The joke quickly withered, helped into submission by a stern look from Grissom, and though Sara doubted it would be the last they would hear of it, no more was said of it that evening. As daylight faded Nick and Warrick were allocated cooking duty for the evening meal, and soon set about installing themselves in the kitchen and examining supplies, but across in the living room, Sofia had fallen into a worrying silence. She sat with her head in her hands, her hair ruffled from a day of lying on the couch, and beside her Catherine sat with an arm around her shoulders, talking quietly in her ear. After a moment Sofia nodded, and the two disappeared discretely upstairs.
Seeing Grissom looked concerned, Sara gave the two a few minutes' head start before following to check on them. She found them in the upstairs bathroom, and though the door was closed, she heard Catherine's voice coming through softly from the other side.
"… It's starting to get dark out, I'll leave the matches here with the candle just in case. And you've got a clean towel, washcloth … Can you manage or do you need some help?"
"I can manage," Sofia said weakly.
Even as she listened to the pain in her voice, Sara had to wonder if it was true, and when Catherine next spoke it was with a note of maternal concern.
"Well yell out if you need us, okay? Don't hesitate. We'll be close by."
"Thanks, Catherine."
"I'll be back."
The doorknob turned, and Sara thought to go back downstairs, but it was too late. Catherine emerged, but as she closed the door behind her she looked unconcerned by Sara's presence.
"Is she okay?" Sara asked.
Catherine shrugged; she looked worried, and motioned toward the nearest bedroom, wanting a private word.
They closed the door behind them.
"I think she's in pain," Catherine explained. "Worn down. It's starting to get to her."
They were in Grissom's bedroom, the only one with a double bed, and the master bedroom for the house. The sheets on the bed were wrinkled and creased from an evidently restless night's sleep, the covers thrown carelessly aside. Catherine moved to the wardrobe, opening it to survey the previous owner's clothes. She reached for a blue men's t-shirt.
"Well," Sara said, considering the problem, "we could always up the meds. A higher dosage might help."
"She's worried she'll get addicted," Catherine replied, throwing the t-shirt onto the bed. "If we use the narcotics there'll be side-effects – sleepiness, nausea, hallucinations. And I don't know, I think part of her's just tired. She's taking a hot shower, then we'll get her into some fresh clothes and get her to bed, and hopefully it'll help."
Sara nodded sadly. It was a hard feeling to watch someone struggle to deal with their pain, and know there was so little they could do to help. The hours of helping Sofia had left her feeling strangely morose, and had been another reason she had been eager to escape into the sunshine with Grissom that afternoon. The burden of all their problems was growing ever heavier.
"Actually, I wanted a word," Catherine said, putting some shorts with the t-shirt. "About the sleeping arrangements. Sofia needs a bed. It might make it easier for everyone if you shared with Grissom. I wondered if you'd mind."
There was a knowing glint in her eye as she asked which told Sara that she already knew the answer. Sara tried to rein in a smile.
"Uh … I think we can agree that's a rhetorical question," she answered, sharing a conspiring grin.
Catherine laughed, and closed the wardrobe door.
"Just bear in mind the walls are thin," she said. "Try to behave yourselves. No hanky panky."
"Well, I can't make any promises…" Sara teased, grinning.
And laughing, they left the room.
As it happened, Catherine had little to worry about. After her shower Sofia went quickly to bed, helped by Catherine, and the others followed not long after. As Sara closed the bedroom door and sat down on the bed she felt strangely tired, and she realised she had been staring aimlessly only when Grissom's hand settled affectionately on her shoulder.
"Are you all right?"
His hand squeezed, and she leaned into it.
"It's been two days and she hasn't asked," Sara said, shaking her head at him. "How long do we let this go on? We can't hide the truth forever."
Grissom looked tired, and wearily shrugged a shoulder.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I think maybe she's afraid, that she knows something's wrong. Or that she's in too much pain to handle it."
"I know she's in pain, that she's hurting, but we can't stay here forever. We have to make a call. This limbo is burying us alive."
