Disclaimer: see Chapter 1
A ringing phone brought Sara back to the present.
"Sidle," Sara said as she answered her phone without looking at the caller ID.
"Hey sweetie. I wanted to check on you. How did it go at the lawyer's office today?"
"I'm supposed to raise Lindsey!" was what Sara blurted out without thinking.
"You're joking, right? There's no way you can do that. You told them that, right? Sara?"
"Sof, I…"
"You agreed to it, didn't you?" Sofia said as she cut her off.
"What was I supposed to do? I'd like to see how you'd react to someone's dying wish! This isn't exactly what I had on my top ten list of things to do in my life."
"I have to go. We'll talk when you come over tonight," Sofia said.
"I won't be coming over tonight. I told you, I'm supposed to take care of Lindsey now," Sara said without emotion. She heard nothing but silence on the other end. "Sofia, are you still there?"
"Yes, I am. How is this going to affect us?" Sofia asked with a little more hostility in her voice than she had intended.
"Damn it, Sofia. I just lost my best friend and agreed to raise her kid. Maybe the right response would be, 'Is there anything you need?' instead of worrying about how this is going to affect your sex life!" Sara wasn't completely surprised to hear the line go dead.
Sofia was her first real relationship since things had ended with Catherine. She had dated a few people—mostly men (including Grissom) but hadn't seriously been involved with anyone. She and Sofia had only been dating a few months when Catherine told her she was sick. By the time their six month anniversary rolled around, Sara had moved into Catherine's and had taken a leave of absence to help care for her. All the while, she continued to have some semblance of a relationship with Sofia. She had been so pleased with how well Sofia had taken everything. She couldn't say that she would have been so understanding had the show been on the other foot.
Sara decided that a bath—yes, in the middle of the day—would make her feel better. She went to Catherine's bathroom and filled the tub with water as hot as she could stand it. She stripped naked and slipped into the water and away from everything weighing heavy on her mind. She closed her eyes and recalled the night when she and Catherine first made love. It had started in this tub...
They had been dating for three months and finally had a weekend off together. Not only did they have the weekend off together, but Nancy had taken Lindsey for the weekend. After their shift had ended early Saturday morning, the couple went for breakfast before returning to Catherine's house. "I feel like a hot bath. Care to join me?" Cath had asked Sara as they climbed the stairs to the bedroom hand in hand.
"That sounds wonderful," Sara replied with the gap-toothed grin that Catherine was so fond of.
Catherine filled the tub and the two climbed in. Catherine sat between Sara's legs with her back against her chest. Both women were extremely comfortable with one another and also very aware that they would shortly be making love for the first time. With a bath sponge in her hand, Sara began to gently wash Catherine from her shoulders to her stomach. Somewhere in that time, Cath had leaned her head back and she and Sara had started kissing. No longer really interested in bathing her, Sara let the sponge fall from her hand as both hands moved up from Catherine's stomach to her breasts. This was all familiar territory for Sara. She let her fingertips brush over Catherine's nipples, making her moan into her mouth, causing Sara to begin to roll her nipples between her fingertips. Catherine was now pressing her body harder against Sara and had snaked her arms up to wrap backwards around Sara's neck. No words were spoken as their kiss broke and Catherine met Sara's lusty gaze with darkened eyes. Looking intently in Catherine's eyes, she moved her right hand down Catherine's stomach and into the valley between her legs. She proved to a deft lover as she brought Catherine to the first of many orgasms she would have that weekend.