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. Many thanks to Jaclyn for betaing this for me. Thanks for the feedback on the first two chapters. I'm still a little iffy on this fic, so it's nice to know a couple people enjoyed it. This might be the next to the last chapter... still trying to decide if I want the story to end where I stopped it, so awaiting a second opinion at the moment.
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
Gil climbed out of his Denali, glancing down at his watch noticing he still had three minutes to spare. Quickly making the decision, he swallowed back any fears he may have had, grabbing the bag and cautiously making his way to the old warehouse. Climbing the rickety stairs, he glanced around, taking in his surroundings before opening the door. He stepped inside, slipping off his sunglasses, hooking them on his inside pocket, taking a moment to let his eyes adjust to his surroundings. He noticed the white Ford at his side, nodding as he realized Warrick had, in fact, figured out which vehicle Catherine had been in when she was taken. Setting the bag at his feet, he pulled out his flashlight, using it to look around the room and take in his surroundings.
"Las Vegas Crime Lab." He said aloud, hoping to get some sort of response.
"Through the door."
He shone his flashlight in the direction of the mysterious voice and noticed the door across the room. Picking up the bag, he cautiously moved across the room. His flashlight lit up a dog, dead on the floor, and he paused briefly before once again slowly moving across the room. He glanced at a box on the floor, his eyes quickly scanning the contents as he continued making his way to the door. He climbed the three stairs to the doorway and stepped through, stopping a good distance from the lone man in the room.
"It's pretty quiet outside. Almost sounds like you came alone."
Gil didn't give in to the goading in the man's voice. "I've got your money."
The man stood up, looking at Gil. "Put it down." He watched as Gil did as directed. Nodding, he spoke again. "Slide it over." He made his way around the table, watching as Gil kicked the bag his direction. Once the bag came to a stop, he walked over to it, glancing down. "You're telling me there's a million dollars in here."
"Yes."
"Along with what? I know there's something else in this bag. Dye packs. A tracer…a…"
"Normally you'd be right. One hundred percent right. But not this time. I just want Catherine back, no tricks. Where is she?"
He laughed, bending down to open the bag. Pulling out a stack of bills, he looked at it, then glanced back towards Gil. "This looks real."
"It is real." Gil stated quickly. "Where's Catherine?"
The man tossed the stack of bills back in the bag and stands up, wiping his hand across his mouth. "I thought it was against departmental policy to negotiate with terrorists?"
"Are you a terrorist?" Gil countered.
"Depends. Are you terrified?"
"I really don't want to talk to you. I just want my….I want Catherine back."
"Ah… I see now. So she's your Catherine."
He didn't argue, just wanting to get his information and leave. "She is. Where is she?"
"So tell me, just how close are the two of you?"
"That's none of your business. Where is she?"
"You know, as I was moving her unconscious body around I couldn't help but notice how attractive she was. My hands would sometimes seem to just have a mind of their own. I'm sure it was impossible to work with her and not let your mind and hands wander. How many times did you take that opportunity? How many times do you let your hands play over her body? How do you feel now, watching her gasp for breath in her coffin? Her body fighting the panic that wants to break free. The tears sliding down her cheek. How many times did you want to just reach out and brush those tears away, pull her body close to yours and shield her from the pain?" He watched Gil, his facial features and eyes conveying all the words his mouth refused to speak. "Welcome to my world." He muttered, unbuttoning his jacket.
Gil blinked, his eyes taking in the explosives wrapped around the man's waist.
"If I was you, I'd step back a little."
Gil took a step back, watching as the man fingered the trigger in his hand. Just as he was taking the second step, he saw the man press the button. Gil tried to move his hands over his face, but the force of the blast over took him in seconds. He felt himself being thrown backwards, grimacing as he realized the sickening crunch he heard was his head impacting the floor.
He slowly raised his head, closing his eyes as the dizziness over came him. He heard the sirens closing in on him and he forced his eyes open again. His eyes swept over the room, covered with the remains of the man as he heard footsteps come into the building. "Watch where you're walking!" He yelled, hoping the rescuers didn't ruin any evidence that may have remained. He sank back to the floor, letting the pain of the last few minutes overtake him.
"Are you alright?"
Gil opened his eyes, looking right into the eyes of a paramedic. "I'm fine." He grimaced as he felt the unfamiliar hands roam his body, searching for injuries.
