Sorry...very sorry for the long wait. Thanks again for all of the wonderful reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter and a special thanks to Tefla for the whole beta thing.

Ringing.

Ringing was all Nick heard as he teetered on the edge of consciousness. The pain flared across his body and forced him to slowly open his eyes. He lay there on the floor willing the pain away, but not succeeding. He lifted his head up off of the floor and surveyed his surroundings and put his head back down when he found himself back in his cell. He glanced towards the door and spied some blood just on the floor before it then he remembered – Erin.

He once again lifted his head and looked in the other direction and found her unconscious body only a few feet away from him. Nick had been unceremoniously dropped on the floor with his hands still cuffed behind his back. He tried to get up from his position on the floor. He groaned softly with the movement and found himself seeing stars. With his injuries he wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to remain conscious. He could still hear the ringing and wondered if he was suffering from a head injury or if there was an actual alarm going off. He hoped it was the latter.

He stopped his attempts at getting up before what energy he had, left him. Instead he slid himself closer to Erin … all the time fighting the throbbing in his head, leg and ribs. He finally made it to her. He looked at her pale face. Less than an hour ago she was scared, but full of life. Now after the blood loss she looked close to death. She still had specks of blood on both her forehead and cheek, but there was no mistake … she was alive as he once again watched her chest rise and fall. He attempted to speak, but it only came out as a whisper. "Erin. It's Nick … please wake up." He nudged her with his shoulder.

She didn't move. Nick sighed. He knew it would probably be a long shot to get her to wake up this soon. Head injuries were always tricky and he didn't know where exactly she had been hit with the bullet. Even if he did know, he wouldn't be able to look at it since he was still cuffed. 'Those bastards. Why couldn't they just leave me in here uncuffed?'

Nick placed his head back down on the floor since he was obviously not going anywhere. He closed his eyes. His head was throbbing from the beating Harris had given him and the ringing wasn't helping any. He then listened closely to the ringing. It sounded like … like a fire alarm. 'Oh God what now?'

He opened his eyes and once again struggled to get up. He had to see what was going on outside in the hallway. He needed to look out the one and only window in his room. He once again was reminded of how weak he really was when his body finally gave out. Nick still fought to remain conscious, but the darkness clouding the edges of his vision finally won and he fell into oblivion.

Brass walked back in forth between the police cars listening to his scanner. He flipped between the police and fire department. He was monitoring their progress in locating the bombs in the building. He could feel the eyes of the four CSIs follow him as he went back and forth.

So far the bomb squad had found five bombs laced with C4: enough to total the whole building. These guys wanted to hide something and Jim had a feeling it was Nick and Erin. These guys were crazy to bring down a whole building just to get rid of two people. Surely they would know they would eventually be found. He figured though by that time they would be long gone and any evidence that showed they were there would be long gone as well.

He stopped his pacing when he heard another vehicle pull up. He looked over to see Grissom getting out of his Denali. The detective and four CSIs rushed over to him.

"Gil, how did it go?" Brass asked.

Grissom smiled at the group, "It went just as planned. We were able to grab Harris's men before they were able to do any damage. Let's just say the look on Harris's face was priceless when he knew we had him."

Grissom scanned the parking lot and noticed the people that had been evacuated from the building.

"How's it going here? Have they found Nick yet?"

"So far they've found five bombs laced with C4. They are still searching for more explosives. As for Nick I was just going to find out if they have found anything yet."

"If you could it would be appreciated."

"Consider it done." Brass placed the radio by his mouth. "This is Captain Brass how's the search for Stokes coming?"

Brass's radio crackled and he heard a voice coming through.

"Sir we have just gotten down to the basement. We are just starting the search now. We will let you know when we find something."

"Is the building secure?"

There was a moment of silence on the line then the voice came through again.

"Yes sir. My commander is giving the okay to enter the building. If you would like to meet us in the basement we will wait for you by the doors."

"10-4. We'll be there in two minutes."

Before Brass had a chance to respond the five CSIs headed towards the building at a brisk walk. The detective turned around to give the CSIs the news, but found they were already heading to the building. He rolled his eyes and proceeded to follow them to the building.

