Thanks for reviewing. Super quick authors note/ update– sorry for mistakes, think of this as a Christmas special, I'm having no time to right so unless I get at least eight reviews I won't update for a while – no time. I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter Forty One # New Beginnings and New Ends #

On the fifteenth of January, school began again, and Greg found himself in the centre of the rumour mill, the gossip on everyone's lips.

When people started to arrive in homeroom they all stared and whispered, and Greg found himself going redder and redder. He kept his head down and the others automatically tried to shield him from the stares. However, everyone had heard the news. Greg wasn't drowning alone.

Catherine Willows flew through the door faster than usual and instantly wrapped her arms around Greg.

"I'll hold them off for as long as I can." She whispered, instantly recognising that Greg didn't want pity.

"Thanks." He smiled weakly. "I don't think you'll-"

"Oh trust me, I'll keep them away." Catherine grinned.

"Thanks." He repeated with a little more sincerity.

"No problem." She nodded, walking back to her seat.

True to her word, no one bothered Greg at all, but by homeroom after lunch he was fed up. Fed up of stares. Fed up of rumours. Fed up of being tip-toed around.

He stood up on the table and stomped his foot once, drawing all attention to him.

"Yes, I was kidnapped, yes my friends saved my life, and yes Maria Johnson kidnapped me. But I'm fine, and could you all please just stop treating me as if I'm terminally ill. Thank you. Have a nice day, y'all." He sat back down next to a stumped Morgan. "What?"

"Nothing." She shook her head slowly. "I love you."

Greg's face cracked into a smile.

A scrunched up ball of paper hit Greg on the back of the head and Grissom stood up. "Stetler!"

"He said he wanted us to treat him normally!" the boy protested.

"Out. Now."

"Bu-"

"Out!"

While Grissom followed Stetler out of the classroom, Jake Berkeley threw more paper at their table.

Suddenly Catherine pulled paper out of the bin and launched it at Calleigh with a giggle. The southern girl froze for a moment.

Suddenly the entire class launched into war; with paper, empty plastic bottles, shoes and whatever else they could find flying everywhere.

When Grissom opened the door to figure out what the screams were his mouth dropped open. There were students on the tables, the chairs, the cupboards. The room was filled with missiles flying through the air.

As soon as he was noticed they all stopped, faltering as a paper ball bounced to his feet. He bent down and picked it up, staring at it for a moment.

When he'd walked in, teenagers that he'd seen living in fear for months had been smiling. Students he knew to be traumatised and recovering had been laughing and playing. And the whole class had been happy.

Well, alternative therapy I guess… he thought, deciding to do something way out of character. He took the ball of paper and launched it at Nick Stokes, who dodged in shock, before grinning.

"Alright!"

The war exploded again and Grissom laughed, about to duck his way to his desk when he saw Ecklie running from the window towards his room. He stepped back outside to stop him.

"Conrad-"

"Gil, what the hell is going on in there, those students are at war-"

"I know but Conrad, its good for them-"

"What the hell do you mean?"

"When was the last time you saw your daughter smile like that?" Grissom asked seriously, pointing through the window. Ecklie glanced for a moment before staring.

Morgan was doubled over laughing, tears running down her face. She straightened up and threw a paper ball at Nick, who tackled her onto his shoulder and off of the table, landing her gently on the floor. She grinned widely as Greg linked arms with her. They jumped back on the table and spun around, whooping as they did so.

"Not in a long time…" Ecklie whispered. "I…I…"

"Exactly."

"If someone gets hurt…" Ecklie murmured, his resolve wavering.

Grissom nodded. "I'll stop them in five minutes."

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"And what did Grissom do?"

"Threw the ball at Nick." Warrick chuckled and his grandma shook her head.

"Well, I'm glad you had a good day. Is Greg coping?"

"Yeah, at the moment." Warrick nodded, sitting on the stool in the kitchen. "We've just….we've been through so much shit, especially Greg…"

"I know." His grandmother said softly, not bothering to tell him off for swearing. "Your parents would be very proud of you. For coping the way you have."

"Yeah…" Warrick said softly.

"Do you remember them much?" she asked softly.

"Bits and pieces. When…when we were in the mansion I remembered the car crash...Dad got me out and went back for Mom, didn't he?"

Elizabeth bit her lip, her eyes filling with tears. "Yes…he did."

"I…I loved them." Warrick said quietly.

"You did." She nodded. "You did."

CSIVCSIVCSIV

Tony and Sara sat in the café outside of the cinema, waiting for the queue to open to let them into the screen. Tony gently traced lines onto Sara's hand.

"The rumours about us have died down." Tony murmured.

"Yeah." Sara nodded quietly. "But Greg's gonna-"

"Don't worry about it. I'm keeping the guys at bay, Catherine's working her magic with the girls-"

"But people still talk, still stare, still-"

"Hey…"

"No, Tony, nothing's okay…"

"We'll get through."

