A/N: Thank you guys so much for the amazing response for the first chapter of this story. I was so shocked at how many of you reviewed. It made my day! Here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it :)

Sara wasn't sure what she had done to deserve this, but whatever it was must've been pretty damn bad to warrant this sort of punishment.

They had been stuck out in the desert for about an hour and a half now. Despite Catherine's several protests, Sara finally managed to get her to agree to let her carry her and they had started their slow trek toward the road.

The painkillers had kicked in relatively fast, which Sara was grateful for. She was certain that she wouldn't have been able to carry Catherine if her side wasn't completely numb.

Now all she had to put up with was Catherine's continous whining. She was seriously tempted to just drop her on her ass and leave her there.

"Put me down," Catherine said for the umpteenth time.

"No," Sara replied, not skipping a beat.

"Put. Me. Down," Catherine practically growled.

"No."

"For God's sake Sara, put me down! I'll just grit my teeth and bare it. At the rate you're moving we'll get to the lab next week!"

Sara stopped. "I can't believe you! You can't even walk and you're complaining about the person who's helping to save your life because they're moving a little too slowly for your liking?"

"We've only gone a mile or two!" Catherine insisted.

"In a heat wave," Sara pointed out.

"So?" Catherine continued despite how flimsy her argument was.

"With someone on my back."

"Please, Sara. I weight 110 pounds," Catherine rolled her eyes.

"Maybe," Sara nodded. "But let's just say you're a little... top-heavy."

Sara couldn't stop the smirk from crossing her face. She could practically feel Catherine's eyes widen.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," Catherine hissed. "That's not funny."

"Whatever you say, Cath," Sara snorted, shifting Catherine's weight on her back as they started to move again. She had to find something to preoccupy herself with. They were in a pretty shitty situation and it helped to think of something to take her mind off of it.

When Sara had first lifted Catherine she was light as a feather and Sara figured she had to be in the neighborhood of maybe 115 pounds, if that. But as much as she hated to admit it, she was starting to get heavy, especially with the added weight of a small backpack she was carrying, and her foot was digging into her injured side every time they moved.

The painkillers were helping, but Sara could feel blood oozing out of her wound with every step she took. She just hoped that they could make it to the road soon.

"...Sara?" Catherine started, adjusting the brim of the cap Sara had made her wear. She has insisted on it since she was going to be taking the brunt of the sun's rays.

"Yeah?" Sara asked, panting to catch her breath as she squinted against the sun.

"...Why are we always fighting?" Catherine asked. Great time for an intervention, she knew, or perhaps a Kodak moment, but she didn't know how long they were going to be stuck out here and they were going to have to work together to make it through this.

Whether they liked it or not.

"What?" Sara asked, grunting with the effort of supporting Catherine's weight. Sweat caked her forehead and was dripping down the small of her back. That ticklish sensation on her abdomen was also uncomfortable. "I don't think now is a very good time for this conversation, Cath."

"Yeah, I know, but just hear me out," Catherine continued. They had to work it out sooner or later. "Will you be willing to do that?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Sara dryly replied.

Catherine couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. Despite their predicament, Sara could still find a way to be a smart-ass.

"Okay, so let's get one thing straight right away," Catherine continued. "Do you hate me?"

"What?" Sara asked, confused.

"Answer the question, Sara. Do you hate my guts? Do you hope every morning when I'm crossing the street that a bus will run a red light and trample me?" Catherine asked. She knew it sounded pretty ridiculous, but her relationship with Sara was... well, pretty ridiculous. She had always been under the impression that Sara hated her guts.

"Of course not, Catherine," Sara shook her head, stopping for a minute to catch her breath. "Why would I hate you?"

"I don't know," Catherine shrugged. "But you've never exactly gone out of your way to be nice to me... I've just always assumed that you didn't like me."

"You've done nothing that would make me hate you."

"Then why are you always so nasty to me?" Catherine asked. "Why are you always picking fights and arguments with me to intentionally try and piss me off?"

"I think you're being a little hypocritical now, Cath," Sara pointed out. "You know I don't do those things on purpose. I do those things because you provoke me. Why are you always so nasty to me? Why do you always shoot me these dirty looks in the hallway, like I'm not good enough? Why are you always accusing me of not being able to do my job?"

Catherine's first instinct was to argue that she did not in fact do those things, but when she stopped and thought about it, the sad realization hit her that she did.

