A/N: We hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

I don't own CSI. Some inspiration and dialogue are taken from episode 409, "Coming of Rage."

December 2015

"I'm not going to yell at you."

Jake looks at Sara in surprise. Upon their arrival home from school, Grissom sent Anna on a cockroach-feeding task. Once she was occupied, he and Sara took Jake into the kitchen, where the three of them sat down together at the table.

"You're not?" he asks.

Sara shakes her head. "I don't know why you go into this particular fight. But, I do know that it can be difficult to adapt to a new school – three schools in one year is even harder. And, I know that sometimes it can be hard to think of the consequences of your actions."

"I don't care if they suspend me!" The words burst from him before he could stop them. "I don't care if they expel me! I don't care about that dumb ass school, or about those dumb ass kids!"

"Well, I care," Sara says.

"We both do," Grissom amends. "We care about you, Jake. Part of that is wanting the very best for you. And, this school –"

"Is the best," Jake interrupts without feeling. "So I've heard."

"Okay," Sara says, her patience starting to falter, "here's how this is going to go. You're not getting out of going to that school. So, you can either make the best of it, or force yourself into staying here in the house because you're suspended. And, believe me, we've got plenty of work around the house you can do during your suspensions."

"That's child labor!" Jake exclaims. "You can't make me work."

"We're well aware that we can't make anyone do anything," Grissom says. "But, don't forget, we've both worked in law enforcement. This is an example of a time we're going to enforce the rules. If you break them, there are consequences."

Jake slumps down in his chair. "This is a bunch of bullshit."

"Okay, rule number one," Sara says. "We don't tolerate that kind of language in our house – or, from our family. I don't want Anna to hear words like that at home, and, well …" She shrugs. "It makes you sound stupid."

Jake stares at her.

"It does," she says. "Like you can't come up with a better word to say."

"Whatever," Jake mutters.

"Rule number two," Grissom says, glancing at Sara. "You will show respect for adults – that includes me, Sara, and your teachers."

"I didn't get suspended for beating up a teacher," Jake says.

"Agreed," Grissom says. "But, when you chose to fight at school, you chose to break the rules the school had set for you – which is a manner of showing disrespect for the teachers and administrators who created them."

Jake looks at them. "So, basically, anything that I could potentially do wrong in the future is covered by rule number two?"

"Pretty much."

He sighs. "This is –"

Sara raises an eyebrow.

"Ridiculous," he finishes.

"You've been handed a raw deal," Sara says. "We get that. We're not here to make your life worse, okay? Just control your temper when you're in school, and you'll be fine."

This time, Jake raises an eyebrow.

"That's your immediate goal," Sara says. "After you can achieve that … we'll see where to go next."

December 2003

"Doc Robbins says the victim was paralyzed within the first few hits," Grissom announced as he walked into the break room, where Warrick and Sara were waiting for him. "One of the hammer blows severed his spine."

"There were way more than a few hits on that kid," Warrick said. "Why keep hitting him once he was immobilized?"

"Well, our assailant didn't just keep hitting him after he was immobilized. He kept hitting him after he was dead," Grissom said. "Autopsy revealed multiple post-mortem bruises."

Sara shook her head. "Why keep hitting him after he was dead?"

Grissom shrugged. "You're Gregory Curtwell. You just saw this kid attacking your sister. Would you have enough rage to keep hitting him after he was dead?"

Sara considered the question. "Maybe."

Warrick shook his head. "I'd want to make sure my sister was all right."

"She told me she ran as soon as her defender starting hitting Brian," Sara said.

"Exactly," Warrick said. "If I knew that my sister had just been attacked and started running, I'd try to find her as soon as I knew the kid wasn't going after her again."

"Which would have been the point when he was paralyzed," Grissom said.

"Well, Sanders said the DNA from Brian's knuckles wasn't Gregory's or Ashley's," Warrick said. "So, Gregory could have had a helper. Maybe he did run after Ashley, but his accomplice stayed to … keep hitting Brian?"

"Okay," Grissom said with a nod. "We're looking for another suspect."

