Thanks to JavaJunkie4evr and Aly for reviewing! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Also thanks to xxlil-mizz-hannahxx for putting this story on story alert and favorite stories list! Long chapter guys, but please bear with me!
New York City
Chapter Four: Doubts
"Paige…" The sound of her name echoed in the room, but she ignored it, thinking it may just be Eric again, wanting to talk to her. She didn't feel like talking, she was still too tired. But as she listened to the voice saying her name, she could tell that it wasn't Eric's and it sounded more like a female's voice. She opened her eyes. "Paige," the voice repeated again.
"Sam?" Paige whispered.
"That's me, Paige," she replied. "I'm here to tell you that you're free to go, you're free from jail."
Paige looked at her in surprise. The voice had been of Samantha Spade, the FBI agent who had helped her find her true identity. Now she was telling her she was free to go, that she had served all of her jail time. But after talking with Cuddy, she had figured out that she had been in jail for two years; a criminal didn't get let out of jail after only serving two years for murder. Usually they would stay in jail for their entire life, or even worse, get executed, depending how bad the murder was. She didn't want to think about that, the only thought she was focused on was why she was getting let out so early.
She stood up and walked over to Samantha, who was standing outside her jail cell. She looked to her right, to see if Eric was watching her from his jail cell. But he wasn't there. What had happened to him? Samantha's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Do you have all of your personal belongings with you?"
Paige grabbed the bag that was right next to her. She had barely unpacked anything, she had actually believed that during the beginning of her stay at jail she thought someone would take her home right away and that had been why she hadn't unpacked anything. But during her stay she had almost forgotten about it, she had been too focused on either sleeping or trying to figure out what day, month, or year it was.
Sam was looking at her with a concerned expression. "You don't talk much anymore, do you?"
Paige shrugged. She wasn't exactly in the mood to talk with anyone. She was just too overwhelmed by the news of getting out of jail.
"Um, okay," Samantha said, changing the subject. "We're going to get you cleaned up and everything, okay? Then you'll be let out of jail."
Paige nodded.
Samantha signaled to one of the police officers behind her. He came to unlock her jail cell, and for the first time, she wasn't hand-cuffed. And for the last time did she walk down that hallway, the one where she had been down many times before. After she had showered and put on a clean pair of clothes, she followed Sam to the room where she would be meeting with her parole officer. Sam first talked to the officer, while she waited outside the room. This made Paige apprehensive, and she wondered what the two were talking about. Soon the door opened and she was allowed to come inside.
She sat down on the chair across from the officer. He looked up at her. "Miss Hobson?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Do you know why you came here in the first place?"
"Yes," she said. "I murdered General Gamba, six years ago. I had escaped from jail, and then went under the alias 'Lindsay Monroe'. I've been in jail for two years now, serving the time for murdering a famous figure."
"Very good, Miss Hobson," he said. "And do you promise to not murder anyone ever again?"
"Yes," Paige said. "But sir, I think I should stay in jail. I did kill someone and I'm supposed to stay here for a much longer time than two years. I used to work as a CSI and you can't just leave killers to roam around New York."
"But you're not a killer," he said. He paused for a moment and then put out his hand. "Tim Burns. You'll be checking in with me every so month and soon you'll be able to go back to living your normal life."
She wanted to scream, you're ignoring the subject, but instead she just shook his hand. "It was nice to meet you sir." She stood up from her chair and followed Samantha out the door. When they were out of sight from the parole officer, she said, "What did you tell him? Why am I being released so early?"
Samantha only looked around her and then signaled her to be quiet. But she wasn't going to take that as an answer. "What, do you need me for something? And after that will I be heading back to jail?"
"I guess I was wrong about you not talking much," said Samantha.
"I guess I was wrong about you still being my friend," Paige retorted.
The two quieted as they reached the gate where she would be released. As they stepped outside, Paige froze. When Samantha realized she was walking alone, she turned around to see that Paige had stopped. "Are you coming?"
