Thanks for reviewing people. Glad to know some people appreciate it :) A lot of work and internet hassles go into this ;) had a snow day today – so awesome and gave me time to finish this off.

THIS STORY IS ENTERING PHASE TWO, so... bit of a dark twist at the end of the chapter, lemme know if it works.

Read. Enjoy. Review.

Chapter Twenty Eight # How To Save a Life #

"Daaaaddddy!"

"What?" Greg called from the comfortable couch.

"I huuuuuuuungggy!"

Greg groaned. "Loeila Maree Sanders, its bedtime, go to sleep."

"Daddy huuuunnnggggyyyyy!"

Greg sighed, pulling himself out of bed and walking into Loeila's room.

She was sat up in bed, crystal tears stuck to her cheeks.

Greg's heart melted. "Lola..."

"Daddy hungy!" She protested quietly, holding out her arms. Greg picked her up and sat down with her on her lap.

"You're not hungry, Lola."

Loeila sniffed, knowing she'd been caught. "Daddy, I no wanna seep."

"How come?"

"The bad people come back."

"When you sleep?" She nodded.

"Okay, come on then." Greg sighed, knowing how horrific nightmares could be as he had them every night, picking her up and carrying her into the living room, where Catherine was sitting on the couch with a glass of wine.

"She can't sleep."

Catherine frowned sympathetically. "Oh, no."

"Aundie Cathewine, awe you dwinking gwown up juice?"

"Yeah." Catherine nodded, and Loeila scrambled out of Greg's arms and into Catherine's.

"I sad dat Alyssa gone. She was my mommy."

Catherine's eyes filled with tears. "I know."

"An' she was youw fwiend too. When she stayed hewe I like her." Suddenly Loeila gasped. "I sowy Aundie Cathewine, I sowy, I didn't wan' make you sad! No cwy, Aundie Cathewine, no cwy! Its otay, its gon' be otay!"

Catherine wiped her eyes and hugged Loeila tightly. "Okay, its okay..." She whispered.

"Dats wight. Ebery little ting is gonna be alwight."

Greg and Catherine both laughed and Loeila frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." Greg laughed.

"Up!" Loeila cried.

"What?" Catherine frowned.

"Point! Squiwell!" Loeila said excitedly.

"Oh, Up!" Greg realised, looking at the muted TV then his sleepy child. "Have you seen Up, Cath? Disney Pixar?"

"No..."

"Well, its on TV."

"Good film." Loeila mumbled sleepily as the opening scene began to play.

"Shall we watch it?" Catherine asked Loeila, who nodded, shuffling into a comfortable position on Catherine's lap, taking a lock of Catherine' golden hair between the fingers on one hand and Greg's fingers in the other.

"I lobe you bofe." She murmured as the musical scene of Carl's life played before their eyes.

By the end of the film Loeila was asleep and Catherine was crying. "That was so sad!"

"I know." Greg nodded, glancing at his daughter. "I'm sorry, Catherine."

"It's no problem." Catherine smiled.

"I'll get her into bed."

"I can do it." Catherine protested, standing up and carrying Loeila into bed.

Greg smiled slightly. "Thanks."

He hugged Catherine as she returned to the room. Catherine hugged him back tightly. "Oh, Greg…"

"How long are you staying?" he asked. "The kid's and I don't want you to leave."

"Well… My boss knows how close Alyssa and I are…were. He's given me a month of leave." Catherine explained as she sank down on the sofa once more.

"Good… Blue Hawaiian?"

Catherine nodded gratefully and they both looked up at a soft knock on the door. Greg poked through the peephole before opening the door.

"Hi, Lou, come in."

Catherine stood up as her fiancé walked into the room.

"I'm so sorry that it took me so long to get here." Lou apologised, hugging Catherine tightly. "My boss wouldn't let me leave. He finally said I could come when I snapped and told him my fiancée's nieces and nephews were kidnapped and her best friend… anyway, then he let me come."

"I'm glad you're here." Catherine whispered.

"There're sheets in the bedroom that Cath's in, and a spare bed if you wanna stay here." Greg offered.

Vartaan shook his head a little. "I don't wanna intrude."

"It's cool. Lola and Reubs will be pleased to see you." Greg grinned.

"Thanks man." Lou smiled.

"No problem." Greg repeated.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

A barely audible noise entered Nick's ears and pricked him from sleep. Silently his hand started to move towards the gun in his bedside table as the soft footsteps came near, but before he could open the drawer something landed on his bed and crawled towards him.

He didn't move as a small body snuggled into his back.

"Hey Kristy." He whispered, feeling the small body jump.

"D-d-d-daddy?"

