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However, my last chapter had 113 visitors and 5 reviews. :-( PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! I have to revise a lot so fanfiction is struggling for space in my priorities! Also I love writing full stop, so PRAISE and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISCM are both welcomed. IF you hate this story, feel free to tell me so :-)

I am quite happy with this chapter, so here goes.

Sorry for any mistakes, both in the writing and in the details. I have never been to the States, therefore I have never been to a zoo in Vegas, so details here may be wrong.

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Chapter Twenty Two # A Day at the Zoo #

"Sara?" Eli yawned as his guardian came into the room.

"Yeah?" Sara asked, smiling at her adopted son.

He held up his hands to be picked up.

Sara smiled wryly. "You don't think you're too big?"

The eight year old shook his head firmly and Sara smiled, lifting him onto her hip. He was fairly short for his age, and naturally skinny, but Warrick had spoken of being short in high school and had also been one of the tallest members of the team, so Sara wasn't worried.

"Who were those people?" he asked sleepily. "The ones that were talking to Morgan?"

"Uh, I'll tell you some other time."

"Sara!"

"I'll tell you later." Sara insisted, walking out to the car park and securing Eli into the car.

When they got home it was all Sara could do to get Eli's teeth clean and get him change into his pyjamas before he fell asleep.

She stuck a readymade lasagne into the microwave and ate it quickly, cleaning her own teeth after a taxing shift. She couldn't stop thinking about the two people that had spoken to her and DB earlier on.

"We've been chasing an American terrorist group based in Afghanistan for fifty six now. Recently we managed to take down a major base of theirs and free several prisoners, including Mark Sanders. But, uh…thirty eight years ago, we were forced to disappear, off grid. Our original cover was blown, we were posing a risk too our family, our neighbours…and our five year old son."

"Warrick?" Sara asked sceptically.

"Yes." Elizabeth nodded sincerely. Sadly. "So, we faked a car crash, we faked are own deaths…It was the hardest thing in the world but we did it. And now it's safe to come out and its too late. Our son is dead. But we were told that he has a son and we were wondering if-"

"He's living in a safe environment with people who knew his father." Sara said, folding her arms.

"We just want to see him. We're in our sixties, we're retiring. We just want to see him sometimes. Buy him gifts on his birthday, at Christmas…"

DB glanced at Sara. "Doesn't seem too unreasonable."

"But how do we know that's all you want? How do I know that you're not lying?" Sara attacked.

"We'll do whatever you want, DNA test, records, lie detectors…" Elizabeth insisted.

"Well, now's not a particularly good time for trusting new people." Sara pursed her lips, keeping her arms folded.

"We'll wait." George said immediately. "Here's our card. Wherever, whenever… But please… we just want to see our grandson sometime."

"We'll see." Sara nodded.

They both looked like Warrick, a little at least. Surely it wouldn't hurt giving Eli a little contact with biological family?

But god, the idea that they might sue for custody terrified Sara. Even if they said that wasn't what they wanted. Living with Eli for three years, she loved him so much that he felt like her son. She would fight to the death for him, but she knew that if she went into a custody battle with biological grandparents she would have little claim.

Suddenly there was a thud, a smash and a scream from the direction of the bedrooms.

"Eli?" Sara called.

"Sa…ra…" he replied in a strangled tone.

Sara leapt onto the sofa and ran into Eli's room. It was empty.

"Eli? Eli!"

"In…here…" the boy moaned. "Sa-ra…hel…me!"

Sara ran into her own bedroom and snapped the light. Eli was curled up underneath Grissom's bedside table. There was a smashed lamp next to him, a shard of the ceramics sticking out of his little hand, seeping with blood.

"Sara, it hurts!" he groaned.

"Eli…" she sighed, rushing to his side. "Oh, god. What did you do?"

"Sara I'm sorry!" Eli cried, tears trailing down his cheeks.

"I'll get the first aid kit. What were you doing?" Sara asked, reaching into her bedside cabinet to get the first aid kit.

