Disclaimer - I don't own CSI and probably never will.

N/A: thank you for my reviews, again. And I kinda didn't mean to leave in the part when Sara wants another baby in the previous chapter, it's almost a spoiler, *hint hint.* Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, oh and I'm gonna work my butt of to finish this really soon 'cause I have an amazing idea for another Snickers story…

The Answering Machine

It had been a week since I first decided I wanted a divorce. It had to be the biggest and the hardest decision I had ever made in my entire life. But it had to be done. Catherine had been unsuccessful in changing my mind. She called me at least 10 times a day telling me what a mistake I was making. It didn't change anything though.

In usual Sara style, I buried my head in my work. It was the same when I went home. I concentrated on different cases, some unsolved and some not even mine, and any spare time I had was spent with my children. But they knew I was just putting on a brave face, Ava especially.

Catherine wasn't the only person non-stop phoning me, Nick phoned twice as much. I ignored them all which probably made Dylan and Isla more upset. They didn't understand why their Daddy wasn't at home or why I was angry and upset. I wished I didn't understand.

I went to see my lawyer the day after my break down at work. My lawyer, Sophie Hall, was all to familiar with cheating partners. I filled out paper work and sighed on the dotted line. All we needed was for Nick to sign it to and it would all be over. I felt all emotional. As much as I knew it was the right thing to do I was also sad to see ten years of marriage go down the drain. But at the end of the day marriage is just a piece of paper and a ring.

"Stokes," Nick answered his phone.

"Nick Stokes?" asked a man at the other end.

"Yes," Nick replied.

"Mr Stokes I am sorry to have to tell you this, but your wife, Sara, has filed for divorce and full custody of your 4 children," the man said.

"She's what?" Nick yelled.

"She never said anything?" he asked.

"No, she didn't," Nick sighed.

"Well, we're going to have to meet up and discuss what our next step is, I'm sure you're going to want to contest custody," he said.

"Of course, and the divorce," said Nick.

"A meeting has been scheduled for this Friday with Sara's lawyer, I'm unsure yet if Sara herself will be there but you are certainly invited and hopefully we'll be able to decide on the best way to go about contesting, for custody at least," he said.

"Ok, I will definitely be there," Nick nodded, even though he knew his lawyer wouldn't be able to see.

"I'll be in touch with more information," he said.

"Ok, thank you," Nick sighed.

"Bye for now," said the man.

"Bye."

Nick had been half way through processing the evidence he had collected from murder scene he had been put on with Catherine but suddenly the thought of his career went out the window. Divorce and FULL custody? Really? he thought. He really must have thought that everything would have gone back to normal eventually, so man was this a wake up call. Nick was obviously devastated at the thought of not only losing his wife but his children too. He never, in a million years, thought I would do that to him, but I had too, I had to make him understand how much he hurt me.

Later that day:

After a long boring day at work, I came home dumped my stuff and went to find my babies. They were sat glued to the TV while Warrick supervised from the kitchen.

"Hey Warrick," I yawned.

"You look horrible," he said.

"Oh thanks," I smirked.

"Your welcome," he said sarcastically.

"Have they been good?"

"They've been golden," he smiled.

"Good," I said as I turned my head slightly so I could watch them from the doorway.

"You've had a few phone calls," he said.

"Nick?" I asked.

Warrick nodded.

"He'll get the message eventually," I sighed.

"You should talk to him you know, Greg say's he's going insane," he said.

"It's what he deserves," I said.

"Right then, I'd best be getting out your hair," he said.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow then," I said.

"Bye guys," he said as he walked through the living room to the front door. "Yeah, have fun."

"Bye giant Uncle Warrick," smiled Isla.

Warrick rolled his eyes.

"Bye," I said as I opened the front door and then closed it after he left.

"Right then kiddies, go and get dressed, we need to do some shopping," I said as I walked back through to the living room.

All 4 of them groaned before sulking off to get dressed. Once they had gone I noticed that there was a message on the answering machine. I knew it was probably Nick but I listened to it anyway. It turned out that there was almost 20 messages from him, from different days, going back to the day after I kicked him out.

"Hey Sara, it's Nick. Just wanted to see if you and the kids where ok, sure you are. Um, I'll speak to you soon, bye," the first one said.

"Hi guys, it's me. Your clearly out so I'll have to catch you later. Love you all, bye," said the second.

I was bored already so I deleted the next 10 without even listening to them.

"Sara, it's me again. C'mon you've gotta phone me back, we need to talk, I need to know you're ok, that the kids are ok, please," said the thirteenth.

