A/N: Just a quick, angsty little one-shot that I've had saved in my files for quite a few months now. Figured I'd drag it out, polish it up a bit and share it with you all...a little something to help me get back into the habit of publishing, I guess. I hope you enjoy it!
Stella Bonasera knew it the moment she saw the young woman lying in autopsy. From the moment he'd shown up in the doorway of her office, his hands clutching the DNA results so tightly his knuckles had gone white, she'd been hoping against hope that there had been a mistake. The whole trip down to the morgue, she'd prayed that there would turn out to have been some sort of unimaginable mix-up, some twist of fate that changed the identity of the young woman formerly known as Jane Doe F27.
Looking at her, though, there was no denying it. Her face was bloodied and bruised, but the features were his, and Stella knew if the young woman could only open her eyes, she'd find herself staring into the same soft blue eyes. The hair, too, was his, at least in texture; it's color had long since been dyed so far away from it's natural hue that there was no telling if that too was the same.
"Detective Bonasera, I wasn't expecting to see you down here quite so soon," Sid commented as he walked over to the autopsy table. "I'm afraid I don't have anything for you on our young woman here. I haven't even started my preliminary exam yet, to be honest. Is the case that urgent?"
"She's not my case, Sid," Stella admitted. "She's Danny's."
"Oh," Sid nodded in confusion. "May I ask what brings you down to see her, then?"
"I think we have an ID," Stella said. "We got a hit in the DNA database; matched to her brother."
"That was certainly fast," Sid marveled.
"Can you do me a favor, Sid?" Stella asked.
"What do you need?" Sid asked.
"Don't start the autopsy just yet, alright?" Stella asked.
"Why not?" Sid asked.
"Just…can you wait just a little while, Sid?" Stella asked pleadingly. "I promise, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
"Well, I suppose it's not as though she's going anywhere," Sid agreed reluctantly.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Stella asked, kneeling down beside him as he lifted his face from his hands to stare at her, the sudden emptiness in his eyes cutting straight to her heart.
"No," he said quietly. "Is anybody ever ready for this, Stella?"
"I suppose not," Stella said softly, her hand resting gently on his forearm. "You don't have to do this, you know. We have the DNA match; we can just do a photo identification."
"No," he said, shaking his head. "I need to see her, Stella. I just…it's all so absurd, you know? I was, uh, I was just talking to her yesterday. Yesterday, she was laughing, getting ready to go on a date…yesterday she was laughing and today she's lying in the morgue? It's…it's completely ridiculous, that's what it is…yesterday she was laughing and today she's in the morgue. I don't think…I, um, I can't really believe it if I don't see her myself."
"We could wait, you know," Stella suggested gently. "Let Sid do his work, clean her up a bit first…"
"No," he interrupted. "I, uh, I need to see her like this. Whatever happened to her, I need to see it. I'm going to read the reports anyway, Stella…it's not allowed, but I'll…I'll do it, you know that."
"Okay," Stella nodded, slowly helping him to his feet, one hand coming to rest on his upper back as her other slipped under his forearm, gently guiding him toward the entrance to the morgue. "Whenever you're ready."
"Let's go," he said. "I…I've just got to get it over with, right?"
Stella nodded quietly, slowly pushing open the door to the morgue, leading him toward the center of the room, feeling the subtle slowing of his steps as they drew closer to the sheet-covered body resting on the autopsy table.
His arms hung limply at his sides, watching with surprising calmness as Stella reached out and pulled back the sheets, revealing the young woman's face.
"It's her," he whispered almost imperceptibly. His eyes searched her face, finally coming to rest on the familiar faded scar on the side of her left cheek, the physical reminder of the childhood horrors they'd survived together, now covered with the bruises that represented whatever horrors she hadn't been able to survive without him.
Leaning forward, he lovingly brushed a strand of hair from her face, biting back his own tears as he kissed her forehead and whispered his apology into her ear.
"I, uh, I need to get back to work," he said, straightening back up and turning to face Stella. "Yeah, I've…I've got a lot of work to do."
Stella sighed sadly as she watched him quickly shuffle out of the room, his shoulders quivering only slightly as he fought back the tears. Taking a brief moment of her own to stare at the beautiful young woman she would never get the opportunity to know, Stella's hands shook as she lifted the sheet, carefully draping it back over the woman's head.
Pausing only briefly as she too made her way out of the room, she turned to face Sid, who was staring back at her in utter shock.
"Tell Danny we've identified his Jane Doe," she said sadly, shooting once last glance back at the sheet covered body behind her. "Her name is Anna Ross."