Title: Last Chance - Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I still don't own them. And that's starting to depress me. But, I digress. I'm not making any profit. Don't sue. I don't have anything you'd want anyway.

Authors' note: Ok . . . the break in the stories are because I mashed this all together into one chapter instead of breaking it down into a bunch of teeny tiny chapters. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

After dropping Sara at her car, Grissom had come home, but like he expected he hadn't slept at all. For as tired as he had been, his brain just wouldn't shut off now. He laid back against his couch and willed his phone to ring. Good news, bad news, any news . . .

He wondered if Sara was having any better luck sleeping than he was. Probably not. He knew her better then that. His mind was flipping back like a Rolodex through his memory bank of her. The good, the bad, all of it . . .

When his phone rang he almost dropped it. "Yeah . . . Grissom." He announced as he answered. Her voice floated back at him. And she sure didn't sound tired anymore.

He scribbled down the address she recited to him and grabbed his keys off the table.

Sara pulled up infront of the storage door and the cops around her silenced their sirens. She fumbled with the keys the manager had given her before finally unlocking the heavy door.

"Maddie? Honey, are you in here?" She didn't hear a reply and she pulled her flashlight out, shining it over the floor. She saw the bodies of the two giant dogs in one corner.

"Maddie Fina? Honey, you're safe now . . . I'm here to help you."

From behind a pile of junk came a small voice in reply. "Where's my mommy?"

Sara aimed her flashlight in that direction but still saw nothing. "Maddie, it's ok to come out now . . . we won't hurt you. Ok? You're safe."

Sara walked toward where she had heard the voice coming from and she saw a flash of blond hair as the child ducked to hide. "Maddie, sweetheart, my name is Sara. I work with the police. Honey, we've been looking for you - are you ok?"

A small voice wavered back. "I want my mommy and daddy! Roscoe and Cedar are gone!" The girl was working herself into a panic now. "I woke up and saw them. And they were gone!"

Sara assumed she was talking about the dogs in the corner. Asshole could have at least covered them up . . .

Maddie was sobbing now. "I don't want to be gone like them!" She hiccupped loudly. "I want to go HOME!"

Sara felt like crying too, knowing to well what Maddie was going to go through. Not only did she lose her parents, and her dogs tonight, but she'd lost her home too. She was still young . . . and maybe she had family to take her in . . . but if not, she was still young enough to be adopted as opposed to bouncing around from foster home to foster home. Unlike Sara. But either way, it wasn't going to be fun . . . or easy.

Sara's eyes burned as she promised the girl the one thing she couldn't give her. "Honey, I promise you'll be ok . . . Come with me . . . I'll take you home."

The first thing Sara saw was the girl's piggy-tails - lopsided now, stray hairs poking up all over. Then dark brown eyes, scared and wild like an animal in a trap.

Sara stepped over beside her. She held out her hand and tentatively Maddie accepted. Sara slowly drew her close and led her from the building.

Tears were streaming down the girl's face and her fingers were as cold as ice. "Miss Sara?" The girl was looking up at her with a dirty face. Sara got down on one knee to look the girl in the eye. "You won't leave me will you?"

Sara was hugging the girl before she knew what she was doing. "No honey, I won't leave you."

Grissom pulled up to the storage container just in time to watch Sara lead the little girl out. She was safe. He breathed a sigh of relief. Stepping from his vehicle, he walked toward Sara. He stopped when they did and smiled a soft smile as Sara wrapped the girl in her arms and held her.

Out of nowhere the thought of Sara as a mother assaulted his head. And he knew she'd be a great one. When Sara scooped the little girl up into her arms and carried her to the ambulance Grissom felt a knot growing in his stomach.

That wonderful, gentle, caring, beautiful, woman could have been, no, should have been his years ago. And now she was leaving. With a sudden sense of panic he strode toward the ambulance. What he saw when he got there tugged at his heart strings again. Little Maddie was curled up on Sara's lap. Her head snuggled against her chest and her hand still gripping Sara's.

