AN: Thanks for he reviews and support, here is the next chapter.

**Grave Yard episode (Seasons 5 Finale) was heavily used for this chapter, except for the obvious differences.**

Chapter 7: Finding Him?

Multiple Hours later

Since getting that phone call about Nick's abduction the team had been working non-stop while deep down wondering if he was even still alive, then at one point during their investigation they received a package that had a USB flash drive in it, and after it was plugged in by Grissom, he clicked on a link to a website that showed a message, telling them they had to have 1 million dollars in 12 hours or the CSI dies, and that the drop-off instructions would come later. The message also told them that they could only 'watch', so after clicking the link on the page, it opened a webcam, and with a light shinning on him, they could see for themselves that Nick was alive, but they watched in horror when they realized that he was trapped in a Plexiglas box, underground.

Now as time was slipping away and they needed the money, Carly Hughes, who was about three years older than Sara, Nick & Warrick with long brown hair, hazel eyes, 5'6, an average build and grew up being surrounded by wealth, did something she vowed to never do once she left home for college, wanting to make it on her own. But since this was an emergency, she called her parents for help as she walked out of the CSI building.

About an hour and fifteen minutes later, she walked back into the lab, carrying a duffel bag, and she was halfway down the hall when Grissom looked at her with an icy glare as he spoke softly, but with authority. "Ms. Hughes, in my office now." She took a breath before following him, and the moment she stepped into his office, Grissom closed his door, took his glasses off and spoke with a hard tone. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire you right here and now, you have been gone for over an hour and no one could reach you..."

Before he could continue, she handed him the bag. "How about 1 million reasons."

He took the bag from her and looked down at it, seeing the money before looking at his colleague in shock. "How did you..."

She cuts him off, shaking her head. "How I got it isn't important." When he was looking at her with caution/worry on how she actually got the money, she continued with a smile. "It's all legal, I assure you." She then sighed before finishing. "Look, I may have not worked with you guys for years, but I could tell right away that this group really cares about one another, viewing each member as more of a family than co-workers, and that means something, so before you reject the offer, remember this is for Nick, and if you have to, just say it was from an anonymous donor."

With that she headed for the door, but before she got there, Grissom cleared his throat and said. "Ms. Hughes." After she turned around, he continued softly and sincerely. "Thank you."

She gives him a small smiled with a nod. "You're welcome, Dr. Grissom." Before she finally walked out of his office.

Grissom looked down at the bag again and sighed, knowing this was their only option, he had no choice on using it, so he walked out of the room to have a little chat with his team.

When the address to the drop-off location popped up, it was decided that Grissom was going to be the one that would go, so after receiving encouraging looks from his team, Grissom walked out of the AV lab and headed for his office to get the money, and while the rest of the group was distracted, Sara slipped out of the room and followed him.

He had stopped in front of his desk when he heard the door close and Sara's soft, but urgent voice. "Why you?"

He took ahold of the handle from the bag before turning around to look at her, which she was now standing in the middle of the room. "I feel I have to. I may have not been his boss for months now, but I still feel responsible for him. I'm sure you of all people can understand that."

Logically she did, since they've became a couple, she's seen more sides of him than he's ever shown before, and now she knew without a doubt that he had the biggest heart than anybody she's ever known, he cared deeper than anybody she's ever known, so with it being somebody that he cared for in a life or death situation, of course he would feel that way, honestly she did too. But deep down she knew things like these are dangerous, and the thought of Grissom being in any type of a dangerous situation, rocked her to her core. She couldn't imagine what would happen to her if she lost him.

She mentally shook that thought away and nodded. "Of course I understand." She took a breath before trying to continue. "I just..."

He cuts her off as he stopped in front of her. "I'll be ok, trust me." He then gives her a little smirk. "Besides, I still have a dinner date to go to, you think I would miss that and have my girlfriend be mad a me?" She couldn't help but chuckle a little, and when she calmed down, they just stood there face to face, letting their eyes speak for a moment, an act that wasn't new to them, then he cleared his throat and said. "I better go."