"I know," he said simply. He squeezed her shoulder. "If she doesn't ask tomorrow, I'll tell her. And Catherine and I will go into town."
He didn't look comfortable with the prospect, and Sara knew he wanted to avoid splitting the team at all costs, that he preferred all of them to go to town together. The risk of disease, the fear of what was waiting for them out there was very real, and yet the uncertainty of waiting around in the house for days on end was getting to be more than Sara could cope with. When she had first returned from town she had desperately needed the rest, but now, the idleness and fear was wearing them all down.
"Come here," he said, drawing her to him.
She let him guide her, and lay down on the bed, snuggling into his side. He held her, drawing a sheet up over them both and kissing her hair.
"Go to sleep," he whispered.
And closing her eyes, feeling safe and warm in his arms, she did.
In the end, fate removed the decision from their hands, just as it had everything else in the days since their arrival. Sara slept through most of the night comfortably snuggled in bed, but when she woke, thanks to their early night, it was still dark. She turned her head on the pillow to see that she had drifted away from Grissom sometime during the night, and that he had inexplicably hogged the blankets. Smiling to herself, she pushed herself up, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. There was a hint of faint purple light coming from around the curtains, indicating it was nearing morning, but the house was silent. She shivered as she sat there, the morning chill cold against her bare legs. Like all of them, she had borrowed fresh clothes, and adopted a purple t-shirt and black shorts from the cupboard. Her underwear, jeans and shirt had been discarded, with a vague plan that she would hand wash them in the laundry and hang them out to dry in the sun later on.
She swung her legs to the floor, and as she did the mattress moved.
"How'd you sleep?" Grissom asked quietly.
She turned, unaware that he had been awake, and saw him lying back comfortably back on his pillow, gazing at her.
"I slept fine," she said, then added with a smile, "considering you hogged the blankets."
His eyes flitted down to her side of the bed, but he looked more amused than concerned.
"You should have tugged them back."
She grinned. "I would have."
"Besides," he added, eyes innocently dipping to her bare legs, "It's habit. Maybe I like the view."
She grinned wider, and for a second had to struggle not to get back in bed and join him. He smiled with such contemplative innocence that it took all of her strength to resist. She knew very well what he meant, that he was thinking of all the summer afternoons in which they had slept together back in Vegas. Sara was a restless sleeper, and often kicked down the blankets and sheets until she woke with nothing over her. And on hot days, when she often slipped into bed in just her underwear, or naked post-coitus, she had often woken to find him gazing intently at her, his love-filled eyes on her breasts, his expression strangely relaxed. Sometimes he traced her nipples with his index finger, watching them harden, and then invariably his touch ended up drifting further down, until his fingers settled between her legs. She had taught him once, early on their relationship, how she liked being touched, and he had committed the lesson to memory with mind-blowing accuracy. He knew just how much pressure to apply, how fast to go, and without ever exchanging a word, would watch as he brought her to orgasm. He always grew hard watching, and more often than not she took care of him afterwards, leaving both of them thoroughly satisfied.
He held up the blankets.
"Come on," he said, "We'll share. I'll repent for my evil ways."
She smiled, but was jolted as she heard a door across the hall click closed. Soft footsteps sounded on the floorboards as someone padded toward the stairs, evidently not wanting to be heard.
"Someone's awake," she said quietly.
A sharp wince sounded.
"Sofia," Grissom realised.
They both got up, and made their way downstairs by torchlight. They found her in the kitchen, a single candle on the table flickering dull light through the room, Sofia standing at the bench popping two pills into her mouth. She wore the blue t-shirt and shorts that Catherine had fetched her earlier, but to Sara she looked much better than she had the night before. Sofia turned to glance at them as they came down the stairs, and there wasn't a trace of pain in her face.
"Hey," she greeted.
"Good morning," Grissom greeted, sounding surprised. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," Sofia admitted, giving a small smile. "I think I slept for over twelve hours – that bed's really comfortable." She scrutinised them a second. "I hope I didn't wake you?"
"We were already awake," Sara said. "We heard you come downstairs."
