When Demons Come A Calling

By Kimmi

CSI: CSR - mild GSR angst

Summary: When Sara’s past comes back to haunt her it arrives with a vengeance.

Warning this is femslash, you have been warned.

Disclaimers: If I owned them Cath and Sara would have been playing house by the third ep.

Part 1

Catherine Willows groaned as she looked at the slips of pink paper on her desk. Five rape-homicides in one day were more than swing shift could handle by itself. Even if she, Nick and Warrick all took one each there was no way they could possibly hit the other two without losing precious evidence. These cases were time sensitive and they were going to need help. She’d have to call in reinforcements. Picking up her cell phone she dialed her friend and former boss.

“Grissom.”

“Hey Gil it’s Catherine. I hate to ask but I need some help.”

After filling him in on the details and receiving a promise to call in his entire team Catherine made her way to the break room to send the guys to two of the scenes while she took a third. She picked up her kit and made her way to her SUV.

The drive was relatively short, no more than twenty minutes even with traffic, but it gave her time to think. With a hundred and thirty murders last year in the metro Vegas area, five in one night was a little unusual and for them all to come in within minutes of each other was unheard of. Catherine wondered briefly if there was a full
moon or some weird planetary alignment that had brought out the lunatics.

Catherine arrived at the scene and was retrieving her kit from the back when a second CSI SUV pulled up beside her. She watched Sara Sidle’s long legs exit the vehicle moments before the rest of her body. “What are you doing here? Why didn’t Gil send you to one of the scenes no one is working?”

Sara cursed silently to herself as she wondered the same thing. She and Catherine hadn’t really spoken since the blowup that had gotten her suspended and she wasn’t looking forward to working a scene with her. It promised to be a long and tense afternoon. “I really couldn’t tell you. Maybe it’s because I live two blocks away.”

It sounded like a plausible explanation but Catherine thought it more likely that this was Grissom’s way of trying to get them to work out their problems. She didn’t think it would do any good. Not until she and Sara could have a personal conversation without the brunette getting defensive and throwing up walls.

She waited for the younger woman to grab her kit, taking in the slumped shoulders and dragging feet. The woman looked like she had just rolled out of bed after not having nearly enough sleep. Knowing Sara that was exactly what had happened. “Well let’s get started. The scene isn’t going to process itself.”

Sara watched Catherine’s retreating back for a second before moving to follow her. She didn’t regret what she had said, just the way she had said it. There was no way that conversation should’ve taken place in the halls. There was nothing she could do to change it however, short of apologizing and that was out.

Catherine reached the front door and looked back for Sara. Normally the tall brunette’s long strides could easily outdistance her, but she was lagging behind. She made a vow to find a way to get them past this latest setback in their rocky relationship, with or without the other CSI’s help.

“Hey Catherine, Sara I gotta warn ya this one’s not pretty. Vic’s name is Robin Hamilton, 33. This is her house. Looks like she was raped and beaten. She’s in the bedroom down the hall, second door on the right. You’ve got your work cut out for you.” Captain Jim Brass gave them a quick rundown of the details.

Sara saw the appraising glance Brass threw her way and took her shades off to look him directly in the eye. She gave him a small smirk to let him know she understood he was looking out for her but that she was fine. She hadn’t been drinking before being called out, she was just tired. When she saw his answering smile she knew he had gotten the message. It was weird but they had developed this silent communication after her DUI. He knew she still drank, but she was a hell of a lot more careful now. She had made a stupid mistake. She didn’t have a problem with alcohol; she had a problem with herself.

Oblivious to the unspoken conversation going on behind her Catherine started for the bedroom. She hugged the walls and started to tell Sara to do the same but stopped when she saw the younger woman was already doing so. She got a quick look at the dark circles under her eyes before she had to turn her attention back to where she was going.

Sara silently followed the blonde concentrating so hard on where she put her feet that she barely kept from running into Catherine’s back. She hadn’t noticed her stop at the open door and her only warning was the sharp intake of breath and a muttered curse. Peering over the shorter woman’s shoulder it was easy to see what had prompted the expletive as one of her own squeezed its way out from her tightly clinched jaw. Written in what was most likely the woman’s blood in three foot high letters above the victim’s bed was the word ‘YOU’.

With numb fingers Sara fumbled for her camera. Once Catherine moved into the room and out of her way she began snapping photos. The oppressive iron smell of the blood made her glad that she could only see the scene in small bits and pieces through the viewfinder. It made it a little easier to push down the bile that sometimes wanted to creep its way up her throat when this much blood was involved.

“Well it looks like she was strangled. I can see bruising on the side of her neck. He also slashed her wrist though. Overkill maybe? Or maybe it was taking to long for her to bleed out?” Catherine voiced her thoughts out loud. The victim was lying face down and she couldn’t yet see the extent of the damage to the woman’s throat.

“Maybe he cut her just to get the blood for the message. What’s he trying to say though?”

Catherine looked up to see Sara absently rubbing her neck. She didn’t think it was healthy the way the younger woman could immerse herself so deeply into a case that she could actually see herself in it. “I’m not sure maybe… Hey Sara come get a picture of this.” Something barely sticking out from under the victim’s head had caught her eye. “What is that?”

Getting as close as she could without actually touching the body Sara took a good look before taking a few pictures. “Looks like plant matter. A flower stem maybe?”

“Ladies.”

The sudden voice from behind startled them both, making them jump slightly. They turned to see the portly assistant coroner standing just inside the room.
Catherine recovered first. “David please don’t sneak up on people like that.”

“Sorry. Are you ready for me?” Ducking his head slightly in embarrassment he never the less managed to send Sara a slight smile.

Catherine waved him toward the body giving silent consent as she and Sara stepped back to give him room to work. “Liver temp is 81 degrees so your time of death is approximately twelve hours ago.”

“Thanks David. Sara do you have everything you need?” When Catherine received a distracted yes from the brunette she stepped back toward the bed. “Ok David I need you to lift her head and carefully roll her over. There’s something under her and I don’t want to damage it.”

Sara waited with her camera ready while David lifted the dead woman and Catherine took a closer look. Cold fingers were wrapping themselves around her spine even before the blonde began to straighten up and she got her first look at what had been under the victim. The world fell away and all that was left was that flower. The brunette squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the sight in an attempt to get herself under control. There had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for it being there. Maybe the woman was a florist or a boyfriend had given it to her or she was an amateur horticulturalist anything but what her mind wanted to think. ‘It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a coincidence, it’s not him’ was running like a mantra through her mind.

