Chapter six: Talking it out

Sara awakened first. She was quite stiff, and anxious to get up out of bed. That would be impossible without help; she was tethered by IV's, traction, and the bladder tube. Worst of all, her bumps and bruises, cuts and scratches, were turning into significant aches and pains. Instead of getting better, they were getting worse. Her arm was hurting less, but was useless in the splint and traction. She was miserable.

Sara stayed quiet as long as she could out of fear she would awaken Grissom; she knew he needed sleep so badly. Finally, she couldn't stand it any longer, and decided she was getting out of the dang bed.

She unhooked her splint from the traction, and as her arm lowered it immediately began to throb. Ignoring that, she followed the tube from her bladder to the bag at the side of the bed; she unhooked that and hung it from the splint. Lastly was the IV. She noticed one had been capped off, while the other one had fluids running in it from a pump. She took a cap off the tubing from the pump, disconnected and capped it off like the other. There! She was proud of her escape plan thus far.

Sara was stubborn, but not stupid. She knew she better take it slow, so she began by sitting up first. Then she dangled her feet off the bed for several more minutes. It felt so good to be upright that she ignored the pain in her body. Her head was spinning a bit, but she found the longer she was up, the better that got. She waited until her head was clear, and pushed herself up. Hallelujah, I never thought I'd be so happy to be standing up!

She tiptoed around Grissom, relieved that his sleepy breathing sound continued unabated, and she made it to the door. Holding the handle for support, she opened the door and stepped into the hall. She silently let the door close and started slowly down the hallway, holding the wall for support.

She was quite weak, and sore all over, but it felt good to be moving. Slow and steady, she made her way down the hallway until she was spotted by Doris.

Doris was at the nurses' station writing on a chart when she looked up and noticed Sara making her way down the hall. She smiled and continued to write; it was the double take expression that told Sara she was busted.

Doris's stern façade and wagging finger were rushing down the hall towards the escapee.

Uh oh, the warden doesn't look too happy about this…

"Miss Sara Sidle! If I knew your middle name, I would have used that, too!" Grabbing Sara firmly by the arm, "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I had to get up, I was so stiff and sore, it was time."

"I don't doubt that, but you get up and walk with assistance that first time. Aren't you a little weak? Light headed?"

"The light-headedness has passed, but I do feel weak."

Meanwhile, in the room Grissom opened his sleepy eyes. At first disoriented, he looked about the darkened room and suddenly remembered all that had transpired. Looking over towards Sara, all he saw was an empty bed.

In a flash he was in a full fledged panic, hitting the lights on, checking the bathroom, "She's been taken again!" he yelled as he blasted through the door into the hallway.

A startled Sara and Doris took in the spectacle, slightly amused.

There was a wild-eyed Grissom, hair mussed, breathing heavy, and decked out in boxers and a tee shirt. As his gaze intensified on Sara, "What are you doing out of bed?"

"You too? I didn't know I would upset everybody so by just taking a little stroll."

He rushed to her other side and slipped his hand around her waist for support, "You should have gotten me up to walk with you."

"I didn't dare wake you up, you need to catch up."

All he could do in response was shake his head. Meanwhile, Doris raised her eyebrows at his attire, "Ah, Gilbert, dearie, I got this if you want to slip into some clothes."

"Oh, my God, I wasn't even thinking," he muttered as his face turned a brilliant shade of crimson, "I think I'll do that."

Sara and Doris shared a little chuckle before they started back down the hall toward Sara's room. "How 'bout it Sara, you ready to go back to bed."

"I feel like I just ran a marathon, I'll take you up on that, and I guess I'm due for a pain pill judging by all the aches and pains that are yelling at me, too."

Doris and Gil got Sara back settled in bed, fixed her up with a little soup and crackers, followed by a pain pill and a large cup of ice water. She was feeling immensely better, so Gil decided the time was right to broach the subject they had only tip toed around. "Sara, I need you to know; I was so lost when I realized you had been kidnapped."

She looked up at him, a hint of fear in her eyes, unable to respond right away. Finally, she nodded and looked away in thought. After a lengthy pause, "I guess you got a miniature of my crime scene then?"

It was Grissom's turn to nod silently. "It was on my desk when we returned to the lab after interviewing Natalie's biological father. I lifted up the car to find a model of you; I nearly wretched on the spot. The only bright side was the little doll's hand was moving telling us you were alive. You know, I called you on my way back to the lab; you must have been taken right after that phone call."

"I remember that call, I was in the elevator, surprised the phone even worked in there, and I hung up on the way to the car, if I'd have stayed on the line I would have been on the phone with you when she hit me with the taser."

Grissom swallowed hard. He knew how painful it was to get tasered. "We saw her take you on the garage surveillance footage." There was an awkward silence as they reflected on that frightening occurrence. "You know," Grissom continued, more upbeat, "she was employed by our janitorial service, and it still took some digging to find her true address. But, we had her in custody within just a few hours after the abduction."