As they entered the elevator and took it down to the basement the level of anticipation rose. Each of them was afraid as to how they found Nick and Erin. They could both be dead already. After all, Harris was as mean as they came and there was no telling what he would have done.

Warrick found it hard to concentrate on anything else except for finding Nick. They had gotten lucky last time in locating him just before he pulled the trigger. This whole situation was a completely different animal. Nick didn't have a say whether he was going to live or not. He was at the mercy of a lunatic. He hoped that they would find him alive. If Nick wasn't alive he didn't know what he would do.

Greg watched the faces of the other CSIs. He knew they were all a close-knit family and when one of them was hurt all of them hurt. He remembered how everyone reacted when Nick was kidnapped before and this brought back a lot of buried memories. He could feel the lump in his throat when he swallowed. He prayed that they were going to find Nick and Erin Matthews alive.

Sara kept thinking about how she promised Erin that she would protect her. The guilt she was feeling was overwhelming. Not only had she let Erin down she had let Nick down as well. She knew she should still not be feeling guilty about the whole hospital thing, but she was. At least Nick and Erin had each other or she hoped. There was no telling if they were put together or not or if either of them was still alive. She bit back the tears that were going to fall. There was no time for that. She had to be strong for everyone and for herself. There would be time for crying later and hopefully it would be tears of happiness and joy instead of tears of loss and sorrow.

Catherine fidgeted were she stood in the elevator. She was between Grissom and Brass … two of the strongest men she knew. She considered herself lucky she actually was surrounded by a strong group of people who she considered family. They were once again at the brink of losing one of their members. She couldn't be certain how they all would react if they lost Nick after everything he had overcame in the last year. He didn't deserve it. Heck none of them deserved it. The only thing she knew was she considered herself the self-appointed mother of the group and she would do whatever she had to do to keep everyone safe and together. She swore to herself that if Nick made it out of this alive he would never leave the lab again. Then she snickered because she knew better. That would never happen. Nick was too good of a CSI to keep locked up in the lab.

Jim Brass had been a cop for a long time and he knew better than anyone that this whole situation could turn out bad in the long run. He hoped that Nick was still alive, but he had already prepared himself for the worst. In looking around at the people in the elevator he found that they appeared to have done the same thing. They were all professionals and dealt with death for a living. Occasionally they were able to help someone, but mostly they were dealing with violent and fatal crimes. As the elevator descended he could feel the adrenaline pumping. He usually felt this way right before a raid, but this wasn't a raid this was a rescue of a colleague a close friend and an innocent victim who was just trying to do the right thing. He willed the elevator to move faster.

Grissom stood in the elevator listening to the hum of the mechanism that lowered them to the basement. He always used his instinct when it came to his job. It hadn't failed him yet … until now. He let too many things slip through his fingers and now Nick's life was in danger because of it. Well the one thing that gave him satisfaction is that they had Harris in custody. He would pay for what he did to Nick and Erin. He hoped for Harris's sake that both of them were still alive. If they weren't there was going to be a lot of people upset and that wouldn't do to well for Harris's health. 'What the hell has come over me?' He never thought like that. He didn't support violence. He was avidly against it. That's why he had become a CSI. It was a part of his job to help the victims get justice to put the people away that committed these crimes. He never had any feelings on a case. He always looked to the science and kept his emotions buried. Grissom was never one to take a vacation. There was always too much to do, but looking at himself now he knew he needed one. He was losing his edge and that wasn't good for any of the team … especially him. He would be no help if he weren't working at one-hundred percent.

He sighed loudly and received looks from both Catherine and Brass. He just shrugged his shoulders in response.

The elevator finally dinged announcing their arrival in the basement. As the doors opened they found the bomb squad standing there waiting for them. They could still hear the fire alarm ringing throughout the building. It was very loud and effective in getting your attention especially if it was elsewhere.

"So far we have checked out this hallway and we haven't found any incendiary devices." The bomb squad commander yelled to the group over the alarm. He watched the group look around getting their bearings. "Before you go wandering about I have a request."

