AN: Sorry for the delay hope you enjoy this chapter and I'm working on the next chapter so I'm hoping to get it up soon. Please review and let me know what you think.Thanks!


Catherine understood at least a part of what Grissom was going through. She could still recall horrible hours when she didn't know where Lindsey and Eddie were. Grissom had been her friend and co-worker for a long time. Over the years there had been cases where he'd lashed out in anger and frustration at those around him, grieved at the senseless loss of life or just become an obsessive workaholic. She was worried about him, but now wasn't the time to push so she just nodded in understanding and began passing out assignments while he slipped out of the room.

Watching him out of the corner of her eye she just wasn't sure what kind of reaction to expect on Sara's case. All she knew for certain was that Grissom was like an emotional time bomb waiting to explode. During the Strip Strangler case when Sara had made herself serial killer gait an explosion at Ecklie had resulted in broken coffee pot. All they could do this time was tread softly while watching for the inevitable breaking point. Right now all they could do was work the evidence and hope to find Sara before Gil lost it.


As the minutes dragged into hours, as the water slowly rose inch by inch, her world slowly shrank until nothing seem to exist outside the glass room and the freezing water. The cold seemed to be soaking into her very bones and muscles, but it hadn't just seeped into her body and mind, but also her soul until she felt numb. It was a different kind of numb than the one she'd gotten used to over the years. She'd used work, Hank and alcohol to numb herself so it seemed like she didn't feel anything. Not feeling seemed to work so well for Grissom, so she'd aimed for that hoping that life would finally get easier. That maybe then she'd have a way to silence her inner demons. Exhaustion hadn't worked she was still haunted by the dead and the loved ones they left behind. Hank hadn't diverted her heart which even now continued to taunt her with dreams of the possibilities and what could have beens with Grissom. In the end drinking had caused more problems than it numbed.

All that seemed like some distant fever induced dream because nothing existed for her now, but water, cold and the sinking realization that the nightshift's luck just might be running out. Grissom had been saved from a serial killer, Greg survived the Lab explosion, and Nick had escaped Walter Gordon. Three times CSIs had survived deadly situations, but she knew that when you gambled long enough eventually the odds would get you. Perhaps this was just her time. Sara was just numb enough to lie back, floating in the cold waterand wait for death because at least then there'd be no more pain and maybe she would find some peace.


Standing in the Lab Grissom watched as Archie pressed the mouse button again to keep the lights on for Sara. The water was high enough now that she could float while the florescent lights were harsh against her normally pale skin giving her a corpse-like appearance. It was very similar to the one that already haunted his nightmares. Except this time instead of seeing a victim who bore a striking resemblance to Sara, he saw Sara looking like his memory of Debbie Marlin lying on a cold metal slab in the morgue. After putting the case on the fish cork board he'd gone to see the woman Dr. Luhrie had loved and killed. He'd needed to apologize for not being able to bring her killer to justice and to remind himself that the victim hadn't been Sara.

His stomach twisted in knots as he remembered the young pretty brunette lying on the steel morgue slab covered only by a plain white sheet like Snow White just resting while she waited for her Prince Charming to kiss her awake. His mind was able to easily replace Debbie's face with Sara's again. The thought of standing in the morgue and making the same kind of apology to Sara was unbearable. He noticed the tightness behind his eyes and his racing pulse. Suddenly the AV Lab was the last place he wanted to be, so he walked past, into his office and sat behind his desk. He found his keys where Catherine had left them and stuffed them into his pocket.

Grissom wanted to lash out, to scream until he couldn't make another sound, to sweep the other case files off his desk, but he knew that would accomplish nothing except waste more of Sara's precious time. He wanted to pace, but that would only bring exhaustion and he didn't have time to rest. Sara's voice whispered to him, closing his eyes the memory swept over him her hand soft and warm against his cheek. The intimate gesture had been a surprised, but the memory of that touch and what she said would float back to him during particularly rough cases. Standing in his office years later he could almost hear her voice quiet and concerned. "You're too hard on yourself….You want to take a walk around the block? Get some air?... Clear your head ..."

He'd teased her once when he'd asked if she memorized everything he said, but just then he admitted that he had something similar. Each memory of being together was engraved on his heart, body, and soul. So he could retrieve and remember them with clarity. Sara had been right at that scene, so he trusted her to be right this time. He wouldn't leave, but he'd change his focus for a couple minutes. Absently he picked up the mail he'd only glanced at when shift started and began sifting through this evening's mail. Most of it was mundane, but the letter on the bottom caught his attention.

Looking at the plain white business envelope he tried to figure out why this letter had caught his attention. He examined it carefully and then re-read the return address. The address sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure why. He set the letter down and tried to remember. Then in a flash it came to him. He remembered Sara's face when she'd opened the door to her apartment after her suspension. It was familiar because it was the street address for her apartment complex. Pulling on a pair of gloves he used a letter opener to slice the top of the envelope. Pulling out the folded sheet of plain white copy paper, he was careful to handle it gently, his gut told him that it was related to the case.

Pulling the bottom third down and the top third up, Gil straightened the paper. In a quick cursory lookhe noticed writing and taped in the center were two gold keys each with a three digit number written below them. At the bottom of the page was a series of numbers that looked like dates. After staring at the letter for a couple minutes he flipped open his phone. "Cath. I need you and Brass to come with me. He's left us another bread crumb." Closing the phone he stared at the page some more. He didn't want to leap ahead of the evidence, but instinct told him that one key would open Sara's apartment and while he wasn't sure what the other would open he prayed he'd find something to lead to Sara because too late was approaching far too fast.