I apologize profusely for my tardiness in updating. My only excuse was that I enjoyed my vacation too much. When I returned I was in a writers slump. I am slowly getting myself back on track to finish this story. I am very sorry to have kept you all waiting. I will also apologize now for this chapter. It did not flow freely and therefore I feel it is a bit forced. Hopefully as I begin writing again I will pick up the original tempo of the story. Please bear with me. Again thanks for your patience. The vote was for a happy story (no character deaths (for now!)). So here it is. As always please let me know what you think.

Chapter 26

Catherine Willows paced nervously outside one of the rooms in the emergency area. It had been over an hour and she had heard nothing about either of her co-workers. She ran her hand anxiously through her strawberry blond tresses and sighed with exasperation. She looked at her cell for the tenth time knowing that she wasn't suppose to have it on but consequences be damned, she needed to know if Grissom and Brass had found Sara yet.

The door to room finally opened and a nurse stepped outside looking a bit frazzled. Catherine turned to her with impatient eyes and waited. "The doctor will be out in a minute," the nurse said earnestly. Catherine's mouth tightened into a scowl and she growled with frustration at the nurse. "I'm sorry," the nurse said before hurrying down the hall.

"Damn it," Catherine groaned as she started her pacing once again. She hadn't finished her second turn when the doctor emerged from the room. "Doctor," Catherine said fretfully stepping toward him. "Ms Willows," he answered with a nod of his head.

"Mr. Brown is in stable condition. Fortunately for him his CSI vest took the blunt of the blast. He has 2nd degree burns on his left arm and his left leg. They should heal fine. However, he did take a serious blow to the head when he was blown off his feet. He is conscious but has a concussion. He'll need to stay in the hospital for observation."

Catherine sighed with relief. Thank god he was all right. "And Nick?" she asked apprehensively. The doctors face tensed somewhat and Catherine held her breath. "Mr. Stokes is in more serious condition. There's no doubt that his Kevlar vest saved his life. The powerful impact of the bullets broke 3 of his ribs. One of the damaged ribs punctured his right lung. He was having difficulty breathing so we had to put him on a ventilator. He needs to go in for surgery to repair his lung. But Mr. Stokes is being very uncooperative at the moment. He refuses the surgery. He wants to see Sara." the doctor said with a frustrated shake of his head.

"Shit," Catherine thought as she chewed nervously on her bottom lip. "Can I talk to him?" she asked. "Please do. We need to put in a chest tube to expand his lung and check to make sure there is no blood collecting between his lung and his chest wall, as soon as possible. I'll give you a few moments." he said with quick smile. Catherine squared her shoulders and marched into the room ready to do battle. She faltered slightly at the sight of her two co-workers lying helplessly in hospital beds and hooked up to various machines. These usually strong, unwavering and self-reliant men looked anything but.

Catherine met Nick's sorrowful brown eyes. She smiled at him sadly and had to turn away before she started to cry. She turned to Rick and said, "How are you feeling?" "Like I was just blown up," he said with a chuckle, "but I'll be all right. It's this stubborn fool who needs to get his ass in gear." Nick grunted and Catherine turned to look back at him. "Sara?" he gasped through his breathing tub.

She glanced back at Warrick unable to stop the tears that filled her eyes. Warrick's eyes widened fearing the worst. "I'm sorry Nick," she muttered turning back to him. "The bastard took her. We couldn't get to her fast enough. Grissom and Brass are working on finding her right now."

She watched helplessly as Nick's eyes filled with tears. He pushed his covers away and tried to sit up. Pain filled his body and he slumped back into bed. "Damnit Nick," Catherine growled as she rushed to his side. "You need to stay in bed and go have your surgery. You need to be strong for Sara." Nick turned his head away from her in embarrassment, as tears of grief began to slip from his eyes. "Nick," she said gently, "Please look at me." He turned slowly wiping at his tears with the back of his hand. "You know Grissom would never let anything happen to her. You know both he and Brass are doing everything under the sun to find her. Gil will stop at nothing until he has Sara back where she belongs."