"For how long?" Sara retorted.

Tony frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, next year, you'll be at college and I'll still be here and…"

"Don't worry about that, Sara. It's January." Tony cupped Sara's face in his hand. "We got months left."

"Sure, sure…" Sara turned her face away.

"It'll all work out." Tony promised. He smiled sadly as Sara tried not to cry, her lip quivering as she stared out of the window. "Hey, why don't we go have some fun? Let's hit the strip."

"I don't know…" Sara sighed.

"Sara…." Tony made puppy dog eyes at her.

Sara kept a straight face for all of thirty seconds before grinning and nodding. "Okay, let's go."

They ran out of the diner, leaving a hasty tenner on the table. They ran into the shops and Tony bought Sara a little black dress. He changed into a pair of chinos and a skirt from the back of his car and they left for the strip. They snuck into a club, giggling as they went.

They danced and danced, until Sara stopped suddenly. "Oh my god! Tony, I gotta go, its seven o'clock, my parents will freak, I said I'd be back in a couple of hours, I'm…"

"Damn, I god, okay, let's go!" Tony dragged her by the hand out of the club. They leapt into the car and Sara clambered into the back of the car, changing into her uniform once more, finger combing her hair before hiding the dress under the seat.

She slid smoothly into the front seat, smoothing out her pleated skirt.

"Tony, I'm gonna be in big trouble."

"I'll come in, apologise…"

"They'll never let me see you again!"

"We got stuck in traffic on the way back. There honestly were traffic jams-"

"For three hours?"

Tony bit his lip as they pulled into Sara's driveway. "I love you."

"I love you more." She returned, kissing him quickly and flying out of the car, feeling like a normal teenager running and sneaking into the house.

"I'm home!" she yelled, frowning at the noise.

Her mother was screaming hysterically, her father was saying something. She ran up the stairs towards the noise in her parents' bedroom. Tyler cried out in pain and Sara opened the door a crack.

"You've killed my daughter!"

"Laura! Laura! Sara's home, she just called up-"

Laura screamed at the top of her voice. "Liar, you LIAR!"

"Mom, dad, what's going on?" Sara cried, stepping into the room.

"You're a ghost, you're a ghost, get away, get away!" Laura screamed.

"M…mom?" Sara cried.

"Sara, you're mother's having a schizophrenic attack, get out-" her father replied quickly and fearfully.

"Wh…what?" Sara cried.

"Get out, you're a ghost leave us alone!" Laura shrieked, her hair messed, a large kitchen knife in her hand. Tyler was on the other side of the room, bleeding from his arm. "You, you ghosts you made me hurt my son! GET OUT!"

She lunged at Sara, knife in hand.

"SARA!" James screamed, jumping in front of his daughter.

The knife hit him in the chest and blood flew into the air.

"NO!" the other three Sidle's screamed.

"LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!" Laura shrieked. "You're a ghost, you're not real."

"Mom, it's me, it's me, don't, what have you done!" Sara yelled as her dad fell to the floor.

"YOU GHOSTLY BITCH!" Laura cried, lunging once more.

"Sara run!" Tyler shrieked, clutching his arm.

"Mom!" Sara gasped, watching her father bleeding on the floor. "Mom!"

"I'm not your mother! You wretched ghost, you've killed my husband!"

"Mom, I'm your daughter! I'm Sara, I'm sorry I was late from school, I-" Sara's stammers fell from her lips and disappeared at the crazed look in the woman's eye.

"You're not my Sara! He killed my Sara!" Laura wailed.

Sara screamed and turned, fleeing down the stairs. "TONY! TONY, HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE, SHE'S GONNA KILL ME!"

"COME BACK YOU BITCH!"

CSIVCSIVCSIV

Tony froze in his car. He'd decided to wait for a moment, call Sara when he thought that everything was okay.

But someone was screaming…

"TONY! TONY, HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE, SHE'S GONNA KILL ME!"

Tony got out of his car and jogged out into the house. The door was ajar and when he looked in he saw Sara cowering at the bottom of the stairs, her mom standing over her with a knife.

"NO!" Sara screamed.

Tony burst through the door and wrapped his arms around Laura from behind, throwing her away and grabbing Sara's hand, pulling her from the house.

When they got back to the car Laura was still following them. Tony threw Sara into the car and slammed the door shut, driving away.

"Sara, what happened?" he cried. "What was that?"

"Tony my dad, she killed my dad!" Sara screamed.

"Oh shit, you're bleeding!" Tony cried, pulling over to the side of the road. "I'm calling the cops, now."

"Wait!" Sara sobbed, falling into his arms. "Tony, Tony, Tony…"

Tony held her as she sobbed repeatedly. He dialled three numbers on his phone and kissed her hair gently.

"It's gonna be alright. I love you, I love you, I love you. I got you, Sara. No one's gonna hurt you. Okay, hello? Yeah, I need to speak to the police."

Shit? Good? Please review, I need eight to update soon!