A/N: This is the�penultimate chapter of this story (there is one more after this and an epilogue) and then I can start on something new! Thank you for sticking with me and I hope you enjoy the last few chapters.

Greg braced himself as the chopper lifted off the ground. It had been half an hour since Sophia called and he was anxious to get out to the desert and search for Sara and Grissom. He glanced over at Wendy and she gave him the thumbs up. He smiled and then turned his attention to the desert. The sun was already sinking towards the horizon and he knew that they probably only had an hour or so before they ran out of daylight. As the chopper flew over the desert, Greg searched the ground carefully, hoping for any clue that might lead him to Grissom and Sara.

After about forty-five minutes of searching, the sun had sunk below the horizon and darkness was falling fast. Greg was just about to give up hope when he spotted something in the desert below him. He tapped the pilots shoulder.

"Put it down!" he shouted. "There's something down there. It looks like a person."

The pilot nodded once and swung the chopper around to the place Greg had indicated. Greg took another look out the window and felt fear curling in his stomach. The thing he had spotted was definitely human and it was most certainly dead. Trying to stay calm, Greg took a few deep breaths as the chopper touched down, spreading sand and dust everywhere. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Wendy very near him. She gave his shoulder a quick encouraging squeeze and he smiled tightly and then jumped down to the ground.

With his hand resting gently on the butt of his gun, Greg approached the body cautiously, keeping his eyes open for possible assailants. Once he reached the body he turned it over and recoiled as the face of Joseph Reichman came into view. Greg shrank away from the body and hurried back to the helicopter.

"It's not either one of them," he shouted up at Wendy as she helped him back in. "It's Reichman."

Wendy's eyes widened in shock. "He's dead?" she asked in disbelief. "How?"

"Gunshot," was all Greg said. He was having an intense internal struggle. He had moved from the lab to the field in hopes that he would be able to give justice to the dead, but he didn't envy the one who would have investigate Reichman's death. If anyone had ever not deserved justice, it was that man.

Greg radioed back to Sofia and gave her the coordinates of Reichman's body and then told the pilot to keep going. As the chopper lifted off, Greg turned to the heat sensor in front of him and switched it on. The last rays of sunlight had finally disappeared, plunging the desert into total darkness. Though the land was still hot, Greg was determined.

They flew, on and on, always hoping. As the desert cooled, Greg began to see more and more definite shapes with his heat sensor, though there was nothing that looked even remotely like a human being. They had been flying and searching for almost two hours and Greg had just decided that maybe they needed to give up and wait until morning when he saw something at the corner of the monitor. He shouted to the pilot.

"Turn back to the west a little bit! I think I saw something!"

The pilot obeyed and Greg searched the monitor closely, hoping and praying that his eyes hadn't been playing tricks on him. He waited, watching the screen as the helicopter turned and then gave a shout of joy.

"There!" he shouted to the pilot. "Bring her down! Hurry!"

The pilot sat the chopper down and Greg and Wendy darted out of it. Looking around, Greg spotted a hand sticking out from behind a scrubby little bush and he rushed over to it. As he came around the bush, his heart nearly stopped.

"Call for help," he said to Wendy, who had gone deathly pale. She pulled her radio out as Greg rushed forward, to where Sara and Grissom lay.

Greg went to Grissom first and felt his neck desperately for a pulse. It was weak and light, but definitely there and Greg felt relief rush through him. He took out his water bottle and poured a little on Grissom's face and in his mouth. He felt Wendy kneel down beside him and he looked over at her.

"Stay with him while I check on Sara."

She nodded and Greg made his way over to Sara. As he knelt down next to her, he felt dread well up in his stomach. He reached a shaking hand for her neck, feeling for her pulse, but he didn't find one. Shaking all over he grabbed her wrist, but he still couldn't feel anything. Getting desperate, he put his ear to her blood soaked chest and listened for a moment, but it was nothing.

"Oh god," he whispered. "Come on, Sara. Don't do this to us. Come on."

As he spoke, Greg arranged Sara into a better position and started CPR, desperate to bring her back. He didn't know how long she had been unconscious or how long her heart had been stopped, but he refused to let himself believe that she wasn't going to be okay. Tears filled his eyes as he compressed her chest and breathed air into her lungs and he swallowed hard against them, but they fell anyway. He glanced over at Wendy once or twice to find her watching him, fear and sadness filling her eyes. The tears fell faster and he turned his attention back to Sara and continued to administer CPR.

It seemed like it had been hours when the Medvac helicopters finally arrived and Greg was roughly pushed aside by the paramedics. He watched in horror as they shocked Sara, over and over again, trying to restart her heart. After ten minutes with no results, they stepped back and one gently closed Sara's eyes, pronouncing time of death as he did so. Greg felt grief welling up in him and he stumbled blindly forward as the paramedics moved away. Kneeling down in the dirt next to Sara, he placed a gentle hand on her bruised, and bloody forehead.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her, tears falling from his cheeks and onto hers. "I'm sorry I didn't find you in time to save you. But I promise that I'll do everything I can to help Grissom. I'll look after him, Sara. I'm so sorry. I'll miss you."

Standing up he stumbled away from Sara's body and somehow managed to find Wendy. She was watching the paramedics as they worked on stabilizing Grissom and he put a hand on her shoulder. She immediately turned to him and pulled him into her arms. They watched the paramedics and helped them lift Grissom into the helicopter when the time came. The two helicopters took off as an ambulance, lights and sirens ablaze, came speeding towards them. Greg watched numbly as they loaded Sara's body into it and drove away. Grief washed over him as the ambulance sped away, taking Sara for that last long ride. Its lights and sirens were silent now, for there was no rush. She was gone, as dust in the wind.

Please, R&R! I live for reviews!