The CSIs and Brass stopped looking around and gave their attention to the bomb squad commander.

"Now it really is against procedures to have you down here. We have gone through the whole building and found all of the devices and disarmed them. So it should be safe, but know this, there is always a possibility that we missed one. We have not completely gone through the basement. There are four of us in the squad. If you split up I want one of us to go with you in case you run across something."

"That's a good idea. There are ten of us. Why don't we split up in two teams? Two bomb squad guys on a team." Brass said.

"Ok. Warrick, Sara and Brass you go with those two. Catherine and Greg you're with me. Now remember what the commander said: You see anything suspicious you let the bomb squad handle it. Remember curiosity killed the cat." Grissom stated.

The commander spoke up one more time, "Please keep your radios handy and if you hear any one of us saying run don't ponder, and it means get your ass out of here and quick. We located the stairwell it's right around that corner and it's not locked we tested it earlier. So that will be our escape route if necessary."

The CSIs all listened intently to the instructions and nodded in understanding.

"Is there anyway to turn that fire alarm off now. I'm not sure if I'd be able to hear anything over that thing?" Catherine questioned loudly.

"Yea. I don't see why not since the whole building is clear anyway."

The commander spoke into his radio and within a minute or two the alarm went silent.

"Thanks." Catherine said.

"Sure."

"Whoever finds Nick and Erin be sure to radio the rest of us. Let's get going." Brass said.

The two groups split up and went in different directions. The hallway was made out of concrete cinder block. It split off in two different directions. Dark pipes lined the ceiling. Grissom and his group went to the right and Brass and his group went to the left.

Moving down the hallway was slow going especially since they had to make sure there were no bombs sitting around waiting to go off. Each team let the bomb-squad officers take the lead. They had the protective gear and knew what to look for.

Catherine, Grissom and Greg followed the two bomb-squad officers. They made their way up the hallway. Everyone was alert and examining the walls and pipes for any bombs. So far no one in the group had found anything, but that changed suddenly when they spotted a puddle of blood coming from just behind a closed door.

The two officers called for the group to stop. It was hard for Grissom and Catherine to not run over and investigate. They had to wait until the two officers cleared the scene.

Grissom and Catherine shared a look before they both looked at Greg who still stared at the puddle of blood.

"Oh God, please don't let that be Nick." Catherine whispered.

Grissom looked back over to Catherine. She had tried to say that quietly, but he heard her and he agreed. If Nick were dead it wouldn't have been from natural causes. He more than likely would have more than likely been shot which would have caused all of the blood.

They watched the two officers open the metal door. The three CSIs who were on the other side of the open door moved around it to see who was on the other side. Just inside the door was the body of an older man. It was obviously not Nick. The man had been shot in the chest and had bled out. The two officers stepped into the small room and did a once over. Once they cleared the room the CSIs were allowed to enter.

Grissom and Catherine squatted over the body while Greg stayed in the hallway there was only room enough for the two of them. Both of the veteran CSIs pulled out a pair of latex gloves and began to pat down the dead man.

Catherine found the man's wallet in his pants pocket. She pulled it out and read his drivers license.

"It says here that his name is Jake Evers."

"Jake Evers that name sounds familiar." Grissom replied.

"It should. He's big in the gambling industry. He's the CEO for Capral Enterprises. Sam's had some dealing with him."

"Well I guess he's been demoted." Grissom responded.

Warrick, Sara and Brass followed their two bomb squad officers down another cinder block corridor. The group also took it slow. They didn't want to take a chance of missing anything. Each of them also checked the pipes and the smaller closets. So far they had been lucky and had not found any bombs, but that didn't meant they weren't there. Warrick was prepared to do anything to make sure Nick was okay.

The group made their way up the hallway they all stopped when the saw a trail of blood run across the floor.

"It looks like someone was dragged." Sara commented.

They followed the blood trail, which led them to a locked room with a window in the door. The officer looked into the window. Warrick watched the man's face for any type of reaction. When he saw the officer's eyes go wide he knew there was something in that room that he had to see.

