Alrighty. It took a little longer than I had expected, but here it is:

um, I don't own anything and.. I think you guys will like this one. Not real sure but I hope you will anyway. I think was one of my favorites to right. Not sure entirely on this either, but it definitely comes close. So.. enjoy!

Greg sat motionless on the cold floor, in total fear. Don wore an evilly twisted smile as he set up the camera and began to pull on dark clothing and eventually a ski mask, letting Greg know that Don was not going to do anything to him from a distance, but was fine with being on the camera as well. His stomach tightened at the thought.

He shot glances from Don to Ben. Ben was looking right back at Greg, looking slightly nauseous. Greg didn't think about Ben this time though, he was much to preoccupied with watching Don as he finished covering himself and then proceeded towards the table once more. He grabbed a few things from off of it, though Greg couldn't make out what they were.

Don headed back for the camera and was about to press a button when Ben made a swift move to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Don screamed after him.

Ben stopped dead in the doorway, then turned around. His face was oddly constructed; he was frowning and biting his lips.

"I.. I don't want to.. I don't want to watch this." His tone got much more serious and a twinge of anger made itself present.

This was good insight into Ben's character, but it was also unwanted insight into Don's as well. Obviously, Ben knew that Don was going to be particularly malicious with Greg and it was enough to make him want to leave as it happened.

The anxiety was too much to handle. Of course, Greg didn't want to get beat or hurt or anything, but sitting there, wondering and waiting. It was just way too much.

"Why?! You made friends with him, did you? Look, I know this is all a bit.. But it doesn't matter. It has to be done! Or we will never feel closure! Or does she mean nothing to you?!?" Don screamed at the top of his lungs. His stiff stance showed what his covered face did not: pure anger.

Ben, who seemed to have lost his confidence, lingered in the doorway mumbling, and finally made his way back in the room, but hid in the shadows that lingered in the back of the room. Don watched him for a moment but then turned back to the camera and pressed a button that made a small red circle light up.

And so it began.

Don picked something up, and as he got closer to Greg, the item was identified as a whip. He was standing in front of Greg now, raised the whip over his head, then slung it down. A loud crack! filled the room and pain shot through Greg's body as the leather strips made contact with his chest. He didn't even have time to recover before the next one came down on him again, this time more centered on his arm.

More followed. Greg lost count after five; the pain clouded his mind and blurred his vision. He became dizzy, but felt the continuous straps colliding with him. He could hear himself making noises, sometimes just a quick in-take of breath, a hiss, or a flat-out cry. But all of it was distant as he had lost control of his reactions.

Suddenly, the sharp blows stopped, and all that was left was the throbbing of the welts produced by the whip. Greg let his chin fall onto his chest as he tried to hold onto consciousness. He was sucking in air as though he had been deprived of it for days. He could hear Don laughing, but he didn't care. He was doing all he could to control the pain, but it wasn't working in the least.

After a moment or two, he brought his head back up and saw Don standing on the right side of the camera. He had an obnoxious stance that screamed pride. Greg thought he looked like an artist admiring his masterpiece. The thought was sickening.

Don eventually bent down and picked up something else. Again, he walked into the camera's field of view and Greg decided not to look at him. Out of no-where, he felt one of the worse feelings ever.

It felt like electricity running through him. His body jolted against it's restraints, his eyes rolled in his head, and his mouth stayed painfully clenched. When the it all stopped, he discovered that it was electricity that had just been forced through him. His limbs fell completely limp, his arms dangling from his cuffed wrists.

He felt something cool run down his face. He wasn't sure if it was sweat, blood, or tears but he didn't care. All of them were reasonable given the situation.

He had to endure one more electric shock before Don became bored with that toy. Then came a whole segment of just Don's hands and legs colliding with different parts of Greg. After about five to ten minutes of that, he then left again and came back with a gun. The same gun that had been pointed at him many times since his arrival. Only this time, Greg saw something that made his heart sink. A silencer.

However, he was too dizzy to really worry over this. In fact, a small part of him even welcomed it. It made a very good point by saying that he wouldn't want to live through many more torture sessions like this. If he was shot dead, then he wouldn't have to worry about any of this anymore. But a more pronounced and stronger voice told him that he was simply not allowed to think like that. He needed to hold on for as long as he could. Of course, it didn't really matter at all how he thought since his fate was entirely based on Don and the weapon that was being pointed at Greg's chest.

Greg kept his head half-way up, not able to bring it up completely. He stared at Don's dark eyes, watching for some sort of sign in them. But when he didn't do anything, Greg changed his focus to Ben instead. He was now standing, still in the back of the room. He so tightly wedged in a corner looking miserable, that Greg found himself wondering if he had also been a victim of Don's violence.

