This is an AU story. No one is a CSI, Catherine and Grissom are teachers, Sara, Greg, Warrick + Nick are students, and I might make up some characters.
Sara Sidle made her way to school, after checking any bruises were hidden and any cuts were cleaned. As she got to the school gates, she took a deep breath and hitched up her skirt a little.
"Yo! Sara!" Shouted her friend Warrick Brown,
"Hey!" She shouted back, making her way to where him and his friends were stood, she knew two of them, Nick Stokes and Greg Sanders, she knew Greg fairly well as they were in the same classes, "What's up Greg?"
"Ahh! Sexy Sara." He teased, receiving a playful smack on the arm. "Ow, man." He raised his arms in mock surrender, Sara grinned back at him.
"What you got first period?" Warrick asked,
"Um," Sara checked her time table, "Chemistry."
"Ooh, you get the new teacher then," Nick spoke up,
"New teacher?"
"Yeah, um, Ms. Willows, I think. I've seen her around, man, is she hot!" Warrick and Nick high fived, it was common knowledge around the school that Sara was into girls, many people teased her for it, but Warrick, Greg and apparently Nick thought it was okay, and accepted her for who she truly was. It was then the bell rang through the whole school, Warrick and Nick left to go to their first lesson, and Sara walked off to behind the bins,
"Yo, Sar. Where you going?" Greg shouted to a retreating Sara.
"Just going for a smoke, you comin'?" Greg shook his head and left for his lesson as Sara shrugged, and lit up a cigarette from her pocket. When she was finished she was at least ten minutes late for lesson, deciding she didn't care, she slowly made her way to lesson, not bothering to check in at the office. As she got to the chemistry class room, she saw a beautiful blonde woman, must be Ms. Willows. Sara thought, man, she is hot! She opened the door and sank into her seat at the back, as Ms. Willows carried on with the lesson,
"Page 326, finish off the table and complete the questions." She spoke, walking over to where Sara was sat, placing her palms on the desk in front of her and providing the young brunette with a great view of her cleavage, "Sara Sidle?" She asked; quiet enough for no one else to hear.
"Yep, that's me." Sara replied, blowing a bubble in her gum.
"You're late because..?"
"I went for a smoke."
"You think that's acceptable?" Sara shrugged, looking up at Ms. Willows.
"Detention. After school, don't be late." She said, before walking back up to her desk, swaying her hips slightly, Sara was mesmerized, her new chemistry teacher wasn't just hot, she was sexy, beautiful, stunning. There was something about her, and although Sara didn't know exactly what it was, she liked it. The lesson flew by, which Sara, and Ms. Willows were both not happy about. The new chemistry teacher felt something for the stubborn, cheeky brunette, even though she knew it was wrong. Sara had a free period after chemistry, so she decided to spend it behind the bins; she put her blazer down on the floor and settled on top of it, pulling the box of cigarettes out of her pocket.
"So, this is where you were before my lesson?" Came the voice of Ms. Willows,
"Yep." Sara replied calmly, not looking up at the woman, who was walking toward Sara.
"I take it you have a free period." Sara nodded, temporarily paralyzed as Ms. Willows had sat beside her. "I don't appreciate you being late to my lessons. Don't let it happen again."
"Riiiight. So, since we covered that up, do I still have to attend your detention?" Sara asked,
"Yes, of course you still have to attend! If you don't, you'll have a longer detention tomorrow."
"I wasn't thinking of skipping it."
"Good." The older woman smiled,
"This is your first day, right?"
"Yeah." Ms. Willows answered.
"You enjoying it?"
"Um, its okay. It's very different here than in Montana."
"Montana?!" The blonde laughed at the surprise in Sara's tone.
"Yes, Montana. That's where I'm from."
"I didn't expect there to be—" Sara cut her sentence short, immediately realizing she shouldn't be telling her teacher that she's 'hot'.
"Expect there to be what?"
"Um, um. Didn't expect you to be from Montana." Sara smiled nervously. Ms. Willows threw her head back and laughed, not noticing Sara had been lying.
"No, I'm sure you didn't." She checked her watch, "What lesson do you have next, Sara?"
"Um, biology I think." The young brunette wrinkled her nose in thought.
"With Professor Grissom?"
"Yes, Ms. Willows."
"Out of class, you can call me Catherine."
"Um, okay." Sara grinned, making Catherine's heart melt.
"I have to get going now Sara, don't be late for my detention!" Catherine said, getting up and standing in front of Sara, she then leaned down, providing Sara with yet another view of her cleavage, and took the cigarette hanging from Sara's lips. "Please, try not to do this often." She said, her voice held a kindness Sara had never heard before. She stamped on the cigarette and walked away from Sara, throwing a goodbye over her shoulder.
