Chapter 10: Catherine

"Good morning," she greets me as I finally make my way into the living room. I don't answer, just nod my head. I guess it is a good morning for her considering I didn't shoot her last night when I thought she was someone breaking in. I still want to know what she was doing wandering around in the middle of the night. And she had something behind her back. She obviously thinks I'm stupid. Anyway…

Sara is acting like every thing is fine—as if there's no pink elephant in the room. Okay, make that no pink elephant with purple polka dots. We have breakfast in silence and soon Liam is here to pick us up. I don't greet him either. I just pass him by and climb in the car. Right now, I don't trust Sara and I certainly don't trust anyone remotely related to this case.

Liam and Sara exchange a glance. The look they share doesn't go unnoticed by me. Soon, they are in the midst of a conversation about what I assume to be the case and people who will be working on it. I don't really want to say "with us" because I don't feel involved. And even though we haven't really started on this case, I know I'm unwelcome here. Sara said as much to me last night. And she was right, if it weren't for Grissom's insistence and his desire to have someone along to watch after Sara, I wouldn't be here.

The drive to HQ is relatively short. Sara and I had to go through a checkpoint of sorts and eventually had our photos taken and temporary IDs made. At least tomorrow we won't have to go through this hassle again. We'll just be able to walk right in and past these checkpoints.

Liam leads us into a room that is crowded with at least a dozen people. Most of them are wearing suits, so I assume they're agents assigned to this case. There are a couple of lab coats among them as well. Near the coffee machine stands a man that I can only assume is Greg's long lost twin brother. And as soon as he opens his mouth, my suspicions are nearly confirmed.

"Well, hello there good looking," he says to me with a twinkle in his eye. "What's a beautiful woman like you doing in a place like this?" he asks ask he motions around the room with his hand. He extends his hand towards me and speaks again, "You are…"

"Catherine Willows," I state as I take his hand in a firm handshake.

"I was going to say stunning, but I guess Catherine Willows will do. I'm Flynn Ashton. People around here just call me 'Flash'. You can call me enamored, if you like."

"Down boy. You're not really her type," Sara says to the young man as she moves to my side. She extends her hand in his direction and as he takes it, she says, "Sara Sidle."

He never takes his eyes off of me as he shakes her hand and responds, "Nice to meet you, I'm sure. So, Catherine," he says as he smiles at me, "what brings you to our little hole in the wall?"

Before I can respond, Sara answers him. "One of our teams was working a similar case in Vegas. Spencer and Liam requested my help with the case," Sara explains as she prepares a cup of coffee.

Something isn't right here and I can't quite put my finger on it. I stand there watching her add her sugar to her coffee while I process what she said to Flash. And then it hits me. She referred to Agents Hackers and Novacek as Spencer and Liam. Why did she refer to them by their first names? I quickly think back to every case I've ever worked with Sara. Not once—never, ever—did I hear her refer to anyone working a case with her by their first name. She's always been extremely professional. Why would she slip up now?

Incensed that she had interrupted the conversation I was having with Flash, I throw in my two cents. "She's right. She was requested to work on the case. I was sent along to babysit her. I'm sure you know how it is. Sometimes you can't let the little one venture too far from home without someone to look after her and keep her out of trouble." I can feel Sara's eyes on me as I finish my explanation.

My new friend Flash takes a step back as he quietly squeals, "Whoa! Did you feel that?" I look at him in puzzlement. Sara's expression mirrors my own. He looks at Sara and then at me. "You two dated once, did you?" There is silence as neither Sara nor I say anything in response. "I knew it!" Then he looks, once again, from Sara to me, his head bobbing up and down and a Cheshire grin stretching from ear to ear. "Cool!"

A look of disgust crosses Sara's face as she simply walks away from us and approaches a group of agents talking in another corner of the room and immediately joins in their conversation.

"Well, now that she's finally left us," he nods in Sara's direction, "how about you tell me about your type? I'm guessing that she really wasn't your type either if you're not together. Now, me, I can be anything you want me to be."

This guy really is too much. He makes our Greg look like a thirty year old virgin. I was about to tell him as much when I felt a hand on the small of my back and heard the voice attached to it begin to speak.

"Flash, you've been warned before. You either calm down around visitors or the coroner is willing to neuter you for us. And remember, he's used to working on dead people. No telling what else he might accidentally snip while he's down there."

The saddest little puppy-dog look crossed his face as he grabbed his coffee and made a hasty retreat. I turn to face my defender and my breath immediately catches. Okay, I don't normally react to beautiful women this way, but this woman is stunning. Her skin is the color of caramel and her eyes only a shade or so darker. I'm standing there, my mouth hanging open, just staring at her.

After what feels like forever, but what I'm sure has only been a second or two, I speak. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to stare. I just…." I felt myself blush.

"No problem, Ms. Willows. I'm McKenzie Ramirez—Mac to my friends." She holds her hand out to me and I promptly take it in mine. "Flash means well. He's just…well, a little overeager when it comes to the fairer sex. I'm sure a beautiful woman like you is accustomed to banditos like him."

I can't help but blush at her statement. Her hand is still holding mine and I'm about to speak when Agent Hackers addresses the crowd.

"If everyone would please take their seats, we're about to start our briefing."

Every one who has been standing around the room moves toward the table. I drop the hand of Ms. Ramirez as we head toward our seats. She pulls out a chair for me and I sit down, smiling my thanks to her. Sara takes the seat beside me. She leans in and whispers in my ear, "I thought you had a girlfriend, Cath."

