A/N: Here we go. New chap for you lovely people. Thank you for your comments and reviews, they are great. I would like to reiterate this fiction is angst and will be till the very end. Do not expect fluffy bunnies because there will be none. However, if you would like some fluff, my other fiction The Calling may be due some, so don't miss that! :) Happy reading and I await your pitch forks!

Chapter 17

Blood trickled over Sara's gloved hands as she squeezed the skin surrounding the gash back together. It was more difficult to keep the wound closed than she thought.

She cleared her throat. "I need you to help me," she admitted, her voice slightly shaky.

His eyes moved although his head didn't. "What do you need?" he asked simply.

"I...need you to hold your wound closed so I can use both my hands."

Ryan didn't give a response but raised his hand to his head, felt around his injured area and pinched the sliced skin together.

Sara placed her fingers over his and urged him to move a little to the left so she could get access to the first part that she would stitch.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Just get on with it," he replied, closing his eyes.

She took a breath and edged the needle towards his skin...

CSICSICSICSICSICSI

Sara stitched nonstop for about half an hour. Apart from a few groans and curses, Ryan didn't really complain and that made Sara even more nervous because it must have hurt like hell. He seemed very capable of taking pain and that scared her. It was if there wasn't much that was going to stop him.

As the CSI, with nothing but pure concentration etched upon her face applied the final stitch; she swallowed, harsh and dry. She coiled the thread into a knot at the end and cut it clear.

Checking the stitching she stood back and took a moment, her eyes closing, her hands shaking and her brain urging her to relax. It was quite an intense task set upon her but she had managed to complete it.

Gathering her composure, she took the cloth and wiped his face once again. This time, the blood cleaned away and she took a breath of relief that the stitching had held and the bleeding had stopped.

"I'm finished," she whispered.

Ryan's eyes popped open and he stared at her. He reached out, grabbing the bottle of bourbon and took a long swig, smacking his lips together with satisfaction.

Sara then startled, stepping back as he suddenly sprang to his feet. He grinned smugly at her, sidestepping to move to the mirror hanging on the living room wall.

He gazed at his reflection, running his fingers over Sara's handiwork. After a few moments, he smiled and turned to face her. "Not bad," he commended. "Let's just hope it holds shall we?"

Giving a quick nod Sara thought just that. She pointed to the table. "There are some aspirin...they could help a little with any pain you have, although not recommended to mix with alcohol.

"Are you actually concerned for my well being, Mrs Grissom?" he mocked, stepping closer.

Sara again cleared her throat. "Honestly, I'm concerned for ours. So the happier you are, the better for us."

Ryan held up a finger and smiled with confidence. "I like that. Good to see you are paying attention."

"Oh yes," Sara agreed. "I'm definitely paying attention."

His smile remained as he returned to the table and picked up the aspirin. "I don't think a couple will hurt," he said, popping two pills from the foil packet. But then he swayed a little and had to slam his palms to the table in order to keep his balance.

Sara took a step closer. "You alright?" she asked.

Rapidly shaking his head in order to stop his world from spinning, Ryan blinked hard. "I'm fine," he growled.

"Maybe you should sit down," Sara recommended. "You have lost quite a lot of blood and your body is now reacting to it." Sara wasn't sure whether giving him advice was the right call or not. She just didn't want him freaking out any more than he already had.

Ryan retrieved the pills from the table which he had dropped. "We got any water here?" He scrambled around the bits on the table seemingly ignoring her advice.

Sara worked her jaw. "No, but..." She pointed to the kitchen, "...I can go get some."

His eyes narrowed. He picked up the box of pills and threw them to her.

She was taken by surprise but she managed to catch the box, however, she was uncertain as to why he had given it to her.

"Thirty seconds and back here. Try anything and your husband feels the pain. Do as you're told and you can alleviate his pain instead."

Now Sara understood why he had given her the pills. She nodded quickly and rushed for the kitchen.

Ryan moved towards the sofas and Jay caught his brother's eyes. "Where's she going on her own?" the younger brother asked, noting Sara had disappeared into the kitchen.

Rounding the furniture Ryan looked down at Grissom who just stared back at him. He then returned his attention to his brother. "She's getting some water."

"Without anyone watching her?" Jay questioned.

Grissom looked over his shoulder towards the kitchen just as Sara came back through the door, three bottles of water in her hands.

Ryan smiled. "Chill out, dear brother," he said to his young sibling. "She's learned to be obedient." He nodded to Grissom. "Especially with him stuck there."

