My Way is Clear

by Simply Ginger

Nick meets a paramedic after getting injured at a crime scene. In an AU, this is their story. This is not a slash and all the characters from CSI show up eventually.

39. Danger Zone

I know Catherine wasn't with Grissom when he met Gordon, but for my story, she was since I'm switching POVs and have elected to use her POV to tell part of the story.

Shoutout to all my new readers and the ones who have added this story to their alerts and favorites and especially to the readers who continue to review every chapter. Thank you

Chapter 39 – Danger Zone

Anna

"Son of a bitch. He's screwing with us." Catherine knocked a stapler and something else off of the desk. The stapler landed just a few inches away from me. "Why?"

I started to heave again and Grissom got up so fast that he knocked the chair over that he was in. I felt someone's hands on my back as I retched into the garbage can. "Anna, you need to sit."

I shook my head as I continued to heave into the garbage can. I felt my knees giving out under me and fell the rest of the way to the floor, "Jesus, no. No." I finally felt my stomach start to settle down, only to have another sharp pain in my back, "Damn it, no."

Warrick and Catherine managed to pull me up and brought me to sofa in the corner of the room, away from the computer with Nick's image on it. Greg angled the laptop around to where I couldn't see it as Catherine sat on one side of me, further blocking my view.

"Aggie!"

"Bryan!" I got up, knowing who that voice belonged to. I left everyone in the room and made a turn down the hallway and saw Bryan looking for me as I started to panic again, "Oh, God. Bryan." I was fighting back the tears so hard when I saw Bryan that I was having problems breathing.

"Stop!" A LVPD officer snagged him by the shoulder and threw him against the wall. Before I knew it, four more officers had tackled him on the hallway floor.

"Let him go!" I started towards Bryan, but another LVPD officer held me back, "Damn it, let me go!"

"It's okay." Catherine was holding the door open with one hand, "Mitch! He's okay. Let him up."

After the cops let him up, Catherine disappeared back into the office and Bryan made short work of the distance between us as he crashed into me and picked me up, "Jesus Christ on a cracker." He set me down on the ground and I looked up at him, but no words would come through my tears, "Catherine called me a little bit ago, but we were on a run and I couldn't get to my phone. She left me a voice mail and asked me to call her back ASAP. I just did and when she told me what happened, I called in for the rest of the night at work and came straight over." After I tried to speak again but couldn't, Bryan looked at me funny, "Are you in labor?"

"No…" At least I hoped I wasn't. I was struggling to catch my breath through my pain, "My back just hurts. It's just stress."

"Are you sure?" He started to lead me back towards the office I was in earlier, "Your back pains. What do they feel like?"

I just shook my head as I dried my face on my shirt, "I don't know. I want Nick. I want my husband."

Leading me back into the room, Bryan sat down next to me and I leaned in on him as he did his best to comfort me, "I know, I know. They'll find him. I know they will."

The next three hours were spent in morose solitude as we tried to get any hints from the tape and the flash drive that was mailed to Grissom. When Mandy said there were no fingerprints on the drive or the tape and the only prints on the envelope were the courier's, we were at another dead end. I was beginning to panic, but Bryan was there to keep me company, calming me as I cried and soaked his work shirt all the way through. He knew me well enough to know not to give me the same canned answers that everyone else was giving me when I asked for updates.

Warrick had volunteered to keep an eye on Nick through the website on the flash drive. I stayed where I was with Bryan but every now and again, the reflection in the window behind Warrick would show that computer screen would go white and he'd click that button again. The pale green light inside the coffin would dim as the bright light came on and though I couldn't see from my angle, Warrick was watching Nick's every move. "I want to see."

Bryan and Warrick shared a skeptical look they thought went unnoticed by me, "Aggs, you can't. I'm worried about you and the baby. Too much stress will send you into premature labor. It's too early for Thing to be born and chances are he wouldn't make it."

"I'm fine. I want to see my husband." I started to get up, but Bryan kept hold of one of my wrists. With a quick spin under his arm, he let me go and I was at Warrick's side before he could react. Bryan muttered something about not knowing how fast a pregnant woman could move, but I ignored him. He tried once again to stand in front of me, obstructing my view but I shoved him out of the way and held on to the table, determined not to move until I saw Nicky was still alive.

The screen went white again with the wording 'You can only "Watch"' on the screen a moment later. When Warrick clicked it, Nick appeared again, squinting into the light. "We've determined it's a live feed and that it's not a prerecording. He keeps moving around in different ways when we watch, so there's no way it's a recorded loop of video. Was this what he was wearing when he left?"

I noticed the dark shirt Nick had on, "Yeah. He had that on, jeans and had his vest in his hand when he left. Where's his vest?"

"Cath found it at the scene with Nick's camera and field kit. The kidnapper took it off to leave us a clue."

