Present day.
Samantha Boyd, mostly known to friends as Sam, sat in her windowsill, looking over the city lights of San Francisco. The clock had just hit 02.00 in the morning, perfectly timed with when she stroked a match that had lighten up her dark bedroom. She lightened up another cigarette, draw a long hit, as her tired eyes looked out in the horizon.
She always sat there. Every night.
In a pair of navy sweats and a black t-shirt and barefoot, curled up in her windowsill, just watching.
Like she was looking for something.
She had been sitting there almost every night for 10 years, except for when she was actually taking the sleeping pills the doctor wrote out to her.
But tonight was not one of those nights. She was looking for it. The sign. The sign that he was out there, that he was heading to her, that he was coming home to her.
It had to be there… Behind the Golden Gate Bride and another 3.000 miles away.
The curled photo laid in the window. The years had taken it's toll on it, curled up, broken edges, with a little note on the back, saying: "We remain"
She slowly picked it up and held it with her thumbs, balancing the photo and the cigarette that was stuck between two fingers in her right hand. She looked down as a single tear ran down and hit his face in the photo, as she started reminiscing about New York. Another life. And about how former SVU detective Sam Boyd found that one person that would change her life forever. Detective Chester Lake.
Memory 1: Same old with a twist of new.
10 years ago, Manhattan Special Victims Unit.
16th precinct, New York City.
Sam arrived at work, what felt like, a little too early that Monday morning. They had just wrapped up a case that Friday, got the guy convicted, and was granted the weekend off, despite knowing that they would properly catch a new case, before their perp from the previous case, was even arranged.
Of course that did happen, but not until that morning, so luckily everyone got to have their weekend plans uninterrupted.
Sam looked around the squad room, where phones were ringing, people tapping at their computers, and the big boards across from her desk showed a big photo of a young boy, not much hair and a scared look on his face, saying: "John Doe". She raised her eyebrows in a tired manner, knowing that this case would cause several hours of overtime and at least 100 cups of coffee.
She sighed deeply and walked to her desk. She adjusted the photo of her parents and brother a little bit, brushing her thumb over it. She looked at her brother's face and then at the board. They looked so alike… She felt a hand on her shoulder and was dragged out of her own head. "Morning Sam Sunshine" she turned her head to see Fin standing next to her, placing a cup of coffee on her table: "A little milk and two teaspoons of sugar"
she scoffed under her breath and send him a big smile. "Thanks Fin". "I thought you looked a bit like someone who needed it" She rolled her eyes and grabbed the coffee: "Are you saying I look tired, Tutuola?" she raised her eyebrows and shot him a look, while taking a sip of the coffee and sat down in her chair. "I'm saying…" he started, sitting down in his chair: "You're running late" he send her a smirk and Sam shook her head and rolled her eyes: "You are unbelievable" she laughed, and saw Olivia and Elliot smirk at her as well. She knew where they were heading with those smirks on their faces…
"FYI, I'm not seeing Lorenzo anymore" she said and took another sip of coffee.
"Why not? He's salsa moves wasn't satisfying enough for ya?" Elliot teased and started danced around the squad room. She laughed: "You guys are horrible people, I can't believe you're my friends" she shook her head and looked towards the Captains office, as he walked out.
"Nice moves Elliot, but… Save them for later" the Captain said and Olivia and Sam shared a look and a smile. Sam made eye contact with a Hispanic male standing next to Cragen. He was tall, handsome. Just Sam's type. Hopefully not as creepy as Lorenzo, but after all there is a difference between a Spanish salsa dancer with an emotional attachment problem and a trained NYPD detective. He had short black hair and was wearing black jeans, a white shirt and a black leather jacket, that look quite good on him. He send her a smile which she returned a bit awkward, before meeting Fins eyes from across the table.
She rolled her eyes and sighed before looking at the Captain as he started a sentence: "I would like you to meet our new detective Chester Lake. He just got transferred from Brooklyn's SVU division. Fin helped them with a case last month. Now, I know that everybody involved with the… incident two weeks back is cleared by A.I.B, but everyone who knows Tucker, knows he can change his mind quickly and we do need the extra pair of hands and the extra brain, so this is where we are" Everybody nodded and understood the orders. They had A.I.B breathing down their neck, and most of the detectives had been called in for, what Tucker called, "a friendly chat", so it wasn't exactly because the squad was effective, during the case at that time.
