Title: Third Time's the Charm
Summary: AU: Catherine returns to Vegas to help find the terrorist who exploded a bomb in her casino, the Eclipse. This tragedy also brings back Gil Grissom. Is she ready to see her ex Sara with her Ex-husband, and what are these strange feelings she is having every time she is near Sara?
Fandom/Pairing: CSI – LV: Catherine Willows/ Sara Sidle
Author: Cherokee62
Rating: NC-17/M Sexual Situations involving women, hurt, comfort, language, angst
Spoilers: Final episode of CSI Fix it fic
Word Count :20,212

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, just having some fun with them. They are owned by CBS Corp. No profit is being made with this story.
Edited by: dhamphir
A/N: This is a fix it fic in response to the final episode of CSI. I love the show and have shipped Catherine and Sara for years and felt insulted both intellectually and fan wise to her 'sailing off in the sunset' with Grissom at the end of the series finale. So I decided to end it my way. Made me feel better at least. I hope you at least are amused by it and thanks for reading it.

Third Time's the Charm

Chapter 9

The two woman lay side by side, Catherine on her back and Sara on her side watching her.

"You are still so damn beautiful Cat. I swear you never freaking age." Sara smiled and reached up to move a stray hair from Catherine's forehead.

"And you are still the smoothest talker I've ever had in my bed." Catherine chuckled, "Such a charmer!" and bent forward to kiss her lightly on the lips.

Catherine sighed contentedly and looked up at the ceiling, then glanced out the corner of her eye at Sara who was still gazing at her. Her smile widened and she turned her head, "How have you managed to not get yourself snared, Sidle?"

Sara frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You are…God, I don't have words for what you are other than a hell of a catch. So why haven't you been caught?"

"I run fast."

Catherine looked at her then burst out laughing. "Fair enough, I guess. Some poor woman or man is missing the real deal here. I know I never found anyone that even came close to you. Not in how you treated me or how you made me feel. Not just here in bed, that wouldn't even be fair to try to compare anyone to the things you do to me." Catherine got a dreamy look on her face that made Sara blush and kiss her hard on the lips. Catherine's eyes refocused and she laughed again, "As I was saying; all the other things you make me feel, Sara." She suddenly stopped and sat up, looking away. "You hungry?" she asked unexpectedly.

Sara blinked then reached out and touched her arm, "Hey. What just happened, babe?"

"Ah, just on the verge of getting too damn mushy. You don't want to hear all of that crap."

Sara sat up and shimmied closer, "Maybe I do. You've never told me how I made you feel back then, other than the sex part."

"Didn't I?"

Sara shook her head, "Nope."

"Odd. One thing you always made me feel is comfortable enough to say anything to you." She turned quickly and threw her legs over the side of the bed and grabbed Sara's t-shirt—the first thing she touched. "I don't know about you, Sidle, but I'm ravenous. I think there may be some leftover Chinese in the fridge. If not, I know there is cheese and crackers. I'll go make us a little snack; then later I'll make you my little snack."

Sara grinned and settled back, the first time in ages she didn't feel like she needed to get dressed and run after a sexual encounter with someone. But then she really only felt that with Catherine, and sometimes Gil. She watched Catherine walk out the room and frowned as Gil's name popped into her head. She gave it a slight shake and leaned back with a very satisfied smile. The picture of Catherine in her shirt forming in her mind. "Mmm, maybe she needs a little help with that snack?" and decided to pull something on and go look for her fiery lover.

Catherine sashayed into the kitchen humming to herself and walked over to the refrigerator. As she opened it and bent down she heard the front door open. She popped up in surprise. Lindsey stumbled in, giggled, then shushed herself before closing and locking the door.

"Are you just getting home?" Catherine asked, standing in the kitchen doorway, hand on hip, eyebrow arched high on her forehead.

"EEP!" Lindsey jumped and whirled around, almost falling over her own feet. "Jesus, Mom! You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing up?"

"Forget what I'm doing up, what are you doing falling in here at this hour?"

"Oh, Mommmm," Lindsey whined. "I'm a grown ass woman, ya know?"

"A grown ass woman who has to be at work in a few hours, ya know," she replied sarcastically.

Lindsey moved toward her. "Nah, night shift. Boss let me switch so I could spend some time with you before you left." She hiccupped and then grinned at Catherine before looking at her attire, confused. "What are you wearing? Where did you find a man's t-shirt?"

"Spend time with me? When exactly did you plan to do that?"

"Trying to change the subject…" she leaned forward then sniffed. She frowned then walked around her mother, looking her up and down. She began to grin. "Oooo. You got laid!"

"LINDSEY!" Catherine exclaimed. "Watch your mouth, young lady. You're not too old for me to put over my knee!"

Lindsey just laughed and impulsively hugged her mom, "That's why you got his shirt on…Oh, good for you, Mom; good for you!" She turned to the open refrigerator and leaned in. "Oh, I could use something to eat. I'm starving!"

As Catherine stood there with her mouth hanging open, Sara tiptoed up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Apparently, from her vantage point, Sara could only see the back of Catherine and the open fridge door.

"God, you look so sexy in my shirt. Got anything in there I can lick off of you?"

"Ooff! Owww!" There was a loud rattle and a crash as Lindsey shot up, hitting the shelf above her head and knocking over bottles of condiments. She stood straight and whirled around just as Catherine turned to look surprised at Sara.

"SARA!"

"SARA?"

Both Willow women called out Sara's name making her freeze like a deer in headlights.