“Sara! Did you hear me?” Catherine had told the younger woman to take photos of the flower but when Sara hadn’t moved she turned to look at her and found her staring at it ashen-faced. She had then called her name three times before the brunette seemed to snap out of the trance she seemed to be in.

Shaking her head to clear out her thoughts Sara stepped toward the bed. She hadn’t heard a word Catherine had said but she could pretty much guess what she wanted. As soon as she thought she had plenty of pictures she turned around and headed for the door. “I’m going to get started on the outside perimeter.”

Sara stepped out the front door taking huge gulps of fresh air. She was still trying to get the smell of the blood and the sight of that damn flower out of her head when she heard soft footsteps behind her.

Catherine could see the brunette’s sides heaving as she took deep breaths and as she came around to stand in front of her she nearly gasped at the younger woman’s pallor. She hadn’t believed it was really possible for someone to go white as a sheet but now the proof was in front of her. “Sara, are you all right? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

There was no way Sara could hide from Catherine’s keen gaze in the unforgiving light of the afternoon Nevada sun. “I’m just a little… I just needed some air. I’m fine.”

Cath could only stare after the lanky brunette as she wandered off around the side of house. She wanted to make sure that she really was fine but knew without a doubt Sara wouldn’t give her a straight answer. They had never had much of a relationship and Willows knew she was mostly to blame for that. Years spent pushing the younger woman away, topped off with constant digs had made Sara wary of trusting her. The brunette’s attitude had never helped either and of course their latest blow up resulting in Sidle’s suspension had made things go from chilly to frozen. Well she’d just have to talk to Gil and tell him to find out what was bothering her.

“Is she okay? She looked a little green around the gills.”

Brass’s soft question stopped Catherine’s retreat back into the house. “She said she was all right but you know Sara, she’d deny there was anything wrong even with her last breath.”

Brass let the blonde go without a word, his thoughts on the brunette. He promised himself he would find a way to get her alone later and try to get her to talk to him.

Part 2

 By the time Catherine finished processing the bedroom three hours had passed. She wondered where the Sara had gotten to as she gathered up her evidence and kit. She got her answer when she got into the living room. Sara was just packing away her powder and brushes and from the look of the room she had been busy.
“I uh finished up the rest of the house so if you’re done we can get out of here.” Sara told Catherine when she noticed the other woman watching her.

“Oh ok, great. Let’s get going then.” Catherine hadn’t expected the brunette to come back into the house after the way she had left it. Something about this crime scene had hit the woman hard. She was pleasantly surprised that not only had she come back in she had finished processing the house. The blonde hadn’t been looking forward to a couple more hours of work.

As they stowed their kits in their respective vehicles Catherine took the opportunity to observe the other woman. She still looked a little pale but with her shades on the blonde couldn’t tell if the haunted look was still in her eyes. “You want to talk about it?”

At first Sara wasn’t sure she had heard Catherine correctly. She wasn’t sure why the blonde was reaching out now since the last time all she had gotten for her trouble was it thrown back in her face along with a few harsh words. Even though there was no way she was going to talk about it Sidle knew this time she needed to keep her cool. “It’s nothing. I just suddenly felt a little queasy and needed some…”

“Air.” Catherine finished for her. “Yeah I caught that what with the whole green around the gills look you had going on. So what was it about the scene that got to you? And don’t tell me nothing because you looked like you had seen a ghost.”

“Glanduliferum Wilhelmenia.”

“What?” The apparent non sequitur momentarily threw Cath for a loop.

“It’s the flower you found. Glanduliferum Wilhelmenia is an orchid commonly know as Darkness.”

Catherine decided then and there that trying to get information out of Sara that she really didn’t want to share was like pulling teeth. “Ok what are you a botanist now? And what does an orchid have to with you running out of that room like your pants were on fire?”

Sidle raised her brow at the exasperated statement. She had by no means run out, she had walked out a little unsteadily but she had not run. However she was trying not to start a fight so she decided to let it go. “I’ve seen it before. It wasn’t a…good… time in my life and it threw me a little. I’m sorry I left you to process the room by yourself.”

“I’m not concerned about the scene Sara, I’m concerned about you.” Even with shades on she could see the surprise all over the brunette’s face. A second later all emotion was wiped away. Sara was closing down again. “You’re not going to tell me anything else, are you?”

“I appreciate your concern Catherine really, but I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not something I like to think about.” Sara was astonished not only that the blonde was worried about her but that she would admit it.

“Okay I’ll let it go. For now. But if you ever decide to let someone in give me call.” Catherine surprised herself by the offer but even more so by the fact that she meant it.

Sara bit back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue. The blonde was being nice and there was no good reason for her to piss the woman off. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. Meet you back at the lab?”

Catherine nodded and climbed into her Denali. She pulled out right behind Sara, following her all the way back. It looked as if the truce was on for the moment; she just hoped it held until this case was finished.

Part 3

When they arrived back at the lab Sara offered to drop off all the evidence they had collected so Catherine could check in and see if there were any new cases that needed attention. The blonde had started to argue but changed her mind and decided to accept the small peace offering.

She watched Sara for a few moments through the glass walls before she headed toward her office. She changed direction at the last minute, deciding to get fresh coffee before checking in with the other members of her team. Walking into the break room Catherine found Greg and Sofia already there looking over photos of their crime scene. “Hey guys how’s it going?”

“Hello Catherine, looks like we got a weird one.” Sofia coolly acknowledged the other blonde.

In the past they had been on politely professional terms. After her demotion and Catherine’s move to swing shift supervisor things had gotten a little strained especially after she and Grissom had failed to wait for her on the infantilism case.

“Oh yeah is it as weird as ours?” Willows asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

“The guy used the vic’s blood to write on the wall.” Greg answered her without looking up from the picture he was studying. He was still upset with Cath’s lack of support of Sara following the brunette’s suspension.

Catherine nearly dropped her cup. She was at the young man’s side in a second, snatching the photo out of his hand. “’ME’. Our’s said ‘YOU’. We could have a serial. What else did you find?”

Greg shuffled through the photographs until he found the one he was looking for. “There was a weird looking flower under her head.”

“She was naked, raped, lying face down and the orchid was under her face. It’s the same guy.” The photos Catherine was looking at could have been from the crime scene she had just left except for the word on the wall. “Greg go tell Mia to compare any DNA samples from your scene to mine. I’m going to print up our pictures. If you see Sara, fill her in and tell her to meet us in the big layout room.”

