Nemo nisi Mors

They had all been working for a number of hours straight the night shift had flown by and the coming of the new dawn had not signified the end of the hell that all the CSIs were going through, they had been hit on their own turf.

16 hours earlier,

Ade had, had enough of his life two weeks ago his wife and two daughters had been brutally raped and murdered and as far as he had been concerned nothing had been done about it. The police and CSI had come and investigated; even held him as a suspect but the evidence they had collected had not yielded enough clues to lead them to whoever had totally destroyed everything he had lived and worked for. There was nothing left just an empty shell.

He had gone for long walks, he had not gone to work as that was no longer a priority he had nothing, everything he had lived for had gone that's where he made his decision to DIE and he would make them pay for it all.

Present time:

The CSIs on the scene were just about holding there emotions in place as they moved about the desks, shelves and body parts of the people they had known or worked with at one point or another that had been blown apart to nothing

Ade: I left home with a bag and enough determination, knowing that by the end of the day i would be with my family again. I had not felt like this in ages I had a purpose and I had my life back, I smiled just briefly and started to laugh so much my lungs ached and then I cried and remembered them all, my journey begun with redness embedded deeply into my eyes. I walked into work and handed my boss the director of FAR SCAPE chemicals my resignation, he asked me what I was going to do "I said I was moving out of state not that he cared really" I asked him so politely whether I could go to my desk and pack my stuff up he smiled and said "sure Ade take your time" come back and see me before you go…..i smiled as I walked out,

Present time:

Warrick looked at all the debris lying around wondering in his head where to begin, he had done nothing yet he could feel a bead of sweat drip down from his forehead on to the floor. He just did not know, words failed him, He looked around him and saw Catharine shaking her head as she moved around her eyes not wanting to accept what they were looking at…Sara standing looking around with a vacant expression in her Eyes she had a bandage on her forehead, and another one wrapped around her leg just above her knee... he could not understand what she was still doing here, her leg was still covered in the blood 'she had shed on the scene' though someone had cleaned a lot of it off, she had adamantly refused to stay away Greg was staring at two hands that had been blown apart from two different victims but had somehow managed to find each other…. he sighed but did not want to say anything, Nick was silent too as the looked over the site of impact, grissom would be here soon and he hoped that their leader would be able to keep all of them from falling apart.

Ade: I had everything I needed in my bag; I walked up to the fire alarm and smiled at the camera as I smashed the alarm that would have everyone running out of the building. We had enough chemicals in the building that if they exploded would create a disaster, little did they know that it was me, I did not care they would know soon enough but my plan would already be in action by the time they found out and that would be too late.

I had always though about making a bomb and now as I did it I realised how easy it really was, I packed everything in understanding that the liquid gel I had would get me through the metal detector at the Las Vegas Police Department and once on the other side I would detonate my master piece and they would all pay for my hurt and pain.

I walked up the steps the man at the door recognised me I walked past him and heard him whisper to his partner "yeah that's him he lost everything man" they let me into the building, I asked to speak to brass I wanted him to feel my pain most of all…

The call had come right at the beginning of the shift the sheriff had ordered all hands to be available as the LVPD had just been bombed, Grissom closed his eyes. put the phone down and alerted all CSIs to meet him at the police station, he walked out of his office and passed down the hallway and stopped dead in his tracks as he watched on television the destruction of the building he and most of his work mates and friends were and his heart stopped…how many people had they lost today, how many friends had they all lost today, his thoughts led him to his last conversation with Sara that morning he replayed it in his head "i am going to go down to the station and speak to Brass we cant just close that case, three women no that's wrong one woman two children, "Grissom I cant just sit and do nothing about that…." Sara 'his heart wretched he tried not to think about her…. He needed to initiate a role call; he needed to know that everyone in his office was ok; he needed to know Sara was ok...

Final Goodbyes, Ade: I waited and waited I was getting so angry, the man came back and said that brass was busy… that I could wait 'I lost it' I said goodbye he would feel my wake… I pushed the button, the reaction started and I was gone.