Sara looked between them, silently agreeing with their points. "Can we go back to the crime scene? Maybe there's evidence of another attacker that we missed the first time."

Grissom nodded. "Get your kits."

December 2015

"You look terrible. Are you okay?"

Sara gives Hodges a look that tells him to back off. He falls silent and buries his head it the report in his hands.

"Hey," Sara says as she walks into the layout room. "Your text said you found something?"

"Yeah, I …" Nick's voice trails off as he looks up at her. "Are you feeling all right, Sar?"

"Do I really look that bad?" she asks. "Hodges just told me I look terrible."

"You look a little pale," Nick replies.

She yawns. "I'm tired, I guess. This having two kids thing is getting to me."

Nick smiles. "You'll get used to it."

"I hope so."

"How are things going with Jake?"

"His suspension ends tomorrow," Sara says. "Finally. It's been harder on me than on him – I have to be awake during the day while he's home. I don't get to sleep until Grissom gets home from school."

"No wonder you're tired."

"Yeah, you're right." She sighs. "So, what did you find?"

"Well, I was going back over the clothes …" Nick pulls a blood-spattered shirt out of the evidence box on the table. "Do you see the void here? I'm trying to find a way to explain it other than …"

Nick keeps talking, but Sara barely hears him. The smell of the shirt is no stronger than any other bloody shirt she has processed, but, for some reason, it turns her stomach. She looks from the shirt to Nick with wild eyes.

"Hey," he interrupts his own explanation, "are you all right?"

"I … don't know," Sara admits. "I feel … I'm going to go sit down for a minute, okay? I'll be right back."

"Take your time," Nick says, looking at her with concern. "If you want me to call Grissom to pick you up, I will."

"No, don't do that," Sara says as she leaves the room. "I'll be fine."

December 2003

The house was still and quiet when they arrived – much like it must have been when Ashley first happened upon Brian. Sara shivered at the thought. The poor girl … At least she had been spared the brutality of a rape. Sara only wished that Brian had been simply stopped rather than killed.

"Okay," Grissom said. "What does the blood tell us?"

Sara smirked. These were the times that her physics degree got to shine. She began taking measurements.

"Seventy-two degree impact angle puts Brian here for the initial blows," she said, stepping into place. In her mind's eye, she saw him being hit with a hammer as he shoved Ashley against a wall.

She read the measurements for a blood drop to Warrick, who fed them into his computer and gave her the next angle.

"So, Brian was crawling," she said.

"That must be where his neck was exposed," Warrick said.

"He ended up here on the floor with his spinal cord severed," Grissom said, crouching down next to the blood pool.

"Well, if he was laying down, this looks too high to be spatter," Warrick said, indicating blood on the wall. "Must be cast-off."

"On three walls," Sara said, her eyes traveling around the room. "Assailants tend to move only in reaction to the target; Brian was stationary. Why would the attacker keep moving? It doesn't make sense."

"It does if there were three hammers and three attackers," Grissom said.

Sara turned to him with a frown. "Ashley said one person saved her."

"I know what she told you," Grissom said. "But, the evidence is telling us a different story."

"Maybe …" Sara trailed off.

"Maybe she made the whole thing up," Warrick said.

"You saw her, Warrick. You saw how shaken up she was."

"I also thought she was covering for someone right from the beginning," he said. "So did Brass. We thought it was her brother, but, maybe it was someone else."

"More than one someone," Grissom said. "Maybe her brother and someone else."

Sara shook her head. "I just can't …"

"People lie, Sara. You know that."

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I do."

"All right," Grissom said. "We've got something new to work with. Let's go back over all the evidence we have. We've got to come up with a new suspect."

December 2015

"Hey," Sara says as she slides onto the chair across from Catherine. "Sorry I'm late."

"Not a problem," Catherine says. "You're hardly late at all. I've only had time to order coffee." She smiles. "I'm excited you found time to have breakfast with me at all, now that you're a mother of two."

Sara smiles. "That's part of why I wanted to talk to you."

Their waitress appears to take their order. Once they've placed it, Catherine turns to Sara with her eyebrows raised in a question.

