Well so much for getting this online before Christmas!!! Real life has been brutal just recently - 2008 ended badly and so far 2009 has gotten ever worse! All in all, motivation and time have both been unfortunately cut short for the last few months, my energies needed elsewhere. But I'm hoping things are beginning to look a little brighter on the horizon and have finally managed to complete chapter 14 for you all.
As always, I don't belong any characters from CSI or The Bill or X Files, I'm just messing with them for a while for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit and unless you've found a way to get blood out of a stone, I don't reckon there's much point in anyone suing me either!!
So, sit back, read away and let me know what you think - as always all comments and feedback is gratefully received, be it good bad or downright indifferent, I can take it!
Jo crept into the side room in which her wife was currently resting, fearing even then that it could still all prove to be a grave mistake, that the person in the bed would not really be Sam. She released the breath she did not realise she had been holding as she laid eyes for the first time in 48 hellish hours on the woman she adored with every bone in her body. Even as her elation kicked in, her heart ached at the obvious pain and injuries the blonde woman had endured and prayed to every known deity and saint that she would have the strength to guide Sam back to a health. She stealthily approached the bed, not wishing to disturb the slumbering blonde, pulling the conveniently positioned chair as close to her wife as she could and perching on it. Tentatively, she reached out to hold the fragile hand laid closest to her, part of her still wondering if this could all be real.
"I'm here now Sam. I'm so sorry…" Jo's voice broke as the tears she had refused to shed seeped through her defences, her guilt and sorrow destroying her resolve. She laid her head down on the bed beside Sam's arm, letting the tears flow freely as she re-established a physical connection with her soulmate. Phil watched from outside the doorway as his friend's heart broke, finally allowing a glimmer of hope to enter his mind that Jo might be able to make it through this ordeal. He felt his anger ebbing, realising that what was important now was helping both women to return to as normal a life as could be expected, that the mistakes which had been made would be dealt with through the appropriate channels. Phil allowed a wry grin to grace his face momentarily as he thought how proud Sam would be of his new enlightened approach. He turned away, allowing the pair their privacy, knowing that Jo would not be moving in a hurry.
Sara stared at the screen, watching as the man they believed to be partly responsible for the carnage and abductions calmly waltzed out of the hospital, unchallenged. Tracing his movements back, they had discovered to their horror that he had indeed been right under their noses the entire time – masquerading as one of the police officers posted on guard duty. The wiry CSI could only surmise that it was his constant presence which had led to all-comers mistakenly believing he was in the bed being guarded – even as she wondered what chemical or physical reaction elicited such a belief, knowing their must be a rational scientific explanation for the phenomena.
There were very few times when Sara truly allowed herself to feel anything towards the perpetrators of the crimes they investigated but this was an exception. Even if Catherine had not been involved, Sara told herself that she had had a vested interest in this case from the beginning, from the first time she had surveyed the initial crime scene and met the two British brides. In the deepest recesses of her mind, if she were truly honest with herself, she would acknowledge that it only became the personal crusade on which she was now intent on embarking when Catherine became so intimately involved. She had made Lindsey a promise as she dropped her off with her Aunt; that she would make sure the man who hurt her mother so badly was never able to ruin any one else's life. It was a promise she intended to keep, even if she had to sacrifice everything to do so. She looked intently into the image frozen on the screen, memorising every detail of the man's face and body, knowing that ultimately it may prove to be useless knowledge but at least once it was all over she could confidently look at the body and know the right man was down.
Scully moved her shoulders in tight circles, willing the aches and pains to stay at bay until she had completed the necessary paperwork which inevitably came with any case in which she seemed to be involved. She couldn't wait to surrender to Monica's tender ministrations later in their motel room, wondering what her partner was busy doing. As though summoned by a telepathic link, Scully's cell phone chirped into life, the screen displaying her lover's name.
"Scully." The agent barked into the tiny handset, never greeting her lover any differently on the phone than she would any other call, Mulder's words about trusting no one always niggling at the back of her brain.
"It's me babe. How you getting on with the autopsy? You nearly finished?" Monica sat down on the sofa at the crime lab, having spent the remainder of the day reviewing evidence from all the crime scenes with Nick and Warrick.