"Argh!" Eli screamed suddenly.

"What?" Sara cried.

"It hurts, it hurts more!"

"What did you do?" Sara cried, running around the side of the bed with the first aid kit.

"I pulled it out, I pulled it out, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Okay, calm down!" Sara ordered calmly. "You're going to be okay…"

Five minutes later she finished bandaging Eli's hand.

"Okay. What were you doing?"

"I woke up and I wanted to talk to Grissom and I thought there'd be a card in the drawer but it was so dark and the lamp just fell and I'm really sorry!" he gargled in one breath.

"Okay, okay…why didn't you just ask me?" Sara frowned.

"Because I thought you'd say no." Eli admitted, hanging his head. "Sara…I…I wanted to tell him that I was scared."

"What?" Sara frowned. "Eli, you can tell me-"

"I didn't want to tell you I was scared because I didn't want you to be scared." Eli protested.

Sara looked up into the little boy's eyes. "Eli…"

His stubborn eyes filled with tears. "I don't want you to be scared too."

"Eli…" she pulled him up off of the floor into her arms and sat down on the bed with him in her arms.

"It's okay; you don't have to be scared. I'll protect you, we're all protecting you." Sara murmured, trying to comfort him. He was shaking.

She crouched in the closet, amidst the broken glass and the blood, watching through the crack, holding her breath.

"Sir, there's something in the closet."

"Guns out!"

Suddenly the door was ripped open. Six year old Sara screamed loudly cowering away.

"It's the kid!"

"Hey, hey…" a kind looking man extended his hand to Sara. "Are you Sara?"

She nodded a fraction.

"It's okay, we're the police. Will you come with me?"

Sara shook her head adamantly.

Five minutes later the man turned away. "Marty, get her brother."

Shortly afterwards a sixteen year old boy jogged into the room. His hair was scruffy, his clothes a mess, his face even more so.

"Sara!" he called. "Sara!"

Sara leapt out of the closet into his arms and instantly started sobbing. Her body shook, it shook so much.

"Hey, Sara, it's okay, I'm here now. You don't have to be scared, you don't have to be scared anymore. I'll protect you." He murmured, holding her close.

Sara snapped out of the memory. Tyler Sidle had stayed true to his words. He looked after Sara as much as he could until they were placed in different foster homes. He'd fought so hard to be put in the same home as her that they'd declared him a threat to her wellbeing and separated the two for good. She'd never seen him again.

"If it'll make you feel any better, you can call Grissom…" Sara offered.

"Really? Still?" Eli sniffed, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

"Sure… I'll dial the phone, clean this up and make you some hot chocolate, okay?" Sara offered.

"Thank you Sara!" he grinned, hugging her and kissing her cheek.

She dialled Grissom's number and passed him the phone. He stood there in his pyjamas and ran into the hall.

"Grissom?"

Sara got out the dustpan and brush and started cleaning up the broken lamp to the musical soundtrack of Eli's relieved laughter.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"Greg? Thank you for saving my life." Morgan said quietly as paramedics attended to their minor injuries and Brass waited to take their statements.

"You're welcome." Greg smiled back. Brass coughed and Greg turned to him sheepishly. "Is the Sherriff…"

"She wasn't in her car at the time, she's on the way to the hospital but they tell me that she's going to be okay." Brass said.

"Was anyone killed?" Greg asked.

"A mother of a two year old boy. The child's in intensive care."

Greg hung his head. "He gonna be okay?"

"We don't know." Brass answered gruffly. "So, what were the two of you doing at the time of the explosion?"

They glanced at each other and Brass raised an eyebrow.

"We were coming back from lunch." Greg responded.

"Lemme guess?" Brass grinned mockingly. "Kissy-kissy?"

"No, no!" They both protested elaborately.

"Okay lovebirds." Brass rolled his eyes. "Let's wrap this up and get the two of you back to your nest, or the lab, or whatever is closer."

"Oh, hah hah." Greg rolled his eyes.