Bryan was standing behind me and as I went to lean back against him, he held on to my left hand with his, letting it hang at my side as we watched Nick.

Nick

I could taste the salty bitterness of blood. My senses were numb but I recognized blood. I still didn't realize what had happened to me as my hand traveled absentmindedly to my forehead as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

I raised my head and with a sickening thud, my forehead and nose hit the top of something hard. I knew by the pain shooting though my face that I had just broken my nose and the warm liquid pouring down my face was even more blood. "God damn it, son of a bitch!" It was then that I realized I was buried alive. The confined space I was in was barely big enough for me to lie flat, but other than that, I had no room. Thrashing inside the enclosed space did nothing. I was still trapped.

Stars from the pain were whirling round and round in my vision, caught in an accelerating tornado. I was in pain from breaking my nose on the top of the box and thrashing around didn't help me much either. I tried squeezing my eyes shut, but the spinning stars just got worse. Nausea was beginning to set in and before I knew it, I threw up. I hadn't had lunch yet so there wasn't that much to come up, but the enclosed space didn't help the smell or my nausea.

Push on the lid, dumbass. You need to get the hell out of here!

My brain was screaming at me to try something to get out of here. I tried to push up on the box, but I couldn't get the lid to move. I started to violently thrash around, kicking and hitting everything but all that resulted in was two sore fists and not much else. Feeling around inside to get a better idea of where I was and what was going on, I felt something plastic under my right hand. Picking it up, I saw that I was a couple of unsnapped glow sticks, just like the one on my chest. On my other side, the cold metal of my service weapon was lying underneath my right hip. I pulled my gun out and after dropping the magazine, saw that I still had rounds in it. It took a moment to realize why the kidnapper left me with my gun. He intended on me killing myself. My stomach dropped and I felt myself panicking again.

Find something. Find anything to get you out of here! Think about Anna!

Anna. With that, I started reaching blindly beside me and I pushed against something else. With the glow stick in one hand, I grabbed onto the foreign object and when I pulled it into my line of sight, it was a small tape recorder. Fumbling with the buttons, I hit the play button and listened as a few moments of silence, a chilling voice spoke, "Hi, CSI guy. You wondering why you're here? Because you followed the evidence. Because that's what CSIs do. So breathe quick, breathe slow, put your gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. Any way you like, you're going to die here."

My breathing became quick. I let the tape recorder slide out of my hand and listened as it hit the bottom of the plastic box. Letting out an ear piercing scream, I started to thrash around once again, doing my best to break free of my prison.

Another voice caught my attention on the tape, "Okay?"

"Perfect."

I rewound the tape and listened again to the voice. It was two separate voices. The first voice, the voice of my kidnapper said the first line and perfect, but a different voice said okay. I didn't recognize that one. I kept replaying that tape over and over again, trying to think if I recognized either voices, but I was coming up blank.

Without warning, a bright light switched on at my feet. The breeze coming through the vent next to my right shoulder stopped. I tapped on the vent, but it didn't start back up again. Shielding my eyes from the bright light, I looked down. Between my dirty work boots, a light was centered in the middle of the coffin. I tried putting my feet in front of it to block the light, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Kicking at it did no help. I couldn't get any leverage in the box to kick it out. The light was recessed in to the side of the box and the best I could do was get a few scuff marks on the plastic.

After a few minutes, the light switched off and the fan started back up again, "Thank God." I leaned my face closer to the breeze. I wasn't sure how long I had been down here, but it was already getting hot. The breeze from the fan was all I had in the box, providing air. I started yelling through the vent, but I had no idea where I was or if anyone could hear me.

Catherine

Nick had been missing for almost nine hours by now. After making a painful call to his parents earlier using Anna's phone, they hired a charter plane to bring them straight to Las Vegas. Watching them through the glass in the door, I didn't want to go in but I took a deep breath and shoved the door open.

"Judge Stokes, Mrs. Stokes?" I saw Anna talking to Bryan and knew that I only had a small window of opportunity to speak to them without her. Mrs. Stokes asked to see Anna as soon as they got to the lab and didn't want to leave her daughter-in-law's side. Greg brought Nick's parents back to where Anna was and had checked in on her until I got him to pull them out, saying I needed them for visitors' badges. I didn't want Anna to hear what I was about to say, "May I?"

"Catherine." Mrs. Stokes approached me as her husband followed behind, keeping an eye on Anna, "Do you have anything on where my son is?"

I shook my head as I moved to the hallway and away from where Anna and Bryan were and into the break room where Gil was waiting on us, "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"Your Honor. Mrs. Stokes. I'm, uh, sorry that we're meeting again under these circumstances." Gil held his hand out, "I just wish we were meeting again under better circumstances."

Judge Stokes shook Gil's hand, "Have you been able to make contact with the animals who took my son? What do they want?"

