Title: Shattered

Author: innocent choir girl shannyfish (From Out of the Lab)

Summary: Someone is out to get Las Vegas' CSIs and Sara Sidle is their first victim. What happens when there are no leads to a suspect? Takes place during Season Seven.

Category: Ship Ahoy! Gil/Sara

Genres: Angst, Character Study, Drama, Established Relationship, Friendship, Hurt Comfort, Suspense

Characters: Jim Brass, Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, Greg Sanders

Warnings: Adult themes

Rating: R

Chapter: 3 "Nicky"

Author's Notes: thanks to Opal for fixing stuff!!!

………………………………………

Staring at the DNA results, Grissom kept reminding himself that it was merely blood and hair. The amount of blood wasn't even substantial, and until they found a body, they'd have to operate under the assumption that Sara was still alive. He sat there for a long while thinking… This was the second time one of his team had been kidnapped. And Sara…just made it worse. They were close now…closer…which changed everything. Hearing a soft knock on the door, he looked over his shoulder to see that Brass peeking in through the door.

"What's the verdict?" he asked, his voice calm and level. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from Grissom.

"The DNA on the blood came back as Sara's… Not sure about the hair, no follicular tags…looks like it was chopped off. It's not all the same length…and there was the elastic band still around it as if it was cut off right above it… But the color and length seem right for Sara…" Grissom showed Brass the pink band that had kept the hair gathered before he had removed it.

"Do you remember if she was wearing that earlier?" Brass questioned.

Sighing, he answered honestly, "I didn't notice. I remember her hair was pulled back, but…I don't remember with what…"

"I'll ask Catherine, women recognize these things…" Brass offered.

Grissom merely nodded in response. His thoughts wondered back to the murder of a woman who looked enough like Sara that they could have been sisters. That had hit him hard… It was only some time later that Nick had been taken…

"Gil, we're going to find her," Jim told his friend confidently. When his friend looked at him worried, he tried to assure, "Alive." He took a breath before adding, "She's alive. Sara's a survivor, she's strong, and she's probably trying to leave us clues… We just have to find them."

"I'm just worried she's hurt, and we don't know the first place to look," Grissom admitted.

Brass frowned, that didn't help them any. "No trace?"

"None."

"Want me to tell them?" Brass offered. Before Grissom could open his mouth to answer, Brass' cell sounded and he picked it up. "Brass." He listened carefully, "Primm?" he asked and then nodded. "We'll be there." Closing his phone he looked up at Grissom, "We'll be there." Closing his phone, he looked up at Grissom, "We've got a body at the state line…along the I-15 near Primm. The description…matches Sara's…"

"Her hair's likely been cut," Grissom pointed out remembering that in the description they had said she had long brown hair.

"The female they described has short brown hair. She's been bruised and cut up pretty badly… They couldn't tell if she has that tattoo or not…" He looked at Grissom sympathetically, "Want me to go?" He could ID Sara on his own, but he had an idea that Grissom would insist on going along.

"No, I have to be there…"

………………………………………..

The drive from CSI to state line seemed to take several hours rather than the thirty-something minutes it took in Brass' car with the siren and lights flashing at full speed. He had sent Nick and Greg to the Mirage on a homicide while Catherine and Warrick were at Desert Palms Hospital taking a statement from a rape victim and collecting the SAE kit. Gil thought it was best it was just him and Brass. Though, he had promised to let them know if the body at state line was Sara.

The red and blue flashing lights alerted them that they were closing in on the scene. The coroner's van pulled up just as they did. Grissom had the door open the minute Brass put the car into park. Shutting the door he took in a deep breath before walking towards where the officers were gathered not waiting for Brass or David. He flashed his ID, "Grissom. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab." He was guided towards the body and looked for a long moment. He could hear Brass' hurried footsteps behind him. A hand was placed on his shoulder as he let out a heavy breath. "It's not her." Grissom informed the officers. Sara was still out there…alive, and they were going to find her.

"I'll call Rick and Catherine and let them know," Brass said patting Grissom's shoulder.

Relief felt like an understatement to Grissom. It felt more like happiness…but that seemed wrong. A woman was dead; it wasn't something normally to be happy about… But for Gil, he was happy that it wasn't Sara… He wasn't sure what he'd have done if it had been Sara…though he knew that it was a good thing he had come with Brass. And at least they still had jurisdiction in Primm. Primm was still Clark County, but just a hair away from California state line.

Looking to his right, he saw Brass was still on his cell phone and by what he was hearing his friend had gone on to call Nick and Greg. He watched silently as David looked over the body before looking back at Jim, who looked a bit concerned. "What?" he asked quietly wondering what was going on.

Holding up a finger for Grissom to wait, Brass listened closely to his cell phone. "Greg? Greg? What's going on?" He nodded and started to move back towards his vehicle and motioned for Grissom to follow. "Listen to me. We're on our way now. Just stay there…" Getting into the driver's seat, he closed his phone and pulled the door shut.

Looking over at his friend, he started to fill him in on what Greg had told him over the phone. "Nick's missing. He said that Nick was supposed to just go out to the vehicle to retrieve…something…Greg was panicked…I'm not sure what exactly he was telling me about exactly what. But as he was walking down towards the vehicle he found it open and the lights inside on, but no Nick. His hat though was on the ground towards the back of the truck."

