AN: Thank you all who have reviewed - I appreciate it more than you know.

I greatly enjoyed hearing your guys' theories about what is going on - especially when they include Sara being a pod person or shapeshifter (sbz, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your various theories and the arguments for and against each) :)

Hope you are all doing well and that you continue to enjoy the story.

Take care.

CHAPTER 10

"If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow."

Chinese proverb

CATHERINE POV

"Hey," Nancy greets me as I enter the house, placing my keys on the table near the door.

"Hey yourself," I offer, stepping around the couch to take a seat next to her. "How was your day?"

Nancy shrugs, moving her eyes briefly up from the page in her book. "It was good."

"Good," I reply, reaching over to grab the remote and turn on the TV.

"How about you?" she asks, looking me over.

"It was good."

"Good."

Neither one of us says anything more, both recognizing that this interaction between us right now is more than awkward but not really knowing what to say or do about it.

Giving me one last glance, Nancy takes a breath and returns her attention to her book.

I, in turn, try to pay attention to whatever the hell it is that I am watching on TV.

Eventually, after about a good fifteen minutes, I cannot take it anymore and I let out a sigh.

"Want me to turn it down?" I ask, watching as my sister looks over at me in surprise.

"Huh?"

"The TV," I clarify, gesturing with my hand. "I can turn it down if you like?"

Shaking her head, Nancy looks confused. "No, it's fine."

"You sure?" I tentatively ask, gesturing to the book in her lap.

"I'm good," she assures me.

"Nancy, you haven't turned a page in nearly ten minutes," I finally state, calling her out.

Looking down, Nancy sighs before placing her novel down. Running her hands through her hair, she lets out a breath.

"I'm sorry," she tells me quietly. "I guess I'm just a bit lost in thought."

I nod, already knowing that was the case before I even asked.

"Want to talk about it?" I offer.

Looking me over, Nancy eventually shakes her head.

"No, it's alright. Just stuff with work."

"Hmm," I hum knowingly. "And here I would have bet good money you were thinking about a certain brunette that we both know."

Looking over in surprise, Nancy is clearly at a loss for what to say in response.

"It's alright," I tell her sincerely. "You can talk about her with me."

"Catherine…" Nancy starts, shaking her head.

"No," I tell her. "I mean it. We've both been avoiding the entire topic long enough, pretending like nothing happened."

Nancy looks me over, her eyes assessing me.

"Do you want to talk, Catherine?" she offers sincerely.

I think about it, eventually shrugging. "Maybe. Probably."

Then, I let out a breath, tracing the edge of the TV remote with my fingers. "I just don't think I would even know where to start to be honest," I confess.

Nancy nods knowingly, her eyes moving to take in the news reporter on the screen.

"That's my problem as well."

We both sit a bit more in silence, but this time the silence isn't as oppressive as at least we both have stopped pretending like everything is fine when it so clearly isn't.

"Did you see her today?" Nancy asks quietly.

I nod, taking in a breath. "Yeah, this morning. She was waiting for me in the parking lot."

Nancy clenches her jaw, trying hard to remain impartial about the situation. To let my own feelings dictate this conversation, not hers.

"What happened?" she questions.

"She apologized," I tell her as the man on the television warns of a winter storm headed towards southern Nevada.

"And?" Nancy gently probes.

"And I told her to stay out of my life."

Nancy lets out a breath, "I don't know what to say here, Catherine. I'm just so sorry…I can't imagine what you must be going through right now."

"Sure you can," I counter. "You were in love with someone, planning to marry someone, and they ended up being a totally different person than you thought they were."

Nancy slowly turns her head, taking in my words. Then, suddenly, a particular portion of my words registers with her and her eyes jerk to mine.

"Wait, Catherine…" she starts, trailing off. "You…"

Her statement draws to a stop, her mouth unable to form the words to match the thoughts running through her head.

"We talked about getting married," I confirm, watching as my sister's eyes close with a grimace. "During the trip to Utah."

"Catherine…" she starts, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry…my God…"

I nod, watching weather maps transform our country to blotchy shades of green and red.

"I think that's what gets me the most," I confess. "That we were talking about marrying one another, and meanwhile she's sleeping with someone else."

Shaking her head, Nancy tugs at the cover of her book. "I didn't understand it before, Cath. But I certainly don't understand it now."

"I just can't believe that after everything, all the things we have been through together, that this is how it ends between us," I tell her quietly.

If I'm honest, I always feared in my heart of hearts that I would lose her, that our love was simply something too beautiful and too perfect for this world to allow to exist for any real length of time.

I secretly always felt that way, but I always assumed that someone else would be our undoing. Some suspect who returns to a scene with a gun, some driver who isn't paying attention and plows into our Tahoe, some disaster that befalls Sara while running in the pitch black hours of the morning.

But never, not once, did I ever think that the actions of one of us would create our own undoing.

And, to be truthful, out of the two of us, I especially never thought it would be Sara.

