Okay, so I lied…it's been longer than four months…my bad. Anyway, I have the next chapter right here, so let's go!

Chapter 15

Nick didn't remember falling asleep. Why would he? He wanted to stay up and protect his little brother. Ha, little brother. He had always treated Greg like family and he found it humorous that he was actually related to him. Then again, he treated the whole team like family. When Nick sat up, he turned and saw Greg fast asleep on the cement floor near him. He gave a smirk when the door urst open and Thomas Sanders came in with a gun in his hand. "Get up, now!"

Slowly, Nick went to his feet, his hands slightly up in the air. With his gun trained on Nick, Thomas sidestepped over to Greg and gave him a painful kick in the ribs. Greg woke up in agony to see that the gun was no pointing at him. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and stood next to Nick. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."

"Wait, Sanders. I have one question for you. If you wanted to kill all of the Stokes, why didn't you kill Greg when he was younger and in your care?"

"That was my mistake."

"Yeah, well why did you take everyone? You could have easily killed them in their beds, but you didn't. You must have felt something for them."

"My original plan was to take them to the middle of nowhere and kill them there, but Jacobs took them before I could. I wanted your parents to suffer the same way I did."

"But you killed them before you took everyone, so how is that making them suffer?" asked Nick. If he was going to die, he wanted to at least know why.

"Just because you're dead doesn't mean that you still don't watch over your family. I wanted them to be watching from their high and mighty spot in heaven as I killed their children one by one."

"But why?"

"Why? I'll tell you why! Back when you were nothing but a snot-nosed rat who complained about everything, Stokes, my sister was kidnapped, raped, tortured and finally murdered. The police found the guy and brought him to trial. And of course, who was the judge? You're father! And after the district attorney had laid out all the evidence clear as day, your father ruled the man innocent. My life was never the same after that. My father went out and found the man that killed my sister and took his life slowly. He still is in prison for that. My mother soon went psycho after that. My brothers wouldn't talk to anyone and one day, they just left. I swore one day I would take my revenge on the Stokes. And now, I am about to fulfill my vow. So, you first, Nick Stokes. Tell your father that I said hi."

Thomas aimed the gun at Nick and pulled the trigger. Nick closed his eyes and all he heard was Greg shout his name and the sound of the gun's blast.

Finally, the team and the Stokes arrived at the Stokes Mansion. "I hope we're not too late," muttered David as they ran to the front door. They just were about to turn the handle when they heard a loud gunshot ring from inside the house. Their eyes shot open in horror as they opened the door. "NICK! GREG! SPEAK TO ME!" shouted Grissom as they ran towards the cellar.

When they walked through the oak door, they saw a horrific sight in front of them. Thomas had his gun up and pointed, smoke rising from the barrel of the gun. On the ground was a figure, a gunshot wound to his lower left abdomen and another figure kneeling next to the figure on the ground. When they saw the brown-blonde hair, the immediately recognized the wounded figure as Greg Sanders and Nick Stokes was kneeling next to him. Thomas Sanders stared at the scene. He didn't mean to shoot Greg first. He wanted to kill Nick so that he could take Greg back with him to a new state and live the family life again. But he didn't expect Greg to jump in front of the bullet. After the shock finally wore off, he aimed the gun at Nick's head. David's fury rose up and before anyone could stop himself, he lunged at Thomas, going for his gun. The two rolled around on the floor, trying to gain control of the gun. The team and remaining Stokes stood rooted to the spot in shock. Finally, when they just got out of their daze and went to help David, they heard another gunshot and looked to see David fall to the ground, a gunshot wound to his stomach. Billy was the first to run over to David's side. Thomas was now out of control. Without hesitation, he went to shoot Billy when Brass came running in, his gun in the air and shot two rounds into Thomas Sanders. Sanders fell between Greg and David and slowly, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his life drifted from him. It was over. The team ran up to Greg as the Stokes went to David on the ground. Greg was unconcsious, but David was still awake. Nick slowly crawled over to David's side. David's head rolled onto his side and smiled at Nick. "Hey Nicky."

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Yeah, well I had to watch out for you. That's what family does."

Tears were beginning to form in Nick's eyes. "Nick, you did what I couldn't. I want you to watch out for these monsters."

"No, I'm not going to. We're going to get you out of here and you're going to walk out of the hospital and take care of everyone."

"Nick, you know as well as I do that I'm not going to make it."

Nick was beginning to get angry with is brother. He turned to Gracie and Laura and said, "Get something to put pressure on his wound."

The girls each took their jackets off and placed it on the wound, pushing hard. Nick looked at his brother and said, "You're going to be fine."

"I'll let Mom and Dad know you said Hi."

Slowly, David closed his eyes and stopped breathing. "DAVID!"

The paramedics finally rushed in and took care of the scene. They rolled Greg and David out on stretchers, but pronounced Thomas Sanders to be dead. They placed his body in a body bag and wheeled him away on a separate stretcher. Everyone watched as the paramedics put Greg and David into two ambulances. Nick went with David in one while Catherine decided to go with Greg. And then, they were gone.

TBC…

Let me know wat you guys think by leaving me a review! We're getting close to the ending…maybe two or three more chapters. Anyway, I know exactly where this story is headed, so my updates should be coming quicker. Please R&R!