She nodded, wishing she could just hold on to him and never let him go, but knew she couldn't, so she stepped to the side to let him pass, and as he did and got to the door, Sara turned around and said. "Gil."

Grissom turned around slowly to look at her after her usage of his shorten first name.

Normally it was Grissom or Griss, the latter being his favorite from her, in her playful/teasing mood it was Gilbert, Dr. Grissom, or even sometimes she would throw bugman out there, but he was beginning to notice that when she uses Gil, she really wants his attention, it was her very serious or scared mood.

There was a pause, and those very important words were on the tip of her tongue, begging to come out, but a second later she decided she wasn't going to do it because in situations like these, especially in movies, you say those words when you feel like you'll never see them again, and this was not going to be the case, she refused to believe that it was the case, so she hoped he could see how much she really felt for him by the look in her eyes as she said something else. "Good luck and be careful." Then in her mind she continued. 'Please come back to me.'

He smiled a little, showing her with his eyes he felt the exact same way, and replied softly, as if he was also reading her mind, which really wouldn't have surprised her one bit if he had. "Always."

After one more look, he finally turned and walked out of the door, leaving her behind as she watched him go, hoping he'll be alright and that this will end the case with them being reunited with Nick so they all could try to move past this nightmare.

25 minutes later Warrick gets a call that informed them that the location that Grissom was going to had an explosion, so with worry, the team started to rush out of the lab, which as they did, they see Catherine, who had dropped Lindsey off at her mom's after arriving here, walking on the sidewalk with worry, more worried than she was when she had received the call from Warrick earlier this morning.

"What's going on?"

Greg spoke with Sara and Carly right behind him. "No time to explain."

She watched the three of them run past her before her eyes turned to Warrick, who had stopped in front of her, both of their hearts racing from seeing one another again, then she mentally shook that off, knowing this was not the time, and asked. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later."

As he walked past her, trying to get his mind to focus more on the task at hand rather than the woman that was here after being gone for so long.

Catherine spoke again, breaking him from his thoughts. "Please Warrick, I can't just sit here and do nothing, I want to help with anything that I can."

He turned around before giving her a nod. "Ok, come on."

She nodded in return before following him to his vehicle, and once they were in there and he started driving, he gave her the details on what was going on, making her gasp while trying to hold her tears back.

She took a breath a few seconds later before replying softly. "Thank you for calling me."

He stopped his vehicle at a yellow light before looking over at her with a small smile. "I just got to you before Grissom did."

Even though that was true, another part of it was that he needed to hear her voice to know that she was ok.

She looked over at him with a small smile in return, showing each other with their eyes how happy they are to see one another, despite the situation, and how much they really missed one another.

Their moment was interrupted when the sound of a car horn honked behind them, so he cleared his throat before turning his attention back to the road so he could drive while he asked about Lindsey and how they were doing in Miami.

After collecting the evidence from the drop-off location, which was a barn, they headed back to the lab, but before Sara started processing the evidence she had collected, she saw Grissom heading to his office.

When they had made it to the location, she was itching to go to him and hold him, but knew she couldn't, especially with everybody around, so just knowing that he was still alive and breathing was good enough then.

However not now, the drive to go to him this time was too much to deny, so she gets up from her seat, walks out of the room, down the hall to his office, then takes a step inside to see him standing in front of his desk again with his back towards her, and whispered enough so he could hear her. "Gil."

Hearing her say his shorten first name, he turned around and spoke with a small smile. "This must be serious, twice in one day."

She gave him a hard look as she tried to keep her voice from shaking. "Damn right, you just survived an explosion."

He nodded before indicating with his hand to come in, and she did without hesitation, closing the door behind her before walking right to him and in his arms, both thankful the blinds were already closed so they didn't have to deal with them.

Normally they would not let themselves be this close in the lab, when the were in the lab at the same time that is, it was their silent agreement, but after what he went through, they didn't care at the moment.

They held one another tightly with their eyes closed while she tried to stop the sobs from coming, which proved to be unsuccessful as he ran his hand up and down her back, not only for her comfort, but for his too.

