Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. I own Reggie, Betty Rogers, Fred the bear, Nathan, Oliver, O'Malley, Jacob Peterson, Betty Peterson, Jessica, Louis, James, Tim, Eric, Mark Evans, Tyler Stevens, Paul Waters, Allison Enders and Elizabeth Enders.

Welcome to the Family

Chapter 1

Thirty-five year old Sara Sidle sighed in irritation, brushing her hair roughly from her face. She trudged wearily down the hallway of her apartment building, thinking longingly of her large bathroom shower.

"Um, Sara Sidle?" asked a slightly timid voice behind her, just as she was inserting her key into the lock.

Wearily, Sara turned to face the other woman. She was younger, 29 or 30. She was 5"4 with a slim, willowy build. Her hair was a light, honey-brown that fell in straight layers to her mid-back and held back by a black hair band and her eyes were a bright green flecked with brown. She was wearing a pair of faded, frayed and patched blue jeans and a snug well-worn black T-shirt with "Simple Plan" scrawled across it in green. She carried an overly large grey sweater over one arm and had a black duffel bag slung over the other shoulder.

"Yea, that's me," Sara answered, "But if you're another reporter about the Henderson case, it's already been closed and Captain Brass has already issued a statement-"

"No, no," the younger woman interrupted, toying nervously with the strap of her bag, "I-I'm not a reporter-a-actually I'm a designer b-but that's not why I'm here. I'm-that is-I mean," she paused, taking a deep breath before blurting, "My name is Regina Sidle."

Sara's mouth dropped as she gazed at the younger woman, speechless. Slowly, incredulously, her brown eyes ran over Regina's features, finally recognizing why Regina looked so familiar.

Regina nervously tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, licking her lips as she said, "I-I'm you sister. I-I was given up a-at birth. I-I know, th-that since you're a CSI, yo-you're su-suspicious, so I-uh-I brought these."

Numbly, Sara accepted the two pieces of paper Regina had pulled from one of the pockets of her bag. One was Regina's original birth certificate, and then the one that had changed her last name-Sara could only assume Regina's adoptive parents had done this soon after her adoption.

"I, um, I changed my last name back to Sidle soon after I discovered I was adopted," Regina offered, trying to fill the silence.

"I think I need to sit down." Sara moaned turning and finishing unlocking the door to her apartment.

Sara walked into her apartment, waving Regina-her sister! - in behind her. Sara carelessly kicked off her shoes, padding into the kitchen and turning on the coffeepot. Regina stood uncertainly in front of the door she'd just shut, one hand toying with the hem of her shirt.

"Come in the kitchen," Sara offered, staring at the coffeemaker with a thoughtful frown while she drummed her fingers on the counter.

Regina took off her shoes, placing them neatly on the floor beside the door. Gently, she dropped her sweater and bag beside her shoes, but no in the way of the door.

She stood in nervous uncertainty in the doorway, watching Sara. Sara ran her hand irritably through her hair, glaring at the coffeemaker until it beeped at her.

Pouring herself a cup, Sara offered the pot to her sister, but Regina shook her head, "Um, no thanks. I don't drink coffee."

"Help yourself to the fridge than," Sara offered, leaning back against the counter while she sipped at her coffee, eyes distant as she seemed to be taking it all in.

"Uh, that's okay. I'm good." Regina said, chewing again on the bottom of her lip before saying slowly, "Uh, maybe I should go? You know, let you process it all? I can-uh- come back another time, if you'd like?"

"No. I'm sorry, its just-I don't-" Sara faltered, chewing on her own bottom lip as she searched for the words to say.

"Know what to say?" Regina offered with a wry smile and a tired sigh as she slumped into a kitchen chair, "Tell me about it."

"Hey!" Sara argued with a soft smile, "You atleast have had more time to process this than I have!"

Regina nodded solemnly, offering her newfound sister a light smile as she replied, "Yea, I've had since I was 18 to process all the crap that comes with finding out your entire life was a lie."

