The Find Her Series #2 ; Merry Go Round Again (G/S)

Chapter Six ;
Supposed to be Safe

Dani and Adam walked into the apartment. They slipped off their shoes and then sat on the couch. Grissom walked into the kitchen and got himself a drink. He noticed the two of them were sitting in the living room part of the apartment. He smiled at them briefly.

“Sara’s having a nap, before dinner,” Gil told them.

“Okay,” Dani said.

Adam turned to Dani, “Can I go home at get my stuff?” He asked.

“Sure,” she replied. Adam got up and put his shoes back on, waved to Dani, who smiled back, then he left. Dani got up and got some juice. She went into her bedroom, and sat down at her desk and turned her computer on.

--

Grissom picked out what they’d have for dinner, and put it on the counter, veggie-burgers and fries. Since Sara was a vegetarian, Dani and Grissom would usually eat vegetarian food when they were at home too, but if they were at a restaurant or something, they would get what they wanted. So, you couldn’t really call them vegetarians, but they respected Sara’s decisions.

Gil walked into Dani’s room and stayed in the doorway. He watched her for a moment, then walked a few steps in. He looked over her shoulder and found that she was on MSN, and researching psychology.

“Boo,” Grissom said in a casual voice.

Dani jumped and spun around quickly. As she saw Grissom, she let out a sigh of relief. She paused before speaking to catch her breath.

“Why did you do that?” Dani asked him in a harsh tone.

Grissom shrugged. “I wanted to see your reaction. Is Adam eating dinner here?”

Dani thought for a moment, “He just went to get his clothes and stuff, he’ll probably be here for dinner.”

Grissom nodded, and left the room. Dani turned back to her computer and continued to read about psychology.

Grissom walked into his bedroom, which was also Sara’s bedroom. Sara was sleeping peacefully on the bed. Gil didn’t want to wake her, so he decided to make dinner himself. He walked out of the room and went into the kitchen. He set the oven and then sat down in one of the chairs in the corner of the apartment and started reading a forensic textbook.

A couple minutes later, the oven beeped and Grissom got up from the chair. He put the burgers and fries in separate dishes in the oven, then timed them at ten minutes. They’d be ready at 5:00.

There was a knock at the door and Dani walked relatively fast out of her room and beat Grissom, who was in the kitchen, to the door. She laughed and he smirked, then he turned around and went back into the kitchen.

Dani opened the door and Adam was standing in front of her with a backpack. She opened the door wider and moved so he could come in. He slipped off his shoes and, for now, put his backpack in Dani’s room.

As they walked out of Dani’s room, Sara walked out of her room. She smiled at them briefly then walked into the kitchen and saw Grissom preparing for dinner. She smiled at him warmly.

“Thanks,” She said. Gil smiled back then continued to get dinner ready. Dani and Adam walked into the kitchen, and hopped up onto two of the stools at the island and waited for dinner to be served.

--

After dinner, Sara and Grissom got ready for work while Adam and Dani were in the living room part of the apartment watching a movie. At 5:30, Grissom was putting his shoes on, briefcase in hand and Sara was in her room, still getting ready. Grissom was standing at the door, waiting, with no expression on his face, but Dani could see his impatience. He never showed it, and everyone knew him to be very patient.

Grissom sighed and looked at his watch. He didn’t get impatient for many things, but being at the lab on time was an exception. Sara came out of her room, apologizing over and over.

“It’s okay, we’re not late,” Grissom said to her. Sara put on her shoes and made sure she had everything with her since she had brought a case file home. Once she was sure she wasn’t missing anything, she walked over to Dani and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Actually, if you don’t want to sleep on the couch, Adam, you could sleep in mine and Grissom’s bed,” Sara suggested.

“Okay,” Adam said and smiled.

“If anything happens, just go over to Mrs. Brady’s,” Sara said. Dani smiled at her.

“I know,” she said. Sara knew that Dani knew, but she felt the need to say it anyway.

“Ready?” Sara asked Grissom. He nodded.

“Bye,” Grissom said to the kids and opened the door.