"I'm getting there now, just got to finish these damned forms and then I'll be able to escape. How's your day gone? You found anything useful?" Dana asked, sitting back for a few moments, her back screaming in agony but also relishing the movement.
"Possibly. We certainly have a plethora of leads to chase up. I just wanted to check if you wanted me to come by and pick you up really." Reyes drew lazy circles with her foot on the dingy carpet tiles as she let her mind drift to how they would spend that evening.
"Yeah, give me another half an hour and I'm all yours." The petite red-haired agent allowed a small smile to briefly spread across her face at the caring tenderness she heard in her lover's voice. "You know you scared me today – you've got some serious making up to do tonight." Scully teased.
"Oh believe me, I'm all up for showing you just how sorry I am for worrying you and how grateful I am to be here to show you!" Monica deliberately notched up the husky tone to her voice, sending shivers of anticipation racing down Dana's spine. Shivers of a different kind overtook her though as she heard the somewhat stealthy approach of someone searching for something in the morgue. She knew that Dr Robbins and his staff had already left, with just one morgue assistant remaining; a young man whom Scully doubted would be able to move stealthily even if his life depended on it.
"Mon, I gotta go, I think I have company." Before Monica could respond, the line went dead as Scully disconnected her phone. Reyes leapt out of her seat, scrabbling in her pocket for her keys.
Sam floated on a sea of clouds, every sound muffled and yet clear. The aroma which met her emerging senses seemed different, more clean and comforting as though it was familiar, even if she could not identify it. There was a weight resting against her hand, a soft pressure unlike she had become accustomed to. As awareness began to return in greater measure, with it came the pains and a craving stronger than she ever imagined she could experience for the now familiar burn of the chemical concoction she had been introduced to. She tried to shift in the bed, searching for a likely source of relief.
Jo stirred as she felt movement by her head, sitting up as she remembered where she was. "Sam? Sam, it's me sweetheart. It's ok, you're safe now, you're in hospital." Sam eyed the person sat beside her bed as though she was not sure whether to really believe her own eyes. Reading her expression, Jo assured her, "it's ok, it really is me. I'm not even going to begin to say I know or understand what you've been through, but I know that this is real and I know that I love you so much."
Sam beckoned her closer, her expression still a little wary with no small amount of fear there. Jo leaned in slowly and cautiously, not wishing to make her wife any more uncomfortable than she already was. "I need to know, I need to be sure you're real and not some cruel trick of my mind. You promised me something on our wedding night, what was it?"
There was barely a pause before the brunette responded, having replayed the scenes from the wedding over in her mind hundreds of times during Sam's abduction. "I promised you that each and every day of our lives, I would do everything in my power to give you the best orgasm of your life." Jo whispered, her lips tantalisingly close to Sam's own as she repeated their secret vow, a flush spreading across Jo's cheeks as she remembered what she had been doing as she made that promise.
Sam felt a wetness assault her cheeks as she gave in to her desperate need to cry. "I'm really home?"
"Almost baby, almost. We're still in Las Vegas but you're back with the people who love you and need you. Abi, Gary and Phil are here too. You had us all worried you'd deserted us." Jo informed her lover, repeatedly soothing her hand through limp hair stopping occasionally to tenderly brush away the tears from the smooth alabaster cheeks in front of her. The knowledge seemed to make Sam cry all the harder. "Hey, it's ok, it's all going to be ok now. I've got you love, you're safe now."
"Jo, I'm so sorry. I… I…I…" Sam stuttered over her words, trying desperately to explain something she felt was crucially important to her wife but struggling to force the words past her parched lips and the sudden lump in her throat.
"You've nothing to be sorry for, I'm the one who should be sorry. Sorry for letting you down, for not protecting you and for not being the one to rescue you." Jo murmured, wondering what on earth Sam could possibly feel she had to apologise for.
"But I slept with someone else, another woman…" Sam blurted, her eyes darting around wildly in her panic that her lover would desert her.
"Under duress Sam, and under the influence of a whole host of mind-altering drugs! I'm not about to demand a divorce because you were forced into doing something you would never normally have done." Jo attempted to reassure her stricken wife, guiding her face back to Jo's own and holding her gaze.
