A/N: Yay, chapter time. Sorry for the delay, RL and all that malarkey. Good news is the next 2 chapters are ready :) My usual super thanks for the brill reviews and comments. More please! And as always, thank you to Calim for the beta. I appreciate each and every suggestion you make :D

So, let's see how Sara takes the news about Mr. Basderic's release shall we? Evil hat awayyyyyyyyyyyyy…. LMAO.

Chapter 54

Everything spun around her. A never ending whirlpool twirling around and around. The floor, the sky, the noise, the people.

'Sara, how do you feel knowing Ronald Basderic has been released?'

"Sara?"

"Sara…."

She didn't see him rush towards her. She didn't see him push his way through the crowd or the two police officers try to usher the journalists back. It took a firm grip on her arm and a more than gentle tug to get her attention. Then it was as if a bullet had gone off in her head and her eyes shot to his.

"We need to get you inside," Russell said, pointing towards the reporters. "Get them out of here!" he shouted to the officers. He gave her no time for questioning and they moved as quickly as possible.

Her legs felt like lead now as he ushered her back through the hospital doors and away from prying eyes. The second they were inside she literally threw her crutches down and they clattered against the wall before hitting the floor. The receptionist at the main information desk looked their way and Russell held up a hand in apology, retrieving the sticks.

"Please tell me what I just heard is not true?" Sara cried.

Russell sighed, holding out the crutches to her but she angrily batted them away. Heavy gusts of air came from her nose as she grit her teeth.

"Answer me!" she demanded.

He swallowed. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to hear the news like that."

"Oh my God…" she whimpered, slumping back against the wall. "How…." She shook her head unable to believe it. "What the hell happened? How can…how can he be out!?"

He took her arm again but her anger was growing and she tried to push him away.

"Sara, please," he begged. "Let's…sit down. I'll explain but I don't really want to do it here where everyone can hear us. Okay?"

Looking around she sighed, allowing him to take her arm. They moved down the corridor and found an empty waiting area not so far away. Pulling her arm from him, Sara slumped into a chair as he sat beside her, entwining his fingers across his lap.

"So it's true then?" she growled, pointing down the corridor. "And the goddamn press know before I do?"

Russell cleared his throat. "I wanted to tell you myself. I didn't think the press would get near you. I didn't expect you to go outside…"

"Well, that makes it all okay then, doesn't it?" she snapped.

Taking off his glasses he rubbed his eyes. "No. None of this is okay."

"What happened?"

Shifting to face her, he slipped his glasses back on. "He pleaded not guilty."

"But…" Sara's eyes worked in circles. "How can he do that? We had a confession evidencetestimony…"

"Basderic retracted his confession. He said he was intimidated into giving it."

Sara's eyes widened. "What? How the hell is that possible?"

Russell swallowed. "He taunted Brass in the interrogation room and…he threw him against the wall. Just something as small as that, because it was recorded, was enough…"

Her jaw dropped and her eyes closed. "Oh, Jim…" she whispered.

"And…" Russell continued, "…Basderic brought up the fact that Nick and I were also present during questioning and that he was scared of us because we covered up you trying to kill him."

With her eyes popping open, she swallowed hard.

"So, the judge allowed him to change his plea. Threw out the confession and also brought your testimony into question because of what has happened between you both."

"He's questioning my testimony?"

"Yeah," Russell sighed.

"Does he have any idea what I went through, what Gil's been through?"

He took her hand. "You know he doesn't look into that, Sara. He wants evidence…fact and nothing else."

"I can't believe this is happening," she admitted, her voice quiet now. "It's insanity…" Her brow pinched as a thought dawned upon her and her heart beat a little bit faster. "Oh God, he must know about Gil and that he couldn't give a statement…"

Russell gave a nod. "We think so…"

She went to stand but Russell grabbed her arm. "Relax," he advised.

"What do you mean relax?" she argued. "That…m…m…maniac is out on the street and he damn well knows if Gil gets his memory back then it's over for him. He's going to come for him…for us…" Her chin quivered with a mixture of rage and fear. "He won't stop!"