His focus was brought back to Don as he came to Greg, still pointing the gun at him. He turned towards the camera with his gun-hand stretched out towards Greg, the barrel only inches from his skin. Don raised his free hand and did a quick signal with it. Greg then saw Ben emerge from his corner and walk to the camera as though he was being condemned to death.

Don turned back to the camera, and began to speak:

"I thought you might like to see Gregory," the man on the screen said in a disgustingly pleasant voice. "He's really a sweet kid. It's a shame he has to go through this, we do what we have to, right? Oh anyways, Greg, would you like to say anything to your friends?"

Greg did nothing to suggest he had acknowledged what the man had said, just continued to breath heavily with his head resting on his chest. He knew that the team would be watching this but he couldn't bring himself to even look at the camera.

"Pity. It seems as though he doesn't want to speak right now. Well, I guess we'll call it a day then. And we'll end it on a positive note!"

He readjusted the gun so that it was aimed near Greg's heart, and his grip on the trigger tightened. Greg now had his head up. If he was about to be shot, he wasn't going to go out looking like a coward. He looked straight at the camera, and was slightly surprised to see Ben standing there with his hand hovering above the camera, looking like he was getting ready to do something. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Greg saw Don make a slight movement with his free hand again, and as he did so, Ben clapped his hand over the lens of the camera.

Before Greg had time to register what was going on, a shot rang out through the room, and once again, pain made it's ugly face present in Greg's broken body.

It was nothing short of horrific. Watching him get beat in so many different ways. Everyone except for Grissom had had to look away at some point or other, but Grissom hardly even blinked.

It definitely was not because watching it didn't make his insides burn, but he knew right away that this guy was smart. Too smart. Therefore, Grissom knew that he needed to watch every second of the video, in hopes of seeing the tiniest of details. The smallest of details that might give them some sort of lead on this case that they so desperately needed.

Unfortunately, nothing had caught his eye. Of course, the video would be put through hours of thorough analyzing, but it would be a Godsend to get some information now.

It wasn't until the very end of the video, when the gun was brought out did Grissom feel uncontrollable emotions. They weren't necessarily making him want to look away, but he was feeling sick. Immediately he thought of watching Nick in his box, with the tempting gun sitting beside him, looking so enticing. A guaranteed way to end it all. However, in that situation Grissom felt a little less nervous. He knew that Nick could have handled the situation for long enough. But now, it was much different. He had never stopped to consider what Greg would have done in Nick's situation, but that wasn't the case here at all. The situation was completely out of everyone's hands, except the bad guy's. Grissom felt lost with knowledge that he had no control in this situation at all.

Grissom, along with everyone else in the room had their eyes locked on the television set, not knowing what to expect. Then, as the man's arm muscles tightened, as he was so close to firing the gun, the screen went black. No one knew what to think, but because there was no proof the gun actually went off, they relaxed ever-so-slightly. However, seconds later, the unmistakable sound of a gun went off. A gun with a silencer, but a gun none the less. It was then followed by a weak cry of pain, no doubt from Greg.

The sudden shot had made everyone gasp and had also made some of the previously unwilling tears fall quickly and silently. But they remained quiet as they heard a voice coming from tv.

"I hope you can see the seriousness of the situation now. I expect you'll be hearing from me very soon. Good day to you all."

The video ended. No one moved a muscle; they were all too shocked to say or do anything at all. Surely he had not been shot. It was possible he was just forced to make a sound, right?

Warrick broke the silence by swearing under his breath. He had never been amazingly close to Greg, but he respected the kid. He had come a long way, and for this to happen to him, and him being so young. He just shook his head in disgust.

Both Sara and Catherine were silently crying, and Nick stood perfectly still. He was so tense and stiff. So many different emotions were racing across his features. The most dominant however seemed to be fear, which was understandable.

"Alright," Grissom spoke up silently, but firmly. "We'll need to get this over to Archie right away. There has got to be something we can get from it." He paused for a moment, then added "Make sure that it is only him that sees it."

Warrick nodded in agreement, then got the DVD from the player and walked out of the room.

"Catherine, go see what Jackie and Hodges has."

Catherine ran her hands over her face, wiping away the tears, then also stood. She seemed shaky and a little unstable, but eventually made her way out as well.

Grissom looked at Sara and Nick. Both of them had been the closest to Greg, there was no doubt about that. Nick and Greg had always been good friends and Sara had been working a lot of cases with him lately and had been one of the main ones to teach Greg so much about the job. Grissom was much more sensitive when it came to giving them their jobs.

"For right now, I'm going to send out a broadcast," Grissom said quietly to both Nick and Sara. They looked at him slightly confused. "I figure it wouldn't hurt to get Greg's picture out there, maybe someone saw him lately. As you may have noticed, we are in need of anything we can get."

Nick and Sara nodded in agreement, but looked more defeated at their realization of how desperate they were.

