Title: Among The Dead

Author: Angie

Summary: What if it was Cath?

Disclaimers: Fortunately, CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. If they did belong to me, I'm sure no one would have ever heard of them. The episode "Grave Danger" was written by Quentin Tarentino, Naren Shankar, Anthony Zuiker and Carol Mendelsohn

Author's Notes: Reading some of this fic may seem a little like deja vu. If I managed to succeed in my intentions that will be the case. This story started off with the idea of, "What if it was Cath?" and it escalated from there. There are lines in this which are extremely similar to the episode "Grave Danger" and some which are exact, that's done intentionally. I was intending on posting this all in one chapter, but length is prohibiting me from doing that. This story isn't quite complete yet, but it's pretty close, so I'm going to post this first chapter with the hope that I'll have this finished soon. Many thanks to Jaclyn for betaing this for me and her continual prodding me to work on this fic, not thanking her for the poll though, still can't believe she did that. Thanks to Rita for helping me come up with a title, and the few hundred we went through before I actually came up with this... maybe I'll think of a story for one of the others. Also thanks to Jaclyn and Gomey for letting me slide on my challenge in July and work on this instead of another new fic.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Major Spoilers for "Grave Danger" if you haven't seen that episode and don't want to know what happened, DO NOT read this fic. There are also minor spoilers for "A Little Murder" and "Weeping Willows" and the possibility of minor spoilers from any other episode through the end of season five.

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage

XOXOXO

Catherine drove down the street, flipping through the radio until she found a familiar song. Nodding her head, she refocused on the road ahead, watching for the turn she knew was coming. Easing to a stop at the traffic light, she glanced around. Watching the traffic light, she blindly moved her hand to the controls on the door, lowering the windows a few inches. She pressed the gas, then turned the corner, smiling as the wind whipped through her hair. She glanced down at the clock, pressing a little harder on the gas peddle as she noticed the time. "If I wrap this up fast, I can get back to my office and get all the paper work finished." Catherine said aloud to herself, thinking of how she could actually finish her work before going home and spend her one day off with her daughter instead of trying to squeeze in a few hours of paper work.

Seeing the familiar lights ahead, she slowed down, pulling to a stop in the parking lot next to the police cruiser. Stepping out of the Denali, she moved to the back, pulling out her gear. She quickly walked over to the police officer, her eyes scanning the scene as she walked.

"Catherine."

"Hey. What do you have?"

"Dispatch called out an anonymous nine one one. I got the call and this is what I found."

Catherine turned the flashlight on, revealing a large pile of body parts. She lifted her head, looking for the source of evisceration.

"Um…Cath. I'm sorry, I need to…." The officer didn't finish his words, rushing towards his cruiser.

Catherine turned and watched the officer run back to his car, a slight smirk on her face. Turning back to her scene, she placed her case on the ground, then raised her camera, snapping pictures of the scene. Hearing the reemergence of the officers lunch, she shivered slightly, recalling what happened the last time an officer had to leave her at a scene. "At least he's still in my eyesight. Out here in the open." Unfastening her case, she raised the lid and removed a couple of markers and walked a few steps down the parking lot. She stopped as something caught her eye, bending and placing a marker on the ground next to a cigarette butt and snapping a few pictures. She stood up, turning back to the officer to make sure he was still there. "You alright?"

He waved his hand, still bent over next to the car.

Shaking her head, she turned back to work. Walking farther down the parking lot, she stopped at a skid mark on the pavement. 'What are the odds this has anything to do with the case?" Setting down another marker, she snapped the pictures anyway, hearing Gil's voice echoing through her memory.

'The longest part of any case is weeding out what actually matters from what is there."

Once again, she glanced back at the officer, noticing that he had moved from his hunched over position and was now leaning against the back of the vehicle. She had only taken a couple steps, when she heard him heaving yet again. She stood across the parking lot, near the small street that ran behind the businesses for delivery traffic and looked around, her eyes grazing a Styrofoam cup in a plastic bag. Her curiosity piqued, she walked over to the fire hydrant, pulling on her latex gloves on the way. Kneeling, she took a few pictures, picking up the bag and raising her eyebrows. Her eyes further opening when she felt the gloved hand clasp over her mouth, struggling until her world went black.

XOXOXO

"Grissom." He said shortly into his phone, the annoyance obvious at being interrupted from his work.

"Gil. Um…" Brass stuttered, not sure how to continue. "I need you to come to Flamingo and Koval. I've got a case…"

"I'll send Greg and Sara, I've got paperwork…"

Brass didn't let Gil finish. "You want this. Shit…" He muttered still not sure how to tell his friend what happened over the phone.

