Scene 1:

Sara burst into the staff room, where Grissom, Catherine, and Nick were eating. The expression on Sara’s face had told all of them that she was upset. Her rage grew by the second. Catherine and Nick both stared at her with an alarmed look. Gil just sat there staring at an advanced crossword puzzle, scribbling in answers quickly, unaware of Sara.

“Catherine, Nick? Can you excuse us for a second?” Sara said annoyed that Grissom hadn’t noticed her bursting into the room. Nick and Catherine looked at each other and left quietly. Sara waited until the door shut to continue. “You took me off the case! Why?!” she shouted.

“Sara…” Gil began watching her looking at him with such bitterness, “You compromising the case. Your emotions are getting in the way of your judgment. This is becoming more and more frequent. Your emotions have to stop at the door, or they cloud your thoughts. That’s why I took you off the case; you can have the rest of the night off. Go home, and get some rest. Have you slept at all since we got this case?”

Sara felt her anger building up more. She couldn’t believe that she is getting sent home let alone getting thrown off a case. “Yeah I have…” She lied. She stared off to the right remembering Danielle Bateman’s body lying on the basement floor. The torture the twenty-five year old went through. She had been bound up, beaten several times, raped, stabbed, and then finally shot in the heart execution style. “I’m sorry if I am emotional. Danielle went through unbearable pain, and I’m just trying to put those sick bastards where they belong! I’m not like you Grissom, I just can’t be impartial. I know it was those damn frat boys. The way they just laughed in that interrogation room, like it was a joke. Is brutally killing an innocent girl a joke?! ”

Grissom frowned, “Sara, please, just go home. I know you haven’t slept in at least 3 days. You also named a victim first name basis, which tells me that you won’t be helping me. You will only hurt this case, and our only chance at finding out who did this.” As much as Gil needed Sara on this case, he had to let her go. “You will have a new assignment in the morning, okay? You can work solo. In the mean time go home and get some rest”

“Whatever…” Sara grumbled, and she threw the door open and walked away. How could he do this? She thought. What am I going to do at home? Nothing, while those jerks are getting away with murder! Sara bumped into Nick as she turned the corner. Not responding to him as he asked her what was wrong. She could feel her face going red, her eyes started to water. Sara exited the front door of the lab and walked to her car. No one was in sight. Everyone was too busy solving murders and analyzing evidence. She could feel the coolness of the night air on her warm face. She opened her car door and got inside slamming her car door shut. Sara pounded at her steering wheel relieving some anger that she had towards Grissom. She stopped after the second punch and began to cry. She felt as if she was being robbed from her duty of being the victim’s last voice. Then something struck her. She remembered locking her car door earlier. She looked up into the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of a hooded figure leaning forward.

“I’ve been watching you Sara.” The dark figure said as he reached over and grabbed Sara’s head with one hand and placing a cloth over her mouth with his other hand.

Oh god chloroform don’t breathe in! She thought to herself, as she tried to scream. She struggled trying to grab at the intruder. The man was too strong for her though. Her breaths became shorter, she became calmer. Her screams were muffled by the cloth. Sara breathed in to clear her head. The last thing she heard was him telling her not to fight it.

Scene 2:

“Did you watch the game last night Warrick?” Nick laughed, as the CSI gang waited for Gil to arrive. “The pack won by seven. I should have betted on…” Nick stopped in mid-sentence as Gil walked into the room. “Hey Gris, late as usual huh?”

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” Gil said with a smirk. “Okay, lets get this over with,” he said looking at the assignments. “Sara, your lucky day, you got a 4-19.” He held out the paper, but got no response. He lifted his head and noticed that everyone else had their heads down avoiding eye contact. “Where’s Sara?”

“Uhh…She hasn’t shown up yet.” Catherine said. “Maybe she’s taking in a “sick” day, after what happened yesterday.”

“No, that’s not like her. She maxes out on over-time every month.” Grissom stated wondering if he had really upset Sara this time. He could tell something wasn’t right. Out of the all the years of being a CSI, he could tell when something was out of the ordinary and this was it. “Catherine do me a favor, go to Sara’s place and see if she is there, try her cell phone too.”

