Disaster strikes when you least expect it

Author: Nepeace aka Angelique

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Summary: Well I never thought I would write something like this, but the whole CBS/Nick and Sara situation made me think of this so I blame them.

Rating: PG-13, I guess, nothing to graphic … but it's dark, I guess in a way …

Warning: Character deaths, and some slight hints on C/S.

Spoilers: Spoilers not much, some minor spoilers for season 1 and 3, I guess, well who knows maybe spoilers for season 5 but I guess we'll have to wait till September to get an answer to this question.

Distribution: Just ask, send me an email

Disclaimer: Nope I do not own them, but if I did I wouldn't be so stupid to fire Jorja and George. Please support Jorja and George and sign this petition:

Thank you.

Author's note: For those who wonder; yes I am also writing on the third part of the 'Sweet Salvation' series, it will probably be called 'Don't close your eyes' and I hope to finish the first couple of chapters somewhere this week so I can start uploading as soon as possible. So don't worry no matter what happens I will end this series as intended. My story takes place in an AU anyways.

Nick was driving the SUV through the streets of Las Vegas. He was talking about his upcoming vacation in Texas. He was telling some stories about the last time he was there. His cousins had played a prank on him. He laughed while he thought about it.

She smiled at him, flashing that beautiful gap-toothed grin. She knew how important his family was, his life had been so different to hers. She never had been close to her parents and actually she hadn't seen them in four years. And wasn't planning on seeing them any time soon. A sudden change in the environment brought her back to reality from her thoughts.

Nick cursed under his breath while he hit the brakes. The tires screeched and the car made a sudden move before another vehicle slammed into Sara's side of the car. He could only hear her scream which was drowned out by the noise of metal against metal. Seconds later his side of the car slammed into something else and the mind-blowing pain blacked him out.

Warrick sat down at the table in the break room and handed Catherine a mug of coffee. She was talking about Lindsey and he smiled at her stories. She was silent for a second and sipped her coffee when Greg came in. He poured himself some coffee and leaned against the counter and listened to Catherine as she talked some more until she was interrupted by her beeper.

She put down her mug and looked down at the beeper, she read; :: 911 Grissom ::, before she could say anything. Warrick's and Greg's beepers went of as well. They rushed through the halls, until they reached Grissom's office. Grissom's office was already crowded with people, Archie and some other lab techs where standing inside the office. Brass, David and Doc Robbins where standing near to Grissom's desk. Grissom asked Greg to close the door and cleared his throat before he started to talk.

"I am so sorry that I have to say this. There has been a terrible accident. Nick and Sara, they got hit by another SUV when they where on their way to the crime scene that I assigned them to." Grissom said.

Catherine looked at him, a look of sheer shock covered her face. "But they will be alright, won't they?" Catherine asked looking at Grissom.

He looked at the floor under his feet, trying to avoid the tears from slipping through his eyelids, he blinked a couple of times before he shook his head. The people in the room all had a look of shock and terror plastered to their faces. "No, Sara died immediately on impact, she didn't suffer." He wiped his eyes, he still couldn't believe this happened. "Nick, he was driving the car when it happened. His side of the car slammed into a truck. He has severe head trauma, and slipped into a coma. His doctor told me that he probably won't last through the night and if he does his brain damage is probably to severe to ever really live again."

"What! No! Grissom this can't be true tell me that it isn't true." She couldn't believe the devastating news, she cried.

"Catherine, I'm sorry." Brass walked up to her and took her hands. "It's true, I was there. I saw the car, I identified Sara it was her. I'm sorry." He took Catherine's trembling body in his arms and hugged her. Giving her some comfort was all he could do at this moment.

Nick's parents arrived, and they decided that they couldn't let their son live like this. He died when they took him off the life support, they grieved for their son. But decided to wait in Vegas and give us a chance to give our colleagues the ceremony that they deserve after which Sara would be buried in Vegas as she wished and Nick would be buried next to his grandparents in Texas.

Catherine sat down on Lindsey's bed and combed her daughter's hair before she tied a white ribbon around it. Today was the day that they would bury their colleagues, and she still couldn't believe what had happened. She still couldn't believe that she would never hear that sweet Texan accent when he talked to her.

Or her gap-toothed smile and snide remarks that she loved so much. She would never know whether there was a possible future for them. She would always have this feeling that she didn't give Sara or herself the chance that they both deserved so much.

"Mommy? Are you okay?" Lindsey's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Yes baby, I am okay. I'm just thinking."

"Mommy, can I ask you a question?" Lindsey looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes, I nodded. "Are Nick and Sara with Daddy in heaven now?"

I was kind of surprised by her question, all though I should have known that she would ask it. One part of me wanted to say; No, Sara and Nick deserve so much more then your Daddy. But of course I couldn't say that to my little girl. So I just answered with a plain and simple; "Yes!"

I held Lindsey's hand while we walked down the graveyard to the place that was crowded by people. I sat down next to Grissom and was closely followed by Warrick. He looked awful, normally he was the strong man. But I could see that he had been crying, after all he'd lost his best friend. These last couple of days had been hard on everyone; none of us could believe what happened. It was all too shocking, something no one expected that would ever happen. For days now it felt like I wasn't able to breath.

The whole funeral went by me, while my thoughts kept drifting to things that could have been. Everything that was said about Nick or Sara made me think of things that happened in the past.

