Chapter 7

Sara sat there, beside Archie, with her teddy bear, watching Nick. She was barely blinking. Catherine and Warrick and Greg had came back and told them about their close call. They had brought the prototype box back and were processing it as Sara watched Nick in his box. She had her head in her hand and was gazing up at him barely breathing. She was trying to will herself to where he was. She closed her eyes and wished him to come beside her. When she opened her eyes she looked over beside her, but it was still Archie sitting beside her. She sighed and looked back at the screen.

Grissom was in the same room. It was totally silent but he wasn't focusing on that. Even though he wasn't a religious man he was thanking God that he had learned to read lips. He was watching Nick make his ransom note to his family.

Sara had noticed this too, but of coarse she had no idea what he was saying. Grissom was frantically reading his lips when he saw Sara's name appear on his lips. He was surprised to see it but he was even more surprised at what he said. But he was next. He saw 'Grissom' being mouthed on the screen. His eyebrows went up and he waited for Nick to go on.

"I never meant to disappoint you," Grissom visualized Nick saying it in his head. For the first time since he got the call out to that lot, he smiled.

"No you never did, Nick," he said to the screen.

Just then Nick dropped the tape. He started to freak out and Sara watched on in horror as she realized what was happening.

"He going into convulsions…He's loosing it!" she said, panic in her voice.

But Grissom knew better. Nick wasn't in convulsions. Looking closer proved it. He was being eaten by ants.

Grissom and Sat in the AV room together, both very different thoughts going through their heads.

Sara was wishing she could comfort Nick. He looked so scared and hurt in there with the ants. Still, she had to look on as he was eaten alive. She watched him stuff gloves into his ears and fabric in his nose and hold still. Grissom's voice came up into the silent room.

"That's it Nicky. Don't move. They won't bite….as much."

Just then Grissom was pulled out of his calculations on how long he thought Nick could last with those ants; he had seen a leg crawl across the screen. He posed his finger over the pause button and waited. Then he started coaxing the ant to come over the camera. "Come on," he said under his breath, just as Sara appeared behind him. "Show me what your made of."

Sara looked at him and wondered why he was talking to himself. Then she saw him freeze the frame. He pushed past her in a rush to get the printout and shouted over his shoulder, "Get everyone in the Layout room in 5 minutes!"

5 minutes later Sara was watching everyone work their magic. They were all talking about where he could be and Sara was trying to search her brain for pertinent information. Then Warrick said, "Ok, there are two nurseries in the overlap."

"Nurseries?" Sara thought. Oh my goodness.

"Wait, Wait. Kelly Gordon, the daughter, she worked with plants!" Sara saw the link, she went out the door heading for Grissom's office. She broke out into a run and retrieved the file. She ran back with the missing piece, the final link to find her best friend and the one person she had been thinking about for more then 24 hours straight.

"Guys, Nick, is here!"