Huge thanks as always to Marlou for her beta services ((hugs)) Also thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, you guys are great.
Chapter 2
By the time Brass had arrived, both Warrick and Nick were already well into CSI mode, only this time the supposed 'victim' was someone they knew.
"Okay, what have we got?" Brass asked worriedly.
"Sara left the bar twenty minutes ahead of us. When we came out her SUV was still here. No sign of Sara, only her keys on the floor." Warrick relayed the information in a daze, his investigator brain already immersed in fear.
"Oh God," Nick almost wailed from beside the drivers side of the Denali, his breath coming in gasps as he retrieved a crumbled Kleenex from beneath the tire with his tweezers. The sweet smell coming from the tissue was enough to tell him that they were looking at a kidnapping.
"What?" Warrick asked urgently as he came around to see what Nick had found.
The look in Nick's eyes was enough to cause worry to well up in his own. "Shit," he gasped hoarsely, "God, not Sara."
"I'll call Grissom," Brass told them, having seen enough to be sufficiently worried himself. Backing away from them, he pulled his phone from his pocket and turned away from the two younger men, hoping against hope that they were all wrong about this.
Back at the lab, Greg hovered in Grissom's office waiting for a reply to his question. "So, when will I know your decision?"
With a heavy sigh, Grissom looked up at the young lab tech and regarded him carefully. "You'll have your chance Greg, as soon as an opening becomes available."
Greg's shock quickly turned into elation as his lips upturned into a beaming smile. "Neat."
"I said when there's…" Grissom's cell phone started to ring halting his words mid-sentence sentence. Pulling his cell phone from his pocket he snapped it open. "Grissom."
Greg watched silently as his supervisor's face began to pale rapidly and resisted the urge to ask what was wrong.
"I'll be right there." Without warning, Grissom closed off the phone and shoved it inside his pocket and rushed out of the office leaving a stunned Greg in his wake.
Grissom's mind was racing as he drove out of the labs parking lot. Brass' message was brief, but the underlying urgency in his voice was enough to cause Grissom's own racing pulse into overdrive. The words 'Sara' and 'get here' were imprinted in his brain and it was all he could do not to panic. Something was seriously wrong and he dreaded to think what it was.
Driving on autopilot, Grissom pulled into the parking lot that adjoined the bar to see Brass talking to a group of police officers. Parking a little way behind Brass' car, he turned off the engine and climbed out of his Denali to silently scan the surrounding area.
Grissom's eyes focused on Sara's stationary Denali and the two men who were completing their grim task in their search of any evidence. His heart hammered loudly inside his ears when his scrutinizing gaze failed to turn up any signs of Sara, and only then did he start to feel his breath shudder inside his chest.
"Gil," Brass called as he approached him, his worried eyes holding a haunted look.
"What's going on Jim?" Grissom said quickly, his voice shaking.
"I'm sorry, Gil," Jim sighed sadly and turned to walk with Grissom towards Sara's Denali. "Warrick and Nick raised the alarm when they left the bar to find Sara's SUV in the same place she'd left it."
"Maybe she took a cab?"
"Her keys were on the ground," Brass waited for the information to sink in, watching for the inevitable collapse of the man beside him, but it never came.
"Okay, what else?" Grissom swallowed down the fear inside him and kept up his façade, knowing that if he gave in to his fears then he would be of no use to anyone.
"What else?" Brass asked in exasperation, "What else do you need? Sara is missing!"
The words seemed to hit Grissom like a punch to the gut and he stumbled slightly as he took a step closer towards Warrick and Nick. "No," he almost gasped, his voice etched with worry. "She's feisty, she'd never just…"
Nick stood up and regarded Grissom with his dark eyes. Part of him wanted yell accusations and inform Grissom as to why Sara was always so sad lately, but his own worry caused him to bite back the ache in his chest.
"Gris," Warrick held up an evidence bag containing the crumpled tissue that Nick had found on the ground. His voice dried up, choking him and his eyes met Grissom's with a deep sorrowful gaze.