Greg lifted one eyebrow at Sofia silently asking if they should follow Catherine’s orders. She just shrugged at him and began gathering up everything on the table.
Catherine was printing off the pictures Sara had taken trying to figure out what the significance of the flower was and what connection it could possibly have to the younger CSI. The way the brunette had reacted to seeing it was nothing short of spooked, almost haunted. Her co-worker was definitely closed mouthed when it came to anything personal but surely she would have said something if she knew anything about the case but then again... The woman was an enigma. She was incredibly intelligent but so closed off from the rest of the world it gave her a slightly untouchable air. Of course the orchid and Sara’s reaction to it could just be a coincidence.

She hadn’t noticed that the photos had finished as she drifted off into an area she had labeled ‘The Sara Sidle Puzzle’ until someone knocked on her door. Looking up she saw Warrick standing there looking a little out of sorts and waved him in. “Don’t tell me your scene was weird too.”

Brown tilted his head at the greeting. “Sorry can’t do it. This one was definitely strange.”

“What did he write on the wall?” Catherine hung her head for a moment. She had had a sick feeling in her gut that this was just the beginning when she had seen Greg’s pictures of the second crime scene.

“How did you…? Never mind. He wrote ‘DID’ over the bed.” Warrick could see by his friend’s face and by the tone of her voice that this wasn’t going to be good and his own unease from seeing the carnage he had just processed came back ten-fold.

“It looks like you got the third victim of a one night serial signature killer. This guy has been really busy. We’re gathering in the layout room. Get your stuff together and meet us there. I think we’re all going to be in for a long night.” Lucky for them no new cases had come in or they would have to start calling in day shift to cover.

“Ok, Warrick just got back and it looks like we have a third victim.” Catherine announced as she entered the room. Two sets of eyes swung toward her, there should have been three. “Where’s Sara?”

“I checked with the techs, they all have the evidence she dropped off but no one knows where she is.” It was Greg that answered. Usually he could tell you at pretty much any given moment where the brunette was if she in the building but she seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth.

At that moment Sara was in the one place she was sure she wouldn’t be found, the drying room. People rarely came in there and she was sure to have the privacy that she needed at the moment. She was huddled in the corner, arms wrapped tightly around herself as she tried desperately to stop her body’s violent shaking. She had always found the small room to be peaceful but at the moment the silence was oppressive rather than comforting.

A faint smell of copper hung in the air clogging her nostrils and forced her to breathe through her mouth to avoid gagging on it and the memories it evoked. As the chill of the hard concrete seeped into her bones, chilling her to her battered soul, Sara regretted choosing this place to hide but she didn’t know where else to go tobe completely alone. She had to calm down, get her emotions under control. Then she somehow had to find the courage to go back into the lab and revel something she had thought was locked away, for five life sentences.

As Warrick joined the assembled team members he handed his pictures off to Catherine. She sorted through them and found the ones she wanted. Pinning the shots of the dark man’s scene next hers and Greg’s she turned to the others. “Ok we have three murders linked, even without DNA or fingerprint evidence, by several different things. Number one the words written in the victim’s blood. Number two position and condition of the bodies. Number three a flower under each vic’s head. According to Sara it is an orchid called Darkness.”

“What exactly is the killer trying to tell us?” Greg asked looking at the bloody words. He had been trying since he had first seen it to control the revulsion it summoned up. He just hoped no one had noticed how uneasy he was, the last thing he needed was for everyone ragging on him for being the rookie.

“You did me? Me did you? It really doesn’t make any make any sense.” Sofia threw in her two cents. She was used to talking out a scene step by step but the others on her new shift had started giving her looks like she was slightly off so she had tried to curtail the habit, when they were around anyway.

“Maybe that’s because you’re missing part of the message.”

They all turned at the new voice. Grissom stood in the doorway clutching a stack of photos. He was coming back from the photo lab, preferring film to digital, when he had passed by and seen his crime scene up on the board.

“Oh god, not you too?” Catherine groaned. That brought the total to four. This was once sick bastard. One they needed to catch quickly.

“Yeah. Mine said ‘MISS’ so it looks like ‘Did you miss me’. I’ve never seen a serial like this emerge overnight. Have you run it through VICAP yet?” Grissom asked looking at the blonde. In his mind there was no way this was their guy’s first time out. He had to have done this before, somewhere.

“There’s no need I can tell you who it is.” Sara announced to the room in a voice rough from the tears she had shed.

Part 4

All eyes turned to see Sara looking as pale as a ghost. Catherine was immediately at her side. She knew she should have pushed a little harder at the scene. She led the brunette to a stool and sat her down keeping her hand on the broad shoulder to lend some kind of support. The blonde gave a shake of her head silently asking Greg, Warrick and Sofia to leave. They looked as if they wanted to argue but a glare from her sent them on their way. Whatever it was that Sara had to tell them she didn’t think she would want to do it in front of more people than was necessary.

Sara waited until her co-workers were gone and Grissom had shut the door behind them before looking up. She really didn’t want to talk in front of Catherine either but these were her cases, she was the supervisor and her shift had caught them even if she had called them in to help. Talking about this in front of these two people was perhaps the hardest thing she had ever had to do, harder even than telling Gil about her parents.

Grissom was someone she thought she had been in love with, and maybe she really had been, but now she knew it was more of a search for validation. She had wanted him to be what she had never had before, someone that understood and accepted her as she was. She had wanted someone that didn’t go glassy eyed every time she started rambling about obscure scientific facts but more than anything she had wanted what she had never received from her parents. Love.

He had dangled her along, showing her brief glimpses of what life could be like with him, but then he would always turn away once again, leaving her bereft. Then had come that one case where she was finally made to understand. He did have feelings for her but she wasn’t worth the risk. She had promised herself after that little revelation that it was over, she would no longer pine for him.

Catherine on the other hand was a horse of an entirely different color. She had long ago acknowledged her attraction to the older woman but Sara also knew without a doubt that it was completely one sided. The blonde had never made it a secret that on a good day she merely tolerated the brunette’s presence and on a bad day, well she wasn’t shy about showing her contempt. It was true that when they managed to really work together they were an unstoppable team but years of put downs, fights and competition had soured the younger woman but still hadn’t managed to completely snuff out her desire.

