Jim Brass was a very frustrated man. He stood in the middle of the desert, looking around him and knew that he was unable to help his friends. Where are they? he asked no one in particular for the hundredth time that day.

"Jim," called Sofia. "Just got a call from dispatch. A state trooper found a truck matching our description. The helicopter is headed there now."

They moved to his car and she fed him the location as he began to drive. They were miles away. How could Hodges have been so wrong?

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After resting awhile, Catherine and Gil had begun their trek again. They were following the road, hoping it would lead them back to Vegas. Far in the distance, Gil thought he saw a car coming toward them. It was difficult to tell, however, since it was in the middle of a mirage effect and things were blurry. As it came closer, Cathereine tensed, "Gil, I think that's the car we saw just before we got run off the road by the truck. I think the rest of Snarly's crew was in the car.

Gil quickly considered her words and looked for cover of some sort. There was a dip off the shoulder of the road a few feet ahead. It would have to do. Grabbing her hand, he led her down the slope and they stretched out against the hot sand, hoping that the slope was enough to hide them from the road.They stayed very still as they listened for the approaching car. Soon the noise of it's engine hummed by them and faded into the distance. They waited another minute or two and stood up to return to the road.

They continued walking. Gil was worried about the car. If it was Snarly's friends, they would find the truck. The question in his mind was would they go to the cabin to check things out or would they guess what had happened and start looking for their former prisoners. If they started looking immediately, then Gil knew he and Cahterine were in worse trouble. Hopefully they would continue on to the cabin. That would buy time.

A little later down the road Catherine stopped. "Gil, I need a break."

"Yeah, me too. They edged off the road and found a soft spot to sit. As they rested, he surveyed the horizon, looking for signs of trouble or help, whichever came first.

"Wiah I'd worn different shoes," commented Catherine as she pulled hers off and rubbed her feet.

Gil looked on with concern. "Cath, be careful about that. With this much walking, your feet are going to swell and it might be difficult to put your shoes back on."

"Oh..yeah...right. Sorry, I wasn't thinking." She slipped her shoes back on.

After another few minutes they stood to start the journey again. It was then that they heard it; a rattle. Gil frantically looked around and saw the snake coiled, just a few feet from Catherine. "Stay very still," he warned.

She stood, frozen. He saw a big rock a little off to his right and decided that he could get it and throw it, perhaps distracting the thing. Slowly he leaned toward the rock. His small motion seemed to irritate the reptile, however, and it pulled it's head back to strick. Gil made and instant decision and pushed Catherine aside, leaving himself open to the lunge of the snake. It struck him in his calf. Catherine had recovered from her push and threw a large rock at it, hitting it's tail. It struck in that direction and then slithered away.

Gil sat heavily on the side of the road. He could feel the effects of the venom already. She ripped more shirttail and tied a it just below his knee. She tightened it as much as she dared. "That should slow the effects," she said.

"Yeah..." replied Gil. He knew that time was now a huge issue though. "Catherine, you need to go on without me. Snarly's gang will find the truck and they'll be back. And the more I walk, the quicker the venom circulates. Our best chance is for you to find help. I'll stay low here, but you have to keep going.

"No," she said emphatically. "We stick together."

"Cath, that makes no sense..." He had to think of a way to get her out of there. He wanted her gone for two reasons. He didn't want Snarly to get his hands on her again. And he didn't want her to watch him die from snake bite. He'd seen it before, it wasn't pretty.

"No," she said again. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself."

"Cath, there's nothing you can do for me...please, go...if you don't get back in time, at least I'll have some peace that Snarly isn't at you again."

She was crying now. "No!" She sat beside him and took his hand."I can't leave you like this...I won't." And so they sat. "Gil, we may be lost out here in the middle of the godforsaken desert, but you are not alone. I'm not going to leave you alone. And I don't want to be alone either. Whatever is ahead for one of us is ahead for both of us."

A few minutes later he looked at her. "You are the most stubborn woman I've ever known. You know that don't you?"

Her dry, cracked lips broke into a small smile. "Yes." Her hand went to his smude covered face. "Gil...I..." A tear slid down her cheek.

"It's okay, Cath. I know."

She looked at him incredulously. "You know what?"

"That I'm stubborn too."

"Well, yes you are...but that wasn't what I was going to say."

"Oh?"

"No, it wasn't."

He swam in her blue eyes for a second and then spoke, "I need to tell you something. I need to say it before I...well, at least once in my lifetime."

She looked at him curiously. Then she put her hand on his arm. "You're not going to .." she choked back tears, " ...die Gil Grissom. I won't let you."