"Did anyone see anything?" Grissom asked urgently, his eyes turning to Brass as he spoke. "Witnesses? Anyone?"
"No one saw or heard anything Gil," Brass sighed, his own frustration coursing through his words. "I have every available man on this."
"You mean to tell me that no one saw a beautiful woman taken almost certainly against her will? I don't buy that," Grissom stated, his fear mixing with a steadily growing urge to fight someone, anyone.
Nick dropped his eyes as he blinked away the moisture that had threatened to spill ever since he and Warrick had discovered that their friend was missing. Kneeling down, he caught sight of a tiny speck of something that was moulded onto the Denali door. Leaning over to his kit, he pulled out a swab and rubbed the tip over the spot and pulled it away to stare down at it worriedly.
"Nick?" Grissom asked quickly as he came closer to the younger man. He watched in morbid scrutiny, his jaw twitching silently while he waited as Nick tested the red stain on his swab for blood, and both of them gasped when the confirmation line indicated that it was.
"Oh God," Nick gasped, his voice echoing in his ears. "Blood…"
"Bag it and get it into the lab for testing," Grissom ordered, his voice suddenly hardening.
Nick looked at him as if he had grown another head. "What?"
"We need to know everything Nick; if that is Sara's blood we need to know." Grissom, in full investigator mode refused to listen to the protests from Sara's fiend and offered him a stern look that told him there was no room for discussion.
Warrick and Nick exchanged angry glances before Nick packed up his kit and stood up sharply. "See you at the lab."
Warrick watched Grissom with frustrated eyes and bit down on his tongue before a barrage of insults slipped from his mouth. Instead, he watched silently as Grissom knelt down on the ground and stared down at the concrete as if it would open up and speak to him.
"I should get her SUV back to the lab too," Warrick told him, his hand holding onto the evidence bag that held Sara's keys inside.
Grissom nodded silently, his eyes scanning the ground for anything that could offer the tiniest clue, the smallest hint to trace Sara's movements.
Vincent Lurie chanced a brief glance around him as he walked around the car to open the back door of his BMW. Sara was still unconscious in the back seat, her face ashen.
"Come sweetheart," he soothed lovingly as he reached in to pull on her jean clad legs. "Let's get you inside your new home."
Lifting Sara into his arms, he turned briefly to kick the door closed with his foot and started to carry his precious load towards the solitary house that stood proudly amongst the trees.
From the moment he had set his sights on the woman in his arms he'd made up his mind to search for a property. He'd wanted something secluded with acres of land around it, something for them to expand on to when they eventually started their own family. As soon as he'd driven up the gravelled driveway he knew this house was the one.
"As you can see, this house boasts many original features," Mary Philips, the real estate agent had gushed. "The price also includes 4 acres of land."
"It's wonderful," he'd smiled as his eyes roamed the large staircase that stood proudly in the centre of the main entrance
"Do you have children Mr Lurie?"
"Oh not yet," he'd laughed, "My Sara can't wait to start a family though."
"Well this is certainly a beautiful home to raise children and there's also a butterfly garden. You mentioned in our telephone conversation that that was one of your main priorities, that, and a pot-bellied stove."
"Yes, Sara loves butterflies and she's always wanted a red pot-bellied stove like her parents had." His eyes travelled over the cream coloured walls in appreciation.
"Well the pot-bellied stove is beautiful," Mary smiled, "follow me into the kitchen."
They'd walked slowly into the large country kitchen where Mary stood proudly, her huge smile beaming when she knew she almost certainly had a sale on her hands.
"It's black," Lurie growled when he spotted the stove in the centre of the wall.
"Well yes, I've talked with the manufacturers and they have assured me that they can replace the existing stove to a red one for around $2,000." Stepping away, Mary had then started to walk around to the patio doors to slide them open. "The butterfly garden is beautiful Mr. Lurie, I'm sure your wife will be very happy here."
He'd smiled to himself then, he liked the sound of that, his wife. "Yes," he'd smiled, "She will love it. I'll take it."
"Excellent," Mary beamed, "if you'd like to accompany me back to the office we'll arrange the necessary paperwork."
