Chapter 3

Relations

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."

          -- Oscar Wilde

Both men looked at Catherine as if she had more than just one head. Catherine, in reply, rolled her eyes.

"Greg was telling me that they were both the same. Both OD-ed and both were raped. The question is what did they OD on?"

"Morphine," Nick said immediately, now engrossed in Catherine's revelation.

"Ditto. They're exactly the same."

"Still, wouldn't morphine take time to work through your system?" Nick asked. Catherine nodded.

"Now I'm not a pharmacist but I would say about… 20 minutes, maybe more."

"And it would have taken less time for some one to rape them. This could have been put in their bodies at any point. Timing be damned." Nick and Catherine were on a role, leaving Grissom behind.

"Does that make that much of a difference? Point is, the morphine could have been put in a drink," Nick started. Catherine shook her head.

"That doesn't explain the dart we found at the crime scene. Maybe Ellen was dead before her rapist finished," Catherine hypothesised. They made their way to the break room, Grissom trailing slightly behind, and set the folders and paper down on the long table.

"Has Greg analyzed the dart yet?"

"As a matter of fact, Greg has the results right here," Greg said entering the room. Catherine glared at him.

"Right, don't talk about yourself in third person," he recited. Catherine smirked.

"And in the dart is…?" Nick questioned putting every one's mind back on the case at hand.

"Morphine… but not enough. I can see how there's the possibility it would leak into her system from the dart but then that would mean…"

"There was more than one dart," Catherine finished.

"Exactly but Ellen couldn't have been raped and had two darts…"

"More than one killer," Nick supplied.

"Does the body support this new data?" Grissom asked.

"You sound like an attorney at a prelim," Greg mumbled.

"Nick can get on that. I'll go talk to Sara and you can get a search warrant for Jack Banning and Scott Paolini," Catherine said, ignoring Greg and gathering files together in her arms.

"And what are you going to do with those?" Grissom asked, the tone in his voice slightly amused.

"Sara needs to see these results for herself. I can't just tell her," Catherine replied an answering amusement in her own eyes. With that, she smiled at her colleagues and left.

Sara looked up at Catherine's entrance, confusion written all over her face. Catherine smiled, dropping the folders on to Sara's lap.

"We've made advancements in the case," Catherine said by way of explanation. Sara's confusion, however, did not disappear.

"Greg figures we're working on the same case. We're all working together now because of it. Both were raped and then technically OD-ed on morphine." Sara's head shot up and Catherine smiled slightly.

"Exactly," she said, knowing exactly what the other CSI was thinking.

"How?" Catherine shrugged at Sara's question.

"We've got many different theories as to how. Nick, Grissom and I went over a couple of them in the lab," Catherine said. "Nick is checking the body to see if he can affirm or disprove any of our hypotheses."

"Care to run one by me?" Sara inquired.

"I have other things for you to worry about. Like who is Jack Banning? Or Ellen Bizet? Or your own victim, Emily Turner?" Sara looked away, suddenly not able to meet Catherine's eyes. Catherine sighed.

"Come one Sara. It could help us understand this guy's motives," Catherine pressed. Then Sara met Catherine's eyes. The elder woman had to bite back a gasp. The pain that was reflected there matched a pain Catherine herself knew, the pain of being abused.

"Jack used to be my…" she waved her hands in the air looking for the right word. Catherine just nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"It was perfect for the first eleven months and then it started. Out of the blue. He came home one night, drunk out of his mind. I don't even know what I did to upset him, what I did to make him hit me but he did." She said all of this emotionlessly, not even her face held any emotion, as she was absorbed in the painful memories.

"Let me guess. He told you no one would ever love you, except him. No one would be able to help you, except him. No one would care, except him. Am I making a dent?" Sara nodded, the emotion coming back into her face.

"I of course believed him. Then it went too far. Finally he pushed me to leave, and leave I did. It was easier because Grissom offered me a job here, but he didn't take it very well."

"I'll bet," Catherine said, taking her own walk down memory lane to her own days of pain and suffering. The difference was, Grissom was there for her. Sara, she suspected, didn't have that. Catherine let out a shaky breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Now he knows you're here." Sara nodded at her statement.

"I don't know who the others are," Sara said, her strength coming back to her words. "He's involved." Catherine smiled, though slightly sarcastic.

"He's a pharmaceutical chemist. He'd work with morphine." Sara nodded again, her eyes having cleared from the pain of her past. Catherine had to admire her for that. She, herself, hadn't exactly put Eddie all the way behind her yet. Catherine stood to leave.

