This is my first CSI fanfic. Please read and review!
This chapter doesn't have any of the CSI characters in until right at the end. It's more background to the case, and for Lily.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. Apart from Lily, her mother and the scary guy. Wait, that's practically everyone!
-----------------------
"And they all lived happily ever after. The end," Christine smiled at her daughter, who was tucked up in bed.
"Can't I stay up a little bit longer, Mommy?"
"It's already late, sweetie. Besides, you have school tomorrow, remember?" Lily nodded. Christine stood up and turned off the light.
"Night night,"
She waited for a reply, but Lily was already sound asleep.
----------------------
There was a loud bang. Lily jerked awake, a sob catching in her throat. She had had a bad dream. Usually her Mommy would hear and wake her if she had a nightmare, so why was there no-one in here?
Then she heard it.
Someone was shouting downstairs. A man.
She quickly pulled on some clothes. She didn't want to go and see whoever was down there in a nightie. Lily tiptoed over to the door and tried to look around into the hall, but all she could see was the very top of the staircase and the door to her Mommy's bedroom. Something else smashed.
"Mommy?" she whispered, so the man downstairs breaking things couldn't hear. There was no reply. Lily crept as quietly as she could over to her Mommy's room, and opened the door. There was no-one there, but someone had pulled the sheet and blanket off the bed. One of the pillows had been torn open. The little glass vase that Lily had always loved and was sometimes allowed to hold, if she was very good, was smashed on the floor.
"Mommy!" She called a little louder now. Whoever the strange man was, he might hurt them. Lily decided to find out what was going on downstairs. That was probably where her Mommy was.
The trip down the stairs was fine, apart from a couple of creaks. Anyway, the man was being so loud now he probably couldn't hear her. She sat on the bottom step wondering what to do next. If she went in, this stranger might hurt her and anyway, she had always been told not to talk to strangers. But if she stayed here, he might find her or hurt Mommy.
After a few minutes, Lily still hadn't decided. She was scared. The voices- she was sure there were at least two- were impossible to hear properly through the thick door, and the phone was in the kitchen with them. Suddenly, the door flew open and she could hear, clearly, her Mommy's voice.
"All right. I'll come. Just leave her alone!"
"Mommy!" Lily was horrified. Her Mommy, who always looked so perfect, had a big cut on her forehead and was covered in bruises. Mommy looked at her with horror in her eyes.
"Lily! What are you doing here? I thought you were in bed," Why was Mommy so sad?
"You mean the kid's awake?" The man who walked through the door was massive, and had tattoos up and down his arms. His head had been shaved and he looked about as menacing as it was possible to be. This was the man who had been shouting all this time.
"Well, Christy, looks like your little sleeping beauty's woken up. The kid's seen me. You know what that means,"
Christy? No-one called her Mommy Christy, only Christine.
"Please, no! You can't!" Tears were streaming down her Mommy's cheeks. What was going on? Why was Mommy so sad?
"'Fraid so Christy. You know the rules," The man pulled a gun out from under his shirt. Lily froze.
"No!" But the man pulled the trigger. There was an explosion of blood.
"Lily…" Her Mommy was lying crumpled on the floor, blood oozing out from a hole in her shoulder. She had stepped in front of Lily.
"What is it, Mommy?" The man was reloading his gun, he must have only had one shot left. He looked as if he was going to fire again…
"Run!"
Lily ran.
-----------------------
Lily didn't know how long she had been running. Houses in their quiet neighbourhood flashed by and she found herself getting closer to the beach. She knew it hadn't been far from her house, she walked there sometimes on the weekend. But always with her Mommy.
Now Mommy wasn't here.
The sky was getting lighter. Lily had become too tired to run anymore, and for the last hour she had been wandering around trying to find somewhere safe. All the people she had seen had been drunk or just passed out on the pavement. It had been too late at night for anyone normal to have been out. At the moment she was sitting in the shade of a big building, crying and hoping her Mommy would come and find her. But how would Mommy know where she was? She had been a bad girl and run away. But hadn't Mommy told her to run?
Lily was confused and scared and her hand was hurting from when she had fallen over and grazed it a while ago, and hour or two maybe. She looked around for someone, anyone, who might be able to help her.
A car had pulled up in front of the building, and a man was climbing out of it. Lily huddled further back into the shadow in case it was the one who had shot her Mommy, and had somehow found her, but it was definitely not him. He was wearing a suit, didn't have tattoos and she had never seen anyone with that colour hair before. It was a sort of gingery-red. He was also wearing sunglasses.
Lily wasn't planning to go talk to him, but then she saw a big shiny badge hanging off his belt. He was a policeman. Hadn't her Mommy always told her when they were out in Miami centre together?
If we ever get separated, go and find a policeman. It's their job to look after lost kids.
Lily got up, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. She hoped he wouldn't notice the blood that was staining her skirt, or that she hadn't brushed her hair and it was hopelessly tangled.
"Er… Mister?"