'Brass I can't leave this one alone, you don't understand' 'I do, believe me Sara…. I do' we can only wait and see if the person strikes again 'you're a valuable resource Sara and you all went over the evidence and found almost nothing' 'I know brass but you didn't see Mr Davis's eyes he was totally devastated we need to give him something just the smallest thing " look Sara we give him a bit of hope he becomes a vigilante just leave it ok we will get the son of a bitch one way or another and Mr Davis will get his peace.' Sara walked out of brass's office and slammed the door only when she did the building shook there was a loud explosion brass prostrated himself on the floor under his desk, he felt the floor beneath him give way, he heard the building scream, 'he shut his eyes and prayed' then the smoke filled his room and he had to get out….. Out ….. 'I don't want to die... come on, he got up and covered his mouth with his trusty hankie and walked through the glass wall that had shattered everywhere he looked all he saw was utter destruction, walls had collapsed and that's where he saw Sara, she was stuck. He rushed to her, checked her vitals she was still breathing but unconscious, bleeding from her forehead, leg and hands. He cleared out all the rubble from on top of her and around her and picked her up "God she weighs almost nothing he thought to himself." Brass walked to the nearest exit, he did not want to over exert himself as he was bearing extra weight now and the smoke was getting heavier and heavier. He reached the emergency stair case that seemed to be intact and got out of the buildings side exit.

'paramedic I need a doctor and an ambulance, he had two men report to him almost immediately 'one of them he knew from sight Hank, he grabbed him by the arm and said "make sure she gets to a hospital you heard me Hank" he looked back startled at Brass and said 'yes sir I will make sure of it' sure he had made his point Brass gave Sara one last look and walked away from her to look at the devastation his day had become at the LVPD.

Grissom got on his mobile and dialled Sara's number….ring…ring… voice mail, he heard her voice and left a message ' Sara call me back as soon as you get this' next he called Warrick who was with Greg, "grissom I have heard what's happened we are just clearing up and we will be there immediately everyone has received the 499 call to return to base ASAP we should be there in the next hour…Look Warrick go straight to LVPD and start getting ready there this is going to be one hell of a long day and once the fire teams are out I want us in there… we need to get answers as soon as possible. I just have to go and meet the sheriff now but will check you and Greg in on our role call…and Warrick be careful I will be there as soon as possible.

Grissom walked a couple of steps forward and called Catharine 'no worries grissom we are already on the way we got the 499 call too see you there' 'ok' he tried Sara again… still no response.

The sheriff was in his office with Eckle and the day shift supervisor, as grissom walked in he started his talk 'a 499 as you all know has been issued so as soon as you have accounted for all members of staff I want you all out on site finding out what happened at LVPD, is that understood? A lot of people are going to want answers, the news has it pegged as a terrorist attack already.. But before we come to that conclusion I want a very thorough investigation. Any questions?...silence… good. Grissom i am putting you and your team in charge of this investigation…eckle 'but sheriff' you..i have…. He muttered…..the sheriff looked directly at his lab director and said " I want the team with the best results on this case and I want Grissom reporting directly to me…you can go out and make sure that all your CSIs have everything they need. 'Yes sir' they all left the room grissom walked to his car unaware of the seething eckle behind him. He picked up the phone and tried Sara again.

'Look i am alright really I am, 'Miss Sidle you should not be moving around for a while you have a concussion and your stitches need time to heal, Sara looked down at her strapped thigh and felt the weight from the bandage on her head she did not care she had to go back the whole team would be on site and she needed them just as much as they needed her…she discharged herself and borrowed some scissors from a nurse cut her jeans so her bandaged leg could fit into them and went out to the emergency entrance. An ambulance was just about to leave and she asked 'are you going back to LVPD?' Yeah; 'can I get a ride? She flashed her badge and he told her to hop in….

Grissom arrived at the LVPD he got out of his car and could not fathom the destruction he saw before him, his head hurt, he was in turmoil, and then he heard a voice he knew, it was Brass.

