Title: Choices
Author: nighttimeowlreader
Author’s Email: anamcara42@hotmail.com
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Sara/Sofia
Summary: different ending to the whole Miniatures Killer story arc.
Spoilers (if any): Seasons 7 & 8

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: Be forewarned that there is homophobia in this part and swearing. This was also not a personal attack against nursing technicians. This us unbeta'd and feedback is welcome.


Sara Sidle's hospital room 8 a.m.

Sofia felt something shake her left shoulder and hissed in pain, snapping her eyes over to the offending stimulus she was met with the disapproving eyes of a nursing tech.

"It's against hospital regulations for you to be in bed with the patient."

Sofia pinned the tech with an icy gaze. "You'd better not wake her."

"Look, this isn't San Francisco. You need to get out of the bed."

Sofia felt her blood pressure go up and thought her jaw would crack it was clenched so tightly.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying there are children walking around these hallways and they shouldn't have to see..."

"Shouldn't have to see what?" Sara had interrupted the nursing tech and was glaring at her.

"Two women. It's unnatural.," the tech said with contempt lacing her voice. She stared at the two women with her nose wrinkled as if it had encountered something unpleasant.

Sofia had had enough. "Look, we're not....."

Sara interrupted her. "Awww honey, we're offending her. I'm all broken up about that." There was heavy sarcasm injecting Sara's voice and it had Sofia's complete attention. Sara shifted her body so she was laying on her left side towards Sofia. "So I guess it would REALLY offend you if I did this." Sara cuddled up to Sofia's body and nuzzled her neck. Sofia could feel warm breath against her skin and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

"Or this." Sara slowly kissed Sofia's neck. Sofia remained still, afraid to let on to Sara that she was enjoying the attention of the soft lips against her skin. Thank God I don't have a cardiac monitor attached. Sofia nearly jumped out of the bed when she felt a hint of teeth lightly graze her throat. The nursing tech looked like she was going to vomit. Sofia was having trouble breathing. It felt like the desert sun was scorching her. When Sara's lips reached her cheek, she gave Sofia one last kiss and turned to the nursing tech.

"Why don't you get the fuck out of my room and go back to whatever backwoods place that you crawled out of.," she growled. Charlene entered the room at the sound of the raised voices. "What the hell is going on here?," she asked, looking from the two women to the nursing tech.

"Your tech has a problem with two women being in the same bed.," Sara ground out. Charlene took in the anger in the women's faces and the disgust in the nursing tech's. They had had problems with this tech before.

"Ladies, I am so sorry about this. Janine, can I see you outside?" The nursing tech stormed out of the room with Charlene right behind her.

Sara turned to Sofia with hints of red in her cheeks though whether from embarrassment or anger Sofia wasn't sure. "Sofia, I'm sorry. I just can't stand bigots. They get my blood boiling." Sofia smirked at Sara. "That's alright. It'll fuel the ole gossip mill when everyone sees the hickey."

"What?" Sara's jaw dropped open and her eyebrows rose to her hairline as she moved to get a closer look at Sofia's neck. Seeing nothing she looked back up into blue eyes full of mirth. "You're gonna pay for that." Sara poked Sofia in her side delighting when she heard the blonde let out a startled giggle.

"Hey, that's not fair! I can't fight back against a gimp!" Sara scowled as the detective squirmed away from her tortuous fingers. "Curtis, you are soooo not helping yourself here." Sara continued to poke Sofia in the sides with Sofia pushing her hands away and both of them laughing loudly. Sofia managed to extricate herself from the bed pleading for a truce.

"Coward.," Sara mumbled. She grinned slightly when she saw that the detective had heard her. Sofia had turned around by then and stopped with her back to Sara. A purely evil grin appeared on her face as she mentally plotted her revenge. It came in the form of a cup of ice that had been placed by Sara's bed along with some iced tea. Sofia picked up the cup of ice and turned towards her prey. Sara's grin vanished as she saw what Sofia had in her hand.

"You wouldn't." Sofia arched an eyebrow. "Wouldn't I?" Sara quickly grabbed her pillow and tossed it at the approaching woman only to watch Sofia bat it away with her hand. "Is that all you got, Sidle?" Both women were grinning as Sofia got closer with the ice and Sara ran out of pillows to throw at her. "If I'm going down Curtis, you're coming with me.," Sara said, trying to sound intimidating. Sofia smirked. "Oh, it'll be worth it."

Grissom strolled into Sara's room to find Sofia and Sara engaged in a staring match. Sara was grinning and Grissom hadn't seen her smile that way in a long time. He looked over to Sofia who had a matching grin on her face.

Sofia was just about to dump the ice on Sara's head when she saw Sara staring over her shoulder and the smile left her face. Sofia turned to see Grissom standing in the doorway with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Sofia? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" It was Sofia's turn to be puzzled now. "Actually Grissom, Brass switched me back to night shift." "Oh." Grissom continued to stare at the two women as if trying to make sense of it. Sara had never been warm towards Sofia and it was only after Sofia became a detective that they had seemed to be able to work better together. Now Sofia was visiting Sara in the hospital? He couldn't tell if they had been arguing or for lack of a better word, playing. But Sara Sidle playing? And with Sofia Curtis of all people?

