"What do you know?"

Warrick's deep voice startled Brass, who turned to find the dark-skinned CSI watching him cautiously from a few feet away.

Realising that the guys had all heard what he had said, Jim straightened up and cleared his throat.

"The fire started on the fourth floor." He began calmly.

"Sara's floor." Nick noted.

"Yeah. It also started on the tenth floor." The detective continued. "And the sixth, the ninth, the seventh and in the parking lot."

One by one, the men shared a look of confusion.

"Multiple seats?" Grissom queried. "How is that possible?"

"Petrol cans and a lot of matches." Jim ran a hand over his cropped hair, releasing a breath. "Which means there's no way this was an accident. Someone intended to burn that building to the ground. And I tell you something else," he continued. "Those girls are damn lucky to be alive."

Grissom nodded in agreement, casting a glance instinctively over Warrick.

"As are you." The supervisor added pointedly.

Rick waved a hand dismissively, although by a cruel twist of irony the action caused his burns to sting and he winced involuntarily.

"Anyway." Brass huffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "As long as Kirsty Soames is out there, she's still a threat. I've put in a call in to the Sherriff, half the squad's out looking for her." He ambled past them towards the front doors. "I'm going to head back to the apartment to see what's going on. Call me with any news on Sara."

"Yeah, will do Jim." Nick hummed absently as the cop passed him, his mind clearly elsewhere.

With little else to do for the time being, Grissom joined his guys on the row of uncomfortable plastic seats.

"Is there any word on Hank yet?"

"He's still being treated." Warrick replied. "Last I saw him they were talking about smoke damage to his lungs."

Gil nodded, not really knowing what to add to that. He cared not for the young paramedic, but he did owe the man Sara's life and that was not a debt he could ever pay off.

X x x

"I don't care! I want to see her!" Catherine twisted pitifully away from her sister's firm grip and began systematically removing each wire and tube she was connected to.

"Cath, you can't discharge yourself yet." Nancy attempted desperately to stop her actions before she managed to hurt herself further. "You can't see!"

"I can see enough. I want to see Sara." The older sibling continued, finally freeing herself and shuffling out from beneath the covers.

"Catherine, stop!" Nancy grasped her shoulders and held her securely on the bed. "Look, Sara's still unconscious. They're not going to let anyone in. Don't worry, she's not going anywhere tonight."

"I don't care." Cath repeated, her voice cracking with emotion. "I need to see for myself that she's alright."

The nurse dropped her shoulders. She had always been a sucker for her big sister's expressive blue eyes, even when she knew that she was right.

"Okay, if I find out the details will you stay put?" She bargained.

"No." Cath insisted, prising her hands away. "Now will you let me go?"

It was clear that Catherine was not going to back down on this one. Nancy didn't know exactly what had been going on with her and Sara, although she had heard the brunette's name mentioned an awful lot of late. Perhaps she should begin paying more attention when Cath ranted about work.

"Alright, alright." Nancy stepped back, holding her hands up in defence. "If you really want to discharge yourself then I can't stop you. On one condition."

X x x

"What did Kirsty do to her?"

The question tore through the pensive silence that had befallen them like a rusty knife. Greg lifted his head, catching Grissom's eye.

"She's violent. She hits Sara; sometimes she throws things at her." The young man swallowed the bile threatening to rise as images of Sara's bruised body flashed through his mind. "You remember when Sara claimed that she tripped on the stairs to her flat…"

"Oh, man." Warrick recoiled, shaking his head in disgust. He'd been working with Sara that night – he'd spent all shift giving her grief about her clumsy 'accident'.

"You guys should have told us this." Nick snapped at last. "If we'd known what was going on we could have stopped it from getting this far out of hand."

"That's not the issue now." Greg spat, not willing to engage in this argument again. "Right now we need to find a way to help Sara. You can bitch at us when this is all over and done with."

"Isn't there anything concrete we can use against Kirsty?" Warrick asked, siding with Greg for the time being. As pissed as he was about being kept in the dark about all of this, Sara's welfare was always going to be his first priority.

"I have photos on my phone." A voice piped up from the end of the hall.

They all looked up in shock, both at the statement and who it had come from.

"What are you doing up?" Grissom asked, moving to offer his seat for the woman.

"I discharged myself." She shrugged, sinking down beside Nick. She was wearing the spare clothes Sofia had brought from her locker, almost giving the impression that she was unharmed, although there were still clear signs of her ordeal in the smoke staining her skin.
The eye drops, forced upon her by her sister, remained clutched in her hand unopened. Nancy knew full well how much she hated putting things in her eyes; which was probably why she had created the ultimatum.

