A long time ago I was asked to attempt to write a slash fic. Almost right after my laptop died and I stopped writing, now I'm back and thought I'd give it a go. Let me know what you guys think in the reviews.
"I don't see why they couldn't extend the budget for us all to have our own rooms." Catherine huffed as she dropped onto the bed nearest the window.
"I assume you want that bed then?" Sara smirked at her pouting colleague as she placed her suitcase at the foot of the other bed in the room. "Come on, it's not that bad."
Catherine shot her a very unamused look. "I haven't slept in a single bed since I lived at home." The strawberry blonde ran her hands through her hair, making it slightly tousled. "They could have at least gotten us doubles."
"Think of it as an adventure." Sara grinned as she stretched out on her bed beside the wall, her eyes focused on the usual landscape style picture typical of hotel rooms that hung above the T.V.
"You're loving this, aren't you?" Catherine watched her colleague.
"Little bit," Sara smirked and turned her head to face Catherine. "Just relax. We're only here for a few days. Besides," she sat up and moved until she was sat on the side of the bed with her chunky boot clad feet on the floor. "You could be sharing with Greg. I'm sure he'd love that." Her laughter was met with a soft pillow to the face.
She moved the pillow from her face and placed it on the bed next to her, without the obstruction blocking her view she saw Catherine smiling for the first time since they had found out about the sleeping arrangements. If anyone should be bothered it should be her. She was the one secretly harbouring feelings for her new roomie. Although she was a little nervous about what may come to light in their situation she was also a little excited. It wasn't often she got to spend any time with non-work mode Catherine and she was quite looking forward to the next few days.
Plus, seeing Catherine's little meltdown at the front desk had been amusing to say the least. She had half expected her to pay for her own room but she hadn't. Instead she had snatched the key off the desk and dragged her suitcase to the elevator, her heels clicking furiously against the tiled floor.
"Good luck." Nick had remarked as he and Greg had grabbed their own key and followed the fuming redhead.
Catherine had stood silently in the corner of the elevator with her arms crossed over her chest the whole ride up to their floor before stomping her way to their room. When they had reached the doors to their rooms, which coincidentally happened to be right next to each other, Greg had flashed Sara a sympathetic smile, to which she had shrugged one shoulder in a 'what can you do?' gesture before following Catherine into their room.
Standing from her bed Sara stretched her body before moving to her suitcase and lifting it onto the bed and opening it. She methodically went about unpacking her things and putting them away, she was placing her jeans into one of the drawers when she noticed Catherine had yet to move.
"Cat, aren't you going to unpack?"
Something didn't sit right about the way Catherine was acting; it was like she was almost scared to be there. It was a far cry from the woman Sara was used to, the woman who was her sparring partner and took no shit from anyone. Sara's voice filtered through whatever daze she had been in and she raised her eyes from her hands, which she had been studying for the last ten minutes, and met Sara's inquisitive gaze.
"Hmm, yeah. Yeah, I am." Squaring her shoulders she stood from her bed and mimicked Sara's movements, slowly unpacking her belongings into the remaining drawers.
Sara, for her part, was trying very very hard to remain focused on what she was doing. She was absolutely not currently experiencing what she could only describe as a mild heart attack at the sight of Catherine placing her bras and panties into the drawers next to where she stood. And she absolutely wasn't imagining said items on the person putting them away. Not one bit. Her hands had a death grip on the tank tops she was currently supposed to be putting away but instead had them frozen in mid-air above the drawer. Her whole being seemed to have shutdown at the sight of the lace, silk, and cotton garments in every style and colour she could think of. Except her heart and lower regions, they seemed to be working overtime.
The sound of the drawer closing with a soft thud brought Sara out of her daze and she dropped the tank tops into the drawer, no longer caring if they weren't folded and put away neatly. She turned her back to Catherine's side of the room and went back to her suitcase on her bed; she grabbed her washbag and made her escape into the bathroom, closing the door behind her to give her some privacy and a few minutes to reclaim control over her body. Perhaps sharing a room with Catherine for the next 4 nights wasn't such a good idea after all, if she couldn't handle seeing Catherine putting her underwear away how was she going to keep herself in check when she was right in the next room showering. Or what if Catherine decided she wasn't shy, which everyone already knew, and got changed right in their bedroom in front of her? It wasn't like she could escape from her if she did; it wasn't a very big room. Placing her washbag on a shelf she placed her hands on the counter and rested her weight on them as she stared at herself in the mirror, she needed to get a hold of herself. She was acting like a hormonal teenage boy seeing his first bra.
She mentally scolded herself for acting like such an idiot. She'd done a brilliant job of keeping her feelings under wraps for as long as she had, she wasn't going to let a few nights mess that up. If she thought she had any chance whatsoever she would have taken it by now, she was no stranger to being attracted to women, far from it actually. She had been gay for as long as she could remember. But Catherine wasn't. Catherine was as straight as they came; her parade of past lovers had made that perfectly clear. And she most definitely had a type; assholes usually seemed to attract her. Admittedly there had been one or two guys that had been semi decent enough for her to actually introduce to the team and have more than a fleeting fling with but aside from those two she had dated some abysmal characters. And guys with brown hair. Almost every guy Catherine had dated had brown hair. Sara studied her own hair in the reflection. She didn't look that much different from the guys Catherine had dated, well except for the not having a penis thing. And that seemed to be pretty important; Catherine had never made any secret about how much she enjoyed sex and sex with men. No, Sara definitely didn't stand a chance, even if she did have the right hair colour.