Nick nodded slowly knowing full well that Grissom would do anything for the woman he loved, for the woman they both loved. "What do you know so far?" Warrick asked. Catherine took Nick's hand and said, "We know he's a Las Vegas cop. His name is Ted Craven and he's worked for the department for almost a year. He transferred from Reno, where he had worked for almost three years. Previous to that he was in San Francisco; specifically he was detective and worked with Sara frequently until she moved here. As far as we know he and Sara did not have a personal relationship. We've got calls to their previous co-workers in hopes of finding some explanation or further connection. Grissom and Brass are on their way to Craven's residence. I haven't heard anything yet. "

"So she worked with him in San Fran. Obviously there must not have been any confliction between them or else Sara would have said something." Warrick commented. "I just wonder what would have made him become fixated on Sara. Did he purposely get a job in Vegas to be near her? But why wait the three years?" Catherine questioned.

"Hopefully Gris and Brass will find something at this psycho's house," Warrick said. Nick squeezed Catherine's hand to get her attention. She could read the expression in his eyes that he was terrified for Sara's safety. "Nicky, Sara is a fighter. She's not going to let some man push her around. You know that. Plus she has another reason to fight," Catherine said. Nick raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"You Nick. She loves you and she would do anything to get back to you, just like you'd do anything for her, like have this surgery so you can get back on your feet so you can take care of her when she gets home." Catherine finished with a reassuring smile. Nick's hand tightened around hers in gratitude for her comforting words.

At that moment the doctor came into the room. "So Mr. Stokes are you ready for the surgery?" he asked tentatively. Nick nodded slowly. "Good decision. I'll have a nurse come get you for preparations and then she'll wheel you up to the operating room. The procedure itself is simple. As long as we don't have any complications, you should be in recovery within 2 hours. I'll see you shortly. Thank you Ms Willows for your persuasive powers," the doctor said with a grin before leaving the room.

Catherine looked down at Nick and could feel his helplessness. "Just get strong Nicky. We will bring her home to you. I promise." she whispered before giving him a kiss on the cheek. The nurse came in then and checked on Warrick before heading over to get Nick. "I'll be waiting for you bro. Good luck." Warrick said. Nick gave them a tired smile as he headed out the door.

Catherine sighed wearily as she sat down in a chair next to Warrick's bed. "It's not good is it?" Warrick asked softly. Catherine shook her head as her eyes began to fill with tears. "If Sara thinks Nicks dead, I don't think she's going to fight him. I think she'll just give up." she answered sadly. "Damn," Warrick mumbled. He could clearly see the look of anguish on Sara's face as screamed at Nick to get up. He just hoped she remembered he had his vest on. "If I know Sara, she'll want to take down the man who hurt Nick. She'll fight alright." Warrick said with conviction. "I hope you're right Rick, god how I hope you're right." Catherine said.

Across town, Grissom, Brass and the S.W.A.T. team surrounded the suspect's home. With raised weapons, they entered the house. Grissom made his way slowly through the living room. His eyes meticulously scanning every item it sight. A call from one of the officers had him and Brass hurrying down the hallway to a room at the end of the house, upon entering it he could hear Brass sputter, "Sweet Jesus."

Grissom's stomach rolled as he surveyed the appalling scene before him. Everywhere he looked there was an image of Sara; colored pictures, black and whites, pictures of Sara from San Francisco, pictures of her at crime scenes here in Vegas, pictures of her out to breakfast with the team. He rubbed his head wearily. He could feel a headache coming on.

