00...Wow, when I have some spare time (and an Easter break) I can really write alot! This is a super long chapter, so sorry for some...and not sorry for others who actually like super long chapters...I'm free now for a whole week and a bit, so I should be able to motor-write some good chapters...I'm proud of this one:D I hope you enjoy it..it's pretty Sara-based, but Greg is coming up;)

Oh...and I've read it over a bazillion times, and every time I've found a mistake, I;ve replaced this chapter more times than I can count on one finger! Buuut...I'm a perfectionist (a fatal flaw) so, if you see a mistake, I'm not afraid to hear it...I encourage it...so please let me know, and enjoy;)

CHAPTER 5: THE MISSING PIECE

Lily looked at Sara and truly feared the worst for her only son. The woman whom Greg had been ranting incessantly about ever since he had started working in the Las Vegas Crime Lab had been strong thus far, especially under the circumstances. While she had not been at her best composure, she had kept her own, and had remained calm, even when she was forced to speak on the phone with the woman who had started it all.

Lily had heard the screams of agony over the phone, more than a few meters away, and they chilled her to the bone to know that her son was the one who made them. Sara had then broken down into hysterics, while still listening to the anguished cries of her co-worker and best friend. Lily had been standing next to a chair, and fearing the worst, sat down and prepared herself.

She watched as Sara dropped the phone and, falling to her knees, continued to cry.

"Sara, please…" Catherine said, dropping next to her young colleague, "You have to try and calm down honey." Sara shook her head stubbornly, and continued to sob uncontrollably. "Sara, please…"

"For me, Sara." Lily spoke up from her spot in the back of the room, and she thanked the stars that Sara responded. She looked up at her best friend's mother, and then, seeing how strong Greg's mother was while her son was being tortured, while she should have the honour of mourning, saw how selfish she was.

Sara also realized that she was doing what she promised herself to not do. Give up on Greg.

Sara forced herself to her feet, and wiped the last of her salty tears from her red eyes. Her breath, though still shaky, was normalizing and she was starting to calm herself. "Atta girl, Sara." Nick encouraged.

"Sara, come on, we need to listen to the tape and note what we found out." Grissom said, taking the recorder he had set up and pressing play. She listened as she heard the voice that to her, sounded like nails on a chalkboard, the chilling voice of Greg's kidnapper.

"If you don't get the bitch online now I swear he will die a drawn out painful death!" That was Greg she was talking about, as if he were nothing human at all. She could never understand the cruelty of the human race before, but now that she was the one who knew the victim, it confused her even more. It was sweet, innocent Greg, who wouldn't hurt anybody. And she did not understand herself what they had done wrong.

She heard Nick and Grissom's voice speaking with Greg, and she could hear the tearing of her heart as the pain and fright he felt came through his words. It was after she heard Greg's pleading to let him keep speaking that Grissom paused the tape. "Okay, Nick, what did Greg mean? Raven-head, opposite Greg…looks through amethyst?"

"Well, he was describing the kidnapper…opposite Greg, must mean she is definitely a 'she'. And raven top must be referring to her hair. What does look through amethyst mean?" He questioned.

They all thought for a moment, when Sara remembered when she and Greg had been talking one day about birthstones. "Amethyst is the birthstone for February…it's a purple gem. Her eyes must be purple."

"Excellent." Grissom said. "We have the beginnings of a physical description, and it means something positive about Greg as well."

"What's that?" Sara asked.

"It means Greg hasn't given up yet, and that he's still very much alive and thinking."

"You didn't hear his screams…" Sara said, but she immediately chided herself for thinking that way. She knew herself, she felt, his life somewhere in the world, and knew he was still alive.

Grissom turned around, and pressed play on his tape recorder once again, and the conversation resumed. Then it was Sara's turn to talk with Greg, and Cammy.

"Sara? Oh God Sar, don't be sorry, it's not your fault…"

"Lies, you bastard! It's all your fault, you little slut."

"What did she do?"

Grissom stopped the tape once more, and Sara thanked him silently for stopping where he did, because she feared she would break down once more. Grissom turned to her. "Sara, she knows you."

"I find that hard to understand." Sara said, taking in Grissom's face, which was once again void of emotion. "Because I don't know her. And Greg doesn't know her either."

"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that she knows you and Greg, and that she saw you two together at Frank's diner in the past month." Grissom sighed. "That mean's that you could be in danger also."

"But I'm not." Sara hissed. "Greg is. So get to your point."