"Of course," pulling the patio doors closed again, Lurie knew that this house would be the start of his future with Sara.
Lurie smiled down into Sara's face and leant closer to kiss her hair. He pushed the door open quietly and stepped over the threshold. This house had been a golden find, one that suited both his own needs and those of the woman he loved, and as soon as she woke he was going to show her everything from the pot-bellied stove to the butterfly garden around the rear of the house.
Making his way to the staircase he started to walk up the twisting steps, until he reached the huge en suite bedroom. Stepping closer, he moved towards the king-size bed that he had already draped in white satin sheets only a few days earlier.
As he bent forward to lay Sara onto the bed, she started to stir. Lurie laid her down and sat down beside her on the soft mattress and ran his fingers over her hair.
The heat inside the bedroom was almost too stifling but he'd made sure that the air conditioning worked to a high standard. He couldn't risk leaving the windows unattended while Sara was still settling into her new life. So he had spent the last two days hammering 6-inch nails into all of the large windows around the house, preventing any moment of weakness on Sara's part.
"Grissom…" she sighed softly as she slowly tried to find her way out of the foggy haze that surrounded her brain. Part of her wanted to believe that this was all real and that she had awoken from a beautiful dream where Grissom loved her enough to be with her.
"Sweetheart," Lurie whispered softly, his body laying closer to hers.
Images swam through Sara's mind as she fought to open her eyes. The voice that resounded inside her head was not that of the man she loved but the voice of someone she didn't recognize. Taking a deep breath she forced her eyes to open.
At first the light that invaded her senses caused her to blink back against the intrusion, and then when she had combated that first obstacle she blinked again to bring her surroundings into focus.
The first thing she saw caused her to find her strength and crawl away from the man towering over her. "Oh God," she gasped as she scrambled across the mattress, her arms and legs feeling like lead as she slipped on the satin beneath her. "Stay away from me."
Lurie watched her worriedly and rose slowly to his feet. "Sar…Debbie…""No…nononono," she chanted, her gasps coming in one long breath as she slid off of the bed and onto the floor. "Stay away…get away."
"Debbie," he groaned, his voice catching in his throat as he came around the bed to crouch down beside her. "Sweetheart, it's me, Vince."
Sara struggled to her feet although her legs still felt as if they were weighed down with concrete shoes. When she finally started to move she looked around for the quickest exit and bolted towards the open doorway. Her cumbersome legs gave way and she crumbled easily to the floor when Lurie caught her in his arms.
"Let go…" her voice broke as she tried to push his arms away from her body. "Get off of me."
"Debbie…"
"Get away from me you sick bastard, I'm not DEBBIE."
Her words hit him full force and he pulled away from her as if she had burned his skin. Taking this opportunity, Sara scrambled away from him to sit on the floor beside the large bay window, her body shaking.
Lurie watched her quietly before turning away from her abruptly to storm off down the stairs; she would soon love this house as much as he did. Debbie or not Debbie, she would love him.
Sara stared at the open doorway, panic coursing through her veins. Where was she and how did she get here? Closing her eyes, she tried to remember but the motion caused her head to pound and she raised her hands to her temples to try and ease the pressure.
A sharp sting in the side of her hand made her pull back and take a look at the cause of the pain. Turning her hand she noticed a small cut along the inside of her palm which had obviously bled enough to leave traces of her blood behind.
Sara's breaths were coming deep and fast as she tried to process the situation. This was all some whacked out nightmare that her brain was producing and maybe she wasn't really here at all. Pushing herself up, she turned to the window in search of an escape, but before she could even try she heard the footsteps on the stairs behind her and froze.
"Sweetheart, have you calmed down yet?" Lurie asked softly, his voice so gentle. "I'm sorry I brought the house without asking you first, but I saw this place and knew it would be perfect."
Sara felt him moving behind her, but couldn't move. She stood, rigid, afraid to turn around and look into the eyes of a captor.
"Let me show you the house Debbie, I know you'll love it as soon as you look around." Stepping closer, he touched her shoulders and felt her tense beneath his fingers.
