A/N: Ahh, fanfiction has been down for days! Sorry about the wait! Solomynne and icklebitodd, thanks for reading, though! I'm not giving any Patrick details away, but feel free to keep on guessing! sweet-little-rose, I am thrilled that you are enjoying this story! It was my very first fic… it's short, but… I love it! And icklebitodd, there is only one more chapter for Excalibur, and one more for the Rocking Horse… and then the rest are for the Planetarium!

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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS. Credit for Sara's past goes to QTR.

Title: Interlude: Excalibur and the Planetarium Cases

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Sara entered the break room with a sigh, sitting down on the couch in the corner. This was not going very well. She felt confused, a little queasy, and unsure of how to even proceed. "Damn," she mumbled to herself, drawing her legs up to her chin. Patrick was really getting to her. There was something about working with children that really made her uncomfortable… they were so vulnerable, and they reminded her of when she herself was so vulnerable. Again, of her father. And of her foster brother. And of the court room. Working with children reminded her of how she felt when she couldn't stop the…incidents…from happening to her, and of how angry, hurt, and scared she felt.

"Hey, Sara," Nick greeted her, swinging his coffee mug back and forth as he entered the room. "What's up?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at her as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"The planetarium case that Grissom put me on is…thought-provoking," she finally said with a sigh, knocking herself out of her day dream. "I don't know," Sara sighed. "How about the victim in your own case?"

"Well, we've had a couple of lucky breaks," Nick smiled, sitting down in the chair closest to Sara's proximity. "Turns out that one member of the cast has a record. A prior for drug trafficking. And also, he and the dead guy were both sleeping with the same woman," Nick added, grinning at Sara.

"Well, that's always a recipe for disaster," Sara replied, finally cracking her own, very small smile. "So I'm guessing that Sofia is going to bring the girlfriend in for questioning?"

Nick nodded, taking a swig of the disgusting liquid that they all called coffee. "And she's going to re-interview the cast member with the record," he replied. "They should be here within the half hour. How's your case going?" he then asked.

"Okay," Sara replied.

Nick raised an eyebrow, studying Sara's face for a moment. "Just… 'okay?'" he probed.

Sara nodded. "Our case involves DB found at the planetarium. There was a seven-year-old boy with blood all over his hands, sitting next to the body. The boy is in complete shock, and hasn't said much of anything. The strange thing is," Sara continued, "His mother picked him up from the hospital a little while ago, and… he didn't seem to want to go with her," she frowned, biting her lip.

"And?" Nick asked. "You think there's more to it then that?"

Sara hesitated. "I don't know. It just seemed…unusual," she lamely finished, trying to smile. But unusual was not the word that she wanted to use. It was downright… abnormal, or so she thought. Unless Patrick's life wasn't… great, she thought to herself.

Or am I just reading into it again? Sara really didn't know. She had a habit of thinking too hard, that much was true. But how could she not? All throughout elementary, middle, and high school, Sara had no one to talk to. Her classmates thought that she was just plain odd, and stayed away from her. Her teachers liked her well enough, but how much talking could she really do with them? And college? Well that was just a joke. She still felt like the odd-person out, and was left with nothing to do but think. Which brought her back to this case. Sighing, and once again absentmindedly rubbing her wrists, she was forced to think.

"Sara… are you… sure that you're okay?" Nick again asked his colleague, hesitant to actually pressure her into telling him anything. For all intents and purposes, Sara was someone that he cared about… as a friend, of course. He hated to see her so out of it. "You seem very..."

"Yeah, I'm fine, I think I'm just tired," Sara interrupted Nick, gently rubbing her forehead. She knew that he was only trying to help her, but she wasn't in the mood to share her thoughts with him right now. In any event, when most people really got to know her, they typically let her down somehow. It was only a matter of time… and she didn't want to give Nick that kind of time. "Talking to Patrick is just… draining," she finally admitted.

"But I thought that you said that he wasn't talking…?" Nick asked, kicking Sara's legs aside so that he could rest his own legs on the couch.

Sara laughed at Nick. "Well that's the funny thing," she mused. "He seems to respond to me… a little bit, anyhow. I couldn't get him to leave my side," she added. "And he wouldn't stop sucking his thumb." Sara remained silent for a moment, thinking. Almost forgetting that Nick was in the room, she muttered, "But something just isn't right. It just isn't..."

Nick leaned toward Sara, resting his arms on his knees. "What makes you think that?"

"It's just the way that he behaved when his mother arrived. Most kids would run right toward their mother, but Patrick… he refused to let go of me." Sara frowned. "And she basically had to drag him away from the hospital room..."

"Could it be from the trauma from the night? I would have to imagine that what happened would be weighing heavily on his mind…" Nick trailed off.

"I know," Sara again sighed. "But…still. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens." Sara resisted the urge to tell Nick everything that was on her mind. She felt so unhappy, and so unsure of herself. In fact, Sara felt that if she didn't talk to someone soon, she wouldn't be able to cope with everything. And that scared her. That scared her a lot. "Hey, could luck with your interviews," she finally mumbled, standing up and stretching. "I need to go update Grissom," she told Nick with a smile.

"Yeah, you, too, Sara! Good luck!" Nick replied, biting his lip as he watched her leave.

If only you two would just talk to each other… Joan sighed. Friends can move mountains, I always say… but Sara, you just don't know how to trust.

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TO BE CONTINUED 