A/N: So this is a random idea I got… I'm back into my CSI obsession, and this idea has been haunting and pestering me for a while, so I decided to write it. Summary says it all. C/S pairing in later chapters, don't like, don't read.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI. I wish I did though. Maybe someone can buy it for me for a late Christmas present?
"426 Sara. Try to keep your head on the case. I want you to catch the guy, but it would be better if you didn't get written up again for tearing him a new one."
Sara Sidle rolled her eyes. "Okay Grissom. Geez." She took the slip that Grissom was holding out, and stalked out of the break room, annoyed at the implications that she wouldn't be able to control herself. Then she read the slip, and understood completely. This guy deserved worse than anything she could inflict on him. A high school teacher had assaulted a 14 year old student. Maybe Grissom was right about this…but then why did he give her this case? Not that she would have it any other way. She never wanted to be treated as if she was weak, or incapable of working certain cases just because she had a personal connection to most of these victims that most of the other CSIs would hopefully never be able to understand. Grissom was probably just adhering to her wishes. That or he was just out of CSIs. Also possible, considering the overflow of cases that they had been getting lately. The holidays tended to do that to people. It was a little sickening actually.
It had been a while since Sara had gotten to work solo, and she reveled in her undisputed control over the radio as she drove to East Las Vegas Junior/Senior High School, blasting Linkin Park. Only the old stuff though, she had no patience whatsoever for their newer mainstream fluff. She sang along with the angry lyrics with more force than she generally would, knowing that what she was going to have to do in a few minutes would probably ruin the good mood she had been in over the past few weeks, and only further her already negative views of humanity.
She arrived at the school a few minutes sooner than she wanted to, and got out of the car with a sigh, kit in tow. She maneuvered towards the senior high school, and found her way to the principal's office area, following the signs that reminded her too much of prison. The female principal met her at the door, a grim expression set on her face. "Are you CSI?" she asked shortly.
"Sara Sidle." Sara stated in affirmation.
"Cate Dillon. Senior High Principal. The girl is right this way."
Sara followed the harsh looking woman deeper into the multilayered office. When they got into the back room she got her first glimpse of the girl. She looked shocked, and her eyes were red-rimmed, but she wasn't crying, and her jaw was set stubbornly, as if she was determined not to start again, regardless of how warranted it would have been under the circumstances.
Sara looked at the principal standing next to her "Maybe you should wait outside," she suggested, "this is going to be painful enough for her without an audience."
Cate nodded curtly and walked away without another word. There's something weird about her, Sara mused quickly before entering the small room and shutting the door quietly behind her. "My name is Sara Sidle, I work for the crime lab," she started gently, not wanting to frighten the girl any more. She had suffered enough for one lifetime, let alone one day. "What's your name?"
"Mary, Mary Sherman."
"It's nice to meet you Mary, although I'd rather it were under better circumstances"
The girl half smiled at this "I'm sure you get that a lot as a CSI, you probably don't meet people under good circumstances…ever."
Sara smirked "Yeah, perks of the job and all that… So, do you mind telling me what happened before we go to the hospital to get you checked out?"
"Can I just tell you on the way there? I don't want to be in this building anymore" Mary's voice trembled a little bit, revealing the fear that she was trying to hide.
Sara smiled comfortingly and stood up "Absolutely, whatever makes you most comfortable Mary. My car's right outside."
They walked out of the office again, and past the abnormally calm looking principal. Mary shrunk as they passed the woman, and refused to look at her. Sara took that under notice but said nothing about it, chances are it would get out in time if it was relevant.
They got to the car and got in, strapping themselves in. Without prompting Mary began to speak. "I was sitting in class, Math, it was the last period of the day, when Mr. Manson started making sexual comments about me."
Sara cringed, despite the fact that she wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with the victims. "What did he say?"
Mary's voice shook, and Sara could see her hands beginning to join her voice when she began to speak again "he said I looked 'sexy today' and then he started talking about a woman's place in society, that women didn't belong in the work force, that the day women were allowed to vote was the day that the country went to hell… That kind of stuff. I told him to stop. He kept going. I told him to stop again, but he didn't. Then class ended."
Sara gave her a sympathetic glance. "What happened next?"