Sara's mind was reeling. Lurie was a man suspected of a double murder, a man who had been so meticulous that he had avoided capture. The logical part of her knew she should swing around and attack him and make good her escape, but his touch sent a cold paralysing chill through her body.
Taking a breath she pulled away and slowly turned around to face him. His eyes sent a shard of fear to course through her heart. He was looking at her with such possessiveness mixed with affection that at first she couldn't escape his gaze. Closing her eyes, she blocked his visual assent and forced the fear back down inside her.
"Come," he smiled, his hand reaching out to her shoulder.
Sara backed away from him so that her entire body was pressed up against the windowpane. "I am NOT Debbie," she told him slowly, gritting her teeth to stop her voice from shaking.
Lurie took a step closer and leant towards her, his hands pressed firmly on the walls on either side the windowpane. He loomed over her, his breath fanning her hair when she turned her head to the side away from him. His smile died away as he dropped his head and planted a kiss on the side of her cheek. "I know."
With sudden panic, Sara's hands came up to his chest and pushed as hard as she could, her shove sending him backwards to fall on the bed. Without thinking she ran, her legs taking her blindly in any direction, as long as it took her away from him.
Lurie recovered quickly and caught her as she ran down the stairs. Plunging forward he snared her arm, but her struggling caused his grip to slip, sending her tumbling down the last flight, her body thudding against the steps. "Debbie," he cried, his arms trying to pull her back to him before she could fall, but he was too late.
Sara fell to the bottom to land in a crumpled heap on the floor, unconscious and blood streaming from her forehead.
"Angel," Lurie cried as he ran down the stairs towards her. Her hair was splayed in every direction and her left eye had started to bruise, but to him she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. Bending down, he ran a skilful hand over her lithe figure in search of anything broken before he stooped down to pick her up in his arms and carried her back to the bedroom.
Several hours had passed since Sara's disappearance and still her friends worked tirelessly in their search for anything that could indicate who had taken her.
Sitting back in his chair, Grissom closed his eyes against the memories that had started to flood his mind over the last few hours. So many times Sara had offered him another chance, another life, but every time he shot her down. Why did he insist on hurting her time and time again only to wallow in self loathing when he saw the sadness creeping over her beautiful face like a black veil.
The moment that Cavallo had entered the break room before their shift had started, Grissom had already started to retreat inside his own hidden defences. He knew his recommendation of Nick for the promotion to lead CSI was just another nail in the steel wall that Sara had already erected around her body. Her eyes had searched his in those few minute seconds, her questions, her need for understanding falling once again behind her mask and she had withdrawn from him once again.
So many regrets and so many feelings of remorse and helplessness bombarded his senses to cascade over his battered heart like a torrid volcano spurting its burning lava. He'd let her down when she'd needed him the most and now she was somewhere with god knows who doing things to her that he couldn't bear to think about.
Her loss caused an ache inside him so deep that he couldn't tell anymore where he ended and she began. He loved her so much and now she may never know.
The ever present tears that had been threatening to fall for months had once again found themselves into his eyes, and once again he had to force them away and swallow the burning in his throat. He couldn't lose control here, not yet.
Nick stepped closer to his office door and tapped on the side of the frame. "Gris, you got a minute?"
Grissom looked up quickly and coughed to hide the emotion that swept over him. Waving the younger man in, he ran his hands over his face trying to regain his composure.
"Sorry," Nick whispered sadly, his own red rimmed eyes showing the turmoil that held him within its grasp. "Is this a bad time?"
"No," Grissom croaked. "Come on in."
Nick nodded silently and tentatively pulled out a chair opposite him and sat down. For a few moments neither spoke, too scared of releasing fears that they had both tried so hard not to think of, but the unknown still simmered beneath their words.
"The blood's Sara's," Nick began, his voice faltering as images of his friend sprang into his mind. "God Gris," he whispered painfully, "where is she?"
Grissom couldn't deal with this, not right now. Already he was searching for a way of escape, his own emotions weighing him down like a huge anchor. Standing quickly he tried to focus on something, anything that would take this pain away from his chest, but it refused to leave.