Grissom's glance shifted back to Ryan and the look in his captors eyes made him shudder.

"Just don't get too trusting," Jay grumbled. "You always told me that remember?"

"Yeah...yeah..." Ryan flapped his hands and slumped down onto the sofa beside his brother. "Hmmm..." he sighed happily. "Comfy..."

Sara approached the brothers and held out a bottle of water to them. "Here."

Ryan took the bottle and Sara stepped away, approaching her husband.

Jay looked his brother's wound over as he slipped the two pills into his mouth. "She did a good job," he commented. "Guess she's more useful than I thought."

Ryan just smirked as he watched the couple across from him.

"Hey..." Sara said, whisking a gentle hand over her husband's shoulder as she sat beside him. "How you doin?"

Grissom licked his dry lips. "Sore," he admitted.

Sara removed the bag from his ribs. "Well, at least you managed to keep this on." She removed two aspirin from the packaging. "Open..." she requested holding up the tablets.

He did as asked and she popped the pills into his mouth then unscrewed a bottle of the water, carefully tipping some of the cool liquid into his mouth.

"Hopefully that might help a little," she said although she didn't sound like she believed her own words.

Swallowing the pills he groaned as he tried to move. "It...wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have my hands behind my back."

After a moment's thought, Sara looked over to Ryan. She was about to make a request and although she held no optimism about the request being granted, it was worth a shot.

"He's in lots of pain with his hands where they are...can you un cuff him? Or at least cuff his hands to the front. The strain of his arms...is..."

"I can't do that," Ryan replied, handing his bottle of water to Jay, wiping his mouth on his bloody sleeve.

Jay just smirked into the bottle.

"Please?" she begged. "I did help you and it's not a great deal to ask for in return."

"I can't!" Ryan shouted, jumping to his feet. He took a breath and tried to calm himself and Sara took a firm grip on Grissom's arm. Asking for something obviously wasn't a great idea.

Ryan continued. "I mean...I actually physically can't. We didn't get the key when we took the cuffs...okay?"

"Oh..." Sara mumbled, understanding. And he was right. She'd taken the cuffs and given them to him back at the store. No one had thought about the key.

Her deflated eyes met her husband's and he tried to smile.

"It's okay," he encouraged. "Maybe you could just help me sit up a little?"

She nodded and helped him up before shifting in close to him. Now what?

"I'm hungry," Jay grumbled. If were gonna be stuck in here for a while can we at least eat?"

Upon the mention of food, Sara felt heard stomach rumble again. Not really for appetite purposes but for her bodies needs. She was thankful for the water but her babies needed more than that.

"I could make us something," she suggested. It was the best move to keep on their good side even if she had her own motivations for doing so.

"Oh she's definitely useful," Jay chuckled.

Ryan looked around. "Why don't you clean our friend up over there and I'll keep my eye on her..."

Standing, Jay looked to the body still lying where it had fallen. "Why am I the one that has to clean up? You shot him."

Rolling his eyes, Ryan also got to his feet. "Because I'm trying to recover from having a needle stabbed into my head about thirty times and regain a little energy after losing several pints of blood. Otherwise I'd do it myself, okay?"

"Damn, you're cranky," Jay mumbled as he stepped away towards the body.

Ryan crooked a finger at Sara, noting how his dressings had become rather battered over his cuts. "Let's go...super time."

After squeezing her husband's arm, Sara did as she was told and approach her captor.

"Into the kitchen," he continued with his direction. "And you..." His finger now pointed at Grissom, "...stay exactly where you are if you know what's good for you."

Grissom took a final look at his wife as she turned and headed for the kitchen. Ryan followed her but remained in the doorway, watching her as well as Grissom.

The supervisor turned his attention to Jay as he looked around the room.

"What are you looking for?" Ryan asked, noticing his brother looked a little confused.

"Somewhere to put the damn body," he shot back.

Ryan pointed to a door under the stairs. "The cellar maybe?" he mocked. "It's a big room under the house quite ideal for hiding bodies."

Jay shot Ryan his middle finger before grabbing the dead farmer's arms.

"Wait...wait...wait..." Ryan shouted.

"What!" Jay bellowed in frustration.

"Just...stay there a second."

He disappeared into the kitchen remerging a few seconds later with several garbage bags in his hand. "Wrap him up, otherwise there is gonna be more blood everywhere when you drag him. Already enough of mine dribbled about the place it's going to start stinking."