By the time they'd given official statements, reported to Russell and finished everything off, it was the end of shift.

"I need to go reclaim those two children that I think might be mine." Greg joked.

"Oh, the ones abandoned in the Las Vegas Crime lab?" Morgan asked, playing along, before pulling Greg aside.

"Greg, I…I really am serious. Thank you, so much for saving my life. You picked me up, that was…well, it was pretty amazing."

Greg smiled shyly, feeling himself blush. "You're very welcome."

Only minutes later, Greg crouched down beside Reuben's makeshift bed.

"Hey Reubs…" he murmured, softly stroking his son's hair. "Time to wake up…"

The little boy moaned softly and wrinkled up his nose, before opening his eyes. "Daddy?"

"Yeah… did you have a good sleep?" Greg asked softly.

Reuben gave a non-committal grunt and held out his arms. Greg picked him up, smiling as the child's exhausted head lolled against his shoulder.

"Love you, Daddy…" Reuben sighed softly.

"I love you too." Greg smiled as Morgan rubbed circles in Loeila's back.

"Lola…wake up now sweetie…"

Loeila huffed quietly, moving her strawberry blonde curls away from her face. She stretched all of her limbs, opening her eyes slowly. "Aundie Mogan?"

"Yeah, its me." Morgan smiled. "It's time to go home, baby girl."

"You comin'?" Loeila sniffed, crinkling up her nose just like her brother as she tried to shake the smothering waves of sleepiness.

"Yeah… Catherine and Alyssa are coming back too." Morgan smiled. Catherine and Alyssa were both still in Vegas to protect Greg officially and the others non-officially, and Catherine had stayed at the lab while Alyssa had gone out into the field with Nick, Finn and Wendy.

"Otay…" Loeila yawned, holding out her hands to Morgan, who willingly took the little girl into her arms.

"I need to stop by the store on the way home." Greg announced.

"Okay," Morgan nodded, "That's fine by me."

"Uh, Nick needs another couple of hours for the case, so Alyssa said to meet us at yours, Greg." Catherine nodded.

"Sure." Greg shrugged.

The lady at the checkout smiled at the five tired people passing through the store. "Family dinner?"

"Something like that." Greg smiled.

"You have two beautiful children." The lady nodded at Loeila. "She looks just like her mother."

Greg laughed a little. "Thanks."

"Dat Lady fought Mogan was my mommy!" Loeila remarked. "I would wike dat!"

"Would you?" Morgan smiled.

"Daddy and Aunie Morgan should get married!" Reuben gasped.

"That'd be cool, wouldn't it?" Catherine laughed.

Greg and Morgan glanced at each other and blushed. Catherine raised an eyebrow and mentally filed the conversation away in the gossip section of her mind for later use.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"Okay, one serial rape case solved." Wendy sighed tiredly. "And boy am I looking forward to getting home and having a nice long shower followed by shed loads of Ben and Jerry's. What about you guys?"

"Looking forward to sleeping for a long time. I have no idea how you guys handle night shifts all the time!" Alyssa punctuated her sentence with an impromptu yawn.

"You'll be used to it soon. I have a date." Finn announced.

"Good for you." Nick laughed. "I promised to take Kristy to the zoo today. Sometimes it feels like I'm awake twenty four seven, you know?"

"That is if you don't collapse from exhaustion on the way, right?" Wendy joked.

"Yeah!" Nick laughed. "That's about right!"

Five hours later Nick pushed the stroller past the zebras at the zoo.

"Horsies!" Kristy cried excitedly, pointing.

"Not quite, Krissie, they're called Zebras." Nick corrected mildly.

"Zebras?" Kristy asked.

"Yep."

"Dey have stipes."

"Yeah, they do. Did you know they also have stripped skin as well as striped fire?"

"Well Daddy if I didn' know whad dey were, I wouldn' know dat, would I?" Kristy sighed in exasperation and Nick laughed.

"Don't be such a smarty pants, Kristina. What would your Nana say, huh?"

