Title: Confessions

Author: DarkDreamer56

Archive: If you want it, ask please!

Rating: PG-13, for talk of rape

Pairing: slight N/S

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't be spending my time avoiding homework…

Spoilers: Anything up to "Harvest" is fair game

A/N: This is my take on what could have happened if someone found Lindsey running out of the morgue in "Harvest". I feel that something else should have been done after that scene, as I imagine the poor girl was extremely traumatized. Plus, I would love to see Sara and Lindsey interact more. Also, I'm a relatively new viewer, and I haven't quite figured out how the CSI/PD building are connected, or even if they are, so if that's wrong…just pretend it isn't.

Sara was unprepared for the blond figure that came barreling down the hall from the morgue. She tried to step out of the way, but Lindsey was running too fast, and side swiped a startled Sara. Reflexively, Sara wrapped her arm around Lindsey's shoulders to keep her from running past.

"Lindsey, where's the fire?"

When Lindsey looked up, Sara saw the anger in her eyes and the tears tracks down her cheeks. She had heard about Lindsey's hitchhiking attempt, and from the looks of things, Catherine had tried to use the morgue as a deterrent.

"Hey Linds, why don't you go and get us a couple of sodas, and we can sit down and talk for a little while, okay?" Sara asked, fishing two dollars out of her pocket. Lindsey nodded mutely and headed towards the vending machines.

Seconds later, Catherine came storming out of the morgue, bellowing, "Lindsey Willows!"

"Hey Cath, let me talk to her okay?" Sara offered.

Catherine leaned up against the wall, running her hand over her tired eyes. "I just don't know what I'm going to do with her Sara. I've tried everything, and nothing seems to be getting through to her. No offense, but I don't know what you can say to her that I haven't already tried."

"Still, let me try. You go take a break, and I'll stay with Lindsey for awhile."

Catherine regarded Sara for a moment and then nodded. "Thank you. I'll be in my office, send her in when you're done."

Sara collected Lindsey from the vending machines and decided to take her into an empty interview room for some privacy. Catherine saw this, and her curiosity winning out, snuck into the adjacent viewing room. She watched from the glass as Sara and Lindsey sat down at the table and opened their soda.

"Hey Cath, what do you know about…" Nick asked from the hallway, but before he could finish his sentence, Catherine had grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room.

"Shhh," she hissed loudly, closing the door behind her, "If Lindsey finds out that I listened in on this…"

"Well, why are you doing it then?"

"Maybe she'll tell Sara what's going on," Catherine explained, "and knowing my daughter, she'll make Sara promise not to say anything to me. This way, she won't have to break Lindsey's confidence."

"You do realize you're spying on her," Nick stated.

"I'm her mother, and I don't know what else to do. Now sit your ass down!"

In the interrogation room, Sara watched as Lindsey sullenly drank her Pepsi, contemplating how to start the conversation. Lindsey beat her to it.

"I don't know why my mom freaked out so much; I didn't get hurt or anything. She can be so mean sometimes."

Sara approached this comment carefully. "You know, I felt the same way about my mom when I was your age. She was always asking me questions, telling me not to go places, reading my diary, stuff like that. I couldn't stand it. I got so mad at her, that I decided I was going to prove her wrong."

"What did you do?"

"When I was fourteen, I had a friend who lived in San Francisco. That was about two hours away from where I lived, and she invited me to come spend the weekend. My mom wouldn't drive me, and she wouldn't let me take the bus, because she thought I was too young to be traveling by myself. She used to always tell me, 'It's not you that I don't trust, it's everybody else.'"

"Yeah, my mom says that too," Lindsey replied, pushing her soda bottle away.

"Well, I decided that I wanted to go anyways, so I packed a bag, and I decided that I could find a way there on my own."

"You hitchhiked? Like me?"

"Yeah, I did hitchhike. Only, I wasn't lucky enough to get picked up by a cop, Linds. Instead…this guy pulled over…he offered to drive me all the way to San Francisco. He seemed nice enough, he didn't look scary or anything. So I got into his car. We drove for about an hour… and then he pulled the car over to the side of the road…"

Sara trailed off, trying to regain control of her voice. It had been years since she had openly talked about what happened to her, and she didn't want to scare Lindsey. On the other side of the glass, Catherine gasped and Nick's eyes widened in surprise as he took a deep breath, knowing what was coming next.

"Did he hurt you?" Lindsey whispered, looking up into Sara's eyes. Sara closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears and nodded. "You mean rape?"

