Announcement: icklebitodd and Gregsgirl4ever, thanks for your reviews of chapter 8! Hopefully, everyone will find this chapter enjoyable!
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS. And credit for Sara's fictitious past goes to QuoththeRaven. If you want to know more about her version of Sara's childhood, she is on my favorites list. The story that you are looking for is the "Life & Times of Sara Sidle."
Title: The Planetarium: Part 3
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"Patrick," Sara slowly repeated his name, mulling biting her lip. Turning to look up at him, Sara tried to figure out what to say next. 'Nice to meet you' didn't quite seem to work, nor did 'I'm sorry.' After Sara's mother killed her father, so many people said 'I'm sorry, Sara, I know what you must be going through...' But how the heck couldthey possibly know what she was going through? How many people had one of their parents killed right in front of them, found themselves in foster care, and then were…assaulted… by their foster brother? Probably more than Sara could count on one hand, but that still did not make her feel any better at the time. No, 'sorry' would not cut it.
"Patrick," she repeated, "…are you…hurt…in any way?" she hesitantly asked, letting go of her knees, and slowly turning to once again kneel in front of the little boy.
Patrick looked down at his hands, as if noticing them for the first time. A single tear slid down his cheeks, followed by a second one, and then a third one, each tear leaving a tiny streak in the blood spatter on his face. Before Patrick could answer Sara, however, he quickly turned his head to the right side of the chair, and vomited. And that did it. As if a flood gate had completely opened, Patrick began to cry, his little body shaking from the force of his sobs.
Sara did the only thing that she could think of doing. Hesitating only for a moment, she sat down in the chair next to Patrick's, reached her arms out to him, drew him into her arms, and pulled him onto her lap. The criminalist in her was mindful of the fact that the young boy was covered in potential evidence, but the human in her realized that right now, he was also a little boy who was in crisis. "It's going to be okay," she whispered to him, holding his head close to her chest, and quietly rocking him back and forth. "It's going to be okay," she added, secretly wondering how it could ever really 'be okay' for him. Still gently rocking Patrick, Sara fought back the urge to shed her own tears. "Shh…shh…" she told him. Why does any kid have to go through something so traumatic? It just…isn't fair… it just…isn't, she thought to herself
Looking over Patrick's head, Sara noticed Grissom walking toward them. Before he got too far, however, she made eye contact with him, slowly shaking her head from side to side. "No," she mouthed. Grissom's eyes widened, as if asking her if she was really okay, but he backed off a little bit, watching the scene unfold from the opposite end of the planetarium's lobby.
Sara once again returned her attention to Patrick, gently running her fingers through his hair. "Patrick…" she hesitated, until she noticed him sucking his thumb and expectantly looking up at her. Thumb-sucking usually meant trauma, Sara realized…especially for a six or a seven year old. He's… worse off than I originally thought that he was…she thought to herself, sighing. "Patrick," she repeated, unsure of what to say next. "We need to get you to the hospital, okay?" Patrick's eyes seemed to widen in fear, as he sucked his thumb even harder. "It's okay, Sweetheart, it'll be okay," she quietly tried to assure him, gently brushing away the remnants of his tears. "But we have to make sure that you're okay..." And get the evidence, she thought to herself, glancing over at Grissom.
Patrick didn't say anything, but allowed Sara to stand up, still clinging to her neck. Grissom saw what Sara was trying to do, and motioned for a paramedic to bring a gurney over to her and Patrick. As soon as she tried to lay Patrick down on the gurney, however, he clung to her neck even harder. "Okay, it's okay," she quietly whispered to him. A little bit more loudly to the paramedic, and shifting her weight to one side, she said, "I've got him…" I hope.
As Sara, Patrick, and the paramedic all walked over to the ambulance, Grissom softly called her name. "Are you going to be okay?" he mouthed to her. Sara merely nodded, getting into the ambulance. "I'll see you back at the lab," Grissom then told her, before the doors to the ambulance closed, effectively cutting off their silent communications.
As the ambulance pulled away from the planetarium, Grissom sighed, wondering whether or not he had made the right decision in bringing Sara into this situation. She was certainly more emotional than Catherine was when it came to children, and he only hoped that this particular case would not be the one to crack her already fragile shell.
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TO BE CONTINUED