Fic: Soaps R Us, Chapter 25 (CSI, Greg / Nick, Ryan / Eric, Dawson, Valera)
Title: Soaps R Us, Chapter 25
Pairing: Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders,
Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko,
Don Flack / Sheldon Hawkes
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
Summery: Daytime soap Lights of Vegas has a new head writer. Life and fiction don’t always mix nicely, and the line between the two can be very narrow.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 (NC-17)
Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20
Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24
CSI Las Vegas Main List CSI Miami Main List CSI New York Main List
“Well I didn’t see that coming…” Valera commented from behind her magazine.
“Now what?” Gave her a longsuffering glance. The director filling in for Ryan was still negotiating with the cameramen.
“Willows is in the news again.”
“More hooker revelations?”
“No, she just made a very pricey deal to write her tell-all memoirs with all the dirty details. They’re even planning to do a TV-movie based on it.”
“Good for her, she landed on her feet.”
“That kinda women always land on their feet. Anyway, she’s not here anymore so I don’t care if she spends her days trading her bodily services in the middle of the Rodeo Drive.”
“Well, it’s nice to know she’s doing okay.”
“If there’s somebody who’s not doing okay, it’s us. Who the hell put Archie here to direct this one? He’s an editor!”
“No idea. He wanted to try it and they couldn’t find anyone on such a short notice.”
As if on cue, Archie approached them, browsing furiously his own copy of the script.
“Valera? Do you need help with the scene?”
“Now that you asked….” A devilish grin appeared on her face. “Maybe you could help me work on my motivation.”
“Sure.”
“Because I’m not sure what it is. I’ve just heard that newly Bi George’s new hunky man is my ex, who is also an illegitimate son of Enrique’s dad and Willows, who is currently being cloned like a lamb in Austria.”
“Germany.” Nick corrected.
“Sorry. Being cloned in Germany, so when she comes back she will be younger than her on-screen son, who she never knew she had given birth to, and she’ll be played by the actress, who used to play a different character till she supposedly died in a car crash and Calleigh took over that role-”
“Wait a minute.” Nick interrupted again. “Sofia’s coming back?”
“Yeah, and I heard she lost a lot of weight on that fat farm show, but the viewers voted her off, because she ratted out on another contestant.”
“Why?”
“She smuggled chocolate bars in her bra. I don’t know why, you’d think they would be all melted afterwards…. But back to the issue: What exactly is my motivation?”
Archie’s went from Valera to Nick and back again. He looked ready to escape.
“Judging by that, the motivation is probably….” He swallowed down the lump in his throat. “… insanity. Excuse, I think my migraine’s coming back again.”
He left holding his head. Valera gave Nick a victorious smirk.
“Directing is a lot harder job than you’d think.”
-------------------------------------------------
“Wake up.”
“Whaaaa?”
“Ryan?”
A pair of hands grabbed his aching head and pulled him up, propping him against the backrest of the chair.
“What happened?”
“You fell asleep.” Eric stated. “With your face down.”
“Did I…?”
“Land in your soup? Yep.”
“I think those meds were stronger than I thought.”
“You fell asleep while eating and in the middle of a sentence, so that’s probably true.”
“What was I saying?”
“Something about pudding for dessert.”
“Do we have any?”
“Pudding? Yeah.”
“What kind?”
“Butterscotch.”
“Then I can go safely back to sleep. Take me to bed.”
-------------------------------------------------
“Sara?”
Greg walked into the wardrobe storage. Sara was currently crouched down on the floor, examining a nightgown with a flashlight.
“Yeah? I’m busy here.”
“What are you doing?”
“Valera complained that people could see her nipples through this under the studio lights.”
“You got a minute? I got someone here who wants to talk to you.”
Dawson followed him inside and closed the door.
“Miss Sidle, I have to ask you to come with me.”