Sofia raised an eyebrow, but did not comment.
"Would you like some coffee?" Grissom offered.
"Yeah," she agreed.
Grissom crossed to the stove. Since the electricity was out, they had to boil the water in a saucepan. It was not ideal, but over the last few days Sara had gotten used to it, just as she had adjusted to everything else.
"Look," Sofia said awkwardly, "as long as we're alone down here, can we talk?"
Sara turned with Grissom to look at her. There was an intensity to her expression, to her blue eyes, which told Sara the moment had come. But it was Grissom who replied.
"Sure," he said gently. He pulled out a chair for her. "Sit down."
Sara joined them, leaving the water to boil quietly on the stove. The candle flickered, burning low.
"I've spent the last few days trying not to ask this," Sofia began, "but now … I think I need to know. I need to know why we're stuck here, and what's going on?"
"It's a long story," Sara warned.
"Well … I think we have the time," Sofia pressed.
Sara nodded, understanding. "What do you remember?"
"I don't remember anything. The last I know, I was in Las Vegas. And then I woke up here on the couch with a blinding headache. I don't even know how long I was unconscious."
"Then I guess we'll start at the beginning," Grissom said. "And we'll tell you all we know."
Grissom began by telling her about the case in Las Vegas, how the team had been summoned to the scene in the desert to help Brass with the grid search, and how Grissom had called Sara for help. He told her of the heat, feeling faint, and how they had then all woken up in the dry field a few miles away, before relating to her the details of everything that had happened since. Sofia listened as he laid it all down: their failed trek up the road for help, then finding her by the hillside and their decision to go for aid. She looked troubled as they told her about her injuries, but her expression turned to utter disbelief as Sara took over the story, telling of her hike up the road with Nick and Warrick, and hesitantly relating everything they had seen at the town. Even as she said it she knew how ridiculous it sounded, and was not in the least surprised by Sofia's reaction.
"So … let me get this straight," she said firmly. "You're seriously telling me that we all woke up in the middle of nowhere, that civilisation has been obliterated by a pandemic, that you think we're in a parallel world, but that I'm the one with the head injury?"
Her eyes bored into Sara as if she had lost her mind, but prepared for this, Sara remained calm. She stood, and fetched the newspaper from where they had hidden it in the bottom drawer. She slid it across the table.
"I know how bizarre it sounds," she said. "I said all the exact same things to Nick when we were in town. But this is what we saw, and it's why we didn't tell you before now."
Sofia stared at the headline, dead silent. They gave her a long moment take it in.
"When you feel strong enough we'll take you into town," Grissom said. "You can see for yourself."
Sofia was speechless. She stared at the newspaper, reading and turning pages, and then looked up to Sara as if hoping that it was a joke. But Sara did not laugh.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing," Sofia said, still staring at them.
Sara had no answer.
"All right," she said, taking a deep breath and slipping into detective mode, "Take me back a step. Tell me exactly where you found me."
"Just outside," Grissom replied. "Over the rise."
"If you want to grab your shoes we can show you," Sara offered, sympathising with her need to get her head around it.
"Thanks," Sofia said, nodding and moving to stand.
"Bring your weapon," Grissom said to her. "No one steps outside of this house unarmed. I'll leave a note for Catherine."
It was still dark outside, the first ray of light touching the eastern horizon, the world still a haze of pre-dawn shadows. Sara shone her torch ahead as they led Sofia up the rise behind the barn, and over the other side to the far slope where they had found her. She stopped as they reached the spot, and shone her light down on the dusty, dry ground.
"You were here on your side," Sara said gently. "You were bleeding from a head wound, Catherine and I examined you and found the bruises to your body. There was no one else in sight."
Sofia still looked puzzled. "May I have the light?"
Sara offered it to her. Sofia used it to examine the ground, and Sara knew she was searching for any sign of blood, any clues as to what might have happened. She slowly made her way up the slope, looking increasingly disturbed as she found nothing.
At last she stopped.
"There's nothing here. There's no sign at all."
