DISCLAIMER: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and other related entities are owned, trademarked, and copyrighted by Anthony E. Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer Television, CBS Worldwide Inc., Alliance Atlantis Corporation, CSI Productions and CBS Productions. This is fanfiction and is written purely for the fun and enjoyment of the fans without profits being made what so ever.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This idea came after watching "You've Got Male" and the phone call Sara made asking the other person on the other end of the line if they wanted to do something. I came up with the someone. I also thought of the hell Catherine was going through in "Outside the Box" about what a lousy way it was to find out Sam Braun was her father.
SPOILERS: Season Two, most specifically "You've Got Male"
THANKS: many, many thanks to Lewis for being my beta.
ARCHIVE: Only with the permission of the author.
6 Degrees
By Elizabeth Carter
Chapter 18
Catherine blinked at the intrusive noise coming from the bedside end table. Looking at the clock radio Catherine noted the time was seventeen minutes past seven in the morning. It was about the time she usually returned home from dropping Lindsey off at school and her head hit the pillow.
"This had better be good." Catherine said into the phone.
"Catherine, it's Jim Brass. We picked up Kingsley and the Coach about four hours ago, partying."
The news made Catherine sit bolt upright in bed "What!" It was not a question, but an exclamation of disbelief. At the noise and jostling Sara turned and rose albeit a bit more slowly. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she stared at Catherine willing an explanation. She watched Catherine cup the phone to her shoulder as if to muffle her speaking to Sara.
"Brass has Kingsley and Coach in holding."
Sara flashed a large grin before she kissed Catherine on the cheek. "That's great."
Catherine flipped the phone back to her ear, this time however she held it between herself and Sara, so the younger woman might hear as well. "When is the interrogation?"
"This afternoon for Kingsley, I want to nab the Coach in an hour or so when his public defender arrives, he demanded a lawyer. I want to see what he turns over, he seemed ready to turn at the bar. He's not going down for his 'star-player'." Brass's voice commented in the same smooth near monotone levels he always spoke in.
"Sara and I will be in shortly."
"Yeah, I tried her number there's no answer and she's not at the lab doing her normal overtime."
"Er...I know how to get a hold of her." Catherine smiled looking at the woman leaning on her. "This is good news, Brass. I am sure Sara will agree."
Of course the large smile on the brunette's face attested to just how pleased Sara was at hearing little Lyeanna's killer was now sitting on ice. Catherine had to reach over Sara's lanky body in order to hang up the receiver, which of course the younger woman took as an opportunity to snatch a lingering kiss. Her tongue sneaked out, licking a line along Catherine's lower lip.
"Couldn't help myself." Sidle excused herself.
"You won't hear me arguing." Catherine answered. "I'll give Nancy a call...."
"You go in first, Cath. I'll stay here with the kiddos. I need a shower and a change of clothes, there's nothing here. Like you said we might have the same build but I am a bit taller I won't fit in your pants unless I want to wear high waisters."
The blonde snickered. She stared in to Sara's dark orbs as it just dawned on her what it was her girlfriend had said. "Wait a minute you...'YOU' are staying behind?"
"If I want to be serious about taking Janet in....I'll stay behind until your sis can get here. You go in so we don't lose anything the perps might say and you can confront them with the evidence we have. Once Nancy gets here I'll take a cab back to my place and change and meet you at the labs as soon as I can."
"I'll call Nancy now, so you can leave ASAP." Catherine was still flabbergasted that Sara was taking a backseat on this considering the passion she had shown for justice during the whole of the case. Still she was making sure CSI had a forensics representative there without compromising time or the case.
Still hovering over Sara, Catherine dialed her sister to explain the situation while Sara busied herself with kissing the eloquent lines of her lover's neck and jaw. This of course left the blonde hard pressed to remain focused without wanting to lavish attention back, she was more than thankful her sister had answered as quickly as she had or Catherine would have forgone the conversation at hand and ravished Sara.
"What do you want?" Lindy said as she plopped herself unceremoniously upon the fine black leather sofa in Sam Braun's office in the Tangiers. Her feet tucked under her she resembled a cat crouching before a mouse hole, ready to pounce or bolt. "You had your boys come pick me up."
"Is it a crime to want to see my daughter?" the sloe eyed man cocked his head to one side watching the young woman. His gravelly voice low and hushed.
