Hello all! I know that I have been away for a very long time, but recently I've been re-bitten by the writing bug. I also know that I have a half-finished story on my account and I will hopefully get that one finished, but I need to get myself back into writing first before I dive back into that one.

So, new story :) As always, this is just the taster chapter, others will be longer.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI. If I did, I wouldn't be driving a Fiat.

x X x

Sara never changed in front of the others.

They presumed that she must change clothes at some point during her shifts, but they never saw her do it. The boys were completely unashamed when it came to stripping off in the locker room, and even Catherine was willing to change into a clean shirt in their presence, but not Sara. Never Sara.

It wasn't something any of them had ever given much thought to.

x X x

If Catherine had to describe Sara in one word, it would be a difficult choice: stubborn, obsessive, closed, stoic.

Vulnerable? Not so much. But then, Catherine had never paid her that much attention.

When Sara first arrived in Las Vegas, around three years earlier, Catherine was instinctively angry with her – unjustifiably so, perhaps. Sara was there to investigate Holly's death, which was a polite way of saying that she was there to investigate Warrick.

She had found Warrick to be culpable in Holly's death. Grissom kept him on anyway, but he kept Sara too. And immediately, a rivalry was born – not between Sara and Warrick though; between Sara and Catherine.

The funny thing was that Catherine liked Sara. In fact, she liked her right off the bat. Sara had a wry sense of humour and sassy attitude about her. But she didn't want to like this newcomer and she certainly didn't want Sara to know how she really felt, so she put up a wall between them and masked her true feelings behind curt insults and a snappy tone. She paid Sara little, if any, interest and pretended not to see the small flashes of confused hurt when one of her little digs struck a nerve.

Eventually, once Sara had proved herself to be a valuable and trusted member of the team – accepted even by Warrick – there became less reason for her to keep her wall in place. But Catherine Willows was a proud woman, and not one to easily admit when she was wrong. Somehow, it seemed too hard to suddenly change tack and welcome Sara into the fold, as much as she may want to. So the wall stayed up and, while the snarky comments dried up, their relationship remained mild at best.

They worked well together, of course. In fact, under the right circumstances, they made one hell of a fierce team. But that was work. And as far as Catherine was concerned, that was all it was going to be.

There was a brief thawing in their work-based relationship, when Catherine extended the offer of a post-work drink after Sara discovered her paramedic boyfriend Hank had been cheating on her. Sara hadn't said much; in fact, she hadn't really said anything, preferring to stare quietly into her beer. But, despite the uniqueness of the situation, it wasn't awkward. However, when Catherine suggested grabbing some breakfast together the following week, Sara declined, seemingly perplexed by the friendly offer. And so Catherine left it at that, and normal service was quickly resumed.

Rarely, they were friends. Occasionally they were rivals. Mostly, they were colleagues.