Disclaimer: Not mine
A/N: I managed to write just about all of this today and post it. But when I was making corrections, my computer shut down so I had to redo all of the corrections and I didn't go back and reread it. Sorry for any mistakes (PM me if you find any). And I'm still working on the next chapter to Haunting Insanity, I have not given up on it, I just have some major writer's block with that topic. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I don't think I had a chance to get back to many of the reviews. Your opinions are greatly appreciated.
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The two days that Grissom had insisted she stay home for had dragged by slowly, filled with nauseous moments and headaches and any other aches along with sleepless nights (well, days because Sara had insisted she stay on their work schedule). Grissom had taken the time off too; he didn't want her to be alone right after the incident. She had pestered him, telling him that if she couldn't go to work, he should because she wanted this guy behind bars. The two days did eventually come to an end and though Grissom wanted her to stay home longer, there was no way he'd get her to agree to that. She was going stir-crazy and it had only been two days.
With a few minutes left before they had to leave for work, Sara was busy in the bathroom trying to cover up the bruises on her face. They had faded tremendously, but the now purple and yellow bruise on her cheek was still clearly visible. She also attempted to cover up the nasty purple bruise forming around the stitches on her forehead, but there was nothing she could do about the ugly black threading. She covered up the purplish-yellow markings on her cheek, and, though it was a hot day in Vegas, she wore long sleeves to hide the bruising that had surfaced on her wrists over the past few days. She didn't completely know why she was hiding the marks from her attack because the team, and the entire lab, knew about what had happened. She figured it was out of embarrassment, and not wanting anymore attention drawn to her than necessary. She had always hated being the center of attention, but, at the moment, she was most definitely the hottest thing to gossip about in the lab. Sara was relieved though that nobody could see the dark blue, black, and purple patterns that were splattered over her abdomen and chest.
They drove in one car to the lab, if asked Grissom would say he had just given her a ride. The team had suspected that Grissom took the two days off to make sure Sara would be alright, though they couldn't be totally sure, they couldn't blame him either. Though sometimes the two could be at each other's throats, it was obvious they both had deep feelings for each other. And as much as Catherine wanted to call Grissom on it, she would hold her tongue, at least for a little while.
As Sara walked through the lab hallways, she felt the eyes of lab techs and detectives -and whoever else knew about what had happened- burning a hole into the back of her head. Grissom's hand hovered lightly over the small of her back as he guided her to the locker room.
Upon reaching the empty locker room, Grissom asked her -for what felt like the millionth time that night- if she was sure she was ready to be back at work. Sara told him that she felt fine, the injuries weren't bothering her. That wasn't what Grissom had meant; his question was asked to find out if she was emotionally stable enough to be back so soon. He was sure the team would understand if she wanted to take a few more days off to recover and he told her so
Before Grissom left to gather the assignments from his office, he quickly checked to make sure no one was nearby and leaned in to kiss Sara. It was quick and sweet and when Grissom pulled back, Sara let a small smile grace her features.
Everyone was gathered in the break room, sitting around the table, as they waited for Grissom to return from his office with assignments. A few minutes later when he did, he did not look happy.
"We've got another one," he said, no one needed to question him; it was obvious to them what he meant. "Warrick and Catherine, why don't you take this one?"
Before they stood to leave, Sara interrupted. "Grissom, I want to work this scene," she said, standing to be at eye-level with him.
"You can't. This case is connected to your attack, it's against lab policy. You can't work the scene," Grissom stated, a tinge of anger rising in his voice.
"We don't know for sure that this case is connected. We don't know if any of these cases are connected. It's just circumstantial evidence, you've been telling that to us from the beginning. Until we have some solid evidence that would stand up in court, we can't consider these all part of one case. All we have to go on so far is that each victim has brown hair. You can't go around Las Vegas telling everybody with brown hair to lock their doors at night because they're at risk of being attacked. There really isn't a connection," Sara's rambling finally came to an end.
Grissom was more than slightly stunned by her outburst, he had thought, that if anything, she would've wanted to be as far away from these cases as possible. But he knew her better than that; he should've known that she would want to help even more now than ever to catch this bastard.
Grissom had to agree, what she said was true. They had no reason to connect the cases other than that the victims had brown hair. They could never charge one man for the crimes if that was all they had to go on. The case wouldn't even make it to court unless they had some concrete evidence. After a silent debate in his head between the two options, he took a deep breath before speaking.
"Okay, I'm sure this is breaking some sort of lab policy somewhere, but fine, you can go. But the moment we find out that this attack is connected to yours, you're off the case, and any others it's connected to."
"Thank you," she said, taking the paper from his hand and leaving the room.
"Cath," Grissom said, nodding in Sara's direction.
"I'm on it," Catherine said, gathering her stuff and following Sara from the break room.
Concerned, Nick spoke up, "Griss, should Sara really be working these cases?"
