A/N: Sorry for the slight delay – this chapter was a tough one to get written! Let me know what you think!
Charli x

The breeze whispered through the tree's telling her secrets she couldn't quite reach out to. Her body felt heavy, the haze of sleep not fully shifted from her mind as she ducked out of the car and swung her eyes around the graveyard. The sun hung brightly in the sky, its warmth casting over her body yet a shiver still made her tremble.

Grissom's hand closed around hers and held her tight, reminding her that she wasn't alone.

With a deep breath she crossed the lush green grass to the plot her mother had already picked out. It stood proud beside a willow tree, the branches dripping to the ground like falling tears. Father Debney nodded an acknowledgement to her as she approached him; he was a kindly old man with soft white hair and pale wrinkled skin. His smile was so natural and inviting it was almost impossible to resist and yet now he stood with a practiced expression of sympathy and sobriety.

The vast stretch of land was vacant of all other life. Sara felt tears welling up in her eyes as she thought about how lonely her mother was, even in death she was alone. Father Debney stood for a few long moments, his eyes scanning the driveway and gates for latecomers before he turned to Sara.

"Should I proceed?" he muttered with a sad little nod.

Sara turned to scan the horizon, her eyes fixing on Mary slowly trudging up the long path with a bunch of flowers in her arms.

"Just one more minute" she said with a sigh. She was incredibly thankful for Mary's arrival, at the very least Laura would have someone else say goodbye to her.

Just as Father Debney was about to start a car pulled up on the long stretch of driveway and Alan appeared in a tailored black suit. On the back seat sat Sandra, looking even worse than she had the previous day. Her son took a wheelchair from the trunk, carefully helping Sandra to sit before wheeling her towards the tiny congregation.

Her frail body slumped against one side of the chair. Her energy levels were so low she could barely keep her eyes open and yet she had still come to pay her last respects to a woman who had clearly influenced her life a great deal. Sara suddenly felt a strong connection to the woman and a deep regret that she didn't get the chance to form any kind of relationship with her.

Father Debney spoke low and clear, delivering a beautiful eulogy. Sara felt a bit like an impostor playing the part of mourning daughter when in reality she didn't know her mother from any of the other people laid to rest in this place. She glanced around at the mixture of abandoned stones with moss growing on them and carefully maintained shrines to loved ones.

She could picture people traipsing up here every week to clean the stone and lay the fresh flowers. They would light a candle and talk to the ground like the person was there to hear it. She was willing to bet Robyn had been like that, she seemed the type to believe in the afterlife whereas Sara knew the darkness that often came with death and she'd seen the emptiness in the eyes of people when their soul escaped their bodies. She preferred to think of death as simply a release, a freedom from the tension and the stress and the consciousness that haunted human beings for their entire lives.

Father Debney stopped talking and bowed his head in prayer. She wondered if he had done this with her mother before her death, maybe she had looked for forgiveness in religion or possibly justification. She may never know.

Sara stepped forward, tossing a single blood red rose onto the descending coffin and watching as it disappeared into the blackness. She had expected to feel a sense of loss at this moment. She had expected emptiness to overwhelm her and tears to cover her face but she felt a strange sense of closure as she stepped away from her mother's last resting place.

Alan wheeled his mother towards the coffin; a bunch of tiny blue flowers lay in her lap, tied with a pink ribbon. Forget-me-nots Sara noted as they fell onto the deep dark wood. Sandra never did forget her.

With a sigh Sara reached into her pocket. Her hand closing around the locket she had carefully placed there. Her intention had been to return it to her mother as they tossed the dirt into the hole but she realised she could think of a better place to put it.

She approached Sandra slowly, noting the tears that glistened in her eyes and the trembling in her hands. Sara crouched in front of her, holding the woman's hand carefully and sending her a reassuring smile.

"I want you to have something of my mother's" she whispered. "I think she'd want you to have it"

When she removed her hands the gold locket glinted on Sandra's lap and her breath hitched in her chest as she opened it and laid her eyes on her smiling former self. The tears finally broke free, landing on her hands like shattering glass as she looked towards Sara. The words of thanks she couldn't utter were obvious in her eyes. Sara simply nodded and walked away.

Her eyes fixed on the ground as she turned and walked back to her husband but something tore them to the cluster of trees close by. A shadowy figure loitered in among the trees. She knew immediately it was Michael, she could feel his eyes creeping over her skin with the same resentment he had yesterday.

She shrugged it off, deciding to pretend she didn't see him and hoping he went away.

They stood in silence watching as the vacant space above Laura's coffin was filled in. Sandra's trembling hands turned the locket over and over as she stared into the middle distance obviously reminiscing about happier times and possibly regretting the sad times. Alan held firm to the handles of her chair. He stood painfully upright, almost like a soldier standing to attention. His eyes were fixed on the headstone, unemotional and unwavering. Mary shook her hand and ducked out muttering condolences and excuses as she took the long pathway back to the hospital.

Grissom stood by her side, his gentle breathing a companion of hers. He didn't utter a word simply laced his fingers through hers and allowed her the space she needed to process the whole thing. She was having trouble with that though, her consciousness seemed detached from her somehow. Like she was underwater, everything seemed blurred and murky.

Alan began to push his mother back to the car, dazed; Sara followed them and bid a fond farewell to Sandra. She approached Alan nervously as he folded the chair into the trunk.

"Thank you" she muttered "for being here"

"Oh I didn't want to come" he clarified "but she insisted"

Sara glanced into the car where Sandra sat slumped against the door, the locket still clutched in her hands.

"Well it meant a lot… to me"

Sara reached out her hand to him, hoping to call a truce but he stared at her before simply shaking his head.