The paramedics had pronounced her cold, tired, and a little dehydrated, but otherwise fine . . . physically anyway. She still didn't know her parents were dead. Sara must have felt him staring because she glanced in his direction - seeing him for the first time. She smiled a sad smile and seemed to hold the child tighter.

In ten to twenty years this memory would be so faint to Maddie that it will seem like a bad dream she can't quite remember. She'll remember feeling afraid . . . she'll remember it was the night she lost everything. She'll remember that a nice lady saved her, held her, kept her warm. But she wouldn't remember Sara's name, or her face. But Grissom knew that Sara would carry this one with her forever. Hell, he'd carry this memory around with him forever.

Sara saw Grissom standing outside the ambulance doors. She smiled at him and without realizing it hugged the girl closer and started rocking softly.

"Miss Sara?"

Sara looked down into Maddie's eyes. "Yes, baby?"

"Are my mommy and daddy gone? Like Roscoe and Cedar are gone?"

Maddie wasn't crying anymore but now Sara was. "Yeah honey... they are . . . How did you know that?"

A slight tremble went through the small girl. "Cause when Mr. Ampress took me to his car . . ." She stopped. "I - I - I woke up . . . but I pretended to be asleep . . . so he wouldn't get mad at me . . . b..b...but I saw them...they were covered in red icky stuff. A...a...a..and when Mr. Ampress stepped in it, it made a squishy noise. And I knew then Miss Sara, I knew they were gone. They just felt gone."

Sara couldn't stop the tears now. She was embarrassed to be crying like this at a scene...but God if it didn't bring back memories of that night. The night she sat and was told her father was dead and her mother was going to prison...and that she'd never have a family again. Nobody ever said that, but she knew, she had just felt it.

She sat there rocking and crying with the little girl wrapped in her arms, her own memories flooding back.

When she looked up again Grissom was gone. She was relieved that he had given her that amount of privacy.

A paramedic came around back of the ambulance. "Miss? Do you want to ride along?"

Maddie looked up at Sara. "Don't leave me ok?"

Sara smiled at the child before nodding at the paramedic. The doors were slammed shut and Sara felt the vehicle begin to move.

As the ambulance pulled away with Sara still inside. Grissom slumped against his car. He'd been up now for...going on 34 hours. It had been 23 since the girl had been taken. Not even an entire day had passed and her life was changed forever.

Watching Sara cry had never been a nice experience for him, but tonight it was the worst thing in the world. He wasn't sure if he should go to her. Or keep his distance. He'd spent so many years keeping his distance that he didn't know if he'd still be allowed to comfort her. And hell if he knew how anyway. He could be there and he could listen and he could honest to God care...but what if he said the wrong things again? What if he only made it worse?

He was just standing there with a pained expression on his face when Brass walked up to him. "Hey Griss, your CSI did a good job tonight. You should have seen her extract that confession from that guy. Are you sure she wasn't a cop back in Frisco?"

Grissom eyes Brass suspiciously. "Sara?"

"Uh, yeah buddy, who else?"

"You mean she didn't go home?"

"Umm . . . " Brass suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Uh, no . . . Griss she didn't. But she practically begged me not to tell you. Said something about you not quitting until she did - "

Grissom suddenly felt very guilty for the time he'd spent at home while Sara was working. "I won't tell her you told." He sighed. "What hospital did they go to?"

"Desert Palms . . . you want me to have someone take her car there?"

"No, that's ok. I'll drop her back off here when she's ready."

Grissom climbed into his car and pulled away. Lights still flashing in the rearview mirror. He just drove. What seemed like hours were only minutes and every corner he turned was the same as the last. He was everywhere but going nowhere. He wasn't sure how long he'd been driving around before his cell phone rang and startled him back to reality.

To Be Continued . . .

AAN: Sorry if this one lost you. I wanted to do it in chapters . . . but I couldn't because they were just to short for that. :)