A/N: Hey, everyone, no joking around on this one. I wanted to have this up last night but the last few days have not gone well and I'm not too sure when I'll be able to post again. I'm hoping that it won't be longer than a week, two at the most, as I don't want to make you guys wait too long but there are times when family must come first and that is what this coming weekend will be like. I hope you guys won't be too mad but that's the way it is sometimes.

A big thank you to the JellyBean who took time out of her busy schedule to help me with this. She has been a great support, especially when I realized that Reggie Shelling is evil and that is how he should be portrayed. The idea was NOT hers, she just supported me in my decision. The carnage you are about to read is all mine.

WARNING: This chapter is VERY GRAPHIC! Both sexually and otherwise. Please use caution when you read this and remember it's about staying true to the characters within the story.

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Face the Music- Thirty-Eight

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Catherine, Warrick and Brass stood in the A/V room with Archie who had just spent the last three hours going through the maze of bogus signals that Shelling had set up to throw off any attempts at tracking him using the GPS chip on Jim's' car. Nick and Greg walked into the A/V lab just as the young man received the final location on his computer and marked the general location on a grid.

"Good job, Arch," Catherine said as she patted him on the shoulder and took the paper he handed her.

"No one can escape Archie Johnson." The young man said and Catherine showed a small smile as she headed for the door but stopped and looked at him when he called her name. "I hope you find him... and if there's anything more that I can do..."

"I'll let you know, Archie, thanks." Catherine's smile broadened a little and they all left the room.

They all went to the conference room and gathered around the table. Each of them took a file and began searching through it for a relevant address to the one found on the tracking device. But nothing stood out in terms of the location presented.

Catherine grabbed the visitor logs that Warrick had gained from the prison and began searching through the list. "Jim, that volunteer who wanted to give John Shelling a burial? What about him?"

"No. He lives out in Sumerlin. Opposite direction."

Catherine looked at John Shelling's visitor logs again and this time a name stood out -- Joe Mantillo. He visited Shelling once. She looked at notes from Grissom's case prior to her handling and noticed he was interviewed at his farmhouse 35 miles north of Vegas. He said he was a prison visitor who just happened to visit John Shelling. For some reason, Catherine just didn't buy that. She went to to the lab across the corridor and logged onto the computer to access public records and found a marriage license for Mantillo. He was married 45 years ago to Marie Henderson. Catherine's heart raced. Henderson was the maiden name of John and Reggie Shelling's mother.

She found the address of Joe and Marie's farmhouse in seconds and raced back to the A/V lab. "He's here," she said putting a piece of paper on the table. "She must have been a relative of their mother."

They wasted no time as they all jumped up from the table and raced to the parking lot. Brass pulled out his cell and called Ecklie as Catherine called dispatch and ordered back up.

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Still in pain and expecting his prisoner to still be on the floor Shelling was caught off guard when Gil tackled him against the wall. As they struggled, each man trying to gain the upper hand, Sara struggled on her own to twist her hand and get the key she was still holding into the lock of one of her own cuffs. As the two men struggled and fell back against the bed the lock clicked and the cuff fell away from her wrist.

She accidentally dropped the key as she reached out and grabbed Shelling's hair in a painful grip where he stood behind Gil, holding him in a headlock. Reggie screamed as Sara ripped a handful of hair from his scalp. At the same time Gil elbowed him in the ribs. Reggie went into a rage and brought his foot up and slammed it down on Gil's bad knee, causing Gil to scream in pain. But Gil's cries were quickly cut off when Shelling tightened his grip around the older man's neck.

Shelling stood and twisted away from Sara before she could reach for him again. Gil couldn't gain his footing as Shelling pushed him to his knees and he struggled for air. As Shelling used one hand to strangle Gil, he used the other to grab Gil's arm and twist it up behind his back. Gil tried to pry Shelling's hand wrapped around his throat, but Shelling's rage refreshed his strength and his eyes darkened as he felt the life being drained from the man in his hold.

