Note: I revised this with a close so as not to have a TBC hanging over my head, LOL. "What Happened Next" CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Las Vegas Grissom grabs hold of Natalie and exclaims: "Where is she?! Where's Sara??!!" Catherine opens the door,"Grissom, see ya' a sec?" Grissom steps outside the interrogation room, "What?!" he snaps. "Hey, I'm on your side, remember" Catherine says quietly. "Sorry" Grissom apologizes, "Natalie says she didn't kill Sara, so she's out there somewhere, maybe injured." "We'll find her, Gil", Catherine places a hand on Grissom's arm, then adds, "Brass got this cloth from beside Sara's car, it was on the ground...smells like chloroform, I'm about to analyze it now." "Ok, thanks" Grissom places his hand on Catherine's shoulder then turns to re-enter the room where he left Natalie. Grissom storms over to Natalie and shakes her again, "Where is she, tell me, right now!!" Natalie looks at him with no expression whatsoever and mutters, "She's in the desert",then adds with a slight but sadistic smile, "near death...nice place for a funeral". Grissom practically throws Natalie backwards in the chair and hurries out of the room telling the police officer, "Call Brass; get him here". Catherine appears around the corner at that moment, "Gil,it *was* chloroform. Natalie must have used it to immobilize Sara." Grissom almost interrupts,"Natalie just told me Sarah's in the desert, dying." Brass enters from the opposite hall, "Got something, Gil?" "We have to start a search of the desert! Sara's somewhere out there!" "That's a big area," Brass offers as he flips open his phone. Grissom, Catherine and Brass stop as they approach the Lab entrance with Nick and Warrick close on their heels. Catherine grabs Grissom's arm, "Gil, Gil, wait! We can't run off helter-skelter, we have to get a better idea of where Sara is or by the time we get to her it might be too late! Maybe Natalie will give us something more to go on". As the team turns back to the room where Grissom left Natalie they notice the police guard is gone. Opening the door Grissom looks on, almost panic-stricken, as they find the officer laying on the floor bleeding from his head, and Natalie gone! Brass kneels by the body and feels for a pulse, "Dead". Catherine, taking Grissom by both arms, insists, "Gil, what did Natalie say, exactly! Gil, it's important! I think Natalie doesn't just want to hurt you, she wants to *kill* you!! Taking Sara is a means to an end, that's why she hasn't killed her!" Grissom tries to compose himself somewhere between reason and desperation, "She said she didn't kill Sarah, then she said Sarah was in the desert, dying...or 'near death'." "Near death?", Catherine questions emphatically. "Yes, she said 'near death'" Grissom remembers. "Near 'Death Valley' maybe," Nick speculates. Brass shoves his phone in his pocket, "Death Valley is still a big place, Gil, did Natalie say anything else?" "Just that it's a nice place for a funeral" Grissom snaps as they leave the building. Warrick stops and calculates, "funeral...Funeral Mountain, Death Valley National Park." "I'll call California authorities and they'll search that side of the mountain range!" Brass radios as official vehicles race out of Las Vegas with the bright lights of the Strip blazing in the midnight rain! -------------------------------------------------- As police, rescue and CSI vehicles screech to a halt Grissom jumps out into the pouring rain and begins to yell, "Sara". The sound of helicopters above muffle his frantic cry as their searchlights cut through the night storm scouring the ground below. Suddenly, one of the copters hovers over an area about 200 feet away from the team, "We got an overturned car" the radio crackles. Grissom runs toward the light with everyone else close behind. As he reaches the red automobile Grissom sees Sara's hand stretched out in the wet dirt. He falls and grabs her hand, "Sara?!" At that very moment a pair of bright headlights spotlight the scene and a motor races! Tires squeal as the menacing beams bear down on Grissom and Sara. Guns at the ready, Brass orders "Stop that car!!!" As bullets fly into the headlights, windshield and body of the attacking vehicle it veers, only slightly, hitting a boulder propelling it into the air and slamming it violently into the overturned deathtrap. Metal thunders into metal and steel rips apart steel. An explosion shatters the night! The team is stunned into disbelief as fire engulfs the wreckage! Beneath the fireball a bloodied, but strong, masculine hand reaches for the smaller feminine hand in the dirt and pulls. The once-overturned prison has been pushed away enough to allow for a small passage of escape and Grissom, though injured himself, drags Sarah free and they both collapse just out of reach of the molten carnage as another explosion rattles the earth around them. ----------------------------------------------------- Grissom lies unconscious in a hospital intensive-care bed, cut, bruised and broken by the nearly-successful attempt on his life. Outside the room Catherine, Brass, Nick and Warrick stand, looking through the glass at their friend and colleague. Beside them appears Terry Miller, the forensic scientist who specializes in facial reconstruction, and a onetime object of affection for Grissom, "Will he be alright?" "The doctors don't know yet," answers Catherine gravely, then adds "he's badly injured" and brushes a tear from her check. "I owe him a dinner" Miller