A/N: OMG I'm SOO sorry for taking SOO long to update this! Ugh, my stupid computer like killed the disc that had the chapter all written up on it and then I had to start all over because the only other thing I for this story didn't have this chapter updated in it. And then every time I got going with it, the stupid computer decided to go even more stupid and crash on me or freeze. I swear, I will have so much fun burning and busting up this computer when it because completely obsolete in about a year and a half. But anyways, you're not here to listen to me rant and rave about this idiotic excuse of technology I call my computer, you're here to read. So, enjoy! And don't kill me for going along so slowly! Blame my Mother!
Disclaimer: I refuse... Look at the other chapters... :-P
Chapter 5: Surprises In Everyway
The ride for the previous fifteen minutes was spent in silence, except for the radio. It had all transpired so quickly that the fifteen minutes were spent for my thoughts to catch up with the speeding car I was trapped in.
I willed for my voice to work, to tell my raging sister beside me to calm down and slow down while she was at it. We were flying down the Strip at twice the speed of the other cars. There was no help for her if she were to get stopped by Highway Patrol. And there would be no help for either of us if this fury she's driving with landed us both in a ditch or dead. But I trusted her enough to at least not crash unless it was someone else crashing into us.
Slowly, I felt the shock relinquishing its power over my mind and body, and I recalled Brooke's physical appearance before she commanded me into the car. I looked over to her to inspect her face again to either confirm or refute what I had previously seen.
Unfortunately, it did more than confirm.
I didn't see much until we passed under nearby streetlamps but it was enough. Aside from the blood leaking from her nose and mouth, there were multiple bruises and gashes disfiguring her face. Her right cheek had spawned an impossibly deep bruise that engulfed a good portion of the right side of her face and seemed to originate from the even larger lump directly on her right cheekbone. Brooke's right eye was also swallowed up by the bruise, appearing as if it took a world of pain just to keep open. It was barely open as it was, but Brooke seemed to be managing.
Several gashes showed up around her face, leaking blood as well. But the biggest one ran directly across her temple along her right side of her face. I could see small shards of glass stuck into the wound and were aggravating it even more every time Brooke blinked seeing as how dangerously close the gash was to her eye.
Grimacing to myself, I allowed my eyesight to travel down the length of her arms to Brooke's hands, checking for offensive wounds. On Brooke, I knew that if she were involved in any type of physical violence, there would always be offensive wounds. Brooke didn't disappoint me.
In all my years as an experienced CSI and living through every kind of case there was to see, not much seemed to surpass this gory scene. On her right fist, which was tightly clenched around the steering wheel, it was impossible to see any kind of skin. It was either non-existent or covered in blood. Along her knuckles, the skin was split wide open on more layers of the skin than it was healthy for. The bone itself were clearly visible and kept ripping through the thin layer of surviving skin that remained every time Brooke re-gripped the steering wheel. Blood streamed down her arm from the open wound and she only scrunched her sleeve up to prevent the blood from staining her clothes although it dripped onto her seat and down the steering wheel.
On her left hand, less serious scratches and scrapes scarred her knuckles. They appeared as if they were rubbed raw against tar or a brick wall over and over. Yet more blood appeared underneath her hand this time, so I knew that it was the underside that was more damaged on her left hand.
Blood, blood, and yet even more blood.
"Brooke... You need to calm down and pull over." I managed to speak at long last.
She remained unmoving and fixed on the road, increasing her speed ever-so-slightly.
"Brooke... Pull... over..." I ordered again.
Still more demoralizing silence that thickened the tension in the car.
"Now Brooke." I used the firmest voice I could muster.
The only reaction I got out of her was re-gripping the wheel and stepping on the gas pedal even harder.
Though I hardly worked on impulses, this was one of those exceptional times considering there was a heavy traffic build-up just ahead. I reached over and grabbed the wheel, yanking it toward myself and veering the car into an empty parking lot of a music store. Fighting over control for the car, Brooke tugged on the wheel as well, in the opposite direction. The car kept driving in a circular formation until I lost my grip and the car changed course for the store itself. Brooke slammed on the brakes just before we went crashing through the door and we jerked forward. We both sat there catching our breaths at the close call, not daring to move.