"So… Sam, I know that you and Tutuola here have been working as a team for a long time, but we need a refresh of air, and someone need to clear the air, so…" Sam interrupted, shooting her forefinger up in the air: "Let me guess… Tutuola needs to clear some toxic air with our favorite Sergeant over there so they won't start yelling at each other in the middle of the squad room again and I'll be partnering up with new guy"
She heard Detective Lake scoff under his breath as he let out a little laugh. "Yes, exactly" Cragen said. "Lake, you're desk is here" Lake nodded and sat down in his chair, starting placing his stuff on his desk, as Sam shot him a look. He looked back at her and she turned to her coffee.
"So, this… John Doe on the board. Who is he?" she asked, looking at the photo as the flashbacks came back… "21 year old male, was thrown from a car driving high-speed through the city. Witnesses called 911, they are on their way to the precinct now.
- "Where is he now?" Sam asked, still starring into the boys eyes.
- "Uh.. He's at Mercy's. He will recover, but I just got a call from the hospital, before filling you in. He was raped. Repeatedly"
- He won't tell them his name. He really wants to get out of that hospital, and with good reason…"
- "And that reason is?" Elliot asked.
- "He's a heroin addict"
Some sighed deeply, some shook their head. They had seen this so many times before, it wasn't really news to them. Sam just sat there, looking at the photo. That boy… He reminded her of everything she couldn't save back then, 8 years ago.
"Where are the parents?" Munch asked. Cragen shrugged his shoulders. "To me, he looks like a homeless. He had no money, no wallet, no I.D. on him, so… I want Elliot and Olivia to go to the hospital, see if you can get him to tell you something.
"Fin and Munch, go talk to the 911 callers" and… "Chester and Sam, run his photo through every database you can find, see if we got anything on him and check traffic cams around the block, and try find his parents" he said, while walking back to his office.
A few minutes later the squad room was almost entirely cleared for people, except for two officers sitting at the balcony up across from Sam's desk, going through some paperwork, and then her and Chester. Without the phones ringing and detectives tap dancing their way over the floor, it seemed awfully quit.
As she waited for answers from the different databases, to see if there was a hit on their John Doe in the hospital, she noticed that the silence had somehow grown from nice to awkward.
To be honest, despite his good looks, she wasn't fond of the idea of having a new partner. She had been mopping with Fin ever since she first arrived to the precinct about 18 months ago. A year and a half was long times spend working cases together, and the squad did have a very special bond, just like a family. So the idea of being working with someone she knew nothing about and didn't knew how to get a conversation going with, wasn't exactly one of the best ideas, she'd heard of. The fact that he was good looking though, made it a little easier for Sam to come out of her shell, even though she knew it was highly unprofessional.
Even though she already missed having Fin around to make her crazy every hour of their shift, she didn't want to give the new guy a hard time.
She tapped her pen against the edge of her desk, before rising from her chair, heading to the coffee machine. She returned with two cups of coffee, placing one of them on Chester's table. He starred at the coffee mug for a second and then looked at his new partner, frowning his eyebrows shortly and send her a smile: "Thanks"
Sam couldn't help but think that his smile was quite gorgeous.
"You're welcome. We've got to look out for each other here, I mean…" she shrugged her shoulders: "We're in for a long one. We're looking out for each other here, so… Drink that and stay awake" he scoffed under his breath, grabbing the cup: "Copy that" he laughed as Sam sat back down and started tapping on her computers keyboard.
A few minutes later Chester appeared by the side of her desk.
She just starred at him, raising her eyebrows.
"What, your own desk is not good enough for ya?"
She smirked at him. He let his eyes rest on her for a second, before returning his attention to his laptop. "Yeah, but…" he shrugged his shoulders: "We're working on the same thing here, so it's easier if I sit here, so we don't have to run back and forth all the time"
She gave him a slight nod and took another sip of coffee.
"What, you assuming that I'm flirting with you?" he grinned, and she scoffed and shook her head.
"Just shut up, and watch your surveillance videos"
He scoffed under his breath and watched his screen.
Author's note:
I hope you like the first chapter!
This is the first fic I post here, and I really hope that you guys will leave some comments! :D
Thank you.