Gil shut the door to the break room to give us some privacy as I sat down, "No, we haven't yet, but they should be contacting us in roughly two hours concerning the ransom."

Nick's father slid an envelope across the table, "We were able to rustle up twenty thousand in cash. Our bank's prepared to wire another hundred thousand. Now, we can sell the cars. We can hock the ranch and we can make the number, but it's gonna take at least another day."

Gil looked down at the envelope, "Judge Stokes…"

"Can we give them the money we have now so we can try to buy more time?" Nick's mother held up the envelope with the money in it, "Please. We've got to do something. This is our son."

I looked at Gil and I knew by the look on his face what he was about to say, "I don't think that will help."

"There's got to be something we can do. We've entering a whole new playing field, my friend. I hope you know the rules and we will stop at nothing to get him back." Judge Stokes was angry, but he was doing his best to keep his composure, "Our son is missing. His mother and I have got to be able to do something."

"Your Honor, you've already done it by coming here, by showing your support. Anna needs you. She's in the AV lab I think and she's not doing well." I looked over my shoulder and saw Bryan still hugging Anna, "She needs you."

"We'll speak to Anna in a moment and check on her again, but do realize that we're not here to show support for Nicholas. We're here to get our son home to his wife and baby where he belongs. No matter what, Bill and I will do everything we can to get him back." Mrs. Stokes looked on the verge of tears, but she kept her voice even and steady, "Even if we have to do it ourselves. Do you have any idea who has Nicholas?"

Gil closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "We're not sure who has your son or why."

Judge Stokes's hand slammed to the table, "Well, what the hell do you know?"

"Very little."

"Let's just cut to the gist. What proof do you have that my boy's still alive?"

"We have a feed." I didn't really want them to see Nick like this, but I knew they weren't giving me much choice, "The kidnapper sent us a thumb drive with a website on it. We have a live feed into the coffin where Nick is."

Mrs. Stokes started to cry and Judge Stokes put his arm across the back of her chair, "I want to see my son."

Gil got up and took Judge Stokes to the lab where the feed was while I stayed with Nick's mother and watched silently as she held her head in her hands and cried.

Anna

I had given up on watching Nick. I couldn't tolerate looking at him for very long. It killed me inside to see him going through this. Bryan called in to work and was told to stay with me as long as necessary. I knew Nick wouldn't want me to be alone anyway. Bryan told Cathy where he'd be and though she couldn't get off work, she said she'd be by the lab as soon as she could.

Nearly ten hours had passed by now. Ten long hours had slowly and very painfully ticked by with no real leads. Mom and dad had been in and out all night long, checking in and comforting me. Grissom and Catherine were going over the video evidence from the traffic cameras while Greg and Sara were going over what Nick had collected at the scene of the abduction. Warrick was working with Archie on trying to trace the origin of the phone call that led Nick to that scene. Any time I asked, I got simple answers. 'We're trying' or 'As soon as we know something, you'll know something.' It was no console to me as I wept silently in the room.

Bryan was by my side the entire time. Not wanting to leave me alone for a moment, he even escorted me to the women's bathroom so I could throw up again. The pains in my back had all but stopped and after being forced to drink several glasses of water and one glass of tea to keep from dehydrating, my bathroom trips were frequent.

On my last trip, with Bryan walking beside me, Captain Brass and another officer rushed past me. I stood to one side with Bryan in front of me, being protective. As they passed, Grissom came by with Ecklie and though I didn't follow them, I did hear something about a lead, "Grissom? Mr. Ecklie?"

"Anna." Grissom told Ecklie that he'd be with me and to follow up on Brass's lead, "We may have something. The courier that Brass was interviewing gave up an address on Viking Circle in Vegas. That's where he picked up the envelope with the flash drive and tape. When we looked, we couldn't find anything off hand that led us to believe it had anything to do with Nick, but Brass is going with SWAT to see what they can." He started to walk off and almost as an afterthought, he turned around, "Anything I can do for you? Bring you?"

"My husband." My voice was barely above a whisper as Bryan pulled me closer to him when a dozen SWAT officers ran down the hallway, following Captain Brass and Grissom. The pain in my back hit again, but with Bryan hugging me as tightly as he was, I wasn't certain what it was from.

We went back to the now empty office that had been my home away from home. Bryan sat on the couch and put a pillow in his lap and I went to lay back, my head on the pillow. Closing my eyes, I kept seeing Nick in that box, trapped like a wild animal. I couldn't sleep and Bryan knew this. He started to gently run his fingers through my hair, trying to calm me down, but it was futile effort. 'I don't know if you can see the changes that have come over me." Bryan stopped singing when I smiled through my tears, "Thought you'd like it as long as you can tolerate my singing voice. Feel free to jump in any time." I didn't say anything, so he continued, "In these last few days I've been afraid that I might drift away. I've been telling old stories, singing songs that make me think about where I've come from."

