"So you got drunk. Went home. Then, after breaking in, you realized that it wasn't your home. So you left?" Sara asked the disheveled bearded man opposite her.
"Uh-huh."
"Then you drove across town, no less than ten miles, to your actual home, where you didn't bother going inside. So you slept in your truck."
"I'd already made the mistake once. I wasn't going to do it again."
"Mistake? You kicked in her door." Catherine stated. Her voice suggested that she was annoyed but she was actually quite enjoying this case. Mr. Valancez' records had been easy to pull; he had a prior drink driving offence. The woman whose house he'd broken into had got a good long look at his license plate as he'd driven away - at twelve miles per hour. Compared to yesterday's case this was quite fun.
"I'll buy her a new door." Mr. Valancez pleaded.
"And what about your new drink driving offence?" Brass interrupted. Catherine watched the smirk on Sara's face as Brass explained to Mr. Valancez what happened to people who repeatedly drove whilst drunk.

"Cath. Could you pour me some coffee. I'll be along in a minute." Sara headed into the locker room, while Catherine headed off for refreshments. Sara wasn't surprised to find Nick inside.
"I'm sorry about earlier, Nick, I shouldn't have blown up at you like that." That caught Nick off guard. He'd been prepared to apologize first.
"Yeah. Well. It was my fault really. I started it all. I should really learn to keep my mouth shut." Sara gave him a small smile. "Catherine's making coffee. You coming?"
"Hah! You bet." Nick replied thinking how good it was to be friends again.

Grissom noticed that as they shared coffee in the break room Sara seemed like her usual self. Except for at certain moments when she caught his eye and he realized that there was a part of her which she was keeping hidden from him and the rest of the team. He had secrets, they all did, but he had a feeling that whatever it was that Sara had been trying to hide had been awoken. Now it was ebbing away at her judgments, her beliefs. As Grissom caught her eye once more he noticed a sadness there and he suddenly realized that her 'little outburst' was just a taster of what was to come.

Sara watched the conversation between her colleagues unfold. To begin with she was silent, not talking, just listening. But someone said something - Catherine? Warrick? - and she opened up. Nick was still feeling guilty about her moment earlier, she could tell, he was agreeing with everything she said. Profusely. Had it been anyone else she probably would have objected, told them to shut up. Not Nick though. She enjoyed the way that he teased her. She liked how he could be totally honest and just say what he wanted. She liked their sibling rivalry, something she'd never shared with her brother. She sighed and gripped her coffee cup. Nick was a friend, just not the sort that you opened up to. He was the friend you took to baseball games and went to movies with. He was just Nick.

When the conversation and the coffee had dried up each person went their own separate way. Nick had a breakfast date. Warrick was due in court. Catherine had Lindsey. Grissom had paper work still waiting for his signature. Sara had an empty apartment and two messages on her answering machine. She blinked at the flashing red light. Maybe it was broken.
"Hey Sara. Call me when you get this. Sorry if Jasmine's been harassing you. Let me know how things are going. Will."
"Hey Sara. Will again. Don't phone me til after lunch, okay? Won't be in. Sorry."
Both messages from her brother. She sighed with relief. Jasmine was nice but she was too persistent and too often her pushes were in the wrong direction. Sara took a long shower and flopped onto her bed with still-wet hair. She wasn't planning to sleep but she dozed off anyway. Almost immediately she found herself in the same old nightmare.
She was happy. Comfortable. She could smell his aftershave. She complimented him on it. The phone rang. It was Will. They talked for too long. Will went. Then he started to get mad. She begged, pleaded with him. He wouldn't listen. He hit, pushed, kicked, swore. Not touching her face.
Never her face. The pain in her arm as he twisted it, pulling her. His breath, warm and strong. She could feel him all over her. Then he was gone. She woke up in a cold sweat and immediately took another shower. She could still feel his hands on her skin.

Catherine wandered around feeling bored. Lindsey was in bed with a cold. She'd been coughing and sneezing for a few days but now she had the works; sore throat, cough, temperature. Jeremy, her nephew, had it as well so that meant that her sister couldn't watch both children. Resignedly she picked up the phone and dialed Grissom's number.
"Grissom?"
"Hey Gil. Did I wake you?"
"No. I was watching my cockroaches mate."
"Oh. I'm. sorry I asked." She paused for a moment trying to remember why she was phoning him. "I don't think I'll be able to come in tonight."
"Huh? Why?"
"Lindsey's sick. My sister can't watch her. I promise it's just for one night."
"Sure. Okay. It's fine. In tomorrow?"
"Sure. Great. Thanks Gil."
"No problem." Catherine shuddered as she hung up, knowing that Grissom was probably back to watching his cockroaches mating by now. Gross. He was one of those people who, if he found a cockroach in his restaurant meal, he'd ask for a tub and some beef jerky to keep it alive. She felt guilty for not going to work, it couldn't be helped and Grissom had been okay with her not being there. She checked in on Lindsey who was now sleeping peacefully, before settling down on the couch with a magazine.