She ignored her comment. She was gazing at the city in front of her, the city she hadn't seen for two years now. It sparkled beautifully in the morning light, making it look as if a hurricane had never hit it three years ago. As she came out of her daze, she realized that Sam was still looking at her. "Sorry," said Paige. "It's just that the last time I saw this city was when floods were rummaging through the New York Crime Lab."
She hurried over to Sam, where she was standing by the two waiting police officers. They soon opened the gate, allowing her back into the real world, just as she had wanted. She looked around, hoping to see Danny waiting for her outside the gate, but he wasn't. Wherever he was, she just hoped he was okay.
Samantha showed her to her car, her voice quiet and sweet again as she talked. "I have to go back to work to get a few things. But then, I'll take you where you want to go."
"The New York Crime Lab," Paige quickly replied. "That's where I want to go."
"Okay," Samantha agreed. "Then that's where we'll go."
The New York Crime Lab, New York
"Mac," Stella called as she ran through the door to his office. "I've got the DNA results from the lab…" She stopped as he signaled her to be quiet. She turned to look at the TV and saw that he was watching the news. "Oh, don't tell me that there's another hurricane heading for New York?" she asked, thinking about the devastating hurricane that had hit the east coast three years ago.
"No," he replied, turning up the volume. "But it's something you'd be interested in."
She turned to look at the TV again. The story was on some criminal getting released from jail earlier than they had expected. There were people protesting that the person should go back to jail, especially since they had murdered someone important. She looked at Mac. "A criminal gets out of jail, don't we deal with that enough here?"
"Listen," Mac said.
She did what he said, and listened to the news reporter's story. She didn't know why Mac was making such a big deal about the story, especially when their job was to lock up criminals for crimes they had committed. Knowing that a killer had just been released back on the streets of New York was a bad thing for them. But when she heard the name 'Paige Hobson', she realized why Mac had told her to listen. "Lindsay," she said. "She's getting released out of jail early?"
"According to the reporters," said Mac. "But there are a lot of people who disagree with her release."
"Why?" Stella asked, though it seemed like a dumb question to ask.
"She murdered General Gamba, a guy who was an important leader from another country," explained Mac. "There were a majority of people who were glad he was dead, but there were still people who were upset with his death. Those are the people who are now protesting."
Stella nodded. She decided to change the subject. "Um, the DNA results you wanted." She handed Mac the file.
"Thank you," Mac said. He looked at her for a while. "Is there something else you wanted to tell me?"
"Actually," she said, turning around to look at the clock, "I was going to go pick up Corina from daycare." She turned back to look at him. "Is that okay?"
"Yes, that's fine Stel," he replied. When she was about to leave the room, Mac added, "Don't worry about Lindsay, okay? She'll be all right."
Stella nodded. She left the room in silence, and even though he had said not to worry about Lindsay, she did. People were out there who wanted to kill her. What if she got murdered before they ever got to see her again?
Samantha and Paige entered the crime lab, the place where she had worked as Lindsay Monroe many years before. Though she hadn't been there for a long time, the place seemed familiar to her, and she could remember every detail of the place. As they walked the way to Mac's office, she saw Don Flack, working on paperwork at his desk. He didn't notice her arrival; he was too busy with his work. But she was glad he hadn't seen her, she didn't know what to expect from him if she went to talk to him. He might be happy to see that she was okay, but he may also be angry and wonder why she was out of jail. The news of her murdering someone years ago had weakened her friendships with some of her fellow CSI investigators.
She also saw Sid Hammerback, the medical examiner, walk past them. He turned to look her way when he walked by her, but he had really seen one of the other medical examiners and hurried over to talk to them. She looked at him questioningly. Had her appearance really changed that much after being in jail two years? She didn't think so, but then again, she would have been used to a new look by now. But if they hadn't recognized her, why hadn't he recognized Samantha? Maybe she hadn't stopped by the crime lab in a long time either and that was why he hadn't noticed her.
They continued their walk and soon made their way to Mac's office. Samantha stopped by the glass door and turned to look apprehensively at her. The look made her curious and when she didn't say anything, she wondered why she had looked at her at all. Sam then opened the door, letting herself go in before she did. Once they were inside, they were faced by a questioning look from Mac.
"Paige," he said, smiling in a greeting.
