Disclaimer/Author's Note – See Chapter One.

Rating – This chapter comes with a strong PG-13 rating, for language.

Chapter Eleven – Little Girl Lost

Warrick had never been as terrified for the safety of another human being as he was at that moment. Holding her victim directly in front of herself so that police snipers had no clear shot, Lana had dragged the girl to the far side of the overturned car. She was unhinged, cornered with no escape plan. Warrick couldn't think of anything more dangerous.

J.D. on the other hand seemed to become more lethargic by the minute. He was obviously in a lot of pain from the cracked ribs and whatever other injuries he had suffered in the crash. His gun-holding arm was getting more unsteady by the moment but he, like Lana, had moved his hostage to the far side of the car, still aiming his gun at the young man's chest.

'We want another car!' Lana screamed for the third time. 'We wanna get out of here with no one following us. Then we'll let them go.'

'Can't do that, Lana,' Brass responded. 'Let's be reasonable about this. Let them go, then we'll talk.'

'Go fuck yourself, Pig!' she screamed back at him. 'I let them go, I got nothing. You do what I say or they die.'

'Then you really will have nothing, Lana,' Brass told her. 'You kill them right here, right now? You're looking at the death penalty. Let them go, I'll talk to the judge for you.'

'And get us what?' she yelled back. 'A life sentence instead? Go to hell!'

'Lana?' J.D. sounded scared. Brass couldn't tell if it was because of the treat of the death penalty or because he was terrified of his girlfriend.

'Shut up, J.D! I'm handling this.'

'Baby? I'm hurt,' he said, in an almost whiny voice. 'We should just let them go.'

The look she gave her lover would have sent the bravest man cowering. 'You said you loved me!'

'I do.'

'You said you'd do anything for me!'

'I would. But…'

'There should be no fucking buts!' she screamed. 'You give yourself up now and I'll kill you myself!'

J.D. stopped talking.

'J.D.? You need medical attention,' Brass said. 'I promise I'll have the two of you looked after if you give this up now. You have my word.'

'Don't you fucking listen to him, J.D!'

Sara screeched to a halt directly behind Brass's car. Before Grissom could even unbuckle his seat belt, she was out of the car and running towards the police.

'Sara! Wait!'

Warrick caught her in his arms before she could go any further.

'Sara? What the hell do you think you're doing?' he asked her, shocked at her behaviour. 'You can't go over there. The police are handling it.'

Still Sara fought to shake off Warrick's grip. 'I'm the only one who read her diary, Warrick,' she insisted. 'I know what she's capable of. She's going to…'

Grissom had finally caught up, and Warrick relinquished his grip on Sara as Grissom took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him.

'Sara? What the hell's going on?' he asked firmly. 'You can't just go charging into a police stand-off like that.'

'I need to talk to her,' she insisted. 'I'll stay back. I promise.' Shrugging him off before he could reply, she moved over to where Brass was standing.

The police captain looked at her with confusion. 'Sara? You guys need to stay back until this is resolved.'

Sara didn't move. 'Let me talk to her. Please.'

'Sara, you're not trained.'

'Please.'

Brass took in the look of resolve on Sara's face and let out a long breath. 'I'm sorry kid. I know you want to help, but…'

Sara nodded and turned towards the horrific scene that was unfolding before her. She could see the look of terror on the two victims' faces. A thin ribbon of blood trickled down the girl's neck as the knife dug into her skin. Her eyes pleaded to anyone, everyone, for help. And Sara knew she couldn't stand there and do nothing. Training be damned.

'Lana?' Sara called out, her mouth dry with fear. 'Can we talk?'

'Sara,' Brass hissed at her. 'What are you doing?'

'Who are you? Another cop?' Lana answered back, squinting up at the newcomer.

'No. No, I'm not a cop,' Sara told her, ignoring Brass completely. 'My name is Sara. I'm from the Crime Lab. I'm a criminalist.'

'Sara…' Brass hissed again. Still she wouldn't look at him. He knew better than to cause a scene with her in the middle of a hostage situation. Any sign of weakness among the cops would do nothing other than worsen the situation with Lana and J.D. Helplessly, he turned to look at Grissom, who was regarding Sara, wide-eyed and fearful.

Lana was incredulous. 'What the hell do I have to say to a criminalist? You going to get me out of here any faster?'

Brass cut a glance at Sara again. 'Don't make this worse. Please,' he murmured to her. Finally acknowledging him, she answered with the tiniest of nods.

'I hope so, Lana. That's what we all want. To get you all out of this situation.' Sara was putting all her effort into keeping her voice soothing. Calming. To avoid stressing Lana any further. 'Lana, I was at your apartment earlier. I saw your diary.'

Incredulity turned to fury. 'You had no right!'

'I know it was personal, Lana. And I'm sorry. But when a crime's been committed, sometimes we have to look through people's personal things.'