"No," Grissom said as he passed out the rest of the assignment slips.
During the car ride to the new crime scene, Catherine took on her motherly role, in an attempt that Sara would open up or maybe she would realize she shouldn't be working the serial rape cases.
"Sara, you know you shouldn't be working these cases, much less be back at work so soon... You also know that if you work these rape cases, once they are all connected, all of our evidence could be thrown out because you worked the case," Catherine kept her eyes on the road as she spoke out her frustration.
"Cath, I know what I'm doing. You guys have yet to determine if these cases are even connected to mine, so technically, it's fine if I work the case." Sara tried to keep her anger in check, she knew Catherine was just worried about her.
"Okay, so maybe you can work the cases at least based on the lab rules and procedures, but are you emotionally ready to work these rape cases?" Catherine asked.
Sara had to bite back a nasty comment about Catherine thinking she couldn't do her job. It's only because she cares, Sara thought. But then again, the two women weren't ever extremely friendly with each other; maybe Catherine was just trying to annoy her…
"Cath, I'm fine…really," she couldn't hide the frustration in her voice.
"Oh-kay…" Catherine said, dragging out the word in disbelief. They lapsed into silence for the rest of the drive to the crime scene, and Sara was thankful for that.
Pulling up to the scene, it wasn't similar to the others, nor was it different. Everything they expected to be there was, but there was a new twist to it like each past case.
The victim hadn't been so lucky this time… The brown haired woman was sprawled out on the concrete in the alleyway, clothing thrown this way and that way, blood pools and droplets leading to where the body laid. The only scrap of clothing that of which remained on the body was a pink lace bra. The woman had blood smeared all over her, abrasions and contusions covering her pale skin. She had been strangled with a pair of pantyhose, probably (most likely) her own.
Sara felt the color drain from her face, but didn't look away from the scene for fear Catherine would insist she couldn't do her job and would send her back to the lab.
"I'll take the perimeter," Catherine stated, wanting to see how much Sara could actually handle of this. Hoping the younger woman would realize that she couldn't handle it so soon.
Sara nodded, "Okay. I'll take the body." Catherine started working the entrance to the alley as Sara spoke with David about the body.
"She has defensive wounds on her wrists, perhaps from a knife." Because of that one sentence, the rest of what David said was lost on Sara as her thoughts suddenly shot back to that night. The feel of the cold blade of the knife held against her throat, and the fear that coursed through her veins as she thought she was going to die.
"…Sara...Sara?" David asked, bringing her back to the here and now.
"Oh, sorry… What did you say?" Sara asked, shaking her head as if to dispel the nagging memories from her mind.
"I asked if I could roll her," David said, gesturing to the body on the ground between them.
"Um, yeah. Just let me photograph her quick," Sara said, angling the camera to snap a few shots of the body's position and then squatting down next to David again to help him roll her. The woman's bare back revealed a bullet's entry hole. Sara snapped off three pictures of the wound with her camera.
"Why would she be strangled when he could've just shot her? It would've made the killing easier," David said.
"I don't know, David. Maybe he didn't want her to die quickly, putting her through as much pain as possible," Sara said, her tone held a slight bit of anger but she didn't think the young coroner had noticed. Sara's stomach rolled when she noticed the puddle of blood and what she could only guess to be semen and vaginal fluid on the concrete under the woman's lower body.
Sara stood from her squatting position on trembling legs, everything seemed to be spinning. She covered her mouth with her hand and tried to ignore the nauseous feeling creeping up her throat. David took note of her motions and when he noticed her swaying on her feet, David yelled for Catherine, who was still processing near the entrance of the alleyway, and quickly stood up to catch Sara if she were to faint.
Catherine rushed over, having already rid her hands of the latex gloves; she placed her hands on Sara's shoulders to steady the younger woman.
"Sara, Sara, are you okay? Do you need to sit down?" Without waiting for a response Catherine pushed her gently to lean against the brick wall only a foot or two away from where they had been and helped Sara to a seated position. Sara closed her eyes whilst leaning her head against the wall. The smell of blood in the air stung her nose and her mind once again brought her back to that night in the hospital parking lot.
She was fading in and out, not aware of Catherine repeatedly trying to get her attention, but she felt someone grabbing her wrist. She struggled until she forced her eyes open to meet Catherine's.
"Sara? I'm just taking your pulse, Honey." Turning to David she asked, "Did you call for an ambulance?"
Sara felt claustrophobic all of a sudden and she only heard her quick intakes of breath and the hammering beat of her heart as it drowned out Catherine's pleas for her to stay awake.
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A/N: Big Spanish speaking test tomorrow and I am totally freaked out. Along with a science quiz that the only way we can study for it is by memorizing these review packets word for word. No seriously, she said the quiz will have sentences directly from the packets and so we have to know them word for word. Wish me luck! :) And please review! :)