"Man, there is no way I'm falling for her." Sara mumbled to herself, unaware that Catherine was thinking the same thing.
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It was nearly time for Sara's detention, and she couldn't hide her happiness, unfortunately, Warrick had noticed,
"Hey girl, why you so smiley, haven't you got a detention?"
"Yep." Sara's grin widened,
"Can't be with Professor Ecklie, you hate that guy, who is it?"
"Ms. Willows." Sara answered, fiddling with her hands.
"Oooh girl, you got it bad!"
"I do not!"
"Yeah right! Your gonna be late, see you around." Warrick waved her off as the bell went and Sara hurried to her detention, she'd been thinking all day about what she felt, she thought at first it was just a crush, but that didn't explain it as well as she'd thought it might. She had never believed in love at first sight, at didn't think this was love, maybe it's just getting there, she concluded, feeling that she could definitely love Catherine Willows in time. And as much as that thought scared her, it filled her with warmth she could come accustomed to. The warmth intensified as she got to Catherine's classroom, she knocked on the door, entering upon hearing permission. Catherine was sat at her desk; her glasses perched on the end of her nose as she went through some books.
"Hey Sara." She greeted the happy brunette as she pushed her glasses on top of her head, "Take a seat." Sara sat down in front of Catherine, the desk between the both of them, Sara's shirt was considerably shorter than usual, and the fact Sara's legs were on show was driving Catherine insane. Not that she'd ever admit it. "It's unacceptable to be late to my lesson, regardless of the reason. I don't expect it to happen again, though, you have great potential to do well in my class, and I don't want to see that wasted, Sara." Sara shrugged off the comment, embarrassed of being complimented, as she wasn't used to it. "The school wants teachers to be persistent with punishment, so you'll have to write some lines."
"And.. What do you want me to write?"
"'I will not be late to Ms. Willows' lesson again' and 'I will never smoke on school premises.'"
"Fair point on the first one, but I'm not promising to never smoke here again."
"Yes, you are. Sara, it's bad for your health and-"
"Why do you care?"
"Because you're a student, it's my job as a teacher to care."
"So you only care when we're here, right? When we're at school, you only 'care' because you have to." Sara shook her head in disbelief, she tricked herself into thinking something could have happened, of course it can't! She's a freakin' teacher, Sidle. Sara suppressed the urge to smack her head for her stupidity.
"No Sara. I care as a friend, too."
"A friend?!"
"Yes,"
"You.. Want to be my friend?" Catherine nodded, she felt she needed to have a reason to speak to Sara, even though she knew her feelings could, and most probably would, develop further for the young brunette if she spent more time with her. Sara grinned, happy that she could have a reason to see Catherine more often. The blonde chemistry teacher turned to the cupboard and bent to get some paper for her student to write lines on, the said student couldn't take her eyes off Catherine's backside, she was staring so intently she realized she couldn't see the outline of any underwear, oh God, she's either got a thong on or none at all. Sara snapped her eyes shut at this though, and didn't bother to banish the mental image. A hand on her arm brought Sara back to Earth, with a wince of pain that didn't go unnoticed by Catherine, who applied a tiny bit of pressure on her fingers, which were placed on Sara's wrist. Sara couldn't suppress the gasp that left her mouth at the pain.
"Sara?"
"Hmm?"
"Why does it hurt when I touch your wrist?" Catherine asked, quietly, already knowing the answer, but not wanting to push the young girl into speaking.
"Um, it doesn't?" Sara didn't want to tell Catherine, she didn't want the sympathy. Catherine moved her hand, but before Sara could be relieved, she pushed up the brunette's sleeve, revealing angry, red marks that covered her arms.
"Oh my God." Catherine breathed; in all her years of teaching she had never seen a student who had inflicted this amount of pain on themselves. Sara pulled her arm away and quickly covered it up, "Why?"
"I'm not telling you."
"Tell me."
"You wouldn't understand,"
"Please, Sara."
"I need it. I need the pain; I need the release it gives from the numbness."
"Sara-"
"Don't feel like you have to say anything, there is nothing you can say to make me any different." Sara spat out, pushing her chair back and getting up, making to leave the class room, Catherine grabbed her hand,
"Don't go Sara, talk to me. Please." Sara sighed and sat back down, "Do your parents know?" Sara laughed bitterly and shook her head,
"If they did know, I doubt they'd care." Catherine opened her mouth to disagree, but Sara carried on, "Seriously. They'd say it was for attention, because I don't get enough of it, though everything they do is for me, every hour they work is to provide for me. But they never explain their reasoning behind hitting me-" Sara's hand flew to her mouth, and her eyes widened in fear of what she just said.
"What?"
