Disclaimers: If I owned any of these characters from either CSI or The House of Eliott I'd be the happiest person on earth :) Also, much thanks to scubysnaks and and Piper-Leo-alwys for allowing me to write sequels to their stories 'She kinda reminds me of KC' and 'She kinda looks like Maggie' respecitvely.
A/N: Incidentally, I was watching this random British TV show a few weeks ago and thought this actress looked so familiar (and i must admit, i imediately had a crush on her, much like i do on Sofia from csi) and then it all fell together when I saw the credits it dawned on me why and wasn't I surprised! Looking back though, it couldn't have been more obvious, but I'm guessing it was the fact that she was at least 10 years younger then, probably more like 12-15, barely my age I'm sure.
Also, sorry to confuse all of you at the end of the story, I must've been on another planet when I wrote it, but now I fixed the mix up with the last names!
Tuesday, 11:15 PM, Locker Room
Sara Sidle stormed in like a hurricane. "ARGGH!" She yelled and randomly kicked the first locker she could see. Today was going to be one long shift. Catherine had been called in a few hours early and hadn't woken Sara up and had also somehow managed to change the setting on their alarm clock so that it didn't go off. Luckily, she had woken up with just enough time to make it to the lab only fifteen minutes late.
Glancing at the locker she had assaulted, she realised it belonged to Sofia. Not only that, but she had kicked it hard enough that it had popped open. To Sara's surprise, there were a few photos taped to the inside. Peering closer, she saw one that was years older than the rest. In this one, Sofia was no more than 18 years old. She almost didn't recognise her except for the bright blue eyes, the prominent cheek bones, and the same smile. But something else about the picture looked oddly familiar…
"Oh my God!" Sara shouted. Quickly grabbing my camera, and knowing that what she was about to do was very wrong but not caring, she snapped a copy of the photo, slammed the locker shut as best as she could, now that it was broken, and ran off to the break room hoping that Grissom had waited for her before handing out assignments.
11:30 PM, Break Room
Sara rushed in while Grissom was in mid sentence like a gust of wind. She had papers tucked under her arms and her camera was slung over her shoulder. "Sorry I'm late. I, uh, had an issue waking up" she exclaimed while glaring at Catherine across the table, not noticing she had cut Grissom's sentence off in the middle. Everyone's redirected attention again redirected itself onto Catherine.
"Hey, don't look at me! I've been here for hours!"
The attention shifted back to Sara with questioning looks. "Oh, come on! Get your head's out of the tabloids. My alarm didn't go off!" With a few smirks and suppressed giggles, the attention in the room went back onto Grissom and he continued on with the shift briefing.
"Ok guys. Tonight looks slow for right now. Catherine, you've got a four foot pile of paperwork to work on. Nick and Greg, you just have to finalise the information on last night's B&E, right?" After a nod of confirmation from both, he continued. "Sara and Warrick, you can look over some of your cold cases and see if you can find anything that we've overlooked. I'll be in my office working on yet more paperwork. If anything comes in, I'll let you know."
"Warrick, I'll meet up with you in a little bit. I have something I wanna take care of really quick first."
"Sure Sara. See you in a bit" he said back shooting Sara a characteristic smile.
Sara ran over to the A/V lab and after checking that it was vacant, she slipped in and locked the door. Sure, there were glass walls, but for what she was going to do that wasn't important. She just didn't want anyone walking in and disturbing her. This would only take a minute. She hooked her camera up to the computer and print out a copy of the picture she had taken of the photo in Sofia's locker then immediately deleted the evidence from the hard drive of the camera. This was too good, she just had to show Catherine, who, she was sure, was already bored of her paperwork!
"Catherine, you gotta see what I found!" Sara shouted out of breath as she ran, quite literally, into the doorway of Catherine's office due to her excitement and, what she's now claiming, was a slippery spot on the floor. "OUCH!"
"Well, you definitely got my attention! Are you ok?"
