A/N: Thanks again to all who reviewed! I'm really glad you guys are enjoying the story! Here's a new chapter!

Chapter Two: The Truth is Too Painful

Warrick carried a sleeping Sara to his car, wrapping his black leather jacket around her to keep her warm. He set her down in the passenger's seat, making sure the jacket was wrapped around her tightly, almost like a blanket, and he made sure she looked comfortable before he buckled her in and closed the door. He ran around to the driver's-side door and got inside, closing the door and looking over at her.

What had happened to her...? Warrick had never seen anyone like this before, let alone Sara. She looked absolutely terrified, and why had she run from him? He saw her bruised wrists...and the bruise on her forehead. Had someone hurt her? What had happened...? Sara didn't tell him, leaving him to wallow in his oblivious state.

With a sigh, Warrick pressed down on the gas pedal and started off toward Sara's apartment. He never thought he would end up doing this, to tell the truth. He was always there for his friends, and Sara was one of his friends, but she had never asked for his help, that was, unless of course she was working on a case. No one really knew that much about Sara, she never opened up to anyone when something was bothering her.

Warrick knew Sara was a strong woman. Hell, anyone knew that from spending even just a few minutes with her. The second Sara had come to Vegas, she was all-business. Warrick and Sara had gotten off to a rocky start, she had come to handle the internal investigation of the Holly Gribbs case, and he didn't like the things she was implying when she came to question her. But as time passed, their relationship grew and grew, and they finally became good friends.

Friends- friends that were able to joke with eachother in the break room, friends that were able to tell eachother when they had an oil smudge on their faces from processing a car, friends that were able to play chess together while waiting on an experiment, and friends that were able to help eachother sift through the contents of a vacuum bag found at a crime-scene.

As Warrick got to know Sara more and more, he actually felt like he had known her all his life. She was such an easy person to like; she had a great sense of humor and she was sensitive, always there for people when they needed her.

Truth be told, Warrick was actually going to go to Sara after what he saw in his bedroom. He knew Sara would be willing to give him a shoulder to cry on, that she would be willing to listen to him, no matter what time of the day or night it was that he decided to talk to her. He knew she would be able to comfort him, Sara had helped Nick after the nightmarish events of what had happened last year, and she actually tried to help Grissom when a rare case or two was able to get to him. He thought he was the one who was going to be crying out for help.

But it was the other way around. Warrick didn't know what happened to Sara, but something definetly did happen. She was so emotionally unstable...when Warrick had finally caught up to her outside of the 7-Eleven she could barely form a coherent sentence, let alone look him straight in the eye. He could tell she was both physically and mentally exhausted.

But what had happened? Warrick couldn't get the thought out of his mind. If someone hurt Sara, then...he didn't understand why. Who would want to hurt Sara? She never did anything to hurt anyone, she did things to help people, not to hurt them.

Finally pulling up at Sara's apartment complex, Warrick sighed, looking over at her sleeping form. He instinctively brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. She seemed to have relax a bit since he had set her inside the car, and that was good, Warrick knew. Warrick just looked at her for a minute- she looked so peaceful now...and she looked absolutely beautiful, even with the few bruises she had on her face.

Not letting his mind wander any further, Warrick got out of his car and walked over to the passenger's side door after closing his door. He opened Sara's door and unbuckled her, gently scooping her back up into his arms. He knew he was going to need a key for her apartment, but he didn't want to wake Sara up, so he headed down the cement hallway of the apartment complex toward the lobby after locking the car up. Reaching the door, he knocked and walked inside, looking around.

An older man of about sixty looked over at Warrick, immediately getting to his feet. "Excuse me...can I help you?" It was obvious Sara looked familiar to him, Warrick could tell by the look in his eyes.

"Yes...my name is Warrick Brown, I'm a friend of Sara Sidle's..." Warrick said.

"Is Sara okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so..." Warrick said. "She's just tired. She wanted me to take her home, could I have a spare key so I can take her inside?"

