A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews. I appreciate them a lot. I also want to thank those who gave me suggestions to improve my writing. Anyone willing to beta for me? Email me at if you want to. I am sorry it took me so long to get this out but I have been incredibly busy lately. I am in London studying for the semester and I took a trip this past weekend. I also had a paper due Monday and two exams Tuesday. Please continue to review!
Summary: A young woman and her family are the latest victims of a serial killer. She has a personal connection to two CSIs but which ones are they? Read on and you will eventually find out.
They were now on the way to the hospital. Sara was holding Alexandra's hand as the paramedic took care of her injuries. Alexandra was looking away from Sara and neither one had said a word since they got into the ambulance. "Do you have a nickname that you go by?" Sara asked as she was trying to make small talk and distract Alexandra.
Alexandra looked at Sara and said quietly, "Yeah. People usually call me Alex."
"Can you tell me how old you are?"
"22," Alex answered. The ambulance came to a stop and the paramedic opened the door as they arrived at the hospital. The two paramedics pulled the stretcher out of the ambulance and Sara climbed out along side of them. They wheeled Alexandra through the doors into the emergency room.
"What do you have?" a doctor asked as she approached them.
"Alexandra Miller. 22 year old female. She has numerous contusions and abrasions," the paramedic told the doctor as they headed into a room.
The doctor turned to Sara and asked, "Are you family?"
"No. My name is Sara Sidle and I'm with the Crime Lab. I'm here to gather evidence."
The doctor said, "I need you to stand aside while we make sure Alexandra is stable and then you can get what you need."
"Okay," Sara said as she stepped back. Alex looked at Sara with a panicked look. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here." Alex then seemed to calm down a bit.
About a half hour later Alex's wounds had been cleaned and dressed. "Does she need a rape kit?" the doctor asked.
"Yes," Sara told her.
"Okay. I'll be right back," the doctor said and then left the room.
After the doctor left Sara approached Alex's bed. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm okay I guess."
The doctor then came back into the room. "Alexandra. I am going to examine you now for signs of rape. I am going to take a few swabs and pictures," the doctor said as she explained to Alex what she would be doing. "It will only take a few minutes."
"Can I leave then?" Alex asked.
"I'm sorry but you need to stay here overnight for observation. You should be able to leave tomorrow," the doctor said.
Alex looked at Sara. "It's going to be okay Alex. I can stay here with you for awhile yet."
Awhile later the doctor had finished examining Alex. "Okay now Alex. I'm all done. You can relax now," the doctor told her as she gathered the swabs she took. She then turned to Sara and handed them to her along with the camera she used to take the pictures. A nurse then came into the room and told the doctor an emergency just came in and she was needed. The doctor then left with the nurse.
Alex had pulled the hospital sheet over her as she turned and laid on her left side. Sara then said to her, "I am going to scrape under your finger nails, take some samples from your hair, and take a few more pictures. When I am done you can clean yourself up."
"Okay," was Alex's only response. Sara took her left then right hand and scraped under each fingernail over an envelope. She then brushed a few sections of Alex's hair and used an envelope to collect what fell out. Next Sara picked up her camera and said to Alex, "Can you sit up for a minute and look straight at me?" Alex sat up and did what she asked. Sara took one picture then said, "Can you look to the right?" Sara took another picture. "Now to the left." She then took a third picture. "I'm finished now. You can lie back down if you want to. Do you feel up to telling me what happened tonight?"
"No," was all Alex said as she laid down."
"That's okay for now. I am going to go find a nurse and let them know I am done. I have to bring what I collected back to the lab.
"You're leaving?" Alex asked quietly.
"Yes, but I'll leave my card right here on the table next to the phone and you can call me whenever you want to or when you are ready to talk. I know it may seem difficult right now but talking about what happened will help us catch who did this to you and your parents," Sara told Alex as she placed a hand on Alex's arm. "You're strong. You'll get through this." Sara then left the room without a response from Alex.
Sara found the nurse that had helped to take care of Alex earlier and approached her. "I finished gathering what I needed. I have to take it back to my lab. I didn't get a statement from Alex yet so I will come back later. Here's my card incase Alex tells you she is ready to talk. If I am not back before she is discharged have someone call me before she leaves. I don't want her to leave before she gives her statement."
"All right. I'll put your card and a note on Alex's chart so she won't be discharged before you're contacted," the nurse told her.
"Thank you," Sara said and turned and left the hospital and headed back to the lab.
