A/N: This story wouldn't have gotten anywhere without the encouragement of MonstersInside and UniqueInsanity. You should check out their stories!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of CSI. I don't own Taylor Swift either, unfortunately.
You call me up again, just to break me like a promise,
so casually cruel in the name of being honest.
She was alone again. For most of her life, she'd been alone. Feeling this way was not new, it was a recurring feeling, one she thought she would never have to face again. At least, that's what he'd promised. You'll never be alone again; we're in this together now. When he'd arrived in Costa Rica, he'd made many promises. Even his wedding vows seemed empty now. Till death do us part, he had said. Look where that had gotten them.
She'd been alone throughout her childhood. Her parents never gave her much attention, except for when her father got drunk, but that was not attention she wanted. No one wanted that kind of attention. When her mother finally snapped, stabbing her father seven times, she was even more alone. Her familiar surroundings, the comfort and safety of her bedroom were torn away from her. She'd been placed in the system, never fitting in, never staying in the same home for too long. She sought solitude, embraced it. How can you trust someone when everyone in your life has let you down?
She put all her efforts into work. Work gave her the independence she so desperately sought. Her efforts paid off; she'd graduated at 16 as valedictorian and attained a scholarship to Harvard. She wasn't like the other college students; she didn't drink, she didn't go to parties. Sometimes she craved the attention of men, but she only took what she needed from them, not letting them get too close. She'd seen how relationships could end.
After Harvard, she moved to Berkeley to attend graduate school. She got a job at the San Francisco Coroner's office. Her life seemed to be falling into place; she just had no one to share it with. Her upward trajectory continued when she got a position at the crime lab, starting as a CSI Level 1. On one of her first cases, she met Doug. Doug Wilson was good for her. He was kind, attentive without smothering, and gentle. She started doing all the things she had missed out on. They went on proper dates, they went to bars together, and she trusted him.
Then she met him and everything changed.
She soon became a CSI Level 2 and her boss had encouraged her to attend more lectures to continue her development. She signed up to the next one available, which was to be taught by one Dr. Grissom. Her boss had joked that she'd need a boat load of caffeine to stay awake or a comfy pillow to get through his lecture. He can't be that bad, she had thought. She'd gotten home from pulling a double shift when she had to leave again for the lecture. She threw on some casual clothes and pulled her hair into a ponytail.
It wasn't his looks that caught her attention first, although that wasn't to say he wasn't handsome. She could have looked into his bottomless blue eyes all day. But it was his intellect and mind that won her over. She had picked his brain throughout the lecture, asking questions ranging for crime scene analysis to anthropology. She was captivated by him, he was an enigma and she wanted to know more. So she had asked him to go for a coffee with her; she had so many more questions to ask. What had started off as an innocent conversation soon turned into a good-natured debate about the different types of fingerprint powder, extending to philosophy and religion. She had never felt this connected to anyone before. But he had to leave, Las Vegas needed him. He left her his number and email address and told her to get in touch if she needed anything. He stole one final glance her way, stealing her heart in the process.
