Thanks for the reviews so far, hope y'all are enjoying it
KC x
x x x x
"How's our girl doing?" Doc Robbins asked without even looking up; he knew it was Grissom, he'd recognise that shuffling walk coming down the hall any day.
"She's doing okay; she's staying with Catherine for a while." Grissom answered, wondering briefly how Doc had known it was him. "I still don't know what to do about it though."
"You did the right thing letting her go with Catherine." Al assured him. "She's better off there, rather than some hospital all on her own."
"I know, I just..." he trailed off, not really sure what was bothering him.
"I know." Doc agreed sympathetically. "Catherine will take care of her. Besides, she's probably the only one tenacious enough to get anything out of Sara." He joked. "I bet she'll have answers before the weeks out."
X x x
When Catherine awoke it took her a while to work out why she was in the guest room. She sat up and yawned, stretching contentedly. Her back cracked satisfactorily.
It was the most peaceful sleep she'd had all week.
She glanced to her side, surprised to see the other half of the bed occupied by a mass of black fur.
"Oi!" She barked, nudging the dog. Apart from one lazy flick of the tail, Beans didn't react. Cath huffed and clambered out of bed, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.
"I tried that, it doesn't work." Sara's voice startled her and she spun around to see the brunette dressed, her damp hair curling against her shoulders. Cath raised an eyebrow, not following. "Glaring. It doesn't move him." Sara clarified. Catherine laughed, shaking her head at the dog.
"Lazy mutt." She grumbled before turning her attention back to her other houseguest. "How'd you sleep?"
"Okay." Sara nodded, attempting to run a comb through her unruly hair. Cath perched on the edge of the bed, watching Sara's struggle.
"I got a call from the lab last night." She continued, if for no other reason than to make conversation.
"Yeah?" Sara asked, not really listening.
"There are a couple of things I need to sort out, but after that I've got a few days off." She tried to make it sound like she'd had them booked for a while and not that she had been sent on leave to babysit Sara, but she wasn't sure it washed on the brunette. "I was thinking when I get back we could rent a movie?"
"Okay." Sara agreed impassively, her back still to Catherine. The blonde stood up, carefully moving closer to her friend. As soon as Sara caught the movement in the mirror she froze, watching in the reflection as Catherine came to stop right behind her and one hand reached up to tenderly graze the wound peeking out from her top.
"I'll go get a bandage" Catherine said softly at last, letting her hand fall back to her side. Sara mumbled her thanks, watching in the mirror as her colleague disappeared from the room.
X x x
"Gil," Ecklie called. Grissom turned but didn't stop walking, causing the boss to jog to catch him up in the hall, dodging around ambling lab rats as he went. "How's Sara?" He asked breathlessly once he had caught up.
"She's with Catherine." Grissom answered bluntly. Ecklie rolled his eyes.
"I know that. But, how is she?" He pressed, stalking Gil into his office.
"Still not talking. Other than that, I don't know." Ecklie watching him drop unceremoniously into his chair. He looked tired. Ecklie slunk into the chair opposite.
"Well if you speak to her or Catherine, tell them that the departmental counsellor is on stand-by whenever she's ready to talk to someone."
"Thank you." Grissom nodded. Ecklie stood up and made his way to the door, casting a glance over his shoulder. His eyes scanned Gil's worn out face, the bags under his eyes, his helpless expression. Taking pity on him, Ecklie sighed.
"Gil, why don't you go home? It's a quiet night." He offered. Grissom blinked at him.
"No thanks." He paused. "If I keep busy, I feel more useful." He explained at last. Ecklie nodded.
"Okay, well the offers open if you change your mind." He said, although he knew that was about as likely as Sara telling them what happened.
X x x
"You know, I struggled with depression when I was growing up." Mandy interrupted the uncomfortable silence filling the room. Warrick glanced up from the magazine he was pretending to read.
"Yeah? How come?" He asked, his attention peaked. She shrugged.
"Just, the trials of life." She chuckled nervously. "I used to wake up and just lie there, not wanting to move. I didn't feel like I had anything to get up for." She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear self-consciously. Now that she'd brought this up, she realised that she had never really talked about it before. "Some days I just wanted to sit and cry for no reason at all."
"Wow, I wouldn't have thought that about you." Greg said softly. She sent him a gentle smile.
"I was good at hiding it back then too." She joked quietly.
"Do you think that's what's wrong with Sara?" Henry asked, folding his arms on the table. She shrugged again.
"Maybe. It might explain why she did what she did."
"Maybe. Except you had depression, but you didn't put a gun to your head." Hodges pointed out, earning him a smack from Nick as the Texan walked behind him. The lab rat rubbed the back of his head sullenly.
"True, but I wouldn't have said no to the idea." This caught their waning attention.
"You were suicidal?" Wendy asked softly, leaning closer. Mandy felt herself going red. That hadn't quite come out right.
"Not really; but at my worst, sure I considered it. I'd have never gone through with it but the idea was always there." There was a long silence while everyone took this in. Finally, Nick looked up, seeking out her doe brown eyes.
"So, if someone had noticed what you were going through when you were younger, what could they have done to help you?" She took a deep breath, thinking for a long moment.
"Listened to me." She answered at last, as if the answer to her own problems had been staring her in the face all this time.
X x x
"Nicky," Cath called, spotting him leaving the break room. He turned, sending her a warm smile.
"Hey Catherine." He greeted. "How's she doing?"
"She's okay. Still quiet." She nodded. "Where's Grissom?"
"I'm here." The man himself answered, wandering out of his office. He looked at Catherine, an expression somewhere between bemusement and panic on his face. "You didn't leave her alone did you?" Cath sent him a look.
"Don't be stupid, she's with Lindsey and Nancy. And FYI, she knows she's being babysat and she's not happy about it."
"She'd be even less happy if I'd gotten my way." He muttered under his breath. Cath threw him a look and changed the subject.
"Ecklie called, said I had some forms to sign?" She queried. He pointed to his office and she disappeared, emerging a few minutes later having found everything on Grissom's trash-heap of a desk.
"Has she said anything yet?" Gil asked before she could vanish again. She sighed, folding her arms across her chest.
"No, but she's starting to relax a bit so I'm hoping she'll start talking in the next few days. In the meantime, I guess we just let her be."
"Hey Cath, tell her we love her, yeah?" Nick requested, his brown eyes almost pleading. She smiled.
"I will." She promised.
"Oh, Ecklie said the departmental shrink's there whenever she's ready to speak to him." Grissom remembered. Cath nodded, although she knew that that would be a long time coming yet. For the first time she noticed Grissom's coat slung over his arm despite the shift only being half way through.
"You going somewhere?"
"I'm going home."