Catherine pressed her hands tighter against the top of Sara's head, trying to keep the women there, between her legs, doing her best to ignore the ringing of the phone, but her hold wasn't tight enough, and within seconds Sara had ripped herself away and bolted from the bed and into the bathroom, and had turned the lock before Catherine had fully realised what was going on.
Groaning in frustration from the interruption and Sara's reaction to it, Catherine half thought for a moment of finishing the job herself, when once again the ringing of her phone sounded throughout the room, trying to get her breathing under control, she fumbled for the phone
'Willows' she answered her voice flushed and her breathing still uneven.
'Cath…Is everything alright?' Nicks voice sounded
'It was…' Catherine replied quietly sighing
'Cath…' Nick started
'What do you want Nick?' Catherine snapped cutting him off, her voice sharp, and her eyes on the bathroom door, she pulled the bed sheet up over her exposed body.
'I… I have results… I need to speak to Sara' Nick said trying his best not to snap back.
'Oh… Well, that would be a bit tricky at the moment, she's locked herself in the bathroom' Catherine replied, her voice a little calmer now. 'What did you find out?'
'Ummm… I really think I should tell Sara this…'
'That's not procedure and you know it' Catherine countered, unexplained anger rising in her
'Nothing about this whole damn thing is following procedure Catherine, you know that… Look, I really need to speak to Sara… Wait… What do you mean, Sara's locked herself in the bathroom, you've left her alone….' Nick spat out once the rest of the brief conversation caught up with him.
'Nick!' Catherine shouted it 'She's only been in there a minute…'
'Why?'
'Why? I don't know why, she was doing fine, then the phone rang' Catherine lied. She did know why Sara had bolted from the room, but there was no way she could explain this to Nick, not right now, and probably not ever.
'Please… just, try and get her to come out, I really do need to talk to her, to both of you actually… look, there's a couple of things I need to do here, then I'm going to come over… give me… 30 minutes, please, just get her out of the bathroom.'
'Ok' Catherine said quietly before hanging up.
Xxxx
Nick gathered Greg, Archie and Super-Dave in a quiet lab, and explained everything he could to them, from the footage at the bar, to the scene in the hotel room. He left a few details out, like his personal experiences with Sara, the last page of Greg's results, and one or two other things that he would only bring to light if Sara was charged with either crime. He then asked them to keep it all quiet for another few hours, explaining that he had to go and see Sara, that Catherine was with her still, and that no matter what happened, they would all need to support Sara, even if the evidence pointed against her.
Before leaving he called Brass, briefly explained the situation of the alleged rape claim against Sara, and asked Brass to look into it, and if there was any prior connection between the two woman and Mr Hornby. Nick hopes that the closeness he's observed between Brass and Sara over the past few months will not only help with Brass discression with this case, but with the whole mess afterwards.
Xxxx
'Sara…' Catherine gently knocks on the door, a robe pulled tight around her body. She knows she should dress before Nick gets here and asks about her current attired, but right now, her attention is on Sara, she has already been in the bathroom for 5 minutes, which is 5 minutes too long.
'Sara, are you ok?' Catherine says as calmly as possible, she can hear Sara's laboured breathing, but isn't sure of anything else.
'Sara, please, you have to let me in… Nicks on his way over…' Catherine glances up at the clock, before they know it, the Texan will be here, and she wants to try and speak to Sara before he arrives.
'Sara… please…I don't regret what happened, please don't hide because of that…' Catherine says quietly, she's trying to listen for anything that would give her a clue to Sara's actions or frame of mind, but all she can hear is the sound of the water running into the basin. Taking a step away from the door, Catherine quickly gathers her clothes and pulls them on again, as she's pulling her shirt on she chuckles, Nicks going to know something's happened anyway, after all, this isn't the shirt that she was wearing when he left. Walking over to the wardrobe, she opens it, hoping to find something similar, but has no such luck. She thinks about hiding the bloody and wet top, but realises there isn't much point. There's no use hiding anything after all that has happened.
Straightening out her clothes, Catherine moves and sits down with her back against the bathroom door. The water has stopped running by now.
'Sar…are you ok?'
Once again Sara doesn't reply, but Catherine can hear her shuffling around, evidently pacing, and it's reassuring.
'Nicks gonna be here soon… he's got a few answers… a few questions too, he needs to speak to you… please Sara, come out.'
'No' Sara spits out 'No' she spits out again.
'Please…' tears start to fall down Catherine's face 'Please Sara…'
'I can't' Sara replied, her voice quiet and weak 'I can't, please, just leave me alone, arrest me, I don't care, I just don't…can't…speak about this anymore.'
Catherine hears Sara's footsteps stop, and some shuffling, and realises that Sara is now sat on the floor on the other side of the door, and that they are both crying.
Minutes pass with neither of them speaking or moving, and then the knock comes at the door.
Doing her best to wipe the tears away from her eyes, Catherine stands up and crosses the room to the door, opens it, and without even looking at Nick walks over to the bed, and sits on it looking at the floor.
Nick quietly closes the door behind him, placing his field kit and a few folders down on the floor, and then walks over to the only other door in the room and knocks
'Sara. It's Nick…'
'Go away'
'No Sara…' Nick takes up Catherine's previous space on the floor, his back against the bathroom door. It isn't how he wanted to speak to Sara, but he can't just leave.
