1 Chapter 14
Sara woke up to find Lindsey playing Barbie on her back. Sara turned over and was greeted by Lindsey's smiling face.
"Hi," Lindsey said.
"Lindsey?" someone asked, coming into the room. "Oh, Lindsey, let the poor lady sleep," she said.
"It's ok, I'm awake anyways," Sara said.
"Oh, I didn't know," the girl said. She stook out her hand. "Hi, I'm Kelsey, the baby-sitter." Kelsey turned to Lindsey. "Hey, why don't you set out checkers, I bet I can beat you this time."
"No way!" Lindsey said. Lindsey dropped the barbies and ran out of the room.
"Thank you," Sara said.
"You're welcome," Kelsey said. "It's ok, she won't bother you anymore, I was getting a snack and she disappeared."
"Where's Catherine?" Sara asked.
"It's 6:30, she's at work," Kelsey said.
"Oh, God. I'm late," Sara said.
"No, I have been given strict orders to make you stay here," Kelsey said.
"Well, to bad," Sara said.
Kelsey blocked the door.
"No, I get 20 extra for keeping you here," Kelsey said.
"I'll give you thirty to let me go," Sara said.
"When?" Kelsey asked suspiciously.
Sara took thirty dollars out of her wallet and gave it to Kelsey. Kelsey counted it carefully.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Kelsey said. She walked out to go join Lindsey.
"Teenagers," Sara muttered to herself. Sara opened a suitcase filled with her stuff. She put on a pair of jeans and a nice T-shirt. Sara picked up her purse, badge, and gun and walked out. She noticed that someone had kindly driven her car to Catherine's house.
"If they wanted me not to go to work, at least they could have confiscated my car," Sara said. Sara got in and drove to work.
Sara walked into the brake room. The rest of the team was gathered around the table talking. Sara calmly got a cup of coffee and sat down between Nick and Warrick.
"Hi," she said.
"Oh, hi Sara," Nick said. "Sara?"
"What are you doing here?" Warrick asked her.
"What do you think?" Sara asked.
"Sara, I thought you were asleep," Grissom said.
"I was, twenty minutes ago," Sara said.
"I thought Kelsey was supposed to watch you," Catherine said.
"First, I don't need a baby-sitter," Sara said. "And second, Catherine, she's a teenager. It's called bribing her."
Catherine threw her hands up in defeat.
"So, what are all yall talking about?" Sara asked.
"Nothing," Grissom said, hiding the case file.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Nothing," Grissom said.
"Hey, if it's the case, I'm one of the investigators," Sara said.
"Right, like I'll let you keep it," Grissom said. Sara sat openmouthed.
"Then what am I supposed to do? Sit around all night long?" Sara asked rudely.
The others looked at each other.
"Yeah, that would seem about right," they said together.
Sara threw her hands into the air and walked out, muttering to herself.
"She's in a good mood," Warrick said sarcastically.
"She's just being Sara," Grissom said. "Hopefully, she's gone home, um, to Catherine's."
"Are you sure we are talking about Sara here? Her, go home early," Nick said.
The team looked at each other. "Nah," they said together.
"Now, where were we?" Grissom asked.
The team went back to work.
Sara went back to the lab where Greg was.
"Hey Greg, whatcha doing?" she asked cheerfully.
"Just processing the blood from the…Sara? What are you doing here? I thought Catherine was supposed to…never mind," Greg said quickly.
"Catherine was supposed to do what Greg?" Sara asked, her voice with a small hint of a threat in it.
"Nothing," Greg said, noticing his mistake.
Sara walked over to him with an 'I am woman, hear me roar' stance. She looked him right in his eyes. "What Greg," she said threateningly.
"I shouldn't say anything," Greg said. Sara didn't notice him paging Grissom for help.
"I think you should," Sara said. She started tapping the table with her nails and her eyes narrowed to slits.
"Oh, um," Greg said, he started sweating, he knew Sara could hurt him, badly.
"Hey, Sara, could I talk to you?" Grissom asked, coming into the room.
"Sure," Sara said, walking over to him.
As soon as her back was turned, Greg mouthed 'thank you' to Grissom; he only nodded in return.
Grissom led Sara to his office. Sara sat down in a chair as Grissom closed the door.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Sara asked.
"We found this," Grissom said. He handed Sara a picture of a woman. Sara recognized her as, who she assumed to be, Christine.
"Where did you get this?" Sara asked him, she took the picture from his hand.
"We found it in your car," Grissom said.
