Sara looked up from the files to see Nick standing in the doorway of Grissom's office.  "What's wrong?  Where's Catherine?"  She asked worried.

            "Grissom's going to take care of her.  I thought I'd come in and help you and Warrick." He said, entering the room and standing near her.

            She nodded.  "Warrick and MacCallister are tracing down the equipment.  Grissom was going through these files before he disappeared, so…"

            Nick sat down and picked up a file.  "How is Warrick doing?  How are you doing?"

            "Warrick's not talking, he's just doing, so I don't really know much.  You know him, he rarely tells anyone how he feels."  Nick nodded.  Warrick was much more at ease doing things than talking about his emotions; his friends just learned to read them for themselves.

            "And you?"

            "We've got to catch this bastard, Nick.  If we don't, Catherine will never feel safe again."

            "Sara…" He paused, unsure how she would respond to him asking such a question.  "What happened to you?"

            She looked at him, trying to decide rather to play the innocent or to finally tell someone the truth.  She decided on a median. "I'll tell you after we catch this guy, okay?"

            "Okay."  He turned his attention back to the file folders in front of him, looking up every now and then to glance over at her, then resuming their search.

*****
            "Grissom…if I want to talk about it, would you be okay listening?"  Catherine asked, grateful that he was there, but unsure if he could take hearing about it.

            He looked at her.  "Don't you want to get some more sleep?"  She had fallen asleep for only three hours and still looked exhausted and fragile.

            She shook her head. "I can't sleep.  I have to talk to someone.  I can call the lab, talk to Sara, if you want."

            He shook his head.  He didn't want to hear it, but if she wanted to talk, if it would somehow make her feel better, then he was all ears.  Anything that might make her feel better.  "I'll listen."

            One of his hands was on the couch cushion between them and she put one of hers next to it.  "I came into the house.  I put my purse down; I left my gun, like always."  He nodded, knowing that she was afraid Lindsey would somehow find her gun and get hurt.  "I should have taken it home with me."

            He shook his head.  "You were right.  It's too dangerous for Lindsey."  He wasn't sure he believed that, but he didn't want her to blame himself.  "I wasn't sure if I wanted to grab some toast or something or just go to sleep, but I went ahead and walked towards the bedroom.  The bedroom door closed, but I didn't close it.  I turned around and the man was standing there."  Her voice was even, calm, almost like the event itself had become detached from her and she was recounting what had happened to someone else.  She left out the part about worrying about Grissom; it didn't seem like something she should say.  He looked pained and she wondered if she should stop.  She had almost decided to leave the rest alone when he moved his hand on top of hers and she continued.  "He said that he was one of my old rape cases, that he didn't do it, and that he lost his family…that I destroyed his life.  I…I couldn't remember him.  I still don't.  I reached for the phone on the nightstand, I knocked it to the floor, but I couldn't call."

            He nodded.  "That's when we called the police; your phone was disconnected."  He had called her to check on her, make sure she'd gotten home all right.  Warrick and Nick had been with him, but Sara and Catherine had both gone home to sleep.

            She nodded then continued.  "He…he got on top of me and he said that since he'd already been punished for a rape he didn't do, he might as well get a freebie." 

Grissom turned even paler and she stopped.  He didn't need to know the rest.  "Anything else?"  He said stiffly.  He didn't want to know, but he wanted her to get it out in some way.

"Are you sure?"

"If you need to talk…I'm here."

She nodded, biting her lower lip, a trait only he had ever seen her do.  "It hurt. It hurt so much.  He made me feel worse than even Ed used to.  He…" She didn't realize she was crying until he reached over and wiped a tear away.

"It's okay, Catherine.  Sara, Nick, and Warrick will catch him and we'll all make sure that he never hurts you again…or anyone else.  It's okay."  He clung to her as she clung to him, both afraid to let go.