The Search by SLynn

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine.

Spoilers: Everything up to 'Nesting Dolls' in Season 5 although I doubt seriously I drag all that up.

Sorry for the delay on this one. Thanks and such at the bottom… there's no room up here!

Day Five

This time neither of them took no for an answer. Sara and Nick were going out with them. The search party, finally having good weather and finally having found some indication of the two men, started early that day. They had a slight advantage this time. The new trail, the one they were assuming Grissom and Greg took because the notebook was so near to it, ended very near where the original crime scene had been found. It was Brass' idea to have one half of the party start at that end and the other half work from where they'd stopped the day before. Despite basically splitting the trail, it was still going to be a long search.

Nick and Warrick were with the party starting at the stopping point and Sara and Brass were starting back near La Madre Springs. Catherine wasn't able to make it today, having an ungodly amount of paperwork to file for both swings and graves. Ecklie had refused to make either Sara or Sofia acting supervisor and had instead put Catherine in charge of both shifts temporarily.

The day started off relatively mild and this trail was much smoother and easier to follow then the previous had been. All in all everyone was optimistic.

"You know," Brass said to Sara as the walked along together at a slow but steady pace, searching as they went, "this isn't the first time Gil's been lost."

"You're kidding right?" Sara asked looking at him with a trace of a smile.

"No," Brass said with a shake of his head, "He got lost once before. When I was still at the lab."

"Lost like now?"

"Not exactly," Brass said laughing a bit, "No. It was in a warehouse."

"Now I know you're joking."

"Scout's honor," he returned with a smile, holding up his hand for effect. "It was him and Warrick. Warrick was still pretty new to the job, probably been on a year or so, and they'd had a suicide in one of those big storage warehouses up on the North end of town."

"How come Warrick didn't say something about this?" Sara asked, still not sure she believed it.

"Same reason you've probably never heard it from Grissom. It's embarrassing."

She laughed, knowing that was probably true.

"Well, what happened?"

"Okay," Brass continued, "so they had this db. I'd sent them out at the start of shift and they'd taken a set of two-ways because they knew that it was a large building. Well they got there and processed the scene, body got taken away, all of that. They'd stuck around, looked for any remaining evidence, but now it was just the two of them. As they tell it, not long after that the lights go out. Apparently the security guard that had shown them in thought that once the body left, they'd gone with it and locked up for the remainder of the night."

"What'd they do?" Sara asked.

"At first, nothing. You know Grissom. They were there might as well finish up first. So after they finish, they start looking for the exit. Three hours passed."

"No," Sara cut in disbelieving it.

"Yes," Brass returned now almost laughing, "Three hours they looked for a door, a window, a phone. Anything. Found nothing but boxes and crates. Finally, back at the lab we started wondering where they were. So Catherine and I go down there, get the security guard and have him open up the place again. As soon as the lights go back on we hear Warrick yell."

"Then what?"

"Then I drew my gun. I figured, why would they be yelling if they weren't in trouble? It took us ten minutes to find them. In the dark they'd pretty much been wandering in circles. I don't think I've seen Gil more irritated, but only with himself."

"That sounds about right."

"Anyways, we all had a good laugh about it after the fact but for a few minutes there it was intense."

Sara nodded, having a good feeling why he was telling her this story. He thought they'd be fine. That they'd find them soon, maybe today even, and later they'd all have another good laugh.

"So you give them hell about it?" Sara asked with another smile.

"Oh, of course I did. In fact, he's in for some more when we do catch up to them. I'm sure everyone thinks this is Sanders' fault, but I'm not so sure. Lost twice with rookies, it doesn't look good for Gil. He's never going to live this one down."

Sara laughed again and so did he. It felt nice. For the first time since day one, they both felt some optimism.


At noon the three investigators had to call it quits. Warrick was just as beat as Sara and Nick, having gotten little to no sleep himself this week. All of them wondered how Brass was doing it; he alone showed no signs of fatigue.

