A/N: In rereading the reviews for the last chapter again tonight, I realized that everyone declared they were prepared to hang on for the ride…therefore, I am altering the author's notes at the end of the last chapter, and not wasting writing time creating the pivotal chapter, let's get on with the action!…thanks to all who expressed their opinions on the topic…this chapter could be entitled "Angst Central", so forewarned is forearmed…with the help of these two characters, I have plotted out the remaining chapters to this tale…sigh…without a definitive number, I can say they still have quite a lot of story left…but these two will tell it in their own time…and the promise of GSR remains intact…to all those who support this story by reading and especially by leaving reviews, you are all terrific…I hope this chapter sets well, more to come on the weekend for sure...fasten your seatbelt… - Kathy

--

His strong hands placed her tenuously on top of the sheets as his mind raced as to what had occurred while he was away from her.

Using both hands in a soothing motion, he pushed the hair away from her face – pausing to kiss her tenderly on the forehead.

What a fool he had been, leaving her alone for such a long time!

As he caressed her cheek and moved to place his mouth over hers, Sara's eyes remained closed as she spoke in the voice of someone awakening from a particularly surreal dream:

"Oh, Gil…"

He stiffened and stopped his head's downward movement.

Angrily pushing away from her, Nick noticed Sara's flinch as his hands pressed her hair a bit too heavily into the covered mattress.

Now on his feet, he stomped wildly around the cabin making no attempt to contain his rage.

Just as he thought he was as upset as he could be, Nick shook his head emotionally – and his eyes fell onto the glimmer of the setting sun falling on the metallic object partially hidden in the corner of the kitchen.

Recognition dawned – not only of what the object was, but of the risk it represented.

Had Sara called for help?

Or had she been attempting to retrieve the cell phone and make a call?

Swiftly, Nick swooped down and picked up his phone which he remembered leaving on before he upset the table and left the cabin.

Had she called for help?

He glared in her direction as his fingers mechanically flicked the top to activate the lighted display.

Quickly, he pressed a key to disclose the last call made.

Sofia.

Had Nick been of sound mind, his investigative skills would have insisted on checking on the last number of calls made.

But in his present state, he was satisfied that Sara would not have tried to contact Sofia.

His paranoia returned sharply, as he panicked: but had Grissom tried to call contact him and made contact with Sara instead?

Nick flipped open his phone and pressed his recent incoming calls.

His relief was palpable as he read Sofia's number again and again…

Usually, when Sofia tried to contact Nick, her overtures were always welcomed and he became focused solely on contacting her for some enjoyable gratification.

Today was different, however, as Nick now slammed his phone shut and tossed it haphazardly onto the table.

He stood immobile as he now was focused solely on Sara.

Only the sounds of his heavy breathing could be heard within the stillness of the cabin.

The calm before the storm.

Sara began to stir, attempting with great effort to open her eyes and keep them focused on something tangible around her.

When her eyes locked on Nick, her heart slammed into her throat.

His expression was one of abject anger, following her gaze as she momentarily glanced at the cell phone now perched at the edge of the wooden surface behind him.

Does he know I called Gil?

Oh, my word…GIL!

Sara was trying to sit up now, worried that Gil was on his way and walking into a confrontation with Nick.

In his disturbed state, Nick was unpredictable.

Gil…please, stay away…I couldn't bear it if-

As if he were reading her mind, Nick stalked purposefully towards the counter swinging around without pause – the pill bottle in his hand.

Sara was already shaking her head, determined this time to put up a better defense against taking that mind-altering drug.

Nick crossed the cabin in two large strides, pushing Sara down onto the mattress with such force that she bounced twice before finding his weight pinning her arms down underneath him.

His hand was cradling her violently shaking head, Sara being determined not to face him as he prepared to force feed the capsule into her tightly pursed lips.

"Stop it, Sara!" Nick yelled aloud, his voice creating rivulets of fear flowing through her.

Yet she maintained her insistence that she had been victim to his obsessive actions long enough.

"I said STOP, Sara!" Nick continued loudly, pushing up on his restraining hold to ensure that she was going comply with his demands.

The situation was grave, and the edges of Sara's vision began to blur slightly as the rush of adrenaline, coupled with the slight restriction of her oxygen supply by the weight of Nick's athletic frame pressing for these few minutes on her chest.

Sara refused to give in to his attempts to ply the capsule through her clenched lips and teeth, causing the gel-like covering to crack, small spheres of multicolored time-released medication spilling over her.

"Damn it!" Nick choked, his heightened emotional state causing him to grasp for words.

Releasing his hold slightly, he reached for another capsule.

Sara took this as her chance to plead with him.

