OMG. I updated. And I'm not going to offer a page of excuses why I didn't update, because I just kind of lacked inspiration. You owe this one to Immi, who pushed me back to this story and offered lots of great ideas. This one's for you! (I used your idea, thank you again!).

Just to warn, you, I'm on holiday without a computer for about a month, so I'll not update till then. On the upside, I'll have lots of time to write, so I can finish it and then post the rest. Any more cliché ideas, if you have them, need to therefore reach me by Friday.

And just another warning, I'm really rusty, and the ending is sort of abrupt. I'm hoping you'll be kind enough to overlook that, and the extreme OOC Sara in this story…

Please review, as always. You're all amazing!


We Need A Cliché!

Chapter 9

Grissom's office…

"You want me to what?" The temporary replacement for David Hodges stared at her new boss sceptically.

"We're each putting in 20 bucks so you do this. That's $100. Others would do it for much less."

Susanna smirked. "You guys are desperate, aren't you?" The look an Mr Grissom's face told her the answer. "Alright, I'll do it. But I want a little pay in advance."

Grissom reached without hesitation into a drawer, and the woman smiled. Talk about a way to make easy money…

Locker room, before start of shift…

"Have you guys seen Hodges replacement? She's smokin' hot, I'll tell you!"

Sara and Catherine shook their heads and shared a smirk. Trust Greg to say something like that.

Greg just smiled. He couldn't wait to see what his $20 would bring…

CSI building, middle of shift…

"Let's get this stuff to trace, and then we can update Grissom."

"Sure." Sara smiled inwardly. She was so glad that they had sorted this thing out she; she hated fighting with Catherine. "But admit it, you're just curious to see what the new tech is like!"

The blonde smiled. Back. "Guilty as charged. Not that it makes any difference, seeing as Hodges will be back in a few weeks."

Susanna looked up and looked the new arrivals in her lab up and down. It looked like these were her victims. Wow. She had thought Mr Grissom had just been trying to persuade her by telling her how beautiful the blonde woman was, but he hadn't even come close to doing her justice. This was one assignment she would definitely enjoy.

"Hi. I'm Catherine Willows."

She smiled and looked at the brunette. "Sara Sidle," the woman answered her gaze.

"Susanna Jones." She smiled at Catherine. "But you can call me Susie." She watched with satisfaction that Sara's smile wavered slightly. Catherine however ploughed on with business.

"How quickly can you get these done? We're kind of in a hurry."

"Well, I've got tonnes of stuff to process, but I suppose, for you, I could move this stuff a little up the list," she drawled, and smiled flirtatiously at Catherine.

If Catherine was shocked or surprised at this blatant flirting, she recovered well, and without faltering, smiled in return and thanked her. Susanna watched with amusement as Sara pictured hundreds of ways to kill her. Shame that this was only an act and that the blonde was in love with the brunette lady. Catherine was exactly her type…

A few minutes later, the break room…

"I can't believe that just happened!"

"What?" Catherine handed Sara a cup of coffee.

"She was hitting on you!" The blonde didn't know if she should be offended or amused by Sara's incredulous tone.

"Firstly, she wasn't hitting on me, and secondly, if she had been, which she wasn't, why does surprise you so much?", she asked in a teasing tone.

"She was hitting on you. And it doesn't surprise me, it's just highly unprofessional, and extremely respect less. I mean, we're on the clock, and she'd only just met you!"

"I don't know why you're getting so upset about this! Greg flirts with you all the time!"

Sara opened her mouth, but then thought better of it. Firstly, Catherine was right. She was overreacting. And secondly, she couldn't exactly tell Catherine that she was completely in love with her, and was having a hefty attack of the green eyed monster.

Instead, she rolled her eyes, and decided that she would just try to keep Catherine away from this 'you can call me Susie' bitch…

Trace lab, one day later…

Holy mama! Susanna gulped. There, standing in the door of her lab, stood a blonde angel, with long, straight hair, and a soft smile caressing her lips.

"Hi. I'm Sofia Curtis. Grissom sent me to pick up some results," she drawled.

"Sure!" Damn, that came out as a squeak. Shit! No one had mentioned there was this beautiful lady running around. Catherine was hot, but firstly she was in love with the brunette chick, and secondly, she had a daughter and was a little too old.

"I'm Susanna, by the way," she added as an afterthought.

"I know. I've heard all about you. I'm just on my way to see Grissom to put in my $20."

Damn, that smirk was cute! Suddenly, Susanna shook herself. Here she was, being paid $100 for hitting on a woman she and only just met, and now all she could do was stutter! She took a deep breath.

"Don't bother. Why don't you take me out to breakfast instead?"

Sofia Curtis' grin widened. "Sure. I'll pick you up later."

"Ok," said the lab tech, smiling idiotically. She suddenly realised Sofia hadn't moved yet.

She looked at her questioningly. "I'll need those results," she announced in her husky voice.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." She blushed furiously. The CSI just nodded at her and left. Wow. Now that was an interesting development!

Locker room, about a week and a half later, end of shift…

"Hey Greg!"