"Oh shit," Sara stammered, staring at Lindsey. "When did you get home?"

"Mom? What is she doing here?" Lindsey's drunk mind was evidently having a rough time making all of the connections as she looked from Catherine to Sara then toward the bedroom. Suddenly her eyes grew wide and her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh…My…God"

"Lins, there's no reason to react like this—"

"Oh…My…God! The three of you?" Lindsey was staring at the bedroom door as if Dracula or Jack the Ripper was about to come out next. "Oh…My…God!"

Sara whispered to Catherine, "What the hell is she talking about?"

"Lins?"

"Oh, Mom! You, Sara, and Mr. Grissom? Oh…My…God!"

"WHAT? NO!" Catherine yelled.

"EW, NO!" Sara cried out. "Don't be sick!"

Looking at each other, Catherine shuddered and Sara cringed.

"God, I think I lost my appetite," Sara groaned.

Catherine stared at her then burst out laughing. "So bad."

Sara grinned that love sick smile, then turned to Lindsey. "Umm, no, young lady. We did not have a threesome with Grissom."

"Then why are you here, and why are you wearing my mom's night shirt? Is that your shirt she's got on?"

Sara looked at Catherine and blushed. Lindsey looked back and forth between the two women then threw up her hands. "I tried! Don't blame me when you're sitting in your apartment in L.A. crying your heart out. I tried. You refused to listen to me, had to have it your way. So just go ahead and do what you want. See if I care!" She moved passed the pair and walked a fairly good impersonation of a straight line to her room, slamming her door behind her.

"Gee. Was it something I said?" Sara asked.

Catherine was looking towards Lindsey's room then took a deep breath. "Ignore her, she's drunk off her ass. And I really don't care for her opinion anyway. I didn't ask for it, and I don't need it. She's not the only grown ass woman around here." Catherine wrapped her arm around Sara and pulled her close, kissing her deeply. "Take me back to bed beautiful," she purred huskily.

"But my snack?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Catherine nibbled on Sara's ear and reached passed her into the fridge. She pulled out a can of whip cream and a bottle of chocolate sauce. She just held them up and smiled.

"Yes, dear," Sara said. She grabbed the bowl of strawberries and followed Catherine back to the bedroom like a faithful puppy.

Sara studied Catherine's profile while she slept, amazed she was lying next to this wonderful woman one more time. Right then she couldn't care less if it was a one-time deal or not. Catherine was here, just a breath away. She had just spent over four hours fulfilling most of the past two year's fantasies and she couldn't be happier. Morning would take care of itself, right now Catherine was here next to her.

Catherine stretched and slowly opened her eyes. She turned her head slightly and smiled when she saw Sara looking at her. "Hey."

Sara just leaned down and kissed her.

"What time is it, babe?"

"Who cares?" Sara responded.

"Umm…I do; you should."

Sara shook her head. "Only world I care about is right here."

Catherine held her gaze and sighed. She slipped her hand up behind Sara's neck and pulled her head gently down to kiss her long and tenderly. "If only…"

"Stay," Sara whispered, almost surprising herself at the word.

"Oh, honey. I would love to, but I have to get back."

"Just a few days. Stay, Cat, please."

"Sara…"

"Look I know you told then you would stay until the case was over, no way could they assume how long that would take, so you have to have some wiggle room." Sara sat up and let the blanket fall from her nude body. "And if I know you, Catherine, you have a ton of vacation time already piled up."

Sara's internal temperature rose as she watched Catherine's eyes take a slow trip down her body then back up to her eyes.

"Well you surely aren't making it easy to leave your bed." Catherine reached out to stroke one of Sara's breast with a grin, but then grew serious. "I can't just take off like that, Sara, you know that. I have responsibilities and this was extenuating circumstances." She paused for a beat. "As for vacation days," she gave Sarah a small smile, "I have a few vacation days saved, yeah."

"I'm not asking you to stay a month, Cath, just a few extra days. We've just found…something, maybe. I'd at least like to find out if we did." Sara's heart skipped a beat as she gazed at Catherine, "Unless I'm assuming too much and last night was just a fun tumble for you."

"I'm still processing last night Sara, but you know better than that. One thing you never were, and will never be, is just a fuck. Don't insult me or you by insinuating as much," Catherine huffed and sat up. It took a moment, but Catherine seemed to calm down from the anger that Sara heard in her voice. She took Sara's hand, "Look, baby, I want to spend more time with you, I do. But I just can't make that decision without talking to work first. I have to go back today, they are expecting me."

Sara opened her mouth to protest but Catherine put her two fingers over her lips and smiled. "Once I have checked in and given my report to my Director I will request a few days off. Under the circumstances I'm sure it won't be a problem getting them but it won't be many."

Sara couldn't keep from smiling.

Catherine smile brightly, "I'll be on the first plane back and I'll check into my suite at the Eclipse and then I'll be all yours."

"Stay with me! Why bother staying at the Casino?"

"I'd rather not advertise the fact that I'm here, and I'd also prefer we each have our own space. It's been a while since we've spent any real time together, baby, and we've both developed our own habits and ways of dealing with that. You always needed your space to retreat to, I want to make sure you have that. Just in case." Catherine gave Sara a long look and smiled, "Now, I have two things I want to do and only time to do one of them. How are your multi-tasking skills?"

"Fine. Why?"

Grinning, Catherine climbed over Sara to get out of the bed, and led her toward the bathroom by the hand. "I have two things I need to do; shower and you." With a giggle she pulled Sara into the bathroom.