'What do you want?' Sara spat out
'To make sure you're ok' Nick said, his voice soft, a slight smile on his face.
'Why?' came Sara's whispered response
'Because I care… because I understand…'
Nick heard some shuffling, and then a click. The door didn't open, but Sara had unlocked it at last. Catherine looked up at the noise, and didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she should stay or not, if she was welcomed, but once again the more rational CSI side of her won, and she knew she had too.
'Are you gonna come out Sar, or do you want me to come in?' Nick asked after a further minute of silence. Further shuffling, and then, slowly, the door crept open.
Nick turned, pushing himself to his feet, and as the door opened a little further, and Sara stepped out, he took a step or two backwards. He desperately wanted to take the women in his arms, but right now he didn't know how she would react to being touched.
'Hey' he said his voice almost at a whisper, and faint smile on his lips.
'Hey' Sara smiled shyly back, her eyes dark and blood shot, showing the pain of the last few hours, and the lack of sleep
'How's the hangover?'
Sara shrugged, her head dropped, and she shuffled over to the bed, sitting next to Catherine. Despite everything, and how she had regretted using Catherine like she had by sleeping with her like that, she found some strength in having the women close to her, not that she would ever admit that out loud, she just hoped that Catherine wouldn't decide to get up off the bed.
Nick looked between the two women, but said nothing. Grabbing the folders, and a chair, he sat in front of them.
'So?' Sara asked quietly. Nick looked at Catherine, who just nodded, letting Nick know it was ok to talk, she was happy to hear the news at the same time as Sara, it would after all save Nick from having to explain it all twice.
'Well… there's good news, bad news, weird news…confusing news… where do you want me to start?'
Sara just shrugged once more, and Catherine looked at Nick 'Doesn't matter I guess'
'Guess not…' Nick said opening the folders in his hands
'Some of this is going to be rather hard to hear Sara, and some of it won't make much sense, until you fill in the blanks, ok?'
Sara nodded her understanding
'Ok… well… first, why didn't you tell us you were Diabetic?'
Sara looked up to Nick properly for the first time, confusion etched all over her face, her head then wiping quickly to Catherine's, and then back to Nicks again. 'I'm not…'
'Oh…' Nick said, his face a little puzzled 'Well… that might explain some things then… '
'Explain what Nick?' both Catherine and Sara spat out at the same time.
'Ummm… well, we ran the tox screen on your blood, and we found… a lot… blood alcohol of 0.241 for starts…also, low levels of poppers, nicotine… weed… we also found GHB, an unusually high spike of synthetic insulin, and your blood sugars were high too… all in all, the perfect cocktail for a blackout… and, as you say you aren't diabetic, it sounds like you wouldn't have given yourself a dose of insulin, which… confirms you were drugged, actually… almost lethally so…'
'Oh'
'I'm sorry'
Sara shrugged again, not knowing what else to say, and without fully realising it, slide just a little closer to Catherine.
'What else?' Catherine asked
'Well…I've got a probably C.O.D for the girl, but…..'
'But what?' Catherine interrupted
'Sara…I need to ask you some questions ok, and there not going to be easy to hear…'
Sara nodded, shifting again in the bed, so she was pressed up against the headboard.
'What do you remember?'
'Nothing really…'
'Ok… ' Nick paused, not really knowing how to proceed with his next question
'Umm… Sara, are you still dominant in bed?'
Sara just nodded
'Do you ever let anyone else…gain control?'
Sara shook her head no at this
'Ok… how about, say, when your drunk, or..high?' Sara once again shook her head no.
'Ok…'
'Why all the questions Nick? Catherine asked still sat on the edge of the bed. Although she was talking to Nick, her eyes were on Sara.
'With the evidence I've processed, and.. my character knowledge, the tox screen…the photos.. I'm sorry Sara, but it looks like Rose not only drugged you, but she raped you…'
'Oh' Sara replied, her voice cold, she shrugs again 'Well, not like it's the first time that's ever happened to me.' She said surprisingly calmly given the situation.
Catherine immediately reached out for Sara's hand, even though she expected Sara to jerk away from her touch, but was pleasantly surprised when Sara not only accepted her hand, but entwined their fingers together.
'I'm sorry…'
Sara once again shrugged
'Did you know, before this?' Nick asked, almost whispering
'I told you I don't remember, I'm not lying' Sara replied dejectedly 'why?'
'Well, we haven't got a definite C.O.D, only probable… There is evidence that Rose hit her head on something, probably the bedframe, before dying, but as yet, I don't know if it was an accident, or.. or not… also, her blood levels were unusually low, and she had almost no insulin in her system, but she was registered diabetic… I think, in her attempt to drug, rob, and rape you, she injected you with her own insulin, not realising she would need it herself… the bump on her head, wasn't immediately fatal, but it knock her out, and with her blood sugars as low as they were, we think she fall into some kinda diabetic coma, and died shortly afterwards. If she hadn't hit her head, she wouldn't have died…' Nick paused, and took a deep breath.
'Did you hit her Sara?'
Xxx
A/N I've got so much more for this, but this chapter is already long enough, and once again, I need sleep. I shall write again in the morning.
