"Falling"

Disclaimer: Grissom and Sara are not owned by me, neither is CSI.  But I do, gladly, own Jake and Ted. This is not for profit, pure enjoyment only.

Authors note:  Thanks to ImagineJorja for reading this and doing a little beta-ing.

(First two lines are from the song Tourniquet, owned by Evanescence)

I have been told to issue a tissue warning. So grab your tissues everyone!!! 

Please Read and Review, it makes all the difference.

I lay dying, praying, and bleeding. Am I too lost to be saved?

Will he remember me?

Working on this case with Grissom was easy, the murder was clumsy, he left prints everywhere. It seemed too easy to be true.

Ted Smithson had killed three women in one week.  All brunettes between the age of 30-35, slim build and around 5 feet 10 inches.  Grissom was worried; he was going to take me off the case. I fit all of those criteria. I told him not to worry because we have all the evidence to convict the guy; all we had to do was bring him in for questioning again.

Naturally, I wanted to be there to see him get caught, Brass and Grissom went to his house, I went to his work, it took me a while to convince Grissom that I could take care of myself.  There would be people at his work, so if he pulls something on me there would be others to help. I had to take a rookie officer with me, I was fine with that.

Jake, the officer, and I arrived at his work, the big billboard above the shop read "Markson Tire and Auto." We entered the garage and saw an employee, "Hi, I'm Sara Sidle from the Las Vegas crime lab, is Ted Smithson around?" I asked casually.

The big man replied, "Uh, yeah, he is on a break at the moment, he'll be out back."

"Thanks," Jake and I headed for the back.  Walking past two cars we saw an open metal door that lead out side. We both gathered that's where we would find Ted.

Sure enough he was there, leaning against wooden crates having a cigarette.

"Hi, Ted." I said bluntly.

Ted turned his head towards me.

"I'm Sara, I'm from the Las Vegas Crime lab we—"

"Crime Lab?" Ted smirked, he threw his cigarette on the grown and stood on it.  He started walking towards a shed that was just meters away. I looked at Jake and then we both followed Ted.

"Uh, yeah, your going to have to come with us, we just need to ask you a few questions." I said hastily.

"Oh yeah?" Ted didn't even look back at me; he went through the doors of the shed. We followed.

Jake and I both unclipped our holsters.

I walked into the shed in front of Jake, it was dark and dusty, my eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark before I heard something fall to the ground, I looked behind me, Jake wasn't there any more, I quickly pulled my gun out of the holster and saw Jake on the ground, I looked back in front of me.

"Don't be a hero." I heard Ted say, he was standing in front of me with his gun but touching my forehead. I looked at him.  I could start to see his features, my eyes were adjusting to the darkness.

"Drop your gun, and kick it away" Ted demanded.

I did as he asked not breaking eye contact.

Ted grabbed my arm, hard, and pulled me to the back of the dusty room, he pushed me down to the ground where I sat on the dirt, my hands starting to hurt.

"Stay there, one move and your dead."

Ted turned around, walking towards Jake.  I knew this was an opportunity I couldn't miss. I looked around trying to find something hard. I picked up the stick that was lying on the ground about a meter away. 

I slowly stood and ran towards Ted with the stick above my head.

But Ted's reflexes were faster than I thought; he turned and fired his gun before I could hit him.

A hot burning feeling rose in my stomach, with wide eyes I dropped the stick and fell to my knees.

Ted was saying something but I couldn't make out his words, I was in too much pain and shock to listen to what he was saying.  He walked towards me and pulled me along the ground, he leant me against the wall of the shed out of sight. He started talking to me; he said something about not me being another one of his trophies.

He turned and ran leaving me to die.

I held my stomach, trying to stop the bleeding.

'I'm going to die,' I thought to myself, it finally hit me.  A warm salty tear fell down my cheek, trickling down my chin.  'No one is going to save me, I'm going to be one of those bodies that I see every night, cold, chalky, dead bodies.' I sobbed harder but it hurt my stomach. I looked at my hand; it was covered in sticky blood.