Grissom turned up his nose although he wasn't sure why. He'd seen enough bodies and de comp in his time, this shouldn't even faze him. But for some reason their conversation didn't make him feel particularly good.

Ryan returned to the kitchen doorway, observing Sara as she hurriedly made sandwiches. He began to peel the dressings from his hands because they were irritating him now.

Jay did his best to place the bags around the dead man and then dragged him towards the cellar. He opened the door under the stairs and stared into the darkness for a moment. He didn't even bother to turn on the light; he pulled the body through the door, stepped over it and then with a firm boot, pushed hard upon the wrapped up corpse.

Grissom bit down hard on his bottom lip as he heard the body topple down the stairs. Then, as all became silent again the CSI couldn't help feel remorse for the man. After all, if they hadn't come to his home, he would still be alive.

Closing the door, Jay clapped his hands together, happy with his effort. He then moved back to where the farmer had fallen and stared at the blood soaked carpet. "That's gonna be a real bitch to get out," he joked.

Ryan pointed towards the sofas. "There's a rug in front of the TV, cover the blood up with that. Better than having to look at it."

Doing as suggested Jay recovered the rug and dropped it over the stained carpet. It just about covered the blood. Only a tiny patch of crimson could be seen peeking out of one the edges as the material wasn't quite big enough to cover all the blood. Happy with his handiwork, Jay approached his brother.

"What time is it?" Ryan asked, peeling what was left of the dressings from his hands and dropping the blooded bandages to the floor. His hands were sore but he'd cope with it. Just like he had to cope with the pain in his head.

Jay looked at his watch. "Almost midnight..."

Prodding a finger against his head wound, Ryan grimaced a little. "Don't let me forge to call them about three. With my head messed up I might lose track of time." He looked at his brother. "You still have his cell?"

Reaching into his pocket Jay pulled out Grissom's cell phone and held it up with a smile. "Good job I took this. We don't have anything else to call out on..."

"I just hope we can get a signal in this weather," Ryan mumbled. "We miss the time slot they may take more cash from..." he trailed off realising he hadn't told his brother about the exchange money being cut. Fine, he'd shouted a bit at the store but never actually given is brother the news.

Jay frowned. "What?"

The elder brother worked his jaw. "They cut their offer, half a million less."

"Are you shitting me?" Jay shouted.

Grissom looked to the brothers, listening to all they were saying.

"No," Ryan responded. "I am not shitting you. They were a little pissed we'd got caught."

"Well we got away," Jay spat. "They can't just..."

Holding up a hand, Ryan stopped his brother. "Let's talk about this later, okay? When there are fewer ears..." He nodded to Grissom, "...and I can actually concentrate."

Jay leaned back, banging his head against the kitchen door. "Fine," he grumbled. "But..." His eyes shot back to his brothers, "...I'm not happy."

"And you think I am?" Ryan questioned.

The sound of Sara's voice broke up their conversation. "Food's ready..."

They both looked to her to see her holding a tray of sandwiches.

"Nothing spectacular," she joked. "Ham and Swiss and some potato chips. Better than nothing I guess." They just stared at her and she swallowed. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"No," Ryan said, taking the tray from her. "No interruption...sit...and we can eat..."

Quickly, Sara followed his order and returned to her husband. Ryan noted his brother still looked agitated. "Just, chill out, Jay. We will discuss this later."

Jay's right eye twitched but he said nothing. Instead he reached to the tray, grabbed a roll, bit into it and moved back to the sofa. Ryan followed a moment later, sitting next to his brother and placing the food on the coffee table. He too grabbed a sandwich.

"Go ahead..." he urged Sara to take some food, "...I'm sure you could use the fuel."

Sara nodded, whispering a thank you as she reached for a roll. Breaking the tip off, she turned to her husband held it out. "You should eat something too..."

Grissom looked over the offering. "I'm...not really hungry..."

Sara gave him a firm look. "Have you even eaten today?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"Then please eat. You need to keep up your strength. I need you to be strong, not passing out on me."

"Are you going to?" he questioned.

She smiled. "Gil, I have to..." She rubbed her tummy, "...these two are letting me know just that. And I can't say I have much of an appetite either, I just know I have to. Please...eat..."

He sighed but then gave a single nod. "Okay..."

CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI

The Boulder City squad car, with its wipers on full blast, crawled slowly down the road. It's two occupants, Officers Danny Roberts and David Freeman did not look happy.