The stillness seemed to last forever but I jumped when I heard Brooke open her door and slam it shut as she exited the car. She was beyond angry now.
Exiting after her, I briskly walked around the car and took after Brooke who was in a fast trot. Not only did she need medical attention, but she also couldn't be alone when she was like this. Just like in the past, I knew it would only prove to be a dangerous interaction between Brooke and the public.
Just how I was going to get her to correspond with me, however, I hadn't yet devised a plan for that.
"Brooke!" I called after her.
She ignored me as I slowly caught up to her. Fine Brooke... If you wanna play like that, I'll just have to do this the hard way. I just hope you don't take a swing at me. I thought to myself as I prepared to calm her down.
Reaching out, I latched onto her shirt and yanked her backwards to the ground. Brooke's balance came into play and the only thing my action managed to do was make her stumble backwards. I braced myself, not knowing what she would do while she was in this state of mind. Brooke may have been shorter, but she was far more powerful than I will ever be.
Before my eyes, I saw the anger course through her and flash precariously inside her eyes like a wild fire. If it was anyone else I was facing, I would either be running or preparing to fight, but this was Brooke. She wouldn't hurt me, or at least, that was the way it was all those years ago. Brooke couldn't have changed that much in that amount of time, could she?
"Brooke, c'mon... It's me, Sara. Just calm down and tell me what's wrong." I persuaded as I stepped closer to her when all we did was stand there staring each other down.
For a second, I honestly couldn't tell if Brooke was about to lash out at me as I came within arm's length or not. But as I drew closer I saw the fire shrivel up and die down and just as fast as it had all occurred, Brooke dropped to her knees and remained stationary.
Kneeling down in front of her now, I waited for her to speak up for the longest time. It got to the point where I thought she'd never speak. But she spoke up at the last minute.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." Brooke murmured.
"How many times have I heard and said that lie?" I asked to no one in particular. "I don't know how you can sit there and say that. I can see the blood, your face, and your hands. That doesn't say 'fine' to me."
"That's fine. Nothing I'm not used to." I was surprised to hear her say that.
"Who did this to you, Brooke? What are you getting yourself into this time?" I pressed.
"Sara! It's nothing! I'm fine! If you wanna help out, you'll get a needle and thread out and help me stitch my hand back together." Brooke barked out as she got up and started to walk back to her car.
Getting to my feet as well, I went off after her once again and caught up to her in the car as she started to rummage through her glove compartment. I swung open the passenger door and got back in just as she closed the glove compartment with a sewing needle and basic thread in hand.
"No way Brooke. You need to go to the hospital for that. There's no way the needle and thread will work for that!" I told her as Brooke managed to get the thread through the small hole of the needle.
"Sara... I'm not a little kid. I can handle this. If you keep trying to press this issue, you know you won't win." Brooke told me as she began her stitching the flesh together. "I refuse to go to the hospital."
Brooke was just as stubborn as I was, but I was also sensible. I knew that if I fought with Brooke it would only go in circles for hours on end. It had happened more than once in the past. So much to my disagreement with myself, I decided to not press for information yet. I would get it eventually, but it just wouldn't be now.
We sat in silence for several minutes and she was only on her third stitch. It was putting her through more pain to stitch it back together than it was just to leave it open. At least she could put up with doing it by herself now. I could recall the times when she couldn't bear the thought of the needle penetrating her skin, so she'd make me do it for her.
The habit didn't die hard at all.
"Sara, could you finish it up for me?" Brooke said in a calmer, quieter voice as she offered me the needle.
Without another word, I continued the stitch work at the quicker pace than Brooke had. After I was done with her knuckle, I began on the gash on her forehead, and being careful as I worked around the temple. All the while, I was running over the possibilities that could've put her in this state.
