Thank you so much! Karmacomesbackaround, thank you so much! You've sped up this update considerably :-) Here's the next chapter, I hope it's up to all your standards.

Please keep up the reviews guys. Once again, I am sorry for any mistakes. Let's try to get to 400 reviews for chapter forty two? You guys are so awesome! I never thought I could even get twenty!

This chapter name was inspired at the last minute by the song Stay With Me by Ironik.

Read. Enjoy. Review.

Chapter Forty Two # Stay With Me #

Tony banged his head against the board in the hospital. Sara had been gone for hours, or at least what felt like it. The police had taken her away, escorted her into an ambulance, driven away. Asked Tony questions, over and over. Where he'd been, what he'd heard, why he'd gone back…

He'd answered, he'd answered truthfully, quickly. Then he'd gone straight to the hospital.

"Sir? Are you sure you don't want me to call someone for you?" the nurse asked for the fifth time.

"No." Tony responded once more, looking straight ahead.

A door opened but Tony took no notice. Not until the doctor addressed him personally.

"Mr DiNozzo? Are you here for Sara Sidle?"

"Yes. Is she okay?" Tony asked quickly.

"Well, normally sir, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you. But her brother's wound is infective, he's in intensive care, her mother is being detained by the police in a psychiatric hospital, and unfortunately her father didn't make it. Sara's got a minor wound on her arm, but otherwise she's not too bad, physically. But psychologically, she's not doing very well, Mr DiNozzo. I have a question for you. How serious is your relationship? Because she needs someone who can look after her right now."

"I can do it, I'd do anything." Tony insisted.

"We haven't told her about her father yet. We thought it would be better taken from someone who she trusts."

"Please, let me see her, please." Tony begged.

The doctor nodded. "This way…"

Tony jogged behind the doctor into Sara's room. She was huddled on the bed, clutching her knees tightly to her chest.

"Sara…" he breathed.

She looked up. "Tony?"

"I'm here…oh, Jesus… Sara…" he skipped over to her bed and wrapped his arms around her automatically. She grabbed his arm tightly and sobbed into his chest.

"Don't leave again, don't leave me Tony, don't leave me…" She sobbed.

Jesus, she's still shaking… Tony shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere, Sara, I'm here, I'm here."

"My Dad… Tony, is my Dad alive?"

Tony took a deep breath.

"Tony?"

"Sara, he didn't make it." Tony said softly .

"He was trying to save me!" Sara screamed, burying her head in Tony's chest. "It's not fair!"

"Sara, I'm so, so, sorry." Tony murmured, rocking back and forth gently.

"NO!" she screamed, breaking down into sobs. "No, no, no, no…"

Knowing the pain of losing a parent, Tony didn't say anything. Instead, he just rocked her slowly back and forth, murmuring nonsense words in her ears.

Sara mumbled something over and over again.

"What?" Tony frowned.

"My mom tried to kill me…my mom tried to kill me…" she murmured louder.

Tony swallowed and put his chin on her head. "Yeah…yeah…"

"She's my mom!" Sara gasped. "She tried to kill…my tried to kill me! She killed my dad, Tony! Is Tyler dead too? Is my whole family gone?"

"Tyler's going to be fine, he's got an infection right now, but he's going to be okay."

"Good." Sara sobbed. "And my mom?"

"In a psychiatric hospital." Tony whispered.

Sara cried out again, a wordless, heart-wrenching cry.

He held her until she sobbed herself to sleep.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

Nick and Greg threw the ball to each other across Nick's yard.

"Glad you could make it today, Greggo, with your busy schedule." Nick teased.

"No problem. Thanks for inviting me." Greg said politely.

Nick grinned a little sadly. This wasn't like the old Greg, laughing and joking all the time. This was a new Greg. More serious, less laugfhter.

"What?" Greg cocked his head a little. "What's wrong?"

"I'm…I'm sorry, Greg…I shouldn't have been a coward, I should've-"

Greg stopped. "Nick, we've been through this what, a million times? I don't blame you!"

"Yeah, I know." Nick shook his head.

"You know, I owe you so much…they didn't…well, you know, because you guys were awesome enough to come save me. You saved my life!" Greg insisted.

"Yeah, I guess." Nick sighed.

"You guess? I'm serious!" Greg laughed.

"Yeah, I know you are." Nick grinned. "Hey, you looking forward to football lessons in school?"

"No!" Greg groaned. "I suck at football!"

Nick grinned evilly. "I bet you've never played!"

"I have…I'm playing with you now!" Greg protested.

"Sure, sure…" Nick teased. "You've never been tackled in your life have you?"

"No." Greg admitted, before seeing the look in Nick's eye. "No, Nick, no, no!"

"Time to lose your football virginity G." Nick grinned, charging towards his younger friend.

"Wha- NO!" Greg yelled, holding up his hands, but Nick tackled him backwards. "ARGH!"

The two boys crashed to the floor and Greg scrambled up, getting Nick into a head lock. "You asshole!"

"Hey man, cool it!" Nick laughed. "Tap out, tap out!"

Greg pushed Nick away, messing up his own hair. "Thanks for that, Nick." He scoffed

"You're welcome." Nick said sincerely.

They went back inside laughing and flopped down on the sofa. Nick turned on the TV and frowned.

"Oh my god."

"What?"

"That's Sara's house." Nick murmured.

"What do you me-"

"Shh!" Nick said quickly.

"…where forty five year old James Richard Sidle was killed this evening by his wife Laura, who was suffering from a severe mental breakdown." The news woman read.

"Jesus Christ!" Nick cried.

It was Greg's turn to shush Nick.

"Their two children, who for protection purposes remain nameless, were both injured but both survived, and are now in Desert Palm Hospital."

