A/N: Hello, hello again! Here is your next update! I'm so super excited for you guys to read this one because things are going to start to unfold more quickly and just you wait! Go forth, me readers! Have fun!

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The luncheon was going well. Sara had been introduced to most of Catherine's old friends and better acquaintances and they were all very pleasant and polite. It was almost like no time had passed and everyone wanted to talk about old times. They had been there for about half an hour, and Sara was just starting to relax. She had actually turned away from Catherine, who was equally involved in conversation with someone else, to talk to a woman who was a medical biologist. The woman was just saying how refreshing it was to talk to someone who understood her field, and everything seemed to be going according to plan, when Sara heard a sweet voice from behind her.

"Hey, Cathy."

Against her back, Sara felt her friend stiffen. She paused a moment and then spoke, "Julie." She paused again. "I wasn't sure you were coming."

Sara turned around now, feeling both curious and protective. When Catherine felt Sara at her back, she put a hand out to grip the brunette's thigh to steady herself. Sara fought to push the contact to the back of her mind as she studied the woman in front of Catherine. She was two inches shorter than the redhead, with long, straight blonde hair and wide-set blue-green eyes. She wore a black leather jacket over a maroon tank top paired with faded blue jeans and well-worn green sandals. Her face was free of make-up, but she needed none- anyone could tell she was a traditionally attractive woman.

Julie shrugged, "I just flew in from San Francisco. I've never been to Vegas before."

Up until that point, there had been silence in their area of the room, the women around them having stopped to listen in on their conversation. Now they began to talk and move slightly away, sensing that the women needed their privacy. Sara moved to leave as well, but Catherine grabbed her by a belt loop and pulled her back; then she did a surprising thing. She wrapped an arm around Sara's waist. The move was noticed by both Julie and Sara. Sara looked at Catherine. Catherine was focused on Julie. Julie's eyes flicked to Sara. Then she nodded and held out her hand to the brunette.

"Hi. I'm Julie Green."

Sara took the strong hand, still perplexed by the hand on her hip. "Sara Sidle." Why did she have the feeling there was more going on here than first met the eye? Glancing at Catherine, Sara saw she was now staring at Julie openly- and Julie had noticed too. The brunette realized she had to do something, so she opened her mouth. "So, San Francisco, huh? I was there for about seven years. Great place, isn't it?"

Julie smiled in a pleasant way, "The best. I moved from Seattle three years ago and I can't ever see myself leaving."

"I hear ya. I never thought I'd leave."
"So what brought you to Vegas?"

The brunette looked quickly at Catherine who was seemingly in a trance. "Uh…work," she smiled shortly, "actually. I'm a criminalist with the Las Vegas Police Department, same as Catherine." She reached a hand behind the redhead, but instead of a gentle stroke or tap, she poked the other woman painfully.

"Oww! Christ, Sara, what the f-" Catherine caught herself as all eyes in the room turned to her. She settled for disentangling herself from Sara and rubbing the spot where the brunette's nail had made contact, carefully avoiding the eyes on her. She smiled uncomfortably at Sara and Julie.

Julie looked at Catherine with a puzzled expression on her face. "You're a cop?"

Catherine shook her head. "Not exactly. Sort of a scientific detective."

"You carry a gun?"

"For protection only."

The blonde cocked her head to one side. "Wow. I always thought you'd do something more…creative."

"Oh, its creative," Sara protested. "And Catherine has more original and effective techniques than anyone. She can put pieces together and see things no one else does. She's very creative in her work- artistic even." She looked down on the redhead with a grin.

Catherine looked into those chocolate brown eyes and simultaneously felt both more relaxed and more uneasy. She returned the smile and patted Sara's arm. "I'm not the only one with effective techniques. Sara here has some pretty amazing solves under her belt- she has the answer when everyone else is still scratching their heads." She blushed when Sara beamed and she coughed nervously. "Would you two ladies excuse me for a moment? I need to visit the little CSI's room."

