back against a tree and his knees up. "Greg, we are going to find her, Greg..." "Don't worry Greg, we won't rest until we get her back..." "Greg, please understand us when we say..." "Greg..."

Everyone's comforts began to blend together as Greg began to shudder with grief. A trauma counselor had replaced the CSI's positions around him and his words brought no comfort.

"You are probably wondering how it could be my child if you have never seen me before."

"No." Ari said, her voice strong, unwavering, as she looked at him straight in the eyes.

"You are just as strong as you were last time. But this time I refuse to be careless just because you are so much different than the other girls I bring down here."

"Other girls..."

"Oh, yes. You don't think all of this blood could come from one woman, do you? You're not stupid, and I know this. How you escaped last time is anyone's guess, not that you remember."

"Are you going to kill me?" Ari asked, trying not to sound scared, but the fear she had for her child seeped into her voice.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Usually, I would say no. You see that tackle box over there? It has enough medical drugs to make you forget your own name. I am God in this room, can't you see? The power I have ruled over every single girl in here. The power not only to take advantage, but to wipe this from existence, to allow time to forget me, and what happens in this room. Not even memory or time can hold me back. I am your last God."

He leaned into her, whispering into her ear, "You have no idea how perfect this is. To rape a woman, then send her home and the next day, she doesn't remember anything? Deep inside, they just think they blacked out; blaming themselves, not ever truly knowing what went on inside their own bodies. They never know. I can cheat time."

"The only problem is that there was more than one thing that escaped last time you were in this room. And that thing can destroy me. Not even in this room can DNA lie. And our child is the only piece of evidence linking me to you."

Every time he would call the child "theirs" would anger her, but she tried to remain calm.

"Sleep tight, my love," He said, and she couldn't fight the syringe, or what he injected inside her...

Everything else happened in a blur. Three days had passed, and they had absolutely no leads. Then they were telling him they had to close the case, how they couldn't do anything else but pray they would find her body... they told him all the statistics... the chances of her being alive after 24 hours dramatically decreased...

"Some people are calling it the second Laci Peterson Case, yet another pregnant woman abducted near her home... Arianna Whitacre is an 18 year old student of Desert Mesa University, currently married, but the identity of her husband has been kept secret from the public for reasons unknown. She went missing at approximately 9:30 am near her home. Investigators have had no leads, and our hearts go out to her family and husband. This is Carrie Harding, for KYLV, Channel 14."

"... Mr. Sanders, we have to close the case. It's been three days, and we have no leads. Mr. Sanders...?"

The only thing Greg heard was Ari's last words to him:

"Find me, Greg. Please find me..."

"In this room, I can control time..."

Ari had no idea how long she had been in that room. All she knew was that it had been over a day. She was never untied, but left alone, and she started to fear the lack of hygiene was causing her skin to rash and break open and bleed. Her blood blended with all the other blood on the sheets.

The door to the room opened, and instead of seeing the vaguely familiar man, she finally saw the face of the woman, and it was at that moment where she remembered where she had seen the man before. She had seen them on TV.

The man was Kyle Moreno, owner of Hotel Vargus, a new addition to the Strip. She knew this because his wife was Josephine Red-Moreno, TV actress.

She didn't say a word as Josephine entered the room and shut the door behind her and sat in a chair across the room.

"Don't bother to get your hopes up, Arianna. I don't mind what my husband does to you."

So much for that idea.

"You don't mind that he gets girls pregnant?"

She struck a chord right away. After completing a year on a psychology major she could easily tell that she yanked a chain bringing up the baby.

"... that baby is supposed to be mine."

"Well, we both know that since it seems to be hanging around me, that its not."

Josephine jerked back, trying to not allow the young woman to sway her, but Ari was smart. And persistent. She knew that if she could not attack physically, then she must attack another way.

"Since we both know Kyle is very fertile," the word Kyle angered Josephine as well, "I wonder where all the other little Morenos are."

She didn't say anything.

"... no pitter-patter of little feet for you, huh? Bummer. I heard being a mother can really fulfill your life. And I would know, holding little Kyle Jr."

That did it. Josephine walked over and slapped Ari right across the face.

"I don't care what you say. I am going to have a child. I will."

"You know, this could make you Kyle Jr.'s step mother. Is that weird for you?"

Josephine twitched, "You aren't going to have this baby."

"Really now? I think I am, because your husband has had many chances to kill me, but I think he won't."

"Why would you say that?"

"... because I can give him a child. And you can't."

Score another point for Ari. Josephine backed against the wall as if Ari was advancing towards her with a knife.

"... but I can."