She smiled at the fact that he had called her the right name. "Mac, it's nice to see you again." She walked over by his desk, where he standing and the two hugged. Unlike Flack and Sid, he didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that she had just come from jail. He didn't act like he thought she was a murderer and ignore her like the others. But there was still an awkward silence between them after they hugged, like they had never met and didn't know what to say to each other. The sudden opening of the door broke their silence.
"Lindsay?" a new voice asked.
She turned around to see Stella standing in the doorway, along with her daughter, Corina, which Cuddy had mentioned to her, but she had never met. She smiled weakly, and before she could correct Stella, Mac said, "Actually, it's Paige."
Stella opened her mouth in a manner of a gasp, but then quickly nodded before she could say anything. "Right," she said. "Um, Paige, what are you doing here?"
Now she understood why Stella had begun to gasp. She was surprised at her appearance there and saw her as a murderer, just like Flack and Sid had. Actually, Flack and Sid hadn't noticed her, so she couldn't criticize them of that. But Stella didn't think she deserved to be there, that she should still be in jail. She decided not to start arguing with her, especially not in front of Mac. "I came to visit," she said, which wasn't a lie at all.
Again, Stella nodded, with an appalled look. The look quickly disappeared and a smile appeared across her face. "I'm glad you came."
There didn't seem to be any attitude to her voice, so Paige decided that Stella was telling the truth. "I'm glad to see you again."
For the first time, Paige had noticed Corina, whom Stella had in her arms. Mac and Stella had managed to work through the two years while taking care of Corina; they were good parents. If she hadn't been in jail and was still Lindsay Monroe, she would have offered to baby-sit Corina. But now, she wouldn't dare ask because she knew that the answer would be no. Mac and Stella might have acted friendly towards her during their greeting, but they wouldn't trust her to take care of Corina.
Stella quickly shook hands with Samantha; no one had acknowledged her presence. Mac nodded to her, but Paige didn't think it mattered. Everyone was still too shocked about her being out of jail.
After a moment of silence, Samantha spoke up. "Um, Stella, do you want to take Corina and Paige outside Mac's office for a while? Maybe you could show Paige around the crime lab? I'm sure the crime lab has got to have changed by now."
Stella nodded. "I'll quickly show Paige around the place. Then I'm going to head home with Corina. Is that okay Mac?"
Mac nodded.
Stella then left the office. Before she turned to follow her, Paige looked skeptically at Samantha. There was obviously some reason why Samantha wouldn't let her listen in to the conversation; maybe she would explain to Mac the real reason why she had gotten out of jail. But the question was why would Sam tell Mac first and not her?
After she had walked out of the office and caught up with Stella and Corina, she looked around. She already knew that not much had changed at the lab, even though it wasn't the same building she had worked at when she was a CSI. "Not much has changed here, has it?" she asked Stella.
"Well, the building's not the same," replied Stella. "The room arrangements aren't the same either. You didn't expect New York to look the same after the repair of the hurricane, did you?"
"No!" exclaimed Paige.
"Well, then you can say things have changed."
Stella hadn't changed, Paige thought. She still thought of her as a coward, scared girl who would cry her life away. Well, she had left that life behind many years ago. But she didn't let herself begin to yell at Stella, only because of Corina's presence. But she suddenly remembered what Stella had told her when she had left Montana two years ago—"I won't worry about you kiddo. But I won't forget you." What had happened to the thoughtfulness Stella had shown to her then?
After walking down to the lobby—Stella hadn't shown Paige around the entire lab—she turned to Paige. "Do you think you'll be all right by yourself?"
Paige nodded. She watched as they left, and then walked around the crime lab, trying to find Flack. It didn't take her long to find him, but when she did, she realized he was busy taking a phone call at his desk. He looked up at her, as he ended the call. "Lindsay? What are you doing here?"
By the tone of his voice when he said, "What are you doing here?" she knew he didn't want her there. He must have thought of her as a murderer and not a friend from long ago. "It's Paige," she replied. "And I was just released from jail today. Samantha's here, if you want to talk to her…"
"Hold on for a second," said Flack.
