A/N: Odeepblue, thanks for your review…for all of your reviews, actually! Kristafied, keep the proofreading coming! I hate typos, and they annoy me! Thanks for the catch, though, and for your review, as well!
---------------
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS. Credit for Sara's past as a foster child goes to QuoththeRaven.
Title: Excalibur: Part 2
---------------
"Can you tell us anything else about the body?" Sara asked David, before standing up again, smoothing out her CSI vest.
"I can tell you that the body has been moved," he said, pointing to marks along John Gead's torso. "I can also tell you that he fought back. Looks like there's trace under his fingernails. I'll know more once we post him," David added, looking up at Sara. "For now, the scene is all yours."
"Thank you, David," Sara replied, looking over at Greg and Nick. "Gentlemen, shall we get going?" she then asked. "I'll take pictures of the crime scene…"
"I'll fingerprint the people," Greg quickly added.
"Which leaves me the footprints," Nick replied. "Good deal," he said, as he got out the proper equipment.
Taking out her camera, Sara snapped a couple of pictures of the crowd of people sitting inside of the theater, before moving on to the backstage area of the show. This was the part that she most loved about a crime scene. She didn't mind talking to the people, but people lied. A lot. She wasn't always sure how to interrogate an individual without necessarily intimidating him or her, and at times, she hated to read between the lines, but… the evidence never lied. Instead of dealing with the drama that working with people created, she often times preferred the solitude of evidence collection. Alone with her thoughts, she was able to think through a crime, as if putting the pieces of a much larger puzzle together.
But that is what confused her. Clicking the shutter button on her camera, Sara brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. Why did there have to be a puzzle for her to put together in the first place? Why did people hurt each other? She has seen it hundreds of times, and seeing it again only made her shiver.
"Are you cold, Sara?" Nick asked her from across the room.
"No, thank you," Sara replied with a smile. "Just thinking."
Nick nodded, and got back to work. Glancing around in front of her, Sara scanned the dirt. Noticing a partial footprint, she threw down a marker for Nick, and snapped a quick photograph. Then, moving on to the stall, she snapped pictures of the door frame, the blood, and anything else that looked as if it could be used as a weapon.
Once again alone again with her thoughts, Sara sighed. Sometimes, she absolutely hated her job. Being a CSI could be pretty upsetting, considering the fact that she quite frequently met people on the worst day of their lives. And if that was not bad enough, what—or who—did she have to come home to? Catherine had Lindsey, Warrick had his wife, and her? Nothing. No one. Leftovers in the refrigerator. An otherwise empty apartment. Sara oftentimes felt so alone, and that scared her.
"Hey, Nick?" she called over her shoulder to her colleague. "Finding anything?"
"Couple of footprints, blood spatter, some partial fingerprints, a couple of fibers. I'm just going to bag and tag," he added.
Sara nodded, before returning to the main area of the theater. "Greg, how's it going?" she asked the young CSI, carefully walking over to him. "I have ten more people to print, and I believe that Sofia is almost done interviewing everyone else. You?"
"About the same. Nick is busy collecting whatever is left in the back."
Greg nodded, getting back to work.
Before Sara could move away to find Sofia, however, her cell phone suddenly trilled. "Sidle," she mumbled into the speaker.
The voice on the other end of the phone was no-nonsense. "I'm pulling you off of your case. I need you here."
Grissom. "What for?" she asked him.
"I'll fill you in when you get here, but I have a kid that I would like you to speak with. Kids seem to like you," her boss added.
Sara sighed. "I'm on my way," she said, closing her phone. Sara wasn't sure how she felt about this. Grissom was right: she did seem to relate well to the children, but… they made her a little bit uncomfortable. They reminded her of her own past as a foster child, and that was something that she tried to avoid oh so carefully. Sara shivered again, before glancing at the crowd of people.
"Everything okay?" Nick asked, with Greg and Sofia also walking over to her.
"That was Grissom," Sara replied. "He pulled me off of this case. He says that he needs me over at the planetarium," she smiled, putting her equipment back into her kit.
"We're actually about done here," Nick informed her. "We'll drop you off at the planetarium, before heading back to the lab."
"I would appreciate that, thank you," Sara mumbled, collecting the rest of her things. "I guess there is never a dull moment in Vegas." With that, the trio of CSIs said goodbye to Sofia, before heading out.
---------------
TO BE CONTINUED: