AN:This is a story that's been bouncing around in my head for a month or so. It's my first piece of fanfic, so please bear with me. I hope I haven't made too many glaring errors. Please review

Disclaimer:These characters do not belong to me. They are the property of some really rich people who work as CBS.

Chapter 1

The shrill ringing of the phone jerked her out of a sound sleep. Clumsily, she fumbled for the phone by her bed and blinked owlishly at the clock.

"Hello."

"Hello, is this Sara Sidle?" asked a brisk voice.

"May I ask who's calling?" Sara responded.

"This is Joan Anderson, associate warden of the California Women's Prison." Sara blinked in shock at the response. It was certainly not what she had been expecting.

"I – I'm sorry, why are you calling me?" Sara knew she sounded rude, but she was so stunned by the call, she didn't really know how to react.

"You are Laura Sidle's emergency contact, correct?"

Sara dropped her head to her knees and waited for the news she'd always expected. "What can I do for you?" she asked.

"We need you to come here as soon as possible. Your mother has been severely injured in an altercation here at the prison, and we need a next of kin to approve any further medical treatment. I have the doctor's number who is treating her if you'd like to contact him. Her injuries were so severe, that we had to send her to a local hospital. I'll give you more details when you arrive."

Sara looked at the clock. 11:30. No wonder she was having a hard time focusing. She had only been asleep for two hours. She thought for a long moment. There was really no way she could leave right away as she had a huge stack of paperwork to complete on a major, two month, investigation. The suspect's lawyer would definitely get a dismissal if the DA had to get another continuance. "Unfortunately, I can't leave today, but I will get on the road early tomorrow. Will that work?"

"I believe so," answered the warden, "We'll look forward to seeing you."

Sara clicked the phone off and flopped back on the bed. For a minute, there were no emotions. Then, everything began flooding through her. Well, she thought, there is no way I'm going to get back to sleep now. Slowly, she pulled herself out of bed and padded into her living room.

Ten hours later, Sara entered the front doors of the lab. She had spent the day packing and preparing to leave. She was planning to be gone for two weeks. She was only hoping that explaining the situation to her supervisor would not be as difficult as she was anticipating it to be.

Taking a deep breath, she marched into Grissom's office. The expression she had on her face resembled a doomed prisoner about to be fed to the lions.

"Grissom, can I talk to you for a second?"

Grissom's head lifted as he stared at the woman in his doorway. Has she always looked this tired? "What can I do for you, Sara?"

Sara walked forward and sat in a chair in front of his desk. "I'm going to need to take the next two weeks off. Something's come up, and I need to be out of town for a while."

"When do you want to take this time?"

"I have to finish up the paperwork on the Reynold's case tonight, but I'd like to start as soon as that is finished."

Grissom stared at her for an eternity. "What's going on, Sara?" he finally asked.

Sara avoided his eyes as she answered, "It's just some personal business I need to deal with. What's the big deal anyway? I have, like, two years of vacation time saved up, and with Nick back, you won't be short-handed. You guys will be fine without me. You're always the one telling me I need some time off."

"I know we'll be fine, but I want to know that you're OK. If you need anymore time, just let me know. You know how to reach me."

Sara opened her mouth and then immediately closed it. "Thanks," she said quietly and left his office.

Throughout the entire night, there were numerous times when Sara would look up to see Grissom lingering in the hall. But whenever she would question him or even raise her eyebrow, he would just shake his head and walk away. After a few times, she just began ignoring him and focused on the work in front of her. When it was completed, she put it in an envelope to send to the DA and left without saying good-bye to anyone.

Later, Grissom walked quickly through the lab looking for Sara. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He was hoping to get some answers.

"Greg, have you seen Sara around?"

Greg looked up from the photos he was studying. "I think she left already. I saw her heading for the door a little earlier."

Grissom cursed quietly under his breath as he headed for the door. But, as he expected, her car was already gone. Sara, where are you going? What are you facing? he thought.

Outside of Las Vegas, Sara merged onto Interstate 15 and headed toward California.

TBC