I know that most of my stories tend to bit a bit depressing and can contain some pretty dark themes and this story is no exception. I don't want to spoil it for you, but just be warned and take note of the rating! In saying that, I hope you enjoy the story and please feel free to leave me a review. I love to hear your opinions on my writing!

It was the start of what would be yet another long shift. It's duration only exacerbated by the fact that most of the night shift had come in to work early, having left late from their previous shift, all determined as always to find that key piece of evidence that could help put another of Nevada's criminals behind bars. But at least they hadn't resorted to pulling full-blown double shifts, or not yet anyway. The brightly lit air of the break room held it's usual aroma of coffee, old books and print powder and the gentle hum of the air conditioning unit and the distant sound of diagnostic machinery at work were the only thing breaking the silence as Warrick Brown sat hunched over his case file, desperately trying to piece together the information before him. He heard the clicking of heals, knowing whom they belonged to well before their owner spoke.

"Hey there Warrick. You here early too?" Catherine breezed as she walked in, a stack of test results in hand, in search of coffee.

"Hey Catherine." He said distractedly. "Yeah, this serial rapist thing is getting really out of hand. Just can't stop thinking about those poor women you know, so I thought I would try and get in a couple of hours before the shift starts." He rubbed his forehead with his hand and leaned back in the chair.

"We all have cases like that Warrick. Don't let it drag you down too far." She said sympathetically, pouring the dark liquid from the already half empty pot.

"Yeah I know. It's just it's only a matter of time before he escalates you know. I mean last night was the first in a week without a new case."

"Well maybe he's slowing down." She said optimistically, sitting opposite him at the large table.

"Yeah maybe." He shrugged, not so sure that she was right. "Or maybe the latest girl just wasn't brave enough to speak up."

"You want me to take another look?" She offered.

"Sure." He sighed in defeat, pushing the file across to table to meet her out stretched hand.

"So he drugs them, presumably follows them in their cars or offers to drive them somewhere in their cars and then they wake up later in their own vehicle down some side alley having been raped, with no memory of what happened." She said trying to straighten out the facts in her head as she flicked through the pages of the file.

"Yeah. But we don't know where he is drugging them or how, none of the women seem to have anything in common except our rapist." He added.

"Well," She sighed. "I've got the results back from the last girl, Jenny Carr, and the seminal DNA matches that of the other victims, no surprises there. It just confirms that her attack was connected to the others."

"Yeah, I finished processing her car at the end of last shift but there was nothing to lead us to the attacker, nothing to connect her to the others, no receipts, shopping bags, coffee cups... I don't know Catherine, this whole case is just so frustrating. There are five women, that we know of, who have been attacked by this guy and apart from his DNA, which is no good unless we have a suspect, we have nothing."

"I know. We just have to be patient." He was about to speak up, to tell her that there wasn't time to be patient while he was still out there claiming other victims, but he stopped himself when Greg walking in, closely followed by Nick.

"Hey there guys." Nick said. "Ready for another shift."

"Aren't we always Nicky." Catherine smiled and the two men seated themselves ready to be given their nights assignments.

"Any leads on your serial case?" Greg asked.

"No, we're pretty much at the same point we were two nights ago, just with an extra victim." Warrick said, rather more abruptly than he had meant to. Greg just nodded, knowing that this case was hard on all three of the CSI's working it.

"Where's Sara? She's still working the case right?" He added, realising she wasn't there, which seemed a little unusual as she was always at work early.

"She left even after I did yesterday so she probably isn't here yet." Warrick said nonchalantly. "She might seem invincible but I'm sure even Sara must have to sleep some times."

"Want to bet on that?" Nick said as Sara, as if on cue, walked through the door, oblivious to the conversation she had just missed. She smiled at everyone and sat down.

"Hey Sara, you get any sleep today?" Catherine asked, warranting a quick glare from Warrick.

"Enough." She said quietly, her gazed fixed on the ground. Nick smiled at his friend and shrugged as Warrick just rolled his eyes in return. A comfortable silence fell among the team for a brief moment before their supervisor walked in.

"Ah good, I see we're all here." He said, glancing quickly around the room. "Nick and Greg, have you got your report written up from the case you closed last night?"

