In Blue

Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me, but to Anthony Zuiker and Alliance Atlantis. I do not seek to make profit through this fic. I am just a fan. The lyrics are also not mine, they belong to The Corrs who wrote them for their wonderful album In Blue after which this fic is named.

A/N: I wrote this fic for Andromeda, who shares my love for the Corrs and recently had her birthday. Special thanks to Miss Cam, whose opinion I value above all, for the beta.

Chapter 1. Breathless

The daylight's fading slowly,
but time with you is standing still.
I'm waiting for you only,
the slightest touch and I feel week.
I cannot lie,
from you I cannot hide
and I'm losing will to try.
Can't hide it, can't fight it.

The setting sun cast a pink and golden glow on the otherwise clear blue sky and left Sara Sidle marvelling about the beauty of nature while she steered her black Denali through the little traffic that adorned the roads at this hour. Technically shift hadn't started yet, but since swing was already swamped -all the good people were back on graveyard- she hadn't thought twice about coming in early. It was not like she had a decent personal life anyway. Her job was her life and her life was her job. Quality time to her meant listening to the police scanner or catching up on forensic journals.

She once again checked the note she had scribbled down when she had answered the phone. '476 Horizon Ridge - Henderson, 3 DBs'. Course confirmed, the wheels of her SUV rolled over the concrete of Route 515 while she noticed there were 9306 miles recorded on the odometer, many -if not all- work related. A sigh escaped her lips as her shoulders slumped. Life should not be like this, should not feel like this. She was worth so much more. What had happened to her?

When the next exit came near Sara flicked on her blinker and steered her car to the right. She didn't even notice the music on the radio and she was more or less driving on auto pilot. Her thoughts were with Grissom, as they had been almost daily for the last five years. Recently it had gotten worse though. Ever since Nick's abduction she had realized that life was too short to waste, and wasting it was exactly what she was doing at the moment.

The red and blue lights of the police cars weren't cutting through the dark like they always did during her own shift. They seemed odd and out of place in the beautiful scenery provided by the setting sun. She parked her SUV close to the yellow border and fished her field kit out of the back of the car. Luckily the officer present knew her so she had no trouble approaching the white one-story house that had turned from a peaceful home into a crime scene only a little while ago.

The dark wooden floor and cream colored walls gave the interior of the house a warm feeling. Black and white pictures of animals and waterfalls hung on both sides of the spacey hallway adding to the homely atmosphere of the house. She entered an airy living room with large windows on both sides. Two orange sofas stood to her right and to her left she noticed a large glass table. The remainders of dinner were still there. Two plates.

She was greeted by Jim Brass, who was standing next to one of the victims and looked too cheerful for the task at hand.

"Hey. Am I the first one here?" She looked around in search of evidence of one of the other nightshift CSIs beating her there, but she really did appear to be the first one present at the scene.

"Grissom had to wrap up the final paperwork on the drowned kid, he's on his way," Brass informed her.

Sara gave him a brief look and then squatted next to the victim. She hated working a crime scene by herself, especially one with multiple DBs. It just wasn't doable. Irritation set in the pit of her stomach. Always the same, it seemed. She would be called in early and Grissom would be missing in action. Just typical. It wasn't that she didn't like her job. She loved it. It was just that every time she needed him he seemed to be somewhere else.

The young woman at her feet looked no older than sixteen. Her arms were sprawled out and her legs were folded under her at an odd angle. Two bright blue eyes stared up to the heavens where her soul had gone just a few hours ago. Sara's gaze travelled the frame of the victim, taking in every little detail, in hopes of finding a clue as to who smashed the girl's head.

She shook her head slightly as she scanned the surroundings of the body and looked in the general direction from which the victim had probably come.

"Are the other ones down there?" she asked Brass while looking up at him over her shoulder.

He nodded, "Yeah... Not a pretty sight."

"I'm not sure it can get worse than this," Sara said, "she's just a kid."

Brass eyed her carefully.

"She's not the youngest vic, is she?" Sara asked softly.

"Not by far."

If Sara had to name one single thing she hated, it would be children being hurt. Domestic violence in general was pretty bad, but the children, they always suffered. She had to fight not to let her emotions take the best of her. She would have to stay professional to have a good shot at getting whoever did this, behind bars. After Sara had taken pictures of the girl, retrieved some hairs and wrote down the TOD David gave her, she slowly made her way to the back of the house where the bedrooms were.

A woman in her forties was the second victim. Multiple bruises covered her face, a trail of dried blood led from her nose to the pillow her head was lying on. Her eyes were wide, filled with the horror of a person knowing she was about to die.

