Summary: A serial killer comes to town on the boy's night to work. Things don't go calmly for Nick or Warrick when the killer decided to not play nice.

Disclaimer: This is all written in fun and trial for something new. Everything CSI is not mine and never will be. It belongs to the creative talent of the actors, the writers, the directors, and producers. I am not making any money off of this. Only meant to offer something new on something already so great. No reason to sue.

Author's Note: I think I found the secret to getting the most reviews out of people. Hurt the guys! Sadly though, neither of them is in this chapter! I know, yell at me if you will, but trust me, it will be worth it when it's over. You have no idea how happy I am that you all love the relationship I have tried so hard to capture with Nick and Warrick. As I am not a male, I was just going off what I have seen on the show and how my two guy best friends act. But anyways, enjoy this chapter even though it is mostly case work. I promise the guys will be back and they will not be happy about it. So, see everyone about…Sunday. Bye!

Breath for me

Written by: duffshel

#12

Greg couldn't seem to move fast enough to follow the orders that were barked at him by Grissom and Catherine. The girl's body had landed in an awkward position. People kept getting in his way as he tried to get as many angles for the photos as possible. They had a clear view of her face. Her eyes were open. And the pale skin was scratched up from where it hit the pavement.

The newest CSI had been as shocked as everyone else when one of the receptionists ran in the lab hallway, screaming about a body in the parking lot. He had been one of the first out the door and helped to keep people away. Robbins was outside almost right after him and took over with determining if she was really dead or not. She was, but not for a long time. Her skin was still warm to the touch.

"Greg, there are tire tracks over here. Get some pictures of them as well. And don't forget to marker them this time."

He jumped and looked to where Grissom was pointing. The head CSI had come flying to the scene in Brass' car. Both men had jumped out of the car and immediately took control. No one had questioned them. But everyone wanted to. The two had found something at the park.

Seeing that Greg was not going to move soon enough, Sara went up and took him by the arm. Never before had the CSI level 1 dealt with something like this, something this fast. There were still evidence of the killer left on her cooling body. They had to work fast.

"Just try to stay out of the way Greg. Don't do anything unless Grissom tells you to. They are going to get whatever they can."

Hodges ran out the entrance doors. He was hauling the emergency gas chamber kit. They had done this before on a case. The plastic unit was going to be constructed around the body and they were going to see if they could lift any prints from her skin.

Doc Robbins moaned as he pushed himself to his feet with his cane. He was really getting to old for the field aspect of being a coroner. But David wasn't back yet from a case across town that he was working with the day shift.

"Liver temperature is 97.2. She was killed within the hour."

Catherine and Grissom immediately began constructing the plastic tent. Hodges had disappeared back into the lab. No one heard what was yelled at him, but obviously the man himself understood it.

"I need everyone to stay back and watch where you walk. This scene is fresh. I want yellow tape tied up over the entire drive of this parking lot," Brass was instructing his officers on the case.

Almost at the same time the tent was up, Hodges once again threw open the glass doors. He tried his hardest not to stumble. Grissom would have his head if he stalled the process by dropping the black florescent dusting powder. He handed it off to his supervisor with the grace one would use to handle religious artifacts.

Catherine had the blower all set up and ready. She carefully dumped small amounts of the powder in as it was blasted within the plastic. Greg didn't know what to do with himself. He ended up taking some pictures of the process before he really knew what he was doing.

Sara smiled at the younger man. It was refreshing to have someone new on the team. She once again grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side. He walked heavily besides her, his eyes never leaving Catherine or Gil.

"Come on Greg. You need to get some pictures of the treads over here. It is important. You will learn all of this soon, but not tonight."

He nodded blankly at her, but did as he was told. A cop pointed him to the tracks and he places a yellow marker by it first. The white light flashed through the area.

The black powder covered the entire area of the tent. Once it looked to be settled, Catherine stopped adding the powder and turned off the blower. Grissom was already tearing open the casing. She reached behind her to her bag and pulled out her orange goggles. Once they were on her face, she pulled out her light. Grissom was doing the same thing.

"I will start from her feet Catherine. Meet you in the middle."

"Will do."

The air around the dead girl was thick. Everyone was holding their breath as they watched the experienced CSI's search her flesh for any signs of the killer. It was clear to all that she was strangled like the others. The only difference with this girl was that the front of her head was smashed in. It must have happened when she was shoved from the car. She was dead so there was still no blood.

Sara didn't know what to do with herself either. She had helped Greg along on his task, but there was nothing for her to do. With a sigh, she looked around the area. Several more cars had entered the parking lot. They had to be from the group that went to the first crime scene, the park. Sara spotted Brass and walked over to him.

"Hey Brass. Before this all happened, I was told there was some blood to work with from the park. Where is it?"

Jim turned and took a good look at the girl as she approached him. He knew she was itching to do something other than sit and stare. "The stuff is in my car. Gil just threw his entire kit in the backseat at the call. I don't think he separated it from anything."

The female CSI nodded her head and went in search of the car. She could hear Catherine yelling something to Grissom, but was too far away now to actually be able to see what was going on. Sara kept walking towards the squad car that Brass drove.

"Gil, I have partial here, on her cheek."

"Get a picture, then lift it."

Catherine turned on her heels to look behind her, "Greg! I need you here now!"

The young man ran over as soon as he heard his name called. He listened intently to what Catherine was saying and got in for the photo. Greg could feel his stomach jump at having to get this close to the girl. He would swear later he could feel heat still rising off her skin.

"Got it."

Catherine promptly moved him out of her way again and got back to work. She carefully taped the print and lifted it from the girl's face. This had to be Colleen Elich, the girl that was missing along with Heidi. But Catherine didn't dwell on that thought right now, she had to look for more prints. Neither she nor Gil found anything else on her skin.

"Alright. Let's get her inside. Doc, I want you to have her clothes sent to Greg for analysis. Catherine, I need you to stay out here and process the scene. I need to talk with Brass for a minute."

The two other CSI's took their instructions and assisted Robbins on getting the girl onto the gurney and into the lab. Grissom turned to look for where Brass had disappeared to. The other man was standing over by his car.

"Brass, I am going to look over the surveillance tapes from the cameras over the lot. I need you ready to run with anything I can get."

"Okay. I will also keep the area clear so Catherine can get what she needs."

Grissom nodded slowly. He was missing something, "Where did Sara run off to?"

"She came over and asked for the evidence from the park. I told her it was in your kit in the car. She took it all and headed into the lab."

"Good. I was going to have her start that anyways. Keep your phone clear. I will call you when I have something. Then you and I are going to find our guys."

Grissom walked away quickly. He needed to find Archie. There were three cameras that faced out over the parking lot in front of the lab. One of them had to have something from the killer's car. Archie would be able to get anything from those tapes.

He passes Catherine as she began to study the area the body had been laying in. She didn't acknowledge him in any way. The glass doors were already being held open for them. Grissom walked quickly towards Archie's lab.

!#$&()!#$&()!#$&()+

Sara got her test plate ready with the blood sample. It hadn't been too hard to find the swab in the messy kit. Grissom had thrown everything fresh right on the top then closed the lid. The blood rubbed onto the glass plate easily. She capped it off with the small square glass cover. The blood spread out under the pressure.

With the remaining sample on the swab, she placed the cotton end in a test tube filled with a clear liquid. It was dissolve the blood off and allow her to run it for DNA samples. She looked at her watch and counted off the mandatory minute before she pulled out the swab to set it carefully into another empty test tube. They couldn't afford to waste anything at this point.

She reached across the table and picked up a glass pipette. The liquid flowed up into the glass tube and Sara quickly transferred it to another, small test tube. This one would be placed in the centrifuge to separate the DNA stands from the dissolving liquid. The spinner made a small humming noise once it began to run.

Sara turned back to her microscope and placed the plate over the light source. She adjusted the controls and zoomed in close. The blood was clean. There was nothing foreign in the sample and it looked to be fresh. All the blood cells still had their round forms which indicated that they were not dehydrated as they would have been if they were older.

The centrifuge dinged and slowed. Sara watched it until its spinning completely stopped. Once it opened up, she grabbed her test tube and inserted it into the DNA reader. After tapping a couple keys on the keyboard, the machine started. In a minute, she would have a name to go with the sample if they were in the CODIS.

Sara watched her watch with even less patience this time. She wanted to know who it was that bleed on the grass. The printer startled her when it shot out a sheet of paper at her. The young woman almost dropped the paper in her excitement. Her jaw did drop though.

