Starlight, Starbright

"Wake up, Cammie, wake up!" Six year old Benjamin shouted as he jumped up and down on the foot of his sisters bed. "Come on, lazyhead!"

"Go away." Twelve year old Cammeo grumbled as she snuggled further under her covers. "Benny, stop!" She opened one eye and glared at her little brother having grown tired of his antics. "Get down before you fall!" She snapped as she threw back the covers and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

Benjamin frowned but did as he was told. Once he was on the floor, he turned to his sister. "Hurry up and get ready!" He could barely contain his excitement.

Cammeo blinked, trying to clear away the last remnants of sleep. "Get ready for what?" She asked with a yawn as she made her way over to her window. She smiled when she caught sight of the white world outside. The first snowfall of the season was always her favorite. And being November already, it was right on time.

"Don't you remember?" Benjamin's face fell and some of his excitement faded. "It's my birthday, Cammie." He added in a small voice.

"Your birthday? Already?" Cammeo had to admit that she had forgotten. "You're five today, right?" She moved away from the window and over to her walk in closet to get dressed.

Benjamin sighed, it didn't really surprise him that she had forgotten but it still hurt. "I'm six today." He whispered.

Cammeo exited her closet, dressed in a pair of jeans and oversized sweatshirt. "Six?" Her brow furrowed. "I could have sworn...." She trailed off and shrugged. "Oh well, happy birthday, Benny." She added as an after thought as she pulled his small body to her and wrapped him in a half-hearted hug.

"Thanks." Benjamin looked down at his shoes once he was released from the embrace. "Mom says breakfast is ready." He just remembered why he was in his sisters room to begin with.

"So where's she taking you?" Cammeo inquired as she tugged him out of her room and down the stairs.

Benjamin brightened at the question. Maybe she'd come after all?! "The Boardwalk!" His picked up the pace so he could keep up with her.

Cammeo smiled when she entered the dining room. Her parents and older brother were already enjoying breakfast. "Morning." She sat down to the left of her father, across from Anthony Junior, and began filling her plate with fresh fruit; she refused to even look at anything that used to alive. "Any plans today, Papa?" She asked as she popped a strawberry in her mouth and chewed. Realizing she never finished her conversation, she turned towards the other end of the table, where her mother, and now Benny, sat. "The Boardwalk in this weather? You must be crazy. It's probably not even open since it snowed." It was only logical for her to point this out. Not getting a reply, she turned back to her father.

Anthony Senior smiled at his daughter. "While your mother has Benny at the Boardwalk, if it's open, I thought I'd spend the day with my two oldest children, sound good to you, Princess?" He took a bite of his bagel and chewed as he watched his daughters face light up.

"Sounds wonderful, Papa!" Cammeo loved spending time with her father and Tony.

Amelia gave her daughter a chiding look. "Cammeo, you promised Benjamin that you'd spend the day with him. He'd be heartbroken if you broke that promise." She gently reminded her daughter as she glanced at her youngest child and sighed at the forlorn look on his youthful face. It was bad enough, without Cammeo adding to it, that her husband and two of her sons didn't think Benny's birthday was important enough to celebrate as a family. Already she could see a division forming between her offspring and she refused to just sit back and do nothing about it.

Cammeo frowned and slumped in her chair. "Is Johnny going?" She wasn't about to go if none of her other brothers were going.

"No, Pamela invited Johnny to go skiing with her and her family. The Harrison's were more than happy to let Johnny accompany them to their cabin in the mountains." Amelia answered, tightly. It was clear that she didn't approve but it was her husband decision to let the boy go and there wasn't anything she could do about it. "Tommy's going, though."

"Tricks?" Cammeo snorted at the mention of her next to the youngest brother. She had to bite her tongue to keep from blurting out that he was going because he was a honest to goodness mama's boy. "Why do I have to go if Johnny doesn't?" She whined and crossed her arms over her chest.

Amelia frowned. "Cammeo." She warned, not prepared for her daughters behavior. Out of her five children, Cammeo was always the most even tempered, easy going one. She was also the only one that used to do everything with Benny. But that had begun to change as the girl got older and grew closer to her oldest sibling and more distant from her youngest. Of course she blamed her husband for encouraging this behavior but she wasn't about to step in and tell her only daughter that she needed to limit her time spent with her own father and brother. "You promised." She stressed, trying to get the girl to understand the importance of making promises.