"Nick…no…please…"

Slamming the bottle onto the bedstand, the fire in his eyes caused Sara to realize she was in real danger this time.

"Nick! NO!" she screamed, before resuming her failing attempts to keep her face turned from him.

"YES, Sara…YES!…NOW!" Nick bellowed as he began to successfully overcome her resistance.

Sara felt his fingers pulling her lips to create an opening.

Sara saw the capsule begin its way past her defenses.

Sara tasted the telltale signs that the capsule was disintegrating against her teeth.

Sara heard the sound she thought for a second she might only have imagined:

"Let go of her, Nick!"

Sara was not the only one taken aback by the voice near the doorway.

As Nick shook his head, trying to clear the confusion, he unwillingly released some of his hold on Sara.

She spit out the offending medication, continuing to spit out the tiny microbeads that threatened to reclaim her into their control.

Before she could speak however, the confrontation had already begun.

"Get out of here, Grissom! Sara is mine, you never wanted her, she loves ME…she wants ME!" Nick spat out as he jumped off the bed and prepared to defend Sara from Gil's intent to remove her from his cabin.

Gil had never believed it possible – his anger was past the point of his control.

Seeing Nick looming over his Sara –

Sara screaming in protest –

Nick screaming for domination –

The situation was intolerable; his response was preprogrammed, as every fiber of his being demanded an immediate, irrevocable resolution to Sara's plight…

"I said get away from her, Nick…or I swear I'll kill you!" Gil spoke in a voice so low and menacing that even Nick paused to take notice.

"So…if it's a fight you want, old man, it's a fight you'll get!" Nick said, as he suddenly lunged forward taking Gil in surprise and ramming both of them into the opened cabin door.

"Gil!" screamed Sara, attempting to walk painfully but surely towards them.

"Stay back, Sara!" Gil managed to get out, as Nick's powerful upper arms pressed him into the door painfully.

Not wanting to see her husband hurt because of her, Sara glanced around and picked up the book Nick had been reading the night before, flinging it at his head to distract him and hopefully allow Gil a chance to escape from his dangerous predicament.

Nick did disengage himself from Gil, delivering a right hook into his boss' solar plexus causing him to momentarily bend over in pain.

Taking the moment before delivering his next assault, Nick turned towards Sara as she approached and, with a jerk of his powerful arm, slapped her across the face sending her reeling backwards yelping in pain.

She landed the wrong way on her healing ankle, causing her to almost black out from the unexpected jolt of bone on healing bone.

As she closed her eyes, images of her childhood resurfaced causing tears to flow silently as she recalled this almost exact scenario being the cause of her original injury.

She had been a child then.

Though now an adult, the hopelessness of her current situation triggered the long-buried fatalistic response in Sara.

Nick Stokes would make her a victim in the same way her dysfunctional family had.

Sara closed her eyes in fearful resignation of the fact that this confrontation could end in another death caused by an argument concerning her

--

At the airport, Logan turned instinctively to help Lillian disembark from Charlie's aircraft.

Once she was on the ground, however, Logan turned away from his wife and moved towards the unmarked LVPD car that drove towards them.

Jim Brass stepped out before the driver had fully stopped the vehicle.

"Anything?" Logan asked, hoping there had been some news while he was in flight.

"Maybe…but I was hoping your message meant you had a new lead," Jim rushed, despondent that the critical time frame was closing and they were no closer to getting a break in the case.

"THAT, Jim, depends on how well you shake the information from my stubborn, uncooperative life partner," Logan chided, his refusal to use the term "wife" sending chills up Lillian's spine.

Throwing a heated gaze her way, Brass pulled himself up into a more official stance.

"Oh…Lillian will cooperate…I'm not used to taking NO for an answer…" he added menacingly without blinking, causing the object of his scrutiny to gulp heavily.

Without the protection she normally enjoyed due to Logan's status in law enforcement, Lillian suddenly began to wonder if perhaps it wouldn't hurt to help them find Nick to ensure he was alright…

--

Seeing Sara knocked to the ground was the last straw for Gil.

Call it adrenaline.

Call it the need to protect your own.

Call it autonomic response, Gil choosing fight instead of flight.

But at that moment, the only call that Gil Grissom was heeding was the call to end Nick's reign of terror in their lives once and for all.

With that, Gil body slammed Nick into the wall, before taking the stunned man by the hair and placing a well-clenched fist into the side of his face.

Reeling backwards, Nick bounced off the edge of the table, causing the cell phone to fall to the ground next to the knapsack Nick had taken with him to town.

Before he had a chance to recoup, Gil picked him up again and socked him harshly in his ribs, hoping to incapacitate him enough to be restrained.

