Warrick arrived in Vegas the next morning and immediately got a cab to take him to the lab.
"Hey Mandy, how's Ella?"
"She's sleeping in the break room. Nick said to call him when you got in."
"Okay, I will, thanks for watching her," Warrick answered.
"It's no problem," Mandy called after him as he made his way to the break room to call his best friend and check on his sleeping child. ---------------------
"Stokes," Nick answered.
"Hey Nicky, any luck yet? Where are you anyway?"
"Hold on a sec, Rick," Nick requested. Hearing the other man's name Grissom and the others looked up.
"Should I tell him where we are?" Nick mouthed. Reluctantly Grissom nodded.
"We're at a house they were keeping Sara at."
"Did you find her is she okay?"
"Not yet, but we're still looking," Nick answered.
"I know I can't process the house, but what can I do? I can't just sit here," the African-American man protested. Catherine motioned for Nick to give her the phone.
"Cath wants to talk to you for a second."
"Okay, put her on."
"Hey Rick, can you do me a favor?"
"What do you need?"
"Lindsey is being released today and I can't leave the scene. Can you take my Denali and pick her up? Bring her back to the lab so you can be together when we find Sara."
"Sure I can. How is she?"
"Feeling guilty," Catherine reluctantly admitted.
"Why on earth for?" Warrick wondered.
"Because she thinks it's her fault that Sar's been taken. She keeps wondering what she could have done differently."
"I'll fix that. I'll pick her up. Keep in touch, and Cath?"
"Yeah?"
"Find her, please." His voice broke on the last word.
"We will." -----------------
A soft smile crossed Warrick's tired face when he saw his little girl curled up on the couch. Crossing to her he dropped to his knees and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. The touch caused her to wake up and stare sleepily at him.
"Daddy!" she cried throwing her arms around his neck.
"Hey there, kiddo. How are you?"
"Okay, did Unca Nicky finded Mommy yet?" Her father shook his head sadly.
"No, but everyone on the team is looking very hard for her. They will find her."
"I want Mommy," Ella said sadly.
"I know, I want her to. He guess what?" Warrick exclaimed trying to inject a note of happiness into his voice.
"What?"
"Aunt Catherine asked me to go pick up Lindsey from the hospital, do you want to come with me?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, then, let's go," he said standing up and grabbing her hand. Five minutes later he'd gotten Ella's booster seat from Nick's Denali and the two of them were settled in Catherine's Denali heading for Desert Palms. ------------------------
"Don't they have another crime scene to go to?" one of the kidnappers complained. The two of them were sitting in a coffee shop across the street from the house where they'd taken Sara.
"I guess they really want to find that bitch," his brother answered.
"What if they find the door in the basement?"
"Shh, don't worry they won't find it," the other man swore. His brother nodded but he was beginning to have doubts.
"You're probably right, hopefully they'll leave soon and we can go back across the street and get her from the tunnel and have some more fun," the older man sneered. The younger one just laughed as he smiled a cruel smile. Just then the waitress came to their table.
"Can I get you gentlemen more coffee?"
"Yes, please." They both answered. Giving them a bright smile she refilled their cups before hurrying behind the counter and into the managers office to make a phone call. It was amazing the conversations you could overhear when you were using the invisible waitress trick.
"Las Vegas Crime Lab this is Judy how can I help you?"
"Yes, I have information about the missing CSI and the men who took her." ------------------------------
"My name is Warrick Brown and I'm from the crime lab and have been authorized to pick up Lindsey Willows she's being discharged today, according to her mother."
"May I have her mother's name and may I see some ID?" the nurse at the nurse's station requested.
"Certainly, here's my ID and her mother's name is Catherine."
"Ah yes, Ms. Willows called and informed us it was okay to allow her daughter to go with you. She's waiting in her room. Here are her discharge papers. If you'll sign them you can take her with you."
"Okay, thank you," Warrick answered signing the papers and heading to the room the nurse pointed to. Reaching out a hand he knocked on the hospital room door.
"Come in," called Lindsey's sweet voice. Opening the door he let Ella walk in ahead of him.
"Lindsey! Daddy and I comed to geted you!"
"Shh, sweetie, this is a hospital. People need there rest because they're sick," Warrick reminded her gently.
"Sorry," the little girl whispered.
"Hey, Uncle Warrick, where's my mom?"
