Title: The Life & Times of Sara Sidle

Rating: T

Summary: (You all know by now)

Disclaimer: I am still sitting her in my room running on caffeinated beverages to write fanfiction- and I'm not going anywhere any time soon! I own nothing, don't sue, please!

August 12, 1984- 3:45 pm

Sara walked into her home after a long day at school. She looked around the house- some books and newspapers lying here and there. Her mother had cleaned that day. She went straight for her room after muttering a simple, "I'm home" and closed the door. She slipped off her shoes and sat down on the floor, emptying her backpack of its contents. She removed her book and the little homework she had and began working on it.

"In the third stage of evolution..." she sighed as she began reading in her science book the things she already knew. She closed the book and removed To Kill a Mockingbird. She hadn't gotten as far as she would've liked at school that day, so she opened it and began reading.

She didn't even mean for it to happen, but her mind wandered to other places. School, what happened at PE, what would happen at 6:00 when her father stepped through the door probably groping some bimbo he picked up at a bar. Yes, that's right. Sara knew that her father went parading around with hookers and people he was 20 years older than. Her mother never said anything about the women he came home with while they were at the house. That would be impolite. When the women finally left the house, which could be anywhere from 8:00 pm to 4:00 am, the fighting began just like any other day.

Sara hated the women he came home with. They were just happy they were getting money- her father was in it for the sex. Sara was disgusted that he could spend anywhere from 500 to 1000 dollars just to get some. They were losing money as it was, he was just speeding up the inevitable.

Sara wanted to go to college- Harvard. She wanted to become a crime scene investigator since she was always interested in criminal justice. She was intrigued by the fact that a rapist or a murderer could be convicted by the evidence collected at the scene of a crime taken to a lab and processed. Science convicted them. She found that very interesting indeed.

"Sara?"

Her mother's voice made her look up from the book she wasn't exactly reading at the moment. "Mother?"

"Your father's coming home tonight with one of his friends. I want you to mind your manners at dinner."

Mind her manners? Did her mother have any idea what she was telling her daughter to do? She was going to act nice to some woman her father picked up off the street just to anger his wife? Yeah, sure- like that would ever happen.

"Yes, mother."

That was a lie, of course. She would act whatever way she wanted to. If she pissed off that hooker, see if Sara cared. Her father would care, that was for sure, but she would give that woman hell.

Sara closed the book, deciding she would think instead of read that day. She looked around her room- it was cream-colored, however some of the paint was starting to chip off. She looked around and saw a stuffed blue hippo. For so many years that blue hippo had been her best friend. In the worst of times, she hugged that little stuffed animal while she sat in the floor curled up a tiny ball. She loved that blue hippo, and she was never going to get rid of it, no matter how old she got.

She got up and looked at the pictures on her walls- pictures of her as a little kid running around all smiles. These weren't forced smiles, these were real smiles. She used to be a care-free kid with no troubles at all in the world. She thought she was living the life of a god, but boy did things change once she got to school.

Her parents had opened a B & B which quickly went under. Her father started drinking and came home later and later. Things went from bad to worse. The fighting got worse, the fists started flying, and the trips to the hospital began. She wished for once in her life she could be considered normal. Maybe she could live like a normal kid- playing with toys and running around day after day with no cares in the world. Sara decided she could never do this. Never.

The door opened- it was already 6:00? Sara walked over to her door and slowly slid it open. She peeked through the small crack she had made and saw her father stumble in through the entry-way. She sighed as she made her way out of her room for a better look. After her father, a rather tiny woman wearing almost nothing walked in through the door with a long cigarette between her fingers.

"This is where you live?" Sara heard the woman ask after taking a long drag.

"Yup, this is home." Her father wrapped an arm around the woman's waist as she blew a puff of smoke into his face. Sara grimaced.

"Laura?"

Her father walked through the house looking for her mother. Her mother walked out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. Sara could tell her mother was furious that her husband brought home another woman again, but she forced a smile across her face and welcomed the lady. "Hello."

Sara gulped. Now it was time for the daughter's entrance. She wasn't at a fancy ball waiting for prince charming, oh no. She was going to go welcome some bimbo her father had brought home for kicks. Sara slowly (against her will) made her way to the living room where she spotted the small group. The woman had heavy make-up on, most of it not necessary for her appearance, and she had on a short dress that showed off her legs. She wore black heels and had long blonde hair.

"This your kid?"

Her father nodded with a smile on his face. Sara could tell the smile was forced. He was just as angry as her mother was, and he was just doing this to annoy and piss her off.

"Hello," Sara said in a kind but forced tone.

