A/N: A'yo y'all... This MC New York back with an update. Know it took a long time, but I've been through a lotta BS lately so you gotta have patiences with me, cool? For the next few chapters I'm gonna be trying my hand at GSR and then developing Brooke's private life away from Sara. Trust me, the private life is needed for the whole life of this story, so please don't review saying that I'm getting away from CSI because by the end, it will be about CSI, trust me. Much obliged to y'all that don't rag on me for this.

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or anything associated with the production. I just own the plot, my characters, and this hooptie ass computer.

Chapter 15: Family First?

Sara's POV:

I was in his house, smelling of his soap from the shower I just got, and I was wearing his T-shirt and pajama pants. Sitting on the black leather couch, I stared out the window behind the couch into the dark night, and yet, though I should've been metaphorically jumping for joy, I found one emotion was running parallel through my mind next to elated. Worried.

Breaking my eyes away from the abyss, I looked at the coffee table a little less than an arm's stretch away from me and the cellphone that sat patiently on it – ready to take in any calls from anyone that had the nerve to call me at 3:45 in the morning. The cellphone number had attracted everyone beside the one person I needed to call me at this point in time – Brooke Waters.

"Sara, you truly should eat something. Just staring at the phone won't make it ring." Grissom called from the kitchen that was across the living room as he poured the both of us a cup of coffee.

Altering my vision from the phone to Grissom as he stared back at me from across the breakfast bar with the two cups in hand, I knew he was just looking out for me.

"As soon as I get in contact with Brooke, I promise I'll eat something." I compromised as my eyes followed him moving from the island over to where I sat.

"How about an hour more?" He further compromised the matter, handing me my cup carefully before taking a seat next to me.

As I thought this over, I sipped the steaming liquid and decided on my answer. "Hour and a half."

"Better then nothing, I suppose."

"I just can't think of where she'd be where she wouldn't answer her phone. She always has it on her and she'd never screen a call when she knows who's calling." I said as I saw my reflection in the black liquid.

Just when I thought it was going to be left at just that, Grissom spoke up after a sip of his own coffee. "Perhaps she's spending..." I was forced to glance at him as he struggled with developing the right word to complete the sentence. "personal time with someone else."

His words and thoughts kept me silent in contemplation for a moment or two. It wasn't that it wasn't possible, but I just couldn't see her simply blowing me off just for some guy. It's been hours since Brooke had left. She'd even promised to meet up with me at the hospital – would one guy truly had kept her from me for that long?

Depends what he means to her. My conscience replied as I caught myself looking over at Grissom myself.

"Brooke's not like that. It's practically law between us... Family first. Everyone else comes after." I replied, returning my attention to my coffee.

With a small amount of reluctance, Grissom scooted himself closer to myself and placed his cup down as he wrapped his arms around my waist now. Moving around so that I was now leaning against his side, I rested my head against his shoulder as I tried now to not let the matter bother me as much. I became docile after fifteen minutes of simply leaning and resting against him, no longer paying any attention to my half empty coffee that was surely losing heat energy with each passing moment. But the minute my cellphone began to ring, all relaxation was forgotten about as I set my cup down and stared intently at the caller ID.

'Wireless Caller:
1-508-287-7196'

Brooke.

"Brooke, where have you been?" I immediately answered, knowing the numbers to her cell by heart from the number of times I'd called it.

"Doesn't anyone just answer with a simple 'Yo' or 'What's up' anymore?" A weaker tone that I didn't accompany with Brooke asked with a soft chuckle I didn't think of as her own.

"Brooke? Are you all right?" I asked now, worried again knowing that Brooke would've had a much more sarcastic approach in her remark back if she was fine.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine Sizz... Don't even sweat it. I'm just... tired." A classic excuse came out with some hesitation. "I dropped by the hospital though... They said you were already administered to leave. I take it that means you gonna be a'ight?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. It didn't do too much damage. You pulled me out just in time." I said, still not buying her "tired" story.

"Hey, God only looks out for children and fools. You're neither one so I guess that's what I'm here for." Brooke said as she hissed in what sounded like pain. "So, where you at? Who you wit?"

"Grissom took me back to his house. I'm here with him right now." I replied as I gave a brief look at Grissom who looked up when he heard his name.

"Good... Good. I take it the plan worked then?" Brooke asked and I could hear the mirth she was trying to express.

"Yeah, it did. I've got to thank you for that." I insisted as I relaxed back into Grissom's arms again.

"Nah... The family always comes first, and I'm just looking out for you." Brooke shook it off with a genuine modesty that I hadn't guessed would come with her almost always arrogant attitude. But I had to remember, Brooke did have her modest moments. "But hey... I'ma holla at cha later, a'ight? I'm gonna try to get some sleep now, but I just wanted to check back in with you."

"Well, that was thoughtful of you." I wanted to add how long I'd waited for her to check in but decided against it. "Sleep well Brooke."

