Author's Note: This chapter is only partially beta-read, about 60/40, I suppose. So all mistakes, and I'm sure there are quite a few, are mine and mine alone.

Chapter XVIII

Family

Sara stood in the Observation Room. She was stiff and chilled. She was confused and scared. Underneath it all, though, she was touched. Not by her mother. Her words were nothing that hadn't run through her head a million times already. No, it was Janet's words that had touched her. She'd never known. She'd never known that Janet had wanted to adopt her, or had thought of her as her daughter. It was a humbling notion. One that left her in awe. She looked at them, Janet standing over Laura. Her Mom standing over her Mother, protecting her. God!

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Beside her, Catharine and Sofia were seething. They'd both been about to storm into the Interrogation Room themselves when Janet had attacked.

Sofia could hear the blood roaring through her. All she could think of were curses, dark and viscous curses. That woman, that bitch had deliberately slapped at Sara, trying to hurt her. She wished she'd been in there. She envied Janet.

Catherine wanted to throttle Laura and she wanted to hug Janet. She looked to Sara. Sara was standing there, watching the scene before them. "Sara, you okay?"

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She got no answer, because Janet came through the door. She slammed it behind her. Her fury vanished, though, when she saw Sara. "Sara, honey, are you okay?"

Sara blinked, "I'm okay. I'm all right. Are you okay?" Janet grinned, "Well my knuckles are sore, but I've had worse." She looked back at the glass; the terrified face of Laura Sidle burned itself into her memory. "C'mon, let's go get some coffee." Sara didn't move, though. "You wanted to adopt me?" Janet smiled a sad smile. "I did, I still do. You're a genius, kid, but you never got it. Family isn't all about blood and heredity." She tapped the inside of Sara's wrist, "It's not all in here." She reached up and touched Sara's chest, just above her heart. "Its here, kid, family is what you make of it. You've got me, and you've got Harv. He loves you like another daughter, whether he'll admit it or not, and it seems to me that you've got plenty of people to look out for you here in Vegas." She threw her arm around Sara's shoulder. "Now, coffee, please." Behind them, Catherine chuckled, "Now we knew where Sara gets it."

Sara grinned, "Yea, well, we'll get some coffee, Greg's really good stuff. C'mon, I'll show you the break room…Mom."

Janet's smile lit up the room.

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Catherine wanted to know what he had said to her. She had seen the blood drain out of Laura's face, she'd seen those hands shake. The woman's hands were veiny and thin, they showed signs of wear. They shook from too many years of drugs and alcohol and were yellow from chain smoking. Those hands, withered and bony, were the same hands that had terrorized Sara. She hated her for that. She hated the fact that even now Sara flinched every time Laura moved too fast. She hated Laura Sidle with more venom and more passion then she'd ever thought was possible. Even Candeece the singer, the bitch who'd probably shot Eddie and left Lindsey to drown, had not earned this much hate. It was her eyes that inspired the most hate. They were her daughter's eyes, the same color and shape, but she'd never seen the same look in Sara's warm chocolate browns. Laura Sidle was cruel, mean and generally about on the same level as a sociopath morally speaking, that could all be pushed aside, but. It was that look that chilled Catherine. Laura Sidle was smart, terribly smart. She knew how to hurt people and she enjoyed it. To Laura, Sara was just a tool. She was a tool to use and abuse, a means to an end. Why had she come to Vegas? Had she come only to torture Sara?

Brass had mentioned that Sara had a brother. That was funny, because Sara had never mentioned a brother before, though Catherine couldn't really blame her. Why hadn't Laura gone to him? Why hadn't she looked up this Sean Sidle and hurt him? Why had she come to Sara?

Sara had seen her kill her husband. Sara had testified at the trail. Catherine could remember the first time she'd testified in court. She'd been a bundle of nerves, and it had only been a trick-roll case in night-court and she'd been far older then thirteen.

How had Sara done it?

"Hey." Catherine jerked her head up. Jim was leaning against the wall. He looked spent and exhausted. She smiled at him. "Hey yourself." The detective loosened his tie and breathed a heavy sigh. "Some night." Catherine nodded. Brass ran his hand over his head and thinning hair in an absent-minded manner. "Sophie's gone to oversee her booking and lock up." Catherine nodded, "Yeah, she grumbled something about bitches and hand cuffs."

They stood there, quiet for a minute. Then, Catherine broke. "What kind of parent does that to her child, Jim?" He shook his head. "I'm no expert on parenting, Catherine." He sighed again, a weary bone deep sigh, "But I think Sara's Mom is a feisty police Capitan with a wicked right hook." He rubbed at his chin where he was beginning to show a five o'clock shadow. "I've seen a lot of bad stuff, we all have." He sighed, "I had to look through Sara's files, her juvenile files, Catherine." He closed his eyes. "She had more broken bones before she was eight then I've had in my entire life. I look at her and she's still Sara. She's still too stubborn for her own damn good and smart as hell." He stopped for a moment and a small grin came across his face, "Though I think I'm starting to see where she gets that from. No matter what that bitch did to her, she's still my Sara and I'd do anything to protect her. Especially from Laura." His last word was uttered like an oath.

Catherine nodded, "What did you say in there, Jim?" A dark and caustic look came across the Capitan's care-worn face. It was not a look that she associated with him. "I made it clear, in no uncertain terms that if she even dared think about Sara ever again…" His fists clenched once more and the look on his face became darker and even more violent, "I won't go into details, Catherine, some things aren't fit for a lady to hear, but she knows. She knows what will happen and she fears it. She'll stay away from my girl, if only to save her stinking skin from a long, drawn out and painful end."

Two things scared Catherine. What Jim said, and the fact that she not only agreed with it, but the fact that she wished that she had been the one to deliver the ultimatum.

Then, as quickly as the dark mood had fallen, it dissipated. "We should go," Catherine tilted her head in invitation and expectation, "We are probably missing some great embarrassing Sara stories right about now." Brass nodded.