Sara sat in Catherine's car- Moody, angry and upset. How could Hank do this to her?

Except, there was another feeling, deep down in the pit of her stomach, that she was trying to suffocate, to push down, to avoid. Something she really did not want to be feeling.

Panic.

"You got plans?" Catherine asked.

Sara took a deep inbreath.

"Nope."

"You wanna get beer?"

Sara thought for a second. Looked at Catherine. Looked away. "Drive." She said. She realised she was smiling. She didn't know why.

ooooooooooo

"Catherine?" She asked, eyes half closed, brain half drunk and half expecting Catherine to go back to being herself.

"Mhm?" The other woman mumbled, trying to drunk dial Hank with the number from Sara's phone.

"Why- why do you hate me? I've been wondering for years, but I can't figure it out. What did I do?" She asked, her voice slightly higher pitch and her sadness slightly tangible. Catherine could feel it in the air, taste it.

It stopped her dead in her tracks. She looked up, straight across the room. "Sara. I don't hate you. You made me feel threatened. Before you came I was the most attractive CSI we had, the cleverest woman. And then you came and I wasn't either of those things anymore."

"S'not true. You're clevererer and beautifuller than me. Don't be silly." Sara was getting drunker by the second, her head resting on the table right next to Catherine.

It was 3 pm, the bar was all mahogany tables and the smell of stale beer, and it was badly lit.

"You know my favourite thing about Vegas?" Catherine asked.

"Whassat?" Sara muttered.

Catherine pulled Sara up by her arm, grinning. Sara, for her part, tried to hang limply but failed, possibly in part to the fact that Catherine was a woman on a mission, and also because her excitement was tangible.

"Daytime clubbing"

As soon as the daytime air hit her, and the realisation that she was actually not as sad now as she'd have liked to be, Sara sobered up considerably. "Where are we going?"

Catherine grinned, looking at the girl she still had hold of, and spun her around so that they were facing one another.

"I'm gonna show you my past, honey." She seemed unaware of the fact that she was mere centimetres away from Sara, but the other woman was not so oblivious.

That feeling had made itself known again.

oooooooooooo

It's late when they get outside again. Sara's ears are buzzing and the world outside seems quiet. For Vegas, that's quite the triumph.

The last drink she had was hours ago, long enough that she could go into work in two hours. Still, she feels sick. The streetlights are too bright, and it's almost like she can feel the earth spinning on its axis.

Catherine's voice breaks through her haze.

"Hey, you got work tonight?"

Sara assumes she means scheduled. Of course she does, she'd think it downright crazy to listen out for crimes on a police scanner in her own home. If Sara told her that the lab was the only place that she felt safe, Catherine would think her insane.

"I'm... off. Are you in?"

Catherine shook her head no. She was almost glad that Sara's boyfriend had cheated on her. This was the most fun she'd had in years.

"Lindsey's at a sleepover, too. I'm headed for a pretty boring night, unless you want to come and watch a Disney film?" She laughed a self-deprecating laugh, and it was unusual. She was almost vulnerable, and Sara guessed she wasn't fully joking.

"Funnily enough, I was just going to ask if you had a copy of Mulan I could borrow. You know, for... science." Sara shrugged, hands still in her pockets, smiling a lopsided smile. "Lead the way, maestro"

Catherine smiled a lazy smile and tucked her hair behind her ear, and Sara was suddenly frozen. Her mouth was dry and the spinning sensation was back.

Sara was starting to question it, but the realisation would not come for her yet.

Let's give her three weeks.