Title: Shattered

Author: innocent choir girl shannyfish (From Out of the Lab)

Summary: Someone is out to get Las Vegas' CSIs and Sara Sidle is their first victim. What happens when there are no leads to a suspect? Takes place during Season Seven.

Category: Ship Ahoy! Gil/Sara

Genres: Angst, Character Study, Drama, Established Relationship, Friendship, Hurt Comfort, Suspense

Characters: Jim Brass, Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, Greg Sanders

Warnings: Adult themes

Rating: R

Chapter: 2 "Follow the Evidence"

Author's Notes: isn't very cooperative. It seems whenever I go to update something it's not working… So, it seems that I forget that I have yet to post a chapter up…like this one… As you can see I post this story on and on From Out of the Lab archive. The address for that is ((http :// www. csi-forensics .com/ viewuser. php?uid1160)) which will take you to my page… If it seems to be taking me too long to update, check there ;) or e-mail me… And let's keep our fingers crossed that will be more cooperative in the future!!!!

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She could feel the bonds on her knees being pulled away. She could hear the sound of the tape being pulled from her jeans. Keeping her legs tight together she pulled them back a bit as she felt his hands over her clothed legs. Sara sucked in breath as she felt his fingers on the bare skin near the waist band of her jeans. Taking her chance, she thrust her legs forward and heard him fall back and took that chance to run…she didn't know where she was going…she couldn't see, but she wanted to get away.

"Bitch!"

Lifting her still cuffed hands up, she felt as she came upon a wall for an opening. So far, all she had was a solid wall. Panic streamed through her veins as she heard the man getting up off the floor and cursing all the while. Quickly she felt around for the open doorway, or even a handle to a door… Anything! The cool metal of the round door handle felt like a relief when Sara grasped it, but it wasn't for very long…she was grabbed from behind and thrown to the floor. Her breath was pushed out of her chest when she hit the ground on her stomach.

Her jeans were ripped off of her and she could hear them land several feet away. She tried to move, but her legs were grabbed and pulled back. A heavy hand held her down between her shoulders and he straddled her putting his weight across the back of her knees successfully keeping her in place. Sara sucked in breath sharply waiting for the next thing… She felt extremely helpless…now not only was she not able to move, but she still couldn't see… The cold metal tip of the knife across her back caused Sara to immediately start to squirm, even with the pressure of her captor holding her down.

"You think you're so smart, don't you Sara? Kick me where it hurts… I'm going to teach you a lesson now…"

His voice was cold and angry…and it scared the hell out of Sara. She stayed still, her whole body tensed up as the knife's tip traced back and forth over her skin, but not penetrating. Sucking in breath, she let out a sob… It wasn't something that was normally in her nature, to cry…especially in front of others, but now…it just felt right. It felt like maybe it would help…make her feel better in some way. But her sobs did nothing to soothe her and quickly turned into screams as she felt the knife slice into the tender skin of her lower back.

"Don't worry, Sara…no one can hear your screams… You can scream as loud as you want."

His words did little to soothe her; it actually set the fear that had been building up. If he had no fear of her screams alerting anyone, then Sara knew that they had to be somewhere isolated… That wasn't good for her. It meant she was less likely of being found. "Please…" she let out whimpering, the pain overwhelming her making her eyes slump behind the blindfold. The blood was trickling from her wounds down her sides. When he finally finished, her body just lay there…and Sara was having trouble staying conscious.

"Please," she whispered helplessly. Sara wasn't sure exactly what she was asking for, but her brain was telling her to speak that word. She let her eyes slide closed, but didn't pass out… She waited…listened… When he stood up, and took the weight off of her, she felt more pain… Her legs had gone numb and she felt like needles were dancing across them… His hand on her hair, stroking it, she wondered if he thought it was supposed to be soothing… Sara didn't feel comforted by it, but it did add to her feeling of helplessness.

"I'll be back, Sara. I need to visit your friends at CSI… You sleep. Rest."

She could fell him wrapping his fingers around her ponytail, and then felt it being pulled on. After a minute or so, she felt his hand pull away and when the ponytail didn't fall back against her, she knew he had cut it. Sara felt a loss, not a big one, but a small sadness inside of her…she had grown her hair out and it had been part of who she was.

"A present…for Grissom."

Footfalls let her know that he was leaving the room. She listened intently as the door was shut and the lock slide in place. She wasn't sure what to think about his 'present for Grissom', but she knew that Grissom wouldn't think she was dead just from a ponytail of her hair. It would take much more than that…like her body… After a couple minutes, Sara let out a heavy breath and let herself sleep.

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"I can't believe no one saw anything," Warrick exclaimed hitting his locker. They had been looking for Sara for several hours, and there was nothing to lead them to anything… So, instead he had taken a break in the locker room. He had been looking at a picture of the whole team that he had taped inside of his locker…that had been what had set him off. He sat on the bench with his head in his hands shaking his head and wondering if there could have been anything they could have done.

"You okay, Rick?" Catherine asked looking into the locker room. She had just left Grissom's office and he had been in a pretty close looking state to Warrick's. But Grissom had insisted that he needed quiet and space so he could think… She had a feeling he was getting a migraine…and probably needed to lay down. Catherine had tried to get him to talk about Sara…but he had avoided her prompts and instead had changed the subject.

"I'm just…frustrated," he said finally ending his thought. "Nick and Greg are looking over everything to make sure we didn't miss anything, but it's like the guy's a ghost…if it's even a guy…" Warrick sighed, "I keep thinking that I should have been there…or I should have called…to check on you guys…"

Catherine frowned and joined him on the bench. "Yeah…I keep thinking that I shouldn't have sent her outside by herself… I should have checked in on her…"

Warrick turned his head to look at her, "Cath, it's not your fault…" he told her.

"It's not yours either… Sara's a big girl and if we had suggested sending anyone to help her then she would have argued…but hindsight's a bitch…" Catherine reminded him. "Sara's a survivor…she's going to make it… We're going to find her…and maybe we'll all be a little more careful."

"Guys!!! Guys!!!"

Catherine and Warrick's heads shot up and to the side at Greg's yelling as he ran down the hall and stopped in the doorway of the locker room. "What is it?" Warrick asked wondering why the younger man was yelling. Then something clicked, and Warrick wondered if he'd get a positive answer on his next question, "Did someone find Sara?"

Shaking his head, Greg's frown reappeared. He'd been carrying that expression all day. He knew what it was like to be attacked, but for Sara to be gone, too? He wasn't sure what to think… "No. But Grissom has a ponytail with blood on it… He's examining it now… He thinks it might be Sara's…"

No more needed to be said, Catherine and Warrick both got up and hurriedly followed Greg back towards the inner lab. They gathered outside of the closed lab, along with Greg, Nick, and Brass. Catherine talked to Brass while they waited and found out that he had found it…it had been left on Grissom's car. Brass had parked next to it and had thought it was odd. She wasn't sure how to feel…she was nervous…but should she be worried? She really wanted to bust into the lab and see it for herself… What if she could identify it for sure? Sure, the DNA would tell, but she'd seen Sara earlier…how she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Covering her face with one hand, Catherine turned and closed her eyes waiting for Grissom to appear and tell them the news.

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TBC…