The characters of the CSI universe are not mine. The characters that you don't recogize are all mine.
Thanks to all of you that reads my story and especially to those that takes the time to leave me a review.

Thanks to cathandsaraforever55 for trying to make sence of my writing

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Chapter 10

Lindsey was using all the excuses that she could find to spend time with Sara. Whether it was at the garage working on the car, or as a sparring partner for all the things happening in the girl's life.

It wasn't always easy with the CSI's working schedule. The brunette never made a big deal of it. Sara would make sure that the young Willows knew when they had time together, and then did everything in her power not to be called back to work. The calling back to work was an especially hot topic with Lindsey. The young girl had complained to the brunette about her mother choosing work over her every time. So Sara had made sure that Grissom knew when not to call. This had given her some trouble for the first month that Lindsey and Sara had time planned together, but the supervisor was finally getting the picture. At least he had stopped calling every hour when Sara wasn't at work.

It was getting hard for Catherine to get to spend alone time with her daughter if the brunette wasn't at work. This had resulted in them trying to coordinating their time off. That way Lindsey wouldn't beg Sara to spend all her off time working on the car. The girl didn't always take into account that the brunette needed to sleep during the day.

Catherine was just happy that Lindsey still enjoyed their time together and that the girl hadn't entirely given up on her mother.

"I have this weekend off to avoid too much overtime this month."

In the months that Sara had been working on the car with Lindsey she hadn't at any time been put on lab work due to, too much overtime. Much to Grissom's surprise. The supervisor was still confused about what caused this change in his protégé. Not that Sara had any plans of clearing up this confusion for the man that in the last four years had continuously pushed the brunette away.

"I can take Lindsey to the garage and give you time to sleep. I know how thin you're stretched lately. We can do something like renting a film and I can take her for the night. That way your sister…"

Catherine knew from experience that Sara would keep talking, without giving the blonde time to answer. After the last three months, where they had been getting along great, the older woman had seen this happen several times.

Catherine was of the opinion that Lindsey was rubbing off on Sara, or she was someway making Sara nervous. Recently the brunette had started talking without pauses. This mostly happened when the conversation turned personal.

Her plan was to interrogate Greg to figure out if it only happened when the older woman was around or if it was a normal occurrence. After all, the spiky haired DNA technician was the brunette's best friend in the lab. There was no way the older CSI would get Cam to reveal anything personal about Sara. Besides the mechanic kind of scared Catherine.

"Sara! I'm working this weekend so if you don't mind, Lindsey will love to spend the night with you. This way Nancy also gets some time to herself. I only have one request."

"What? I promise that we won't go anywhere inappropriate, and I will make sure that Zeke doesn't teach her more swearwords or inappropriate jokes like last time…"

At this Sara was looking very embarrassed, and all Catherine could do was laugh.

"Sara. SARA, it's nothing like that sweetie. I know that it wasn't your fault that she told that joke in school. I just wanted to ask you to have dinner with us. Okay?"

Did she just call me sweetie? Nah, Catherine is just being friendly because of Lindsey. There is no way that she could ever like somebody like me.

Catherine was smiling brightly while talking to Sara, but the brunette was harder to get through to than any other person the older woman had ever met.

"It won't be a problem, and we would both love to have you join us for dinner."

This caused the classic Sara smile that Catherine loved to bring out. The blonde had only seen it a couple of times before they became friends, and that was only when the younger CSI didn't know, the blonde was in the room. The brunette had started smiling a lot more in the last couple of months. Catherine hoped that she was a part of why it happened more often.

"Okay, I can come by after I've slept and take Lindsey 'til sometime Sunday."

Nancy had somehow heard from Lindsey about Sara having dinner at the Willows house, and had invited Jeremy and herself. The younger Flynn sister wanted to meet this fantastic woman she had heard about for months.