"Sara…" He tightened his grip on her, "…we have 48 hours to get more evidence to send Basderic to trial. We will find it. In the meantime, Grissom will be guarded 24 hours a day. Basderic won't be stupid enough to try anything here. There is too much security. He'd be caught on camera and that would put the nail in his coffin."

Sara was unconvinced. "He's capable of anything, Russell. You don't know him like I do. You haven't witnessed firsthand how evil he is…"

"Maybe not," the CSI agreed. "But as we can't do anything about his release, you'll have to trust me on this. Grissom will be safe."

"Do you have a gun?" she asked quietly.

Giving a frown, he squirmed his butt. "Why?"

She looked him in the eye. "Because I want it."

"I…don't think that's such a great idea."

Her jaw worked from left to right and she looked away from him. "Whether you want to help me or not…I'm going to make sure Gil is safe…"

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The fallen roof of the demolished barn had been removed piece by piece allowing the CSI's access to what lay underground. Happy to finally be able to view the scene where all that horror had happened, they moved steadily through the debris.

"Damn, what a mess," Greg said as they carefully clambered over several pieces of wood towards where the stairs were.

"Below will probably be worse," Finn said. "It's not wood we have to contend with, it's concrete."

They reached the entrance to the cleared stairs to find Laura Silver from days fingerprinting the top of the stair rail. Sensing their approach she shot them a glance.

"Hey you guys," she said, straightening herself out. "Pisser about Basderic huh?"

Nick gritted his teeth. "No shit," he growled, attempting to keep his anger under wraps. "You got anything?"

"Just started," she admitted. "Not been here that long." He gave a nod of understanding. "You going down to the bunker?" she asked.

"Yeah," Nick replied, nibbling on his lip. "What we need should be down there."

Laura pointed over them towards a white box. "You'll need to wear hardhats. Orders from the bomb squad. Things could still fall on you…"

Brass's right brow hitched as he glanced at the box. That was not a delightful thought.

Pulling leather gloves from his pocket, Nick gave a nod. "Anyone else down there?"

"No, not yet," Laura replied. "Those of us that are here so far started up top."

"In case something fell on you?" Greg tried to joke but only earned a scowl from the female CSI. "Sorry," he apologized immediately. "Just a joke…"

"Nothing funny about this crime scene, Greg," Finn berated moving to the box to retrieve the protective equipment. "Well, come on…" she urged, putting the hat on her head. "We have a time limit here so let's stop messing around…"

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Sara sat in total silence, gazing at the floor, trying to take in what she'd been told. Ultimately, her actions had aided in Basderic's release but if she hadn't taken those steps would her husband still be alive now? She just didn't know what to think anymore.

"Ah…there you are," Donald said from behind giving Russell a nod of hello and Sara jumped, turning to face him. "You weren't back and Gil is out of x-ray so…here I am finding you as I promised."

Sara swallowed the lump in her dry throat closing her eyes for a second before standing. Russell followed and stood beside her. "How did it go?" she asked quietly.

Donald gave another nod. "Okay. How about you come back to the plaster room and we can have a chat about what's next?"

Now Sara sighed, biting down on her lip. Her husband already had so much to contend with so how on earth was she going to tell him about Basderic?

"Are you all right?" Donald asked noticing how daunted Sara looked in comparison to earlier.

"We have a problem," she admitted. "A big one." Her eyes turned watery as she looked the doctor in the eye. "And I don't know how I'm going to tell Gil."

Donald folded his arms and looked on with curiosity. "What's the problem? Maybe I can help…"

"The man who hurt Gil…the man who hurt me…the man who should have been pleading guilty at his arraignment today…" she took a breath, finding just telling the doctor a hard enough task, "…pleaded not guilty and has been allowed to post bail because of insufficient evidence…"

With his brow rising, Donald cleared his throat. "Oh…Um…yeah…that's…quite something…" His pager suddenly went off and he fished in his pocket. He gazed back to Sara sympathetically. "I'm sorry, they are waiting for us so we need to go. I would suggest you don't tell him just yet though, okay? You'll understand why when we get back to the room. But you and I can talk about it later…"

Sara's eyes narrowed and she felt her nerves pinch. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No," Donald replied. "Just…come…you'll see then."

