Not to insult anyone's intelligence, but just in case anyone doesn't know, Stockholm syndrome is what it's called when a hostage bonds with their kidnapper and starts to feel safe with them and actually enjoys their company. This doesn't happen here, but the term is used in passing and not explained, so I thought I'd explain in case someone never heard of it.
Now, finally the next chapter. I know you've all been waiting, so, with no adieu whatsoever, here is the next chapter of …
What It's Worth
By Goody
Eager to get to work on tracking down Nick and Greg's assailants, Grissom made the twenty minute drive to the lab in only fifteen. Throughout the entire drive Nick's cell phone never stopped ringing as he was bombarded with calls from co-workers, all wanting to know if he was okay and if there was anything they could do. He tried to be polite at first, and always brief, but after the twelfth or thirteenth call he simply stopped answering. He knew they all wanted to offer him support and say they'd be there for him, but all their words were so heartfelt that it made Nick face his own emotions, which was something he didn't want to do. He needed to focus on a task, on working, which was why he was quick to follow Grissom into the lab once they arrived, eager to find the bastards responsible for all the emotions he was denying.
They had filled in the rest of the lab on the details of what had happened and been working for almost half an hour when an unenthused Brass found them, clearly bearing bad news.
"We may have a problem," he announced as he walked into the AV lab where Archie, Grissom and Nick were preparing for the ransom call. He didn't look happy at all, in fact there was clear evidence of simmering anger beneath the surface of his stoic cop persona.
"What kind of problem?" Grissom asked.
"Come see for yourself," Brass sighed, motioned for them to follow him and led them to the break room where he turned on the TV. "I think we have a leak in the department."
"What?" Nick said, disbelieving, but quickly turned his attention to the shocking story the morning news reporter was relating.
"We have breaking news that the police may be in the midst of negotiations with suspects from this morning's north end killings to ensure the safe return of a kidnapped crime scene investigator, Gregory Sanders, that went missing earlier this morning. The Las Vegas police have yet to confirm or deny this report and it is not known at this time what exactly the ransom demands are for the investigator's return, but we have been told that it is not financially motivated and no money has been asked for. Sources also tell us that well known crime scene investigator, Nick Stokes, was also held for a short time and has been released unharmed. We will have more on this story as it develops."
Brass was obviously disturbed as he turned off the TV just as Nick and Greg's pictures were replaced with photos of a recent car crash. Grissom's mind seemed to be processing what he just heard, weighing it against all factors in the case, and Nick was fuming.
"Oh my god! How the hell did this happen? Greg's life is at stake here, who could have leaked to the press?" Nick shouted, angry and terrified that someone in the department could care so little for Greg's life that they would talk to the media. They all knew that if the kidnappers felt unsafe or like they were being hunted it could be very dangerous to Greg's safety.
Brass held up his hands, trying to calm Nick down, "Hey, your guess is as good as mine, a lot of people know about this, in the lab and the PD. I've already got some guys on their way to the news station to find out where they got their information. We'll find out what happened."
"And until then, those madmen are gonna see this, think we're trying to scare them out and panic. Damn it!" he shouted. "What kind of idiot would … oh shit." He groaned.
Grissom studied him, "What's wrong?"
Nick shook his head at his own stupidity, "I might have verified part of that story. Shit."
"What do you mean?" Brass asked, directing a bit of his frustration towards the Texan.
"I … I got a phone call about twenty minutes ago, unknown name. A woman asked me if I was all right after what I'd been through with the Waller suspects. I assumed it was another cop, just a well wisher, you know. I told her I was fine and I had work to get back to and let her go," Nick explained, feeling extremely ridiculous. "I can't believe I didn't even ask who it was."
"It's okay Nicky, it's not your fault," Grissom assured him, knowing he didn't need any more stress on top of what he was already feeling. "They obviously got their information somewhere else if all you verified for them was your well being."
"Still Gris, they're not going to trust us after this. Whoever's responsible for this just doubled the danger Greg's in," Nick reminded them.
"Well, I have some of my best men on it, hopefully they'll find out something soon, as long as the reporter's smart enough to not try to protect her sources," Brass said.
"Aren't they not allowed to run …"
Nick was interrupted by Warrick, who walked in smiling hesitantly, "Hey, we think we got the disk. What's wrong? You didn't get the call already did you?"
Nick shook his head, "No, we haven't heard from them. Someone leaked the kidnapping to the press though."