“Bye,” Both Dani and Adam said at the same time. They both looked at each other, then smiled at Sara and Grissom as they left the apartment. Then, they continued to watch the movie.

--

Dani woke up and looked at the clock on the microwave, it glowed 11:04. She lifted her head from Adam’s shoulder and looked around, the movie had ended, and Adam was asleep. She poked him and his head shot up.

“Ow!” He said, then he looked around. “We fell asleep.”

“Good observation,” Dani said sarcastically. She yawned. “I’m tired, we should go to bed.” Adam nodded and Dani got up and turned the TV off. She turned off the lights and left the one in the bathroom on so that if either of them got up during the night, they’d be able to see where they were going.

Adam got his backpack from Dani’s room and then went into Grissom and Sara’s room. Before going into her own room, Dani stopped and peeked her head into Sara’s room.

“Good night,” she said and smiled. Adam smiled back at her, then went back to tending to getting ready.

Dani walked into her bedroom and got changed.

--

Over an hour later, Dani was still staring up at her ceiling. She couldn’t sleep. Usually, if she couldn’t sleep, she would call Adam and talk to him for a bit. Since he was at her house, she couldn’t really do that. She was contemplating whether to get up and go talk to him, or to stay in bed and try to fall asleep.

After a few minutes, Dani got impatient with trying to sleep, and she swung herself up and off the bed. She walked softly out of her room and let herself into Sara and Grissom’s room. She walked softly across the room and found that Adam was asleep.

Dani crawled up onto the bed and sat cross-legged beside Adam. The mattress shift woke him up and he turned his head to see Dani looking over him.

“I can’t sleep,” she explained.

“I can,” Adam remarked.

“Well, I can’t,” Dani said back. Adam sat up and across from her. He decided to mimic her and sat cross-legged. There was a moment where neither of them spoke and the whole apartment was completely quiet.

Then the front door creaked open. Dani turned her head, and fear flew into her body. She heard the lock on the door fall to the ground, whoever it was must have un-screwed the lock. Dani turned back to Adam, who had the same fear in his eyes.

“Closet, now,” Dani whispered quickly. She got up from the bed quietly, and so did Adam. Dani grabbed the cordless phone that was on the small table beside the bed and opened Sara’s closet. She sat inside of it, and Adam sat beside her. Dani closed the closet door as quietly as she could, but it still made a noise.

Dani dialed 9-1-1 on the phone and put it to her ear. Adam hugged Dani as close as he could; he was scared to death.

“Hey, did you hear that?” A dry voice said. There was at least two of them, and they were in the hall.

“Hear what?” A slightly higher pitched voice asked.

“There was a noise, like a door closing,” The darker, dryer voice said. Dani heard them open her bedroom door, she heard their footsteps walk across her bedroom floor. She heard them open her closet door.

“9-1-1, do you need fire rescue, or police?” The lady on the other line of the phone asked.

“Police,” Dani said in a barely audible whisper.

“Police, how can I help you?” A man said over the line.

“There’s people in my apartment, they broke in, I’m with my friend, we’re hiding, but they’re going to find us soon. Call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle and she is working in the crime lab,” Dani whispered as calmly as she could, she felt tears fall down her face.

“Can you tell me where you are?” The man asked, “Don’t tell me if you think they can hear you.”

More tears fell down Dani’s cheeks, “Hesterland Apartment building, apartment 9A,” she whispered.

“Can you tell me your name?” The man asked.

“Dani Sidle, please call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle, she is at the crime lab,” Dani whispered.

“Okay, we sent out officers, they will be there soon, just try to stay hidden as long as possible and stay calm, we will call your sister,” The man said.

“Okay,” Dani whispered. She heard them open the bedroom door; she held her breath. As they opened the closet door, Dani and Adam screamed as loud as they possibly could.
 
Chapter Seven ;
It’s a Crime Scene.

Sara had her arms crossed, holding her stomach because she felt like she was going to be sick. Grissom was standing beside her, in front of her apartment. They had just been interviewed by Brass. Mrs. Brady was standing a few feet away from them, being asked questions by Jim. Sara was crying, not a lot, but a few tears had managed to fall down her face.

Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Greg were walking down the hall. They saw Sara, but wondered why Grissom was there already. All they knew was that there had been a kidnapping, of whom, they didn’t know. They wondered why Sara was involved. Then Catherine noticed Sara was crying.

The four of them went up to Sara and Grissom, but Gil motioned them to follow him, and they walked a few feet away from Sara.

“What’s going on, Gil?” Catherine asked.

Grissom sighed, they could see the pain in his eyes. “Sara’s younger sister, Dani, was kidnapped, along with her friend Adam,” he explained.

“Since when does Sara have a sister?” Nick asked, “She’s never said anything about it before.”

“Do you remember the Feller case? Two parents were killed and the child was kidnapped. It turned out that the child was a foster child, and Dani’s real last name is Sidle. After we found that out, Sara adopted her,” Grissom explained.

“Why are you already here?” Catherine asked. Grissom turned around and looked at Sara to make sure she was alright, she looked like an emotional wreck.

“Look, I have to go and… talk with Sara, can you guys process the scene, let me know if you find anything,” Grissom said, stressing the word ‘anything.’

“You’re not processing?” Greg asked.

“No, I… I can’t.”

“Why?” Greg asked.

“I’m… too involved with the people involved,” Gil said, and without another word, he returned to standing with Sara. Greg knew what he meant by ‘too involved with the people’, because he knew that Grissom and Sara were together, but he didn’t know that Sara had a sister who was living with her.

The four of them walked into the apartment, and looked around, taking in their surroundings. Jim Brass entered the apartment.

“I got a print-out of the conversation with the police that Dani had before she was found. It looks like she left the phone where she was hiding when the kidnappers found her,” Jim said. He handed the paper to Catherine.

[There’s people in my apartment, they broke in, I’m with my friend, we’re hiding, but they’re going to find us soon. Call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle and she is working in the crime lab.]

[Can you tell me where you are? Don’t tell me if you think they can hear you.]

[Hesterland apartment building, apartment 9A]

[Can you tell me your name?]

[Dani Sidle, please call my sister, her name is Sara Sidle, she is at the crime lab.]

[Okay, we sent out officers, they will be there soon, just try to stay hidden as long as possible and stay calm, we will call your sister.]

[Okay.]

[-screams-]

[-thuds-]

[-screams-]

[Make them shut up!]

[I’m trying!]

[Get away from me!]

[-thuds-]

[-screams-]

[Shut up or we kill you.]

[-thuds-]

[-loud bang-]

[What did you do?]

[Do it, it’ll shut him up.]

[-loud bang-]

[C’mon, hurry before the neighbors call police.]

“That helps, thanks Jim,” Catherine said. “So where would they hide?”

“Closet?” Greg suggested.

“What time did the call come in?” Catherine asked, turning back to Jim. Jim checked his notebook.

“At 12:42,” he answered.

“Let’s check the bedroom,” Catherine said. Greg, Warrick, Nick and Catherine, all looked around the apartment so that they became familiar with the crime scene. They found Sara’s room, and Dani’s room. “Wow,” Catherine said as she looked around Dani’s room.

“That is a lot of butterflies,” Greg commented. Catherine noticed that the closet door was open. She kneeled in front of it and looked to see if she could find a phone.

“It’s not in here, Greg print the doorknob, I think the kidnappers were looking for them,” Catherine said. Greg began to get out his fingerprint powder and Catherine, Nick and Warrick went into Sara’s room. They noticed a laundry hamper in the corner. “Hey, wait a minute,” Catherine said. She walked over to the laundry hamper and picked up a shirt with a gloved hand. “Grissom wore this yesterday.”

Nick and Warrick looked at each other. “You don’t think…” Nick started.

Catherine seemed to be the most affected by the evidence that had nothing to do with the case. “Look in the closet and print it, I’m going to go talk to Grissom,” she said and walked out of the room.

