Title: Returning Home

Author: Elizabeth Kelly

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: CSI, its plot and characters, belong to CBS Worldwide Inc., and Alliance Atlantis Productions.

Summary: GSR - What if something you thought was lost forever, returned home?

Chapter Five

"What do you think he wants to talk about?"

Warrick, Nick, Catherine and Brass were seated in one of the layout rooms, waiting for Greg to arrive. The table in front of them was covered with photographs and pieces of evidence from Madeleine's case.

"I don't know, Nicky, but he had an epiphany earlier today," Catherine replied looking over the crime scene report.

"I just can't believe that of all the apartments in Vegas that was the one he chose to live in. I mean what are the odds?" Warrick shook his head in disbelief.

"Just imagine what it will do to Sara, I mean she…"

"Good morning!" Brass was cut off by the chirpy greeting from Greg.

"Hey Greggo, you got something for us?" Nick asked.

"Yep, sure do," Greg replied, continuing to stand in the doorway grinning like an idiot.

"Well are you going to tell us?" Brass asked.

"Oh! Right, well I was listening to the way Emily was describing Father and the way he treated them…" he paused mid-thought, before continuing. "Did you ever see that program on the Discovery Channel, where this cat had given birth to four kittens, but two of them died a few days later?"

The four sitting at the table stared up at him blankly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Catherine asked, frustration creeping into her voice.

"I'm getting to that," he replied rolling his eyes. "Anyway, the mother cat was so consumed with grief, she stole two kittens from a family a few houses down the road, and tried to raise them for her own!"

"You mean…" Nick began to ask, trailing off when Greg rushed out of the room. Nick looked at the others, who all shrugged at him. A few seconds later, he re-entered pushing a white board into the room. He opened the envelope that was tucked up under his arm.

"Ok, meet Timothy John Isaacs," he said, sticking up a photo of a well-dressed, dark-haired man in his late thirties – early forties. "Otherwise known as 'Father'."

Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Brass all sat up a little straighter. Seeing he had their attention, Greg continued.

"Now, I would like you to meet Chelsea Rachel Isaacs, otherwise known as 'Mother'." He stuck up a photo of a beautiful woman with long blonde curls. Greg turned to look at the faces of his colleagues. They all looked intrigued and eager for him to reveal the next piece of the puzzle.

"Most importantly, I would like to introduce you to the real Abigail Elizabeth and Rebekah Mary Isaacs." Greg placed another two photographs up on the white board. One was of a girl who was approximately nine years old, she had blonde hair and blue eyes like her mother. The other was approximately six years old with the same hair as her father and bright blue eyes.

Seeing their stunned reaction, Greg opened the envelope again pulling out two more pictures, placing one next to each girl. When he stood back, he heard Catherine gasp.

"Oh my God!" Warrick breathed.

"Unbelieveable!" Brass agreed.

"They look so similar!" Nick agreed.

"Lastly meet nine-year-old Emily Rachel Guthrie and six-year-old Madeleine Charlotte Grissom," Greg paused. "I think that our guy, Timothy Isaacs is suffering from PTSD."

"Post-traumatic stress disorder?" Catherine questioned, Greg nodded.

"What makes you say that?" Warrick asked.

"Back in mid-1998, St Stephen's Catholic Church in Brisbane, San Francisco was blown up by an unknown group. They couldn't find the perpetrator, nor did anyone own up to it. Anyway, the Isaacs family, among many others, were there for their Sunday morning service. Chelsea, Abigail and Rebekah were killed in the blast, Timothy managed to survive with only minor burns to his torso," Greg paused before continuing. "I don't think he took the girls with malicious intent. I think it was the desperate act of a distraught father.Both sets of girls attended the same school, so when they were in uniform he couldn't tell the difference. To him, he wasn't kidnapping Emily and Maddie, he was simply picking up Rebekah and Abigail from school."

"Why wouldn't he kidnap someone to replace his wife?" Warrick wondered aloud.

"Well think about it, it's a lot easier to control two young girls, and convince them that they are his daughters than it would be to control a woman and try to convince her that she's his wife," Greg stated, as though it was plainly obvious.

"Any idea, where he would be now?" Nick asked.

"Hey, I gave you a suspect and a motive, I think this Lab Tech has done enough for you today!" he teased lightly. Catherine smiled at him.