"What? Who?" Warrick demanded.
"We don't know, but my guys are working on it. I'll let you know as soon as we find anything," Brass promised, heading for the door, clearly busy. "I'll check back a little later."
"Thanks Jim," Grissom said as he left, knowing he was doing his best.
When it was just the CSIs left there was a moment of contemplative silence, until Warrick suggested, "You guys want to see what's on this disk that's so important?"
"Yeah," Nick replied, anger leaking out over his worry. "Let's find out why these bastards want it so bad."
Archie, Sara and Catherine were all waiting in the AV lab when Warrick, Nick and Catherine walked in with the disk, everyone was tense and eager to work on something, anything to make them feel like they were making a difference.
"Hey Nick, how you doing?" Catherine asked when they came in.
"I'm fine," Nick assured them. "I just wish I was doing more right now, you know."
"Yeah," Catherine understood, they all felt a little useless on this one.
Taking the disk from Warrick and placing it in the drive, Archie suddenly felt very nervous with such a large crowd looking over his shoulder. Not that he could blame them, they were all worried about Greg, and wanted to know just what they were trading him for.
The disk started up, but when Archie tried to open the contents they hit their first wall.
"I don't suppose we have the password?" he asked hesitantly. The group seemed to sigh collectively.
"No, we don't," Grissom answered.
Archie nodded but was not hopeful, "Well in that case, this could take awhile. Mark Waller was a software genius, whatever he has on here is password protected and probably encrypted on top of that."
"Can you do it in two hours?" Nick asked, looking at his watch.
"No, definitely not," Archie replied immediately. "Maybe five, six. That's if I used Waller's own software, which he of course would know how to bypass. If that doesn't work then it may be impossible."
"Don't bother then. They're calling in a little over an hour and will probably want this as soon as possible. We'll just have to give it to them without knowing what's on it," Nick decided.
"Nick, we don't know what's on here," Sara pointed out.
"Yeah," Warrick agreed, "It could be people's bank accounts, blackmail information, computer …"
"I don't care if it's directions to nuclear silos, we're giving it to them," Nick insisted.
"Nicky, calm down," Catherine requested, stepping closer.
"No, look, these guys have proven they're willing to kill for whatever's on this thing and they're going to know if we give them a fake. I say we just give it to them, get Greg back and worry about the consequences later," Nick replied.
"We have to at least try to …" Grissom was interrupted by three rapid beeping sounds. Everyone turned to see the source was the cell phone on the table beside Nick. The kidnappers weren't scheduled to call for more than an hour and that hadn't sounded like a ring tone, but Nick still rushed to flip open the cell as quickly as possible.
On the high tech LCD screen, an envelope flew by with an arrow. The text below confirmed it: One New E-mail.
Nick didn't know if it'd be relevant but he couldn't remember Greg getting emails on his phone before.
"It's just an email," he announced. Then he licked his lips, swallowed and added, "I'm gonna open it."
He scrolled to New and hit Enter. The text of the email opened on the screen: Saw the News, not very subtle. A little incentive. D&M.
The return address read as unknown. Nick felt everyone trying to peer over his shoulder.
"D and M?" Sara asked.
"Dallas and Memphis," Nick replied. "That's what they said to call them."
"What was on the news?" Sara asked for all of them.
"Someone leaked the kidnapping to the press, it was just on the morning news. They used Nick and Greg's names and linked the suspects to the Waller killings; Brass is looking into who it may have been that talked. He's going to get back to us," Grissom answered, still staring at the phone like the rest of them.
Archie pointed to the bottom of the small screen, "Nick, there's an attachment."
"Yeah, I know," Nick said after a pause. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he hit enter and a JPG file opened, filling the screen.
Everyone cringed at the sight, heart clenching. It was a picture of Greg, taken from a slightly side view. His head was down and his arms were pulled around the pole. It was clear the bruises on his face and neck had started to darken significantly and there was a small cut still bleeding on his forehead. He looked miserable but they couldn't tell if he was conscious with the tape over his eyes and in some way each of them hoped he wasn't.
Perhaps worst of all was the sign. A sheet of cardboard with a piece of string looped through it hung around Greg's neck with 'Help Me' written across it in black marker and a smiley face with X'ed out eyes underneath. It was a cruel mockery put there by Dallas and Memphis, and almost would have been funny if the situation wasn't so serious; instead it managed to be heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time.
