A/N: Jeez, it's been months since I wrote a word. Months! So sorry! I made a couple stabs and they were pathetic. That was a major dry spell. Awful. Hope I can get back in the habit again.

No, I haven't forgotten those three poor Works In Progress twisting slowly, slowly in the wind out there either. I'm trying. There was a single image buried within the following that has been niggling me. Getting it out might be what I need.

Thanks to all of you who continue to read and write reviews and put me on your Favorites lists and ask for updates. That boosts my spirits. I hope the rest of you haven't given up on me. Every review is a drop of rain in the desert. I hope you know that.

Season 5 Episode #21. GSR. Hurt/Comfort/ Romance. M.

COMMIT

CHAPTER ONE

"Oh, dear God," Grissom said, absolutely horrified at the scene before him. Sara was locked inside the nurse's station with that maniac, that rapist, gripping her around the neck. Both of them were crouched on the floor.

"I think I'm just vibrating at the wrong frequency," Adam told her, his eyes wild.

Sara struggled to free herself but he just held her tighter and shoved something sharp against her neck. Feeling it, she stilled and waited for a chance.

Grissom stared at Adam. Get your filthy hands off her. Don't you dare! His mind seemed to jump ahead, seeing Sara raped before his helpless, impotent eyes. Then her slender white throat was spouting blood, so much blood, the life draining out of her. Dear God. No.

Sara looked up and locked eyes with Grissom. Grissom! Help me! I don't want to die!

"Open the door," Grissom told the orderly as calmly as he could. The orderly fumbled with the keys.

"I can't...I don't have the right key..."

"Please open the door."

Adam saw his audience and scraped Sara's neck, both squirming. He shouted angrily, "Don't look at them! I will grind you, you bitch!"

Sara dropped her eyes to the floor and fought the panic and the bile rising in her throat.

"Okay, it's okay," she told Adam unsteadily.

Two things happened at once. Nurse McKay appeared at the other window and screamed at Adam. The orderly finally fit the right key in the lock. Adam yelled at the nurse to go away. He turned the shard on his own throat and slit it. His arterial blood spurted out.

Sara elbowed him hard in the chest and ran out the door, past Grissom, who seemed frozen in place. She ran all the way to the end of the hall and banged her outstretched hands against the barred window. Sara drew a ragged breath and then another.

Grissom went to Sara at last, feeling at a loss. Would she push me away if I tried to hold her? Oh, Sara. My Sara.

Sara felt him behind her, the nervous energy radiating from him, his conflicted emotions. She turned and faced him.

"Are...are you okay?" he asked, extending his shaky hands toward her, then dropping them to his side.

"Yeah...uh...I will be," she told him, feeling the side of her neck, then looking at her hand. No blood. Good. The rain continued to pound outside and thunder rumbled.

Sara moved and stood against the wall, looking out the window. Grissom stood quietly nearby, listening. Watching her eyes. The play of emotions across her face.

"When my father died, my mother came to a place like this for a while for
evaluation. It looked the same, it smelled the same. It smelled like lies," she said, her eyes distant, her voice bitter.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Crazy people do make me feel crazy," she told him, with a ghost of a laugh and a glance.

Grissom offered the only thing he could think of. "If you want, I can have somebody take your place."

Sara looked at him then, gratitude in her eyes. "I appreciate that. I do, I really do, but..."

Nurse McKay started to stride angrily toward them.

"I kind of made a decision to move beyond that and...I really want to finish this case," Sara told Grissom bravely.

The nurse rudely interrupted. "We have rules for a reason."

Grissom turned to look at her with disbelief.

"You people come in here disrupting things. You're unsafe. This is your fault," she barked. Grissom moved to stand protectively in front of Sara.

"Really," he said, astonished.

"You seem to take your job rather personally," Sara told her. There was an edge to her voice.

"What are you suggesting?" the nurse snapped.

"That you had an intimate relationship with Adam Trent." The nurse scoffed and strode away, leaving the CSIs alone. They exchanged a look.

"Let's, uh, finish up here for the night," Grissom said, and she nodded. They processed and bagged evidence efficiently, both eager to escape. They conversed quietly, but only about the case. Everything else was too raw.

He seemed preoccupied as he was driving back to the lab, just glancing at her from time to time. Sara felt the energy drain from her muscles, the adrenaline flowing out, leaving only pained weakness behind. It was an effort just to stand, to walk, yet alone carry the bags inside. Grissom stayed close beside her as they went from lab to lab to drop their bundles and leave their instructions.

She followed him to his office dumbly and watched as he deposited the file on his desk. Understanding by his body language that he didn't intend to look it over until the next shift, Sara turned to go. She felt ready to collapse at his feet.

"G'night Griss," she said tiredly.

She was almost out the door when he blurted out, "Can I buy you a drink?"

Sara froze in place then turned slowly to look at him. He was twisting his hands before him. Wringing his hands, she thought. Always wondered what that looked like.
His eyes were wide and he looked...terrified.

Sara almost laughed. But the whiteness around his eyes smothered humor. Abruptly she wanted to comfort him. But I was the one attacked, she thought muzzily. The silence stretched out a little as she struggled to speak with a tongue that suddenly felt sticky and dry. Yeah. I do need a drink.

"Sure. A drink...a drink would be good."

He exhaled visibly and smiled, then took her elbow lightly, and led her out the door.

TBC