Many thanks to all of the reviews, and to the bestest betas in the world; Just Thinking, thegreatbluespoon, and Amanda Hawthorn.

And for those that were wondering, T&T II is currently in production with the expected posting date to be in a few weeks.

Framed by Innocence

Once he was taken into custody, Grissom didn't speak a word. Officer Thompson escorted him to the city's central police department. He had never been on the other side of the law before, yet he knew how it all worked. Still he hated the thought of not being there for Sara as she lays unconscious in a hospital bed on the other side of town.

"This way."

He wasn't asked, he was told. Another officer took him by the elbow and practically drug him down another hall. Grissom was pulled to a stop at a table where some familiar items were laid out: An ink pad and a ten card. Surely they knew his prints were already in the national system, but they were bound and determined to send him through the ringer. As soon as he was printed, the booking officer took Grissom to get photographed. Two profile pictures were taken, and a frontal shot, complete with the booking card. The embarrassment level couldn't have gotten any higher.

Instead of taking Grissom right to a cell, he was placed in an interrogation room, under the watchful eye of a guard. Grissom sat upright and folded his hands on the table. His gaze remained fixed on his hands as his thoughts wandered to Sara. He appeared calm on the outside, but on the inside, he was filling with anger.

Suddenly the door opened and yet another officer entered, he motioned for Grissom to follow him. When Grissom didn't immediately stand, the man guarding him grabbed him and forced him to his feet. He was taken to a phone.

'Finally', he thought. He still had one guard standing behind him. "You've got five minutes."

Grissom picked up the receiver and dialed the number from heart. "Come on, come on, pick up." He demanded into the ringing phone.

"Willows." The voice on the other end was like music to his ears.

"Catherine, thank God."

"Gil?"

"Listen," He continued without letting her answer. "Sara's been attacked, she's in the hospital."

"Oh, my God!" Catherine let out in disbelief. "Is she alright?"

"I don't know, Cath, they think I did it." Grissom's voice was becoming desperate.

"What!?"

"I know I'm sitting in the Madison police station."

"You've been arrested?"

"Yes, Cath listen to me. I need you to come out here. I have a feeling they are going to try to railroad me on this"

"Can't Sara just tell them it wasn't you?"

"Last I heard she was in surgery and had severe head trauma." Grissom released a breath. "Catherine, call my attorney, his number's in my rolodex, and please get out here."

She didn't hesitate. "I'll be on the next plane."

"Thank you."

"Gil…" Her voice softened to help ease his stress.

"Yeah."

"You hang in there alright, we'll get this all sorted out."

He nodded to the phone. "I know we will."

"See you after a while."

She hung up and the minute Grissom hung up his phone, the guard was escorting him back to the interrogation room.

Catherine glanced at her bedside clock. It was only four in Vegas, and with some thinking, she knew Grissom was two hours ahead of her. Still soaking in the shock of it all, she showered, packed some clothes, and headed straight for the lab. Heads turned as she walked in, swing shift was just getting started, and everyone was probably thinking what she was doing there at that time. She ignored them and continued on her mission, Grissom's office. Catherine flicked on the light before sitting down behind his desk and looked up the phone number.

How she remembered his name was a miracle. Grissom had introduced her to his attorney after her divorce was final. Thomas Simms was a good looking man, and Catherine thought for a man to be that fine, he's either married, or gay. Turns out he wasn't married, and definitely wasn't gay. She found the number with ease and proceeded to dial him up.

After the 'how are you's, Catherine explained the situation in Wisconsin to the attorney. He gave her specific instructions and informed her that he would be joining her on her trip. Once that was done, she called Warrick and explained to him that she needed to leave, like her, he was in denial. Catherine checked her watch and headed to meet Thomas at McCarran.

He booked them a flight and together they were on their way to Madison.