"Oh god," groaned Catherine.
"Bastards," Nick whispered, shaking his head. He didn't think they would have been treating Greg like a king or anything, but he had hoped for better than this.
As most of the team kept their eyes locked on the picture, shocked into deep concern for a few moments, Grissom immediately took charge, snapping them all out of their stupor.
"Nick, give the phone to Archie, we need a trace of that email, now. These guys may have just made their first mistake," Grissom announced.
After he broke the silence everyone went on alert and seemed to realize this would probably be their only break.
Nick eagerly handed the phone over, grateful for any reason to no longer look at the results of one of his best friends being terrorized by two psychopaths, "Yeah, here Arch."
The lab tech took it and immediately started plugging it in and hitting keys.
"Okay, this could take a few minutes," Archie said as he worked.
Grissom wasted no time handing out assignments, "Nick, stay here, see what he comes up with. Archie, when you get a chance, send that picture to the photo lab. Sara, you're with me, we're going to study that picture pixel by pixel for anything that might tell us where Greg is. Warrick, Catherine, work on those names, Dallas and Memphis, see if you get any hits for anything related to the Wallers."
"On it," Catherine promised as she and Warrick walked out.
"Sara," Grissom bid her to head next door. She nodded, left and it was just Grissom, Nick and Archie. Nick was visibly upset, more so than the rest of them, and was trying to hide it; Grissom took him aside, "We're going to find him Nick, these guys just gave us a huge lead and we'll use it."
"I know, don't worry I'm fine. Go, see what's in that picture," Nick suggested, not wanting to look at it again himself. Grissom patted his shoulder and went and did just that.
The entire team worked as quickly as possible but also efficiently, scared to overlook or miss anything that could lead them to Greg. They felt every second tick by and it was almost impossible not to watch the clock, but they managed to stay focussed, on task, and work on their leads.
Twenty minutes before the ransom call was set to come in, the team held a meeting to discuss what they had been able to find in the short time they had with their evidence.
"The name Memphis or Dallas didn't come up in any records relating to the Wallers or their company," Catherine began, "Nick was probably right and they're made up, maybe totally unrelated."
"Instead we're focussing on any enemies the Wallers had as well as who could have possibly obtained their security codes and how. So far it hasn't turned up much, but we'll keep looking," Warrick added.
"Good. Nick, did you get any trace from the email?" Grissom asked.
"Nothing. You'd have to ask Arch for the specifics but they used a randomizing USP, pretty much impossible to trace where it was sent from. Archie said he might be able to track down the email account info though, it's more accessible," Nick replied, clearly disappointed.
"Well, the picture didn't give us much to go on either," Sara started, opening up a folder with enlarged sections of the photo which she passed out. "We couldn't find any names or characteristic markings in the background that might tell us where Greg is. The only thing that seemed helpful was this section here."
"It looks like part of the wall's missing," Warrick noted, looking at the photograph.
"Yeah, that's what we thought. And right here, those look like molding rods. We think wherever they're holding him, it's still under construction or in the middle of some kind of repair job," she explained and everyone agreed it was a plausible assumption.
As the team discussed getting a list of current construction sites in Vegas, Catherine was staring at the original picture, her brow furrowed. There was an anomaly in the photo she couldn't explain, "Why is he wet?"
"We have no idea," Grissom admitted, having already pondered the question. "There's nothing in camera view that would indicate a water source or a need of one and it hasn't rained anywhere in Nevada in the last few hours, so that rules that out."
They sat in silence for a moment, wondering if this was relevant, if it could give them a needed break, and then Nick cleared his throat.
"It might not mean anything," Nick said, not making extended eye contact with anyone. "Memphis, the bigger guy, he seemed to really enjoy tormenting Greg, he wouldn't stop the whole time. It seems like something he'd do, just drench him for no reason other than making Greg uncomfortable."
Everyone nodded and accepted this, understanding that Nick knew these men better than any of them.
"Did Brass find out anything about the news leak?" Sara asked.
"Just that it was called in anonymously a little after 5. News company didn't trace it, so Brass is getting the phone records. If that's everything we should get back to work," Grissom suggested looking at Nick. "Get ready for that call."
The team filed out slowly, not enthused by how little they had found. It was fifteen minutes until the instructions for the switch were to be made and they were busy setting up the recorders and tracking devices so they could chase down every clue left for them.