"My car? What was it doing in there?" Sara asked, handing the picture back to Grissom.
"That's what I would like to know," he said. "You look like you've seen her before."
"Only a picture," Sara said.
"Where?" Grissom asked.
"In the room he put me in," Sara said. Sara didn't realize what she had said until after she said it. 'Ooops,' she thought to herself.
Grissom nodded and raised his eyebrows, "room?"
Sara decided to tell him some things, not all. "Yeah, for awhile he locked me in a room with only a cot. After I gained his trust he moved to a regular room in my sleep. It had a small bed, a vanity, and a closet."
"How did you escape?" Grissom asked her.
"Let's just say that you should never underestimate me," was Sara's only reply.
Grissom took that as an 'I will not tell you so drop it', he moved on. "So, who is she?"
Sara's face turned blank. "I'm pretty sure her name is Christine; I also think she's dead," Sara said, she got up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Grissom asked her.
Sara turned around and faced him. She was being braver than ever with him by talking to him like this. "I am going to check on all brown eyed, brown hared women named 'Christine' who have died suddenly in the past five years," Sara said. "Because this is my case." Leaving no room for discussion, she turned to leave the room.
Grissom stood up. "This is not your case, I took you off it. You are a victim," Grissom said.
Sara spun around, her face red with fury. "Fine, take me off this case, see if I care. But I refuse to lower myself below this man and call myself a victim!" she spat out. "And I do not want to be labeled as helpless, handicapped, sick, or anything else you can come up with to get me out of here!" Sara spun around and stormed out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Grissom demanded, following her.
"Home. I have to go get something," Sara said angrily. She stormed down the hallway, knocking Nick out of her way.
"Hurricane Sara hits," he said quietly. "What was that?"
"Me taking her off the case," Grissom said.
"I don't recommend doing that," Nick said.
"K," Nick said.
Grissom walked back into his office.
Sara opened the door to her apartment. It was exactly as she had left it; neat and tidy. The only places noticeably different were her room, with the empty drawers, and the bathroom, with all the necessities gone. Catherine probably had packed for her. She looked into her room again. On her neatly made bed was a bouquet of red roses. She slowly walked over to her bed, sitting on the side of it. She noticed a florist's card in the bouquet and picked it up. It had only one word on it, 'Christine'. Sara dropped the card. She was suddenly very aware of her surroundings. Sara stood up and started to run out of her apartment.
Grissom leafed through the many police reports. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and put them on again. That's when he noticed it, red roses. All the murder scenes had a bouquet of red roses at them. His mind flashed back to a memory. Roses, at Sara's apartment. He saw roses on Sara's bed when he and Catherine went to pack Sara's stuff. They hadn't been there before, when they went to check on Sara.
"Oh, God," he said. He stood up and ran out of his office, nearly knocking Catherine over.
"Whoa, where's the fire?" she asked him.
"Sara's in danger. Remember there were red roses at her apartment. Well, every time he kills, he leaves roses. Sara's just went home," Grissom said urgently.
"Crap," Catherine said.
Grissom looked at her oddly. The two approached his car.
"I just hope we aren't too late," Grissom said.
He and Catherine got into the car and drove off. Grissom was going so fast, he had to slam on the brakes to keep from running a red light.
"Grissom, slow down before you get us killed," Catherine yelled.
"Well, sorry if I'm just a little anxious," Grissom said.
"Just don't kill us," Catherine said.
The rest of the ride was about the same. Everyone once and a while Catherine would yell at Grissom to slow down. Catherine looked thoroughly shaken up when they arrived at Sara's apartment. Grissom quickly parked the car and the two quickly got out and slammed the car doors. As they were running to the apartment, Catherine spoke up.
"Next time, I drive," Catherine said.
"Fine," Grissom said.
They found Sara's apartment door open. They pulled their guns and walked cautiously inside.
"Sara?" Catherine asked. She slowly pushed open the door to Sara's room. "Oh my God," she said, running to her.
Sara was sprawled on the floor and the pool of blood around her was getting larger. The room was in shambles and there were little drops of blood everywhere. Catherine checked for a pulse, it was faint.
"Grissom, get an ambulance!" she yelled.
"What? Oh God," Grissom said, he quickly took out his cell phone and dialed.
Catherine turned Sara over on to her stomach, even though she knew it would damage and/or destroy evidence. She checked to see if she was breathing, it was faint.
"Is she?" Grissom asked.
"She's alive, but barely," Catherine said.
"The paramedics are on the way. We're lucky she lives close to the hospital," Grissom said.
