"Is it bad?" Sidney looked Sara straight in the eyes.

Sara nodded gently; she switched from closed CSI, cool and aloof, to friend. "She's badly beaten and still unconscious."

"Was she…?" Sidney's words failed her.

Sara nodded quietly again, her dismayed expression saying more than she could express with words. The tall brunette was aware of Catherine standing quietly beside her as she comforted Sidney. Sara drew her breath and made her choice. "Do you want to see her?" Sara broached the subject carefully.

Sidney nodded like a small child who was being offered a lolly to stop crying.

Sara led Sidney to Rosie's bedside.

"Oh honey what happened?" Sidney put her had to her mouth as her knees gave way from beneath her.

"Hey," Sara deftly caught Sidney as she crumpled. "She's strong, she made it this far."

"Oh God… Sara this is all my fault." Sidney howled

Sara cupped Sidney's head in both hands and looked her square in the face. "Look at me. You are not responsible for this. No one made this happen except the sick fuck that did it." Sara took a deep breath. "She needs you to be strong Sid."

"No Sara you don't understand. This is all my fault." Again Sidney's knees buckled and Sara caught her as she dissolved.

Sara led Sidney to the seats outside the ward. Catherine hung back but close enough to be part of the group. Sara was aware she hadn't even introduced the two. "Catherine, sorry, this is Sidney," she said simply motioning towards her old friend."Sid, this is Catherine, she'll be working the case."

Sidney barely acknnowledged Catherine as she conitued to chastise herself. "I always have to have the last word." She let out a loud sob. "I can't just let it go." Sara looked at Sidney confused. "Oh my god what if I lose her… That bastard. If I see him..." Sidney was almost ranting.

Sara took Sidney's hand as she spoke. "You're not making any sense. Did you see Rosie last night?"

"Yes." Sidney shuddered as she spoke. "Last night we went to Gipsy."

"Was there a beer bust?" Catherine asked jokingly knowing that most nights there was. Realising almost instantly that the joke was inappropriate.

"Uh huh."Sid shook her head not really confirming what Catherine had said. "Rosie had to go back home. She works really hard. She had some preparation to do for tomorrow. She really needs to be alone to work. Apparently I'm too noisy or too much of a distraction or something." Sidney smiled weakly. Sara resisted the urge to tell Sidney to keep to the facts; but this was a friend not some witness.

Catherine steped in as if she had read her mind. "Did she go back to her apartment?"

"I begged her to come back to come back to mine, I'm going back up to Boston tonight for a week. She said she would and go home instead of staying so she could get her work done. She works really hard." Sara frowned at her usually articulate old friend; either she'd changed or the shock was settling in.

Sara started to ask questions so she could get the details before Sidney completely fell apart.

"Did she go back to your apartment?"

"Yes, I can be persuasive."

"I remember." Sara looked at Sidney fondly, missing Catherine's amused smile.

"We were walking back, holding hands. I kissed her and out of the blue some guy starts having a go. Yelling that we weren't real women and all we needed was a good f-. " Sidney corrected herself, remembering she didn't know Catherine "well you know, to set us straight. Sidney was looking extremely agitated. "You know the type of garbage. Sounded like that punk frat boy you dissed in college."

"I know the type." Sara shook her head and rolled her eyes in distain.

"He started saying he could show us what a real man was like. I told him off. Told him he was a jumped up little prick. That even if he was the last man on earth he would never be a real man. I'd had a drink. I was feeling big and brave. Rosie told me to leave it. But I was tripping on it. He started to threaten us and I yelled at him some more as I went into the building."

"He was outside your building?" Sara clarified.

Sid nodded and continued. "He tripped up the curb and fell. I laughed at him said I could see what a real man he was." She took a deep sigh. "He said he would 'show me' and I slammed the door on him ranting."

"What happened then? Did you call anybody? Do you have security in your building?" Sara suddenly wanted to know every detail immediately.

"Rosie was shaken up. She wanted me to call the cops but I told her not to worry he would take himself off to some bar telling anyone who would listen about the evils of lesbianism."