Nick turned over in bed, turning on the bedside lamp as he did. Both Nick and Kristy squinted and Kristy flinched in the light.

"Hey, it's okay." Nick murmured, propping himself up and stroking the dark brown hair away from her face.

"I sorry for I woke you." She whispered, looking scared.

"Hey, it's okay," Nick repeated, smiling at the little girl, his heart falling. His daughter was scared of everything. Including him. "It's okay, Kristy. I'm not going to hurt you, what's wrong?"

"I know you no hurt me, Daddy, I know." She whispered, though she didn't sound completely convinced. "I…I too scared to seep." She closed her eyes in shame. "I sorry, daddy, I…"

"Don't be sorry. Don't be sorry."

"I don' wan' too be a touble…" she mumbled, after being told for week how much trouble she was, how useless she was, how much easier it would be for anyone – the kidnappers or Nick – to just starve her to death.

"Kristy…Kristy, you're not trouble to me." Nick took a deep breath and sat up, patting the pillow next to him. Kristy shifted up, nestling into his side, and Nick wrapped an arm around her. "Okay, I'm gonna tell you a story, okay, a very true, very important story."

"Otay, Daddy…"

"A few years ago, the year before I met your mommy, I was kidnapped too."

Kristy looked up at her dad in shock. "You were, by the bad men?"

"A different bad man." Nick nodded. "He put me in a little box, underground. There were bity ants there…It was scary. I thought I was going to die."

"What happened?" Kristy asked, in awe and fear.

"The team found me." Nick replied. "And afterwards, I had nightmares, real bad nightmares, for months. Years. But they go away. They go away."

Kristy sighed, her eyes fluttering downwards.

"Kristy, what did they tell you, sweetie?" Nick asked.

"Daddy…" she squirmed uncomfortably. "Daddy, dey said…dey said…dey said dat you're not my daddy."

Nick's eyes widened. "What exactly did they say, Kristy?"

Kristy sniffled and started to cry. "Dey said my real daddy hurt my mommy and den dats why I here, I dust de ebidence ob de evil, and dat I gon' be ebil too, that I a debil kid and dat you only took me coz you pomised my mommy and dat I dust touble an' you don' really lob me an' an' an'-"

"Kristy!" Nick stopped her gently, his heart beating. He hadn't expected to have this conversation for at least another ten years. The bastards. "Kristy stop, it's okay, you're safe now. They can't tell you anymore."

"It tue, isn't it?" Kristy sobbed.

"No, no!" Nick said automatically.

"Dey called da man! My real daddy. He told me lots ob tings."

Nick swallowed. "Okay, Kristina. Listen to me, okay. A bad man did bad things to your mommy. That's true. And the word biological, you remember what it means?"

Kristy nodded.

"I'm not your biological dad, but I'm still your daddy, do you understand me? I love you more than anything else in this world. More than anything. Kristy, I would die for you. I love you Kristy, more than I could ever tell you." Nick paused to cup the little girl's face in his hands. "Kristina McBride Stokes, you are the most precious thing in the world. You are not evil, you're not a devil kid, you're perfect. You're perfect."

"No daddy, you no my daddy!" she sobbed, pushing away. "I debil child!"

"No, Kristy. Okay, listen. Do you love me?"

Kristy blinked. "What?"

"Do you love me, Kristy?" Nick repeated, almost frightened of the answer.

"Yes." She whispered back with tear filled eyes.

"Then you're not a devil child, because if devils do exist, which I don't think they do, they don't love. Kristy, you're still my daughter. Here." Nick opened his drawer and pulled out a photo frame. "I keep this in a frame to keep it safe. It's a very special piece of paper. It mean that officially you are my daughter. It's official, legal, Kristy, true. Do you understand?"

Kristy nodded, running her little fingers over the glass. "I your daughter?"

"Always." Nick nodded, kissing her on the top of the head. "God Kristy, I have never been so scared as I was when I thought you might not come home."

Nick wiped the tears away from his eyes.

"I sorry daddy."

"You have nothing to apologise for at all. Nothing. Apart from feeding Sammie all the dog treats."

"He was cazy." Kristy giggled quietly.

"He did." Nick couldn't help but chuckle. He hugged Kristy tightly. "Let's turn the light off and get some sleep, huh?"

"Daddy!" she protested, hugging onto him tightly.

When Sam nudged open Nick's door in the morning to try and wake up his owner he found Kristy asleep in Nick's arms.

He jumped up onto the bed and wormed his way in between the two, nuzzling and licking Nick's face to wake him up.

The scene was cute, but he was just a dog, and he needed to pee.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"Hello, Eli." Resa Moore, Eli's child therapist, nodded in acknowledgement as Eli walked in with Grissom and Sara. "Grissom, Sara."