Cammeo looked at her father with pleading eyes. "I swear I don't remember promising the runt anything!" She was getting desperate now. The idea of spending the entire day with her mother and two younger brothers didn't appeal to her one bit.

"Liar!" Benjamin, who had been sitting quietly, decided that he had enough. "You promised me weeks ago, Cammie! Why are you lying about it?" He just couldn't get his six year old mind wrapped around what was happening.

"Don't call me that!" Cammeo snapped. "You know that I hate being called, Cammie. So just stop!" She was angry that her mother was trying to force her to do something she didn't want to.

"Enough, both of you!" Anthony finally decided to put a stop to the arguing. "If Cammeo doesn't want to go, then you can't force her." He looked pointedly at his wife. "I'm sure Benny will have a good time with Tommy." And that was the end of the argument. "Come along, Tony, Cammeo." He rose from the table and exited the house through one of the side sliding glass doors.

Tony stood, walked over to his mother and gave her a kiss on the check. "Have fun, kido." Being fourteen, Tony thought everyone younger than him should be referred to as either kido or tyke. He even tried to call Cammeo kido once but stopped when he ended up in the emergency room for a broken nose. Reaching over, he ruffled his little brothers black hair before following his father out of the house.

Cammeo breathed a sigh of relief before taking a moment to finish the fruit on her plate and stand. A smug grin blossomed on her face. "I'm sure you and Tommy with have a wonderful time." Even her voice sounded smug. "Cheerio." She snickered as she turned to follow her father and brother but at a more leisurely pace. She wanted to rub in her victory for as long as she could.

"We'll have a good time, Benny." Amelia tried to comfort her youngest but failed. She sat back in surprise when the look of pure fury twisted the childs face and he jumped to his feet, chasing after his sister.

Benjamin growled as he rushed around the table and shoved Cammeo as hard as he could. He watched with grim satisfaction as she stumbled and crashed through the glass door she was just about to open.

Amelia sat frozen as she watched the scene unfold. The sound of shattering glass caused her to react and within seconds she was on her feet and rushing to her daughters side. "Cammeo, can you hear me?" Kneeling down, she could see the extent of the damage. Not only was her daughters head bleeding and embedded with tiny glass shards but her right arm looked to be almost severed at the wrist, where she had reached out to catch herself, and bleeding horribly. "My God. ANTHONY!" She screamed and her eyes locked with Benjamin's. What she saw in their blue depths made her shiver. He was actually enjoying seeing his sister laying on the floor, bleeding.

"Mom?" Cammeo felt cold and she couldn't stop her teeth from chattering. "Wha....?" She was disoriented and confused.

"Shh, don't talk little one." Amelia looked away from Benjamin and back to her daughter. She felt helpless and was glad when Anthony and Tony appeared and took charge of the situation.

Cammeo felt herself floating. "I don't feel so good." She moaned then surrendered to the darkness that was creeping up around her.

-0-

Cammeo felt herself floating. "I don't feel so good." She moaned then surrendered to the darkness that was creeping up around her.

"Dammit, were losing her!" Detective Lexington Gallo growled as she tried to put more pressure on the stomach wound. "Come on, kid." Icy blue eyes looked up from the blonde sprawled on the pavement. "Where the hell is the ambulance?" She sought out her partner in the surrounding chaos and confusion. "Sanders, what's the bus' ETA?" She demanded to know once she spotted him off to the side, near the front of the building.

Levi Sanders looked up from his note pad. "They should be here soon, Gallo. Keep your panties on." He moved off to interview another witness.

Lexington glared at his retreating back. "I'd take my panties off and wave them around if I thought it would keep this girl alive." She grumbled then looked back to the woman she was trying to keep alive. She was surprised to see a pair of glassy green eyes watching her. "Hey, I thought I had lost you there for a minute." She brushed back piece of blonde hair that had fallen in the girls face. "Can you tell me your name?" This was the first time the blonde had been conscious since the stabbing.

Blinking, Cammeo tried to remember where she was but couldn't. She felt so tired but the woman hovering above her was talking, asking her something. "Name?" She managed to ask in confusion.

"Yeah, what's your name?" Lexington tried not to think about all the blood seeping through her fingers. There was an easier way to find out the girls name but she couldn't move her hands to search her purse; which was laying beside them on the wet pavement.

Cammeo blinked again, trying to clear the fuzz from her mind. "Cammeo." She mumbled and moaned as a jolt of pain shot through her stomach. "What....what happened?" She asked, swallowing hard.