It seemed to Sara that she had almost the same relationship with Cath as she did Grissom, only in reverse. Where he was kind enough to her most of the time and threw a smile or a vague come on at her every now and then, the blonde was nasty ninety percent of the time with a few random acts of kindness tossed her way to really confuse her. Of course now really wasn’t the time to be reflecting on how screwed up her relationships, or rather lack of, were. They were expecting answers. “His name is Michael Wayne Thomas. He’s supposed to be in Folsom serving five consecutive life sentences. I called the warden and found out that three months ago he escaped and was presumed dead. They thought he drowned in the American River after part of a body washed up a few miles downstream a few weeks after the prison break.

Twelve years ago at Berkley he raped six women and killed five of them. He stalked them. He raped them. He killed them. He left all of them that flower. The sixth managed to get away and identify him.”

To Catherine, Sara’s voice sounded dead it was so devoid of emotion. She knew better though. The trembling of the body beneath her hand was a huge clue.

“Twelve years ago? You were working in the San Francisco coroner’s office weren’t you?” Grissom asked. It seemed to him that he remembered her starting there about that time.

“No. I was still in grad school.” Sara didn’t want to have to spell it out for them it had been hard enough to get that much out. She didn’t want to have to say the words.

“Ah so you knew the victims, had classes with them.” Grissom reasoned. Her reactions and offer to be a decoy on the Strip Strangler case made much more since now. Having known the victims of another signature killer that raped his victims had made it personal for her.

As realization swept over Catherine she felt the blood drain from her face and she involuntarily tightened her grip on the woman’s shoulder. There was no way any police department would release information about the flower, they would hold it back in order to get a conviction on all of the murders. There was only one way the lanky brunette could know it by sight. “Oh god, Sara.” The blonde breathed out just before she enveloped the brunette in a fierce hug. Her reaction to the sight of that damn orchid made sense now. She locked eyes with Grissom and for a split second thought about letting go and throttling him at the confused look on his face.
“You were the sixth…” Catherine couldn’t finish the sentence. Victim was a word she had never thought she would apply to the younger woman and she found she couldn’t say it out loud.

Sara had never been hugged by Catherine before and found that it was probably the most comforting thing she had ever felt. She realized that that said something about how sad her life was. She wasn’t in any hurry to break that contact even if she was confused by why it was being given. Cath didn’t hug her, she rarely touched her at all, she didn’t even like her. “It was the reason I left school.”

As understanding finally sank in Grissom found himself becoming incredibly angry. “You didn’t tell me that.”

The accusation in his voice made both women look at him sharply. Catherine was about to lay into him but Sara beat her to it. “You mean when you forced me to tell you about why I got so angry about abuse cases. I only told you about my childhood because you refused to leave. You never asked why I hated rape cases. I didn’t want to talk about that and I sure as hell don’t want to talk about this but I don’t have a choice.”

Grissom suddenly found his feet very interesting. For once he understood the human condition. He was angry at the man that had hurt her but had made it sound like it was directed at her. Now she was pissed at him, hell they were both pissed off at him. He had to fix it quick. “I’m sorry Sara I didn’t mean it to sound that way, I just…I’m so…”

“Angry? Ready to kill the bastard? Scared?” Catherine supplied. She had seen it in his face, in his eyes and she could understand it. She herself was furious that some psycho had put his hands on Sara, hurt her and nearly killed her. Now he was here. She was also curious as to what the two were alluding to about the lanky brunette’s childhood but figured it could wait until after the current crisis had passed.

Before he could answer yes to all the above he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Before any of them could say a word the door cracked open and Nick’s head appeared in the gap. “Ah Griss, Cath can I talk to you guys for a second, alone?”

“It’s ok. I’m gonna go grab a cup of coffee.” Sara said when it looked as if they both were going to protest. She needed to put a little distance between them and her even if she was enjoying the comfort Catherine’s arms had brought. The entire conversation was taking a toll on her already bruised psyche.

Catherine wanted to argue. She didn’t think that whatever Nick had to say could be more important than what they were discussing. But she figured Sara might want some time alone. The woman absolutely hated showing anything that might be conceived as weakness. Giving the brunette one last squeeze she let go and allowed her to get up.

Sara could feel three sets of eyes on her back as she left the room. She shook off the feeling of being under a microscope only to have it return as soon as she walked into the break and three new sets of eyes zoomed in on her. Greg was on his feet in a second and leading her to the couch. She sat down silently and just watched as he poured her a cup of coffee, fixing it exactly how she liked it. She gave him a genuine smile when she realized it was his forty dollar a pound special brew.

Greg breathed a little sigh of relief. When Sara had appeared in the layout room he had been beyond concerned at her pallor and the haunted look in her eyes. When they were made to leave he had rushed to the break room to start a fresh pot of coffee, digging into his secret stash. He figured she would need a pick me up and the sludge that was provided by the county wasn’t going to cut it.

Sara tried to simply enjoy the rare treat but she knew she couldn’t ignore the worried gazes of her co-works for much longer. She had to look up however when Greg took a seat on one side of her and Warrick sat on the other. Nether of them said a word perhaps sensing her need for silence and she was grateful just for the quiet support. She knew the questions would come soon but for now she could just sit in the warm shelter their close proximity provided.

Nick looked at the board and knew he had made the correct decision. He had only brought one picture with him but it was more than enough. The minute the Texan had seen the name written in blood he had felt his gut twist. There was no reason other than a sick hunch to connect the name with his friend but somehow he knew. He walked over and pinned his photo up next to the others. “The vic’s name is Mary.”

Grissom and Catherine could see why the young man had wanted them to see this without the brunette in the room. The message was complete. ‘Did you miss me Sara’

Cath couldn’t hold her anger back any longer. She picked up the chair Sara had been sitting in a few moments ago and threw it at the wall, tears streaming unnoticed down her cheeks. It was no coincidence, no sick twist of fate, this man had come to Vegas with a purpose. The sick bastard had killed five women just to send the brunette a message that he was coming for her.

Nick knew he was missing a crucial piece of information. The two supervisors knew something he didn’t to put that look of terror on Grissom’s face and to make Catherine lose it like that.

“We’ve got to get her protection Gil.” Catherine growled at the bearded man when she had regained a little composure.

Grissom didn’t bother to answer her; he already had his phone in his hand. “Brass I need you to get over here now. I’ll explain when you get here. Bring a couple of uniforms with you.”

The conversation, if you could call it that, was swift and to the point. He left no time for questions or arguments, only compliance.

Part 5

“No.”

“Sara.”

“I said no. I’m not going to be locked up, put into protective custody or hidden away. I’m going home to my apartment. Alone.”

