Title: All Of My Families
Author: cjacsifan
Pairing: Catherine/Sara
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: CSI is owned by CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer
Summary: Sara thinks about all the 'families' she's been a part of.
Spoilers: None
A/N: Story is from Sara's P.O.V.

As I begin cleaning the house I share with my fiance, Catherine Willows and her daughter Lindsey, and the only reason I am doing this is because it was either this or grocery shopping and GOD, how I hate the crowds at the stores on a Saturday.  Catherine gladly took that chore from me if I would do her least favorite chore; cleaning the house.

I am almost done when I start cleaning the bookshelf in the living room and find an old photo album and start looking at the old pictures inside.  I have to laugh out loud at the pictures of Catherine when she was younger, all dressed up in her little cowgirl outfit...she was so cute.

There are a bunch more of her growing up; school photos, holiday photos, halloween photos, family vacation photos...these are a far cry from the photos I remember getting taken of my 'families' when I was younger.

I stop looking through the album and remember the first set of photos I can remember getting taken, but they weren't really photos at all, they were x-rays of all my broken bones because of the abuse I suffered at the hands of my biological parents; Laura and Matthew Sidle.

The first and only set of 'family' photos I remember with my biological parents, when I was about 11, these were actually police photos of the crime scene of when my mother took a butcher knife and stabbed my father, after he tried to sexually assault me one night after a  night of heavy drinking.

The next 'family photo I remember was with the foster family I was with from age 11 to 15, they were pretty nice their names were John and Agnes King...they had a couple of biological children, Maggie aged 7 and Steven aged 6.  They were a nice family but I felt I didn't belong, even if they included me in all family holidays, vacations and the normal family outings.  And because I felt like I didn't belong, I became a bit rebellious and the Kings felt because their two other children were young and impressionable they had to send me back into state care.

After I left the Kings, I was taken in by a family by the name of Cross, William and Shelley Cross; the Crosses were a somewhat older couple and their youngest had just gone to college, I really liked them, but again I felt out of place in any family photos or at any of the family gatherings they had because again I never felt a part of their 'family', so I buried my nose in my school books and I got into Harvard...I guess I have them to thank for that because both William and Shelley were school teachers and they instilled a work ethic in me that I use even now.

As I continue looking through the photo album, I come across pictures of the team and you can say these people are my 'family'...well my work family but still they are the people that I can truthfully say are the family that I feel I belong with; Jim is like the father I wish I had, Gil is more like an uncle that isn't too much older than me than a boss, Warrick, Nick and Greg are the brothers I never had, and then there's Catherine...My Catherine, she is at times like the mother I never had, the sister I never had, but most importantly she is the LOVE of my life I never thought I would ever have.

Just as I am putting the photo album back in the book case I hear the front door opening and here comes Catherine and Lindsey, both pair of arms full of groceries, I of course go outside and get a few bags out of the car and help put the groceries away.

"Hey Sara, what were you doing with mom's old photo album?"

"I was just looking at some of the old photos of your mom when she was younger, and of course you, when you were younger and wondering what it was like to be in a real family."

Lindsey just nods her head sadly because I had told her about my past and she knew how sad I could get when I talked about my past.

I didn't hear Catherine sneak up behind me, but I felt her arms wrap around me from behind, "Well baby, you never have to worry about that again because I told you when I asked you to marry me, that you would ALWAYS be a part of this family."