"Oh god!" Greg pulled out his cell phone, scrolling desperately to Sara's number. "She's not picking up!"

"Jesus Christ! Why is it always us?" Nick yelled at no one.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

For the first time they didn't stay together. They were sent away from the hospital, told that Sara's mental state was too fragile for visitors.

Their parents had each taken them home.

Tali knocked on the door of her sister's room.

Ziva opened it angrily. Her boyfriend Damon was lying on the bed in nothing but a pair of trackies, a small box in his hand.

"What? The sign on the door says 'Do Not Disturb', Tali. What do you want?"

"I… I wanted to talk to you." She whispered.

"Well I'm a little busy." Ziva hissed.

"האבא של שרה כבר נרצח על ידי אמא שלה ואסור לי לראות אותה ו-" Tali half said and half sobbed. ("Sara's dad has been murdered by her mom and I'm not allowed to see her and -)

"הו אלוהים! אוקיי, טלי, בסדר ..." Ziva nodded. (Oh God! Okay, Tali, okay…) "Damon, can we do this some other time?"

Damon smiled a little and nodded. "No problem. I'll see you later, Ziva. Whatever's wrong, Tali, I hope it gets better soon."

As he left Ziva hugged her sister tightly. "Oh, Tali, what happened?"

"I don't know!" Tali cried, tears trailing down her cheeks. "No one will tell us. They said that Sara's mental state was too weak and that she wasn't very hurt physically, but…"

"Oh god…is she alone now?"

"Tony's with her?" Tali shook her head.

Ziva snapped out her phone and started to dial. "Tony is not picking up."

"Ziva, what the hell is going on? Why does everything happen to us?" she sobbed.

"I don't know." Ziva shook her head. "You have to keep fate, Tali."

Tali laughed. "Faith, Zee."

"What?"

"You have to keep faith."

"Oh." Ziva giggled.

CSIVCSVICSIV

Morgan sniffed and picked up her phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." A hoarse voice whispered down the phone.

"I know, Greg, I have a caller ID."

"I know…I just need to listen to you talk for a while…"

Morgan swallowed. "What about?"

"Anything… I just don't know how to cope anymore."

"What do you mean?" Morgan frowned.

"I think I've lost my optimism." Greg admitted. "So can you distract me please?"

"Well… I have a ballet exam next week that I haven't even began to practise for…my teacher is gonna flip."

"Oh yeah? What's she gonna do?"

"I don't know… She might just expel me."

"Really?"

"Nah… Greg, in two weeks Jerry is taking my mom and me to Los Angeles for a weekend, just a break from here. Do you wanna come?"

"I don't wanna intrude on your-"

"No, Greg, please… please at least ask your mom."

"I'll ask."

"Thanks." Morgan smiled, relieved. "That gives me something to smile about."

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"Nick?" Bill Stokes knocked on his son's door. "Pancho, I need to talk to you."

"Come in." Nick said slowly. His father opened the door.

Nick was lying fully clothed on his bed, his hands tucked beneath his head.

"Pancho, I need to talk to you like a man for a minute. I know that you're upset but I need you to be the man I know you can be, alright?"

Nick sat up and nodded.

"I spoke to the social workers and lawyers involved with Sara…now Tyler won't be able to gain custody, he just got out of prison. They said that their plan was to hand Sara to social services. From what little they've found out right now, she'd probably be taken out of state. Fostering and adopting, it's not simple."

"I know…" Nick nodded.

"But the police have found out that James Sidle was abusive…apparently not recently. It wasn't hard to convince them that Sara would be best off in a familiar place with familiar people. So, we checked all of your friends, the ones that came to the ranch at Christmas. None of them have been security checked to gain fostering rights, and even if we registered them now it would take months."

Nick hung his head, knowing what his father was saying. "So Sara's gonna be taken away?"

"Actually, I've spoken to your mother, and we put in a request to foster Sara."

Nick's head snapped up. "Really?"

"Yes. Do you think she would be okay with that?"

"Yeah, I think so…" Nick murmured.

"Being a judge, the request got fast tracked. As of right now, we are Sara Sidle's legal guardians, the doctor thinks it would be best to pick her up from hospital tomorrow."

"Cisco…thank you so much!" Nick sobbed, hugging his father tightly.

"Now, tomorrow Nick you'll have to be more grown up than you've ever been in your whole life. Sara will need to feel safe, secure, wanted. Can you do that?"

CSIVCSIVCSIV

I can do this… Nick thought, taking a deep breath as he stood outside Sara's door.

He knocked twice and pushed it open slowly.

"Sara?"

She looked up slowly. She was alone. She hadn't slept.

"Nick?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"I'm here."

"You came…"

"Of course." Nick swallowed. "Sara…Sara, I'm so sorry…"

She just nodded, tears flowing from her eyes. "I… you still came? Even though…"

"Even though what, Sara?" Nick frowned.

"It's my fault. I stayed out late, so she thought he'd killed me!" Sara sobbed.

"Sar, this isn't your fault, none of this is your fault. Your mom…your mom was sick, she had a disease, that is not your fault, okay? Nothing is your fault!" Nick crossed the room and hugged Sara tightly, and she clung to him tightly.

"Nick, they said they've already put me with a foster home, Nick, what's going to happen to me?" she sobbed.

"You're gonna come back to my place, okay? My parents are registered and security checked to be foster parents, so you're gonna come with me, and live at mine for a bit…"

Sara pushed away gently and sniffed. "Really? Really?"

"Yeah." Nick's voice choked in his throat. "Is that okay?"

Sara threw herself into Nick's arms. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome…I guess this kind of makes you my sister."

Sara just held on tighter.

"Do you wanna come home?" Nick asked over her shoulder.

He felt Sara nod and held onto her hand, ready to be the friend that she needed so badly.

"Let's go."

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