Grissom was getting sick of Sara's attitude, but let it slide. He could guess what she was feeling; she had mentored him into becoming a CSI, and guessed she had become close to him. He couldn't even fathom how she was truly feeling. "That means that you can probably remember who the girl is. Think back. When you were at Frank's diner, was anybody there with Greg at the booth?"

Sara shook her head.

"Was there anybody talking with him?"

"I can't remember Grissom!"

"Well you have to try harder for Greg, Sara."

Sara was getting frustrated again, but she locked her eyes shut, and tried to picture the scene. She had taken Greg up on a simple offer to breakfast at the diner after wrapping up a case, collecting evidence at the scene of a murder. She had walked into the store, her stomach rumbling at her, telling her that she was hungry, and that she was forgetting meals again. She took a quick look about the place, and spotted Greg, in a t-shirt and jeans, leaning back casually in his seat, talking to a person…

"Greg was talking to someone at the diner," Sara said, her mind still playing the memory motion picture of that day.

…Seeing only Greg, she never even bothering to notice the lady, the waitress, she just remembered. A waitress who, as she recalled, had been hanging around them for the past few days. As she approached, Greg caught sight of her and his kilowatt smile lit up. He ushered her over, completely ignoring the woman as she had done previous seconds ago. Greg ordered them both a meal, "Pancakes and juice," she remembered, and then started talking non-stop to her about how the case had some odd evidence. And for a while, she was completely engrossed in the conversation until…

"The waitress spilled my juice all over me, and completely soaked me. She said she was sorry, and then Greg took me home to change my clothes, but when I looked into her eyes, they were purple." Sara stopped dead in her tracks. "That was her?"

Brass nodded. "I think so. Did you catch a nametag?"

"Yea…yes I did." Sara answered quickly. "Jen…Janine! Her name was Janine, something…her last name wasn't included."

Brass grinned. "Awesome. Sophia, stay here in case one of the lab kids needs you. I need to check up on Janine at Frank's diner."

"I'm coming too." Sara added eagerly.

"No." Grissom firmly stated, picking up some folders.

Sara turned and burned holes in his head with her icy glower. "No way, why not?"

"You are in danger, no matter what you say, if the killer has such a grudge against you, and no way are you going to be getting yourself into something you cannot handle."

"But Griss…" Sara started to argue.

But Grissom had heard enough. He did not even reply to her as he left the room, appointing Warrick to accompany Brass. Sara stared incredulously after her boss until a hand touched her shoulder. Sara turned to face Catherine and Lily Sanders. "Come on Sar," Catherine said, "Let's take Mrs. Sanders to get some coffee in the break room."

Sara, still lost in her own thoughts and helplessness, allowed Catherine and Lily to lead her away, and silently.

What did physical pain feel like? That was Greg's only question now as he heard the soft waves of water splash against the sides of his glass tank, because he felt plenty of mental strife. He felt like a gold fish, suspended half in water and air, upside down and drowning, so near to the one sustaining thing he needed.

Greg could hardly breathe.

The hot air and steam made him feel like her was trapped by fire, the flames consuming all the oxygen, creating new compounds that were useless to him, slowly attaching themselves to his blood, suffocating him slowly.

He wasn't in too much pain, given the circumstances. "Is that a good thing?" He asked himself as he felt another splash of water cascade over his neck. It wasn't boiling now; the skin not blistered and burned told him that. But the skin that knew pain only a few hours ago could no longer feel anything, only the general cooling that the water undertook.

He vaguely wondered if he had passed out from the pain, and if he had indeed died. Not for one second did he believe he could have survived the boiling water like that. But he had, and now he had other problems. He had to, somehow, someway, figure out two things.

How to help his friends find him if he ever got his hands around a phone again, and how to get topside again. Now that his body had stopped screaming at him, his mind could continue its wily plans.

But, for some reason, he found it harder than ever to concentrate. His thoughts constantly wavered, and always drifted like flotsam in the ocean, and he found them floating towards Sara. She had heard his screams, and now had the weight of guilt on her shoulders. She didn't deserve that, no way, because it was definitely not her fault. And the thought of her, crying at his misfortune, blaming herself, as he was sure she would, made him mad at Cammy. Madder than he could remember being at Hank for cheating on her, and that took a lot. He shook at the thought.

He downright hated her for that one fact. She would pay, and until he took his last breath he would make sure of it.

But for now, he was stuck, having to desperately try and keep his head above the water line in a very cramped space, all the while ignore the ache in his stomach for a decent meal. Between the rumbling and the dull gnawing sensation, he realized it had been a good twenty-four hours since he had a good bite to eat. But what was he supposed to do, call to Cammy and ask for something?

Guess so.