"So, get a picture and go back to the tape of the hallways and see what he was wearing. Anything that can help."

Nick and Sara left the room, leaving Grissom to think. So many thoughts raced through his head that he didn't have the ability to focus on one thing. Then it occurred to him that the kidnapper would be calling, and possibly soon. They didn't know when this was filmed exactly, and had said that he would be in contact very soon.

Grissom turned suddenly to the phone sitting on the desk. It seemed so evil in Grissom's eyes. There it was, just sitting there as though nothing was different. And at some point, it would ring and on the other end would be the man that Grissom despised most at the moment. But until then, it would sit, looking innocent, further depriving Grissom and his team of the knowledge they so desperately wanted on any word on Greg's condition.

Grissom was certain Greg was still alive. He was the kidnappers only game piece and if he was dead, he would be no use to the man at all. And naturally the man would know that Grissom would demand to know if Greg was alive. But none of that ruled out Greg being seriously hurt. Possibly even on a time-limit. He could have been shot somewhere that would slowly let the blood drain from Greg until he died.

Grissom shuddered.

Just then, the phone rang. He walked cautiously over to it.

"Hello?"

"Ahh, Mr. Grissom. I do hope you received my gift?"

"Where's Greg."

"I take that as a yes," the man said it so casually, as if it were just a cute little joke.

"Where is Greg," Grissom said more sternly.

"Temper, temper Mr. Grissom. But to answer your question, he is right here."

Grissom began to speak, but was cut off.

"And to answer your next question, he is in fact alive. Not doing so good by the looks of it, but alive none the less. And yes, you will be allowed to speak with him in a moments time."

Taken aback by the man's comments, which did answer the first questions Grissom was planning on asking, Grissom didn't say anything.

"So I guess you're wondering what it is that I want. Well, I am unfortunately still a little upset from your rudeness so I will not be telling you that right now. I will however be sending you more little gifts as I am sure you love them so much. You see Mr. Grissom, I have all the time in the world. I cannot say the same for Gregory because who knows what the future will bring. I will however tell you that he is not on death's doorstep as of yet. So all-in-all, we should all be fairly happy."

Anger shot through Grissom. This man was in no rush what-so-ever, which made him less likely to make mistakes.

"And now, I will let you have a few words with Gregory. And again, I will be in contact with you and your CSI's. Good day to you Mr. Grissom."

The phone went silent and Grissom's heart began to race. He wanted more than anything to hear Greg's voice to ensure that he was still alive, but he was still nervous to hear him. The same person he had just watched get mutilated.

Grissom heard small, raspy breaths and his fear diminished and was replaced with concern.

"Greg?"

A small and very weak voice answered, "Grissom?"

Grissom's eyes watered. It was painful to hear him like this, but there was still sounds of hope in his voice despite everything.

"Greg, I want you to listen to me, ok? We are doing everything we can and we will find you. You hear me? We will find you."

He heard more raspy breaths then, "I know you will, Grissom."

Grissom's heart swelled. The words were real. Grissom knew that Greg knew that they would find him. In fact, Greg sounded more sure of it then Grissom himself. However, once he heard Greg say this, Grissom felt much less unsure.

He was going to find Greg alive. There was no other choice.

"Be sure to t.. tell everyone that I.. I miss them. And make sure that there is s.. some coffee and ch.. Chocolate waiting on me. I would l.. love some chocolate."

Grissom could help but smile. How Greg managed to stay Greg was beyond him.

"I'll do that Greg. I'll make the coffee now, and it will still be warm when you get here."

There was more silence, then Grissom heard someone say "that's enough" And the line went dead.

Grissom was left standing with the phone to his ear, feeling really good. He hadn't liked hearing Greg's voice so weak, but he had given him hope. His words replayed over and over and Grissom's head, and for the first time since this all started, Grissom felt confident that Greg would not only be found alive, but he would not be too damaged mentally.

He felt confident that Greg would still be Greg when they found him, and that was more than anyone could ask for.

Ok so you guys should be pretty happy with me because this one was going to be a cliffhanger with the whole gun thing, and you still don't know where or if he was shot at all, but I figured you guys would know I wouldn't kill him now anyways and with that knowledge, I thought I would give you all some more story. Also, isn't the whole storyline with Don and Ben getting interesting? Starting to see some of their reason of why they are doing this? Well, I'll tell you that all of this happened as I was writing. I was orgianlly just going to come right out with their characters and their plans, but I like this so much more. I hope you all do as well. It adds more originalitly to such an over-used storyline. So.. Yep. Anyways, Christmas break is coming up. (Last day is Wednesday) This could mean very good writing opportunities, and it could mean the opposite. We shall see. Thanks for reading, comment if you can and Happy Holidays! (if I don't write until after the holidays).