He answered yet another call, and she had to wait again. She was surprised at the way he was treating her, like she was just some person he had met and didn't care to recognize her. She had worked with him once before; he could have at least acknowledged that.
"Um, Lindsay," he said, looking up at her, "do you think we could talk another time? I'm kind of busy at the moment. Thanks." He turned around, walking away from his desk.
"It's Paige," she said, but she knew he didn't hear her. He didn't care for her; he couldn't even get her name right.
She walked away from his desk, to soon meet up with Sid in the hallway. This time, he noticed her and exclaimed, "Paige! You're here!"
She smiled. He had actually got her name right unlike Flack. "Yeah, I just got released from jail today."
"I heard," said Sid. "I'd thought you'd come to visit. It's nice to see you again."
She guessed that it wasn't because Sid had ignored her earlier; it was just that he hadn't noticed her. "Um, Sid, have you seen Danny today by any chance?"
"Yeah," he replied. "He's working in the lab. He'll be glad to see you."
She nodded. "Thanks Sid."
"Don't mention it."
She hurried to the lab, where she found Danny; just like where Sid had said she'd find him. She stood at the doorway and called to him. "Hey."
Danny looked over to her. "Lindsay?"
She laughed. "You haven't seen me for two years and that's what kind of greeting I get?" She walked over to his side. "It's Paige, remember?"
"Sorry," Danny said. "It's just; I haven't seen you for such a long time."
"It's okay, Danny," she said. "I haven't seen you for a long time either." She looked at the clothes that lay on the lab table in front of him. It had been forever since she had ever examined a piece of evidence in the crime lab. But she knew that forever would stay forever, for she wouldn't ever be allowed to work there again. "Examining evidence, huh?"
"Yep," replied Danny.
She took a look at the clothes again and pointed to a mark of blood spatter. "Incase you needed help."
He smiled. "Thanks. But if you want to, you can help."
Paige shook her head. "I can't. I would, but I've just got released out of jail, and Mac wouldn't allow me to work here."
"I heard," he said. "I mean, about you getting out of jail. What's the reason for it?"
Paige shrugged. "Samantha wouldn't tell me."
"Danny!" a new voice called. She turned around to see Sheldon Hawkes, walking over to Danny's side. He immediately noticed her and said, "A familiar face is here!" The two hugged, which made her feel welcomed by the two CSI investigators, and she was appreciative to know that the two didn't think of her as Paige Hobson the murderer. But they still must have thought of her as Lindsay Monroe, the CSI investigator, which wasn't exactly what she had wanted either. "Paige, it's been such a long time!"
"I know," she said in agreement. "The last time I worked here I was Lindsay Monroe…"
Hawkes quickly told Danny about finding the victim's blood on the murder weapon, which made Danny think that the victim might have committed suicide. But then his attention went back to Paige. "How have you been?"
"Okay," replied Paige. "You?"
"Okay too," said Hawkes. "It's been kind of boring here without you around."
"So you're saying my replacement is boring?"
Both Danny and Hawkes nodded. "Do you want to see your replacement?" asked Danny. "You see that brunette haired girl over there? Well, that's her. That's your replacement."
Paige looked at the person that Danny was talking about and saw that she was performing a test she didn't recognize. She shrugged. "She doesn't seem like a bad person."
"Oh, she's not a bad person," said Danny. "But she's too quiet. I barely heard a word out of her since the time she got hired. And when she gives us test results, she just hands them to us and then walks away, not even giving a report on what she found."
"Well, I wasn't talkative the first few days I worked here either."
"But that's the difference," said Hawkes. "She's been working here for two years and she's still the same person. She's literally as quiet as a mouse."
"Well," Paige said, "I guess not everyone changes. Is there anyone else that's new to the crime lab?"
"Well, two Chicagoan detectives Eric Hunter and Katie Holms decided to come to New York when they heard that the city had been rebuilt. They used to work with Mac."
"And Danny of course wouldn't know this," said Paige, remembering that he hadn't worked as a CSI investigator during the time of their stay in Chicago.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't know them either…"
"I had been working as a FBI agent at that time," replied Paige. "But at least I was working a decent job unlike Danny Messer the waiter here."
