The rain had subsided earlier that day, though it did nothing to clear the humid Vegas air. The sun was almost fully set, deep plum colored clouds heavy in the sky, tinting the damp ground, reflecting in rivulets that trickled down dips in the road.

Setting sunlight wrapped around her shadowed figure, as she clutched her chest, and limped slowly through the alley. She glanced at her surroundings, then at the sign on the door that read: 'St James' Hospital. Emergency Exit Only.' She stopped her painful movements, the blood on her inner thighs still damp, and dribbling down her legs. Her eyes fell for the first time on the tiny, squirming newborn in her arms.

Tears pooled in the dark caverns under her eyes. She lifted her pinky finger, her least bloodied, and traced it down the infant's face, over a tiny nose, soft lips, and dimpled chin: memorizing every intricate detail.

"I'm sorry." Her hushed words barely touched the air around them, and she placed her lips on the baby's forehead, wrapped the blanket tighter, and placed the bundle beside the door. She banged once on the metal door. Twice. The sharp noises startled the infant and caused squeals that echoed from one dampened brick wall to the other.

She rushed away as fast as her aching legs would allow her, wincing with every step. Sooner than she thought, she was crashing through the dingy apartment she calls home, collapsing onto the unmade bed, allowing sobs to wrack her body. She cried for her baby. She cried for the pain pulsating throughout her body. She cried for the life she could have had, but never did. She cried for moments a mother should share with her child, ones that she'd never experience. She cried until her sobs stopped abruptly at the shrill sound of her phone.

She sat up, took a deep breath, and with a trembling hand, she lifted the phone from the receiver to her ear.

"Hello?" She croaked.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Asked a harsh, bitter voice. "I got your message. You let me down, Catherine, you know what happens when you let me down. I'm down thousands of dollars thanks to you."

"I'm sorry, Eddie. I'm not feeling too good right now." She sniffed.

"You don't get to decide what breaks you have, I do. It's your fault the little rag died, probably all that white stuff you've been sniffin'. You'll pay for this, Kitty, I'll make sure you do."

Catherine flinched when the line snapped dead as if already feeling the blows to come. She carefully placed the phone back on the receiver and took a deep breath. Standing from the bed, she elected for a warm bath to pass the time before Eddie raged through the door and began the inevitable. She gulped from a bottle of whiskey, wincing at the sting in her throat, as she scrubbed away the dried blood from her palms, and her thighs, until they were raw and stinging: scrubbing away the haunting memories of the day and creating a different pain, distracting her from the ache between her legs, a constant reminder of what, or who she'd left behind.

She could feel the blood on her hands, gone physically, but stained by her mistakes.

"So cruel. How monstrous do you have to be to do something like that." Emily shook her head sadly, turning her attention from the low glow of the TV back to the brunette sitting opposite her.

"You should reserve judgment. It could be someone young, and terrified, unable to tell her parents." Sara stated simply, gulping down the rest of the water in her glass and standing from the dark oak dining table.

"I know, it's just not fair on the poor baby." Emily sighed, running her hand through her straight blonde locks, then reaching for Sara's hand.

Sara gripped it softly, bringing it to her lips, she placed a simple kiss on her knuckles before releasing it again. "Which is precisely why I need to get to work and figure out what happened."

"You're on the baby case?" Emily called into the hall where Sara was pulling on her jacket.

"Sure am. Grissom called earlier, I'm headed straight to the scene." Sara emerged in the room again, flicking her hair from her collar, and closing in on Emily.

"Okay, be safe tonight."

"Will do. Thanks for dinner, it was delicious. I'm only sorry I can't stay for dessert." She murmured through smirking lips, mere millimeters from Emily's.

Emily grinned, embracing Sara's waist and pulling her forward, she landed unceremoniously in her lap. Sara yelped and then began to giggle as her neck and jaw were attacked with soft, ticklish kisses.

"Rain-check?" Emily smirked, her emerald eyes glistening.

"Of course! Dessert's the best bit." Sara pouted, placing a chaste kiss on Emily's blushed lips.

With a pat on her denim-clad behind, Sara smiled over her shoulder and disappeared once again into the hall, and out of the front door.

Earlier's heavy clouds had dissipated, allowing the full beam of the moon to cascade across the dark alley, lending a helping hand to the struggling, dim street lamps. Sara's heavy boots splashed in shallow puddles, sending flicks of mud up the leather. She surveilled the area, her eager eyes mapping out possible escape routes.

Crouching, she snapped a few pictures of the dirtied, lilac blanket draped across the damp floor. Carefully, she bagged it, already anxious to analyze it back at the lab.

"Hey Griss, didn't you say the baby was unharmed?" Sara frowned.

"Not a scratch. Why?"

Sara shook her head, brows furrowed, and stood from her crouched position. "Blood on the blanket, possibly the mothers. If we're lucky we'll be able to get DNA."