He patted her arm."I know...but Catherine, I still need to say this. I may never have the courage again."

"Okay."

Lookinmg into her eyes again, he began. "You remember that first night when we met at the club?"

"Yes...you were very shy but I thought it was cute the way you were determined to speak to me."

Gil flushed a little that she still remembered that after all these years. "Yeah...well, watching you dance and then talking to you later. You stole my heart away."

"Oh... right. Like I was good enough for you..."

He flinched at her words. "Don't say that, Cath. Don't ever say that like that. You are a good person...a fine person. That's why I...well, I fell in love with you that night. And...I've been in love with you all these years."

She looked at him, dumbfounded. She wanted to say something...respond. But she couldn't think of waht ot say. He's been in love with me all this time?

"I know we've been doing the friends thing and at times it feels like we're more like brother and sister, but underneath it all, Cath, I've loved you...and not in a brotherly way either. I just wanted you to know that before I...ah, well...just in case."

"All these years, Gil. You've kept that from me all these years?"

"Well, I wanted to tell you and then you got involved with Eddie and then married him. After that we just settled into the friendship thing and I didn't want to ruin it. I've needed you close to me. And I was willing to sacrifice my more romantic notions to be able to keep you close."

She was flabbergasted. "Gil? Didn't it ever occur to you that maybe I might want the romantic notions? That I might have some of my own?"

Sheepishly he looked at her. "No, it didn't. You always seemed interested in guys that were...well, very different than me. I guess I just figured I'm not your type."

"Well, when we get out of this mess...and we will, you and I need to have a serious conversation about all of this. As for 'my type,' loser seems to fit the bill. But I think I kept choosing them so that I could make a clean break when things got to close. But I don't intend to have this conversation out here with my brains boiling. We'll save it for later."

The effects of the venom were taking their toll on Gil. He was beginning to feel fuzzy and light headed. Also, his leg was really beginning to hurt as cells began to die. "Please, Cath...go on without me. Please. I need to believe that you'll be okay."

She held his hand. She didn't like the way his voice sounded and he was looking grey. "No Gil. I'm not leaving this spot without you."

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Jim and Sofia felt that they must be getting close. She scanned the sky but couldn't see the chopper. Worry was creeping through her again. Glancing at Jim, she saw the lines etched in his face. This was as close to panic as she had ever seen him.

Suddenly something caught her attention along the horizon. "There's something ahead, Jim."

He looked and saw what she was pointing to. "Yeah..."

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As the car approached, Catherine tried to stand. She was weak now from lack of water. Gil was in and out of conciousness and looking terrible. She knew she had to risk waving for help. As unsteady as she was, she managed to get to her feet and began to wave.

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Sofia spotted Catherine first. She quickly called in thier location, requesting an ambulance. Jim sped to the spot and hit the brakes. Both detectives were out of the car in an instant.

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Cahterine was relieved to see friendly faces. As they approached, she fell into Jim's arms. "Gil...snake bite," was all she could say. Sofia checked on him and saw that he was in serious trouble. Jim called in a medivac and requested that the hospital be alerted for snake bite. Sofia ran back to the car and retrieved a bottle of water. Offering it to Catherine, she warned, "drink slowly... a little at a time." Catherine took a few sips and then leaned down next to Gil. She poured a little on his lips. His tongue responded as he licked the precious water from his lips. His eyes fluttered open briefly and he was lucid for a moment. "Love you," he mumbled. Catherine knew that he was convinced that he would die. She leaned over him and gently kissed him. "Stay with me..."

A few minutes later, the medivac arrived. As the paramedics secured Gil, an ambulance and the rest of the team arrived, along with several squad cars from the Sheriff's office. Catherine told Jim about Snarly and his gang and how to find them. He led the patrol cars as they headed out to find the kidnappers. Warrick, Nick, Greg, and Sara all approached Catherine, unasked questions written in thier faces.

Catherine looked at Sara. "I need you to go with me to the hospital and bring your kit." She shot the other female a look that Sara read instantly. Catherine had been raped.

The guys were slower to catch on but anger set in as each one realized Catherine's meaning. Before leaving on the ambulance, she gave them directions for the investigation. The truck and cabin were both evidence riddled. They needed to go over both. "Thanks guys," she smiled as she was loaded into the ambulance. The chopper had left minutes before with Gil.

As Catherine and Sara sped back to Vegas, the remaining CSIs backtracked the trail of evidence, collecting every morsal they could use to hang the perps. They were determined that hell would freeze over before these bastards got out of jail.

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Okay? Is it going in the right direction?