"Hey."
"Hey Sara. I was expecting you to phone sooner. Did you just get in from work?"
"Not exactly. I fell asleep when I got in." Sara trailed off.
"How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine." She lied. That wasn't fooling her brother.
"Sara." He warned.
"We had an assault case today. It was pretty bad. Her boyfriend," She faultered. "Her boyfriend beat her up, it had been going on for a awhile. Some of the bruises were weeks old. And she had scars. Scars from cigarette burns." Sara began to cry.
"Oh Sara. You're really not okay. Are you?" Will wished he could be there with her to reassure her that everything would be okay. "Sara, does anyone there know? Have you told them?"
"Will. No, how could I? You don't just tell people things like that."
"Sara. Do you have anyone there that you can talk to?" Will understood his little sister's tendancy to shut herself off to the world around her.
She was the complete opposite of him; mature whereas he was childish, smart while he didn't have a clue, as introverted as he was extroverted. He was sure that they couldn't be related, there must have been a hospital mix up.
"Oh, come on Will."
"What about one of your friends from work? I'm sure they'd understand." Will was desperately worried about Sara, she could hear it in his voice."
"Will. I'll be fine. He probably doesn't even know I'm here."
"Sara." Will pushed one last time, even though he knew she wouldn't give as easily as he would. Sara was stubborn.
"Look. I'll be okay. I'll call you if I need anything."
"Will you at least let me come see you?"
"When?"
"As soon as I can get the time off work."
"Sure." They said their goodbyes and Sara hung up the phone. She should probably clear out the small bedroom for him, should, but probably wouldn't. Will was happy on the couch. Sara loved her brother and though they had been distant when they were younger they made up for it now. Despite the fact that they didn't talk as often as they could have, they shared a mutual trust and respect. It was just a shame that they were so far apart.
Sara had pulled the curtains in an attempt to make the room dark enough to sleep in. Thin sheets of sunlight had forced their way into her room anyway. Eventually she gave up. She took a brief shower and made herself a sandwich, then settled down on the couch in front of the TV. She wasn't watching it, just like she wasn't eating her sandwich, but it felt like a normal thing to do. Finally she turned off the TV and dumped the sandwich in the bin, she hated to waste food but she really wasn't hungry and it wouldn't keep.
Suddenly the phone rang. The shrill noise made her jump.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sara. It's Jasmine." A friend of the family. "How you doing?"
"Fine. I spoke to Will earlier. He wants to come see me."
"I'd offer to let you come here, but I'm sure you don't want that. Does anyone there know?" Sara sighed. Jasmine was very forward and not one to take a hint. "No. I don't know how to tell them."
"Sara you should, you know. in case." Jasmine stopped herself there. She knew Sara didn't want to hear it. Quickly she changed the subject. "Have you spoken to your Mom?"
"You know I can't."
"Sara, maybe you should try. It's been long enough." Sara didn't want to have this conversation. She mumbled some excuse about work and hung up. Pensively she wandered over to the bookcase and picked out a book. A photo fell from it's pages. Sara picked it up, paled at the sight of it and dropped it onto the table with her unopened mail.
Forty-five minutes later she was ready for work. She gathered her mail and stuffed it into her bag; she'd read it at work. She was going to be early anyway.
Gil Grissom sat in his office. The amount of paperwork in front of him was daunting. That said, it was relatively sparse compared to some nights. He wasn't really thinking about the paperwork. He was running through the previous night's interrogation.
"I never meant to make her angry. But I'd say something and that would set her off. Then I'd get mad. When I get mad it's like something just takes over. I lost control. She should have known to stay out of my way. But she had to keep pushing and pushing. So I hit her. But she wouldn't stop. She just kept going. So I held my hand over her face til she stopped."
"Mr Abbott. If you were having that much trouble with her, why didn't you just leave?"
"She was my girlfriend. I loved her." Grissom absent-mindedly signed another form before pushing back his chair and walking to the door.
