Chapter Fourteen- Last Stand

Thanks to myfairlady (for all of ur awesome reviews!), disneygal16, kathfire, DrusillaBraun (especially for giving me good advice throughout my stories), Daydreamer1127, CissaMalfoy (please don't' kill me), JacobedRose, Teliko. x3, gc fan, xo lynette xo, and soliz.

Thanks Bunny head, for dealing with all my temper tantrums and for not getting mad when I snap at you after a bad day. You'll get the answer to your question in this chapter.

Disclaimer: Nothing owned.

Author's Note: Just a few more and this story's done. But I'm thinking about ending it in a way that calls for a sequel. We'll see. I would love to have your opinion about it.

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Eddie drove to the outskirts of Las Vegas, away from the bright lights and busy buildings. There was a wooded area that he and Catherine used to go to when they were married. It was a place where she felt intoned with her hometown. It was deserted and they had spent countless hours of time there with just each other, doing whatever suited them. After Lindsay was born, they had taken her there for picnics. Correction. Eddie thought. Catherine took her. He didn't ever go with them. The kid was a handful and he didn't want a migraine.

That all seemed far in the past now. Eddie barely remembered it, but he felt maybe it was the best place to leave her because no one knew about it but them, and perhaps Lindsay.

He needed a hit badly. He jerked the car to a stop. Glancing in the backseat at Catherine, laying across the backseat, he made a decision.

Catherine Willows was dead. She wasn't going anywhere, so he felt knew he could take a hit without her waking up. He smiled. Dead. He kinda like that word for her.

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Grissom was at Catherine's house within minutes. Lindsay rushed to open the door when it rang. Her face was tearstained and her body jolted over and over again with recovering hiccups. Grissom knelt down a little and she raced into his arms, burying her wet face into his shoulder.

He hoisted her onto his hip and turn to his team.

"Be extra focused and observant. We don't want to miss anything that can help us find her."

"Right." Sara replied.

Each one of the CSIs took a different section of the house. Grissom in the living room, Sara in Catherine's bedroom, Nick in the kitchen, Greg outside, and Warrick took the bathrooms.

Sara pulled the covers back from the bed. She felt like she was intruding in on Catherine's privacy, but this was standard procedure for a missing person, so she knew Catherine wouldn't mind. Sara just felt uncomfortable. She screened the sheets. Nada. It seemed like the last time Catherine had taken a man home, it was years ago. Sara wondered how lonely her friend really was.

Nick downstairs opened the fridge. It was nearly empty, except for some juice, milk, and stuff that could be heated and made very quickly. Mother or no, Catherine was a still an overworked CSI. He shut the door and moved around the counter. Not much to see. No footprints, blood or anything.

Greg hated working outside. But since he was the rookie, he had last pick. Catherine's yard was mowed, but it wasn't much else. Obviously she never got around to gardening, although the few wildflowers blooming in her front lawn wasn't really bad looking. He took pictures of footprints in the dirt, marking, casting, and measuring them, before moving on.

Warrick had the least amount of luck. The bathroom downstairs was clean, which surprised him. Catherine worked a lot of overtime. She didn't seem to have the time to clean. Maybe it was her mother who cleaned her house. He sighed. He almost wished to be outside in the pouring rain with Greg, but he wanted Catherine back. He had to cover every inch no matter how irrelevant.

Grissom spotted a stain of blood on the white carpet. His blood ran cold. He bent down to take a sample, but a single strand of strawberry blonde hair told him it belonged to Catherine without a single test. He was scared. If she was bleeding, she could suffer internal damage or worse, already be dead. He refused to believe that.

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Half an hour later, the CSI team was back in the living room. The surrounded the single pool of blood in the living room. They all looked defeated. They had found tire tracks, foot prints, and blood, but nothing pointed to her location. They already knew it was Eddie who took her. Lindsay was witness to it.

Grissom knelt down until his eyes were level with the child's.

"Lindsay, can you think of any place that your dad would take your mom?" He asked gently.

Lindsay pondered it for a moment. Then a smile spread across her face.

"Daddy and Mommy used to go to this place way back in the woods. Mommy told me about it and when I turned three she started taking me too, but Daddy never came with us." She said thoughtfully.

Grissom gave a satisfied nod.

"Mommy's there right?" Lindsay asked, her big blue eyes hopeful.

"We hope." Nick said, moving in. "Can you tell us where it is?"

"I think so."

Catherine's life or corpse now lay in the hands of her daughter.

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Grissom drove faster than he should with the sirens blaring. Lindsay sat in the passenger seat, clinging onto the door with wide eyes. She had never seen Uncle Gil drive this fast. He made a sharp turn and Nick hit his head against the window.

"Grissom, please if we go off this cliff, we'll never get to Catherine." Sara pointed out as she held on for dear life.

His foot released the pedal slightly.

Further ahead, he saw a car and a man standing outside smoking. Instinct told him it was Eddie.

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Eddie saw sirens pull up. Damn. He thought.

He glanced through the window. Catherine was under the seat, not moving. Duh dead bodies don't move. He just had to make sure they didn't get close enough to see her there.

Grissom stepped out of the car and Eddie felt anger surge. He was not about to be arrested by this man.

"Eddie, where's Catherine?" Grissom asked, walking up to him, as the rest of the CSIs scrambled out of the car.

He signaled them to stay back. This was his war.

Eddie laughed. "She's dead." He said matter-of-factly. He then drew a gun from his pocket. Catherine's 45 caliber automatic.

"I wonder if her weapon works on you." He said, aiming the gun between Grissom's eyes.

The CSIs grabbed their guns, but Eddie was faster than their reactions after they had been stuck in a speeding car. Brass was caught in traffic.

Eddie had his gun pointed at Grissom's temple within seconds. He faced them. "Drop your weapons, or his brains gets blown out." He growled.

Slowly, starting with Sara, guns were lowered and dropped. The CSIs were ready for a disaster.

"How do you know she's dead?" Sara asked, trying to buy time.

Eddie snarled at her. "Cause I checked her pulse you dumbass."

Sara winced at his tone.

Nick opened his mouth. "How did you kill her?" he asked softly.

"I slammed her head against the ground. Little bitch didn't even get a chance to cry out." He said, his hand with the gun still against Grissom's head.

More sirens were heard. Eddie panicked and his finger tightened on the trigger.

A 45 caliber automatic spoke.

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GASP! WHO DIED?