It was one of those cases. One which kept on leading them round and round in circles. Nick and Grissom's case wasn't easy, but it wasn't as bad a the one Warrick and Sara had been assigned. A woman had gone missing; no body and lots of boyfriends. As Sara pointed out most of them were pretty shady with backgrounds of drugs, assault, robbery, various traffic offences as well as other, numerous, convictions, some of them going back over two decades.
They'd finally managed to catch a lead. Stu Ryan, had been seen with Eloise Huntley - the victim - the night that she disappeared, Brass had got hold of a warrant and he took Sara along to Ryan's place while Warrick stayed back at the garage to study Ryan's van. Inside Ryan's apartment they found a spaced out Eloise Huntley and an incredibly high Stu Ryan. Having solved their missing woman case Brass decided to get them both on possession of an illegal substance and ordered that both of them should be arrested. It was at this time that a fight broke out between Ryan and his arresting officer. Sara was on the phone to Warrick to inform him of the new development when the fight broke out and some how she managed to end up in the middle of it. The result; a black eye. Almost instantly she recalled the only time he had ever hit her face. That had been the night she left. That was the night she had gone to the car and driven across town to Will's apartment. That was the night when she. Brass looked over to see Sara backing up against the wall and slowly sliding down it, holding the left side of her face. In an almost paternal gesture he helped her up and walked her back to the car.
"He hit me." Sara said wide-eyed, hand still on cheek.
"Let me see. Maybe we should get you to a hospital. Get it checked out." Brass tried to see where she'd been hit, already an angry bruise was forming at the tips of her fingers.
"No. I'm fine. Really. We should get back." Brass hesitated. He didn't want to argue with her and at the end of the day it was up to her. Sara had every right to refuse hospital treatment and she didn't appear to be in any great deal of pain. He started up the engine telling himself that Sara was a big girl and that she could look out for herself.

Back at CSI, after the shift, Sara sat waiting for a lift home. Although she had refused hospital treatment she wasn't stupid, so she had been to see Dr. Robbins, the coroner. He'd told her that there didn't appear to be any serious damage but that it was likely that there would be some bruising and swelling. He recommended that she take a couple of painkillers and put an ice pack on it, then he stressed that if the bruising, swelling, or pain got too bad that she really should go to the hospital.
She'd taken two painkillers, then she realized that she couldn't drive home so she was waiting. Warrick had promised to give her a ride but he was still trying to explain to Eloise Huntley's husband what had happened to his wife. She was about to give up and call a cab, even though she thought that they were highly overpriced and hated using them, when Nick walked in.
"Woah. What happened to you?" He gasped seeing her face. "You look terrible."
"Thanks Nick."
"No, really, what happened?" She gave him a lop-sided smile. His concern for her was cute.
"Nothing. I just got in the way during an arrest."
"Well did you go to the hospital?" Nick was still trying to make up for what he'd said the previous day.
"No. I had Al Robbins check me out. I'm fine really. Just waiting for Warrick." Nick gave her a look which questioned why she needed to wait for Warrick. "He's giving me a ride home. Strong painkillers. Can't drive." She told him, waving the box of painkillers in his direction.
"Well you look like you should be home now. Come on." She didn't see the point in arguing with him, after all, a lift was a lift. Nick helped her into the car, checked that she was strapped in, asked if she needed any more painkillers and generally fussed over her. In the end Sara had to ask him to stop before she did something she'd regret. Although his behavior was kind of sweet. He even saw her to the door, giving her instructions to have a 'nice warm meal', 'get plenty of sleep' and to 'not worry about work'.
When she finally managed to get him out of her apartment she did none of these things. Instead she lay down with her feet on the couch and a damp washcloth over her eye. The painkillers had made her nauseous, she couldn't sleep and despite the fact that Brass, Nick and Warrick knew about her getting punched (and therefore, everyone else would soon know about it) she didn't relish the fact that she'd have to repeatedly explain to people what happened. In the end the couch became too uncomfortable and so she moved to the bed, even there he couldn't get settled. If she lay on her left side, with her face pressed into the pillow, she found herself in pain. Laying on her other side was fine but as her back was sore from lying on the couch it wasn't the best option. In the end it had to do and against her will she drifted into sleep.

Thanks for reading this, sorry it's a bit late, I've been kind of busy this week. I'm trying to work in some cases but this story is more about me exploring what I can do with the characters and getting a feel for writing with them. I am in the process of writing another fan fic which is more centered around an actual case. Please read this and let me know what you think of it. Also I don't own these characters, they aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them because I'm too lazy to think up some of my own. Thanks.