 | ShatterStorm Productions
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| ShatterStorm Productions
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Disclaimer: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigators," the characters, and situations depicted are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Alliance Atlantis, and CBS Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. This site is in no way affiliated with "CSI: Crime Scene Investigators," CBS, or any representatives of Jorja Fox or Marg Helgenberger.
Author's Notes: Timeline: after Living Doll, references to Season 6 episodes, some mild violence in this part, swearing, unbeta'd. Feedback welcome.
Sara and Nick returned to the lab after hours of processing the horror in the basement. It was 5pm and Sara was exhausted. "Hey guys, meet me in five. I'm buying dinner.," Catherine said as she passed them in the hall. Both visibly perked up at the mention of food and went to lock up the evidence before processing. Upon their return, they discovered a vast array of deli sandwiches and fruit salad. Sara's stomach growled loudly and she blushed at Nick's raised eyebrows in her direction. Both fixed themselves a plate and tiredly sank into their chairs at the large table in the center of the room. Neither spoke as they focused on eating as their primary objective. Greg came bounding into the room and wisely kept his mouth shut when he saw that his entrance provoked no reaction from his colleagues. He instead started brewing coffee in the hopes that it might awaken them from their mindless eating. As the delicious aroma started to diffuse through the room, he heard grumbled "Hey Greg" from his zombie coworkers. He turned to the deli tray feeling himself begin to salivate. He picked up a heaping turkey club and was just about to take a bite when it was snatched out of his hand by Catherine. "Thanks Greg.," she teased as she licked mayonnaise off of her thumb. Greg stood with his mouth open as he watched her. "Greg, you'll catch flies.," Sara teased, finally starting to perk up. Greg shot her a glare as he picked up another sandwich and bit into it. A high pitched beeping sounded from the coffeepot and Sara and Nick stared at one another before both hopped up simultaneously and running to the pot. Catherine and Greg paused with sandwiches halfway to their mouths as they watched their fellow C.S.I.s fight over who got the first cup of the reviving brew.
Once everyone was seated again Catherine began to speak. "The first two crime scenes have been processed and all evidence has gone to trace and DNA. The profiler is examining the photos from the scenes. Currently we still have no I.D. for the first two victims. Did you guys have any luck with the third?" "The scene has been processed but our evidence is still waiting to be examined.," Nick spoke in between sips of coffee. "There was no I.D. on our third vic but her five year old daughter was discovered hiding in the closet at the scene.," Sara continued. "Did she see anything?," Catherine's eyes had widened and the concern in her voice was evident. "I don't know. Sofia has been with her all day. We're waiting for her clothes so we can process for trace and DNA.," Sara said. She hadn't heard from the detective all day and was beginning to worry. "Whoever this guy is, he's good. We don't have prints, all the blood at the scenes are the victims', we do have shoe imprints from the first scene but not the second.," Catherine said. "Has Doc Robbins finished his reports?," Sara asked as she looked at an inventory of evidence from the second scene. "He and Dave are casting some of the wounds to try and determine the weapons used.," Catherine replied. "Weapons?," Nick asked. Catherine's face turned grim. "There was more than one weapon used."
"Excuse me, Catherine, I believe you have an addition at your table." Grissom stood in the doorway staring down his glasses at Greg. Everyone's attention turned to Grissom. Greg smiled sheepishly. "I was just grabbing a sandwich, Gris." "You have ten minutes, Greg. There's been a robbery at a jewelry store." Greg swallowed nervously then nodded. Grissom nodded to the others before exiting.
"Alright, Nick I want you to start processing that evidence from the third scene. I'm going to check in with Doc Robbins and Sara you need to grab some shut eye since you've gone the longest.," Catherine said, standing from the table. The glare that Sara directed at her was anticipated and Catherine cut her off before she could speak. "You aren't any good to us if you're tired." Sara's face softened fractionally. Catherine cut to the heart of things as always. In this case she was right. If you were tired you could be sloppy. Sloppiness helped criminals evade justice. Sara broke from Catherine's gaze and put the file down she had been reading. Nick sighed in relief that it had not turned into one of the epic Catherine vs. Sara battles. The two had violently clashed several times before and it was amazing the lab had survived. Their battles were always white hot but short-lived. What scared Nick more was when Sara and Sofia fought. The two would circle each other like weary warriors with their hands on their weapons at the ready. Their arguments were like a slow burn with a high intensity. Neither one would admit they were in the wrong but oddly enough they always listened to what the other had to say. Though lately, Nick hadn't seen either engaged in battle. There seemed to be a recent truce enacted that he hoped would last.