"But I was convinced it was you – I… she… I came." Sam was sobbing, unable to stem her guilt and disgust at her body's betrayal.
"Oh baby, that doesn't change anything. Your body was tricked as much as your mind was. I know that you would never do something like that normally. I trust you with every ounce of my soul, please sweetheart, trust yourself." Jo recognised the tell-tale signs of withdrawal underlying Sam's distress; the twitching muscles, sweating and the hand which kept straying to one arm, scratching at the skin desperately trying to release something within. "I'm going to pop and get a doctor to come and see if they can make you more comfortable ok sweetheart? I promise I won't let them give you anything you don't want but I hate to see you suffering like this." Jo placed a tender kiss on her wife's forehead, feeling the rise in her temperature against her lips.
"Can I see Abi?" Sam whispered hoarsely, still not quite believing that her daughter could be there.
"Of course you can baby, I'll send her in." Jo smiled lovingly as she exited the door, first inviting Abi to go in before heading off in search of a doctor.
"Dana? Scully answer me damn it!" Reyes growled into her cell phone as her millionth call was connected directly to her lover's answering service. As she listened to the beep, she tried to keep her voice level and calm. "Dana, babe, it's me… again. I'm worried about you and I'm on my way over so whatever's going on, whoever is there with you, just hang on ok? I'll be with you soon. Call me if you pick this message up before I get there, please?" Ending the call, Monica stepped a little more firmly on the gas, fumbling for a number she had saved to her phone earlier that day.
"Curtis." The call was answered immediately, the abrupt tone startling Reyes who had grown accustomed to her calls going unanswered.
"Detective, this is Special Agent Reyes, we met earlier. I think there may be a problem at the morgue. I was talking to Agent Scully when she heard someone else there with her. I now cannot raise her on her cellphone and no one is answering the direct line to the medical examiner's office." Monica tried to remain clinical as she described the situation to the officer, knowing that if the escaped perp was looking to dispose of his accomplice's remains, there was every likelihood she would need backup. Las Vegas Police Department already knew many of the details and were a lot closer than any Federal support Reyes could summon so she had opted to call Sofia, with whom she had spent much of the day working.
"I'll send some squad cars over and meet you there." Sofia did not need any further confirmation that Monica was indeed already on her way, the squeal of tyres was a dead giveaway. "Try to make it there in one piece Agent Reyes." Sofia intoned with a hint of dry humour.
Sara snook into Catherine's room on silent feet, knowing it was well past visiting hours and Cath would almost undoubtedly be asleep but needing to sit with her for a while. She approached the bed with equal stealth and caution, settling herself into a chair nearby and looking at the twisted, tormented features of a woman who invaded her dreams by night and thoughts by day.
"No, leave me. I don't want…" Catherine began to murmur in her restless slumber, though Sara could not be sure if they were real memories or images conjured up by her fevered mind which plagued the woman.
"Shhhh, it's ok Cath, you're safe. No one is going to hurt you, not again, I promise." Sara whispered gently as she soothed the creased brow of her colleague. Cath's hand lashed out at the touch leaving Sara grateful for her fast reflexes, having narrowly avoided, at the very least, a black eye for her efforts. Catching the loose appendage between her own hands, Sara continued to softly speak words of comfort to the woman. For what seemed to be an age, Catherine continued to struggle, pulling at her hand where it lay between Sara's own, trying to break free from the grasp. In exasperation, she lunged over onto her side, free hand gripping the back of Sara's neck in a vice-like hold. Blue eyes, now open though wild and unfocused, glared at Sara, who's own startled gaze flicked back and forth between those eyes and the lips so tantalisingly close to her own.
"If I give you what you want, will you let me go?" Catherine spat. To demonstrate that the woman was no longer a prisoner, Sara relinquished her hold on Cath's hand, hoping that she would not regret the show of faith.
"You're free to go any time Cath, as soon as you're strong enough and not withdrawing from the drugs they gave you." Sara told the blonde woman, eyes imploring her to believe that this was reality and not some trick of her mind.