"C'mon, Josephine. Let's face it. You're very, very barren."

"Don't say that."

"Can't handle the truth, huh? I was with Kyle once and look at me eight months later!"

"SHUT UP!" Josephine screamed, slapping her again.

"... imagine this. I am the only person here who is holding Kyle's first child. I highly doubt you could do anything about that. Kyle needs me. I don't think he really needs you. What can you do for him, you being so sterile?"

Ari began to wonder if she was pushing too far, too fast, but she knew she had to get out of here, more for her baby's sake.

That was when she saw the knife.

Oh shit. Ari thought to herself.

"...He needs me." Ari repeated.

That did it. Josephine totally lost control, but instead of turning the knife on Ari, as Ari was expecting, she turned the knife on herself, and slit her wrists.

"Josephine, what are you doing? You and me, we can get out of here."

"You can't escape here. You can't."

"... but I did." Ari said, starting to piece together the forgotten night of the accident.

"Yes... you did. You don't know what it's like... he sees everything... and picks women. He thinks he should punish them... then he brings them down here... he thinks he's God..."

Her blood fell onto the bed.

"... so many girls... all of them were the same..." Her voice ran cold, like ice, "... until you."

"I was there... that night. The night he saw you. The night he drew you away from the crowds and brought you down here. It was that night I started doubting him, you know... he didn't even tie your bonds well... he was so excited... seeing a young virgin."

Ari snapped her head around in surprise, but Josephine didn't notice.

"He said you were a sacrifice. When he was through with you, we left for just two seconds... yet there was something about you... we came back and you were gone... he watched you leave, in the monitors... he knew you wouldn't get far."

"Then, we saw you a month ago, walking in once again, so innocent, and pregnant. That got our attention, I can tell you. That is when we realized that you really didn't remember! Just walking back into your own private hell, so clueless. You played an arcade game with some man, and just left... that's when he got this idea... and who was I to stop him?"

She had slit herself deep. The blood was practically pouring out like a low pressure faucet.

"You were right, you know. He doesn't need me. He needs you."

Ari couldn't take that back, but suddenly, in an abrupt act of rage, Josephine struggled to her feet and said, "That bastard!"

Before Ari could stop her, her eyes clouded over and in her last bit of strength, she stabbed Ari's protruding belly. "You destroyed me, Kyle. I am going to destroy you."

"AAHH!" Ari screamed in pain, but Josephine was already dead or close to it. She was motionless, sprawled out on the floor.

Ari groaned in pain, the knife still sticking out of her stomach.

Unexpectedly, the ropes holding Ari's hands gave way, ripping with a gruesome sound. It Ari a second to realize it, her eyes finally clearing from the pain.

Fearing for her baby, she immediately ripped the knife out and saw something shocking: the door was slightly ajar. Josephine didn't close it.

Groping for something to help her up, she fell off the bed and forced herself, through the intense pain, over to the door. She was underground, probably, seeing the hallways, in the Hotel Vargus. She managed to come to her feet, bleeding profusely, and walk around, frequently leaving her bloodied handprints on the wall.

Go, go for your baby. Go find help.

Find help.

"Find me... Greg... Please find me..."

She fell in the middle of the hall, and knew she couldn't get up. Her baby was dead; she knew it, because she could actually see the baby. She was standing at the end of the hallway, looking at her.

Not my baby. Please God, not my baby.

"Don't leave me..." She croaked, her eyes falling.

"Where I am?" The voice shocked her, sent electricity up her spine. The girl walked over. She couldn't have been over 8 years old.

This wasn't her baby. This was a lost child! A real child.

"Honey, please, find me some help. Call 911. Please, honey. Can you call 911?"

Her eyes were impossibly big and brown, filled with fear. She stared.

"Okay? Please call 911... they can find your mommy, too. Just find a phone and tell them I need help."

It was at that moment that Ari realized the child didn't understand her. And the broken English she spoke, along with her accent... she couldn't understand English.

The child was scared of the blood, forming a pool around Ari, and forgot the broken English.

"¿Dondé está mi mamá?" The child asked in horror, speaking impossibly fast Spanish.

"Yo no sé," Ari answered quickly, "Pero, por favor, ayúdeme."

Finally, the scared child understood.

"Ayúdeme..." she hoped she was saying what she thought she was. The girl turned and ran down the hall, pigtails streaming in the wind.

Her last thought wasn't deep, or profound in any way, but as the darkness overcame her, all Arianna could think was: Thank God I took Spanish in school.

"I've failed at everything I have ever done, I mean, look at Bart!"
-Homer, "The Simpson's"