Title: Holding Out for a Hero

Summary: Nina enlists Greg's help in finding Marie.

Notes: This is the first Episode in The Ghost of a Good Thing Series. Everything's Not Lost is a kind of prologue to this, but you don't have to read it to understand this. All you need to know is that Nick is now living with Greg and this occurred after the Stalker episode.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Anything italicized means he/she is speaking in Italian. Oh and Padre means father and Madre means mother.

Chapter Five: Hero to Be

I'm dialing up 911
I'm on the brink of trouble again,
If you could change the time, a little,
Then everything would be
Fine, fine, fine

--Cyndi Lauper "911"

Luke Haslett's House—Tuesday March 16—11:02 am

Outside of the small one-story house was complete silent chaos. Officers kneeled behind open squad car doors with their weapons drawn, members of the SWAT team were stationed around the house looking for an open shot, Brass was on the phone with the sheriff, Nick was pacing and muttering under his breath, Grissom was still deep in thought although he still wasn't quite sure if this was all real, Catherine and Sara sat on the ground behind one of the squad cars consoling each other without words, and Warrick kept his eyes trained on the windows watching for any sign of movement. There had been no sound emitted from the house since Luke's announcement of his hostages. He had not answered his phone, had not answered any of the questions shouted to him by Brass. All had been silent and Grissom promised himself that as soon as this was all over he would never yell at Greg for playing his music too loud because the silence was almost unbearable.

And then it happened.

"I want to speak with Gil Grissom!" Luke shouted from within the house. Everything was set in motion by one simple request.

"You have to show you'll be willing to cooperate with us. Send out one of the hostages." Brass shouted back motioning for Grissom to stay where he was.

"No. No negotiating right now. Not until I've talked to Mr. Grissom. He better be in here in five minutes or I kill one of them." Brass was silent for a second.

"No, Brass. I'll go in." Grissom told him before he could utter a word.

Half an Hour Earlier

Luke's grip tightened around Nina's neck as Brass kept yelling at him from outside. He refused to answer and his eyes darted around the room nervously.

"Move to the kitchen." Luke pointed nervously for him to move. Greg did as he was told backing up until he entered. Luke and Nina followed him, but Luke kept a good distance between them. Greg realized Shawn was gone and managed to hide the relief he felt. Luke hugged the counter as he entered the kitchen and without looking he opened one of the drawers. He extracted a large knife and held it against Nina's throat, releasing his tight grasp. Nina almost sighed with relief.

"Luke you don't want to do this." Greg began to reason with him.

"Shut up." Luke told him harshly.

"At least let Nina go. She has a nine year old daughter." Luke looked pained when he realized this, but shook his head in response.

"No, no one leaves." Luke began to mumble under his breath. Nina only caught a few phrases here and there.

"I know someone who can help you Luke, but you have to listen to him. You have to agree to do anything he says." Nina dared to speak up. Everything in the house went still. Luke's breathing began to slow down to a normal pace as he thought.

"Who?" he finally asked.

"His name is Gil Grissom. He works at the Crime Lab with Greg. If you talk to him he may be able to help you." Nina reasoned. She prayed he'd agree to it. It would be the best for everyone in the end if he decided to cooperate.

"I. I don't know. Let me think about it." Luke put his head on Nina's shoulder and squeezed his eyes shut as if willing all of it to go away.

Meanwhile, Shawn had crawled carefully from the kitchen to the dining room. He figured Marie was either in one of the back three bedrooms or in the basement. He was almost positive she was in the basement, but he wanted to check the other rooms just to make sure. After all, she had been by the phone when Luke called Nina. He continued to crawl, too scared to stand up and be seen accidentally. She wasn't in any of the rooms, but he did find one of her sandals in the master bedroom. He picked it up and continued on his way. Crawling back down the hall he listened closely to see where the others were in the house. He heard Greg talking in the kitchen and then Luke's reply. As quietly as he could he crawled from the dining room into the foyer and into the living room. He hid by the bookshelf that separated the kitchen and the living room. Taking a deep breath he turned and peered over the edge and discovered Luke's back was to him. Now was his chance to make it to the basement.

Greg saw Shawn and wondered what he was up to. However, he kept Luke talking so Shawn could continue about his business.

