Thanks to my beta, Camilla Sandman, for all her help.
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Greg had started to get concerned when half an hour had passed and the water could still be heard running, but just about when he was ready to go knock on the door, it finally stopped. About fifteen minutes later, Alex walked into the living room where Greg and Sara were waiting for her. Nick was also there, having arrived a few minutes earlier.
Greg was the first to break the silence, "Are you ready to go, Alex?"
"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's just go and get this over with," Alex said, with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice. "I just have to grab my purse out of the kitchen."
Once Alex left the room, Nick turned to the other two and asked, "Did something happen that I don't know about?"
"No. She's been like that since we got here and she's been resisting giving too much information, like she has something to hide," Sara told him. "Maybe we'll get it out of her at the lab."
After picking up her purse, Alex followed Sara and Greg to the Denali. It was a tense drive, Alex sitting silent next to Greg and mostly watching the traffic.
After Sara had parked the car back at the lab, they entered the building together, Alex more hesitantly than the others. As they were walking down the hall and were about to enter an interview room, Grissom approached them.
"Sara, Greg, can I see you two for a moment?" he asked, gesturing towards his office.
"Uh, sure. Just a second," Greg replied before showing Alex into the interview room. "We shouldn't be long."
"Go, it's not like it's up to me," Alex said, taking a seat at the table.
Greg let out a sigh, closing the door behind him. He hoped he would be able to figure out what had caused Alex to become so defiant and angry, when earlier she had been so openly emotional about what had happened. When he had reached Grissom's office, he saw that Sara was sitting across from Grissom at his desk.
"Please take a seatGreg," Grissom said. "There has been some developments you two need to know about."
"Did you find out who our perp is?" Sara asked, hoping for a quick resolution.
"No. It doesn't deal directly with the case," Grissom said, pausing for a moment. "First, there has been another shift change."
"What did Ecklie do now?" Greg asked, already rolling his eyes.
"It was the Sheriff's decision this time. Ecklie had nothing to do with it except getting fired," Grissom told them, holding back a small smile.
"What did he do?" Sara asked.
"It's a long story and I don't feel like going through it againbut what I will tell you is that the old graveyard shift is going to be out back together. Catherine and I will be running the shift together," Grissom informed them.
"That's great!" Sara exclaimed. "I've missed working with Nick, Warrick and even Catherine too."
"Is there anything elseGrissom?" Greg asked. "I don't want to leave Alex alone for too long."
Deciding to just say it, Grissom said, "Alexandra Miller is Catherine's daughter."
"What? Are you telling is that Catherine has another daughter?" Greg asked. Already, his mind was racing with the new possibilities this presented.
"Yes," Grissom confirmed. "Julie put Alex's DNA through the system and the results confirmed it."
"Does Nick know?" Sara asked.
"I called him when he was on his way over to her apartment and told him," Grissom said. "He's going to see if he can find anything indicating whether or not she knows Catherine is her mother. Did she say anything to either of you?"
"She hasn't told us about any living family members," Greg started. "So, I have no idea if she knows or not. Maybe that's what she's been hiding. I should go check on her."
Eager to do as said, Greg got up, but he paused in the doorway when he heard Grissom speak, "Be careful that you don't ask her anything about the case."
"I'll go with him," Sara said, following Greg out the door. Before they entered the interview room, she turned to him. "I'll watch from the observation room for now."
When Greg entered the room, Alex was sitting back in a chair, her arms crossed in front of her. It wasn't a very welcoming attitude, and Greg could see he had some work to do to getting through to her.
Alex looked up when she heard him come in. "Great. Time for the interrogation to begin," she said, glaring at him.
Taking a seat across from her, Greg said, "Alex, like I told you before, this isn't an interrogation and we don't consider you a suspect."
"Then why do I feel like you do?" she asked, sitting up straighter.
"I'm sorry that you fell that way, but I'm not here to ask you about your attack. I can't work your case since I know you," he told her.
"Then what else do you want to know?"
Meanwhile, in the observation room, Sara's cell phone rang. "Sidle," she answered.
"It's Nick. I thought you would want to know that I found a box under Alex's bed. I haven't read through all of the papers in it yet, but there are some pictures of Catherine and Lindsey in it. It looks like she hired a private investigator to find her," Nick told her.
