A/N: Again, thanks for all the reviews! You guys are awesome :)
Catherine sighed after she finished the phone call, shoving her cell phone back into her pocket and walking back into the hospital cafeteria with her coffee. Sitting down at a small table by the window, she lowered her head. Why was this happening? How could it happen? Why now? And why Sara?
Catherine felt the tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't imagine how Sara must've felt after it happened over twenty years ago. She could see her, sitting on the floor curled into a ball with tears running down her cheeks. She could almost hear the pitiful little sobs escaping the imagined form of her friend and see her body racking with each new set of cries.
"Miss?" came a woman from behind the cafeteria's counter's voice.
Catherine looked up quickly at the woman, sniffling. "Yes?"
"Would you like a tissue?" the woman asked.
Catherine blinked. She hadn't even noticed she had been crying and she wiped a tear away, taking smeared mascara with it. "Thank you.." Catherine said quielty, taking the tissue from the woman. She dabbed at her eyes and composed herself as she waited for the rest of the team to arrive.
Nick was the first to come. He ran through the doors looking around. He was about to go to the elevators when he saw Catherine inside the cafeteria with red, puffy eyes. He ran over to her. "Cath? Where's Sara? What's going on?" he asked.
"Nick..." Catherine said quietly. "I don't know if I should tell you."
"Please Cath," Nick said. "I need to know, she's my friend."
Catherine sighed deeply, lowering her head. "Get a cup of coffee and take a seat, this may take a while," she said.
Nick just nodded and did as she said to, taking a cup of coffee. Setting some money on the counter of the cafeteria, he took a seat across from Catherine. "Alright, Cath. What's up?"
Catherine sighed, looking up at Nick. "You have noticed how she's been acting lately, right?"
Nick shrugged. "She was acting normally to me, she might've lost a few pounds, but I didn't see anything strange about the way she was acting."
Catherine sighed. "I guess I was the only one who noticed it. Alright...Nick..when Sara was younger, her parents weren't really..."
"Supportive?" Nick asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
"That's one way to put it..." Catherine sighed. "Alright...Nick, her...father was abusive. He hit both his wife and his daughter."
"He hit Sara?" Nick asked, setting his cup down on the table. "How could...a father do that to their own child?"
Catherine rubbed her head. "He was a drunk..." she said. "One night...her mother killed him. She went into foster care," Catherine told him.
Nick sighed deeply, looking down at his cup. "That must've been so hard.."
"She told me that her foster parents were nice people, that they always kept her laughing." More tears formed in Catherine's eyes as she neared the part of the story that she dreaded having to tell. "She got a foster brother...everything seemed okay until her foster parents left one day, they needed to go somewhere."
Nick just nodded as she continued, noticing the tears form in her eyes.
"She was alone with her foster brother. He..." Catherine's voice started to break. "He raped her, Nick," Catherine whispered as the tears started to fall down her face.
"Bastard.." Nick whispered, his hand balling into a fist. "And...now?" he asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.
"The rape kit was just finished," she said quietly, wiping at her eyes.
"Oh man.." Nick said, looking down at the floor. "I mean...I..had no idea," Nick said. "I just can't believe.."
"Can't believe what?" Warrick asked, walking into the cafeteria with his hands in the pockets of his sport jacket. "It's lookin' mighty serious up in here...what's going on?" Warrick asked, looking down at Catherine.
Catherine stood up and buried herself in Warrick's arms. His eyes widened a bit and he took his hands out of his pockets, putting both hands on her back. "What's going on?" he asked quietly.
"He raped her, Warrick!" Catherine said.
"What?" Warrick said. "Sara? Who?" he said. "Give me the name and I swear I'll kill that son-of-a-bitch."
"Catherine.." Grissom said from across the cafeteria. "Come with me, please," he told her, motioning for her to follow him. Catherine just nodded and walked off to follow Grissom, leaving Nick to explain everything to Warrick.
"What is it, Gil?" Catherine asked. "News about Sara?"
Grissom nodded a little. "Yes...I just had a nurse come up to me and tell me that they did not find any signs of sexual assault."
Catherine sighed deeply in relief, stopping to lean against the wall of the hallway leading to the elevators.
"But Catherine," Grissom said again. "I need you to tell me what's going on."
Catherine looked up at Grissom. "Sara's foster brother raped her when she was younger, and...he's back, Gil,"
Grissom looked up at Catherine. "Can we see her?"
Catherine sighed. "I'm not sure if she's ready," Catherine said. "I don't mean to offend you guys, but she freaked when a male doctor was trying to treat her injuries."
Grissom nodded slowly. "I understand. I'll get Warrick, Nick, and I'll call Greg. We'll start processing her apartment, see what we can find, and..." He hesitated on the last part. "We'll have the kit processed as well."
"Thank you Gil," Catherine said.
"No need to thank me, you can thank me when we catch this guy," Grissom said, turning around and walking off. Catherine turned back to the elevators and stepped inside, heading up to the second floor. When the doors opened, she stepped out and walked off to Sara's room. She stepped inside and took her seat in the chair next to Sara's bed. She couldn't help but grab onto her friend's hand and squeeze tightly.
"They're looking for him, Sara," Catherine said. "They're looking for him."
Warrick and Nick had gotten into their cars to head to Sara's apartment. Grissom had told them to go over and process her apartment to see what they could find. They arrived and got out of their cars, heading up to the apartment complex. They were surprised to be greeted by Brass, who brushed a piece of lint away from his dress jacket and sighed as they arrived with their kits. "Gil called me and said to come over to Sara's apartment. He explained what happened," he said quietly. Slowly, he reached for his gun in its holster on his hip. "Let me go in first and clear it to make sure he's not still here," he told them.
Warrick and Nick nodded and set their kits down by the door as Brass kicked the door down. He quickly ran inside. With his torch and gun in front of him, he scanned the apartment for any trace of the guy. When his search came up empty, he walked out of the building putting his gun back in its holster. "It's all yours," Brass told them. "But keep in mind that it's pretty nasty in there."
Warrick nodded and stepped inside first, clicking his maglite on. Nick walked in after him and ran his flashlight over the walls and floor. There were picture frames on the floor, the glass shattered and laying in a messy pile around them. There was a chair turned over followed by a small end-table. Nick sighed. "The guy was definetly here," he said quietly.
"Yeah," Warrick said. "Let's go check the bedroom," he said quietly. Both Nick and Warrick walked into the bedroom, cracking the door open slowly as they stepped inside. They flashed their lights around the walls- it looked just as torn up as the other parts of the building. Nick noticed a few blood droplets near the door.
"Hang on," Nick said. "Don't move for a second," he told Warrick, taking pictures of the droplets before taking some samples.
"I hope those don't belong to who I think they do," Warrick sighed, walking further into the room.
"Sara's a fighter, it wouldn't surprise me if these belong to our perp," Nick said.
Warrick just nodded as he knelt down beside the bed. "Nick, get a shot of this," he told him, flashing his light down at the floor.
"What is it?" Nick asked, walking over and kneeling down beside him. He snapped a photo and then lifted it up with his gloved hand. "Is that a piece of her shirt?" Nick asked quietly.
"I think so," Warrick said. There was a long silence before Warrick spoke again. "Let's bag it and take this stuff back to the lab. Tell Brass to tape off the room," he said, standing up and walking out of the room.
Grissom arrived back at the lab and got out of his SUV quickly. Finding Greg standing next to the lab door with his hands in his pockets, fidgeting eagerly, he asked, "Grissom, what's going on?"
Grissom stopped. "Greg, go inside and get a cup of coffee, it's going to be a long night."