"Grissom will help you in any way he can as long as you're willing to listen." Greg told him. He concentrated on Nina and the knife that was pressed against her throat. "Please will you at least agree to hear what he has to say?"

"I. I don't know. I don't think so." He thought about it for a second. "You're trying to trick me aren't you? You think I'm going to fall for it and let you kill me. No, no, no." he kept repeating himself and tightened his grip on Nina. Her eyes went wide and for a moment Greg thought she was going to panic, but she calmed herself down and did the best she could to relax herself.

"I'm not trying to trick you. I just don't want you to do something you'll end up regretting." Greg said trying to placate him.

"Will you talk to him? Please Luke." Nina finally pleaded, breaking the tense silence that ensued after Greg's last remark.

"As long as he comes in unarmed and alone." Greg nodded in agreement incase Luke was looking for reassurance.

Shawn had seized his chance when Greg had started talking to Luke to scramble across the living room to the laundry room. Once there he shut the door part way, just enough to conceal him and continued on to the door on his right that led to the basement. As quietly as was humanly possible he opened the door and headed down the stairs without any light.

"Marie?" he called softly once he reached the bottom. He didn't dare turn on a light in case someone noticed.

"Shawn?" called a hopeful voice from somewhere in the darkness.

"Yeah, baby it's me. Where are you?" Shawn almost had to sit down from the relief that flooded him.

"On the floor." She replied sarcastically. Shawn shook his head. He knew it wouldn't be long before she was back to her old self. Hardly anything ever fazed Marie. "Where's Nina?" Well almost anything. Shawn decided not to tell her the situation upstairs quite yet.

"Let's get you out of here first." He told her as he tried to pinpoint her location as she talked.

"What's wrong?" she asked instinctively worried, "hey watch it!" she told him suddenly as he stepped on her hand. He stooped down and untied her hands from behind her back.

"We'll worry about it once we get upstairs."

"He's got her doesn't he? That bastard has my little Nina." She said viciously.

"Greg's up there with her. He'll make sure she stays safe."

"Greg? When did he show up?"

"Nina went to him for help. Look we'll discuss this later. Let's just get out of here alive first."

"Where's Cassie?" Shawn pulled Marie to her feet and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"At school, where she's supposed to be." Marie nodded and decided to be quiet before she got them caught. They both looked up when they heard the shout from Luke for Grissom to enter.

"Who's Gil Grissom?" Marie whispered into Shawn's ear.

"No idea."

"Hey, Shawn, there's a gun somewhere down here. Maybe you should get it before we go up." Marie suggested as they stared up the stairwell.

Luke Haslett's House—Tuesday March 16—11:13 am

Greg answered the door when Grissom knocked. Greg wouldn't look him in the eye. He was too scared of what he might find there. Disappointment, hurt, anger, frustration. Grissom's eyes went straight to Luke and Nina.

"Hello, Luke," he stated walking into the living room, "I'm Gill Grissom." Luke nodded in acknowledgement. He stood in front of the couch with his back to the laundry room. Greg had been relieved by this small thing. He followed Grissom into the room.

"Stay right there." Luke told Grissom when he tried to take another step forward. Nina winced slightly as the knife was pressed closer to her skin.

"Okay Luke, you're the one in control here. We all know that. What is it that you want?"

"I want my job back. I didn't do anything wrong. The only reason we ever finished ahead of schedule was because of me." Luke was beyond the point of return. He was working himself up and both Grissom and Greg realized this. Nina was too preoccupied with trying to breathe steadily so as not to press the knife further into her skin to worry about what the others were all discussing.

"Luke," she finally managed to wheeze out, "Luke I can't breathe." This fact seemed to scare him a little and he loosened his grip slightly. She took in a great big gulp of air before she thanked him.

"It doesn't seem like you want to hurt Nina, so why don't you let her go and we'll talk this out rationally." Grissom tried to reason with him.

"If I let her go you'll arrest me. I don't want to go to jail."

"You could always plead insanity." Shawn said from behind him as he cocked the gun he held pointed at Luke's head, " Let her go." He demanded. Luke had turned slightly so he could see everyone. Out of fear he began to back up.

"You don't know how to shoot a gun." Luke stammered out.

"I used to live in New York. Everyone knows how to shoot a gun in New York." Shawn told him coolly.

