Playing with Fire 3/?

Set after Play with Fire. Title may change. Greg, fresh out of the hospital, after the lab explosion, finds himself in a position he never thought possible.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Rating: Possible R

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Sometime later Sara found herself in the woman's bathroom, leaning heavily into the counter, Greg's admission still at the forefront of her mind.

"Hey…" Catherine smiled, stepping into the bathroom, to wash her hands. Seeing the brunette's distant look, she quirked an eye. "Sara, what's wrong?"

The question once again brought tears to the brunette's eyes. "Greg… he… he told me… he told me he loves me." The answering smile Sara received brought more tears to her eyes.

"We figured he might."

"Catherine…" She whimpered, dropping to her knees, her sad eyes pleading with the older woman. "I can't… if we lose him…"

"We aren't going to lose him Sara… I promise."

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The promise Catherine made, in the bathroom, did nothing to stop the ache that resided in her heart as she heard him repeat those three words over and over again. Stepping into the layout room, her and Catherine took a seat near the door, watching as Brass and Grissom took spots at the front of the room.

"Were going to make this brief…" Grissom started, only to be interrupted as Brass' phone went off.

"Sorry, excuse me." The detective stepped out leaving Grissom to start again.

"As I was saying we're going to keep this short. Days and swing have offered their help if anyone needs a break…" The room collectively nodded but waited with bated breath for the supervisor to continue. "We're still weeding through witnesses and Jacqui is sifting through the mound of fingerprints. Our strongest lead so far as been through video. We already have the photos of Greg and the suspects blanketing across the west coast but thanks to Archie we now have an APB out n their vehicle."

Their collective gasp turned to shock as Brass bolted back in the room, yelling. "We found it… the car, we found it!"

Turning to his colleagues, Grissom demanded. "Nick, Warrick, I want you to go over that vehicle with a fine-tooth comb. Evidence tagged priority one."

"You got it." Warrick all but yelled as he and Nick scurried out behind Brass.

"I know I don't need to tell you what needs to be done." Grissom stated shortly, eyes moving across the room before he abruptly turned and walked out of the room.

Sitting down in one of the chairs, at the table, Sara stared numbly at the small amount of evidence they had displayed on the table. "He's right… were not…"

"Don't say that." Catherine cut her off, dropping next to the younger woman. "Greg will be found." She didn't move until Sara nodded in acknowledgement, her sorrowed expression not leaving her face as they both stood, ready to help further the investigation.

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Thirty-six hours into the investigation and all parties were beyond exhausted but more determined than ever.

While processing the vehicle Nick stumbled on a light bill in the trunk, a bloodied fingerprint on the paper. Hope and fear circulated that all the blood in the trunk could be Greg's, a stain that was half the length of his body and fresh.

The days DNA tech Andrew and nights print tech Jacqui worked as the remaining labs watched like hawks as they did.

"It's not his blood." Sara muttered with confidence, her eyes on the DNA lab at the other end of the hall.

Nick nodded, his eyes glued to the print lab, his mind still tracing over the suspect's car. "Greg's tough. He made it through the lab explosion, he'll make it through this."

The jingle of Grissom's cell phone nearly made the entire room fall out of their chairs. "Grissom."

Sara held her breath, watching the older man, transfixed as his worried expression dropped to one of relief.

"Thanks Andrew, tell Jacqui to take a nap." Closing his phone, Grissom turned to the group. "The fingerprint came back to Greg, the blood did not, Andrew is running it right now, we should have an address within the hour."

"Oh, thank god." Catherine voiced for the room, the tension dissipating slightly.

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It took less than an hour. The blood matched the owner of the vehicle, leading them to a house on the outskirts of Henderson. The entire team was there but not allowed to approach until Brass' team cleared the building.

His team was in the house for a minute before his voice crackled through the radio calling for an ambulance.

Grissom was the first in the room, the rest of the team on his heels. "Oh God." Catherine cringed as Sara gasped in shock, her hands covering her mouth, Nick and Warrick stood floored just behind them.

Greg sat slumped against the side of a metal posted bed, one hand cuffed to the corner post, his other arm tied down to the bottom rail, with rope. Visually it was alarming, his labored doing nothing to hide the angry bruises that covered both of his cheeks. Dried blood, from a gash on his forehead dripped down his right cheek, mixing with the dried blood that seeped from his mouth.

"He's alive!" Brass breathed, looking over the younger man, his eyes darting back to the group. "His breathing is pretty shallow but he's alive."

"We need to get pictures before the ambulance gets here." Grissom sighed, looking at his team. Seeing the camera in Catherine's hands he took it from her gently. "If you guys can't handle this step out."

They all nodded but it wasn't until the first flash that Sara bolted, followed closely by Catherine.

As the ambulance screeched to a halt in front of the house, Nick stepped out, a pained expression on his face. "I can't see him like that."

"As bad as we saw?" Catherine questioned, watching him step up to them while simultaneously keeping an eye on the paramedics, wheeling a stretcher through the door Nick just exited.

Glancing at Sara he noticed that she perked up waiting for the answer but still the fear registered on her face. "Worse." The paramedics came rushing out of the house, guiding the stretcher to their ambulance, Greg lay unconscious on the pad, an oxygen mask across his face, a blood pressure cuff on his arm and EKG leads hanging out of his cut open shirt. "Much worse."

"Oh my god." Sara whimpered, seeing more blood and bruising on his chest as the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance.

Watching the paramedics load their friend, slamming the door and driving off lights and sirens blaring, did they notice Warrick stepping in beside them. "Grissom wants to know if any of you can help with evidence collection? He understands if you don't, but it may help us get to the hospital quicker.

After a moment the Texan stepped forward. "I can do it."

"Me too." Catherine murmured, walking around the men to go back into the dilapidated house.

"I… I can't." Sara stuttered, Greg's words once again playing in her mind. 'Sara… I love you.' Then the image of him tied to the bed, his words still lingering just behind in her brain. The fact that he said those words to her then was beaten within an inch of his life, weighed heavily on her heart and her head. "I'm sorry… I can't."

"Its ok Sara." Nick smiled, patting her arm gently. He knew she was having difficulty with this even more so since the call she had received from Greg when he was still missing but he didn't know what was said. "We got this."

Read and Review…. I have more coming so please keep reading.