Femme Fatale

Chapter 20

AN: Thanks so much to Erynn for the nice beta job. This chapter is still really intense, but if you made it this far I'm sure you'll be fine. Thank you for the continued support and the reviews- it helps!

As the Femme raised the knife to Sara's throat, Grissom knew now that he could no longer fight her demands. He would do whatever it took, no matter how horrific to save Sara.

"Don't touch her." Grissom said as he grabbed Sara as gently as possible, saving her from the blade which had been a couple of seconds away from grazing her throat. As Grissom slid down Sara's underwear as quickly as possible he noticed that she was no longer fighting him. She had given up and given into the severity of pain that must have still been pulsating through her body.

"If you're going to do it, do it fast and hard. I want to believe you're raping her; there should be no love involved." Sarah bitterly stated as she watched close by.

He apologized once more by looking her in the eye as another tear of his fell to the ground.

The Femme watched, surprised and pleased as Grissom put his hands on Sara's shoulders. He avoided her stare as his hands lingered towards her breasts. The Femme was so transfixed that she couldn't react fast enough to Grissom's next move. His body plunged forward towards the gun on a near by table. As the Femme ran towards him, he picked up the revolver and pointed it towards his temple. He held his breath as he looked around the room one last time before firing the final round into his skull.

Blackness enveloped the silence of his mind as Grissom finally succumbed to the darkness he deserved. The Femme wouldn't kill Sara, not now. Not without him watching and suffering to his last breath.

XxxxXxxxX

"So what did Greg tell you?" Warrick asked Catherine as he put a supportive arm around her shoulder. They walked down the lab's hallway at a slow, steady pace not wanting to rush their brief interlude with each other.

"As soon as he was about to get out the truth, he backed out. He was shaking too much reliving it all through his head. He never got out what we needed to know the most." Catherine sighed as Warrick rubbed her back.

He had tried to be there for Catherine when she needed emotional support the most. He had once felt there could be more between them than just friends. However, he quickly retracted when he realized their friendship may suffer if a relationship began. Warrick valued his friendship with Catherine and in no way did he want to put it at risk. Besides, he was a married man now.

"All good things come in time, he'll come around." Warrick tried to calm Catherine down, but knew very well that she needed answers.

"How is Nick coming with the letters? Did he find anything?" Catherine asked as they continued to walk down the hall, briefly acknowledging people as they passed.

"No success yet but he's working on it. There has to be something in those letters that will lead us to finding Sara and the truth about all this." He assured her once more.

"Warrick, do you honestly think Grissom could be in on all the Femme rapes and murders?" She asked, afraid of what the answer would be.

Deep down she still wanted to believe that everything was a nightmare and that it would go away when she woke up.

XxxxXxxxX

Grissom's eyes opened as wide as the horizon when he felt his heart steadily beating in his chest. How was he not dead? He had shot himself at point blank range in the head. It was not possible.

The Femme was the first thing he saw and was relieved to see Sara still breathing, without a knife sticking in her back.

"Wondering how you're not sleeping with the fishes huh?" Sarah asked while she casually opened the gun barrel. "You honestly think I would have a gun with live ammo lying around? After I shot both of you, I filled the thing with blanks."

She laughed as she tossed the box over to Grissom. He merely stared at the container in disbelief. "I'm disappointed in you though. I honestly thought you had it in you to go through with it. I bet Sara is relieved, for now." She added.

"So this is all a game?" He gritted his teeth as he was tempted more than ever to strangle the Femme with his bare hands, but he knew better.

She pulled the knife out of her pocket and pointed it towards Sara as a reminder of her power. The Femme crept over to Grissom and he didn't even hesitate; he couldn't risk losing Sara. She surprised him by the gentility she used when she bound his hands together once more and formed his mouth closed with another piece of duct tape.

"I'll leave that for you to answer. Well it's getting late and I bet Miss Sidle needs her rest. We're going to send you off, Grissom!" Sarah said a little too content for the entomologist's own liking.

He wanted to say a million things, even ask an endless amount of questions, but the tape over his mouth muffled any sounds he could make. He was still as helpless as he was when he wasn't bound. At least Sara was alive, even though the pain she felt would stay with her for years to come. He deserved to die, to rot and to never be seen again. He shouldn't have laid one hand on her. The Femme was just testing Grissom to see how far he would go.

As the truth serum wore off, he was afraid of who he had become. He no longer knew who he was and longed to escape from the body which held him prisoner.

"Before I bid you farewell however, I think a conversation is in order. I'm going to rip off both of your tape and allow you to say one thing to each other before I explain what is going to happen next. Make this worth you're while as you may not ever see each other again." Sarah stated as she ripped off Grissom's tape first and then Sara's.

They both stayed silent even though the tape was no longer binding their mouths tightly closed. "Before you fight at the chance at saying something tragic, let me remind you that one scream gives you a quick meeting with my newly loaded gun. This time, no blanks..."

Grissom snapped his head back to Sara who was tied up beside him. His head fought the urge to shout out all the things that were going through his brain but he settled on one.