"Yeah boss here you go." Greg said, handing him the folder in exchange for a new assignment slip. "Thank you Greg. I want you two together on this case too. DB at the Berlingo." They both nodded.

"Come on then Greggo, let's get going. And I'm driving this time, no more of that flipping-a-coin crap." He said waving is finger at the younger man. "I'm pulling seniority here, I just can't hack anymore of your taste in music."

"Great, so country music it is then." Greg teased as they made their way from the break room, Grissom rolling his eyes and shaking his head in a seeming disapproving manner.

"I take it you guys are still working on your serial case?" He said addressing the remaining members of the team.

"Sure are." Catherine confirmed.

"Well I'll be down in autopsy if you need me." He said, leaving to work on his own case, knowing there was little chance of his assistance really being required.

"So then," Catherine said, turning to Sara and Warrick. "I'll go and get the tox results from Henry, although I think I already know what he's going to say."

"Yeah right." Agreed Warrick. Rohypnol seemed to be this guy's drug of choice.

"Sara can you go and see if Hodges has finished running the white powder we found in that car?" Catherine requested as she began to make for the door.

"Um, yeah sure." She said, looking up briefly from the floor and giving a tentative smile but making no move to stand up.

"Ok." Catherine said slowly, noticing the lack of Sara's usual enthusiasm but deciding to say nothing, assuming that Warrick was right after all, and that she did need sleep sometimes but clearly hadn't got any.

"I'm just going to take this to the layout room," Warrick said to Sara standing up and waving the file at her. "See that there isn't something we have just overlooked."

"Ok, I'll meet you there." She said, her words oddly disjointed. Warrick frowned briefly but like Catherine, decided to leave the subject of Sara's odd mood alone.

Now Sara was alone in the room and she didn't know if it made her feel better or worse. She didn't much feel like talking but then again, she didn't want to be by herself right now either. She sighed and stood up to leave, the aching in her body instantly returning as she moved. She pushed the pain and the memories away again as she headed towards the trace lab as requested. Thankfully it seemed Hodges was somewhat in demand and was far too busy to try and makes jokes or idle conversation. She picked up her results with a simple "thank you" and made her way to the layout room, stopping by the bathroom on the way, knowing that her body was trembling and that she would be unable to hide it from Warrick. She looked at herself in the mirror. In the harsh light of the bathroom her skin look pale to the point of translucence and her eyes looked dark and hollow. This ghostly figure was not Sara Sidle. She ran a trembling hand down the side of her cheek and neck then let it fall suddenly back to its position on the edge of the sink. She tightened her grip on the cool porcelain, rocking back on her heels and taking a deep breath. She fought back the tears, swallowing hard as she looked back up at herself. She would not cry. She would not cry. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly as if the exaggerated exhalation would let out some of the pent up humiliation and fear held inside of her. She felt cold, but at least now the trembling had lessened. With that, she left the solitude of the bathroom to face a task of trying to tackle this all too haunting case.

She found Warrick fighting with a large map, trying to unfold it on the layout room table. Silently, she placed the trace results on the table and leaned over to help him. That done, she pulled out a stool and sat, her eyes fixed on the map.

"So?" Warrick said expectantly. She looked up at him confused. "The results?"

"Oh," She picked up the sheet and handed it too him. "Sweetener." She said as he read the chemical analysis.

"Sweetener? Well that doesn't help us much." He sighed. "Could be from anywhere. Did we find any coffee cups of food wrappers in her car?" Sara shrugged. Warrick sighed. She had the files in front of her and he had hoped she would look and find out the answer to his question. Apparently not. "Can you pass me the file?" He said, his tone portraying his annoyance. She slowly picked up the top folder and handed it to him. He took it from her rather abruptly, making her flinch slightly, but he didn't notice. He studied the report silently as Sara shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Seemes she liked to keep her car pretty neat." He said, closing the file and putting it back down on the table. She nodded.

"What's with the map?" She asked quietly.

"I though maybe if we plotted the routes the women were travelling on when they were attacked then we might be able to find some common point or anything really to link them together."

"Want me to help?" She offered.