Nick dusted the doorknob and found two partials. Warrick kneeled down and looked in the closet. He looked around, and found the phone, he took pictures of it and put it into a plastic evidence bag.

Catherine ducked under the crime scene tape and walked over to Grissom. She wasn’t surprised that his arm was around her. She put her hands into her pockets.

“Hey Gil, can I ask you something?” She asked as she walked up to the two of them. Gil nodded.

“How long have you two been living together?” She asked as simply as she could.

“A year maybe,” Grissom answered, also pretending as if it was no big deal and stuff like that happened every day. Catherine nodded, turned, and ducked back under the crime scene tape to continue doing her job.

Catherine walked into Sara’s bedroom. “They’ve been living together for about a year,” she said, informing Nick and Warrick. That was the last they spoke about it, they had more important things to worry about, like finding Dani and Adam.

They heard something ring, Catherine, Nick and Warrick looked at each other, it wasn’t any of their phones. Catherine looked on the table beside the bed, where a cell phone was, and it was the one that was ringing.

Catherine looked at the caller ID. It read ‘New Message.’ Catherine picked up the phone, and Nick, Warrick and Greg, who had just entered the room crowded around her. Catherine flipped open the phone and it revealed who sent the message.

‘Dani’s Cell.’
 
Chapter Eight ;
The Little Hope We Have

Dani opened her eyes slowly, surrounded by darkness except for the light that came through the ripped drapes of a window that was near the ceiling. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to get out that way. Dani looked down, she was sitting in a wooden chair. She tugged on her hands, and as she expected, she was tied up.

Dani looked around, and didn’t see the guys that broke into her apartment. She tilted her head back and saw the back of Adam’s head. He was also sitting on a chair, and tied up. Dani had no clue what they were going to do. She looked around and quickly realized they were in a basement of some building, not a house, but a relatively large building.

Adam lifted his head slightly, and he looked around. Dani turned her head and noticed he was conscious. She moved her hands to see how much she could move them, from what she could tell, her hands were tied to two separate pieces of the chair, which was on either side of her. Which was a bad move on the kidnappers part, because now, Dani could reach her cell phone that was in her pocket.

“Adam?” Dani asked.

Adam turned his head and noticed Dani behind him. “Where are we?”

“I think a basement, but I can reach my cell phone,” Dani whispered.

“No one’s going to hear you if you call anyone, you’ll have to yell into the phone,” Adam said.

“That’s why text messaging was invented,” Dani whispered. She got her cell phone out of her pocket and turned her head so she could see it. She scrolled through her phone book and found Sara’s Cell. She texted as fast as she could, she was scared half to death that the kidnappers were going to walk through the door.

We’re fine, my phone is on silent, text me back, I’ll try to figure out where we are.

Dani put her phone back in her pocket, and looked around again. She didn’t recognize the place they were in. What was there to recognize? It was a room with two chairs in it. Dani tried to think, but her mind was scattered. She was too scared; tears fell down her cheeks.

What if she never left this room? What if the kidnappers just left them here to die and decompose and rot into corpses? What if years later, when Sara and Grissom found them, all they found were rotting corpses? What if Adam fell into the mind deepening, thought threatening nothingness that death was first? Dani would just be talking to him one minute, and then his stomach would begin to eat itself until the life was taken away from him, slowly, and he would feel every breath leaving him as it escaped his dry throat.

Dani would be left talking into the silence and his rotting flesh until her own stomach ate away at itself, and her organs finally gave up and shut down for good. Then her flesh would slowly decompose into a skeleton with the help of insects that would later be analyzed by Grissom.

Dani shook her head and pushed the thoughts away. She looked around again, trying to find some way to get out. Or at least find something that would help Sara, who could freely move.

--

Sara broke down into painful sobs. Catherine had just showed her the cell phone. Grissom had his arm around her waist, as Sara cried into his shoulder. He didn’t have to hide it anymore, and no one had the right to judge them at a time like this. Catherine could feel tears pricking the back of her eyes as she thought about what would happen if it was her daughter that was kidnapped.