Far across town, Dallas and Memphis were preparing as well.
"If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning.
I'd hammer in the evening …"
Greg lifted his head and held back a sigh of annoyance. Memphis must have been really bored again because this was the fourth song he had resorted to singing. Greg had heard Dallas leave almost twenty minutes ago, and though he was beyond relieved that Memphis hadn't decided to use him for his entertainment again, he also wished the other man would return. Over the last few hours it became obvious that in the long run, Dallas was in charge and he would never have let the horrible singing go on this long.
In that instant one of his prayers was answered; if only it had been the one about being back home in bed. Instead, Dallas returned and things began happening.
"Hey, you want to shut it? It's time to make a call," Dallas announced, walking across the room towards Greg. "I hope they got my picture, I really think I captured your good side. That's important for a big TV news star like yourself."
Behind the duct tape, Greg cringed. They had explained what they were doing as they had taken and sent the picture after hearing the morning news, and Greg did not like the thought of his closest friends and co-workers seeing him like this. And judging from the way he had heard Memphis laughing he didn't think he wanted to know what the kidnapper had hung around his neck.
As for him being on the news, that information surprised him; he had no idea why the cops would let the story go to press. Even as a CSI level 1 he knew that, that was usually endangering in hostage situations and very risky and he could only hope that the police had their reasons.
A beeping drew his attention a few feet away, like the buttons on a phone being pressed, and Greg could feel Memphis and Dallas were close by. It seemed there was some sort of call to be made and Greg listened closely.
The tapping wasn't annoying Grissom. In fact, the steady repetitiveness allowed him to easily drown it out if he wanted, but even if he didn't hear it, Nick would still be doing it.
The cell phone was on the table, cords running from it into the computers for the fastest trace possible, and Nick was sitting directly in front of it, staring at it and tapping a quarter against the tabletop. It was just a normal quarter, taken from his pocket, and Nick knew it was only worth twenty-five cents, because it was only made in 1986 and it had no special engravings on it. He also knew the average cost to make a quarter was five cents and more quarters were made every ten days and he knew all this, because Greg had told him. The closet coin aficionado, he had a collection that was worth a pretty penny, but that he would never sell because he loved it. And right now that quarter was Nick's only connection to Greg, at least until that phone rang.
"Nick."
Grissom's voice startled him from his thoughts and he sat up straighter.
"Yeah."
It was Brass that spoke to him next, off Grissom's cue, "Look, you have to be calm when they call. Whatever they say, try not to get upset, just get straight to the point. Ask when and where to make the switch and try to get them to let you talk to Greg. If you get a chance hunt around for clues on who they are, where they might be, anything you can think of. Just be cool."
"Thanks Jim, I'll try," Nick promised, rummaging up a smile to let everyone know he was okay.
"You'll be fine," Brass said confidently and then sat down next to Grissom. There were only four of them in the room, too many people would cause chaos and the rest of the team had agreed to wait in the break room for news on what was happening. Nick would be on the phone, handling the kidnappers, Grissom and Brass had headphones to listen in and offer suggestions and Archie was next to them. He wouldn't be listening but working on tracing the call as quickly as possible.
Nick looked at the clock, 7:43 AM. In two minutes the call would be late.
The phone rang.
Nick stared at it for a moment, breathing suddenly much heavier. He turned to Archie, who nodded he was ready, and Grissom and Brass put on their headphones.
Another ring. Nick breathed and picked it up.
"Stokes."
"Cowboy, that you?" The voice belonged to Dallas, at least the tone and structure did, but it was a little off, like he was using some kind of voice changer. Nick nodded and tried to find something to focus on while he talked.
"Yeah, it's me. I want to talk to Greg," he said calmly, not demanding but negotiating. "We don't talk unless I know he's okay."
"Well, you are very straight to the point aren't you? That's fine. As for proof of life, I did send you a picture of your boy, I took it myself."
"That doesn't prove he's alive, it proves you've got him tied up somewhere with duct tape on his eyes. I want to talk to him," Nick said again, his tone slightly harsher but still not demanding. He turned around and was not encouraged by the way Archie was shaking his head as he worked. Grissom and Brass were listening closely and encouraged him to keep going.
"Yeah, it was enough to break a mother's heart wasn't it? But I can see where you're coming from. I'll let you talk to him in a second, but first I want to know if you found the disk, or else I don't talk."
