Note: Ok, here's the fifth chapter. I've been really busy with things (life) and so I haven't had time to update. But here I am, on a Sunday morning (when I really should be doing my history homework…), with nothing much to do. :D PLEASE review and enjoy!

Chapter 5

Lauren woke up, scared and unaware of where she was. She felt a stabbing pain in her arm, then looked down and saw an I.V. above a purple cast that reached just below her elbow. She was in a hospital. Why? All of a sudden she remembered the interview. And she remembered Gil –Grissom? Just Grissom?- holding her after. What else was there? What else happened?

A nurse came in with a vial, and Lauren instantly tensed up again. She hated blood. She tried to say something but nothing really came out. What had happened that made her voice like it was? Lauren tried to communicate with the nurse by just looking at her, using her eyes for emotions.

"Honey, look away while I do this. It'd be easier on you."

Lauren gave up trying to speak with her eyes after that.

The nurse took blood for about five minutes and then, after she left, Lauren leaned back and closed her eyes, then realizing how much she really hurt. While her eyes were closed, she heard a footstep coming towards her bed and in her fog thought it was the nurse again.

"Lauren?" She opened her eyes and faced Grissom. She didn't know whether or smile or to cry so she left her face blank.

Smooth move, Lauren.

"I'm so sorry I didn't stop what he did to you," Grissom quietly said. He put a vase of flowers on her bedside table and sat down in the chair. "I wanted to but I didn't know what exactly I could have done."

Lauren shook her head and tried the best that she could to talk. "Don't say that." Her voice was not as smooth as it normally was, but it honestly wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been. "It wasn't something anyone could have done anything about. Except me." She moved her head to face him and wondered why he was here. Surely he had a life? "If you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

He smiled. "Because it's my job to make sure that you're ok," he said with a small laugh. Grissom was really here to make sure that she was ok, nothing more. For some reason, as he wondered at before, he had developed something with Lauren. Maybe it was because Sara, too, had an abusive childhood?

Grissom deeply loved Sara. And now he knew why Lauren was so important.

"Really? Just to see that I'm ok?" Lauren asked, trying to keep her eyes open. She hurt so bad, everywhere. "Why the flowers?" Lauren quickly realized how judgmental she was being and contributed it to the lack of love in her house.

"You like questions don't you," Grissom mused. Lauren shifted her glance to the doorway and Grissom followed her gaze. Catherine stood there, holding a card.

"Hi, Lauren," she said softly, entering the room. She handed the girl the card and specified what it was for. "The other CSIs on our shift heard about what happened –some of them actually saw what happened- and wanted to sign a card. Just a get-well sort of thing."

Lauren thanked Catherine quietly and opened the envelope. On the front there was a picture of a ripped teddy bear and a crying girl. Opening it up revealed the teddy bear with a Band-Aid over the tear and the laughing girl, hugging the bear tight. Giving a small laugh, Lauren again thanked Catherine and Grissom.

"Lauren, I'm so sorry about what happened to you," Catherine said in a tone similar to that of Grissom's.

"Don't be. There was nothing you could have done."

"How long has this been going on?" Grissom asked.

"I don't know," Lauren confessed, looking down at her cast. How did they know she liked purple? "I guess since I can remember. There was one time, when I was six or seven," Lauren recalled. "And dad wanted me to set the table, so he gave me four china plates to carry. I wasn't strong enough so I dropped them. He hit me then, hard, and I guess it's been going on ever since." She didn't realize it until after she was done that she was crying small, silent tears.

"Oh, Lauren," Catherine sighed.

"Who picked purple?" Lauren asked with a small smile, holding up her arm as much as she could without the I.V. coming out. Grissom raised a sheepish hand.

"I knew that your room was painted purple, so I thought you might like it."

"I do. Thanks."