'So I guess you think you know me now, right?' Lana called out to Sara, sarcasm dripping from her words. 'You understand me now, right!'

Sara shook her head. 'I would never be so conceited to say that, Lana,' she replied. 'But it did open my eyes to what you've gone through in your life. It made me want to talk to you. To try and help.'

Lana laughed. A hard, bitter, mirthless laugh that made Sara's blood run cold. 'So, what, Sara? You wanna be friends with me?'

'Lana, I know you've suffered,' Sara tried again. 'I know what you went through in care. How lost you felt. How alone. I know you felt 'caged' when you were there.'

'I felt caged my whole damn life, lady,' Lana spat back. 'Until this last year or so. With J.D. Now, I'm free.'

'You're not free, Lana,' Sara replied. 'You won't be until you let go of your past.'

'You don't know shit about my past!' Lana yelled. 'You probably grew up with a silver spoon. Two parents. Happy families. All that shit. You don't know anything about my life! You didn't live it!'

'My life was far from perfect, Lana,' Sara told her. 'I spent time in care, too. I know how lonely it gets. How unwanted it can make you feel. How you'll look for anything, anyone to make you feel like you belong.'

'You don't know shit, lady,' Lana repeated.

'I know how this is going to go down if you don't let those two kids go,' Sara told her. 'It'll be the death penalty, Lana. You're barely 18. There doesn't need to be anymore death.'

Behind her, Grissom's eyes bored into Sara's back. Sara in care? She had never said anything. His mind ran through every conversation they had conducted about their pasts and realised that, besides her academic career, he didn't know a damn thing about her before she came to Las Vegas. Hell, he barely knew anything about her personal life since she moved here. That thought made him inexplicably sad, as though he had failed her in some way.

Movement by the overturned car snapped his attention to the here and now. J.D. was looking increasingly unsteady on his feet, and had lurched forward, steadying himself on his car only just in time to keep from falling down.

'Lana? I think I'm hurt bad,' he told his lover.

She tore her angry eyes away from Sara and looked at him. 'You'll be okay, baby. You'll be okay.'

'No. I won't,' he insisted. 'We won't. You heard what she said. What that cop said. We'll get the death penalty if we don't give it up now.'

'We're not giving up, J.D!' she yelled at him, like an angry mother berating her child. 'I'm not going to prison. They can kill me if they want to. I don't care. We can die together. But they're not gonna lock me up!'

'Lana, please baby.'

'No, J.D. It'll be… romantic,' she told him, wide-eyed and almost wistful as she looked at him. 'We'll die together. Then we'll be together. Forever.'

'Lana, listen to him!' Sara called, willing the girl out of her fantasy world. Lana paid her no mind.

'Lana, I can't do this anymore!' J.D. yelled at her. He flung his gun out from behind the car. 'I'm giving myself up. You can do whatever the hell you want.'

'Don't you fucking dare, J.D!' she screamed back, tightening her hold on the girl. 'You said you'd do anything for me!'

All of the police bristled, the aims of the police marksmen sharpening, reading themselves to take Lana down before she could slit the throat of her captive.

'You stupid little bitch!' J.D. spat back. 'This isn't one of your dumb movies. I'm not going to die for you!'

He put his hands above his head, signalling to the cops that he was ready to come quietly. Lana, however, was not.

'NO!' she screamed as if her entire world had just imploded. The police held their ground, not going in for J.D. in case that provoked Lana further.

An icy finger of terror ran through Sara as she recalled Lana's diary. She had wanted her victims to be willing to die for their lovers. She believed that was the proof of true love. J.D.'s words were bound to have serious implications on the girl's already fragmented psyche. This stand-off was only going to end badly.

'Lana!' she called out, her voice crackling with fear.

The girl stood there and, for a split second, Sara saw the lost and frighten child beneath the murderer she had become. Then it was gone, and Lana looked completely detached from this world.

Almost in slow motion, she grabbed the girl she held closer to herself, the blade of her knife biting further into her neck.

'NO!' Sara yelled.

With all her might, Lana shoved Lucy Bell away from her. The girl collapsed in the desert sand, sobbing with fear. Lana raised the knife.

Without thinking, Sara dashed forward, avoiding Brass's grasping hands. At full speed, she ran for Lana. She thought she called out. She wasn't sure.

Lana turned the blade of the butcher's knife towards herself, and buried in her chest right up to the hilt.

Right through her heart.

Sara couldn't be sure, but she thought there were tears in her eyes as she caught Lana's collapsing body and lowered her to the ground. She placed her hand round the knife, uselessly trying to stem the flow of blood. It was already too late.

She looked into Lana's dead eyes and wept. For all the teenagers left dead by Lana's hand. For their families who would now be denied justice. For the loss of innocence that this child had suffered too soon in life. For the fact that she was powerless to stop any of it.

It wasn't her job to save the day. She was just the clean-up crew.

TBC.