Lindy rolled her eyes. " Your accident you mean. Look you rolled in the hay with my mother without a condom and she doesn't do the pill. Why don't you do us both a favor and cut the Daddy Warbucks routine."
The aging man smiled. "You've always had spirit, Kid. You remind me of someone else that has that spirit."
"What another oops?" the voice was contemptuous.
"You were never an 'oops' Lindy, a surprise but not a mistake." Sam Braun never admitted to any mistake, he always had an answer, always a reason. "I cared for your mother."
"So much so she waited for you while you played the field. I can't help but wonder how many half brothers and sisters I have out there." Lindy gave a general wave of her hand, presumably to indicate the world. "Funny thing is the public only knows of your sons, you keep your dyke daughter in the shadows. Think I'd be bad publicity oh King of the Strip?"
The crystal blue eyes darkened, "Lindy why do you hate me? When your mother told me of you Kid, you were never left wanting, and I made sure you had enough to go to college."
"Yeah you gave my mom and me enough money to do anything we wanted but not enough to do nothing, yeah I know. It wasn't your money I wanted, I wanted my mother happy and after you she never was. She went and died still wanting you. I hate you for that, for her broken heart. I made my own way, by the way." The small blonde said proudly. "So what do you want?"
Sam smiled thinking of yet another blonde woman with spirit and fire. From what his sources told him, his unclaimed daughter was friends with Catherine Willows and a younger woman he knew to be CSI named Sara Sidle. Those same sources had told Braun that this Sidle woman had dated Lindy and was now dating Catherine. A woman he had known since she was six months old and was often a visitor in the bed of Catherine's mother. Yet another woman he left wanting and waiting.
Lindy frowned as she saw the sparkle in the man's eyes. "Tell me Pops or I am outta here." The small performance artist leaped up off the sofa and in a bound was close to the door. Her movements again reminded the old Casino Baron of a slender feline or maybe a hyper squirrel.
"A father needs an excuse to see his child?" Braun tried.
"You do." Lindy folded her arms across her chest. "What are you fishing at Pops."
"I want you to take a few days down time from Treasure Island. I want your technical expertise here, I am introducing a few new shows and I want you to direct them. It's a promotion from what you're doing now. You'd have a permanent place in any one of my hotels and an expense account. Think about it Kid."
Lindy frowned. "I am still trying to figure out what your game is......but I'll consider it Pops." In a half reconsidered move, Lindy returned to the tall white haired male's side and kissed his cheek. "Sometimes you do do the decent thing," she smiled and bounded for the door. "I'll think about it, seriously. I promise alright? That's all I promise."
"All I ask." Braun gave a slight tilt to his snowy head. "Lindy is it important that I publicly acknowledge your parentage?"
"I don't need the added headache." Came an honest reply. "I want to get where I get because of my own merits and be known for that but not because of who my daddy is." the small woman flashed a bright smile. "I 'play' a pirate, I don't want people to know I'm the daughter of one."
Sam actually laughed at the comment. "I'm a pirate?"
"All casino owners are pirates." Lindy shrugged. Almost as an after thought she reached up on her tippy toes and kissed the man who would be her father on the cheek. "This isn't a yes, Pops. People who work for you have a nasty habit of finding themselves in trouble."
Catherine Willows entered the interrogation room in the LVPD building a manila folder tucked under her arm. Her blue eyes turned to ice once she set upon the man responsible for little Lyeanna Rush's death. A man who had trained his dog to hunt down and destroy anyone without prejudice that carried a scent of
The young man's eyes didn't lift from the photo of the torn, bloody body of his niece.
"You planned to use the dog to hunt down and attack Professor Stirling. Only there was a small problem, wasn't there?" Brass said. "You didn't account for that little girl to get into the tobacco, get the scent all over her. She probably didn't even know she carried it on her did she? You got your dog hyped on the crack, he what - had to take a dump, you know if he's unleashed the campus security will haul him in if they don't put him down."
Kingsley starred at the pictures.
"Let me lay it out for you." Catherine tag-teamed.
Lyeanna found the stash of Dunbar tobacco and the crack in the drawer. She also found the watch that piped out the tune "Banish Misfortune. " both scent and sound were used to train the rottweiler to attack. The girl took the watch, thinking it was beautiful. She only wanted to play with it along with her doll. Wiping the tobacco dust on her clothes she is unaware of the scent she's leaving behind.