I took over for Bryan, "That's the reason why I seem so far away today." I couldn't finish any more than that before my voice broke. "I want Nicky."

Catherine came in and saw me lying down. I started to sit up, but she stopped me, "I'll be back in a little bit. Anna," She knelt down in front of me and put one of her hands on my stomach, "I promise you this. We'll bring Nick back to you and this baby."

Without saying another word, she quietly left the room. I looked over in time to see the door to the AV lab shut behind her.

Nick

I wish I knew how long I had been down here for sure. I had been keeping track on my watch and since I woke up, it had been about seven hours. I don't know how long I was unconscious, but whatever he used on me left a lingering effect on me. I felt drunk; almost queasy. The pain from my broken nose and the claustrophobia weren't helping much either.

"Anna." I closed my eyes and tried to remember anything but the pain I was in, "Anna…"

"Oh my…"

"Anna? Honey?"

"It's pink." Anna held the stick out towards me as she smiled, "Nicky, it's pink. I can't believe it. It's pink."

"Pink?" I could barely speak. I knew what it meant but my mind wasn't processing what was going on, "And that means?"

"What do you think it means?" Anna started to smile as she put her arms around my waist, "I'm pregnant. We're gonna have a baby."

I had to sit down. With my arm stretched behind me, I felt around until I found the edge of the bed and sat on it, "A baby? So it's…and you're…we're…oh…Wow."

"A baby. I remember that day." I smiled through the pain of my broken nose from where my forehead hit the top of the Plexiglas. Between that and the throbbing on my forehead from hitting the box, I wasn't sure how much longer I could last. Remembering Anna helped numb the pain, if only slightly, "You were so beautiful that day. I hadn't seen you happier until that moment."

As I tried to keep my mind focused on anything but the pain, I kept my mind on Anna as I let my mind wander again.

"Mom?"

"Nicholas! How are you?"

"I didn't call too late did I? Anna and I have something we wanted to tell you." After turning on the speaker, I put the phone down on the bed so Anna could hear what was going on as she put her arms around my neck and kissed me, just behind my ear. "She's here with me."

"Anna, how are you?"

Anna smiled at me as she sat back down on the bed, "I'm fine, mom. Can you get dad near the phone as well?"

"Sure." We listened as my mother called my father to the phone, "Nicholas and Anna have something they want to tell us." As soon as he go to the phone, my mother turned the speaker on their phone on so my father could hear, "What is it, Nicholas?"

I looked at Anna, "Should you?"

She shook her head, "No, this is your family. You do it."

My father cleared his throat, "Do what? Nicholas, what is going on? You're scaring your mother."

"Mom, I'm fine. Anna's fine. We were deciding on who should be the one to tell you that Anna is pregnant." My mother gasped and my father didn't say anything, "Mom? Dad?"

"Nicholas! It's about time." My mother was tearing up as she spoke, "I'm so happy for you both. How far along? What about names? Anna, how are you feeling?"

"Shock." Anna's description stuck with me, even months later, "That was an understatement for us both. I don't know who was more shocked, me or you." Through my tears, I was slowly beginning to realize I was never getting out of this box alive. I was never going to see Anna again. I was never going to see our baby. "I'm dead." When the light came on again, I began to thrash around inside the coffin I was in, but it didn't help. I was still trapped. I was still running out of oxygen and I was still dying as I started to scream. "Anna, help me. Please, help me. I don't want to die."

Warrick

The screen went white. I hit the button on the computer and watched as the light switched back on and Nick squinted into the light. He started to thrash around the box and he looked pissed. I knew the light was blinding him, but it was the only link we had to him.

"Rick, I'll be right back. Keep an eye on Anna?" I turned in my chair to see Catherine. She had the door to the AV lab propped open with her foot, "I have to do something. Anna's in the office next to Hodges's lab."

"Yeah." She left and I turned my attention back to Nick. He had become still and was chewing something. I watched as he stuck something in his ears and was horrified when he picked up his gun and aimed it at his chin, "Nick. What the hell are you doing?"

He moved the gun closer to him and looked at the end of the barrel, "Nick! Stop. Nick!" He couldn't hear me. It was useless for me to argue with an image on the monitor but I was scared about what Nick was about to do, "Nick. Don't. Man, put the gun down. Put it down!" I heard the door open behind me, but didn't pay any attention. "Nick, stop!" He aimed the gun at his feet and pulled the trigger, "God damn it, no!"