The woman nodded and took a long drag before blowing the smoke in Sara's face. She coughed and the woman turned to her father. "Anywhere I can put this out?" she motioned to the cigarette. Her father nodded and led her into the kitchen showing her an ashtray.

Those will kill you, sweetheart, Sara thought. She had to refrain from actually saying this to the woman's face which was harder than it sounded. Sara walked into the kitchen. The woman looked at her.

"Hey kid, be a doll and put these somewhere."

The woman handed Sara everything- her purse, her coat, her extra pairs of shoes, her make-up bag, her wallet, everything. Sara walked out of the kitchen and when the woman wasn't looking, she threw the items onto the couch, not caring if she broke anything. To be truthful, she was hoping that she had.

She walked back into the kitchen and took a seat. Her mother brought over the plates and placed them on the table. She also brought some drinks and then took a seat herself. "So...John, who is this lovely lady?" Sara almost burst out laughing. Almost. She knew her mother meant the exact opposite of what she was saying, but she couldn't let the other woman know the true nature of her family, no matter what.

Her father smiled. "Well..." he folded his arms over each other with pride. "Her name is Jaqueline."

Jaqueline. Huh. She didn't look like a Jaqueline.

"Nice to meet you, Jaqueline," her mother said.

Nice to meet you, you bimbo. What'd you get when you graduated from high school, huh? Breast implants? I'm sorry, you didn't graduate from high school, did you? Sara smiled to herself at her own thoughts.

The rest of the meal was silent except for the moments her father bragged with pride about how 'wonderful' Jaqueline was. Oh yes, let's all be like Jaqueline. Everyone wants to be like Jaqueline. Sara knew that's what she wanted to do for a living. Tch, yeah right.

After a while, Jaqueline finally left after giving Sara's father a nice kiss on the lips. Sara grimaced as she watched the two and then sighed when she finally left. Now, the fighting began.

"So...John, I didn't know you were so desperate for sex you had bring home some bimbo to your wife and daughter."

This was the same statement her mother used every time he brought home another woman. This time, however, she remembered to include Sara in the conversation.

"You're just jealous, Laura."

Her mother laughed. "Jealous? Jealous of what? Answer that for me, John."

This wasn't going well. Her father was getting angrier by the second and her mother didn't know when to stop.

"I don't even know why I married, you," he said.

"Well, you're stuck with me. For better or worse."

"I could always divorce your ass."

"And leave your daughter?"

"I don't need my daughter, I don't need you. I'd be better off without both of you."

Sara felt her hand balling into a fist, her knuckles were turning white. She hated it when they remembered they had a daughter and thus brought her into the conversation.

"I'm right here, dad," Sara said walking into the living room.

Her father turned to her. "Oh, hey kiddo."

"Don't try and make it sound like you didn't do anything, dad!" Sara yelled. "I heard what you said about me!"

He sighed. "Sara..."

"I'm sick of you bringing home these hookers, dad! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of you ignoring me, I'm sick of everyone forgetting they have a child, I'm sick of you two forgetting I have a birthday!"

Her father slapped her across the face. "I give you everything, you hear me? Everything!"

She looked up at him in defiance. "Yes, I'm sorry, I forgot how wonderful you have been all these years! I'm sorry I didn't treat you better!"

Her father slapped her again and Sara could taste the blood in her mouth. Before he could hit her again, her mother jumped in. "John! You leave her out of this, this is between you and me!"

Sara looked at her mom in disbelief- she always said that, yet she used her daughter as a topic of conversation in their arguments.

"Fine!" Her father grabbed Sara by her arm and threw her in her room, slamming the door. Sara slid to the floor hugging her knees- this was it. The fighting had started and it wasn't going to stop for hours. Sara grabbed her stuffed blue hippo and squeezed it. This was what she did to comfort herself when they started in. She felt the tears forming in her eyes, yet she refused to let them fall.

She heard her mother fall to the floor and her father storm out of the room. Her door flew open and she saw her father looking at her, furious.

"Leave me alone, dad! Just go bang some other woman and stay the hell away from me!"

Sara said that? She said that? Sara, of all people said that. Her father struck her across her face and she fell to the floor rubbing the skin he had bruised. He kicked her one time before walking out of the house and slamming the door behind him. Sara crawled into the living room to find her mother doing the dishes, ignoring the swollen-shut eye she had. Sara walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror- her face was now bruised and her lip was bleeding slightly. She wiped the blood off of her mouth with a wash cloth before rinsing out her mouth and went back into her room. She hugged her knees to her chest, wishing for it all to just disappear.