A/N. This fic came about because of a discussion about Sara and Hodges on the boards (seems like forever ago now, this has been in process for a while)... Just so you know, I refuse to contemplate any ship between the two of them, but this one fell together. No spoilers, I don't think.. I'm pretty sure that most of the scenarios are made up in my bizarre little brain!!
It is set just after Sara's return.. she will return you know...
Thank you to SeattleSCIfan, whose patience with my pathetic grammar goes beyond words, and who so kindly and quickly beta'd this. Any mistakes left are mine, not hers...
Needless to say I don't own CSI or CBS or anyone really.. (heck, even my own kids don't listen to me!!).
Anyway, kind reviews are welcome, and nice contructive criticism is a help. I hope you enjoy...
The team were sitting in the break room, enjoying coffees all around. One of the concessions they had all made was to keep in contact with Sara. Now that she was back, they were going to make it difficult to lose her again. They had been discussing what she did while she was away. She was willing to let them all a little deeper into her past than they had been before. Not all the way, only Gil knew it all, but the others all understood her a little better now.
"A brother?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, I found out that I have a brother," Sara smiled.
"What, you didn't know you had one… Did you miss the Hot Wheels cars on the floor or something'? " Greg asked, having missed the beginning of the conversation.
Sara smiled gently, "Ah, no Greg, I had … an ...interesting childhood. Dysfunctional would be how it would be described now, but while I was away, I found out that somewhere… I have a brother.."
Nick watched as Sara dodged around Greg's question and hesitated before asking his, "So, is he a half brother??"
Sara gave him a look that melted his heart, she looked so open and vulnerable; it was that look that had made him look on her as a sister. To think there was someone else who could take that place was making him feel a little uneasy. "No Nick, a full brother."
"… And you don't remember your mom being pregnant?"
She smiled again, "No, I was only 2 when he was born, and he was adopted out at birth."
Warrick downed the last of his mug of coffee, and asked, " So, what do you know about him?"
"Well," said Sara, "I know his birth date, and his birth name, that's it."
Catherine spoke for the first time, "Do you have the adoptive parents names?"
With a shake of her head, Sara added," Just their first names."
Nick, who was still reeling with the news, commented, "Wow.. He could be anyone!"
Nodding Warrick added , "You could have passed him on the street."
Greg, with an impish grin replied "He could be Hodges!!"
His comment was met with a room full of glaring eyes, all of which said to him, loud and clearly... "You've gone too far."
It was Sara's look that made him want to crawl to the nearest decomposing body and hide though.
Grissom is sitting in his office, writing up evaluations. He picks up Hodges file, which contains his personal details. Grissom glances at the date of birth.. Something seems familiar , but he just can't place it. He shrugs, deciding not to spend to many thought processes on the annoying lab rat.
Greg has come out of hiding… He has to use the bathroom, and Sara is in the locker room.. There is no escape.. After her look earlier, he steels himself and smiles as he passes her. Sara is busy recapping a tube of ointment, when she drops the tube.
Not knowing just when the line has been crossed, Greg picks it up, and jokingly asks whether it is haemorrhoid cream.
"No smarty… I have an allergy to red cactus. It flares up occasionally and I get this annoying rash on my arms."
A short time later, Greg leaves the locker room, and passes Hodges' lab.
Wendy is checking out his left bicep... "Dave, that rash has flared again... Do you want me to put the cream on? She offered... Greg silently shuddered at this revelation… Hodges and Wendy... Really??
Hodges gave her a salacious look.. And she hit his arm.."Not that cream, you deviant… the one for you red cactus rash."
"I have got to be the only person in Nevada allergic to that stuff... You have found yourself one rare specimen here," Hodges said with a look that 'anyone else of God's green earth' would have called sleazy, but Wendy just giggled.
Sara and Hodges were discussing blood evidence.
"Ahh, a rarity indeed, AB-, I too am one of the unique ones, my blood group is AB-" Hodges commented to a barely listening Sara. "I am a inimitable find."
Sara raised her eyes from the microscope and sighed.. Where did Ecklie find this guy??
"Not so rare Hodges, I am AB- too!"
Doc Robbins is in the middle of an autopsy.
Hodges walks through the morgue to deliver some test results. Doc Robbins looks up at him , and notices the strange man holding a mask over his mouth and nose.
Listening to what Hodges has to say, Doc Robbins thanks him, then begins to comment on the victims' appearance, a teenager with multiple piercing, and tattoos.
"I met this kids' parents, both straight laced, and quiet. Dad's a professional, in charge of some big firm, and Mom is a stay-at-home soccer mom. Not what you would expect with a kid looking like this. Makes me question again the whole nature and nurture debate." Doc Robbins commented glumly with a shake of his head.
"My Dad and I are so alike, it is truly bizarre, like identical twins… just 25 years separating us. We have the same likes, dislikes, mannerisms, quirks... Although he likes to call them eccentricities." Hodges adds with a little head wobble as he tended to do when he talked about himself.
Doc Robbins' eyebrows raised "... so Nature then??"
"Well no, actually... I was adopted, so its nurture all the way for me." he stated.
Eventually, snippets of the days' conversations made their way back to Sara.
NO... he couldn't be... Could he?? There was no way that she would ever wish Hodges be related to... Well... To anyone!! But in a sad strange way , she could see ever so slight similarities... Both science geeks, both socially inept at times... Although she dealt better than he did. The curiosity was beginning to eat away at her.
It was nearing the end of shift, and Sara found herself gravitating to Grissom's office. They began talking about the similarities… Blood group, allergy, the adoption issue..
Sara's head dropped to her hands in resignation.
"Well, short of a DNA match honey, I think you need to accept the very real possibility that he could be your brother." Grissom said with a smirk.
Sara shook her head slowly... "No... no...I… not ...Oh God… Not him."
She raised her head in time to catch the smirk on Grissom's face. "You do realize what this means don't you?" she sighed, with an odd look on her face.
"No…" he answered hesitantly… the look on her face had changed from resignation to a full blown 'Sara smirk.'
"…What?" he questioned.
"It means, that Hodges may well be your Brother-in-law
"Oh…" Grissom's face fell in horror.
"Yeah...oh..." Sara gave a fully fledged laugh.
So... was it worth the wait?.. it has been a really long time since the first discussion... let me know :D