Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, they belong to CBS but the story ideas excluding spoilers from previous seasons are. This is based loosely on speculation into what will happen in the season finale.

The lady vanishes

Chapter one

As Grissom left the apartment block he didn't notice the strange car tucked away in the furthest corner of the dimly lit car park. He was preoccupied thinking of the brunette he had left in a deep slumber back inside the building, he could not recall the last time he had felt this happy and utterly content with every aspect of his life. He had narrowly avoided a complete burnout at work; only by leaving behind what he loved did he rediscover his passion for the job and for other things as well. After so many years of denying his feelings he had finally taken the huge step and allowed Sara into his life, it had been a risk and Grissom was not a man to take risks without careful consideration, but maybe over five years of fighting his attraction to her could constitute as being over cautious, and now more than a year on he often wondered why he had shied away from his feelings for so long and as he made his way across the car park to his SUV he allowed a smile to pull at the corners of his mouth as he recalled the previous nights events. Yes, everything was going well in Grissom's life, little did he know how the next 48 hours would change things forever.

A dark shadow slumped in the drivers seat of the Buick watched as the black SUV passed and exited the car park. Sadie Thomson had been trailing the elusive Dr Grissom for nearly a year and she knew his routine from memory. The game of cat and mouse that they had played had been very enjoyable while it lasted and although he had almost discovered her identity he believed that they had caught the miniature killer some months before, but Sadie had one last surprise up her sleeve, one last act of revenge to evoke and it would be something that Gil Grissom would remember for the rest of his life.

After the tail light disappeared into the distance she quietly opened the door and made her way across the car park and into the main entrance of the apartment building, the only sound as she climbed the staircase was the muffled shuffling of her trainers on the stone steps. As she rounded the corner on the second floor she easily found the door she was looking for, after all she had been in this apartment before, on a number of occasions in order to become familiar with the layout and also to get every detail right for her model. As she closed in on the heavy wooden door she nervously pulled a stray lock of her blond hair back behind her ear, her hands were clammy as the adrenaline which she always felt before one of these events rushed through her veins. Silently she pulled a small multi tool from her pocket and selected a sharp knife, briefly she scanned the empty corridor for any witnesses before running the knife down the small gap between the doorframe and the door until she heard the familiar click sound and the door began to open.

Since she was a child Sara had always had trouble sleeping, the violent argument, a regular occurrence in her house hadn't helped and she always slept with one ear open just in case. So once she knew Grissom had left the apartment she gave up on trying to get back to sleep, the bed seemed uninviting without his warm body beside her. Old habits die hard and Sara was no exception, she sat propped up in bed reading the latest issue of the Forensic Journal while half listening to the crackle of the police scanner when all of a sudden a strange noise coming from the living area caught her attention. Placing the journal down on her lap she turned down the volume on the scanner and listened. After a few seconds of silence the noise came again – thud. It sounded like drawers being opened and then slammed shut. For a moment Sara considered the possibility that Grissom had forgotten something and returned, but she knew that he would have come into the bedroom first or at the very least would not be making so much noise. Her moment of deliberation was interrupted by the persistent noise again. Reluctantly she threw back the bed sheets and pulled out her gun from the bedside table and padded across the room to the closed door. Feeling her heartbeat quicken and her breath begin to labour she took a deep breath and reached out for the handle.

Sadie was getting impatient; she was making enough noise to wake the whole apartment building so why wasn't the stupid bitch coming out. When she first planned to reap revenge on Grissom she had considered kidnapping him but after a few weeks of following him she had decided that taking Sara would have far greater impact, after all she had witnessed them together and any fool could see how besotted he was. No, this was a better plan, the woman would be easier to acquire and she then would have the pleasure of watching the great Dr Grissom deal with his sordid little romance becoming common knowledge and desperately working against time to find his girlfriend.

As Grissom made his way down the maze of corridors to his office he almost collided with Catherine.

"You look unusually happy, have you won the lottery and not told us?" Catherine watched her friend carefully, for the last few months she had noticed a change in him. Instead of hiding away in his office he was actually interacting with the rest of the team and only last month he had taken four straight days vacation, the first time in at least the last five years.

"Money doesn't make you happy Cath; you of all people should know that." Punctuating his words with a wide smile he headed into his office leaving Catherine even more bemused.

Something was definitely not right, she thought to herself as she headed off to the breakroom, and before the end of shift she vowed to find out exactly what was the cause of her friends strange behaviour.

Grissom had only just settle down in his chair and opened up a case file when a knock broke his concentration.

"Come in."

Seeing Hodges shuffle into the room Grissom felt his good mood begin to fade. Just recently Hodges had become even more irritating than usual with his 'little chats' and gossiping around the department he felt that on more than one occasion he could have cheerfully strangled the lanky lab tech.

"Hodges, I'm really very busy can't this wait?"

"Another one arrived this morning, I've been waiting for you to come in, I've not let anybody touch it in case of contamination." Hodges voice came at such a rate that Grissom could barely understand what he was babbling on about until he spotted the large box he was holding, before placing it on the desk in front of his supervisor.

Sara turned the door handle and pulled it towards her, as she began to peer into the living area she scanned the room for any signs of disturbance. Nothing seemed out of place so she shifted the gun in her right hand bringing it up to waist height and stepped through the doorway. Sweat began to form on her forehead causing her hair to stick, the apartment was silent, the only noise was the sound of her own raspy breathing. Had she imagined the noise? She thought. As if on cue a loud thud drew her attention to the kitchen area which was partly obscured by the large refrigerator, and as she turned to the source of the noise she felt a sudden shock of pain to the side of her head causing her to release her grip on the gun, as if in slow motion she saw it fall to the floor and a lone figure approach, before her knees gave way and darkness shrouded her vision as she lost consciousness.

After expelling Hodges from his office Grissom carefully removed the tape securing the box, he knew what was inside. All the others had arrived in an identical box, what he couldn't understand was why he was still receiving these miniature crime scenes. Had they got the wrong man when Ernie Dell submitted his suicide confession?

Lifting the model out of the box and placing it on his desk Grissom stared in disbelief at what was in front of him. Surely this couldn't be happening; it must be someone's idea of a sick joke. Sitting back in his chair he scanned the replica of the all too familiar décor until his eyes came to rest on the doll splayed haphazardly on the bed. It had been made with such painstaking detail that its identity was unmistakable. Shoulder length brown hair, even down to the flower tattoo on the left ankle –'Sara.' The words escaped his lips in an audible gasp. "Oh my god." Grissom felt a wave of panic sweep over his body.

A/N: Please review and give any ideas you have for the following chapters, they are all welcome.