"A'ight, you too if you can actually get some sleep tonight, you animals." Her quirky comment assured me a bit that she was all right while it also sent a wave of embarrassment over me as well. "Peace."

"Later."

Hanging up, I placed the phone back on the coffee table and returned back into Grissom's arms. I could definitely get used to that feeling, I surmised, as I stared up at as I felt his eyes down on me.

"Well, now that she's called, it's time for you to keep to your end of the bargain." Grissom said with one of those half smiles as he removed himself from my seat and went off for the kitchen once more.

"Hey! No fair! I was just getting comfortable." I pointed out with a mock-pout, subconsciously amazed that in not even one day of being in an unofficial relationship with him, the comfortability around him matched a married couple.

Brooke's POV:

"Sleep, huh? Don't know how you'll be able to sleep with those wounds on your back, B." Taj said as he pulled into Jen's drive way, already seeing me wincing in pain with every slight move I made.

"I'll survive." I remarked as I began to attempt and open the door to get out. I was in more pain than I thought I was in to begin with.

"Hey, hey... Don't try to be doing too many things by yourself here. Why do you think I'm here?" Taj asked as he got out of the car and came around to the passenger side.

"Well normally, it's just to sit there looking naturally stupid, but right now it's to drive me back home and look naturally stupid." I said sarcastically and with a slight bitterness as I rejected his try at helping me out of the car – only putting me in more pain I found out.

"C'mon, stop being so stubborn. I'm only trying to help." Taj said with a hint of hurt in his voice. "I thought we were friends."

And though I'd never show it, that comment hurt.

There wasn't an inch on my body that didn't hurt as I hoisted myself out of the car. My torso and face burned from the welts that were becoming more irritated the more contact they had with other objects such as the car seat I was just in. From the numerous times I'd gotten kneed or sucker punched in the stomach, I found it close to impossible to hold what food I had in my stomach. The fact that I kept tasting the strong coppery flavor of my own blood in my mouth didn't help my stomach problem, and though I'd had my share of busted lips in my lifetime, this one still hurt like all the rest. And where I'd just began to recover from my black eye from several days ago, another one took it's place now, though not nearly as swollen or bruised as the one before it had been.

"I can handle myself, Taj, I don't need help." I said as I tried to regain my balance.

C'mon, just one adrenaline rush to get me into the house. That's all I need. I thought to myself as I began to stumble toward the house with difficulty even when I was using the car as a wall to guide me.

"Then what did you call me for at one... two in the morning, if you didn't need help? When you needed a ride? You're trying to tell me that wasn't help?" Taj asked in disbelief, taking small steps to match my stumbling pace I was going at.

"Exactly." My hesitation in answering is what showed that I knew he was right.

"Bullshit Brooke. Bullshit." He called bluff on me, stepping in front of my path.

Wincing from the pain again, I tried to hide that face and push past him. "Will you get outta my way!"

"No." He simply put it as he maneuvered himself under my arm and wrapped his arm around my waist. And though I resisted against his help, to neither of our surprise, I eventually gave up knowing that I was too weak to fight back right now.

The door opened wide when Taj had gotten me less then two feet from it, a worried but unharmed Jen standing behind it with her hand now over her mouth in shock from my appearance as Taj continued to drag me in. I heard her feeble attempts to speak up as Taj led me toward my bedroom, but she forfeited the thought as she went to the kitchen to fetch a damp washcloth no doubt.

Kicking the door open, Taj helped me as far as the bed and gently placed me down on it – slightly propped up against the wall on the other side of my bed. Not a word passed between us either before or after Jen had entered and left, simply coming in to clean up my face and giving me a pack of ice for my eye. Taj had busied himself to look at my new additions on the walls with my posters of 2pac and the like.

"Taj... I..." I began to speak up, but just then, a tired-eyed Roxas came stumbling in with his favorite blanket Taj had gotten him when he was born and rubbing the sleep in his beautiful blue eyes away.

"Mama? You a'ight?" He asked as he began his journey from the threshold to my lap.

"Yeah baby. 'Course I'm fine. I just got a little roughed up tonight, that's all." I replied, carefully taking my child into my arms, wary not to disturb any of the wounds that covered my body. "Taj came to the rescue though, so I'll be fine."

Lifting his head from being buried into my shoulders, Roxas casted a glance up at Taj who had turned and was now leaning against the wall, observing us. "Tank you, Taj."

A small smile came across Taj's lips just then as he moved from the wall to the bed, sitting next to me to ruffle Roxas's fluffy chestnut hair. "Anytime kiddo."

Within moments, Roxas had fallen asleep upon switching from my arms to Taj's. Seeing him cradling my son like he was, concentrating solely on him only, I began to feel a hope I hadn't felt in a long time. It was foolish for me to feel it, but I didn't exactly shun it at this point either.

"Brooke?"

