Disclaimer: And once again, I still own nothing.

Chapter Ten

The ride to the hospital was mostly silent with the occasional whimper from Sara.

"Catherine, does Grissom…?"

"No, I didn't tell anyone. I told Ecklie to take the case and not let anyone know." Catherine replied. "They're going to want to visit, you know that?"

Sara shook her head. "No, I don't want…them to see me…like this."

"Sara?"

"Hurts, can't breath." Sara's eyes grew wide in panic.

"Shh, Sara. It's okay. We're almost there. Stay with him."

One of the paramedics stood up and grabbed an ampu-bag. "You need to speed it up there, Bill." He told the driver.

"Sara, c'mon. Open your eyes. Stay with us. I can't lose you now. Who else is going to stand up to Ecklie for us? Or help me tease Greg? Oh, Sara… you have to stay with us. Nick will never forgive himself."

"Nick…" She heard Sara whisper before falling unconscious.

The paramedic quickly began bagging her as they pulled into the emergency entrance of Desert Palm Hospital. The next few minutes were a blur for Catherine as they raced into the emergency room and doctors began shouting orders.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

2:30am

"Ma'am? We need some information forms filled out." A nurse handed her a clipboard almost twenty minutes later.

"Is she… how is she?"

"She's stable but we need this consent form signed for surgery."

"Surgery?"

"There's a possibility that one of her ribs punctured her lung, which may explain why she was having difficulty breathing. She's going up to x-ray now." The nurse explained. "Do you know a… Catherine Willows?"

"That's me, why?"

"She has you listed as her emergency contact. That allows you to give consent."

"Me? What…how come I didn't know? I thought it was Grissom?" Catherine spoke more to herself than the nurse.

"It looks like she changed it to you… three days ago. Did she know something was going to happen?"

"Uh, no. She broke up with her boyfriend and he wasn't happy about it but I don't think she knew this would happen. She probably did it just to be safe. That's what she does."

"Okay, well, I need you to sign this paper and fill out this paperwork as best as possible. She'll most likely be upstairs for about another hour and a half so I would suggest going home to gather a few things for her, call her family…" The nurse kept talking but Catherine stopped listening when she felt her phone vibrating in her phone.

"Willows." She answered. "Yeah, I'm here now. Can you have Nick come pick me up? I left my car at the scene. Oh, okay. Thanks." She took the pen from the nurse and quickly scribbled her signature before taking the rest of the paperwork from her. "What was that, Grissom?"

"I asked if she was okay."

"I'm not sure yet. They said she was stable but they're doing x-rays and tests to make, uh, make sure she doesn't need surgery."

"Surgery? Does she need me down there? What can I do?"

"I don't, I don't know. I need to get some clothes for her and fill out paperwork. I don't know anything about her, Grissom. I can't do this." Catherine couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

"It's all right, Catherine. What kind of paperwork do you have?"

"There medical papers. Can, can you get her file ready for me? I have -."

"I can do that. Fill out the paperwork. Have Nick bring them back to the lab while you go home."

"I have to do it, Gil. Emergency contact."

"Emergency contact? When did she change that?"

"I'm not sure. Did Ecklie go to the scene? Her apartment?"

"Yes, he's already gone and cleared everything. They didn't find anything at the apartment but there was evidence in the alley. It's being processed now."

"Okay. I see Nick coming. I'm going to stop by my house first and then I'll be in. Thanks, Gil."

"Be careful, Catherine. I don't want to have to visit you in the emergency room tonight, too."

"I will." She hung up the phone just as Nick pulled up.

"Catherine, what happened?"

"I can't… She doesn't want me to tell anyone." Catherine replied. "Just…she's all right for now."

"What?"

"Please, Nicky. I told her I'd let her tell you herself. Day shift is already processing the scenes."

"Scenes? It was Hank, wasn't it? I'll kill that bastard!"

"Nick!"

"Catherine, you know we're a family here. You can't just not tell us anything."

"I know, I want to. I just…oh, forget it. Yes, it was Hank. We have to wait for her to wake up to know what happened for sure but we're pretty positive that he assaulted and raped her."

Nick was silent for a minute before responding. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She's a fighter. If anyone can get through this, it's her." Catherine replied. "Turn left here. I need to get her some stuff."

"Didn't you say her apartment was a scene?"

"Yeah, we're going to my place."