Twists of Fate
Chapter 2: Who to Blame

A/N: It's short...but more is on the way soon. Hope you guys like it..

The last shreds of paper have blown away, into the darkness, the last remains of her hope mingling with them, as you watch them float away. You can hear her mournful sighs, and see the tears that threaten to spill out of her sad blue eyes.

"There's nothing left. Nothing," you hear her whisper, as she opens her hand to reveal a last small scrape of paper. She stared at it thoughtfully for a moment, before clenching it in her fist once again, crumpling it up, and flinging it into a sky full of sin. Of sex, and lies, and two-faced gamblers with vivid, colorful faces but no names worth remembering. It catches the breeze and dances in the wind, in a mocking fashion, and even you can't suppress the anger building inside of you.

"You're left." Ripping your gaze away from the bright lights of the strip you turn to face her, a wisdom in your eyes unlike any you'd ever had before. "You're left, and you're a fighter."

"What if I don't want to be a fighter any more!? What if I don't want to be strong?! I don't deserve to be here, Sara. God, how I don't deserve it."

"Don't say that Catherine...Grissom, he...."

"He's dead, Sara."

Her words hit you hard. Momentarily rendering you speechless as if someone had just hit you with a ton of bricks. You thought by now you would be used to the idea. Used to thinking of Grissom as part of the past, and not as part of the future.

"There wasn't anything you could have done. No one blames you."

"I do." Catherine stated, raking her fingers through her hair before continuing. "And you do."

You stare at her, your jaw dropping. And you wonder how she'd known.

TBC.