Chapter 11
I do not own CSI; the characters are not mine. (NOTE: Song quote from "Give me Novacaine" by Greenday)
When Gil left, Sara crumbled. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, didn't know where to turn or even how to get there. It wasn't like she could just go climb in her car and drive away; so she just sat on the floor, crying silently as the tears rolled down her cheeks. After quite some time, she took some steadying breaths to calm herself, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Sara hated crying and lately it seemed as though, besides sleep, that is all she had done.
Her chest hurt, probably worse than it had ever hurt since first waking up in the hospital. She knew it was from her crying fit, from her lack of painkillers that morning, but the steady ache made her angry; she was tired of the whole ordeal. Unlike Gil, she could not just get up and walk away from the situation. She looked around at the office again; deciding that the best thing she could do was leave the mess to him to deal with since she really couldn't make it around the room to do anything anyway.
Slowly and incredibly painfully, she inched her way back to the foreboding wheelchair and then sat and glared at the thing. After deciding that eliciting her revenge by dismantling it would prove her no good use, she locked the wheels in place and proceeded to climb up on it instead. It took her 5 good attempts to pull her body into it, her arms shaking at the effort as each time she fell back down onto the floor with an alarming jolt of pain. She would curse and squeeze her eyes shut each time, fighting back the tears that just kept wanting out. 'If I had a sharp razor blade' She angrily told the cast immobilizing her left leg, 'You'd be toast.' Her leg throbbed, and she could feel the steady thump, thump, thump of her heartbeat as it coursed through her veins, carrying with it short bursts of pain that were beginning to irritate her. Once in the chair, she sat for a few minutes, trying to catch her breath and stop herself from shaking; God, her chest hurt.
Several missed attempts later, she left the room and made her way towards the kitchen. Without realizing it, she was crying again, more from pain than anything else. Every inch of her body hurt and she felt as though dying under that car would have been so much better than this; at least then she wouldn't feel anything.
Deciding that crying again was only making it worse, she found her medication sitting next to the sink where Nick had left it the previous evening. She grabbed the painkillers and decided to down double the dose, wanting to drown out the searing pain in her body and the thoughts of Gil in her head. Swallowing the pills, she stared at the bottle of sleeping pills next to them; if she were sleeping, it wouldn't hurt. If she was floating along in the darkness, she wouldn't remember what he had said, wouldn't even think about any of it. She grabbed the bottle and took two of the pills, letting them slide down her throat before making her way into the bedroom.
She didn't bother to pull the covers down on the bed before moving herself into it, the stabbing pain in her chest making her double over, taking her breath away. For a few frightening moments, Sara couldn't breathe and she felt an all too familiar panic began to take control. Slowly, she was able to regain herself and lay back on the pillows, reaching over to turn on the radio. She lay there listening to the words playing on the radio as the pills began to take affect and slipped into comfortable darkness:
"Out of body and out of mind Drain the pressure from the swelling,
Kiss the demons out of my dreams
I get the funny feeling, that's alright
Jimmy says it's better than here,
I'll tell you why
The sensations overwhelming,
Give me a long kiss goodnight and everything will be alright,
Tell me that I won't feel a thing,
So give me Novacaine"
Catherine skidded her Tahoe to a stop in front of the lab, jumping out the door as she saw Nick rushing towards her. Today was her day off, but Nick's frantic phone call that afternoon had sent her rushing into the lab without hardly a word to Lindsey; she would have to make up for that later.
Nick caught her mid-stride, turning to quickly pace along side her as they headed for the elevators. "I don't know what happened, Cath." He was saying, talking so fast that she had to concentrate to catch all of his words. "When I left the lab yesterday, I put everything back in the evidence vault; I didn't leave anything out. But, it's not here, Catherine, none of it and I've looked everywhere."
She held her hand up, signaling that she needed a minute to process as he pushed the UP button on the elevator. "You did lock it, right?" She asked, already knowing his answer.
"Of course," He said, exasperated. "There is no way I would leave evidence compromised; especially Sara's…"
The doors opened and they stepped inside, Nick leaning against the wall of the elevator as it began to climb. "Was there any other evidence missing?" Catherine asked.
Nick shook his head, "No…" He threw his hands up in a fit of frustration. "That's the thing; only Sara's stuff is gone. No signs of forced entry, no sign that it was jimmied….nothing."
"Someone must have moved it." Catherine said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out. "That's the only logical explanation, Nick." She saw him before she had the chance to change directions, storming towards her with a thick file in his hand. Ecklie. "Damn…" she muttered as Ecklie stopped in front of her.
"I don't know what's going on in this lab, Willows." He said. "But obviously there is a serious lack of supervisory intervention."
"You should know…." She muttered under her breath.
"I'll pretend like I didn't hear that." Ecklie said, slapping the file into her hand. "Besides, You need to head up to Lincoln County and get Grissom." He snapped as he began to walk away.
Catherine looked down at the file, confused. "Why is he in Lincoln County?" She called.
Ecklie turned around and smirked at her. "He wrecked a company car, drove off the road into a tree." He barked, looking at the two of them and rolling his eyes at the alarm on their faces. "He's fine." He stated, continuing, "Although he wont be by the time the department gets done with him…he's been arrested for a DUI."
Catherine looked at Nick, her eyes squinting slightly in shock. Gil? DUI? "Gil doesn't even drink..." She said to Nick. "Does he?"
"I don't know..." Nick said as they turned around and went back to the elevator. "But if Grissom's in jail up in Lincoln County, where the hell is Sara?"
(Authors Note: Short, I know..I'll add more)