Turning back to her supervisor Sara finally took the crutches from him and they followed Donald back towards the casting room.

Russell waited outside as Sara entered the plaster room. Donald joined Peter and Louis who were looking through some papers. Sara ignored the men already in the room and limped toward her husband. His hands were covered again and the mask was gone. His head tilted to the side, his eyes finding hers and she immediately noticed that he looked more tired than before and, if anything else, a little pained.

"Hi," she greeted him, trying to offer a smile, trying to ignore the fact that they were in so much danger.

It was hard but she just about made it. At least she could attempt to fight even though her husband couldn't. One thing Sara knew for certain though…she needed a gun.

"Hi," he whispered back.

"How are you feeling?"

He closed his eyes on a gentle sigh. "Tired," he admitted. "Sore. The x-rays hurt with all the moving and twisting…"

Sara looked over her shoulder to the doctors. "So what's happening now?" she asked. "Shouldn't he be given something for the pain?"

Louis gave Donald a nod so he could step away and the doctor approached the couple. He looked to Sara and then to Grissom. "We need to recast you, Gil," Donald began, "and we would like to put you under in order to do that. That's why we've held back on the pain meds."

Sara frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"He means unconscious," Grissom answered for him. "They want to knock me out."

"Why?" she questioned. "And what about his results…x-rays…the tests?"

Holding up his hands, Donald tried to keep the conversation calm. "The x-rays reveal positive news," he continued as the couple listened. "The bridge plating has taken well on all counts and so has the bone fixing and implant."

Sucking in a light breath, Sara managed a smile. "Well that's good, right?"

Donald gave a nod. "Yes. But…"

"There's always a 'but'," Grissom said on a yawn acting as if he didn't care.

"Three fingers on your right hand are just very slightly out of alignment," the doctor informed them.

Sara glanced to his hands. "What does that mean?"

"It means we have to try and move them. Get the alignment exactly where we want it. We can do that manually, right now with some tugging and pushing but, it will hurt…and…we can't do it gently…"

"That's why you don't want me conscious," Grissom concluded on a mumble cutting him short. "You don't want me screaming and squirming all over the place…"

"Exactly," Donald confirmed. "And also because the recasting will be very uncomfortable for you as well."

Rubbing her hand over the bump on her forehead, Sara realized this was why Donald didn't want her telling Grissom the news. Wouldn't be a great first thought once he'd woken up and having another procedure was enough for him to be thinking about. Plus, this gave her a little time to try and get her own brain around it.

"Will you be giving him an anesthetic?" she asked.

Donald shook his head. "Just a heavy sedative should be enough and should make you less groggy, Gil. We only use anesthetic when we really have to."

"What about my left hand?" Grissom asked now. "My nerve…further surgery?" He took a breath. "You're recasting me so does that mean no surgery?"

"It doesn't mean that at all," Donald was quick to give back. "We need to cast you to ensure your bones are safe, secure and kept in the positions they should be in and also for your own comfort. We still need to go through your x-rays in finer detail but, as your bone fixations seem to be doing well, we may very well be looking at surgery on your nerve very soon."

"How soon?" Sara asked the question and it came very quietly.

"I can't answer that right now but when I know, you'll both know, okay?"

Although she was terrified of her husband going through another surgery, Sara knew it had to be done and she knew it had to be soon. The doctor had yet to mention the claw effect she had noticed but she would ask him about it in private.

"So are you comfortable with a sedative, Gil? If so, we can get to it right away and you should be up and awake in a few hours. We should then know what our next step is."

Grissom huffed and Sara reached out her hand to clasp his arm. "I guess so," he sighed.

"Good." Donald turned to Peter who retrieved a syringe and canister from the cabinet.

"I'll be right here when you wake up, okay?" Sara said to her husband as Peter injected the IV with the sedative.

Grissom gave a gentle sigh and a single nod before closing his eyes. It took three or four minutes before his breathing leveled. Donald checked the patient's pulse then his eyes, stepping back with a contented breath.

"He's out," he said to all in the room before giving Sara his attention. "You need to wait outside, okay? We'll probably be at this for about an hour."