Once Sara had stopped crying, Catherine handed her the phone and Sara opened her inbox and read Dani’s message. She let out a light sigh of relief as she read it.

We’re fine, my phone is on silent, text me back, I’ll try to figure out where we are.

She handed the phone to Catherine with a slight smile on her face. There was still hope, it was a small hope, but big enough to be seen. Grissom hugged Sara, hoping it would help some, but it didn’t. You can’t help your girlfriend’s sister being kidnapped without finding her.

Catherine let out a small smile to Sara, as if to tell her without words that they were going to get the guys that took her sister and her sister’s friend.

“Where are Adam’s parents?” Sara asked suddenly.

Catherine shrugged, “I don’t know, Jim told me he called them an hour ago.”

Grissom got a confused look on his face, why didn’t they come to their son’s rescue? Sara and him had practically ran out of the building when they found out.

“You should probably text her back,” Catherine said.

“I know, but I don’t know what to tell her,” Sara said, pain in her eyes at the sudden loss of hope she felt. She didn’t know what to say, what to do, or how to help. Her mind was scattered, and anything she thought of didn’t make sense.

“Just tell her that we’re working on finding her, and that if she figures anything out, tell her to tell us,” Catherine said with another shrug. “She’s smart, I have a feeling what she tells us will help us a lot.”

Sara sighed, then smiled at Catherine’s compliment. Catherine handed Sara the cell phone, and Sara began writing a text message to Dani.

--

“Adam, what if we don’t get out of here?” Dani asked, her voice was weak because of the subject of the conversation.

There was a pause, then Adam spoke, “Do you want the scientific version or the non-scientific version?”

Dani let out a laugh, an actual laugh. A time like this and she was actually laughing. “I know the scientific version, probably better than you.”

“You’d like to think that,” Adam said. They both stopped talking and became serious. Dani took her cell phone out of her pocket; she had one new message. She flipped the phone open and read it.

We’re trying our best to find you. Tell us if you figure anything out. Sweetie, stay safe. I love you.

Tears fell down Dani’s cheeks. She tried to push them away, but it didn’t work, they still came anyway. There was noise outside of the door to the room they were in, and Dani put away her cell phone as quickly as she could. She didn’t know what to do, it might have been a good idea to pretend to be knocked out for a bit longer, but it might be a better idea to not.

As the door to the room they were in creaked open, Dani noticed the wall past the door, she had seen the paint before, the colour, the design. It looked like the wall and the room they were in connected to a hallway to a building. Dani’s eyes went wide.

She knew where they were.
 
Chapter Nine ;
Separated

Sara was standing in the DNA lab, pacing back and forth. Greg was sitting behind a computer, watching fingerprints that they had collected from the doorknob of the closet in Sara’s room compare to prints in AFIS. Grissom was leaning against one of the desks, with his arms folded across his chest.

Every so often, Sara would look down at her cell phone, which was in her hand. She had thought that in the seconds she had spent not looking at it, maybe Dani had texted her without her hearing it ring. No, she was just anxious to get Dani back as fast as she could. She at least hoped that Dani was with Adam, the two of them could probably find some way out of wherever they were, assuming they were trapped somewhere.

Greg had hid elbow on the desk and his chin in his hand. He stared at the screen as different prints flashed onto the screen, comparing themselves to the print that had been recovered. The three of them hadn’t said more than five words to each other since they had started standing around, waiting for a suspect.

--

Dani let the tears fall, if the kidnappers knew anything about kidnapping, crying probably wouldn’t seem so outrageous to them. Adam, on the other hand, tried staying as silent and as emotionless as he possibly could. Dani hoped that the kidnappers would leave the room again, so she could text Sara and tell her where they were.

Dani’s eyes followed the two men that had entered the room. They scanned the room, making sure nothing was out of place, making sure the two kids in the centre of the room hadn’t tried to escape. Their evil glares turned towards Dani once they had looked around the whole room. She stared back cold and hard.

“Hello sweetie,” one of them said in a dark and raspy voice. Dani just stared back, she didn’t want to say anything to them, she didn’t know what to say to them.