"What's up, Sara?"

"I don't know what to do with a teenager," Sara blurts out. She blushes. "I was so confident about it – I convinced Grissom we could do it – and now …" She shakes her head. "I had no idea what I was getting into with this."

Catherine looks thoughtful as she takes a sip of her coffee. "Tell me about him."

"He's … quiet," Sara says. "Withdrawn. That much I expected after all that he's been through."

Catherine nods.

"We're sending him to Anna's school."

Catherine nods again. Lindsey attended the school as well; Catherine recommended it to Sara and Grissom during their school search.

"He's less than thrilled with going there," Sara says. "He's got this thing about private schools."

"Linds was the same way," Catherine says. "She didn't start there until middle school, you know. She didn't want to leave her friends or her old school, but …" She shrugs. "She got over it. Jake will, too."

"He doesn't want to befriend anyone," Sara says. "He has this serious prejudice against 'rich kids.'"

"Not all the kids are rich there," Catherine says fairly.

"I know that. But, to him, private school equal rich parents."

Catherine nods. "He'll get over it," she says again.

"He got into a fight on his second day."

"Ouch," Catherine says, making a face. "Suspension?"

"Three days."

"I'll bet that was fun for you and Grissom."

"I'm still tired," Sara admits.

Catherine smiles.

"I forced him into a lot of cleaning projects while he was home," she says. "And, I made it clear that no matter what he does, I'm not taking him out of the school – so, basically, he can quit trying so hard."

"What other rules have you laid down for him?"

"No language in the house, and respect for elders."

"No curfew?"

Sara shrugs. "Why bother? He doesn't go out."

"Okay. Save it for when it comes up, I guess."

"I'm treating him the way I treat Anna, for the most part," Sara says. "Homework as soon as he gets home from school, dinner as a family …" She shakes her head. "I just … I don't know what to do, Cath."

"Sara, you're doing fine," Catherine says. "You've only had him a week, and you already get him. Some parents live with their kids for twenty years without being able to say that."

"Oh," Sara says, brightening slightly.

"You just have to keep on him," Catherine says. "Make sure he's toeing the line. Follow up with his teachers to see how his grades are. Talk to him about the kids at school – as much as he's willing to talk to you. If he knows you're going to keep an eye on what he's doing, he'll make sure he does what you ask."

"Why, though?"

Catherine smiles. "He'll want to please you."

Sara has a sudden vision of herself as a pre-teen and teenager. Catherine is right. All she wanted was to please the adults in her life – whether it was her parents, a foster parent or her teachers.

"Yeah," she says slowly. "You're right."

Their waitress returns with steaming plates. She puts Catherine's omelet and Sara's pancakes down in front of them.

"Is there anything else you ladies need right now?"

"Not me," Catherine says. "Sara?"

Sara shakes her head, staring at her pancakes with distaste. "Nope."

"Okay, then."

The waitress disappears, and Catherine looks at Sara.

"Are you okay?"

Sara pushes the plate away. "I can't eat this."

"You are the thinnest person I know," Catherine says. "You can afford to eat it."

"I don't mean that," Sara says. "I mean, just looking at them is making me sick."

Catherine frowns. "Are you coming down with something?"

"I hope not," Sara says. "I thought I was just tired from being up with Jake the past few days – I've been staying up until Grissom gets home so he's not alone in the house."

"Well, that's not much different than working a double."

Sara frowns. "You're right."

"Is this the first time you've felt sick today?"

"No, I was nauseous when Nick pulled out a bloody shirt from evidence. The smell …"

Catherine smiles sympathetically. "Yeah, some of those can be pretty bad."

Sara nods. "I hate to say this, but … do you think I'm just getting old? That I can't keep up anymore? God, Grissom will never let me hear the end of it … he was pulling double and triples when he was ten years older than I am now."

"Sara," Catherine says when she finally pauses for breath. "I don't think you're old."

"Well, that's a relief."

"But …" She smiles. "Do you think you could be pregnant?"