About twenty minutes later Sara had arrived at the lab and was walking down the hallway and got stopped by Nick. "How did it go at the hospital?"
"As good as can be expected," Sara told him. "Alex was pretty shaken up. She didn't say much. I got the rape kit and other evidence. I brought it back here to get processed."
"Did she say anything about what happened?" Nick asked.
"No. When I asked her about it she said she didn't want to talk. I told a nurse not to let her go before someone is back to get a statement from her."
"We didn't get much at the house. We found a hair with the root still attached in the master bedroom that doesn't match any of our victims but it doesn't mean it's the perp's either."
"I'm going to get this kit to DNA and hopefully it will tell us something." Sara then headed off to the DNA lab but before Sara took two steps Nick called out to her.
"Hey Sara!" Sara turned around to face Nick again. "How about after shift we head to our favorite diner to get some breakfast?"
"Sure. Sounds great," Sara said as she flashed a quick smile at Nick. Sara was glad Nick asked her to go out for breakfast. Besides working an occasional case together they rarely got to spend much time with each other since the team was broken up.
When Sara got to the DNA lab she said to Mia, "Here's Alex's rape kit and the scrapings I took from her hair and under her nails. Let me know as soon as you are done processing it. This may finally break the case."
"Will do," Mia responded. "I'll push it to the front of the line and page you as soon as I am done."
"Thanks," Sara said to Mia. Sara then left the DNA lab and headed towards the break room where everyone else was. Just as she entered the room her cell phone rang. "Sidle," she said as she answered. "What?" Sara exclaimed suddenly a moment later. Everyone in the room turned to look at her. "I thought I told you not to let her leave until someone came to get her statement!" Sara paused for a moment. "Fine. Well thanks for calling." Sara then slammed her phone shut and let out a frustrated sigh as she headed over to the coffee pot to get a much needed dose of caffeine.
"What was that about?" Warrick asked.
"It was the nurse from the hospital. She told me that Alex signed herself out AMA and they just let her go," Sara told everyone in the room.
"If she signed herself out then there was nothing they could do to stop her," Grissom said.
"They should have called me to let me know she wanted to leave. She is our only surviving witness. What if the perp finds her again and kills her. Where will we be then?" Sara questioned to no one in particular. "Back to square one and waiting until the killer strikes again."
"I have something that might help," Mia said as she came into the room and held up a folder. "The hair you found in the Miller's bedroom is a match to the scrapings from under Alex's nails. It looks like Alex got a piece of the perp and it places him in the bedroom."
"That's not going to do us much good if we don't have Alex to give us an id of him," Sara said as she was still angry.
"At least it's a start," Catherine said.
Grissom then spoke, "Shift is over now so why don't we all go home and get some rest and we can take a fresh look at the case tonight."
"Fine," Sara said as she placed her cup of coffee down on the counter and left the room and headed to the locker room. Sara was pulling some cloths and other things out of her locker and harshly shoving them into her bag when Nick came in. Sara seemed to not notice his presence until he spoke.
"You don't have to take it out on your cloths," Nick joked as he tried to lighten the mood since he could tell that Sara was upset.
Sara turned to look at him and glared at him, "I'm not. I just want to get out of here." She wasn't in the mood for joking around.
"Sit down a minute," Nick said as he took Sara's arm and sat down next to her on the bench. He then took Sara's left hand into his right and laced his fingers with her's. They had been best friends for a several years now and Nick could always tell when a case got to her more than it should. "We all are frustrated with this case Sara. I know you don't like being told when to go home but I think Grissom may be right this time. We are all exhausted and some rest will do us all some good. Grissom called Brass and they are going to keep an eye out for Alex. I'm sure she will turn up soon." Nick squeezed Sara's hand reassuringly. He then put his left hand up to her right cheek and turned her face so he was looking into her eyes. "Let's go get that breakfast we talked about earlier."
"Alright," Sara said as she seemed to have calmed down. "But you're buying." Sara gave Nick a small smile as they both stood up and got their bags.
"That's okay with me." Nick put his right arm around Sara's shoulder and they walked out of the building. "I'll drive. After we eat I'll bring you back to get your car." Nick and Sara then got into his Denali and Nick drove them to the diner.
A/N: So there is the second chapter. I hope you liked it. Things are going to start happening more quickly now so please continue to read. Please review and let me know what you thought about it and if you want me to continue with it. I hope to have the next chapter up more quickly next time.