Sara cocked her head curiously, asking, "What did you do when you found out about it?"

Regina winced, "I flipped. Screamed at my entire adopted family for about ten minutes before I got in the truck I shared with my brothers and drove away. I ended up at my oldest adopted brother's apartment and I crashed on his apartment until my adopted mom showed up. WE fought again, and I left again, this time on foot. I ended up running into a girl I used to go to high school with and with whom I'd lost touch with when she dropped out at 15.

"At 18, she was living with a 30-year-old alcoholic man and she had 3 children-all with different fathers." Regina shrugged, giving Sara a wry, half-smile, "After that I kind of wandered for a while and ended up back a t my adopted brother's place. By that time I figured maybe I'd over-reacted a little, and so we all got together and talked it out."

"And after that?" Sara asked, her CSI coming forward to sit her in a chair opposite her sister.

"After that I saved up a bunch of money, and, with the help of a private detective, began looking for my biological family." Regina replied.

Sara sighed, running a weary hand over her brow as she said, "And then, of course, you found out the wonderful Sidle family history."

"Our family's pretty messed up," Regina agreed with a slight grin.

Sara laughed slightly, asking, "So, then what happened?"

"Well…I-um-I went to see our mom," Regina said, looking up at her stony-faced sister shyly through her lashes, "She-uh-she told me everything-well, sort of."

Regina took a deep breath before continuing, "She told me that she and our father got married too young because our mother was pregnant with our older brother Troy. I know you were born 3 years after him. I know our parents were hippies who owned a B&B in Tamales Bay, San Francisco." She took another deep breath and met Sara's eyes as she finished, "And I know I'm the reason our mother stabbed out father when you were seven."

"What?" Sara asked, startled brown eyes flying up from their perusal of the kitchen table.

"She said she hadn't told you," Regina sighed resignedly, licking her lips before continuing, "Our mother was 2 and a ½ months pregnant with me when she stabbed out father. She-She stabbed him because he-he didn't want me around and he was going to-to beat her stomach until she miscarried."

Sara's mouth fell slightly open as she gazed silently and blankly at her sister. "You're 28 then?" Sara asked faintly, waiting for Regina's affirmative nod before asking hoarsely, "Why didn't she ever tell me about you?"

"She didn't know what happened to me," Regina answered softly, "After I was born, the state took me away and put me into adoption, but didn't tell her anything. She said she didn't tell you because she didn't know if I'd ever want to find my biological family, or if I was even alive, and she didn't want you to search for someone who might not be around your whole life-like she had.

"B-But I don want to know you." Regina whispered tearfully, "O-Our mother said sh-she didn't want anything else to d-do with me a-after she t-told me, th-that I'd already ruined her life enough. A-And Troy doesn't wa-want an-anything to do w-with me either, b-but I'm okay with that. He's kind of sc-scary.

"B-But you're amazing Sara. All that crap you went through in all those foster homes, you came out on top! You got into Harvard-a year early!" Regina smiled softly through the light layer of tears that were falling down her face, "Please. Let me get to know you-be my sister."

Sara looked shocked a moment, but, instinctively, she came around the table, and the two women wrapped their arms around each other. And, suddenly, Sara's own floodgates opened and both women cried loud, angry sobs into each other's hair.

Without really deciding it, the two women stood, arms still wrapped around each other, as they made their way into the living room. They collapsed on Sara's couch, continuing to cry, unable to stop now that they'd started.

They sat like that for twenty minutes before the crying stopped. Sara's living room fell into a companionable silence as both women finally felt better. They ended up sitting on opposite ends of the couch, both sitting with their backs against the armrests and their knees bent, their feet overlapping on the middle cushion.

It had been silent for 5 minutes when Regina suddenly sat up, her hair band crooked. Sara lifted her head lazily, gazing curiously at her sister.

"Hungry?" Regina asked with twinkling eyes.

"Strangely enough, yes." Sara returned, her statement punctuated by a loud growl from her stomach.