"I know you hate me and I know you can never forgive me. But I want you to know that I deserve to go through all the pain that you've endured. I hurt you and said things that I still don't believe I said. But please understand: she told me things and made me believe things that were not real, and I deserve to die for trusting her. A part of me must still be caught up in the man she tried to make me. I love you and I …I hope I die a death that is far more painful than what you have experienced today." Grissom winced as a small hiccup of sadness graced the ending of his sentence. He didn't want to show how distraught he was, somehow he wanted to gain strength; now was the time to stay strong for her.

When the Femme glanced at Sara to talk, her response wasn't as long or as thought out. She was in too much pain and so emotionally torn that she couldn't think rationally.

"I hope you die for this, you son-of-a-bitch. You were working with her the whole time, weren't you? Did you rape that woman in Boulder City too? You like it as much as you liked having me? I thought I knew you, but that man I know now is dead once he raped me!" Sara summoned enough strength to spit in his face and succeed in that task.

He deserved everything she said, except for the rape remark. He never laid a hand on her, even though he came close twice tonight: once with an unstable mind and once while trying to save her life. For the most part he was happy she didn't bring up the fact that he was forced to beat her. Deep down inside he was glad she understood it was necessary, or did she? It wasn't his fault, he wanted to save her. Before being able to ask anything further, the Femme placed a fresh strip of duct tape on both of their mouths and explained her next course of action.

"This isn't over yet, lovebirds. Grissom is going to go away for a long time, Sara. But I'm sure you won't mind. You can't stand him right now, can you? He's going to go on a little reunion back to CSI. In fact, he's going to turn himself in. Now I know what you're thinking…Grissom: technically you weren't involved in any crime, but you'll confess to working with me on everything I have done. I need your reputation shattered in writing. Most likely with your confession they'll lock you up for a long time and that is what I want. I want you to suffer, to think about how I was the wrong woman to hurt. You should have just stuck to the original plan and killed Sara while you could have. It would have saved you both from a lifetime of suffering." Sarah let out another laugh as she watched Grissom object on the ground, while Sara stayed completely still.

"I bet you're wondering why you would ever confess to something you didn't do. Well, I'll tell ya: if you don't confess in being my accomplice in everything I have done, I'll kill Sara. But I won't just cap her in the head. Oh no…I will make her suffer for as long as possible until she lets out her last breath. I think her finger was the one thing you needed to see removed to believe me. It's your choice." Sarah ripped off the tape on Grissom's mouth and waited for his response. Without even speaking a word he nodded his head in submission.

The Femme smiled as she placed the tape back on his mouth as she dragged him towards the door.

"Oh, and don't worry Grissom, I'll treat her real nice while you're gone." She grinned as wide as possible as she closed the door behind her, leaving Sara alone in the dark wondering what the rest of her life will be like.

XxxxXxxxX

As Sarah's truck pulled up in front of CSI headquarters, she looked back at Grissom one last time and gave him a warm smile.

"I'm doing this for us, baby. I needed you to force any love you had for Sara out of your mind. I want us to be together, but until you experience the pain I did when you stopped loving me, our relationship will not work. Now go in there and confess to everything. You know what I'll do if you hesitate or if you tell them where I am. And take this to make them believe your story." Sarah gave Grissom a small fast food box which would normally house a Big Mac at McDonald's. Instead of there being a hamburger, Sara's finger lay inside the box, bloody and shriveled. Grissom didn't even try to open the container; the thought of Sara's finger being inside was too much for his heart and stomach to handle.

He felt like a criminal and looked like one to boot: hollow eyes and a physique which was worn down and beaten Hell he even prayed he would get the death penalty just like any other convicted ruthless criminal. All that was lacking was the real person responsible for all the pain Grissom had endured for more than two months. He wanted more than anything to see Sarah die for all the people's lives she destroyed and shattered. But as Grissom walked out of the truck and towards the entrance of CSI, one thing became clear: he needed to suffer first before any real justice could be served. If Grissom got life in prison, Sara would suffer for the rest of her life in the hands of Femme to ensure he would not speak the truth. He wanted someone to find Sara and he prayed that his former team could find enough evidence to set her free, alive and breathing.

As Brass walked down the CSI lot, sweat rolling down his face, he swore he thought he saw someone familiar in the distance. As he took off his sunglasses, all the blood rushed out of his face. Grissom was a mere fifty feet away, fumbling towards the entrance of CSI. Without thinking, Brass ran as fast as he could towards the entrance, hoping that Grissom's presence would be accompanied by Sara's. As he got closer he realized Grissom was alone and the sight made his stomach turn.

"Grissom! Don't move. Put your hands up in the air where I can see them."

Grissom was so weak he could barely comply. He didn't take solace in the fact that one of his best friends was the first to find him. It would just break his heart even more to confess his sins to a man that once respected him. When Brass finally reached Grissom, he immediately started to put cuffs around one of his wrists. As Brass grabbed Grissom's other hand, he noticed he was holding a fast food box and quickly feared what was inside.

"Grissom- open the box." Brass demanded and only got a whimper from Grissom.

He didn't want to see it; he couldn't bear to look. As Brass took the box away from Grissom's grasp and opened it, he nearly threw up the lunch that he had just finished at the headquarters' cafeteria.

"Jesus…Gil, what have you done?"