A/N- This is a story I've been working on for a couple of months now. I will be updating it fairly frequently as I have already completed it for the most part. The story takes place primarily in the present with the events of what happened done in mostly flashbacks. As stated in the summary, warning of mature adult themes and sexual violence. This is a Nick and Greg pairing. if you do not like, do not read. Otherwise I hope the first chapter pulls you in and you want to keep reading more. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

He walked into the white sterile room slowly. He took a deep breath as he looked upon the man he loved, bruised and broken in so many ways. He wondered if he would ever be the same after the last four months of hell he went through. The biggest problem was he did not even know the least of what he went through. They only found him less than 24 hours ago.

He sat down in the chair by his bedside and gazed wearily as he took in the bandage wrapped around his neck and the bruises that he knew were underneath the hospital gown. He thought back to earlier the night before when they finally had a strong lead on the location where his boyfriend had been kept prisoner for almost 4 whole months. It was 117 days to be exact. It was an old rundown house on the outskirts of town that had in the past been known as a drug house but had long since been vacant. The lead came in at midnight exactly. Unlike previous leads, this one sounded reliable.

Nick remembered when he came home that day and found no sign of Greg in the apartment. He had called his cell phone and it was turned off. His car was in the driveway but he was nowhere to be found. When he called all around and no one had heard from him he became very worried. At first the others kept asking him if they got into a fight and that maybe Greg had taken off but Nick knew that was absurd. It would not explain him not coming into work the following evening. Nick believed that he had been taken by someone. Since he had been kidnapped himself, he was very aware it could happen.

Everyone else had told Nick that if they ever found Greg, most likely he would be dead but Nick refused to believe it and insisted on following up on every lead. There was something about this man who called him directly on his cell phone telling him to look for Greg Sanders at 1918 Riverrock Drive in the basement. No one had ever before said his full name; they always just referred to him as the missing CSI. Nick had gone to Catherine and Brass immediately after receiving the call and said they had to go. Catherine and Brass both had been down this road with Nick numerous times before and it always ended up being a dead end. They missed Greg too but they had all but given up hope. He had simply disappeared with no trace.

"We have to follow this one up. I have a feeling this one is different. Please, I have to go," he begged Catherine and Brass in Catherine's office.

Catherine had looked at Brass and sighed, knowing Nick would go on his own if they told him no anyway. "Okay, we will go out with you but I don't want you getting your hopes up too high again. It takes a little bit out of you each time when we don't find him."

Nick sighed, "I know but I can't say why but this time it feels different."

"Okay, we'll be ready to leave in 20 minutes," Brass told him.

Nick remembered driving into this rundown neighborhood with more empty houses than occupied ones and having a feeling that Greg was near. He was never one to believe in being able to 'feel' your loved one's presence but he swore he did. Greg and he had been a couple for 5 years now, no one knowing about their relationship until he went missing. It had not really been a shock to anyone; they all figured when they moved in together as roommates that it was more than that. But it did make them all that much more concerned about Nick dealing with Greg's disappearance. He appreciated their concern but in the last month he had grown angry with their attitudes that they would not find him. Nick just did not believe he was gone forever. He was out there somewhere, he just prayed, still alive.

They had pulled up to the address given and saw a house built in the 70's that had boarded up windows and overgrown grass. Brass and another officer had gone on ahead and made sure no one was around, and then they kicked down the locked front door. Nick went in side by side with Brass. Inside the house was an old beat up sofa and table with chairs. There were signs that someone had been there recently. Cigarette butts littered the floor along with the musty smell of smoke, marijuana and alcohol. "Still a drug house, it seems," Brass muttered. Nick had gone on ahead with his gun drawn. He started opening doors, looking for the one that led to the basement. His heart was beating rapidly as he got to the door right off the kitchen. Brass had come over to him and nodded for him to go ahead.

Nick opened the door and pointed his gun immediately in case someone was there on the other side. Brass had yelled down that they were the police but there was no response. Brass was about to think this was another dead end but then the smell of urine, alcohol and blood flooded his nose.

Nick had smelled it too and suddenly fear gripped at his heart that they were too late. He went down the stairs first, still holding his gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The basement was dark. As Nick got to the bottom of the stairs, he shined his light around and then saw his worst fear. He saw a naked man, with his back towards them, curled up on a dirty mattress. He walked over slowly to him, fearful of seeing the man closer. The old scars on the upper back of the man proved to Nick that this was indeed Greg. He knew those scars anywhere, however the rest of him he did not recognize. He ran over and immediately noticed a leather and metal collar with a chain attaching it to the wall, around Greg's neck. He reached for the thin right wrist of the man he loved and checked for a pulse. He was relieved when he found a weak one.

