Part 1

"Oh for crying out loud!"

Sara kicked the left front wheel of her car. Great. Just precious. Wasn't it enough that she was in a hurry and already running late? Now her car had a flat tire and was stuck in the sand of the desert. Of course she wasn't on the main highway, of course there wasn't a signal on her cell phone and of course she had to blame herself because Misses Smarty Pans Sidle had to take the shortcut. And now her car was stuck and she had no chance to leave.

For a moment she thought of changing the tire, but if she – for once – used her brain before she started to do something, she knew, there was no way she could get her car-jack on solid ground to lift the car and change the tire. If she tried it, it was nothing than a waste of time and energy. And how helpful was a car with four good wheels, that was stuck in sand couldn't get out? It made no difference if she was stuck with three or four good tires, she was stuck and that was the main problem. Bloody desert.

Why again did she move to Vegas? Grissom Right. He was as reason to move to Vegas as good as her shortcut. Instead of realizing what she felt for him, that she came here because of him, him threw himself in the arms of another woman. A whore. To be fair, Lady Heather was an amazing woman, she was smart, she had style and she was a challenge. Sara wasn't sure if she had style, but she was a challenge and smart too – well most times she was smart. Not today.

Did she tell anybody where she was? Kind of. She had told Greg, she was off to Los Angeles for two days to see the beach and so surfing. He had planed to join her but changed his mind the last second. He knew – like the rest of her shift – she due to be back tonight, but he had no idea where she was right now. Nobody did. Hell, not even Sara knew exactly where she was. Only that she was somewhere around the border between California and Nevada, probably around five miles away from the main highway, that was closed in both direction because of an accident. She didn't want to wait for hours in the traffic jam, so she took this shortcut. Now she knew, it had been wiser to be stuck on the highway.

She wiped the sweat away from her forehead with her hand. It was a hundred and ten degrees, not the weather you wanted to be out in the desert. Not the weather for a long walk back to the highway and not the weather to get lost in the desert. The rule is to stay with your car when you're stuck or lost until somebody finds you. Most people die because they start to walk away and get lost, dehydrated and lose conscious.

She had to get the attention of whoever was around. Sighing, she left the shade of her car and walked into the desert. At least here were some kind of bushes. Ignoring the heat and the sand in her shoes, she took her pocket knife and cut some branches, threw them all on top of each other and got the lighter out of her pocket. Sometimes smoking wasn't a bad habit. At least not when you forgot your lighter in the car of your date and she could make a little fire now. Her plan was that somebody saw the smoke and – afraid of a fire – took a closer look. Not that many people cared when there was a bushfire in the desert, but what else could she do?

Talking about doing something. What was she supposed to do now? She got back to her car, sat next to it and stared into the desert. So, here she was. In the desert. She, her car, the flat tire and a lot of sand. Snakes, scorpions, flies, coyotes and more buried bodies than she had seen in her entire life. What a lovely place to be. Welcome to Nevada.

At least she wasn't buried under a car. Of course this thought had crept up her subconscious and was very much present. The night Natalie had changed Sara's life. The night she thought she had to die. And probably as well a reason why Sara was single again. As much as she had been happy to see Grissom on her way to hospital, he couldn't give her what she needed to get over this night. One reason was, she had no idea what she needed to get over this night. She still wasn't over it. There had been many times she left her bed to wander around her apartment because she couldn't sleep, couldn't face the nightmares anymore.

"There are ten green bottles hanging on the ball, there are ten green bottles hanging on the wall. And if one green bottle should accidentally fall, there are nine green bottles hanging on the wall", she started to sing, followed by a very confused look. Was she losing it? Where came this old, stupid kid song from? She hadn't sung this song in over thirty years, the nursery nurse in kindergarten used to sing it with her and the other children. In San Francisco. Why did she sing it now and here? That made no sense.

"I'm going crazy, great. Maybe I should go and see a therapist." Sara had refused to go and see a therapist, against the wish of her boss and her friends. If she wanted somebody to know all her problems, she would buy a dog. This way she was sure, nobody used the new knowledge against her.

"Okay, what now? Me singing is crazy and scary, there's no radio station and even if there were, if I let run the car, I'll be out of gas soon." And she needed some gas in case she was stuck here for longer. The nights were cold, she could use the heater.

She could look for some more wood for her fire, that was burning down. But the sun and the heat were to big, she didn't want to get burnt. Plus she didn't have so much water in the car, she needed to rest her body so that she didn't use too much water. She could remember when she walked around the desert after she freed herself from under the car. Never ever would she risk to dehydrate again.