Catherine chose not to tell the brunette about this expansion of their planned dinner. As not to scare the younger woman. The older CSI thought that the brunette might feel so uncomfortable with Nancy joining them that she wouldn't want to come.

Lately Sara had become increasingly skittish around the blonde. Catherine didn't know what had caused this sudden change. The older woman herself was feeling more and more at home in the presence of Sara.

Sara was already late, according to her plan, getting home after Friday's shift. Grissom had interrupted the brunette several times that night. It had started to feel like the supervisor didn't want Sara to have a life outside work.

This was all starting to confuse the younger woman. First Catherine had mentioned that Gil only called Sara and now the man was asking for second opinions on the simplest things.

There was something behind Grissom's change. The brunette needed to find out why, because as things were Sara was starting to burn out. It was not like everyone in the younger woman's professional life had predicted. It wouldn't be caused by getting too personally involved in cases. No, as it was Grissom would be the reason, that is if Sara didn't find a solution.

Things had finally worked themselves out with Catherine. Sara was enjoying her life, so of cause something like this had to happen. This time, however, the young woman would do anything in her power to fix the problem, so she could stay in Vegas.

The worst part was that Sara didn't know what change had been made to cause Grissom to behave more weirdly than usually. Why did he start paying attention to her? The brunette had finally accepted that he would never be the friend he had once been.

Maybe Catherine could clue her in at dinner, because if not the brunette might be forced to move again.

But right now Sara didn't have time to dwell on the topic of her boss. If the brunette was to be well rested when going to the Willows' she had to get some sleep.

According to Lindsey, and confirmed with Catherine, Sara was to show up at three. That way, as per the girl, they would have the opportunity to hang out. The brunette had even gotten instructions to bring her swimsuit, that way they could take advantage of the pool. The younger CSI though, was not planning on going swimming with either of the Willows.

At this point Sara would be lucky if she got four hours of sleep, but she had gotten by with less before. Setting her alarm for two, Sara fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

At the Willows house it wasn't all that quiet since Lindsey was ecstatic about having the brunette over for dinner. The girl was planning on getting her mom, when the woman woke up, to agree to let Lindsey stay the night at Sara's. That was if the brunette wouldn't mind. The youngest Willows was betting on the CSI not being able to say no. Hopefully her mom would feel the same way.

Catherine had made a deal with Nancy. Since the younger sister had invited herself she would also help getting the house somewhat presentable. That unfortunately for Nancy included Lindsey's room, which at the moment looked like a bomb had gone off.

Nancy was desperately trying to keep the noise level to a minimum while Cath slept. Not an easy feat with an exited child on the loose.

By 2 pm Lindsey was climbing the walls and the younger woman couldn't stop the girl from waking her mother. When both Willows came down stairs, Nancy saw it as her chance of getting out of there till dinner. The younger sister needed to run some errands and pick Jeremy up before coming back.

Since Catherine wasn't a great cook, Lindsey and her had decided not to venture too far out of the comfort zone. That meant that they would get lasagna, salad and garlic bread, because as the girl put it; the blonde couldn't ruin something that simple.

The blonde didn't seem to get enough sleep as it was these days and readily agreed to something simple. It wasn't easy raising a daughter on your own. At the same time the CSI was starting a friendship with Sara and the older woman wasn't quite ready to give up on dating. Therefore as Catherine saw it, there were too few hours in a day. The easiest place to find some extra time was her sleep time. Not the best option but there really weren't any others.

By the time that three o'clock came, Lindsey was on the couch looking out the blinds keeping as eye out for Sara.

When the girl saw the car pull into the driveway she was off the couch and on the way out the door in 2 seconds.

"Mom, Sara's here." Lindsey yelled as loud as she could to make sure her mother heard. The brunette barely had time to turn the car off before the blonde whirlwind opened the door. Lindsey threw her arms around Sara's neck before the CSI had the chance to get out of the car.

"Hi Shorty, I missed you too."