"I hate myself…" He thought as he shifted position once again. "Cammy!" He called her name, and it was then that he realized just how raspy his voice had become. He noticed that his throat was raw from the screaming he had done when the scalding water was poured on him.

It was a few minutes before anyone acknowledged his calls, and if he hadn't been so hungry, that would have been fine with him. "Gregsy?" Her voice called down to him, innocently enough that it seemed she didn't know what she had done. "You're awake?"

"You act like you're surprised." Greg said.

"I am." She said shocked. "Most of my ex boyfriends have never lasted past that."

Greg's eyes widened. "There were others?"

Greg heard a thoughtful sigh above her. "Yes, actually…five of them. I don't have very much luck with men."

"No wonder, you bitch."

"Well, I'm different." Greg said, buttering her up as much as he could without making him sicker than he was. "And I have a favour to ask you, Cammy."

"What do you want, Gregsy?" She asked. God Greg was finding that name annoying.

"Well, I've been here an awfully long time, and I was wondering if I could have something to eat."

He heard her giggle. "You want food? Well, all I have is an apple…"

"That'll do." Greg said eagerly.

She hummed in thought. "I don't know if I should give it to you…you did cheat on me…"

Greg was still not over how messed up this chick was. But his hunger was much more important than his ego and opinions. "But it was all her. She's a harlot, and she tried to seduce me, but you've shown me what I've done wrong." "Damn, I should get an Emmy for this performance."

"I somehow doubt it." Was her only reply. However, a second later Greg felt something hard hit him on one of the more burned spots of his tender tummy flesh, and he reached and grabbed the apple. An apple never looked so good in his whole life, and despite everything else, he tore into it.

After eating everything, including most of the core, he was satisfied with what he knew had to come next. Waiting for something else to happen. However much he wanted to believe otherwise, he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that things were far from over.

"It's my fault." Said a tiny voice from inside the break room. Catherine looked in awe at Sara, not believing her usually outspoken friend could have created such a meek sound.

"You can't honestly believe her dear," Lily comforted her. "Besides the fact that she is not sane…" She temporary halted. "Greg wouldn't want you beating yourself up over it. He knows it's not your fault."

"That doesn't matter." Sara held the cup of coffee tightly in her hands, to keep them from shaking and also to warm them. All of a sudden she had become quite cold. "I should have noticed that she was acting weird. I'm a CSI, for Christ sakes!" She shuddered. She couldn't get his screams out of her head. "Could you go and try and help the investigation? I just need more time."

Catherine and Lily looked at each other, exchanging looks that Sara could not discern. She hated that. It almost allowed her to see how people felt around Grissom and herself. Wow.

"All right, hon." Lily said, as she started following Catherine. "But please, Sara. Don't beat yourself over this. And if you stubbornly decide to do so, remember that Greg isn't gone yet. We can still save him; we just need your help. So, please think about it." She sniffed, and followed Catherine the rest of the way out of the break room, leaving Sara to battle out everything in her head.

A very tedious task, considering there was a lot going on, and Sara's brainy CPU was fast starting to shut down.

Greg was missing, and the woman who took her was a crazed black-haired purple-eyed waitress that was working at Frank's diner. How had she not known? But she kicked that question out of her head. She had a male accomplice, whose first name was Cal. That was a good clue…except there were more than a few hundred thousand Cal's in Nevada alone. And they own a Sunfire. Once again, not an uncommon occurrence.

Sara sipped her coffee, her third in less than that many hours, and fought the desire to end all the thoughts in her head and just go to sleep. She had to find Greg…

Finding. Three definitions.

What Lily had said suddenly appeared in her head. Something about those words resonated with her, and something else along with it…something Greg had said…

"Drugged…needle…"

Was he trying to tell her something about what he was drugged with? If they found that, they could maybe trace it to whoever had taken Greg.

Sara, in an epiphany that made her smile in triumph, got up and raced for the door. She flipped her cell phone open, and dialled Sofia's number. "Meet me at the crime scene, I think we missed something."

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Catherine asked, as she, Sofia and Sara looked across the wind-swept remains of their burned crime scene. Scents of smoke and sulphur still permeated the air about them, making them wrinkle their noses in disdain. Sara had never been here yet, and now she was glad she had allowed Catherine to tag along.

"Something Greg said to me made me think. And Lily, she told me the definition for finding…it struck something with me. Finding…to come upon something by chance, to obtain or locate through search and effort. to discover. I think we need to do a little more finding."

"Whatever you say." Catherine said. She knew Sara was on a mission, and when she was on a mission you dare not cross her. Besides, if Sara had anything that could lead her to Greg faster, she was all for it.

