Title: Alive Again
Summary: Sara and Warrick become closer after he saves her life.
A/N: First off after reading this chapter you might wonder if I hate Sara. Nope I absolutely love her. But then we always torture those we love don't we? At least I heard that somewhere. No cliffhanger this time! I decided to sum up all of this overly painful stuff in one chapter. Secondly...I am doing something in this chapter that I SWORE I wouldn't do in my stories. I am sending Sara to the hospital. LOL poor Sara probably has to go to the hospital in about half of the fanfics out there. In all honesty this plot took a curve away from my original intentions. I am finding the story interesting and I don't know about you but I keep wondering what will happen next. I'll be updating soon. Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming!
Spoilers: Possibly anything all the way up to Early Rollout.
Rating: PG13 for language and some adult situations.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. If I did I wouldn't be living in this shoddy little apartment dreaming about winning the lottery. :)
WARNING: This chapter contains some graphic violence, insinuations of rape and strong language. I tried to keep it all in the range of PG13 but I am am sure I stepped over the line to an R rating once or twice. You have been warned.
Chapter Twelve:
Sara woke up feeling like her body had been run over by a steam roller. Every inch of her frame screamed in agony. She tried to move, but soon realized that she was restrained. Her wrists were tied together with what she assumed was duct tape. She attempted to move her legs but they felt restrained as well.
She had a gag in her mouth which she managed to work down to her chin after a few minutes. Her mouth felt as dry as an expanse of the Nevada desert.
'What happened to me? Why am I here? Why can't I think clearly?'
She looked around to get a bearing on her surroundings. The room was dark with no light at all however her eyes had adequately adjusted. She seemed to be lying on a dingy mattress. The room smelled foul but Sara couldn't find the source. There was also a dense mustiness in the air as if no one had been in here for quite a long time.
Sara tried to take a few deeps breaths but was thwarted by a sharp pain in her side. 'Broken ribs maybe?'
The last thing she remembered was leaving the lab and stopping at the grocery store for a few items. She couldn't remember exactly but she thought that someone may have hit her from behind. She recalled a brief struggle but not much else. Everything felt woozy now.
She wanted to try and work on an escape plan but couldn't' seem to get her thoughts organized. And she felt weak. She decided she would rest for a few minutes before trying to free herself again.
"Hey bitch wake up."
Sara groaned and tried to lift her head up to look at her captor. This earned her a quick kick in the ribs. The pain from the blow caused her to gasp loudly. The man walked behind her and knelt near her head. He reached out to caress her hair.
When he spoke again his voice was barely louder than a whisper. "Ok cunt do you want to know what is going to happen to you?"
Sara felt tears rising in her eyes but refused to let them fall.
"First off you can call me Tommy. I bet you are wondering why I took you aren't ya?" He chuckled menacingly. "Well that will come later. Now what was I talking about? Oh yeah we were discussing what is going to happen to you."
He continued to caress Sara's hair with one hand while running one hand along her back and finally resting on her buttocks.
"Well eventually I am going to kill you. But not yet. You are going to suffer a bit first. Now before you start feeling sorry for yourself I should remind you that you brought all of this on yourself."
"Why?" Sara croaked out in a strained voice.
The man chuckled again. "Oh you will find out soon enough, but not yet. You and I have got some business to take care of first. You know you are one hot number. Even beat up like you are now." He rolled her on her stomach and climbed behind her. "Now I can't make any promises but I am pretty sure this is going to hurt a bit."
Sara couldn't hold her tears back any longer as she finally gave in to her fears. She forced her mind to focus on a different time. A different place. Finally just before tragedy struck her soul her eyes closed and she saw Warrick standing before her. Beautiful, strong and loving Warrick.
"Help me," she whispered.
And then the pain began.
*****
Much later when Sara woke up there was a bowl of water in front of her face. She lifted her head to try and reach it but couldn't keep herself steady and instead knocked the bowl over. The precious liquid spilled all over the mattress and Sara did her best to sop up what she could.
She wondered what time it was. However that struck her as a funny thought as she knew this maniac would kill her soon. It probably wouldn't take much more as she already felt half dead.
Earlier, after he had finished his perverted ministrations he took the time to beat her into unconsciousness. She didn't remember much of it after the first few punches and kicks. But she felt every inch of it now.
Sara was sure she had multiple broken bones. Her right eye was swollen shut and the left wasn't far behind. Her lip was split and she felt as if her blood was slowly seeping out of her body through several cuts where he had used a knife to open her skin.
When did he plan on killing her? A part of her mind hoped it would be soon.
She didn't feel as if she had much to live for anyways. She had loved Grissom for years even after he had rejected her. And finally when he came to his senses she found herself in love with another man. Warrick, who told her he didn't want to have anything outside of the work place. Warrick, who never gave her a chance to explain. Warrick, who hadn't rescued her when she needed him the most.
When the door to her prison opened again Sara wondered if her tormentor had come to finish the job he started earlier.
She heard him drag something into the room but her eyes were so swollen she couldn't make out what it was.
"Sara, Sara, Sara. Wow you are looking like shit. I thought I might have another piece of you but I think I've changed my mind. You were pretty attractive when I took you yesterday and now you...well you look like shit." He laughed.