"Okay, so she most likely does know," Sara replied.
"It looks that way," Nick agreed.
"Thanks for letting me know. I'll go tell Greg. He's talking to Alex now. I'll see you later," Sara said, hanging up her phone and slipping it back into her pocket.
As Sara entered the room Greg was saying, "I want to ask you about your parents."
Alex was about to reply, but Sara cut her off, "Hey, Greg." Noting her tone, he got up and walked over to her. In a low voice, she filled him in on what Nick had found and then left.
"So," Greg started, turning his attention back to Alex. He noticed the whispered conversation he'd had with Sara hadn't exactly made Alex friendlier.
"I told you before, the Millers aren't my parents," Alex snapped at him.
"I know, I want to ask you about your real parents," he said, once again taking a seat across from her.
"The Kesslers?" she asked, not quite sure what he was getting at. She was starting to get nervous, not liking the direction this conversation was taking. "You were their neighbor. What else do you want to know about them that you don't already?"
"I'm not talking about the Kesslers."
"Then who?"
"Your biological parents," he told her.
"What?" she asked, surprised by the question. "What are you talking about?"
"I know the Kesslers adopted you at birth, Alex."
"How…How did you find out? I never told you."
"After the Kesslers died, and we were looking for you, that was the only thing we found out."
"Oh," she replied, looking down at her hands in her lap and noticing she had started twisting them without even thinking. "Why do you want to know about my birth parents?"
"I want to know if you ever found out who they were or if the Kesslers told you about them?" he asked, figuring it would be better if he didn't come right out and tell her what they knew. It might sound like as accusation, and he didn't want her to become even more defensive.
Ignoring his question, she asked one of her own, "Why do you want to know that? Why does it matter now?"
"Because you've been through a lot and maybe you would want to contact them," he told her, holding back that he knew her biological mother in case she really didn't know.
Knowing that Nick would eventually come across the box under her bed, if he hadn't already, and they would find out the truth sooner or later, she decided there was no use lying to him about it. "I only know who my mother is."
"What's her name?"
"You already know, don't you?" she questioned, sensing he was trying to get her to admit to something he already knew.
"Yes, I do."
"Then why did you ask me?"
"Because I wanted to know if you knew before I told you."
"Let me guess how you found out. Nick found the box under my bed?"
"Yes and no. He did find the box, but our supervisor told us before that."
"How did he know?"
"Our lab ran a DNA test. It's definite, Alex. Catherine Willows is your biological mother," Greg told her. When he saw that Alex was just sitting there with a blank look on her face, he stood up and walked around the table, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, um, I'm fine. It's just…" Alex said, pausing for a moment. "The private investigator I hired found my birth records, but I didn't have a DNA test done so I wasn't a hundred percent sure. I hadn't figured out how to contact her yet. What was I supposed to do? Call her up and say, 'hi, I think I'm the daughter you gave up for adoption over twenty-two years ago'?"
"If you want, we can call her for you."
"No!" Alex exclaimed, standing up so she was facing him. "I mean, I don't know. What if she doesn't want to see me?"
"She's a great mom, Alex. I have seen her with your sister, Lindsey. I'm sure she would want to be here for you."
"Does she even know?"
"Yes. She's at home now, but she was here a little bit ago and found out. Do you want me to call her?"
"I don't know," she replied, crossing her arms and looking down.
"Do you want some time alone to think about it?"
"I can't see her yet. First, I have to know for sure."
"Know what for sure?"
"You wouldn't understand," Alex said quietly. It was taking every bit of energy she had to hold herself together. She didn't know how much longer she could hold back.
"Understand what?" he asked, taking a few steps towards her. "Alex, I'm not going anywhere. You can tell me anything."
"I told you already, you…"she started, pausing when her voice cracked. "You won't understand."
"Alex, please. Tell me," he pleaded, raising his hands and resting themon her shoulders.
"I can't," she whispered, reaching up to wipe a few tears away.
"Yes, you can," he reassured her, giving her a slight squeeze.