"Why did you recommend me for the promotion?" Nick asked, his voice so soft that Grissom almost hadn't heard him.
The question threw Grissom off balance and he found himself slowly sinking back down into his chair.
"She said she was pleased for me," Nick whispered, his mind no longer in the same room as his body. "I knew she wanted to be happy for me, and I know she was trying so hard." Images of Sara surrounded him and he found his eyes closing to keep her memory fresh with her smile, but the pain found its way back into his heart and forced his eyes to gather the ever present tears inside them. "She's been so sad lately."
Grissom swallowed hard when he saw that Nick was losing his battle with his emotions. It had always been so easy for Nick to release his pain, and in some ways Grissom envied him. Tears cleansed the soul, or so he'd heard, but his soul wouldn't release him.
Had he noticed how withdrawn Sara had become of late? Yes he'd noticed, but as always he'd fallen into that same pattern that had always been his safety net; deny everything and bury one's head. Had he noticed how sad she had become? In all honesty he had tried not to notice too much at all about her because when she came into his mind all she provided was a distraction.
"I…I um, I hadn't noticed," he lied.
"That's your problem Grissom," Nick told him, sudden anger bursting into his voice as he spoke. Lifting his tear filled eyes, he stared Grissom squarely in the face and challenged him to answer, but he didn't. "You never noticed that after every shift I would find her in the locker room, her head in her hands and tears in her eyes. Did you know that after that girl cried rape that she cried herself to sleep? Did you notice any of that?"
"What?" Grissom's mind swam in confusion, how had he missed this?
Nick stood to his feet angrily and pushed the chair away from him. "Did you know that she donates blood at Desert Palm every three months?"
Grissom hadn't known that, but it was something that didn't really surprise him seeing Sara's love of life. Shaking his head he struggled to find something to say, but his voice died on his lips when he saw Nick sinking slowly back down into his chair, his face draining of colour. "Nick?"
Nick shook his head slowly, remembering. "A couple of months ago she dragged me along with her to the hospital and persuaded me to donate blood too. We grabbed a coffee after they were done with us and then I was gonna drop her home. We walked over to the SUV and some guy started harassing her, insisting her name was Debbie."
Grissom sat up straighter in his chair and leaned onto the desk. "Did you get a good look at him?"
"Yeah, but Sara knew him, at least I think she did anyway." Nick closed his eyes as he tried desperately to remember. "She said he was a suspect in a double murder that you guys worked on when I was away at that seminar. What was his name…?"
"Think Nick," Grissom pressed, his heart thudding inside his ears as he started to rise from the chair. "Could you recognize him again?"
"Sure I could," Nick nodded quickly. "He was at least 6'4', around your age, but he was so damn insistent…" Nick's voice trailed away as a name sprang to his mind from nowhere. "Lurie…that's what she called him…yeah Lurie, I'm pretty sure of it."
Snatching his cell phone from his pocket, Grissom dialled Brass' number and started to walk out of the door as he waited for him to pick up. "Brass, Nick remembers an incident at Desert Palm a couple of months ago involving Vincent Lurie. Yeah, he called Sara Debbie and according to Nick he wouldn't give up." Grissom nodded enthusiastically and motioned for Nick to follow him outside. "Already on it, Nick and I will meet you there."
"What? Where are we going?" Nick asked as he followed blindly after Grissom.
"Vincent Lurie was the prime suspect in a double murder a couple of months back, but because of lack of evidence we had to let him go."
"So what did that have to do with Sara?" Nick asked breathlessly as they strode.
"I can't explain that right now Nick, we have to get to the hospital." Grissom's heart thumped inside his chest at the memories that still haunted his dreams. The similarities between Sara and Debbie Marlin had turned his whole life upside down, and even after all this time they still wouldn't release him.
Suspecting there was more to this case, Nick just nodded silently as he walked beside his boss, finding Sara the primary thought in his mind.
Sounds of birds chirping slowly brought Sara to wakefulness. Her whole body hurt and her head ached. Lifting a hand, she tentatively touched the side of her face and came into contact with dried blood.