She could be living with or have an abusive boyfriend... My mind offered.
Never happen. She'd kick his ass and then kick him out the second she found out he was abusive. I kicked the thought down immediately.
What if she's into being a hooker and has abusive customers? Another thought flew out.
For one, she'd never get into that kind of business. Selling herself? Not that type... And once again, the abuse... That'd never work with her either. I inwardly scoffed at the idea of Brooke, my Brooke, being a prostitute.
Well, one of the only other options is that... My thought wasn't allowed to finish as an actual voice interrupted.
"Thanks, Sar..." Brooke said, back to normal now. "And thanks for not be your normal stubborn self and pushing for info."
I smirked over at her. "Anytime. Besides, I don't feel like sitting here for hours just to argue with you." I said as I replaced the needle and thread back in the glove compartment. "But don't forget, I'm a CSI, so I will eventually find out. Just a fair warning."
"Maybe, sis... Just maybe." Brooke said on a quick note.
"Will you at least tell me why you were so angry earlier?" I couldn't resist.
"No, Miss Nosy." Said Brooke playfully, with a hint of seriousness. "But what I want you to tell me is where is the best breakfast bar around here. I'm hungry."
I looked upon her with disbelief at the fact that despite her beaten down state, she still wanted to go out to eat. Of course, this was the same girl that went out to McDonalds and the mall after she stole someone's rental car and crashed it into a brick wall at age eight. How could I expect anything less from this girl?
"Only if I get to drive." I compromised, secretly not wanting her to be in control of the car while I was in it.
"Of course, Sizzle B..." She said softly as she got out and we switched seats.
The ride to the closest cafe from where we were was short. A five-minute short ride was more like it. Parallel parking, we got out and entered the cafe, Brooke caught more than one set of eyes upon entering. It could've been her appearance or it could've been her injuries that she insisted were "fine". Or it could've been the black car that was rolling by too slowly and the guys inside it sticking their hands out the window with guns in them.
Brooke and I looked behind us at the same time, just as the shots went off and thanks to Brooke's quick reactions, I didn't end up eating lead. The guy behind the counter did. Brooke lunged at me and pulled me down to the floor as windows and glass was shattering everywhere as the car drove off in a hurry. I flinched every time a bullet whizzed through the air in the cafe and I scrunched down lower, covering my ears to block the sounds as people got hit all around me.
Brooke soon left my side, and I looked up at her just as she exited the cafe, pulling a pistol out from behind her in the waistline of her jeans. Next thing I know, even more bullets are been shot as Brooke shoots back at the ambush car.
"Keep running jackasses! Before I put a bullet up your white asses!" She screamed after the squealing tires.
Brooke re-entered the cafe as everyone that was unharmed began to move around again. I saw her crouch down in front of me and rested her hand on my knee comfortingly. Staring up, I found a calm looking into my younger sister's eyes and slowly rose to my feet. Glancing around the cafe, I saw everyone helping everyone else up. Thankfully it didn't look like there were any serious injuries, with one exception.
Brooke and I walked toward the breakfast bar and leaned over to check on the once standing man I only knew as Luigi. A single gunshot was visible in the center of his stomach and he was gasping for breath.
Going around the other side of the bar, I tried my hardest to apply pressure to the wound while someone called an ambulance. Glancing back up at Brooke, she raised an eyebrow and shrugged as she pulled out her cellphone and dialed 911.
I was surprised when Luigi grabbed me by my shoulder and I looked back at him. "Sara... Right?"
"Yeah, it's me Luigi." I answered.
It wasn't like I knew him well, but I used to come to this cafe enough with the team after work for him to recognize me on sight.
Before Luigi could even formulate a sentence he passed out, but was still breathing. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I looked back up to Brooke who was now leaning over the counter and looking down at us, resting her head in her hand with a depressed look.
"I guess he won't be serving us our food." Brooke said sarcastically.
