Thank you, all my lovely reviewers for commenting on my story. Reviews make the world go around. And thank you Jenny. I updated my story yesterday but your review has inspired me to sit down in my room, grab a drink, a toothpick, shut of the lights, and start writing. (That's just what I do when I start writing. I'm usually in my room for hours on end, writing and tweaking, so I like to get comfortable) Aaaanyway, Thank you again for reviewing everyone, please keep it up: D

Does anyone know exactly how old Lindsey is? I lost count…

The Blood Of Eden

Sara gasped as she woke up. Where was she? What happened? Where was Zane? What happened to Catherine?

She struggled to speak but all that came out was " Where…?"

A groggy, but familiar voice sounded from the other side of the room. " About time you woke up. I didn't know any adult, especially you Sara Sidle, could sleep so god damn much. You're in the hospital. Relax, the nurse will be in here soon."

Sara could barely comprehend what Catherine was telling her. She only had one thing on her mind. " What happened to Zane?" she asked in her own groggy voice.

When Catherine hesitated, Sara knew it couldn't be good. " Cat…what happened to…him?"

Cat drew in a breath. " He was too exhausted from everything that happened. He was over working himself by just bringing you up that hill, and then the flood…it was too much for even him to handle. He got you over to the other side and after he said goodbye to you, he…he passed out. He passed out and he let go of the road, letting the water take him away. I'm not sure if he meant to do that or not…there was a news crew there covering the story…they assumed that he's dead." Catherine started tearing up. She wasn't quite sure if Zane was really dead or not.

Sara gasped. She couldn't believe it. Zane was dead. Zane was dead and it was all her fault. If she hadn't been so weak, he'd still be here! " It's…all…all my fault."

" Sara, don't say that! The harness broke, he wanted to save you. He did it all for you…if he hadn't done what he had done you'd be the one dead right now. It wasn't your fault and if you keep on saying it was I'm gonna limp over there and beat your face in!"

Sara got silent, but inside she was screaming. What did she do? If she could have just been stronger and carried herself up the hill, then Zane wouldn't have been so tired. And if he weren't so tired he would have been able to make it across the flood. He was so close. Why could she have just helped him out? All she had to do was pull him up. Why didn't she? Sara began to feel extremely guilty. If it weren't for her, Zane would still be alive. Sara sniffed as tears filled her eyes.

A knock on the door sounded and a nurse came in. Sara quickly blinked back her tears and wiped her face, drowning any sign of weakness.

"Ah," The nurse said happily. " Finally she's awake. We were starting to worry about you, miss Sidle. A woman with a concussion of your stature shouldn't sleep so much! Miss Willows over here was constantly telling me to check your pulse to make sure you were still alive!"

" I just wanted to make sure she wasn't as dead as she looked!" Catherine stuck up for herself.

" Oh bite me Cat. How long have I been asleep?" Sara inquired of the nurse.

" A week."

" A WEEK!" Sara couldn't believe it. She had been dead to the world for a week! It had been a week since Zane died!

" I told you she'd freak when you told her, Anne." Catherine sighed.

" Yes well, to her it must feel like she only went to sleep a little while ago. How awful it must have been, stuck out there for all that time, and with such horrid injuries! I'm very sorry about that man. I heard about him on the news. He died saving you…" Anne sympathetically looked at Sara.

Sara instantly became quiet, looking down at her sickeningly white covers.

Catherine frowned. " How about we not talk about the accident, okay Anne?"

Anne frowned as well, realizing she had gone too far. " Yes, right, well…" Anne began her usual routine check up. She wished Sara was still asleep, because she put up much less of a fight when Anne began changing her bandages. Finally, she was done and she left Sara and Catherine alone.

Catherine knew Sara was still blaming herself for what happened to Zane, but she didn't say much of it, for fear that Sara would break down and not want to talk to anyone. Catherine instead picked up the remote to the T.V in hanging from the ceiling. The T.V was placed between both their beds so both could watch it without feeling uncomfortable. Catherine flicked through the channels.

" What do you feel like watching Sara, cartoons, action movies with no plots, drama stories that take real life situations and fill them with so much bullshit that it brings you to tears. Or reality T.V, which, well, let's not even go there, because then I'll be ranting for hours, and I know how much you hate that. Or we could watch Forensic Files and point out all the stupid mistakes and slip-ups. Your choice!"

" How about Spongebob Squarepants!" A voice said from the door.