Anna screamed. "Nicky!" She ran to the edge of the desk with her friend right behind her. As she started to panic, I was angry at myself for making sure she couldn't see this, but I was even more livid with Nick for killing himself on the feed we were watching. He had to know that the light meant someone was watching him and how could he take that chance of Anna or anyone he loved seeing him die? Without warning, the screen went blank, "God damn it." Nick had killed himself. I felt my heart drop as I felt around behind me for the chair. I had to sit down before my legs gave out.

I turned around to console Anna, but her friend was already hugging her. He had her turned around and her face was against his chest. While Anna was crying into his chest, he had his eyes on the monitor we were watching. "What the hell…"

I looked over my shoulder and saw a green glow coming from the feed, "Nick?"

"What?" Anna looked up, "Nicky?"

"Oh my God. Nick!" For the first time tonight, I felt a sense of relief and started to laugh, "Damn it. Nick. You had us terrified." I put my hands on the laptop and shook it in frustration. Nick had shot the light out in the coffin. I couldn't figure out what he was doing until he moved the glow stick up on top of his chest and I could see he had his head turned to the right and his face was close to the side of the box, "It's a fan."

"The what?"

I looked at Bryan, "The fan. He has to have some sort of fan or air supply in the box." It was all making sense now. Every time we clicked that button, the light came on and the fan went off. "That's why he was so pissed. The fan and the light were connected. Every time we clicked that damn button, the air supply shut off. He shot out the light to keep the fan on."

"At least he's keeping it together." I heard the door shut behind me and watched as Grissom moved in front of Anna and Bryan and stood between them and the monitor, "He shot the light?"

"Yeah."

"Anna, you need to go lie down." Grissom started to pull Anna toward the door but she shook out of his grasp and remained steadfast in front of the monitor, "Anna, please."

"Come on, Aggs." Bryan took a step back and tried to get Anna to go with him, "Lie down."

"No!" She started to tear up again as she swatted at her friend's efforts to get her to go with him.

"Aggie, come on. There's nothing you can do here." I diverted my gaze back to the screen to keep from having to look at Anna's friend dragging her away from her husband as she cried. I felt guilty enough as it was. That stupid coin toss earlier in the day put Nick in this situation and not me. As guilty as it made me feel, I felt a sense of relief wash over me and thanked God it was Nick and not me. I wouldn't have been able to survive this long buried underground. I would have killed myself by now. Nick had Anna and the baby to live for. I had my friends but that was about it.

"Come on." I left my post at the laptop to walk Anna and Bryan back to the break room, "You need to eat something."

With Bryan dragging Anna, I led the way to the room. Passing Undersheriff McKeen and Ecklie, they stopped talking as we passed. I guessed that they were talking about Nick and when they saw Anna coming, they shut up for her sake.

I found a bottle of water and an apple in the back of the refrigerator and handed both to Bryan. Anna was pale as she leaned against the doorframe of the break room but didn't say anything to either of us when Bryan tried to get her to eat the apple. He begged her to eat but all she did was lean forward and rest her head on his chest. Giving up, he finally convinced her to sit down and at least hold the bottle of water and the apple. It was a small start.

One of the officers opened the door to resume his post just inside the office and when he did, we caught part of the conversation from the hallway, "I'll take the heat." Ecklie was out in the hallway still with McKeen, "We have to do something."

"You want to do something for your people? Get 'em ready for a funeral."

"A what?" Anna dropped the bottle of water, causing it to spill all over the floor. "Funeral?" She walked slowly towards McKeen and Ecklie, "You bastard." She threw the apple at Ecklie, hitting him in the head, as she took out her frustrations on McKeen, "You better not be talking about Nick!"

Bryan pulled her off of McKeen who took a step back but he didn't have a good grip on Anna and when she got away from him, she attacked McKeen again, wailing him with her hands. Ecklie stood between Anna and McKeen but all that accomplished was him getting hit in the face by a wild slap. With him holding onto his cheek, he took a step back and Anna started in on McKeen again. "Aggie, stop." Bryan tried to reach for Anna but he missed as she continued to try to hit him.

I intervened and managed to pull her off of McKeen before she got arrested, "Anna!" I made sure I had her attention, "Don't listen to them. We will get Nick back." Throwing an evil glare at McKeen for making such a remark, I tried to reassure her, "We will get Nick back. I promise you."

McKeen tried to say something but I told him now wasn't the time. He apologized for making the remark he did before he and Ecklie left, leaving Anna sobbing once again because of the remarks made.

Catherine

The message had appeared on screen a second time, "ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN 12 HOURS OR THE CSI DIES. DROP OFF INSTRUCTIONS TO FOLLOW." When we confronted Ecklie about having the city help us with the ransom, he said he'd ask. I knew it was a long shot and when he came back with the news, I knew I had to do something. After telling Anna I'd get her husband back one way or another, I left the lab on a mission. I knew just where I had to go.