"I know," Grissom replied, nodding sadly. "We can't explain it yet. We can't explain how any of us woke up here."
"But at least when you woke up you were okay," she pointed out.
"We weren't okay," Sara said, moved to be honest. "When we woke we were all sick. We all vomited several times, felt dizzy, and dehydrated…"
"But these marks on me," Sofia said, looking worried, "these bruises. You didn't have those?"
"No, we didn't," Grissom agreed quietly.
She only looked even more distressed, and after a moment Grissom took pity on her.
"Let's sit down," he said.
He took her elbow and sat her down on the hillside with Sara.
"We may not know what happened, but you're going to be fine," he told her. "You've come a long way already. I know the situation's daunting, but we're all going to get through it together."
"You don't know that," Sofia said, turning on him with a firm eye. "And that's easy for you to say when you're not the one going through it. You're a scientist and you know the numbers on this as well as I do. You tell me I was unconscious for hours, for a whole day, and that's too long for a concussion. If it had been just that I would've woken in minutes. Any longer than that and we're talking about a serious head injury, that something's badly wrong. The chances are I have a brain injury, that I'm bleeding in the brain right now. Injuries like that build up pressure in the skull over time, and without surgery, I'll –"
"Sofia –" Sara swiftly cut in and put an arm around her shoulders, holding her. She spoke gently. "- I know you're scared, but I'm going to tell you the truth, okay? You're right – we may not know for sure that you're fine, and we're all scared. If there was anything we could do right now to get you to a hospital, to get that assurance, you'd be there. But as scary as it is and as much pain as you're in, the science is positive. The key symptom of any bleeding on the brain is discharge from the nasal passages or the ears. We've been monitoring you closely ever since we found you and there's been none. Another symptom is seizures and you haven't had any of those either. And you're talking to us right now without any obvious sign of cognitive impairment or deficiency. In short, there's no conclusive evidence that it's that serious, or that your life is in danger. There are a lot of reasons why the human body can shut down like that – cold, or pain – and we don't know that you weren't simply asleep. Your system might have just been in shock for a while, needed some time. I firmly believe you're going to be okay."
"And if I'm not?" Sofia asked, searching Sara's eyes.
It was a rare admission, but Sara could not blame her for being afraid, with everything they had lobbed onto her shoulders in the last five minutes.
"If you're not, we'll take care of you," Sara replied, still holding her. "We're not going to leave you with this, and we will look after you, whatever happens. I promise, okay? You're going to be fine, and we'll help. You just need to be honest with us – tell us how you're feeling, when you're in pain, and we'll handle it, okay? If you'll be brave, we'll be brave."
It was a hard thing, to reassure Sofia when she was probably exactly right. The period of unconsciousness was not normal, and Sara knew it. But she was damned if she was going to give up, to look the other way and pretend not to notice. She had vivid memories of too many people looking the other way from her own pain and injuries when she was a child, and knew too much how it felt to hurt alone, with no one to lean on or offer a kind hug. She was not going to do that to anyone else. And she knew living in that kind of fear and vulnerability was something Grissom had never experienced.
"Thanks," Sofia whispered, wiping quickly at her eyes.
"You're welcome," Sara said kindly. She rubbed her back. "Why don't we go back, get in the warm, and get some breakfast, hmm?"
"Sure."
They helped her to her feet, and by the time they reached the kitchen door, where they found Catherine reading the note they had left, she had composed herself, and it was a while before any of them mentioned the subject again.
XXX
After their discussion with Sofia, Sara related most of what had happened in private to Catherine, who merely commented that it sounded like she had taken it much better than she herself had, but seemed relieved that it was now all out in the open. The strange thing was how much Sara's moment of kindness seemed to strengthen Sofia. It was as if now she had finally expressed her fears, and been reassured, she felt able to deal with them, and swiftly bounced back to tackle their problems head on with the same no-nonsense LVPD zest that Sara had not seen from her in days.
They were pouring themselves bowls of cereal with long-life milk when Nick and Warrick came down. Dressed in their boxers and t-shirts, they yawned as they meandered in, looking still half asleep.