" Greg, please. Sara and Catherine are two grown women with sense. Unlike you." Another voice said,

" I don't know Nicky, I don't think I'd really want Greg to be a grown woman. He'd look awfully weird."

" Oh kiss my ass Warrick!" Greg shouted.

" You guys are behaving like children!" Grissom sighed.

" Hey guys!" Catherine's face lit up at the sight of her friend's piling through the door.

Warrick walked over to Catherine with a brown bag.

" Hey guys." Sara said, still recovering from her weeklong slumber.

Warrick pulled out something wrapped in paper from the bag. " Your favorite, quarter-pounder with cheese, ketchup, and pickles."

" You're my hero!" Catherine hugged Warrick and then grabbed the cheeseburger from him, opening it hungrily.

" Catherine, I know you aren't going to sit there and eat that burger right in front of me." Sara complained.

" Sorry kiddo," Catherine smiled. " You're on a strictly liquid diet, doc's orders." She bit into the burger.

" Are kidding me!" Sara groaned as she turned away from Catherine.

Greg looked at Sara. " I thought you were a vegetarian?"

" I am, but it's still not fair!"

" I could slide you some of my pickles!" Catherine joked.

Sara sent a look Catherine's way that could have stopped a wolf dead in its tracks, but it was all good fun.

Catherine took another bite of the burger. " Thank you so much Warrick! I swear the food here is made of cardboard! I am officially making lunch for Lindsey from now on, instead of letting her buy. If the stuff there is anything like the stuff here…"

" I'll try to take that as a compliment." Anne said as she walked into the room with water and aspirin for Sara.

She handed Sara two pills and the water. Sara popped the pills into her mouth and took a swig of water. Once she swallowed the pills she drank the water, with Greg chanting, "Chug" next to her. Anne smiled and left the room. She chugged the water down in seconds and then through the bottle at Greg. It hit his spiky haired head and bounced off, rolling away somewhere.

" Ow," Greg rubbed his head. " What was that for?" he asked innocently.

" I don't know, but it made me feel better." Sara replied.

" Oh. Well it's not like I mind either way. You look hot doing anything." Greg smiled slyly.

" Greg, please tell me you aren't hitting on my girlfriend?" a rough, throaty voice said from the doorway to the room.

Everything fell quite. The group turned around toward the door, jaws a-gape. Catherine's eye filled with joy and happiness as she dropped her burger from shock. Sara, who until now had been looking down at the sickeningly white bedspread in front of her, looked towards the door. She couldn't believe it. It must have been a dream. It had to have been a dream.

There in the doorway, stood Zane. His skin was almost as sickeningly white as the sheets, but it had a tint of blue to it. He had a split lip and a lot of other scars, from what they could see, on his face an arms. His raven black hair looked soaking wet and he was wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing all through the excruciating ordeal. His eyes, his brilliant blue eyes, normally so majestic and deep, were hollow, and dull, and bloodshot. He was even shaking a bit too, but no one noticed. No one, except Catherine and Sara.

Zane looked as if he had literally just walked out of the water. But there was so much wrong with this picture. Normally he held himself high, showing no fear. Now he was shivering a little, and needed to lean against the doorway for support. Normally he looked so strong and he wore his pride like he would wear a shirt. But now he looked weak and frail. In fact, he looked like he was way beyond dead.

Sara noticed these differences, but she ignored them completely. He was alive…almost, and breathing…almost, and standing…not really. She was in shock. Complete and udder shock. So much in fact, that had she not already been sitting, her knees would have gave out right there.

" Z…Z-Z-Zane?" she could barely even say his name.

Zane had a bad limp, and used what ever he could for support, a chair, a railing, Greg, Nick, and Warrick, but he finally got to Sara's side. He kneeled down and took her hand.

Sara couldn't help but wince. Zane's skin was normally cold, but right now it was so cold to the touch that it felt like it could have given her frostbite.

" I…I thought you were…." Sara had a hard time speaking.

" Dead?" He finished for her.

She nodded.

" Well, I was pretty damn close. But while I was in the water, all I could see was your face. I kept on thinking about what you would do if I never came back. I didn't think I could handle never seeing you again. It gave me the strength I needed to wake up and get back to you."

Sara was close to tears. She didn't want to cry in front of her co-workers though. She never cried in front of them, she wouldn't now. But she couldn't really help it. One single tear escaped her eye before she wiped all traces of the salty liquid away.

Suddenly Zane let out a gasp as he clutched his side. It appeared that he was still bleeding from some of his wounds. And of course, right at that moment, Anne walked in to see him there. Against everyone's wishes, she called for a doctor.