The brunette hugged back as she beamed at the girl. As Sara got out she kept her arms wrapped around Lindsey lifting the girl in the process.

"It's really cool that you came here."

Lindsey blurted out as the woman put her down to get the overnight bag Sara had brought for their so called pajamas party. The young Willows dragged the brunette into the house, dead set on showing her friend around.

When they entered Lindsey wasn't at all thrilled about letting Sara talk to Catherine.

"Come on Sara! You have to see my room."

"Sweetie, let Sara in the door before you attack her."

Catherine was smiling at the eagerness of her daughter. It was nice to see that light and bright grin in Lindsey again. There wasn't anything the blonde wouldn't do to keep it there, but the world doesn't always work that way.

Sara was a little skittish. It was strange to be in Catherine's house, because the brunette had only been there one time in her years in Vegas, and now the both of them wanted her there. That was a nice feeling, but enough to make the younger woman uncomfortable.

"That's fine, I can breathe another time. Come on Linds show me your room."

Sara smirked at Lindsey as she followed the girl. It was not that the brunette didn't want to talk to Catherine but it was safer to go with Lindsey. Being in the vicinity of the blonde had become a fight to keep her emotions in check, and the younger CSI knew that she was withdrawing. The problem wasn't that the brunette didn't trust Catherine as much as it was that Sara liked the blonde too much.

When Lindsey and Sara went up stairs, the blonde slumped down on the couch. Catherine hadn't gotten enough sleep and thought that she might take advantage of the situation and rest while Lindsey was talking the ears off the younger woman.

"Hey mom, can we have something to drink?"

Lindsey said coming down the stairs startling Catherine awake. The blonde looked confused until her eyes landed on Sara. Great I fell asleep on the couch and now I must look like shit.

Getting up the older woman joined them in the kitchen.

Starting to take some soda's out of the fridge the blonde was lost in thought.

"Oh, I can make coffee, if you want some?"

Catherine hadn't been paying attention to anything around her until Lindsey's voice made it through the fog surrounding her mind.

"MOM! You didn't hear anything I said."

Sara covered her mouth to hide the laugh that wanted to escape. Only succeeding in muffling the sound slightly. This caught the older woman's focus.

Looking at the bright eyes of the brunette, Catherine once more got lost in thought, but this time it was caused by the twinkle in the hazel eyes of Sara.

The younger CSI was shocked that the blonde looked at her like that, but for the life of her she couldn't bring herself to look away.

Again Lindsey was the one to bring her mother back to reality. "Mom!"

"What? I'm sorry sweetie, I spaced out for a second there."

That had the girl grinning. "A second. I tried to get your attention for 2 minutes."

The blonde blushed, which again caused another round of laughter from the youngest Willows. Sara was quick to jump in to save the blonde.

"Come on Linds, your mom had a hard week."

Grateful Catherine turned to Lindsey.

"Okay, you got me. What was it that you wanted?"

"Can we go swimming before Jeremy and Aunt Nancy get here?"

The blonde smiled; there was no way out of this. The older woman just had to hope that Sara wouldn't leave now that the brunette knew Nancy was joining them.

"Yes…."

This caused an immediate reaction in the brunette cutting the older CSI off. "Linds I'm not going swimming."

The sternness of Sara's voice caught both of the Willows by surprise. Catherine had expected a reaction to Nancy coming over, but never once thought that swimming would be a problem.

The blonde looked at Sara and was shocked to see how fast the younger woman's expression had changed. The brunette had been laughing, and suddenly Sara looked as dark as when she arrived in Vegas.

Lindsey on the other hand looked crushed. The girl didn't understand why the younger CSI had snapped at her like that. The words hadn't bothered the young girl as much as the tone of Sara's voice. Blinking several times to hold back the tears that were threatening to flow from the girl's eyes, Lindsey turned and headed for her room.

"Okay. I'll find something else."

The young girl did not pay attention to what she said; all Lindsey knew was that she really needed to get out of there.

