I was inspired to write this while watching Flashpoint, and I thought, "what if Kim was a cop?". I thought she would be an interesting addition to Horatio's team and I can picture her and Calleigh getting along well, almost like sisters and Alexx being like a surrogate mother to her (and H being a surrogate father figure).
Summary: It's been eight years since Kimberly moved to Florida. She works at the Miami-Dade Police Department and is a devoted mother to her 7-year-old daughter, but beneath the surface lies a dark secret. When a killer targets young gymnasts, Kim must confront her past and put it behind her. Crossover with CSI: Miami. Kim/Tommy, Calleigh/Eric, some Trini/Jason, and other pairings.
Skeletons
Chapter 1:
~ September 2003 ~
Kimberly Hart sat at the kitchen table, looking out the window and feeling the humid Miami air caress her skin as she stirred some sugar and milk into her coffee like she usually did before work. Beside her, her young daughter cut into a stack of blueberry pancakes, which she had just learned to cook, and beamed proudly as she took a big bite.
Kim turned and smiled at her daughter, impressed by her newfound skill, and took a bite of her own. Hannah was a bright, happy child and despite becoming a mother so young, Kim wouldn't trade her little girl for anything. She was just seventeen and had been preparing for the Pan Global Games when she became pregnant. Her mother and Coach Schmidt had been supportive of her decision to keep the baby and on September 27, 1996, little Hannah Evelyn Hart was born, her middle name after Kim's maternal grandmother. It had been a long, difficult labor and delivery. Her mom had held her hand, coached, and tried to comfort her through it all.
When Hannah finally arrived, Kim felt overwhelmed with love for her tiny daughter. Tears streamed down her face as she held her for the first time.
She gave up her gymnastics training to raise her daughter, though she continued her education. She graduated from high school with honors and earned bachelor's degrees in Forensics and Psychology from the University of Miami. To pay the bills and support Hannah, she joined the Miami-Dade Police Department and worked as a patrol cop, then after graduation, her mentor Lieutenant Horatio Caine offered her a position on his CSI team, which she happily accepted.
Hannah was now almost seven years old and had her mother's shoulder length caramel-colored hair and brown eyes. She loved gymnastics like her mother, but her real passion was dance. She had just started first grade and was a straight-A student who had many friends.
"Mom, can I invite Aunt Trini and Uncle Jason to my party?" Hannah asked, excited for her upcoming birthday, which was a couple weeks away.
"Sure, kiddo." Kim replied and ruffled her daughter's hair.
"What about Tommy, and your other friends? Can they come too?" Kim felt a pang in her heart at the mention of Tommy. Though she spoke with Trini and Jason by phone and instant messenger often and they visited a few times a year, she hadn't seen or heard from the others since shortly after the Miuranthias incident.
She still regretted breaking up with Tommy, but at the time, she'd convinced herself that it was the right thing to do. It hurt her deeply to look at him at the martial arts tournament. A lump formed in her throat. She wanted to tell him the truth about the letter, but couldn't bring herself to do it. What she'd reveal to him would emotionally kill him, she thought and she gradually lost touch with him and everyone else. She wiped away a tear at the memories, then cleared her throat before answering her daughter's question.
"We haven't talked in a while, sweetie. I don't even think I have their current addresses."
"Ask Aunt Trini or Uncle Jason!" Hannah urged as Kim went to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
"Maybe. I'll think about it. Now it's time for school!" The little girl grinned as she hugged her mother and grabbed her backpack from the island. Kim chuckled and handed her a pink Power Rangers lunch box decorated with animal stickers as they left their apartment.
"Morning, Miss Dori!" Hannah greeted as they passed by their next door neighbor's apartment.
"Good morning, Hannah. You too, Kimberly."
"Same to you." Kim replied.
The elderly woman smiled warmly as her fat white cat Hercules sneaked out behind her and rubbed its head against the girl's legs. Hannah knelt down and scooped him up. "Hi Herc!" she cooed as she cuddled the cat close to her chest.
Dori chuckled. "That cat loves you more than his own mama," she said, patting Hercules' head. "You better be careful, Hannah, he might follow you home one day and stay there!" She joked.
Hannah laughed. "I wouldn't mind that. I love Hercules too."
"Well, you can come visit him anytime as long as your mom says it's okay. And maybe I'll make more of those kourabiedes for you girls next time," Dori offered. Kim and Hannah enjoyed her recipes, which were passed down by her family, especially their favorite Greek almond butter cookies covered in powdered sugar.
"That would be great, thank you!" Kim said with a grin. She smiled and scratched Hercules behind his ears and under his chin. "Aren't you a pretty kitty?" she told him, earning a meow in response.
Isadora Konstantinou, known to friends and family as Dori, was a Greek Cypriot woman in her late seventies, about 5'4" tall and slightly overweight but otherwise healthy with long gray hair in a braid, blue eyes, and olive skin, who had emigrated to the United States over fifty years earlier. When Kim and Hannah moved into the building, she welcomed them and treated them like her own family. Her husband had died three years ago and her children were married and lived all over Florida. She regularly looked after Hannah after school until Kim came home from work and cooked dinner for them, never expecting anything in return, though Kim insisted on paying her. Her cat never shied away from people and immediately took a liking to the young mother and daughter.
"Say goodbye to Miss Dori and the cat now, Hannah. We're gonna be late."
"Okay, Mom."
Hannah set Hercules back on the ground, waved goodbye to Dori, and took her mother's hand and they walked to the elevator and out to Kim's car. Kim dropped Hannah off at school and went to work.