"Jim?" Gil sat fully upright in his chair, the paperwork forgotten. "What's going on?"

"Catherine was…" He paused again, still contemplating what to say.

"Catherine was what?"

"She's not here, Gil."

"She probably in her office. Need me to get her?"

"No Gil. She was here on a case. She's…." He stopped, not wanting to voice what happened.

Gil sat back in his chair, hard, not liking what the implication of Jim's unspoken words meant. He stood quickly, dropping the phone onto the hook and grabbing the keys he had previously thrown on the desk and ran out of the building. Seconds later, he was squealing out of the parking lot sirens blaring as he sped his way down the back roads towards Flamingo. Pulling out his cell phone, he glanced at the directory, punching the needed number.

"Sara." He responded when the phone was answered. "I need you at Flamingo and Koval now. I'll fill you in when you get there." Pressing end, he tucked his phone back in his pocket, steering around the traffic and slowing as he came to an intersection. Once sure the vehicles had all stopped for him, he accelerated.

Turning into the parking lot, he switched off the siren, quickly stopping just inside the lot. He pulled his kit from the space between the front seats and quickly jumped out of the car, glancing at all the commotion as he made his way over to Brass.

"Did you see anyone in the area?"

"No sir. It was just the two of us. I didn't see a thing. I only took my eyes off her for a couple of seconds."

"You're not supposed to take your eyes off of her ever. Your job is to protect her at the crime scene!" Jim took a deep breath, turning when he saw Gil out of the corner of his eye. He walked with him towards the initial scene, filling Gil in on the details. "Cath was here working on an anonymous nine one one. The officer over there was feeling a little ill, went back towards his cruiser where he uh… was sick."

"Just like what happened a few years ago." Gil remembered, his mind thinking back to the gash on Catherine's head, and hoping that was the worst she would suffer this time.

"She's been gone about twenty five minutes." Jim said, turning as he heard another car pulling into the parking lot.

Sara strode across the parking lot, glancing around as she joined the two men. "What's going on?"

"Catherine's missing." Gil said, the tightness of the words almost choking him. He didn't elaborate further. Simply moving forward, he looked at the work Catherine had done on the scene. He glanced at the markers as he walked forward. Once he had reached the edge of the parking lot he glanced down, swallowing hard as he saw her equipment neatly displayed on the ground. He crouched down, running a gloved finger over her name emblazoned across the front of her vest. Looking up at Sara, he nodded to indicate she should process the items.

Sara knelt at the evidence, inspecting the vest she had just watched Grissom caress. Noticing the white fiber, she grabbed the tweezers, picking up the evidence and sniffing before tucking it into a bindle. "Found a white fiber, smells a bit like alcohol." She called out, looking up to see Grissom crouched in front of the fire hydrant. Standing, she could see he had a bag in his hand. She walked over to him, frowning as she watched him examine the cup in the bag. "Why did you bag that?"

"I didn't. Found it like this. Look at the seal. It doesn't match Catherine's evidence tape. Her initials aren't on here."

"What is it?"

"A clue." Gil stood, taking the evidence with him and headed back to his vehicle.

Sara turned and watched him walk away for a second before quickly catching up to him. "What are you doing?"

"Taking the evidence back to my vehicle. I want it in a completely secure location." He stopped in front of Catherine's items, snapping numerous pictures of her vest, flashlight, markers and camera before gathering them in bags. Gil turned and walked back to the other side of the parking lot, leaving Sara to stare after him in wonder.

XOXOXO

Catherine blinked, trying to remember where she was at as her mind raced to remember what happened. She moved to wipe the strands of hair from her face, finding her hands bound behind her. She pulled roughly, wincing as she felt the restraints dig into the delicate skin on her wrists. She lurched to the side, trying to balance herself as the vehicle turned and started bouncing roughly as the terrain changed. Glancing around, she could make out that she was in the back of a vehicle, with the seats removed. She looked at the back hatch, the window revealing the darkness outside. Scooting closer to the hatch, she pulled her legs up to kick the window out. She screamed, as once again she felt the clothed hand clasp over her mouth and her world once again slipped into darkness.

XOXOXO

Sara climbed out of the dumpster, walking over to where Grissom was staring at the ground. "Dumpster's clean. Didn't find any signs of blood or anything else. What do you have?" She asked, glancing down to where Gil had been staring.

"Look at this. What's missing here?"

She looked harder, trying to see what Grissom noticed.

"There's no spatter." He told her. "Perfectly uniform pool of blood. It's like this was placed here."

"Why would you place…?"

"A lure."

