Title: Once in a Lifetime
Author: Daydream Bear aka Isáwien
Rating: M (for a bit of language)
Shows: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Crossing Jordan, and a brief mention of Las Vegas.
Summary: After Nick's rescue, and subsequent events, Sara leaves Vegas on a Leave of Absence to find herself and ends up in Boston at the Coroner's Office. There she finds familiar faces and the possibility of love once more.
Author Notes: Ok notes for this story
1) in the CSI universe, this takes place immediately after Grave Danger, there is one change to established timelines for the lives of those in the show, the Spring Break Sara told Grissom about in Unfriendly Skies, for this story took place March of 1992 instead of 1993.
2) in the Crossing Jordan universe, Sara first arrives in Boston, it is about a few weeks after Forget Me Not and a few weeks before Push Jump Fall (I know they might not have been that far apart in the series timeline, but it just works best that way for this.
3) Men may wish to turn away during this note…. (it deals with PMS)
ok, I'm not a medical expert, but I know that it is common for a woman to skip her monthly cycle for months at a time (runs in my family actually). And our doctors have told us to not come in until we've skipped a fifth month. (lovely fun). Anyway, so that is a real thing. The rest of the condition described in this story is basically my, and a few friends', interpretation of what could happen. The running theory is, needless to say not having your cycle for months at a time before having it, there would be quite the build-up of the lining if you go as many as five months without shedding said lining. At the same time, it could be believed that when a woman finally does have an actual month where she has her cycle in the complete sense (and not possibly just the elevated hormone levels and mood swings), they might not be able to shed all the built-up linings… Like I said, I'm not a doctor. But for the sake of this story… I'm going to be a pain and kinda mess with what is established and work with this, it may not be medically sound, but it makes sense at least to ten people I know of. So I'm going to go with it (if anyone has better ideas, ect, please let me know.
At the same time, going on this thought that a woman can skip up to five months without really questioning it because of a lifetime of doing so, and building up five months of linings then possible not being able to shed all those linings in simply one month of having a full cycle (perhaps they need a second or third month in a row to completely clean out the system as it were), one would expect that having that build-up could be a bit dangerous when the woman does become pregnant. Going on that idea, going to figure the obstetrician and gynecologist might be of the belief that as soon as they realize their patient is pregnant, they would want to cut out a number of things in order to ensure there is a better likelihood for the child to make it. (no stress, adequate rest and such being something I think of…. And to be honest, imagine flying six hours wouldn't be a good idea. It always seems to be a pain when someone is pregnant normally, throwing in the added aspects of this insanity…. –shrug– once again, know this may not be medically sound… but I'm going with it ok? Just wanted to let you all know now. The story just works well this way. Yell at me later k?
Ok now, onto the story lol
Final Note: A special thank you goes out to my dear friend, beta, sounding board, and all around irreplacable friend Caro. Thanks girl!
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Prologue
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Monday June 26th, 2006
Las Vegas, Nevada
LVPD Crime Lab
7:15 p.m. (PST)
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"Have a great day alright love?"
"I'll try. Tell Buggles and Garret hi for me."
"Always. Call me when you get off?"
"Promise, I love you."
"Love you too sweetheart."
Hanging up the phone, Sara took a deep breath before opening the door. After stepping into the air-conditioned lobby, she looked around, surprised at how little had changed in the thirteen months she'd been gone. A few new names on the Employee of the Month plaques, a new picture for June… she paused to smile at the sight of Jacqui's face.
Turning she took a moment to sign in with the Swing Shift Receptionist, before quickly making her way through the lab, none of Night Shift was there yet, she being almost three hours early for her first night back. But she had forms to fill out and have ready when she went to speak with the man who had been her boss before her leave of absence, and she wanted to get them completely filled out before she did that. Especially after the night before.
Once she had the required paperwork, she barricaded herself into one of the empty labs and didn't look up until she was done, two hours later according to her watch. Gathering the papers together she slipped them into a folder and headed out into the hallway, by now Grissom should be there, and she could get this done and over with before shift actually started.
He was sitting in his office, looking at paperwork, and once more she was caught by how familiar that scene was. But at the same time, she recognized how it didn't affect her anymore as it once did. Once she would have smiled, and daydreamed a bit about what would be if he would just let her in. Now… now she didn't want that anymore, all she saw was a man she couldn't help but feel sorry for, knowing all the things he had missed out on in life - could still miss out on. But he was happy with his life; it was his choice, just as she had to make her own choices for her life. She had chosen happiness, chosen the risk. She could only hope that someday he'd find a reason to take the risk and really live.
Shaking her thoughts away, Sara stepped into the doorway before raising her hand to knock once on the doorjamb. At first he didn't respond, before looking up over the top of his glasses. Then his head came up, an expression of surprise, a frown, before he shook his head and a smile spread over her face.
"Sara Sidle, I thought you were due back Monday,"
"It is Monday Gil," she countered gently when she realized he wasn't going to mention the night before, seeing the surprise in his eyes at the use of his first name. Moving into the room, she handed him her folder before sitting down as he looked at the manila file in his hands.
"What's this?" he asked with a frown as he read the papers. With his flipping through them all so fast, she wasn't sure which one he was talking about, and remained silent for him to continue. Then when the look of complete shock registered on his face, she realized what papers he had been talking about, and what papers he was now looking at.
"You're putting in your official notice, offering four weeks, and you're putting in for a lightened load due to medical restrictions? After you stayed gone an additional seven months?" he asked finally looking up to stare at her. "Good God Sara, I agreed to your LOA when we were already understaffed because you said you'd be coming back!"
Sara frowned at the accusation in his voice, "Actually, I said I might come back," she countered.
Please Review and let me know what you think about this one. What happened a year ago will be explained next chapter, which will be up Sunday, then we're going to start having updates once a weekon Thursdays. :-)