Grissom, Brass, Catherine and Sara were standing in the parking lot of the CSI building, two uniforms waiting a respectable distance way. The blonde was currently blocking the brunette’s car door with her body so she couldn’t get in and take off.

Sara had known what they were up to the minute the homicide detective had shown up in the break room, flanked by two officers. She had looked at all of them in turn and then told them to go to hell. She wasn’t going to hide. She was going home to her apartment to lie sleeplessly in her own bed.

“Damn it Sara quit being stubborn. This is your life we’re talking about!” Catherine couldn’t understand how she could disregard her safety so easily. It was making her angry and the headache she had developed wasn’t helping matters either.

“That’s right. It’s my life.” Sara threw at the smaller woman. “I’m not going to let this son of a bitch chase me out of my home. I’m not going to live in fear anymore. I have a gun, I’ll be fine. If you want to worry about someone then worry about yourself and Lindsey.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Catherine’s voice was low, dangerous. If there was any kind of threat to her daughter she wanted to know. Now.

“This guy’s had twelve years in a ten by ten cell to think about this. He’s had three months on the loose to find me, watch me and learn everything about me. It’s what he does. He stalked us, knew every move we made. They found notebooks full, when we got up, went to sleep, where when and how much we ate, who we talked to even if was just hello. You can be damn sure he knows where each and every one of you live simply because we work together. So you take the uniforms and protect yourself and your daughter.” Sara was beating herself up for not thinking of it sooner. She had been about to leave without warning the blonde and if anything had happened to her or Lindsey, it would have killed the brunette before Thomas ever had a chance to get near her. At least this little scene in the parking lot had done some good.

No matter what Sara said Catherine didn’t think the guy would come after them. He had had plenty of opportunity but instead he had chosen strangers, women with no connection to the younger CSI. “We’ll be fine. It’s you that needs to worry about yourself.”

“Cath he just killed five women to say hello! Do you really think you might not be in danger too? Thomas isn’t someone you can use you’re sexuality against. He doesn’t care how beautiful you are! He’s a monster!” Sara was about to lose it she knew that because even though they were outside in the open she was beginning to feel claustrophobic. She wanted to get away from everyone before it happened.

“God Sara! We’re back to that now? Why is it that it bothers you so damn much!” This was the argument that had started the ball rolling to get Sara suspended. Catherine couldn’t understand why the younger woman was so focused on this one thing. It was pissing her off.

Sara had no control left. She grabbed the smaller woman by the arms and pulled her close so that their faces were only inches apart her fear for the older woman blocking her normal restraint around Catherine. “Because you use it like a weapon and one day you’re going to try to use it against the wrong person and it’s going to get you hurt, or killed. That doesn’t just bother me it scares the hell out of me!”

Catherine didn’t struggled, she didn’t try to put distance between them, instead she moved forward just slightly until there was barely a breath between them. “Why if I didn’t know any better Sidle I would say you actually care about me.”

“I can imagine it must be hard for you.” Sara ground out as she released the blonde. They were dangerously close to each and it was sending thoughts ricocheting around her mind that were best left locked down tight. Certain libidinousness thoughts that she shouldn’t have when the blonde was anywhere near her, like in the same time zone.

“What?” Catherine wasn’t about to let the brunette walk away now, not when they were finally getting to the bottom of this. She stepped forward closing the slight distance Sara had created.

“Finding out you don’t know everything. You know just because you hate me doesn’t mean I hate you.” Sara felt drained as she looked away from the piercing blue eyes boring into her. She didn’t want to be having this conversation now and certainly not in the middle of a parking lot with an audience. She didn’t want to have it all. In her mind letting Cath know that she cared about her was just an invitation to be mocked and ridiculed by the blonde.

The anger Catherine had felt moments before evaporated. She reached out and cupped the taller woman’s chin, forcing her to look at her. “I don’t hate you Sara. I’ve never been able to get a line on you, what makes you tick, and that frustrates me. I think I understand a little of why you are the way you are now though. I admit there have been times I’ve wanted to shake you senseless when you get so wrapped up in a case that you forget that anything else exists. I have entertained thoughts of strangling you when your attitude gets out of control. Once I even had a daydream of bending you over my knee and spanking you for acting like an overgrown petulant child. But, I. Do. Not. Hate. You.”

Sara was speechless, her eyes wide at the statement. She was wondering if she could have misread all their fights and all the insults Catherine had thrown her way. She really didn’t think she had but then again she wasn’t well versed in the area of normal human interactions.

“Look I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll take one officer with me if you take the other.” Cath was little hurt that Sara seemed so surprised by the fact that she didn’t hate her. Of course she really only had herself to blame. She had never really tried to talk to her, to get the brunette to open up, to understand her. Then there were the little snide remarks she loved to toss around. Well maybe they could actually get something good out of this nightmare and finally get past all their differences and become real friends.

“All right, but he stays outside the building.” It was as close as Sara would get to a compromise and only because she really did want to make sure the blonde and her child were safe.

Catherine grinned at the concession. She knew she was lucky to get that much out of the stubborn woman. “Okay but you let him clear your apartment first.”

“Only if your guy stays inside the whole time.” Sara couldn’t believe they were negotiating this, it was completely unreal.

They locked eyes, each waiting for the other to refuse. When it didn’t come Sara held out her hand.

Cath looked down at the offered appendage for a second before she shook it. “Deal, but just so you know when this is over you and I are going to have a very long talk young lady.”

Sara dreaded it and looked forward to it at the same time. She was more than a little afraid of some of the secrets that could be reveled if she let her walls down to far, but she also found she wanted to let Catherine in just a little. She just had to hope that they might finally get past all their differences and build something better. Of course just about anything would be better than what they had now. “Ok. We really should talk about this fantasy of yours about spanking me. I never knew you were into kink.”

Sara hadn’t been able to help herself, she needed to lighten the situation a little and take the focus off what was happening. Her brain of course had latched onto that statement and run away with it. She couldn’t resist teasing the other woman even though she knew for certain she hadn’t meant it that way. She was supremely pleased with herself when Catherine’s jaw started moving but no sound came out. She had succeeded for the first time in over five years in making the woman speechless.

Catherine couldn’t seem to get her mouth to work. She hadn’t meant it like that! Of course now that the idea was planted… She couldn’t help herself staring at the brunette’s shapely backside as she walked over to the others. She mentally slapped the thoughts away. This was not the time or the place to suddenly decide she wouldn’t mind seeing her co-worker’s ass sans jeans. She managed to get her legs working and joined the others in time to hear Sara telling one of the officers he was to go with her and the other with Cath.