Waving off her question, Sara walked over to her and held out the picture she had just printed. Catherine looked up at her questioningly. "Ok, I KNEW that getting digital cable was a bad idea. You are becoming too obsessed with those '90's British TV dramas, Sara! Besides, why are you running around with a photo of Evangeline Eliott at the lab like it's some sort of major piece of evidence?"
Sara can't help but roll her eyes at her, although she can see why Catherine is confused, after all, the whole reason Sara got all worked up over the photo was that it looked EXACTLY like Evangeline Eliott. "Cath, this is a photo of Sofia! I found it in her locker when I kicked it in during a tantrum an hour ago, took my own photo of it so I wouldn't have to steal it, and now I'm showing it to you because I need to know I'm not nuts for seeing the uncanny resemblance, which now I know I'm not because you saw it too!"
Wow, Catherine thought. That was one long sentence… "Sara, are you trying to get me back for the Maggie thing still? I thought we were even?"
"If you don't believe me, go look at her locker yourself! You can get into it now, I accidentally broke it."
Catherine started chuckling at the image of Sara fumbling over the broken locker. "No, that's ok, for some crazy reason, I think I believe you… I mean, now that I look, I really do see it too. But, wow, I always thought she faked her hair colour. You can't fool us now, Ms. Curtis!"
"We have to tell her Cath!"
Catherine the photo down and looked up. "Sara, if you want to embarrass yourself like that, that's your problem, not mine. Go knock yourself out; I'll be here to nurse your wounds after she assaults you!" Sara can't suppress her excitement as Catherine's face is decorated with that smirk she finds so sexy.
"Thanks for your support Cath" She shouts back sarcastically over her shoulder as she leaves the room.
About thirty seconds after her grand exit, Sara remembered that she needed something and went crawling back to Catherine's office, this time managing to walk through the doorway, not into it. "Cath?" Catherine jumps about a foot out of her chair.
"Geez, Sara, you startled me. I thought you were off to get yourself maimed by Sofia?" There's that smirk again thought Sara.
"Very funny. Yeah, I am, but I think I came up with a plan and I need something. Can I use your computer to print out a photo of Evangeline show Sofia?" Without waiting for her answer Sara's already on the internet printing out a still from a clip off the show. "Thanks!" Now I'm finally off Sara thinks.
1 AM, LVPD
Sara catches Sofia walking down the hall holding while reading a file. "Sofia! I need to show you something!" Oops, that was maybe slightly done too enthusiastically Sara realised.
"I thought we closed the Kramer case, didn't we?" She stops walking and turns around to face me. "I'm headed over to the lab. Walk with me?"
"Sure. We did finish that, this is unrelated. Here." She shoves the picture she printed out from the internet from the TV show into Sofia's hands and Sara's heart pounds as she wait for her reaction. Sara can see Sofia's expression go from surprise to scrutiny of the photo, to disbelief, but that all goes away as she returns to blank and looks back up at Sara who can tell she sees it. Sofia knows that it's not her, but she sees that it could be her, and it looks exactly like she did when she was younger, but she's not about to let anyone know that, that's for sure…
"Sara, what the heck is this? This is wrong on so many levels. Firstly, how did you ever get a photo of me from when I was 17? Secondly, why did you edit and put me in some sort of odd 1920's outfit? You are scaring me, Sara." Sara looks down at her feet while trying to come up with a reply.
"It's not actually you… It's a character from a one of my favourite TV shows that is from the '90's on British TV." Looking back up at her, Sara sees the funniest expression on Sofia's face that she has ever seen. Good, we've reached the safety of the lab and the people who will be able to protect me if this all goes wrong thought Sara. "If you don't believe me, let's go look."
Sofia POV
I sit down at the break room computer and she types Louise Lombard into the search engine, the name of the actress who played Evangeline. Sure enough, we get plenty of photo hits and each one from the time the show aired until now, each one looking exactly as I did when I was at that age. Who would have thought that the other woman started dying her hair too? At that moment, it seemed like the entire night shift decided to come get coffee and leaned over our shoulders to see what we were so interested in.
