Chapter 2
Nightmare
When Sara's eyes flickered open the first thing she became painfully aware of was the horribly familiar itch of the cheap cotton nightgown telling her, in no uncertain terms, that she was in a hospital.
She closed her eyes again; loathe to be confronted with this uncomfortable truth. She hated hospitals. It seemed fairly obvious since most of her childhood had been spent in them in some capacity; either she was occupying the bed as a patient or as the visitor of a patient. Both of them victims of the same time, and every time the one who put them there was with them, holding her hand, telling her she was a 'very brave girl' and that he was proud of her. He swore 'it' would never happen again. She had believed him every time. At first by choice, and then she started forcing herself, unable to contemplate the alternative, she had trusted him, until she had been unable to trust anyone. Still it was not only her overuse of them that made her uncomfortable in hospitals, although it was tied in to it. She didn't like to admit it, even to herself, but she was a control freak. Her colleagues had teased her for years over her reluctance to allow them to drive her anywhere, her instincts always fought for control, wherever possible, and in a hospital it was never possible. Everything was done for her, she was told when and what to do, nothing was solely her choice, not that they would ever give her all of the information necessary to make an informed one. Nowhere else on the planet was information withheld on a 'need to know' basis when what that information concerned was the person who, evidently, did not need to know.
Her head ached, but not, she was sure, from alcohol alone...Or maybe it was, this felt like the hangover from Hell and she was struggling to remember anything from the night before. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, as far as high IV would permit and forced her eyes open again.
The sight she was met this made her close them again. Nick was pacing anxiously outside, speaking in a low voice on the phone. How the Hell was she supposed to talk to Nick, she couldn't even tell herself what had happened never mind Nick. What had happened?
She was exhausted and found herself slipping back in to sleep that was more than acceptable to her, she could not deal with Nick. Not yet. However she soon discovered that the powers that be residing in her head had decided that she had done something wrong and that she deserved to be punished for it.
A shot glass full of clear liquid was sitting on the polished, oak bar in front of her. She was fairly sure that it was vodka and she was very sure that she should not be drinking it. Nevertheless, as they so often did when alcohol was concerned, her trembling fingers did not wait from permission from the rest of her and reached out to take the glass. As she did a small red drop appeared in the centre of the glass.
She set it back down on the bar, watching it curiously. The red drop began to diffuse out, corrupting the clear liquid, the long thin tendrils of crimson weaving their way through the pure liquid like clawing fingers. She watched as the red became thicker and denser, easily overpowering the colourless alcohol, poisoning it until she was left with a cup of pure red liquid, innocently daring her to drink it. She refused.
On the surface of the glass the top layer of liquid solidified into a smooth, silky layer. She watched it curiously as it rose up from the glass floating just over the liquid below it. She suddenly felt herself falling as though the world had been pulled out from underneath her; she landed on soft silken sheets but flinched as the glass hovered over her, its contents emptying onto her.
Expecting a burning hot liquid she was surprised when a cascade of rose petals descended upon her, falling around her like scarlet snow.
A face swam before her, impossible to make out who it belonged to, its features blurred and distorted. In contrast to this were the lips. Plum, sensual an inviting. Very inviting, and without disappointment. Sweet, with a hint of citrus, gentle, encouraging. Her wedding ring tightened around her finger as the heart inside her chest fluttered in panic.
The red rose petals were condensing once more, into a thick liquid, unmistakeable as blood. The blood that she was now drowning in. A cold, cruel laughter filled her ears, reverberating painfully around the inside of her skull. She clamped her hands over them and screamed. A loud gunshot ricocheted through her tormented mind killing the sound and her dream as she bolted upright, shaking, sweating and screaming.
Nick was by her side, gently prising her hands away from her ears and holding her close to him, rocking her backwards and forwards while telling her that she was alright, as he stroked her hair. Nick was a constant in her life, always there, always reassuring but at that moment in time she felt repulsed by him and pushed him away. He did not question her and released her immediately.
"I'm sorry." She gasped, chest heaving as she tried to regain control of herself.
"It's alright Sara, it's OK." He told her quietly, but she knew he was lying. It was not OK, he was hurt that she had pushed him away, she could see it in his eyes, but there was something else, something he was trying to hide from her and that terrified her more than anything that had happened up to this point.
Suddenly she wanted him back, she wanted him to hold her and tell her that she was alright, that nothing was really that wrong. That she had misread signs she had been learning to read for thirteen years. But she didn't want Nick to hold her, she wanted Grissom. She wanted her husband, her husband to tell her that everything was OK, because he was the only one she would believe. He would tell her the truth, however horrific, regardless of how little she wanted to hear it. Nick could only stand in solemn silence, leaving her to panic over what the Hell was happening. She needed answers. She needed answers now...
A/N: I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I wanted a different way to show what had happened before hand without giving too much away but it feels a little too fanciful for CSI and a little too fanciful for me to be honest, so I'm not too sure if it worked. Let me know what you thought, you like, I keep, it doesn't work, tell me and I'll change it :)
