A/N: As I sat here at my computer reading your wonderful reviews (thanks, btw) I thought of something. I have given you about 1.5 chapters that are all in Lexi's perspective. Now I think it is time for the second "victim" to have his say. Therefore, this chapter will be in Nick's POV. Enjoy! (P.S. I was going to save this til tomorrow morning, but I just couldn't wait.)


Headliner

Chapter 12

"Sara, calm down! What do you mean she's gone?" I asked her.

"The door was locked, no one answered, I went in and looked all around, and no one is here."

"Did you look for a note?"

She gave an exasperated chuckle. "Am I two? Of course I looked for a note. There isn't one."

"Alright, Sara, there's no need to freak out. She probably just went over to your house or something. Why don't you make some calls and then call me back. I'm going to talk to Grissom." I clicked off the phone and strolled down the hall. Grissom's door was shut, so I knocked gently. I pulled it open as he looked up from paperwork.

"What can I do for you, Nick?"

"I came here to ask for a bit of time off for Sara and me."

Grissom's face was quizzical. "Is everything alright between you two?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. Sara's just having a slight panic attack because she went to see Lexi and she wasn't at my house."

"Sara went to see Lexi? Isn't she supposed to be working?"

I shrugged. "Well, she hadn't seen her all week because Lexi is protesting and she really wanted to see her, and, anyway, the point is, I let her go. She was only going to be gone an hour, but if she can't find her, she's going to need some backup."

Grissom frowned and pulled his glasses from his eyes. "I see. Well, as your child is missing, I can't really say no. All I can do is ask that both of you return as soon as you get this straightened out. I'm going to call Warrick, as it's his night off, but he won't be too happy. I'll be sure to lay the blame at your feet."

I nodded as I walked out towards the break room to wait for Sara's call. I felt certain that it would all be a misunderstanding. Where would Lexi go besides Sara's or Courtney's? My phone rang just as I was pouring a cup of Greg's signature coffee. He'd been less protective of it since Lexi had openly admitted to disliking it. I made a mental note to thank her later. "Stokes."

"Nick, she's nowhere. No one has seen her. I called my house; I called Courtney; I even found a list of phone numbers on her bedroom wall and called every single one. No one has any idea where she is!"

"Come on, Sara, don't get all hysterical on me. I'm going to your house. Meet me there. She may just not have answered the phone. We'll go from there, okay? Hey, have you thought to call Lindsey?"

"Why would she be over there?" Sara said almost whining.

"They're friends aren't they?"

"I guess so. I'll give it a try. See you in a few minutes?"

"Yeah." I nodded to Greg on my way out and drove toward Sara's house as fast as I could.


Sara punched in Catherine's home phone number and tapped her foot impatiently. A very cheery teenager answered. "Lindsey? How are you? It's Sara. Listen, I have a very important question for you: Have you seen or talked to Lexi lately?"

Lindsey sighed into the phone. "Well, I talked to her a couple of days ago, but I haven't seen her in like a week."

"Are you sure? It's really important."

"Sorry, Sara, I haven't seen her."

Sara punched the phone off in frustration. She dashed to her car and moved in the direction of her house.


"Boy oh boy, Lindsey," Lexi said placing her hand on her forehead, "you have just signed your death warrant."

"Nah," Lindsey said and she threw a pillow at Lexi's head.


I pulled into Sara's driveway and noticed her car by the sidewalk. I jogged to the front door and saw it wide open. Sara was in a heap in the center of the floor. I raced over and wrapped my arms around her back. "What's wrong?"

Sara looked at me with tearstained cheeks. "She's not here, Nick. My baby's not here. She's gone. What am I going to do?"

"Let's go. We'll scour the bus routes and ask anyone if they've seen her. She can't have gone too far. She doesn't have a car or any money."

"I sure hope you're right, Nick; I sure hope you're right."

We climbed into my car and didn't speak as we drove off into the night. We went by all of the local teenage hang outs and looked around. She was nowhere to be found. I was worried. I had been so sure that this whole thing was a mistake, but now, I didn't know what to think. It was an odd sight, Sara and I hunting for our daughter together. We had done little other than shopping for Lexi that involved the both of us. I felt that Sara saw me as an intrusion into her life. I could certainly sense her annoyance with me in the week and a half since Lexi had vowed to move in with me permanently. I only hoped Sara overlooked that now and focused on the real goal: getting Lexi back.

By two in the morning, we were worn down. I had covered every area she was known to frequent at least twice. We had called Lexi's friends several times. No one seemed to have any idea what could have happened to our sixteen year old girl. Sara had requested calling for police backup but I had shut the idea down. There was no sign of forced entry or a struggle at either place. The police would have no reason to think she had disappeared, other than the fact we didn't know where she was. I was sure that happened all the time.

I decided to place a call to each of the members of our team and ask them to keep their ears open. Maybe someone had heard about a hitchhiking teenager. I hoped not. Catherine had mentioned going home soon, but she promised to call if she heard anything. Warrick was a tad bitter at being woken up, but he agreed to help search once he was done working. Greg had jumped in his car and started to scour the land. Sara turned her head to me. "Nick, what am I going to do if something happened to her? I don't think I could live with myself. I've seen parents who've lost kids, and I just couldn't do it."

I pulled the car off to the side of the road. "Sara, you're not going to lose her. We're not going to stop looking until we find her, and I promise we're going to find her. If I have to drive all the way to the moon and back, I'll do it." I reached down under my seat and pulled up a Kleenex box. I smiled as I handed it to her.

I made my way back onto the main road. I tugged at my pants pocket as it began to vibrate. I flipped open the phone and listened. "Thanks." I hung it up and whirled the car around.

"What are you doing?" Sara asked me, surprised.

"We're going to Catherine's house. She found Lexi."


A/N2: Yes, I do think it's about time for Sara and Lexi and Nick to have a big confrontational episode. Stay tuned. Oh, and let me know what your thoughts are. Thanks.