"I- Um. Um- I didn't- No, nothing." Sara shook her head, backpedaling rapidly.
"Sara? Do they… Abuse you?" Sara nodded, tears forming in her eyes, "Does your father… Um, touch you?" The last part was whispered around the lump in Catherine's throat, again Sara nodded, a small sob escaping her body. Catherine enveloped Sara in a tight hug, wanting to protect her from these monsters, what kind of people would harm their own child? Sara's sobs became louder, and more heartbreaking, she'd obviously been bottling them up. Catherine was rocking Sara, and rubbing soothing circles on her back as the door flung open,
"Ms. Willows, I thought this was a detention!"
"It is, Professor Ecklie," Catherine felt Sara tense at the mention of his name,
"Then why are you hugging…" Conrad Ecklie strained his eyes to make out who it was, "Sidle." He said her name with a tinge of disgust,
"Because she's obviously upset, I don't appreciate you barging into my class without knocking, then ridiculing a student of mine."
"I didn't ridicule anyone, Ms. Willows."
"The tone of which you said her voice bothered me, so right now. Get. Out. Of. My. Class!" Catherine barked between gritted teeth, her first day and she'd already made an enemy. Ecklie turned and left, after shooting a dirty look at Sara, receiving a glare from Catherine. Once he was gone, Sara pulled away.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble."
"You didn't, that guy's an ass." Sara shot Catherine a weak smile,
"Um, Ms. Willows. I have to go home now, um, I'm already late-"
"What will they do to you?"
"I'm not sure." Sara admitted, in a small voice.
"Sara, I can tell someone, I can make it better."
"And put me in the system? I don't think so. Listen, you don't tell anyone, I can handle it." Catherine nodded; she didn't want to go against Sara, although she hated the thought of her getting hurt. "Goodbye, Ms. Willows."
"Goodbye Sara." Catherine said. When the door shut, she sank down in her chair behind the desk, and a few tears ran down her cheeks, she felt helpless. She knew exactly what was going to happen to Sara, and it was her fault for making her turn up to a detention. That thought made Catherine feel sick to her stomach, and her tears turned to sobs.
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Sara somehow made it to school early the next day, her parents had given her a particularly bad beating, one of them have cut her with a smashed bottle as she turned to escape. It hurt like Hell, but she'd be damned if she ever showed it. She went straight to Ms. Willows' classroom, not even sure if she'd be in this early. Sara opened the door to the chemistry lab, and upon seeing her teacher, she burst out crying, Catherine knew Sara would have gotten a worse beating than usual, she knew it was all her fault too. Catherine immediately got up and walked over to Sara, wrapping her arms around her neck and closing the door. As Catherine tightened the hug, she noticed the back of Sara's shirt was damp, when she pulled her hand away, she noticed there was blood, covering her palm, she then pulled completely away from Sara, who had paled considerably.
"Oh my God, Sara! How on earth did you make it to.." Catherine trailed off as Sara collapsed into her, "Oh my God," Catherine took her cell phone out of her pocket and called for an ambulance, it was there in a matter of minutes and Sara still hadn't woken up. The paramedics took Sara and put her in the ambulance; Catherine scribbled a note on a piece of paper and left it on her desk. It read: I will not be in for the rest of the day, neither will Sara Sidle, I have gone with her to the hospital, signed Catherine Willows. She then got in the ambulance next to Sara and grabbed her hand, "It'll be okay Sara, and stay strong, please, for me." The last part was so quiet, Catherine herself barely heard it. Once they arrived at the hospital, Sara was taken away, possibly to surgery, which gave Catherine time to think about what she felt for Sara, she already knew it was more than friendly, and knew it was wrong, Hell, it was illegal! And no matter how much the sensible side of her knew she should leave, she couldn't bear to be away from Sara,
"Ms. Willows?" Catherine looked up,
"Miss. Sidle is up for visitors, if you'd like to see her?" Catherine got up, and quickly made her way to the room the nurse had gestured too.
"Sara?" The young girl looked up, tears falling silently as Catherine sat beside her,
"They asked… What happened. I didn't- Know what to say. So they… Rang my parents, and they are on- The way."
"Sara, honey. You need to breathe, okay? I won't let them hurt you anymore. I promise."
"You- Cant... I'm sorry. Please- Don't get… Involved."
"Sara, please. Just breathe, it'll be okay. Just breathe," Sara tried her hardest to get her breathing under control, she focused on Catherine, and how she helped her, and the feeling of their fingers entwined, thinking of Catherine calmed Sara, and her breathing was regular again, "You okay now?" Sara nodded, it was then her parents showed up,
"Sara, honey! What happened?" To the average person, this would look like a truly worried mother, and to a certain extent, she was a worried mother. She was worried Sara had told someone exactly what had happened to her.