"STOP IT!!!! PLEASE, YOU'RE KILLING HIM!!!!!!!!" Sara screamed as she watched Gil's face turn from red to blue.

Images of his mother screaming those exact words as he killed his father flashed in his mind and Shelling released his victim and let him drop to the floor. Gil gasped for air and immediately went into a coughing fit. He tried to push himself up but Shelling kicked him in the back. "Stay down!" he yelled.

Shelling bent over and cuffed Gil's wrists again but this time they were so tight that they cut into his flesh. He grabbed the chain connecting them and dragged Gil away from the bed and back over to the other side of the room. Gil cried out in pain as strain was put on his shoulders as they felt like they were being torn from their sockets and he felt some of the roach clips being torn from his flesh.

"You stay there!" Shelling ordered as he dropped Gil face down on the floor. "I need to teach your slut a lesson."

Reggie turned back to the bed and the look in his eyes sent a shiver through Sara's body. Gil tried to lift his head but it was barely enough to see Shelling move towards his beloved. He felt everything growing dark and he heard the sound of skin against skin as Shelling slapped Sara hard across the face. Before he lifted his hand a second time Gil was overwhelmed by the darkness and passed out on the floor. As Shelling straddled her waist Sara heard sirens wailing in the distance and as she listened to them draw closer Reggie hit her again and again and again.

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The cruisers and department issue SUV's skidded to a stop outside of the old farmhouse. All of the officers jumped from their vehicles and assumed ready positions behind them with weapons raised and ready to shoot. Jim took the megaphone that one of the officers handed him and held the microphone to his lips. "Reggie Shelling! Come out of the house! We have the place surrounded and there's no way you're getting out of here!"

A long moment of silence passed before a gunshot sounded in the air and one of the officers was thrown back onto the ground. All hell broke loose as the officers began firing on the house and more shots were fired from inside the aged structure. With the bullets flying over-head and dreadfully close the minute that the shoot out lasted passed like an hour. Jim noticed there was no more gunfire coming from inside the house and ordered them to cease fire.

The officers cautiously came out from behind their vehicles and advanced on the house. Jim followed the two officers in the lead and was not surprised that Warrick was close behind him. They broke through the front door and rushed into the house, quickly fanning out to check all of the rooms. They cleared the downstairs but both Jim and Warrick had a gut feeling what they were looking for was not on the ground level and they cautiously ran up the stairs.

They cleared the first room and then the second. They came to the third and Jim kicked in the door. The two men rushed inside to find Raoul talking hurriedly into his cell phone. He turned and raised his weapon. Warrick charged him and grabbed the handgun before driving his fist into Raoul's nose. Jim jumped forward and grabbed the man's arms, making him drop the phone on the floor, and quickly cuffed him.

They had searched the entire house and then the barn but there were no signs of Gil or Sara. What they did find were two teenage girls chained in the basement and not far from them were the rotting, mangled bodies of an elderly couple. It was obvious that the girls had been badly abused and the paramedics took great care and gentle caution as they strapped them to the gurneys and put them in the ambulances. Jim informed the paramedics that Raoul could wait and he saw a senior EMT who looked like he wanted to shoot the man himself.

After the ambulances left Jim and Warrick went to the kitchen where Raoul was sitting, cuffed to a chair. Jim told the officers to leave and they obeyed. Warrick stood to the side and silently glared at the prisoner as Jim stepped around behind him. "Where's Reggie Shelling?"

"Fuck you."

Nick walked into the room and held up an evidence bag containing the cell phone Raoul had dropped. "Found this in the bedroom where you said you found him."

"Yeah," Warrick confirmed. "He was using it when we busted the door down."

"It says the last call he made was to... Reg," Nick looked at the man in the chair. "That Reggie Shelling?"