I flew over the speed bumps in the Tangiers parking lot. Not caring if I parked illegally, I left my truck at the main entrance to the casino. When a valet yelled at me that I couldn't park there, I snapped back that I was Sam Braun's daughter and I could park anywhere I damn well pleased. The valet took a step back and told me he'd make sure no one towed my truck.

I hit the button on the elevator and took it up to the second floor to the restaurant where they told me Sam was. When the doors opened, my father was in the corner with two other men plus a younger woman, "Sam."

"I'm sorry, honey." The woman sitting next to him was looking directly at me, "He's already got a date."

"I'm not here for a date."

Sam stood up, "That's my daughter. Muggs, sit with us. We're ordering dinner."

"I need to speak to you." I turned to leave, "Alone."

I heard Sam get up to follow me to the opposite side of the room, away from everyone, "I need your help."

"Anything."

"One of my guys is in trouble. He's been kidnapped. I need a million dollars in cash. Large bills and I need it now."

Sam looked skeptical, "And let me guess...The department won't pay the ransom?"

"No. They won't. His family has some of it, but not all of it. I need help."

"So you want me to pay it, why? Why should I?"

"I don't know?" I was livid Sam was asking me this, "Considering the problems that you've had with the law, you could use some good publicity. Considering the fact that he's got a pregnant wife at the lab about to go into premature labor because her husband is buried alive underground and we have no idea where he is or if we can get him in time? Considering fact that it's the right thing to do."

Sam took another step back when the waitress came by with their order, "Do I look like a man that needs publicity? If you're coming to me like a cop with a tin cup in your hand, the answer is no."

I began to see red. Sam had the money. He had more than enough money to help me, but now he was telling me no, "I'm not here as a cop."

"Then ask me like you were my daughter."

An hour later, I was leaving with a leather bag with the million dollar ransom in it. Sam even insisted on two of his security escorts follow me to the lab to make sure I got inside okay.

I got the leather bag out of the front seat of my Tahoe and started inside, with the two security officers walking with me until I got to the front of the lab. Since Ecklie told us the city refused to come up with the money, I took it into my own hands. I knew that between Nick's parents and Anna, there was no way they could come up with the money in time, even if every member of the team chipped in and sold everything we had, we'd never get the million dollars before the deadline.

Shoving the door open to Gil's office, he had his head down, buried in case folders. "Here." I dumped the leather bag on his desk, "One million dollars. Now let's go get Nick."

"Catherine." He started to get up, "We can't use this. I know where it came from and the answer is no."

"Do you want to explain to the pregnant lady in Archie's office why we can't go get her husband? Do you want to tell her that since Ecklie said the undersheriff won't pony up the dough, her husband has to die? Do you want to tell her that we have the million dollars but because of bureaucratic bullshit red tape on how I got it we had to let her husband die and she has to be a widow and raise that baby on her own?" He didn't answer and my blood was boiling hot, "We needed a million dollars. I got a million dollars. Now if you won't meet that man to pay him off so we can get Nick back safely, I will." I started to pick the bag up and Gil didn't stop me, "To hell with you. You can tell Nick's family what I did. Wish me luck."

"Wait." Gil tossed his reading glasses on his desk, "I'll go." He stopped me at the door, "If anyone asks, this was an anonymous donor who responded to the press conference that Ecklie and McKeen set up while you were gone. They felt sorry for Anna and donated the money. Got it?"

"Fine and we'll go together. I made a promise to Anna that I'd get Nick back. I intend to honor my promise." I put the strap of the bag over my shoulders and led the way outside.

Gil drove to the meeting place. When we made the last turn off, it led to an abandoned farm. He and I got out and started to walk slowly up towards the door on the side of the barn we were told to go to. Remembering the case from a few years ago with the man who cut off his mistress's finger where I wound up getting kidnapped also, I was dragging my feet in the dirt to leave behind a trail in case something happened to us. I didn't have much in my pockets, but I managed to drop my ATM card as well as some lip gloss, just in case. Looking around, the place was abandoned and had been for quite some time. The grass was dead and the remaining buildings were dilapidated and beyond repair from years of neglect and Nevada weather. I wasn't sure the barn we were heading to was safe enough for anything, let alone a meeting but it was where we were told to go.

Gil opened the door and stepped in and after motioning for me to come in, he helped me up the steps. The bag with the money in it was hanging from the shoulder strap over my left shoulder and was beginning to feel like it was filled with anvils and not hundred dollar bills.

"You're here." The figure at the opposite end of the barn was masked in darkness. I didn't recognize his voice and judging by the bewildered expression on Gil's face, he didn't either. "You know, I was under the impression that it was against departmental policy to negotiate with terrorists."

"Are you a terrorist?"

"Depends." He turned his flashlight on and aimed it at our direction, "Are you terrified of me?"