"Prove it." Catherine fired back, the heat from her gaze scorching Sara in it's intensity and sparking blazes in other parts of her body.
"How Catherine? How would you like me to prove to you that this is real? That you're not still trapped in that hellish place with those animals?" Sara spoke softly, her voice cracking as she thought of what her friend, colleague and secret crush had endured.
"Help me out of this bed and take me outside… I need to feel the air on my face." The strawberry blonde seemed desperate to escape the confines of four walls but Sara was unsure she could comply with the woman's request.
"I'll have to check it out with one of the nurses. You really shouldn't be out of bed yet Cath." Sara made to leave, expecting her friend to relinquish the hold on the back of her neck and surprised when the grip merely tightened.
"No, you don't leave this room without me. How do I know which one of you comes back if I can't see you at all times? If you want to speak to a nurse, have them come in here to you. But the Sara I know wouldn't think twice about bending the rules so I guess you're not real at all." Catherine finally let go of the person hovering over her, slumping back onto the bed in defeat.
"Catherine, I know I'm not renowned for always playing by the book but I won't risk your health unnecessarily. I promised your daughter that I would help you – I don't want to have to face Lindsey if I take you outside and you catch pneumonia or something!" Sara implored the stricken woman to believe her, brown eyes boring into crystal blue ones. Tentatively, she reached over and pressed the button which would alert the nurses station that Catherine required attention. Neither woman broke their gaze until the door opened to grant enterance to a stocky olive-skinned woman, whose jet-black hair was braided severely giving her features a pinched expression.
"Ma'am, visiting hours were over a long while ago. I'm afraid I'm going to have to request that you leave now." The nurse addressed Sara whose only response was to glower darkly at the woman. Continuing as though the patient did not have a late night visitor, the nurse bustled about the bed, fussing over Catherine's vital signs and checking her wound. "All looks well Ms Willows, can I get you anything to help you sleep?" Sara stepped in before the older woman could respond.
"This woman has just been subjected to a concoction of drugs which would fell an elephant. She is withdrawing from a dangerous combination of opiates and you are offering her sedatives? What we wanted to know is if it would be safe for Catherine to take some air in the courtyard? If we can get her into a wheelchair, I can take her outside for a few minutes."
"Out of the question," the nurse blurted haughtily. "For a start, I don't know who you are and as I already informed you, visiting hours are over. The only person you will be taking outside is yourself. And secondly, regarding your opinion of our treatment of Ms Willows, may I see your medical degree which qualifies you to know how best to treat this patient?"
"This patient has a name! Her name is Catherine and Catherine has requested to go outside. Catherine has been held captive in a room not dissimilar to this one and subjected to horrors imaginable only in your worst nightmares." Sara repeatedly referred to her friend by name, incensed at the impersonal treatment being meted out. "I am a friend and colleague of Catherine's, I work for the Las Vegas Crime Lab. My name is Sara Sidle. I work nights which means I am unable to visit during normal visiting hours and myself and my other colleagues were granted permission earlier today to visit whenever we could provided that we did not disturb the other patients. Now I will ask again, will it harm Catherine in any way to spend a few minutes outside getting some fresh air if we wrap her up in blankets and she is not out for any considerable length of time?" Sara fumed, pulling herself up to her full height and scowling down on the officious nurse.
"If you do not lower your voice and step away from me, I will call security," was her only response.
"No you won't, not unless you want me to discharge myself against medical advice." Catherine spoke for the first time since the other woman had entered the room having been silently observing the woman who claimed to be Sara. Whilst she was still some way from being certain that all she saw was real, there was no doubt that the fiery brunette defending her right to move about the hospital was the same one she had clashed with numerous times at work. No one, no matter how good at manipulating perception, could imitate Sara's brutal temper to such perfection. Once the nurse had recovered enough to shut her gaping mouth, Catherine asked, "please, just fetch me a wheelchair and some blankets? To know I've really escaped from that place, I need to smell the city and feel the air on my face. I can't trust my eyes to show me what is real right now, I need help believing I'm here." The strawberry blonde implored the woman to take pity on her.
