Fine Without You
Summary: Sara Sidle runs away to Manhattan's crime lab after losing her husband and finds friendship in an SVU detective.
A/N: Slightly AU from CSI side. Sara never left in Goodbye and Good Luck and instead stayed and Vegas to marry Gil. Takes place after Zebras as Sara is O'Halloran replacement.
Disclaimer: Own nothing.
The funeral was Friday in the early afternoon. Instead of the classic movie like cloud overhead and dark rainy night, it was one of the most beautiful days Vegas had seen in years. This was not how Sara expected to say goodbye to the one man she loved. She wanted the world to cry with her, wondering if it knew about the wonderful man it just lost.
Friends stayed close, rubbing her arm in some awkward form of condolence. They smiled at her, all with the same sympathetic look in their eyes. They told her how much he meant to them, as they tried not to stare at her bruised left cheek and large scar forming over her right eye.
Greg drove her back to her apartment, giving her the over used we're-here-for-you speech. He tried to come in, make sure his mute friend was actually okay, but her stubbornness prevented such actions. Instead he hugged her goodbye.
Sara pulled her carry-on down from its overhead compartment.
"Maybe somewhere new, this place, he will always be here."
Greg's words echoed as she walked down the aisle of the overcrowded middle class. Sara tried to stay in Vegas, the closest thing she had to friends had been there, but she couldn't stay there any longer. Vegas was his thing. The only reason she moved there was to grow closer to him and without him there, it just seemed empty. So a month after his funeral she found a job at Manhattan's crime lab, far away from the desert heat.
Sara moved to the luggage gate, collecting her only bag before hailing a cab to her new home. The taxi driver set off when she gave him the address, slowly working his way through traffic. The silence gave Sara an odd sense of comfort as she watched the city buildings grow. She brought and hand up to her right eye, tracing the scar in remembrance of such a horrible night.
"You'll do fine without me."
His last lie haunted her still. Sometimes she wondered if he actually believed them. He knew how broken she was, how dependent she has always been on him. How could he possibly expect her to do fine without him? She wanted to hate him for lying to her in those last breaths, but the image of his broken body made him impossible to hate.
"We are here Miss." The voice startled Sara before she reached into her oversized purse and handed the cabbie his money. He helped her get the bags from the back before driving off. She grabbed the two bags and headed into the complex, taking the stairs to the third floor. As she found her door about twenty feet from the stairs she unlocked the door. She was happy to see her furniture in place and about five boxes stacked neatly in the corner with her personal things.
She sat down her bags next to the black sofa Grissom and she picked out only months ago. Taking a seat she reached into her purse and pulled out Grissom's bible, hugging it close to her body as she silently cried.
Sara started the next day at the new lab. The commute wasn't as bad as she expected and she showed up almost twenty minutes before her shift. She spent the better part of her first shift being introduced to everyone and given a tour of the place. After a few days of shadowing she was put on a regular schedule. Unlike Vegas, Manhattan placed field CSIs to work with the same group of detective. She had less hands-on responsibilities than in Vegas, but the new change was something she wasn't completely against.
Her first case was a mother, raped and killed in her own home. Sara disengaged, processed the scene with little flashbacks to her own terror. After processing the scene for about twenty minutes, the lead detectives showed up. She noticed the woman detective first. She walked in with confidence, not too shaken by the morbid scene in front of her. Her partner, a very toned detective, stood behind her and surveyed the room quietly, replaying what might have happened. Sara went back to her work, searching for clues around the bed.
"Find anything on the body?" The new voice startled Sara. Taking a deep breath she looked up to find the older male detective maybe a foot away, looking over the body.
"Oh… umm… He wore a condom, but she fought back. There are… there's blood underneath the nails," Sara stuttered, lifting up the dead bodies hands to show the detective as she blushed from her awkwardness. She really was fine around guys, just once she was distressed; she found it hard to calm down.
"Anything else on the body?" he asked with an award winning smile which under other circumstances would have made Sara blush.
"I've collected a few green hairs by the body. They look like they came from a carpet or…" Sara drifted off with a small, awkward smile.
"Whacha got?" The new voice came from his partner who walked over from talking to the officer on scene. Sara opened her mouth to repeat herself but her partner took over, giving her the cue to get back to work.
About two days later Sara had almost finished comparing the green hairs to a few different samples when the two detectives stopped by.
"Are you the CSI covering the Lamburnt cause?" The female detective asked when they got close to Sara.
"Oh… umm… yeah…. I was about to page you. I think I pinpointed where the green carpet came from, but I don't think it is going to be much help." Sara moved her evidence around, avoiding to actually looking at the duo. "There was a rug in the daughter's bathroom, the fibers are a match."
"So when was she there?" The female detective asked to herself.
"I did however get a match from the skin under her fingernails. Michael Case. He has a record," Sara said, handing over the folder.
"Thanks... uh…?"
"Sara Sidle. Sorry, uh, I'm new here."
"I'm Olivia Benson, and this is my partner Elliot Stabler." Elliot just nodded before looking at Olivia.
"Let's go get ourselves a bad guy."
Olivia walked into a local veggie café about a block from her apartment after a long day. The café was cold and the third light from the back wouldn't stop flickering. The only patrons were a young couple, seated in the far corner booth, milking two fruit smoothies.
Olivia looked over the menu she already had memorized, debating over a tofu pasta and black bean wrap. As her mind waffled the pros of the wrap, the little bell telling her someone else was here rang loudly through the otherwise quiet place.
"Oh, you can go ahead of me," Olivia said, not really looking back at the newcomer as she started leaning towards the pasta.
"Olivia, right?" The voice was familiar, but it took looking around before she could quite place it. The new lab tech was standing there with a small, gap tooth smile. Her mind went to a joke about lab techs and vegetarians before giving the new tech a small smile, not really wanting to talk to anyone from work. In truth this place was an escape from work, a remembrance of her time spent in Oregon.
"Hi, how are you?" Olivia asked.
"Fine, just off." Sara left it at that before reverting her attention back to the black board menu. Olivia was thankful this woman was so reserved.
After a couple of seconds, Sara seemed to make up her mind and stepped in front of Olivia ordering a cucumber and avocado sandwich with an iced green tea. She then took a seat at a nearby booth as Olivia decided on the wrap.
Olivia placed her ordered and took a quick second to think about where to sit. While Sara seemed like a nice enough woman, she wasn't in the mood for more work right now. On the other hand she seemed to be lacking many women friends and she could use the company tonight.
"Mind if I join you?" Olivia asked politely. The tech seemed to be a little taken aback before smiling and nodding her head towards the seat.
"So busy day?" Sara asked in attempt to make small talk, not quite sure what the other woman was expecting from this meeting.
"Long," the older woman said with a tired smile. "So did you move in from another unit or…?"
"Vegas. I transferred from the crime lab down there," Sara said after a moment. Olivia watched the woman steady her breath, tracing an invisible finger around her left hand.
"Wow, that's a change," Olivia said with a smile. "I've never been out there, what's it like?"
"Hot and dry," Sara said with a laugh. "I mean it is just a different type of city down there. So are you from New York originally?"
"Born and raised. I honestly haven't been outside the city for much besides work," Olivia admitted.
Their conversation was interrupted by food. They continued the small talk over dinner, both liking the other woman more and more as the night wore on. They sat and talked in the restaurant for almost an hour after they finished eating and then moved their conversation to Olivia's apartment where she promised some wine.
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