"Hi Resa." Eli replied, allowing her to lead him into the small room she used for their sessions.

Sara hadn't wanted to send Eli to a shrink, but the doctors had recommended it for all of the children, and Eli didn't seem to mind much, the one session that he'd been to.

"So, Eli, how are you doing?" Resa asked as they sat down.

"I'm doin' okay." He admitted with a child's honesty.

"Good, good." Resa smiled. "Have you had any nightmares?"

Eli nodded, his eyes flickering downwards.

"It's not something to be ashamed of, Eli. Can you tell me what happens in these nightmares? Is it the same one every time?"

He shrugged. "Mostly." When Resa didn't say anything else he sighed and continued. "I dream that… I dream that I'm back in the street and the men come back. The Martinez brothers. And they sh…sh…sh… and they shoot Sara and she dies and then they kill my mom, and they hurt me, over and over and they kill everybody…"

Resa passed him a tissue and a teddy as he started to cry. "It's okay, Eli, it's okay to be upset."

Eli nodded.

Only a half hour later, Eli left with Sara and Grissom for Kristy's birthday party at the zoo. Kristy was wordlessly excited, bouncing up and down and on the spot.

"Daddy, Daddy, dey here, dey here, dey're here!" she sang, spinning around and around.

"Whoa, there, cowgirl." Nick laughed, not letting go of her hand until she was mere meters from Sara, Grissom, Eli and Hank.

"Happy birthday!" the family chimed at once, hugging her each in turn.

"Here you go, Kristy." Grissom smiled, passing her a large bag.

"Thank you Gissom!" she gasped, plonking down on the floor to open her presents right there.

Nick rolled his eyes, lifting her up in her cross legged position.

"Daddy!"

"Later, Kristy, when we get to the picnic benches." Nick protested.

Kristy huffed, hanging onto the shopping bags with both hands as her dad picked her up.

"Hey Uncle Nick." Eli grinned.

"Hey kid." Nick grinned back. "How'd it go this morning?"

"Fine. Resa's nice."

"That's good. Kristy's scared about her appointment tomorrow."

Kristy stiffened. "I no going, daddy! I no going!"

"It's fine Kristy. Resa's really nice, and it's help, it's good."

Eli opened up his arms and hugged Kristy, whispering something in her ear.

"Daddy, I going now." She nodded.

Morgan and Finn were next to arrive.

"Happy birthday, Kristy!" Morgan grinned, giving her a big hug and a box. "I love your hair, who did it for you?"

"Daddy did." Kristy nodded, feeling around the package.

Finn, Morgan and Sara all raised their eyebrows.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Hey, her hair gettin' longer, now, I didn't want to be one of those dads who just scrapes his daughter hair back into a pony tail and that's it. My sisters all loved having their hair done as kids, so I called MJ and she recommended a YouTube channel to me cutegirlshairstyles, or something like that. So we had a little look, didn't we Kristy?" Kristy nodded and Nick continued. "Kristy picked this one."

They all stared at Kristy's braided hair.

"You have a gift, Nick." Finn remarked.

"I have five sisters." Nick corrected.

"Makes sense." Grissom grinned wryly.

Greg, Catherine, Lou and the twins arrived next, closely followed by Russell, Barbara, Maya and Katelyn. Maya and Katelyn had met the 'CSI kids' as they'd been dubbed by the other co-worker's families a couple of times and had agreed to come down to make it more of a party without overwhelming any of the kids with friends from day-care. However, Harry and Laura Riddle did turn up with Jamie, along with ten year old Casey and eleven year old Poppy.

Brass arrived next with Ellie and her little boy Chase. Al Robbins, Judy, Super Dave and his wife Susie all arrived in one car.

After them the lab techs all showed up – Hodges, Mandy, Henry, Bobby and Wendy (who still classed herself in the social group of the lab techs).

As they arrived and Kristy's eyes grew larger and larger at the pile of presents, they started to move onto a private train tour around the zoo.

After a full day of laughter, playing and games, the time came to leave the zoo. It had started raining halfway through the day, but no one really cared very much.

As per Kristy's request, Eli, Loeila and Reuben were sleeping over at Nick's for the night, and Finn and Henry had both agreed to help Nick supervise.

Catherine and Vartaan were out having a meal, so for the first time in a long time Greg sank down onto the sofa alone with a glass of merlot.

Greg's phone buzzed suddenly, and he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Gre… Greg…"

"Morgan?" Greg cried, getting up off of the sofa.

"Hel…help Gre… 'lease…"

"Morgan, what's going on? Where are you, Morgan?"