She tried not to listen to him, but his voice seemed to dominate her cold world. In this room, this prison he was god.
She heard the scrapping noise again and realize he must have dragged a chair into the room so that he could sit in it.
His voice was closer this time when he spoke. "Ok Sara from the looks of you I don't think you have much left in this world, so its time for me to be honest with you. You see I'm not a bad guy normally. Sure, I've hurt people before but never like this. But you see you took something from me. Someone I should say."
He reached down to graze his knuckles along the side of her face tenderly before pulling back and punching her in the jaw. Sara barely felt the blow.
"Sara you took my brother away from me and I swear I will make you suffer for as long as I possibly can. Yeah thats right. My name is Tommy Mortesen. You killed my brother you bitch. You ruined his wife's life! She had her kids taken away from her and she has nothing now," he raged at her.
He grabbed Sara by her shirt collar and dragged her up to face him. Her head lolled against her chest listlessly. Tommy grew frustrated and tossed her on the bed again.
"Fuck it all. There isn't much left in you is there? Might as well kill you but I am not ready to let you go yet. I'll be back later and maybe I'll take a piece of that ass again anyways. Who gives a shit what you look like whore."
With that he walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.
Sara prayed for death.
*****
"Here she is Maggie."
"Oh Jesus Tommy!"
"Don't you dare feel sorry for her Maggie. Think about what she did! She killed your husband! Its because of her you lost your children! This bitch is only getting what she deserves."
"But Tommy this is horrible. Is she even alive?"
"Oh yeah. And I'll keep her this way for awhile yet."
Sara heard them speaking but couldn't register any meaning behind the words. She let her mind drift to more comforting moments and imagined that Warrick was holding her in his arms. Protecting her and telling her that everything would be alright in the world.
Telling her that he loved and that she would never be alone again.
Another part of her mind tried to invade to let her know that the pain was being administered again but she only had eyes for Warrick.
*****
The screams woke Sara up but she couldn't seem to grasp where they were coming from. A small part of her mind wondered if they were her own shouts of terror. Perhaps so. She closed her senses off again and hoped that Tommy would kill her soon.
*****
"Sara! Holy shit. Oh shit. Get the paramedics in here NOW!" Brass shouted as soon as he spotted the young CSI.
Grissom followed him into the room and stood shocked. "Oh my god is she dead?" He heard Warrick's voice from the entrance of the house and knew that he had to pull himself together. The paramedics were already rushing into the room where Sara lay battered and broken.
Grissom went off to find Warrick. He found Nick on the way and motioned for him to come with him. "Nick be prepared," he said softly.
Nick wasn't sure what Grissom meant by his warning. Be prepared for what? Sara hurt? Sara dead?
Grissom and Nick strode to the front of the house where Catherine was trying to calm Warrick down. Grissom put a hand on the younger man's chest. "Warrick I think you should go sit in one of the cars."
Warrick shook his head and looked disgusted. "Hell no. Where is she?"
Brass came to join them. "She is breathing. But that is about the only good thing she's got going for her. The medics are working on her now."
Warrick broke free from his friends and walked quickly to the back of the shoddy house to the room where Sara had been held captive. What he saw there shook him to his very core.
Sara lay on a dingy mattress. Beautiful Sara lay beaten and bloody beyond anything he had ever seen. His Sara lay looking near death barely recognizable. He wanted to reach out and let her know he was there. He wanted to tell her he was sorry for walking away and leaving her to face the worst kind of predators alone. Instead he saw red.
Warrick raced out of the house brushing aside Nick and Grissom who tried to restrain him. Brass followed him out the front door shouting his name. Warrick heard none of it. When he saw his prey he moved even faster. Two officers were trying to push Thomas Mortesen into a police cruiser when Warrick slammed into him.
He landed two solid punches before Brass jerked him back. Warrick fought against the other man's restraining hold.
"What did you do?! What did you do?!" Warrick roared at Mortesen who for the first time since being caught truly seemed afraid.
"Grissom! Nick! Help me out here!" Brass shouted.
Soon the other two men were holding Warrick back while Mortesen was being put into the cruiser.
Warrick raged against his friends. "Did you see what he did?! She is a fucking mess because of that psycho and you are trying to stop me from getting to him!" Warrick bellowed.
Grissom was trying to catch his breath so Nick did the only thing he could think of to try and calm his friend down. He hugged him.
Warrick tensed at his friend's comfort at first before finally surrendering to his emotions. The moment lasted only a few seconds for both saw the paramedics leading Sara out on a stretcher.
Nick gasped in shock and almost regretted restraining Warrick. If he hadn't known it was her on that stretcher he never would have recognized the woman to be Sara.
Warrick rushed over to the stretcher and tried to take hold of Sara's hand. The paramedics stopped him until both Brass and Grissom interfered. Finally at his insistence Warrick was allowed to come along on the ride. He took hold of Sara's hand and whispered to her how he would never let this happen to her again. How he would keep her safe. How he would always be there.
Sara heard his words even if she couldn't acknowledge them. She took solace in his voice and let it wash over her like a cool cleaning breeze.
'He came.'
To be continued...
