Disclaimer: I don't own CSI. I'm just a simple fan and writer.
A/N: This is a sort of Catherine/Sofia friendshippy ficlet... I think. We find out that Sofia may have had an interesting past involving Lady Heather (You can't prove it didn't happen! Right...) There's also some Tea-4-2 in it. (or is it T42? Well, anyway, I'm talking about Grissom/Lady Heather). Not set in canon. Enjoy.
Ficlet 43: Sofie the Cop
Catherine and Sofia were wrapping up a case when they spotted an all too familiar dark-haired woman asking for Grissom at the front office.
"He's in a meeting, miss."
"I'm Heather," she replied easily, "I stop by all the time, remember?"
"Hey, Heather!"
She turned to face the two blondes. Catherine waved her over, and for a moment Heather could've sworn she recognized the other woman.
"Grissom will be out in a second."
"Alright," the three women sat down by the waiting area.
"So what are you up to?"
"Nothing really. Just reassessing some things, and I wanted to talk it over with Gil."
"So you're dating him," Sofia spoke up.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce you to Sofia," Catherine introduced the two women who seemed to know each other from somewhere.
"You're a CSI?"
"No I'm-"
"Heather," Grissom walked towards them, case files in hand. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"I just wanted to see you," Heather turned to him and gave him a small hug.
"Hope I didn't interrupt you ladies," he chuckled.
"No. I should get going," Sofia got up with Catherine following suit, "And I'm a detective." She finished answering Heather's previous query.
"Detective?" Heather's eyes lit up in recognition, "I thought I recognized your face - you were one of my girls early on. But you went by Sofie the cop."
"You worked for Lady Heather?!" Catherine reacted first. Oddly enough, Grissom was less outraged than Catherine.
"I'm sorry," Heather realized she shouldn't have mentioned such a private part about Sofia's life. Especially at her work place.
"I can't believe you worked with Heather! I always thought you were more self-respecting than that. You're the serious one!"
"I didn't do anything sexual. A lot of guys had a… fetish for seeing women in a cop uniform. I just dressed up and pushed them around with a club."
"Uh huh," Catherine's tone was clearly skeptical.
Sofia shuffled from one foot to the other. Her own mother didn't know about it, and now her colleagues found out, and she was getting chastised for it!
"Don't be so upset. It was a long time ago, and I needed the money."
"Besides, she isn't the only one who's done something she wasn't proud of," Grissom added in a 'don't cast the first stone' voice.
"Oh… right," Catherine quickly dropped the subject.
"You're talking about when she stripped, right?"
Catherine gaped at Sofia but quickly turned to give Grissom an accusing look.
"Don't look at me. She figured it out."
"Well that and Greg told me," Sofia replied.
"I'm going to kill him!"
They all rolled their eyes, and let Catherine rush off.
"Catherine was certainly concerned over her."
Grissom merely nodded. He walked Heather outside and lingered by the parking lot, talking.
"I actually thought you'd be the one who would give the disappointed lecture."
"Well," he started, "being around you has taught me not to judge a person by what they've done in their past."
She gave him a smile, and listened as Grissom continued, "I actually thought Catherine would understand that situation, and I'm just as surprised as you."
"It's because she cares about her. Knowing what she does, Catherine obviously didn't expect to hear about this. She's had some bad experiences, and I guess she doesn't want the same to happen to Sofia."
Grissom stared at her in wonder, "You gathered all that from that one conversation?"
"Yes. And I think it's sweet."
He stared at her for a moment.
"I observe people," she added.
"Well, I observe people too."
Heather looked amused, "I guess my observation skills are just a little bit better when it comes to women."
He didn't even try to argue with that.
Sofia found Greg in an evidence room, idly going through some pictures.
"You know, Catherine is hunting you down."
Greg looked up at her, not expecting that particular greeting, "What? What did I do?"
"I sort of let it slip that you told me about her dancing days."
"That was said in the strictest confidence!"
She shrugged sheepishly, "I'm a very blunt person, and I'm not that good at keeping secrets."
They heard a loud angry clacking of heels and Sofia urged him to hide. Greg dove under the table just in time.
"You seen Greg anywhere?"
Sofia nodded no, but Catherine saw right through her.
"Alright," she played along, "I just want to pick up where we left off earlier, now that we're alone. Woman to woman. See, when I was younger I-"
"He's down there," Sofia grimaced. She wasn't in the mood to hear Catherine give a lecture thinly disguised as advice.
"Hey!" Greg exclaimed from under the table.
"I told you I couldn't keep secrets," Sofia yelled as she got the hell out of there.
--
See this is why Sofia and Heather never met! Too much awkwardness. Hah, or probably not. Oh, and I added the last part for some sort of humor. Poor Greggo. If you liked the story, or disliked the story or some variant in between, don't hesitate to drop me a review.