Chapter 8

Magenta Skies

Catherine's phone rang with great urgency, which resulted in her jumping up from her motel bed. Her muscles tensed all at once and she tried to hide her pain as she answered her cell.

"Willows" Catherine sighed, as she tried to rub the pain out of her legs.

"We just got a complaint about a Gil Grissom, that's the man you're looking for right?"

"Detective O'Neal correct?" Catherine waited for a response and all she received was a grunt. "Give me the low down." Catherine could only hope that her mistake wouldn't cost Gil his reputation. She had followed Grissom in a taxi cab, as soon as he left the airport. She lost him in the hustle of San Francisco's traffic. All she could do was call the local PD and hope they would find him, preferably in a non-compromising situation. She needed to get Gil out of the city, and away from Sara, before he did something reckless that he would live to regret.

"A Sara Sidle called the local PD, at around four o'clock yesterday and said that he threatened her and was acting aggressive. She said he didn't look well either; he supposedly was talking to himself most of the time. Is there something you're not telling me Mrs. Willows?" The officer patiently waited for an answer.

"Listen if I wanted to hide something, I wouldn't have got you involved. He's still getting over an accident, nothing more. He'll be fine." Catherine was glad she was a good liar; she knew that Gil was hanging onto his sanity by a short thread. She just hoped she could get him home before anyone else realized the same.

"Good because we found out where he's stayin'. The Dark Dive Hotel on Twentieth. And if you were smart I'd get him outta' there as soon as possible, they don't call it the Dark Dive for nothin'." The officer wheezed into the phone one last time before hanging up. He certainly wasn't much for small talk, and for Catherine that was a bonus. She had no time to be beating around the bush, while her colleague needed her help more than ever. She just prayed he would come willingly.

Grissom walked down the street and tried to ignore the steam coming from the sewers below. The image reminded him of a case where he had to clear his head, and walk the streets of Vegas at night. His search for inner answers led him to Sara, who was standing in a dark lot looking at a billboard. The memory made a slight smile cross his lips, before it quickly vanished like the steam slowly rising around him. The sad part was: he didn't know if the memories were real or a figment of his imagination.

His pace slowed when he finally saw her home in the distance. Over a small hill stood his dream house, with his dream wife and the child he would have always wanted. Secretly since he first met Sara, he had wanted a life with her. Why he never made that first move so much earlier was a decision he would always live with. That is…If it even happened.

He gingerly opened the rusted steel gate which guarded her home from intruders. One may say that her gate of protection was a pseudo. It made her feel safe about her surroundings, even though anyone with a working pair of hands could get past her fortress. After getting past her "alarm" system, Grissom slowly moved towards her home, making each step barely indent the grass. He could tell by the lack of lights that everyone in the household was asleep, he just couldn't figure out which room was hers. He knew it wasn't right to be on her property and intruding on her personal life. His logical side was screaming at him full force to run while he still could.

However, the pain deep within his stomach urged him to continue.

He never saw Max …

Except during the night of the party.

The night where he stole away his fiancée, with one kiss. She told him he was over reacting, that it was just a mistake. She followed up, by suggesting that they needed to have a break in their relationship.

She didn't trust him.

Grissom walked further, making his way towards the back of her house.

It should have been the other way around. He should have been the one shouting about trust; he wasn't the one that kissed a member of the opposite sex.

Just as his thoughts turned into bitter diatribes, a bang got his attention.

"Sara?" Grissom wondered aloud as he tried to remain calm. He could have sworn he heard a cry right after. Something wasn't right.

As Grissom ran closer, a cry got his attention further. As he moved more to the back of the house the noises got louder.

That's when his heart almost exploded, with agony.

"God Max…" Sara cried, as she was pinned underneath her husband moaning in ecstasy. The bangs of the headboard grew louder and louder, as Grissom watched through an open slit in the blinds. Each moan was a stab to his heart. Grissom winced as he watched their silhouettes move in harmony against the opposing wall. It would have looked beautiful, if he was apart of the soft shadows.

Instead he watched, stunned and unable to move from the window. His entire life was shattered in an instant because he now knew the truth. He has lived a lie. Everything he knew was a false reality. It had felt so real…

"It can't be true! I love her…" Without realizing it Grissom screamed his thoughts aloud. In an instant Sara jumped, and felt her blood rush out of her face

"Max?" Sara whispered.

"What was that? If that's him I'll kill him without question." Max's veins already began to bulge from his temple, at the thought of getting even with the psychopath who threatened his wife. And now he was spying on their lovemaking and stalking her?

It was too much.

"Wait let's call the police." Sara urged.

"And let them come when it's too late?' Max yelled, as he put on some sweatpants and grabbed his bat underneath his bed.

Grissom had fallen to the ground. His entire world spun, as he fought to get the voices out of his head.

"It's going to be alright. I love you. Please don't leave me." Sara's voice urged, in his head.

"NO!" Grissom yelled as he gripped his head as he curled into the fetal position on the ground.

"It's going to be alright. I love you. Please don't leave me. It's going to be alright. I love you. Please don't leave me. It's going to be alright. I love you. Please don't leave me…." The voices continued to echo in his head as he closed his eyes in pain. His head hurt more than any headache he had ever experienced. As he tried to regain control he was oblivious to the figure approaching him. As his screams of pain continued, the shadow moved in on him closer…

"Please I just want to be normal again. I want things to go back to the way they were- when I could predict my life. I want predictability! I want my logic back! Please!" Grissom screamed to no one in particular, as the figure grabbed him by the arm, that's when everything faded to black.

TBC Please let me know what you think ;)