"You've lost her!" Catherine exclaimed incredulous. "How could you lose her? She was asleep!" She barked at the startled young nurse.

"I'm sorry Miss, we're doing everything we can to find her; she must be in the hospital grounds somewhere." He answered timidly. "She can't have gotten far." Catherine rolled her eyes.

"Yeah? Show's how well you know her." She muttered as she stalked past him.

X x x

After spending a good forty minutes searching the hospital, her phone rang. After receiving a glare from a nearby nurse, she slipped outside through the nearest exit to answer.

"What?" She snapped, not bothering to check the caller ID.

"Catherine?" Grissom's surprised voice answered. "Is Sara okay?" He asked urgently. She sighed.

"I don't know Gil, how about I call you back when we find her." She said sarcastically, then winced when she realised what she had said.

"What? Where is she?" He barked.

"Well that's kind of the problem, we don't know. She ran off." Cath explained. There was a moment's silence. "Gil?" She prompted.

"I'm coming down there." He replied eventually.

"No, don't. Look there's half the hospital looking for her. Just stay at the lab, I'll call you as soon as we find her, okay?"

"Are you sure you don't need me? Are you looking for her now?" He asked. She rolled her eyes.

"No, Gil I'm stood here talking to you." She pointed out exasperatedly. "Look, I promise I will call you as soon as I know anything okay? Just stay there."

It took some convincing but she finally persuaded him not to come. Once she hung up, she found herself stood outside the emergency department, looking at the rising sun. A thought struck her. If Sara was trying to run away, she was hardly going to sit inside the building and wait to be found.

She'd go outside.

X x x

Wandering around the entire building, it took her all of ten minutes to find the elusive brunette, sat against the wall by the ambulance bay, struggling to breathe and shivering against the morning breeze. "Oh thank God." Catherine muttered, rushing over to her. Sara spotted her and tried to curl herself up even more, as if it would make her invisible.

"Are you trying to give me a stroke?" Cath chastised, crouching down next to her. It was only when she got close that she saw the tear tracks down her face. "Shush, it's okay now. I've got you. Just calm down honey. Everything's okay." She rested the back of her hand against Sara's forehead and this time the younger woman didn't even attempt to fight it. "My God, you're burning up." Sara shook her head.

"I'm not going back." Sara insisted, still gasping desperately for air. Cath pulled her away from the wall enough to rub circles on her back in an attempt to try and calm her breathing.

"Honey, we have had half the hospital looking for you. What were you playing at?" She brushed a stray stand of hair behind Sara's ear. The young woman didn't answer, just shook her head.

"I'm not going back inside." She repeated. Cath watched her with concern, unsure of how to handle this.

"It's okay honey, just calm down. Slow your breathing down, love." She cooed, continuing to rub circles on Sara's back gently until her breathing evened out a little bit. "Babe you're sick. We need to find out what's wrong so we can help you."

"I don't want help. I want to go home." Silent tears began their trek back down her ghost white cheeks again, and she wiped them away with trembling hands. Catherine noted how cold she looked and slipped her long coat off, draping it around her friend's shoulders and pulling it tight around her. Sara tugged it close and snuggled into it, needing the warmth.

A couple of members of staff who'd been helping to look for her rounded the corner and stopped to talk to an EMT. Seeing this as her chance, Catherine wrapped an arm around Sara's back, trying to help her stand up.

"Come on, let's get you back inside." But Sara curled away from her, tears flowing freely down her face now.

"No! I want to go home." Her hazel eyes locked with Catherine's blue ones. "Please don't make me stay Catherine." She begged, her voice trembling.

Cath looked between the doctors stood a matter of feet away, and her friend: pale, scared and pleading with her for help. She was torn between what she knew was the right thing to do and what Sara so desperately wanted her to do.

Sending a silent prayer to the skies that she would be forgiven, she held out her hand to Sara.

x x x x

What will Catherine do? Review and you shall find out :) x