Raoul remained silent and when Jim threatened him with the charges he was facing he still remained silent. Jim looked up at his younger colleagues. "Get the hell outta here." Both men were reluctant but when they saw the look in the ex-marine's eyes they knew what he was about to do would not be pretty and that he was protecting them from prosecution. When the two investigators left the kitchen Jim grabbed Raoul's throat from behind in a tight hold and cut off his air as he lowered his mouth next to the other man's ear.

"Don't fuck with me, Raoul," he growled. "Your pal Reg has two of my friends and I will do whatever it takes to get them back. Even if it means killing a piece of shit like you." He let go of Raoul's throat and quickly covered his mouth as he began to punch the helpless man in the kidneys.

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When Jim came running from the kitchen, only throwing a quick order to one of the officers to take charge of Raoul, Warrick was immediately on his heels. "What have you got, man?!"

"An address!" Jim replied and the two men were out the door.

Jim and Warrick were in the car speeding down the road before Nick, Catherine and Greg climbed into one of the Denalis.

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Sara fought hard not to give any reaction as Shelling slapped her across the face again and again. Her heart sank as she heard the sirens go in an opposite direction and quickly fade into the distance. Her lack of response confused Shelling and made him even more angry. He climbed off of her and clenched his fists at his side. "You fucking cunt!" He screamed as he drove his fist into her stomach. She cried out in pain and begged him to stop as he raised his fist again. Her cry of pain roused Gil and he groaned as he fluttered in and out of consciousness.

He stepped back as his cell phone rang and pulled it from his pants pocket. He flipped it open and held it to his ear. "What do you fuckin' want, Raoul?!" Sara lay back and listened as she could only hear Shelling's side of the conversation. "What the hell are you talking about?... I told you that when the cops showed up you were supposed to play it like the place was fucking yours!... Fire fight??? I never said to shoot at them!... What about the 'fresh meat'?... Raoul?... Raoul!!!"

When the call was cut Shelling went into a fit of rage and threw his phone against the wall. As the phone shattered into a dozen pieces Reggie turned his eyes to Sara. He took two steps forward, towering over her and when her eyes met his Sara realized what was about to come and that there was nothing that she could do to stop it. The rage she saw in Reggie's eyes as he pulled out his knife and began cutting off her clothes made her panic and squirm.

Sara tried not to speak but could barely muffle her cries and whimpers which intensified when Reggie roughly grabbed one her breasts and squeezed it hard in his strong hand. When he saw Sara eye the knife in his other hand Reggie's mouth twisted in an evil grin and he scraped the sharp edge of the blade over her now bare belly.

"What do you say we cut you open and see what that little bastard in you looks like?" Sara shook her head, desperate to do anything else. "No?" He lowered his face as he grabbed her hair and yanked her head up. "That's not…" Reggie paused as her hair caught his eye. When he looked at her brown locks he remembered what Raoul told him in the strip club. "Raoul said a brunette bitch killed Rubin. That was you wasn't it, you fucking cunt?!"

"Yes it was!" Sara sneered, unable to control herself. "And I'd do it again!"

Instantly Sara wished she had kept her mouth shut and not said a word. Reggie's eyes darkened and he stuck the knife into the wall over the head of the bed, making Sara flinch. He removed the shackles from her ankles and roughly flipped her over onto her stomach. Sara's shoulders and wrists were strained as her arms were forcefully crossed. Before she could fight back her legs were pushed underneath her so that she was sitting on her knees.

Shelling didn't bother to cut away Sara's panties as he climbed onto the bed behind her and settled between her parted legs. He roughly pushed her underwear down the backs of her thighs and slapped her hard on the ass. She yelped and he grabbed her hair and yanked her head back as he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to my best friend, you slut," he growled.

Shelling got back up onto his knees and didn't give Sara a chance to prepare herself as he quickly lined his erect cock with her asshole and entered her with one, hard thrust. She screamed out at the sudden, intense pain and bucked forward in an attempt to escape him. He grabbed her hips in a painful grip as he began pounding in and out of her.