Gathering herself she took a deep breath and headed back out of the bathroom only to be greeted with the sight of Catherine on her hands and knees with her ass wiggling in the air. Directly in front of Sara. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head.
"What are you doing?!" Okay, that was definitely the voice of a teenage boy going through puberty. Squeak included.
"I dropped my earring."
Trying to keep her eyes from taking in the curves on display in front of her Sara cleared her throat. "Okay, where did you drop it?"
Catherine sat up on her knees and looked over at the woman still standing by the bathroom door. "By the door, obviously." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Where do you think, Sara?"
Shaking her head to clear any lascivious thoughts still lingering from her very pleasant view she shrugged her shoulders. "Gee Cat, what's that? Half an hour before you've snapped at me? Isn't that a new record?" Catherine narrowed her eyes in her direction, clearly riled up and more than prepared for a verbal sparring match. "Look, if I know the general area where it fell I have a better chance of finding it."
Sighing Catherine ducked her head slightly. "I was getting my jewellery bag out of my suitcase, so it has to be around here somewhere." She waved her arms around the space between the two beds.
Nodding her head Sara got on her hands and knees beside the frustrated woman and began searching along with her. "Why did you bring a jewellery bag? You have perfectly good earrings in your ears and we're only here a few days."
Catherine swept her hand aimlessly under the bed; Sara wrinkled her nose at the sight and silently prayed the cleaners here were good. God knows they'd seen enough hotel rooms to know what kind of things could lurk under there. "In case we go out. I do like to make an effort."
Snorting Sara kept her tone light. "Yeah, I've kind of noticed that."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Cat, you have enough shoes here to last you a month. Plus, you know, you always look perfect at the lab. Never a hair out of place."
Catherine smiled, seemingly happy with Sara's compliment on her appearance. She opened her mouth to respond when Sara pulled her hand from beside the bedside table with a triumphant smile. "Is this it?" she opened her hand to reveal one tear drop shaped sparkling earring.
Catherine grinned and threw her arms around Sara, exclamations of thanks and her being the best leaving her lips. She drew back and took the earring before standing up again and placing it carefully back into her jewellery bag which was now sitting safely on top of the small vanity beside the window. Sara remained motionless for a few seconds before finding the strength to move and slowly stood; she walked over to her own bed and sat on the edge taking her boots off. Once they were both removed she heard a peal of laughter from her roommate and looked over to see Catherine looking at her socks.
"Reindeers Sidle? It's July." Catherine looked thoroughly amused at Sara's choice of socks.
"Hey, just be thankful they match." Sara teased back as she wiggled her toes making one of the reindeers noses twitch and Catherine to laugh even harder. She wrapped her arms around her waist and shook slightly with the force of it.
Sara grinned. "Okay then, let's see your socks miss 'can't wear reindeer socks in July'."
"Sara, I don't know if you've noticed but," she motioned to her bare feet. "I'm not wearing any. Have your observation skills always been this weak? If so you might need to rethink your career choice." Catherine's face was split into a wide teasing smile.
Sara's eyes ran down Catherine's legs until they landed on her hot pink toenails. Something about seeing Catherine without her shoes made Sara realise that this was really happening. They were really going to be sharing a room and she had a momentary brain fog. Everything she had been about to say had left her mind and she sat there staring at the brightly painted toenails in front of her. That is until Catherine's fingers snapped in front of her face and her head snapped back up to look at a quizzical Catherine. She must have been thoroughly confused about why her colleague had just spent the last two minutes staring at her feet. Jesus, if she wasn't careful she was going to give away her secret before the first night was even over with.
"What's up with you?"
Sara shook her head slightly but was saved from answering by someone knocking on the door. Catherine's quizzical gaze remained on Sara for a few more seconds before she moved to the door and opened it. The voices of Greg and Nick filtered into the room and Sara sighed a breath of relief. She was saved from having to answer Catherine by their question of whether the girls wanted to go out for food since the real fun didn't start until tomorrow and they had the night free. Sara immediately jumped to her feet and jammed them back into her boots.
"Yes. Food sounds great!" she was far too enthusiastic but she didn't care. She needed to get out of this room and have a bit of space to clear her mind of all thoughts of Catherine.
"Sure, just give me a minute to change." Catherine looked between the three of them, all wearing matching confused looks. "What?"
"Cath, you look fine." Nick took one for the team and spoke up.
Catherine, smiling in response, tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Thanks Nicky but I've been in these clothes all day and on a plane. I just need fifteen minutes to freshen up and we can go." She grabbed some clothes out of the drawers and headed into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and leaving the other three waiting.
Greg turned his gaze to Sara and smirked. Catching his gaze she cocked her head. "Something bothering you?"
"Aren't you going to 'freshen up'?" his remark was met with a swift jab to his bicep.
