Everyone was silent as they gathered in one of the labs. The look on Grissom's face told that something serious was going on, and they waited anxiously for him to tell them what it was. When he saw that he had everyone's attention, he sighed and leaned forward on the table.

"Nick, Eric and Natalia are missing. I believe they've been taken."

"What?" Ryan asked immediately, his face a mask of shock. "How do you know that?"

"Because we just received this."

Grissom set down a piece of paper on the projector, sending the image up onto the wall. He let everyone look at it for a moment before reading it out loud.

"Tick tock goes the hand.

What ever happened to Clint Goodman?

Surrounded by sand and dirt and rock,

It seems that poor Nicky will run down the clock.

As the beams grow higher toward the sky,

He has no choice but to cry and cry.

Yet no one will hear him – not now, not ever.

Your dear friend in five hours will be lost forever."

The room was silent. The C.S.I.s read the riddle over and over again in their heads, looking for clues, for something that would tell them were Nick was. But it just continued to mock them, the kidnapper obviously having fun with their little game.

"It only mentions Nick," Calleigh said slowly. "What about Eric and Natalia?"

"I don't think it's a coincidence that all three are missing," Grissom replied.

"But there are no clues for them," she said quietly.

"Maybe we have to find Nick to get more clues," Warrick suggested. "It seems like this guy is definitely enjoying his sick game. He wouldn't want us to be able to search for all of them at the same time. That would be less fun for him."

"So what do we do?" Sara interjected. "How do we find them?"

"We start with Nick," Horatio said slowly. "It's the only lead we have at the moment. I think we should split up and go to their apartments, gather whatever clues are there."

"I agree," Grissom said. "Sara, I want you and Warrick to take Nick's place. You two have been there enough that you'll recognize if something's out of place. Catherine, you and Ryan take Natalia's apartment, and Calleigh will go to Eric's with Greg. The note says we only have five hours. That means I want you back here in two."

They separated without another word. Everyone knew that their friends' lives hung in the balance, standing around in shock wasn't going to bring them any closer to finding them. Horatio looked over at Gil when they were the only two left in the room.

"I'll do a search for Clint Goodman. See if he's a former victim or perp."

Grissom nodded, a far-off look on his face. Horatio took a deep breath and placed his hands on his hips.

"We didn't mention the flip-side of what Warrick said, Gil."

"And what's that?"

"That if we don't find Nick, we have no chances of finding Natalia and Eric."

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"This is weird," Warrick commented as he and Sara moved through Nick's apartment.

"What is?"

"Being here without him." When she didn't respond, he looked over at her. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine."

"Come on, Sara. Don't lie to me."

She stopped and looked at him, a helpless expression on her face.

"What do you want me to say, Warrick? One of my best friends is missing. Some crazy psycho is holding him hostage, and if we don't find him in the next five hours, he's dead."

"We'll find him," Warrick said quietly.

"What if we don't?" she asked, her voice suddenly small.

"We will."

She nodded and refocused her attention on the task at hand, her eyes scanning the apartment. Silently, she willed something to jump out at her, to tell her who had taken her friend.

As she walked into the living room, something on top of one of the speakers caught her eye. Moving closer, she saw that it was a picture of her Nick. She smiled as she remembered when it had been taken – Brass had made them go to a Christmas party, and she and Nick had gotten pretty tipsy on the eggnog. They were both smiling broadly in the picture, the tips of their ears pink from the alcohol. It was one of her fonder memories.

"Hey Warrick?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this picture normally here? I don't think I've ever seen it before."

He came up to stand beside her, frowning when he saw the picture.

"No, it's not. It's usually in his room."

"Nick keeps a picture of us in his bedroom?"

"Yeah…I'm gonna let him field that question when we get him back," Warrick dodged.

He reached out a gloved hand to pick up the picture frame, looking it over carefully. Bringing it closer to his face, he noticed a small white spot in the corner that wasn't part of the picture. He flipped it over and pulled off the back, his eyes widening when a slip of paper fell to the floor. Before he could do anything, Sara reached down and picked it up, opening it slowly.

"Oh God," she whispered.

Warrick took the paper from her, his chest constricting as he read the words.

Poor Nicky. Will he ever get to tell the lovely Ms. Sidle how he feels? Tick tock, friends. Tick tock.

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"It's okay, you know," Greg said as he and Calleigh searched through Eric's apartment.

"What is?"

"Being worried."

"I'm fine."

"Right. But…it would be okay. If you were scared or upset. Nobody would think less of you for it."

Calleigh looked up from Eric's bookshelf, raising an eyebrow.

"You're trying to get me to open up."

Greg shrugged.

"I just want you to know that you're not alone. That…if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

She gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, Greg."

"You really care about him, don't you?"

Calleigh nodded, inwardly cursing the tears that stung the back of her eyes.

"He's my best friend," she whispered.

Greg moved closer and reached out a hand, squeezing her arm reassuringly.

"We'll find him, Calleigh. I know it."