Sara pointedly ignored Grissom and Brass. She was still pissed at them. They had informed her that she wasn’t going to finish her shift and that she wasn’t going to be able to work any cases until they caught this guy. Their reasoning that he could follow her to a crime scene was in her opinion complete bullshit. There were officers on the scenes and it wasn’t like he was going to shoot her with a high powered rifle, that wasn’t his style. She felt that she would be safer doing her job than anywhere else. They hadn’t seen it that way. Well she wasn’t going to make this easy on them. She had meant what she had told Catherine. She wasn’t going to hide. She wasn’t going to let Michael Thomas control her life. She wasn’t going to be afraid of him anymore.

Grissom had watched the entire exchange with interest. He had sent Sara to Catherine’s scene tonight in the hopes that they would find a way to work out their problems. When they really worked together they were the best team the lab had. Something about the two women seemed to click, on a case if not personally, and made them a force to be reckoned with.

After the latest incident between them he had decided that something needed to be done. It seemed that maybe for once his timing was right on the money, even if the events that had precipitated it were terrifying. Maybe it was time he reevaluated his own relationship with the brunette.

Brass had his own worries as he watched the two women part and it wasn’t just for their safety. He was afraid that this would send Sara spiraling back down into dangerous risk taking behavior. They hadn’t really talked about her drinking except that one time, in words anyway. They had developed a silent language of raised eyebrows, gentle grins and various nods to convey what they were thinking. The brunette had opened up to him almost without saying a word. It was a strange relationship but one he treasured.

He had come to think of the intense young woman as a daughter and he would do whatever it took to protect her. It seemed that maybe he wasn’t the only one when he heard Catherine quietly tell the officer that once they were out of sight he was to follow them to Sara’s. Once they were gone the homicide detective quietly told the blonde that he was going to send someone over to her place, just in case and was happy when she didn’t argue. He pulled the two remaining CSI’s into the building with him, wanting to get started on finding the son of a bitch that was threatening his girl.

Part 6

Sara was quickly losing her mind. She had arrived home four hours ago and mindful of her deal with Catherine had dutifully allowed the officer to clear the apartment while she stood anxiously in the hallway outside. It had been more than a little nerve wracking to have a complete stranger in her home looking in the closets, behind all the doors and under the bed as she was a private person by nature.

Once she had seen the uniformed cop out the door she had plopped herself down on the sofa with a beer and attempted to find something on TV. She tried to distract herself, unsuccessfully, from remembering the mind numbing terror she had felt at waking up and feeling his cold clammy hands moving over her skin as his weight pressed her deep into the mattress. She had been so scared and disoriented that at first she had just laid there until she realized what was happening.

She turned up the volume when she could have sworn she heard the ripping sound her clothes had made as he tore them off her body. The night had been cold, fall spinning quickly into winter, and the night air had raised goose bumps over her naked flesh. The full autumn moon had streamed in through the thin curtains covering her window, giving her a good, but eerie look at his face. Then he had been inside her, the pain of the sudden forced violation making her cry out. She had started screaming then, hoping someone would hear her, but the party going on down the hall made it unlikely.

His putrid breath had made her gag as he tried to kiss her, turning her face to the side to avoid his mouth her eyes had locked onto the strange flower lying by her head. The sight of it, some sick twisted romantic gesture, had stirred a rage in her so sharp she thought it might cut her from the inside out, and Sara had blindly struck out trying to fight him off.

Her fists had done little to deter him, and then her hand had brushed against the cheap lamp on her nightstand. She had desperately grasped for it, bring it down over his head with terror fueled strength. The first hit had dazed him and the second had nearly knocked him out. She had pushed him off her and ran for the door, clutching her torn clothing, trying to cover herself. By the time she had found help and the cops had shown up, he was gone.

Sara leapt up and ran out to her balcony to take deep breaths of the clear night air as the smell of his cheap cologne assaulted her nose. She knew it wasn’t real but that didn’t stop the bile from rising bitterly in her throat and the cold sweat breaking out on her body.

Letting the cool wind of the desert night sweep over her Sara wished she could see the stars. Even though she lived a couple miles from the strip the bright lights from the casinos obliterated the view of the night sky. She briefly entertained the thought of sneaking out of her apartment and driving out into the desert to get a better view but knew how dangerous that would be. No matter how self destructive she had been the last few months, she didn’t want to die.

When she was a kid Sara had often snuck out her bedroom window and into the tree next to the house to get away from the yelling and fighting. She couldn’t go far just in case on of her parents came looking for her because if they had ever caught her out there the punishment would have been swift and extremely painful.

Sara sighed and went back inside. Thinking about her childhood wasn’t much better than thinking about Michael Thomas. She had spent the first thirteen years of her life in a certifiable nightmare. Her father beat her mother, her mom hit her dad and they both hit her and her brother. Steve had left home the minute he graduated high school when she was eight and that had left only her in the house as the lone recipient of their parents’ fury. Then one night her entire existence had been turned upside down.

Being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night wasn’t an unusual event. This time though Sara had known something was different. Her mother had a wild look in her eye that she had never seen before. The next few minutes were a blur until she saw the knife in her mother’s hand. Her father, drunk and passed out, never stirred as the woman stood over him until the blade sank into his chest. By the time he was aware of what was happening to him, it was too late. Ten more times her mother had struck, his blood falling like red rain each time she raised her hand until the entire room was covered in splatter.

She had spent the majority of her life trying to forget the two most traumatic events of her life and in the last few weeks she had had both shoved down her throat. First Grissom had badgered her until she finally broke down and told him about her childhood and how her mother had murdered her father. Now the monster that had stolen the last shred of innocence she had, had killed five women, before coming after her, was back. Five women once again raped and slaughtered with a message to her in their blood, he was repeating the pattern.

Sara was ready to scream, the more she tried not to think about what was going on the more it plagued her. She had no idea what she was going to do with herself if Grissom and Brass refused to let her come into the lab for any length of time. At least when she had been suspended for a week she had been able to leave the apartment if she wanted to without fear or a police escort. It was one thing to say she wasn’t going to let Michael Thomas scare her out of her home, it was another thing to be trapped in it.