“Uhhh…sure. I don’t understand though, it’s not unlikely for someone not to show up to work if they get booted off an important case.” Catherine replied.

“Word sure gets around here fast,” Gil said thinking about their argument. “Please, just do this, because its unlikely Sara wouldn’t show up without calling.”

Catherine nodded and headed out the door. As she headed for the exit she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Sara’s number. She opened the door, and the sun shown brightly blinding her eyes until she put her sunglasses on. Catherine headed for her SUV, then noticed Sara’s car three vehicles over. Forgetting about the cell phone still ringing, she walked up to the car. She could hear a ringing from inside the vehicle. Catherine closed her cell phone, and opened the door. A rag was lying on the passenger side of the car. She could smell the sweet smell of chloroform. She re-opened her cell phone and called Grissom. “Hey, it’s me.” she said, “You might want to come out here for a minute….I’m outside where do you think I am? ......ok well we might have a problem.”

Scene 3:

“I want EVERYONE out here gathering evidence NOW! No excuses, Catherine you got inside her car. Nick check the surveillance tapes; see if you can find anything. Warrick I want you to work the whole perimeter. Where the HELL is Greg?” Grissom screamed over the noises, trying to stay professional about the situation. If only he had kept her on the case, she would still be here, safe with him. Grissom blamed himself. “If anyone wants to get inside for now, they use the back. I don’t want anymore prints on the front doors.” He yelled over to the scattered crowd of officers and crime scene investigators. He ran to the back of the building and opened the back door. Inside Greg was analyzing evidence for another case with his music blaring in the DNA lab. Grissom walked in and turned off the music. “Greg…?” Gil said with a demanding voice.

“Oh hey Gris, I have finished Sara’s case. Well… it turns out...” Greg began before he was interrupted.

“You’re supposed to be outside working Sara’s case right now, what do you mean you finished it?” Gil demanded forgetting about their case of Danielle Bateman.

“Wait? What? Why should I be outside? The frat boys aren’t out there are they? I mean I know I’m training to be a CSI, but come on. I am backed up here; I got the double dancer murder for at least another good day.” Greg protested. “What kind of experiment does she want me to do now? You know I’m going to have to start charging for this, but for Sara or Catherine for that matter, it would be free. Oh and you too Gris…” Greg winked trying to get a smile out of Grissom.

Grissom realizing that Greg had no idea what has happened snapped, “Greg get outside right now, or there will be no more experiments for you to do ever. Sara has been missing for the past 15 hours now. I want you to get outside and grab up anything Catherine found so far in Sara’s car. Then I want you to process it. You will do nothing that doesn’t concern this case. All other cases are put on hold; I don’t care what the sheriff says.” Watching Greg leave the room without a response, Grissom stood in the DNA thinking of her. He wasn’t about to loose another CSI. Not after Holly Gribbs. By the time Grissom walked back outside, Greg had grabbed all the evidence he could carry back to the lab without giving Gil a passing glance. Grissom walked to the front of the lab. Observing everyone working trying to figure out what happen, he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

“Grissom?” Catherine called over as she waited for him she gave some more evidence to a lab clerk and told him to give it to Greg in DNA. “I think this is our crime scene. I found a cloth soaked with chloroform. I’m going to assume the suspect was wearing gloves, and that we will find Sara’s epithelial cells I found no hairs in the back; I’m assuming the suspect was sitting in the back. I found cigarette butts just outside the back seat on the driver’s side. I sent them to Greg to be processed…” She paused. Looking downward to the floor of the car, Catherine picked up Sara’s CSI I.D. Catherine felt like a mother figure to all the younger CSI, as she did with her own child. “I’m going to print the entire car. See if the bastard left any prints. He has to be stupid, if he is going to kidnap one of our own, maybe he was stupid enough to leave a trail.”