Not the Sara that I thought I knew, at least. The Sara that puts everyone in her life before herself. The woman who endangers her own life protecting the people that she loves. Even people that she doesn't know, as I am reminded of every time I see her limp.

The only faults I ever found in Sara were that she did too much for those in her life. That she never took the time to put herself first, always prioritizing the needs of others while neglecting her own.

I saw her as a selfless, compassionate, gentle woman who stands by those that she cares about, protecting and supporting them through whatever may come.

Now, knowing what I now know, I am having the hardest time adjusting myself to this new person that Sara revealed herself to be.

I thought that Sara and I were on the verge of marrying one another, opening a new chapter in our lives. Now, instead, our relationship has come to a crashing and jarring halt.

I don't know if I can get over this, I don't know if I can ever adjust to a life without her. I've felt the potential of our love, the depths to which I could feel for another human being, and I quite honestly don't know where I go from here.

Sara had my heart and soul, she had all of me.

What is left of my life, what is left of my own self, without her?

"I'm so sorry, Catherine," I hear Nancy say quietly, reaching out to take hold of my hand, wiping at tears that I didn't even realize had fallen with the other. "I'm so, so sorry."

NANCY POV

Pulling up the drive to my sister's former house, I don't know whether I am happy or upset when I see Sara's car in the drive.

Part of me was wishing she wouldn't be home so I could say I tried and move on.

But I know, deep down, that I need to do this, I need to get answers from Sara before any of us can move on from this horrible nightmare.

Stepping out, I notice that there is a towel over the railing, a clear sign that Sara is out for a run.

Before I can make my way up the drive, I hear Mesa approaching from the street below.

Looking up at me, Mesa offers a slim wag of the tail before heading to the porch. If I didn't know better, I'd say that he's giving me the cold shoulder in as polite a way as possible.

Turning, I see Sara standing at the bottom of the drive, eyes furrowing somewhat as she glances in my direction.

"Hey," I offer, letting her know that I am not here to start screaming at her like last time.

She may deserve it, but this time I'm hoping to have a much more productive conversation than me losing my temper and shouting in her face.

"Hey."

Gesturing towards the porch as way of invitation, she makes her way up the drive, removing her towel from the rail.

Following her lead, I stand at the top of the steps.

Taking a drink of water, Sara waits silently for me to get to the reason that I'm here. Especially since I made it abundantly clear the last time we spoke that I wanted nothing to do with her ever again.

"I need to talk to you," I say, breaking the silence while trying to keep my expression neutral and my various emotions in check.

"Okay," she responds, her own expression more guarded than I have seen it in a long time.

"Look, I don't want to be here," I tell her honestly. "I would much rather just write you off as a cheating bitch and move on with my life."

I sigh, running my hand through my hair.

"But you saved my life, Sara. In the desert. You shot and killed Chris for me," I tell her. "I feel like I at least owe you an honest chance to explain yourself before I move on. Before I help Catherine move on. That way I have no regret, no guilt about turning my back on someone who sacrificed so much for me."

"You don't owe me anything," she responds simply, her voice holding nothing but sincerity.

"I just don't get it, Sara," I sigh, my head shaking in defeat. "I don't get how the same person who would easily lay down her life for my sister could hurt her like this. It doesn't make sense to me. Especially not when I learn you and her were talking about marriage."

Sara doesn't respond, her fingers running tensely back and forth across the plastic label on her water bottle.

"Please, Sara. Help me understand," I breathe out. "Tell me something, tell me anything, to make this make sense."

Rubbing her temples, she sets her water down on the rail.

"Nancy, if you came here for answers you should leave," she says quietly. "Because, like I told you the other night, I don't have any."

Turning to face me, her eyes are heavy.

"I truly don't."

I watch her for a moment, neither one of us moving.

"Did you know her? That woman?" I ask.

"No."

I take this in, searching her eyes with my own.

"Are you going to try to tell me you didn't sleep with her?" I question with a dark note to my voice.

"No."

Calming my emotions, I step slightly closer to Sara.

"You admit to sleeping with her, but you claim you have no idea who she is," I verify, my eyes fixed on hers.

"Yes."

Shaking my head with a sigh, I can't help but feel like I am conversing with a wall.

"You have to work with me here, Sara," I tell her. "I'm trying to hear your side of things, but you need to give me more than one word answers."

Sara pinches the bridge of her nose.

For the first time, I realize that her hands are shaking.

"Please, Sara."

She is silent in response, and I am about to give up, walk off this porch and out of her life for good when her posture shifts.

"I went to a bar one night about a week ago and had a few drinks," she confesses, shifting her weight to her other leg. "Alone."

Clenching the rail tight in her hand, her eyes shut briefly.

"That's all I remember," she breathes out. "The next morning I woke up in a hotel room that I didn't even remember going to. I grabbed my stuff and left."

Sara's voice grows lower, darker.