"Catherine," Sara called her over to the spot she hovered over and, pointing, asked, "What happened here?"

Catherine approached her, looking at the ground. She saw what remained of bloody handprints and some vomit. "This is where we believe that Greg collapsed after escaping the gas station. Those are his handprints in a mixture of blood from officer Rawst and the owner of the station, and his epithelia's were in the vomit."

Sara grimaced at the thought of Greg going through that, being sick and alone while so threatened. She knelt down and donned her gloves. She started to sift through the sands, letting it run through her fingers as she slowly and carefully dug through the ground. "Uh, Sara?" Catherine asked as she watched her female colleague dig in the grit like a two-year-old at the beach, "What are you looking for?"

"This." She replied, as she reached in the hole she had dug and pulled out a hypodermic needle, with a drop of liquid still inside it.

To say Catherine was stunned was an understatement. "Sara…" She started, her eyes wide in disbelief, "how did you…?"

"Woman's intuition, bond of friendship, I dunno," Sara said, as she bagged the needle with loving care, "But I know Greg hasn't given up, and neither will I. Come on, we have to analyze this."

However, things were about to take another interesting turn. As Sara left Hodges' lab, hope in her heart, she was approached by a very tired, irked looking Grissom. "Sara, come here."

Sara wasn't about to have any of it. "Look Griss, I am Greg's friend also, I don't care if I'm involved, I just want him back."

"No. That can wait. Cammy is on the phone, and she wants you, and she says she has another clue."

Sara suddenly went pale. Cammy's threat was still vivid in her mind. "Each time you ask for a clue, something happens to Greg, so you better be smart." But what would she do?

Find Greg. If Sara was ever to see Greg alive any more in her life, she would have to do whatever it takes, and hope he could handle whatever was thrown his way because of it.

"Where to?" She heard herself ask.

"A/V Lab…Archie's going to try and run a trace this time. Come on, she's waiting for you."

Sara felt like she was having an out of body experience as she followed Grissom down the hall towards the A/V Lab. Her feet walked without them telling them too, and she was acutely aware of the sounds and business about her. Lab Techs milled about her, performing tests and analyzing trace and scanning fingerprints. They had no idea what pain she was going through, especially what mental torture her last decision, however quick, had caused her.

In the way she rationalized it, she was causing Greg pain.

"Sara!" Greg's voice caught her attention, and she almost thought he was in the room until she saw that damn phone again. "Sara, don't worry, this is not your fault…none of this is."

"We can't talk about that right now, Greg." Sara said, her throat feeling constricted as she fought tears once more. She had never fought tears so much before in her life, nor had she ever wanted to cry so often. She paused. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I poured boiling water over him." Cammy stated matter-of-factly. "It was his initial punishment, but now that we've started this little game, I'm afraid he'll have to more."

"Don't touch him, you little slut." Sara hissed intimidating. "Or I swear I will make you pay."

"Sara…" Greg started, but he was cut off.

"Ooh, little man eater makes a threat? Too bad. We started a game, and we'll finish it. Besides," She added with a seductive laugh, "his screams of pain turn me on."

"They call that sadism." Sara said, venom dripping from her words. She hoped to God that she was somehow poisoning her this very moment. "But what do you want? You said you had another clue?"

"I do." Cammy said. "Are you sure you want to hear it? Remember, Gregsy gets another dish of demonic pain if you ask."

Sara hesitated. She was starting to doubt herself on her decision again.

"Just do it, Sar." Greg said. Sara sniffed into the phone at the sound of his voice. She had just noticed how raspy and strained it sounded. How much screaming had he done when that sadistic witch poured hot water over him? What else had she done?

"Don't cry Sara, I'll be fine. If you care about me, ask the question."

"Oh Greg." Sara cried, her remorse overtaking her. "I'm sorry." She whispered, before adding in a stronger tone, "Give me another clue."

She heard Cammy laugh. "Alright, Sara, but pay attention because I'm saying this only once." She paused a while, "For dramatic effect, the whore," Sara thought, before, "He's under the ground underground in a house, and season's in the name…"

Bang…bang…SCREECH!!!

"What the hell?" Cammy screamed. Sara heard the noise too, through the phone, like someone was continuously dropping bowling balls near her head, and the resulting screech of harmonics. "What are you doing Greg?"

"Sara, she's done this before!"

Suddenly, it sounded like an earthquake on the other side of the phone, and Cammy slammed the phone on its receiver, making Sara jump in fright. "What the hell just happened?"

Ooh, what DID happen? Excited to find out? Just stay tuned to find out;)