AN: Chapter two for you guys, which should explain a few things – though maybe not everything quite yet!

Thanks to WalkerTRngr for the beta help – I just realized I forgot that on the first chapter, sorry!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to CSI

Chapter 2

Time moves strangely over the next few hours, jumping by in big chunks only to then slow down to a crawl. The sketch artist works with Joelle to create an image of the woman from the park. Sara doesn't recognize her, and she's not sure if it's a relief or a disappointment. The two girls from the park come in, but neither of them remembers seeing a woman matching Joelle's description.

The search dogs track Mattie to the parking area on the south edge of the park, leading to the conclusion that whoever took him had a vehicle parked there. Whether that means the abduction was planned or not remains a mystery.

CCTV footage trickles in throughout the afternoon, and while she's not allowed to go through it herself, Jim keeps her updated, which, at least for the moment, means an endless string of 'nothing yet, sorry'.

Since she can't do much else, she keeps her focus on Joelle, making sure the younger woman eats – which means she has to eat herself, but she knows she should, so it's probably good to have a reason to – and checking on her headache periodically.

Greg barges into the office around six, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. "How're you holding up?" he asks when he's let her go.

"I have no idea," she responds honestly. "Do you have any news?"

He shakes his head with a frown. "No, sorry. I've been going through surveillance footage for three hours, I had to take a break to give my eyes some rest. Nothing so far."

D.B. shows up soon after, and then Morgan, and while it's a comfort to have them all there, Sara would honestly rather they were out there, doing what she can't to bring Mattie home.

Which D.B. seems to realize, because fifteen minutes after Morgan joins them, he stands.

"Come on, you two," he says. "Let's get back to the lab. There's still plenty of surveillance footage to go through."

Sara gives him a grateful look.

Two FBI agents enter Jim's office a little after ten in the evening, and finally she feels like she can do something.

"Miss Sidle," the female agent says as she extends a hand, and Sara shakes. "I'm special agent Tanner, I'm sorry we're meeting under these circumstances."

"Me too," she replies, taking a steadying breath when her voice shakes slightly.

"Special agent Gordon," the older, male agent introduces himself. "Since time is of the essence here, we'd like to talk to you to get a better idea of the situation, if that's OK?"

"Of course."

He glances at Joelle. "Miss, if you could leave us to it, there are two agents just outside that can talk to you."

Sara frowns. "Is that necessary?"

"We'd prefer to get your statements separately," Tanner says. "It's really just procedure – we don't want your statement to affect Miss Wallis's or vice versa."

Sara knows that, of course. She still doesn't want to leave Joelle on her own. "Can one of you tell the other agents to keep an eye on her?" she asks. "She has a mild concussion; I don't want it to get worse."

"I'll be fine," Joelle assures her with a weak smile.

Agent Gordon still escorts her out of the room and, presumably, informs his colleagues.

"OK, so let's start with the basics," agent Tanner says while they wait, putting down a folder on the table between them and starting a recorder. "How old is Matthew?"

Sara shakes her head to clear it. "He, um, turned one in February, so… thirteen months."

"That's a wonderful age," the agent says with a smile. "Is he walking and talking yet?"

"Walking, yes, talking, some."

Agent Gordon returns, closing the door behind him and claiming the chair next to Tanner's.

"And he lives with you full time?"

Sara nods, before remembering the recorder. "Yes."

"And his father?"

She shakes her head. "No."

Agent Gordon frowns. "Even if he's out of the picture, we still need to…"

"There is no father, OK?" she interrupts him. "I mean, biologically, obviously, but Matthew was conceived through artificial insemination with donated sperm. So no, there is no father. I guess, theoretically, the donor could have, I don't know… hacked the clinic's database to find out where his sperm went and tracked us down, but I highly doubt it."

She doesn't want them wasting time on a wild goose chase.

"We'll want to look into it anyway, make sure there hasn't been any data breaches," Gordon tells her, and she sighs. "What's the name of the clinic?"

She provides it reluctantly. Hopefully they can get it out of the way quickly.

"Can you walk us through your everyday routine?" Tanner changes the subject. "If someone planned this, it would help to know where you go on a daily basis, who you interact with. Where someone might have seen you and Matthew."