As a CSI with the Miami-Dade Police Department, Kim was used to handling some of the worst crime scenes, but today's case was particularly gruesome. A petite young blonde woman had been found dead in her home, the victim of a brutal murder. She was identified by a neighbor as Maren Sullivan, age twenty-one.
Kim carefully examined the scene and documented and gathered evidence, trying to piece together what had happened. She couldn't help but think of Hannah and how she would never want her to be a victim of such violence.
"Do we have a cause of death, Alexx?" She asked the Medical Examiner, who looked up from the woman's body and spoke with a motherly tone.
"I'll take her back to the morgue for a full autopsy, but from what I can see here, it looks like she was strangled."
Kim glanced at the young woman, noticing something unusual about the position of her clothes. "Her clothes are crooked. Looks like a redress." She knew that killers often redressed their victims to throw off suspicion or to satisfy their own twisted motives.
As they continued to work the scene, Kim couldn't help but feel a sense of dread and sadness. This young woman, with her whole life ahead of her, had been ruthlessly taken away. She made a vow to herself to do everything in her power to bring her killer to justice and bring closure to Maren's family.
Do you think she was sexually assaulted?"
"Seems that way. I'll do a kit to confirm it. Either way, poor baby didn't go down without a fight."
Kim felt waves of nausea and sadness wash over her. Her heart sank at the thought of the young woman fighting for her life before being killed.
She couldn't help but think about Maren's family and loved ones. This wasn't just a case to solve, it was a tragedy that had shattered people's lives.
Kimberly walked to the Medical Examiner building and entered the morgue where Alexx was conducting the autopsy.
"Any updates, Alexx?" Kim asked, trying to keep her emotions in check.
"Yes, she died of manual strangulation. I found bruising consistent with someone's hands wrapped around her neck and what looks to be marks from some kind of glove. She died a very prolonged, agonizing death." Alexx replied, her voice heavy with anger and sadness.
"Any physical findings?"
"Yeah, there's vaginal tearing. The creep raped her before he squeezed the life out of her. No evidence of semen. He must have used a condom."
Kim suddenly ran over to the sink and vomited.
Alexx quickly went over to her and held her hair back, knowing how difficult it was to handle such a gruesome murder.
"It's okay, Kim. Take a moment to compose yourself," Alexx said soothingly.
"I'm sorry," Kim said, wiping her mouth with a tissue. "Sometimes it just hits me harder than I expect."
"It's understandable. This is a heinous crime, and Maren deserved better," Alexx said, patting Kim's back gently.
Kim took a deep breath and straightened herself up. "Let's get back to work. We have a killer to catch," she said, her determination once again taking over.
Alexx nodded in agreement, and they went back to examining the evidence and gathering all the information they could about the case. They both knew that justice needed to be served for Maren, and that meant finding the killer and bringing them to justice.
"It's just heartbreaking to see something like this happen to a young girl who had so much life ahead of her."
Kim nodded in agreement, feeling the same emotions that Alexx was experiencing."We need to find a suspect, before they do this to someone else," she said with determination.
They continued examining the body and gathering evidence, hoping to find anything that could lead them to the killer. After several hours of work, they finally had some concrete evidence in the form of DNA samples that could potentially lead them to the suspect.
Kim knew that this would be a long and challenging investigation, but she was determined to see it through. She couldn't let this senseless act of violence go unpunished. Maren, and all the victims like her, deserved justice.
Kim left the morgue to return to the lab and start analyzing the evidence she had collected. As she sat at her desk, going over her notes and running trace on a substance Alexx had collected from the victim's clothes, she thought about Tommy again and wondered what he was doing. She had always wondered if they would reconnect one day, but it seemed unlikely now.
Just then, her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. It was Trini. They talked for a while, catching up on each other's lives, and Kim mentioned Hannah's upcoming birthday party.
"Of course we'll come," Trini said. "And I'll make sure Tommy gets the message."
Kim's heart skipped a beat. "Tommy's coming?"
Trini hesitated for a moment. "I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best to get him there."
Kim felt a surge of hope. Maybe this was the chance they needed to reconnect and make things right. She thanked Trini and hung up.
As she resumed her work, she couldn't shake the feeling of anticipation and nerves that filled her. She wanted to see Tommy again, to tell him the truth about the letter and apologize for pushing him away. She hoped that they could have a chance to rebuild their friendship and maybe even something more. The voice of one of her colleagues suddenly snapped her back to reality.
"Kim, are you okay?" She asked in her Southern accent with a soft, concerned tone.
Kim shook her head, realizing she had been lost in her thoughts for too long. "Oh, hey, Calleigh. Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about the case."
Calleigh raised an eyebrow. "You seemed to be thinking pretty deeply. Everything okay?"
Kim took a deep breath. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just a lot on my mind."
Calleigh nodded understandingly. "Well, just remember, we're all here for you if you need anything."
Kim smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Calleigh. I appreciate it."
"No problem! Oh, here!"" Calleigh handed her a folder. "Speedle just ran tox on Maren's blood. You may want to take a look at it."
Kim took the folder and read over the tox results. Her stomach churned uncomfortably. "She tested positive for high levels of folic acid."
Calleigh frowned. "That's odd. Folic acid is a vitamin that's good for you. Why would she have such high levels? Unless..." Calleigh didn't want to believe it.
Kim rubbed her temples in disbelief. "She was pregnant."
Calleigh's eyes widened. "Oh wow. That changes things."
Kim nodded. "It does. We need to find out who the father is and see if he has any motive for killing her."
Calleigh took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Horatio, we may have something."