Author's Note: Thank you for all of your support guys! It puts on a smile on my face every time I get a new notification for this story. I can't wait for all the feedback I'll get with this chapter. That's a shameless hint for you all to review, by the way! But seriously, thank you. I really appreciate it. Hugs for all!

Here's to chapter two! Hurrah!

Sara was dragged into the room, bound and gagged.

"Sara, my sweet," he whispered into her ear, "I think you might just die tonight." Laughing, he pulled her with him into the bedroom. "And I'll make sure that Gil Grissom watches."

OoOoOoOoO

Grissom's mind was spinning with images of Sara, where she could be, and what could be happening to her. Each one was worse than the last. If he didn't calm himself down, he was going to work himself up into something nasty.

The small ring from his computer alerted him to an email waiting for him. Wearily opening up his inbox, he saw the new email was from an unknown source, but it was flagged to indicate high importance.

Not really knowing why he was doing what he was doing, he opened it, and felt his heart drop out of his body.

OoOoOoOoO

A flash of light momentarily blinded Sara. A peal of cold laughter broke through the fog in her brain, and she quickly registered where she was. Before she could even take a mental picture of the room, he spoke from behind her.

"Well, well, well Sara, you do photograph nicely. I'm sure Grissom will be happy to have such a nice picture of you… like this."

He spun her around, and held a picture of her in front of her face. It was her, but not as she knew herself to be. She was bound, gagged, and looking terrified, her skin pale and sweaty.

"Yes, Gil will love this picture, don't you think?"

He had malice in his eyes like Sara had never seen before. They were terrifying, and she had never been so afraid for her life. She had no doubt whatsoever that he would do whatever he promised; he seemed like a man of his word.

Smiling wickedly, he stepped away from her and back to the computer on the small bedside table. Opening up his email, he clicked on Grissom's address and added a file. His smile growing into a triumphant grin, he pressed send.

OoOoOoOoO

Catherine was standing at the table in the layout room, everyone gathered except for Grissom and Sara, the latter of whom was still unreachable.

Finding that she had her own sense of unease growing in her stomach, Catherine fought to push it down. She and Sara were not necessarily the best of friends, but they weren't enemies either. Thoughts of the young brunette dead or seriously hurt in any way were not something that Catherine wanted to entertain. She wasn't going to make it worse by announcing to the graveyard shift that Sara was missing, especially if it wasn't official yet.

Looking at the people gathered around her – Warrick, Nick, and Greg plus the two detectives on their team; Sofia Curtis and Jim Brass - she'd decided to find them herself, for Grissom had locked himself in his office for the time being. She gave them all what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

It really wasn't, not by a long shot.

"So what do we have here?" Warrick asked, his voice and eyes tight.

Catherine looked down into the box before her. "A murder scene, or at least a potential one."

"A potential scene?" Greg asked, momentarily confused.

"Yes," Catherine answered. "A potential one. The last miniature sat on Gil's desk for four weeks, and even after we'd opened it, the murder still hadn't happened. It was a two or three day head start."

"Since we haven't had any homicide call ins, we're treating this one as a warning of sorts." Brass said, picking up on her train of thought.

Sofia studied the miniature with a strained look on her face. The last time a miniature had turned up, she'd been standing guard with a decoy – one of their own – and had unknowingly watched her die. That last miniature had been the second time the blonde had felt responsible for another officer's untimely death. Of course, neither incident had been her fault, but that feeling wasn't something one shook off quickly.

"Where's Grissom?" Nick asked, looking around. "I know he wanted to start work on this immediately, and I kind of thought he'd be here."

"I'll find him, the rest of you stay here and keep working, but don't touch the model." Catherine said this last bit with an air of warning, leaving the room and pulling out her keys.

OoOoOoOoO

Grissom was staring open-mouthed at the monitor, waves of emotion rolling through him; pain, fear, anger, and disgust were but a few.

The picture before him wasn't even that bad; he'd seen worse, in the flesh – or lack thereof. He was bothered, not by the photograph itself, but rather by the subject of the picture.

Sara.

He wanted to tear his eyes away from the screen, focus on anything but her, anything, but he couldn't. It was the morbid fascination humans are unfortunately prone to. He hadn't been able to focus on anything properly since the day they'd met in San Francisco anyway, but right now, it looked like that all of that could end. In the picture, Sara was bound and gagged, pale, sweaty, and looking absolutely terrified. Probably about the same way Grissom looked at the moment. He didn't even hear the lock click or the door open, and didn't register Catherine until she was leaning on his desk in front of him.

"Gil?" She took in his appearance, momentarily startled. "Are you okay?"

"Catherine," he all but sobbed. "We need to find her, save her. She's not going to make it. Catherine..." This last was choked out in nothing more than a broken whisper.

Alarmed now, Catherine walked around his desk to see the computer monitor. She gasped and swore. "Holy mother of…"

Staring back at Catherine from the screen was a picture she thought she'd never see; something she never thought possible. Sara Sidle, one of the strongest women she knew, bound and gagged, and looking more helpless than a small child. Catherine was stunned. "What the hell is this?" she whispered.

Grissom shook his head and scrolled down to the message beneath, feeling the bile rising in his throat. It read;

Gil, I have this girl, your beautiful girl. How do you feel about watching the one you love die? I hope it suits you because she will die, and you will watch. Don't bother trying to find us, it won't help. I'll send you updates, so try not to stray far from your computer.

"The one you love?" Catherine asked, confused. "Sara's your girlfriend?"

Again, Grissom shook his head. That small tidbit of information didn't matter right now. Or did it? He really didn't know.

to be continued...