Her phone felt heavy as she flipped it open and turned on her speaker phone. It rang twice.

"Grissom."

"Grissom, its Sara. I ran the blood. It belongs to Nick."

!#$&()!#$&()!#$&()+

Archie was playing the tapes of the cameras outside the lab. Grissom really wasn't watching at that moment. He had gotten his camera back from Greg and was downloading the images from the media card into his laptop. When Sara called and told him the news, he really hadn't been too shocked at the news. But now he wanted to look at the picture of the spot again.

Several images were taking longer than others due to the amount of detail that had been captured. The ones from the park were towards the beginning of the card and were all ready to look at. Gil clicked on the different ones of the grass with the blood. The images were not large enough.

Grissom looked around at the table he was using. There were several cables laying in ready, but he needed the orange one. Once the USB plug was hooked in, Gil transferred the four images to the larger flat television screen to the right of the one Archie was using.

The video technician stopped his work to see what popped up on the other screen, "What is that?"

"These are the photos I took from the park where I found the blood. Sara just called and confirmed that it's Nick's."

Archie didn't make another comment. He wanted to get the guy's face even more now that he knew his buddies were caught in the mad man's web. All four cameras had different angles and one was set at wide lens. There was little overlap between the two of them, but for the amount not taped, a car wouldn't find there. He looked at the timer in the corner of the screen. Four more minutes to go through and he would be to when the girl was dumped on their doorstep.

The blood stain had a pattern now that Grissom had blow it up and adjusted the color balance and contrast to make up for the poor lighting at the scene. He reached his hand up and laid it on the image. It was a hand print. Nick had been leaning forward. The blood was from his arm. Gil left out the breath he didn't know he was holding. The wound was non-fatal.

"Hey boss, I found something!"

The tape was paused on a dark car with two passengers. Grissom waved Archie on and the man hit play again. They both watched as the car slowed down and the driver reached over the passenger. The door opened and a body fell out. The car actually stopped for a minute, then it sped off. Moments later, a woman began to scream and point from the doorway.

"Can you get the plates off it?"

"Already working on it."

Hodges used that moment to burst into the video lab. His hand was shaking the papers he clutched tightly, "Boss, I got some information on the guy."

"Leave it on the table. I will look at it in a moment."

Hodges nodded and left the room in a hurry. He did watch Archie at work through the glass as he jogged past. Archie used the mouse to pin point the back of the car. Camera three had the entire back of the car in its sights. Using some of the software hooked up to his equipment, Archie was able to bring the image into focus and blow up the plate number. He split the screen and also blew up the make and model.

"We have a Ford Taurus, Las Vegas plates, 881-VRK. Color seems to be dark blue."

"Alright. I will get the information out to Brass. My bet is that it is another rental."

Grissom walked out of the lab already on his phone. Brass took the information and would get it over the scanner. After hanging up, Gil was going to head to his office, but stopped at the sight of Sara sitting in the DNA lab with her face in her hands. He quickly walked into the room.

"Sara? Are you okay?"

She raised her head to show her puffy eyes and red nose, "Why does it always happen? Something always goes wrong for someone here in the lab!"

The head CSI moved behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. He could feel the slight tremor running through her body.

"We will find them. We have the car. It is only a matter of time."

"But what if we are already out of time? What if he killed them already?"

Grissom starred down at the top of her head, "If he killed them already, I think we would already know."

"What?" Sara whipped around to look her boss in the eyes.

"He seems like the type to show off. He would have given us their bodies already," Grissom lifted the papers he held in his hand.

"What are those?"

"They're the background papers that Hodges managed to pull up. They will give us some more information about this guy so we might be able to find him easier."

"Oh, okay."

More tears began to run down Sara's face. The two stayed there in silence. Greg's arrival to the room didn't get them to move at all. The young CSI walked slowly into the room. The air was thick. It made his heart hurt even more.

"I have talked to Catherine. We found nothing outside to lead to the killer other than the tire treads. Robbins just sent me the clothes. I will get to work on them right away."

"Thanks Greg. We have the plates from the car."

Greg smiled sadly. His two best friends were still missing, plates or not. He turned and walked out in silence. He didn't want his boss to see him cry.

TBC...