And Out of the Ashes

By Caity

PG-13 for now.

Chapter 3

Rubbing his now slightly red eyes, Grissom hung up on the phone and sank down upon his black leather couch. A few minutes before, Detective Brass, Grissom's close, personal friend and Las Vegas detective, had called and informed Grissom that they had a new arson case. An entire apartment complex had been burnt down. But even before Brass had been given the time to mention to Grissom the fact that it had been Sara's own apartment complex, he had known.

Arson.. Arsons, the crime of maliciously, voluntarily, and willfully setting fire to the building, buildings, or other property of another. The though resonated in his head. Someone had intentionally set Sara's apartment on fire. The though made his blood boil. And Grissom was positive that she had been the target. Not only had the accelerants been found in her hallway, someone had deliberately put a chair in front of Sara's door in a desperate attempt to lock her in. Thank the heavens it hadn't worked.

But who in their right mind would have wanted to harm Sara, let alone kill her. The young brunette was one of the kindest people with the biggest heart Grissom had ever met. He couldn't imagine anyone who would have done such a thing to her. It seemed impossible to him. Almost impossible.

Grissom didn't know what he would have done if he had lost her. The world, quite possibly couldhave stopped. And he didn't want that. No. Not at all.

With a small sigh Grissom glanced at his watch; it read 9:32 AM. Normally his shift wouldn't have started for another 12 hours. He was going to go in to the lab early to see if the day shift, the shift on at the moment, had been able to come up with any evidence on the arson case. He needed to know who would have done such a thing. He needed to do it for Sara, he couldn't let this criminal try again.

Standing back up, Grissom glanced back to the door to the spare bedroom where
Sara slumbered. He had noticed Sara had gone into it after she had exited the shower. The poor girl had seemed exhausted, and he wished he could have comforted her. But not now, there was no time; he needed to hurry to the Crime Lab.

Grissom quickly trotted over to his bedroom and grabbed his Forensics Kit, double checking to be sure that it was fully stocked. In addition to a large framed painting of a blue butterfly, the metal case was the only personal touch in the simple bedroom .As he exited the room into the hallway he stopped by the door to the room in which Sara was silently napping. Grissom carefully opened the door and peeked into the room, smiling to see Sara fast asleep in the dream world. She needed her sleep.

The door to the guest room closed as Grissom turned around and went back out into the living room. He reached into his kit and pulled out a pen and paper and he quickly scribbled a note on it as not to worry the sleeping girl when she woke up. Signing his name, Grissom set the note down along with a spare key for her on the coffee table where Sara was sure to find it.

Closing the front door and locking it behind him, Grissom set off for the Crime Lab with his mind few could match focused on catching an arsonist.

TBC..

Chapter 4

The grey haze that was sleep seemed to dissipate as Sara opened her coffee brown eyes to the chaos that was the waking world. Shivering from the penetrating cold, she sat up, wishing she were back deep in her refuge of unconsciousness. The world seemed safer, kinder when she was asleep. She would rather be deep in the abyss than wide awake in the nightmare that was reality.

Dizziness hit Sara as she she stood too quickly for her stressed body to handle. She had to scurry to the bathroom to make it in time. Once there, she retched the contents of her stomach, a piece of 3 day old pizza and two cups of coffee from the night before, into the porcelain toilet. Rinsing her mouth in the sink to rid the taste of vomit, she slowly stood up to avoid another wave of nausea.

As the feeling of sickness wore away, Sara exited the bathroom and haggardly walked out into the living room. Immediately upon entry Grissom's absence struck like a blow. A speedy glance confirmed it: he was no longer home.For a seemingly endless moment, Sara started to panic. Had Grissom left her, she wondered, her eyes going wide at the terrifying thought. He couldn't have decided she was a complete nuisance to him to her and abandoned her. Could he? He couldn't…

These terrible thoughts were washed out of Sara's mind as she spotted the hastily-written note lying on top of the wooden coffee table. She snatched at it like it was the last tether to life. It read;

Sara,
I was called in by Brass. I'll be back after the shift.
DO NOT go to work. You have the night off. Rest.
Grissom.

"Like hell I will…" Sara muttered under her breath, shaking her head. Carefully she folded the note and cradled it in her hand. The small piece of paper was at least a little evidence that Grissom cared. Cared enough to make sure Sara got rest. And that was better then nothing.

Sara glanced around Grissom's bare townhouse like a young child who was about to steal a cookie from the cookie jar. Grabbing the spare key Grissom had left behind on the table, she dashed out the door.

The Crime Lab, her painkiller, her escape from reality, was calling to her. It pulled on her like a drug pulls on an addict and she wasn't about to resist that pull. In point of fact, she couldn't.

Outside the townhouse, a tall man with thinning hair sat in a parked, black, nondescript sedan. His dark eyes, shielded by black sunglasses followed the exiting brunette as she climbed into her Tahoe. His face was impassive and shady as he gripped the wheel in front of him. How could she have gone to another man? She should have come to HIM. His hands grasped on the wheel tighter as he complemented the situation, his knuckles blanching white with the strength of the grip. She really did deserve all this.

As Sara started up her truck and pulled away into traffic, he started his own engine and pulled out behind her. Time for a second chance. She would get what she deserved. Arson hadn't workedBut he had something in mind that just might.

TBC.