"Sure." He lent over the table to retrieve another folder from the pile in front of Sara, giving them half each to work on. "We should plot the directions they were travelling and the locations where they were attacked." She nodded and opened the first folded, only to be confronted with and image of the injuries of one of the victims. Large blue and black bruises on her abdomen and thighs. She swallowed hard, mentally fighting back a horrible and unexpected feeling of nausea. With a trembling hand she turned over the image and began to read the victims account of what had happened, trying to pull out the relevant information. Warrick had just placed the first sticker on the map when Grissom appeared in the doorway.

"Warrick, have you got a minute?"

"Uh sure." He said, slightly apprehensively.

"I need help with a little experiment." Warrick inwardly groaned. As much as he liked working along side his supervisor, his experiments could be a little trying at times.

"Can you finish up here?" Warrick directed at Sara. She nodded but didn't speak. "Ok then, where do you want me?" He asked, following Grissom out of the room. And she was alone again. Ok Sara you can do this. She told herself. Just work. Although as methodical and thorough as usual, her work was slow and interrupted by unhelpful and harrowing thoughts.

"Hey Sara, how you getting on?" Catherine's sudden appearance at Sara's side startled her and it took all her strength for the slight gasp not to turn into a scream.

"Um ok." She said, turning back to look at her work. Catherine nodded. She had hoped for some expansion on that but Sara was emanating an air of distinct uneasiness and it was obvious she was not in a good mood. This is going to be fun. Catherine sighed. "So, what are you doing?" She prompted.

"Mapping out the routs the victims were taking when the were attacked." Sara explained, her voice completely monotone.

"Ok, and where is Warrick?"

"With Grissom. Helping with an experiment." Catherine nodded, peering over Sara's shoulder at the map.

"There doesn't seem to be any real pattern emerging." She observed.

"Well it's not finished yet." Sara huffed defensively. Catherine just rolled her eyes.

"These are the locations where the victims woke after their attacks right?" Catherine said, leaning over Sara to point at the red stickers on the map. Sara nodded, unconsciously holding her breath, the closeness making her feel uncomfortable.

"They're quiet a way from the directions the women were travelling." Catherine added with interest.

"I guess." Sara shrugged.

"Have we looked into getting the traffic videos for any of these roads from around the times of the attacks?"

"Not yet." Catherine frowned, Sara's abruptness seeming more than just a little rude. She was about to say something when Warrick returned, looking a little dishevelled.

"Have fun?" Catherine smirked.

"Oh yeah." He smiled sarcastically walking around the opposite side of the table to the two women. He looked at the map, then at Sara and frowned.

"You still not finished with this?"

"Almost." Sara replied, placing down another sticker and marking on the victim's initials. Warrick looked up at Catherine and shrugged. Just then Catherine's phone began to ring, she flipped it open and held it to her ear.

"This is Catherine…Yeah…I as wondering how long it would be…I know…Yeah ok, see you there…Ok thanks Jim." She closed her phone and sighed. "We have our next victim." She aid sadly.

"Same MO as the others?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, Brass is at Desert Palms with her now. Warrick, you stay here and finish up with this, Sara you can come down to the hospital with me…"

"I can't." She said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Catherine asked, slightly shocked.

"I can't." She repeated, not meeting the eyes of either of her colleagues.

"What, do you have some better place to be?" She shook her head.

"Then you're coming with me."

"But…"

"No buts Sara. I'm you're superior and the lead on this case, you will do as I tell you." Sara flinched as Catherine raised her voice. "We're all tired Sara but that doesn't mean…"

"That's not it."

"What?"

"That's not it." She gulped.

"Then what is it? Bad time of the month? Because quite frankly Sara you have been in a horrible mood since you arrived tonight and I'm not prepared…"

"Hey Cath." Warrick decided it was time to intervene before this got out of hand. "Come on." Sara stood up, her legs feeling weak as her whole body trembled. Despite her anger, Catherine couldn't help but notice how terrible she looked, the colour drained completely from her already pale face.

"I need to go, I'm sorry." She mumbled as she made her way hurriedly from the room.

Ok so maybe you can see where this might be going... maybe not. Either way, I would to hear what you think. I will try and post the next chapter soon.