"We found it. It was upstairs like you said and we're ready to trade for it, but I want to talk to Greg first," Nick insisted again. He thought he may be pushing too hard but Brass assured him he was doing the right thing - it was important to talk to the hostage as soon as possible, or else the kidnappers would just give the drop instructions and hang up and you would never know if the person was alive.
"Yeah, he's right here. Keep it short Greggo, cowboy says he's got other things to do," Dallas taunted, barely audible as the phone was moved.
"Nick?" It was Greg. His voice was hoarse and shaking, barely audible, but he was alive. Nick's mind seemed to go blank with relief - he almost hadn't expected it to be him.
"Greg? Greg, are you all right?" Nick asked quickly, finding it very hard to stay calm at this point.
"Yeah. Yeah Nick I'm okay."
"All right, you have to stay that way, you hear me? We're all working on finding you and we're going to get you back real soon, so you just stay strong, okay? We're coming."
"I know, thanks Nick. But anytime soon would be great," Greg was whispering now. "I have such a major anti-Stockholm situation on my hands right now it's not even funny."
"I know. We're coming. We're doing our …" Before Nick could produce anymore assurances, Greg's voice came back on the phone, panicked and afraid.
"Ah! Wh...what are you doing? Let me go, please. Wait." The phone had been pulled away from Greg's ear but Nick could still hear his pleas far too clearly, like he was struggling with someone.
"Greg? Greg what's going on? Greg, can you hear me!" Nick was shouting now, but the volume of his voice was nothing compared to what followed on the other end.
There was a loud bang, not a gun but something metal, followed by a sickening crunch and then,
"Ah!"
The loudest, most pain-filled scream Nick had ever heard in his life. He couldn't speak as it resonated through the phone, tearing at his soul. In fact, he nearly dropped it as he fell into the chair behind him with distress. Tears threatened to come, but Nick fought them - listening, waiting, his anger and fear rose.
"No! God damn it, stop!" he yelled, but doubted anyone on the other end could hear him over the tormented wailing.
The scream seemed to last forever and Nick considered hanging up rather than listening, but it eventually died out to be replaced by muffled groaning and gasping sobs.
"Greg?" Nick said in a whisper, not knowing what kind of reply he expected.
But Greg couldn't speak because Dallas still had the phone, and wanting to make sure his point got across, he nodded to Memphis again.
Another metal bang, the horrible crunch and a second, somehow louder, scream of anguish.
"Oh God." This time Nick did drop the phone, unable to listen, and dropped his head in his shaking hands. Behind him, Grissom and Brass felt the same, but stayed focussed. Brass kept listening, waiting for the kidnapper's voice to return, while Grissom pushed his headphones around his neck and moved to touch Nick's shoulder.
Nick startled and turned, and Grissom could see the outline of tears, but he did not have time to offer comfort.
"Nick, you have to pick it back up. I know it's hard, but we still have to talk to them; we don't know where to go yet to get Greg back," Grissom said softly but firmly.
Nick closed his eyes, at first reluctant, but nodded, "Yeah, I know." And picked the phone back up.
Greg was no longer screaming, but there was a loud moaning and choked crying.
"Greg?" Nick asked again, stronger, but Greg would be doing no more talking.
Dallas came back on the phone, "Well, he's quite the screamer, but you probably already knew that, didn't you Cowboy?"
Nick cringed and was exhausted by his fear and anger, "What did you do to him?"
"Oh, he'll be fine, it's nothing life threatening. It's not like you need ten usable fingers anyway," Dallas chuckled, obviously enjoying his work.
"Why, you bastard? He didn't do … God, we're giving you the disk anyway," Nick was flustered with his lack of understanding of these monsters. He was totally amazed with their cruelty.
"Just making sure you understand we mean business. So, let's get down to it. You, come alone, to the Eckleton Manufacturing Plant on Southwick, in two hours, it'll be empty, it's been closed for years. Bring the disk, and as I said, I'll know if it's fake. Once I make sure it's the real thing, you'll get Greggo back, no harm no foul. See you in two hours."
"Wait!" Nick called out, but they were gone. "Damn it all to hell!" He threw the phone away, his emotions overpowering him, and turned to Archie, "Anything?"
Archie was slow to turn around, "Sorry, these guys must have some high end equipment. They bounced their signal off three satellites, no chance of a trace."