While he was in that barn, and as he was stepping back from the suspect before he blew himself up, he honestly didn't think he was going to make it out of there alive, so to be holding her again was a huge relief.

After a moment or two, once Sara had calmed her sobbing down, the words that she wouldn't let come out before, came out now.

"I'm in love with you."

No, it wasn't the moment she had envisioned, but she couldn't hold back anymore, she wanted him to know just how deep her feelings for him actually went, even though it was implied through various actions and/or looks multiple times, even before they were officially dating. Which was why Grissom wasn't surprised to hear her say those words, so he didn't gasp or ask her to repeat it because deep down he already knew how she felt about him.

But of course, knowing all of that didn't stop his heart from skipping a few extra beats because to actually hear the words was a beautiful feeling, so he just smiled and whispered. "You just had to say it first, didn't you?"

She couldn't help but chuckle as she squeezed him tighter before whispering in return. "You had your chance, bugman."

He sighed with a nod before finishing what he was going to say earlier before all of this happened, before their dinner plans was scrapped. "I want to protect you as someone who is in love with you."

She also didn't gasp from the revelation, but her breath did hitch a little because she now knew that he would have said it first if their evening wouldn't have been interrupted.

But with that last thought, she started to pull back. "I'm sorry to do this, but I should..."

He cuts her off as he released her. "Yeah, go. Finding Nick should be our priority right now." She nodded before turning around, and as she walked towards the door, Grissom continued as he watched her. "Even though our actions, words and looks have proven how much we do in fact love one another, I'm glad I got to hear the words."

She turned around with a nod and smile. "Me too." She then continued with a slight smirk. "Just maybe next time I would like to say and hear them without the aftermath of one of us almost getting blown up."

He gave her a slight nod and smile. "I agree, Ms. Sidle."

After one more long between them, Sara took a breath to get her focus back before turning around, opening the office door and walking out towards the left, and Carly, who had just walked past Grissom's office no more than two minutes ago and saw his door closed, smiled when she saw Sara had walked out of the office, then smiled a little bigger when she noticed Grissom had been in his office too.

Now there could have been multiple reasons why the door was closed, and she never wanted to make assumptions without having all the evidence, but couple that with the rumors she's heard about them, which normally she wouldn't even pay attention to, and her witnessing on how close they had seemed before the team-split up, it was kind of hard not to believe that something was going on between them. The only thing she had to say about that if it really was true, was good for them. She thought they deserved a little happiness, especially in the line of work that they do.

Before her thoughts could continue, she hears Warrick's curse and him yelling from the AV lab, so she practically jogged in that direction and asked with worry as she walked into the room. "Warrick, what's wrong?"

He took a breath and held out his hand towards the computer screen. "He shot out the light, now we can't see him."

She looked at the screen with worry in her eyes, seeing the webcam feed was pitch black, but a few seconds later they see light from a glow stick and Nick's face again, making them smile in relief while Warrick spoke softly. "Least he's still alive."

Carly nodded before clearing her throat and looking at him. "Why don't you get some air." He was going to protest, but she continued. "I can watch just as easily as you can, so go, I'll let you know if something changes."

Warrick paused before giving her a nod as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Thank you."

Carly just nodded before Warrick walked out of the room and headed for the locker room, and once he got there, he stopped in front of his locker before sitting down on the metal backless bench while placing his hand up to his face.

A few seconds later, he hears Catherine's concerned voice. "Warrick, you ok?"

He lowered his hand and turned his head towards the door and cleared his throat. "Yeah." Then a second later he took a breath and shook his head. "No." With a look of concern on her face, knowing he wouldn't admit that to just anybody, Catherine walked into the room and sat down next to him as he continued. "I can't stop thinking that could have been me, I offered to take the case, but he took it himself, he wanted..."

"You to enjoy your night. " Catherine cuts him off with a small smile. "You realize you can go back to that moment a 100 times and it still wouldn't have changed the outcome, right? That's Nick for you, always looking out for the people he cares for."