"Did you call the others?" Catherine asked.
"Yes, the police and the others will be here shortly," Grissom said.
"Where are those EMT's?" Catherine demanded.
"Right here," a voice said. Two EMT's entered the room dragging a stretcher and their kits. The male took her pulse and blood pressure.
"We have to get her to the hospital or we will lose her," he told his partner.
"They're ready and waiting," she replied, the two transferred Sara to the stretcher. She turned to Catherine.
"Sir, Ma'am, we're taking her to Memorial Shock/Trauma; it's about three miles from here," she said.
"We know where it is," Grissom said.
The EMT only nodded as she and her partner wheeled Sara out.
"Let's go," Catherine said after she couldn't hear the sirens. The two got into the car and sped off to the hospital. The two rode in silence. Grissom parked the car and solemnly walked into the hospital.
"Sara Sidle," Grissom told the receptionist. The receptionist saw the badge and gun and didn't ask any questions.
"A-36. Down the hall to the right," she said, waving them through.
"You'd think it'd be more difficult to get in here," Catherine said to Grissom.
"Badge and gun help," Grissom said.
"True," Catherine said. The two turned the corner and found Sara's room.
Inside, two doctors and three nurses were working on her. She was hooked to a heartbeat monitor and small oxygen were in her nose. An IV was dripping blood into her veins.
"Dr. Mahon?" Grissom asked, the doctor turned around.
"Mr. Grissom," he said solemnly.
"Is she going to be ok?" Grissom asked.
"It depends on when she wakes out, if she does," Dr. Mahon said.
"Excuse me?" Catherine said.
He sighed. "There are several additional contusions on her head. Whoever did this to her was not happy," Dr. Mahon said. "Her blood loss is far more severe. With contusions like this we can only tell you that the longer she remains unconscious, the less likely for a complete recovery."
"What are her chances?" Grissom asked.
"I won't lie," Dr. Mahon said. "But, 60/40 on surviving. We have her on recessitate which brings it up to 70/30."
"That bad?" Grissom asked.
Dr. Mahon only nodded.
"Dr., her rate's rising," a nurse said.
The doctor nodded. Suddenly, a loud sound filled the room.
Everyone's heat stopped as a flat line appeared on Sara's heart monitor.
Sara woke up to find Lindsey playing Barbie on her back. Sara turned over and was greeted by Lindsey's smiling face.
"Hi," Lindsey said.
"Lindsey?" someone asked, coming into the room. "Oh, Lindsey, let the poor lady sleep," she said.
"It's ok, I'm awake anyways," Sara said.
"Oh, I didn't know," the girl said. She stook out her hand. "Hi, I'm Kelsey, the baby-sitter." Kelsey turned to Lindsey. "Hey, why don't you set out checkers, I bet I can beat you this time."
"No way!" Lindsey said. Lindsey dropped the barbies and ran out of the room.
"Thank you," Sara said.
"You're welcome," Kelsey said. "It's ok, she won't bother you anymore, I was getting a snack and she disappeared."
"Where's Catherine?" Sara asked.
"It's 6:30, she's at work," Kelsey said.
"Oh, God. I'm late," Sara said.
"No, I have been given strict orders to make you stay here," Kelsey said.
"Well, to bad," Sara said.
Kelsey blocked the door.
"No, I get 20 extra for keeping you here," Kelsey said.
"I'll give you thirty to let me go," Sara said.
"When?" Kelsey asked suspiciously.
Sara took thirty dollars out of her wallet and gave it to Kelsey. Kelsey counted it carefully.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Kelsey said. She walked out to go join Lindsey.
"Teenagers," Sara muttered to herself. Sara opened a suitcase filled with her stuff. She put on a pair of jeans and a nice T-shirt. Sara picked up her purse, badge, and gun and walked out. She noticed that someone had kindly driven her car to Catherine's house.
"If they wanted me not to go to work, at least they could have confiscated my car," Sara said. Sara got in and drove to work.
Sara walked into the brake room. The rest of the team was gathered around the table talking. Sara calmly got a cup of coffee and sat down between Nick and Warrick.
"Hi," she said.
"Oh, hi Sara," Nick said. "Sara?"
"What are you doing here?" Warrick asked her.
"What do you think?" Sara asked.
"Sara, I thought you were asleep," Grissom said.
"I was, twenty minutes ago," Sara said.
"I thought Kelsey was supposed to watch you," Catherine said.
"First, I don't need a baby-sitter," Sara said. "And second, Catherine, she's a teenager. It's called bribing her."