Grissom simply nodded in response, turning back to his respective section of the alley, bagging and tagging his own found evidence.

Turning her gaze upward, she noted the blinking light on the security camera, located just above the door. She made a mental note to pull the security footage, simultaneously hoping that it is in working form, unlike most of the security in Vegas.

She continued to snap pictures, and bag and tag all found evidence: Hairs, small drops of blood, almost mixing too well with the wet ground to be noticed, but Sara had caught them.

What had bothered her most, what manifested itself inside her and caused a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach, was the caring nature of it all. Not a monster, or a vile human with no care in the world for the infant. She could feel in her gut that this was an individual afraid, with seemingly no other option, and she only hoped that whomever the mother, she was currently safe.

Sara, much to everyone's subtle surprise, volunteered to head over to the hospital to retrieve an update on the baby, leaving Grissom and Nick to finish processing the scene. Once there, a couple of flashes of her badge, and a stern frown at the newest receptionist who hesitated in handing over any files, and she was finally talking to the nurse, jotting down notes in her pocketbook.

Flicking through the files, she furrowed her brows and looked toward Nurse Lucy Barton.

"The umbilical cord was still attached?" She asked.

The short brunette nodded. "Correct. Apart from that, the baby was unharmed, hungry to say the least, but no harm caused by anyone else. There were no bruises, no cuts, no scrapes, the only blood was the mothers which I sampled, and sent over to your lab as requested."

She flicked through a couple of pages on her clipboard, scanning the notes before continuing. "She has a mild infection in her umbilicus but that's nothing to worry about now. It should clear up in a week, or so."

Sara nodded, "I appreciate that, thank you."

"Would you like to see her?" Lucy shoved her clipboard under her arm and grinned. "She's a beautiful little thing- we've collectively called her 'baby blue' because her eyes are such a prominent blue."

Sara hesitated for a brief moment before her phone interrupted.

"Sidle." She muttered half-heartedly.

"Sara, we got a hit on the surveillance tape, a woman seen abandoning the baby. Brass recognized her straight away as one of the more known drug users down at that bar that opened last month, Ziggi's, or something. Uniforms are on their way to bring her in."

"Thanks, Nick. Tell them to go easy, okay? If she's the mother then she's vulnerable, she needs support too. I'm on my way." She hung up and slipped her phone back on her belt.

Sara smiled at Lucy. "Thank you, but I better get back," she shrugged. "Work to be done."

Lucy nodded in understanding. "If there's anything you need, you feel free to call."

Sara nodded appreciatively, turned on her heels, and made her way back to the lab.

The thumping at the door was almost as consistent as the thumping in Catherine's head. She groaned, rubbed her eyes, and dragged herself out of bed. Her shirt clung to her sweaty skin. She ran her fingers through her disheveled naturally dried waves, in an attempt to settle them. Failing, she sighed and flinched a little at the insistent banging still coming from her door.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming." She grumbled under her breath, swinging the door open.

"Catherine Willows?" An officer inquired sternly, taking a step forward and crossing the threshold into her apartment.

"That's me." She confirmed, stuttering, slightly taken back at the fact it wasn't Eddie or one of his buddies who had practically banged a dent into her door.

"Turn around and put your hands on your head. You're under arrest for child abandonment, and child endangerment."

"What- I don't-" Catherine's eyes were wide, shaking her head in disbelief.

The officer grabbed her wrist harshly, twisting it so Catherine spun around, and slammed against the wall. She yelped but knew better than to fight back. "You're hurting me." She wheezed, the bang against the wall slightly winding her.

"Too bad." Snarled the officer, slapping on the cuffs and tightening them until they pinched into her wrists and instantly began to chafe her fragile skin.

Back at the station, the bullish officer pushed her onto the chair situated in one of the many interview rooms. She stumbled onto it, arms still cuffed behind her back, wincing as the contact with the chair pushed the cuffs further into her skin.

She didn't bother to look up when she heard a commotion behind the door, a raspy and deep female voice, muffled but clear enough that Catherine could hear the scolding undertones. Catherine dragged her eyes from the scratched metal table to the sound of the opening door.

"Give me your damn cuff keys, you should be ashamed to call yourself an officer! Brass will be hearing about this." She snatched the keys off the now sheepish looking officer and slammed the door in his face.

"Asshole." She mumbled through gritted teeth.

"Miss Willows?" Sara's eyes softened when she took in the sight of the fragile woman in front of her. She promptly uncuffed her, grazing her fingers across the harsh red marks they had caused. "We'll get these looked at for you."

"It's fine." Catherine sniffed. She pulled her arms out of Sara's grasp and folded them in her lap.

"I'm Sara Sidle, and I apologize, Miss Willows. That officer had strict instructions that he did not follow, and I will be informing his superior as soon as we're done here." Sara promised, watching Catherine nod slowly, she moved away from her and sat on the opposite side of the table.