"Oh, hey Sara!" He tried to keep a neutral facial expression, and apologised mentally for what he was about to do. After all, this was for her own good.

"You'll never believe what just happened!"

Sara shrugged disinterestedly. She wasn't one for gossip.

"The new lab tech asked out Catherine! She was just picking up her results, and I wanted to give her something, and then Susanna just asked her if she wanted to grab dinner sometime! I mean, that girl has guts! I didn't even know Catherine like women. That is way hot!"

Sara was frozen in place. By the sound of things, she had said yes. She was going to throw up.

Catherine had a date.

Catherine had a date with a woman.

Catherine had a date with a woman that wasn't her.

She had the sudden, irrepressible urge to run, to run and run and just forget, for a moment, the picture in her minds eye of Catherine, looking stunning in a little black dress, kissing the new lab tech.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Sure, sure." She needed air. Quickly, she left the locker room, and hurried through the lab and to her car. Suddenly, she froze.

There was that bitch of a lab tech, in a passionate embrace with a blonde. Sara suddenly felt two emotions at once: relief and anger. Relief because that woman was far too tall to be Catherine, and anger because it wasn't Catherine. How could she ask out the most amazing woman in the world and then kiss what looked like Sofia Curtis!

She was just fighting the urge to go over there and punch the living daylights out of that bitch, when they got into Sofia's car and drove away without seeing her. Sara fumed. And felt incredibly guilty because the hand that had been squeezing her heart since she had talked to Greg had loosened up. It looked like Catherine wasn't going out with that bitch after all. Not if she had anything to say about it!

The next evening, just before shift…

Sara watched the person she had been waiting for walk slowly towards the ladies room, and when they had gone inside, she quickly stopped the door with her foot and slipped in silently. After a few minutes, the cubicle door opened, and Sara crossed her arms.

Susanna jumped. "Wow, you gave me a fright, I didn't hear you come in!"

Sara gave her her best withering look. "We need to talk."

"Sure," the lab tech began to wash her hands, "but in the bathroom?"

Sara ignored her. "Is it true that you asked out Catherine?"

Susanna smirked. "Is that what this is about?"

Sara just looked darkly at her. "Yeah, I did. Angry that I had the guts to do what you couldn't?"

"Shut up! You don't know anything-"

"Oh yeah?", the other woman interrupted, "I know that you're in love with her, but instead of doing something about it, you stand there shooting daggers into those who have the guts to hit on her. Either ask her out or step aside, because you can't lay claim on something you don't have!"

That hit too close to home for Sara. She took a deep breath. "You don't understand-"

"What's there not to understand?", she was once again interrupted, "You love her, she loves you, and you're both too damn cowardly to do something about it!"

Sara stared at her incredulously. "Well I'd rather be a coward than a two timing slut!"

That took the wind right out of the tech's sails. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't act so innocent! You asked Catherine out, and then, 10 minutes later, you're making out with Sofia in the car park!"

Susanna's eyes widened. "I'm not cheating on anyone! I'm dating Sofia, and that's it!"

"And what was that with Catherine?"

"You're taking this all too seriously, I-"

"I'm taking this too seriously? Just because I'm not playing with people's feelings-"

"I'm not playing with people's feelings!", a shouting Susanna interrupted a shouting Sara. "I'm dating Sofia and-"

"You're dating Sofia and yet you asked out Catherine? What kind of game are you playing? Does Sofia know about this? Maybe I should just go and tell her!" It wasn't something Sara would normally consider doing; what Sofia did was Sofia's business, but this was different. Catherine's feelings were at stake here, and even though it hurt that she might like someone else, she still wanted to protect her.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a blonde head poked through.

"Tell Sofia what?" Both women froze. They hadn't realised how loud they had gotten.

"Tell me what?", the blonde repeated.

"Tell you that I asked out Catherine," muttered Susanna.

"Oh." Sara looked in surprise at Sofia, who smiled at her incredulous expression. "Don't worry Sara, I knew about it. It's all cool."

The brunette looked completely startled. "What do you mean it's all cool?"

Sofia reached out and pulled Susanna with her.

"Just what I said. Don't worry so much, Sara." She quickly exited the bathroom, but Susanna stayed.

"She said no, by the way," and without looking at Sara, she quickly left, and left the other woman frozen to the spot in surprise.

Grissom's room, after shift…

Sara had tried to get her head round what had happened, but seeing as no one seemed heart broken, she eventually tried to forget it, especially as Sofia and Susanna were now public and she had stopped hitting on Catherine.

The boys were having a small conference in Grissom's office at the end of the lab tech's stay.

"Well, that was half way successful," commented Warrick. "Admittedly, the falling for Sofia part slightly ruined the effect, but Sara was jealous."

They all nodded in agreement. "So, Susanna's getting a job at the university?"

"Yeah. Her and Sofia are all loved up!"

"That argument between Sara and Susanna was classic. I wish we could have taped it and shown it to Catherine."

"Yeah, but don't forget boys," Grissom advised, "this sort of thing takes time. And slowly, we're getting there."

And so they put their heads together, and began to confer anew…


Please, review! Please? Please? Come on, you know you want to, even if it's just to yell at me for staying away too long…