I couldn't sit; all the blood from my upper body would rush down to my wound. I leant sideways to fall to the ground, so I could lay down.

As my hip hit the ground I could feel something jabbing me. 'MY CELL!!' I thought, 'I could use my cell to call Grissom.'

I gathered up all the energy that I muster to slip my hand into my jeans pocket. I pulled out my cell phone after minutes of struggling,

I could hardly feel my legs anymore, my stomach was literally killing me and I felt really tired. 

With one bloodied hand I flipped open the phone cover and pushed Grissom's number. It rang twice before he answered.

"Grissom."

"…Gil…help me…Ted…shot…stomach…help," It took more energy out of me than I imagined. I had to take breaths before I could say a word.

"Sara, where are you? How badly are you hurt? Where's Ted?" Grissom spoke so fast that I could hardly understand him.

"Work…shed… help."

"Sara, I'm coming, stay awake, okay?"

"Mmm."

*click*

Closing the cell phone I put it down beside me.

It was now the waiting game, I held my stomach with both hands, I could feel the blood trickling through my fingers.

My mind was working overtime but my body was shutting down. I couldn't feel my legs anymore and I was loosing feeling in my arms and hands.

My breaths became short and slow, and my heartbeat also slowed.

But none of this stopped me from thinking about Grissom, I like to thinks that he was keeping me alive.

His image stuck in my head, all the things he said to me, the way he looks. His smile. His eyes. His body. His smell. Him.

'He cares about me,' I thought. It took all this time to figure it out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"SARA?!!!" A familiar voice called.

"urghh,"  I tried to call back but my voice failed me, it came out as a whisper.

"Sara?!!" A shuffle of feet on the dirt, I could see his feet.

"heelllppp," I tried again, I made out the word, but it wasn't loud enough.

"Sara…" His body at my side, I moved my eyes up towards his face. I felt so tired that I wanted to sleep. He cupped my face, looking into my eyes. A tear fell down my cheek as I saw him again, one last time.

"I've called an ambulance, they're coming."  He told me softly, he believed that I was going to be okay.

The sides of my lips turned upwards. It was my attempt at a smile

"I…love…you, Gil." I said, hardly audible.

"Sara…don't speak," he held his finger to my lips.

I was so tired. I closed my eyes.

"No, Sara, keep your eyes open. Don't sleep"

I fluttered my eyes open, obeying him.

He looked at my wound, seeing my hands trying to stop the bleeding. He put both hands against my stomach, pressing hard.

I cried out in pain.

"Sorry." He said quietly, his face near mine as he leant his hands down on my stomach.

He was looking at me, his eyes watery. He was going to cry.

"Don't…cry…" I muffled.

He smiled, "shhh"

"It…doesn't….hurt….anymore."

"Don't you dare leave me, your too strong for that."

But I couldn't, I was just too tired to fight. I closed my eyes, it felt as though I was falling, deeper, away.

I could hear the sound of feet on dirt, feet running on dirt. Someone was talking, the voice sounded familiar. Brass maybe.

"Sara….Sara…I'm sorry I wasn't there"

My eyes barely opened as I tried to look at him, I saw his face, looking at me.

"Stay with me Sara" he demanded me.

I looked at him with sad, small eyes. I knew I was going to die, looking at him in pain he realized it too.

A tear fell down his cheek; one small salty droplet fell down his cheek.

I gave up fighting, so did my body as I left this place. I knew he loved me.

*          *          *

Grissom looked at Sara in pain, he knew she was going to die, but he didn't want to believe it.

He took a ragged breath as he watched her fall, he watched her take her last breath, a small tear fell down his cheek and dropped onto her chin.

He felt her relax, her closed eyes, her body limp.

He looked at her with unbelieving eyes. 'She wasn't supposed to die,' her thought.

He gathered up her body into his arms and held her, he wanted to hold her forever.

"I love you Sara," he said into her shoulder, sobbing slightly.

She already knew.