"So you got your hit and run guy, huh?" Catherine asked as Nick and Warrick entered the break room. Sara had been in there since she arrived, but she wasn't talking.
"Guy turned himself in." Warrick informed her as he took a seat.
"How'd your beaten wife go?" Nick asked while he fished something out of the fridge.
"Girlfriend. Not wife." Catherine looked around. That was the most she'd heared Sara say all night. Had it been anyone else Catherine would have confronted them about it, but she found it difficult to talk to Sara. Maybe she should start trying.
"Yeah. Well I don't get it. She was his girlfriend. They weren't married or anything. She could have just left him. Why put up with him." Nick continued.
"Maybe it wasn't that easy." Both Catherine and Warrick noticed the croak in her voice. They exchanged surrepticious glances, both knew that Nick was heading onto unsafe ground.
"Leaving an abusive boyfriend has got to be easier than leaving an abusive husband. If you're gonna beat a woman around like that then you're a coward. But for a woman to sit back and take it. I dunno, she could have done something if you ask me." Nick turned around to see Sara staring at him with a bitter look on her face. "Well I wasn't asking you." She told him harshly as she got up. Nick moved out of her way and began to stammer an apology. "You don't get it, do you Nick? She was in a relationship with him. She put herself out on the line and he hurt her. She couldn't just leave. She couldn't do that. No one knew, he was careful not to leae marks where people would see them. You don't bring those kinds of things up in civil conversation." Sara paused for a breath.
"Sara. I'm sorry. I didn't think you." Nick began, Sara cut him off.
"No! None of you do. None of you ever think about the victims. It's always 'solve the case, catch the bad guy'."
"Sara. I. we." Catherine tried.
"We got the bad guy, Sara." Warrick interjected firmly. "You got him. And you put him away."
"That doesn't mean anything. In five years he'll be out. He'll be ready to do it again and then his victim'll have to start worrying again." This startled Catherine. "Sara. Daniel Abbott killed Jennifer. She'd dead. He can't hurt her anymore." She begand to get up. "Sara. Are you okay? You wanna talk, or."
"Talking doesn't help." Sara replied before stalking out the door and heading down the corridor, pushing past Grissom as she went."
"Hey Sara." He called after her, she waved him off, not even looking round at him.
"Gil, there's something up with Sara." Catherine's voice was edged with worry. Behind her stood Nick and Warrick.
"It's all my fault, man. I was talking about her case. I should have been more sympathetic. I wasn't thinking about what I was saying." Explained Nick.
"What did you say?"
"That her victim should have left her boyfriend. That she shouldn't have taken it."
"I'll try talking to her. Here. Assignments." Grissom walked down the corridor in the direction that Sara had gone in. 'Catherine should be doing this', he though. 'I can't talk to people. I definitely can't talk to Sara'. He assumed that Sara had gone outside, that's where he went when he needed to have some space. He almost missed the figure hunched over a table in the A/V lab.
"Sara. What're you doing in here?"
"You heard, huh? Good news travels fast. Sara's cracked." Grissom moved towards the table. She'd been sorting her mail. Amongst the letters on the table was a photograph. As he leaned over to get a closer look at it Sara snatched it from the table and tore it in two. "Don't know how that got there. Thought I left it at home." Grissom realised that Sara was crying.
"Sara? Something's bothering you."
"Yeah." She mumbled. Part of her wanted to tell him the truth, to tell him everything, but the rest of her was screaming at her to shut up. She knew he'd look at her differently if she told. "I'll be fine. Honest." The look that Grissom gave her showed that he didn't believe a word that she said. She knew that being Grissom he wouldn't pursue it, but soon or later she would have to tell them the truth. Avoiding his gaze she began fumbling with the documents in front of her; bills mostly. The remains of the photograph were still on the table. Grissom just watched her. Sara picked up the two pieces and tore each one again, then stopped. She didn't know what to do with them, putting them into her bag would look stupid, but she was loathe to leave them at work where anyone might find them, even if they were in the trash. After a moment or so she made up her mind. Grissom was sitting close beside her, causing her to brush past him, she knew that his hand on her back was just to help her get by. It still made her jump, scattering the pieces to the floor.
