A fic about Jesse Cardoza and a girl he met after the death of his wife when she was attacked by her escaped convict ex-husband. He hacked her with a kitchen knife and luckily, because she turned to run, only left her with a graze to the side of her head. Jesse found her and he and the team apprehended her ex. This fic takes place 4 days later when she comes out of the hospital and he greets her to see if she will testify and check up on her.

***Dream***

He was everywhere, and everything hurt. Sarah Pickering's entire being was on fire, pain searing and pulsating through her with every heartbeat. And then came his cold laugh from above. He was here and there was no knowing what he would do to her. She tried to scream but her throat was dry. She couldn't make a sound. No one would hear her.

"No one cares about you, you useless piece of garbage. No man will ever love you again you ugly whore. Worthless, shameless, pathetic, disgusting!" His insults reverberated and rebounded of the sides of her skull and came pounding back on her brain so she heard them multiple times. Tears spilled down her face, or was it blood? He had hit her so many times she couldn't tell anymore. The heavy chains around her wrists restrained her. She couldn't fight back or defend herself.

THWACK!

His fist collided with her jaw again with such force that the cracking of her jaw echoed off of the walls concealing them from the world. She took another hit, then another, then another, then another. Then, there was a swish as he went for her with the cleaver he had grabbed from her kitchen when he had abducted her. She gathered all her strength and stood. She could barely stand due to the lack of balance she had with her hands chained behind her back. James lifted the blade again; Sarah reacted as fast as she could and turned to run. Then there was a thud as it collided with her head. She shuddered as she felt warm wetness of blood cover her. Her head was so overwhelmed that she collapsed. Her eyelids dropped as she succumbed to the pain, slipping away, waiting to die.

Suddenly there was warmth and light showered upon her as the door to the dingy warehouse was forced open and shouts from law enforcement filled Sarah's ears. The clinking of cuffs around her captor's wrists was like heaven. But still, she was slipping away. Then, a man, the last thing she saw. He ran up to her, his brown eyes colliding with her blue ones for just a moment.

"Miss, Miss? Hang on, Miss, help is on the way. We need Rescue in here now!"

And then, it all faded.

Sarah's eyes snapped open in what seemed like seconds after she had closed them. She was in the hospital, the light reflecting of the white and steel room hurting her eyes at first, telling her she had been there for a while. A calendar on the wall told her it had been 4 days since she had been kidnapped and attacked by her escaped prisoner ex-husband. Then the nurse came in, she smiled when she saw Sarah sitting up and looking around.

"Oh, Ms. Pickering." She said cheerily, "It's good to see you awake. You have a visitor."

Sarah looked confused. None of her family was in Miami. But still, she nodded her consent and the nurse once again disappeared to fetch her unknown guest.

Moments later, a kind looking red-headed man who looked about 50 odd walked into the room. He held his sunglasses in both hands gingerly between each index finger and thumb. He walked right the way up to the side of the bed next to Sarah and spoke no higher than a whisper.

"Ms. Pickering, I'm Lieutenant Horatio Caine I'm with the crime lab. We have your ex-husband in custody and I just came to ask: how are you feeling?"

"You're one of the ones that found me?" she asked warily.

"That's right." The man smiled kindly.

"Thank you." Sarah offered, feeling obliged to say so. A few moments of silence passed then Horatio spoke again.

"Ms. Pickering-"

"Sarah." She cut across him.

"Sarah." He corrected himself before continuing, "Sarah my team and I were wondering if we could count on you to testify against James?"

Sarah looked away. She was so scared still. How would testifying help her if he escaped again? Horatio read her expression and nodded in understanding. This had happened a lot to him. A woman too scared to testify because she's afraid he'll come after her if she does. He turned to leave Sarah in peace, but her voice stopped him.

"Wait." She called, but quietly, "I'll think about it. And I'll let you know soon."

Horatio smiled at Sarah's bravery.

"Don't hesitate to call. Morning noon or night. Do you understand, Sarah?" he asked. Sarah smiled and nodded. Horatio beamed and tilted his head in farewell before leaving swiftly. He then walked up to the nurse.

"When is Sarah Pickering due for release?" he asked. The nurse flipped over a few papers on her clipboard and found the correct name.

"At 4:00 today due to her excellent progress." She read off of the sheet. Horatio smiled his gratitude as the nurse went into Sarah's room and pulled out his cell phone.

"Jesse? It's Horatio. I need you at Dade General at 4:00 to meet the victim in the Pollock case, Sarah Pickering."

"You said 4:00?"Came Jesse's reply.

"4:00pm is when she's being released." Horatio confirmed.

