TITLE: Lost Without You
AUTHOR: TakingAChanceOnJelly
RATING: K+ for Language
SUMMARY: Sara was stranded in the desert, and Grissom was stranded without her. Angsty with a happy ending.
DISCLAIMER: We don't own them but if we did, all the episodes would have to air on HBO or Showtime, because of all the WP nudity.
SPOILERS: CSI: 7x23, 7x24, and 8x01
A/N: Written for the TVNetwork1 last author standing competition on LJ by Chauncey, March 2011. The prompt for the story: "stranded." Jellybean came in and betad and made some good changes.
As the groggy woman slowly reached consciousness, she felt the heavy weight on her left forearm.
"Griss, roll over," she grumbled. With her other hand she tried to push her lover off of her, but she wasn't confined by her boyfriend's body. She was underneath and trapped by the heavy undercarriage of a vehicle.
"Natalie!" She screamed as she watched futilely as her abductor drove away. The sand billowing behind the car as the taillights faded into the darkness of the desert.
She began hyperventilating, going slightly crazy at the thought of a ton and a half of metal on top of her.
"Stay calm," she admonished herself over and over as she tried unsuccessfully to free her arm, but between the weight of the car and the small boulder, she was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
She heard a low growling sound and looked up into the black eyes of a coyote. It scared the ever-loving shit out of her. Then she felt the first rain drop against her hand. Thankfully the animal ran off when the wetness began to fall from the night sky.
The rainfall soon became a torrential downpour.
A flash flood of water soon filled her precious airspace, Sara Sidle struggled to breathe as her body was soon immersed in the deluge. She could barely keep her head above the surface. That's when she realized the enormity of her situation. She was going to die, alone in the here in the desert, stranded beneath an upturned car.
She couldn't let her life end this way. Not when everything in her life was falling into place.
Then she thought about the way Grissom had just disappeared on her the previous week when 'his friend, Lady Heather' had gotten into a bit of trouble. Heather had whined and he'd ran to the woman's side without second's thought.
He tried to resolve the situation, but Sara still felt the sting of his unintentional mistreatment of her.
But that wasn't any reason to give up her life, so she searched for anything that could offer her leverage and found a side mirror that had disconnected from the car.
With the appendage in hand, she moved towards the surface and finally grasped the wet, gritty desert floor. After filling her lungs with air, she willed her mind to ignore the pain overtaking her body.
Freedom.
Slowly she crawled from underneath her prison until she sat in front of the overturned Mustang and shuttered. It was so big. Then she looked up and then around her surroundings. Blackness and rain.
And she was so alone.
No. No, no, no. This was not going to be the end of me, she thought. That bitch is not going to take me out of the game. You think this is the first time Sara Sidle has witnessed a huge obstacle in front of her and faced it alone? Fuck you! Fuck you, Natalie Davis! Fuck you, red Mustang! Fuck you desert!
"FUCK YOU!" She raged against the nothingness of her surroundings.
That's when she started walking. Maybe she should have stayed with the car. But she needed to get as far away from where she was as quickly as possible.
Hell yeah I can walk out of this big desert in no time. Sometime hours later, she watched the sun rise above the horizon. She felt the sun curse her.
"Fuck you too, sun," she said. "I've got places to be."
But the unforgiving desert heat began to swallow her thoughts before she could complete them. She tried to focus on moments with her lover. The type of wine he bought on their first "date"; the colors of his favorite baseball cap; he sounds he'd made on the cusp of slumber immediately after spending himself in her.
The sun rose higher and soon the small details of her life began to escape her. She couldn't quite remember the exact shade of his eyes. So she pleaded to the scientific and mathematical side of her brain, which filled her thoughts with periodic table and logarithms.
Memories aren't going anywhere, they're mine. Nobody takes them from me.
She walked in a generally westward direction as the gentle winds wiped away her footprints in the sand.
Three stones, one of top of the other. He'll know what that means, won't he?
Adidas. He has Adidas sneakers or did Hank eat those?
Godammit. I can't fuckin' remember.
I'm going to die out here and not fuckin' remember…
NO. NO GODDAMMIT...
He'll see the stones. He knows what that means.
Go farther. Don't stop.
The six noble gases that occur naturally are helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe) and radon (Rn).
I can't lose this mirror, it saved my life and might again. Light refracts off of it. Helicopters will fly overhead. Might see me. See me leaving the desert. I hate this fuckin' place.
Five times seven is thirty- five.
I hurt so bad. I just need to stop. I have to find Grissom.
Nine times eight is seventy-two.
I need to find him. Unless…. He and..… It's so fuckin' hot. He wants to find me. I know it. Right?
Nine times nine is eighty-one.
The dehydration and exhaustion finally overwhelmed her. He was her last thought as her body collapsed onto the dirty desert floor.
Something shifted; It was so loud, and she felt so many different sensations: What was on her mouth? What was being pressed upon her head? Who held her hand?
She struggled to open her eyes; once she did she sealed her gaze upon him. She barely noticed the smile creeping upon his face, but she could feel the grip upon her hand tighten.
Then she saw him sigh in relief. It's OK, Griss, she thought. We're together again.
His own thoughts replied to hers. I was so lost without you. I couldn't breath without you. Don't leave me...
THE END...Reviews are appreciatd by the person who wrote most of this and loved by the other one...:)