"Nothing seems to be broken. There's a lot of blood though."
"I don't think most of it is mine." Gil muttered, watching the coloring leave the face of the paramedic. "Help me up." Gil slowly sat up, still feeling slightly dizzy as he moved. He gripped the hand of the paramedic, letting the man help pull him to his feet. Once up, Gil fully looked around, taking in the damage to the room.
"Come on. Let me get you out of here, there's some friends of yours outside wanting to know how you are doing." The paramedic walked past Gil, turning to make sure he was being followed.
Gil blinked as they stepped into the bright sun, letting himself be led over to the ambulance. He watched as the back of the ambulance was opened and Gil sat, allowing the paramedic to check over him.
"Pupils are even." The paramedic said to himself, noting the dazed look on Gil's face.
"He blew himself up and left us with nothing."
"Sir, are your ears ringing?"
Gil ignored the question, his mind still going over everything that had just happened.
Brass walked over to the ambulance, watching as the paramedic finished examining Gil.
"Sir, I think you need to be taken in to the hospital. Have a doctor check you over for…"
"I'm fine." Gil dismissed him. "I don't need a doctor. I need to get back to work. I need to find Catherine."
"Gil…" Brass interrupted. "You can't go in there. You know that. You are part of the evidence. I'll take you back to the lab. Come on."
Gil didn't put up a fight. He signed the paper the paramedic gave him, acknowledging his refusal for further evaluation. Once that was completed, he stood on shaky legs and followed Brass to the police cruiser. He sat in the car, staring straight ahead as Jim began the trip back to the lab.
Jim looked in Gil's direction once again, taking in the fact that the man's facial expression had yet to change since they began the trek back to the lab. Taking a deep breath, Jim decided to speak. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault."
"He didn't give me a thing. He never had any intention… I should have seen it coming. Damn it!" Gil screamed, pounding his fist onto the dash. "What am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to get her back?" He turned to Jim, not attempting to disguise the anguish in his eyes. "How am I supposed to go to Lindsey and tell her that I couldn't save her mother?"
Jim glanced over at Gil before turning his attention back to the road. "This isn't your fault. There's no way you could have known what he was planning on doing. You, and every other person in the lab and the police force, are doing everything humanly possible to find her. Something is going to break. I can feel it."
"You don't know that. We don't have anything."
"They will find something in that building. We just need to wait."
"We don't have time to wait for the evidence to come to us. Her time is running out, Jim. I'm going to lose her."
Jim didn't reply, he made the turn into the parking lot and pulled into one of the vacant spaces. "Come on." Jim opened the door and stepped out of the cruiser, heading into the lab. He didn't look back, knowing Gil would follow him when he was ready. He walked through the lab, finding Archie sitting in front of the monitor. He stepped through the door to join Archie in the room, nodding as Gil passed him and walked over to Archie.
"What's going on?" Gil asked, taking the chair next to Archie.
"Same as before." Archie told him.
"Do you mind staying a bit longer? I need to get this to evidence?" Gil asked, motioning to his clothing.
"Not at all. Take your time."
Gil walked out of the room, stopping in his office to grab a few bags and swabs before heading to the locker room. He moved to his locker, taking out a fresh change of clothing and went into the shower room, locking the door behind him. Carefully pulling off his clothes, he folded them neatly and placed them in the brown paper evidence bag. He took the swabs and smaller bags and set them on the shelf under the mirror. Realizing he no longer had a pen on him, he moved to the doorway, glancing down at his boxers. He unlocked the door and bolted over to his locker, spinning the lock and opening the door, hoping to retrieve the pen before anyone could enter the room. Opening the door, he grabbed the pen and shut the door, snapping the lock closed, moving back to the shower room and securing the door behind him. He moved back to the mirror setting the pen on the shelf next to the other supplies. Picking up the swab, he brushed it over a bit of the blood on his face before snapping the plastic case around the end. He put the item in the evidence bag and marked precisely where the blood was located. Continuing his work, he quickly gathered the evidence from his face, thankful that Nick had thought to take pictures of the injuries while the paramedics were completing their exam. He gathered the swabs and set them on the bench next to his bagged clothing. Moving across the room, he opened the small closet, taking out two towels and making his way to a shower stall. He hung the towels on a hook before removing the rest of his clothing. Folding the item, he put it on the small bench in the corner of the stall. Turning the knob, he stepping under the water, letting it scald it's way down his body before pumping out the industrial soap in the dispenser attached to the wall. Working quickly, he rubbed his soapy hands over his face and hair before rinsing the lather away. Moments later, he turned off the water, wrapping the bath towel around his waist and running the smaller towel over his hair. Picking up his boxers, he stepped out of the stall, placing the item in the evidence bag and pulling on his new clothes. Once finished, he gathered his evidence, leaving the room and stepping back into the hallway. He passed his clothes to DNA and moved down the hall, stepping back into the room with Jim and Archie.
