United Airlines Flight 1542 to Miami
Day3- 5:00 AM
Passenger Cabin

The cabin of United Airlines Flight 1542 to Miami was stuffy and stale. Catherine really couldn't think of any other more descriptive words than that. It once again reminded her of how much she loved and loathed to fly—but that could wait for another time to elaborate on. Mac was pulling a file bearing the NYPD logo from the briefcase, and she focused her attention on him.

"Let's talk this out," Mac flipped the tray table in front of him down and placed the folder on it. "Last week, American Airlines overhauled their flight plans and rearranged the schedules and flight times of all of their employees, including Joseph Dalano. Instead of flying out of Miami at the beginning of the week, he starts in New York."

"Wait, wait," Stella's eyes narrowed, "that murderer has been in New York the whole damn time?"

"Yes. He flew in yesterday morning-on flight 1845." Mac's voice faltered. He glanced over at Grissom and Catherine, seated together next to Stella. Both of their faces betrayed their evident shock. "He was your pilot out of Miami. It explains how Donald Sinclair wound up dead, of course. Dalano got wind of the investigation and decided to end whatever connections he had to the Met, and the robbery he committed there."

Horatio, on Mac's left, frowned.

"We may be able to catch him," he said, "if we get to Miami before he does. His kidnap victim from New York must be dead by now, but who's to say that we can't get to him first?"

"Our chances of catching him in the airport are slim, H," Calleigh said. "He'll recognize us."

Stella smiled secretly to herself.

"He'll recognize you, that's true." She shot a look at Mac. "But he sure as hell won't recognize us."

They fell quiet. The fate of another woman now rested solely in their hands.

It was really too bad they had no clue what to do next.

Raleigh, North Carolina
Day 3- 5:45 AM
Raleigh-Durham International Airport

In all of his years, Gil Grissom had never been re-routed on a flight before. Never. He'd never really thought about the possibility of a storm brewing off the coast, or that said storm could potentially throw a wrench in their now carefully thought-out plans. Dalano would leave New York fifteen minutes from the time posted on the Departures screen, and the time frame they now possessed was slowly shrinking into oblivion.

More reason, he decided, to never rely on luck.

"Now what?" Catherine joined him in gazing up at the Departures schedule.

"There." Grissom pointed to the screen. "Flight 182. Six-thirty. We can still make it."

Catherine turned and jogged back to join Stella at the check-in desk. Horatio and Calleigh joined them, Mac and Grissom bringing up the rear.

"Hi, welcome to United Airlines. How may I help you?" The man behind the desk was balding, plump, with square glasses that looked in danger of slipping down his nose and a nametag that bore the name 'Frank'.

"Hi, Frank," Stella flashed a dazzling smile at the employee. What a time to turn on the charm, Mac mused. "My friends and I need six tickets to Miami on the six-thirty flight. Think you could help us out with that?"

Frank smiled and turned to the computer, punching keys in on the old computer. Stella could see the green text reflected in his glasses.

"I'm sorry. All we have are four first class tickets."

Stella felt her heart sink. They'd come all this way—and for what? All six of them needed to go. Not two, not four-six. All or nothing. They had made a vow when the teams had converged to stick together—she would stick to that promise. Stella was not a woman to go back on her word.

"Frank," Calleigh came up to the counter, accent soothing the flustered agent (the look on Stella's face had made his own face fall), "are you sure you can't squeeze us in?"

The man looked like he was seriously considering for a moment, the battle raging in his head whether or not to try and fit in the clearly desperate-but-holding-it-together people in front of him. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry, m'am," he sighed, "there's just no room."

Inside Catherine's own mind, another war was waging. The decision had to be made fast, ID or not. If they flashed the badges, there was a chance, however remote, that Dalano may hear of it and make a run for it. Now, or never.

"But," Catherine leaned into Gil, nudging her partner in the ribs to play along, "Frank, we just got married. All of us." Catherine trod pointedly on Stella's heeled toes. The curly haired woman cottoned on to the Vegas CSI's train of thought and quickly slipped her arm around Mac's waist.

"Yes," she grinned as Mac's arm slipped around her own waist, "we did. In New York. We have our whole trip planned out for Miami."

