Chapter One

Samantha never had the chance to meet her birth mother, who died a few years after she was born. Her aunt had always taken care of her. Up until recently she never thought she would know her father either, but that would all change in the span of a few days. Sam had grown up in the city of Glendale, just a few minutes from Los Angeles in the sunny state of California. She had always know growing up that once she was ready, she would go work with her Uncle, Matthew Riley at the Verdugo Regional Crime Lab. It was one of the top labs in the county, and she knew more than anything justice was her passion. After graduating from Glendale High School, she went on to become the youngest member of the Glendale Police academy, not only that she was also the youngest police officer for the Glendale Police Department. By age 24 Samantha had managed to make detective and had successfully transferred to VRCL to work under her Uncle. While there she met a lot of wonderful people: There was Detective Christopher Nolan who often worked hand in hand with her uncle on cases, there was also Nicholas Montgomery one of the many CSI’s who worked under Matthew, Nick’s sister Laura Montgomery (she has 2 little girls Rebecka and Krissy) her husband passed away in the line of duty a few years back. In addition to Nick and Laura there was also Alex Ford, he did most of the computer work and Dr. Kassidy Monroe, she was their former M.E. turned CSI, though she still did some of the grunt work down in autopsy with Dr. Peirce Crawford.

Sam had been working under her uncle for the last 12 months, she was doing a great job, definitely one of the best and brightest to ever grace VRCL, but 4 months ago the worst thing to ever happen to the lab and Sam occurred. Working on a crime scene Samantha had been kidnapped in the field one day and almost murdered by Thomas O’Brian, due to the nature of the crime a many great things had been revealed about Sam and her family drastically changing her life. She'd learned that her uncle Matthew was actually her father, and that her aunt had never told her that instead choosing to keep it a secret. She also learned that her mother had passed away while on a business trip to NYC, she was in one of the tower’s when it went down on 9/11, they never found her. The cherry on top of it all was that her mother had never told Matthew she was pregnant, instead she left Sam to be raised by her aunt, everything came out only after Samantha was kidnapped and subsequently rescued. It had been a shocking revelation to everyone involved, all in all everyone seemed to have adjusted, including Matthew who cared for Samantha and helped her throughout her lengthy rehabilitation process. After everything was said and done instead of returning to the field as a CSI, Samantha had decided to take a position doing lab work and paperwork. While Samantha was much better mentally and physically than she was four months ago, she was still very fearful and hesitant about a great many things, it was going to take time for things in her life to start to resemble some form of normal.

Having let her mind wander from the conversation passing between her and Laura, she slowly brought herself back to the present, they were driving back to Sam’s apartment and had been discussing the trial that they were preparing for tomorrow. Without skipping a beat Sam answered Laura’s question; "Honestly, I feel more at home in the lab running all those tests and doing all that paperwork, I've always been a bit of a bookworm rather than someone who actually goes out into the field. And on the subject of honesty, I know it gives my dad less to worry about too and more peace of mind." Samantha couldn't deny it even if she wanted to, the look from all of them including her father, had been one of pure relief when she had told them all she was taking up a position in the lab instead of returning to fieldwork. She knew someday, though definitely not for a while, she may return to the field, but after everything that she'd been through, everything that's happened so far, even she knew that wasn’t going to happen for a long time.

"Not that we don't already have females in the lab, but it's always nice to have another one especially one like you Sam. And I'm sure you're probably tired of hearing it, but I'm definitely glad you decided not to go back to fieldwork." Laura wasn't wrong, and in some ways, Samantha was kind of tired of hearing it, but she knew that everyone meant well so it was hard to be mad especially at someone like Laura. Having almost reached the apartment Samantha realized she left some of the files she needed back at the office and decided to see if Laura or her brother Nick could drop them by later. Helpful as always Laura said that if she couldn't bring them by, she'd have Nick drop them off so that Samantha would have them in time for the trial tomorrow.

"I swear some days I'd lose my head if it wasn't actually attached, but I suppose we all have moments where we forget little things like that, especially with as busy as we've been with the caseloads lately. On that note I am going to head up to my apartment and get the files in line before the trial tomorrow and get ready for dinner with my dad later. Depending on who ends up dropping off the files just call or send me a text beforehand, so I know that you're coming." Gathering up the files and the paperwork, as well as her work bag and laptop, Samantha exited Laura’s car and made her way into the apartment building. As careful as Samantha was about her surroundings now and as aware as she tried to be, little did she know everything was about to change. She had been so careful to be more observant of everyone and everything around her given her recent ordeal, add on that she had been trained and worked as a CSI, you would think this was common, but even the most seasoned sometimes let their guard down. When Matthew and the team had rescued Samantha four months ago it was never a question who would come out alive, he had made it clear his daughter was to come out alive no matter what the cost. Yes, it is true all officers are trained shoot to kill in deadly situations or situations where lives are at risk, everyone knew going into this Thomas wouldn't make it out alive, everyone except for his brother….