Hey guys hank for the reveiws. I do plan to introduce some background on the characters, and I'm gonna try to make the chapters a little longer. I'll see how I go.

I don't own CSI

Feburary 2000

Sara stood up. "Hi. My name's Sara...and I'm a drug addict."
"Hi Sara." Eleven voices greeted her in unison. She sat back down and looked around, hating the thought that she was like these people. Addicts, junkies, whores. No this wasn't her. This was just a phase, she wasn't going to be this person forever. This person who needed to stand up and introduce herself to eleven people everytime she saw them. This person who looked away in embarresment when one of them had come in as a suspect in a case a week ago. Not forever.

The meeting finished and she left. It was pouring rain outside, so she pulled her jacket over her head and ran to her car. She got in and closed the door behind her. Sitting in her car, she stared at the steering wheel, trying to decide where to go. She'd finished work a few hours ago and certainly didn't want to go anywhere near the Sanfranisco Crime Lab, she didn't want to go home either. That would mean seeing Claire and Joey and trying to look them in the eyes. A feat that was become harder and harder the longer she stayed clean. She started driving figuring that wherever she ended up was probablywhere she shoud probably be.

Sara was a few minutes from home when her phone rang. She pulled over to answer it, the last thing she needed was to be in car accident. Her home number came up on the screen. It must be Claire she thought.

"Hello"

"Sara hey it's me" Claire spoke softly into the phone, she sounded upset.

"Whats they matter, baby?" Sara knew when something was upsetting Claire.

"Are you on your way home? I need to talk to you."

"Yeah I'm on my way, I'll be there soon" She wasonly half lying, she was almost there, but she had planned on driving straight past, going to see Mike in hospial. He'd come off his bike a week ago, breaking both his legs.

"Good, I'll talk to you soon." Claire hung up the phone. Sara was worried, Claire didn't usually tell her that she needed to talk over the phone. Usually she just waited untill Sara was home. She had a bad feeling as she pulled out and continued driving. Mabey nothing was wrong she thought, mabey Clairewas just more confident now that she was clean, now thatshe wasn't hurting her anymore. Sara didn't know.

She pulled into the driveway and went inside the house. It wasn't a big house, though it was in a nice neighbourhood. It was old, needed a paint job, but front yard was well taken care of.

"Claire." She called out her partner, walking through the living room, towards the kitchen, Claire wasn't there.

"Claire?" She started to get worried again, unitl she came to Joeys room and found her sitting on the end of his bed, watching him. The four year old boy was asleep. "Hey."

"Hey." She had been crying.

"Whats going on?" Sara sat down gently on the bed.

"He's got it." Claire didn't need to say anything else Sara knew what she mentjust as well as she did. She should. It was her fault. She'd brought the guy into her house. She'd owed him money, and hadtrusted him, without even knowing him, just because Mike of all people had told her to.

Joey was young they both knew what that ment. Claire because because she was a doctor, a psychiratrist, but she had seen enough cases of HIV in children to know that he woldn't live long with it. Sara knew because she had it to. She didn't know exactly when she'd picked it up, probably in the early eighties form one of the guests at her parent bed and breakfast, who thought that she was complementry to the deal. Like a free breakfast in the morning. She'd been hospitalised in a pediatric AIDS ward when she was about 15, the drugs however that had come out soon after that had helped. What made it worse now was that it wasthe very strain in her body had infected their son, and while she'd probably be ok, Joey would not.