We had to wait around for several minutes for the ambulance. Time was passed for everyone by cleaning up around the cafe. I truly wanted the ambulance to show up before the CSIs did, because this is Dayshift's clock. And since one of their people was out, there was a possibility that Ecklie would be on this case. Ecklie was the last person I wanted near me, let alone talking to me about what just happened.
"C'mon Sara... We've gotta bail, now. It's gonna be Hell if those punks come back around for round two. We gotta roll before they do." Brooke said as she took a hold of my bicep and pulled me up.
Looking guiltily back down at Luigi, I looked over at Brooke with a nod of my head and hesitantly started to walk away from the scene. Brooke was right. It was dangerous to stay around.
Exiting the cafe, we ran behind the building to the parking lot to get to Brooke's car and jumped in, Brooke in the driver's seat now. Without a moment's hesitation, Brooke's tires squealed on the tar as we tore out of there and in the direction the drive-by car had come from.
No one ever said Brooke was stupid. On the contrary, sometimes I believed her intelligence rivaled mine. That's why Brooke cut me off when she knew that I was going to question her about the drive-by.
"So, who was that guy and girl that was with you before I came in and broke up your lil' party there?" Brooke sprung the question out of nowhere.
Thinking back to what she meant, I knew that she was talking about Grissom and Lady Heather. A subconscious shake of my head and a heavy sigh later, I replied. "That was just my boss and his new girlfriend." I struggled with the words to come out in that order.
"You mean that Grissom character you were telling me about? The guy that turned you vegetarian with his rotting pigs and bugs?" Brooke looked away from the road to briefly look at me.
"Yeah, that's the one." I tried to hide the emotion as best I could.
"Hmph, from the way you were talking about him, I would've figured you guys would be going out." Brooke scoffed. "So what's up with his twiggy girlfriend? Don't like her?"
"What do you think?" I crossed my arms across my chest roughly.
"Ah! Young Sara's a little jealous, now aren't we?" Brooke taunted.
"What does it matter? There's nothing I can do about it, so there's no sense in dwelling on it." I said through gritted teeth. "I can't control who he goes out with."
There was a silence as I sat there fuming for a second. Just the though of Lady Heather made my blood boil, but the fact that she was going out with Grissom, I found murder possible now.
"You really like this guy, don't you? It's not just this lil' crush, huh? You want it to be serious, don't you?" Brooke's voice turned from teasing to sympathetic.
"I've known him for over ten years and I even told him how I felt, more or less, about three years ago. I asked him out to dinner but he turned me down flat." I closed my eyes and turned my head away for a moment. "I get caught up in an explosion at the lab and he turns me down for dinner, but that woman nearly whips another man to death and she gets to date him. How does that work out?" I threw my hands up in the air with frustration.
Another moment passed before Brooke's voice popped up outta nowhere it seemed. And surprisingly enough, as if I hadn't had enough surprises today, her voice was raised in excitement.
"I just had the most perfect idea, and it can do nothing but help you with your lil' dilemma." Brooke and I stared across at each other at the exact same time. Anything that she had planned against another woman, or any person for that matter, couldn't have been good for the person she was after.
But somehow, I just couldn't find the emotions to care much about what happens to Lady Heather.
TBC...
A/N2: Okay, sorry this took so long for me to put up once again. Blame it on the crazy people that wanted to go jump in bushes for fun half of the night, my stupidness for joining them, and my sorry excuse of a disc eating, data deleting computer. Okay, so those crazy people are my friends, but oh well... Gotta love them because I wouldn't be far without them. So... Do I have to really lay this out for you about what to do now? I'm tryna pick up the pace a little. And Sara's gonna get a little evil, but in a good way since we should all be GSR lovers reading this anyways... A lotta different genres are gonna be floating in and out of this story, so prepare yourselves! And I'm aiming to please everyone here, so tell me what you truly think about this or else just live with your own misery! It's like they say at wedding, "Speak now, or forever hold your peace."
Peace out, one love,
MC New York