"Apar…in my apar…men…'lease Greg come…"

Greg raced to the door, dropping his full glass of merlot on the floor and grabbing his car keys, his cell phone, his radio and his badge and gun as he raced out of the door.

He flew down the stairs and leapt into his car, keeping the phone to his ear all the time.

"Okay, Morgan I'm on my way to your apartment now, okay? Are you hurt?"

"Please come…" her broken voice whispered.

"I am, Morgan, I'm on the way… Morgan, is there someone with you?"

"You…firs' person…t'call…urry, p-p-please…"

Greg's foot pushed further down on the gas and he swallowed. "Morgan, have you been attacked?"

There was a small but strangled sob. "Greg…"

That's not like Morgan, that's not like Morgan… Greg thought in a panic, finally pulling into the parking lot of her apartment building.

He flashed his badge at the receptionist and raced up the stairs, before banging on the door of Morgan's apartment. To his horror it swung straight open, revealing a blood splatter on one of the walls and on the floor.

He drew his gun, listening out. There was a soft whimpering and heavy breathing coming from the back of the apartment. Greg drew his gun and looked in every room, finding nothing. Then he pushed open the door to Morgan's bedroom and swallowing.

Morgan's white bed sheets were ruffled and bloody, and the room empty. He moved into the bathroom, and there was no one there.

"Morgan?" he called. "Morgan?"

"Greg…" the reply whimpered.

"Morgan? Where are you?"

"Un…der… bed…"

Greg dropped to the floor on his stomach and almost threw up.

Morgan stared Greg with wide fearful eyes.

Her breathing was quick and shallow, and her hands were bound in front of her, her feet bound together. She was in ripped underwear, and god there was so much blood. Her phone lay inches from her face, and there was a small gash in her neck.

"Oh my god, Morgan!" Greg cried. "Oh, god… It's okay, Morgan, I'm here now, I'm here."

"Gr..eg…" she whispered, moving her hands a little.

Greg stretched out his arm and grabbed a hold of one of Morgan's hands as he started to talk desperately into his radio.

"…immediate medical assistance, repeat, immediate medical assistance."

"Copy that, Charlie Oh Six Sanders, back up and EMTs are on the way, ETA seven minutes."

Greg thought for a moment, before letting go of Morgan's hands. Morgan's eyes widened in fear.

"It's okay, Morgan, I'm not going anywhere." Greg assured her, running around the edge of the bed.

"Greg…"

"It's okay, Morgan, it's okay…" Greg crouched down next to the bed, slightly more aware of the… though it pained him to even think it… crime scene. "Morgan, we need to get you out from under the bed okay?"

Morgan nodded weakly and Greg's gentle hands landed on her shoulders. As she flinched, Greg paused.

"Morgan, I need to pull you out from under the bed, okay, is that okay?"

Morgan nodded again and Greg gently pulled her out. She looked up at him with frightened eyes and he stared at the plastic wires that had been used to bind her wrists. He grabbed a pocketknife from his back pocket.

"Morgan, I'm gonna try and cut the wires, okay, get you free, okay?" Greg nodded.

Morgan stared at the knife in terror but closed her eyes and nodded.

Greg quickly sliced through the bonds. "There, it's okay, it's over now. It's over now Morgan, whatever happened, I'm here now, I'm not going anywhere."

Morgan started to cry as Greg ripped off his jacket, pressing the sleeve against her bleeding neck.

After what seemed like an age the EMT's arrived, along with police back-up, Finn and DB.

"I'm going with her." Greg insisted to the EMT's and DB.

The EMT glanced at Finn. "Wouldn't a woman be-"

"He's going with her, just get her out of here, now!" Finn burst out.

DB and Finn stood in the middle of the hellish sight while the crime scene was secured.

"Why her? Why now?" Finn murmured into space.

"I have no idea." DB growled.

"I don't know how much more I can take…" Finn whispered, before uncharacteristically bursting into tears on DB's shoulder.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

He stared at his bloody hands in the waiting room.

Why god? Why, why, why?

"Mr Sanders?" a nurse asked quietly.

He looked up. It was the same nurse that he'd claimed to be engaged to Morgan to, when the twins were in hospital. "Yes?"

"I uh…I know that you and Ms Brody are only co-workers. But you have clearance to know about her position. She's stable…she's traumatised… Mr Sanders, I'm very sorry to tell you this, I can tell that you're very close, but…"

"But what?" Greg whispered.

"Your friend's been raped."

I KNOW ITS DARK! NECESSARY FOR PLOT. I feel bad, I DO I DO I DO I DO I swear, but it's necessary for part of later plot! I'm sorry to the poor characters i am torturing :P