"Photos." Nick repeated with a frown. "Of what?"

"Of Sara's bruises." She swallowed. "Whenever Kirsty hit her, she would come to me and I would document the injuries."

This was news to the boys, who shared a somewhat startled look. Greg, however, did not appear either surprised or comforted by this.

"Yeah but Kirsty already knows that." He pointed out. "And Sofia says she's going to argue self-defence."

"Come on." Warrick emitted a humourless laugh. "Are you kidding me with this shit? Sara couldn't beat someone up – she doesn't have a violent bone in her body."

"Yeah, well you and I know that but how are we going to prove it?"

"The images will still help." Grissom cut in. "Where's your phone now?"

Catherine paused, her face falling slightly.

"In Sara's apartment."

"Great." Nick scoffed, standing up and kicking out angrily at his chair. "This is just fucking fantastic!" The seats, nailed to the floor, didn't move but the force was felt by everyone else on the row.

"Calm down Nicky." Grissom chastised. "I'll have Archie check the phone as soon as it's found. We've recovered data from devices that had been damaged before."

Nick had to concede his point, though it didn't make him any less irritable as he deflated back into his seat.

"Isn't there anything else?" Warrick pushed. "Didn't you guys ever see Kirsty being violent or anything?"

"Yeah right." Greg scoffed. "Like she was going to do something right in front of us. She's not stupid."

"Hopefully she is, because that might be Sara's only saving grace."

They all turned at the distinctive sound of heels on the hard floor as Sofia approached them.

"What do you mean?" Warrick asked, rising slowly to his feet as she reached them.

"As long as Kirsty's complaint goes through, Sara's technically a suspect. And right now there's very little physical evidence to prove or disprove it."

"So, it'll come down to Kirsty's word against Sara's." Cath nodded sadly. It was always the same way with domestic abuse cases. Other people's testimony aside, there was usually little corroborative evidence to support either party.

"So, what are our options?" Greg sighed.

"Well, she can fight it, but there are no guarantees."

"Or?" Catherine sat forwards stiffly, sensing that there was more to come.

"Or," Sofia breathed. "She can accept the charge and hope for leniency."

"What?" Greg scoffed. "That's ridiculous!"

"Those are the breaks." The detective shrugged. "Unless of course, Jim is right about his arson theory in which case the complaint will likely get buried."

"Well, either way she's not pleading guilty." Cath snapped. "She hasn't done anything wrong; she's the victim in all this!"

"I know." Sofia agreed defensively. "But you might need to convince a jury of that."

The group fell quiet for a moment, considering the mess they were in. Eventually Catherine hauled herself carefully to her feet.

"I can't just sit here, I need to see Sara."

"They won't let you in." Nick hollered at her slowly retreating back.

Her only response was a disregarding wave as she continued on her mission. Blind or not, she was going to see her girlfriend.

Sharing a silent shrug, the men picked themselves up and followed her down the hall.

If she was going to see Sara, there was no way they were being left out.

X x x

The hardest part was actually finding Sara's room. After that, getting in was remarkably easy due to a sudden emergency down the hall.

Once inside, Catherine barely hesitated before bolting to Sara's side as fast as her limited vision and sore muscles would allow. She could just about make out the bandages wrapped around the girl's hands, wrists and forehead.

"Oh baby." She whispered, reaching out a shaky hand to stroke the soft curls that spilled out across the pillow.

The boys watched her actions with unbridled curiosity as they crept further into the room.

"You never told us what happened between you two." Nick pointed out with a distinct lack of subtlety.

Catherine nodded absently in agreement, making no effort to remedy that situation as she continued scouring Sara's body for further injuries. Apart from the breathing tube taped across her face, she looked remarkably unharmed.

"Come on Cath." Greg pushed. "You said that something changed recently. What was it?"

Ignoring him, she perched on the edge of the bed and shuffled backwards, nestling herself against the headboard and gently pressing Sara's body closer to her.
Once she was comfortable and had established enough physical contact with her new girlfriend to be content, she cleared her throat and lifted her gaze to meet the expectant ones staring back at her.

"When you asked the other day whether there was anything between Sara and me, I wasn't lying. But that doesn't mean I didn't want there to be anything."

Taking the hint that this could be a long story, the men took up residence around the room. Warrick hopped up to the foot of the bed, letting one hand rest carefully on Sara's leg. Greg claimed the seat beside the bed, taking Sara's bandaged hand between both his own. Nick, Sofia and Grissom were left to stand and situated themselves at various locations around the bed.

Happy that everyone was comfortable, Catherine took a deep breath and began to speak again.