Sara worked the scene with a self-forced Zen-like calm that took all of her effort and self control. It took all that was in her might to treat this woman as 'just another DB'. She felt for her, maybe even more so than she did for the girl she saw earlier. At least that girl had died fairly quickly. This woman had been through hell before finally being put out of her misery.

She shuddered at the thought of another body, that of a two year old, Brass had told her. Photos, fingernail scrapings, blood samples, small threads. She was almost done when David walked into the room.

"If you're done with this one and the girl in the living room I'll take them back to the morgue."

Sara stood up. "Sure, I'm almost done here. What about the third victim?"

David looked at her with a hint of empathy in his gaze.

"Take your time with her. I'll be back after I take these two away."

Sara nodded, tagged the last piece of evidence she picked off of the dead woman and grabbed her kit. She then looked at Brass, who was leaning casually against the doorpost as if he was about to order a beer.

"You lead the way."

She followed him through the narrow hall past a bathroom. They came to a halt in front of a bright yellow door.

"It's through here, but I have to warn you.. It's one of the ugliest things I've ever seen," Brass told her, a hand on her forearm.

"I'll be fine."

She put on new gloves and carefully turned the door knob. The door swung open quite easily, revealing a scene that could only be described as horrifying. A girl of approximately two years old lay tied to her bed with her throat slid open. Her legs were spread apart and it was obvious that she had been raped. Tears sprang to Sara's eyes at the sight of the helpless, lifeless body dangling from the side of the bed. There was nothing the little girl could have done against her attacker.

Sara fought the bile that rose in her throat. Damn Grissom for sending her out here by herself. She gasped for air, turned around and walked out of the nursery.

"I need some air," she told Brass, who simply nodded and took her outside.

The sun had set in the west, or at least it had as far as she could see. Devoid of the sunlight the night sky was turning a deep shade of blue. A car door slammed somewhere to her right and she turned around only to see Grissom coming at her with a large grin on his face.

"We nailed the brother for the drowning of that six year old boy last night, he confessed to everything."

Sara shot him a wry smile and continued to inhale as much fresh air as her lungs allowed her to take in. It was the only thing she could do to fight the nausea. Well, that and sipping from the bottle of water Brass had handed her earlier.

"So, are you done yet?" Grissom asked, smug look not faltering.

"No Grissom, I am not done yet."

"Then what are you doing outside?"

"You go look for yourself and see if you're still as happy as you are now. I processed two DBs, that of the mother and that of the eldest daughter. The younger daughter is still in there. You go ahead and look, and process and I'll be here until I can go on."

Grissom shot her a confused look before following an officer into the house.

He was back within five minutes, probably equally as white as Sara. It was hard to tell with the red and white flashes intruding.

"I see what you mean," he said, while prying her fingers loose from the water bottle she was holding and taking a sip.

Sara stared at the bottle in amazement.

"I guess we should go back in there huh? Find out who did this to her," she said, voice tinged with resentment.

Grissom nodded. He handed her the bottle and turned towards the door.

They made their way through the house slightly slower than usual, glancing at each other every few seconds to check if everything was still okay. When they got to the little girl's bedroom Sara grabbed her camera and started taking pictures of every little detail. There were ligature marks on the little girls wrists which were obviously to be expected. It was when she was taking a picture of the victim's face when a horrible fact struck her.

"Grissom..." Her voice was barely audible.

When Grissom came to stand next to her she crouched down and pointed at the corner of the girl's eye. A whitish stripe ran from her eye towards the ground.

"She cried."

Sara took a large gulp of air before standing up again and turning towards her supervisor. Grissom was staring at the little girl as though he hadn't really noticed her before now. Then he looked at Sara and sighed before returning to his task.

They collected the last pieces of evidence from the girl before David came and took the body away.

It was nearly two AM when they walked towards their cars, job finally done.

"Are you okay?" Grissom asked while shooting her a sideward glance.

"I'm fine... I will be fine," Sara answered with a determined glare in her eyes.

The feel of Grissom's hand on her shoulder was too much for her. Her knees and hands trembled and she had to fight the tears building in her eyes.

"Are you really?" he whispered.

Tears were streaming down Sara's face before she realized what was happening.

"How can anyone be okay, really?" she asked. "That girl was only two years old and someone raped her and took her life without thinking twice. I can't wait to get the bastard who did this to her and send him to death row. Hell, I'll even stick the needle in myself."

"I remember a time when you said murder is never an option."

"There's murder, and then there's justice."

TBC