Once the kidnappers knew she wasn’t going to speak, they walked around so they were in front of Adam. He stared back with blazing fear in his eyes.

“So, boy, you wouldn’t mind if we went somewhere else with your girlfriend, would you?” The raspy voice asked. Dani’s eyes widened, she definitely did not like the sound of that.

“I’d mind,” Adam said, it surprised him that he had said it in a calm voice, hypocritical to the look in his eyes.

“Well, you don’t always get what you want,” The other voice said, it was higher, and the man was younger. “Either of you scream, and we kill the other in front of you, then kill you.”

Both of them were silent.

“Glad we understand each other,” said the darker voice. He nodded towards the younger man, and they both walked away for a moment. They left the room, and Dani took the chance.

She slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and turned to Adam. Adam was staring back at her.

“Text Sara, tell her we’re in the basement of the apartment building,” she whispered and reached her hand out as far as she could so she could give him the phone.

“What about you? By the time she gets here, you’ll be somewhere else,” he argued.

“We’re in an apartment building, he won’t be able to go far because they’re taking me by force, I suspect I’ll still be in the building,” Dani explained. Adam nodded, then slipped the cell phone into his own pocket.

“I’m jealous of how brave you are,” Adam said quietly.

“That means I’m dead scared,” Dani replied.

“That’s a contradiction though,” Adam pointed out.

“Exactly,” Dani said.

The kidnappers came back into the room with more rope and a pair of scissors. The younger one cut the rope binding one of Dani’s hands, and the older one held her arm. Then the younger one cut the other rope binding Dani’s other hand, and the older one grabbed her other arm and tied them together. The younger man walked out into the hallway, and then poked his head back into the room and nodded towards the other man. The older man put his arm around Dani and onto her shoulder, and guided her out of the room. The younger man closed and locked the door as they walked out of the room.

And Adam was left alone.

--

The computer beeped and Greg, Sara and Grissom all looked at each other before watching the computer do a final comparison, in more detail, and then match the fingerprint. Sara and Grissom were now leaning over Greg’s shoulder.

“The print is a match to a James Kilgan,” Greg announced, “His current address is…”

“No way,” Sara said. Her cell phone started ringing and she looked down at it. One New Message.

Sara flipped the phone open and read the message.

We’re in the basement of the apartment building. They took Dani somewhere else. Hurry, you might catch them.

Sara closed her phone, “Basement of the apartment building, but only Adam’s there.”

“Then where’s Dani?” Greg asked. Sara looked back at the computer screen and wrote down the address.

‘Hesterland Apartments, Apartment 21B’
 
*sighs* last time i'll say it. THEY BETTER NOT END UP DEAD...
and, Alyssa was right. PSYCHO. Kill one of them in front of the other? :'( please just make sure they're allright...

ehm, anyways...
 
Chapter Ten ;
A Last Obstacle

The sirens were loud. The lights were flashing. The police car was speeding. Jim Brass and Gil Grissom were driving towards Sara’s apartment building. The plan was that, with back up, Jim and Gil would go to the basement of the apartment building and get Adam.

Sara, who was in a police car with Greg, Catherine, and two police officers, was to go into the apartment where their suspect lived. Hopefully, Dani would be there. In her mind, the car wasn’t driving nearly fast enough, but she knew it was driving plenty fast.

Sara got out her cell phone, and texted Adam. She hoped that concentrating on what to tell Adam would keep her mind off of how slowly they were getting to the apartment building.

We’re on our way, to get both of you. If they come back and want you to get out of the basement, stall for as long as possible.

Sara flipped her phone closed and put it into her pocket. She stared out the window and bit her lip as she watched cars pull over to make way for the speeding police cruiser.

--

The younger man picked Dani up and laid her down on the bed. He tied her legs up at the ankles, and then walked into another room of the apartment. Tears flowed from her eyes again. She was scared, dead scared.

--

Adam sat alone. He felt guilty at knowing what might be happening to Dani at this very moment, and not doing anything about it. He kept staring at the door, waiting for police officers to come storming in, with their guns drawn and flaunting their courage. Adam had become a disgrace to the simple thought of courage.