Slowly she got up, opened the backdoor of her car, climbed inside, closed the door and opened all windows. There was no reason to sit and wait, she could also lay down and sleep. If anybody came alone, he or she would stop and see her. The heat made her tired, she didn't sleep much the last two nights and she was annoyed. With herself, with the car, with flat tire, with the street, that wasn't a street and anything else in the world.

Why didn't she stay on the highway? Why didn't she take a whole week off and were still in Los Angeles? Why did she take two days off at all? This had never happened if she had stayed in Las Vegas, worked and did, what she did every day. But no, she had to have some fun, had to go to Los Angeles and now she was here, stuck and warm and…asleep.

"Sara?"

What? Who called her name? Who was in her room…and why was the aircon broken again? Wait! This wasn't her room! Leather, gray, narrow, this was the backseat of her car. What was she….right the shortcut. The flat tire. The sand. The…

"Sara!"

Carefully she sat up. Her back wasn't happy with the position she had for…she had no idea for how long. It wasn't completely dark, so it couldn't be that late. Somehow the face looked familiar to her. Where had she seen this face before? Was that…

"Sofia?" What the hell did the detective do here? Sara hadn't seen her since…the day before she got abducted. She knew from Greg that Sofia had been there, had found her, but Sara got never the chance to thank her, Sofia was gone when Sara was out of hospital. And nobody could tell her where the blonde was gone.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm stuck." Sara tried to push the fog in her head away. She felt dizzy, she needed to drink. Slowly she reached for her water bottle. Empty. When did she…did she drink while she was asleep?

"You've a flat tire."

"Yes and the car is stuck." She blinked a few times. "Are you here by car?"

"Of course." Sofia opened the door. "Come on."

"Huh?"

"I don't have a rope with me to pull you out. There's no way I can call for help, the cell phones is out of signal. That means, I've to drive to the next city and I didn't plan to leave you here. You don't look like you enjoy a night in the desert. Are you alright?"

"I feel a little bit dizzy."

"Did you drink?"

"The bottle is empty…I can't remember."

"Alright." Sofia took Sara's hand and pulled her carefully out of her car. When Sara tried to stand in the sand, her feet felt like jelly and Sofia had to support her.

"You sit in here." The blonde got the brunette to her own car, opened the passenger door and pushed Sara into the car. "There is some water on the left, drink. I take care of your car and then we'll leave."

Sofia closed the door after she saw how Sara drank, went back to Sara's car. She opened the trunk, got a bag out, closed all doors and the windows, locked the car with the key, that was left on the backseat and went back to her own car.

Sara had finished the bottle of water and put on the seatbelt.

"Sorry." She pointed to the empty bottle.

"In the glove compartment is a new one – cooled."

"Thanks."

"There are also some Snickers in case you're hungry."

Sara didn't know if she was hungry, but her stomach told her as soon as Sofia mentioned Snickers. Yes, she was hungry.

"Thanks. Again." Sara finished another half of the bottle and a Snickers. After that she felt better. She wasn't dizzy anymore and she could think clearly again.

"I don't want to sound ungraceful, but what are you doing here?"

"The highway was closed, a major accident, I thought, I try it this way. There is a shortcut, around a mile away from where you and your car were. I saw the car and wondered, what somebody does in this place of the desert, in the evening. In case somebody needed help, I drove to the car to make sure everything is alright. And there I found you, sound asleep."

"Yes, I thought, there is no reason to stay away and I drink too much when I'm awake. Looks like I drank also while I was sleeping."

"It is still over ninety degrees, your body needs water."

"Yes. I didn't plan to stay in the desert. What time is it?"

"Almost nine."

"Damn, I need to be in the lab."

"I could drive you to Vegas, but you'll never make it on time. It makes more sense when you call them, tell them what happened and take a night off."

"I just had two nights off."

"As long as you haven't changed, you'll have plenty of holiday days left." Sofia smiled a bit.

"I do."

"See. You know where we are?"

"I've an idea."

"Around fifty miles away from Vegas. We won't get your car out of the sand today, you need to wait until tomorrow."

"Damn." Sara cursed. She knew Sofia was right, it took too long to get her car out of the sand and go back to Vegas.

"You'll get a signal soon, call them, tell them you need another night."

"Yeah." Sara closed her eyes. "Do you go to Vegas?"

"No."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Do I hear some fear, Sara? I don't abduct you, I take you to my place. Like you will have noticed, I don't work in Las Vegas anymore. I live around twenty miles out of the city and you can stay there. We'll go back to your in the morning and you'll be back in Vegas by lunchtime."

"I'm not scared, I'm just…confused"

"I can see that."

And tired. Sara closed her eyes. Why was she tired? She had slept in her car. Or was it because she had been dehydrated again? The next time she drove through the desert, she would have a gallon of water with her. And there was no way she would take another shortcut again. The next time, she and her car stay on the highway, no matter how long the traffic jam was.