Sara's screams roused Gil back into consciousness and when he looked up at the bed he saw Shelling's hips moving back and forth as he roughly thrust in and out of Sara. Gil struggled to turn himself onto his side. "SHELLING! GET OFF HER!" He screamed in desperation.

Shelling stopped and spun around to see Gil struggling on the floor. He pulled out of Sara and jumped off the bed. He stormed over to where Gil laid on the floor and rolled him over with a kick to the older man's ribs. He straddled Gil's chest and grabbed his hair, yanking his head up off the floor. He slapped Gil hard across the face a few times and painfully shook his head back and forth. Gil felt the back of his head hit the floor with each shake and cried in pain through his gritted teeth.

"Please, sir, don't hurt her..."

"YOU OR HER?"

The look Gil saw in Shelling's flushed face was one of primal rage. The veins in his neck pulsed wildly as he towered over Gil and gave him an ultimatum that deserved only one, clear answer.

"Me."

Reggie grunted as he dragged the older man over to the bed and pushed him face first over the low foot board. It was high enough so that the tips of Gil's toes barely touched the floor. Shelling stepped back to the side of the bed and pulled Sara back over onto her back.

For a brief moment Sara met Gil's eyes and the pain that passed between them was almost unbearable. Shelling stepped behind Gil and grabbed his ass. When he looked at Sara and saw her look away he spoke sharply to her. "You watch me, you miserable fucking slut! You watch him take my cock up his ass or I'll do worse things to him than you could ever imagine."

Sara met Gil's eyes and held them steady. Shelling thrust his erection deep inside of Gil as he grabbed his captive's hair and yanked his head back. With one hand holding Gil's hair Shelling's other hand gripped Gil's hip to brace himself.

The pain was intense and everything that Gil had garnered -- his progress achieved in therapy, with his friends, with Sara -- he felt it all slipping away. Sara watched as Gil's face contorted in pain and heard his cries with each of Shelling's thrusts. The pain in his ribs was unbearable and the pain caused by the roach clips that were now embedded in his chest and stomach made him nauseous. But worst of all was the humiliation he felt at being raped in front of Sara. He caught a glimpse of her tear filled eyes and felt desperate to stop it.

Grissom's face was pushed into the mattress between Sara's feet. But he turned his head so he could be heard. "John killed himself because of you!"

Shelling stopped in mid-thrust. "You don't know what you're fucking talking about!" He screamed as he thrust into Gil two more times, being much more rough..

"He said he let himself be his cell mate's bitch... because he deserved it!" Gil screamed past the pain.

While still holding his hair Shelling pulled him back off the bed. Gil could barely stand on his own and Shelling held him up with a painful, tight grip on his arm as he glared into Gil's pain-dulled eyes.

"He realized that you wanted to sell them as sex slaves... and did the only thing that he thought he could... to save them from you." Gil sneered.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Shelling screamed as he grabbed one of the roach clips on Gil's side and ripped it off. Gil screamed as he was thrown to his back on the floor.

He fought the pain as Shelling towered over him. "You had no love... for your brother's daughters."

"They were fucking whores!" He reached down and ripped off another roach clip, this time from Gil's chest.

"Not... to your... brother," Gil struggled to reply.

"You don't know what you're fucking talking about! He knew they were whores!" This time Shelling ripped a roach clip off of Gil's penis and he screamed as he writhed beneath him and tried to roll away.

"Your brother was heavy... into drugs. You tried to... convince John to give you his girls... to sell them." Gil continued to ignore the building rage he saw in Shelling's features and didn't take notice of Sara, who was shaking her head trying to make him stop. "What did you do?... Offer the profits from the sale... to fuel your little brother's... drug habit."

"Shut up, Gilbert! You don't fucking know what you're talking about!"

But Grissom did know. Shelling could recall that night he talked to his brother.

"That ex wife of yours and her little whores are ruining you! Let me handle them. I'll get good money for them, John. Especially Courtney. That little piece of ass could tap $1,000 a night easy. And all it takes is a little discipline -- both physical and chemical." John was high again but still couldn't decide, but Reggie kept pushing. "I'm trying to help you. Trying to protect you! They will destroy you!"

