What Lies Beneath
Chapter 8
The light in the room was harsh, as she tried to adjust them. To the right , hung the IV bag and she gazed at it wondering what it was that was pumping through her veins. Her head felt light and her shoulder was numb, but all in all she was alive.
" Hey there," Horatio said with a smile on his face. His blue eyes twinkled in the light.
" Hey yourself," Sienna said raspily. Even though he had kept the information of her parents being alive from her, she was still happy to see him. " Thanks for being there."
" You do know that what you did was foolish and dangerous," Horatio said as he took her hand. He was relieved that all she got out of this was a bullet to the shoulder. She would be out of work for a time, but she was still here.
" I know, Horatio. But I had to see them. I'm sorry about having done that."
"You know I did that to keep you guys safe. You couldn't know that they were alive..." Horatio started.
" Where are they?" Sienna interrupted. She didn't really want to talk about it now.
" They are being debriefed. We won't see them for a couple of days. Sienna , you are going to have to learn to forgive them. Even though it seems hard now, you are going to have to find it in your heart. They did it to protect you guys," Horatio said as he grabbed her hand.
Sienna let a smile open as she glanced at the bright white covers. He had been her father, mother and friend for ten years, and she knew he was right. She couldn't hold on to her anger, she was just glad that they were ok..
" You know you are right, Horatio. If Simone hadn't died, then I would've never found the tissue to compare to the samples, I never would've found the files and my mom and dad would've been floating somewhere in the glades. So ironically ,it works out." Sienna said as she saw the door open. The doctor peeked his head in to check on her.
" Ms. Speedle, I just wanted to check on you," he said as he stood by her bed.
" I'm gonna be ok?" Sienna asked.
" Yes. You suffered a gunshot wound to your shoulder, but luckily, it missed your subclavian artery. We were able to get the bullet out clean. You will have some problems with your mobilization for a month or two, but with some physical therapy, I don't see why you won't be good as new," the doctor reported with a smile on his face.
" So no heavy duty work for two months. You hear that Horatio?" Sienna asked with a huge smile on her face.
" Just means that you will be logging in extra hours in the lab is all," Horatio replied with an equally large smile on his face. He could surely find work for her in the mean time.
" We will keep you for another day then she will be free to go home. I will prescribe some pain killers for the shoulder and refer you to a therapist. And you take it easy ,ok?"
" Yes , doctor. Thank you," Sienna said as the doctor exited the room. Horatio looked at her with concern.
" You okay, Sienna?"
" Yeah. I'm fine, Horatio," Sienna said as she laid her head down. She was conflicted, her sister was gone , but she had gotten her parents back. Her life would never be the same.
SS
A week after she got out of the hospital, Sienna returned home with the intentions of cleaning Simone's room. She had not been in there for a long period of time since she had died, but she decided that she would go through her things and properly take care of them. As she walked to the closed door, she heard the phone ring. When she got to the head set, she saw their number on the caller id. Even though she said she would try to forgive them, it just wasn't that easy. Her sister was dead because she thought that they were gone. Instead they were off playing super cops with the feds. She threw the phone on the bed and went back to Simone's door. After standing there for a second, she put her hand on the knob and turned it. Walking in, the memories of that day hit her all at once.
" Simone, are you going to get up today?"
" Go to hell, Sienna."
" You're a bowl of cherries today. C'mon, Simone get up, Horatio will be here in a second."
Simone turned over in her bed to face the wall. She had no intentions of getting up, "Didn't you hear me the first time? What is it about 'go to hell' that you don't understand." Simone said sarcastically.
" You know, you start to sound like him more and more," Sienna said almost disgusted. She really didn't know why she could not have moved on.
Simone raised up and turned to look at her, " Well somebody should! You haven't talked about them or thought about them since they died. You just forgot about them!"
" Simone, it's been ten years. I have learned to let go and move on. But don't you dare sit there and judge me. You don't know what I 've had to endure to be able to move on. I miss them as much as you do, I cried just about as hard as you have, and I am as angry as you are. I just choose to deal with it and continue on with my life. I can't waste it like you have. They would've wanted you to do better, Simone." Sienna said with emotion in her voice.
" Go to hell and leave me alone," Simone said as she put her head back under the covers. It just wasn't that easy for her.
" Simone..."
" Dammit, Sienna. I said leave me alone!"
Sienna moved to touch her sister , but thought better of it. Instead she turned and walked out the door.
Sienna wiped a tear away from her eyes as she sat to go through her things. Coming to a box, she found videotapes with several different dates on them. She pushed them aside and continued to pick up some more things. By the time her shoulder had started to scream, Sienna had cleaned up the entire room. Feeling the need to sit and rest, she grabbed the box and headed downstairs to the living room. As she prepared the a videotape, she heard the door bell. Walking to the door she wondered who it could be. She opened the door to find a surprise. It was Katie.
" Katie, what are you doing here? Where are mom and dad?"Sienna asked as she looked outside the door. There was no one else with her.
" We were at the park down the street. I wanted to come and see you. I remembered where you lived cause daddy drives by here a lot," Katie said as she held on to a brown teddy bear.
" Really? You know you are in some serious trouble. It's dangerous to walk off away from your parents, Katie," Sienna said kneeling on her haunches to face the little girl For four years old she had a fearless attitude. " Why don't you come in and I'll call mom. I'm pretty sure she's going ballistic right about now."
Sienna walked to the kitchen to grab the headset and dialed the cell number.
