Title: Alive Again

Summary: Sara and Warrick become closer after he saves her life.

A/N: I think I am within a few chapters of wrapping this all up. :) Not much to note this chapter. Cory at the end was made up by me and can be owned by anyone who wants him. He is just a simple plot device. Your reviews have been great and are the inspiration that keeps me writing. Thanks so much folks!

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. :)

Chapter Thirteen:

About ten days later...

Warrick Brown lay in his bed after shift thinking about Sara.

'She is going to live.'

'She isn't going to die.'

He kept repeating these two phrases over and over to himself. It had been nearly ten days since Sara had been delivered to the Desert Palms Hospital in critical condition. By the time she was stabilized the doctors wouldn't allow her any visitors except for Grissom.

Warrick wasn't resentful of Grissom having this privilege. A very large part of him was scared to see Sara. Scared to see what she looked like. Scared that the guilt he already felt would be multiplied a thousand times over.

If he hadn't accused her of throwing herself at Grissom this wouldn't have happened. Thomas Mortesen, the maniac, wouldn't have been able to grab her that morning. Logic waged a frenzied battle with his anguish. His logical mind told him that Mortesen would have grabbed her another time, another place. Yet his heart ached with the desire to have protected her when she needed someone the most. When she needed him the most.

Warrick hadn't returned to the hospital since Sara had been admitted. Instead he buried himself in his job willingly working doubles. He threw himself into each case he handled with a fervor that even the most zealous of workaholics would have found admirable. His friends easily saw through his new found dedication but refrained from trying to convince him to get some rest. He spent each day working himself into exhaustion so that when he finally laid down to sleep he wouldn't see her tortured eyes begging for his help in his haunted dreams.

Instead he was granted the visage of Thomas Mortesen in his nightmares. Thomas Mortesen who took innocent women and tortured them with the sick glee of a twisted maniac. Warrick surrendered to these nightmares, hoping each time to save her. To save Sara. No matter how often the nightmare struck, Warrick always found himself getting to her too late. In the morning he would awaken, exhausted, to begin the cycle anew.

*****

"Hey Warrick maybe you should take a night off," Catherine commented as he walked into the break room.

"No. There is too much to do around here."

"Hey look at me," she said softly.

Warrick looked at her with no hint of emotion in his eyes.

"Warrick, Sara is going to be alright. She is going to recover. Working yourself to death won't do her any good though."

"Did you say she was going to be alright?"

Catherine sat down in one of the available chairs and began to sip some of her coffee. She had been worried about Warrick for over a week now. Her friend hadn't spoken to anybody unless it was absolutely necessary, nor had he worked less than sixteen hours a day in more than a week. She heard the warning in his tone when he asked his question. So far he hadn't shown any emotion about what had happened to Sara. He didn't inquire about her condition and he never once brought up her name. Catherine knew that this might be the wrong place to get a reaction out of him, however she also knew she may not have many opportunities like this.

So taking another sip of her coffee she said in an even tone, "Yeah she should get over it quickly enough."

Warrick exploded. He threw the papers he was holding on the floor and confronted her in a fuming rage.

"Damnit Catherine didn't you see her!? Didn't you listen to what the doctor's said that day we brought her in?! Broken leg, three broken ribs, broken jaw, multiple knife wounds and a concussion."

Catherine stared at him impassively. "And she was raped."

Warrick picked up a chair and threw it clear across the room where it slammed against the wall. "What is the point of this discussion Catherine?!" he roared.

"The point, Warrick, is that you made the choice to be with Sara. They have been allowing her to have other visitors for two days now yet you still haven't gone. She has been asking about you. The point, my friend, is that you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and give Sara the support she needs. She needs you right now. She is alone."

Warrick was facing Catherine so didn't see Grissom appear in the doorway. When he heard what the discussion was about he politely pulled the door shut to give them more privacy. Later he would admonish Catherine for her choice of places to confront Warrick, but he had to admit that this was better than a crime scene.

Grissom walked to his office and sat in the chair behind the desk. He picked up a file and pretended to be examining it while his thoughts traveled elsewhere.