Regina grinned, tumbling off the couch, asking, "How about a PB and J?"

"I haven't had one in years," Sara said wistfully, adding, "With a tall glass of milk."

"Yummy," Regina agreed, padding into Sara's kitchen, her sister following a few steps behind her soon after.

Giggling like schoolgirls, the two made a pile of sandwiches-with a tall glass of milk for each of them- and sat at the kitchen table. Oddly, they lapsed easily into conversation, immensely enjoying each other's company.

"What's your adoptive family like?" Sara asked, tilting her head slightly, curious as to what the people who'd raised her sister were like.

Taking a sip of milk, Regina grinned slightly, "They're nuts. My adopted mom is 65, but she doesn't really look it. Her name's Betty, she was a stay-at-home kind of mom. My adopted dad is 67 and he owns his own garage. His name's Timothy. He's a but stern but he was always fair. Then there's the 4 boys; Jacob, Louis, James and Nathan. Jacob is 4 years older than me and married with 3 kids-he's the owner of a deli. Louis and James are twins 3 years older than me-Louis is single but James is married with 2 kids and they're co-owners of an architect firm. Nathan is a year older than me-he helps Dad at the garage. He's gay, actually."

"You really love them, huh?" Sara asked with a smile, seeing the love shine in her sister's eyes as she spoke if the family she'd been raised with and by.

Regina shrugged, grinning sheepishly, "Yea, I guess. You know Sar…my dad told me that-if you wanted to when I found you- he'd love to have you come down for a holiday if you'd like."

Sara looked shocked, but smiled softly, "I'll think about it, Regina."

"Blech!" Regina protested, "Call me Reggie, only my mom still calls me Regina."

Sara laughed, grinning at her sister and Reggie asked, "So, what's it like to be a Crime Scene Investigator?"

Sara shrugged, "It can be the absolute worst job in the world, and then it's like there's nothing better than being a CSI."

Reggie grinned, "Sounds like fun."

"It is." Sara agreed with a grin, 'So, what's it like being a…designer did you say?"

"I'm a fashion designer, would you believe?" Regina smiled back, eyes shining happily.

"Really?"

"Yup," Regina grinned, "I specialize in woman's clothing-duh!" both women laughed, "It's mostly like fancy clothes-you know, formal, semi-formal, that kind of thing. It's cool, because, since I own my own store, I can sell my own clothes and no one can dictate me about it."

"You're 28 and you own your own business?" Sara goggled, her glass forgotten halfway to her mouth.

Regina laughed, "My dad paid for the store, but as business picked up, I paid him back. I was pretty pricey at first, but then, once I got enough saved up, I started dropping the prices-which got me more business and then more money, so it was cool."

"That rocks," Sara grinned, then frowned, setting her glass back down as she nervously asked, "So-um- when are you-uh- when are you going back?"

"Huh? Going back?" Reggie asked, scrunching her nose up in confusion.

"To…uh, you never told me where you grew up?"

"Boston." Reggie answered promptly.

"Oh. Okay." Sara paused, "So-uh, when do you have to go back? I mean, I know you have a store to run and your family's down there."

"You're my family too." Regina said softly.

Sara's mouth dropped open slightly as she gazed at the younger girl with a curious expression on her face. All her life, people-people who didn't even know the horrors of her past- hadn't wanted anything to do with her, and here was Regina, who'd known her all of two hours, willingly admitting that her relation to her.

"I-um-I was thinking about-um- maybe opening a store up here." Regina said, nervously into the silence, nervously biting her lip, "I-I'd like to get to know you."

It wasn't often that Sara took a risk when it involved her emotions- the thought of the chance of feeling again like she had after her father's death and her mother's imprisonment scaring her too much. But her sister's big, honest brown-flecked green eyes begged her to take the plunge for her.

Sara took a deep breath, meeting said eyes as she whispered gently, "There's always someone looking for fancy clothes in Vegas."
XoXoXoXo

A/N Well, what do you think? Let me now, huh?

'My love,

Red