"Morning," Catherine said brightly.
"Hey," Nick replied.
He rubbed his eyes, then stopped suddenly in his tracks as he took in the scene.
"Damn," he said, pausing.
Sara saw what had caught his eye – herself, Catherine and Sofia had all borrowed clothes from the wardrobe, and had traded their jeans for skimpy shorts, exposing their long bare legs. Nick blinked, and Warrick looked suddenly awake, a smile pulling at his lips.
"You found some clothes, then," he observed.
"Like what you see?" Catherine said airily, giving them a flirtatious look.
"Would you be offended if we did?" Warrick replied, casting another glance at her as he went to grab a bowl.
"Eyes off," Grissom said firmly, shooting them a reproving look.
"Don't you dare lecture us," Nick said, amused. "We're not the ones who whisked Sara off into a haystack yesterday."
"Exactly," Warrick added, sitting down. "You're not exactly the epitome of self-control here."
Grissom had no come-back.
Feeling herself go red, Sara sat down, trying not to smile.
"Can we keep this on topic, please?" she asked.
"Sure," Nick said, still looking amused. "Only, what is the topic?"
"Town," Sofia said, joining them with a determined look in her eye. "We need to go take a look."
The men's expressions halted as they looked at her, sensing a dramatic change.
"We told her," Grissom supplied, answering their questioning look.
Nick nodded, slightly awkward. "You okay?" he asked her.
"I'm fine," she replied. "But I think we should go today. Hanging around here isn't doing us any favours. We need more information."
"Someone slept well last night," Warrick quipped.
But Sofia wasn't in the mood for jokes, and her firm detective's eyes stared him down.
"You realise it's a long way?" Sara said. "When we went, it took us four or five hours to walk there. In the sun, you'll feel it."
"You need to be sure you're up for it," Warrick said. "Once we're out there, there's no easy ride home. Know what I mean?"
"Maybe we should wait a few days," Nick said, trying to be kind. "See how you're feeling."
"I feel fine," Sofia said. "A headache is neither here nor there."
They argued for a moment, but in the end Nick and Warrick didn't put up much of a fight. Sara sensed that like her, they were secretly tired of sitting around, and only tried to talk her out of the idea out of concern for her medical state, rather than because they thought it was a bad suggestion. Sofia quickly talked them around, to the point where half an hour later they were all dressed back in their work clothes and CSI vests, and were ready to go, eager to get as far as they could before the sun rose high.
Knowing what lay ahead, this time the hike did not bother Sara. They walked the three bikes with them, hoping to pick up another three in town so they could ride back, and the relaxing pace under the fresh blue morning sky meant Sara actually felt quite relaxed for the first time in days. Warrick led the way, sharing a joke with Catherine beside him, and at the back of the pack Sara put on her sunglasses, and then deliberately hung back with Sofia to talk with her alone.
"Can I ask you something?" she voiced.
"Sure," Sofia replied, looking at ease. "What is it?"
"A few days ago, when we were in the bathroom, you asked me about Catherine. Why did you ask that?"
Sofia sighed, the memory evidently unpleasant for her. But unlike the last time Sara had asked, this time she didn't hesitate to answer honestly.
"It was no big deal," she said. "It's just that when you guys asked me what happened, what was the last thing I remembered, the last thing I remember is actually Lindsey. I thought it best not to tell Catherine that."
"Lindsey?" Sara prompted, confused.
"Yeah, her daughter," Sofia replied. "I actually wasn't scheduled to work that day, but Brass called me at home after you disappeared. He asked for my help, said the media had got wind of your disappearance and he asked me to do him a favour and go pick her up from school before she found out by other means. I drove to the school and got her pulled from class, and I told her. She didn't take it well. She broke down in my arms in the principal's office."
Sara nodded, able to imagine it. "Lindsey lost her dad when she was young, and you know Catherine lost her father last year. That family's had a lot of pain. In some ways, Catherine's all she has."