"The bell rang, and I went to leave, but I dropped my books because I was rushing so much, and by the time I had picked everything up the rest of the class had left, and Mr. Manson was standing between me and the door." Mary paused, as if waiting for another question, or unable to go on. Sara suspected the latter. Soon she continued though, as if the growing silence posed as great a threat to her as the onslaught of memories she was facing did. "I tried to move around him, but he grabbed my arm. He said he wanted me to stay for disciplinary action. He said that I 'had no right to call him out in class' and that he was giving me detention. Then he closed and locked the door, there was a black sheet of paper put over the glass, so we couldn't see outside during class time. But that meant that no one could see in, either. I went to sit back down at my desk, hoping it really was just detention, but I already knew he was a sicko from the last time-"
Sara couldn't help herself from interrupting, though she tried not to inject in the middle of a running statement as a matter of policy. "What do you mean last time, had this happened before?"
Mary shook her head "Only words. Harassment. He made sexist comments about women on a daily basis, and made sexual remarks and advancements towards me almost as often. I reported him multiple times, but Ms. Dillon either didn't believe me or didn't care. He threatened me a few times, and I tried to explain how the situation was escalating to her, but the staff at that school protect their own, and they don't like press, or criminalists for that matter, sniffing around. Anyway, before I could sit down he grabbed me again, and shoved me down onto his desk, covering my mouth with his hand. I fought him, I bit down on his hand but he didn't let up. I tried to scream, but obviously no one heard me. He punched me, and threw me off the desk onto the floor. Then he pulled my clothes off and raped me. Before he left, he told me that if I told anyone, he'd kill my family, and kill me. But I couldn't listen to him. I waited until I was sure he was gone, then I ran out of the room and down to the principal's office. She didn't want to believe me, but she kind of had to at that point. That's where you come in I guess. She didn't ask me many questions, just told me to wait for CSI to show up. So I did."
Sara felt her anger rising, both at the sick pervert who thought it was okay to have, and act on, sexual desires for a fourteen year old girl, and at the principal who clearly didn't care as long as her ass wasn't on the line, but she was careful to keep it out of her voice as she spoke her next question so as not to make Mary think that any of this was her fault. "You mean your principal ignored multiple reports of sexual harassment?"
"Yes." The tears had started to stream down Mary's face, despite her obvious efforts to keep them from falling. "But it's worse than that. She told him everything I told her, and when he asked for it she gave him my name, address, and phone number."
Sara's eyebrows raised in shock. "She had no right to do that to you," she said softly, "and that, by the way, is a felony in and of itself. We'll make sure to look into that in the process of our investigation. Until then I'm going to need your address so that the police can make sure that your family is safe."
A strange look crossed over Mary's face, but she answered. "It's just my dad and I. We live at 236746 Freemont Street."
"Okay, thanks. I'll send that to the detectives, they'll check on your dad and post a uniform at your house until we have Mr. Manson in custody. I'm sure your dad will be fine. If Mr. Manson tries to get him, we'll just arrest him that much faster." Sara wondered about the strange look that had ended up on Mary's face when she asked about her dad, but figured it wasn't her business to ask. She made the quick phone call to Brass, then went back to her questioning. "I know this is probably really painful for you, but did he use a condom while he was raping you?"
"No, he didn't. I scratched him too, so there's probably a bit of him under my nails."
Sara looked at Danielle curiously "You know a thing or two about forensics?" It was more an observation than a question.
Mary smiled shyly. "I like to study things, in my spare time. Forensics always interested me. I…want to be a CSI someday. That way I can make sure there's a little more justice in this world."
The smile that crossed over Sara's face briefly was more ironic than sincere, but that didn't mean she didn't admire the girl, only that she knew the job was more than just bringing justice to victims. It was a lot more painful than that, but Mary would understand that better than most at this point, being a victim herself. Even if they did catch the guy and manage to get him punished to the fullest extent of the law (which didn't happen often) there could be no justice, because there was no justice in what had been done to her. She hadn't deserved to have her innocence stripped away, and nothing could make that any better.
A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. I know it's short, but I didn't want to go into the hospital scene just yet. Besides, I'm anticipating this being a rather long fic, with a lot of interesting details, so I just wanted to give you the first taste of that with this chapter. More to come soon, I'm on break from school so I'll have time to update fairly frequently for a while. Besides, I'm snowed in right now, so there's even more time. Let me know what you think so far!