"We just want our guy back." I dropped the leather bag with the money on the dusty barn floor, "We brought your money. Where is Nick? He's got a family waiting on him."

The man turned his flashlight off, "A family?"

"Yeah. A family."

"Tell me about them."

Gil was annoyed, "Look, I really don't want to talk to you. Where is my guy?"

"Oh, so he's 'your guy,' huh?"

"Yeah." I kicked the bag in front of me, "He is our guy. Now where is he? We brought your million dollars. Where is Nick?"

"Are you close with Nick? What does his family think when they look at him, buried alive, knowing there isn't one thing they can do to help him?"

I started to charge at the man, but Gil held me back, "That's none of your business."

"So." The man turned the light back on and aimed it at the bag at my feet, "That's the bag with my money? You're telling me there's a million dollars in here."

Gil pulled the bag over in front of him, "Yes."

"Along with some cute little booby traps? Which is it? A tracer? A dye pack?"

"Normally, you'd be 100% right, but this time, you're 100% wrong."

"We want Nick back, no tricks. We have the money." I started to slide the bag towards the other end of the barn but Gil stopped me, "Where's Nick?"

"Slide it over here." Gil kicked the bag and it stopped just short of the kidnapper's feet. He unzipped it and looked inside, "Nice."

"You've got the money." Gil was getting angry, "Where's Nick? Where's our guy?"

"What does Nick Stokes mean to you? How do you feel when you see him in that coffin? Does your soul die every time you push that button? How do you feel, knowing that there's nothing you can do to get him out of that hell?" I looked at Grissom. He didn't answer. When he didn't, the kidnapper continued, "Helpless? Useless? Impotent? Good. Welcome to my world." He opened his jacket and I took a step back when I saw the explosives strapped to his chest, "You might want to follow that pretty lady's lead."

I pulled Gil back as the man took one last look around and hit the button. Because of the explosion, I was thrown back against a Ford Expedition in the corner of the barn. Gil wound up a few feet away from me on top of a dead dog. The money was floating back down to the ground; some of it on fire. "Oh, no." I stood up, "No! You bastard!" I threw a rock at the area where he had stood, "You unimaginable bastard! Where the hell is Nick?"

Gil called the rest of the team to find out what they could. I was dreading going back to the lab. I told Anna when we left that we'd have something, but right now, all we had was pink rain all around the barn.

When we called in to Brass to have the rest of the CSIs meet us here, we explained what had happened but asked that they keep it off the radio for now. When he got here, Brass called the paramedics and made us both wait outside to be checked since we were so close to the blast. I checked out fine and as I was waiting on Gil to be checked out, the rest of the team arrived at the scene. "Pupils are even." The paramedic wrote something down and turned his attention to his partner while I kept an eye on Gil. "How are you feeling?"

"He blew himself up and left us with nothing." Gil looked like he was about to go into shock, "Now we have nothing."

"We'll find him." I was beginning to lose hope that we'd find him alive. Eventually, we'd figure out where he was buried if we had enough time. Checking my watch, we had less than three hours to go until that timer hit zero hour and time was the one thing Nick didn't have.

Anna

Mom and dad had just left to go find Ecklie for an update when I saw Catherine hesitating outside the office door, "Catherine?" I didn't know she was back from meeting that man with Grissom and the ransom money, "Anything?"

She pulled a chair over towards me, "You need to sit down."

"I'm fine. I don't want to sit."

"Anna?"

I looked up and saw Grissom coming in the room, "Yeah?"

He was stumbling with his words, "I…um…uh, God…"

I shook my head. I knew what was coming, "No…" I put my hands across my mouth as I shook my head. As I got up, I started to back away from Catherine and Grissom with my left hand in front of me. I was trying to keep them both away from me. Bryan tried to approach me, but I shoved him away from me as I continued to back up. If they didn't touch me, then they couldn't tell me that Nick was dead, "No, no, you're wrong. Nick promised me…" I stared at Grissom for a moment before I turned and headed toward the door, but instead of leaving, I reached out and slowly closed it behind me, leaving the wall between the three of us.

I didn't want to hear any more of what they were trying to tell me. Against my better judgment, I turned back around to find Grissom and Bryan eyeing me through the small window in the door. I held my hand up to keep Grissom from coming after me before I left and sat down in one of the hard, plastic chairs in the hall. Bryan thought I meant everyone but him and before I could argue, he was right beside me. "He can't be. Oh, God, no. No, no. Not my Nicky."

"Anna, God, no. No, not that." Grissom found me in the hallway and way and sat down next to me as Bryan sat down on the other side, "We don't know anything about Nick. The man Catherine and I were going to meet? He committed suicide after we gave him the money. He wouldn't tell him where Nick was."

"So, what's that mean?" I moved away from Bryan and stood up, "Now what? Interrogate him, right? Get him to tell you where Nicky is?"