"OK." Sara takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "I work the night shift, so Joelle's at the house while I'm at work. Normally, I get off shift at seven, and Jo leaves when I get home. Mattie and I usually hang around the house for a while, and then I take him to daycare…"

"Which daycare center is that?"

She tells them. "I usually drop him off around ten or so, then I get some sleep and pick him up between four and six in the afternoon. We go home, have dinner, I give him a bath and put him to bed. I start work at eleven, so Joelle usually arrives around ten or so."

"But you didn't get home in time to take him to daycare today?" Gordon asks, eyebrows raised. "Is that a normal occurrence?"

She doesn't like this guy. "I wouldn't say normal, but the last couple of months, I've had to work late maybe once or twice a week. We lost a team member a while ago, and another one relocated, so we're a little short."

"And Miss Wallis, how long has she been with you?" Tanner asks.

"Since I went back to work after Mattie was born, so… almost a year now." She gives both agents a stern look. "I trust her, she had nothing to do with this."

They exchange a look but don't push the matter.

"And how about during weekends?" Tanner continues after a moment. "Do you go to any baby groups, activities, anything like that?"

"We go to the park," Sara replies. "I talk to some of the parents and nannies there, and there are some kids that Mattie plays with, but nothing organized. We visit my mother every other weekend or so, she's at an assisted living facility in Henderson. We spend time with my friends from work."

"We'll need a list of people you interact with regularly at the park," Gordon says. "And people that Matthew spends time with on a regular basis, as well as the name of your mother's facility."

"Sure."

"Any other family?" Tanner asks.

"No," Sara replies. "My father died when I was a child, and I don't have any other family."

"No significant other?"

She frowns before realizing the agent's talking about her. "No."

Tanner flips through some papers in the folder in front of her. "I understand you're divorced?" she says, looking up again. "You used to be married to the former night shift supervisor at the crime lab here, Gil Grissom?"

God, she could have gone without being reminded of him today. "He has nothing to do with this." She tries to keep her voice steady, but it doesn't quite work.

Gordon frowns. "We'd still like to…"

"No," she cuts him off. "He doesn't even know about Mattie, as far as I know. I haven't spoken to him in over two years, not since several months before I got pregnant."

"Even so…"

This time, he's interrupted by the door banging open. "Sara!"

She's pretty sure she's never been so relieved to see anyone in her entire life. "Catherine."

She gets up and the two hug for a moment.

"I'm so sorry, I came as soon as I could. How are you?"

She snorts. "Oh, just great."

"Sorry, stupid question." Catherine winces. She sits down on the couch, pulling Sara down next to her, before turning to the agents on the other side of the table. "Gordon, Tanner."

"They're asking about Grissom," Sara tells her, making her frown.

"Well, you can drop that line of investigation," she says, a hint of authority in her voice. Sara's not sure if she's their superior or not, but there's no mistaking who's in charge.

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Gordon still says.

"Yes, you can," Catherine snaps back. "On my orders. I know Gil, I'm vouching for him."

"Besides," Sara pipes in. "He's not even in the country."

The two agents exchange a look.

"Um, actually…" Tanner then starts, uncertainly. "According to our records, he's in San Diego."

Really, how many shocks can she take in one day? She feels Catherine's hand on her shoulder, a gesture of support. "What?"

Tanner nods. "I mean, he might not be there at this exact moment, I don't know, but he is registered at an address in San Diego."

It doesn't matter, she tries to tell herself. So what if he's back in the country? He obviously didn't think she needed to know, so she can just… forget it. It makes no difference in her life, after all.

"Still," Catherine says. "He's not involved, drop that line of investigation."

It looks like Gordon is about to object, but Tanner nudges him with her elbow, and he closes his mouth again.

"OK, so just one more thing, and then we're all done for now," she says. "Sara, is there anyone you can think of that might have done this? Someone from an old case, perhaps, that you helped put away?"

Sara squeezes her eyes closed for a moment. "There are a few people I've… let's say crossed paths with through work that might be… looking for revenge."

"Natalie?" Catherine says, and she nods.

"Natalie who?" Gordon asks.

"Natalie Davis," Sara expands. "She should still be at Florence McClure."

