A Child's Question
by Queen Hotaru
Author's Note: This is my first story submitted in several years. I was watching the Pilot episode of CSI and this came to me. I've wanted to bring back my character Tara Grissom, (Gil's niece for more information see my untitled CSI story, which I have to rewrite). But I hope you enjoy this. Without further ado A Child's Question.
"Why are we lighting a candle?" It was the question that Lindsay Willows had asked a year after the death. She hadn't been there that night and was too young to remember anything about it. But she was the only one.
Standing with the rest of the group, Tara Grissom thought back on this innocent question, pursing her lips, thinking about the life the candle represented.
It had been her first day on the job. A graduate of UNLV, she'd walked into the break room with an uncertain, almost nervous or lost look in her eyes. As if asking "Am I in the right place?"
She remembered it… it was a flashbulb memory; at least that was the terminology given in her psychology text. What had been so long ago, before the onset of her Uncle (and father figure's) otosclerosis. Before the surgery he'd had to correct it. Before the death of Lindsey's father, the promotion of Ecklie, the subsequent reorganization of the shift staff, Nick's brush with death and the reunion of the "family."
Jim had wanted her gone. He'd never really taken to new people quickly. It was part of his charm…his unique charm. But just the same, Holly Gribbs had spent the night shadowing and collecting, doing what she'd been trained for and hired to do.
Now nineteen and a sophomore at UNLV, Tara had only been in her early teens when Holly died. It felt like yesterday, but seven years had passed. She couldn't help but think how much a person could remember. They had met only briefly, and yet, Holly… What Tara remembered most about the young woman was the look on her face when she'd gotten out of her first autopsy. Sitting and listening to the story had helped the woman calm down. The story itself had been amusing; Tara understood what had happened, but just acted as a sympathetic ear. It had been appreciated.
Only a few hours later she would be dead. Warrick would be under scrutiny and investigation by Ms. Sidle, a former student of her father's (her uncle). Catching the suspect would be closure, but it didn't help ease the feelings around the lab…
At moments like these, after the candle was lit, and the flame danced within the clouded glass, that brought her back. Surrounded by the nightshift, those who knew her best, her family, the question of a young girl echoed from the past.
'Why are we lighting the candle?'
It was a simple gesture. A hand slipped into that of the man who had raised her and a small squeeze. Comforting. Reassuring. Then a hand on her shoulder, returning the support needed today.
"To remember. For Holly."