Danny shook his head. "At least I was working."
After his comment, the computer that Hawkes had been working on earlier beeped, and he went over to the computer to see what had come up. Danny took that as his cue to work again, so he went back to examining the clothes that lay in front of him. She watched him, since she couldn't help anyone in the crime lab. But it wasn't long before she was needed somewhere else.
"Paige?"
She turned around at the mention of her name and saw that Samantha was standing in the doorway of the lab. Danny noticed Sam too and whispered to her, "Maybe this time she'll tell you why you're out of jail."
She shrugged at the comment and walked over to join Sam. She led her to the hallway, where Samantha introduced her to new individual. But this individual wasn't unfamiliar, and when she turned around to take a look at Paige, she gasped, like she hadn't expected to see her. "Paige?"
It was Beth Hobson, her sister that was standing in front of her. Before she could say anything to her, she ran up to her and hugged her. She could hear her cries as she said, "Paige, is it really you?"
"Yes," Paige replied. But then the thought struck her. This was her sister. This was the person that wrote that letter full of hate, to tell the FBI to find her and put her in jail, where she had deserved to die. This was the person who had blamed her for ruining her life. This was the person who could have possibly made the website of Lindsay Monroe, declaring to know her true identity. After Beth released her from the hug, Paige took a step away from her. "Yes, I'm Paige Hobson, your sister."
Samantha gave her a warning glance, for what reason she didn't know. The statement was true, she was Paige Hobson and was Beth's sister. The sadness in her voice almost seemed unreal as she spoke again. "I haven't seen you for such a long time. I…I never thought you'd be found again."
"I haven't seen you for a long time either," replied Paige with a shrug. "You never bothered to visit me in jail."
She gave her a hostile stare, but Beth didn't seem to notice it. Samantha, on the other hand, noticed the stare and again gave her a warning glance. She ignored it and listened to Beth's response. "I would have, but everything's been so busy at work, I just haven't had the time."
Sure, Paige thought. That's a lie and you know it. She could now remember when she had introduced Adisa to Beth, and she hadn't exactly been comfortable around him. Not that that was the way she was acting now, but she was definitely acting. And she was trying too hard. You wouldn't make a good actress Beth, but might make it into one of those stupid soap operas, Paige thought.
"So," Samantha said, trying to start a conversation between the two, "how have things been for you Beth?"
Oops, she guessed she was supposed to ask Beth that. But she seemed to like talking, so if she didn't have to say anything else to her and just listen to her talk, she would be fine.
"Really well," Beth replied.
Paige didn't like how she had said 'really well'. Nothing had gone well for herself, and now it sounded like Beth was trying to put her down. She was then reminded of the drug company she was with, and at the same time she had introduced her to Adisa, she had told her of the drug companies that had overcharged on AIDS medications and the experimental drug trials they had done on kids in the country of Makeba, the place where Adisa had once lived. She hoped that when Beth had said 'really well' she didn't mean that the drug company she was with was doing well.
"Well, that's good to hear," said Samantha, as she gave her another one of her glances.
Then Paige said, "Yeah, I'm glad for your success." Samantha rolled her eyes at her, but still Beth didn't seem to notice the sarcasm in her voice.
Now it was Beth's turn to ask her the question. "How have things been for you Paige?"
She would have answered, "Do you really think you want me to answer that?" or "I was in jail, I just got released today. How do you think things have been going?" But instead, she answered, "Things have been all right," just to make Sam happy.
Since Samantha still didn't think the answer was acceptable, she decided to change the subject to a more serious matter, where Paige wouldn't say things so sarcastically. "Beth, you remember that note you wrote to the FBI?"
Beth slowly nodded her head.
"Why'd you write it?"
She looked from Samantha to Paige. "Seriously, I didn't mean half the things I said in there. I just wanted the FBI to find Paige, so I knew she would be away from any more trouble. So I thought if I added things like, "I hate her" or "she ruined my life" that the FBI would find Paige right away. I had thought they had forgotten about Paige."