Catherine threw her hands up in defeat.
"So, what are all yall talking about?" Sara asked.
"Nothing," Grissom said, hiding the case file.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Nothing," Grissom said.
"Hey, if it's the case, I'm one of the investigators," Sara said.
"Right, like I'll let you keep it," Grissom said. Sara sat openmouthed.
"Then what am I supposed to do? Sit around all night long?" Sara asked rudely.
The others looked at each other.
"Yeah, that would seem about right," they said together.
Sara threw her hands into the air and walked out, muttering to herself.
"She's in a good mood," Warrick said sarcastically.
"She's just being Sara," Grissom said. "Hopefully, she's gone home, um, to Catherine's."
"Are you sure we are talking about Sara here? Her, go home early," Nick said.
The team looked at each other. "Nah," they said together.
"Now, where were we?" Grissom asked.
The team went back to work.
Sara went back to the lab where Greg was.
"Hey Greg, whatcha doing?" she asked cheerfully.
"Just processing the blood from the…Sara? What are you doing here? I thought Catherine was supposed to…never mind," Greg said quickly.
"Catherine was supposed to do what Greg?" Sara asked, her voice with a small hint of a threat in it.
"Nothing," Greg said, noticing his mistake.
Sara walked over to him with an 'I am woman, hear me roar' stance. She looked him right in his eyes. "What Greg," she said threateningly.
"I shouldn't say anything," Greg said. Sara didn't notice him paging Grissom for help.
"I think you should," Sara said. She started tapping the table with her nails and her eyes narrowed to slits.
"Oh, um," Greg said, he started sweating, he knew Sara could hurt him, badly.
"Hey, Sara, could I talk to you?" Grissom asked, coming into the room.
"Sure," Sara said, walking over to him.
As soon as her back was turned, Greg mouthed 'thank you' to Grissom; he only nodded in return.
Grissom led Sara to his office. Sara sat down in a chair as Grissom closed the door.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Sara asked.
"We found this," Grissom said. He handed Sara a picture of a woman. Sara recognized her as, who she assumed to be, Christine.
"Where did you get this?" Sara asked him, she took the picture from his hand.
"We found it in your car," Grissom said.
"My car? What was it doing in there?" Sara asked, handing the picture back to Grissom.
"That's what I would like to know," he said. "You look like you've seen her before."
"Only a picture," Sara said.
"Where?" Grissom asked.
"In the room he put me in," Sara said. Sara didn't realize what she had said until after she said it. 'Ooops,' she thought to herself.
Grissom nodded and raised his eyebrows, "room?"
Sara decided to tell him some things, not all. "Yeah, for awhile he locked me in a room with only a cot. After I gained his trust he moved to a regular room in my sleep. It had a small bed, a vanity, and a closet."
"How did you escape?" Grissom asked her.
"Let's just say that you should never underestimate me," was Sara's only reply.
Grissom took that as an 'I will not tell you so drop it', he moved on. "So, who is she?"
Sara's face turned blank. "I'm pretty sure her name is Christine; I also think she's dead," Sara said, she got up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Grissom asked her.
Sara turned around and faced him. She was being braver than ever with him by talking to him like this. "I am going to check on all brown eyed, brown hared women named 'Christine' who have died suddenly in the past five years," Sara said. "Because this is my case." Leaving no room for discussion, she turned to leave the room.
Grissom stood up. "This is not your case, I took you off it. You are a victim," Grissom said.
Sara spun around, her face red with fury. "Fine, take me off this case, see if I care. But I refuse to lower myself below this man and call myself a victim!" she spat out. "And I do not want to be labeled as helpless, handicapped, sick, or anything else you can come up with to get me out of here!" Sara spun around and stormed out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Grissom demanded, following her.
"Home. I have to go get something," Sara said angrily. She stormed down the hallway, knocking Nick out of her way.
"Hurricane Sara hits," he said quietly. "What was that?"
"Me taking her off the case," Grissom said.
"I don't recommend doing that," Nick said.
"K," Nick said.
Grissom walked back into his office.
Sara opened the door to her apartment. It was exactly as she had left it; neat and tidy. The only places noticeably different were her room, with the empty drawers, and the bathroom, with all the necessities gone. Catherine probably had packed for her. She looked into her room again. On her neatly made bed was a bouquet of red roses. She slowly walked over to her bed, sitting on the side of it. She noticed a florist's card in the bouquet and picked it up. It had only one word on it, 'Christine'. Sara dropped the card. She was suddenly very aware of her surroundings. Sara stood up and started to run out of her apartment.