Brass jeeze are you ok? He was covered in blood but did not seem to have any large open gaping wounds on him, a few minor scratches but nothing too bad… 'yeah I managed to get out of there as fast as possible it was one very bad nightmare, I was with Sara….Grissom's heart leaped to his mouth and he took a large swallow to calm down before he asked 'and?' I don't know grissom she was covered in cuts and bruises she was covered in blood, he pointed to his shirt and trousers, I left her with a paramedic to take her to hospital, i am sorry I could not stay with her, but I know the paramedic I left her with it's that guy…. Hank…Grissom's stomach had done around twenty circles he felt the nausea rise in his throat but, Brass eyed him for a while and then patted him on the shoulder 'she will be ok' grissom hoped he was right but all he could concentrate on was the blood on Brass's clothes. 'we have to set up the command tent here and wait for everything to clear then we can go in and start looking for evidence, Brass said the sheriff walked towards them with the Mayor in tow and they started to talk to grissom and brass about how long it would take to get some idea of who did this, as soon as they were together the reporters and their crews descended on the 4 and as with any scene where they mayor and sheriff could make a spectacle of themselves they took advantage, of it and held a spot on conference right there…. Grissom was stuck standing with the mayor who had started to launch a tirade on terrorism all grissom could think of was how could he slip out and go check on Sara before the investigation begun? He was still thinking about it when in the distance he saw an ambulance arrive and a bandaged and bruised Sara, walk out of the vehicle. She could see the crowds were gathered and she was going to walk around them when she spotted Grissom, they were both looking at each other Grissom could not get away, he was stuck till the press conference was over but what he saw of her did not look ok at all, he noticed that she had a bandage on her forehead and one just above her knee, she had ripped her jeans up to allow for the bandage and now had one leg of her jeans finishing just above her knee, her leg just below and her socks were covered with blood from what he thought must have been a bad cut. They continued to watch each other and then Sara signed to him, at first he was shocked but when he realised what she was saying to him in sign language he smiled to himself "grissom I am fine, I am not going home don't even try and make me ok, I will be waiting for you by your car ok see you when your finished" she said. Grissom wondered once she had walked away…. when had she learned to sign? Had they not talked for so long that he had missed that bit of her life, he knew things were difficult between them but when had they gotten this bad….he waited for the press conference to end and made his way over to her.

He walked towards his car where he saw Sara, he signed to her "hey so when where you going to tell me you could sign?" she signed back… 'I guess it just slipped she said not wanting to think about the fact that they had not spoken to each other about anything not work related in a long while. He came closer to her and outstretched his arms and when he reached her nothing was said, no words were spoken as he took her into a very long hug, his arms wrapped around her and gave her the comfort they both needed. After some time grissom pulled back from their embrace and asked 'Sara are you ok?' 'I alright Gris, just a bit shocked, but the doctors have taken care of that' 'are you sure? He asked her knowing how stubborn she could be 'yes I am fine' she did not look it her shirt was covered in blood and her leg below her bandage was just as bad, he got her to sit on a bench beside his car and got some water and a towel and wiped away the dried blood from her face and leg, he then went back into his car and got her a t-shirt which he asked her to put on…Sara could not understand why grissom was being nice to her, she refused to think about it any further and put it down to him just being a friend, if she thought about it too much she would over analyse everything and read too much detail into nothing as she had done in the past, she thanked him and got changed he covered her from prying eyes, and was just glad she was alive. There was a change in there relationship for the moment and Grissom had initiated it when he had hugged her.. It was like an unspoken truce had begun between them, she did not understand it and neither did he, and he just felt so much better knowing that she was ok. 'Sara I have to go with brass and set up the command post if you wait here for the rest to get in and commence as soon as the fire and safety crew are out ok' 'yeah grissom that's fine'

She did not wait long, Warrick, Nick, Greg and Catharine all arrived together and waited with Sara for their turn to go into the site….no body said much as they sat waiting, they just steeled themselves in preparation for the catastrophic site they were going to go into, the place had been full of people members of the public and members of the police force… they hoped that somehow the body count would be low and that they would be able to find the perpetrator of the crime.

