Sara cursed as she hurried to the parking lot. She overheard that some of her coworkers were under the impression she was cheating on Gil, which she had to admit wasn't as bad as having the team think she was dirty but it still irked her. But to add to her annoyance the Boss had called and said that he needed backup and she was the only one he had been able to get a hold of. She had never been along with him on any kind of job, so she was nervous but she had to get past it and help with whatever job they were going to do.

Getting into her car, she pulled out and drove to the penthouse each mile she passed she was worried Gil was going to call her: and what tugged at her even more was she would have to either ignore his call or make it very short, both of which would no doubt convince Gil of her "infidelity". And if he became convinced of it, the only way to convince him that she wasn't unfaithful was to tell him of her connections to the Saints.

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she turned on her radio and listened to the news reports. Traffic was light and she made it to the upscale hotel where the boss was staying. As she pulled into the Parking lot, she saw The Boss leaning on the back of a black and purple car of a design she didn't recognize. The moment he saw her he raised his arm to signal her.

"Remind me that I've got you some toys: some guns and gear you're going to need for our job." He told her.

"What's the job?" Sara asked. The Boss got in his car and motioned for her to back up. Sara nodded and pulled back; parking in his spot once it's vacant and getting into his car. After they left to parking lot he handed her a folder.

"We're going to be crashing a D Street party. We tracked down one of their last meth labs to a motel that they own just outside the city." Sara looked at the folder then back at him.

"Ok, I get that, but why exactly am I being hauled out of work for a clean out?"

"Because I want it done today and you're the only one I could get." He replied. Sara was quiet for a few minutes before something occurred to her.

"Out of the entire flock of Saint Followers in Vegas you can't get anyone else?"

"Between you and me, I'd very much appreciate keeping the religious phrases down. After a while you hear all you can, know what I mean? Anyway, I could have found some Saints, but I like running with Lieutenants, and I want to see how you handle yourself in the field." Sara's eyes widened at the thought of being in a gunfight with him. As though sensing her anxiety he calmed her nerves. "You're going to be hanging back and using a sniper rifle to give me back up. Using them is no big deal, just point and shoot, and for fucks sake don't hit me." Sara knew it wasn't a good thing to do, but when he said that she couldn't help but laugh.

Sara spent the first half of the trip talking to the boss about the job, and the other half of it spent just talking. She was surprised just how easy to talk to he was, and was even more surprised at the fact he was 3 years younger than her. She had a hard time guessing his age, due to reconstructive surgery he received years ago.

"Wait a moment, "Blown up?" define what the hell what means." Sara asked him.

"I mean fucking blown up. I was on a boat that had a bomb on it. Needed complete reconstructive work done and was dead to the world for about 5 years." He told her, pulling down on his shirt slightly. Sara leaned over and her eyes widened as she saw various scars on his neck and body. She was sure that a lot of those scars weren't from surgery, but it was still a large enough collection of scars that she wondered what his autopsy would be like, or for that matter just what extent was his body scarred.

They made a little small talk, her talking about her work at the crime labs, and him talking about his time as a gang leader. Soon they pulled over to a parking garage of an old law firm the Saints had just purchased. Boss grabbed his bag of gear from the trunk and handed her a large bag. Checking the bags contents, Sara took a deep breath, and watched as The Boss put on a bulletproof vest and checked his guns: a pair of handguns and a sub machine gun. Handing her a hands free phone, he set his own up.

"Ok, let me know when you're in position. They have control of the four rooms most to the left on the second floor: rooms 215, 216, 217, 218. You'll probably get the best shot from the conference room on the third floor. I'll get set up while I wait for you." He told her.

"What about the other people staying here?" Sara asked, eyeing the motel. The boss put his handguns into holsters, tossing his leather jacket in the car.

"Don't worry about that. My guys said that the hotel is entirely used by the gang as a place to lie low, so anyone I encounter will be D Street Road Kill." He said, and then shook his head, wrapping his arms around himself and heading out to the motel. After putting on a jacket and a pair of gloves, Sara used the keys in her bag to enter and hurried to the third floor, looking for the conference room. Once she found it she quickly set up her rifle and opened the window, using a table to hold it steady. Peering through the sniper scope she saw the boss leaning against the wall, looking down the hall submachine gun in hand.

"I'm in position, ready when you are." The boss nodded and began to walk over to the targeted doors. As he approached, one of the doors opened and a guy walked out with a girl on his arm, as soon as he spotted the boss he grabbed the girl and pointed a gun at her head. The boss pointed his handguns at the thug and kept his focus as Sara got her target and took her shot, blowing the guys head off. The boss grabbed the girl and pushed her down the hall and kicked the nearest door in as gang members began to pile out into the hallway. As the boss began to open fire on them, Sara began also shooting, catching the D Street members by surprise and thinning their numbers.

"Murder Time Fun Time!" Sara heard The Boss shout through the hands free phone as he traded his submachine gun for his handguns and opened fire once again on the D Street Killers. Many of them ducked back into their rooms to try and get cover, but some of them got taken out by Sara with her rifle before they wised up and stayed away from the door.

This made it easy for the boss to stun them with flash bang grenades and take them out one room at a time. And as he moved his way up they began to panic and try to fight back, but the surprise combined with the two front attacks caused them to be mowed down without much difficulty.

"This is even easier than I expected. Inhaling all those fumes must have fucked up these idiots more than I expected. Last door, once we've taken care of all these guys we can destroy their equipment and stash. I'll keep in contact, hold on."

Sara watched him reload and give her a thumbs up as he was ready. Kicking open the door he charged inside, firing his gun and taking them out. Sara listened to what was going on over her earpiece.