"But how would they know Catherine was going to be here?" Sara asked.

"They wouldn't." Gil whispered, deep in thought. Shaking his head, he turned around to David. "David." He motioned him over to them.

"I'm so sorry, Gris. I should have gotten here sooner. I could have…"

"You don't know if it would have made any difference. We need you to focus on now. Get this over to Doctor Robbins. Fill him in on the urgency. I'll be there to talk to him soon."

David nodded and went to work.

"Gil."

He turned at his name, leaving Sara with David and walked over to Ecklie. "Ecklie."

"I got here as soon as I could. This is our number one priority tonight. Whatever you need, it's yours. Just do what needs to be done to get her back."

"Thanks Conrad." Gil replied, grateful he wouldn't have to butt heads with anyone to get what he needed. He was distracted as another vehicle pulled up to the scene. He grimaced as Warrick and Nick hopped out of the Denali, rushing over to him.

"We just heard. What can we do to help?"

Gil turned at the dog barking and motioned to the officers. "Nick, go over to my Denali. I've got Cath's, um… vest in there. Let the dogs get a whiff, then follow. See what you find."

XOXOXO

"What do you have, doc?" Gil asked as he stepped into the room.

"Tested the blood. It's not human. So I looked a little closer. Cecum. Probably dog entrails."

"Helps confirm the lure theory." Gil muttered, moving to leave the room.

"Gil…"

He stopped, turning around to face Al again. "I'm sorry about what happened."

Gil nodded, looking down.

"Her family been notified yet?"

"I'm just about to."

XOXOXO

Gil stepped into the break room, looking around the table, then shutting the door behind him and leaning back. "Tell me what we have so far."

"Trail from the scent dogs lead to a dry spot. I took measurements and worked it out with Hodges. Have a list of possible car models Cath might have been taken away in. After we're done in here I'm going to head over to PD, see if I can locate any vehicles on the list on any of the traffic cameras near the crime scene." Warrick informed him, passing a copy of the possible vehicles they were dealing with to the rest of the team.

"Good. Go ahead and start that, those cameras don't keep the video in the system very long I don't want you to lose any possible leads." Gil moved from his position, leaning against the door, and let Warrick slip past him. "What else do we have? Sara… did you find anything out about the cup?"

"I've dusted the bag, swabbed for epithelials. Just dropped the swab in DNA, Mia's working on it now. No prints on the bag."

"And the camera?"

Sara shook her head. "Nothing obvious on it. Just basic shots of the scene. Archie is analyzing it. Trying to see if he can make out any shadows or reflections that might have been missed."

"Okay." Gil nodded, his mind working overtime trying to make sense of everything they have so far. Without another word he stepped out of the break room.

XOXOXO

Gil pulled the Denali to a stop in the drive-way, staring up at the familiar house. Taking a deep breath, he climbed down from the vehicle and walked up to the door. He knocked lightly, not wanting to awaken the sleeping child he knew was in there.

The door opened and Catherine's mother came into view.

"Oh God! What's wrong? Where's my baby?"

He quickly pulled her into his arms, stepping further onto the porch and shutting the door behind them. "Lily…"

"She's dead isn't she. It's exactly how I told her this would happen."

Gil stared at the weeping woman, letting her sob into his chest. "Lily… she's not… she's not…" He didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to possibly lie to her. "Listen to me Lily. She's missing. That's all we know right now."

"Missing?" She sniffed, pulling back from his hold. "She's late all the time… maybe she just stopped somewhere."

Gil shook his head, grasping her hand. "She was working a case. We found her vest, her supplies… we're doing everything we can to find her."

"I know you are."

"Lindsey…"

"She's sleeping. I don't want to wake her if I don't need to."

Gil stared out into the street, taking a few moments to collect his thoughts. "Has anything happened lately? Has Cath mentioned anything, anyone, that might…"

"She hasn't said anything to me. Of course she rarely says much to me."

"Sam…"

Lily interrupted him before he could say anything more. "Don't. Unless you have no other options, I don't want him to know."

"I won't say anything for now. We've got some evidence from the scene running through the lab right as we speak. I'll see what we find out there. But if we come up blank I'm going to need to question Sam. See if anything he's been doing lately… see if there might be a connection."

"What's going to happen?"

"Right now, I'm going to go back to work. We're going to get her back Lily." He assured both himself and Catherine's mother. "We haven't heard anything yet from whoever took her. Hopefully we'll get something from them soon. Do you want me to get Nancy? I can…"

"No, I'll give her a call, tell her to come over here."

"Good. I don't want you to be alone right now. If you hear anything, anything at all, give me a call."

XOXOXO

to be continued