"I'll be there." Jesse said confidently and Horatio snapped his phone shut before striding out of the hospital to his large, departmental hummer. As he drove away, he felt a swelling sense of pity for Sarah. Married to a violent man, the one time she tried to escape, he attacked her and got sentenced to 5 years. Then he escapes 2 years later and comes straight after her just when she began to make it work. It reminded him of a member of his own team: Natalia Boa Vista. He suddenly wondered if she would be ok working this case with the similarity to her own life. With one hand on the steering wheel, he snapped his phone open again and called Natalia.

"Boa Vista." Natalia said down the phone as she picked up.

"Natalia, its Horatio. Um- I was just wondering if we had a slam dunk on the Pollock case." Horatio covered.

"Actually I was just about to call you. I ran the DNA of the blood we found in her apartment and it doesn't belong to Sarah Pickering or James Pollock." Natalia continued. Horatio smiled as he knew Natalia would be fine, but still was confused as to the existence of the third profile.

"Did you run the blood through CODIS?" he questioned.

"Twice," Natalia said confidently, "and the blood didn't hit. Also I can confirm that the other profile isn't familial to Sarah or Pollock but get this: the DNA profile is female."

"So James Pollock had a female partner in the kidnapping?" Horatio checked.

"That's what it looks like. I've ruled out prior accident with someone else because the blood was coagulated but not brown indicating it was pre-existing but only about 2-4 hours before we got there." Natalia showed off her intellectual flair.

"2-4 hours? The 9-1-1 call from the worried neighbour came about 3 hours after the attack so that's consistent. Nice work Miss. Boa Vista, keep me posted." Horatio thanked before snapping his phone shut again.

At 4:00 Jesse was, as he said he would be, outside Dade General Hospital. He wondered what Sarah would look like now that she wasn't covered in blood. He wondered if he would even recognise her. Then he realised he was panicking too much as she descended the hospital steps. The bruises on her face told him that this was definitely Sarah Pickering. But now, she looked almost beautiful. Well, she would've been before the bruises were there and she would be after they had healed. She had bright blonde hair that she had pulled back into a ponytail to hide the bit that the doctors had shaved back to get to the cut caused by the cleaver. She saw the CSI hummer and approached it, squinting as the sun was in her eyes, but as she got closer, she realised it wasn't the Lieutenant.

"Sarah Pickering?" Jesse asked just to confirm. Sarah nodded. Then, her eyes focused on his and she recognised them immediately as the brown ones that had looked down on her when they found her.

"You're the one!" she spoke.

"Excuse me?" Jesse responded, confused as he looked at the finger she was pointing at him.

"You're the one that found me, aren't you?" she queried. Jesse smiled and nodded.

"That's me." He said. Then his face fell out of his smile as he remembered why he was there.

"My name is Jesse Cardoza and I need to know if you've decided whether or not to testify against your ex-husband."

Sarah looked uneasy and Jesse nodded in understanding.

"You must think I'm awful." Sarah sighed and she looked away. Jesse placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Not at all, Ms. Pickering. This is scary stuff. I understand completely." He muttered so only she could hear him. She nodded but thought surely he could never really understand. She raised her head to him and smiled gratefully. He returned the caring gesture and held his other hand open to his car.

"Do you need a ride home?" he asked. She looked at him with a confused stare.

"Isn't it still a crime scene?" she inquired. Jesse shook his head.

"Nope. We got everything we needed and your house has been released and cleaned." He beamed kindly. Sarah grinned brightly and nodded her head.

"All the same, I think I may put it on the market. I don't think I can live there anymore." She murmured. Jesse identified with that. He had felt the same way when his house in L.A had been released after his wife's murder. That's partly why he moved back down to Miami. Sarah walked around to the passenger side of the car and clambered in. Jesse got into the driver's seat and started the car. The hummer roared into life and Sarah jumped slightly, Jesse noticed.

"You ok?" he questioned with concern. Sarah nodded her startled head quickly and Jesse pulled out of the visitor's car park.

When the hummer pulled up outside her house, Sarah trembled. She kept thinking about that day. The window that had been smashed had been boarded over but not replaced but the lock on the front door had been. Jesse handed her the purse they'd found still in the evidence bag and gave her a new key for the front door. She nodded to him and then he gave her a sheet of paper.

"This is my number, Sarah. You feel free to call me morning-"

"Morning noon or night. Yeah I know I got that from Lieutenant Caine too." Sarah cut across him and chuckling slightly. It was the first time she had laughed since her attack. She took the paper from Jesse's outstretched hand, lingering for the moment. Just a moment to relish the feel of human contact. Then she withdrew her hand and exited the car. Jesse watched her go, quite hopeful that she'd be fine.

When Sarah opened the door, she couldn't help but cry. The place looked almost the same as how she'd left it at the time of the abduction. The lamp and vase were broken, the sofa cushions were scattered on the floor and the vacuum was over turned. Minus the absence of some things they had taken for evidence of course, the place was so eerie. Sarah ran through the wreckage and threw herself onto her bed. She buried herself in the sheets and closed her eyes, wanting more than anything for the scenes before her eyes to go away.