states not taking her eyes off Grissom. She turns and walks away. Nick and Warrick look at each other somewhat surprised. Sofia arrives and lets out a slight gasp as she sees Grissom lying so still, so helpless, "What are his chances?" "It's day to day" says Brass. Sofia gently touches the glass and walks away. Nick and Warrick still look perplexed. Soon, Lady Heather comes into the Unit but is stopped by a nurse. Brass nods and Lady Heather approaches slowly as if not wanting to see her friend in such a condition. The strong, dominant woman becomes unsteady as her eyes fall on Grissom lying there. Nick and Warrick reach for her, supporting Heather on either side. Tears begin to stream down her face as she allows, just this once, a sign of vulnerability to escape to the surface, "Will he be ok?" "The doctors are hopeful" Catherine whispers and offers a comforting smile in Heather's direction. Heather acknowledges the kindness Catherine has shown her now and in the past, "Will you keep me informed?" "Of course" Catherine affirms as she watches Lady Heather turn and walk away. After a few moments, Greg enters pushing Sara in a wheelchair. The team greets her with tender smiles but do not move from the window. Nick kneels down, "how are you feeling, Sarah?" "I'm ok, how's Gil?" Sara asks as she is wheeled up to the open door of Grissom's room. A tear rolls down Sara's face as she sees Grissom for the first time since he rescued her, "Dear God, let him be ok". ------------------------------------------------------- Grissom's mind is flipping through events in his life, some happy, some sad; the divorce of his parents, his retreat into science, his subsequent fascination with bugs, the women in his life. Then, Sara and his feelings for her cause a tear to form at the outer corner of his closed eye. In his thoughts she approaches and steps into his arms, they draw close and their lips meet. She sighs his name inside the kiss, "Gil". -------------------------------------- "Gil" Sara's voice echoes through his brain. Suddenly he is yanked out of her arms and into total darkness, traveling at what feels like the speed of light! With a great gasp of air, Grissom finds himself in a hospital bed tethered to tubes, hoses and lines. Alarms sound from the machines keeping him alive as several nurses rush to his bedside and begin struggling to keep him from pulling the airway tube from his mouth. Grissom feels the roar of the wind in his ears as everything slows down around him and he relaxes to see a nurse remove an empty syringe from one of his IV lines. He glances over to see his friends at the window just before he falls into induced sleep. After a few minutes the attending physician tells Catherine, Brass and the others that Grissom is stable now and out of immediate danger,"But we'll keep him sedated for a few days to help with the pain and to keep him from ripping out his lines." Brass' phone vibrates in his pocket; answering it he motions for the team to follow him out. "There was no body in the hit car. As a matter of fact there was no body anywhere; it was rigged to drive by remote control. Natalie is still out there." "I assume the dayshift is out there going over that scene with a fine tooth comb!?" Catherine inquires. Nick speaks up, "I'll go out there and make sure every inch of that place is covered!" "No Nick, you and Warrick go home, get some rest, we're gonna need to be sharp to go through that evidence tonight, *if* they find anything!" "I hope it isn't another miniature" Warrick moans. "I'm putting two officers on Gil's room and two more on Sara's room," Brass states, "This isn't over." As the others leave Catherine goes back into the Intensive Care Unit and takes control of Sara's wheelchair and enters Grissom's room. Sara takes hold of Grissom's hand and gently squeezes it. Catherine walks around the bed and pulls the sheets up to Grissom's chest resting her hand over his heart for just a moment. Catherine smiles knowingly at Sara and leaves. Alone in the room with Grissom Sara begins to talk to him, softly,"I remember the first time I saw you, a lecture at UNLV. You didn't even know I was in your class. I was all ready to be bored to tears by the little, old geeky professor of entomology; who else cares about bugs right? Then this young, handsome guy with wavy hair and a killer smile stepped up to the podium and started the lecture with a photo of maggots eating away at a human face. Three students lost their cookies right then and there." Sara smiles at the memory, "But I didn't...I was too busy falling for the professor." The End Sammy
Re: "What Happened Next"...Rated "PG"...Las Vegas I was one of i'm sure many people who were not happy with the little 'To Be Continued' at the end of the finale. Good to see someone continuing the story til we can get the real thing. Hope you update soon. Great start so far.
Re: "What Happened Next"...Rated "PG"...Las Vegas LOL, sorry about the TBC. It takes me awhile to get an entire story out. Actually, I don't have an opinion of cliffhangers either way. I do like tidy endings but can see where that isn't always possible. Sometimes, as a writer, you expend so much energy building to a certain point that you need to stop and replenish the tank, so to speak. But I'm working on Part 2 in between my life, LOL, so I'll get it posted by tomorrow. Sammy
Re: "What Happened Next"...Rated "PG"...Las Vegas Thanks! I closed it out using the Edit. Don't want people upset with me so early for a TBC, LOL. Sammy