He slowly turned taking in all the images of her beautiful face. The maniac had definitely captured all her true faces from her pout, to her pursed lips, to her little lost girl look, to her radiant smile. He knew her all too well. He wondered how closely they had worked together in San Francisco. He felt a stab of jealousy course through him at the thought of someone knowing all her faces especially the ones she tried so desperately to keep hidden. He thought he was the only one who could read her veiled expressions, apparently he was wrong. This man had to have been close enough to her to be able to pick up on her unique facial characteristics. Why hadn't Sara thought of him? She must have thought of him as completely harmless otherwise he was sure she would have said something. The sound of Brass calling his name broke him out of his reverie.

"Gil you better take a look at this." Brass said urgently. Grissom was by his side in an instant. "This is a tape from a police cruiser. Take a look what's on it." Brass said. Grissom looked at the image on the TV screen not sure what he was looking for. It was somewhere on the stripe and there were dozens of people walking along the sidewalks. Suddenly he recognized a man crossing the street and walking off the screen. Warrick. Grissom's eyes zeroed back in to where Warrick had just come from. On the far left of the screen he could make out the familiar backs of two people. Nick and Sara with their arms linked together. "What the?" he thought in confusion. He glanced down at the date and time stamp that was continuously running on the police video. May 20, 2004; 5:30 A.M. His mind scrambled anxiously. It couldn't be. His eyes jumped back to the images on the screen. He watched as Nick and Sara parted company and cursed silently with a disturbing realization when Sara climbed into her car and pulled out onto the street.

Grissom's stomach tightened because he knew what was going to happen next. Over the course of the next several minutes the police car followed Sara's car. He held his breath each time her car briefly crossed the yellow line. Finally his agony ended when the flashing blue and white lights came on. He couldn't tear his eyes off the image of Sara stepping from the car looking totally defeated.

"Shit," Brass grumbled, "He was the one who pulled her over for her DWI." "Yeah, but the bastard was sitting there waiting for them to come out of that bar. How long had he been stalking her? He had probably been waiting for the perfect moment to approach her. Look at his face. He's pissed she doesn't recognize him." Grissom said as he pointed to the screen.

"I wonder how many times he had presented himself to her and she didn't recognize him. Each rejection probably pushed him just a little bit further until finally he broke." Brass said shaking his head.

Grissom sighed in irritation. "We need to find out where he has taken her. He's had this planned for a while. Unfortunately he's had plenty of time to cover his tracks. We're probably not going to find anything in this house. But have your guys search it top to bottom. We're looking for anything with an address on it."

"How long do you think we've got?" Brass asked solemnly. Grissom's jaws tightened and his eyes darkened with anger. "He's going to want to play with her awhile. He'll keep her alive and torment her as long as he is getting enjoyment out of it."

"Do you think Sara's strong enough to handle it?" Brass asked quietly. Grissom looked away for a long moment and then met Brass's eyes. "I honestly don't know Jim and that scares the hell out of me."

Sara felt a stinging sensation in her arm and she gasped in pain as she tried to pull away. Her eyes flew open and she tried frantically to focus on her surroundings. Everything was a blur. She tried to push herself up but screamed in agony when a searing pain exploded from her wrist and shot up her arm. She heard the sound of laughter and her eyes tried once again to focus. Once they finally did she shut then quickly in revulsion. She felt a hand wrap around her throat squeezing roughly. "Open your eyes Sara," he hissed.

She did so reluctantly fighting back the tears that were beginning to seep from the corners of her eyes. He smiled at her wickedly and wiped his finger at one of her escaped tears. She turned away from his touch in disgust. His hand was back on her throat in an instant. "Bitch," he growled. Her eyes flew angrily back to his and she bit her tongue to hold back the vile words she wanted to scream at him. It would do her no good to provoke him.

He smiled in victory and said, "That's better." He held up a syringe for her to see. "I gave you a little something to help ease the pain in your wrist." he said with a smirk. She tried to say something but her words slurred together. She could feel the power of the drug he had injected her with pulling her under. The last thing she heard before she slipped completely under were the words, "Welcome to Hell Sara."

TBC

There you have it. The long awaited chapter. Please tell me what you think. Thanks! I promise I will try to update very soon.