Sara walked over to the deli tray and wrapped a sandwich in a paper towel. "Dang Sara, it's good to see a woman who isn't afraid to eat the way I do.," Nick said, walking over to grab another sandwich. Sara felt like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar but resisted the urge to hide the sandwich behind her back. "I'm uh, saving it for later.," she said. Nick just laughed and took a bite out of his sandwich. Sara's eyes met Catherine's and she didn't know how to interpret the knowing look that was directed at her. "See you guys later.," she said on her way out the door. Catherine simply smirked. "What?," Nick asked in between chewing. "Nothin.,"Catherine replied.
Sara walked in the hallways of the PD on the pretense that she was looking for Sydney's clothes to process. Deep down she was worried about Sofia. She didn't see Brass anywhere and wondered if he had finally taken a break. She walked past the shared space that Sofia usually occupied with several other detectives. She spotted the blonde staring at a computer screen with her chin resting on one fist. She was wearing a green scrub top since her shirt had been taken as evidence at the hospital. Sara rapped on the doorframe and Sofia's eyes shot up to meet hers. "Shit, Sara I'm sorry. I dropped the clothes off before I came back here but Grissom said you all were eating so I didn't want to interrupt." "Sofia, it's fine. I was told by Cath to get some sleep anyway." Sofia sighed in relief that she hadn't irritated the brunette further. She still felt raw from the hospital and didn't think she could take any verbal sparring.
"They were gonna throw this away so I thought why waste it.," Sara said, plopping the wrapped sandwich on Sofia's desk. Sofia arched an eyebrow in the equivalent of a nonverbal "bullshit." "That's very sweet Sara but I don't think I can eat right now." Sofia removed a black sharpie from her desk and wrote her name in bold letters on the sandwich wrapping. She slowly got up and put it into a small refrigerator that sat discreetly in the corner of the room. Sara watched the stiffness of the blonde's movements and knew Sofia was going to burn out if she didn't get some rest. Her lack of appetite also didn't surprise Sara. Sofia had dealt with a five year old child who had just lost her mother. That couldn't have been easy. It was one of the reasons Sara preferred the lab. She couldn't handle the live victims. "Sofia, you should get some rest. You've been going as long as I have." Sofia closed her eyes and shook her head. "I can't leave here right now." Sara slowly walked up to the detective and surprised herself by taking Sofia's hands in hers. She met pain-filled blue eyes with her own darker eyes. "Sofia, this guy is really smart. We are never going to get him if we burn out." Sofia broke the gaze and clenched her jaw in frustration. Sara squeezed Sofia's hands lightly before letting go and pulled the blonde into an embrace. Sofia closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel the hands rubbing her back soothingly. "She cried when child protective services took her away. She kept looking at me and asking me not to leave her." Sara felt her eyes tear as she held Sofia close. "You did everything you could, Sofia. You were there for her on the worst day of her young life." "It's not enough, Sara." Sara knew all too well what the detective meant. She remembered hopping from foster home to foster home. The older she got, the harder it was for her to be placed in a home. Most couples wanted an infant not a child that had already been damaged by seeing too much violence. "I know.," she said, momentarily squeezing Sofia harder. "To be honest I don't really want to leave either but we should both get some sleep." Sara could see the wheels turning in Sofia's mind as she frowned slightly and looked slightly to the left. "I think I may be able to solve both of those problems.," she said. Sara raised her eyebrows in response.
The room on the top floor of the PD that was jokingly referred to as the "crash room" housed several cots for detectives that were too tired to go home or had to catch some rest while waiting for pertinent information during a case. Sara and Sofia giggled as they stumbled into the dark room feeling along the wall for the light switch. Luckily when they finally found it there was no one else in the room that they could have disturbed with their loud fumbling in the dark. "Pick a cot any cot.," Sofia said, gesturing to the simple spartan cots. Sara slowly walked around the room in a circle staring at each bed. She walked up to each one experimentally sitting on each and comparing relative softness of the mattresses. Sofia waited for Sara to give an indicator of which one she liked. She had sat on all of them and was still walking around the room. Sofia waited for the right moment as Sara turned around to head for the one closest to the door.