Paige didn't believe her words. Something about Beth had changed, at least from the way she had remembered her. In her dialogue, she had said 'Paige' but never 'my sister'. Something about that seemed a little odd, since they were sisters. "The website?" she mouthed to Samantha. If she could have, she would signed that to her, but unfortunately she didn't remember any of sign and Samantha surely wouldn't understand it.
"Um, yeah," Samantha said with a nod. She turned to Beth. "There was a website made on Lindsay Monroe. You were told that's the alias Paige had been using, remember?"
As Beth nodded, Paige thought, you told her, Sam? Since when was this? "Did you make the website?" Paige asked accusingly.
"No," replied Beth. "I have no clue there was even a website on Lindsay Monroe."
Paige highly doubted it. No, she didn't trust Beth, and she wondered if she really was who she said she was. She could be pretending to be Beth Hobson, while the real Beth was back in Makeba because they were making her pay for what Paige had done, for killing General Gamba. This Beth did seem like a good spy…
She interrupted her thoughts. "Paige, could I talk to you alone for a minute?"
Oh no, she thought. She was going to confess something to her. She glanced at Samantha, with a look of plea saying; no don't let me be alone with her unless you want me to go back to jail again. But the anger that flashed in Samantha's eyes told her two things: Get along with Beth and just talk to her.
Paige walked away from Samantha, following Beth to a small lounge area. Beth sat on the couch while Paige took a seat across from her. She waited for her to talk, though it seemed to take her long enough to gather her thoughts.
"Paige," she began, "why have you gotten out of jail so earlier?"
The concern in Beth's voice surprised her. The sarcasm in her voice now started to disappear. "I don't know," she admitted.
"Oh." Beth looked down to the ground, like that answer just made everything worse. She was out of jail, wasn't that good enough to know? "You need to be careful Paige, there are many people out there that want you to go back to jail, especially the people in Makeba. There are people out there who want to kill you."
Paige nodded. She had realized the news on her own; people were upset with what she had done. And after finding out about being under an alias, many people got even more angered with her. "So, you wanted to tell me to watch out for them?"
"Yes," replied Beth. "I don't…I don't want to lose you again."
Again, Paige nodded. That time, she didn't seem like she was acting. She was actually concerned about her. "I'll be careful," Paige promised. "Don't worry about me, okay Beth?" She stood up from the couch and put her hand out far enough for Beth to reach.
Beth shook her hand. "Okay. No worries." She also stood up from her seat after that, and then she slapped her hands on her jean pockets. "Um, I should probably be getting back, to work and everything."
"Yeah," Paige said in agreement. "That would be a good idea."
"You can tell Samantha that I left then," said Beth. "And I'll see you later...Paige."
She watched as Beth disappeared down the hallway. And I'll see you later…Paige… Had she almost forgotten her name? And how could she have done that, when she was her own sister? Samantha literally scared her when she suddenly appeared by her side and said, "Did you send her away?"
Paige heaved a big sigh when she said that. Sam still thought she couldn't get along with Beth. "No, I didn't send her away. We talked and agreed, just like you wanted. And then she just left."
Samantha nodded. "If you want to go back and talk with Danny, you can. But remember, you can't help him with anything. You aren't allowed to work in the lab."
"I know," replied Paige.
"And I want you to remember this Paige," Samantha said, turning to walk away, "get along with your sister. She hasn't seen you for a long time and you could at least act like her sister."
Paige stared at her in bewilderment as she walked away. What did she mean when she said, 'act like her sister'? Did that mean Beth wasn't her sister? Then the thought struck her. Could she possibly not be Paige Hobson and still be living her life a lie?
She hurried back to the lab to find Danny. As she walked past Mac's office, she saw that Samantha was once again in there, talking to Mac about something. She looked away from the sight. There was obviously something Samantha didn't want to tell her. But she wasn't going to keep quiet and wait for the answer. She would demand answers out of Samantha and the first thing she would ask her is why she had gotten out of jail so early.
Chapter 5- Thirteen's becoming jealous of House and Cuddy again after learning they are going to have their first child. But House is having hallucinations of Amber, and this might just give Thirteen an advantage…
A/N: Very long chapter, I know, but I hope you enjoyed it! I think I'll have the next chapter up by tomorrow!