Sara looked up in surprise, "You did? And she wouldn't lead you to my location?"

Grissom frowned and shook his head, "She went off the deep end, a psychotic break the doctor called it. She couldn't tell us the color of the sky by that point."

Sara was silent so Grissom continued, "I have to ask, how you knew it was the miniature killer who had you?"

Sara grinned sideways and shrugged, "It hit me all of a sudden. I mean the whole thing was so freaky, she was so freaky, and then I recognized her from the lab. I just had a feeling about it, so I tried out her name, and she responded to it. That's when I knew for sure."

"So you spoke to her?" it was Grissom's turn to be surprised.

Sara rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I spoke to her, after I botched an escape attempt," utter frustration clearly evident in her voice.

"Warrick told me he thought you escaped from the trunk."

Sara smiled, happy to know Warrick picked up on that, "I used a taser barb to release the zip tie around my hands; then I reached through the busted speaker cover to release the backseat. I bashed her head into the window, but she just kept going. I finally gave up on trying to knock her out and just jumped out of the car," she chuckled, "I only managed to knock myself unconscious, what a move." She looked over her bumps and bruises, "that's how I got most of this mess."

Grissom was blown away by the story. Sara was mano a mano with the miniature killer, and lived to tell about it. "You were knocked out? Completely out?"

"Yes," shaking her head, "I woke up on the floor of the back seat, my wrists bound again." She cocked her head, "And that's when I got to speak to her. You know, they always tell you to try to speak to a kidnapper, try to connect, it's harder to harm you once they get to know you."

Grissom agreed, but was uncomfortable with the image.

"I told her I had a lot in common with her, the whole foster kid thing, ya know." Sara continued, "Then we talked about Ernie Dell, and I tried to lay some guilt on her, 'Ernie wouldn't want you to do this' kind of stuff."

She smiled as she looked up at Grissom, he was clearly on edge hearing the details of Sara's experience. Her smiled faded as she debated whether to share the next part of the conversation. She didn't want to burden him with guilt, and she could see he was feeling her pain, and more.

"Sara, what did she say to you?" Sara looked down, "Did she tell you why she did it?"

"She didn't say much really."

"Sara, did she take you to get back at me?" He made her look at him, eye to eye, "I need to know Sara, don't hold back, it's torturing me not knowing. Please, tell me what she said to you, why you."

She had to inhale deeply before answering, "She said Ernie loved her more than you could ever love me."

Grissom slowly sunk back in the chair. He looked down rubbing his weary eyes and sighing. "I knew as much; I thought it was revenge on me for Ernie's suicide." He looked up at her, in a reassuring tone, "Thank you for sharing that, I know it wasn't easy, but I needed to know."

"That was it. She poured water down my throat, and I had to swallow to keep from aspirating it in my lungs. She tainted it with something; I was out cold in no time."

"Out again?" Grissom was stunned to hear everything Sara endured.

"I didn't wake up until she was lowering the car on me." Shaking her head, "I had no idea what was happening; I thought sure she was going to kill me somehow. But, then she left, got in her car and drove off, just like that."

Grissom kissed Sara's hand that he'd been holding throughout their talk, "I can't imagine how frightening that must have been."

Sara wanted to get the subject away from her entrapment, it was too frightening still. "It seems clear that she targeted me to get to you, but what was tormenting me was how did she know about us? I mean almost nobody knew about us," and Sara shivered at the notion. "I get this creepy feeling she might have stalked us."

Now it was Grissom's turn to debate how much to share. Natalie's pictures of the couple, and Sara herself, were nothing short of obsessive, frighteningly so. "I don't know exactly, but I do know she was at the crime scene when the car you were trapped under was first wrecked."

"What?" Sara looked horrified. Trying to recall the scene, "The drunk driver fatality, outside of some dive bar?" She shook her head, "I didn't recognize the car, being under it that is, and when I got out, it was pouring rain and so dark. A red mustang, I think."

"That's it. She drew several pictures of us at the scene," he inhaled deeply, "I was caressing your arm in each one."

Sara was without words, Grissom continued, "I suspect there's more to the story, but I don't know what it is. Possibly she followed me home and watched us, who knows." Sara was still quiet, "Sara, how did you get out from under the car, and when?"

The agitation in Sara was building, and now it was palpable. "I thought I would drown under that car; I was straining so to keep my head above the water. It was rising so fast; the current was so strong. The car shifted somehow, broke my arm," Sara's voice started to crack, "God, that hurt." She was clearly choked up, "And, um," a sob intervened, "I can't talk about this anymore," and the tears flowed, her body shook with sobs.

Grissom gathered her in his arms, kissing any place on her he could find. "It's over," he caressed her as best he could; "It's over."

As he kept repeating those words; he knew things were far from being truly over. This would haunt Sara for a long time to come.

tbc…..

a/n: Thanks to all those reviews....they are greatly appreciated!