Instead, the opposite effect seemed to be occurring.

Now, like a bull in a china shop, Nick had rolled away from Gil's grip, and was hopping around the small kitchen throwing breakable objects at Grissom, yelling obscenities and taunting him to give up the fight.

"You'll NEVER have her!"

"She's already mine, Nick!"

"She doesn't love you! She loves ME!"

"She married ME, Nick. I love her…let her go home!"

"Oh, she'll leave here alright right…in one of two ways…"

At this point, Nick was totally out of control and had managed to work his way to the side of the table nearest to where Sara lay in pain.

Retrieving one of the pans Nick had tossed towards Gil, Sara clutched it beneath her as Nick kept focused on Gil.

"Either she goes with me –" Nick said, as Sara prayed he would come closer so she could knock him off his feet.

"Or, she goes with you-"

Just as Sara thought she'd finally get her chance, the pan flew from her hands as she was suddenly yanked to her feet to serve as a human shield before Nick's heated frame.

"-dead…just like you are going to be, Gil."

Grissom stopped his movements, his chest heaving to intake the oxygen his lungs burned to inhale.

"Nick-" he warned, but stopped when Nick's grip on Sara became more ominous.

"I mean it, Grissom!" Nick spat, sounding more and more like a man with nothing to lose.

Putting his hands up warily, Gil backed up slowly until his back was against the wall.

"Nick…think about this…you love Sara," it pained him to say, but he had to stall for time to figure out what his next move would be.

Why hadn't I waited for Brass?

Will Archie ignore my stubbornness and find Jim to tell him what went down at the lab this afternoon?

Why hadn't I taken another cell phone from the lab?

Sara deserved better than this from me…

Gil's protests did not seem to diminish Nick's resolve.

He began moving Sara counterclockwise from their position, encircling the table with Gil careful to remain opposite them.

The standoff continued, each man uttering phrases either calmed or enflamed, the banter heating up and the tension palpable.

Sara struggled, causing Nick at one point to restrain her with such force that she feared her upper arm would suffer another fracture.

Flashbacks of the night her father died began their assault on her concentration.

Her leg was throbbing and her upper arms hurt now as they did that night.

another death…caused by an argument…over me…

Seeing Gil's reaction to her pain, her worry increased as she could see his agitation grow.

Sara consciously relaxed so as not to exacerbate the danger which would force Gil's hand and ultimately endanger his own life.

I love you so, Gil Grissom.

I always have. I always will.

But, you're in danger right now because of me.

You should never have become involved with me.

I'm so sorry, Gil.

Please.

Don't do anything rash.

I'm not worth it.

Please.

Save yourself.

I'd do anything to save your life.

You are so important to so many people.

Life without you would change the lives of everyone you work with.

Your work will help so many people.

It's not the same for me.

No one will miss me when I am gone.

No matter how I've tried to ignore what's apparent to everyone, I finally, here, today, understand…

I'm not worth it, Gil.

I'm not worth any of the effort.

We said our love was forever.

But I'm not worth you sacrificing your future.

Please.

Don't endanger your own life because of me.

I love you.

But I can't be the cause of your pain.

I'm so sorry.

You were right all those years.

You should never have gotten involved with me.

I have only brought you pain.

The wonderful days at the ranch were like a fairy tale.

But the tale is over now.

This is reality.

And there seems to be no future for us now.

No forever.

Please, Gil.

Don't do anything to cause Nick to harm you.

I'll stay with him, he'll let you go, you can go back to your life.

I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you because of me.

I love you…love you enough to say goodbye if that's what it takes to save you...

I'm so sorry, Gil.

I'm sorry I wasn't worth the risk…

Being unable to tear his eyes away from Sara, Gil was puzzled by her sudden change in posture.

She's giving up.

She thinks she can intervene, get me away from here safely.

Does she really think I would leave her here with Nick in this state?

When we get back, we'll get Nick the help he needs.

Right now, I need to get Sara away from him before she gets hurt.

Hold on to my love, Sara.

I'm not leaving without you.

As if she could read his thoughts, Sara shook her head once but refused to look in his direction, an act of the finality of her decision.

Gil knotted his forehead, willing her to look at him directly, but she refused.

In the long moment of these thoughts, Nick had moved them until he was near his knapsack.

Sara gasped as in a split second she felt herself being yanked backwards as Nick swiped the knapsack from the floor into his hands, hiding the bag behind Sara's back.

"Nick," Gil pleaded, sensing a sudden shift in the balance of power in the situation.

"Let Sara go. Do what you want with me. Just let Sara go."

"Oh, I will do exactly what I want with you, Grissom," Nick said, as in one smooth motion his hand emerged from the knapsack holding his department-issued handgun.