"Cool! Sofia's got like three thousand photos of herself plastered all over the web!" A comment like that could come from none other than Greg.
"That's not me, Dingbat, it's some British actress."
"Hey, click on that commentary link down there. It looks like it's fan's opinions about the actress along with a photo album documenting her looks from then until now."
"Warrick, I don't think" but it was too late. Sara had already clicked on it much to my annoyance. "Sara!"
Ignoring me, she began to read aloud, "The actress's first major leading television role was seen as a huge success and got much well deserved critical acclaim. At such a young age, her performance was unparalleled. She later went on to do several films and is currently working in American television, for which her performance has been critiqued slightly more harshly, although it's not her acting that is in question. Many fans agree that while they love her dearly, her attempt to completely remove her British accent was only mostly successful, and while she doesn't sound like she is speaking with a British accent, many people can't figure out exactly what she sounds like." Everyone looked up at me.
Noticing the looks, I had to say something to break the silence. "Oh please. I speak perfect American English." They still stared. "What?"
"Well, you do say some words a little oddly. Have you ever noticed how you use r's at the end of some of your words? Like, you say things like "idear" instead of idea…" The look that I shot Greg sent him scurrying over to the coffee pot at the other side of the room.
"Fine, guess that's because I lived in Quebec for a while and must've acquired something. Sorry."
"Shall I continue?" After looking at a very interested group of people, with the exception of myself, Sara decided to press on. "Despite that one downfall, we feel she is a very talented and beautiful actress who gives every character a command performance." Sara looked over to the side and clicked on the link for the photos. "Here's that slideshow of photos that they mentioned."
We all spent a few minutes staring at the pictures before I had to speak up. "I don't think I look a thing like her. First off, she's a brunette, I'm not. Secondly…" All of a sudden I was rudely cut off with a fake cough coming from Sara. To my horror, she produced a photo of me from when I was 17 that she must've stolen from my locker. Note to self: lockers are not private. Everyone's attention was now on my hair. Sure, I kept up with the dying as often as I could, but those darned roots grow in so fast they are impossible to keep up with. I thought it was barely noticeable, but now that everyone knows that I'm not naturally blonde, I'm sure it's blaringly obvious. "Oh, come on, Sara!"
"Sofia, it's ok. You're still the same Sofia to us" Warrick interjected.
"May I continue?" I ask. Now waiting for an answer, I continue with my ranting. Admittedly, this actress doesn't deserve this, but I can't help it. They guys here have me so worked up right now I can't stop. "Thanks. Secondly, she's so tall."
"Haven't you ever noticed that the only people around here who are taller than you are Sara and I?" Warrick was trying to help, I'm sure, but it wasn't making me feel much better.
"But, I guess she is sorta pretty other than that…" I trail off because the reality is, I'd love to have her eyes and smile. The high cheekbones and nice figure would be wonderful too…
Just then Grissom walks in oblivious to what we've been doing, and not caring I'm sure. "Ok guys, triple homicide in Henderson. I need everyone." He drops a file onto the table and as quickly as he came in, he is gone. Catherine grabs the file and we all head try to squeeze through the door at the same time in a mass stampede, though not very effectively, but Nick pulls me over to the corner.
"Hey, Sofia, no matter what they say, you know that I love you, and everything about you. I love your brunette roots of your hair, your French Canadian accent, the way you make me feel short sometimes… all of it. Don't forget that. To bring the point home, he leans in and gives me a very passionate kiss.
"Mr. Stokes. You do know how to make a girl feel better."
"And you, Ms. Curtis, know what you can say to make a certain Mr. Stokes even happier. Just answer the question I asked you a few hours ago…."
Hmmmm. Was I trying to imply something there at the end? I don't really know... Use your imagination! Review if you'd like. I love to hear what you think.
