Disclaimer: I don't own CSI/Sara/Cath/Any other character, they are the property of CBS/Bruckheimer. This is just me playing with someone else's toys. But don't worry, they are most certainly having fun and I promise to put them back unharmed when I'm finished. Seriously, no copyright infringement intended folks.

Authors Note: Sorry I haven't had this chapter out sooner, it was another one I found hard to write for reasons I can't quite fathom. I've not had much chance to check it over post writing so I hope that it has come out alright, makes sense and that you enjoy reading it. Thank you very VERY much to everyone for their reviews and messages and support of my writing and story. I've tried to make sure I respond to every review and comment because they are really important to me. :-) Also it might possibly take me another week to get the next chapter out because I have a friend over for a while and probably won't get much time to be creative, so bear with me. Well enough waffling, time to let you read the next instalment. Thanks guys, you rock! :-)

Warning: This story contains sex between two consenting females. It has been rated M for its sexual content. If femmeslash is not your thing or you are not old enough to read this, don't go any further.

High-Five

Chapter 10

Catherine blinked against the glare of the late afternoon sunshine considering that it still always felt strange to come out of a darkened bar into daylight. "Sara, don't be mad with me."

"I'm not." The brunette walked a stride ahead of her smaller colleague, arm stretched behind her, allowing her hand to remain in Catherine's.

"Sara… I…"

Sara cut her off. "Don't say you're sorry."

"But I…"

"Cath, don't say it." Sara spun her round until they were facing each other.

Catherine looked down at the sidewalk, gathering herself and trying to squash the unlikely mixture of emotions back into their appropriate containers. Every sense told her that she'd just experienced something profoundly personal and completely beyond definition and the feelings it had invoked were tattooed in her conscious. That song now couldn't ever belong to anyone but Sara. Rooting around in her guts she found the courage she needed to meet Sara's gaze.

"I'm not sorry," she whispered, desperately sifting through superlatives none of which were even close to being adequate. "You're phenomenal Sara."

Sara was far too quick to respond as she cemented in her metaphorical breeze-blocks in her usual well-practised fashion. "I am not phenomenal or anything of the sort Catherine and you aren't and can't be sorry because I did exactly the same thing to you, you just happened to get me first."

"No it's not that, I'm not sorry because… wait a minute," Catherine's mind processed Sara's reasoning, momentarily confused, "I got you first?"

"I was a bit angry but realised that made me a hypocrite." Sara's eyes darted to a spot somewhere behind the blonde. "I put your name forward too."

"You…" Catherine faltered as she registered what Sara was admitting.

"Yes, I wanted to get you back for insisting we stayed." Sara spoke in a level tone which belayed the way her crumbly mind really felt.

After a few seconds of considering the situation with wide eyes, Catherine began to chuckle softly but the chuckle was self-feeding and before she knew it she was guffawing in a most unladylike manner. Sara, though still uncertain, couldn't help but join in and the laughter rose to a crescendo. Their hands finally parted as Catherine crossed her legs and bent to alleviate the stitch that was attacking her midriff. She tried to breathe through the pain and attempted to speak, "you… me… sing… me…" It didn't make any sense. Eventually she caught her breath, wiped the tears from her cheeks, looked up at her companion and delivered one short but comprehendible sentence. "What song?"

Sara's eyes bulged slightly and her brain started hammering against her skull. She shuffled from one foot to the other before grabbing any random title from mid air then opening her mouth. Composure now in her possession, Catherine interrupted, "…and don't lie to me!" Sara shut her mouth. "I can tell. Give me that much credit." She smirked as Sara fidgeted. "What song?"

Defeated, Sara gave up the information Catherine wanted, she was a horrible liar anyway. "I Just Wanna Make Love To You." Her lips were tight as if she were auditioning as a ventriloquist.

Catherine's insides jolted. "You just…"

"…by Etta James, 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You' by Etta James. It was just supposed to be a bit embarrassing that's all." Ironically, Sara realised, she was the one who'd ended up embarrassed. Catherine just looked amused as she resumed her advancement along the pavement.

Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, Sara fell in step with her colleague. It seemed to Sara like they'd been silent for hours when Catherine finally spoke, though in reality it was probably more like thirty seconds. "It is a very good job they picked you first."

"Not for me," Sara huffed.

"Actually yes, for you and for me, for the audience and for any stray dogs that might have been in the vicinity."

"Eh?"