Sara frowned. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Catherine held up a hand when the brunette would have started forward, "No. Nope. I'm fine, I'll be right back." She touched Sara's hand and winked. "Promise." She stepped out of the room, made her way down the hall, reached the bathroom, closed the door, locked the door, leaned against it…and promptly lost her mind.

She took deep breaths to try and calm herself. Shutting her eyes, she rubbed her temple as she thought out loud. "What the hell is wrong with you? You knew there was a chance she'd be here, wasn't that the whole point in the first place?" The redhead looked up at the ceiling, and dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her pinkie fingers. This had been a mistake. She should just go in, get Sara, and leave.

Sara. Why had she pulled her into this? That was perhaps an even bigger mistake than coming here. But they were friends now, and she had been ten steps beyond nervous about this whole thing until Sara had agreed to come. But now that she thought about it, having both Julie and Sara in the same room at the same time seemed like a very bad idea. Her thoughts of Julie had always filled her with confusion, pain, and sometimes regret. Combine that with the way her emotions reeled when she was anywhere near Sara these days and you had yourself a recipe for disaster. It was impossible to think clearly around either of them.

Belatedly, Catherine realized that by locking herself in the bathroom, she had left Sara and Julie alone. Together. A pang of panic shot through her chest. Sara could never ever find out about…shit.

Sara looked around the room awkwardly. She knew Julie was studying her and it made her more than uncomfortable. She coughed lightly to fill the silence. "So…Julie, what do you do that brought you to San Francisco?"

"I'm a photographer and a song writer."

This peaked Sara's interest. "Photographer? Like an artist or do you do weddings and things?"

"Both. I need the weddings and Bar Mitzvahs to pay the bills, and my free time I devote to my art. Industrial landscapes mostly."

"That sounds…interesting." Sara knew the other woman was still scrutinizing her and that her plan of distracting Julie with conversation had failed. She stared at the ceiling and then out the window. The silence stretched on, and Sara was just about to give in and say something stupid just for the sake of talking, when Julie spoke up.

"So how long have you and Cathy…?" The blonde woman made a vague gesture.

"Oh," Sara shrugged. "A long time now. About seven years, a little more I guess."

Julie nodded her head a little stiffly. "So, I guess she's told you about me…about us."

The brunette returned the nod without thinking, "Yeah, she's-" She paused. The way the other woman spoke the word 'us', hinted that there was something she was missing. Then she remembered Catherine's attitude shift when she had brought up Julie that morning in the laundry room. There was definitely more to this story. Sara decided to do some investigating, so she answered carefully. "She's…mentioned you."

The short blonde smiled sideways, looking the lanky brunette up and down. "Guess I really wasn't her type anyway, huh?

Sara laughed lightly, having no idea what the other woman was talking about. "Guess not."

Over the blonde's shoulder, she spied her lunch date making her way across the room.

The redhead smiled when she reached them, but her chest rose and fell like she'd been running. "Sorry, back again. Did you guys find something to talk about while I was gone?"

Julie smiled and flicked her eyes over to Sara. "We sure did."

Catherine's eyes widened and she felt her heart plummet into her stomach. She was about to inquire as to the topic of their conversation when all of the ladies in the room were called to the large banquet table for food. By the time they were seated, Julie was on the opposite end of the table and Sara was in deep conversation with the medical biologist. Catherine sighed and turned to Candace on her right. If they had been talking about anything important, Sara would have said something. She would just have to wait for a better time to question the brunette.

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She'll have to wait, you'll have to wait- but hopefully not for too long! I bet you guys can figure out where this is going now. Best guesses? I'm thinking that Julie and Catherine are going to get together and leave Sara in the dust- but not for long, since she was actually in love with Greg this whole time and they are going to get married and have mad sex and babies! Not what you wanted? You should review in protest! Or because you love the story and you just wanted me to know. :)