Chapter 35

JJ sighed as she rubbed at the back of her neck. She was getting more and more annoyed as she looked at the notes in front of her. She had opted to stay home from work that day, seeing that Ella was really scared to be away from her mommy and daddy for too long, afraid that the monster would come and take her away. As much as JJ knew that Ella had fun with Catherine and Lindsey, she also knew that Ella would rather be at home with her mommy and daddy or one of them, she felt safer at home because she knew her parents wouldn't let anything happen to her. At that moment she was trying to put together something to bring to Brass when she went back in, since she had told him that she figured she would be able to concentrate more at home, rather than sitting at her desk in a noisy police station, attempting to figure things out.

"Mommy?" Ella asked softly walking into the room and laying her head on her JJ's knee.

JJ looked down and could see she was clutching her favorite blankie in one hand and her favorite stuffed rabbit in the other. JJ knew that her daughter had just been taking a nap on the couch in the other room, having fallen asleep watching a Disney movie. JJ knew that Ella was most likely hungry by now and so she smiled at her toddler. "Yes baby?" she asked as she ran her hands through her daughters messy hair, hair that had been nice and neat in a ponytail before her nap.

"I hwngy." Ella said as she sighed, almost like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Sometimes to JJ, she felt like her daughter did carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. The nightmares she was having were getting worse and it was making it real hard for her daughter to get any rest. She would only sleep for a short amount of time before waking up in full terror. It was at the point now where JJ knew that she and Nick were going to move their daughter into their bedroom for a bit, just until she got over this fear and was finally able to feel safe and able to sleep better. "All right, what would you like for lunch today princess?" JJ asked her, still running her fingers through the messy curls and wondering where her hair tie went off to.

"Cheese." Ella said, which was basically what she said when she wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. JJ smiled as she slowly got up and with her daughter skipping by her side, excited to get her favorite sandwich, they went into the kitchen to make the sandwiches.

JJ got out the spreadable butter to put on the bread and she could out the cookie cutters that Ella loved to use to make shapes out of her sandwhiches. JJ always made Ella two sandwiches because she would cut out the shapes, she loved using the butterfly and she loved using the heart. So after they made the sandwiches and cut the shapes out, JJ cooked them and let them cool a little bit and then she brought them to Ella's little princess table. When her daughter was settled there she went and grabbed a sippy cup and filled it with milk and brought it to her daughter. Once she was done with that she went back to her table, just next to her daughters special table and started going through her notes, looking up at Ella every once in a while.

He was not a happy person, of course serial killers weren't supposed to be happy people, ever. He knew that he was going to have to hurry and make his move soon enough, it was important that he made his decision and his move sooner rather than later. He knew that he needed to move the body he had in his freezer sooner rather than later, but he was still trying to find the perfect spot to drop the body at. He knew that JJ was making sure her daughter was well guarded at the moment, like any good mother would do. It was only making things harder for him at the moment, all he really wanted to was get to JJ and make her pay, she would find out soon enough why she was the one he chose, why she was the one he went after and why he had used Ella in his little plan for so long. It amazed him that someone as smart as JJ was, still had no clue who he really was or what this was really about.

"I don't know why they think you are the smart one, I really think you happen to be the stupid brainless and spineless one." He snarled at the picture of her he had currently tacked to his wall. "Soon, real soon, you will know everything there is to know and when you find out what this is all about, you are going to wonder why it never crossed your mind before then."

Nick was sitting at the table inside the crime lab and wondering what he could do to try and make the pieces fit on this. Every night in bed he would talk the case over with JJ, but that was going to be stopping soon, mainly because they didn't discuss this in front of Ella and they were going to be moving her into their bedroom soon, mainly because she wouldn't sleep unless someone was near her and she would wake up screaming if she was left alone, so they knew it was time to move her into their room, at least until they could show her and help her feel like she was really safe, it was killing the both of them that their own daughter didn't feel safe enough to go to sleep in her own bedroom, unless one of them was in the room with her.

