Chapter 8

Catherine returned home to find a letter taped to the front of her door. It was Sara's handwriting. She walked into her house and put her purse and keys down. Slowly she sat down and her kitchen table while she carefully opened the envelope.

Dear Catherine,

I am writing this letter to you, Warrick and Nick. I have asked for an emergency leave from the lab. At this juncture, I don't know if it has been approved or not, no matter. I have to leave Las Vegas. My life is coming apart at the seams and Vegas is not an emotionally safe place for me right now.

I will contact you all when things are better. Give my loves to the guys and tell them that I am sorry for acting so strangely over the last few months. Kiss Lindsey for me.

Thanks for being a friend.

Sara

Catherine stood up grabbed her purse and keys and headed back to the car.

Grissom came home to an empty house. Immediately he knew something was wrong. He went to their bedroom and jerked the closet door open. Her clothes were gone. Irrationally he tore through the house looking for any sign that she was not gone for good. Everything was gone. Her books. Her toiletries. Sara was gone.

His Sara was gone. He sat on the floor of his bedroom as tears wetted his cheeks

Grissom was not sure how long the doorbell had been ringing but it was only the sound of the key in the lock that allowed him to break through the fog. For a moment his hopes rose that it was Sara but he knew better than that. He had taken his migraine medicine and he lay in the darkness of his bedroom with the curtains pulled tight.

The door opened and he smelled Catherine's scent.

"Gil" she said softly and she eased the door open.

"I'm here"

Catherine walked quietly across the dark hard wood floors. A sliver of light from the hall way played across his worn features. His eyes were closed and one hand rested close to his mouth.

"Sara left a letter for me. Gil she's gone. She left Vegas."

"I know. She took all of her things."

Catherine nodded in understanding. "I figured something..."

The bed dipped lightly under Catherine's weight. She took Gils hand.

"What did the letter say?"

"Just said that she was sorry and she had to leave."

"Gil what happened?"

He smiled mockingly as he sat up in the large bed. "Everything that I knew would happen. I lost control of myself Catherine. I lost complete control. She showed me this wonderful beautiful life and I couldn't handle it. I became what I was most afraid of."

Gil looked sadly at his friend. Sadness tugged at the corners of his mouth and salt from his tears forms a thin white sheet across his cheeks.

"How long?"

"Three months."

"You want to talk about it?"

"I have to find her Catherine."

"She won't come back to you like this Gil. You have got to get hold to yourself."

He nodded in understanding as Catherine reached for his phonebook.