Trina's Return

Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious or CSI

A/N: This is the much coveted continuation/sequel of "Trina's Song". It takes place several years later. Trina, a grown and married woman now, investigating a case of a serial killer is led back to LA where she wrestles the concept of seeing the family she left behind.

A/N: Also, I was going to write another prequel second chapter of Trina's Song showing Tori in college, but I didn't want to get too dark. But there are a lot of things that it reveals that this will reveal as time goes on.

Chapter 1 (Twenty Years Later)

Inside an interrogation room with only a table and chairs surrounded by four walls and a observation window, three people sat with each other. A man with cotton white black hair and thick brimmed glasses and an aged expression sat beside a woman with a fiery gaze and her lips tucked into a sharp smirk. She had feathery brown hair with honey highlights, broadened shoulders covered by her blue sweater with long sleeves.

Straight across from them was a man with shaggy brown hair and eyes that darted from side to side. He was beginning to sweat under pressure, his hands trembling and his body twitching. Confident, the forty year old woman looked from her old mentor, to the nervous man. "So why'd you do it?"

"I keep telling you, I didn't kill my brother."

"That's what you keep saying." She removed a bag from the top of the stool beside her, it was the victim's watch. They found it after returning to the scene of the crime on a hunch, it had been thrown in a nearby trash can. It had a bloody fingerprint on it. Greg Sanders analyzed the blood and it came out to belong to the suspect. She saw the man's eyes widen and freeze upon the watch. "Here's what I think, Mr. Cleaver." She tossed the watch on the table, making him jump and whimper.

Her eyes narrowed boldly on the man as her mentor, DB Russell watched proudly. It had been twenty years now, she would have thought he'd retire by now, but another case they were working was keeping him on the job. After all, Jim Brass and Doc Robbins retired long ago. Nick Stokes, Sara Sidle, Greg Sanders, CSI Finlay and Morgan Brody were all still on the job. Finlay was looking to retire whenever Russell did. David Hodges had left some time ago.

"I think you got jealous of your brother. Ryan was the prodigal son of the family. He was the one who played college baseball, he was the straight-A student, he was the one gathering all the popularity while you were sitting on the sidelines. You struggled through life, poor and unable to find clothes for your family." He began to shake again as she raised an eyebrow and continued, "Tell me when I've struck a nerve. This watch tells stories upon stories…" She tapped her fingernail on the plastic bag, still holding her sharp glare on the suspect's gaze, not faltering a moment in her confidence. "What is this? A Rolex? Very expensive, a beautiful, beautiful watch indeed." The man swallowed as he studied the watch, slowly shaking his head. "Your brother attempted to give you his own watch as a gift, but that did it didn't it? That made you snap. You were jealous of him, jealous of his life, to think that he could possibly give you such an expensive gift…most would react with grace, but you? No…"

She rose, smacking her hands on the table, watching the suspect flinch as his gaze shot up to hers. Adrenaline poured through her veins as the suspect shriveled in his seat. "You took a knife and you attacked him! You were jealous of his skills, of his popularity and his fame, so you killed him!"

"It wasn't like that!" He jeered back and looked to the knife, whining as he closed his eyes. "It's true, I envied him. Ryan always was the smart one. So he wanted to give me his watch so I could sell it and make some money. I was overdue on rent, all I wanted was a loan from him and he gave me his watch. I told him I needed more than a watch, we argued, things got physical…he struck me and I grabbed the knife. I don't know what or why…I just…I tackled him, I kept stabbing him over and over, ignoring his pleas." The man buried his face into his hands, sobbing gently. "I killed him! I killed him…"

The guards came in to cuff him and cart him away. The older man looked to her, grinning at her. "Great job Trina, got a confession out of another."

"I learned from the best, DB. This one was an open and shut case, though." The case brought up a lot of emotions for her, however. She could never kill her own sibling, she couldn't fathom what could make a person so angry, so filled with malice, that they would kill a sibling or parent. "Can't say it came without its emotions though…" Russell frowned, understanding her frustration with the case. Of all the cases she'd worked, this was one of those she was working most furiously to solve and be done with. "Kind of reminds me of back home, to be honest. Charlie and Megan always ask me why I don't go back, why I don't talk about living in LA. Honestly, there's nothing to talk about."