Grissom remained in the interrogation room for an hour before a detective entered. "I'm Detective Harmon. I would like to ask you a few questions." He sat down

Grissom let his eyes go over the man in front of him before he narrowed them. "I'm not saying a damn thing until my attorney gets here."

"Dr. Grissom, please, just let me ask one thing."

"You can ask, doesn't mean I'm going to give you an answer."

"Fair enough." Detective Harmon set a file on the table and opened it up. He revealed pictures of the bloodied bed, the void obviously where Sara was lying. "You found Miss Sidle where?"

Grissom looked at the picture in horror, there was a lot of blood. "Before I tell you, I want to know how Sara's doing."

"I just spoke with her doctor; she's in recovery from the surgery." He heard Grissom whisper a 'Thank God' under his breath. "But, she's in a coma." With this new information, Grissom's head shot up, his eyes wide with worry. "They don't know how long it will last at this point; it's too soon to tell." The detective watched Grissom's reaction throughout the conversation. He determined either the man was truly sincere, or he was one hell of an actor.

After a moment, Grissom turned the picture so it was right side up. "She was here, and her hands were bound to this bed post."

"Did you cut her free?" Grissom nodded. "Using what?"

His eyes remained locked on the picture. "With my pocket knife." Grissom kept his voice low as he observed the picture.

"The same pocket knife you used to stab Miss Sidle with?"

Grissom's nostrils flared and his head shot up as his eyes bore into the detective. "No, and we're done here." The anger dripped from Grissom's voice, finally hinting to the detective that he was serious.

"Alright, you are currently under arrest for assaulting a CSI, and I'm sure by morning we'll have enough evidence to charge you for the assault, rape, and attempted murder of Sara Sidle." He stood sharply and left.

The guard moved to re-cuff Grissom and take him to a holding cell.

Grissom was placed in a cell that had yet to be occupied. He rubbed his wrists, as his eyes scanned over his accommodations for the night. He was tired, hungry, and upset didn't even come close. Reluctantly, Grissom lay down on the makeshift bed, and attempted to get comfortable, it was going to be a long night.

He never really slept. Throughout the night, more and more people were beginning to fill the small jail. A few other men were put in his cell for public intoxication and drunk driving. Grissom watched as they both slumped onto the floor, heads in their hands. As he watched he could tell one guy was looking a little green around the gills. Grissom just watched as his suspicions were confirmed, the man leaned to his right, getting to his hands and knees. With a few coughs, he vomited on the floor. Grissom turned his head to the ceiling, anything to block out the retching sound. Then it was a chain reaction, the other man at least made it to the small toilet before he started to vomit. Grissom rolled onto his right side to face the stone wall, anything to try and distance himself from this place.

After a few minutes he turned back to see both men passed out. The cell across from him occupied five men; he determined two were intoxicated, two appeared to be involved in a bar fight, he judged by the cuts and bruises on their faces, that and they were talking openly about it. But he couldn't get a read on the other man. His expression was blank; he had separated himself from the other cells occupants.

Before he knew it several officers entered carrying a case of bottled water and a box of doughnuts. "Rise and shine ladies, breakfast. Then some of you can be on your way."

Grissom sat up. Every joint in his body creaked and his muscles screamed at him. He finally stood up, and eased his way to the wall of bars.

"Here ya go Doc, don't think you're going to be getting out of here anytime soon."

He narrowed his eyes at the arrogant officer and took a bottle of water and a doughnut. Grissom watched them hand out the makeshift breakfast to everyone that was occupying the jail. He devoured the pastry and slowly sipped his water as he remained standing, but soon leaned into the bars.

"What no metal cup to bang?"

A smile crossed his face as he turned to see Catherine and Thomas standing in front of him. "You two have never looked so good."

Catherine moved closer to him. "God I hope you're talking about me and not him." She smiled and it also brought a smile to Grissom's face.

Thomas stepped forward. "What's going on Gil?"

"I can't get into the details here, but Catherine, Sara's at University Hospital. Can you check on her, and maybe see if there might be any trace that these incompetent bastards missed?" She nodded and he looked to Thomas. "Can you get me out of here?"

