A/N: Glad you guys like the story! Truth be told, I was a bit nervous posting this story, actually (other than the fact that I wrote it at 2:00 am), because of some of the content. But I am glad that there are people enjoying it! In this chapter, there reveals part of the reason I chose the title that I did for this story. I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter Three: Rescuing Sara Sidle

Warrick carried Sara out of her apartment, keeping her wrapped in his jacket to shield her from the rain. He quickly made it over to his car and opened the passengers'-side door, setting her down inside. Once she was buckled in, he closed her door and jogged around to the drivers'-side door, opening it and stepping inside. Putting the key in the ignition, he backed out of the apartment complex parking lot and drove off toward Desert Palm.

The drive to the hospital was silent. Warrick was speechless and Sara was still terrified. And really, what was Warrick going to tell her? Telling her that he was sorry about what happened to her really wasn't going to help her feel any better, he had no idea how she must be feeling at the moment. But still…he wished that there was some way he could take away her pain; she had been through enough and what had happened to her shouldn't have happened to her, let alone anyone for that matter.

Sara was sitting in the passenger's seat curled up into a little ball. Warrick's jacket was wrapped around her shoulders and she clung to it for dear life, as if she let go she would die right then and there. For Sara the jacket was actually a small sense of reassurance; it smelt of Warrick, it was his. It felt to her as if he was actually holding her in his arms, though she knew he wasn't.

Warrick looked over at Sara, taking his eyes off of the road for a moment. He could see her knuckles turning white from the hold she had on his jacket. She was curled into a tight little ball and her knees were drawn up to her chest. His observation just made him angrier and angrier; how dare someone do this to her, she didn't deserve to live her life in this kind of fear.

He knew that the second he got his hands on the bastard that had hurt her he was not going to let go. At least that was what was going to happen if someone didn't keep Warrick away from him. But then another thought crossed his mind- he was going to have to call Grissom and the rest of the team and tell them what happened…which was something he really didn't look forward to doing. He didn't want to have to talk about Sara like just another victim…she was special, she wasn't just a piece of evidence or a name on a file.

He was going to work on this case and he was going to find out who had done this to Sara. He didn't care what Grissom said, or even Ecklie, Sara was the most important thing to him right now. No one else mattered, not even himself. That was his promise to her.

Sara was still in the same position as before, looking through the car window through damp strands of hair; hair damp from sweat and the rain. Even she could sense the eerie silence that had engulfed them both in the car; the only sound was the pitter-patter of rain drops hitting the windshield and the hum of the Tahoe's engine. They had turned onto a dark street, only illuminated by the dull streetlights ahead. There was an old rusty trash can propped up against the side of a building. This seemed a bit too familiar for Sara.

She looked around, a bile forming in her throat. The building was the exact same color as that building- the building where it happened. It was a pale orange color plastered in graffiti, it was a wonder it had not been torn-down or remodeled already. Swallowing her fear, she looked to her left, seeing the same gated-fence surrounding the empty lot filled with trash and papers. This was the place. There was even a sign for the bus stop.

"Warrick…" Sara whispered, starting to panic.

"What?" Warrick asked, turning to look at her. "Sara…? Are you okay?" he asked. All the color had drained from her face, she was deathly pale and her voice was shaky. "What is it, Sara?" he asked her again.

"I…" Sara couldn't find her voice. Her words got caught in her throat. Looking out the window, she could see herself standing in front of the building at the bus stop. She could hear the footsteps- his footsteps. She could feel the cold night breeze through the thin material of her jacket and the fear rising up inside of her again that took the sting of the cold night air away.

"Sara, what is it?" Warrick asked, getting worried. She was getting panicked, he could tell by the look in her eyes. But what was she panicked about?

Sara felt her throat constricting. She couldn't breathe, oh god she couldn't breathe! He was here, he was suffocating her and she couldn't breathe! She moved around frantically, trying to find something to cling onto. Feeling Warrick's upper forearm, she grabbed a hold of him and squeezed as tight as she could.

"Sara, breathe," Warrick told her. She was having a panic attack, and if she didn't breathe she was going to pass out. Warrick slowly began to pull the car over to the side of the road, right in front of a bus stop sign.

"No! No, don't pull over!" Sara screamed. "No!"

"Sara, what is it?" Warrick asked. "Tell me what's going on, what's happening?"

"He's going to come back, don't pull the car over!" Sara screamed. "He was right there!" she yelled, pointing her index finger in front of the building they had pulled over beside.

Warrick started to put it all together. Was this where everything had taken place? He could mental note of the street name. "Sara, breathe, okay? He's not going to come back, I promise you that. You're safe now."