"She's at a house where they thought Sara was. She asked me to pick you up and take you back to the lab with us," he answered. Nodding silently the teenager gathered up her belongings and headed for the door with the other two.
The trip to the lab was silent until Warrick decided to break it.
"Are you okay, Linds?"
"No, I'm not. I'm sorry that she was taken. I wish I could have done something different."
"Hey, listen to me, kiddo. There's nothing you could've done to change what happened. You got DNA from the guy when you scratched him and they were able to identify the two kidnappers. Did anyone tell you that?" Lindsey shook her head.
"No they didn't. I really helped that much with the case?" she asked uncertainly.
"Yes you did, sweetheart. Yes you did." --------------------------
"Grissom," answered the graveshift supervisor pulling his phone from his pocket. "What? Where?" he demanded. Everyone was watching his face anxiously. "Thank you, Judy. Call Brass and get him over to the Coffee Cup we'll continue searching here." Hanging up his phone he turned to the rest of his team.
"That was Judy, apparently the kidnappers are in a coffee shop across the street. The waitress overheard them talking about kidnapping Sara and where they're keeping her. They said something about a tunnel," Grissom informed them. Immediately everyone ran for the basement and began searching for the entrance to the tunnel.
"Guys! I think I found it!" Greg shouted. The others ran to the CSI and stared at the door he was pointing at. It was hiden in the wall and they'd missed it first. Turning the knob Greg was surprised to find it unlocked. Drawing their weapons the four CSI's entered the tunnel.
"Either of you got your mag light?" Catherine asked. Nick nodded as he took it from his kit and turned it on. They could hear the sirens as the cops turned them off so they wouldn't alert the kidnappers as they came up on the coffee shop.
"Brass is here," Grissom commented, reading a text Brass just sent him. Moving his light back and forth Nick saw a door a few feet ahead.
"Hey, I think I found where they're keeping Sara." Running to the door he tried to open it but found it locked.
"Sara, can you hear me? It's Nick."
"Nick?" she whispered.
"Yes, it's me. I need to kick the door down, so I need you to scoot back as far as you can, can you do that for me?" Nick requested.
"Yes," she whispered. Taking a couple of steps back Nick swung his foot hitting the door forcefully causing it to splinter on contact. Everyone rushed in the moment the coast was clear and stopped short when they saw Sara curled up in the corner.
"We're all here, Sara," Catherine called softly.
"Ella? Lindsey?" Sara questioned.
"Rick has them at the lab. He got back this morning," Nick answered.
"They okay?"
"Yes they're fine, Linds is a bit banged up, but nothing too bad."
"Let's get you out of here. What do you say?" Catherine suggested.
"Yes, please, wait a minute where are the kidnappers?"
"Brass is arresting them as we speak," Grissom told her. A smile crossed Sara's face for the first time since she'd been taken. Just then voices could be heard upstairs.
"EMTS where are you?"
"We're down here!" Greg called. A couple of minutes later the EMTs reached the small group and loaded Sara on to a stretcher much to her protests.
"Along with any other injuries she's also two months pregnant," Grissom informed them.
"Well let the ER staff know that, any of you riding with us?"
"Nicky, please?" Sara begged.
"Of course I will," Nick answered taking her hand and following the medics and Sara out of the tunnel. --------------------------
"Brown," Warrick said, answering his phone. He and the two kids were sitting in the break room.
"We've got her and the jerks who took her have been arrested," Nick said happily.
"Is she okay?"
"She's pretty banged up and I don't know the extent of her injuries but the medics say she'll be fine," the Texan answered.
"They taking her to Desert Palms?" Warrick asked. Nick nodded before remembering his friend couldn't see him.
"Yeah."
"Okay, the girls and I will be there soon. Tell Sara I love her," Warrick requested.
"You got it, man," Nick answered turning to the woman on the stretcher.
"Warrick and the girls will see you at the hospital and he says to tell you he loves you," Nick relayed.
"Tell him I love him to," Sara said softly.
"I heard her. I've got to go. See you when we get there," Warrick said.
"See you then, Rick," Nick said hanging up his phone and giving one of his best friends a smile.
"Let's go see Mommy and Aunt Sara!" Warrick cried scooping Ella into his arms and putting an arm around Lindsey's shoulders. Both girls cheered and the three of them smiled broadly at the prospect of finally seeing someone they dearly loved.
TBC?
A/n, more to come. R/R!