Before there could be a protest, Nick aimed and fired in Gil's direction.

Sara's last minute awareness of his intentions caused her to move in such a way as to deflect his aim from creating a fatal shot.

But the bullet entering Gil's shoulder caused him to gasp in pain so severe that he momentarily blacked out.

Releasing Sara from his grip, Nick strode towards Grissom's prone body, fully intending to finish the job.

As he raised his firearm, his motions were stopped in midair by Sara's surprisingly calm voice saying the words Nick had waited for so long to hear:

"I'll marry you, Nick."

There it was.

A simple declaration.

He pivoted on his heel, eyes scrutinizing her face for hints of deception.

But he found none.

Instead, he found the brown eyes that haunted his dreams were now totally devoid of deception.

If he had looked closer, he would have seen that they were devoid of any emotion at all.

In a brazen act, Sara hobbled forward painfully, expertly hiding her pain as if she were once again a bruised child enduring the horrors of her first foster-care placement.

She placed both hands on his chest, her lips mere inches from his.

"Now. Right now. Today, Nick.

I will marry you today.

Become your wife.

Today, Nick."

Then she confused him as she stepped back.

"But if you kill Grissom, you will have to kill me, too.

I will never marry you if you hurt him, Nick."

She let her message sink in.

"Choose now, Nick."

Sara never let her gaze falter.

She would allow this charade to play out, anything to buy Gil some time to get away.

Nick stood for another moment staring between her and Grissom.

She could see his anger returning, his mistrust building.

But Sara fully intended on going through with this marriage.

After all, she was already legally married, wasn't she?

No court would honor this ceremony as valid.

With the extra time this action would buy them, Gil could get away and call Brass and Logan.

They would come to help Nick.

He would get the help he needed.

Afterwards, she would just slip away and stop causing pain to the man she loved more than life itself.

Stop causing pain to all the men she had loved in her life…

Her thoughts led to Logan and Brass, and she felt her resolve soften momentarily.

But she shook herself out of her approaching melancholy, determined to stay with her plan and do what she could to save Gil.

Returning her gaze to Nick's faltering belief in her sincerity, Sara stunned Nick and surprised herself as she grabbed his gun.

As Nick was already moving to retrieve his gun from her shaking grip, Sara realized as she held the gun there was no way she would be able to succeed in a fight for the firearm, and she may injure Gil in the process.

Facing him, panic crossed his rugged features for a moment before Sara pointed the revolver to her own chest and said,

"Choose, Nick. Or I end it now."

"Sara, no!" Nick said shakily, grabbing her into a tight embrace.

"Sara…my Sara…I love you…please, don't ever do that again," Nick was crying now, hugging her to himself.

Finally composing himself enough to release her from his arms, Nick looked into Sara's calm countenance and said,

"Alright, Sara. We'll go. Right now. Go put on something pretty. There's a Justice of the Peace about a mile from here. We'll get married right away, stay here tonight, then get the car and begin our honeymoon tomorrow!" Nick said happily, as if none of the previous hell had happened.

Sara just nodded her head and moved to the bathroom to freshen up for the drive.

Mechanically, she had separated herself from the pain of her decision.

Within five minutes she emerged dressed in a plain sundress, her arms already showing the bruising that would later fully reappear after Nick's strong restraints.

She was startled to see that Nick had placed a makeshift bandage over Gil's shoulder and had moved him to the bed.

Gil appeared out of it, and Sara briefly wondered what Nick had given him to sedate him.

She groaned when she saw the ropes that bound his hands to either side of the headboard.

Seeing Sara's facial expression, Nick moved over and sweetly intoned,

"I'll let him go, Sara, after we are married. He'll be on his way, and we will be on the way to start our new life together –" he paused to embrace her, finishing his sentence as he breathed into her hair, "the way it was always supposed to be."

Nick paused to kiss Sara fully as he raised her hand to remove the matching wedding band he had placed there before he left for town earlier that day.

Pocketing it, he smiled and told her how happy she was making him.

Sara said nothing as Nick swept her off her feet, her distress upon walking apparent even to his disturbed consciousness.

Filled with the familiar sense of dread Sara had lived with her entire childhood, she employed the technique that had kept her focused throughout the difficult days of her youth –

She just breathed in.

She just breathed out.

She just resigned herself to being powerless to change her current state.

She just waved goodbye to her dreams…

And as Sara reverted back into defeatist acceptance that good things only happen to other people who are more deserving of them, her gaze locked on Gil's unconscious form laying on the bed as she silently said goodbye to her dream of a happily ever after as her mind cried unhappily, "Oh, Gil…"