Sara swallowed but gave a nod.

"I'll talk to you about what you said before once we've got Gil settled back in his room. We can come up with the best plan to break the news to him, all right? We need to do our best to keep him calm so we need to find the right approach."

"Sure," Sara sighed although she had no idea what the best approach was going to be. Carefully leaning over her husband, she kissed his forehead and ran a tender finger down his cheek before stepping back. "Be gentle, okay?" she said glancing back to the doctor.

Donald gave her a smile. "We'll do our best."

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As Sara exited the room, Russell quickly rose to his feet. "How's he doing?" he asked.

Sara gave a mild shrug. "Okay, I guess. They need to realign some of his fingers so they've given him a sedative to knock him out. Apparently it's painful…"

Russell bobbed his head in understanding just as one of the officers Sara saw outside approached. "Hey, Russell," Officer Clark called out. "Captain Brass has put me on Grissom's first watch. Where do you want me?"

Nervously rubbing the back of her neck, Sara looked up and down the corridor. "Gil doesn't know about Basderic yet," she said retuning her attention to the cop. "Can you try and be inconspicuous until I tell him?"

He gave a smile. "Sure," he replied.

"His room is 105 in the telemetry unit on this floor," she informed him. "But he won't be back there for an hour or so."

"Okay," Clark answered. "I'll do some patrolling and keep out of sight until I get the nod from you. That good enough?"

"Thanks," Sara said on a sigh.

"No problem. I'll go take a look around his corridor and I'll catch you in a little while." With that said, the officer backed away to start his rounds.

Just as the officer disappeared, Catherine turned the corner and headed towards the CSI's. "Ah…found you," she said approaching. "The nurse in Gil's ward said you were down here somewhere…"

"Yep," Sara replied flatly. "You found us…"

Catherine frowned, noting Sara's tone. "Everything all right?"

Before Sara could answer, Russell's cell sounded and he stepped away to answer it.

"Not really," Sara eventually said, watching her boss as he took his call.

"What's happened?" Now Catherine sounded concerned.

Sara looked her friend in the eye. "Basderic pleaded not guilty and the judge allowed it. And, he's been given bail…"

The older woman's mouth popped open and she looked stunned. "Are you serious?" she gasped.

"Very," Sara replied bitterly.

"Jesus…" Catherine mumbled. "Why? I mean…how? What? I just…don't get this…"

Folding her arms, Sara glanced back to Russell for a moment, curious about his conversation. "He retracted his confession, told the judge he'd been forced and the judge bought it. Basderic also managed to pull my testimony into question because of what happened between the two of us."

"That's ridiculous," Catherine spat.

Sara gave a defeated shrug. "Apparently not. So the son-of-a-bitch is out on the street and the team have been given 48 hours to get more evidence or he's free."

Catherine blew a heavy breath. "I'm so sorry…"

Now Sara sighed. "Me too."

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Basderic exited the courthouse, inhaling a huge breath of warm air. It was humid but he didn't care. It was freedom…

"We should get out of here in case there are any press still hanging around," Marshall said to him, his fingers gripping tighter around his briefcase. "Where can I drop you?"

Smiling, Basderic started down the steps. "I don't need a ride, thanks," he replied. "I've got a few things to do."

Marshall grabbed his client's arm and Basderic stopped, turning to look at his attorney. "You need to be careful," Marshall advised. "Don't do anything stupid. Just one slip in the wrong direction and Bishop will throw away the key."

"You need to have faith, Marshall," Basderic answered. "I'm not about to go and get myself in trouble now, am I?"

The lawyer's eyes narrowed and Basderic smiled, slapping the older man on the back. "If I need you, I'll call and good job today. I'll make sure you get a bonus." That said, Basderic stepped away and flagged down a cab as Marshall looked on. He jumped into the vehicle and leaned towards the driver. "Desert Palms hospital please…"

A/N: Ooohhhh….now what is Evil hat planning? Surely Basderic wouldn't try something at the hospital, would he? Will Sara get her hands on a gun? Will she need it? Ready for the next chapter yet? :-P Thoughts please…