John was so confused. And it was so hard to say no to his brother. "OK, Reggie."

Reggie went into a blind fury and began ripping the roach clips off of Gil's body. But he stopped when Gil struggled to not give him a reaction. Shelling straddled Gil's waist and began punching him in the face. Gil was helpless beneath the stronger man as he continued to pummel him and could only turn away so that Shelling's blows caught him on the side of his head and not directly in his face. When he finally stopped the left side of Gil's face looked like something from a butcher's shop. Bones were shattered and blood flowed into his hair and dripped to the floor. Shelling panted as he felt his rage begin to dissipate and he felt more in control.

"He agreed," Grissom choked out with Reggie Shelling still on his chest, "But when he is was... alone... he couldn't believe... what he agreed to. In his... drug-crazed mind... he killed them... to save them... from... you."

"John never said that!" Shelling growled.

"No... He wrote it down... in a letter... we found after his... death. He said... it was you... who drove him to drugs. ... You who drove him to... murder," Gil struggled to stay conscious as he felt it all begin to slip away again. "I helped... p-put him in jail... but you p-pushed him... to kill those g-girls. You're the reason... he lost control. He needed to stop you... and did the unforgivable. He wanted to die in p-prison... And you, Reggie... you, not me... not those girls... gave him that death wish."

"Is that how you see it?" Sheeling sneered, the fury in his eyes punctuated his total lack of control.

Shelling let out a primal scream as he grabbed Gil's face in his hands and began pushing the tips of his thumbs into the helpless man's eyes. Sara's eyes widened in horror as she watched her love writhe and scream beneath the madman whose eyes had become glazed as if he was possessed by something more evil than any mortal man. As all the pain in his body combined to reach a new height Gil felt helpless to do anything. Until he felt Shelling's hand come too close to his mouth and Gil sunk his teeth into the meaty heel of his torturer's right hand.

Shelling screamed in pain and as he yanked his hand away Gil ripped off a large chunk of his flesh and spit it out of his mouth. Reggie fell back on the floor, cradling his injured hand. "FUCK! FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!"

Caught in the intensity of the moment neither of the three heard the wail of the sirens outside or the noise downstairs as two men burst through the front door. Shelling jumped to his feet and grabbed his bowie knife from its sheath as he advanced on Gil. He'd had enough of this game and it was time to end it. Gratification or not. It was all for John.

As he passed the bedroom door it flew open with a powerful kick and Jim charged inside. "Las Vegas Police!" But Shelling immediately grabbed Brass' wrist and twisted it back over his shoulder as he slammed Jim back against the wall. The force made Jim drop his gun and Shelling kicked the heavy wooden door as Warrick stepped through it and his hands were slammed between the door and door jam. Warrick screamed in pain as he felt the bones in his hand break and he stumbled backwards.

As Warrick stumbled back and fell against the banister, holding his hand in pain, Nick, Greg and Catherine ran through the front door and up the stairs to meet him. They had been just moments behind the two of them. As the three investigators reached the top of the stairs Warrick immediately and frantically nodded them toward the bedroom door before they could stop.

"Brass is in there with Shelling!"

Although Jim recovered and twisted out of Shelling's grasp, the two men struggled back and forth as they grappled with each other. Reggie thrust his bowie knife towards Jim's chest and the detective caught his wrist and pushed back against him.

As Gil lay on the cusp of passing out again he barely felt the new wave of pain emanating from his knee when Jim and Shelling tripped over him. The pain he felt brought him back to the edge of consciousness, but the only thought that registered was that Jim was there and he would take care of Sara now.

Reggie and Jim tripped over Gil's legs and both men fell hard on their sides and rolled across the floor. Reggie was on top of the detective, pushing the knife down towards his chest, but as Jim rolled them over one more time Nick and Greg burst through the door with their weapons raised.

Within a nanosecond, they heard Jim scream in pain.