December 2003

Warrick traced a bloody shoe print he had found at the crime scene to Benny, another teenager who attended the same school as Ashley and Brian. While searching his house, Warrick discovered his party room – home to a CD collection, a new game system, smashed watermelon and a hammer.

After combing through the things Warrick brought back from Benny's house, he and Sara connected two more students to Brian's death – brothers Aaron and Jared. Aaron had a hammer. Jared, the younger brother, wore braces, which had trapped Brian's DNA when he had punched him in self-defense.

None of the boys would talk. Benny went so far as to tell Brass that jail sounded just fine to him. While Aaron and Jared did not go that far, it was obvious that they had entered into a very serious pact to protect one another.

Grissom called the team into the break room. He sat at the table with Sara, Warrick and Brass. Case notes and evidence littered the table, but none of it was helping them make sense of what had happened.

"Okay," Grissom said. "We need to go over this step by step."

"Suspects," Brass said. "Benny, Aaron, Jared and Gregory."

"Gregory?" Sara said. "I thought DNA excluded him."

"It only excluded him from being punched by Brian," Grissom said. "His hammer still has Brian's blood on it."

"And, in my book, that makes it a murder weapon," Brass said.

"If that's the case … We have a problem," Sara said. We have three hammers and four suspects."

"Well, the Gilbert brothers both seem ready to go down for it," Warrick said, referring to Aaron and Jared.

"And, Benny can't wait to go to jail," Brass said.

Sara shook her head slightly. "If they were defending Ashley against an attacker, why not say so?"

"They weren't," Grissom said. "The smashed watermelon suggests the whole thing was premeditated."

"Making the motive … robbery," Sara said.

"Well, Benny, Aaron and Jared each had about a hundred twenty-five dollars worth of cash and assorted prizes," Brass said.

"Three hundred seventy-five dollars," Grissom said, looking at his interview notes. "Brian's parents said that he was being paid five hundred dollars every two weeks, cash, under the table."

"It was pay day," Sara said. "So, who got the other hundred twenty-five dollars?"

"Well, Gregory Curtwell makes good money," Warrick said. "A hundred twenty-five bucks is a spit in the ocean for a construction worker. If he wasn't defending his sister, then he has no motive."

"Well, if he didn't do it, why did his hammer end up with Brian's blood on it?" Brass asked.

Sudden, horrifying realization came over Sara. Ashley went on a shopping spree after Brian was killed …

Grissom watched Sara tear through her case notes. She's on to something … He had to hide his smile. He loved to watch her work. He loved to watch her think.

"Clothing, eighty-five dollars; earrings, thirty dollars; coffee, four dollars." She closed the file and looked up, straight at Grissom. "Getting away with murder?"

"Priceless," he finished.

"She lied to me," Sara said. "She looked right in my face and lied to me."

"Hey, don't take it personally," Warrick said bracingly. "People lie to us all the time."

Sara shook her head, a disgusted look on her face. "Not about things like this."

"Well, let's make sure she's lying." Warrick flipped through his notes. "One of the items recovered from Benny's party room was a tube of lip gloss. Let's test it for DNA. See if it's Ashley's."

"Okay," Brass said. "Call me as soon as you get results, and I'll call her in."

"Jim," Sara said, "I want to interview her."

"You're sure?" Brass asked.

"Oh, yeah," Sara said. "I'm sure."

"Sara!"

Sara stopped to see Mandy running toward her. "What's up?"

"Have you interviewed Ashley Curtwell yet?"

"No, I was just about to go to PD."

"Here," Mandy shoved a file into Sara's hands. "That bloody twenty that you gave me … the bloody prints are Ashley's. I included Greg's report, too – the blood is Brian's."

Fresh anger shot through Sara. "Thanks, Mandy."

Mandy smiled. "That's why I'm here."

Armed with new evidence, Sara went to PD. Brass met her in the hallway.

"She's in there," he said, jerking his thumb toward the interrogation room behind him. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No," Sara said. "I want to do this alone."

Brass nodded. "I'll be watching."

Sara nodded, and brushed past him, into the room. Ashley was sitting alone, still holding her innocent, traumatized expression.