"Yeah, so I found out," Sofia said sadly. "Anyway, I drove her to Catherine's mom's house, so she was safe there for the time being. The court's probably given her temporary custody by now."
"And that's the last thing you remember?"
"Basically, yes. I know I left the house and drove out to join Jim, but I don't remember getting there. And I have no recollection of what happened. I do know that they were panicking – you'd disappeared from right under the noses of a dozen officers, and everyone in PD was getting enlisted to help. My whole team in homicide got called in. But I don't know anything more than that."
"And then you disappeared," Sara realised, her mind piecing the picture together. "They must be freaking out by now."
"I think they were freaking out even before I went missing," Sofia answered.
Sara let out a breath, her mind spinning. For the first time she had an inkling of what must be happening back in Vegas. Her heart panged for Greg and Brass, who she knew would both be feeling it, and for Lindsey and their families who would be terrified for their fate. And her years as a CSI enabled her to imagine the rest. PD would no doubt be thinking that they had met with foul play, been hurt or abducted, and by now their whole lives would be open to the inspection of the detectives' division. Their houses would be searched for clues, their medical records and phone logs examined, and by now, days later, hope of finding them alive would begin to dissipate. They would know by now that something was seriously wrong, and would not be expecting to find them alive.
Sara sighed, now able to fully understand why Sofia had avoided their questions.
"Don't tell her," Sofia said.
Sara shook her head. "I won't."
It took Sara another mile before she was able to shake off the depressing feeling the conversation had left her with, but Sofia, who had had several days to process the information, seemed upbeat. They re-joined the pack, who had stopped to wait for them when they realised how far behind they had fallen, and Nick, who mistook this for Sofia feeling unwell, offered to give her a piggy-back for a stretch.
"You're offering to carry me?" she asked, looking thoroughly amused.
"Just thought it might help to take the strain off for a bit," he said. "Take it easy, you know?"
Sofia glanced him up and down.
"What, you think I'm not strong enough or something?" he said, mocking offence. "Come here, come on –"
He took control, halting her and taking her water bottle from her hand.
"Give that to Sara –"
He bent over in front of her, and Sofia, grinning ear to ear, climbed on. Nick looped a hand under her thighs and picked her up with macho ease.
"Piece of cake," he declared cheerfully.
On his back, Sofia looked as if she was thoroughly enjoying herself, and though Catherine slipped Sara a meaningful look, it was a testament to how worried they all felt for Sofia that not one of them cracked a joke. In the end, it was Sara who took the brunt of Nick's good humour, when they passed the first sign of a farm, several miles on and nearing the edge town, and Nick nodded to a barn down in the valley.
"Whoa, watch out, there's a haystack down there," he jibed.
"Someone grab those two before they get tempted," Warrick added.
Sara smiled. "How long is this joke going to go on?"
"Oh, I think it'll be a while yet," Nick said, teasing her.
But he touched her shoulder as he said it, and she knew he meant it affectionately. Sara did not protest – far preferring the jokes over all the other possible sources of discussion, including their ever worsening predicament, or Sofia's still possible death. If she wasn't laughing, she would be having a breakdown, and she suspected all the others felt the same.
They reached the town four and a half hours after they first set off, and when they descended the hill into the small settlement Sara judged from the sun that it was nearing midday. The town looked different in daylight, somehow less spooky than it had been in her previous trip, though it looked every bit as abandoned as it had before.
They wandered into the town, drifting to a stop near the centre.
Catherine looked shocked, staring around mute at the damage.
"Here I was hoping you were exaggerating," she said quietly.
"I wish we were," Warrick replied.
The humour from the day abruptly vanished as Sara felt their situation again pressing in around her.
"This doesn't look good," Grissom said, looking equally troubled.
Sara said nothing.
"We didn't get a good chance to look around properly last time," Nick said. "We pretty much just grabbed the drugs and food and headed back."
"Then we should look around this time," Grissom agreed. "But bear in mind this place is tainted – don't touch anything at all with your bare hands."
"We should look for a map or a town name," Catherine suggested, visibly trying to pull herself together. "Figure out where the hell we are."