"Of course, yes, get her somewhere nice and warm," the man said. Walking over to a small box, he opened it up and looked around for a minute before taking a single key out and handing it to Warrick. "Her apartment is number 102."

"Thank you," Warrick said, turning to head out.

"Young man?"

Warrick turned around, looking at the man. "Yes?"

"Take care of her."

Warrick smiled at the man. "I will, Sir. Thank you, and have a good night."

Warrick walked out of the lobby and headed down the hallway under the roof of the building. Making sure Sara was still wrapped in his jacket, he rounded a corner and headed to her apartment, stopping in front of the door to unlock it. Sliding the key in the lock, he quickly opened the door and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He carried her into the living room and set her down on the couch.

Sara mumbled something, rolling over onto her side. Warrick smiled a little and grabbed a blanket from off the back of the couch, draping it over her. He tucked her in and propped her head up on a throw pillow. After she was tucked in, Warrick sat down in a lounge chair next to the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

Now Warrick was thinking of different things that could have happened. Someone could have attacked her...it was highly possible. Or maybe she just fell...but no, Warrick didn't think so. He saw the injuries on her wrists, and Sara wasn't a clumsy person.

And then it hit him. She had bruises on her wrists.

Warrick quickly got up from his seat and kneeled down beside Sara. She rolled over onto her back, letting Warrick see her arms. He gently took her arms in his and lifted her sleeves up. Angry red and purple bruises on both of her wrists, along with some deep sliced into her wrists. They were not self-inflicted, the slices encircled her wrists, they weren't horizontal cuts into the front-side of her wrist. And he also noted the finger abrasions, which only confirmed his suspicions more and more.

Warrick set her arms back down at her sides and decided to look around. He knew he shouldn't, it wasn't right to snoop around Sara's things, but now he was really worried, and he thought he might be able to find something that helped him understand what had happened to her. Warrick got up and headed into the kitchen to have a look around. The kitchen was empty, the fridge was empty, there were only a few magazines on the bar and nothing more.

Walking down the hallway, Warrick spotted a door to his left- the bathroom, he suspected. He felt awkward about walking into Sara's bathroom, especially without her knowledge...but he needed to know.

Warrick reached inside and clicked on a light switch before cracking the door open. What Warrick discovered in the bathroom made him gasp.

There were discarded clothes- no, torn clothes- strewn all over the floor. A torn blouse lay a few feet away from Warrick, along with some blood-stained jeans. Next to the shirt in jeans lay a bra with a drop of blood in the very middle of it, and just above it were the torn remains of a jacket. But what stood out the most of Warrick's findings was blood-stained rope that had been sliced in half.

"Oh my god..." Warrick whispered, looking around. "...What is this...?" Warrick knew what it was. He really did, he just didn't want to believe it. This, in front of him, in the middle of Sara Sidle- his friend's- apartment, was evidence.

He didn't think that whatever happened to Sara had happened here at her apartment, as the apartment looked relatively clean, except for the bathroom. The bedroom was undisturbed, Warrick checked, as was the kitchen and the living room. So the crime-scene was somewhere else.

Switching out of CSI-mode, Warrick almost ran into the living room, kneeling back down beside Sara. "Sara...wake up," he told her, gently shaking her. "Please, Sara, wake up..."

Sara slowly cracked an eye open, jumping a bit when she saw someone beside her. She immediately relaxed when she realized who it was. "Hey...Warrick..." she whispered. "..Where am I...?"

"I took you home, you asked me to, remember..?" Warrick asked.

"Oh...yeah..." Sara quietly said. "...What's..going on? You look...scared," Sara whispered, though she knew she was one to talk.

Warrick gulped. He sure wasn't looking forward to asking Sara this. "...Sara, what happened to you?" he softly asked. "...I saw the bathroom...and your wrists, your head..." he added. "...Please tell me what happened.."

Sara sighed. She knew she wasn't going to able to make something up, Warrick was a great CSI, he would find out eventually if she didn't tell him now. "...Okay.." she said, her voice a bit shakey. "..But...will you sit down next to me?" she whispered.