"Yeah." He nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right." Then he sighed and shook his head. "I also can't help but think that if I had ended up in that box, I wouldn't have been as strong as he has been, I would have..."

Catherine cuts him off sharply as she placed her hands on his. "No, I don't by that, I know you." Warrick was about to speak, but she continued while trying to keep her tears from coming out, refusing to believe that she would lose him like that, as she cupped his cheek with the other one, both feeling the sparks instantly. "You are strong, and you would have waited for your team to get you out, like you and them are going to do for Nicky, you hear me?"

Feeling all of these emotions inside of him from Catherine being here again and touching him and how he was feeling about Nick's ordeal, he did the only thing he could do, which was nod, and she smiled as her heart continued to race as she realized she was actually touching him, then she cleared her throat as she slowly removed her hand from his cheek, both missing the contact immediately. "Why don't we get something to eat." He was going to protest but she continued before he could. "You aren't going to do anybody any good if you faint from lack of food, when was the last time you ate something?"

He honestly couldn't remember, so he shook his head. "Uh, I don't..."

She cuts him off as she stood up, removing her hand from his arm slowly. "See, if you have to think about it it's been too long. I'll tell you what, it will be my treat."

Before her hand was completely off of him, he took it in his as he looked up at her and whispered. "Despite the reasoning, I'm glad you are here."

She gave him a small smile as she replied. "I am too." He removed his hand with a nod, and as he stood up, she spoke again after clearing her throat. "I got admit that what I've seen what your new partner can do, she doesn't seem half bad."

He shook his head with a smile. "She's great, she fit in pretty quickly." Then he spoke softy again. "But she isn't Catherine Willows."

She stopped her feet and turned to look at him, and after a heated (the good kind), moment, she spoke with a smirk. "I should hope not, I don't think the world could take two of me."

He couldn't help but smirk back. "Probably not." When she mocked glared and swatted him on the shoulder, he continued with his green eyes sparkling. "But, the one we do got is pretty much amazing as is, so we don't need another one."

Catherine's heart fluttered at his words before replying with a smile. "Ok, you saved yourself there Brown."

He raised an eyebrow as he looked her up and down before smirking again. "Oh yeah, what would you have done?"

They were now standing extremely close, both hearts racing again, and after a look into his eyes, she whispered with a smile. "I guess, you'll never know." Before she turned around and started to walk to and out the door, and he took a breath with a small smile and a shake of the head before following her out of the room.

Not only did he miss her presence, but also the moments they shared through the years.

Once again more hours passed, their spirits on actually finding Nick's location was running really low, until there was a break in the case when Grissom had gotten a close up screenshot of an ant that had came through the cracks of Nick's box after he had shot out the light, and after looking it up in one of his books, he determined the species and where they would more likely be found, so the search area was narrowed down from where they found the webcam trace,
and Sara pointed out the exact location after remembering a detail that was mentioned by the suspect's daughter, so they rushed out of the lab with a new found determination.

When they did find him by using an electronic scanner that locked on to the webcam transmitter, they were anxious on getting him out while he was anxious himself on getting out, but before they could, it was revealed that there was explosives under the box, so after looking around the area, Grissom saw a pile of dirt and a tractor next to it and he devised a plan on getting him out, but first he had to calm Nick down and tell him that he can't try and get up once they open the box or he'll blow them up.

After Nick was finally calm enough to actually listen to Grissom, Warrick and Grissom finally opened the box before Grissom placed his hand on his chest while Nick reached for Grissom's arm and held on tight, not wanting to let go as he held Warrick's hand with his other hand.

When it was time to transport him to the hospital once they got him out of the hole, by yanking him out with a rope while the pile of dirt was covering him, Warrick wasted little time on getting in the back of the ambulance, and after a look at Grissom, which he just gives her head nod, Sara also climbed in the back of the ambulance.

As the reaming team, including Catherine, watched the ambulance drive away, Grissom took a breath and spoke with determination to Ecklie, who was standing next to him. "I want my guys back."

AN: Hope it was ok, more to come. Thanks for reading and Please Review.