Title: Answers She Deserved : Chapter One

Author: L.Lawrence

Category: GSR, AU

Spoilers: None

Rating: PG-13

Summary: In the midst of a series of kidnappings, Sara and Grissom must work together to overcome a gigantic obstacle in their past.

Author's Note: This is an AU fic—not everything will mirror what actually occurred in the shows. I'm taking a few liberties (okay, a lot). I've made both Sara and Grissom a tad older. Also, I don't have the greatest forensic knowledge, a lot of what I write about that's case- related will be something I've heard on TV or read about or just thought fit nicely into my plot. Much of it will be incorrect and just plain wrong. I'm sorry. Also, my summaries suck. I'm sorry for that too.

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She knew she should have made sure to check the gas level before leaving that last town. She should have stopped and filled up, she should have used that head her mother -- no, grandmother -- was always saying she had. If she had, she sure as Sam wouldn't be contemplating pulling over onto the side of the road and waiting for the inevitable state patrol trooper to drop by and help her out. She could keep going and see how far she got, but eventually the car would run out of gas and she'd have to pull over anyway.

Heck with it, might as well do it now; make the decision for herself rather than be forced into it later. She liked to be in charge, in control of what was happening around her. Like her sis--like her mother. They were the same like that. That made her stomach hurt--thinking about her mother, the mother who had been called sister until just recently.

God, if only she hadn't been so curious, if only she had listened when her grandmother told her to stay out of the boxes in the attic. If only she hadn't seen the photographs, the birth certificate, the handwriting on the letter addressed with her own name. If only she hadn't been so driven to know the facts, to find out the truth.

She wouldn't be here on the side of some deserted highway in the middle of nowhere, that's for sure. She wouldn't be tired, hungry, and angry. She wouldn't be confused. She wouldn't be heading to Nevada for answers she deserved. For the truth she was entitled to. For love she sought.

If only she weren't so much like her mother.

* ~ * ~ *

"So, what've we got?" Grissom asked from his position at the head of the table, "Anything yet?" He was met by silence. He looked around at his seated co-workers, each avoiding his eyes. Suddenly the papers at their fingertips were fascinating, as was the patterns of the wooden table they sat around.

"Okay then, let's go over what we know. Sara, give us a rundown on what we know so far."

Sara straightened in her seat and put down the cup of coffee that had been making its way toward her mouth. "Well, so far we've got two girls missing. Maggie Higgins, a seventeen year old girl who was disappeared on her way home from cheerleading practice last week Monday. The other girl is Audrey l'Angou, a nineteen year old student at UNLV who was reported missing Saturday after her roommate noted that she had not been in the dorm for at least two days.

"Ok," Grissom said, "what else. Nick?"

The younger man looked up quickly and cleared his throat.

"Well, we really have no eyewitnesses to the disappearance of the girls, nothing to tie them together factually. The only thing we have are statements—from the Audrey's roommate and Maggie's mother—of a green car popping up in odd places over the past few weeks. The surveillance camera on the outside of the dormitory has footage of a car parked under a lamppost a few nights in a row but it's always obstructed by trees and a flapping American flag. We couldn't get anything off of the tape, it's useless."

"But," the older man said, standing up, "we're assuming that the two abductions are related, right?"

Nick nodded.

"Okay. That's what we've got and it's pathetically sparse. Catherine and Nick, I want you to focus on Maggie Higgins; Warrick, you're with me and Sara. We'll be focusing on Audrey. We need to find a connection, a trigger, anything between the two that would explain why they were the two that this guy chose to take. And we need to isolate it fast, because I've got a feeling he's going to do it again."

* ~ * ~ *