Everything came back with a flurry of images, one by one assaulting her brain. Lurie's face blended with her nightmares to bring a wave of nausea to rise up her throat. Lifting herself up she made it to the side of the bed to heave the contents of her stomach onto the floor, painful dry retches pulling at her chest with every onslaught.
For a few minutes afterwards she dared not move for fear of another bout of sickness. Slowly she managed to pull herself back and lay back down on the bed. Closing her eyes, she tried to banish the dizziness that swam around her, all the while wishing that the room would stop spinning.
Sliding a hand down to her stomach she was instantly met with an unfamiliar softness, one that filled her with a mixture of repulsiveness and fear. Gone were her black jeans and vest top, gone were her boots and everything that made her Sara. With sickening awareness she raised herself up a little onto her elbows and cast a cautious glance down her body to see a white silk nightgown adorning her body.
A wave of nausea invaded her senses once more but she forced it away, denying the fear any kind of access to her mind. If she was ever going to combat this nightmare and escape from here she needed to be strong. By now the guys would realize she was missing, and even if Grissom wasn't worried, she knew Nick and Warrick would be.
"Good, you're awake," Lurie's voice floated into the room causing her to freeze into total stillness. She dared not raise her eyes for fear of seeing the love in his.
The atmosphere around the room changed the second he entered, his soft footsteps bringing him closer to sit down beside her on the bed. Sara fought back the wave of nausea that accompanied his touch, his fingers gliding up her bare ankle.
"What do you want?" she asked quietly, finding her voice at last. Her whole body was trembling, the movements making her head ache, but still she knew she had to face the possibility that she may never see the people she loved again. Swallowing hard, she lifted her eyes bravely, her inner spark flaring quickly only to die away again when she caught sight of his gaze.
"Amazing," he whispered throatily as he slid his hand up over her silk clad thigh. "So beautiful."
With a moment of panic Sara snatched her legs away from him, pulling herself further up to the head of the bed. The sudden movement sent a shard of pain throughout her body and she bit back a gasp with the intensity.
Lurie gazed at her with a mixture of love and concern before standing up. "I'll get you something for the pain sweetheart, you fell down pretty hard."
"No," she said quickly, her eyes scrunching closed with the pain. When she felt the bed dip again beside her she forced them open again and found herself staring into intense, love filled eyes.
Lurie smiled slightly before reaching out to tenderly stroke her shoulder with his fingertips. "You're in pain."
"It'll pass," she told him as she recoiled away from his touch. "I want to get dressed, where are my clothes?"
Lurie pulled his hand away from her and stood to his feet. "I brought you a whole new wardrobe Angel," he told her with a smile as he pulled open the closet door to reveal row upon row of clothes. "I know you like to wear jeans, but I think you look beautiful in more feminine attire."
"You've never seen me in 'feminine attire'" she croaked, her voice giving up on her. Shaking the fear away, she tried a different approach. "I like wearing jeans. Can I please have my clothes back?"
Lurie smiled and closed the closet door, then turned around to lean over towards her, his hands resting on the mattress beside her. Looming closer he leant in to kiss her but she turned her head away. Groaning with frustration, he lifted a hand to her chin and turned her to face him holding her still while he clamped his mouth hard against hers.
She fought him, keeping her mouth closed against his intrusion, all the while screaming in silence.
Sara struggled against him, her hands clawing at his skin in the struggle to push him away. Her head hurt like hell and the pain in her chest stole her breath from her but still she fought him until he released her abruptly and stepped back away from her. "You will love me again Debbie," he told her, nodding his head as he spoke. "You DO love me."
"I'm not her," Sara growled, her stomach fighting off another bout of nausea as she crawled to the other side of the bed to get as far away from him as possible.
"You could be her," Lurie told her quietly, his own raging emotions controlling his actions. "You WILL learn to love me, even if I have to make you."
"No," she told him defiantly, shaking her head as she fought the tears from escaping down her cheeks. "I'm not Debbie, my name is Sara…S-A-R…"
"No one loves you in your world," He hissed angrily, turning to her one more time. "You only have me." Walking towards the door he turned back towards her and smiled sickeningly. "I love you."