"Let me explain something to you Sara," Catherine was using the same commonsensical tone she employed when laying out evidence. "As I know you're aware, I used to dance, and not just dance but strut, sway, shimmy, and shake my ass off on stage." Sara couldn't fight the rising blush at the imagery suddenly screening in the theatre between her ears. "I have innate rhythm and there was a time when my agility knew no bounds." Oh sweet baby Jesus in a barn! "I knew I had it and I topped the bill every night. They stayed just to see me." I have no doubt they did. Sara hastily swallowed the excess saliva that had suddenly formed in her mouth. "But if I'd have opened my mouth, I'd have cleared that place faster than the bomb squad." She halted and eyed Sara carefully to ensure that she was understanding this. "YOU, Captain Jack, are a phenomenal singer. Your voice is spine-tingling, heart-stirring and overwhelming." Sara did not know what to do with such adulation, she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. "I, on the other hand, carry the same genetic predisposition towards holding a tune as the amazing Brian. In fact I'm doing Brian a disservice with that comparison." Catherine's hands rested on her hips and she raised an eyebrow as she made her point.

Sara had no idea how to respond probably due to having been hit with a double whammy; mental images of Catherine dancing in her scanties and unsought accolades for her supposed musical abilities. She resorted instead to a somewhat hesitant giggle but as Catherine quickly joined her, the two women found themselves once again clutching their stomachs gasping for breath.

-- -- --

The closer the cab got to the airport the un-easier Sara became. The past couple of days had been so different from her usual routine that she'd had a chance to allow her inner Sara to live and breathe outside herself. She'd laughed like she hadn't laughed in years, actually spent time outdoors during the hours of daylight and now heading back to Vegas felt akin to intentionally suffocating herself. Well when she got back things would be changing anyway, she pushed that thought ahead of all the others and tried to relax.

She glanced over at her companion who was wearing an expression of deep concentration and tutting softly as she worked the buttons on her cell. Catherine was replying to a text from Lindsey, she had been for a while. Sara couldn't help but smile as Catherine's brow furrowed even further.

"Damn these things," Catherine muttered under her breath. "Whoever decided that predictive text was helpful should be shot. I can't even turn the damn option off." Sara's smile widened further as Catherine shook her head again and looked at her in despair.

"I never had you down as a technophobe Catherine," she teased gently.

Catherine sighed exasperated. "I'm not, well not usually but ever since they handed out these brilliant new hyper-intelligent cell-phones with built in camera, music player, coffee-maker and refrigerator I've not been able to send a text in under fifteen minutes."

Sara held her hand out for the phone. "I switched it off on mine. I'll turn it off for you if you want?"

Catherine handed over the offending object and gave Sara a grateful smile. "I'm pathetic I know."

"Not pathetic… an evil practical joker, who confesses to being a legendary mover but diabolical singer, with a touch of technology blindness… but definitely not pathetic," Sara taunted through her grin.

Catherine watched Sara's slender fingers skim gracefully over the buttons. She has really beautiful hands, really beautiful. They're elegant, soft, so gentle and… "Huh?" Catherine had heard Sara talking but her distracted brain had not processed her words.

Sara passed the cell back to Catherine, still grinning. "Where did you go just then? I asked what an ignomm is?"

"An ignomm?" Catherine echoed confused. She looked down at the screen and noticed the last word she'd tried to write. "Hmm, see how helpful modern technology really is," she shrugged, "it was meant to say honey."

As Catherine contentedly continued her message, Sara sat back and returned her attention to the fleeting images whizzing past her window, of a city awakening under the setting sun. I like her. The sudden awareness punched Sara right between the eyes. She knew Catherine was beautiful, any fool could see that. She also knew that she herself found Catherine ridiculously attractive, she'd admitted as much to herself when she'd conjured up her image during her intimate 'personal' time. But it was all the other things; that she felt comfortable enough to act the goat around Catherine; that she could let go and really laugh, proper belly laughs; that she was captivated by all the blonde's little quirks and mannerisms; that Catherine's few unbelievable words of praise earlier had actually penetrated further into her heart than nearly everyone else she'd ever known; and that it was the barest physical contact, like when Catherine had held her hand, that made her feel as though she was recharging a long-dead battery, once more breathing life into her soul. She closed her eyes. My God, I REALLY like her. The dust-covered, forgotten part of her heart felt the need to add its two-cents worth at this juncture – 'well duh!'

