Chapter 5
Sara was lying awake staring at her fan overhead as it made a constant hum that drove her insane but lulled her mind as well. She had been laying there for over two hours. Usually she managed to sneak in a few hours of rest, but now even a few hours were proving impossible. She couldn't seem to shut her brain down for the day and everything was relived.
First the embrace they shared in the rain. She felt so safe and warm despite the fact that she was freezing cold. It felt good to be held by Grissom. Then the little argument about eating. It was just like him to go from caring to being a total jerk. He wouldn't even know about the ulcer if the stupid doctor didn't insist that she take the day off. She was fine. She is fine. Right, Sara, keep telling yourself that, she thought ruefully.
Then the lounge episode; she didn't even want to rethink that. She must have looked crazy clawing at herself and screaming. Catherine didn't make anything easier. Threatening to suspend her because she needed rest. She couldn't believe Catherine did this to her. Two days off, what was she going to do with herself?
Her new cuts burned beneath her clothes. She raised her shirt to view the damage. It looked like she fell in a bed of thorns and rolled around for a while before getting up. The bruises hurt also. Some were from the constant irritation of the skin and the others came from hitting herself. She pulled her shirt down tightly around her hips. Her eyes fell to the ceiling fan again as it continued to hum.
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"Hey Cath, how was Sara when you dropped her off?" Nick asked joining her.
Catherine glanced over her shoulder at Nick. She was still somewhat distraught because of the way things ended in the car. She was sorry she took on the job of taking Sara home and she didn't know how she was feeling.
She sighed loudly. "I think she'll be better with some rest Nicky."
"Not with nightmares like that." Nick shook his head. He regarded Sara with a caring love. She had grown on him really. Probably the first friend she had when she came here, well besides Grissom. What he saw today scared him beyond anything he had ever seen. "Did you see what she was doing to herself?"
"Yeah." She stopped walking. "Have you seen Grissom?"
"Down the hall." Nick replied completely lost in thought. "Tell him I'll be in ballistics if he needs me."
Catherine nodded and went in search of Grissom. They needed to talk. When she found him he was bent over a piece evidence from the cop shooting. "Find anything interesting?"
Grissom gave a start but soon relaxed. "Not really but I won't know what is important until I have more pieces of the puzzle. It took you awhile to get back. How did it go?"
"With Sara? I had to practically beat a response out of her and I still haven't managed to learn much of anything. You could help me instead doing nothing."
He removed his glasses like so many times before. "Catherine I don't need your badgering right now okay? It's been a real long day."
The marks on her body were scary and a rude awakening for Grissom. From what he could tell there was old and new marks, which meant this was happening for sometime. And he didn't know. How could he miss the signs of such apparent self-destruction?
"Hey boss." Warrick said walking into the room. "Just got back. Sorry it took so long but my landlord, Mrs. Creevy, needed help with moving some of her stuff and no one paged me so I helped." Warrick took notice to the tension in the room. "What's up?"
"With the case? Nothing. Look I want us to call it a day." Grissom fumbled with the evidence bag and put the clothing back in it's place.
"But you said that this case was becoming a double." Warrick said a little upset.
"We all need our rest. Do me a favor and find Nick and tell him to go home too?"
"Sure." Warrick raised an eyebrow. It wasn't too often that Grissom pass up a chance to work a case. "What about Sara? Is she with him?"
"Uh...she went home already. Just tell Nick okay?"
"Whatever you say Gris." Suddenly Warrick knew that whatever happened to make Grissom and Catherine upset had everything to do with Sara. He made sure to ask Nick once he found him.
Nick was in ballistics going over the bullet with Bobby when he saw Warrick. "Hey man, where have you been?"
"Went home for a shower."
"Why didn't you shower here?"
"No change of clothes. Did you find anything we missed?"
"Nah. What are you up to?"
"Not much. Grissom is sending us all home."
"What about the case?" Nick asked in disbelief.
Warrick shrugged his big shoulders. "Hey what happened while I was gone? Everyone's acting a little weird."
"Thanks Bobby but we can let it go until tonight." Nick ordered as he got off his stool and motioned for Warrick to follow him out the door. "Sara." It was one word but that was all Nick needed to take him back to the commotion earlier.
"What happened?"
"She had a nightmare."
"She fell asleep? Here?"
"Yep in the lounge. Catherine and I found her scratching and pulling at herself. There were tiny cuts from her nails not to mention small bruises on her torso. We couldn't get her to wake up so we called in Grissom. The look on his face...he was scared. We all were."
Warrick could not hide the shock or the concern. Sara was his enemy when she came to Vegas but now it was a different type of friendship. It became less strained as the months passed and he worked a few cases with her. He had great respect for her capabilities as a CSI and he valued her friendship. "So Gris sent her home?"
"Actually Catherine did. Grissom was afraid to go anywhere near her." Nick pushed through the locker room door. "I don't blame him."
"Dang. Is she going to be okay?"
"I should hope so. She has the next two days off."
"What's she going to do for two days?"
TBC...