--

The men had come back into the room where Dani was in. She wondered what they were going to do to her, since it would be hard for them to get her pants off with her legs tied up. Her eyes stared at them, screaming out for their pity, but they were kidnappers, why would they listen?

--

Sara tapped her fingers on her knee impatiently. She was holding in tears, she was trying to stay strong, but soon the barrier would break and she would become the emotional mess that no one knew about. Sara felt that soon she would break down, and she wouldn’t be able to hold it in.

Greg put a supporting hand on her shoulder. Sara turned to him and gave a light smiled; he showed her a little smile. He seemed to be stressed about the case, more than Catherine, but not as much as Sara. Catherine was showing her emotions like a rock, and Sara couldn’t tell that she almost took herself off the case. The thought of Lindsey being kidnapped again kept appearing in her mind. The thing was, Catherine couldn’t let herself off the case, and she had to see for herself that kidnapped children could be saved.

Sara turned and stared out the window, her mind was racing, her heart was pounding, and she had a huge headache that she was ignoring. She was light-headed, but she ignored that too. Her mind was set on one thing, saving Dani. The police cruiser just wouldn’t get to the apartment building fast enough.

--

“Don’t scream, or I’ll kill your boyfriend in front of you,” The older man reminded Dani.

As calmly as she possibly could, Dani spoke, “He’s not my boyfriend.” Her voice was still shaky.

The two men seemed surprised that Dani actually spoke.

“He’s just my friend, do you think my mom would let me have my boyfriend sleep over at my house?” Dani said. The two men actually laughed. This surprised Dani, and she became slightly less scared out of her mind. Her job just got a whole lot easier. She knew that Sara was most likely on her way, so all she had to do was stall, and she’d come out of this alive.

--

The police cars drove into the parking lot of the apartment building. The car had barely stopped before Sara had gotten out of the car. Greg ran after her, but he couldn’t catch up. Sara’s adrenaline was pumping and she was running too fast. As she got to the door to the apartment building, the CSI in her stopped herself and thought it was smart to wait for the rest of them.

The two teams of CSI’s and police officers grouped into one and listened to Jim Brass explain what they were going to do.

“Alright, we don’t want to mess this up. From what we know, Dani is with the kidnappers, but we don’t want to take any chances. So, Sara, Greg, George and Carl and I are going into the apartment, 21B. Gil, Catherine, Ken and Dave will go to the basement of the apartment building. Cuff the criminals, then bring the victim out here. Leave one person with the victim, and go to where the other victim is. Everyone clear?” Jim explained. Everyone nodded, there were no objections, and so the group went into the apartment building and parted.

Grissom, Catherine, Ken and Dave, took off down a set of stairs with their guns drawn. They came to a door that was at the end of an empty hall. It was locked. Grissom smashed the lock, his adrenaline was also pumping. The four of them rushed into the room, guns pointing in different directions as they looked around the room.

“Grissom!” Adam said happily. Gil ran over to him and cut the rope that bound his hands. Adam threw his arms around Grissom and wept like a child. Grissom hugged the boy back, and hoped that Sara had found Dani.

“Where’s Dani?” Adam asked as they walked out of the room and he wiped the tears from his eyes.

“I’m about to go help Sara find her, go with this officer, okay?” Grissom said and nodded towards Ken. Adam nodded and followed Ken out of the apartment building.

With their guns drawn, Grissom and the other officer, Dave, ran up to apartment 21B. They entered the room cautiously, with their guns as their noses.

They heard Sara’s voice coming from another room, “Sir, drop the gun.” Then a gun shot, followed by Dani's screams.
 
Chapter Eleven ;
Make the Memories Fade

Grissom’s world fell apart as different outcomes of what he had heard went through his mind. As he ran to the room where the gunshot came from, different scenarios rushed in and out of his imagination.

Dani’s hand clutching her chest, where the bullet had penetrated, and Sara hugging her sister close as Dani’s last breath escaped her lips. The kidnappers were feeling no guilt whatsoever for shooting the little girl.