She didn't know why she always said mean things to Sara to purposely upset her. She didn't know why she always shot her a glare across the hallways instead of waving or exchanging a friendly smile. She didn't know why she made Sara feel like she couldn't do her job properly.

Maybe it was because she was jealous.

Sara was a genius, anyone could see that. She always persued her cases with such passion and concentration. She had the highest solve rate of anyone in the lab, and next to Greg, she had been there the shortest amount of time. She always caught little things that they sometimes missed, and she never quit until she got the job done.

And not only did she have the brains, but she had the looks. She was extremely gorgeous and she didn't even know it. She could have anyone she wanted. Between her beautiful shimmering brown eyes and her charming gap-toothed grin, she had everything she needed to make anyone melt. Not to mention her body-- her sun-kissed tan, the adorable freckles on her arms, those long legs that seemed to go on forever...

"Cath?" Her voice brought her back to her senses. "Cath, you still with me?"

Catherine blinked, bringing herself back to reality. "Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. Did you say something?"

Sara stared at Catherine in disbelief, rolling her eyes. "Just forget about it," she mumbled as she turned back around and they began to move down the road once again.

Catherine immediately realized that Sara thought she hadn't been listening to a word she had just said. "Wait, Sara. I'm sorry, it's not that I wasn't listening. I heard everything you said." She hoped so, anyways.

"Okay, so then why not answer the question?" Sara asked, still pissed. It made her angry that Catherine felt she could shove her into a corner and demand answers, but every time she tried to do the same to her she was able to find a way out of it.

"...I don't know," Catherine sighed. "I honestly don't know, Sara. I don't know why I do those things to you. I know damn well that you can do your job, and there's no reason for me to treat you the way that I do."

"Have I ever done anything to you?" Sara continued, once again shifting Catherine's weight. "Did I do something to hurt you? Because if I did, I'm completely clueless as to what the hell it could be, but I'm sorry."

"No, of course not, Sara," Catherine shook her head. "You've never done anything to hurt me."

"Then why do you always act like you hate my guts?" Sara asked. It was Catherine's turn to be under the microscope now.

"I told you Sara, I don't know."

"That's not a good enough answer for me, Cath."

"Well it's the only one you're going to get."

Catherine's weight shifted so suddenly that she almost fell right off of Sara's back. Luckily she was quick enough and grabbed around Sara's shoulders before she could fall.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Catherine shouted.

"Contemplating whether or not to drop you on your ass and leave."

"You wouldn't dare," Catherine growled, her voice dangerously low.

"Like hell I would," Sara retorted. "If I have to keep putting up with your incessant whining my head is going to explode."

"Listen, Sidle-- you drop me, and you're going down with me."

Sara snorted back a laugh at that. "You think so, huh? I weigh about ten pounds more than you do, and I'm standing. You can't possibly gain the momentum needed to drag us both down. And even if you could, then there's the matter of calculating the angle of your landing so that I don't land on top of you. If I landed on you just right, I could possibly fracture your ankle and then--"

Sara couldn't continue. Catherine had wrapped both arms tightly around her neck-- not to choke her, just to gain the element of surprise-- and had started to shift her weight backwards toward the ground. Before Sara could comprehend what was going on, it was too late. Her feet were lifted off of the ground and she was heading straight backwards on top of Catherine.

"Shit!"

They were both on the hot ground now, and despite Sara landing directly on top of her, Catherine couldn't stop laughing hysterically. Sara immediately moved so that she wouldn't hurt her, but she didn't bother to wipe the glare off of her face.

"Shut up," Sara growled.

"What was that you said? Something about not being able to gain the momentum needed?" Catherine couldn't stop the giggles from escaping. Sara was bright red, and she couldn't tell if it was from the heat or if it was because she was blushing.

"Don't flatter yourself too much," Sara muttered, getting to her feet and dusting her pants off. She already felt stupid enough.

When Catherine's laughter finally subsided (which took far longer than Sara would've liked) she decided to apologize. "I'm sorry Sara, really. You're just too easy."

"Whatever," Sara mumbled. "Can we please get going now? If I recall correctly you said at the rate I was moving we'd be getting to the lab next week. I'd like to try for at least the end of this one."

Catherine rolled her eyes, but decided not to argue further. "Yeah, sure. Let's get going."

TBC