Sara looked over at him. "You…promise?"

"Yes," Warrick said. "I'm never going to let him hurt you again. I give you my word."

Sara leaned over and unbuckled herself, burying herself in Warrick's arms. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held onto her tightly. "Shh…" he told her. "Shh…it's okay, calm down…"

"I can't do this, Warrick," Sara whispered. "I can't, I really can't…I'm scared."

"Sara, you can do it. I know you can. You're the strongest person I've ever met and ever known. You can beat him…"

"How…?" Sara whispered.

"I can't answer that for you, Sara," he whispered. "But you're smart…and you'll beat him." Warrick then thought of something to try and lighten the mood a little. "...You beat me in chess, remember?" he smiled.

Sara looked up at him through tear-stained eyes. "…Yeah…"

"That night we were waiting for the pig to decompose to disprove spontaneous human combustion, Agent Scully," Warrick said with a grin.

"You didn't give up," Sara whispered.

"It's a flaw," Warrick grinned. "That chess game lasted hours…man; I still can't believe you won."

Sara laughed a little, wiping a tear away from her eye. "Rooks move forward Warrick, bishops move diagonally."

Warrick laughed. "I'll try and remember that next time."

Sara smiled a little, rested her head against his shoulder. "…Why are you helping me?" she asked. "You should be home…with Tina."

Warrick sighed a little, running a hand through his hair. "She threw the ring at my head, so I guess that means our marriage is over."

Sara's eyes widened. "Oh my god…are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Warrick assured her. "I, uh…walked in on her and this guy…uh…in our bedroom," he frowned.

Sara sighed. "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay…truth be told I don't think we were that happy anyways," Warrick told her. "…So can I take you to the hospital now? Will you be okay?" he asked her.

Sara nodded slowly. "Only if you'll be there with me."

"I won't leave."

When they arrived at the hospital, Warrick got out of his car and walked around to Sara's side, opening the door and scooping her into his arms. He closed the door and locked the car up, carrying her toward the hospital like a mother holding an infant. The night air was thick, cold and damp; the aftermath of the sudden rainstorm. Warrick kept her wrapped in his jacket to ensure that she was warm.

The second Warrick carried Sara through the doors she was feeling ten times less confident than she had when he had first mentioned going to the hospital. She looked around at the blindingly-white waiting room; pale cream-colored walls, white linoleum floors, the same depressing pictures plastered on the walls on either side of the room. She had seen this before…and she hated hospitals. She always had, and quite frankly Sara Sidle did not feel safe or comfortable about these people touching her.

Sara clung to the loose ends of Warrick's shirt as he walked up to the front desk.

"We need an empty room right away," Warrick told the receptionist.

The rather tiny woman looked up from her computer monitor, brushing a strand of red hair out of her eyes. "I understand that Sir, but we have a lot of people waiting."

Warrick sighed. "Ma'am, I don't think you do understand. My friend has been sexually assaulted," he said, tightening his hold on Sara's shoulders and legs. "We need a room."

"Sir…I'm very sorry that happened, but as you can see there are many other people wishing they could have special treatment as well. I'm afraid I can't let you through; you're going to have to wait. Please have a seat."

Now Warrick was getting angry. Sara wasn't just any other person, she was his friend. She was important. She meant something, she wasn't just another patient, and he knew that she wanted to get through here as quickly as he did.

"Miss, you listen to me," Warrick told her, taking a step closer to the counter. "My friend has been raped and you're telling me that I have to sit here in this goddamn room for six hours before you can treat her? I don't think so."

"Sir, please calm down," the receptionist told him, contemplating on whether or not she should call security.

"She is an officer of the law," Warrick said.

The woman just sighed, looking back up at Warrick, and then at Sara, then back to Warrick. "Alright, go on through the doors and I'll let a doctor know you're going back."

Warrick sighed. "Thank you," he mumbled, carrying Sara toward the white double-doors leading to the actual emergency room.

"Wow…" Sara smiled.

"What?" Warrick asked.

"…Nothing," Sara said, the smile still on her face. "I suppose it's just the fact that…you really fought for me back there."

Warrick shrugged. "Yeah, well…Sara, you're not just another name on a file. You're important to me."

Sara smiled. "I'm happy to have such a good friend."

Warrick just shot her a smile, walking through the doors. As if on cue a female doctor walked toward them, taking some latex gloves off of her hands. "Let me show you to a room," she told them, not bothering to introduce herself or greet them. She led them to a separate part of the ER and motioned for Warrick to set Sara down on the bed.