“That or extremely smart.” Gil interrupted. “He must have been watching her for some time or why take her in such an open area. This couldn’t have been just any other girl. If you’re going to kidnap someone, you would do it in such private surroundings, less of a chance of getting caught. Maybe he knew this is the one place she was most exposed and helpless. Sara has locks on her doors, and she is trained in weaponless combat, she has a gun. What a more perfect place to grab her. In her car at work, some where she felt safe. Her movement is minimal, same with her screams for help thanks to the closed windows.’

Just as Grissom finished giving his thoughts, Warrick ran up. “Grissom, we got fresh tire treads. I’m going to go find a match right now. Other than that there is nothing around the perimeter. I’ve searched everywhere twice.”

“Okay, Good.” Gil acknowledged. “The more time we waste trying to figure out what happened, the less of a chance we have finder her!” He began even though he wasn’t talking to anyone particularly. Grissom was yelling more to himself then anyone.

“Cut us a break okay Gil?” Catherine snapped back. “Sara is important to all of us. We are doing everything in our power”

Grissom look around at the team of people surrounding the car studying every inch. “No one gets a break until we get her back,” Gil headed for the lab. “Understand?”

Scene 4:

Sara laid on her bed, having a re-occurring dream. She dreamt she was running towards someone. Not knowing who the person was, but having the feeling of great importance to her. Every time she would get close the figure she would stop, as the figure would tell her “Sara... Help me…” Then the person would disappear. Leaving Sara alone in the dark. Sara woke up, but kept her eyes closed, she felt drowsy. She always hated this dream, hearing the voices of the victims. She knew it was them in her dreams. About to place her hands over her face, she realized a restraint. Sara opened her eyes, being more tired than usual; she lifted her head in shock. This wasn’t her room. This definitely wasn’t her apartment. She looked up towards her arms, she was handcuffed. Her memories flooded her mind. Danielle Bateman, Grissom, the argument, her car, the chloroform, and then darkness. She tried to move her feet, but those were bound up as well. She began looking around, trying to find some sort of idea where she was.

The room was silent, dark, and she could only see a few things. A chair, right beside the cot like bed she was laying on. A bookcase, with years of dust collecting on each individual shelf. Then something caught her eye. She saw herself. Not in a mirror though. But on the far back wall of the room. It was hard to see, but she knew it was her. A small clutter of photographs of herself going to the grocery store, getting out of her car, pictures of her in her house. This scared her. She had always been to the crime scene after the crime had been committed, not ever being involved in one. Flashes of all the bodies, of all the innocent girls, she had taken photos of. Then a flash of her own face, blue, battered, motionless body. She screamed, hoping to god just someone would hear her screams. Realizing she wasn’t in the city, the screams were probably a waste of time. She began to weep. She didn’t want to die here; she didn’t want to find out who had taken her. She tried to curl up into the fetal position as much as her restraints would allow her, and cried herself to sleep.

The room was darker now; it must have been the evening. Sara awoke. She could hear breathing, but it wasn’t coming from her.

“You sleep beautifully” A man said. “Though, you don’t sleep much do you, but when you do, its to die for.”

“Who are you? What do you want with me?!” Sara managed to cry out in fear.

“I have fought temptation for too long,” The man began, “But no temptation can ever be measured by the value of its object.” The anonymous man stood up, staring down at his prize. “Colette said that in Early Paradise. Have you ever heard of it? No, I bet you wouldn’t, Maybe Gil has.” He shrugged watching Sara just laid there too frightened to speak. “I know all about you Sara. I wish you would have just given me a chance that one day. We’re going to be together for a long time. Just you and me, together, you will eventually learn to love me. If you would just give me a chance. I mean what does he have that I don’t?” He questioned, talking about Grissom. “You want me to quote famous quotes, how about ‘Everybody in the world ought to be sorry for everybody else. We all have our little private hell’ – Bettina Von Hutten, The Halo. Your hell, my dear, is that no one cares enough about you like I do. Not even him, or he wouldn’t have taken you off that case.” The man sat on the bed putting on hand on Sara’s waist, and the other moving hair out of her face.

