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So Sure We Were On To Something:
Take Four

By L.

 

one

“Have you talked to her yet?”

“No.”

“Are you planning to?”

“No.”

“But you’re talking to me.”

“Yes.”

“OK... I’m sorry, all right? There. You happy now?”

“No.”

“It’s been months, and she’s... She’s killing herself. All she does is work. Not talking, not sleeping or eating...”

“I know.”

“You shouldn’t punish her for this, you know I pushed her. I know her buttons...”

“Yeah.”

“You should be mad at me.”

“She hurt me, you didn’t. What you did was expected.”

“You know what...? If I was with someone like her I wouldn’t let someone like me fuck it up.”

 

cut

Finally she made up her mind, it had to stop.

But when Sofia at last opened her door, looking disheveled, messy even, in a t-shirt and sweats with her hair bundled up top, Sara suddenly lost her nerve.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

“I was thinking? A movie and some food and beer?"

No, wait.

 

cut

It had seemed like a good idea a few moments ago.

“I was thinking... A movie and pizza and beer?"

Much better.

Sofia was still leaning in the door, chain on, small crack allowed peeking out.

"What movie?"

"'Husbands and Wives'."

"Why?"

"Eh, I want to illustrate a point."

“Can’t you just tell me?”

“No, I... I need the...”

"Are we in it?"

"Can't we just watch it together? I’ll tell you as it comes, OK?" She held up the pizza boxes. “Please?”

Sofia slammed the door shut and rattled off the security chain, then the door bounced open and Sara walked in.

"I fucking hate pedophiles."

"Yeah, well, you're not Juliette Lewis."

“In this context, that would be a compliment.”

Sara took a few careful steps into the apartment.

Sofia studied her, with her arms crossed.

“In my car on my way over here, they played that song, 'First Day of My Life'...?”

"'these things take forever...'"

"'I especially am slow'."

“Yeah..."

“Yeah..."

Sara placed the pizzas on the coffee table and went to the kitchen to get some plates and glasses.

"He’s not playing games, you can tell," Sara said as she returned. "It’s for real... you know I hate it when it’s... calculated.”

“I know.”

“When you’re supposed, expected to feel a certain way... I hate being tricked."

"Don’t you dare pin the blame on me, Sara. This was all you, your choice."

“Yeah, but -“

“Catherine was just being Catherine, and you," she slammed her hand down, "were being you. So grow up."

“That’s not it at all, you don't understand!” Sara snapped.

She took some deep breaths to calm down.

"The point is: I need you to tell me what to do here, I have no clue... I have no sense of... direction... Please...? I won’t say I’m sorry because that would just be insulting, but I..."

A moment's hesitation, then Sofia shrugged with a sad smile.

“Yeah, me too. Let’s watch this movie of yours, and then we’ll see, OK?"

“OK,” she smiled. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

 

cut

"The assistant coroner examined the body," Catherine said. "Based on the vaginal introitus, he suspected rape. I processed the scene. There was nothing probative. There were no prints, no DNA. Everything I collected is in the vault."

"Now, once Warrick found the knife," Sara continued, "the D.A. thought there was sufficient probable cause and rushed the prelim."

Grissom walked to the room and lingered in the doorway.

"Further processing of the evidence became a low priority, pending the trial date."

Hold on... This is old stuff.

 

cut

'Weapon cast-off, or just plain cast-off, is often found at crime scenes where blunt or sharp instruments were used as the weapons of attack.'

"You can't hear me," Sara thought. "Here in the room with you."

'Castoff blood is sometimes confused with arterial spurts. Cast-off blood is flung off the weapon (such as an axe, knife, or club) as a result of centrifugal force as the weapon is swung back over the attacker’s head.'

You can't hear what I'm thinking.

'Cast-off spatter tends to be oval or elliptical in shape as the weapon is being swung through an arc, but becomes more round as it strikes at a 90° angle at topdead center over the attacker’s head.'

You don't hear what I'm thinking, do you?

'The crime scene analyst may use the blood spatter interpretation to determine what events occurred; when and in what sequence they occurred; who was, or was not, there; and what did not occur.'

Sofia, I'm losing it. Maybe long before I lost you.

 

cut

Later, Sofia was slouched down in her couch with a ...

 

cut

She sniffed and realized she hadn't taken a shower since before shift, 12 hours ago.

Disgusted, she realized she had to take better care of herself.

Annoyed, she decided to stop repeating her mistakes.

She decided to stop repeating herself.

Sara stilled, she realized the room had gone all quiet, too quiet.

"Sofia?"

Sofia silently pressed up against Sara, bony hips pushed into softness.

"'You use sex to express every emotion except love'..." She slipped under Sara's shirt and softly touched her breasts, closing her eyes. "So I'm going to do this."

Sara sighed and hung her head for a moment, but didn’t protest when Sofia unbuttoned her jeans, one slow snap at a time. Sofia slid her other hand from a soft breast and started pulling the pants down, taking the panties with them.

She nudged Sara's feet apart and pushed her slightly over the counter, face down.

“I need you to come for me, Sara.”

“I don’t think...”

“Oh, I think you can. You have to.”

And she did.

 

cut

There are no spontaneous forces.

Forces result from interactions.

No, scratch that.

 

cut

Control is the regulation of a function or action or reflex.

Or: To control or influence someone skillfully, usually to one's advantage.

What of balance?

Balance is a state of equilibrium.

Balance is the tenth studio album by Van Halen, released in 1995.

 

cut

"Do you know the feeling of having your emotions spiral out of control? When one thing after another piles onto you until the pressure is too great and you explode...? By then, you've lost your ability for calm, rational thinking and acting... You've lost your balance. It's not a nice place to be, not for you, not for those around you."

"What of responsibility?"

 

cut

"I can't do this, Sara..."

"I don't deserve your forgiveness..."

"And I'm not offering any... But if I keep this up, I'll only verify that messed up self-image you have, and I won't give you that pleasure."

"What do I have to do, then?"

"I'm so MAD at you Sara... I can't solve this for you..." she looked up and spoke slowly and deliberatly, "it's not - for - me - to - fix... So please just leave."

"But where? To do what?"

"You'll have to figure that one out by yourself..."

 

cut

"I was wondering..."

"You weren't kidding, were you?" Sofia said.

"When?"

“When you said you didn’t have a clue?”

“No... According to Newton -"

"’It's the Second Law of Thermodynamics:” Sofia interrupted, “sooner or later everything turns to shit. That's my phrasing, not the Encyclopedia Britannica.’"

"I was wondering if you would come home with me."

"Oh, Sara... What am I going to do with you?"

"Come home with me?"

 

cut

The End

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