"You have to face your battles one at a time. I suppose." She slid her hand along the steel table and slowly pushed herself up. She never spoke of her past, simple as that. It was best never to look back. That was her philosophy, what she told herself anytime she gave thought to those jackasses back home.

"If I ever see them again, DB, it'll be too damn soon." Her tone was laced with heavy bitterness and her heart beat with contempt. Tori, Tori's friends, and even her dear mother and father. She couldn't stand any of them, even now, when she hadn't seen or talked to them in twenty long years. "You can't give me reason enough to go back there."

"I can give you two. Charlie and Megan." She looked to her aged mentor and sighed, slowly sweeping her fingertips along her forehead. Charlie was her husband of twelve years, and the son of CSI Russell, her mentor. Megan was their beautiful ten year old daughter. She was the light of Trina's life.

In college, she was heavily involved in her studies and school work, and actively involved with her mentors. She placed no time on relationships until she was done at twenty six years of age. She met Charlie towards the end of her college career when Russell was mentoring her. His son, finishing up his own college career, decided to see his father's protégé. The two struck up a friendship and begun dating, they married when she turned twenty-eight. She had Megan when she was thirty. Thankfully, marrying her boss and mentor's son didn't affect her job credentials in any way. She did her best to make time for her husband and daughter, though her job took over a good portion of her time. Russell and the others tried to lesson that as much as they could, but it wasn't easy. She loved her family and she loved her job, so she tried to balance both out.

Over the last twenty years, had she thought about Tori? Had she thought about her parents or even Tori's friends? Sure, from time to time she even missed them. She kept reminding herself over the years of all the shit they put her through, all the things they'd called her and treated her like dirt. That kept her from missing them too much. There was no way in hell she could miss people who probably didn't miss her.

"I know it's hard to accept, but as I get older, I see more and more important family is…" She chuckled and walked with him towards the door.

"Family is important, so why haven't you retired yet? You're sixty-nine years old now, it would be a benefit for you to retire."

"You know why I'm staying on, we need to find this serial killer." It was their toughest case yet, everyone was working on this investigation. So far, they figured the murders were happening while the killer was on vacation. It was a guess. The victims were usually women, thin, with long brown hair. More times than not, they seemed to be a certain age, forty-eight to fifty.

The murders were occurring over time. They were currently at a stalemate, considering no traces or clues were left behind. This person was very careful, very meticulous. The most recent death was last summer. There were six victims they'd found that took place within the last fifteen years. Each was a certain amount of time apart, but always the estimated time of death was around a time when vacationers would be flocking to Las Vegas. Usually the middle of the summer, the fourth of July, or with one rare occasion, Thanksgiving.

"You think the deaths would have something to do with family? The victims are often attacked when families would be normally be together." Not to mention a signature trait, the victim would have their wedding ring shoved down their throat. Along with that, the corners of the victim's lips would be cut. The type of cut appeared to be made with some sort of shearing tool, likely by a pair of scissors.

"Could be. Sara was looking into the backgrounds of our victims, it seems like each of them up to this point was cheating on their spouse, or at least they had an affair at some point of time in their marriage." She rubbed her chin and shook her head, this was all the information they had to go on. They didn't have any suspects, they didn't have any evidence pointing them towards a suspect.

"Too clean, too meticulous. The fact that there's no evidence of sexual assault found on any of the victims is curious…though not all serial killers are known to do that, but lately it seems hard that we don't find that." The other instance is usually the only wound they have is a hole that is cut over where the heart is. Then the killer proceeds to cut the arteries and veins leading to the heart, as if snipping with a pair of scissors. "The murder weapon, possible medical scissors?"

"Not sure." They walked into the office to find Nick, Sara, Finlay, Morgan and Greg waiting for them. Finlay still looked the same as she did twenty years ago, with long blonde hair, only with grey streaks. Morgan and Greg had married and were doing well with their life. Sara and Nick had been around a very long time, they were truly married to their job, if nothing else.

"Great job in the investigation room!" Morgan congratulated her, patting her shoulder. "You were awesome."

"Twenty years and she never ceases to amaze," Nick stated. They were complimenting her on her investigation skills. Like DB specialized in criminology and the criminal mind, she did as well. Of course, Finlay taught her a thing or two about blood spatter, as that was Finlay's specialization. They each contributed to something here, and all of them were like that of a close knit family. Add Charlie and Megan into that mix, and this was the closest thing to a real family that she could get.