-- -- --

Thankfully for a spaced-out Sara, check-in was a fairly painless affair, no queue, no messing. Catherine suggested filling the two-and-a-half hour window till departure with a wander around the shops. She wanted to pick up a little present for her daughter. Sara wondered, and not for the first time, what it must be like to have a mother as devoted as Catherine was to Lindsey. She tagged along disinterestedly feeling a wave of melancholy wash over her. She had no one in her life to even buy a present for.

"You're quiet." Catherine noted as she eyed some charming little figurines of faeries.

Sara had pretty much retreated into her head since her earlier insight, pondering on why it had taken her so much by surprise, why she'd never suspected anything before. It was the first time she and Catherine had spent any time together outside of their normal working environment. Maybe that was it? "Yeah, I think I just need a caffeine fix. How about I let you finish up here and meet you at the coffee bar?"

"You sure you're ok though?" Catherine asked gently.

"Of course." Sara flashed Catherine a genuine smile and reached over her shoulder to lift one of the porcelain faeries from the display. The tiny figure had long wavy reddish-blonde hair, big blue eyes set prominently amid her elfin features and a dainty, almost knowing smile gracing her pretty pink lips. Her dress was the colour of the ocean and clung to her tiny waist, silvery gossamer wings stretching out elegantly behind her. "This one is beautiful." Sara placed the ornament carefully into Catherine's hands letting her fingers lightly brush against the blonde's skin before setting off in the direction of the coffee bar.

Catherine remained glued to the spot cradling the figurine in her tingling palm, studying its delicate perfection. It was beautiful, completely and utterly. She glanced over her shoulder staring at Sara's retreating back, a now very familiar tension bubbling in her stomach. For a moment her subconscious pushed forward, her imagination demanding to fantasise on what it would feel like to have Sara's lips against hers and those soft, slender fingers moving over her shoulder-blades, raking down her back, gliding over her abdomen... Oh God! Catherine pulled herself together before she dropped the ornament, deciding it was indeed perfect for Lindsey. She had one last cursory look round the store then made her way to the cashier.

-- -- --

As Catherine arrived at the coffee bar the brunette was reclining in a large armchair with her eyes closed. Her ankles were crossed and resting on a low table in front of her, the paper balanced on her knee folded open at the cryptic crossword puzzle. Yep, she was definitely Grissom's younger, sexier, female counterpart. Catherine placed her bags down on the seat opposite and took the opportunity once again to simply enjoy looking at her. It had been only the shortest time that they'd spent in each other's company but already she felt a connection to Sara, an energy that threatened to consume her.

"Are you going to stand there all day watching me like a stalker or are you going to get me an expresso?" Catherine started, her cheeks reddening. How did she? Sara's eyes remained closed but her mouth twisted into a grin. "I can see through my eyelids," she offered as her only explanation.

Picking through the higgledy-piggledy tables, Catherine noticed Sara now sitting upright and visually trailing her progress. She lifted the cups carefully onto the table along with two large toasted sandwiches and placed the empty tray on the floor feeling a little self-conscious under Sara's scrutiny.

"I heard your stomach rumble, and I am purely famished." Catherine spoke before Sara mentioned the appearance of the food in front of her. "Its goat's cheese and roasted Mediterranean vegetables, I hope you..."

Sara brought her hand to cover Catherine's. "Thank you." Her fingers started to gently rub little circles as she looked up at the blonde. Catherine felt electricity coursing through her and as their eyes met her stomach turned inside out. There was a light in Sara's eyes that she'd never seen before and she couldn't physically tear her own away.

It was the clattering of a tray from across the room that finally broke the spell. "You're welcome, it's only a sandwich." Catherine fidgeted then back-stepped to her seat and fiddled with the packets of sugar for her coffee.

Sara smiled and pulled the crossword back onto her lap. "Want to help me finish this?"

Catherine snorted. "As if I'd be much use, you'd be better off with Grissom."

Sara eyed Catherine carefully. "Not so. I'd take you over Grissom every single time." Catherine's heart responded like it was on the verge of an attack. Why was it that every little thing Sara did or said made her feel as though she'd been plugged into the mains? Catherine began eating her sandwich and gave what little input she could to the diabolically difficult crossword clues with most of her attention caught up in the way Sara's mouth was twitching and curving as she read. All of a sudden the fogginess and confusion parted allowing one brilliant beam of understanding to pass through. Her eyes widened and her heart pounded as if it were trying to escape her chest. It must be…

Well my lovelies… all honest thoughts and comments welcome as always. :-)