Nick and Greg took in the sight before them. Grissom, a bloody and mangled mess on the floor. Sara abused, naked and physically and emotionally shaken with her wrists still shackled to the bed. And Jim and Shelling stilled. Nick rushed to the detective, pushed Shelling off of Brass and checked for the madman's pulse as Jim propped himself up against the foot of the bed. Greg ran to Sara's side. She to the floor and without a word Greg found the shackle key and unlocked her cuff.

Shelling lay face up, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling. His bowie knife protruded from his chest and as he gasped for air blood began to trickle from the corners of his mouth. Nick was caught as he saw Reggie's lips trying to form words as he pushed a shaking hand into his pocket. "I fucked him up real good... Johnny Boy..." With the last of his breath Reggie Shelling pulled his hand out of his pocket and his body slumped. As his hand fell to the floor it opened enough for Nick to see a picture of the two brothers resting in the dead man's palm.

Sara jumped off the bed and Greg followed her as she unsteadily ran over to Gil where he lay on the floor. She didn't seem to notice her nakedness and as she held him up Greg used the key to unlock his wrist cuffs and Sara cradled his limp body in her arms. Tears poured down her face as she got her first good look at the damage Shelling had done. She gently caressed the side of his face that had not received the brutal beating and held him close to her chest. Catherine and Warrick, who cradled his damaged hand, walked into the bed room and surveyed the damage as they joined to help their friends. When Greg went to help Nick and Catherine with Brass, Warrick slipped off his jacket and covered Sara with it. He then took a sheet off the bed and used it to cover his mentor's nakedness.

"Told you... we'd find him." Jim mumbled from where he sat on the floor.

A blood stain grew on the side of his polo shirt and he slumped to the floor. Catherine called dispatch as Nick and Greg jumped into action to save their friend. Jim began to pale as his blood continued to drain and he groaned in pain when Nick took off his shirt and held it against the wound.

"Greg, run down to the truck and get the first aid kit!" The Texan ordered and Greg obeyed.

In less than a minute Greg ran back into the bedroom carrying the full sized plastic case. Catherine closed her phone and carelessly shoved it in her pocket as she knelt next to her colleagues. "Ambulances are on their way ETA two minutes." She said as she took Jim's hand. "Stay with us, Jim, paramedics are on their way." Tears began to well in her eyes as she looked into those of her friend and saw the life in them slowly slipping away.

"He's losing too much blood!" Nick said in desperation as he applied more gauze to the wound.

As Warrick and Sara helplessly watched, Sara looked down at Gil. She noticed that he began to struggle for the shallow breaths that he was taking. "Gil? Baby?!"

As the ambulances pulled to a screeching halt outside both men stopped gasping for the air they so desperately needed. "He's not breathing!" Catherine yelled as she tightened her grip on Jim's hand and Nick stopped applying pressure and lay Jim down on his back as he frantically began CPR.

"Breathe, Gil! Take a fucking breath!" Sara screamed as she hurriedly laid him back down on the floor and tipped his head back to clear his airways.

The paramedics rushed up the stairs behind Greg who had gone down to meet them upon hearing them arrive. Once in the bed room they pushed Nick and Sara aside and the two teams immediately went to work on the helpless men as their lives slowly slipped away.

"I've got no pulse!" One of the paramedics yelled to his partner.

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A/N: I warned you. I know that some of you are really pissed off right now and I understand. But it's about staying true to the characters and Reggie Shelling is a sick psycho. For that I am not going to apologize to anyone and if people get pissed and don't want to finish the story that's your call, not mine. If I seem harsh I apologize for that but I have decided that this is my story and it needs to be written the way I want to write it and I won't do Shelling the injustice of making him a daisy just to keep everyone happy. Life is harsh and sometimes we have to accept it and forge ahead. No matter how much it hurts or how much it feels like it is going to kill us. And the best way to express our pain is using a creative outlet, rather than taking it out on someone else or ourselves, and writing is my outlet.