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They had found next to nothing at the apartments of their missing colleagues. Everything had been dusted for prints, but the kidnapper had wiped everything down except the note at Nick's place – on the bottom right-hand corner of the paper, they had found one fingerprint. Warrick put it into the system immediately but they didn't get any hits. With only three hours left, they watched as their hope slowly died.

"Did you find anything in your search on Clint Goodman?" Grissom asked Horatio.

"No," he said, his voice tight with frustration. "He's not in any of our systems."

"So what now?" Ryan asked.

The question hung in the air, no one willing to voice the fact that they were basically at a dead end. If they admitted that, they would have to admit that their three friends were condemned to death, and none of them were willing to do that yet.

"I want each of you to take a copy of the riddle and put all of your energy into figuring it out. The answer is in the riddle," Grissom asserted.

"That's it?" Calleigh asked, her voice shaking a little.

"That's all we have," Horatio said sadly.

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Catherine ran through the riddle again in her head as she walked down the hall. She had memorized it quickly, the mocking words sticking in her brain and racing around in circles as they taunted her. Every now and then a voice would tell her the time, reminding her that Nick had only a few precious hours left before he was lost – and before they lost any leads they might need to find Natalia and Eric.

As she walked past the locker room, a sudden crashing sound caught her attention. Frowning, she pushed the door open gently, sticking her head in. Sara was standing in front of the row of lockers, her fists slamming into the metal. Tears were coursing down the younger woman's face as she hit the lockers again and again, the force of her blows cutting into her knuckles and making them bleed.

Catherine was in the room in an instant, moving behind Sara and taking a hold of her arms. The other C.S.I. resisted, pulling away as she struggled to continue her self-punishment. But Catherine tightened her hold, pulling Sara back, and holding her tightly as the sobs took over her body. Slowly, they sank to the floor, Catherine rocking her friend back and forth.

"I can't lose him, Cath," Sara sobbed, clinging to the older woman. "I can't."

"I know, sweetheart. But we are going to find him."

"We have nothing to go on, no leads, no evidence to follow. He only has two hours left. What else can we do?"

"Just keep trying. We have the riddle, Sara. We'll figure it out."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, Catherine running her fingers through Sara's dark hair.

"Are you going tell him?"

"Tell who what?"

"Nick. Are you going to tell him how you feel about him?"

"How did you…?"

"I have eyes, Sara. If it had been anyone else missing, you wouldn't have broken down. You would have just focused on finding them. But the thought of losing him…that was just unbearable, wasn't it?"

Sara nodded, wiping at her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I –"

"Don't apologize, Sara. Just promise me that you'll tell him."

"I promise," she whispered.

"Okay, then. Let's get back to work."

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"You okay?" Ryan asked as Sara walked into the room, noting her red and swollen eyes.

"I've been better," she admitted. "What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"Well that was convincing," she said, a faint smile on her face. "It's alright, Ryan. To admit that you're scared. That you're worried about Natalia."

"I'm worried about Eric, too."

"Yeah, but you're more worried about Natalia. Just like Calleigh is more worried about Eric."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Aside from the whole lab noticing when you guys joined us? Not at all." Her smile faded. "You're allowed to be scared, Ryan. You're allowed to worry."

"I do that, and I'm done," he said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because…because I care about her. Because if I stop and really think about what's going on, then I'm going to start thinking about what might happen if we don't find them – if we don't find her."

"I've been told several times today by people I trust that we're going to find them."

"Does that stop you from imagining the worst?"

"No," she whispered. She took a seat next to him, staring down at his copy of the riddle. "Tell me about her. Natalia, I mean."

"Sara…"

"Please."

Ryan took a deep breath, leaning on the table in front of him.

"She's…she's one of my best friends. She puts up with me, she puts me back in my place when I'm being a total idiot. As cheesy as it sounds, I…I think I'd be lost without her."

Sara nodded, understanding.

"You love her," she said quietly.

He looked at her sharply, an objection ready on his lips. But when his eyes met hers, he knew that it wasn't a question, that she was stating a fact.

"Yeah," he whispered. Clearing his throat, he blinked back the tears that suddenly sprang to his eyes. "What about Nick?"

"Same boat," she admitted. "But…this isn't the first time this has happened."

Ryan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"A couple years ago, a guy took Nick and then buried him alive out in the desert. He left him his gun so that he could…so that he could kill himself before running out of oxygen. I nearly lost my mind then, but to have to go through this again…What?" she asked, seeing the strange expression that came over Ryan's face. "What is it?"

"Oh God," he whispered. Looking over at Sara, his eyes widened in shock. "Come on," he urged her, turning and running out of the lab. She followed him as he ran down the hall, bursting into the larger lab where everyone else was gathered.

"Ryan?" Calleigh asked. "Is everything okay?"

"I know who Clint Goodman is," he blurted out.

"What? Who?" Catherine asked.

"The reason we couldn't find him in our databases is because he isn't real. He's a character from a movie."

"What movie?" Grissom interjected.

Ryan took a deep breath and glanced over at Sara.

"'Buried Alive'."