Tanner's eyes widen, and she knows the agent must have connected the dots.

"She is," Catherine confirms. "I checked during my flight. She has no approved visitors at the moment, the only one she's had since she was transferred is her lawyer, and she fired him about two years ago. She also hasn't made or received any calls, or sent or received any emails or letters, in months. I'm getting in touch with the warden in the morning, to see if she's been close to another inmate who has been released recently. Hannah West is still in the UK and hasn't left the country since she got there. I've asked Interpol to make contact to be on the safe side, hopefully they'll get in touch in a couple of hours. It's still early over there. We've got warrants out for her phone records and email, but it might take a while with the international angle."

"Who's Hannah West?" Tanner asks with a confused look.

"She's this… wonderchild who used her brains to help her brother get away with murder, and then turned around when he was trying to build a life without her, killed his ex and framed him for the murder," Sara explains, trying not to think too much about the girl. "Not that we could prove that, so the brother went down for it. He killed himself in custody, she blamed me, and left the country shortly after."

"And you worked both cases?"

She nods. "Yeah. Hannah… baited me, I guess you could say, during the second case. I wasn't in a good place, mentally, at the time, and I…"

"Hey," Catherine cuts her off gently, squeezing her hand. "They don't need any details."

Sara gives the other woman a grateful smile.

"Anyone else?" Gordon asks.

"Ronald Basderic. Again, he should be in prison."

"Who?" Catherine frowns at her.

"It was after you left," Sara tells her. "He… he was a suspect in a case, and we… butted heads, I guess you could say. After that, he apparently developed an obsession with me, started stalking me and ended up killing someone and trying to frame me for the murder. He broke into my house, drugged me, went after my mother… but he was sentenced to life, so he should still be in Ely."

"We'll look into him as well." Gordon writes down the name before looking up again. "Anyone else?"

Sara sighs. "I mean, I've worked on hundreds of cases over the years, maybe thousands… these are just the extremes. There could be plenty more who are holding grudges."

"Of course," Tanner says with an understanding smile. "We've been granted access to all cases you've worked on, we've got a profiler coming in tomorrow, to see if we can narrow it down to likely suspects."

"Good. So, what's the working theory?" Sara asks, trying to keep her investigator's brain on and not go back to being the terrified parent.

Agent Tanner looks to Catherine, who shrugs. "I just got here; I haven't had a chance to get caught up properly. Walk me through your thoughts."

"Well…" Tanner starts. "Since it's been over twelve hours since the kidnapping and there still hasn't been a ransom call, we're working under the assumption that we're either dealing with someone who has taken Matthew as revenge or for other personal reasons, hence that line of questioning, or a random abduction. It's still possible there will be a ransom call, of course, but if that happens, we'll re-evaluate and go from there."

"The canvassing of the park resulted in one witness who claims to have seen the woman from the facial composite Miss Wallis helped produce around the time of the kidnapping," Gordon pipes in. "She was on the other side of the park, near the playground, pushing a child in a stroller like yours, which matches the path the search dogs took. She didn't recognize the woman either, so it didn't really go anywhere, I'm afraid."

"We've circulated the image to local news stations," Tanner takes over. "It ran on the evening news, and the tip lines have, of course, been blowing up since then. As I'm sure you know, the majority of these calls are usually of no value whatsoever, but we might get lucky."

"There are still hours of surveillance footage to go through," Gordon continues. "As I understand it, that's top priority at the crime lab. We'll start on your old cases in the morning, when the profiler gets here. In the meantime, we'll be following up on any tips that seem promising, as well as anything else that might come up."

Tanner reaches for the recorder and turns it off before giving Sara a smile. "I know you don't want to hear this," she says, "but the best thing you can do right now is go home and try to get some sleep."

"Right," Sara replies flatly.

Either her tone of voice isn't as obvious as she thought it was, or the agent chooses to ignore it, because she and agent Gordon get up and leave the office without any further comment.

Catherine waits until they've closed the door behind them before she speaks. "Since we both know there's a better chance of pigs flying than you going home, you want to tell me what happened? Jim only gave me the basics."

