This is my first attempt at a CSI fanfic, so I don't know how good it is. The pairing is Catherine/Sara. Femslash. So if you don't like, don't read. Rated M for detailed sexual content in later chapters.

Hope you enjoy.

Please read and review. Thanks.

Leanne


Disclaimer: CSI isn't mine (unfortunately) and neither are Catherine and Sara. :( So yeah...


A/N: And I don't have a beta as yet, so all spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are my own. If anyone would like to be my beta then let me know.


Stay With Me

It was 3 a.m. and Catherine Willows was still awake. She rolled over onto her side, not even sure why she was trying to sleep, when it was obvious it wasn't going to come. Not tonight. She'd had a particularly tough day; trying to find a guy who'd sexually abused and killed four young girls. Her eyes filled with tears as she pictured the last victim - six year old, Jade Green, who reminded Catherine a lot, of her own daughter.

Getting up out of the bed, she pulled on her jeans, t-shirt and sneakers and walked out of her apartment. Lindsay was staying with a friend so she didn't need to stay home. She just needed to go somewhere she could be alone. Catherine walked for ten minutes, going to sit on the large black rock that jutted out over the water's edge. That was where they'd found her. Tears stinging her eyes, she took her cell phone out of her pocket. Scrolling through her contacts, and hesitating for a second, Catherine dialled the last number on the list. The one person she knew would understand.

Sara groped in the darkness for the source of the sound that had just woken her from a disturbed sleep. Locating her phone, she answered the call, hoping it wasn't Grissom needing her for an extra shift. "Sidle," she answered sleepily.

"Sara... it's me," Catherine's voice shook on the end of the line. "I'm sorry to wake you... I didn't know who else to call."

Suddenly Sara was wide-awake; all traces of tiredness had vanished as, hearing the blonde's voice, she could tell she was near to tears. "Cath... are you okay? What's wrong?" If she was surprised that Catherine had phoned her, she hid it well. Sara found herself wishing she could wrap her arms around her, wipe away her tears. "Is it the case?" She knew Catherine well enough to know that child abuse affected her above anything else.

"It's Jade... I can't get her out of my head." Catherine sobbed. "She shouldn't have been a victim." After the third attack they'd pulled in a suspect who had links to all three girls. Catherine and Sara had interviewed him, and, having no conclusive evidence, were forced to let him go. It was then they found the missing piece. But it was too late for poor little Jade Green, who'd been the monsters' final victim.

"It's okay," Sara whispered soothingly, "we've got him... he won't be able to do this to anyone else."

"But we should have stopped him...before he"

"We did our best," Sara interrupted gently.

"But it wasn't enough," hot tears cascaded down Catherine's cheeks and she shivered, feeling the cool spray of the water against her skin. "Sara-" Anything else she said was completely incoherent, as she choked on the words.

"Where are you?" The younger woman asked, pulling a sweater over her head as she spoke, although she had a feeling she already knew - the running water in the background a bit of a clue.

"At the waterfall," Catherine's voice was hoarse from her tears. She didn't know why she was telling her this. Maybe it was because she actually wanted Sara to find her. She wanted Sara to hold her, and promise her that everything was going to be okay.

"Stay there." Sara said, her suspicions spot on. "I'm on my way." She hung up the phone, grabbed her jacket and keys and went out to her car.

Catherine sat cross-legged on the rocks, before standing up, and looking out across the water. Sara's car pulled up neatly and for a minute she allowed herself the luxury of taking in Catherine's amazing body uninterrupted. Her slender figure curved in all the right places, her windswept blonde hair shone in the moonlight. 'Okay Sidle, get a grip!' Sara told herself. It wasn't so long ago that they'd hated each other with a passion; if it was left to them, they'd argue until the cows came home. But then one day, things had changed. They became friends. Good friends. And sometimes Sara was sure there was something more between them. Her heart fluttered in her chest every time Catherine walked into the room, and she was positive she hadn't imagined the lingering looks... the seemingly innocent touches.

Sara got out of the car, and locking it, walked over to where Catherine was standing. It appeared that the other woman hadn't noticed her arrive because she jumped when Sara touched her gently on the shoulder. "Hey," she said softly.

Catherine turned to face her, their eyes locked and a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I failed her Sara."

"We did everything we could Cath," Sara said, wishing she had the nerve to reach out and wipe her tears away. Catherine gave an involuntary shiver. "Here," the brunette pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks," Catherine answered, trying to smile but failing. Her lip quivered and she turned away from Sara, not wanting her to see her cry, although she knew there was no point. They stood in silence for a few minutes.

"You've gotta learn to let it go," Sara said, though she knew she was as bad as Catherine when it came to getting emotionally involved on the cases she worked.

This thought seemed to have occurred to Catherine because a ghost of a smile flitted across her lips. "I know," she replied. "Maybe I'll find that easier when I leave Las Vegas behind."


Chapter Two coming soon!

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xx