"No you don't, you love Debbie," Sara told him when her courage finally came forth to gain control of her again, even if it was only for a short time. "Let me go now before my friends find you, you're just making it worse for yourself."
"I can see that you're going to need another lesson," Lurie told her coldly, something in his voice quickly turning her vibrant anger into numbing fear.
"I just want to go home," she told him in a whisper, her own voice sounding pathetic even to her own ears, but knowing what he had already done to the woman he was supposed to have loved, she knew provoking him was getting her no where but in trouble.
"You are home," he told her.
"You call this a home," she asked shakily, holding her arms up in the air around her. "All I've seen is this room."
"Oh love," he sighed, his eyes closing quickly only to open again. "I have so much I wanted to show you."
Taking advantage of the momentary weakness in his voice, Sara knelt up on the bed, ignoring the pain that crashed over her entire body. Taking a breath she steadied her nerves before attempting to look up at him. "You can still show me, let me get dressed and you can show me."
Lurie stepped closer to her and smiled, but the coldness in his voice still loomed with unsteady anger. Reaching out to her, he slowly pushed her backwards so that she laid on the bed, ignoring how she stiffened with his touch, much the same as Debbie had done too so long ago.
Sara stilled, her body frozen in fear and self loathing as she felt him run a hand over her body. Her mind closed down, shutting her away from this nightmare taking her elsewhere. Grissom's face sprang to her mind, his warm smile from the past the only thing that had sustained her through so many nights. The love she craved from him brought an onslaught of protection and she tried to imagine that this was him, that he was the man worshiping her body with his hands. Her love for Grissom though soon brought with it the tell tale sadness, her silent misery dissolving the image until it faded, to bring Lurie's face back to her nightmare.
With her dream Grissom all but lost, she smacked Lurie's roaming hands away and screwed her eyes tightly closed, refusing to acknowledge that this whole situation was actually happening. She was Sara Sidle, a CSI, things like this just didn't happen, they couldn't. She felt the bed dip again and cautiously opened her eyes. She knew she had to coax him into believing how wrong he was, but was she strong enough?
Finding the courage she needed, Sara sat up, doing her best not to alarm him when she slid away from him. Trying a different tact she kept her voice deliberately soft. "Do you think I could have those pain meds now?"
Lurie gazed down at her for what seemed like an eternity before he finally moved away from her. "I'll run you a bath," he told her softly.
"I don't…"
"A bath will relax you angel," he told her with a smile, "as soon as I've helped you bathe I'll fix you something to eat."
"No, really it's okay," she insisted, her voice becoming garbled as she spoke, "I can do it myself, I don't need help."
"But you always liked me to scrub your back and shampoo your hair," his voice held a tone that told her this was not up for negotiation and that she should just agree. Seeing her close her eyes in surrender he smiled, satisfied with her silent submission.
Sara's mind was screaming at her to do something, but her body seemed to be frozen. Lurie switched between knowing she wasn't Debbie to believing she was. Either way he was surely mentally unstable.
Pulling herself up from the bed, she waited until she heard the sound of running water before she moved closer to the window. Taking a tentative glance behind her she saw that Lurie was nowhere in sight and turned her attention back to the window. Gliding her fingers along the windowpane, she reached over to lift the handle, hoping that it wasn't locked. It was only then that she noticed the nails that had been knocked into the frame, bolting down the windows to safeguard any kind of escape.
Her heart thudded inside her and her legs buckled as she sank to the floor and huddled her knees up to her chest, trying to make herself invisible. But she couldn't escape, no matter how much she wanted to, and when she heard Lurie come into the room again, she pondered that death would be a better release than living this nightmare forever.
Pulling herself to her feet she glared at him angrily, ignoring the voice inside her head that told her he could snap at any second and kill her in the same way he had done Debbie and her boyfriend, but she didn't listen. Instead she pushed the fear away and stood defiantly: if she was doomed to die by his hand then she would damn well make sure he did it quickly.
TBC