"Let me help you." He offered reaching for one of the pieces closest to him. It showed a younger Sara, in the piece beside it he could see a man's head.
"No!" Sara snapped, grabbing it away from him. "I'm sorry Griss. I'm not myself today. It's. complicated." Grissom looked like there was something he wanted to say to her but he seemed to think better of it, instead he settled for, "come along to the break room when you're ready."
Originally he had planned for Sara and Nick to deal with a 407 while Catherine, Warrick and himself took the 419. Mentally he did a quick re- shuffle of the groups only to find, once he returned to the break room, that they had done it themselves. Catherine and Nick had switched. Gil told the younger guys to go ahead to the car while he had a quick word with Catherine.
"Go easy with her. She's really upset about something. I don't think Nick's to blame." He whispered before leaving Catherine to wait for Sara.
"Okay. I'm all ready. What've wee got?" Sara appeared in the doorway sooner than Catherine was expecting.
"Sure?"
"Cath, I'm fine."
"'Kay. 407. Guy broke into some woman's house. She saw him driving away. Let's go talk to her." Catherine informed Sara, looking at the sheet. Sara promptly put on her best fake smile and let Catherine lead the way out.
"Grissom. Is Sara okay?" Nick was the first to speak when Grissom got into the car. "I should apologise." For a moment Grissom didn't answer. "Yeah. Nick, apologise to her. Just don't expect a big response." He'd tried to say it gently but it had come off rather harsh. In the back seat Nick hung his head. Grissom started up the engine. "You know Sara. If it's big, she'll let us know about it. If it isn't, she'll get over it." But even as he said the words he realised that he didn't know Sara as well as he could have done. Did any of them?
Okay, so you've probably guessed what's up with Sara by now. Sorry if it's a little slow moving, it is my first CSI fan fic. Please read this and let me know what you think of it. Also I don't own these characters, they aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them because I'm too lazy to think up some of my own. Thanks.
"Hey Sara. I was expecting you to phone sooner. Did you just get in from work?"
"Not exactly. I fell asleep when I got in." Sara trailed off.
"How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine." She lied. That wasn't fooling her brother.
"Sara." He warned.
"We had an assault case today. It was pretty bad. Her boyfriend," She faultered. "Her boyfriend beat her up, it had been going on for a awhile. Some of the bruises were weeks old. And she had scars. Scars from cigarette burns." Sara began to cry.
"Oh Sara. You're really not okay. Are you?" Will wished he could be there with her to reassure her that everything would be okay. "Sara, does anyone there know? Have you told them?"
"Will. No, how could I? You don't just tell people things like that."
"Sara. Do you have anyone there that you can talk to?" Will understood his little sister's tendancy to shut herself off to the world around her.
She was the complete opposite of him; mature whereas he was childish, smart while he didn't have a clue, as introverted as he was extroverted. He was sure that they couldn't be related, there must have been a hospital mix up.
"Oh, come on Will."
"What about one of your friends from work? I'm sure they'd understand." Will was desperately worried about Sara, she could hear it in his voice."
"Will. I'll be fine. He probably doesn't even know I'm here."
"Sara." Will pushed one last time, even though he knew she wouldn't give as easily as he would. Sara was stubborn.
"Look. I'll be okay. I'll call you if I need anything."
"Will you at least let me come see you?"
"When?"
"As soon as I can get the time off work."
"Sure." They said their goodbyes and Sara hung up the phone. She should probably clear out the small bedroom for him, should, but probably wouldn't. Will was happy on the couch. Sara loved her brother and though they had been distant when they were younger they made up for it now. Despite the fact that they didn't talk as often as they could have, they shared a mutual trust and respect. It was just a shame that they were so far apart.
