Title: Broken Doll

Author: lildreamer

Rating: K+

Pairings: Grillows…with a hint of Snickers

Spoilers: Living Doll

Summary: All this time, the Miniature Killer had been hiding in plain sight.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or any of its characters. They are the sole property of CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. If I did, the season finale would have looked a little more like this.

A/N: This is an AU for Living Doll. The Grillows version. For all the PureJoy fans out there. And you don't have to wait three months for the conclusion!

All right, on with the story…
Grissom stared at the miniature, his face white. He had just moved aside the overturned car and uncovered something that made his heart stop. The body pinned beneath the red car was Catherine's. The doll's fingers clawed endlessly at the ground in a futile attempt to escape her demise.

He immediately pulled out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial, hoping that maybe the killer hadn't actually gotten to her yet. His face fell when his call was redirected to her voicemail. He swore, dropping his phone back into his pocket, and slumped into a seat.

He let his head drop into his hands, his mind buzzing with the events of the last few days. The clues to the Miniature Killer's identity were there, he just had to find them and piece them together. And fast. Catherine's life depended on it.

He lifted his head, trying to recall what Wendy had told him earlier about the serial killer. After running a DNA test on the epithelials he'd found on Trevor's miniature, the lab tech had discovered that its creator, most likely the miniature killer, was female.

"Female serial killers are rare enough," Grissom said, cocking an eyebrow. "Delusional psychosis in women? Rarer still."

"Well, get ready for this," Wendy handed him a sheet of paper. "I ran the DNA through the computer and I got a hit."

"On CODIS?"

"Not exactly…"

Grissom arched an eyebrow and glanced down at the printout in his hands. His eyes quickly scanned the page until they landed on the item that had attracted the lab tech's attention. His eyebrows shot up.

Match Found: CSI Sara Sidle.

He had immediately dismissed the surprising discovery as a computer glitch or just simply a mishandling of evidence. But now, he wasn't so sure.

Soon after, he'd learned where the materials for the miniature had been purchased. Trevor's tiny, metallic bracelet had led him to a store called Schuster's Hobby Shop where the owner revealed who he'd made it for. A pretty brunette named Natalie.

"Control freaks with social problems, that's my bread and butter," Art, the shop owner explained, recalling his last meeting with the woman. "But this chick? She had crazy eyes."

Now with the foster child's first name, they were finally able to persuade the court to release her records. They had learned that Natalie Davis had once lived in a foster home run by a Donna Wetzel. Grissom and Sofia had immediately gone over there to see what more they could learn about Natalie. What they found was the story of a child who, though shy and quiet most of the time, had caused more trouble than the foster mother could handle. The little girl would go berserk whenever the laundry was being done. And for some unknown reason, the troubled child repeatedly pushed another girl off the top bunk. Natalie had only been there a week before she had been removed.

"After a few dozen kids, you get real good knowing the difference between damaged and broken," Donna had said, a sad look in her eyes. "Natalie was broken."

Grissom scratched his head. He couldn't get that little girl's face out of his mind. There was something strangely familiar about that sad-looking girl in the photograph. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He closed his eyes, remembering where he'd been earlier that day. It was the last time he'd seen Catherine. They'd been able to track down Natalie's biological father and found him working at one of the casinos on the strip. The man was a very talented ventriloquist, but his act left much to be desired.

After sitting through his odd and somewhat creepy performance, Grissom and Catherine had pulled him aside to ask him about his daughter. Hesitant at first, Christopher Davis, also known as The Great Rainone, began to tell the story of his two daughters, Natalie and Chloe. Things became stranger for the CSIs though when Davis suddenly chose to speak through his doll, who interestingly enough was also named Chloe.

The doll spoke of a much younger Natalie and how the girl accidentally pushed her sister out of the tree house, killing her. The young and confused girl watched as her sobbing father scrubbed up her sister's blood with a gallon of bleach.

"Chloe" became silent once more as Davis took up the story, admitting that after what had happened he could no longer handle caring for Natalie.

"I had to give her up…" he whispered, his voice laced with regret.

Grissom suddenly bolted out of his seat and flew down the hallway toward the receptionist's desk.

"Has anyone been in my office?" he asked the staff assistant.

The woman shook her head. "No. No one."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir. No one's been—" The woman thought for a moment, suddenly recalling that she did see someone heading in that general direction earlier that day while he had been gone. "Wait a minute…yeah, there was someone. I think it was Ms. Sidle."

The pieces of the puzzle immediately flew together in Grissom's mind, producing a very grim picture. The truth suddenly hit him, hard: the Miniature Killer had been hiding in plain sight.

The Miniature Killer was Natalie.

And Natalie…

…was Sara.

So, whaddaya think? I know…a bit confusing. I'll explain it all in the next chapter. Reviews are my muses!