Disclaimer: I owe nothing. If I did, Grisson & Sara would never have been together. Ew.

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! Here's chapter three! Read & review, thanks!


Chapter Three

"I, uh, I didn't know where else to go…" Sara sniffled as she stood in front of Catherine.

"What happened, honey? Come inside, you're drenched." Catherine ushered her inside the house and shut the door behind them. She sat her down on the couch and wrapped her in a big blanket before running down the hall to gather some dry clothes for her. The look in Sara's eyes scared Catherine; full of fear, sadness and insecurity. Catherine sat down on the couch next to her and pulled the blanket tighter. "Sweetie? Here, go change into these. I don't want you to get sick."

"Thanks." Sara shuffled into the bathroom and reappeared a second later, dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a light blue t-shirt.

"Sara? What happened?"

Sara hesitated before replying. "I went, I went to meet… Hank after I dropped Greg off. He got off at two-thirty and had to be back by seven so we… went back to his place… to sleep." Sara wiped at the fast falling tears that were streaming down her face. "There was a… a bra… hanging off the closet door but I didn't think it was mine. I mean, I know it wasn't mine. I've stayed there before but we never…" She trailed off, looking down at her hands.

"Never?" Catherine asked. "How long have you been together?"

"Almost seven months and no, never." Sara replied. "I told him tonight that I was finally ready though."

Catherine nodded. "What happened after you saw the bra?"

"I confronted him about it. He told me about… his girlfriend or ex-girlfriend now. They broke up two nights ago."

"Wait, his girlfriend? I thought you said…" Catherine was confused.

"They had a fight a while back, seven months back, and that's when we started seeing each other. I guess they never really broke up completely because they ended up back together." Sara explained. "He never told her about me."

"Bastard." Catherine muttered.

"I tried to leave after that but he stopped me, tried to apologize and he kissed me. I, uh, slapped him and ran. I think I hit him with the door cause he called me and started screaming at me. Threatened me for breaking his nose."

"He threatened you?"

Sara nodded slightly. "Told me I was going to pay for what I did."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No…"

"Sara?"

Sara turned away from Catherine, suddenly ashamed to let her see her like this.

"Sara? Please look at me." Catherine was almost begging.

"It's nothing."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?"

Sara reluctantly pulled her right arm out from under the blanket and held it out towards Catherine. There was a very dark hand-shaped bruise on her upper arm and a similar but lighter one around her wrist.

"Oh, honey. Come here." Catherine pulled the crying CSI into her arms.

"I trusted him and he was just using me." Sara whispered.

"Shh… it's okay. You'll get through this." She pushed the younger woman's hair away from her face and kissed the top of her head.

It wasn't much longer before Sara was asleep, curled up in a ball with her head on Catherine's lap.