Calleigh jumped on the bandwagon as well and pulled Horatio's hand into hers, "So, please, Frank—check one more time?"

Frank exhaled slowly, taking in the group of 'newlyweds' in front of him.

"Well…we do two seats that haven't been accounted for since they were reserved…"

"Perfect!" Catherine grinned at the obviously pleased man. "We'll take them—and make it quick, will you, Frank? We simply can't afford to miss this flight!"

Miami
Day 3- 7:30 AM
Miami International Airport (MIA)

Horatio had known that the moment the group stepped off the plane, they would hit a crowd they could potentially lose Dalano in. Crowds were inevitable in Miami. They didn't bother Horatio—usually; today was an exception.

Today, they would catch a murderer.

"Shall we see which time out future little jailbird gets in?" Stella suggested. Mac agreed, and so she pulled him by the hand over to the Arrivals Information while Grissom, Catherine, Horatio, and Calleigh waited.

They could be married, Catherine mused. Gil, unbeknownst to her, was thinking the same thing.

The two's hands remained joined from when they'd left the plane, putting on the façade of newlyweds as well as the two 'couples' they were traveling with. Truth be told, neither Gil nor Catherine minded in the slightest. Catherine had the distinct feeling that Mac didn't mind being pulled around by his partner, either.

"Half an hour, according to the board, but one of the agents said the plane caught a pretty good tailwind, so it may be earlier than that," Stella informed them. "Looks like we won't have to wait long."

"Should we get airport security involved?" Horatio questioned.

"No," Mac said, "it's our case, therefore it's fully within our rights to make the arrest. I had Flack alert security—just in case. But it's doubtful we'll need it."

They nodded, and the group of supposed honeymooners made their way over the gate number Mac supplied. Catherine spotted a Starbucks tucked among the gift shops and magazine racks.

"Thank God," she tugged Gil's hand to get his attention. "I'm going to go grab a coffee. Anyone else want anything?"

"I'll go with you," Stella said, "I need mints."

Mac looked amused at the comment before declining the offer. Grissom asked Catherine to get him a coffee, while Horatio requested a water and Calleigh opted to join the two women.

The men watched their partners enter the store, then lost sight if them.

"Okay…two tall Caramel Macchiato, one regular Black, one Frappucino-tall, and one bottle of water, if you would be so kind." Stella ordered while Catherine wandered around the back to fetch the drinks. Calleigh placed two tins of mints on the counter.

"Almost as good as a toothbrush."

They waited. After a few minutes, in which the drinks and coffee they ordered had not appeared, Stella made her way to the side of the counter and to the back, where the strawberry blonde CSI had gone to wait.

Catherine's gun and ID were lay on the floor.

The coffee had been spilled.

And the woman was nowhere to be seen.

Stella raced back around the counter, past Calleigh, and into the crowd. Her hand rested on her gun.

"Mac!"

Mac jogged his way over to the store, a curious Grissom and Horatio following.

"Stella?"

Stella's eyes continued to search the gates, even as Mac looked concernedly at his partner. Calleigh was behind her, her own hand on her gun; Horatio read what had happened in the blonde's eyes.

"Stella…" Mac said.

"Where is she?" Grissom stared hard at Stella. His eyes were slowly betraying the fear he felt as the situation pieced itself together in his mind. He stepped forward. "Stella, where is Catherine?"

The woman exhaled slowly and met Grissom's stare.

"She's gone."

A/N: Man alive! Five pages! So I know quite a few of you predicted/suggested this, which was interesting, considering it really had been my intent when I started this little project for Catherine to be the one to disappear—such smart readers! Many thanks to future copMarciaG (that's awesome…thanks so much! But I'm pretty sure the writers are better than I am—after all, they get to play with these characters everyday, and it's canon!), rojaji (I, too, have had the gyros—they were so, so good! Not in the same place, of course, but there you go. Oh, and yes, Aiden is a woman, and Stella is indeed played by Melina Kanakaredes, who was on Providencehiril en galad, Daya (Cheers for leaving the review!) and of course, DrusillaBraun for you ever-reliable reviews. Let me know what you think!

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