Chapter 11 ************* He was going to see her at work today. He knew she would come and see him. She came to see him when she was upset. He knew why she was upset. She was tired of having to keep their relationship secret. She didn't want him to lose his job, and he didn't want Sara to lose hers. But she seemed upset, probably those bastards she works with are being mean to her, making her leave San Francisco, making her leave me. But that's ok, because I followed her here and now we're together again, together forever. They would get rid of those people she worked with and then they would deal with Justin.

'I'm sorry. No DNA.'

'Then what was the whole tirade about solving our case?' Nick was getting angry, he had seen the hope Sara had held, for that brief second.

'I didn't get DNA, but I did manage to isolate some enzymes in the skin. Turns out your guy, and it is a guy, has a skin condition. Calcium deficiency that causes skin to fall off easily under stress or excitement.' Sara didn't want to hear those last words. Considering what she had figured out, that the guy could have been anywhere in her apartment, doing anything, she didn't need to hear someone else tell her he was 'excited'.

'Thanks Greg, you can go know.' Grissom didn't have time for pleasantries.

'Sure, whatever', Greg said feeling a little hurt, 'and Cath, you owe me a coffee and dessert remember.' When Greg was safely out of hearing distance Grissom had an idea.

'Ok, Brass will have the warrant for the phone call. It probably won't have anything but Nick I want you to check it out anyway. But, if the guy works here, and he has a skin condition, it might be on his medical file. Cath and Warrick, I want you to check those two things, I'll give you the keys to my office.'

'But they're confidential.' Catherine wasn't a stickler for the rules, she was more interested in how Grissom planned to get around them.

'If we accidently spilt them and then happened to see some information while cleaning up those files...'. Sara looked at Grissom in complete surprise, he's breaking the rules, for me.

'Wait, you could get fired for that.' Sara's sense of loyalty to Gil kicked in.

'No-one will be able to prove it Sara, and your life is more important.' Catherine didn't miss that, Gil's job meant everything to him, well almost everything, but Sara meant the world, no the universe. If this guy got Sara, he wouldn't just be getting one life, he'd be getting two. Grissom couldn't survive without Sara.

Chapter 12 Grissom had decided to take Sara back to his place. Nick would come over if he got anything from the phone call, otherwise he would break the law with Cath and Warrick. Sara entered Grissom's house cautiously. She felt his hand on the small of her back, she tensed up then she started to relax. Gently, he steered he over to the kitchen bench.

'Do you want something to eat?'

'No.'

'Sara, you haven't eaten for 36hrs. I didn't really mean it as a question.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right.'

'I have some pasta.'

'Thanks, that'd be nice.' Grissom noticed that Sara was practically holding herself up. Her grip on the bench had made her knuckles go even whiter under the strain.

'Why don't you sit down?' he phrased it as a question, but again, it was more of a statement. Sara nodded in agreement. Then she looked down at her clothes, they were the ones she'd been wearing in her apartment, the ones she'd been wearing when she got the phone call.

'Actually, do you mind if I have a shower.' Grissom mentally scolded himself for the mental image he had. Sara needed him to be there for her, not for him to be thinking about her naked.

'Sure,' Grissom said, looking intently into the pasta like it was one of his bugs, 'there are towels in there.'

Sara wandered down the hall, and turned into the spare bedroom to get a change of clothes. Her mind flashed back to when she had gone to her place for some clothes. That was the moment she realized she had been drugged. Grissom had been really good. He had consoled her, then picked up the bag she had already packed and got her out to the car. He had turned off the lights and locked the door, he had even checked if there was any mail. Suddenly, her thoughts came back to the present. God, these are all the same as the clothes I have on, he could have touched them. Sara forced herself to stop thinking about what he could have done, or at least she tried. She finally settled on an outfit that she had taken from the very bottom of her chest of drawers. She didn't notice her hands shaking, or her mind spinning, or her need to throw up.

The phone call started running through her head, Warrick telling them about the chloroform, Greg telling them about the skin condition, and Justin, telling her to be quiet, not to scream, not to tell anyone, then apologizing, and her forgiving him. Those two evil voices started running simultaneously in her head. /'I could never be like him'/ 'Where the hell is my coffee, you lazy bitch, you can't even get me more coffee'/ 'I told you I'd follow you, and you told me you love me'/ 'Sara, I'm sorry, baby, I was just upset, it'll never happen again, talk to me, trust me.'/ She just got to the bathroom and slammed the door. She left everything outside that door, the voices stopped. She was free, for a moment.

Grissom heard the bathroom door slam. His brisk pace had him outside the bathroom door in an instant.

'Sara, Sara, are you ok in there.' Go away she sobbed silently.

'Come on, talk to me.' Sara's whole body tightened with fear.

'No, go away, get away.' Sara wasn't going to give in, not again.

'You can trust me.' Grissom listened closely to the door. Sara jumped back.

'No, not again, not again Justin.' What? Oh God, she's having flashbacks, thought Grissom, and she was locked in a bathroom.

'Sara, open the door or I'm going to break it down.' Great Grissom, she already thinks you're Justin, no need to go fuelling the fire. But I don't have much choice, I can't leave her in there, she could do anything.

It took only one ram with Grissom's shoulder for the door to fly open. There was Sara, disheveled and scared. In a corner crying, huddled up against the wall. She was staring past Grissom and muttering incoherent sentences.

'Sara, Sara, it's ok. It's me, he can't hurt you.' He held her in his arms and rocked her gently. And so they sat, on Grissom's bathroom floor. Him just holding her, just being there for her. Her crying, shaking and finally letting herself just be held. Just letting herself be held.

'Catherine, you got anything?'

'I haven't got bupkis.'

'Whoever it is, they wouldn't have to list it on their medical files.'

'That's true.'

'Hey, guys.'

'Hi Nick.'

'You two found anything yet?'

'Nope.'

'Bupkis', Catherine repeated.

'God, I can't believe this. He works with us and none of noticed.'

'Nick, you can't beat yourself up over this, none of us knew.'

'There had to be signs, there's always signs.'

'Are you talking about the stalker, or Justin?'

'Both, I guess. I mean look at the way she deals with rape and abuse cases. The way she is really cautious with guys, that whole false wall she's built to protect herself. It's over assertiveness, you don't let anyone in, and they can't hurt you. We've seen it all the time', Nick paused, 'I just can't believe Sara would take that from him.'

'She felt like it was her fault, that she owed him something.'

'I reckon it was more than that', Cath said, 'most instances of abuse aren't just purely physical. They're financial, social.psychological.'

'And Sara never dealt with any of that baggage.' stated Warrick.

'Do you think she ever will?'

'She's taken the first step', said Warrick.

'The second you mean.' Catherine could sort of understand where Sara had been.

'What do you mean?'

'The first one was to leave him, most women don't even get that far.'