"I thought I told them to stay together," Grissom said shocked that another of his CSIs might have been taken…

Brass simply shrugged his shoulders slightly as his siren blared and his lights went on as they sped back down the I-15 towards Las Vegas. "Maybe…maybe Nick's there… Maybe it's just a misunderstanding…" he tried to stay optimistic.

"Nicky wouldn't do something like that to scare Greg…" Grissom said quietly as he sat there thinking. It would take them another half an hour to get back to Vegas…and in that time whoever was after his CSIs was getting away…

Tension was in the air, and Jim wished he could push the speed, but he was already pushing it. "Why don't you call Catherine and Rick and let them know what's going on…make sure they're staying together," he suggested knowing that his friend was most likely feeling responsible.

………………………………………

"Nicky…Nicky… Wakey wakey…"

The sound seemed blurred. The voice he didn't recognize, but his brain logged it as male. The unfamiliar voice was soon joined by a boot. The kick connected with one of Nick's ribs making him cringe and cry out in pain. Opening his eyes, she looked around from his place against the cold floor. A few yards away he saw a crumpled form. "Sara?" he managed to get out hoping to see the form move or respond. But he only won himself another swift kick, this time to his spinal cord from him moving.

"Sara's sleeping right now, Nicky…"

He could make out her face clearly. Her eyes were shut… Her colorless pallor was concerning him though, and he noticed that most of her clothes had been stripped off. Her vest was missing and her pants. His eyes stopped when he saw the reddish-brown stain on her white cotton shirt. It was a line that ran from her side down towards her stomach. Nick's mind raced, she was injured…

Turning, Nick found his face pressed against the floor quickly. Whoever had them didn't want him to see him. Obviously Sara wasn't a threat at the moment, and probably the only reason or else he would have been smart enough to wear a mask. The man's foot was pressed hard against his back and Nick wondered exactly what was planned for them. "What did you do to her?"

"Don't worry about Sara…"

He didn't like the man's tone. It was too calm, too even…no caring in his voice. "She's hurt, what did you do to her?" Nick pushed wanting to know what was wrong… He wanted to get to her, to check her and make sure she was alright.

"Nicky…Nicky…Nicky… Why do you care so much about plain lil' Sara? She's not your type…too geeky I think."

"She's my friend," Nick told him getting annoyed and frustrated.

"Ah…friendship…"

Raising his eyebrows, Nick wondered why the man was so interested and what he wanted from them, but he felt the foot press down and then let up a bit. Nick stayed still. He didn't want to chance being able to check Sara.

"You count to ten. Then you can move."

"One," Nick started and felt the foot removed from his back and laid there with his eyes glued on Sara. He had a feeling that those ten seconds were going to feel like much longer… "Two." He heard her let out a moan, he could hear the pain in it. "Three." Footsteps moving away from him caught his attention, and he continued, "Four." He had a thought to run over to her once he heard a door, but he didn't want to chance things. "Five." The door, he heard it opening. There was a slight squeak, something he knew that Grissom would appreciate in some odd way. "Six." The slam of the door made him want to race over to Sara even more, but he swallowed and managed to keep himself in place. "Seven." A click, told Nick that they were locked in, most likely by a dead bolt. "Eight." He watched Sara as her head started to move just ever so slightly. "Nine." Ten was so close, but it was so far…almost as far as Sara. When the number finally rolled off his tongue, "Ten," Nick felt relief rush over him as he pushed himself up and scattered across the hard, cold floor to Sara's side.

He cradled her cheek with his hand as he looked over, her face and then moved the hem of her shirt up so he could look over her stomach. It was clean, all but for a stain where the stain on the shirt had been. "Sara," he whispered. Nick waited a minute for a reply, but didn't get any solid response. Carefully, he rolled her over and moved her so that her head was in the crook of his neck. He found the source of the stain on the front of her shirt. He let out a gasp at what he found. The word 'bitch' was cut into her lower back, it looked like it had just been scrawled into her flesh with a knife. "Sara, Darling… I'm here," he said trying to contain the tears that threatened to fall. "I'm not going to let him hurt you…"

Mindful of her back, Nick laid her on her stomach carefully. He quickly stripped out of his vest and stripped out of his button up white shirt leaving him only in his undershirt. He ripped it, thinking that he needed to do something to help Sara. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew enough to know that he needed to stop the bleeding. Although it looked to be slowing, he wasn't sure how much blood Sara had already lost. It seemed like a lot to him, but he wasn't sure if that was merely because it wasn't a crime scene…this time it was his friend and her life on the line.

Covering the wounds with the clean white fabric, he used two long pieces to secure the make-shift bandages in place as he tied them around her waist. He sat against one of the walls, and held Sara close rocking her gently. He listened to her whimpers and her mumblings. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but he could tell that she was in pain and that was what was worrying him most.

Some time later, when her head moved upward, and her face produced worry lines, Nick felt a glimmer of hope. "Sara?" he whispered gently and brushed some of her hair out of her face. He tried to keep it out of her face and frowned at how jagged and uneven it was. It was just choppy and almost ugly. "Darling?"

Opening her eyes slowly, Sara frowned and forced her eyes to focus. She didn't believe what she was seeing, but then she noticed the wall behind him. The same dirty wall and the railing off to the side… She was still in the same hell, this time Nick was just with her… Letting out a helpless whimper, she looked up into his face for hope and answers, "Nicky…?"

………………………………………….

TBC…