Glancing up from my folded hands to my door, I saw Jen standing there now. "Yeah, what's up?"

Entering and sitting on the opposite side of me, Jen took in my appearance once more. "What in the Hell happened to you?"

"Nothing. Just took on a fight I couldn't handle, that's all." I brushed it aside quickly, not wanting to talk about it.

"What kind of fight are we talking about here, Brooke? These are welts, not slices." Said the younger woman as she took in the tears across my torso. "And I can only think of one thing that would leave a welt behind."

"Like I said, it was a fight I couldn't handle. All I need is a night to recover and a bath and I'll be back on my feet again." I insisted, reassuring both her and myself. "C'mon, you've seen me come back in worse shape than this, and I've been back on my feet in less than a day."

"You're crazy, Brooke. You both are. Eventually, you're gonna get yourself killed." Jen remarked as she got up from the bed and made her way back to the door. "And you're gonna leave behind a lot."

"Jen... No one's gonna die, so please... Don't over dramatize this situation this time." I said with an exhausted sigh as I rubbed my forehead with a headache that added itself onto my "pain pile". "You know I hate it when you do that."

Without another word, Jen exited my room, silently shutting the door behind her. Outside in the hall, I heard the whisper of Alex and Kylie asking about me, and then Jen replying that I would see them in the morning after I'd rested. Turning to glance as Roxas who was snoring lightly, I leaned forward just enough to plant a light kiss on his forehead after brushing the soft bangs away from his forehead.

"Do you want me to go put him back in the children's room, or do you wanna keep him in here tonight?" Taj whispered to me as he readjusted Roxas against his shoulder now.

"Keep him in here tonight, please." I replied, placing the ice pack on the broken down nightstand beside my bed and gently patting at the open flesh wounds with the wet cloth, hissing on contact. I just didn't have the energy to get a bath.

But even the welts on my front were nothing compared to the ones on my back, when I compared the pain between the two. Unshed tears had formed in my eyes from just patting down my front, I regretted to think about how unbearable the pain would be for my backside. And yet I knew that the dirt would aggravate it more than the washcloth would.

"Taj? Could you just get my back for me?" I requested, handing the bloody washcloth over to him.

As gently as he possibly could, Taj dabbed the cloth against the large welts on my back. Each touch brought both a fresh wave of searing hot pain as well as a shiver of something I couldn't identify. Mainly, I ignored that incessant shiver, which only left me to bear the shots of pain that ran through my body with every touch. I bit back screams of excruciating agony as tears built up and spilled onto my bed.

Almost three years without crying, and this broke it. A little welt across the back. I scolded myself as I felt more tears streak down my face.

"Are... are you crying?" Taj's voice inquired from behind me as his patting ceased for a moment.

"No. I'm fine." I said in a sharp tone, holding back a violent hiss of pain. "Thank you for that."

Standing up and tossing the clothe on the nightstand next to the ice pack, Taj handed Roxas into my arms as he returned to his inspection of my posters, though not as actively as he had before. It was only a matter of minutes filled with silence and a definite awkwardness before Taj spoke up.

"Right..." Taj dragged out the word, showing his discomfort. "I guess I'll be going now then..."

"Please don't." I quickly requested, quicker than my ability to understand what I'd requested. "Unless you have something else that needs your attention."

"No... No, no, no. I don't have much beside a bed waiting on me." Taj scratched the back of his head with a shrug. "Why, though?"

Yeah... Why Brooke? My conscience repeated with a sneer.

But in all honesty, why did I want him to stay? From the hopeful glint in his ocean blue eyes, like Hell it had to be for the reasons I suspected he had in mind. No, it was for the only logical reason of them all.

"Do you really think I can take Eric on in this condition? He's stronger than I give him credit for and I wanna make sure he'll get his ass kicked properly if he tries to fuck with Jen or the kids. You're th only person I trust that much."

With a short laugh and nod of his head, Taj assured his stay. But now, shockingly to my disappointment, that particular look in his eye was gone now and I missed it to a small extent. The good thing was that Taj didn't notice and he insisted I try to sleep. And as if it wasn't pitiful enough, Taj needed to help me lay down on the bed. From there, he sat down in line with my stomach as I encircled the slumbering Roxas in my arms. Taj took a very brave move as he reached for my languid hand, entwining our fingers without hesitance.

Oh no... Not again.

Yanking away my captured hand as fast as I could without inflicting pain or disturbing Roxas, I shot him a very disapproved and scolding glare.

"Taj, don't push it."

And as I watched an emotionally hurt and rejected Taj stand, mumble that he'd sleep on the couch, and leave – shutting the door behind him – I couldn't seem to recall a time were I'd felt quite so miserable as I did now.

TBC...

A/N2: There you go! Updated, and I already have part of the next chapter written. I suppose I'll see y'all then. Peace!

Peace out, one love,
MC New York