"There's no need," Sofia said, voice ominously soft.
"Why's that?" Grissom asked idly.
"Because I know where we are," Sofia confessed. "And you're right – this isn't our Nevada."
XXX
"What?" Nick asked.
"How do you know?" Catherine demanded.
"Because I was here last week," Sofia answered. "I arrested a drug dealer and took him in to PD. We're about twenty miles north of Vegas. This road continues out to the highway. Take a left and you'll find your way back. But it looks different to when I was here."
"Well we don't know the damage wasn't done quickly," Catherine said. "It could've been a riot, some kind of event."
"That's not what I mean," Sofia replied, looking scared. "At first glance this town looks identical, but the details are different. I'm sure several of these houses weren't here , and that service station definitely wasn't."
She pointed to a dilapidated building with petrol pumps outside the other end of town. It was faded, wrecked, and there was no way it had been built in the last week.
"Are you sure?" Sara asked.
"Yeah, positive," Sofia replied, grave.
Catherine looked as if she was holding out hope that she was wrong.
"So you're saying this is some kind of other world?" Nick asked. "A parallel universe?"
Sofia stopped short of saying it, but said instead, "We need to be careful. Something bad's happened here."
"Well whatever battle they fought, it's clear they lost," Catherine said, shaking her head at the scene.
"We should take a look around," Grissom said.
They split up. Sara went with Grissom back to the shops, entering through the open door to the pharmacy where they had stopped on their first trip. She watched as he took in the scene, studying it with the eye of CSI in much the same way as she had done with Nick and Warrick days earlier. She stood just inside the door, watching through the windows as Nick entered a store with Sofia, and as Catherine and Warrick each headed for a separate house.
She gave Grissom several long moments before she said anything.
"What do you think?" she asked.
He looked up from the counter where he had retrieved a handful of invoices from a drawer. Glasses on, he had studied them with a tinge of fear evident in his eyes.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "What do you think?"
"I think we might have reason to be afraid," she admitted softly, feeling it beginning to twist in her chest. "For a lot of reasons."
He nodded, and she wandered to the counter to stand with him.
"The only thing I can think of is to go to Vegas," he said honestly, looking helpless. "That should tell us conclusively, one way or the other. But the risks, if this is true …"
"We may be lucky to get out alive," Sara agreed.
She thought of Lindsey back in Vegas, vulnerable and hoping for Catherine's safe return, and the incalculable risk of exposing themselves to the disease if they chanced it.
"And yet on the other hand, to stay here …" Grissom went on, trailing off.
"I don't think we can," Sara said sadly. "This feeling of limbo, of not knowing, it's going to crush us all, sooner or later. We have to know, one way or the other, and manage the risk as best we can."
Grissom nodded. "And at the very least we need to know if there's a working hospital. If there's something we can do for Sofia …"
"I know," Sara agreed.
She saw it in his eyes; that he also did not believe a single word of the assurance they had given Sofia that morning. Sofia was probably in trouble, in even more trouble than the rest of them – and she knew it.
Suddenly Sara felt overwhelmed, and sighing, she leaned on the counter, rubbing her eyes.
Grissom reached across for her shoulder.
"We'll be fine," he said, squeezing. "At least we're together."
Sara nodded; she was at least glad for that.
"Come on," he said. "I think we need to speak with the others."
He put his arm around her, and together they walked morosely to the door. The bell tingled as they opened it, and they stepped back outside into the sunshine to find the others, and face their fate.
I wrestled with about three different endings to this chapter, and what might happen to them when they reached this town, but in the end, I played it safe with this one. I think the characters have enough pain to deal with right now without me adding more. But I did enjoy writing this chapter and just the range of emotions that Sara goes through in trying to deal with it all. I like seeing her in that strong role of reassuring Sofia, and taking control, yet also being vulnerable with Grissom and joking with the others. And having Nick piggy-back Sofia was just a guilty pleasure, because in all honesty, who wouldn't mind being carried by Nick? Anyhow, next up ... Vegas. Hope you guys are still liking this. ;)