Sara's elbows rested on the table between her and Catherine, her fingers interlocked. Catherine could tell she was being regarded and did her best not to shrink under her gaze. She cleared her throat and sat up a little, making herself seem more confident than she was currently feeling.

After a few moments of silence, Catherine was the first to speak. "I know what you're thinking, Miss Sidle." She ran her tongue over her cracked lips.

"I'm not sure that you do, Miss Willows."

Catherine rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, I do, just like the rest of them. I can read you all."

Sara leaned forward on her elbows, her eyes studying the woman before her intently.

"And here I was thinking I was the investigator. Please, enlighten me." She waved her hand; a gesture for Catherine to go on.

"Just another junkie." Catherine shrugged. "Another no-good, uneducated whore who will never amount to anything." Catherine said matter of factly, having been in this situation many times previously. Though she had to admit, the investigator sitting opposite her had never been quite so accommodating.

"That's not what I'm thinking at all. Sure, some might think that, but the majority are bigotted men who scold women for the same thing they pay for." Sara shrugged, settling back into her chair.

She regarded her once more before continuing. "I see a scared, lonely woman, who is a lot harder on herself than she should be. Someone who should have asked for help a long time ago, but doesn't think herself worthy enough of it."

Catherine squirmed in her chair.

Sara narrowed her eyes at the strawberry blonde's reaction. "Am I close?"

Catherine swallowed tightly.

A moment passed, both parties silent. Sara's eyes bore into Catherine, whilst Catherine fixed her gaze on the scratched table.

A shiver passed through her as Catherine felt dampness at her chest, glancing down at herself, she realized she had started lactating, a common occurrence lately, one she was unsure how to correctly deal with.

"Shit." She cursed under her breath, folding her arms higher over her chest, avoiding all eye contact with the intense brunette sitting across from her.

The evidence was clear, the woman in front of her was the mother. Sara shrugged the anthracite-colored fleece from her shoulders and slid it across the table.

"Please," Sara prompted, gesturing to the item of clothing splayed between them.

Catherine hesitated a moment, before sliding her arms into it: it was oversized, but she rolled up the sleeves and reveled in the warmth of it.

"Thanks," Catherine uttered, zipping it up all the way, picking at the skin around her nails.

"Miss Willows, I think you need to start talking." Sara leaned forward again. "For the sake of you, for the sake of your child; wanted, or unwanted. Whatever the reasoning, I know you didn't want to harm that child, but I do think you have some serious explaining to do. I'm here to help you."

"How is the baby?" She spoke quietly, still avoiding Sara's eyes.

"She's fine. Healthy."

"She? A girl?" Catherine gives a watery smile, her already ocean eyes sparkling in the low, fluorescent lights.

Sara simply nodded, a faint frown crinkling across her forehead at the realization that Catherine didn't even have enough contact with her child to find out whether or not it was a boy or a girl.

"Do you think- could I" Catherine gulped. "Could I see her?"

Catherine's question caught Sara off-guard, something she wasn't often accustomed to in an interview situation.

"I'm sorry, Miss Willows, the investigation is on-going and I can't permit that."

"Not- Through a window, anything?" Catherine pleaded, scratching absently at a scab on her freckled arm.

Sara was reluctant in her reply. "Let me see what I can do, okay? Pictures might be the best but, I'll try."

Catherine chewed her lip, nodding slowly.

It was a while before either spoke again. Sara watched her closely, head tilted to the side, her usual stance for studying a case file. Something about the blonde intrigued her, and she could tell Catherine was attempting to collect her thoughts before uttering them.

"It wasn't meant to be this way." Catherine's voice was small, a mere whisper made under her breath, possibly not for Sara's ears at all.

She finally lifted her head, eyes locking on Sara's intense deep brown ones, her own filled with unshed tears.

Catherine swallowed tightly. "I had to leave her. It was," she shook her head. "It is the only way to keep her safe."

"I'm not sure I understand?"

"God," Catherine ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "I was sure when he found out he'd be pissed, he'd say I ruined him and use me as a punching bag until I lost it- her… Until I lost her." She chewed on her thumbnail nervously, her leg bouncing a little.

"Him, I'm assuming is the father?"

Catherine nodded. "Somehow he was ecstatic. I didn't understand at first, I thought he'd be pissed, tell me to get an abortion, beat me up, he sure as hell has done it for a lot less. Being pregnant would mean I couldn't dance, and not dancing meant Eddie losing money and hell, money is the only thing Eddie cares about. That, and getting his dick wet."

Sara wrinkled her nose at the unwanted visual, and Catherine muttered an apology.