Sara had pulled the curtains in an attempt to make the room dark enough to sleep in. Thin sheets of sunlight had forced their way into her room anyway. Eventually she gave up. She took a brief shower and made herself a sandwich, then settled down on the couch in front of the TV. She wasn't watching it, just like she wasn't eating her sandwich, but it felt like a normal thing to do. Finally she turned off the TV and dumped the sandwich in the bin, she hated to waste food but she really wasn't hungry and it wouldn't keep.
Suddenly the phone rang. The shrill noise made her jump.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sara. It's Jasmine." A friend of the family. "How you doing?"
"Fine. I spoke to Will earlier. He wants to come see me."
"I'd offer to let you come here, but I'm sure you don't want that. Does anyone there know?" Sara sighed. Jasmine was very forward and not one to take a hint. "No. I don't know how to tell them."
"Sara you should, you know. in case." Jasmine stopped herself there. She knew Sara didn't want to hear it. Quickly she changed the subject. "Have you spoken to your Mom?"
"You know I can't."
"Sara, maybe you should try. It's been long enough." Sara didn't want to have this conversation. She mumbled some excuse about work and hung up. Pensively she wandered over to the bookcase and picked out a book. A photo fell from it's pages. Sara picked it up, paled at the sight of it and dropped it onto the table with her unopened mail.
Forty-five minutes later she was ready for work. She gathered her mail and stuffed it into her bag; she'd read it at work. She was going to be early anyway.
Gil Grissom sat in his office. The amount of paperwork in front of him was daunting. That said, it was relatively sparse compared to some nights. He wasn't really thinking about the paperwork. He was running through the previous night's interrogation.
"I never meant to make her angry. But I'd say something and that would set her off. Then I'd get mad. When I get mad it's like something just takes over. I lost control. She should have known to stay out of my way. But she had to keep pushing and pushing. So I hit her. But she wouldn't stop. She just kept going. So I held my hand over her face til she stopped."
"Mr Abbott. If you were having that much trouble with her, why didn't you just leave?"
"She was my girlfriend. I loved her." Grissom absent-mindedly signed another form before pushing back his chair and walking to the door.
"So you got your hit and run guy, huh?" Catherine asked as Nick and Warrick entered the break room. Sara had been in there since she arrived, but she wasn't talking.
"Guy turned himself in." Warrick informed her as he took a seat.
"How'd your beaten wife go?" Nick asked while he fished something out of the fridge.
"Girlfriend. Not wife." Catherine looked around. That was the most she'd heared Sara say all night. Had it been anyone else Catherine would have confronted them about it, but she found it difficult to talk to Sara. Maybe she should start trying.
"Yeah. Well I don't get it. She was his girlfriend. They weren't married or anything. She could have just left him. Why put up with him." Nick continued.
"Maybe it wasn't that easy." Both Catherine and Warrick noticed the croak in her voice. They exchanged surrepticious glances, both knew that Nick was heading onto unsafe ground.
"Leaving an abusive boyfriend has got to be easier than leaving an abusive husband. If you're gonna beat a woman around like that then you're a coward. But for a woman to sit back and take it. I dunno, she could have done something if you ask me." Nick turned around to see Sara staring at him with a bitter look on her face. "Well I wasn't asking you." She told him harshly as she got up. Nick moved out of her way and began to stammer an apology. "You don't get it, do you Nick? She was in a relationship with him. She put herself out on the line and he hurt her. She couldn't just leave. She couldn't do that. No one knew, he was careful not to leae marks where people would see them. You don't bring those kinds of things up in civil conversation." Sara paused for a breath.
"Sara. I'm sorry. I didn't think you." Nick began, Sara cut him off.
"No! None of you do. None of you ever think about the victims. It's always 'solve the case, catch the bad guy'."
"Sara. I. we." Catherine tried.
"We got the bad guy, Sara." Warrick interjected firmly. "You got him. And you put him away."
"That doesn't mean anything. In five years he'll be out. He'll be ready to do it again and then his victim'll have to start worrying again." This startled Catherine. "Sara. Daniel Abbott killed Jennifer. She'd dead. He can't hurt her anymore." She begand to get up. "Sara. Are you okay? You wanna talk, or."