Dunbar is strong and heady, the dust clings to everything. She's alone in loft. No not quite alone. The dog is there. He gains a scent of the tobacco. He starts to growl. The child becomes terrified and rushes for the door of the loft. She knows if she can reach her uncle she might be safe. She knows he spends time at the gym.
Tank growls again. Lyeanna shudders in her fear. She reacts and takes off out the door knowing she's not allowed outside. Tanks terrifies her, the massive dog always had. But uncle always kept him in the bedroom. But now he is attacking the door. His head breaks through. Lyeanna screams and flees still carrying both the watch and her dolly.
She makes it across the lot before she sees the big black shape running for her. Instinct makes her want to get somewhere high and hide. A Christmas tree is perfect for climbing. She doesn't think. The dog is on her now, jumping up and manages to rake his teeth and claws on her little body. Screaming out she kicks at Tank hitting hard against his eyes. Stunning him for long enough for her to climb higher. And she does. Tank is angered now. The watch falls and plays that insidious song "Banish Misfortune." The music does anything but.
The music brings back all the outrages the dog had paid with the cattle prod and the drugs. He goes bezerk and despite all the thorns in the thicket he tries to tear his prey apart. Limbs break and Lyeanna falls, her body like the rag doll she had been carrying tumbles hitting branches weakening them but not breaking the boughs. However her tiny body is not so fortunate. She lands hard in the thicket, stunned and knocked out. So quiet, bleeding she is protected from Tank because of the nest of sharp thorns that had knifed her body into shredded meat. Kingsley sees his dog lathering body he reaches in to the thicket catching his jacket on the thorns and he yanks his dog back. Cursing because he catches his hand on the thorns Kingsley kicks his dog into submission as he pulls it a block and half to his car. He doesn't want to hike the several blocks to his loft. He hasn't completed his business yet.
In the bushes he thinks he hears a mewling sound and thinks that Tank had gone after a cat, rabbit or drunk. Doesn't matter, landscaping will take care of the mutilated cat, not his problem. Again he thinks he hears his name, but shrugs it off.
A whole body, a tiny little body, Lyeanna Rush's body. She was dying. Her tiny body mauled by the dog and thorns, broken from the fall. But she isn't fully dead, the girl staggers to her feet, stumbling as she falls to her knees again. Alone and hurt she manages to spot something familiar. Tripping over her feet she finds herself in the parking lot where she stumbles again this time using a black hummer to keep her balance. She's not going for the Professor's Liberal Arts Building but for her uncle. She recognizes her uncle's shape. She cries out for him.
Her body sustained multiple contusions along the torso, lacerations riddle her body. Blunt force was used to shatter her rib cadge, she took a hard hit in the pelvis and the femur of her right leg giving her a hairline fracture.
She could only walk because of the trauma to her spinal-column pinched the cortical artery in cerebral cortex sending her body into cold shock. She became the walking dead. Pulmonary edema caused the foam around her mouth. She bled out when a broken rib aggravated and finally pierced her lung. Lyeanna could not have known if she had remained there she would have survived.
Kingsley knows that if he's caught with a girl so hurt, the campus police will have Tank destroyed and he'll lose everything when he's sent up river. The attacks on Campus will make a cover for him. Hell all he has to do is wait for the Absent Minded Professor and pin it on him. He starts planting evidence just in case the rent-a-cops on campus make a case. He high tails it to Coach, he'll be able to stay there for a few days until the heat dies off. The Law and Order jokers will be all over Stirling.
Kingsley looked up meeting the blue eyes, "She got in the way. She shouldn't have been in that drawer.... Damn it! Its Stirling...he got to me, the prick tried to shut me down. He deserved everything. He should be dog shit by now...the loser."
"The only loser here is you." Brass snapped. "You were supposed to look out for you r niece. You had her locked up sleeping on a cot in a closet and you allowed a dangerous dog to tear her up."
Kingsley looked at the photos once more he looked almost green. Perhaps it was finally sinking in.
Sara rapped at the frosted pane in the door of the interrogation room before she entered. "Catherine....." she said, gaining the blondes attention. "Miss Kingsley is here."
At that Max looked up. Green paleness turned to red. Catherine saw Max's eyes narrow, sensed the man was about to act, and reached out..... .....the football player was too fast for Catherine and Brass too many years on the field gave the man thick muscles and speed, as he whirled to shoulder Sara by the waist, and with the surprising force slammed the thin woman up against the wall in a take down tackle.