" Sienna? Is Katie there with you," Calleigh said as soon as a connection was made.
" Yes , mom. She's here and she's okay," Sienna said as she looked at Katie. She looked a lot like Simone.
" I'll be there shortly. I've got to find your father. He took off like a bat out of hell when he couldn't find her. Are you okay to watch her until we get there?" Calleigh asked. She knew that Sienna hadn't wanted anything to do with them since she had gotten out of the hospital.
" Yeah, mom. She's fine," Sienna replied, " I won't hurt her or anything."
" Sienna..."
" I'm kidding mom. She's ok. I guess I'll see you when you get here," Sienna returned.
" Okay," Calleigh said as she hung up the phone.
Sienna watched as Katie walked down the hall looking at all the pictures.
" Hey there's mama and daddy! And you! Who's the girl next to you?" Katie asked as she pointed to the picture.
" Katie, that's our sister, Simone." Sienna replied softly.
" Where is Simone?"
" She's... um she's gone. But she's in a place where she can't hurt anymore," Sienna said feeling the tears building up inside.
" She's pretty," Katie said smiling.
" Yes she is," Sienna said as she walked to the living room. Katie followed her and sat on the couch next to her.
" Whatcha watchin'?"
" I was going to watch some videos of Simone. You want to watch with me?" Sienna asked as she gently moved a strand of blond hair from her green eyes.
" Yeah!"
" Alright, hold on to this while I start the tape," Sienna said as she gave her a remote control.
" Sienna?"
" Yeah, hon?"
" Does, your arm hurt a lot?" Katie asked pointing to the sling. " I hurt my arm at Aunt Janice's house and I had to wear that too."
Sienna chuckled to herself lightly and replied, " Not as much as it used to. But it is getting better. You ready?"
" Yeah," Katie said as she saw the girl appear on the tv.
Sienna sat down next to Katie and watched Simone as she talked about her first day in high school.
" So Simone," Horatio's voice said from behind the camera, " How was your first day in high school?"
" Fine. I met some new people and I got in all the classes I wanted , except the biology class. It was full. I told the teacher that I wanted the next available slot."
" Biology? I thought that you wanted to be a photographer?"
" I want to be a CSI , just like dad." Simone said proudly.
" I wanted to be one," Sienna piped up off camera.
" Well you both can be one. If you are anything like your father, you will make damn good ones," Horatio said.
" Ooh Horatio said a bad word," Sienna said.
" Sorry, girls." Horatio said as he turned the camera on himself, " Let it be known that I apologized."
" Horatio, you are so silly," Simone said as the camera was focused on her again. She wore a beautiful smile on her face...
Sienna heard the door bell and left Katie on the couch. Opening the door, she saw her mother and father standing there. With tears in her eyes she moved to embrace them both.
" I'm sorry for being such a hard ass," she said as she buried her face in her father's shoulder.
" Oh honey," Tim said as he lightly patted her on her back. " it's okay."
" We are just glad that you are okay," Calleigh said as they pulled away.
" I'm fine. Katie and I were watching some old videos of Simone. Join us?" Sienna said as she walked down the hallway.
They followed behind her looking from picture to picture. Calleigh stopped at one from their graduation and held a hand over her mouth. She had missed all of their important events. Seeing her mother's sadness , Sienna said, " Mom , Horatio got everything on tape. If you have time, we can watch them."
" I have all the time in the world ," Calleigh said as she pushed her daughter's hair out of her eyes.
They sat and watched Simone as she grew and as she grieved, for the rest of the day. For the moment it seemed as if they were a family again. Whole.
Epilogue: One year later...
The wind blew almost fiercely as they stood under the weeping willow. The limbs shook as the leaves filtered down on to the grass next to the head stone. Despite the wind, the day was gorgeous. Sienna knelt down to place a small bouquet of daisies on it. She then stood back and let her mother come to the stone. Calleigh put a mournful hand on the stone and let her tears drop. Although it had been a year, she had not really accepted her death. Tim stood behind her with a hand on her shoulder. Sienna hugged her father around his waist , feeling the sadness that permeated through him as well. Katie stood next to Sienna holding a red rose.
" Simone, I am so sorry that we did this to you," Calleigh said as she traced her name with her fingers. She sat there for a moment longer with her head in her hands unable to continue on. Tim picked her up and walked with her over to the bench. Katie tugged at her sister's pant leg.
" You want to put the flower down, Katie?" Sienna asked.
" Yeah." Katie said as she placed the flower down. Sienna smiled at her as her cell phone rang.
" Speedle."
" Sienna, we have a scene. Can you get here?" Horatio said into the cell phone. He knew where she was.
" Yeah. I'm just about finished here," Sienna said as she motioned for her father. " Where are you?"
" At the harbor. Tell your dad to come along too."
" Okay. We'll be there." Sienna said as she hung up the phone.
" What's up?" Tim said as he approached her. Katie had gone to sit with her mother.
" We've got a scene. Horatio wants both of us there," Sienna said as she glanced over at her mother. Calleigh had not returned to the CSI lab since being debriefed. She had said she wanted to be there for her little girl and she was determined to do so.
" Okay, I'll let your mother go and we can drive your car," Tim said as he turned to walk to her.
After letting her know, they both got in the car and sped towards the scene. Life would carry on despite the grief that lied beneath them all.
The End.
A/N: I know very crappy ending... But I had to tie it up some how. I'm thinking of doing something else with Sienna. Let me know if that is a good idea... Hoped you enjoy!