Sara falling back, as she felt the impact of the bullet force itself through her body. The bullet went through the wall behind her and stayed there. Sara felt the hole in her stomach bleed until she had lost too much blood. All she heard in her last minutes were Dani’s cries as the kidnappers took her somewhere else.

Grissom shook his head as he got to the room. He looked around, at Dani and Sara first, making sure neither of them were shot. They weren’t. He looked and saw a man lying on the ground, trying his hardest to breathe. He looked at Jim, who was putting his gun away and calling for the ambulance crew to come to the apartment. Gil looked at Sara, who was pointing her gun at a young man, who wasn’t a day over 30.

Dani, who was tied up, on a bed, was staring at Gil. She was smiling. She was alive. Dave walked up to the young man, whose hands were on his head. Dave cuffed him and lead him out of the room. Paramedics came into the room with a stretcher. They lifted the man up and onto the stretcher, then carried him out of the room.

Jim and the other police officers left the room. Grissom cut the ropes that bound Dani’s legs and arms. As soon as she could move, Dani sat up. Sara ran and threw her arms around Dani, she was crying. Dani hugged Sara back, she was also crying. Grissom put his arms around the both of them, and rested his head on top of Dani’s.

The family let go of each other. “I was so scared,” Dani admitted, she was still crying. “I’m sorry, Sara, I should have hid better, we should have called the police as soon as we heard them come in. I-“

“Dani, it’s not your fault, you helped us catch two murderers; they kidnapped and killed two other girls… and you helped catch them,” Sara said, trying to make her feel better. Dani put her hand to her mouth, and put her head on Sara’s shoulder as she cried some more.

Half an hour went by, and then the three of them got up and left the room. Sara was holding Dani’s hand as they walked out of the apartment. They walked down a set of stairs and then out of the apartment building. Adam was talking to Ken, about thirty feet away from where Dani, Sara and Grissom were. As soon as Dani saw Adam, she let go of Sara’s hand and started running as fast as she could towards him.

Dani flung her arms around Adam, causing him to almost fall back. Adam hugged Dani back and started crying. Adam rocked her back and forth in his arms as he heard her crying too.

“What did they do to you?” Adam asked through sobs.

Dani sniffled then spoke, “Nothing, Sara came in before they did anything, they just tied my legs together.” Adam nodded and that was the last that was said about it. Neither of them wanted to remember anything about the horrid experience, neither of them wanted the memories to last.

--

Dani and Adam were sitting on the couch in the living room part of Sara’s apartment. Adam’s arms were around Dani protectively. Sara was sitting in the other chair, lost in her thoughts. Grissom was at the crime lab, watching Jim and Catherine interrogate the two men that had kidnapped Adam and Dani.

Adam looked at Dani, and knew that she was thinking about something. She was trying to make a decision, Adam could see it in her eyes. All of them were quiet, it was a painful silence, but breaking it would have been worse.

“I want to go to court,” Dani said simply.

Sara turned her head to her sister, “What?”

“I want to go watch the trial,” Dani said, her eyes had remained in the same place since she had been thinking about it.

“Dani,” Sara started then paused, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I want to,” Dani said, her tone was emotionless, and had been that way since she had started talking.

“I want to go too,” Adam said, he turned and looked at Sara. Sara’s mouth was open, she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t really want the two of them to go, because things could go wrong if a victim went to a suspect’s trial.

“Adam, I can’t speak for your parents,” Sara finally said, she thought about it for a moment. “Actually, I haven’t seen them since…”

“They were waiting at the crime lab, and they saw you run out of the building with Grissom, so they just waited. The officer, Ken, let me call them when we were outside the apartment building,” Adam explained.

“What about me?” Dani asked. “You still have to speak for me, I want to go, I want to hear their sentence.”

Sara looked at her sister with empty eyes, she wanted to say no, but she wanted to say yes. “I’ll talk to Grissom about it,” she finally said.

Then the silence re-instated.
 
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