A medical staff came rushing in to take Zane away, and in his weakened condition, he was too afraid to fight them off. Every one of them, Sara, Catherine, Greg, Nick, Warrick, and even Grissom knew what would happen if they hooked Zane up to those machines.

As Zane was whisked off to the ER, they could only wait for the inevitable.

To Sara, it seemed like hours went by, but it was only five minutes. But finally, a doctor came in with a grim expression. " I don't know how that poor man survived and got here, but how ever he did it, he must have just been determined to get back to you, miss Sidle. By the time we got him in the ER, his pulse was already flat. I'm sorry for your loss…" she looked grimly at Sara.

They all tried to look as sad as humanely possible. Suddenly a young nurse came to the doctor's side. " The body's gone! The body's gone!"

They ran back down the hall and left the CSI team to themselves.

" Where do you think he went?" Catherine asked aloud.

" He should have just let them bury him. It's less conspicuous that way." Sara muttered.

" Ah yeah, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun…" Came Zane's tired voice as he threw himself into the room and hid in a shadowy corner.

Catherine's maternal instincts took over again. " Zane you need some serious rest." She listened to him panting. " Listen to you. You are in a very weak condition and you shouldn't be running around like you are. You're gonna hurt yourself beyond repair, god dammit!"

" I know. I'm sorry. But listen, I need one of you guys to lift me some blood from storage."

" You mean steal, from a hospital?" Grissom snorted, as if the act was equal to that of murdering the Pope in public.

" Either that or some innocent people die, Grissom. How would you prefer it?" Zane countered, his voice not nearly as convincing as it usually was.

" Well, the blood you steal could be someone's only chance at survival!" Grissom argued.

" Look Gill, that's my curse. No matter what I do, people die! But how would you prefer it? I keep ten people alive at the price of two, or the other way around?" Zane glared at him from the shadows. Grissom never liked Zane for many reasons, one of them being Sara. Grissom had always hated the fact that right when he thought he could take a chance with Sara's affection, Zane took it all away. But at least Zane usually respected Grissom, until now. Right at this point, Grissom only saw Zane as a murderer, but his logic was true. Brooding, he backed off and looked away.

Greg stepped forward. " I'll do it. I was very sticky fingered as a teen."

Zane nodded. " I need about four packs of blood from the storage room. Get AB negative. It's a rare type, not many have it." He said, sending a glance in Grissom's direction.

Greg left the room leaving everyone to their own thoughts.

Sara suppressed a grin. She couldn't help but get kind of cheery. She thought that all of the time she used up on caring about Grissom was a waste. It made her a bit happier to know that she had got to him. She could see, plain as anyone else in the room, that he was jealous of Zane, and not only that. But he was jealous of Zane over her. She would take Zane any day, but it took a weight off her shoulders knowing that Grissom was jealous.

Greg came back a little while later with his hoodie noticeably stuffed with something. Once he was safely inside the room he emptied the contents and threw the large packs of blood to Zane. He shoved them in his pockets and got up. He limped over to Sara's bedside and kissed the top of her forehead.

" Don't tell me you're leaving?" she asked, suddenly nervous. She was afraid. Not of him, but by the concept of him leaving her again.

" I have to. I need to get out of this place, but don't worry, I won't be far away. I'm only going to the roof."

" But…" she looked up at him.

" What?"

Sara looked around her at everyone else in the room. Upon noticing her gaze, they all appeared to be fixated with something else suddenly, except Grissom, who was still brooding and looked to be zoning out.

Sara pulled Zane closer to her. " Are you coming back?" she whispered, now obviously worried.

Zane smirked. " Fuck yeah I'm coming back!" he whispered to her. " There isn't a force on this earth that could keep me away from you. Not even death. I think I've shown that to you already, haven't I?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

His confidence was returning to him, that was a good sign. This gave Sara the reassurance she needed, and she nodded her head. Zane smiled and gave her a hug, and then they locked lips for way to short of a time than Sara would have liked, but she remained content with it, partly because his lips were still so cold.

Zane stood to the best of his ability, and smiled at them all. " See you all tomorrow. Or at least Sara and Catherine…"

" Yeah, we can cover your shifts." Warrick said.

Warrick, Nick, Greg, and Grissom said their goodbyes. They all left the room at the same time, Nick, Warrick, and Greg assisting in a game of " Hide-the-Zane-from-all-of-the-doctors-while-we-slip-out" and Grissom following behind, still brooding.