Grabbing another beer Sara racked her brain for something to do. She needed to distract herself from the shocking events of the day but it seemed to be of no use, her mind refused to let it go. Yesterday her life had been trudging along its normal routine and today it was completely turned upside down. The man that had changed the course of her life was once again hunting her.

After the attack Sara had tried to continue with her studies but she began seeing Thomas lurking around every corner even after he was caught. She wondered incessantly everywhere she went if he had been behind that bush or in that doorway, watching her. She had never felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up or gotten a chill down her spine or any of the things that are supposed to happen when someone is stalking you. She hadn’t known she was in danger and she was afraid she wouldn’t know if it was happening again.

She hadn’t had a plan when she left school and had stumbled onto the job with the coroner by accident. Needing money and a new place to live it had seemed as if there really wasn’t a choice. Working there a few years she had become familiar with the CSI’s and Sara had found a crusade which had eventually led her to Vegas. This of course was where she had met a blonde, blue-eyed, bossy, opinionated, stubborn, headstrong, dedicated, intelligent, beautiful goddess that had never made it a secret that she didn’t want the brunette around. Sure Catherine had told her today that she didn’t hate her, but she hadn’t said she liked her either.

She had wanted Catherine’s friendship but would have settled for her respect and for a time it looked like she might be making headway, after Eddie’s murder though it seemed as if she would never have either. She had tried to ignore the other feelings she had for the blonde pushing them to the furthest recesses of her mind, categorizing them as an exercise in futility and masochism but had always failed miserably. It seemed as if once that vivacious woman got into your system there was no cure. While Sara had never limited attraction to something as insignificant as gender she knew that Cath was as straight as they came and would most definitely never want her.

She sank further into the soft cushions of her couch letting her head fall back as the memory of Catherine’s arms wrapped around her swept through her. That one embrace was enough to bring every hope, every dream, every late night longing rushing back to the surface. Sara closed her eyes and let it come, reliving every second of the contact she hadn’t had time to think about at the time. The warmth of her body, the feel of her perfect breasts pressed intimately against her back and the safety and security of those strong arms wrapped around her, it was a much more pleasant activity than thinking about the horrors of her past and the uncertainty of her future.

Sara had no idea how long she had drifted around her apartment lost in thoughts of her blonde co-worker when she was forcefully thrown back into reality by a knock at her door. She gave a sigh thinking it was probably Grissom or one of the guys coming by to check on her or hopefully give her some news. Not wanting to have to justify herself to her boss if it was him she went to grab for the beer bottles sitting on the coffee table and furrowed her brow wondering when she had drank another two. She clearly remembered the first couple but had no memory of the second set. She shrugged it off as stress and carried the bottles with her, dropping them in the trash can on the way.

Peering through the peephole Sara was surprised to see the cop that had escorted her home. Wondering why he was up there instead of out front keeping an eye out for Michael Thomas she opened the door.

***

Catherine was finding it hard to concentrate. Her conversation with Sara out in the parking lot was weighing heavily on her mind. She had told her the truth when she said she didn’t hate her but she could understand how she had gotten that impression. She knew she had a temper and that she tended to take it out on those around her, she just hadn’t realized how often it had been the brunette that had drawn her ire. Now she was regretting every cutting remark, every put down, every glare she had sent the younger woman. She had never really made an attempt to befriend her.

Why was that? What was it about the lanky brunette that had made her keep her at arms length? Sure Sara wasn’t the most social person but then neither was Grissom and she counted him as one of her dearest friends. Was it the fact that Gil had brought her, another woman, a stranger in to investigate Warrick? Catherine had let that bias her before she had ever gotten a chance to know Sara and she had never really attempted to change it. Then there was the relentless way she pursued a case, forgoing sleep and food. Maybe it was her arrogant attitude, the way she got territorial and bitchy if someone suggested they could do a better job? Of course they all got protective of their cases but Sidle seemed to take it personally.

A realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Of course Sara would take it personally. The job was her life. She wasn’t just looking for justice for the victims but also for herself. She needed to solve cases to fight her own demons. She wasn’t just empathic when it came to their pain, she was reliving her own. God she had been so stupid. The signs had been there but she hadn’t been able to put them together, or maybe she hadn’t wanted to.

Silently vowing to make up for every cross word she had ever thrown the brunette’s way Catherine went back to going over every millimeter of the sheets from their scene. If she had to stay there all night to find one shred of evidence, she would. They had to find this guy before he got a chance to go after Sara again, before he had a chance to take her away from them.

Part 7

Sitting alone in his office, surrounded by the detritus of his career, Grissom was beginning to realize what he had thrown away now that it might be taken by force. Sara had once offered to give him what he had longed for for years but fear had made him turn her down. He knew what the ramifications would be if they got involved. One or both of them could lose their jobs if it became known, supervisors did not date the people they supervised. All that they had worked for would be lost. Then there was the possibility that it wouldn’t work out and then he wouldn’t even have her friendship. He would rather have that, strained as it was of late, then nothing at all because he knew without a doubt if they began a romantic relationship and it ended Sara would leave Vegas.

So the question remained. Was he going to let his fear continue to rule him or take a chance on the future? Did he want to risk everything for her? He loved her, there was no doubt in his heart about that, he had for a very long time. But could he take that leap, could he throw himself off that cliff and hope that she would be there to catch him? He was beginning to think the answer might be yes.

He remembered when he had first met Sara at a seminar soon after she had become a level 1 CSI. The physical attraction had been instant but it was her razor sharp mind and obvious enthusiasm for the job that had really drawn him. She had cornered him after his last talk and proceeded to pick his brain with question after question. When he realized how late it was he had suggested that they continue their discussion over dinner and she had readily accepted.

They had discussed all areas of forensics at length but anytime the conversation touched on anything remotely personal Sara had shied away and steered them back to work related topics. Grissom had been amazed at just how young she was as she blushed prettily when he complimented her knowledge and suggested they keep in touch. And they had kept in touch, sporadic as it was, through emails and a few phone calls. Over the years he had managed to forget how beautiful she was until he had asked her to come to Vegas.

The moment he had seen her again Gil knew he was in trouble. The years since he had last laid eyes on her had not just been kind to her they had only served to make her even more alluring. And so he had begun a dangerous dance with Sara. He had tried to control himself but every so often he would slip and say something totally inappropriate, pulling her close and then shoving her away again as sanity reasserted itself. He was her boss, he wasn’t supposed to want her, but he did. His longing for her became deeper the longer he was around her and his reaction was to push her further away. It was a destructive pattern that wasn’t just hurting him, it was hurting her and it had to stop. They couldn’t continue on as they had been, it was completely unfair to them both. He had to either accept the fact that he was in love with her or let her go.