"Catherine? Please don't tell the others." Catherine turned and the small, scared Sara was back again. She sat back down again for a moment.

"Listen, Sara, you and I have a lot more in common than I thought. I'm going to ask Grissom to take you off of the case. I don't want you any more emotionally involved than you already are." Sara looked slightly surprised but carefully conceded. She hated giving up, being taken off cases, but in the same sense, she couldn't see Jack again. It would tear her apart. Catherine stood and moved towards the door.

"Do you have anyone you'd like to see? I don't know if you should be here all by yourself with Jack MIA." Sara opened her mouth to reply then seemed to rethink.

"My best friend, Amanda Bell, lives just out side of Vegas." Sara quickly scrawled a number down on a scrap piece of paper that had been sitting on the table beside her.

"She might also be able to help."

Catherine returned to the lab, the number safely tucked away in her pocket and a whole new perspective on the case. Nick was getting himself a cup of coffee when she entered the break room.

"Get anything?" He jumped and turned, almost spilling his coffee.

"Yeah, just a little something. A really little something." Catherine shot him a confused look as she set the folders onto the table and took a seat.

"There's a pin prick in the side of her neck. Doc must have taken forever to find it. And yourself?"

"Much more than you think. We have a relation between Sara and Jack Banning. Might be the same relationship between him and the two victims." Nick looked at her in puzzlement. Catherine sighed heavily.

"I promised I wouldn't tell you. It's only on a need to know basis and, for her sake, I'd rather not tell. Where's Grissom?" Nick nodded towards Grissom's office. Catherine smiled apologetically and left.

Grissom looked up at the light clearing of the throat. Catherine stood silhouetted in the doorway. Grissom couldn't stop his mind from straying into places they shouldn't have been. She was absolutely beautiful.

"Come on in, Cath. Did you find out if Sara's linked?" Catherine nodded moving to sit on the couch in his office.

"And?" He turned back to his paperwork.

"I want her off the case." Grissom sighed heavily and looked up at Catherine.

"Cath, now's not the time to get jealous…" Catherine's eyes narrowed and he immediately regretted saying that.

"I'm not jealous, Grissom," she spat. "I'm worried for her own well being. You always try to take me off of cases involving children, well I want her off of this case involving Jack Banning." Grissom pulled off his glasses and lightly pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What does Sara have to do with Jack Banning?" He knew he was treading on eggshells now.

"I can't tell." Her answer was curt and he could tell she was still mad at him. His nerves had already been pushed to the limits with all of his paperwork and this rather difficult case. They snapped.

"Can't tell?" he hissed. Catherine met his gaze square on, not backing down an inch.

"And what if this is a matter of life or death? Would you still keep the secret?"

"Its something that she isn't comfortable discussing. That's why I want her off of the case."

"And if I refuse?"

"You don't have the best for your CSI's at heart." Her comment stung him and she could tell. It was a low hit, she knew, but if that's what it took to get Sara away from some one who hurt her that much, Catherine was prepared to do anything.

"Sara's emotionally involved now, Grissom. Is that what you want?" He was out of his chair in an instant and in her face, but once again, Catherine wouldn't back down.

"Prove it. Tell me how she's emotionally involved."

"I'm not going any further than telling you they were involved." That didn't satisfy Grissom and he showed it, he pushed a hand through his salt and pepper hair.

"Damnit, Catherine! If it will help, don't you think she would want us to know?" Catherine glared at him.

"She knows it will help. She's been through a lot in the last two days, Grissom, including reliving a painful past. Don't you think that's enough for her?" Catherine's voice was rising with every passing moment and she pushed herself into a standing position.

"She's our best CSI. I can't take her off the case." Catherine stood to shut the door. The entire lab didn't need to hear this argument.

"Don't punish her for something I won't do. She deserves to not have to deal with this case, Grissom. As much as I know you hate to think of not having her on the case with us," she rolled her eyes, "its for the best that she's not."

"I am not attached to Sara, Catherine." Catherine raised an eyebrow.

"Could've fooled me. You're being extra protective of her spot on this case. If you really aren't attached, romantically, to Sara, it wouldn't matter half as much if she were to leave." Her voice was calm, but condescending.

"Are you sure you're not jealous, Cath? You don't usually push this hard to get some one off of a case."