"You did good Greg," she reassured him. "I'll make sure you get credit for this." Greg gleefully bounded out of the room. 'I'll be a CSI, in no time!' he thought as he headed back to his lab.

The four of them watched him leave, each of them shaking their heads.

"We have a victim, a suspect, a witness and a motive. Now all we have to do is find the guy."

"That's a lot easier said than done, Jim."

Sara couldn't understand Grissom. He was sitting in his office chair, staring out into space. His face calm and collected. She couldn't understand it. He had gone quiet last time, too. He would barely talk, and when he did it was only about work, or bills. She knew that he thought the move to Vegas would fix things. Instead, he threw himself into his job, working doubles and triples, leaving her at home with nothing to do. Leaving Grissom, had been hard for Sara, but she knew she couldn't stay. The job offer from the San Francisco Crime Lab came at just the right time. It was something she could throw herself into, allowing her to forget the past couple of months.

She watched as he stared, unseeing, into his tarantula tank. Each minute that passed gave her another reminder of the first few months after the incident. She couldn't do that again, she couldn't go through that again. It had nearly broken her last time, and she didn't want it to happen again.

"Grissom," she called gently. Her voice didn't even seem to register with him.

"Gil," she called again, in a tone that she had always reserved just for him. He blinked, and turned slightly to look at her.

"Can you please say something?" her voice was pleading.

"Like what?" he asked, quietly.

"Anything!" she replied. "Talk to me, tell me what you are thinking. Don't shut me out, not like last time. I couldn't handle it again."

"What do you mean?" he asked defensively.

"Why do you think I left Vegas?"

"You were depressed, and your therapist thought it would be for the best."

"That was a part of it, I couldn't cope with Maddie's disappearance and I couldn't cope with the loss of you."

"What do you mean, 'the loss of me'? I was there."

"Yes, but only physically. I needed you emotionally. I needed to talk to you. I needed you there. I needed you to hold me, but you were always working."

"I thought you needed some space." Sara rolled her eyes.

"Grissom, I never saw you, and when I did it was only for a couple of hours. I needed you to help me get over everything that had happened, but you weren't there for me."

"I tried to help you move on in Frisco, Sara. I did everything I could to help you forget, but you refused to. I thought that by moving to Vegas we could forget everything and move on."

"That's just it! I didn't want to forget." Sara turned away from him, to scan the shelves on the wall of his office. "I was scared of forgetting about her. I wanted to talk to you about her, I was so scared that I would forget everything about her. I remember waking up one morning and I couldn't remember what her first word was. I couldn't remember, and… and it scared me," she paused, turning back to face him. "But you never wanted to talk about her. It was like you wanted to forget that she existed. You wanted things to go back to the way they were before she was born. I'm sorry Grissom, but she's our daughter," Sara stared into his eyes, before Grissom dropped his eyes to his lap. They were silent for a few minutes, as Grissom absorbed what Sara had said.

"I'm sorry, Sara. I'm sorry, I didn't try to understand how you were feeling. It's just… I knew that the more I thought about Maddie, the angrier I would get at the bastard that took her, and I didn't like the person I was starting to become. I just need to think about something other than that," Grissom felt his throattighten. He struggled to overcome the building emotion that had been building for five years."I'm sorry, Sara. I'm sorry I caused you to leave. I'm sorry I pushed you away. I understand if you hate me, right now…"

"Gil…" Sara interrupted. "I could never hate you. I-I think if we had stayed together, things could have gotten much worse. I think the time apart was good for us." Grissom nodded in agreement before his head slumped forward onto his chest. The pain, the fear, the anguish andthe tearsthat had been building up for the last five years, burst through his emotional barrier, leaving his body shaking with violent sobs.

Sara sighed with relief, and walked around to his side of the desk. She delicately sat on his lap and put her arms around him and pulled him to her.

"I'm sorry, Sara. I'm so sorry for screwing everything up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, please forgive me…" he whispered into her neck, over and over again.

"Shhh, it's ok Gil, I forgave you a long time ago.You're the one that needs toforgive yourself," she whispered, running her fingers through his hair.

The tears subsided eventually, but neither one pulled away, each drawing strength from the other. That was how Catherine found them. Knocking softly, she entered after a few moments. Both of the room's occupants turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we've had some developments, and I thought I should be the one to tell you," she explained her interruption, as she walked in and shut the door behind her.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! You guys are fantastic! Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I will try and get the next one up as soon as I can.