"Shit," Nick exclaimed, standing up and pacing, hands through his hair, "God, I can't do this."
"Nicky …" Grissom stood up to try to calm him, but Nick kept his distance, not wanting to be touched.
"Don't, okay Grissom, just don't. You heard the same thing I did … the same screams I did. I don't know how you can just stand there and be calm and not pull your hair out or hit something. Maybe this is just another case to you, maybe you just don't care about Greg at all, but I do Grissom and I can't do it anymore. I can't just sit here doing nothing. I watched them take him, I listened to them hurt him, next I'm probably going to talk them into killing him. I can't. I just …" he lost his steam by the end and even people in the hall were staring. Nick felt trapped in the lab and started to leave, needing to feel free and in control of something.
"Nick," Grissom called as he took his shoulder. Nick stopped but didn't turn around, just sighed deeply, emotionally. Grissom understood the stress and kept it brief, "You may feel as useless as the rest of us right now, but remember, you're the one who'll be doing something. You're going to get him back."
Nick listened to this and seemed to understand what Grissom was saying, but then he shook his head and walked away; he still had a lot to figure out and not much time to do it in.
When Nick stormed away Grissom turned to Brass, who was graciously waiting for the supervisor to coordinate their next move.
"Jim, would you mind bringing my guys up to speed? They're waiting in the break room," Grissom requested.
Brass nodded, understanding why Grissom wouldn't want to be the one to tell his team what had happened.
"Yeah, no problem."
When Brass was almost at the door Grissom caught his attention when he added.
"Need to know basis, Jim."
The resonating scream of agony was still replaying fresh in each of their minds.
Brass nodded again.
They both understood what the others didn't need to know.
This was the worst pain Greg had ever felt. The lab explosion should have been worse by far, he had been severely burned after all, but he honestly couldn't remember much of what had happened that day - the hospital was the first clear memory in his mind after the smell of burning plastic.
But now as he laid awkwardly on his side, arms handcuffed behind him and willing himself to breathe normally, he knew it was the worst pain he'd ever known. His left hand was holding on tightly to his right wrist, to keep his injured hand from moving. It was strange how he had been so relieved to talk to Nick and it had gone so bad. He hadn't known what was happening when Memphis suddenly grabbed the handcuff chain and pushed down until his right hand was flat on the ground, but when that heavy metal hammer connected with his hand, crushing his finger, he knew what they were doing. They were making sure Nick brought the disk, and his pain was Nick's incentive. And then they did it again. He didn't know if Memphis had been supposed to, or just wanted to, but it was done either way and the pain had been overpowering.
The two fingers felt more crushed than broken and he prayed he wouldn't lose use of them.
Could you still be a CSI with eight fingers? He wasn't sure, but he hoped so. He hoped to be alive at the end of the day too, but that was seeming less likely as well.
Dallas had walked away as soon as the phone call was ended, he had things to prepare, but Memphis straggled behind, smiling as Greg lay gasping on the floor. Greg knew he was there, watching, but still couldn't bring himself to sit up.
"If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning," Memphis sang again, laughing as he kicked Greg in the leg to get a reaction, "Come on stud, suck it up."
Greg grunted and struggled to keep his throbbing fingers still. His pushed his forehead into the floor and decided he would not let himself cry even though Memphis wouldn't be able to see the tears.
"You know it could have been a lot worse. I had lots of tools to choose from, screwdrivers, wrenches, hacksaws. I'd say you lucked out with the hammer really," Memphis taunted as he continued to look down on his latest victim. Then he added cheerily, like a grade student with a great idea, "I know, I'll go get all those things and we'll test some stuff out. Find out what you like the best and stick with it."
"Go away," Greg whispered, pleading and ordering at once. "Haven't you done enough? Just leave me alone." The last part was said in pure exhaustion; he had no more strength to be scared.
He heard the fabric rustle that meant Memphis was kneeling down. Greg tensed and moved his head more towards the floor, but Memphis just leaned close to Greg's ear and told him quite seriously, "Even if we let you go, we'll never be gone."
Laughing again, crueller than before, Memphis crushed his heel into Greg's broken fingers and then walked away as well, enjoying the retreating sounds of pain. Greg curled in on himself and sobbed as silently as possible - he knew it was true.
TBC
You know who's amazing? My reviewers!