Sara opened her eyes wide in anger. Angry that Sid would put Rosie in danger like that, put herself in danger like that, to purposefully wind someone up. Catherine could see her about to explode and butted in.

"This guy, could you describe him?" Catherine asked wanting useful details.

"Shortish but stocky. A bit rough around the edges."

"Height?"

"A bit taller than Rosie not as tall as me."

"So what, five six five seven maybe?" Sid nodded and Catherine continued. "Hair colour?"

"Dark I think"

"Would you recognise him again?" Sara asked having recovered her composure.

"I think so." Sid paused and nodded in certainty "Definitely the bastard."

"What time did Rosie leave?"

"It must have been after eleven."

"How long was she at your apartment?" Sara asked reluctantly.

"No more than an hour. I had to pack she had to get her work done."

"Did you hear anything after she left?

"No I was kind of out of it. I'd had a drink and…" Sara knew what Sid was driving at; she nodded at the blonde to continue knowing if things hadn't changed Sidney would have needed a small post-coital snooze.

"She didn't call me to say she'd got back okay." Sidney started to whimper. "When you called I thought it was her. I was going to be cross she'd forgotten to call. Isn't that terrible?"

"Honey, shush this isn't your fault." Sara pulled her old friend in closer.

"It isn't my fault?" Sidney shot Sara a look of incredulity. "How can you say that? I make her come back to mine, rile up some guy who lays in wait for her and I don't even notice that she hasn't called me to say she'd got home safe… oh my god I did this to her."

"Okay, okay it's going to be okay. Rosie is going to pull through. She is not going to blame you. Nobody will blame you." Sara pulled her friend into a hug. "We don't even know if it was the same guy."

"That's my job. To find out what happened." Catherine stepped forward to rub Sidney's shoulder. "We'll catch him and lock him up, okay?" Sidney smiled at Catherine weakly.

"I need to talk to the police and tell them what you told Sara and me so they can start canvassing the neighbourhood."

Sid nodded.

"Sara?" Catherine motioned to her colleague to follow her.

"I'll be back in two minutes tops. Kay?" Sidney nodded and tucked her knees up under her chin. Sara and Catherine walked far enough up the corridor to be out of earshot.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah I think I've kicked into auto-pilot." Sara fished her keys from her pocket. "I can't leave her here like this. Take the Tahoe I won't be going anywhere soon."

"You sure?"

Sara wasn't entirely sure but she had to be. What ever had stood between Sidney and herself now they did once care for eachother and Sidney was going to need someone to lean on. Her mind turned to case details. "Have you got all the evidence? Everything you need?"

"Do you want details or placating?" Catherine asked tentatively.

"Details," Sara gritted her teeth knowing she may not want to hear what Catherine had to say.

"Well, there was some physical evidence that will tie the case together but the seminal fluid in the rape kit that was done when she was in surgery is the clincher. Hopefully this guy will be in CODIS. I've got to do some leg work so I can substantiate the time line whilst I get Grego to run the evidence."

"Could you let Grissom know I'm going to take some personal time? A few days."

"What do you want me to tell him?"

"Something personal came up. Don't tell him about the case." Sara knew it was an irrational thing to say. Grissom would have to find out and she knew that Catherine would need to explain why she couldn't work the case.

"He has got to find out sometime." Catherine said as if to confirm what Sara was thinking. "About the case I mean."

"I know. I know. I need to think about what I'm going to say. How much I want to say." Sara trailed off.

"You don't have to say anything. Sara this is case which happens to involve a friend of yours nobody needs to know anymore than that. Catherine flashed Sara a big comforting smile and squeezed her shoulders. " But if you do decide to say something I don't think it will be a big surprise to people Sara."

"What, that I have friends?" Sara asked with a feigned wounded look.

"No that will be a surprise." Catherine chuckled as Sara made a face. "No, I mean your…" Catherine chose her words carefully. "Particular choice of friends."

Sara spun on her heels to return back down the hallway. She turned back to Catherine, smiled and mouthed 'thank you' and with one last cheeky grin she added: "If you could drop my recycling off that would be fab…"

"Explains a lot though…" Catherine called after her.

Sara shrugged and continued down the hall.