“I don’t have time right now.” Sara straightened her back and grabbed a box of small knickknacks from the shelf. “Just like always, I have to do everything around here. The prop guys can’t even handle simple things.”
“Miss Sidle, we have to question you again.”
“About what?”
“The assault on Mr. Wolfe for starters.” Dawson stated. “We found your fingerprints from the lamp and from the filing cabinet. You didn’t hear the attacker like you said. You were the attacker.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She started rummaging through the content of the box, pulling things out and picking new ones from the shelves.
“Miss Sidle, would you just come with me? We don’t need to make this harder than it is.”
“I can’t go anywhere.” She pulled few costume bags from the rack in added them on top of the pile. “Nothing would get doe here without me.”
“Sara.” Greg tried carefully. “We’ve read Robinson’s writings. About Holly Gribbs.”
That seemed to affect Sara. She paused and took a deep breath.
“You found the final version, didn’t you? I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find it.”
“You were here when she died. You weren’t supposed to be here that night, you had already signed out. Why did you come back?”
“Valera called me to bitch about her dress. Alexx was too busy to keep an eye on her little protégé.” She started chuckling and shook her head. “That little bimbo wanted to put her in neon green. Can you imagine that? She went behind my back and changed the dress I had picked up. Alexx just let her do what she wanted to, no matter how incompetent she was.”
“Is that all of it?” Greg asked. “You just didn’t like her dress sense?”
“Of course that wasn’t it. It was just… the last straw. I were here years before her. I’ve put everything I have to my work from day one, and they let her take walk all over me. She didn’t get it, she didn’t get any of it. She didn’t even want to be here, this was just a stepping stone for something bigger.”
“Why did you…?” He wasn’t sure how to ask his question. “Was it an accident?”
“Of course it was.” Sara looked at him like she had just stated that the world was round. “I came here after Valera called me. The bimbo was on the soundstage, comparing dresses against the set colouring.” She let out a small sigh. “What kind of an amateur does that?”
“What happened? Did you two have a fight?”
“We argued. I grabbed the dress and I tried to take it away from her, but she wouldn’t let go. I pulled, she pulled and then she lost her grasp and she fell back against the railing. That’s all. She didn’t even scream. She just went over the railing.”
“Why didn’t you call help?”
“I did. Doc Robinson was still in the building. I ran to get him, but it was too late. He told Grissom what happened and they made sure it looked like an accident. But it was an accident. A real accident.”
“You could have just told the truth. Accidents happen.”
“They didn’t let me. The show was up for renewal, they count take the risk of something like this spoiling it. And I stayed here.”
“Sara…” Greg bit his bottom lip. “That was an accident. BoaVista and Robinson-”
“Were both two-faced morons. Do you know how much he got for writing that piece of thrash? And BoaVista was no better, she couldn’t wait to rip us all apart. I’ve been here my whole adult life. People don’t see me on the screen, but I make sure it looks beautiful. Gribbs didn’t understand that, she didn’t understand this work. She kept making those stupid complaints about how people don’t really look like that in offices or how a lawyer would never wear a skirt like that. She didn’t get it.”
She pressed her hands against the pile of clothes to stop them from shaking. She shoved them down to the bottom of the box, looking like a cat, tensing up and getting ready to use her claws.
“She didn’t understand soaps. They’re better than reality. I do what I do to make those people beautiful, make the show a beautiful little illusion. It has nothing to do with reality, it’s supposed to be an escape from reality. A lovely, shiny soap bubble.” She took a deep breath and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Real world can be horrible…. And fantasy can be so much better than real life.”
Sara stood still. Dawson waited for her calm down, but Greg took a step further. He placed his hand carefully on her shoulder.
“Sara?”
“It’s too far away from here.” She didn’t turn to look at him. “Real world.”
She pulled her hand from under the clothes, clutching a small gun. She pressed the cold metal against his cheek. Greg stilled as she turned to face him.
“After all, it’s all just… an illusion.”
Chapter 26