Sara was surprised that Lindsey, at twelve, could use the word 'rape' in a manner so matter of fact. A few tears slipped down her face as she responded. "Yeah, Linds, he raped me."

Both girls silently cried for a few minutes. Sara's heart nearly broke when she felt Lindsey's small hand come to rest on top of hers. It helped her focus her thoughts on the situation at hand. This conversation was not about reliving the memory; it was about making sure that Lindsey never had to experience the memory herself.

"Afterwards…he drove away, and I just sat there on the side of the highway. I didn't know what to do. I finally decided that I had to call my mom, so I walked until I found the nearest payphone. She told me to wait at the gas station, and that she would be there as soon as she could."

"Did she yell at you?"

"She knew how upset I was, so she just told me to wait for her to come. The whole time I sat there, thinking about what I had done. And I realized how stupid I had been not to listen to her. I thought she was just being a pain, but she was just looking out for me. And so is your mom Linds. She may nag you, and yell at you, but she loves you very much. And she wants to make sure that you don't end up in the morgue, or getting into the wrong guy's car. Everyone here cares about you too. We don't want you to get hurt, and I don't want you to ever have to go through what I went through."

Lindsey looked up at Sara for a moment before launching herself into Sara's arms. Sara rocked her back and forth, smoothing back Lindsey's hair as she cried. She murmured, "Its okay," into the top of her head until slowly Lindsey's breathing returned to normal.

"I just get so mad at her sometimes. And I miss my daddy, it hurts. She never tries to ask me what is wrong, she's always yelling about my grades, or fighting. She's always yelling at me," Lindsey sobbed into Sara's shoulder.

Catherine watched the scene going on before her with tears streaming down her face. Beside her, Nick sat silently, occasionally wiping away a tear of his own. When it seemed that Lindsey had calmed down, Nick stood up, putting his hand on Catherine's shoulder.

"I'm going to go, before Sara finds out I was in here."

"I'm sorry I dragged you in here, but I don't think you're going to be able to hide from her that you know. If you want, I'll talk to her for you…"

"No, that's okay Cath. I decided to stay. And you're right, I won't be able to just pretend I didn't hear any of that. She'll be mad, but I've dealt with the wrath of Sara before, and I'll deal with it again."

"Nick, I'm going to take Lindsey home for the rest of the night, but will you check on Sara?"

"That's where I was headed,"

Catherine turned around as Nick opened the door. "You're a good man Nick."

By the time Catherine made it back to her office, Lindsey was sitting in her chair, her face tearstained.

"I'm sorry Mommy," she whispered.

"It's okay baby. Come on, we're going to go home."

As they walked out to the car, Catherine saw Sara leaning up against her own Denali. She started towards her, wanting to provide some measure of comfort to the woman who had gotten through to her daughter, but Lindsey grabbed her hand.

"She'll be okay Mom. Look, Uncle Nicky's going to her." Lindsey pointed at Nick, who was striding towards Sara's car. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and she leaned back against him before turning around in his arms. As Catherine started her car, she watched Nick embrace Sara, stroking her hair much like Sara had done earlier with Lindsey. She thanked God that Lindsey was buckled in next to her, and that she hadn't gotten a call from some gas station.

A few weeks later, Lindsey came to spend the night at the lab after her babysitter called in sick. She was still grounded, but Catherine had been using the time to get Lindsey to open up to her. There had been less yelling, and more conversation, in the Willow's household. Slowly, their relationship was getting back to where it had been before Eddie's death.

"So, I think that Sara needs a boyfriend," Lindsey announced as she played with the french fries on her plate in the break room.

Catherine glanced up at Lindsey in surprise, and then stole a look to Sara, who was sitting on the couch across the room. Sara looked up from her magazine with raised eyebrows but said nothing. Nick and Warrick, on the other hand, both chuckled from their places at the table.

"Really Linds?" Warrick asked, the amusement evident in his face. "Who do you think Sara should date?

Lindsey thought a moment before replying. "I think she should date Uncle Nicky."

At Lindsey's suggestion, Sara dropped her magazine and nearly fell off of the couch trying to recover. Catherine tried to bite back her laughter when soda nearly came flying out of Nick's nose, and he dropped his half eaten sandwich back into its plastic wrap. Warrick's eyebrows shot up, but he merely continued his line of questioning.

"And why is that Linds?"

"Well, Uncle Nicky is always nice to Sara, and if they got married, I think that they would have pretty kids. Besides, if Sara does go out with Uncle Nicky, then Greg owes Mom a hundred bucks."

Fin.

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