"We found them." The officer said.

He moved closer to the officer and looked into the room. On the floor were Nick and Erin. He could see the blood trail end in the room. He couldn't see either of their faces. Erin was on her back, but her head was in the opposite direction. Nick was on his stomach, his hands were cuffed behind and he was facing Erin.

Warrick pushed the officer aside and struggled to open the locked door. He could feel the glare from Sara and Brass as he tried to open the door, but he didn't care. Nick was only a few feet away from him. He wasn't going to let a locked door keep him from helping him.

"Warrick, you need to let the officers to their jobs. Now get out of their way." Brass ordered.

He turned a looked at Sara then at Brass.

"… But Jim."

"You heard me Warrick. Get out of the damn way and let them do their jobs or you are going back outside. The door could be rigged and what good would that do Nick or yourself if you are blown to kingdom come."

Warrick could feel his cheeks flush with anger, but he did as he was told. He moved and let the officers check the door.

Sara grabbed her radio and spoke into it, "Grissom come in."

It was only a matter of seconds before he replied.

"This is Grissom. Go ahead Sara."

"We found them."

There was silence. She knew they waiting to hear the bad news … news that she couldn't give them yet.

"Are they alive?"

"We don't know yet. They are locked in a small room. Both of them appear unconscious."

"Where are you?"

"We are about seventy-five feet or from our original position."

"Ok we'll be there in a minute. We need to wrap up here."

"Did you find something?"

"Yea we found Jake Evers, the CEO, dead. He was shot."

"Roger that. Grissom just to warn you: there is a lot of blood."

Grissom closed his eyes at that last sentence. Where there was a lot of blood there usually was a dead body. Case in point the body in front of him. This whole thing was almost over. He looked up to see the look in Catherine's eyes. He nodded his head at her then she was gone with Greg on her tail.

Catherine was examining the body when she heard Sara's voice through the radio. She had said in the most general terms that they had found Nick and Erin, but she didn't say whether or not they were alive. Grissom had asked the difficult question, but Sara was unable to answer it. Nick and Erin were locked in a room possibly dead or critically injured. Grissom told Sara that they would be there in a minute. That's when Sara had said there was a lot of blood. The professional in Catherine wanted to argue with him. This body wasn't going anywhere they could always come back. She needed to see Nick. Grissom looked at Catherine they had worked together long enough to know her thoughts. He just nodded his head and she was gone. She flicked off her latex gloves and flew down the hall with Greg hot on her trail.

She arrived at Sara's position in less than a minute. She could see the officer working on the door. Brass walked over to her and she came up to the group.

"It looks bad. We found a trail of blood. It looked like someone was dragged. The trail stopped here."

Catherine looked down to see the blood that Brass was talking about. She always prided herself on having a strong stomach when most people didn't, but the sight of the blood made her stomach turn. Was that Nick's blood?

Brass watched her reaction as he continued to brief her, "We are unable to determine if they are alive or not. Their faces are turned away from us."

Catherine finally found her voice, "What's taking so long? How come they aren't through the door yet?"

"They have to make sure the door isn't rigged."

Catherine stopped at that. She didn't realize that that had been a possibility. She looked over at the officers they were using some equipment to check the door. She watched the interaction between the two. Both of them knew their jobs. They were like a well-oiled machine, just like their group. When she saw the commander indicate that the door was safe she moved in to look through the window.

She gasped at the sight. Both Nick and Erin were in the middle of the floor lying in blood. Sara was right there was a lot of blood. She turned away from the window and looked at Warrick. She could see the he was trying to keep his feelings in check. She looked over at Brass and Sara who were leaning on each other for moral support. Then she looked over to Greg who seemed lost. Catherine walked over to him and gave him a hug. She didn't realize that a few minutes had gone by when she heard the announcement that they were through.

She turned in time to watch Warrick and Brass rush into the room. She wasn't even to the door when she heard Warrick.

"They're alive!"

I hope you liked it. One more chapter to go. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!