“Nooo…” Sara vociferated. “Please, let me go…” Her pleas were useless. Her kidnapper leaned forward for a kiss. She began to cry, then with as much force she could possibly use, she head-butted her assailant, hitting his nose, his blood splattered on her face.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” He said calmly looking at her, wiping the blood from his nose. With one punch, he knocked her out. “I didn’t want to do that, but you left me no choice. Maybe next time you will think of your actions.” He added talking to her unconscious body. Giving her another kiss on the forehead, he than walked out of the room.

Scene 5:

Grissom walked into the staff room. “Okay, we have three more hours until the window of ever finding Sara Sidle closes. What do we have?” said firmly.

Greg began, “Well I got several DNA results of XX and XY’s. One hit came back a 78 year old woman who was busted back in ’94 for a D.U.I. Another was a man who is in prison right now for mail fraud. This guy was planting evidence left and right. None of the prints came back to anyone in AFIS except for Sara’s. I basically got nothing.”

“The tire treads I found not far from Sara’s vehicle are a match to the older series of Chevy trucks,” Warrick reported.

“Which are a match to a 1978 Chevy Suburban pick-up truck,” Nick added. “I found this on the tapes. Nick pressed play on the TV. They watched Sara get out of her car, and walk towards the building. “Now about an hour later on the tape I found this…” Nick stated as he fast forwarded the tape. A man with a black hooded sweater and Dark thick sunglasses plants the cigarette butts beside the back door of the car, then walking to the back, and picking the lock of the trunk, and climbing in unnoticed. “Several hours later, Sara walks out” They watched her get into her car. Knowing the attacker was in there with her. There was a struggle, hard to tell with the naked eye, but the dark figure in the front began to struggle, and then go motionless. As they watched Nick continued, “The guy gets out, leaving Sara there alone for no more than 2 minutes, he pulls up in the Chevy. Opens Sara’s door, and Carries her into the the truck.

Grissom watched the attacker carry Sara’s body with such care. He became bothered, watching there unable to help. “Did the camera pick up a license plate number?” He requested.

“Only a partial plate number” Nick answered. ”LFX”

“Did you search the Nevada DMV database? Any hits?” Catherine asked concerned, still watching the tape of the empty parking lot.

“I did... It came up with only two hits. Hit number one was a Mark O'Shea. He lives in the city. Hit number two was a Nathan L. Anders. Lives just outside of Vegas.” Nick answered.

“Good job, Nicky.” Catherine said.

“Nick, Warrick, You take Mark O’Shea. Catherine and I will take Nathan Anders.” He ordered as he stood up and grabbed the address out of Nick’s hand. “Take O’Riley with you, we’ll take Brass. Let’s move we don’t have much time!”

Scene 6:

Sara awoke again. Her head pounded from the side effects of chloroform, and the recent blow to the head. The man had returned. Sara glared, “What do you want from me? Cant get a woman by yourself, so you kidnap them, and have your way with them, is that it?”

“Oh, no that’s not it at all. You got me all wrong honey. You just don’t remember me. You looked so pretty back then. You still do. I’m not at all surprised you don’t remember me, it has been so long that we have been actually face to face.” The man stated. “I told you were cute, and you gave me that beautiful smile of yours. From there on out, I have been watching you. You are so smart Sara. I figured you would be able to remember me by now.”

“I think I would remember a psycho like you.” Sara screamed with hatred. “You’re a sick Son of a - -“

“Please, don’t finish that sentence. It’s for your best interest. I don’t take any pleasure in hitting you.” He interrupted. The man looked at a near by window and noticed some dust. That’s strange. He thought. Then a knock, he looked at Sara.

“You’re screwed now.” Sara hissed. “HELP!! I’M IN HERE!! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!” she screamed, as her attacker lunged towards Sara to shut her up.

Scene 7:

Grissom, Catherine, and Brass all heard the screams of Sara. Brass burst through the door clearing the main entrance. Not wasting any time Gil, and Catherine both took out their guns and searched as well. Catherine headed for the basement. She could hear muffled cries. “She’s down here!” Catherine yelled. Descending down the stairs Catherine could see a Bed with a woman on it. That was definitely Sara. “Las Vegas Crime Lab. Sara? Can you hear me?” As she walked she saw Sara bound up, and then a man hiding beside the tattered bed holding a gun.