"Anything new?"
"Nope." Archie replied, standing to stretch a kink out of the muscles in his back.
"Why don't you go take a break. I'll stay with her for a while."
Gil rubbed his eyes, watching the screen as Archie left the room, Jim quickly taking the vacant scene. The two remained quiet, watching Catherine on the monitor before them. They watched as the sweat formed on her brow, muttering something as she turned to the side. The site flipped back to the main page, and Gil slowly moved his hand over to the mouse, clicking the button to activate the site yet again.
XOXOXO
Catherine turned her head to the side, breathing deep as the fan once again clicked off. She raised her head slightly, frustration overcoming her features as the light once again shined upon her. Her hand settled to her side, digging in her pocket in hope. She smiled as she located the pack of gum she had slid into her pocket earlier that evening. She pulled a piece of gum out of the pack, chewing it slightly. Once it was adequately softened and most of the initial stickiness had worn off, she pulled the piece from her mouth, molding it slightly and putting it into her ear.
XOXOXO
Gil watched Catherine's movements with interest, trying to figure out what was going through her mind.
"What's she doing?"
Gil shook his head, his eyes focused on her movements. "I'm not sure." He told Jim, watching as she took out another piece of gum and repeated the process over again. His eyes widened as he saw the gun come onto the screen.
"She's protecting her ears…" Jim muttered.
Both of them leaned closer to the screen, watching as she checked the gun and disengaged the safety.
"What is she doing?" Jim repeated.
"She wouldn't protect her ears if she was planning on using the gun on herself." Gil said to assure Jim, and himself.
They watched as she cocked the gun and then the gun disappeared from their view.
"What are you doing Catherine?" Gil muttered, watching her face. He jumped at the sudden flash of light before the screen faded into blackness.
"What did she do?"
Gil didn't respond, his eyes searching for movement on the screen. A slight green light slowly lit the screen and Gil couldn't help the smile as he saw Catherine's face, her head turned to the side breathing deeply.
"The light must have been hooked up to whatever is supplying her oxygen." Gil realized. He nodded watching the triumphant smile on Catherine's face. She reached up and removed the gum from her ears, glancing at her now worthless gun and setting it back at her side.
"I hope you're trying to find me, Gil."
Gil watched her lips move, now thankful for his earlier hearing problems. "I am Catherine."
"What did she say?" Jim asked.
Gil turned to Jim, startled. "Sorry… um. She hopes we're trying to find her."
Jim nodded, watching Gil staring at the screen. He slid his chair back, turning to look at Gil. "I'm going to go see how Archie is doing. Make some calls."
Gil nodded, his eyes not straying from the screen as he watched her.
XOXOXO
Gil walked into the break room, looking at his co-workers. "Tell me we've got something."
"I found a thumb at the scene. Sent it to DNA. Mia ran it through codis and came up with a hit, sorta. Relation. We think it's his daughter." She passed the case file over to Grissom. "I contacted Brass. He had Kelly, the daughter, brought in for questioning. She didn't give us much. Interesting thing though… that address from the messenger. It wasn't random, that's the scene of Kelly's crime."
Gil looked up, taking in what Sara just said, and quickly searching through the case file. He found the list of evidence collected and looked up. "The cup wasn't random either. We need to find out everything we can about Kelly Gordon and her father." He looked over at Warrick and Nick. "What did you two find?"
"Well Greg discovered it first. After a little digging, we found a box. Looks like the one Catherine is in. Probably a prototype. We found a dog inside." Nick told Gil.
"We have the box set up down the hall." Warrick said. "We'll go back and look at it some more once we're done in here. There is an air vent in the box, a fan hooked up to it. So she's getting outside air, as long as the fan keeps running."
"And we don't know how much of the battery we drained keeping the damned light on her."
XOXOXO
to be continued
