I do not own CSI or any of these characters.

Chapter 6: Momentum.

Thank you all for the great reviews. Remember, any mistakes are my own as I have no Beta (and, I just made up the Vegas West Trauma Center. Don't think it really exists)


Nick stood outside trauma room #4, his forehead placed against the cold glass of the small window. Inside, Sara lay among the array of nurses and counselors, her head turned stubbornly away from all of them as they attempted to convince her that everything was alright. Nick knew, just as well as he knew Sara Sidle, that she wasn't buying any of it.

It had been just over an hour since hey had gotten Sara in and had rushed her back immediately, pumping her full of black liquid to absorb the lethal level of drugs she had taken. He had stayed with her, holding her hand and trying to comfort her as they shoved a tube down her throat, essentially vacuuming out the contents of her stomach. She had vomited, several times, as he held her hair back; soothing her calmly as she shook violently. In all of his life he thought he would never live through anything as traumatic as that again; there was something unspeakably horrible about watching your best friend being brought back from an attempted suicide.

Nick thought that he would never look at the color black the same again.

He watched silently as the hospital chaplain went into Sara's room, standing before her with his Holy Book clasped in his hands. As he watched, Sara turned away from the man, curling up into a ball on her side to face away from all of them.

"Leave her alone" He said to the door before pushing his way into her room. "Why don't you all just leave her alone?" He said aloud, eliciting glances from those in the room. Nick looked over at the chaplain and nodded. "No, offense...it's just that I think she's had enough for today, that's all."

The chaplain returned the nod as he headed for the door, stopping so that he was shoulder to shoulder with Nick. "Just tell her that I am available anytime, if she needs me."

Nick waited as the nurse gave Sara a sedative, wondering why it was that they found it necessary to give a drug overdose victim sedatives. Once everyone had gone, Nick went around the bed and grabbed a chair, glancing over at her, as she lay curled on her side in a ball. "So," he said as he scooted the chair closer to her, leaning in so that his elbows were braced on his knees. "You wanna tell me about it?"

She was quiet, staring ahead at nothing in particular. "No?" He said carefully. "Sara, I can't help you through this if you won't talk to me"

She shifted her eyes to look at him. "No one can help me through this." She told him, her voice hoarse.

She dropped her gaze, staring ahead at a spot on the wall directly through his chest. Nick sighed, looking down at his hands before back at her. "You wanna at least tell me about Grissom?"

Her eyes closed and he watched her carefully for what seemed like minutes before he reached out to place a hand on her hair, running his fingers through it soothingly. "Sara?"

"I don't want him to come here." She told him as a tear slid out below her eyelid to slowly trickle down her cheek. "I don't want him to look at me"

"Sara..."

"I don't want to be a victim." She said, swallowing. "Victims die; they get killed by their assailants. And if they don't die, the people who love them look at them differently; they feel sorry for them and soon that sympathy replaces the love and then all they have left is someone who is with them just because they feel bad...and not because they love them."

"I wouldn't look at you like that, Sar."

"No." She said sadly. "But Gil does."

He stopped his motion through her hair momentarily as his eyes locked with hers. "Is that why you took the pills? Because of Grissom?"

She licked her lips, her tired eyes full of sorrow as she shook her head slightly. "I don't know...maybe, okay?"

"What did he do, Sara?" He asked softly, encouragingly. "What did he do to make you do this?"

"He made me a victim" She told him sadly.

His jaw clenched involuntarily as he felt a quiet rage boiling inside of him. "Who?"

She returned her gaze to the invisible spot through his chest and he could see the wall building behind her eyes. "I don't want you to hate me"

"Oh, come on Sweetheart" he said "I could never hate you...never...you know that right?" When she nodded, he continued, hating himself for the question he was about to ask "But I need to know...did Grissom do this?"

"Oh, God..no...No, Nicky..."

He felt a wave of relief wash through him "You gonna tell me who did?"

"I don't know if you'd believe me..."

"Try me" He smiled softly, trying to encourage her

"I went in..." she started sleepily as the sedative began to take affect "...to talk to him after shift. I thought it was because of my attitude...I wish...I'd have just left..."

Nick felt his mind going into over time, processing what she had told him "Ecklie?"

She nodded,her eyes spilling over with tears "I don't know what to do..."

Nick felt a cold shudder go through him, his chest momentarily feeling as though someone had poured cold ice inside his skin. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he felt anger he had never felt before. He lifted his head to look down at her, but her eyes were closed and her breathing leveled out, the sedative having done its job.

He pushed away from her side as if burned by fire, staring at her a moment before bolting towards the door. As he threw the door open, he ran full force into Greg as he came in, nearly knocking him to the ground.

"What the---" Greg began as Nick glared at him.

"I'll kill him." Nick seethed. "I'm gonna blow his fucking head off."