Before the young girl had even gotten out of the kitchen, the brunette started after her with a horrified look on her face.

No, no, no not now Sidle. You're gonna ruin everything. You don't even need any help; no you do so well on your own. You need to fix this Sidle, now!

The brunette needed to talk to Lindsey before the older woman came to her senses and threw Sara out. After all the younger CSI had broken her promise.

Hopefully the blonde would give her the opportunity to make things right with the young girl. Lindsey might not want to talk to her again, but Sara had to explain. The youngest Willows deserved that much if not more.

Lindsey ignored the knocking on her bedroom door. That, however, didn't stop Sara. Normally the brunette wouldn't have entered a bedroom without consent from the person living there, but this was different. The CSI found the young girl lying on the bed with her head buried in a pillow.

Sara softly sat on the side of the bed, she wanted to comfort the young girl, but knew from experience what a sudden and unwelcome touch was like. So the brunette settled for sitting close by in case Lindsey wanted the touch.

"Lindsey, I'm sorry. I don't know why I talked to you like that…"

The young girl looked up at the brunette with doubt clearly written on her face.

"Yeah, you're right, that's not the truth. I know why, but that doesn't mean that I should have spoken to you like that. And for that I'm sorry."

Sara waited to see if Lindsey would say anything. When it seemed that the young girl wasn't going to talk to her anytime soon, the brunette continued.

"I understand why you wouldn't want to talk to me, and I'm sorry for ruining your day. I'll get out of here and you can have a good time with your mother. If you like I can take her shift tonight and you can spend that time together. It's okay if you don't want me around again, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry. If you ever want to know why what occurred today happened I'll be willing to tell you."

As the brunette started to get up from the bed as to leave, the young girl threw her arms around Sara's neck.

"Please don't go. I don't want you to leave me…"

Lindsey couldn't get more words out as the tears started falling and the sobs couldn't be held back any more.

The brunette was stunned. This was not the reaction she had anticipated. Slowly Sara wrapped her arms around the young girl.

"Hey it's okay, nobody is leaving you."

"But you were leaving, just like everybody else."

Tears were steaming down Lindsey's cheeks but the sobbing had stilled to almost none.

Wrapping her arms tighter around the girl, the CSI didn't know what to say or do, so she just held on tight.

"I'm not leaving you, and neither is your mom."

Lindsey didn't say anything to this. She clung to the woman like she was sinking. Sara remembered that humming and rocking had helped before and that was good enough for the brunette. The CSI got more comfortable and gently rocked Lindsey. Patiently waiting for the young girl to calm down.

It took some time, but Lindsey stopped crying and looked up at the brunette.

"Why?"

That one word said it all. Once again Sara felt like she had failed the blonde haired girl. The brunette never lied to Lindsey and she wasn't going to start now. That didn't mean that the CSI was going tell an 11 year old everything about her childhood.

"I have some bad experiences from when I was a kid." Sara didn't know how to continue, so she went quiet while she thought of how to best explain.

"You know that doesn't explain anything, right?"

Grinning to the girl the brunette responded. "I know, and I wasn't planning on stopping there. I was only trying to gather my thoughts. This is hard to talk about and I don't entirely know what to say."

The woman was starting to feel trapped and her instincts were screaming at her to get out of there. The brunette didn't want to do that to Lindsey so she pushed the feeling down, and was about to continue when the young girl spoke up again.

"You don't have to say more Sara. It's okay."

Lindsey was sounding more mature by the minute.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to tell you, so you will understand."

Again the brunette paused to collect her thoughts. "I've almost drowned more than once when I was a kid…"

"Is that why you didn't want to go in the pool?"

The young girl wanted so badly to understand her friend, and why Sara had reacted so strongly. Something Lindsey couldn't quite explain made her think that there was more to the story.

"Yes, that is a part of it, but not everything. The people I was supposed to trust didn't always do such a good job."