"Of course," Warrick told her. Gently moving her legs, he sat down on the couch beside her and she immediately moved from her place on the couch to his lap, curling up in his arms until he was cradling her. "Take your time.." Warrick told her, wrapping the blanket around her again. "Because I'm not going anywhere..."

"...Okay.." Sara sighed again, resting her head against his chest. She was terrified, but the steady beat of his heart calmed her some. "...The other night, I went out for a few drinks..." Sara started. "...I didn't..have anyone to drive me home, and I didn't want to call you guys...because...my drinking problem is gone, as far as you knew.." she sighed.

Warrick nodded slowly. That was understandable...

Sara swallowed. "So...a bus drove up. I looked at where it was going...it was relatively close to my apartment complex..." she said. "So...I got on...but when it stopped...I was so tired, that I didn't check to make sure I was getting off at the right stop..." she whispered. "...So I got off...and the bus drove off...and I looked around...and I nothing seemed familiar to me..."

"Do you know where you were, exactly?" Warrick quietly asked, slowly running his fingers through her hair. Tina liked that...she said it relaxed her. Maybe it would relax Sara, too.

"No..." Sara whispered. "It was deserted, there was graffiti, a trash can...an old building behind me...and it was dark," Sara said. "...I felt...really...uncomfortable. So I decided to walk the rest of the way home..."

Warrick nodded. He could start to see where this was going, and he didn't like it.

"...And then...I heard someone behind me.." Sara whispered.

Warrick swallowed hard, trying not to curse. "...Did you see what they looked like..?" he asked.

Sara grimaced, trying not to gag. "Yeah.." she whispered. "...Tattoo...on his right arm...I think it was gang-related.." she whispered. "Bald...green eyes...tall...baggy black jeans, white tank.." she said quietly.

Warrick nodded slowly, rubbing her back.

"...I..told him I didn't want any trouble..." Sara continued. "..But..he didn't seem to care..." she said. "...I tried...to hit him, with a piece of wood, but...he grabbed my wrist..." Sara whispered, fighting back tears. "...And...he pushed me against the wall..." Sara was about to continue when she remembered the feeling of him against her. Shooting up from Warrick's lap, she ran into the bathroom and collapsed in front of the toilet, emptying the few contents of her stomach.

Warrick followed her toward the bathroom, but she stumbled out before he could walk inside and landed in his arms, burying her face against his chest as she started to quietly sob. "It's okay, Sara.." Warrick whispered, leaning his head against hers, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "It's okay..."

"..He raped me," Sara whispered in between sobs.

Warrick's eyes went wide with shock, even though it was what he had been suspecting all along. "Why didn't you tell someone..?"

"Because I was ashamed," Sara whispered. "I shouldn't have been drinking in the first place, and...the truth is too painful for me the bare," Sara cried. "I tried to stop him," Sara whispered. "I told him to stop, I did...I said no, but he wouldn't listen.." she cried.

"Sara...you have nothing to be ashamed of, it wasn't your fault.." Warrick whispered, running his fingers through her hair. "It's okay, Sara..." he told her. "It's okay...you're safe now..." He was really going to kill the bastard who did this to her, that was for sure.

"Don't leave me," Sara whispered. "Please...don't leave me. I woke up in my apartment, and my wrists were tied up...he knows where I live..."

"I'm not going to leave you, Sara," Warrick told her. "I'm not...but I'm going to take you to the hospital, okay?"

"No.." Sara whispered. "I can't.."

"Yes you can, Sara," Warrick encouraged her. "You can...you know you can. You're strong, you can do this...I'll be right there with you."

Sara slowly nodded, looking up at him.

"There..." Warrick said, offering a small smile. He wiped her tears from her eyes. "I'm going to take you to the car, okay?"

"Can you carry me..?" Sara whispered.

"Of course..." Warrick told her, scooping her up into his arms. He walked down the hallway and opened the door to her apartment, closing it behind her as he carried Sara to his car.