Hospitality
by: Liv-x-Case-Benson
Ch. 10: Contamination
Sara sighed, getting into her car and leaving, arriving at Tangiers a few minutes later, ducking under the yellow tape. "What do we have?"
"Triple homicide. Do you want inside or outside the room?"
"I'll take the outside."
Russell nodded, stopping her as she went to walk away. "Everything ok?"
"Yeah. Fine," she said.
"Ok. I'll get Morgan to help when she gets here."
Sara nodded, walking over.
Heather tossed and turned most of the night as Sara's words echoed in her ears. She honestly wasn't sure either way.
Sara finished processing the scene an hour later, taking photos and collecting samples and fibers. "Looks like he was burned. Electrocuted maybe?"
"I'd say that's consistent. But with what?"
"I'll look around."
"Ok," Morgan smiled.
Sara walked down the street, finding a trail of trash leading to the dumpster. Looking down, she found something red. "Hey Morgan," she said, grabbing the red cloth, finding a knife with red powder on the blade and a yellow substance on the handle.
Morgan held out an evidence bag for her. "I've got trace of the yellow substance along the alleyway.
Sara swabbed the blade. "Doesn't look like blood, definitely. Maybe makeup or chalk?" she asked, placing the knife in the bag.
"Or paint?"
"Could be."
Morgan leant down beside the dumpster. "Sara... I've got a taser gun..."
"Burn marks."
"We should check this out at the lab. It looks like the wiring has been messed with."
Sara nodded. "Careful with it. You don't need to get hurt," she said, walking over to grab it. "Ouch!" she said. "What the-? Did they rig it to always be on?" she asked, pulling her hand away, seeing two good-sized dots on her palm and... "Hey, are these...growing? Russell!"
Russell walked over to join them. "Found something ladies?"
She nodded, transfixed by her palm. "Taser, but something's not right. Might be rigged to be on constantly, but the spots are growing. We might have a...an outbreak..."
Russell frowned. "Right, you need to stay here. Morgan, come with me. You need to be isolated, Sara. There are similar marks on our victims' bodies."
Sara nodded again. "Please tell me you can send someone for me? And call Heather."
He nodded. "I'll call a team in for you. Once they've arrived, I'll speak to Heather."
"Good," she said.
An hour later, Heather grabbed her phone from the nightstand as it rang. "Hello?"
"Hey, It's Russell."
"Is everything ok?"
"Well no. Sara's contracted some type of virus and in isolation until we figure out what it is."
"What?" she said, sitting up, "Is it... deadly?"
"We hope not, but we don't know yet."
"Oh God..."
"I'm on my way to see what I can find out. Do you want a ride?"
"Please."
"I'll be there in ten," he said, hanging up.
As soon as they arrived at the isolation ward, Heather followed Russell inside, and spotting Sara, she moved to her eye line, smiling softly.
Sara sat up, walking over, her infected hand heavily bandaged, while her other had an IV in it. "Hey..."
"Hey," Heather replied through the plastic wall that separated them, "How are you feeling?"
"A little sore, but they're trying to figure things out. They think they've contained what I contracted, but they had to fly a specialist to look at the sample they took," she said before looking to Russell. "Please tell me something else happened to them besides this?"
"We think so. We're working on toxicology now," he replied.
Heather's eyes never left Sara as he spoke.
Sara nodded. "I hope so. I mean, who we had looked young, but I did find a knife. Maybe it didn't finish the job?"
"Just impaired them enough so that the attacker was able to subdue and kill them..."
"Possibly," she said, looking over as the doctor entered.
"Your specialist is due to arrive in the next twenty minutes," the doctor informed her.
"Okay. Thank you."
Heather placed her hand against the sheeting as the doctor walked away.
Sara smiled. "I'm going to be fine."
"You don't know that," she replied softly, swallowing hard.
"Trust me," she said. "Where do you want to go on a trip?"
"Some place warm. Florida, maybe."
Sara nodded.
"Unless you'd rather go some place else."
"You wouldn't like to go somewhere cold and snuggle in front of a fire?" Sara asked.
"That could be equally as nice."
Sara smiled, going to sit on the bed again.
"Are you feeling ok?"
"Just tired."
"Would you like me to stay?"
"Yes."
Heather nodded, pulling up a chair. "Then I'm not going anywhere."
She smiled again.
It was several hours later before the doctors finally cleared Sara to leave, and declared her not contagious, much to Heather's relief.
The CSI walked out of isolation with her hand re-bandaged and a pill bottle for antibiotics.
Heather pulled her into a tight hug as they reached the car.
Sara sighed, getting in the passenger side.
Heather started the engine, beginning to drive away. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just want to sleep."
"Then let's get you home. I'm so glad you're ok."
"You and me both..."
As soon as they were home, Heather pulled Sara into bed, holding her tightly. "I love you."
"I love you too.'
"Sleep now. I'm not going anywhere."
Sara nodded, falling asleep.
A/N: I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry guys! I don't really have much of an explanation, except (if you go by all the astrological stuff) that I'm a Scorpio, so I write and write, and write, and write and (well, you know where I'm going) and I don't share it. I should because some people are reading this and want to know what happens next. I will try to be better, but I'm making no promises.