"Who...in their right mind...makes a crank call in this weather?" Danny, the younger of the two men complained.

David shrugged his shoulders, leaning forwards, doing his best to navigate through the atrocious weather. "Someone who thought it was funny, obviously."

"Well I'm not laughing," Danny griped further. "It's going to take us forever to get back."

Puffing out his checks, David picked his radio up, just to get static in return. "It's going to have to wait till we get back to try and track the idiot's who put in the call, if we want to. Still got no reception on the radio."

"Terrific." Danny folded his arms and looked to his right. His eyes narrowed and he looked over his shoulder as something at the road side caught his attention. "Hey...stop..." he said to his partner, now fully turning in his seat to look behind them.

"Huh?"

"Pull up," Danny repeated. "Think I just saw something back there." He faced his partner, pointing behind him.

David didn't seem all that convinced but he did as asked and pressed his foot to the break before turning and heading back the way they had just come from. "What are we doing?" he asked.

Danny was keenly looking through his window. "I'm sure I just saw something...Yes, there!" He pointed off the road to the faint orange flashing. "See it."

The older man nodded. Indeed he could see the orange blinking light and it was getting closer. They reached it and he pulled the squad car to a stop realising the flashing was a car indicator that was stuck on.

Both men jumped out.

"It's a car," Danny shouted, waving his flash light over the doomed Denali.

"Great observations," David shouted through the wind, his own flashlight passing over the vehicle.

They approached the open back door and looked inside to find the car empty. Danny flicked his light over the interior. "Well we got blood, so someone got hurt..."

David stepped back and moved to the front of the vehicle. "This is a law enforcement vehicle," he said, noting the radio on the dash.

"Wait..." Danny scratched his head in thought. "...remember the Captain said something about a robbery in Vegas? Told us to be on the lookout although he doubted anything would come this far out..."

"The kidnapped CSI?" David questioned.

The younger man nodded. "Yeah. It kinda struck a chord...um..." He thought hard, wiping the rain from his face, "...Sara Grissom and her husband, that's it. I remember because I was around when all that shit went down with them at the lake last year. Was kinda shocked to hear they were in a mess again. I'm sure the APB was out on a Denali."

Rubbing his chin David popped around to the back of the vehicle and opened it. "Your right," he said, immediately spotting the CSI kit.

Danny was quickly by his partner's side. "Seriously? Holy shit." He stepped back and looked around, flashing his light through the trees and back onto the road. "Well we have no idea who was in the car at the time of impact, where they went or how long ago this happened. And we can't get hold of HQ right now cos of the damn storm. I bet they are miles away by now."

"Did you ever meet the Grissom's; you know what they look like?" David asked.

"No, never met them. Saw an article and I think there was a picture but that was last year, doubt I'd remember their faces now."

David sighed and pointed up the road. "Let's try Shamus McCarthy's place. It's just round the corner and maybe his phone is still working. If so we can call it in, get word out its possible the fugitives are in the area." He stepped back from the car. "Worth a shot..."

CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI

Jay took the last sandwich from the tray and happily demolished it.

The captive couple had managed to eat and now Sara sat close to her husband, her head on his shoulder and an arm wrapped around his stomach. They sat in silence, watching the brothers across from then. Neither knew what to say or do until they were actually commanded to do something.

Then, a tiny squeak coming from outside broke the silence similar to the sound of a car braking.

Everyone looked over to the window as a light suddenly shone through but then disappeared. The sound of a car engine was then heard before it was cut.

"Shit!" Ryan scrambled to his feet. "What the fuck is that?"

Sara sat up looking very nervous as Jay ran to the window. He tried to keep out of view of any lookers peering in and glanced through the glass, trying to focus through the darkness. "Cops..." he mumbled.

"What?"

"Fucking, cops bro!" Jay now hollered. "Shit! They found us!"

Ryan scrambled to the window to see for himself. "How the hell could they find us?" He thought for a second. "All the drapes...close them. Now!"

He ran back to Grissom and Sara. Grabbing Grissom by his shirt, he roughly hauled him up and the CSI was in no position to fight him.

Sara got to her feet but could do nothing but watch as Ryan jammed his gun forcefully under her husband's chin, jabbing it deeply into his throat. Ryan looked directly at her, eyes piercing, panicky.

"You better do exactly what I tell you or I'm going to blow his fucking brains all over this house..."

A/N: Oooooohhh... This should be interesting. Panic! LMAO. Evil hat is laughing. Review please :)