"Fine, but when Sara's the next call we get, I'll be there to say I told you so." She stormed out. He immediately regretted the entire argument when the door slammed. Nick was the next one to enter.

"What?" The young CSI took a step back at the curt tone.

"Just wondering if you've got the search warrants. Catherine and I will take care of them if you've got them." Grissom shuffled around on his desk withdrawing the papers and handing them to Nick.

"Unless of course, you wanted to go with Ms. Willows." Grissom paused for a moment considering the chance he would get to discuss the fight with Catherine before declining. He wanted to pay Sara a visit.

Catherine and Nick climbed into the black SUV they were driving to the home of Jack Banning, Catherine still bubbling.

"Let it out, Cath," Nick said simply.

"I can't believe he'd do that! All I asked was that Sara be taken off the case for her own good, but no, of course not. She has to stay on only because I won't tell him why I want her off. You know the first thing he said was 'are you jealous'? I was going to kill him! She's involved emotionally and I don't want her to have to deal with Banning," she spat out the name as if it was milk way past its due date. Nick drove in silence as Catherine continued.

"Its not fair to have her involved in a case that involves her ex. It really isn't. I mean, look how I fared when I wanted faster results on Eddie's death, especially since Lindsey was with him. Now she's involved and he doesn't seem to care!"

"I don't think he understand where you're coming from, Cath," Nick supplied calmly. Catherine sighed in the seat beside him, suddenly defeated.

"I don't like yelling at him, Nick."

"I know, Cath. I know."

Grissom entered the hospital and walked straight to Sara's room. She was there alone.

"Grissom, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Sara asked, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

"What do you have to do with Jack Banning?" He got the same reaction Catherine had to the name, Sara looked away.

"I'm not discussing it. I'm guessing Catherine told you she wants me off the case?" Grissom looked slightly puzzled.

"We talked about it. Agreed it was for the best."

"I didn't know you two were that close."

"We went through similar stuff in the past. We're more connected than you think," Sara said calmly. Her eyes met Grissom's again, her strength having returned to her eyes and voice.

"Sara, we need to know and Catherine won't tell us." Sara smiled.

"She really didn't. Remind me to thank her." Grissom threw up his hands defeated. They weren't going to tell him.

"You're off the case," he said curtly and left.

Catherine rapped on the door to Jack Banning's house, Nick not far behind but it was Brass that called out.

"Open up, Mr. Banning. Las Vegas police." The door opened to reveal a man in his late thirties looking slightly petrified.

"Police?" His voice was shaking. Catherine had to grin slightly.

"We have a warrant to search your place, Mr. Banning," Nick stepped in the papers in his hand. Jack Banning's eyes widened as he took in the papers and the CSI's.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!"

"We'll be the judge of that Mr. Banning. While they are looking through your house, I have a few questions for you."

"As do I," Catherine piped up, startling Brass. "But first, I get to look through your house." Her tone was sarcastic, residual anger lingering from her confrontation with Grissom. Jack Banning let them in and Nick and Catherine got to work on thoroughly going through the house. It was in the basement that Catherine found the jackpot.

"Nick! You'd better come take a look at this," she called. Nick was down in a matter of moments and grinned as Catherine stood beside a chemistry set, bottles and bottles of painkillers on the shelves beside.

"My, my. That looks like pretty convincing evidence, wouldn't you agree?" Catherine only smiled wider.

"That's not even the kicker," she said pointing to a corner where darts were piled. He was as good as caught.

They made their way back upstairs where Brass was waiting with Jack Banning already in cuffs.

"We're taking him in. Find anything?"

"Enough to put him away for murder," Catherine answered. Her mood had lightened considerably from the earlier argument, especially since all of the new evidence was conclusive.

"You had some questions for Mr. Banning, Catherine?" Catherine nodded.

"You know Sara Sidle, correct?" He nodded.

"You dated her, correct?" Again, he nodded.

"You abused her, correct?" He paused, and then nodded. Catherine smiled, a slight predator quality to it. She left. Nick and Brass exchanged glances, shrugged and parted to their respective vehicles.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

IT'S NOT DONE! There's still a lot more to come. I've done some editing on all of this stuff, adding mostly, but taking away some things too.

Also, I added a side story focusing on Nick and Sara. When you get a chance, and need something from Sara's perspective to understand, take a glance at Blossoming.

Next chapter:

Catherine brings in a friend to comfort Sara

Sara explains her past to the graveyard shift

Emotions run high

Keep reading!

~Kavi Leighanna