I'm hoping that this is the last chapter to set up and catch up with Subtle Clues. I'll try my best to make sure the next chapters are more focused on how Sara reacts to stuff and develop her relationship with Nick, especially at the end of the chapter and beginning of the next one.

Chapter 2

Interrogation

Sara jumped when she heard the door slam, but shock and fear turned to surprise when she registered who exactly had entered.

"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, Sara?" Sara hated feeling insecure and hated feeling the pain that she had for so long shoved away. Grissom, much like Catherine, inadvertently brought back all of that buried pain and took her to a time she didn't want to be in.

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

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

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

"We've been through similar stuff in the past. We're more connected than you thing," Sara said calmly. Her eyes finally 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 couldn't keep her smile in check. She couldn't believe that Catherine had really kept her secret safe.

"She really didn't? Remind me to thank her." Sara could tell Grissom was frustrated that both Catherine and Sara wouldn't tell him what was going on.

"You're off the case," he said curtly, and left. Sara had expected to be hurt, sad even, about being removed from the case on her best friends but all she felt was happiness and relief coursing through her veins. The lonely hospital room gave Sara a lot of time to think about what had happened and analyze the little evidence she had come in contact with. Or that's what she occupied her mind with so she didn't have to think about the past. Unfortunately, at this point, she had over-analyzed her evidence and her mind continuously strayed to Emily's dead face or her 'last hundred days' as she had called her last weeks before her break up. What she really needed was to see one of her best friends alive again. She drifted into her nightmares, against her will.

Amanda woke Sara up from her latest nightmare with a rough shake and Sara bolted upright. Once she realized who was in the room with her, Sara threw herself into Amanda's arms. Her friend hugged her tightly as she cried.

"Shh, honey, you're going to be okay. Everything is fine…" Sara shook her head in Amanda's shoulder.

"He killed them, Manda. Em and Ellen…"

"Shh, Sar. Breathe." They stayed like that, Amanda comforting Sara, until Sara's sporadic sobs calmed.'

"Its really great to see you here," Sara said tearily, pulling back to look her friend in the eye. Amanda smiled, sadly at Sara, her eyes reflecting the pain Sara was feeling.

"You will be fine, Sara. Its all in the past."

"Catherine told me Jack was involved," Sara said, dissolving into tears again. Amanda pulled Sara tighter to her.

"Listen, Sara. We're going to stay away from that topic and focus on your better, happier memories…" and she launched into her latest story of her old friends. That was how Catherine found them when she entered.

"Catherine this is Amanda. Amanda, this is the woman you talked to on the phone, Catherine Willows." Catherine and Amanda shook hands with a smile.

"I'm guessing you feel much better?" Sara smiled at Catherine's concern, hiding her pain again.

"I'll take that as a yes." Sara's grin faded when Catherine sobered quickly.

"Amanda, part of the reason I called for us to meet here is because I wanted to talk with Sara present. Did you know Jack Banning?" Amanda jumped and turned to face Sara. Sara's eyes had turned cold but she nodded slightly...

"I've been best friends with Sara for years. I knew Jack through work, both chemists. I thought they'd be perfect together. Judging by your question, Sara already told you what he did to her. I told him off the day after she left and moved here. He came by my house and asked about Sara…" Sara was outraged, to say the least. She had a huge argument the day she left.

"He asked about me? What is his problem?" Catherine laid a hand on Sara's shoulder, silently telling the younger woman to keep quiet. She couldn't, however, keep Sara from fuming on the inside. She knew she should have taken out the restraining order against him but believed that moving to Vegas would be enough.

"I, of course, didn't tell him anything. He got mad at me, went to hit me. I closed the door. He's been harassing me for a whole now, about Sara, about my other friends."

"Those other friends wouldn't by chance be Emily Turner or Ellen Bizet?" Sara's body was plunged into ice cold water, or so she felt. She had completely forgotten her two friends had been killed.

"What?"

"Em and Ellen are dead. Died of a morphine overdose," Sara said.

"We've got Jack Banning in custody for the murders," Catherine added.

"On what?" Amanda inquired.

"Many containers of painkillers and a pile of darts in the basement. We're hoping he can tell us something of his accomplice," Catherine provided. Amanda began pacing.