"Shut up, Sanders. Not all women feel the necessity to flaunt ourselves." She sat on the end of her bed and laced her boots back up while they waited for Catherine to finish changing.
A little more than fifteen minutes passed, actually more like twenty-five, before Catherine emerged from the bathroom again. All three occupants in the room turned to face her. "Wow Cath." Nick commented. "You look great." Sara silently thought that the words sexy, hot, devastatingly gorgeous were more fitting as she took in the sight of Catherine now wearing a baby blue tank and white skinny jeans with heels, her hair hanging around her shoulders loosely, but she wouldn't say that out loud. She wasn't signing her death wish just yet.
She completely missed the next part of the conversation as she tried to think of an appropriate compliment she could pay Catherine; before she had a chance though she was being pushed out the door of their room and down the corridor to the elevators while Catherine muttered something about her being totally spacey today. It wasn't until they reached the front of the hotel and were waiting for a cab that she actually regained her ability to speak and turned to Catherine.
"That colour…its nice….on you." Well done, she'd succeeded in making herself sound like a complete dumbass. She hadn't even managed to say it properly, it was all disjointed. Like she had forgotten how to string a sentence together correctly. She mentally scolded herself and decided she would just stick to keeping her mouth shut in regards to Catherine. Yeah, that was much safer.
The meal passed relatively easy. She had been seated next to Nick so she hadn't had to fight any of her urges by being so close to Catherine and the conversation flowed easy. Catherine filled them in on what Lindsey had been up to recently before Greg started to talk about some new hot chick he had his eyes on and before she knew it they were back in their hotel room and Catherine was in the bathroom getting ready for bed.
When Catherine emerged Sara kept her eyes off of her form, something she had been doing since they had headed out to lunch, and jumped off the bed, heading into the bathroom herself with her pyjamas in her hands. After she had finished changing into her baggy tee and grey cotton pj bottoms she brushed her teeth, washed her face and headed back out into their room. She risked a quick glance over at Catherine's bed and noted that she was already tucked under the covers with her eyes closed. Turning off the light she headed to her own bed and climbed in, debating whether she should bid the other woman goodnight or not.
Deciding it was a pretty safe and normal thing to do she spoke quietly. "Night Cat."
Her words were met with a few moments of silence before the words were said back in an equally soft voice. She smiled and closed her eyes, hoping for a peaceful and uneventful night.
Not two hours later her sleep was disrupted by something she couldn't quite place her finger on. She rolled over in her bed and warily opened her eyes; the bed next to hers was empty. Raising her head slightly she spotted Catherine stood looking out of the window, her slim figure silhouetted by the moonlight that was streaming in through the now open curtains. So that was what had woken her. Quietly she studied the older woman and watched as her arms wrapped around herself tightly and her shoulders sagged, Catherine let out a weary sigh and Sara sat up in bed. Something was wrong and as much as she wanted to go back to sleep she wasn't about to leave her friend upset.
"Catherine?" she kept her voice gentle so as not to startle her.
The other women made no move to show she had even heard her so she stood from her position and went over, gently touching her shoulder and turning her around. Catherine looked like she hadn't had any sleep and her eyes were wary.
"Hon, what's wrong?" Hon? Since when did she say words like hon? Now apparently.
Releasing a deep shuddering breath Catherine avoided Sara's eyes and stepped around her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
Shaking her head Sara grabbed her hand to stop her. "Talk to me Cat, you look ridiculously pale."
"I'm always pale."
Sara smirked at that. "Okay, paler than usual. What's going on?"
Catherine shifted her gaze to the floor by the bed. "You'll think I'm being stupid."
"Try me." Sara had her fair share of things that kept her up at night; she doubted she'd find anything Catherine said stupid.
Taking a deep breath and still refusing to meet her eyes Catherine spoke in a quiet, barely there voice. "Ever since….since I thought I'd been raped, since I woke up in that motel room alone and not remembering anything," she risked a quick glance at Sara to check she knew what she meant, when she saw Sara nod slightly she continued. "I can't sleep in strange beds, not alone. I…..just cant. I panic."
Sara suddenly felt incredibly sorry for her friend, so that had been why Catherine had been acting odd earlier and probably why she hadn't ended up paying for her own room. Maybe she had thought that having Sara in the same room would have eased her fears somewhat. But it hadn't. She was standing before Sara like a scared puppy.
Taking both of Catherine's hands in her own Sara pulled Catherine to her chest and gave her one of the rare Sara Sidle hugs. Holding her in her embrace she felt the small woman start to relax. "Why don't you sleep with me?" The words had left her mouth before she'd had chance to process them herself and despite the shock, she knew if it would help Catherine then she would do it.
After some wriggling and navigating they managed to find a position on the small bed that would fit them both comfortably, Sara lay on her side spooning Catherine from behind. Despite the intimate position she surprisingly felt no lusty desires for her new bed partner, all she felt was concern. As she lay there gently running her thumb along Catherine's stomach she felt the other woman relax and her breathing even out as she finally drifted to sleep. Sara allowed herself a few more minutes of thought before she herself closed her eyes and followed her into the land of slumber.