"I had no clue what the hell happened that night, but I'd just assumed I'd gotten the room so I could sleep it off there instead of going home and disturbing Catherine," she explains.

Her fingers have gone pale from the force with which she is gripping the wooden railing.

"I certainly didn't know, didn't even suspect, that there had been someone else there with me," she gets out. "No idea that I had…that we had…"

Trailing off, Sara shakes her head with revulsion, turning her gaze away from me, unable to get the words out nor to look at me as she tries.

"What about the guy who saw you two together at the bar?" I counter.

"That's the part I really don't get," she says, returning her pained eyes to mine. "I have not been seeing that woman at any goddamn bar on a regular basis. I have not been seeing that woman period."

She takes a shaky breath.

"What we apparently did…that night…it was a one time thing," she forces out, looking like the words are dangerously close to making her physically sick.

I fix my gaze with hers, assessing her as she stands there tensely, her features stark and pale.

"You honestly don't remember anything from that night?" I ask one final time.

Shaking her head, she clenches her jaw in frustrated resignation.

"I honestly don't."

Shaking my own head, I feel a small amount of tension leave my body. At least Sara hadn't been maliciously cheating on my sister this whole time. Not according to her, that is.

"Do you think someone slipped you something?" I ask cautiously, trying to figure out what could have happened that night.

I honestly don't know what to believe at this point, but the idea of Sara being slipped some sort of drug makes a hell of a lot more sense than her ever willingly sleeping with another woman.

Turning from me, she stares darkly out into the yard.

"No."

Her answer is honest, but as I watch her profile I get the distinct feeling that there is something more that she isn't telling me. I can practically see it hanging unspoken in the tense air between us.

"Sara," I start, my eyes narrowing in suspicion.

When she doesn't respond, I step closer.

"Sara, look at me," I demand.

After a few moments, her gaze finally meets my own but I can tell she is having a hard time keeping it there.

"I want to help you," I tell her firmly. "But to do that I need you to be completely honest with me. What aren't you saying?"

Sara shakes her head, her body defensive.

"Don't, Nancy," she forces out.

Closing my eyes, I let out a breath before pining them back on her.

"Isn't Catherine worth fighting for?" I question her seriously. "Are you really willing to lose her over a night, a one night stand you can't remember?"

"It doesn't matter what I do or don't remember," she bites out, finally losing her tightly held composure. "All that matters is what I did. There's nothing else anyone needs to know."

My voice gets softer, "But what if someone slipped you something, Sara? What if that night wasn't consensual?"

I hate to even think about the possibility.

"You mean, what if I was raped?" she questions tightly.

"Yes."

"I wasn't."

I narrow my eyes further.

"No offense, but if you don't know what the hell happened that night, why is the option of rape off the table?" I counter bluntly.

Her expression darkening, her voice gets low.

"Because it is."

"Fine, then how else do you explain your going out for a drink and not remembering a damn thing from the night?" I ask seriously.

Her expression remains dark, but there is definitely another undercurrent there now as well.

For some unknown reason, I begin to get a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Sara…?"

The moment I say her name, the last of her defenses jerk into place, her body tense and stiff. Her gaze, when it meets mine, is so guarded, so unreadable, that I feel myself cringe.

Seeing her eyes this guarded, her body this defensive, my bad feeling only multiplies. Now I am definitely worried.

"I told you everything I know, Nancy," she says stoically. "Drop it and let your sister move on."

"There's something going on that you aren't telling me," I state firmly, shaking my head as I step towards her. "If you're in trouble, Sara, then let me help you."

Every one of my steps forward Sara matches with her own step back.

"I don't need your help."

Watching her literally pulling away from me right before my eyes, I stop trying to approach her, not able to handle seeing her backing away from me.

"What you're doing right now, Sara," I say to her quietly, "The way you're closing yourself off, it just proves to me that there's something wrong."

Sara doesn't respond, her dark gaze holding so much, yet giving absolutely nothing away.

I wait a few moments in the awkward silence between us, waiting for her to say something, say anything, when I know with confidence that she never will.

Clearing my throat, I keep our eyes locked.

"You may be willing to accept things the way they are, to let our relationship and your relationship with Catherine fall apart without a fight," I tell her, my voice barely above a whisper. "But I'm not."

Eyes flashing to mine in anger, Sara tightens her jaw but remains silent.

"I'm going to figure out what's going on. With or without your help." Our heated gazes remain fixed. "That's a promise."

I keep my position, letting her see for herself how adamant I am about getting answers, regardless of her willingness to supply them.

Then, with one final glance, I grab my keys from my pocket.

As I descend from the porch and approach my car, I have my hand on the door when I hear Sara's voice.

"Nancy," she calls from her place at the top of the steps, finally breaking her silence.

Her gaze is intense when my eyes meet with hers, her features stoic.

"Take care of her. Please."

I nod without hesitation, knowing exactly who she is talking about.

Without another word, I get into my car and make my way home.

AN: Some answers perhaps, some more questions perhaps. Thanks for reading.