"They were… really good friends through Sara's ordeal and through school. We lost touch for a while when Sara and I moved here. I met up with them a couple of weeks ago, right when Jack started harassing me about Sara again." Sara hated hearing the effect her brutal break up had on her friends and how much danger she had inadvertently put them in.

"When do you get out?" Catherine asked. Sara thought for a moment.

"Tonight, I hear. Why?"

"You owe the others and explanation."

Amanda had carefully talked to Sara after Catherine had left the hospital about the news she had to present to the graveyard shift.

"Sara! Thank goodness you're okay!" Nick exclaimed grabbing her in a big bear hug.

"You saw me in the hospital, Nick," Sara said carefully, inwardly relishing the contact and didn't want to pull away. When they finally did, and every one got seated, Catherine opened the case file.

"Sara, I know Grissom pulled you off the case," Catherine began with a healthy dose of spite in Grissom's direction, "but I want… you should…"

Sara nodded, smiling slightly at the unlikely connection between them. Catherine was Sara's support at the moment because she had been through the same past, shared the same core feelings of fear and insecurity. With both her and Amanda there, to Sara, this was a walk in the park.

"I… asked Cath not to tell you guys what I was forced to tell her. Trust me, Cath, I thank you a thousand times for that one, but… you guys need to know. Catherine and Amanda convinced me of that."

"Sara stop and just tell us," Warrick finally interrupted. Sara took her deep breath and prepared herself for the emotional havoc the story would wreak.

"Your main suspect, Jack Banning, and I were involved for almost a year. As in all domestic violence cases, everything was fine at first and then it all started slowly. A hit here and there then an immediate apology and promise never to do it again.

"It got worse and worse. Then Grissom offered me a job here. It was my answer from heaven. I'd been trying to get away from him. Then again, he kept holding me back with sweet words and little things. I… believed him, he was my everything but when Grissom offered me this job, I knew I had to go. I packed up my stuff one night and Amanda came to pick me up. That was the worst night and I just ran out.

"Emily took the full blow of the anger that night before coming over to Amanda's with Ellen. We promised that we'd keep in touch and they helped me move in here. I didn't know Jack was here until now, until his role in all of this." Her voice trailed off as she got lost in the pain of the bruises and cuts she had sustained.

"No wonder you and Catherine forged a strong bond," Nick almost whispered, his mouth slightly agape in awe. Grissom's face was impassive and Sara found herself not caring what Grissom thought. Her reaction she needed to see, needed to know she was cared about, was Nick's. It surprised her, really, that she seemed dependant on what he thought, especially since she had spent the last who knew how long thinking about Grissom. She now saw him as a mentor and nothing more. Catherine caught her eye and shot an apologetic look towards Sara in terms of Grissom. She understood and shrugged lightly.

"Great. Now we need to go further into the case. Sara, I'm sorry to have to tell you that you need…"

"To testify, Grissom, I know. Thanks for the news," she finished sarcastically. She couldn't believe him, and from the look on both Catherine and Amanda's faces, neither could they.

"There is no way we can get her out of this, is there?" Sara heard Catherine asked. She owed Catherine so much now, from keeping her secret, to promising to help her through the reliving of the past. Grissom shook his head in reply to Catherine's inquiry.

"I'll be there with her," she heard Amanda say. Catherine nodded her agreement.

"Thanks guys," Sara said quietly.

"From what we've heard, he's still completely enamored with you. We need to be extra careful in the courtroom. "We, you, can't let him psyche you out." The room nodded solemnly at Grissom's phrase and the supervisor left. All eyes turned to Sara.

"I'm so sorry about him, Sara…" Sara held up a hand to stop Catherine's excuses.

"It's okay, Cath. I didn't… wasn't expecting a welcome back or anything."

"You still deserved it. It's not fair…"

"Really, Cath. It's okay. I'm going to go and show Amanda around a little bit. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, save breakfast or something."

"Or something," Sara said with a grin and left, Amanda not far behind. Catherine turned the opposite way from where Amanda and Sara were going and Sara held in a grin. Grissom was in for it. Catherine was not happy.

"You're really lucky to have these guys, Sara," Amanda said wistfully.

"Sara!" Nick called, catching up to her in the hall.