He had been by to see Sara earlier that day. Even after seeing her several times he still blanched visibly at her appearance. Her face was one swollen mass and while the sheets covered most of her frame, he imaged that her body looked much the same.

She had finally become coherent enough to stay awake for several hours at a time a few days ago. Since her jaw was broken and she couldn't talk he did most of the chatting on his visits. After the first day he brought her a pen and a tablet to write her requests on.

She wouldn't mention anything about her confinement with Thomas Mortesen and he didn't press her to do so. He just tried to be her friend.

When she finally asked why Warrick hadn't come to see her, Grissom made up some silly excuse about a tough case that the CSI was working on. She saw through his fabrication and Grissom ached to see the pain in her eyes. He had wanted to confront Warrick, but he didn't know how. In many ways Grissom thought of Warrick as a surrogate son. He wanted the best for him, even if that meant backing off from the one woman Grissom had ever loved.

His thoughts were interrupted by a slight knock at his door. Grissom bade the person to enter and a moment later Warrick stood before him.

"Warrick. Something I can do for you?"

"Grissom I was wondering if I could take the night off."

"Absolutely."

Warrick gave him a small smile. "Thanks Griss. I have a few things I need to take care of."

"She wants some forensics magazines to read."

Warrick looked startled. "Huh?"

"When you go to see Sara take her some forensics magazines. She requested them when I saw her last."

Warrick smiled sheepishly. "Yeah no problem. Thanks Griss."

"None of this is your fault. There is nothing you could have done to stop this from happening."

Warrick looked agitated and politely nodded his head as if he agreed. Before he could speak again Warrick had already left his office.

Grissom should have known that Catherine would have interfered, but it didn't bother him this time.

*****

Warrick lightly knocked on Sara's hospital door before entering as quietly as possible. If she were asleep he didn't want to wake her but he also wanted to give her warning before barging in. Lucky for Warrick she lay sleeping.

Lying before him was not the woman he remembered. Instead she seemed a mere shell of her former self. Her face was in a state of cuts and bruises each more fierce than the next. Her leg was elevated in a cast. He could only imagine what her thin body looked like under the sheets.

He cursed himself for trying to stay away and feeling pity for himself when Sara suffered like this. Warrick felt tears rolling down his face and struggled to regain control of his emotions. Finally he pulled a chair next to her bed and rested his head against the mattress. He decided to sleep until she woke up.

Several hours later he started as he heard someone enter the room. His hand was laced in Sara's and she was staring at him with a hint of a smile on her lips. When he looked over he saw a nurse checking Sara's fluids before smiling politely and leaving again.

Warrick gazed at Sara and searched for something to say. He didn't know if he should apologize for not being there when she needed him. Or if he should apologize for accusing her of kissing Grissom.

Hours seemed to pass and Sara continued to look at him with the small smile on her lips. He knew she couldn't speak because of her broken jaw, but he found the silence a bit unnerving. Finally as if she sensed his unease she pulled her hand away and reached for her pad of paper and a pen. She scrawled a quick note and showed it to him.

'I need to ask you something.'

"Sure no problem."

She started to write again before hesitating. She looked at him again with her dark brown penetrating eyes before writing again.

'Do you forgive me?'

Warrick choked. He hadn't expected that question. "Forgive you? Damn Sara there is nothing to forgive you for. I came here hoping you would forgive me. Or at least try to. I should have been there, I should..."

She stopped him from speaking further by lying her hand on his. She gave her head a small shake to indicate she didn't want him to say anything else. When he nodded agreement she began writing again.

'I don't want to have this discussion now. I just want to know that we can have another chance.'

He read the words she wrote several times in disbelief. How could she doubt?

Warrick took one of her hands in both of his and held on tight. "Sara Sidle you are the best thing in my life. I am so scared that I will manage to screw this up somehow. When I found out that you were taken by Mortesen I thought...I felt like I was going to die. I, I can't lose you. Not when I just discovered how wonderful you are."

Warrick lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. "Can I explain something to you?"

She gave a slight nod.