The second Warrick set Sara down she whimpered. It was the most pitiful thing Warrick had ever seen in his life; it was like seeing an abandoned puppy in an alley with a broken foot. "Sara, are you okay?" Warrick asked. "Did I…hurt you?" he whispered, worried that he had.

Sara shook her head, grabbing onto his arm. "Don't let go…" she whispered. She knew he would have to in order for the doctor to be able to do her job, but at the moment, she really just wanted Warrick to keep holding her. Screw the evidence; she wanted Warrick to hold her. She didn't feel safe anymore.

"Sara…it's okay, I'll be right here," Warrick told her.

"Actually, Sir…" the doctor trailed off. "I'm afraid you're going to have to go outside in the waiting room. If you would like to make some phone calls you're going to have to go outside in order to use your cell phone."

"No," Sara whispered. "No, he's staying right here."

"Ma'am, we can't do that," the doctor told her. "He needs to go out of this room while we're treating you."

"No, Warrick's not leaving me," Sara said, starting to get hysterical. "Right, Warrick? You're not leaving me?"

"Sara, I'll be just outside in the waiting room," Warrick told her. "Okay? I'll still be nearby…"

"No, I want you here. I need you, I do…" Sara whispered, her eyes pleading with him. "Please…I can't do this without you, you have to be here, and you promised you wouldn't leave me!"

"Sara, I won't leave you," Warrick told her. "Okay? I promise…I'm never going to leave you."

Sara nodded a little. That seemed to have calmed her down. But what really scared her was the male paramedic who had walked into the room to help get everything set up. He wore a mask over his face and had latex gloves on his hands. He walked into the room and got close to Sara- much too close for her comfort- as he began to try and set up her IV drip.

"Don't come near me," Sara whispered. Her eyes were everywhere, Warrick saw- she looked like she was looking for a way out of a pit.

"Ma'am, I'm setting up your IV," he told her, reaching toward her arm.

"No, you're not touching me," Sara said, backing up toward the wall. "Get your hands away from me; you're not laying a finger on me."

"Ma'am—"

"I SAID NO!"

Sara reached out and slapped his hand away when he came too close to her and he dropped the drip in his hand.

"Sara, calm down," Warrick told her, trying desperately to calm her down.

Sara couldn't hear Warrick's voice over the sound of her own screaming. By now half the hospital staff had run into the room, doctors and nurses alike.

"What's going on in here?" a nurse asked.

"We need to calm her down, she's going to hurt someone if not herself," the doctor told her.

In seconds the hospital staff was around her bed, trying to calm her down.

"NO, DON'T TOUCH ME! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!" Sara screamed, trying to punch and kick to keep them away from her.

"Sara, calm down, please!" Warrick told her. "Sara!"

The doctors and nurses tried to hold her down, but she was moving much too quickly for them to get a good grip on her arms and legs.

"Move!" the doctor said. The nurses and other doctors had moved away from the hospital bed where the thrashing Sara lay to look up at the female doctor in charge. She had grabbed some leather straps. Warrick knew what these were; they were restraints.

"NO!" Sara screamed. "No, no, no, no!" she yelled, trying to get off of her bed. "NO! DON'T TIE ME UP!"

"No restraints!" Warrick yelled. "She doesn't like restraints!"

The doctor ignored both Warrick and Sara's pleas and finally had to take the reigns. She pushed Sara down onto her bed until she was laying flat on her back and placed the restrains around her, running across her chest and abdomen. She connected them to the sides of her bed and tightened them so she could thrash no more.

A nurse had followed the doctor and she injected a sedative into Sara's IV drip. Soon Sara started to calm down as it took effect and entered her system until she grew limp, out cold.

"I said not to use restraints!" Warrick yelled at the doctors and nurses.

"Sir, we had to calm her down," the doctor said, trying to justify her actions.

"You have no clue what happened to her! How do you know that you didn't just make things worse?" Warrick asked.

"…Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave before we can't start the SART exam," the doctor told him.

Warrick just narrowed his eyes. Walking over to Sara's bed, he practically shoved the nurse out of the way as he leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back, Sara…" he told her, though he knew she could not hear him. "I promise." And with that Warrick walked out of the room, heading outside.

"Jim…" Warrick sighed once Brass had picked up his phone and he was outside, safe from the hospital staff's wrath. "I need you to get CSI over to an address. Winston Street, yeah…that place with that old record store that should've been torn down a long time ago," Warrick confirmed. "Why?" he asked, repeating the man on the phone's own question. Warrick just sighed. "…Jim, I think Sara was raped there."