Ack! Sorry about the wait. Hopefully it's worth it...
thanks to Tessa!
Sara sat down on the couch, her eyes followed Grissom as he paced and gave orders over the phone.
"Greg, take the hand to Doc Robbins. Get the results and help Catherine with the evidence when she gets back... Tell her to call me." He listened for a moment. "I will. Bye, Greg."
She raised her eyebrows expecting Grissom to explain but he didn't say anything. She shook her head, her anger bubbling up to the surface. After two full minutes of silence, while Grissom worked things out in his head, she stood up quickly. Her movements brought him out of his head.
"Where are you going?" he asked his brow furrowing in confusion.
"To my room!" She snapped and stormed away.
She flopped on the bed, tears of frustration free falling down her cheeks. She couldn't hold them back even if she wanted to. Her whole body shook with silent sobs. She was angry with Grissom for taking her away from the lab, for taking her away from anything that gave her a feeling of purpose.
What she was doing now felt like sitting on her hands. She didn't know what else to do but sit on the guest bed in the guest room where she felt like a prisoner. She stretched out, laying her head on her pillow. She stared up at the ceiling, visions of Rick sitting in a chair, crying and bleeding, washed over the white surface like a projector.
She cried out and rolled onto her side, curling her legs up and tucking her hands under her cheek. Her tears rolled down her nose and dripped, slowly absorbing into the sheets. She tried to sleep but every time she closed her eyes she saw Rick's smiling face but it would overlap with the hand in the box and her eyes would pop open again.
Giving up, Sara cried until nothing came out anymore and finally fell into a dreamless sleep.
Grissom sighed when he heard her fall silent. He knew she had been crying he could hear the heart wrenching sobs through the walls. He could tell now that she was sleeping and hated that he was the reason she was crying. That wasn't what he had intended, all he wanted to do was protect her, keep her safe from harm.
This thought caused him mental pause, she didn't need him to protect her. She needed him to understand her and help her. He opened the door; his gaze fell on her slumbering form. He was going to wake her but he couldn't. He didn't want to. He knew if he did, he would never see her like that again. She was so innocent in that moment and beautiful.
He watched the rise and fall of her torso as she breathed. He saw the quick movements of her eyes under her eyelids. Her mouth was soft and her lips were parted slightly. He was mesmerized by her beauty and understood how the stalker could be so caught up in her.
He loved her and he almost told her earlier.
A wave of anger washed over him. He wanted to get this stalker, to stop her suffering. He backed up and closed the door. He picked up his phone and dialled.
Catherine picked up after one ring,
"Willows."
"Cath, it's Grissom." He spoke quietly so he didn't disturb Sara.
"How is she?" her voice was filled with concern.
"Sleeping. Did you get anything form Rick's place?" he looked to the door separating him from Sara.
"Well, the kidnapping happened there. The hand severing happened somewhere else. Nick printed everything, he's comparing those prints with the half ten card from Rick's hand, to eliminate his prints from the stalker's."
"What about fibres? DNA?"
"What good will that do? I mean, we don't have a suspect to compare it to."
"I know. I've talked about it with Sara." Catherine could hear the fatigue in his voice.
"What does she want to do?"
"Go out and find the guy."
"Act as bait."
Grissom nodded and Catherine knew it even though she couldn't see it. He sighed.
"What do we know about the stalker?" he asked glancing around his apartment but not seeing any of it.
"Besides that he's crazy and in love with Sara?" she asked.
"Besides that." He conceded.
"Greg thinks the numbers is a sort of OCD. It's possible that this guy had a sort of obsessive compulsive disorder that makes him think in numbers instead of letters."
"I've never heard of an OCD becoming violent like that."
"He might have gone off his meds and it's affecting his thinking." She suggested.
"Are we tracking this down?"
"Yeah, Greg is."
"What's Warrick doing?"
"Comparing the unknown prints from Sara's place to the ones from Rick's. We'll nail this guy when we find him."
"Good job. Call me if anything pans out." He hung up without saying good-bye and found himself seated on the couch. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
TBC…
Up next Sara wakes up...and there's a confession...