"He's alive, call the paramedics!" He yelled out. Brass found a light switch and turned on a light. He made the call while Catherine came closer and gasped as she shined her flashlight over to where Nick was. Greg's body was bruised and had dried blood in numerous areas. He was so thin and boney looking.

Nick had seen the same and noticed burn marks and other bruises all over his body. He looked up at Catherine, tears in his eyes. "Can you find a blanket for him? I think there is one in the back of the Tahoe."

"Yeah, sure," she said in a daze before finally breaking her stare at the battered body of Greg and running up the stairs.

Nick had stroked Greg's hair, which had grown longer since he had been gone. Also he had some facial growth but not as much as he would have thought. It almost appeared as if he had only a few days growth. "You're safe now, baby. We're going to take care of you. No one will hurt you again."

Nick said the same thing to him again as he looked at his sunken face while stroking the hair off his forehead as he lay in the hospital bed. "I'm going to find the bastard that did this to you and kill him."

-break-

Sara shook her head. She was having a hard time processing the scene where one of her best friends had been held captive for so long. She glanced up at Catherine, who also seemed to be having a hard time with it. The only one who seemed to be handling the situation okay was Ray Langston, as he had not known Greg as long or nearly as well as everyone else. Still even for him, it was rough.

They had brought in some lighting to see better down in the basement since the one light in the basement was dim. The true torture that Greg must have gone through became more evident in the better lighting. The chain that had been attached to the collar that had been fixed around Greg's neck now hung down in the right corner of the wall, nearest to where the filthy mattress that they found him laying upon. The chain apparently had been long enough to allow him to go as far over to the next corner where a toilet and sink were. It was not long enough to stretch to the staircase or to the tiny clouded up window that was on the other far wall. It had apparently held him to that one side, far enough from any possible escape route, even though that would have required his ability to remove the collar which they knew he had not been able to, not to say that he had not tried.

Catherine remembered seeing the paramedics and a locksmith trying to remove the collar from his neck before they took him away on the stretcher. Once it was removed, it revealed that it had been cutting into his neck and dried blood ringed his neck, with ugly black and blue bruises. Those were the least of his injuries.

His body was black and blue all over, with nasty red welts and burns over his torso and arms. His wrists also must have been restrained recently as they showed red welts circling them. His face was covered with dried blood and his lip and cheek were swollen. Catherine thought that when he was beaten that was bad enough, but this was far worse they would come to discover.

Sara stood up finally from taking swabs from the floor by the mattress and dropped her hands at her sides. "I can't do this anymore. I can't stand the thought of what happened to him here and whoever did this is still out there."

Catherine knew how she felt; it was taking everything she had to continue to take samples of the blood stains on the mattress. "I know, but this is the only way for now we can help find out who did this to him until he is able to tell us."

Ray stood up from where he was and spoke up. "Look, why don't you two process the upstairs and I will finish up down here. You two are too upset to deal with this down here anymore. I can handle it."

"Thank you, Ray. Let us know when you are done. We will have the mattress brought back to the lab and anything else we can." Catherine grabbed the things she had collected and started going upstairs. Sara followed after doing the same thing.

Sara put some of the swabs in an evidence bag and had an officer take them back to the lab immediately for DNA testing. She looked at Catherine now that it was just the two of them upstairs.

"There were semen stains all over that mattress and on the floor. What hell did they put him through?" she asked quietly as tears threatened. Catherine just shook her head not even wanting to think about their sweet Greggo and what he must have gone through.

"I don't want to know almost but I know we have to find out so we can catch whoever did this to him. We owe him that much. We owe it to Nick too, to keep looking. While Greg is in the hospital we won't be able to depend on Nick for anything. He's going to stay by his bedside the whole time, I can guarantee it. So it is up to us to find out what exactly happened until Greg can fill us in, hoping that he can," she added, not sure what shape he would really be in once he woke up. She only knew that he was going to need a lot of support from them.

"I just hope he will be okay. I'm really worried," Sara added.

"Yeah, well so am I but we have to have faith that he is in good hands at the hospital now."