Grissom had been just as startled as Luke when Shawn and Marie had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He didn't dare look at Greg to see how he felt about the whole situation. This isn't going to turn out good, Grissom thought as he looked at the gun then to Shawn then to Nina and back to the gun.

Outside of the House

"We have a clear shot." The leader of the SWAT team told Brass, "We're going to take it."

"Are you sure it's him?" Brass asked. The man nodded. Brass sighed.

Inside of the House

Nina wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to keep her panic under control. She couldn't let Shawn kill him. She wouldn't be able to live with that. She tried to communicate this to Shawn, but he wouldn't look at her for some reason. And then she heard it. A gun was fired, but Shawn hadn't even pulled the trigger. She felt Luke lurch behind her before she began to buckle under his weight. Her mind began to whirl with all that was happening. The world began to go fuzzy as she hit the ground with Luke on top of her and then all went black. I didn't even get to tell Marie goodbye was her last fleeting thought.

Ambulance Outside of the House—Tuesday March 16—Noon

"Nina? Nina can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes if you can hear me?" She heard the man's annoying voice and all she really wanted to do was slap him and go back to sleep. She decided she would do just that, but her eyes wouldn't open. It took way to much effort. She tried to remember what had happened which would probably give her the reason as to why this strange man was telling her to open her eyes. Greg. Luke. Grissom. Shawn. Gun. Bang. Oh, so that's what happened. Nina shot up at once.

"Marie!" she called out as she opened her eyes and blinked rapidly against the glare of the sun.

"I'm right here hun." Marie said soothingly from her seat on the back of the ambulance. A medic had looked her over and pronounced she was fine and that there was no sign of shock. He had stared at her unbelievingly before tending to Nina.

"Miss," the medic started, "can you tell me what day it is?"

"Tuesday." She said swatting his hand away as he tried to help her sit up. She looked intently at Marie to make sure all was well. Standing next to Marie were Greg and Shawn.

"Jesus, you gave me a scare." Shawn said, the relief evident on his face.

"We thought." Greg began, but never finished. The medic interrupted them again.

"Do you know what year it is?"

"I fainted." She told him harshly ignoring his question, "I didn't wake up from a coma.

"They're just standard questions I have to ask." He stated, "Who's the president?" he asked

"Lincoln." She answered, "Marie are you okay? You had me scared to death. If you ever get yourself kidnapped again I'll kill you." Nina pulled her best friend into a fierce hug.

"It's okay," Marie told her soothingly, "everything's going to be okay."

Nick had been so filled with relief when he saw Greg walk out of the house he had to lean against the squad car for support. Everyone around had let out their pent up breath. However, the mood swiftly changed as they saw Shawn carrying an unconscious Nina in his arms. Once all were assured Nina had just fainted they pounced on Greg. Catherine fussed over his well-being, Sara asked him a million questions he never even heard, Nick kept patting him on the back and saying everything was okay, and Warrick watched over them all not quite sure how to react. They had almost lost one of their own and it was pretty hard to accept that fact. Grissom had said nothing to Greg and hadn't joined the others in welcoming him back-- something everyone took notice in. He simply watched from afar as Brass was telling him something about Luke Haslett and his current condition. Greg was terrified of what he would say once he got back to work.

Greg and Nick's Apartment—Wednesday March 17—12:45 pm

Greg and Nick sat at the kitchen table eating lunch. Greg had the day off to recover, but Nick had to be in by three that afternoon. Nick had made bacon just for Greg.

Nick watched Greg as he savored his last bite of bacon. He wanted to ask the question, but wasn't quite sure if he should. Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Are they what you ran away from?" Nick asked. Greg looked up his brown eyes full of pain and anxiety.

"Yeah," he whispered, "and today is the day I explain it all."

"Do you know why?" Nick suddenly asked. Greg looked at him in surprise.

"No. No, I don't think I do.

Extra Notes:  Okay so I lied and I wasn't able to put this chapter up until late Wednesday night, but hey I got it up, right? In the next chapter Greg will explain why he 'ran away' and I will bring up yet another issue that will need resolving. There are only two chapters left and I haven't decided if there is going to be an epilogue or not. I just might make chapter seven long enough so that I don't have to write an epilogue. But anyway you are all now up to date. Thank you so much to all those who reviewed and to those who have yet to review please do. It always means so much to me to open my mail box and see the reviews! Thanks again!