"Dat I should hab a horsie or a zebra?" Kristy asked hopefully, and Nick laughed again.

"No, she'd say don't be such a smarty-pants."

"Dats not nice, Daddy. Nana would no say dat. Nana loves me!" Kristina protested.

"Well, I do too." Nick declared, smiling when his daughter turned around to beam at him.

"May I pease hab a zebra? Peese?" Kristy asked, blinking her big blue eyes.

"I'm sorry Kristy but you're not allowed to have them for pets. They don't like it. They have to live in big herds."

"We could hab a herd? Dey could stay in da yard?" Kristy blinked up at Nick.

"Our yard's a bit small. Tell you what, if you're a good girl, I'll buy you a horse when you turn five." Nick promised.

"Fank you daddy!" she squealed. "Can I pay in da payground?"

"Sure, let's go." Nick grinned, parking the stroller and releasing the toddler towards the climbing frames and swings. He chased her around the playground and swung her through the air.

Two hours later, Nick called her over. "Hey, Kristy, wanna go to the diner, see if there's something to eat?"

"Otay, daddy."

Kristy ordered a chicken nuggets children's meal and Nick ordered a steak. Nick watched her use her knife and her fork like a pro.

Her brown hair fell longer than Loeila's, hanging below her shoulders. It grew incredibly fast, Nick was going to need to learn to braid soon. The dark brown of her hair was so far the only thing that she had seemed to inherit from her biological father. She had long, dark eyelashes and brilliant blue green eyes, more blue than green. She was a slight child, already losing her baby fat, but she had a large appetite.

She was a beautiful kid.

Nick's phone buzzing snapped him out of his daydreaming. "Hello?"

"Hey Nick, its DB."

"Oh, hey, Russell, what's up?"

"I wanted to tell you about the bomb at the Sherriff's car. Dayshift investigated, it's unrelated to the Martinez case, Greg and Morgan being there was just a coincidence. The bomber had a grudge against the Sherriff, blah blah blah..."

"Thank god…I hate bombers…"

"Jason McCann, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Enjoy, your day at the zoo, Nick, but don't forget to keep your eyes out."

"Alright, I will." Nick nodded. "Bye Russell."

"Daddy, you no gonna work, are you?"

"No, nah!" Nick shook his head. "I got all day with you, kiddo."

Kristy hopped out of her seat and ran into her father's lap, wrapping her arms around him tightly and wiggling around so she faced the table.

"Fank you Daddy." She beamed, kissing him on the cheek.

They finished their meals with Kristy on his lap, and then went back outside. Kristy ran straight to the swings.

A woman bumped into Nick. "I am so sorry!"

"That's okay…" Nick smiled, helping her to her feet.

"My son, he running that way, I go now, very sorry!" the woman hastened with a smile in a strong Spanish accent. She ran off and Nick shook his head. He turned back to the empty swings with a frown.

"Kristy?" his trained eyes scanned the entire playground in seconds and fear struck his heart. "Kristy? Kriss!"

He turned on the spot, looking everywhere.

"No, no, no!" Nick muttered, starting to run towards the park. He reached down to a woman who he'd seen before. "Excuse me, have you seen my little girl, she's about this tall, she's called Kristina, she's wearing white dungarees, brown hair, blue eyes?"

"I'm sorry sir, I've been keeping my eyes on my two." The woman apologized. "I'll keep my eyes out though."

"Thanks, thanks…" Nick muttered, running towards the bushes.

A small piece of fabric had caught his eye. He ran towards it and crouched down, forcing against his instinct to pick it up.

Kristy's 'blankie'.

A small piece of paper poked out from underneath the blanket. He pulled it out quickly and read the bright red writing.

Ha ha. We have her. Go back to your crime lab. Wait for further instructions.

"No! No, no, no!" Nick gasped. He stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. "KRISTINA!"

When no one answered his call, he pulled out his phone with shaking hands, dialling a number quickly.

"Russell?"

"They've taken her!" Nick cried down the phone.

"What?"

"Kristy…Kristy's gone."

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