"Bang Bang Bang Bang Ok, looks like I got them all I Bang shit, fucker, Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang shit, mother fucker shot me." Sara straightened a bit when she heard that.

"Are you ok? How badly are you hurt?" She heard The Boss's heavy breathing for several tense seconds until he replied.

"I'll live, it hurts but it won't kill me. I've got some C4 in my car, go get it and bring it up here. Looks like everyone's…oh fucKING SHIT!" Peering through the scope she saw him running out of the room. Just as he cleared the doorway the room exploded with such force that he was sent over the railing and landing back first on a van. Grabbing her gear Sara hurried down, getting in the car and drove over. As she pulled up to him, The Boss rolled off the roof of the van and hit the ground with a thud. Grabbing the car door, he pulled himself up and looked at her. Blood all over him from his bullet hole in his shoulder and a busted nose, he looked like hell.

"I'm getting too fucking old for this shit." He told her as she got out and helped him into the backseat, driving back to the hotel as fast as she could. She knew she couldn't take him to the hospital, because he would be tracked to the motel if she did. So the best option she had was getting him to the penthouse and getting him help from another saint.

"You still alive back there?" She asked, wanting to keep him talking.

"I guess so, because I still hurt." He replied, moaning slightly as he applied pressure to the bullet wound. "Get me back to the hotel, call Pierce, he'll know what to do."

"We're already on our way there. I'll call Pierce when we get to the penthouse." She told him. She pulled into the hotel's parking lot soon after, getting a space that's out of the way, and helping him out of the car.

Wrapping his shoulder with a rag, she put his jacket over his shoulders to try and hide the bullet wound and covered the blood with the jacket she had been wearing, and wrapped an arm around him, helping him inside. Thankfully The Boss wasn't complaining about the pain too much and could walk in more or less a straight line. If anyone stopped them it would be easy for her to say he was drunk and she wanted to get him to his room before he made a scene. His hair obstructed a clear view to his face, so people wouldn't notice the broken nose right away.

She managed to get him back to his penthouse without much hassle, only once were they stopped, but she was able to convince the hotel security that the man was her boyfriend and he had a bit too much to drink. So the man helped her to the elevator and from there it was easy to get him to his room. She immediately got the boss to the couch and helped him sit down, getting him some ice to put on his shoulder and dialed grabbed his phone and dialed Pierce.

"Yeah Boss, what's going on? You and CSI girl done already?" Pierce's cheery voice answered.

"It's Sara, Boss and I are at the Penthouse, we need some help over here. The Boss got shot and blown up; he's bleeding all over his couch."

"Ahhh man, figures. Ok, I'll be over in a moment. I'll have one of our guys swing by to patch his shoulder up." With that Pierce hung up. A few minutes later the door opened and he came in and walked over.

"Shit Boss, you look like hell." Pierce said as kneeled down to check the Boss's shoulder.

"Well thanks Piece, I'd hate to feel this bad and not have anyone know it." Boss chuckles. "You call a guy?"

"Yeah, he'll be here in ten minutes. I'll get you a beer." Sara grabbed his arm as something occurred to her.

"Someone better take care of the car we used, its back seat is covered in blood." Pierce looked at her and sighed.

"Man, you're bossy. Fine, I'll take care of it. Give me the keys." Sara smiled and gave him the keys to the car, watching him as he headed out. She spent a few minutes thinking about the events of the last 3 hours until the Boss's voice called out to her.

"Sara, since you're just standing there can you get me my beer?" Sara blinked a few times, and got him a bottle of water instead, handing it to him. Glaring at her in annoyance, he took a couple of sips of his water. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. Peering into the peephole, Sara saw a Saint standing outside the door with a bag. Letting him in, she simply pointed over to the boss.

The Saint immediately cleaned up and patched the Boss's shoulder, and fixed his nose, with the Boss only mildly protested against it. Luckily the bullet wound wasn't too serious, having gone through and through, not hitting anything major. After wrapping the shoulder up the medic Saint gave The Boss a quick glance over, to make sure they weren't missing some other injury.

"Ok Boss, you're all set. Don't do anything to aggravate that shoulder until it heals. Let the crew handle anything big for at least a couple weeks. Try and get some sleep and drink a lot of water. Want me to stay, give you a hand around the place or something?"

"I'm fine Ralph. You can get going back to the casino man; I've got someone who can look after me. Thanks for patching me up." After the Saint left, Sara sat down across from him.

"So who's going to be looking after you? You don't strike me as the type to have a nanny?" Sara teased. He simply turned and looked at her for a few seconds, until realization hit her. "You meant me? Come on, what about Pierce or Kinzi or someone?"

"They all have stuff to do. You're the one who just took a couple days off work." She blinked at him in surprise and confusion.

"What, no I didn't."

"You could. I checked you have more time coming to you than anyone else in the crime lab. I'm not forcing you to do it; I'm not telling you as your boss. I'm asking you as what I'd like to consider a friend." Sara bit her lip, thinking about it. Pulling out her phone, she dialed Russell and listened to the ringing.

"Hey Russell, listen, that friend I needed to go help is pretty banged up. He's home now but I don't want to leave him alone while he's like this. So I'm going to use some of my vacation days to stay out a bit longer…Ok thanks, bye." Hanging up, she glanced over to The Boss, who lay on the couch, having fallen asleep. Smiling slightly, she got up and took the water from his hands and covered him with a blanket. As she walked to another room, she reached into her pocket, and took out her phone, dialing a number she knew by heart.

"Hey Gil. No nothing's wrong, I just wanted to call and see how you were doing."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

This is chapter 3. I hope you like it. Please read and Review, check out me new story Shattering Duck, a Twilight story. (Yeah I'm surprised I said that too). After I post this I'll keep working on the next chapter of A Different Path.