Grissom leafed through the many police reports. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and put them on again. That's when he noticed it, red roses. All the murder scenes had a bouquet of red roses at them. His mind flashed back to a memory. Roses, at Sara's apartment. He saw roses on Sara's bed when he and Catherine went to pack Sara's stuff. They hadn't been there before, when they went to check on Sara.
"Oh, God," he said. He stood up and ran out of his office, nearly knocking Catherine over.
"Whoa, where's the fire?" she asked him.
"Sara's in danger. Remember there were red roses at her apartment. Well, every time he kills, he leaves roses. Sara's just went home," Grissom said urgently.
"Crap," Catherine said.
Grissom looked at her oddly. The two approached his car.
"I just hope we aren't too late," Grissom said.
He and Catherine got into the car and drove off. Grissom was going so fast, he had to slam on the brakes to keep from running a red light.
"Grissom, slow down before you get us killed," Catherine yelled.
"Well, sorry if I'm just a little anxious," Grissom said.
"Just don't kill us," Catherine said.
The rest of the ride was about the same. Everyone once and a while Catherine would yell at Grissom to slow down. Catherine looked thoroughly shaken up when they arrived at Sara's apartment. Grissom quickly parked the car and the two quickly got out and slammed the car doors. As they were running to the apartment, Catherine spoke up.
"Next time, I drive," Catherine said.
"Fine," Grissom said.
They found Sara's apartment door open. They pulled their guns and walked cautiously inside.
"Sara?" Catherine asked. She slowly pushed open the door to Sara's room. "Oh my God," she said, running to her.
Sara was sprawled on the floor and the pool of blood around her was getting larger. The room was in shambles and there were little drops of blood everywhere. Catherine checked for a pulse, it was faint.
"Grissom, get an ambulance!" she yelled.
"What? Oh God," Grissom said, he quickly took out his cell phone and dialed.
Catherine turned Sara over on to her stomach, even though she knew it would damage and/or destroy evidence. She checked to see if she was breathing, it was faint.
"Is she?" Grissom asked.
"She's alive, but barely," Catherine said.
"The paramedics are on the way. We're lucky she lives close to the hospital," Grissom said.
"Did you call the others?" Catherine asked.
"Yes, the police and the others will be here shortly," Grissom said.
"Where are those EMT's?" Catherine demanded.
"Right here," a voice said. Two EMT's entered the room dragging a stretcher and their kits. The male took her pulse and blood pressure.
"We have to get her to the hospital or we will lose her," he told his partner.
"They're ready and waiting," she replied, the two transferred Sara to the stretcher. She turned to Catherine.
"Sir, Ma'am, we're taking her to Memorial Shock/Trauma; it's about three miles from here," she said.
"We know where it is," Grissom said.
The EMT only nodded as she and her partner wheeled Sara out.
"Let's go," Catherine said after she couldn't hear the sirens. The two got into the car and sped off to the hospital. The two rode in silence. Grissom parked the car and solemnly walked into the hospital.
"Sara Sidle," Grissom told the receptionist. The receptionist saw the badge and gun and didn't ask any questions.
"A-36. Down the hall to the right," she said, waving them through.
"You'd think it'd be more difficult to get in here," Catherine said to Grissom.
"Badge and gun help," Grissom said.
"True," Catherine said. The two turned the corner and found Sara's room.
Inside, two doctors and three nurses were working on her. She was hooked to a heartbeat monitor and small oxygen were in her nose. An IV was dripping blood into her veins.
"Dr. Mahon?" Grissom asked, the doctor turned around.
"Mr. Grissom," he said solemnly.
"Is she going to be ok?" Grissom asked.
"It depends on when she wakes out, if she does," Dr. Mahon said.
"Excuse me?" Catherine said.
He sighed. "There are several additional contusions on her head. Whoever did this to her was not happy," Dr. Mahon said. "Her blood loss is far more severe. With contusions like this we can only tell you that the longer she remains unconscious, the less likely for a complete recovery."
"What are her chances?" Grissom asked.
"I won't lie," Dr. Mahon said. "But, 60/40 on surviving. We have her on recessitate which brings it up to 70/30."
"That bad?" Grissom asked.
Dr. Mahon only nodded.
"Dr., her rate's rising," a nurse said.
The doctor nodded. Suddenly, a loud sound filled the room.
Everyone's heat stopped as a flat line appeared on Sara's heart monitor.