Hikaru Kosuzaku – lol, please, no crying, there's new chapter goodness to hopefully hold you over. I don't know how helpful it will be though, especially since Greg's still in trouble and Nick's beating himself up worse than ever, muhahahaha. But you asked for it, I did deliver. Enjoy!
Rozzy07 – My goodness, that review kinda scared me just a little. There's a little bit of Memphis stuff planned for the future of course, but there's also a little twist that I won't give away which kind of changes the way the angst is portrayed. I know that sounds kind of weird, but I think you'll all like it. But the love pats definitely continue. And as for my lunch, I don't have to worry for a little while. One of my bosses is away on holidays and I get to use her computer which has internet. Yeah! I'm not hungry! I'm kind of slacking off, but I'm not hungry!
DaisyAngel – 'angst rollercoaster' that's great. Very cool description. Yeah, Nick is beating himself up quite badly, and it only gets worse really, which is fun. Glad you like how Warrick found the disk, I've been told it actually happened to a few people.
FrodoLijactress – lol, that's actually kind of funny, you skipped dinner to read this chapter and I had skipped my lunch to post it. It's like a weird karma thing. Thank you for your nice words, and yes, there is lots and lots of Greg angst to come.
Emmithar – Yes, you are rather choiceless as to when you get updates, I suppose, but I do appreciate the willingness to wait. Hmm, feel worse for Nick. I can see where you're coming from, but Greg's got it pretty bad too. Then again I might just think that because I know what's going to happen. insert evil grin Back to life threatening injuries, well, I've got something a little different planned. even wider evil grin Just wait!
Guardian6 – May I say welcome to the CSI fandom, it's good to have you here, I hope you're enjoying yourself. As for Greg fics, there's a lot of good ones if you look, but there can never really be enough for sure. Thanks for all your kind words and for reviewing. Welcome again and I hope you find some stuff you like.
Kenzimone – I agree, no more speaking of Memphis as a schoolgirl. So wrong! As for the disk being in the drive, it was actually inspired by real life so I'm not surprised it happened to you too, although that is very cool that it did. Coincidental and all. I lost my digital camera installation disk and sure enough it was in the drive, last place I looked. Wow, I never even considered lighting Greg on fire, that just would have been cruel as all hell, and not make for great imagery. I think Greg being on fire and blown up once in his life is enough, I'll just torture him physically if that's okay. I'm glad you mentioned the 'rock and country' line, it was definitely one of my favorite parts in the chapter. Even though I wrote it, every time I read it I still think 'that's so cute', so I'm glad you liked it too. Hmmm, you like Memphis? I can understand not liking Crane (he was slimy and more insane psychotic as opposed to just liking pain psychotic like Memphis). To each their own I guess though, I still think I'll just stick with Greg. Anyway, enjoy your milkshake, each chapter can be like a free refill.
Rojaji – well, as Greg once said, I think it's kind of like a 'one slave, many masters' kind of thing. I love writing but I also love reading the responses from people like you, so it's really great to be a slave I guess. And I didn't miss lunch today, so it's okay. Thanks for reviewing.
Rikkairora – I can promise you'll be happy then because there's angst involved with everything. As for the disk, you might not believe this, but I'm not even sure what's on it yet. I haven't written that chapter yet and am deciding between three different things, so I guess it's a mystery to everyone.
Jackie – Ah, thank you so much for that great review. I'm glad you were blown away and that the characterizations are on target, that gets to manage sometimes. It's always good to hear I'm doing it well. Thanks again and I hope I can continue to keep you on the edge of your seat.
New creation – Oh yeah, I watch CSI reruns galore! I own season 3 on DVD and spike tv shows 2 episodes a night back to back, so I get a lot of CSI watching in. Ah, thank you so much, I do take great pride in my characterizations, so it means a lot that people appreciate them. As for responding to reviewers, it's the least I can do. You guys all mean so much to me, I can't just pretend you don't exist. So thank you for reviewing.
And thank you to everyone else as well, it's a pleasure writing for you all.
Many wonderful and heartfelt thanks to all my other reviewers as well Footymad, HauntedPast, foursidedtriangle, cindy, robinyj, James' Grl, SilverBlood666. Sorry I don't have time to respond to you all.
Yes! My second favorite chapter so far. My first favorite you ask? The next one. Hope to catch you all there, and thank you all for reading and reviewing. I thought I had the most fun writing this thing as possible, but you people just make it all that much better. Many thanks, and later days, Goody.