“Is he here?” A voice called over.

“Is who here?” Catherine questioned back not taking her eyes off of the suspect.

“Gil, Gil Grissom. I just know he is here, searching for his Sara Sidle. He wants to be her protector. Her, savoir.” The voice spat out with disgust.

“I’m here, and who might you be?” Gil answered with his gun aimed at the suspect walking towards Catherine.

“That’s not important; I want to have a chat with you Mr. Grissom. Without the others, just me, you, and her” He said giving an aggressive kiss to the side of Sara’s head.

“Gil, Nooo… don’t do it, please…” Sara protested crying fearful of what might be said and done.

“Its okay Sara,” Gil assured her, nodding to Catherine and Brass to leave.

Watching both Catherine and Brass leave, the man continued, “Good job, finding me. No wonder why she admires you so much. I think both you and I need to decide on what’s best for Sara here. I mean come on; we both love her don’t we?”

Grissom didn’t answer; he felt Sara’s eyes on him. He looked at her with such sympathy, watching her waiting for a response to the question. “I…” he paused, trying to avoid the question. “I think you should come out from hiding if we’re going to have a talk Mr. Anders.”

Nathan stood up. His hood still on his head, the gun pointed straight for Grissom’s chest. “If you loved her as much as I would, you wouldn’t have taken her of the case. You would treat her with more respect; she deserves nothing but the best. There can’t be two men in her life, only one. So, Mr. Grissom, one of us is going to die here today.” He walked along the bedside closer to Grissom. “I mean lets face it, you may have the brains, but I got the looks. Now, you didn’t answer my question, we both love her don’t we?”

Grissom didn’t say a word.

“YOU LOVE HER DON’T YOU? JUST ADMIT IT! GOD DAMN IT GRISSOM IT’S JUST A SIMPLE QUESTION!” Nathan exclaimed. He pulled of a shot, nicking his left arm.

Grissom pulled off four shots, hitting Nathan Anders each time. Catherine and Brass both rushed down the stairs, but Grissom told them it was alright. He told them to give him a moment. He than took off his jacket, and laid it over Nathan’s face. He looked up to wear Sara was lying. Grissom then searched Nathan’s body for the keys to unlock Sara, and stood up. Without saying a word he walked over to the bed, and sat down beside Sara on the bed and began to free her. Sara had waited until he freed both hands and than sat up and hugged Grissom. She began to cry again. “Grissom…” She managed to say over the sobbing. He tried to hush her, and calm her down, but she just had to tell him, “I-I-I’m sorry…Grissom”

Stunned by her apology Grissom held her tighter. “Shhhhhhhh….don’t say sorry, you have nothing to be sorry about. I am sorry. I almost lost you.” He paused then blurted out. “You mean a lot to me.”

Sara pulled back and looked at his sad eyes. She could tell that he couldn’t believe what he just said either. “I’m sorry” she repeated still sobbing, hugging him again, feeling so relieved to be in his arms.

To cover up his feelings Grissom said, “I mean, you mean a lot to CSI, and we weren’t going to loose another CSI. It’s all over now though. Okay?”

Sara turned her head towards the body. She wanted to know who he was; she didn’t recognize the name Anders. She tried to stand up, but Grissom attempted to stop her. “No. I have to know.” She insisted. She walked over to the body, kneeled down, and took the jacket off his face. At first she couldn’t place him. Than it hit her. Three years ago, during the Strip Strangler case. She did undercover work in a grocery store. A man had approached her, asking for a cigarette. He tried to steal her wallet, but the FBI was all over him, before he even had a chance to run. Sara stood up and glared at the dead body with disgust. By then Catherine and Brass re-entered the basement. Catherine gave Sara a hug thanking god that she was alright. Brass, escorted her to the Tahoe, and helped her inside the vehicle. Another night in Vegas for some, but for CSI it was a night they would never forget.