I deleted more, I wasn't interested in what he had to say. Finally, only the message from that day was left.

"Divorce, seriously? I really didn't think you would do that. We're definitely beyond talking now, huh? It's only been a week and that's what you decide to do, we could've talked it over, sorted out this little bump in the road but clearly you don't want to."

I was a bit taken aback by it. I didn't realise he would have been told so soon. I was going to do it myself, when I was ready so I was angry that he knew. He was going to contest, that was for sure.

"Mum, you ok?" Maddie asked.

"Err, yeah, just tired," I smiled.

"Ok, can we watch some more TV while you get dressed?" she asked.

"I suppose so but I'm only gonna be a minute so it's probably not worth it. Put your shoes on as you're watching please," I said as I went upstairs.

I didn't know what to do. Did I cry? Did I not care? I knew I had to be strong for the kids and that I was gonna have to tell them about the divorce sooner or later, probably sooner rather than later.

"Right, let's go," I said as I grabbed the car keys and headed for the door.

A few hours later we came home with bags full of shopping. It was the first time in a while that we had got so much stuff, normally we would pick up things that we needed during the week but under the circumstances I didn't. Once everything was unpacked and the cupboards bulging I started making dinner. Dylan and Isla went to bed not long after we had finished. They were shattered, so was I. Maddie shuffled upstairs without me even needing to tell her. Ava was allowed to watch TV for a little while longer so as she did I set about doing the dishes. They were all washed but as I was drying a plate it slipped from my grip and smashed on the floor. I fell down next to it and just burst into tears. Ava came running through.

"What happened? Are you ok mum?" she asked in a panicked voice.

"I dropped it, I'm, I'm sorry," I sniffled.

"Mum," she sighed as she lowered herself down next to me.

"I'm so sorry about all of this, you kids shouldn't have to suffer 'cause of your stupid parents," I said as I tried to smile.

"Yeah well parents are like that apparently," she smiled.

"Well that's true."

"Mum, can I ask you something?" Ava asked.

"Sure sweetheart," I said.

"Has anything ever happened to you as a CSI? It's just that I overheard Uncle Warrick and Uncle Greg talking about something to do with Dad being kidnapped. Was he kidnapped?" she asked.

I cleared my throat. "Well, first things first, yes your Dad has been kidnapped. And yes something has happened to me, I was kidnapped too. But something has happen to all of us, virtually," I said.

"You were kidnapped? Why didn't I know?" she asked.

"It's not something I like to talk about, and that's goes for all of us, you don't like to relive near death experiences," I sighed.

"You nearly died?"

"Well yeah, but I didn't so…" I trailed off.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Wow, you like to ask a lot of questions," I smiled.

"I was brought up by CSIs," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Fair enough."

"What happened to Dad then?" she asked.

"Um, ok. He thought it was a normal case, like your Uncle Warrick did," I started.

"But it wasn't?"

"No, far from it. It was a set up. A fake crime scene. The kidnapper snuck up behind your Dad and knocked him unconscious. The team had been split up into night shift and day shift but we got to work together to help find him. Soon enough, we found out what had happened, well a little bit about what had happened. Your Dad had been locked in a box and buried alive," I paused for a second as I tried not to start crying.

"Oh God," Ava said. "Go on."

"We knew this because we could watch on a live feed. The kidnapper wanted money so when Grissom went to give him the one million dollars he asked for, he blew himself up. It turned out he was the father of Kelly Gordon who was serving time for assisting in a murder. He believed that his daughter had nothing to do with it, so he took revenge on the police force. Your Dad was kidnapped at random and that's what was worse, especially for your Uncle Warrick, he nearly had that case. Eventually we tracked down where he had been buried, Kelly Gordon was no help. We got to your Dad just in time, he was being eaten alive by fire ants and so was ready to kill himself. But he didn't and he recovered and he's fine," I sniffled, half way through tears had began to form in my eyes.

"How long ago was that?" Ava asked.

"About 5 years before you were born," I said.

We sat in silence. That was the most I had ever told her about our job. Nick and I never liked to talk about it, not just 'cause of what happened to us but that we never wanted our kids to know about what we went through, want we see everyday and how it effects us, not until they where old enough at least. I guess that went out the window, huh? Sometimes I forgot that she was only 10, she acted so much older and matured than that most of the time. But she was still my little girl.

Thank you for reading. I don't actually know why I put in the Grave Danger references but I did so I hope I remembered it ok. This story is gonna get good soon, thank god. Review please.