Catherine pulled me into the office I was in earlier to get me out of the hallway, "Anna, he's dead. The man who wanted the ransom is dead. We don't know where Nick is. The man is dead and we can't interrogate him. We still don't know where Nick is." She took one of my hands in hers, "I promise you. We will get Nick back."

As I started to sit down in the chair again, I doubled over in pain, "Oh, no. No, no, no. God, no."

I felt the pain from my midsection as Bryan noticed the look on my face, "A contraction? Anna, are you having contractions?"

"Yes." I started to shake my head as I kept a death grip on the arm of the chair, "I don't know." Crying out in pain again, I fell off of the chair and onto the floor, "Dear God, no. No, no. Oh, God no."

"Somebody call 911!" Catherine yelled at an officer who was standing beside Greg. Bryan sat down next to me as I looked up to see Greg yelling down the hallway, repeating Catherine's orders, but I couldn't see through my pain who he was yelling at. As she was holding on to me as I leaned against her while Bryan was calling for help on his radio, a uniformed officer came in to keep guard as I was moved to the couch in the office as I started to cry as I felt the realization hit me that no only was I about to lose this baby, I had just lost the last lead we had in finding Nicky. The one lead we had on where Nick was just killed himself. "No, Nicky, no. We need you."

"Aggs, listen to me." Bryan cupped my face in his hands, "You are not going to lose this baby. I will see to it."

"My daughter in law! Anna!"

"Mom!" I yelled out to her, "Mom!"

"Oh thank Heavens." Mom and dad were coming in the room just as Greg came in to tell us that an ambulance was on the way. I started to shake my head in protest, but no one heard me, "Anna? What is it?"

I didn't say anything. Bryan was trying to calm me down, "She's having contractions I think. We've called 911."

Catherine got up as Patricia took her place, "Anna, honey. I know this is useless information, but please, calm down." She took one of my hands in hers as Bryan held on to my other hand, "Please. Calm down. Think of the baby, please."

"I'm thinking of my husband. He's trapped."

"We know." She looked up at Bill who was standing by the doorway, obviously shell shocked. Grissom went to him and started talking in hushed voices, "They will find our son. I promise you, they will find him."

When the paramedics showed up, it was two guys from our station. As much pleading and begging as they did, I signed the no treatment, no transport form. Bryan looked like he wanted to slap me but I didn't want to go to the hospital. I wanted to stay here. Even mom and dad tried to get me to go, but I adamantly refused to leave until someone had something on where Nick was.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stokes?" I looked up at the same time mom did. "Sorry, I meant Nick's parents." Ecklie came in the room, "Conrad Ecklie. I'm the director of the crime lab. If you could come with me, the mayor wants to set up another press conference about Nick."

"Why?" Dad stayed by the door, "Does he think that'll help my son?"

"It couldn't hurt." I heard him lower his voice, but I could still hear him, "He also thinks that having Nick's pregnant wife on camera would help garner sympathy. It'll urge people to come forward with any information about your son."

"Sympathy?" I tried to stand up but mom and Bryan were holding me back, "You want to use me for sympathy? Why not just use your resources and find my husband!" I gritted my teeth as I felt another contraction, but kept it to myself. I didn't want to be forced to go anywhere.

Ecklie took Nick's parents towards his office but told Grissom to try to get me to come, "Anything you can do to help will be appreciated. We'll be in my office. Press conference starts in ten."

I didn't move after they left. "Why do I need to show up?"

Bryan was more tactful than Ecklie was, "Aggs, it does help to have you there. You know as well as I do that the public responds to cute kittens, pregnant women and children though you should be at the hospital."

"Ecklie needs you in his office." Grissom started to pull on me again, "Nick's parents want to do the second press conference and they really want you to be in there with them."

"I don't want to be in any press conference." I glared at Grissom, "I want to be here."

"Let me." Bryan stood between Grissom and me as I kept my eyes on the monitor in the AV lab. We weren't in there anymore, but I could see through the glass that Warrick was still watching Nick on screen. "Aggs, if you don't want to do this, then don't. If you want to stay here, I'll stay with you. It's your choice."

I finally relented and Bryan led me to Ecklie's office to do the conference. I swore up and down I was not about to speak but Grissom assured me that Ecklie probably wouldn't let me anyway since he was a camera hog.

Bryan stayed off screen, just behind the cameraman and the news anchor. I could see him from my viewpoint and he promised to signal to me if he heard anything about Nick while I was doing this.

As the conference started, I could only hope I'd look over and see Bryan wave at me, telling me that someone in this building had something. "Somewhere in this building…" I stopped myself when the news reporter started speaking. I put my head down to finish my thoughts, "Is the talent it'll take to find Nick."

A/N: Reviews welcome and encouraged as usual. Next part will be the rescue.