I can't help but stare at her icily before turning slightly in my seat so that my back is to her.

Agent Hackers stands up and begins to talk about the case. Each agent assigned to the case, in turn, discusses the part of the case that they are most familiar with. As Agent Ramirez stands to discuss the killer's psychological profile, Sara's phone rings. I turn to see her pull her phone out and look at the caller ID. She mouths 'sorry' to the crowded table and gets up and steps away from the table. "Sidle…Adin?...wait…..what….no, I can't hear you…..Adin?"

The frustration on the face of the agent sitting beside me is clearly evident as Sara addresses the lead agent. "I'm sorry Agent Hackers. I need to return this call. Is there a phone somewhere that I can use?"

Agent Hackers furrows his brow before saying, "Sure, go ahead. We'll take a break. Everyone be back here in thirty." Both Sara and Agent Hackers leave the room. I guess he needs to show her where a phone is that she can use.

"So you two were a couple?" Agent Ramirez asks as she shuffles the notes in front of her.

I hesitate to answer because I've always enjoyed keeping my private life just that—private. Something in the way she asks though makes me want to answer her. I sigh heavily as I turn my body and my attention toward her. "We were a couple once upon a time. That's all water under the bridge though."

She chuckles as she studies me then stands to walk away from the table. Before she does, she leans down and whispers in my ear, "She must be pretty fucking stupid to let someone like you slip through her fingers."

I can only hang my head and smile. The people out here are certainly very forward.

I was sitting by myself in a mostly empty room when a fresh cup of coffee found its way onto the table in front of me. "You look like you could use this," Agent Novacek said as he patted me on the shoulder. "Was everything at the townhouse to your liking?"

I pick up the coffee and begin to drink it. "Thank you for the coffee. And yes, everything at the house is great. It's actually more than I had expected. I would have thought that we'd have spent our time in a motel."

"Now Ms. Willows, this is the FBI. We have nearly unlimited resources at our hands. Besides, we've been working this case for a long time. It isn't going to be solved in a matter of days. And anyway, you're both involved with someone and you have a daughter. It was only prudent of us to provide you with something more substantial than a motel room in case you wanted to have visitors."

As his words caught up with me, I couldn't help but look at him questioningly. "How do you know I'm involved with someone?"

He smiled as he stood, shaking his head. "We're the FBI. It's our job to know everything about everyone that's working with us. In fact, there are very few things I don't know about you."

Agents began to file back in the room and take their seats. Sara was the last to return. She pauses to talk to Agent Hackers and Agent Novacek before sitting down beside me.

Hackers looks around the room taking a headcount. "Okay, it looks like we're all back now. Mac, why don't you go ahead and give us the details on the profile of our killer?"

As Agent Ramirez rose to her feet, I began to feel light-headed and had a hard time focusing on what she was saying. I looked up at her and began to frantically blink my eyes in an attempt to focus my vision. It wasn't helping. Within seconds, nausea and stomach cramps began to plague me. I pushed myself away from the table and as I attempted to get to my feet, I collapsed on the floor.

I don't think I had quite crumpled to the floor before Sara was out of her seat and beside me. "Cat, what's wrong?"

I only know it was Sara because of her voice. I couldn't focus on the face in front of me. I manage to eke out a feeble, "I don't feel so good. I think I'm going to be sick."

Sara gets me to my feet and with an arm around my waist, escorts me to the nearest restroom where I begin to puke my guts out in earnest.

She's standing behind me, gently rubbing my back and whispering soothing words when the door to the rest room swings open.

"Hackers wants you back in the room. I'm going to take your friend home. She's sick and doesn't need to be here," explains the honey voice of McKenzie Ramirez.

"I don't think I should leave her. First of all, she's a bear when she's sick. Second of all, she doesn't know you. She's not going to be comfortable with you taking her back to the townhouse. And why is it more important for me to be in that meeting that you?"

"I'm the profiler, Sidle. Nothing more…nothing less. My job is basically done until you people find something else that can help me create a more accurate picture of the sick bastard we're looking for."

I turn around in time to see a look of confusion cross Sara's face. She's obviously torn. On one hand, she wants to care for me—and that touches me. But on the other, she wants to be in that room helping with the case—and that's typical Sara Sidle.

"Mac, would you mind grabbing my purse from the conference room? I'm gonna clean up a bit and then we can leave." I decide not to give Sara a choice in the matter.

As soon as the agent leaves us, Sara turns to me. "Cath, are you sure you want her to take you back? I can do it. I don't think you should be alone right now. You got really sick, really quickly. Any idea what's wrong?"

I'm now standing at the sink listening to Sara when the dizziness overtakes me again. I grab the sink in front of me and hold on, waiting for it to subside. "Sara, I don't know why I'm sick. For all I know, your little attempt at dinner last night gave me food poisoning. Seems like a perfect way to keep me out of the loop here since I'm not wanted to begin with, right?" I don't give her a chance to respond before I add, "Do us both a favor and just quit pretending to care, okay? You didn't do it while we were together and I certainly don't want it now."

Hurt and anger cloud Sara's eyes as the door to the restroom swings open once again. "You ready, Ms. Willows?"

I walk towards Mac and brush against Sara as I do so. "Go back to your meeting, Sara. I'm sure that I'm in very capable handsnow."