Catherine glanced in the rearview mirror, noting the dark sedan that veered through traffic behind her. Looking ahead, she gripped the steering wheel as she depressed the accelerator; she was only a few blocks from Lindsay's recital and if she drove a little faster, he wouldn't be able to catch up to her before she got there.

Rounding a corner, she took the small side street towards the school when suddenly he was beside her, yanking his car to a screeching halt in front of her. It was all she could do to keep from taking his fender off with the front of her car.

She went to put her car in reverse just as he grabbed the door handle, banging violently on her window as he screamed at her. "Open the door, Catherine!"

She stared at him, putting the car into park. "Leave me alone, Conrad."

"Open the God Damn door!" He bellowed, yanking on the handle.

Catherine paused before shifting the car into reverse, backing up only slightly; after what he did to Sara, there was no way in hell she would open her door for him. Instead of letting go of the handle as she had hoped he would, he began slamming his arm into her window, screaming at her the entire duration.

"Open your God Damn door, Willows!" He demanded. "Open this fucking door before I bust this window and pull your sorry ass out!"

Catherine felt herself beginning to panic, despite her best efforts to stay calm. Shaking, she held her hand up towards him. Just as she was about to slam her foot down on the accelerator, Ecklie's arm crashed through the window and he grabbed her roughly by the hair. Pulling her towards him, he shook her slightly. "Don't you ever fucking ignore me Willows! EVER!"

"Conrad!" She exclaimed. "Please..."

"I know you've been talking to Sidle" He seethed. "Where the hell is she?"

"I don't know!" She told him, holding her arms up as though in surrender.

"DON'T FUCKING LIE TO ME!" He screamed, shaking her again.

"I am not lying!" She insisted, trying to fight off the extreme panic she was feeling. "God, Conrad, please! I am not lying!"

Just then a car came around the corner, stopping a few yards behind Catherine's car. Ecklie glanced over, giving out a low growl before letting her go. "You just remember..." he seethed. "...Remember what you have to lose if you fuck me over, Willows." He stood, straightening his jacket as he glared at the driver behind Catherine. "Sidle is a problem; she's nothing but a lying little bitch and I expect you to remember that when it comes time to choosing your priorities." With that he turned and stalked to his car, glaring at her as he climbed in to speed away.

Catherine sat, her breathing coming out in rapid intakes as she waited for her heart to slow down. Her hands were trembling as she stuck her arm out the shattered window to wave the other driver by. Once the car had gone around her, she reached up to wipe away something on her cheek; when she pulled her hand away and so blood, she put her head down on the steering wheel and began to cry.


Gil listened to the steady tone of Sara's phone as he called her for the 10th time; and for the 10th time she didn't answer. Sighing, he placed the phone next to him on the passenger seat, his gaze falling on the intersection across from where he sat parked. Ecklie would be going into the lab soon; he would be stopping by the coffee shop to get a tall skinny white chocolate mocha. He would go to the news stand and buy a magazine, perhaps a New York Times. Then, he would climb in his car and go to the lab, parking in his usual spot while he read the magazine and drank the coffee.

Gil sat waiting, knowing that somewhere between the New York Times and the parking garage, Ecklie would pass through this intersection. He sat focused, staring at the road in front of him intently, his anger growing as he waited.

Gil always knew that deep down inside him there was an angry man waiting to get out. He never imagined that the angry man would be capable of cold blooded murder.

Then again, he never imagined that he would ever be so incredibly, completely, obsessively in love with Sara. And he never, ever thought that anyone would ever hurt the only person in his life that he would kill for.

'Reasons for temporary insanity' He thought. 'He hurt my Sara...I had to kill him...I had to...'

And not just kill him; rip him from limb to limb slowly. Make him scream like she must have screamed. 'I want to kill him with my bare hands' He thought. 'Beat him to death. Beating him to death would be good. Just fucking kill him'

He waited and watched and just as he saw Conrad's car enter the intersection, his phone rang. Cursing, he slammed his foot on the accelerator as he flew into the intersection, barely missing another car as he swung around to follow Conrad's lead. "Grissom" He barked into his phone.

"Is this Doctor Gilbert Grissom?" A woman's voice asked him.

'Who the hell else would answer the phone with 'Grissom'?" He thought. "Yes, it is" He said almost irritably.

"Dr. Grissom," She continued. "This is Vegas West Trauma Center. You are listed as the emergency contact for Sara Sidle?"

He felt his heart skip a beat as it caught in his throat. "Yes..."

"Dr. Grissom, Ms. Sidle was brought in earlier this evening. We have been trying to call you..."

"What's wrong with Sara?" He demanded, pulling his car over to the curb.

"Ms. Sidle was brought in for an overdose, Dr. Grissom" The woman explained. "She's okay right now, but we need you to come down and sign some paper..."

He hung up; closing the phone with a click as he sat staring out the window at the rain that seemed to be drenching his life as well as Las Vegas.