She chuckled under her breath and lifted her shoulders. "Thanks guys…but DB's right, we still have another case to solve." She looked towards the hallway, down the long corridor was the coroner's room.

In Los Angeles, things were far different for Tori. When Trina left, she'd separated from her friends for the most part. She blamed every one of them for her sister's departure. Andre stuck around for her through it all, they dated through college, and eventually married. They had one child, a girl named Katrina. Named for her sister, but ironically, the girl and her friends often shortened her name to Kat. Kat was only eight years old.

Tori had suffered a great deal of depression over her sister's leaving, and their mother had run out on them as well, to add to the anxiety. Holly Vega, she revealed herself to be having an affair with David's partner on the job, then she left a couple years after Trina. David and Tori were used to this, the woman never even looked back, just like Trina. Also like Trina, neither Tori or David heard from Holly since.

David had since retired and was living with Tori and Andre. It was the best thing for him, since he was often lonely sitting in a house by himself. He always regretted telling Trina to move far away, and always he wished he could have taken things back and told his daughter how he really felt about her.

Twenty years later, Sinjin's immortal words still played in their heads. It was too late, too late to fix anything that had gone wrong in their lives.

Now, Tori was just a choir teacher at Hollywood Arts. She never wanted to follow her dream, especially after realizing it was that 'dream' that made her forget her sister. Andre had been a part of a band in his college years, but that faded away and he got a real job as a piano instructor at a nearby community college. She was afraid of pushing him away. Just like her mother, just like her sister, she pushed everyone away! Even now, their marriage was on the rocks.

Beck and Jade were doing fine, they were rich now as Beck was the only one in the group to strike fame. He became an actor and lived high in Hollywood. Jade didn't have to work, she was a simple socialite who loved having parties and gossiped about the town. Beck had been granted some big time acting gig in college. Jade was enormously bitter that week Trina left, but her bitterness had grown more. She eventually stopped coming around when it was discovered Holly was having that affair with David's partner.

Cat befriended a girl after Hollywood Arts named Sam Puckett, they started some babysitting scheme together and rented a place. After a few years, they went their own ways. Cat now lived in a small apartment somewhere south of LA, working as a voice instructor. Robbie? He faded away into obscurity. Cat had also left pregnant with Robbie Shapiro's baby. Robbie tried to remain in touch with Cat. However, she didn't want to date him after he still carried that puppet around with him. Even with a baby, she asked him to leave, and he did.

Of all the friends, he felt the most guilt towards what they blamed themselves for in 'ruining a family'. They all blamed themselves for making Trina leave, and Robbie's last words to them were that Sinjin was right and Trina was right to go away. He saw them all for a bunch of self-centered jackasses that he too had become. With that, they never saw him again.

For Tori, today was just another day of life at Hollywood Arts. She sat at her desk, eyeing all the students in the classroom. "Well class…I think we'll begin with learning the higher octaves…" Her tone was laced with exhaustion, but then, antidepressants were known to cause some fatigue. She wasn't clinically depressed, but her therapist just had to put her on the pills because all she talked about was how everything went wrong in her life.

"Are you okay Mrs. Harris?" It was her star pupil that raised her hand, a sixteen year old girl with long brown hair and a cheerful smile. She reminded Tori a lot of herself back in the day. "You've been staring at us for like five minutes or so…"

"What?" She rubbed her forehead and chuckled nervously, wishing to portray an illusion that everything was picture perfect. May 1, 2033, twenty years to the day Trina left her behind, but she couldn't let that slip. "No, no, everything's fine. I'm sorry, I guess I got distracted."

"Well we're not studying octaves, Mrs. Harris, we're studying advanced vocal techniques. You were also going over next week's performance?"

"Oh! Yes, yes, that's right…" She muttered about needing to get off the infernal medication, it wasn't doing her an ounce of good. If anything, it was making her worse mentally and emotionally. Also, it was causing problems for her marriage, she was too exhausted to talk to Andre or do much of anything, she was also more irritable lately because of it. "Sorry about that class, the doctor prescribed some strange medicine for me to take-"

"Are you not well?"

"It's just a little cold or something, the medicine's not helping, so I'm actually going to get off of it. Don't worry! I'll be back to my normal old self soon." Normal? She was one of the school's more eccentric teachers nowadays, Sikowitz retired long ago. "Anyway, the performance, right…"

Well what do you guys think so far? It's going to be a great run.