They all headed back to the lab only to find Catherine still at work, this time on the phone in her office. Hanging up rather abruptly she looked to each of them asking if they had any news.

"Nothing," Warrick answered sitting down in front of her desk.

"They're going to stay out all night if the weather holds," Sara added.

"You all look exhausted," Catherine commented. "How hot is it today? I haven't seen daylight yet."

"In the eighties," Nick answered this time, "I hope they had water with them."

"Greg had some in his case," Sara assured, "at least a few bottles."

"Well," Catherine said with a nod, "Do you want the bad news now or should I buy lunch first?"

"Lunch," Warrick said with a smile.

They all nodded and agreed, it took very little time for them to head down the street to their favorite diner.

It was a little strange, it being just the four of them. Greg had never really gone on their group breakfasts before the shifts were split, but since then Sara, Sofia, Grissom and Greg had gone out numerous times. She knew the same was true for Catherine, Nick and Warrick. Sara kind of felt like the odd man out now.

After ordering they all looked at Catherine expectantly.

"Ecklie wants us to help graves cover their case load," she said, directing her comments to Nick and Warrick.

Nick was already nodding. He knew Ecklie wasn't going to bring in extra help.

"Well, we've already been doing that," Warrick said not sure that really warranted the term 'bad news'.

"There's more," Catherine said, taking a sip of water to steady herself, "In two more days they're ending the search."

"After a week?" Sara asked, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

Catherine nodded, looking down a bit.

"They can't do that," Nick said, "that's too soon. What's their reason?"

"They say that there hasn't been significant proof that they're still alive. That we are in fact nearing them. That and the weather, they're assuming that the elements will have gotten to them by then."

Warrick rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

"They're going to send out the helicopter at least once more," Catherine said as reassuringly as possible, "Take one more good sweep of the area."

"What else can we do?" Sara asked, trying to keep her voice and emotions in check. She could not believe they were giving up like this.

"Very little," Catherine answered. She knew that because she'd already tried.

"Does Brass know?" Nick asked.

Catherine just shook her head.

Their food arrived but no one felt hungry anymore. They each picked silently at their plates before finally giving up all pretenses of eating and just paying before they left.

Nick, Warrick and Catherine, their shift almost starting, went straight back to the lab to shower and change before beginning work again. Sara first went home before leaving for Greg's place to check once more on Chloe and fulfill a promise.

She changed the dog's water and food, let her out back and then reached for her cell phone. Last night she'd programmed in Katie's number but she was hesitant to dial it. She wanted to let Greg's sister know that they'd found signs of them still being alive and well, but she didn't want to say anymore. Not yet.

Finally willing herself to do it, it rang twice before it was picked up.

"Hello."

"Hi, Katie?" Sara asked into the phone unsure if it was her or not.

"This is her."

"It's Sara Sidle, from Vegas."

"Greg's friend, yeah," Katie returned, her voice sounding nervous, "Did you find him? Is Greg okay?"

"We haven't found him yet," Sara answered, "but we did find something of Greg's last night so we know we're not that far behind them."

"So you may find him soon?" she asked, her voice suddenly much sunnier sounding. Sara cringed. Didn't want to say that if they didn't soon they never would. Wouldn't say it.

"We think so. The search is going much better today. I was out most of the morning or I would have called sooner. We know what trail they're on and it's a much easier one to follow."

"That's great," she said and Sara could almost hear the tears in her voice.

"I wish I had more to tell you," Sara said honestly.

"No, this is great. Really. You don't know what it's like here, I'm supposed to be studying and instead I'm just surfing the net trying to find anything."

"Well, don't take everything you read on those news sites seriously. They only have half the story most of the time."

"That's good to know," she said sounding relieved, "I thought you were calling to tell me something else. I just read online that they were calling off the search soon. But if you're so close, that can't be true."

