Disclaimer: see previous chapter
"You two, out of here now," Catherine hissed, but both Nick and Grissom stood rooted to their spots, unable to process Catherine's command.
Once Sara had seen who had walked in, she buried her head in her hands again, but Nick had still gotten a good look at her. He cursed his CSI training as his mind automatically catalogued her appearance. Her dress was rumpled and torn, one strap falling half way down her arm and exposing the top of her bra. Her hair was mussed and falling across her face as she bent her head back into her hands, but Nick couldn't help but notice the cut on her forehead and ugly purple bruise already apparent on her cheek. And he was certain he had spotted faint bruising around her neck.
"Now!" Catherine commanded again, and this time Nick was able to shake himself out of his reverie long enough to obey. When he noticed Grissom still standing, staring in the direction of Sara, Nick gently pulled him into the hallway after him.
They exchanged silent looks of concern and anger while they waited for Catherine to come and explain the situation. Inside, Nick was seething, all of the different scenarios of what that bastard had done to Sara to make the situation escalate to this. He was quickly working himself up into a frenzy, and was only brought back to reality when he heard movement at the door. Catherine was guiding Sara out of the room, past Grissom and Nick and towards the living room. Sara was limping slightly, and kept her head down as she walked past. Nick turned to say something, but was silenced by a withering look from Catherine, who settled Sara on the couch before returning to her coworkers.
"What the hell happened Cath," Grissom asked quietly, breaking the eerie silence in the hallway.
"She was on a date, they came back here. Things got…out of hand, she tried to stop it, and he wasn't as accommodating…"
Nick's jaw clenched. "Spit it out Cath."
Catherine sighed. "Fine. He attacked her, she fought him, tried to push him off of her, and when she did, he hit his head on the night table next to the bed. She called 911, and now we're here." Catherine paused for a moment. "She hasn't said how far it went, so I don't know if she was raped, but we need to get her to Desert Palm and have a SART exam done," she added, anticipating their next questions. "Gil, I need you to call Warrick and have him get over here, I'm going to need some help. You need to go and help Greg, and Nick, I need you to take her to the hospital."
"No," Grissom added, raising his voice for the first time that night. Catherine placed her hand on his arm.
"Gil, I know. But, it's Sara. You can't work this case, you know that. Go help Greg. She doesn't need all of us sitting around at the hospital. And," she added, turning to Nick, "you're taking her to the hospital, and then you're hands off too."
"Catherine," Nick started, trying to keep his voice down as he glanced at Sara out of the corner of his eye. She was sitting on the couch, blankly staring into space. There was no way he was handing this off to Warrick.
"Nick…she's gonna need someone tonight. We need you to take care of her, okay? You two are too emotionally involved, as soon as Ecklie finds out about this, there is no way he's going to let you two stay on; it'll be hard enough to convince him that Warrick and I will be professional about this." She lowered her voice slightly, but Nick didn't think it would matter; it appeared that Sara had tuned this reality out entirely. "You can't compromise evidence. This…this could get bad, don't make it worse for her. Now go."
Nick and Grissom finally nodded numbly in assent.
Catherine sighed and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. When she realized that Grissom was still in shock, she pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Warrick's phone. Nick listened to her quietly explain the situation to Warrick before he realized that it would be best to get Sara out of there and to the hospital before anyone got wind of what had happened. He could only imagine what Ecklie was going to do with the information.
"Uh, Gris?" Nick asked tentatively, "After…do I? I mean…does she have to go down to the station, or can I take her home?"
Grissom removed his glasses, pinching the sides of his nose and sighing. His voice was even when he spoke, but his eyes betrayed the anger he was feeling; Nick knew it was the same anger in his own eyes.
"I'll tell Catherine to send Detective Reynolds over to the hospital. I don't imagine that there will be much reason to hold her…take care of her Nick."
Nick nodded, tears stinging his eyes as he turned towards the living room. He took a deep breath; now was not the time to fall apart. While he did not envy Warrick, having to work the case with Catherine, Nick knew that he was going to have the tougher job, even though it was one that he wasn't going to give up.
Sara was still sitting on the couch, arms wrapped around herself protectively. Her eyes were blank, staring at the wall across the room. Nick knelt down next to her, not wanting to startle her.
"Sara," he started softly, "I'm going to take you to the hospital, okay?"
She made no indication that she had heard him, so he called her name again softly. It wasn't until he placed a hand on her arm that he got a reaction, when she flinched and turned towards him. The fear in her eyes was evident, though it subsided a little when she saw that it was Nick. He cursed inwardly for scaring her, removing his hand as quickly as he had placed it.
"Can you walk to the car?" he asked, trying to ignore the bruising that was much more prominent up close.
Her blank stare had faded, giving way to tears lightly falling from her eyes. "I…I didn't mean to…I never wanted to turn into her…"
Nick could feel his heart breaking as confusion swept over him. He had no idea what she was talking about, he thought that she must be going into shock. "Sweetheart, we're gonna go get you checked out now."
Sara nodded numbly. Nick stood up and then offered his hand to help her up off of the couch. He tried to wrap an arm around her, but she stepped away.
"There's evidence…" she explained quietly with sad eyes, before heading toward the door as quickly as she could on her ankle. Nick followed behind, praying that he would be able to get her through the night.