"She shouldn't have told you about Amy" he sighed, Sara's heart turned in her chest. She assumed he knew as little as she did. "She won't want you to find her"

"How do you know?" she asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Alan pressed a hand to his coat pocket, reaching inside he pulled out a tattered old letter. He turned it around in his hands as though still deciding what to do with it before handing it to Sara.

"She wrote… a long time ago she wrote to my mother. I didn't give it to her, I didn't see the point Amy wasn't her child and Laura had cut all contact"

Sara stared at him, stunned by the confession as she held the letter in her hands.

"You just ignored it?" her throat felt dry as she thought about how it would feel to reach out and be ignored in that way.

"No, no… I wrote back" Alan declared as he walked around the vehicle. "I told her never to contact us again"

There wasn't a hint of emotion in his eyes as he swung the door open and disappeared inside the car. His car pulled away without a backwards glance, leaving her standing there with the letter in her hands and staring after them. Grissom's hand rested on the arch of her back, his body warm and reassuring behind her.

"Are you ready to go home?" he whispered.

Sara couldn't help but dash her eyes over to the graveside where Michael had finally come out of hiding. He stood at the foot of the grave staring down at the patch of dirt.

"No, not yet… just give me a second"

She pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, her hand slowly sliding down his chest as she stepped across the grass towards her brother. His words spun round her head with every step she took. He held so much resentment towards her and her attempts at reuniting their broken family she felt intimidated about approaching him.

"Michael?" she muttered quietly as she stood by his side.

He bowed his head, his breath catching in his throat and she could tell he was stifling a sob.

"I wasn't going to come…" he declared.

Sara nodded; she didn't really know what to say in response. She hadn't expected him to come, and certainly hadn't imagined him being upset.

"What did he give you?" he asked, gesturing his head backwards to where she had stood with Alan. She sighed, realising that he had been watching all her interactions of the day. She debated how much she should be telling him considering his obvious resentment.

"It's nothing…it's just a letter" she explained, closing her eyes as she breathed out the next words. "Did you know about Amy?"

Michael raised his head to look at her but she kept her eyes fixed firmly ahead. She couldn't tell whether it was surprise or anger she felt from his stare but it burned all the same.

"Yes" he finally admitted under his breath.

Sara pulled her vision to him, scanning over his tattered clothes and thin frame.

"Can I take you for coffee?" she asked, offering him an olive branch.

Michael nodded and Sara felt herself relax slightly as he followed her down the embankment towards her car. Grissom was already seated in the driver's seat, Tchaikovsky filling the small space and a smile fluttered onto her lips as she sat carefully in the passenger seat.

"Michael, this is my husband Gil"

Grissom raised his eyes in surprise and turned his body to look at the man in the back seat. Sara had told him he was in bad shape but he had underestimate just how bad. He reached out a hand to Michael which went ignored. With a nervous sideways glance Grissom started the engine and drove to a diner as instructed.

Sara and Grissom sat silently side by side and watched as Michael cleared his plate enthusiastically. It was clear he hadn't eaten anything substantial in a long time; his hands trembled as he tore at the bread and struggled to control his fork. In contrast, Sara daintily forked tiny morsels of food into her mouth while exchanging nervous glances with her husband.

"What do you know about Amy?" she finally asked, hoping she didn't sound too keen.

Michael stopped eating; gazing up at her with hooded eyes before he sat back in his chair and took a deep breath.

"I know you shouldn't be chasing her down" he stated.

"Why not? Maybe she wants to be found?" Sara argued.

"Would you?" Michael bit back. "She escaped Sara; she didn't need to live through all this"

Sara visibly retreated from his venom, her back finding the booth heavily making a gasp escape her lips involuntarily. Grissom's grip tightened on her leg under the table.

"Do you know what happened to her?" Grissom asked with an authoritative voice.

"I know Sandra took her away…. After that she vanished" he shrugged "why do you care?"

Sara sighed, wondering how to explain how much it meant to her to find Amy. Michael had decided to remove himself from the family he had grown up in but Sara had never been granted that luxury. She had never really had a family life to distance herself from and now she craved the kind of companionship she saw in other families. Happy families.

"Why didn't you tell me about her?" Sara whispered.

Michael sat bolt upright, staring right into her eyes the anger clearly bubbling on his lips.

"When? When should I have told you Sara? When you were hiding in your closet so he didn't beat you? When she stabbed him to death? When they tore you away and told me I wasn't responsible enough to look after you?!"

He tossed the coffee cup from the table watching as it shattered against the wall and Sara found herself lost for words. Her lip trembled, her heart pounded against her chest and tears brimmed in her eyes.

"They didn't let me see you again. They told me you'd be better off without me" he continued "they were right. Look at you"

Sara shook her head in protest; she wanted to tell him about everything, about her time in foster care and her own problems with depression. She wanted to tell him that she didn't have it as together as it looked, that she had fallen apart like she had. The only difference was she had people around her who were good at putting her back together.

"Michael…." He silenced her with one angry look, the fire in his eyes rendering her helpless.

"Don't go looking for her Sara. Amy had a good life. She had parents who loved her, she had a family… She had everything we didn't. Dragging her into all this…how would you like it?"

"She needs to know the truth…." Sara found herself whimpering in response.

"Why? For you?" Michael's voice echoed off the walls "you'll only poison her. She escaped. She's the lucky one, don't turn her into me"

With one last vicious look he stormed out of the diner, Sara feeling the icy air of his words settling into her pores. A shiver took hold of her body as tears broke free from her eyes and she realised he was probably right. She quickly retrieved the letter Alan had given her from her purse, staring at it for a few long moments before tearing it up into small pieces and stuffing it back into the interior of her purse.

"It's ok, take no notice of him" Grissom soothed, his hand smoothing out her hair as her head rested on his shoulder.

"No Gil…" she sighed with a shake of her head "he's right… I'll poison her"