"Anyway, I didn't understand why he was so damn happy until I overheard him talking to one of his buddies and you know what he was going to do? He was going to make thousands off of this baby, boy, or girl. As soon as I saw it-" Catherine breathed out slowly. "Her, as soon as I saw her. I knew I couldn't let him anywhere near her. So I left her at the hospital and told Eddie the baby died and I buried her. He wasn't happy, I haven't seen him since, God knows, I'm going to pay when he comes home."

"Miss Willows, I can assure you, with this information, we can find the relevant information, phone records, notes, evidence to back your statement, and he won't be able to come within 100 yards of you, or the child.

Catherine laughed bitterly. "Don't bother, most conversations were face to face. Men like that, like Eddie Willows, the law can't touch them. They always sweet-talk their way out of it somehow."

"Do I look like the type of woman who can be sweet-talked?" Sara pursed her lip to keep from smirking. Catherine, however, wasn't so lucky, and the corners of her lips etched upward.

She shook her head, "No ma'am."

"I'm going to need to speak with Eddie Willows,-"

Catherine's eyes widened. "Please, no," she interrupted, "if he finds out about what I did- I'm dead, hell, that's if I'm not already."

"Miss Willows, with all due respect, we have to speak to him. I can try my hardest, if seen fit, to keep him from the baby, but this is an on-going investigation and we need to follow everything through."

Catherine stayed silent, her crystal blues dark, and boring holes into the floor.

Sara regarded her for a long moment, it didn't take a genius to figure out the woman in front of her was terrified.

"Have you sought any medical help since giving birth?"

Catherine shook her head gently in reply.

"I would like you to do so." Sara kept her voice soft, clearing her throat when Catherine finally met her gaze. "For evidential purposes my colleague, Nick Stokes," she gestured to the window where Nick could be seen on the other side talking to Brass. "He will escort you, to collect any findings from the exam. Apart from that, you are free to go, Miss Willows. Please, don't leave town, and stay contactable."

Sara nodded for Nick to join them in the room. "Miss Willows, I'm Nick Stokes, I'll be escorting you to the hospital."

Catherine moved her chair back to stand carefully on shaky legs. When she spoke, her voice was a mere notch above being a whisper. "Has the hospital named her? I read- Orphans sometimes, the hospitals name them."

Sara glanced from Nick to Catherine, "No, not that I'm aware."

She chewed on her chapped bottom lip. "Okay."

Catherine tugged the sleeves of Sara's fleece off her arms and held it outstretched for her to take. Sara glanced briefly at the still damp stains on Catherine's shirt, over to Nick, who was attempting to look anywhere but her chest, and back to Catherine's flushed cheeks. She had an arm instinctively crossed over her chest, goosebumps pricking her pale and freckled arms.

"Keep it." Sara insisted, her voice low.

Catherine's eyes snapped to her kind, deep brown ones and she nodded thankfully, pulling it back over her shoulders and zipping it up.

She followed Nick out of the interrogation room, stilling all movements when she reached the door.

"Lindsey." She spoke quietly, chancing a look back at Sara, who was still seated, to find deep pools of brown emotion lock with her own set of blues. "I've always liked that name."

With that, she followed Nick through the lab, as they made their way to the hospital.

"Hey Sara, what are you still doing here? Shift finished hours ago." Nick asked, leaning against the doorframe.

Sara's eyes never left the screen, she was watching the surveillance tape from the hospital on loop and had been for hours now.

"Could say the same to you." She retorted.

"Well, I just got back from the hospital, Just dropping the samples off to the lab and then I'm off home, as you should be- to sleep."

"Yeah, I will in a minute."

Nick let out a defeated breath knowing Sara would pay no attention to his good-hearted suggestions, and most likely would be here all night.

"How was she?"

Nick sighed, stepping into the room. "Beat up, bruised, needed stitches, she had several breaks, and fractures that hadn't healed probably, years old. But she wouldn't talk about them and they weren't related to the immediate case so I dropped it."

Sara clenched her jaw. "That bastard beats her, that's why."

"Yeah, I concluded that." Nick placed a comforting hand on Sara's shoulder.

"Why are you driving yourself crazy with this tape?" He peered over her shoulder, she was watching the same 3 seconds repeatedly.

"She's saying something, I can't tell if there's someone else there. There's no evidence of a second person involved in the abandoning, no one else she would be talking to."

Nick squinted at the fuzzy screen. "I can hardly make it out, but then again, I'm tired, and so are you." He patted her shoulder. "Get some rest, okay?" He said before leaving.

"Sure," Sara mumbled half-heartedly, still glued to the computer.

Studying the fuzzy lips on the screen she was able to make out two words, the only words uttered, and not to someone off-screen, but to the bundle she had placed on the ground. Sara watched the tender exchange for what must have been the hundredth time, a shaky finger outlining the baby's features, a gentle kiss on its nose, and the words uttered from Catherine's lips that she had been trying to make out all evening.

"I'm sorry."