"There was another woman once. Strong and stubborn like you, but lacking your...fire. She was the first one to ever capture my attention and keep it. I thought she cared about me and wanted to be with me." He paused for several moments. "That was until I caught her moving up on another man. I guess what I am trying to say is that when I saw Grissom kiss you I thought the worst. I should have let you explain."

Sara quickly wrote something down on her pad.

'Would you have believed me? How did you find out the truth?'

I would have believed you after I had time to think about it. I figured out the truth myself later that day but Grissom confirmed it.

Sara looked surprised. She scrawled something on the pad again before thrusting it at him.

'GRISSOM?!?!?!?!? talked to you about us?'

Warrick chuckled lightly. "Yeah he did. He gave his blessing too."

Sara tried to look flabbergasted but it was too painful so she settled for shaking her head a few times.

"Do you want to see what I brought you?" Warrick said as a way of changing the subject.

A quick nod was all the encouragement he needed. Pretty soon Sara's bedside was littered with various forensics magazines and books. He had also brought a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories and poetry. When Sara gave him a questioning glance at this choice he replied that she should try something new.

Finally when she started to grow tired Warrick grabbed one of the magazines and started to read to her. After she had fallen asleep he collected the books and set them on a table next to her bed. He kissed her hand one more time before leaving.

He had one more chore to take care of before going home.

*****

Warrick Brown, having grown up in Las Vegas, made a lot of friends over the years. Most of them were good honest people, but a few select individuals traveled on the darker side of life. Warrick himself had done a few things in his life that might have been frowned on by the authorities before he became a CSI but never anything serious. Never anything to land him with time. He had friends however, who had made those mistakes and were paying for it now in prison.

After he left Sara sleeping in the hospital he went to go see one of those friends.

He sat now waiting for the prisoner to arrive feeling very anxious. He almost gotten up to leave when the man he had come to see sat down before him. Each of them picked up the phone and pressed their knuckles against the glass separating them.

"Warrick its been a long time bro."

"Yeah man, Cory I am sorry I don't get out here more. Its just..."

"Hey don't worry about it bro. You've done plenty for me. So whats up?"

"This isn't a social visit exactly Cory. I need a favor. A big favor."

The man named Cory stared at Warrick for a few seconds before nodding. "Hey whatever it is I'll do it. You kept my brother out of this life and now he is in college workin' on being doctor or something. I owe you, not the other way around."

Warrick lowered his voice before speaking again. "Cory this is a serious favor. And you don't have to do this."

Cory chuckled lightly. "I have a feeling I know what kind of favor this is Warrick. What are they going to do? Throw on another life sentence? I am still serving the first of four."

Warrick grimaced and stood up. "Look I don't know if this is a good idea. I probably shouldn't have come."

"Warrick! Wait. Tell me what this guy did. Lets just talk."

Warrick sat back down again. Without saying her name Warrick described what happened to Sara. He tried to sound factual as if he had no stake in the matter at all.

Cory listened until his friend finished before nodding again. "Your in love with this girl."

Warrick didn't answer. He just stared at his friend through the glass.

Cory didn't press the issue. "Whats his name? Sounds like a real fucked up individual."

"His name is Tommy Mortesen. He will be transferred here within a few weeks while he waits for his trial."

Cory snickered. "Well it looks like Tommy is going to make a few new friends." Cory's face grew serious again. "You and I go back a long long time Warrick. I'd do anything for you, I hope you know that. Especially after you helped my brother and all. Don't worry about this. You go home and take care of your woman. The next time you stop by maybe we can chat about the good ole' days?"

Warrick smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah maybe so." With that he hung up the phone and left the building. By the time he reached his car he was shaking visibly. He had just given Thomas Mortesen a death sentence. Cory would see to it that the man was killed discreetly. .

Warrick would have his revenge without anyone ever knowing he had been behind it. Sara would never have to go to trial and testify against the man who had brutalized her. She would never have to worry about Thomas Mortesen coming after her again. She would be able to sleep at night knowing she would be safe.

A small part of Warrick felt a twinge of guilt at having taken this drastic step and broken the law. But his mind kept drifting to the image of Sara's battered body and he knew that Thomas Mortesen would be getting the justice he deserved.

To be continued....