CSI Carter (under major editing)

Survival is Key

I am grabbing my coat from my locker; when Russell walks in, he stands beside me and asks, " are you ok? You did get shot at" I nod my head and fishing pulling my bag out of my locker. "I'm I just want to go home" I look up at him I say, "by the way, thanks for giving me a chance I know Mac asked you too, but you didn't have to " Russell put his hand on my arm and gives it a squeeze " well Mac said that you were a good and Ecklie said that I had to hire someone else cause we are swamped with cases " I step closer to the door Russell moves out of the way before I walk away I turn back to face him " thank you for checking in, I am going home" Russell nods "call me if you need anything, I will see you tomorrow night."

I walk out of the building and get on my bike. I drive back to my place to grab a few hours of sleep. I wake around 11 am. When I get up, I shower, get dressed, unpack my clothes and the little bit of stuff I brought from New York. Around 1 go to the grocery store and mall to pick up some stuff I need. After that, I grab a coffee and rent a truck to bring my furniture to my place, as sleeping on the couch did not do me a favour. I moved some old furniture. I also had to pick up some new stuff I ordered from Ikea for Allison's room.

I go back and forth if I should tell her before or wait until the court decides. In the end, I decide to wait, not wanting to get her hopes up. On the way in, I call an old friend who is a family law attorney. I explained everything. She and I grew up the same way, although we were not that close, so I knew I could trust her. She agrees to help me and says, "I am going to email you a ton of paperwork. I was hoping you could fill it out and send it back to me. Then I will file a petition with the court; if you have media that corroborate everything, send that to me.

I got to the lab just before 8. I had a feeling this was going to be a long shift. As I am putting my bag in my locker, when I get a call from Brass, I answer, " hey brass, what's up? We get a call out?" he hesitated for a miniature " no, I have a young girl in holding who says she's your sister." I take a deep breath " oh, ok, I will be there in like 10." After I get off the phone with Brass, I rush to PD on my way. I bump into Fin. She asks, " what's the rush?" As I walk down the hall, I say," if Russell asks, let him know that I got to take care of something " she nods, "ok," once I get to PD, I walk past the lobby to Brass's office. I see her sitting on the couch. I walk in, she's got a black eye, and her knuckles are bruised. I hug her then ask," what the hell happened? Are you ok.?"

She nods her head as she attempts to study her breathing " I am fine, I uh... Uh, I got into a fight" I can feel the anger starting to boil, but knowing I have to stay calm, I turn towards the door and take the ice pack that another officer brought. " hold this on your eye and DO NOT MOVE" Ail doesn't even look me in the eye.

Brass and I step out of his office, and I cross my arms " what happened?"

"if it makes you feel better, she didn't start it" I bite my lip, and he continues "she and two other girls got in a fight outside of a Starbucks the manager called it in."

I glance around the station then back at Brass "and where are the other girls.?" Brass inhales, "officers said; one girl took off when they showed up, and the other her friend's mom showed and took her home." I nod and ask,'' how did you know she was my sister anyway" because of the situation at home, I have not said anything to know anyone. The only person who knows is Nick because he saw us at the dinner.

When I walked by, " she asked me to call the officers thought she was trying to get out I figured I should at least check," I ask thinking, I can not afford lawyer fees right now " anyone pressing charges?"

Brass, seeing upset I am, " no, they lost the other girl so, no charges have been laid, but she's not allowed back at that Starbucks" I smile and shake his hand " thanks, Brass, give me a minute, then we will be of your hair" he and I look at each other, brass laughs and walks away.

Alison's sitting on the couch. I pull a chair in front of her, moving the ice pack from her face "what happened?" she keeps staring at the floor; I push her chin to look up at me " what happens?"

"me and my friend Jessica were getting coffee when this other girl Marissa walked up to us and knocked Jess's coffee out of her hands. Marissa's been giving Jess a hard time lately at school. Then Marissa pushed Jessica into the wall and started calling her names. So I told her to leave us alone when she tried to come at me, when I turned back to look at jess she sucker-punched me, so I hit her back we heard the sirens. Marissa took off, Jess called her mom, fingered it would be better to call you instead of mom" I nod, I understand why she did it " I am glad you are ok, and I am not mad."

My phone rings. I answer, "Carter," it's Fin. She says, "we got a 4-19 just off the strip on Rosen. Russell wants us there," looking around. "Ok, then text me the location, and I will meet you there."

I look back down at Allison "come on, I got a case, but first I got to go to the lab" she stands up and nods, "ok," it's a short and quiet car ride. I think about texting my mother, but I honestly think that would cause more problems. Once we get to the lab, I go to my locker and grab my kit and vest, then walk into the break room and hand Allison my laptop; she sits on the couch, I tell her. " Ok, listen, STAY HERE till I get back from my scene and whatever you do. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING, DO NOT LEAVE THE BREAK ROOM unless it to use the restroom " she looks and sheepishly nods her head "ok" I turn to walk out when Russell walks by the break room he almost walks by but then he backs tracks and makes eye connect with me. I step out of the break room "which is the kid and why is she in the break room?" chew on my bottom lip " I am not sure what Mac told you about why I had to come back to Vegas all of a sudden, but that's my younger sister, I got a call from Brass that she had gotten in to fight, I was going to take her home my mother is working, and Fin called about the 4-19 on Rosen." Russell shakes his head and puts his arms up "fine she can stay, just make sure she doesn't touch anything " before i could say anything he walks back to his office.

I set Allison up in the break room where the coffee is. I give her my headphones. She's all set up. " Listen," she looked up. I think she was scrolling through tick-tock "yah," she waits for me to speak " don't touch anything. If you do, you could cross-contaminate any evidence, and that will jeopardize a conviction." she nods. I know that she understands how important my work is, so I am not worried. Just as I walk out, I say, " Hey, I will be gone an hour max, then I will take you home, and we will get your arm looked at tomorrow as well." Allison smiles

I get out to the scene about ten minutes later and make sketches after I sign the log. I walk over and take a look at the body. As I am looking at the victim's body, waiting for David to get here. Fin walked up to me " so what had you rushing out of the lab at the start of shift?" I look up to see David walking towards us with a gurney. " I got a call from Brass, my younger sister got in a fight, and I had to pick her up from PD," still not looking at Fin. I bend down to eye level with David and ask him, " can you check his pockets for an ID, please, David?" David acknowledges my question by patting down the body and handing me a wallet. After David takes the body away, fin looks at me. "I didn't realize you had a sister," I smile " yah, there are a bit of an age difference between us" fin smiles as she starts to take pictures of the scene " was she the reason you moved back to vegas" I look up " yah, my moms not doing great, so I fingered it was time to come back to vegas" fin does not say anything else we focus on getting the scene processed.

Once we get back to the lab, I hand off some trace evidence to Hodges and Henry's biological evidence. Fin and I are walking to layout, but I make a detour to check on Allison first. When I walk in, I see Allison having a nightmare on the couch. I bend down and place my hand on her shoulder " hey Ail, hey Ail honey, wake up. You're having a nightmare. I rub her arm, hoping the motion will wake her. After about five minutes, she shoots and grips my arm and hugs me. Russell walks by. I look at him, he nods. I pull back a bit " come on, let's get you home" we pack up our stuff. I walk by  layout see Fin as Alison stands in the door. I tell Fin, "I will take her home and get her settled, then I will be back" Fin closes a file, " you go take care of her I got this" we out of the lab and head for the parking garage.