Sara yelped as pain lanced through out her body, numbing her mind, weakening her. She felt the cracked rips pop with a sickening sound. Two hundred pounds of muscle whooshed the breath from Sara's lungs.
"You cunt! You bitch you murdered Tank! You whore I'll kill you I'll kill you!" Before Brass or the attending officers could stop him, Max had managed to bring his cuffed fists down into her sternum, that ended in an appalling hollow thud. Pain etched itself on Sidle's face, as she fell into a semiconscious lump.
Catherine had her service pistol pulled as did Brass. The two uniforms moved in as a pack of wolves, each striking Kingsley in the side knocking him backwards. Kingsley would not be stopped he lunged for Sara again.
Catherine's gun sang out. One shot in the shoulder. Kingsley fell back his hand clutching his wound. He fell into daze as the uniforms swarmed and cuffed him. Catherine re-holstered her sidearm going for Sara. "Sara...honey come on."
"That hurt." Sara managed to speak, she was exceedingly unwilling to rise from the prone position. As a matter of fact she was becoming fond of the floor. The pain was still gripping taking her prisoner. Each breath labored.
"You gave me quite a scare."
"Meet to." the voice was now a whisper.
"Sara! Sara! Stay with me!"
Kingsley looked at the drama before him, sneering. "I hope she dies."
"You better pray she doesn't" Brass snarled grabbing Kingsley's arms making the man scream as the detective gripped the arm with the bullet still lodged in it. "Or you get a needle."
The ball-player paled, the thought obviously never crossed his mind. He had attacked what he had assumed to be a cop. They send you on death row for that.
Brass and Mire sat on the jock, Olsen made a dash to call the paramedics. Catherine was still trying to get Sara to open her eyes. "Oh god Brass she's not responsive." If only to make sure her love was still breathing Willows continued to monitor the very labored breathing. Swallowing the bile in her throat, Catherine knew Sara's lungs were filling with liquid. "Sidle now isn't the time to pull one of your stubborn acts. Open those chocolate browns!" the blonde moved a strand of lose hair from Sara's rapidly paling face. "Come on Sar..."
"Cat." Sara coughed as her eyes fought to stay open. "Breath. Hurt. Bad."
"I know baby, I know. You have to remain still. I am sure your ribs are broken . Your sternum is broken too. The dark bruises swelling around her breasts.. "Where are the god-damn medics?"
As if appearing by Catherine's will the four paramedics had arrived. The tall lanky baby-faced blonde Catherine recognized as Hank Pedigreu entered and was now down on his knees, latex gloves already covering his hands. Despite what Catherine thought of the manipulative womanizer Pedigreu proved to be a good medic and the senior CSI moved to allow the man to work to save the life of the woman she loved.
The other medic was attending to Kingsley, there was no way 'police brutality' would ever be used against the department.
Catherine snapped her head, knowing that Sara was now a crime scene. Apparently Sara was lucid enough to realize it too. As said as much. "Cat....photos.. Need to take them, fibers. Blood."
The blonde laughed humorously. "I know how to process a scene Sidle. I'll take care of you."
Pedigrew placed a C-collar on Sara, the next move of course would be a back-board keeping the her as immobile as possible. "Sara, I need you to stay awake." Hank ordered. "Recite something if you can, phone numbers...what's yours? Your partner's here."
Sara concentrated and began reciting the periodic table, familiar safe and always in her head. Being a expert in both materials and element analysis and holding a masters in Theoretical Physics she knew them back to front easily enough. Hank threw a confused look to the blonde and she was merely smiling. "That's my girl."
"Sorry vics only in the back tonight," Hank almost said chillingly. "You can follow if you want, you need evidence right?" his blue eyes rested upon Sara. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you." He and his partner gingerly lifted Sara onto a gurney and wheeled her out.
Olsen was slipping back in heading for Catherine, "I called Dr. Grissom, he said he's going to meet you at the Palms."
Of course Kingsley would be headed there too for bullet extraction, both officers Olsen and Mire would trail never leaving the ballplayer. Of course if they had their way they would administer a little one on one night-stick therapy.
Catherine couldn't keep her eyes off the retreating back of Hank. She had a sudden sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't long before she was sprinting down the corridor of LVPD headquarters. The further away the ambulance pulled out into the Strip traffic with its lights going and sirens, the feeling only deepened.