Diversions

It had been four and half years since he told her she needed a distraction from her job. She'd finally caved which was a good thing, it got her active again and having some fun. It all started out with another tough case.

The victim lived but, was now a quadriplegic and suffered from post-partum depression along with insomnia and many other mental dysfunctions. She was a nice, respectable girl, beautiful brown hair and violet colored eyes. Her name was, Jenna Rhode. From the second she arrived at the crime scene she knew it was a gang related incident.

The paramedics said she only had about a 10 chance of surviving due to, all of the bruises she suffered and being shot several times; no single shot she received was lethal but, in combination they cause her to bleed out severely. Nick and Grissom, who were working the case with her, knew that this one would get to her; they knew it would play with her emotions. Grissom tried so hard to make her feel good but, with her it wasn't easy. She was delicate; fragile, one wrong word could cause her to break. Physical pain she dealt with well but, as said before, emotional things tore her apart.

Nick didn't really help that much, he tried to be there for her but, she didn't see anything in him besides looks. Greg relentlessly flirted and tried to go out with her but, never tried to be there for her. To her he just wanted the prize. Warrick was out of the question, they'd never be, Catherine had her dibs on him. Speaking of Catherine, she belittled her a lot but, here lately they'd developed a bond.

But, that night was different; it was like her whole world turned upside down. Her best friend didn't care and they hadn't found out if she even had a boyfriend yet and, she more than likely wouldn't live and, she didn't have much family left. The family she did have was hard to get a hold of. She'd checked up on the victim a month afterwards to see how she was doing and she could barely speak or do anything for that matter.

The once beautiful woman was scrawny, her eyes looked faded, worn and bloodshot, her hair was a mess and she had deep lines across her face but, she kept her hopes up for things changing, for life getting better. The only thing that got better was how worn she looked; she still couldn't do much and was still afraid. They never found who did it, they knew it was one of the "Snakebacks" but, other than that they were at a loss for answers.

During the cases Sara looked just as bad as Jenna; she wouldn't sleep for days at a time and was never home. Grissom seemed to be worried but, he wasn't too good at showing his feelings so she figured he was very worried. He told her, on several occasions, to go out and do something besides obsess over work and, several times she just ignored him. She thought that if she just got an extra hour or two of sleep and had a decent breakfast that he'd assume she went out and leave her alone but, who was she trying to kid. This was Gil Grissom, one of the smartest men; he worked for the crime lab he had to work with tons of people he could tell when someone was lying especially, when they were as terrible at it as she was.

Day after day he told her to go out and do something, find a hobby, etcetera. She thought that when the case was over it'd bring relief and she'd be able to take an easy one and go right back to work but, that was the opposite of what happened. It only brought more frustration, these guys had been at large for awhile; killing people, destroy lives, leaving helpless women and men strung off to the side and left to die. What really frustrated her is that she couldn't get justice for any of these victims, for their families, for those close to them. The more she thought, the more she wanted to get these guys, all of them. But that was a month ago, things were looking up now.

Occasionally she's get a tough case like that but, life was going up the hill of that roller coaster, like the ones Grissom likes to ride. Grissom probably didn't get "tough cases", he didn't feel any emotion. For the life of any and everyone there they couldn't figure out how or why but, to them, he was lucky. There were only a few types of cases that got to him and, even then, it didn't really get to him it just got him fired up and ready to go. It was more of an inspirational thing than one of rage.

The rest of them went into rage when things got to them; Sara was the worst about it. Catherine's was more of a tough girl thing than a "be afraid of me" thing. The night she had her actual breakdown was, by far, one of the worst. She had gotten on, yet, another supposed "Snakeback" killings. The woman had been beaten badly by this man and nearly died at the scene.

Grissom, again, sent her to the lab to give Hodges a few samples he had just collected and then told her to go out to Desert Palms and get a rape kit test from their vic. That was the last place she needed to be, with the victim. He knew it would get her fired up but, he was too busy to stop and think about how she would react and he wasn't going to call Catherine and tell her to do it. It was just that simple; he did not care about her.

She came into the lab upset and near tears; everyone could tell it was another "Snake Back" case but, they knew to act like she was fine. The trip to the hospital was the last straw; the second she laid eyes on Jenna it hit her. The tears fell from her eyes and the sobs were about to come when she heard a faint sound coming from Jenna.

"Ma'am are you okay?" she whispered.

"I'm fine" Sara said, though both she and Jenna knew it was a lie.

"Are you sure?" Jenna asked

"Yea, I'm fine but, it's you I'm worried about. We need to get who did this to you." Sara said as she started processing Jenna.

Meanwhile, at the crime scene, Grissom and Warrick continued to collect evidence. It only took them an hour and a half before they finally decided there was nothing left of significance and to get back to the lab. When they got there nothing was out of the ordinary.

Greg was in the lab jamming to music waiting for some results, since he didn't really trust Hodges that much. Nick was looking through a bit of evidence he collected from a hit and run and checking out some pictures of the victim. Catherine was talking on her cell phone while waiting in Hodges office for some results. Hodges was, like said before, testing some evidence and griping about how Catherine was "totally ignoring him". Sara was, wait a second, where was Sara?

Grissom looked around in the lab for her before going to Nick. Nick hadn't even seen her come in and neither did anyone else. She was probably still at the hospital, he knew how she could get. When he got there she was just leaving. She said hi and went on back to the lab like it was nothing unusual about staying at the hospital for a simple rape kit for just under two hours. And the thing that really hurt her is when he looked at her he didn't see how blood shot her eyes were and if he did he sure didn't even bother to ask her if she was okay or at the least give her a sincere look; instead he said hi and went on about his business.

When Sara got back to the lab she got right to work on the evidence and reviewing what she knew. She found Brass and asked about tracking down her friends and family to learn more. All she returned with was a few phone numbers and more questions than answers, when she called the mom it left her with even more questions.

The mom didn't know hardly anything about the girl. She didn't know how she was doing with her life or even what; the mom thought she was still in college and living in the small townhouse like apartment. Her friends were a little less clueless but, still, didn't know much. The last phone call, at least, was helpful. She found out who this girl really was and that she had a boyfriend that lived in a small apartment a few blocks from where Jenna lived.

Sara quickly went to go find Warrick and they left. The boyfriend's apartment appeared clean and, he was helpful. He was worried about her and told them he hadn't seen her in a day but, for her that wasn't unusual. Jeff, her boyfriend, said that he was going to go and look for her in another day and then report her missing. Sara checked his apartment for blood but, nothing turned up.

Next on their list was Jenna Rhodes' apartment. It was a mess, no blood present but, it reeked of bleach and bad air freshener. Sara, then, started spraying it down with luminal. And in her bedroom, on her bed, there were three bullet casings and blood. That was their crime scene; and as they turned to leave a man appeared.

Neither of them recognized him; he was scruffy and looked to be of trouble. He was tall and muscular built and had some bleach and air freshener in his hand. When she had taken the time to look him over she could just tell; this was their man. He drew his gun and held it to her head; Warrick drew his. Sara stood there helplessly; hoping for Warrick to just shoot him. Again she got lucky; Warrick got him down with a single shot to the back.

They called for back up and after they'd taken their statements and finished processing them they were free to go. The whole way to the lab she cried; no sobs just silent tears. Shift was over so Sara made the lonely venture home. That night was rough, it was the last straw; she had to go and do something to keep from dwelling on it.

So she picked up a moderate sized bag and put it on her shoulder as she made her way out to the car. She changed into black sweats and a white long sleeved t-shirt. She arrived at a quite secluded place, no one but, her, was there. Sara got out and grabbed the bag, locked her car and went inside.