A/N: Okay, okay, I got your message about that last cliffhanger….truth be known, I couldn't concentrate today on anything else either until I had written the resolution to some of the events of the last chapter…please be advised, however, that not all things are wrapped up in this one…these two are whispering to me, but I don't have the time to do them justice. Sometimes love is so beautiful, it will make you cry….I will try so hard to update again soon. Your reviews are the best…thanks for everyone who supports this story. You remain great! –Kathy
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"What do you mean you are not going back?" Sara practically screamed as her footsteps pounded the dock.
Startled a bit by her sudden movements, Gil was backing off the dock onto the sandy beach.
"Sara…I can't do this anymore."
Gil wanted Sara to understand that he was tired of screwing up.
Gil wanted Sara to understand that he loved her so much he felt he needed to bow out of her life before he caused her irreparable harm.
Gil wanted Sara to understand that he couldn't live without the love he had come to know with her in his life.
But Sara was understanding something else.
He had expected her to protest, but he resolved not to be moved by her words.
He had expected her to plead with him, but he steeled his resolve not to be moved by her tears.
He had not expected the sharp blow to the side of his face as Sara's hand made angry contact.
Stunned, he looked directly into her stare and was startled by the ..what was that he was reading in her angry eyes?
Sara talked through her frown which held her tears at bay, eyebrows knitted angrily as her glare would penetrate the thickest steel…or the most resolved heart.
"So…MR. Grissom…when you said you would love me forever…" she paused to swallow the lump that threatened to choke any further speech, "what you meant was until I did something else to screw up your perfect life…"
Gil raised a hand reflexively to his cheek, instantly reminded of the comfort she had surprised him with all those years ago when she had dusted "chalk" from the same area.
This time, however, her touch was anything but comforting.
"Sara…" Gil began but was cut off again by her increasing anger.
"So…MR. Grissom…when you told me to hold on to your love, you knew…all that time…that one day my problems would be too much for you to handle…that you knew you had an escape plan from this relationship already in place…that when push came to shove, you would just plan to stay here…and leave me alone…again…back there… where I barely made it through the first time…before you promised to love me… forever…"
His mind was reeling. That wasn't the truth at all. She wasn't hearing him.
He needed to explain.
She wasn't going to give him that chance.
"I knew from the very beginning that my heart would betray me where you were concerned. Before I even became involved with you, I had my own plan for stopping the …pain…," she needed to draw a deep breath to continue as the tears were pooling before her sorrowing brown eyes, "I should never have listened to you…"
With that, Sara turned and started pounding back down the dock.
Grissom sank to the soft sands of the shoreline and put his head in his hands.
This was not what he had planned.
Instead, he had wanted her to see that he understood why she would not want to be with him. He had failed her in so many ways in the last few days.
He was going to make it easier for her by simply refusing to go back.
He loved her enough to lay down his life for her, even if it meant abandoning his work and his relationships with the others.
He loved her enough to give up a chance at happiness with her, because from where he sat Sara only received heartache because of their relationship.
He loved her enough…didn't she see that?
Did she really think he did not want to be with her?
He jerked his head up, expecting to see her at the end of the dock.
But the wooden walkway was deserted.
She's gone back…goodbye, my love…
Gil Grissom sat alone in this paradise, their Better Place, and felt the tears cascading down his cheeks.
He looked out towards the strong waves of the high tide.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, and began to stroll where she had been standing just a few moments before. He wanted to be where he had last seen her loving gaze, the one she reserved just for him.
He could still see her smiling.
He could see her standing there, arms wrapped around her in a self-protective stance. It had hurt him so much to realize he was once again responsible for her need to comfort herself.
He could see…two seabirds making a bee-line towards him.
Grissom tried to dodge the kamikaze birds, but they butted against him intentionally.
Swiping at them actively, cursing them loudly, the duo continued their assault on him until he finally bellowed, "WHAT do you WANT?"
As if in answer to his query, he watched them soar with the precision of an X-15 in an air show as they flew directly to a point over the water not so far off.
They circled noisily in the air.
That was when he spotted her.
"Oh my –" the phrase went unfinished as he dove into the warm waters. With powerful strokes, Grissom prayed while he dodged the incoming surf, focused totally on reaching her before she succumbed to the fatigue that was surely overcoming her by this time.
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Doc Robbins had directed the Sheriff's units to the morgue entrance.
As requested they entered the lot without lights or sirens.
Doc met them at the usual morgue entrance, speaking in hushed tones with the Sheriff until they reached the corridor entrance to the rear garage area.
The Sheriff had already run through the game plan with the remaining members of the Elite Force. He cautioned Brass and the coroner to hold up the rear and allow his officers to deal with the situation.
In the few moments they had been in the garage, Ecklie had removed Sara's still unconscious form and placed her in the wheelchair. Sofia had continued to remain silent, plotting how she would ensure the demise of this now most-hated enemy.
Ecklie was completely out-of-touch with reality. He was totally oblivious to Sofia's presence. He continued to make soothing sounds in his intimate conversation with Sara.
If a passerby had heard the tone, he could have assumed these two people were in a loving, intimate relationship.
If a passerby had stopped to listen to the words being spoken in such a tone, he would have been shocked and outraged by the crass nature of the monologue.
Ecklie was totally focused on Sara abandoning Grissom, and how many different ways she was going to show Conrad that he indeed was her personal choice over that slimy night shift supervisor.
Perhaps, he grinned, Grissom could even watch us…
Sofia had finished her plan. She would show Ecklie, Grissom, and the Sheriff. She would show them all.
If they were so preoccupied with the safety of this little bitch, then she would have to do something that would put them out of their misery.
Sofia smiled demonically.