Flashback

The time that I first met Nick. I was in Grissom's office talking to him when someone knocked on the door and before I could turn around I heard that low voice with that sexy Texan accent ask whether this was Gil Grissom's office. I turned around and looked at the young man in front of me. He held out his hand and told me that he was Nick Stokes the new CSI. I was surprised, 'cos Grissom never told me that we would get a new CSI. I shook his hand and told him who I was, then I quickly made my way out of the office but not before I send Grissom a surprised look. He never told me that we would get any 'reinforcements'.

End flashback

I looked up at Gil, I wasn't able to concentrate on the things that where said. Actually I didn't even hear the things that where said by the several people who held a speech about the great loss that our team suffered. The sheriff gave the same damn speech that he always did. He didn't even know who Nick and Sara where. He probably knew none of us, but he always showed up with his speech. It made me feel bitter just thinking about it.

Flashback

The last time we lost someone was when Holly died, I still feel guilty for what happened back then. We knew that we were losing her when Grissom told me that he would bring in, someone from the outside. At that moment I didn't want someone else in our team, all I wanted was to turn back time and make sure that Holly would be okay. And when she came in I bitched her around and refused to talk to her in a normal way. All we did was fight, and after a while I didn't know how we could be friends. I wasn't able to be her friend when she needed me, or at least someone to support her, I wasn't there as usual. I was there for everyone else when they needed someone to talk to when they needed a friend but I was never really there for her.

We sometimes went out for a drink or an early breakfast after shift, but that was all that there had been. And there could have been so much more. I felt so guilty, that I never was the friend to Sara that I could have been.

End flashback

Grissom grabbed my hand; I looked at him shocked. " Catherine are you okay?" he whispered softly to me.

"What, yes… yes I am okay?"

"Catherine there is nothing you could have done to prevent this, don't go beating yourself up over this." Grissom said softly.

"Yes there is something I could have done, I could have been Sara's friend."

" Catherine we'll talk about this later, okay?" He was silent for a few seconds just looking at me. Before looking back at the front of the church. The sheriff ended his speech and stepped down. "I'll be right back." Grissom made his way to the front of the church and got up behind the microphone.

He cleared his throat. "Nick and Sara, two valuable members of our team, a great loss for us as a team. At times like these you think back and think about the things that you could have changed or what could have been different. As a team we have worked on all kinds of cases but nothing prepares you for this. For the loss of someone so close to you, Nick as well as Sara were here a long way from their original homes and in a way we replaced family. After shift we went out for breakfast together, we would throw each other a birthday party and went out for drinks."

Flashback

I could remember that time when Sara found out that Hank was cheating on her. Or better said that he was cheating on his real girlfriend with Sara. Maybe I should have told her, I saw it coming all along. But I knew that she wouldn't believe me so I let her find out for herself. And when she confronted him, I was there waiting in the car ready to offer her my shoulder to cry on. We went out for drinks and at that moment we both saw what real friendship could be like. We got along better after that but we never really became friends. I knew that Sara wouldn't come to me for help, and she didn't prove me wrong. When Grissom found out about her drinking habit he asked me what to do. I told him that I had seen it coming all along. She kept everything inside, never talking about the things that bothered her or pleased her for that matter. My guess is that we never really knew the real Sara; we only knew bits and pieces of her. And now there was no time left to find out more about her.

End flashback

I look up at Grissom not hearing what the rest of his speech was when all of the sudden people got up and where standing, Grissom made his way through the crowd until he reached me and Lindsey. He smiled at me but his eyes were sad. Lindsey was still holding my hand. She had tears in her eyes. Warrick looked down at her and picked her up. She let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around his neck, hiding her face in his shoulder. Her body trembled; I stroked her back trying to comfort her although I knew that it probably wouldn't help. Grissom wrapped an arm around my shoulder and we slowly walked out of the church. Following the two coffins, one was slowly carried out to the back of an already waiting car while the other one would be buried, in Las Vegas as Sara had said in her will.

The sun was shining bright, but to me it felt like it should have rained. We where standing near the gravesite and we watched while father Nichols said the final words to end this ceremony. Everyone said there final goodbyes and people started walking back to their cars until we where left with Sara and Nick's family. Nick's parents said goodbye to us, and left. They were devastated, they had lost their youngest son. The baby of the family …

I looked at Sara's parents, I knew that Sara had a poor relationship with her parents and they didn't seem as devastated as Nick's parents were. Although her mother was crying, her dad just stared in the distance. Grissom walked up to them and shook their hands, telling them how sorry he was for their loss. I followed him and did the same, Warrick put down Lindsey and she grabbed hold of my hand again. I knew that this hit too close to home. A little over a year ago she had buried her Daddy. I hugged her close to me; she looked up to me and gave me a sad smile.

"Let's go, okay baby?" She nodded, while she quickly wiped her eyes.

I gave Sara's parents a hand again and told them how sorry I was for their loss. They nodded at me and I turned to leave, I stopped at the grave and let the two roses that I bought fall into it, a single red rose and a white rose. "I'm so sorry, so sorry that I never gave us a chance…" A tear rolled down my cheek, and I wiped it away before I took Lindsey's hand and we walked back to the car, waiting for Warrick and Grissom to arrive.

The End ...

Sorry, if I hurt anyone with this story. I just had to get this of my chest.

Please read and review,

Angelique

CBS Please reconsider.