Chapter 7
Waking Up
The brunette's eyes fluttered at the sensation on her forehead. 'Where the hell am I?' She thought still disorientated. She heard the sound of the waves and felt the sand beneath her body and suddenly began to remember the day before. The escape had led her to being here on this beach. Then there was hanging up on Catherine. Sara inwardly groaned at that thought and her eyes fluttered open.
Sara opened her eyes to see a blurry face in front of her framed by blonde hair. She blinked a few times, and gasped as the face came into focus. In shock she attempted to sit up straight and move away from the figure.
"Catherine!" Sara exclaimed as she sat up too quickly and began to topple backwards.
"Woah there Sara." Catherine said reaching around and grabbing the brunette and steadying her before she could fall. "You ok? You kinda look like you've seen a ghost"
"I…C-Catherine, what are you doing here?" Sara stumbled over her words. The shock was evident on her face and Catherine just smiled.
"I came to see you actually." Catherine grinned. "What's your excuse?"
"I'm here because…well, I came to get away. How did you find me? It's not like I gave you a map or anything" Sara's mind was working on over-drive trying to work out how the blonde could possibly have found her.
"Greg."
"What do you mean 'Greg'?" asked Sara eyeing Catherine with suspicion.
"I mean that Greg told me that here," Catherine gestured at the beach "might be a place I could find you. I didn't have a lot else to go on, so here I am. You know, it's good to see Greg does know some useful information." Catherine replied.
"But what are you doing here Catherine?" Sara asked.
"I already told you…"
"You did?" Sara replied, mentally scanning her mind trying to remember what Catherine had told her.
Catherine sighed heavily "Yeah I did. I told you I came to see you."
"Why? What could you possibly want to see me for?" Sara watched Catherine's eyes looking for the truth in the next words.
"Well, there was something I wanted to tell you, but someone hung up on me before I got the chance." Sara eyes looked to the sand at this comment. "Sara, look at me." Sara looked up in to Catherine's blue eyes. "Why did you hang up on me?"
"Catherine…I, I can't explain that to you."
"Why not? Come on Sara, why can't you tell me?" Catherine asked.
"You wouldn't understand." Sara sighed heavily. She knew the blonde wouldn't understand and wasn't about to try and explain the matter to her.
"Try me." Catherine grinned. "You'd be surprised what I can understand" she replied with a wink.
Sara sighed again. "What if it's something you don't wanna hear?" she asked softly.
"Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that whatever you have to tell me I want to hear it. It can't be that bad, so c'mon, let it loose."
"But what about if I know you don't want to hear it? I know this is not something you want to hear from me Catherine. Anyone else maybe. But me? No, I'm not the one you wanna hear it from." Sara said.
"How about we make a deal then?" Catherine suggested seeing that she wasn't going to get anymore out of the younger woman without some clever tactics of her own.
Sara's eyebrow raised "what kind of deal?"
"Well, remember how I said there was something I wanted to tell you?" Sara nodded. "I know that you won't want to hear it but…"
Catherine was interrupted by Sara "I do want to hear it, tell me please?"
Catherine laughed, she knew she had Sara now. "Let's make this a deal. You tell me what you have to say, and I'll tell you what I have to say. No matter how much we think the other person doesn't want to hear it, we'll tell each other."
Sara thought about it. Catherine obviously had something that Sara needed to hear and Sara had something to tell Catherine. Sara's curiosity at Catherine's news got the better of her; she smiled and spoke "Deal."
Catherine smiled back "Good. Now who's gonna start? You want to start or shall I?"
Sara thought about it and decided she desperately needed to get this off her chest. "Um, do you mind if I go first?" she asked timidly.
Catherine's soft smile eased Sara's nerves "Of course not. Go for it."
Sara took a deep breath and looked at Catherine. "Catherine, the reason I hung up on you today was because I was scared." Sara looked at Catherine giving her a look that showed she prayed that the older woman understood.
"What were you scared of Sara?"
"I don't know…you and…" Sara trailed off.
"You're scared of me?" Catherine grinned.
"What? No I'm…" Sara laughed realising that was what she had indeed said. Becoming serious again she continued. "No, what I meant was that I was scared of us and mucking up our...relationship…especially considering the reasons why I left in the first place…" she trailed off.
"What was the reason you left?" Catherine asked curiously.
"It's hard to explain, but I needed to escape. To just, you know, be away from everything. Sometimes work gets to me too. I'm not the emotionless robot that people think I am. I'm human just like the rest of you!" Sara said her voice rising as she spoke.
"Sara, I never said you were emotionless." Catherine said, trying to soften the anger emanating from Sara. "God, even I can see that cases get to you. Certain cases make you angry and I see that…and from what I've heard, that's also why you drink. You drink to try and suppress your demons. You know, you can't live like that. You need to get out…to see someone when this happens. Hell, call someone and just talk to them after a rough case. Anything. Just don't try and drink away your demons…you can't win."
"Catherine! I do go out!" Sara spat in anger.
Catherine placed her hand on Sara's upper arm and gave it a light squeeze before talking in a soft voice. "Sara, I need you to tell me what's wrong. Why are you so angry and why are you trying to run?"
Sara sighed deeply and closed her eyes and lay down on the sand. She opened her eyes and looked to the sky. She watched the tiny pinpricks of light on the velvety backdrop. The stars were out in force tonight.
Thank you all for reading. Please review and let me know what you think as always. Remember that a quick review can make my day :) Thanks once again to Ponys who consistently reviews. Also thanks to everyone else who has already reviewed. I'm working on the next bit at the moment…so hopefully not too long a wait for you guys ;)