Yeah, understatement of the year, Sidle. How do I tell Lindsey that I don't like to show all the scars I have? That will only lead to more questions. She is just like her mother, a dog with a bone, there is no way Lindsey would let it slide if she knew about my scars.

"Because of this I don't do well when I have to go in a pool. Not only because I'm scared of water, but also because I don't feel comfortable in a swimsuit."

The young girl reached out and hugged Sara. The brunette tried her hardest not to move away from the sweet gesture. The CSI was sure that Lindsey had felt the flinch, that Sara couldn't stop, but the girl just hugged her tighter.

They hadn't noticed that Catherine was standing outside the door. The blonde had left after she saw that her daughter would be okay. She hadn't wanted to eavesdrop on Sara's explanation. For some reason the older woman felt like she was intruding.

Yes the blonde had been furious at Sara's reaction. When the brunette had practically run after Lindsey the older woman had given the brunette a chance. Then Catherine had seen and heard the interaction between the brunette and Lindsey. The blonde couldn't be angry at the younger CSI, when Sara was so good with Lindsey.

Lindsey and Sara had stayed in the room talking until Nancy and Jeremy arrived. The brunette was glad that they had stayed in Lindsey's room avoiding the older woman. Catherine was high on the younger woman's list of things to steer clear of.

It had seemed that the young girl needed someone unbiased to talk to. Some things you just couldn't talk to your mother about. Not that Sara ever doubted that the blonde loved Lindsey more than anything. It would tear Catherine apart to hear that the girl thought everyone left her.

The brunette knew she would have to face the older woman at some point. The CSI was highly surprised that Catherine hadn't come in and asked her to leave. Maybe now that Nancy had arrived it would keep the blonde from yelling.

Get a grip Sidle. You deserve everything that Catherine throws at you.

Lindsey and the brunette headed down stairs to greet Jeremy and Nancy. The young girl ran ahead and hugged her aunt. By the time that the brunette reached the other people in the house, Lindsey had starting happily chatting with Jeremy and the youngest Flynn sister. Nancy looked up as Sara came up to them and saw the younger CSI stuff her hands in her pockets.

"Hi, you must be the famous Sara…" Sticking her hand out to probably greet the younger CSI as Catherine seemed to have lost her voice. "It's nice to finally meet you. Cath has been hiding you, she never was one for sharing."

Sara was granted a full blown grin from Nancy and a blush from the older blonde. The younger CSI was so flustered that she was hardly able to stutter hi.

Nancy was having a great time mocking her sister, but had the decency to stop when she noticed how uncomfortable Sara was with the jokes. There was no reason to scare the already skittish brunette CSI.

What did Nancy mean by Catherine doesn't share well? Catherine must have known what she meant why else would she blush?

Sara had suggested that they help cook dinner. That way the younger CSI hoped that it might help get on the older woman's good side. Besides it was never too early to learn how to cook. It could also be a great way for mother and daughter to spend time together.

The conversation over the dinner table had much to the older blonde's surprise flowed without the usual shyness of the brunette.

Catherine was stunned that Sara had so easily been able to talk to her sister, when the brunette was still not that comfortable in the older woman's presence.

What Catherine didn't know was that the brunette in no way felt threatened by Nancy. Sara wasn't attracted by the younger Flynn sister.

Lindsey was eager to go to the brunette's apartment. That would be a lot more fun than staying in her house. Sara on the other hand wasn't too keen on that happening, but the younger CSI didn't feel she could say no. Especially after the way she had reacted earlier.

Sara was not at ease with letting anybody into her home. That was the brunette's sanctuary and she wasn't ready to have Lindsey and consequently Catherine know about her private life.

Though, the younger CSI was willing to make an exception for the cute little girl. Who could say no to a smile like that? Sara was sure that if Lindsey stepped foot into her apartment the girl would know of Emily, and that would mean Catherine would know too.