Sara shut her eyes and mentally cursed. Damn reporters. She didn't think it would be made public so soon.

"Sara?" the girl asked on the other end of the line, the nervousness back. "That's not true, is it?"

Sara let out a sigh as she opened her eyes. She couldn't lie. Katie deserved to hear the truth, even if it was a hard one.

"Katie," she started, surprised at the hitch in her throat but struggling to continue.

This wasn't going to be easy.


A/N: Sorry, I meant to do this earlier. I hadn't realized that I'd gone so long without thanking everyone for reading and had instead done it two or three times over on my other story, the pitfalls of writing too much! Anyway, thanks to everyone who has read this and continues to read this. Thanks again for everyone who takes the time and reviews. I really appreciate it and as always, it keeps me motivated.

Tripp3235 – Thanks so much for being my unofficial beta! I need all the help I can get and I'm always glad to get your advice or idea on what you think would be a good plot twist. do you realize I didn't know how often I had it rain in the first one? I had to go back and count and then I got mad too! Although, it now makes sense why they didn't find them sooner or. I'm a sucker for the fluff!

Storyspindler – I actually started this one before I'd planned, hence it not being updated nearly as often as it should be. I'm trying to get out a few chapters at a time, but my other story has been taking a lot of my time. Thanks for your patience, hope you find it worth the wait.

Emma – I've never really explained how Grissom, who is a very smart man (not that Greg isn't) got so lost, but I just chalk it up to one of those things. I provided a little more background this time on him, hoping that does the trick some.

Emmithar – I promise to update my stories with increasingly regularity if you do too! Not that you don't, I love your Greg/Sara-ness. Not sure why I made Greg such a neat freak in this one, but it just came out that way. I just thought Sara would be pulling out her hair if she wasn't doing something!

raccoony Glad you like this one, hope it doesn't disappoint. And btw, love the name!

bluetowel – I tried to add little pieces of 'The Body' throughout this one, to tie them closer together. Plus, fun for me.

white rose01 – the overall mood of this one seems more somber, but I'm trying to make some lighter parts. there will be at least one more conversation with Greg's mom, but maybe not with Catherine. I'm horribly twisted at times, I was a frustrated too. And yeah, Sara probably shouldn't have read the notebook but I had to make her do it. I'm evil like that.

LuvinNickyStokes – it was hard to keep everyone else out of 'The Body' and its just as hard keeping Greg and Griss out of this one. Everyone knows how this ends, myself included, but I still find it hard to pace it out.

Strata – I like Jacqui the more I write her. I wish she was on the show more. I've kind of gone from hopefulness to despair regarding how everyone is reacting to them being missing, well I'm trying for that at least. :)

Sillie – I'm going to try and update a bit more. It's now at the official halfway point! I wanted to reinforce that Greg knew he was sick and it was his way of motivating himself to keep moving, especially towards the end.

BabyAlyx96 – glad your enjoying it so far.

Fan4fanfic – thank you! I'm trying to keep it interesting and not give away what happens, even though we all know.

carolann – hope your feeling better by now! I'm not sure if I'll continue on with this specific story line once I finish this one, we'll have to see. I'm already waist deep in another series and I'm not sure I could handle two!

lins – glad you like it! Hope it's still interesting!

werewolfe – yeah, as frustrating as it was in the first one, this time I think it's worse. At least Greg and Griss are keeping busy, moving, with all the delays and rain, it's harder for everyone else.

sodapop15 – yeah, I love to hear that people find what I write interesting! It makes my day!

BeyondMyStar – this side is a bit quicker paced. I was really limited last time because two characters, they've got to mostly talk, here at least people can be doing more then just standing in the desert. I added more Grissom, and have tried before, but I have a hard time staying away from the Greg angst. I love Greg!

Stormchilde – I would have read it myself. I really wanted her to see that last line because it is what gave Greg the motivation to keep moving towards the end of 'The Body'. I hope that makes sense.