"Hmm, if I do agree to this, I want you both to promise it will only be for a few minutes and I will note it on your records that I vehemently oppose such a course of action." The nurse issued both women with a stern glare, only to be met by two equally determined ones in return. "Fine, I'll get the wheelchair. Be it on your heads if complications arise." The woman was still muttering to herself as she exited the room, leaving Catherine and Sara in stunned silence.
"Ok, so maybe you are Sara after all." Catherine commented, a tiny glimmer of a smile playing around the corners of her mouth and more than a small trace of hope in her eyes.
"I am Cath, I am. I'm the Sara who drives you to distraction at work; the one who Grissom feels the need to keep tabs on when we're working together in case our own blood is spilled when we fight; the one who's been helping Lindsey with her latest school project because you didn't know where to start with what she wanted to do; and the one who let you down by not finding who killed your ex-husband."
"You never let me down Sara. I was angry at Eddie, I was angry at the lack of evidence, I was angry at myself and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have done that. I think the reason we fight so much is because in a lot of ways, we're so similar; we're both immensely passionate about what we do, about finding the perpetrators of crime and bringing them to justice for the sake of the victims. Whilst we might come at it from different places, our goals are the same and I wouldn't have you any other way." Catherine admitted, finally feeling the deepest recesses of her core thawing slightly, allowing her to believe that maybe, just maybe, there was a way back from what had happened.
"We started off from a bad place; I was the interloper questioning not just the integrity of your close friend but of the lab as a whole. Worse than that, I was Grissom's choice. I get that that left all of you feeling uneasy around me and let's face it, women can be the biggest bitches going when we want to be. I didn't make it easy for you to like me but I'm really glad that in the last few months we've got past all that. Cath, I like you, as a friend, as colleague, as a person. I want to be here for you, help you get back on your feet, if you'll let me?" Sara enquired, hoping she wasn't expecting too much too soon.
"You think you can help me do you, Sidle?" Catherine teased, becoming more and more convinced that it really was her Sara she was talking to and not some figment of her imagination.
"Even if all I do is keep Lindsey from asking you about mathematical equations and science projects, yeah I reckon I can." Sara replied earnestly.
"I can't promise I'll make it easy for you. I don't know how this is going to pan out, but I'd really like to know that there's someone there looking out for me." Catherine admitted shyly, picking at imaginary lint fluff on her bedsheets.
"None of us know how your recovery will go Cath but I will be there, looking out for you every step of the way, no matter how hard it gets or how many times you try to push me away." Sara assured her friend, stepping towards her and reaching out a hand. Catherine's own was shaking, her palm clammy as she took the brunette's hand in hers, heart racing as sudden irrational fears confronted her. The gentle soothing stroke of a thumb across the back of her hand saw her terror ebb slightly. "I'll never knowingly do anything to hurt you and if ever at any time, anything I do makes you feel uncomfortable, I want you to promise me that you'll tell me straight away. The only priority here is you, what you feel able to cope with and what will help you to heal and move on from this." Sara murmured, reading the tension in the older woman's shoulders. The nurse chose that moment to return with a colleague, a wheel chair and numerous blankets, asking Sara to wait outside whilst they transferred Catherine into the chair. Reluctantly, the two women severed their physical connection and Sara stepped from the room with a sigh of relief.
Scully groaned as she heard more footsteps approaching. Curling herself into a tighter ball than she already was huddled in, she awaited the next onslaught of beating.
"Dana!?" Monica reached out towards her cowering lover as she skidded along the floor on her knees, heedless of the friction burns to her legs. "Dana, honey, what happened? Are you ok?"
Scully's head snapped up at the sound of the familiar voice of her partner. "Monica?" She asked, as if not really believing it to be real. Seeing the immediate concern flooding the warm, soulful eyes assessing her, Scully was quick to reassure her lover, "I'm fine. A bit bruised but nothing worse than that."
"Who did this?" More footsteps approached and Dana froze, fearing that the men had returned but seeing only Las Vegas PD officers sealing off the area.
"I don't know who they were or for whom they are working but I intend to find out. They took the body and all my notes. Everything to do with the 'disappearing' man is gone." Scully replied finally.