He tried to imagine his life without her in it and found that he couldn’t. The thought alone was enough to make his heart feel like someone was squeezing it in a vice. It made him want to sob. He hung his head trying to stay in control. If it felt this bad just thinking about it if it actually happened it would likely break him. He made his decision. He only hoped he wasn’t too late.

Catherine swore she was going cross-eyed from staring into the microscope for so long. She didn’t know how Sara could do this for hours without going blind or developing scoliosis, she had a newfound respect for the brunette’s work ethic. She however needed a break, coffee and to stretch her legs. Stepping into the break room she found that she wasn’t the only one with that idea. “Hey Nick any luck?”

“I’ve found a ton of trace. It’s almost like the guy planted it or just didn’t care about transfer. What about you?” The Texan had been getting more and more frustrated as the hours wore on. All night he had been bouncing between wanting to hit something and crying, the emotional roller coaster was taking its toll on him. Sara was more than a co-worker or even a friend. She was part of his family, a sister that he dearly loved. He hated the fact that because of the team being split he rarely got to see her beyond a quick cup of coffee in the break room or a passing hello in the halls. He missed working cases with her, talking it out, watching her adorable gap-toothed smile when she found the piece of evidence. He missed having breakfast with her, drinks with her, lunch with her. He missed her.

He realized with a start that they hadn’t had many of those even before Ecklie had broken up graveyard. It took him a minute of hard thinking to pinpoint when it had started. After the explosion in the lab she had changed but it wasn’t until Grissom had recommended him over her for the lead CSI position that she had really withdrawn. How could he have not noticed that? Once this was over he was going to sit Sara down and make sure she understood just how much she meant to him.

“Same here. We’ll have to compare all of it and hope something stands out.” Catherine said before taking a sip on her coffee. She grimaced when she realized it was stone cold. As she turned to the sink to pour it out she could feel Nick’s eyes following her.

“Cath what’s really going on? There has to more to it than Sara put the guy away. The way you and Grissom reacted…” He had wanted to ask before but things had gotten a little heated. Now that he had the older woman alone he needed answers. The thought of some psycho stalking Sara was making him see red. He knew from experience what it felt like, as if all the air had been sucked out of the room and you were slowly suffocating.

All she and Grissom had told the team was that someone Sara had put away had escaped from prison. They had left out the how, letting them assume it was in an official capacity. The brunette didn’t want it to become common knowledge around the lab and they were doing their best to keep that from happening.

“It’s just what we said Nicky. Yeah we reacted kind of badly but we’re just concerned for her safety. Look I’m starving and the sludge left in the pot is unsuitable for human consumption. I’m going to walk down to the deli and grab some food and decent coffee. You want to go with?” Catherine wanted to get his focus off their current conversation and she could tell he knew it but was willing to let it go.

“Naw I nuked burrito earlier. I’m going to get back to work. The sooner we find this guy the better.” He didn’t begrudge her food but he did resent the fact that she was still lying to him. He knew she was just by the look on her face.

***

“Nick have you seen Catherine?”

Stokes tore his gaze away from the fibers he had been studying to look at his former supervisor. “She said she was going to the deli but that was over an hour ago.
She should have been back by now.”

“I’ve looked all over the lab, tried paging and calling her cell. No answer. Would you go over there and get her back here? We’ve got to start correlating all this trace and I need her help.” Grissom was beginning to get a little worried. It wasn’t like the blonde to stay gone this long especially under the circumstances.

Nick hurried out without a word. He never should have let her go alone, not with a maniac on the loose. It was something they had all done a hundred times, a quick trip, a block and a half. He never stopped to think that something might happen to her; if it had he would blame himself until his last breath.

The Texan ran the entire way to the deli and burst through the door gasping for breath. A quick look around the small restaurant revealed that the blonde wasn’t there and a question to the girl behind the counter that she hadn’t been in all night. Nick started back to the lab at a slower pace checking the ground as he went. Half a block from CSI his worst nightmare came true.

Tossed almost casually into the ditch were Catherine’s purse, badge, cell and pager. The only thing missing was her gun. With shaking hands Nick grabbed for his own phone and hit speed dial.

‘Grissom’

“We have a big problem.” Nick couldn’t keep the tears out of his voice seeing as how they were now streaming down his face.

‘Nick calm down and tell me what’s wrong.’

“Cath’s gone.” He choked on the words and had to swallow the rising bile before he could continue. “She never made it to the deli. I found her things but she’s not here.”

‘Where are you?’

“Half a block, I can see the lab from here. Bring a kit.” She had been snatched almost from under their noses.

Nick continued to stare at the blonde’s belongings fighting the urge to pick them up, to hold onto them, onto her. This nightmare of a day was getting worse. It only took a couple of minutes for Grissom to get there but it felt like a year. The man was breathing hard and he seemed to have a death grip on his kit. “I should have gone with her, she asked me to go with her. Why did I say no? Damn it!”

“Nicky you had no way of knowing. What if you had been here? You could be laying here dead and she would still be gone. You can’t blame yourself. Now help me process this so we can find her.” Pulling out two sets of gloves Gil looked over to the parking lot where only a few short hours ago Sara had warned Catherine she might need a body guard. It was terrifying how prophetic it had turned out to be.

They bagged the items lying on the thin strip of grass and took pictures of a few skid marks. There was disheartening little to process. It looked like the car may have been parked next to the curb and the perp had simply grabbed her. But why take the time to throw out her things? Why not wait until he had less chance of being interrupted and caught? The only answer Grissom could think of was the guy wanted them to know he had taken her from their doorstep.

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted Gil’s ruminations and he fumbled with numb fingers to answer it. “Grissom.”

‘It’s Brass. I need you to…’

“Jim I can’t go anywhere right now. We have a situation. Catherine’s missing.” His voice was controlled, even though he wanted to scream as he interrupted the detective.

‘Shit. Well I have more bad news. The cops I had sitting on Sara failed to check in so I went by to check on her. She’s gone and the two uniforms are dead.’

Grissom felt like he was going to pass out. The world was spinning at a furious rate and he couldn’t keep up. The next thing he knew he was on the ground with Nick standing over him speaking to Brass. This was what it felt like to have the ground fall out from under you. This was what it felt like to have your world shattered. His best friend and the woman who was the love of his life were gone and they were no where near finding the monster responsible.

TBC