As the silence stretched, the level of discomfort rose and Sofia put the cup of ice down and poured the iced tea into it from the glass bottle on the table. Pushing it towards Sara, she threw her an apologetic look. "I'll um....let you two visit." Sofia approached the exit and nodded to the man lingering in the doorway. "Grissom."

Sara was still calming herself from being scared shitless by Grissom's sudden appearance. The dream was still fresh in her mind and another part of her was extremely bothered by the fact that she was uncomfortable that Grissom had witnessed her changing attitudes towards Sofia. By the time she realized that Sofia had gone, she couldn't call out goodbye.

2 weeks later CSI breakroom

Sofia sat at the main table of the CSI break room drinking coffee and looking over a case that she and Nick had been working on. She had taken to hanging out in the break room more since Sara's abduction and was a little surprised that no one questioned her presence. The opposite seemed to occur with everyone greeting her and being pleasant. Sofia chewed on her toothpick in frustration. She hadn't seen Sara since she had been discharged two weeks ago except in passing. The brunette had returned to the lab on restricted duty a week and half ago and the only time Sofia saw her was when Grissom would bring her in to work or when it had changed this week to Greg bringing her in. Grissom had been even more aloof than usual by staying shut away in his office and Sofia wondered if the stress of the last few weeks hadn't finally gotten to the man.

Sofia turned towards the entrance to the break room as she heard squeaky sneakers on the floor. Greg came dancing into the room wearing his Ipod and seeing that he had an audience began to spin around the room before landing with a flourish in the detective's lap.

Sofia gave Greg her best detective glare and pulled the string to one of his ear plugs, tugging it out of his ear.

"What are you listening to? You'd better answer quick because if I don't like what I hear, I'm going to arrest you for assaulting an officer."

Greg swallowed nervously and showed Sofia the display on the Ipod. The display read Panic at the Disco and Sofia cracked a smile.

"Alright Greg, you're off the hook."

The two of them had been trading music back and forth and though Sofia had been skeptical of the name at first, the band had grown on her. Greg pushed off her lap and pulled the other ear plug out cranking the volume so the music could be clearly heard in the room. He continued dancing around the room and looking expectantly at Sofia.

Sighing, Sofia stood up and placed her firearm on the table and started moving to the music herself. The two smiled as they began bopping their heads to the beat and dancing around the room.

"What are you guys doing?"

Both looked over to see Catherine looking at them like they had each sprung an extra head.

"Breaking up the monotony of the evening.," Greg answered, still dancing.

"Yeah, Catherine there's this thing called dancing. You should really give it a shot.," Sofia said, smiling. Catherine shook her head at the antics of the two.

"You call this dancing?"

Greg and Sofia made eye contact and Catherine saw some unspoken agreement communicated in the look. She didn't have time to wonder about it further before Greg had grabbed one hand and started spinning her around the room. Greg was not a bad dancer though his movements were much more haphazard and forceful. He was clearly not used to having a dancing partner. After watching Catherine get her foot stepped on for the third time Sofia took pity on her. She danced up to the pair and held out her hand to Catherine in silent invitation. Catherine raised her eyebrows in surprise but gamely took the blonde detective's hand. She had to laugh as Sofia spun her around the room. She was by far the better dance partner of the two. Sofia was graceful and purposeful where Greg was much more spontaneous. Given the music they were listening to, Catherine was surprised that Sofia could turn it into a partner's dance. Sofia caught Greg's amused eye at being outdone and smirked as she dipped Catherine, her arm supporting Catherine's back as she leaned down. All three started laughing.

It was only after the song ended they all stopped dancing and noticed Sara standing in the doorway with an unreadable expression on her face. Sofia took in the pale figure dressed in black pants and a long sleeved black shirt. Sara had obviously lost weight and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her right ankle was encased in a brace with a boot for better mobility. Sara only allowed herself one crutch and that was only when she had been too slowed down by hobbling around the building.

Sara clamped down on the annoyance she felt at seeing her coworkers having a good time when there was work to be done and killers to catch. She took in Sofia's slightly disheveled appearance from dancing. Her blonde hair looked slightly wild and she was breathing more heavily from the previous exertion. The white dress shirt that Sofia wore was clinging to her in all the right places and the gray dress slacks looked like they had been tailored to her curves perfectly. When Sara's eyes met Sofia's, she looked away. She didn't want to admit that part of the reason she was pissed off had to do with seeing Sofia dancing with Catherine. She wanted to dissect that later on when she was alone and not feeling so vulnerable.

Sara cleared her throat and turned her attention to Greg. "Grissom wants us at a double homicide. Brass is waiting for us." Greg nodded and then sheepishly glanced at Sofia and Catherine before grabbing his Ipod and following Sara out the door.

"I really worry about her sometimes. If you take this job too seriously, it'll break you. Maybe she came back too soon." Sofia nodded at Catherine's accurate assessment. This job got under your skin and if you weren't careful, infected all aspects of your life. There had to be relief whether it was through humor or in this case dancing. Sofia knew there was another side to Sara Sidle and wondered if she would ever see that side again.


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