"There has to be something I am missing here." Nick snapped out loud.

"Do you want to run it?" Greg asked walking into the room. He knew that sometimes most of the other team members worked better when they could talk things out loud, saying them and playing theories off each other. This allowed them to see flaws and discrepancies in their theories so they could change them based on what the evidence really does say.

"Do you have time, or does Grissom have you heading out for another scene?" Nick asked him, hoping he could run it since Warrick was still in the hospital and they had been forbidden to talk about anything to do with the evidence and the case with him, especially with him being a victim. As it was Eckley was threatening to bring in another shift to take it over.

"I have time. Grissom said that he has Catherine on another case right now, mainly because she is attached to Warrick and so Eckley didn't want her near the evidence or the case one bit." Greg said shrugging his shoulders. It was a well known fact that both Catherine and Warrick would do anything for each other, and when Warrick had been taken down and nearly killed, Catherina had decided to make it her personal mission to find this creep and make him pay, however, that was no longer an option since everyone had been informed they would be fired if they breathed one word of this case to Catherine or allowed her to see any evidence reports or suspect lists.

"Well then, I say we see what we can come up with if we put our heads together." Nick said nodding as Greg sat down across from him and started looking through the notes and they started taking things out together.

Catherine was so annoyed that she was at a convenience store robbery with an owner who seemed more annoyed that police officers and crime scene investigators were in the store than that they had been robbed. Catherine could see that they were itching to start cleaning up the mess that was around and the nasty glares she was getting from the owner and the employee as well as the customers that were in the store when it went down and so were stuck there until they had given their written witness statements, was really starting to wear on her nerves, and she was ready to throw all the evidence down and tell all of them to go away and cuss them out. Normally she was a patient person, well mostly a patient person, but she had a lot on her mind right now, especially with Warrick's hospital stay being extended because they were worried about some internal damage that may not be healing correctly. It was scaring her that he may be heading for a long term rehab center to try and get some muscle and strength back in his legs when his stay was over with, he was bedridden a little too much.

"Look if you are all going to stand there and glare at me, then it's only going to make me stay here longer." Catherine threatened and was pleased it seemed to work. Everyone quickly turned towards either the police officers with her or each other and tried to find something to occupy their time as they waited to be released and allowed to either go home or reopen their store and get the business running again. "Good choice, thank you." Catherine said as she smiled and turned back to her work, she was really going to have to give Grissom a piece of her mind for sticking her on this boring nasty case.

Grissom was nervous as he sat in his office, behind his desk, staring blankly at his bugs collected around his office. He knew that there was something bad brewing and it was making him really nervous to not know what it was or what he should be expecting. He knew that it was important that he hurry and try and solve this serial killer case, especially since there were a lot of important and innocent lives on the line, but something told him that he wasn't the one who needed to find the answers, something told him that Nick and JJ already knew who this person was, they just didn't know it yet. There was just something weird about this case, about how much this guy went out of his way to engage JJ or someone else in his little sick game or fantasy and it worried Grissom to think that it was only going to really get worse before they could get a handle on things. As it was he was waiting on the edge of his seat for a new victim, and he knew that this killer wouldn't be able to wait much longer to leave them another clue and another dead innocent woman.

"Come on Nick, JJ, the two of you have the answers locked inside your brains, just find them and release them, sooner rather than later." Grissom murmured to his empty office and his bug collection.

He was starting to think that there could be another way to leave special clues with his bodies. He opened his deep freezer and stared at the body that was lying inside and wondered what he could do to the body to make sure that JJ started to get the message and try and figure things out. He knew that she knew everything needed to find him and to try and take him down, which was what he was looking forward to the most, it was just a matter of finding a way to unlock those thoughts and memories, making sure that she understood that those would lead her to the answers she was so desperately seeking.

"It's time to play another game." He said as he started laughing, and now he was really excited.