Lexington smiled, slightly. "Cammeo? That's a pretty name. It suits you." She knew that she needed to keep her talking and awake. "Can you tell me where you live? Or maybe your last name?"

"Cammeo." Cammeo repeated, confused. She gasped as another wave of pain threatened to take her breath away. "Hurts." She whispered.

"I know, sweetie." Lexington didn't like feeling helpless. She breathed a sigh of relief when the ambulance arrived. "These nice people are going to take care of you now, Cammeo." She stepped away so the paramedics could take over. While they worked on the girl, she reached over and picked up the discarded purse, looking through it. After a moment of searching, she pulled out a wallet and popped it open. Not caring that she was getting blood on everything, she pulled out the drivers license and read the name aloud. "Cammeo Germani." She looked up when she heard a gurney being moved. "Her name is Cammeo Germani, age twenty-three." She told the closest paramedic. Within seconds she was watching the ambulance pull away, sirens screaming and lights flashing.

"Captain wants us back at the house." Levi said as he returned to his partners side. "Hey, you okay?" He asked, seeing the faraway look in her eyes.

Lexington nodded. "I'm find, Levy." She mumbled, wiping her blood covered hands on her jeans. "St. James isn't going to be happy." She told her partner once they were in their SUV and headed downtown.

Levi raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. "Why? You do something wrong?" He questioned as he turned off the main street and onto a side one.

"Does that ever stop him?" Lexington asked then shook her head. "Nawh, I didn't do anything wrong." She looked down at the bloody purse that she was still carrying and made a mental note to drop it off at the hospital later. "That girl was a Germani and we all know how much he loves dealing with the rich and famous."

"You think he's going to kick it to another squad?" Levi didn't care one way or another. He liked his job and would work any case thrown his way. But he also liked spending time with his wife and four children.

Lexington snorted. "I'm sure he'll try his damnest but it's still our case at the end of the day. The other girl was raped by the same man that stabbed Ms. Germani. If it was just a stabbing, he could kick it to Homicide with no problem from the brass but if he wants to keep his job, he'll have to let us work it." She was quit for a moment. "He'll just have to trust us not to be corrupted by all the money and power." She made air quotes to show just what she thought about that.

Levi chuckled as he pulled into the parking garage. "Corrupted, huh?" He loved Lexington's sense of humor. It was one of the reasons they got along so well. "He already thinks you've corrupted me with your carpet munching ways, Gallo. As a matter of fact, he thinks of you as one of Satan's spawns so...." He commented as he pulled into their assigned parking place.

"Real crude, Levy." Lexington reached over and slapped him in the back of the head. "Do you honestly kiss your wife and kids with that mouth?" She asked as she opened her door and climbed out.

They entered the squad room still bickering which caused more than a few heads to turn. Their good humored arguing was legendary amongst their colleagues.

"Gallo, my office, now!" Captain Taylor St. James barked as soon as he heard, rather than saw, the pair entered the squad room.

Lexington shoved Levi towards their adjoined desk. "Don't say it." She warned as she changed direction and headed to the Captain's office. "Yeah, Cap?" She entered and plopped down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

Taylor closed the door he had been holding open and moved to take his place behind the desk. "You could have at least hit the showers and changed before coming back." He made a face as he eyed her bloody appearance. "I should have your badge for what you did today."

"What I did?" Lexington frowned but held her tongue. "The girls alive then?" She asked.

"Yes, Ms. Germani is alive." Taylor ran a hand through his greying red hair. "She was going into surgery what I spoke to the hospital. She's expected to make a full recovery." He yanked open his desk drawer and pulled out a silver flask. Raising it to his lips, he took a swallow before putting it away. He didn't care who in his squad saw him drinking because he knew no one was stupid enough to open their mouths about it. "Somehow the family found out what you did. They want you to stop by the hospital when your shift ends." He waved his hand, giving her permission to meet with the family, there really wasn't anything he could do to stop here anyways. "Why must you always play the hero, Gallo? Did your mother not hug you enough as a child? Did your father hug you too much?" He just couldn't figure her out and that bothered him.

Lexington rolled her eyes, having had this conversation with her Captain, before. "I wasn't playing the hero. I was doing my job." She stood and paced over to the door. "I took an oath to serve and protect, I'm just sorry I seem to be the only one that took it seriously." She yanked the door open. "As for my childhood, that's none of your damn business, sir." She shot over her shoulder as she slammed the door shut and strode out into the bullpen.

To Be Continued...