"Mrs. Sidle, Mr. Sidle, I'm Catherine Willows, Sara's chemistry teacher, she was with me when she collapsed." The Sidle's smiled meekly at Catherine, intimidated slightly. "Is it okay if I could speak to you somewhere more private?" She asked, already leaving the hospital room and waiting outside for Mr. and Mrs. Sidle. When they joined her, in a secluded part of the corridor, she could smell alcohol on them. "Listen, I know what happened to Sara, I know that you both abuse her, but I promised her I wouldn't let her get hurt again, so, as a woman of her word, I'd like Sara to stay with me."
"Hell no. She's our daughter, she stays with us." Mr. Sidle said, advancing on Catherine,
"What? So you can use her as your punching bag?! No way! I want you to leave this hospital right now, and when you get home, get Sara's stuff sorted; I'll come by and pick it up later." Her tone was demanding, it scared Sara's father, but apparently not Mrs. Sidle,
"I don't know who you think you are, lady, but Sara is not staying with you." Laura Sidle jabbed Catherine hard in the chest with her finger,
"Yes. She is."
"NO SHE'S FUCKING NOT!" The brunette woman launched at Catherine, pushing her into the wall, consequently banging her head off it, her hands then tightened around Catherine's neck, who was kicking and punching, one of the kicks connected with Laura's shin, making her let go, Catherine then delivered one swift slap to her face,
"Yes, she fucking is. It'll take a lot more than that to stop me from doing this." Laura seemed to have given up, and walked away,
"Her things will be at the gate." She threw over her shoulder, Catherine grinned in triumph as she made her way back to Sara's room.
"Ms. Willows? What was all that shouting? And what happened to your face?!" Catherine's hand immediately flew to where Laura had hit her,
"Nothing Sara, listen, I was speaking to your parents and-"
"They did that to you?!" Catherine nodded, "How dare they!" Now this surprised the blonde teacher.
"Hey, hey, it's fine. I'm fine. But I really need to discuss something with you, Sara."
"Okay, go for it."
"You'll be staying with me from now on, after we get you out of here, we'll pick up your belongings from your parents."
"But Ms. Willows-"
"Catherine."
"Catherine, how did you get them to agree?"
"They didn't at first, and then your mom, hit me-"
"I hope you hit back."
"Yeah, I did. Extra hard for you." The two of them grinned, "So, you seriously okay with staying at mine?"
"Yep. As long as you are."
"Sar, I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't sure!"
"Awesome." Sara hadn't felt this loved for, well; she had never felt loved, it was a feeling she was sure she had to get used too.
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Sara and Catherine were in a cab, after picking up Sara's belongings from her parents, they were on the way to Catherine's house.
"Um, Catherine. Are you sure you want me to stay with you?"
"Of course I'm sure, what's got you so scared?"
"I just… I don't know my parents to give up a fight, they might… Hurt you and I don't want you to get hurt because of me." Catherine put her arm around Sara,
"Nonsense. I won't let them hurt anyone, Sara. I promise." Sara nodded and melted into the hug, resting her head on Catherine's chest. They soon arrived at Sara's new home, and took all her belongings inside, "So, this is where you'll be sleeping," Catherine said, opening the door to her guest room, "If you need anything, I'm down the hall. I'll leave you to get some rest, you look exhausted." Sara smiled, it was true, she was tired, after setting her bags down on the floor, she lay on the bed, not bothering to change or get under the covers. Once her head hit the pillow, she was asleep instantly. Catherine was halfway through a film when she heard screaming coming from Sara's room, adrenaline pumping, she burst into the troubled brunette's room, surprised that she was asleep.
"NO! NO!" Sara shouted, thrashing around on the bed, Catherine immediately ran over and put her arms around Sara,
"Sara, honey. Sara! You're dreaming, it's okay," Catherine tried to soothe Sara, and push the thoughts of them being so close to the back of her head. Sara woke up, took one look at the blonde hugging her and burst into tears. "Oh Sara. It's okay now, honey."
"It's not! It never will be!!" They young girl shouted, burrowing further into Catherine's neck and crying harder, her whole body shaking furiously with silent sobs.
"I'm so sorry, Sara." And she really was, she was sorry that Sara was forced to grow up and didn't live her childhood the way a child should, she was sorry that Sara was broken on the inside, she was sorry that someone did this to her. Not sorry for Sara, sorry for the people that inflicted all this pain onto the brunette, Catherine swore that the next time she met the young girl's parents, she wouldn't be able to contain her fury. "I'll protect you, I promise." The tone in which this was said told Sara she wasn't lying, that she would protect her. It provided the brunette with a feeling she'd never felt before. Safety.
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I think I might carry this on, if you'd like to read more, let me know x