It would be easy enough to get around Ecklie. The buffoon was a piece of cake to control on the best of days. And by the look of him, today was definitely not one of his better days.
That is how Sofia found herself behind Sara's wheelchair, talking soothingly to Ecklie that she was going to help him hide Sara from the rest of the team.
Ecklie's eyes mirrored his paranoia.
The team. They would want Sara back. NO! He would never give her up. He would rather see her dead first…
The Sheriff's posse chose that exact moment to enter the area silently, still hidden in the shadows of the garage's uneven lighting.
Ecklie slammed his hands off the back of his car trunk.
"They will never get her back! She is mine! She chose me! I'd rather see her dead first…" , Ecklie ranted as he began to stamp in ever-widening circles away from the area where Sara and Sofia were positioned.
The team took this as their cue to move in. Having spread out around the east perimeter of the area, the Sheriff signaled his team to come forward, as he shouted "Stop right where you are, Ecklie!"
Conrad spun around, not fully understanding his peril. He made a step towards Sara, to protect her from being taken away from him.
The sound of several guns and rifles being cocked into firing position stilled his movements.
Sofia, on the other hand, saw this as her final chance.
She realized they were going to implicate her in this kidnapping.
She realized Sara was going to be rescued.
In an instant, Sofia saw a flash of the Sara's future.
She saw Sara being carried into the Sheriff's office where he would promote her for her courage.
She saw Sara being consoled by the team for the indignities suffered at the hands of Sofia and Ecklie.
She saw the hateful stares of the entire LVPD/CSI staff, directed at Sofia as she sat behind bars.
She saw Sara being whisked away in the arms of a loving Grissom.
Poor, pathetic Sara would come out on top again. Stealing the life that should have been mine.
Sofia calmly squared her shoulders, thinking:
I simply cannot let that happen.
And that is how they found Sofia now hunched slightly over the unconscious form of Sara Sidle, holding a cocked service revolver painfully to Sara's tilted neck.
"PUT.IT.DOWN., Sofia!" bellowed the Sheriff.
Sofia laughed, almost enjoying the situation. She relished each time she would gain the upperhand in a battle of wits.
"I'm not on your team anymore, remember? MR. Sheriff???" she intoned scathingly.
"This little bitch has caused me enough trouble to die a thousand times."
This pronouncement made Doc and Brass wince from the shadows.
"Nobody is going to die here today, Sofia," barked the Sheriff in his most commanding tone.
Although the words were not directed at him, they made the coroner's skin crawl.
Sofia laughed again.
"Look at her! Skin, bones, ugly teeth, bruised all over, victimized by that pitiful excuse for a man over there," she nodded her head in Ecklie's direction while not fully looking away from Sara.
"Can someone, ANYONE, please tell me what you all see in this little mess of a life?"
"We love her." Brass answered instinctively, without thought to the consequences.
The Sheriff glared in his direction, yet Brass' words alone reverberated throughout the large expanse.
Those words struck a chord with Sofia.
She looked upon Sara with the detachment of a serial killer.
Sofia realized it was over. Sara had won the war.
But Sofia still had the gun.
She yanked Sara's hair roughly backwards, exposing the taut skin of her neck.
Sofia was poised to pull the trigger.
One shot rang out.
No one moved for a full second.
The Sheriff blinked his eyes, hard.
What had happened here? He didn't give the order to fire!
All guns were trained on Sofia, all eyes on hers.
As if in slow motion, Sofia slowly released her hold on Sara's hair…before allowing her revolver to fall onto Sara's lap, discharging itself on impact into Sara's thigh.
In the next second, they watched in stunned horror as Sofia's eyes rolled back into her head and she crumpled like a discarded rag doll, ending up in a pile on the concrete floor at Sara's feet.
All eyes followed the trail from Sofia to Ecklie who had been standing near the front of his vehicle.
Ecklie's gun was still slightly smoking.
At this point, Conrad felt vindicated. He had stopped Sofia from hurting his true love.
He would be Sara's hero.
She would love him forever.
He wanted to claim her in crushing, loving embrace.
Unfortunately, in his totally psychotic frame of mind, Conrad Ecklie forgot one important fact of life:
"You never rush towards a victim you have assaulted and kidnapped, after you have already killed the person supposed to be your partner, while you are still brandishing a firearm menacingly in front of you. Especially in a fully fortified police presence."
Ecklie never made it past the third step.
The Elite Force rushed to secure the scene and ascertain the status of both fallen perpetrators.
As soon as his lead officer called the All-Clear, Doc and Brass, along with the Sheriff, raced to Sara's side.
Doc was assessing her gunshot wound – serious, probably requiring surgery, but not life-threatening. He removed his lab coat and held it as a pressure dressing on the wound.
Brass was barking into this cell for an ambulance immediately, followed by a request to central to dispatch two CSIs to his location.
The Sheriff was taking in the scene, wishing Sara would show some sign of waking so he could tell her it was over.
It was really over.
He would personally destroy the evidence file Ecklie had used to blackmail Sara.
She could have her life back.
The magnitude of that reality caused the Sheriff to sway slightly.
Concerned eyes met his, but he gruffly reassured the coroner that he was fine.
As the ambulance doors were closing, the Sheriff made an uncharacteristic move and for the second time that week jumped in back to accompany the still sleeping Sara for the short ride to Desert Palms, where her original team of doctors had been updated as to the current situation.
The older doctor took a moment to check in on Grissom. He was pleased that Gil was still asleep, but became quite alarmed when he checked his blood pressure and found it had continued to soar, despite his medication and seemingly restful state.
If the doctor could enter Gil's present state of consciousness, he would understand the reason his psyche was feeling the effects of an elevated heart rate.