"Fine. You really want to know? Then I'll tell you," she said, taking a few steps back. She couldn't hold it back anymore so she let it all come out in a rush of words. "I need to know for sure that she doesn't just want to meet me. I need to know that she wants to be my mom. Ever since I left my aunt's house and was put into the foster care system, I was sent from house to house. I spent six years being bounced around. I lived with twenty-three different foster families before my caseworker gave up and put me in the group home when I was fifteen. The first few times I arrived at a new house, I thought 'maybe this will be it', but that didn't last long. I was happy to go to the group home. That way I didn't have to deal with the rejection anymore."
"Alex…" Greg began, moving closer to her. He had only taken one step before Alex reached out to stop him.
"Don't," she choked out. Her tears were falling freely now. She didn't even bother to wipe any away. "I can't handle any more rejection. I've had enough. If she doesn't want to be my momthen fine, but I'm not going to talk to her unless she wants to."
"Alex," Greg tried again, placing his arms back on her shoulders. She immediately turned away from him.
"No, you don't get it! You can't possibly understand what it was like!"
Not able to think of what to say or do to her, Greg stood silent for a few moments. He turned towards the door when he heard it open. He saw Sara walk in and close the door behind her.
"Alex," Sara called, trying to get her attention.
"What?" Alex said, turning around.
"I understand," Sara told her.
"Understand what?" Alex questioned, slightly confused about what Sara was referring to.
"I understand what it's like to feel like you're just a number and what it's like to think you're never going to have a family of your or a place to call home," Sara explained.
"You were in the system?" Alex sounded incredulous.
"Yes, for about five years before I went to college," Sara said. "I know what you went through, Alex, because I went through the same thing."
"Why are you telling me?" Alex asked, sniffling while she was trying to calm herself down.
"Because I want you to know that you're not alone, and that I understand why you need to know if Catherine wants to be your mom," Sara said. "I would want to know too, if I was in your place."
"What happened to your parents?" Alex blurted out, before she had time to consider maybe Sara didn't want to tell.
"Why don't you take a seat?"Sara asked, walking overto sit where Greg had previously been seated. Alex and Greg sat down across from her, Greg slightly hesitantly.
Greg had taken Alex's right hand between his before he looked over at Sara. "Sara, I can leave if you want me to," he told her.
"No, it's okay, Greg. You can stay," Sara replied, taking a deep breath before continuing. "My father was abusive, both physically and verbally. My mother had taken it for years. Then one day, when I cam home from school, she couldn't take it anymore. I was thirteen at the time, and I didn't know what she meant by that. That night, I was in my room, reading a book. I thought it was just one of their typical fights, but then all of the sudden, the yelling stopped. I went to go see what happened and found my father dead. My mother had killed him. I don't remember much after that except that I wouldn't let go of the social workers hand."
"Yeah, me too. That's all I remember," Alex said quietly, looking down at her hand in Greg's. "She was so nice to me, but I didn't say a word to her. Did you ever live in a group home?"
"No, I never did. I was in fourteen different homes before I finally was placed with a really nice family. It was right before my senior year of high school. I stayed with them until I went to college," Sara said, slowly pushing back out of her chair before standing up. "If it's okay Alex, I have to go do something, but I shouldn't be long."
"Okay," Alex said, looking over at her. "Thanks for talking with me."
"You're welcome, Alex," Sara said, taking a card out of her pocket and handing it to Alex. "Here's my card. It has my cell number on it. If you ever want to talk again, you can call me anytime."
"Thanks," Alex said, taking the card.
After Sara left the room, Greg turned to Alex. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm okay," Alex replied, her voice a bit shaky.
"Do you want me to call your mom for you?"
"Yeah, I don't think I could do it right now."
"Will you be all right for a few minutes while I go make the call?"
"I'll be fine," Alex told him, standing up after he did. "Thanks, for everything. It means so much to me."
Greg embraced her and whispered in her ear, "Everything will work out. Remember, Alex, no matter what happens, I will always be here for you."
"I know you will," she replied. She watched him after he released her and until he left the room. "Everything will work out," repeating to herself what Greg had said, sitting down, and staring at her trembling hands.
A/N: Thanks for reading and an extra thanks for those awesome reviews And if you have been reading but haven't been reviewing, I would appreciate it if you took a second to review because they make me so happy. In case you are wondering then I wanted to let you know that things will be speeding up after this. Also, in the next chapter there will be more of an explanation as to why Sara told Alex about her past and Catherine and Alex will be reunited.