"Talking doesn't help." Sara replied before stalking out the door and heading down the corridor, pushing past Grissom as she went."
"Hey Sara." He called after her, she waved him off, not even looking round at him.
"Gil, there's something up with Sara." Catherine's voice was edged with worry. Behind her stood Nick and Warrick.
"It's all my fault, man. I was talking about her case. I should have been more sympathetic. I wasn't thinking about what I was saying." Explained Nick.
"What did you say?"
"That her victim should have left her boyfriend. That she shouldn't have taken it."
"I'll try talking to her. Here. Assignments." Grissom walked down the corridor in the direction that Sara had gone in. 'Catherine should be doing this', he though. 'I can't talk to people. I definitely can't talk to Sara'. He assumed that Sara had gone outside, that's where he went when he needed to have some space. He almost missed the figure hunched over a table in the A/V lab.
"Sara. What're you doing in here?"
"You heard, huh? Good news travels fast. Sara's cracked." Grissom moved towards the table. She'd been sorting her mail. Amongst the letters on the table was a photograph. As he leaned over to get a closer look at it Sara snatched it from the table and tore it in two. "Don't know how that got there. Thought I left it at home." Grissom realised that Sara was crying.
"Sara? Something's bothering you."
"Yeah." She mumbled. Part of her wanted to tell him the truth, to tell him everything, but the rest of her was screaming at her to shut up. She knew he'd look at her differently if she told. "I'll be fine. Honest." The look that Grissom gave her showed that he didn't believe a word that she said. She knew that being Grissom he wouldn't pursue it, but soon or later she would have to tell them the truth. Avoiding his gaze she began fumbling with the documents in front of her; bills mostly. The remains of the photograph were still on the table. Grissom just watched her. Sara picked up the two pieces and tore each one again, then stopped. She didn't know what to do with them, putting them into her bag would look stupid, but she was loathe to leave them at work where anyone might find them, even if they were in the trash. After a moment or so she made up her mind. Grissom was sitting close beside her, causing her to brush past him, she knew that his hand on her back was just to help her get by. It still made her jump, scattering the pieces to the floor.
"Let me help you." He offered reaching for one of the pieces closest to him. It showed a younger Sara, in the piece beside it he could see a man's head.
"No!" Sara snapped, grabbing it away from him. "I'm sorry Griss. I'm not myself today. It's. complicated." Grissom looked like there was something he wanted to say to her but he seemed to think better of it, instead he settled for, "come along to the break room when you're ready."
Originally he had planned for Sara and Nick to deal with a 407 while Catherine, Warrick and himself took the 419. Mentally he did a quick re- shuffle of the groups only to find, once he returned to the break room, that they had done it themselves. Catherine and Nick had switched. Gil told the younger guys to go ahead to the car while he had a quick word with Catherine.
"Go easy with her. She's really upset about something. I don't think Nick's to blame." He whispered before leaving Catherine to wait for Sara.
"Okay. I'm all ready. What've wee got?" Sara appeared in the doorway sooner than Catherine was expecting.
"Sure?"
"Cath, I'm fine."
"'Kay. 407. Guy broke into some woman's house. She saw him driving away. Let's go talk to her." Catherine informed Sara, looking at the sheet. Sara promptly put on her best fake smile and let Catherine lead the way out.
"Grissom. Is Sara okay?" Nick was the first to speak when Grissom got into the car. "I should apologise." For a moment Grissom didn't answer. "Yeah. Nick, apologise to her. Just don't expect a big response." He'd tried to say it gently but it had come off rather harsh. In the back seat Nick hung his head. Grissom started up the engine. "You know Sara. If it's big, she'll let us know about it. If it isn't, she'll get over it." But even as he said the words he realised that he didn't know Sara as well as he could have done. Did any of them?
Okay, so you've probably guessed what's up with Sara by now. Sorry if it's a little slow moving, it is my first CSI fan fic. Please read this and let me know what you think of it. Also I don't own these characters, they aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them because I'm too lazy to think up some of my own. Thanks.