CHAPTER FIVE

Catherine sat of the edge of her bed drying her hair, dressed in baggy pants and a tight but faded t-shirt. It was nearly midnight and suddenly she heard the doorbell.

"What the hell?" She asked herself. Then someone quietly knocked and Catherine yelled "All right!"

She ran down the stairs and flung open the door without looking through the peephole. She sucked in a breath as she saw Sara standing on the porch, mascara smeared and bottom lip trembling.

"Sara, what's wrong?" She asked. Sara let out a small sigh but said nothing. She simply took a few steps into the house and looked around.

Catherine became a bit alarmed.

"Come sit on the couch and tell me what's wrong."

Sara followed the strawberry-blonde to the couch and sat down lightly. She sighed again, bit her bottom lip then released it and asked in a tone just above a whisper "Can um… I talk to you?"

Catherine nodded and slid a bit closer to the scared woman. The two rarely got along so Catherine was a slightly shocked Sara had come to her, for anything.

"Catherine, I've never told anyone this. It's taken me all the years I've known you to convince myself I could tell you. I was a freshman in college. One night I had a late class and was walking back to my dorm by myself. I dropped one of my books and when I stood back up, a man had a gun pointed to my head and told me to get on the ground. I dropped my books and couldn't stop crying so he hit me a couple of times. That only made things worse; I started hyperventilating and the man said "Jesus, I've never heard such a whiner. Shut the hell up!" I'll never forget those words. I was so scared. And I thought he was only going to rob me. I don't know what made me think that, but boy I was wrong."

Sara let out a series of sobs and Catherine laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Catherine could feel the tears gliding down her own cheeks but calmed herself and waited for Sara to continue.

Sara sighed and kept going. "Then… he raped me. I tried to fight back but he hit me some more and I felt like something was wrong with my ankle. When he finished, he stood up, walked away from me and yelled "Hey! Guys!" I couldn't move and didn't understand why he'd said that until I heard the other men talking with him. They were talking to him when I heard him say really loud "Go ahead. She won't give you any trouble." After hearing that I propped myself up on my elbows and saw 4 other men walking towards me. I tried to get up and run but looked at my ankle and could tell it was definitely broken. Two men held me down while the other two raped. Then they switched while the two that had been holding me raped me. After they finished, they all left. All 5 of them together, laughing like old friends. I laid there, hidden by the bushes until dawn; When I finally decided I needed help. I managed to walk to the hospital on campus and told the nurse I had hurt my ankle. I never even mentioned being raped. I Just sat there while she put on my cast and thanked her when she was done. I hid in my dorm for six weeks. I had this girl that was in all my classes drop off the assignments. She even drove me to the hospital when it was time to get my cast off. I think she knew something was wrong, but just never said anything to me about it. As the weeks went by, things got harder and harder. The nightmares got worse, I had trouble leaving the dorm, and I could hardly eat anything without getting sick. I was a wreck and was too scared to let anyone help me. Then I met you decided I could trust you. But I've been working up the nerve to tell you for 5 years. I still have those nightmares and after the one tonight woke me up, I decided I couldn't hold it in any longer. Then I drove over here and well… Here we are."

Sara swallowed hard and started crying again.

Catherine sat next to her, pale with horror.

Sara was still crying a little bit but said through her tears "I'll just go now. Sorry I bothered you Catherine."

She stood up on wobbly legs, ready to leave, but Catherine stood up as she replied "Sara I am so sorry. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Catherine could feel her tears ready to spill over at any moment, but held them back.

Sara turned around and after a moment she whispered "I… didn't think you'd believe me."

Legs threatening to give out, Catherine sat back down and said "You could have told me. I would have believed you."

Sara sat back down and the two just sat there in silence for several minutes. Sara drew in a deep breath and said "That's why I get so emotional on rape cases. Just when I think I'll be okay, we get a call and it's a rape case and all the horrible memories come flooding back."

She sobbed again and a thought sprung into Catherine's head. "So that's why she was crying" She thought to herself.

Sara looked at Catherine and said just above a whisper "Please Catherine. Help me. I can't handle this any longer."

Sara started crying once again and Catherine slid closer to her and held her while she cried.

The image of Jenna's Aunt doing the same thing earlier popped into Catherine's head and she thought to herself "She had time to prepare for what was going to happen. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

Sara continued to sob and Catherine continued to try to comfort her. She thought about what Gil had said about Jenna.

Catherine held back a sob that seemed to come from nowhere and gave Sara a hug to comfort her.

Catherine pondered on whether or not she should call Grissom. After a good 15 minutes, she decided that Sara needed someone who would believe and comfort her.

Someone who would understand what had happened; She needed a woman to talk to and help her. Now that Catherine knew about Sara's past, she decided she was that someone.

The End