"Hi, Ashley," Sara said as she sat down.

"Hi," Ashley replied in her little, scared voice.

"The hand that holds the wallet is the hand that rules the world, huh, Ashley?" Sara said. She pulled out the pictures of the money that Mandy had given her. "Your fingerprint in Brian's blood on Jared's money. This is what we call 'completing the triangle.'"

"Okay, so, he attacked me and I did see who defended me," Ashley said. "I didn't want to get my friends in trouble. And, the money was for, like, pain and suffering."

"You weren't attacked, Ashley, Brian was," Sara said. "We figured none of the boys wore Cotton Candy, so we had it tested." She put the bagged lip gloss on the table. "Turns out you were at Benny's house, too."

Ashley made one last attempt at sweetness, stating that her brother went away almost every weekend.

"You know, I am done with the Ashley Pity Party," Sara said.

With those words, Ashley's entire attitude changed. She dropped her victim routine, and the entire story came tumbling out. She had been Brian's friend until he "went straight." Hurt that he no longer wanted to hang out with them, she and her friends devised a plan to get him into the house and to kill him, robbing him of his earnings.

"You're not a victim," Sara said, pain shooting through her as she thought of poor Susanna Kirkwood – of her haunted eyes as she sat in the back of Sara's SUV, begging for a ride to the hospital. "You were a lure."

Ashley held her eyes defiantly – almost proudly.

"Do you know how many people don't report a rape because they're afraid no one will believe them?" Sara asked. Susanna didn't even tell me the truth – she made me think she was date-raped at a party …

"Of course," Ashley said. "It's what I was counting on."

Disgust filled Sara. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you're tried as an adult."

"Good luck," Ashley said. "I dress up real nice. Couple barrettes, little lace collar, two dead parents … I'll be the saddest little girl in the world."

Sara suddenly felt nauseous. She got up and walked out of the room without another word.

Brass met her in the hallway. "Well, if she's going for an insanity plea, she just got a good start on it. That girl has lost her mind."

"She also gave a lot away," Sara said. "We can hand that to the DA and watch her try to pull one over on the jury."

"Yeah," Brass agreed. "Hey, are you okay? You look a little shaky."

"I'll be fine," Sara said. "I'm going to get back to the lab. I want to tell Warrick and Grissom what happened in the interview."

Brass nodded. "Okay. I'll see you later."

Grissom and Warrick were waiting in Grissom's office when Sara arrived at the lab. She sat down next to Warrick.

"Ashley was a lure," she said. "She got Brian into the house by coming on to him. She and the boys put together the entire murder plan. She took Gregory's hammer because the brothers Gilbert only had one between the two of them." She shook her head. "She lied to me. She told me Brian tried to rape her." Tears pressed against the backs of her eyes. "She knew how many rapes go unreported because the victims fear no one will believe them. She knew it would make her seem all the more credible."

"Sara, you were just doing your job," Grissom said.

She shook her head again. "I was duped by a high schooler, Grissom. She's just some little kid, and she made me believe something that was completely made up!"

"And, as soon as you had evidence that didn't support it, you stopped believing her," Grissom said. "I'll say it again, Sara: You did your job. You did it very well."

Sara managed a small smile. "Thanks."

"Come on, girl," Warrick said, standing up. "Let's go get a drink. I think you need one."

"But, the reports –"

"I'll take care of it," Grissom said. "You guys go. Shift ended three hours ago, anyway."

Sara nodded and got up with Warrick. A drink with her friends was exactly what she needed.

Grissom watched her go with a sense of sorrow. He so wanted to be the one taking her out and cheering her up. He wanted to be in Warrick's place so badly …

No. I don't want to be in Warrick's place. Warrick is just her friend. I want …

He shook his head. He wouldn't let himself go down that road, even in his thoughts.

We tried. It didn't work. Wanting it to work wasn't enough, and there is nothing you can do to change that.

December 2015

Sara emerges from Catherine's bathroom with a stunned look on her face.

"Well?" Catherine demands.

Sara stares at her in shock. "I'm pregnant."