Title: Unconditional Love
Author: innocent choir girl shannyfish (From Out of the Lab)
Summary: The Las Vegas Police Department and Crime Lab are pulled into a case that just seems like a disturbance, but turns up that the truth had been hidden for years…
Category: CSI General
Genres: Angst, Drama, Hurt Comfort,
Characters: Jim Brass, Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, Greg Sanders
Warnings: none
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 3 "Out of the Shadows"
Author's Notes: none
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It took some time, but Sara was able to get the girl to reach out for her hand and Sara pulled her out from under the bed all the time assuring her that she was safe now. And it was the truth as far as Sara was concerned. There was no way in hell a social worker would put that little girl back into that house after all the pictures of the room that they'd get. When the little girl was out from under the bed, Sara could finally see that the girl's skin was quite pale, and had deep blue eyes that reminded Sara of the ocean, and long greasy hair that clung to her face and was no doubtingly knotted from who knew how long of not brushing it. The hair color Sara wasn't sure of. Blonde or maybe a light brown…they'd see after she was given a bath. "Hi Paige," Sara whispered gently and used her gloved hand to stroke Paige's face gently. When the girl pulled back from her touch, Sara examined Paige and then saw her hand…wrapped protectively in latex. Slowly, Sara removed the glove in front of Paige before putting her bare hand to the child's face again. This time, Paige didn't pull away.
How long the girl had been kept captive in that room, Sara wasn't sure, but in no way had Paige displayed an understanding of what was going on. At least not verbally. Maybe she did, maybe that was why she reached out for her and took her hand and let her pull her from the bed. Sara wasn't sure. "I'm Sara," she told the girl trying to gauge if they'd be able to remove her from the room and let Grissom, Brass, Nick, and Greg in.
"Mom," was the single word that came out of Paige's mouth before she wrapped her arms around the woman and held on for dear life.
The voice was so quiet that Sara had almost missed it. It was desperate, and still not enough to gauge how much the child knew. But Sara wasn't going to argue at the moment. Paige had already suffered enough trauma. The only thing going through Sara's mind was to get her to the hospital and checked out…followed by a long bath. Gently, she placed her arms under Paige and scooped her up before carefully standing up. "It's time to go." Looking down at the scared little girl in her arms, Sara suddenly wondered who could do something so cruel to their own child? But they'd find out. They always found out why people did what they did…and sometimes it was for the most petty and small of reasons…
Walking slowly out of the room, Sara looked over at the guys who had relocated to one side. Her face showed the anger she was feeling, but she knew at the moment that she needed to concentrate on Paige. Anger would have to wait. "I'm going to ride with her to the hospital," Sara told them. She knew that Grissom would have suggested it, but that didn't need to be done.
"I'll see you there in a while," Brass said softly.
With a nod, Sara walked down the hall and exited the Lemming Residence. The ambulance was already waiting for them, which was a good thing. She didn't want a scene with all the neighbors out and about.
"Star."
At least her vocabulary wasn't completely limited to 'Mom', Sara thought. Looking up, she smiled at the star that was above them. Just a single star. All others had been banished over the years by the lights from The Strip. It was probably a miracle that one even remained. "Yep, that's a star…" she whispered and with the assistance from the EMTs, she got into the ambulance without setting Paige down, which she could only think was for the best at the moment. Moving her gaze from the EMTs to Paige, she gave her a small smile, "Wanna let the nice EMTs check you out real quick?" she asked hoping that the girl would comply, but when her grip only tightened, Sara frowned slightly. "Guess not."
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The hospital hadn't been much easier; Paige screamed and only wanted Sara. It made her heart break, but she wanted to make sure that she was okay, too. It had been hours, but they needed to make sure Paige was okay, and Sara wasn't sure what to do. She knew that at the moment that the child had clung to her and made a bond, but Catherine was the one who had a daughter and knew how to get them to do what they needed to have done.
A small knock on the door was Grissom and Brass' only warning before the two popped open the door and peeked in. "Is it safe? Everyone decent?" Brass asked already knowing that things weren't going as planned, but was trying to lighten the mood anyways.
A small smile crept across her face, "Come in." She knew that they had probably called to check up on her and the hospital had informed them that Paige was being non-cooperative, but really, what could they expect?
With Brass and Grissom in, the door closed and they kept their distance not sure whether it was okay or not. "I did a search on the first name Paige and last name Lemming. I came up with a birth certificate issued out of Arizona for a baby girl named Paige Sarah Lemming born September twelfth in 2000 to a Carol and Terry Lemming." Brass looked at the girl, "Sound familiar, Darling?"
Paige just cuddled more into Sara, turning her head from them and burying it against Sara's chest. "Mom home," she got out after a minute of stressing each word.
'Mom?' Grissom mouthed and a confused look immediately came across his face.
Sara sighed, "Paige, Sweetheart…you need to let the doctors look at you," she tried and hoped it would work, "I'll stay here the whole time." When she could feel the little girl relax in her arms and look around a little bit, Sara looked over to Grissom and Brass. "Why don't you go get someone?"
"Stay?"
Nodding, Sara rocked Paige a bit in her arms, "I'll stay."
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