Grissom was tied up in the command centre with the sheriff and everyone else he would rather not be with, he hated this bit of any investigation process and he knew eckle thrived on it, but he was chosen by the sheriff and needed to brief him on many issues, he sat at the table trying to focus on the job at hand but it was all just a bit to politick' the fire and safety team leader had just come in and issued his report to them concerning the fire and structural safety and integrity of the building.

The CSI team got the go ahead to go inside and start the investigation from one a member of the fire team, Catharine remarked "we had better go in as Grissom has been sucked in by the sheriff and we won't be seeing him for a long while….'

They moved into the LVPD building they had been told an estimated 30 people had died in the blast and the building had withstood a lot of damage but its structure was sound…they picked up there kits and moved in while the body bags came out. It was a nightmare really there was blood all over the place and body parts lying about which had not yet been pick up they all had nausea build up at some point as they walked past the clutter to the detonation point, this was marked by a clear circle where the impact had started from, it to had drops of blood over it and the ceiling above had given way, however the impact had not sent the debris down but up onto the other floor which left a gaping hole in the ceiling that they all looked up to for a couple of seconds and then got to work. They all focused on doing what they do best, they were looking for pieces that would be part of a bomb of sorts as that was the assumption at the moment, the next hour was spent hunting through rubble looking for clues as to what kind of device had gone off.

Grissom walked into the LVPD to join his team, he walked in and saw them all engaged in the hunt for evidence of the blast and anything else that seemed out of the ordinary, he walked in and Sara was the first to feel his presence in the room she looked up to him and they shared eye contact 'he looked at her with questions in his eyes "are you ok" he asked as he looked over her body' she smiled back and her reply made him feel so much better the rest of the CSIs noticed he was there and all turned towards him Warrick was the first to speak 'its like hunting for sand in a desert we have been going for so long and still have not found anything, 'well Warrick what we see may be one thing but what about everything else, 'ha' Catharine said ' good luck with that the fire department has washed down everything trace is going to have a field day with any samples we send to them, 'well' grissom said ' all we can do is carry on searching for any evidence that will give us a clue as to who and why this has happened' with that he opened up his case and took out his gloves and the search continued.

3 hours later they were having a break, Sara did not join them she stayed on willing herself to find something that had caused this disaster and there it was, she notices a finger under some debris it was not the finger she noticed that much but the ring on the finger… she picked it up and looked at the ring, she remembered it from somewhere but could not think of where 'damn it she said I must have been hit harder than I thought,' she knew this was vital and her instincts where hardly ever wrong, she bagged the finger and walked out of the building to find the others. 'grissom I think I have something,' what have you got Sara?' it's a finger with a ring I recognise I need to get back to the lab' Grissom knew about Sara's gut feelings and told her to run with it but if it proved to be a dead end then she should get back to help the rest.. 'I can't spare anyone but make sure you take two uniforms with you, 'Sara smiled 'can you spare two' grissom looked at her and smiled back 'its for your safety you already should not be here in the state your in so yes you do need two uniforms with you…' Sara looked back at him and left, he was always altering her playful remarks into something serious… she looked down and walked away she heard him say "keep me posted" she walked out and got into her car to drive back to the lab.

Once there she pulled open the file containing the evidence from Mr Ade Davies's file and that's were she saw the pictures of the ring she had taken from him when he had been a suspect in the case they were working on… she took out the ring and compared it, she remembered being in the interrogation room with him as they questioned him on his whereabouts then she had asked him for his ring and had swabbed it looking for trace, she had noticed that there was an engraving on his ring and had read it out loud, "Nemo nisi Mors" she had asked what it meant but he did not reply, Grissom who had just walked in as she had been talking to Ade said it means "No one but death 'shall part us'…. She remembered everything and as she delved further into the file she realised that Ade might have played a bigger part in today's events now she just had to prove it… she called for two uniforms not wanting to face the wrath of her boss if he found out she had gone on her own anywhere and went of to Mr Davies address that was on file, Sara was twitching as she sat in her car driving she knew she had stumbled onto something important but she had to confirm it first before she let the rest know.