Sara was floored as five foot seven inches of detective dove onto the bed that she had selected. She barely managed to sit on the corner of it as Sofia stretched onto it with a large grin on her face. Wants to play does she? We'll see about that. Sofia barely had time to scoot aside as Sara stretched out beside her. Sara turned on her side so she was facing Sofia and rested her head on her right hand. Sofia watched Sara a little surprised at the boldness of the move. Sara reached her hand out and started playing with strands of Sofia's hair. "You were waiting for me to pick which one I wanted weren't you?," Sara said. Sofia was trying not to get distracted by the proximity of the brunette or the hand teasing through her hair. "Uh huh.," she replied. "This is my bed, Curtis. I'm not in the mood to fight." "Neither am I.," Sofia said, still not moving. Sara's face slowly smiled. "Good." Sofia didn't have time to interpret the remark before she felt Sara's lips against hers. She groaned as Sara lightly bit her lower lip and grabbed onto her hip, pulling their lower bodies together. A little voice in Sofia's head was protesting but Sofia ignored it as she felt Sara's tongue caress hers. Sara was completely focused on losing herself in the luscious body next to her. Sofia was a beautiful contrast of lean muscle and soft curves. Sara growled as Sofia found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck with her mouth and crawled on top of the blonde, pinning her to the mattress. Sofia's skin was on fire and she loved the feeling of Sara's weight on top of her. Sara was being surprisingly aggressive. She was holding Sofia's hands against the mattress and was pulling Sofia's scrub top up with her teeth, exposing the smooth skin of her toned stomach. Sofia squirmed as Sara nipped at her hips with her teeth. It was all happening so fast. Sofia struggled to find something to hold onto to ground her from the overwhelming sensations. Sara would not look her in the eye. Despite how good it felt, Sofia's apprehension rose. Sara was detached and Sofia couldn't feel the normal connection that they shared. "Sara, please stop.," she pleaded. "Sofia, please I need this.," Sara groaned. She could feel Sofia grabbing onto her hands to still them. If she kept moving she wouldn't have to feel the dark closing in on her as images of the tortured women flashed behind her eyes. Sara didn't realize she had begun to cry until she felt Sofia's arms around her shaking body.
Sofia said nothing as she held the distraught woman. Sara was so accustomed to bottling things up that Sofia was surprised this hadn't happened earlier. Usually Sara relied on anger to blow off steam. Had they been in an established relationship she might have even gone along with letting Sara get lost in the physicality of sex. She wanted more than that from Sara. She wanted them to come together because they both wanted it not because they were distracting themselves from unpleasant feelings from a case. Truthfully Sofia knew the comfort that could be had from distracting yourself with sex. When she first became a C.S.I there had been several occasions where casual sex had proved a welcome diversion. Since getting her shield she had refrained from that indulgence. She wanted more and had just been waiting for the right person. It wouldn't surprise her if Sara was familiar with the aforementioned method of distraction. Sara was introverted and complicated. She never seemed to let anyone get too close.
"Sofia?" Sara's voice came out more like a croak. "Hmmm?," Sofia replied. She was softly stroking Sara's hair while Sara's head rested against her shoulder. "I am really sorry that I um, mauled you." To Sara's surprise she felt Sofia's body shake with silent laughter. She started to pull away only to feel Sofia hold her in place. "Sara, the problem is not you mauling me. If anything I should apologize to you." Sara raised her head up and looked Sofia in eye. Sofia saw the confused look in the brunette's eyes. She found that her mouth had gone dry and a lump had formed in her throat. "It's just that um.." Sara watched a blush suffuse through the detective's cheeks. "I really like you, Sara." Sara had a small smile forming at the corners of her mouth as she listened to Sofia uncharacteristically fumble with her words. "I want rainy afternoons spent at home curled up with a warm blanket and good conversation. Those quiet moments where you get to sit still and just be." Sofia frowned at her own description and shook her head. "This isn't coming out right." Sara stroked Sofia's soft cheek with the back of her hand. "I think it sounds wonderful. Peaceful." "You do?," Sofia asked in disbelief. She thought she sounded like a head case. Sara nodded. "Who would have thought that beneath this rugged exterior lies the heart of a romantic." Sofia laughed out loud now. "You think I'm rugged and romantic? I feel like the most boring person on Earth." Sara laughed in response. "You are far from boring, Detective Curtis."