"Yes, Nick?" Sara said in all innocence. Nick smiled, charmingly.

"Your friend Amanda?" Sara nodded.

"I'm Sara's soon to be boyfriend, Nick Stokes." Sara rolled her eyes and turned to mock whisper in Amanda's year.

"He's always dreaming."

Amanda and Sara had been all through the lab and Sara had left Amanda in the break room while she went wandering through the halls. Then she had noticed Jack Banning in an interrogation room. She pulled open the door. His back was facing her as she stood in the doorway.

"Well, are you going to come in?"

"I honestly don't want to stand within one hundred feet of you, but I'm going to have to face you in court won't I?" He spun in his chair and settled his eyes on her.

"Ah, Sara. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I'm not on this case, if that's what you're getting at."

"Why? Scared?" Sara closed her eyes, and the door carefully, making sure to keep her hand on the handle. She didn't close it all the way, just until it looked fully closed.

"Why them? Why Emily, or Ellen? What the hell have they ever done to you?" Sara asked carefully. Jack grinned.

"Come on, Sar. You left me. You were stronger than me. I had to make you pay."

"So what, you were going after Amanda next? Why not just kill her? Why harass her first?"

"I had to find out where you were."

"You would have been the first suspect had you actually killed her. Neighbours saw you and her at her front door." Sara tried to keep her voice completely neutral but was starting to fail. It was shaking now, she was scared and angry, both mixing to create a lethal combination to either him or her. Then he swung at her. She felt his fist connect with her jaw and knew, if the bone wasn't broken, that there would be one heck of a bruise there. Her mind swam as her hip and shoulder connected with the floor. He pushed down on her shoulder and she felt it dislocate. Sara wouldn't scream, wouldn't give him that pleasure. He grabbed her arm and twisted it painfully behind her. The next thing to go was her arm as it broke. Then she heard screaming and blacked out.

When she slowly came to, she was back in a hospital room. She moved to sit up but her abdomen protested painfully. She groaned and tried to move. Her one arm was virtually immobile and some one grabbed her shoulders to hold her down. She struggled, hard, to get out of the grasp.

"Sara, honey, calm down. Calm down, Sara, it's me, Nick. You need to stay in the hospital bed." Her struggling lessened, but tears continued to flow down her cheeks. Nick carefully laid her down on the pillows and grasped her hand, lightly but firmly, letting her know that he was there for her. Sara closed her eyes then immediately opened them again when the pictures of her latest attack bombarded her brain.

"Who screamed?" she carefully got out.

"Catherine. She was in some state. You were much worse."

"She remembered." If Nick was confused by Sara's statement, he didn't let it show. He kept her hand in his.

"Sara, what happened?" Sara shook her head.

"Not now, Nick, please?" Nick nodded.

"Go back to sleep, Sara. Amanda and I are going to stay here with you. You're safe, sweetheart, just go back to sleep." Sara felt herself drifting off again and fought it. She would rather stay awake in a hospital than relive her life in her dreams. She felt new hands on her other hand and whipped her hand away causing her to scream in pain as her shoulder and arm protested the movement. Amanda jumped back away from Sara as a nurse came rushing in. Nick quickly calmed Sara down before apologizing to the nurse and settling the brunette back in her pillows.

"It was just Amanda, honey and she won't hurt you," Nick whispered dropping a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm going to touch your hand, Sar. Its Amanda, hon, I won't hurt you. Promise." Sara breathed a sigh of a whole lot of unidentifiable emotions as Amanda picked up her hand.

"Thanks guys," she whispered as sleep began to claim her once again.

"Don't mention it, sweetheart. We love you, both of us," she heard Nick say before she dropped off.

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

There. This one didn't take half as long as other ones had. Once again, hopefully this is the last chapter that I have to catch it up to Subtle Clues. Now it should be more towards the separate relationships, more specifically, Nick and Sara in this case. Amanda still has a part to play in all of this and Catherine will still make periodic appearances because she and Sara now have a huge connection between their pasts.

Coming up:

Jack's prelim hearing comes closer and Sara is still hospitalized Amanda attends the trial

I know that's not a lot to go by but unfortunately that's all that's going to happen at the moment.

~Kavi Leighanna