Sara leans back and takes a breath. "Joelle – my night nanny – was taking Mattie to daycare this morning when someone, apparently, knocked her unconscious and just… took him. They passed a woman Jo didn't recognize just before; I think the assumption is that she's the kidnapper. The search dogs traced them to a parking lot on the other side of the park, but that's it."

Catherine sighs, leaning back as well and wrapping an arm around Sara's shoulder. "I know it doesn't help at all, but I know what you're going through," she says. "But you guys found Lindsey, and we will find Mattie. That's a promise, and you know I never make promises I don't intend to keep."

Somehow, it actually does make her feel a little better, remembering Lindsay's abduction. She knows everyone at the lab, and most of the LVPD, as well as a whole bunch of FBI agents are working the case – the odds of finding her son couldn't be higher.

She tries not to think about the fact that odds can't always be trusted.

Sara's momentarily disoriented when she opens her eyes. Blinking a few times, she realizes she's looking at the ceiling in Jim's office – she must have fallen asleep when she lay down to rest her eyes for a moment after convincing Joelle to go home and get some sleep.

There's an LVPD windbreaker draped over her, but she's alone in the office. Running a hand through her hair, she pushes herself into an upright position and automatically reaches for her phone, which she knows she left on the table, to check the time.

Only the phone's not there.

Before she can panic, the door opens and Jim enters, a brown paper bag from the diner two blocks away in one hand and a drink carrier with two large, steaming coffees in the other.

"Where's my phone?" she asks before he can even say anything. What if the kidnapper calls and she doesn't answer?

"Well, good morning to you too," he replies, putting the food down on the table before rounding his desk and holding up her phone. "I plugged it in to charge while you slept."

"Oh," she says, a little sheepishly, and accepts the device when he holds it out. "Thanks."

"Eat," he just says, nodding at the paper bag on the table.

Knowing there's no point in arguing, she opens the bag and starts extracting the contents. A plain bagel with cream cheese, scrambled eggs, a fruit cup and… "I assume this is yours?" she says, holding out a breakfast burrito with eggs, sausage, bacon, and cheese.

He sits down across from her and snatches the burrito out of her hand. "We can't all survive on rabbit food."

Sara snorts but takes a bite of the bagel, realizing, as she chews, that she actually is hungry.

"Any news?" she asks between bites.

Jim shakes his head. "The Feds are in one of the conference rooms, going through your cases, they said they want you to go through the shortlist when their profiler has narrowed it down. We're following up on a couple of tips, but nothing's actually led anywhere so far, and nothing probative from the surveillance footage yet."

Losing her appetite again, Sara drops the last quarter of the bagel on the table. "How can they just… disappear? There are cameras everywhere."

"I don't know, doll, I'm sorry." He opens the Styrofoam container with scrambled eggs and nudges it towards her. "Come on, a bit more. For me?"

Glaring at him, she grabs the plastic fork and stuffs some eggs into her mouth. They don't actually grow as she chews, which is a bonus.

"Where's Catherine?" she asks a few minutes later, when she's eaten as much of the eggs as she can muster. The fruit cup can stay in Jim's fridge until later.

"She should be here soon," he says. "She started making calls at two in the morning or something, getting frustrated when nobody answered, but I managed to convince her to go home and get some sleep eventually. She said she'd be here by eight, though. Oh, and Interpol got back to her before she left – Hannah West is in old Blighty. We're still waiting for her call lists and emails, of course, but she always struck me as a hands-on kind of psychopath."

"Yeah, I think so too," she agrees. "But she's also a master manipulator, so better safe than sorry…"

"Obviously." He nods before tilting his head to the side and squinting at her. "How long did you sleep? Have you been awake long?"

"I woke up about twenty seconds before you got here," she replies, checking the time on her phone. "So… almost five hours, somehow. Did you get any sleep?"

He rolls his eyes. "My trusty desk chair delivered again."

"You slept in that?" She can't help the horrified tone of her voice as she eyes the chair in question.

"Well, my couch was occupied," he replies with a smirk. "But it's not the first time I've slept in it, and it won't be the last. It's more comfortable than it looks. I'm fine, stop fussing."

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you," she shoots back.

Jim just shakes his head. "Finish your breakfast."

AN: Don't worry, Grissom will show up soon!