"Gil, from what I understand you hit a law enforcement officer."

"He was an arrogant CSI, who blatantly accused me of raping Sara." Grissom's voice was deep, but he managed to control his volume. \

Thomas sighed. "I'll see what I can do. I've been informed by the lead detective that they want to interrogate you this morning."

Grissom looked to Catherine. "Better hurry at the hospital." She put her arm through the bars and placed her palm on his scruffy cheek. With a weak smile she headed out.

"Alright Gil, here's the deal, so far you said you have cooperated, except for answering questions, so I'll meet with the DA and see if he won't agree to let you go." He paused before continuing. "Hang in there; we'll get this straightened out."

Grissom watched as Thomas left, both hands grasping onto the bars that caged him like a common criminal.

Catherine found her way to University Hospital, and asked the nurse stationed at the front desk for any information on Sara. The nurse told her to check with the desk on the third floor. She headed to her given destination, and once again approached the desk.

"Hello, I'm looking for Sara Sidle. I was told to check here." She quickly flashed her credentials to the nurse.

The nurse did a quick look up on her computer. "Here she is room 324, down the hall, on your left side."

"Thank you." Catherine headed to Sara's room, part of her cringed in fear of what she was going to find. When she approached the room, the door was propped open. The sound of beeps and whirring slowly filled the room as she entered. As her eyes found Sara, her tears found her. "Oh Sara."

She was dressed in the traditional hospital gown, multiple tubes and various monitor lines were running between her and various machines. Her entire face was bruised, and Catherine could see the bruises around her neck, one of the places the perp had held her down. She closed the door and approached the bed. "Sara, I'm so sorry this happened to you." She began talking as she retrieved her camera from her bag. "But don't you worry sweetie, we'll catch him." Catherine took pictures of her face and neck. The closer she got to her neck the more she could almost make out a hand print. Suddenly, she remembered a case where Grissom had proved strangulation by measuring the distance between the index finger and thumb. She decided to give it a go and carefully measured the mark.

Catherine apologized to Sara before lifting her gown to further look at her injuries. She saw not one, but two stab wounds. She carefully examined them and made notes about each one. After she photographed the bruises to her torso, she carefully spread her legs apart. Catherine's heart sank when she saw the clear indication that she had been raped. She was told that a SAE kit was taken, but she decided that there could have been something missed.

Once she had finished going over her injuries, Catherine sat next to Sara be for a few moments and held her hand. The door opened and a doctor walked in.

"Oh, I guess I didn't realize she had company, I'll come back."

Catherine was quick to stop him. "No, no, it's fine. I'm Catherine Willows, Sara's my friend. Listen, um, can you tell me the extent of her injuries?"

"Well, I'm only obligated to release that kind of information to family, and since he's the suspect in this…"

She fished in her wallet and drew out her identification. "I'm a CSI, I also work with Sara, and Gil did not do this. Please, tell me."

The doctor hesitated. "She's in a coma, the head trauma caused some swelling which put pressure on the brain, two broken ribs, and fractured wrist, fracture to the occipital bone, two puncture wounds resulting from a small knife, and she was raped. Anything else?"

"Yes, could you describe the stab wounds for me?"

The doctor pursed his lips and nodded. Catherine handed over a small notebook as he began to write. Once he was done she took it back and looked over it. "You signed and dated the bottom?"

"Use it as evidence if you want, I don't care. I guess I'm one of those who are always out to seek the truth and put the real perps behind bars." He gave her a half smile and left.

She finished looking over the description and smiled. "We're getting closer Sara, much closer."

Whoever thinks that Grissom is going to be found guilty raise your hands?

Okay, that was pointless because I can't see you; on the other hand, if you did raise your hand, you need to get your head checked. A few more chapters to go, I know, I know, it's kinda short. Sue me.

TDCSI