Sorry it isn't very long. I told you readers I would have this and the next chapter of my other fic up over the weekend, but Monday is better than waiting a whole other week, right? I'm going to try and update Welcome to Vegas tomorrow, but this time...no guarantees because I haven't started writing it yet. :(

ANYWAY, ENJOY THIS CHAPTER! :D

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The bell rang for lunch and Catherine and Sara walked almost joined at the hip to the cafeteria. To be discreet, they linked pinky fingers as they strolled through the lunchroom and got in line for the day's hot plate.

"So…what store do you want to go to after school," Catherine asked with a smile.

"Um, I don't know…I've never really been shopping before," Sara confessed. "My dad usually took scare of everything. He brought my mother's clothes so he bought my clothes. My brother would go with him, but it was part of their 'bonding'. I knew the only reason why my dad bought our clothes was so he could have more control over us women."

Catherine cringed and tightened her pinky's grip around Sara's tiniest finger. "I guess I'll just take you to where I usually shop and go from there. How does that sound?"

"Exhausting," Sara sighed. She waited until, out of the corner of her eye, she caught her girlfriend's smile, and mimicked it.

"I don't doubt your logic for a second," Catherine winked.

They got their meals and headed outside, under their usual tree where the boys already waited. They sashayed in sync as they guys looked up and smiled while they waved over the happy couple.

"Hey, how'd it go last night," Greg asked as he looked the couple up and down. "Damn!"

Catherine Sara turned to one another, unmistakably confused. After they communicated their mental shrugs, they redirected their attention at Greg, his eyebrows repetitively shot to top of his forehead.

Catherine rolled her eyes while Sara asked with a tiny smile, "Really? Is it that obvious?"

"It's natural for Catherine to glow, but not as much as she is today. She's not too much brighter though. What the hell happened after?"

"Dead things," they somehow simultaneously answered.

Warrick, Nick, and Greg all jumped back in concern and slight bewilderment.

"One, what the hell is Greg talking about," Nick needed clarity.

"Sex," Catherine and Sara simultaneously answered and rolled their eyes.

"Oh."

Warrick shook his head. "Now clarify 'dead things'."

Catherine looked over her ex-boyfriend. His features were worn, he appeared tattered, tired. His brows were knit in their confusion and he sounded lost.

She grimaced.

"Well, we really didn't see anything dead…but some sicko sent us a bloody object. I suggests murder, but there's no real proof," Sara elaborated.

"Wait, wait, wait. You mean to tell us someone's stalking you," Greg piped up with worry that brought his voice up an octave.

Catherine finally gave up her stare and nodded. She looked beside her at Sara when her eyes fell to her girlfriend's hand she had held moments before. She laced their fingers and motioned with her tray for the couple to take their places.

Sara smiled and gave a tiny nod before they picked their plot and made themselves comfortable in the grass.

"We decided not to talk about it," Sara spoke for them.

"Ah, that would be smart…if this person wasn't a threat," Nick rejoined the conversation with his two cents.

"Have you notified the police? They could really help," Warrick let his serious and powerful green eyes do all the talking.

"Sam," Catherine uttered under the control of Warrick's gaze.

He sighed and ran his hand down his face.

"Hey…are you okay," Catherine softly asked as she reached out and tapped Warrick's shoulder before he subtly pulled away. She frowned and Sara kissed the crook of her neck.

"Yeah, Cath, I'm fine. I'm just tired. A lot's been happening."

Sara then shared Catherine's frown. Something seemed off; like the last puzzle piece that wouldn't fit.

--

" I can't believe you're going to work," Sara folded her arms across her chest.

"I can't just quit, Sara. It's not that simple," Catherine tried to reason with her.

They sat in Catherine's car that was idle in the driveway. Her plan was to drop Sara off and go in to work early to discuss why she had been absent the previous night. Things obviously hadn't gone as planned.

"I know," she sighed, regaining control of herself. "I'm sorry. I just don't like how you gave all the privacy in the world and yet…you expose your body to a bunch of strangers. If I had what you had, I wouldn't destroy the one thing I could keep scared."

"Please don't make me feel worse. I don't want to do what I do, but I need the money for college…plus, I want to fight Sam as much as possible. He's sleeping with my mother for Christ's sake!"

"Yeah, but because he's your dad…that kind of gives him the right!" Sara didn't want to cry, but her voice wavered as though tears would fall.

"Are you taking his side? I can't believe it. My girlfriend would rather side with the man who didn't have the balls to stick around take responsibility for is daughters."

"I'm not taking his side, but if that's all you're stripping for…our a little too shallow for my taste," she spat.

Catherine gasped with disgust. "You should consider yourself lucky I'm not cruel enough to send you out of my house and back to those wretched parents of yours. Get out and go inside! Now! This discussion is over."

--

When Catherine got in front work, she came home to find her bed completely in use as Sara had sprawled herself out to finish her homework. She had fallen asleep with her hips facing the ceiling, her chest pointed in the direction of the door and her textbook. Her feet were curled behind her, her head was rested upon her right arm that draped over the open book.

She inwardly laughed, but remembered the singing words of her girlfriend. She put on her poker face with a sigh and went for pajamas in her closet.

After she slipped into comfortable clothes, she made her way to what little of the bed Sara didn't use. As she approached Sara, she noticed old scars on her arms. They weren't scars though they were track marks. There were three of the marks on her right arm with what appeared to be hesitation marks.

Catherine gasped. The separate marks weren't from hesitation, but force. She had been forced to take drugs on more than one occasion. Catherine knew from having seen Sara naked, her girlfriend had healing, deep wounds on her lower stomach and below the waistline. She hated herself for having overlooked Sara's arms. She felt horrible seeing those marks, even more so coming to the conclusion her hone life was more than rape. She could have become addicted to the drugs f they pushed them any further on her. Her mother was the one with the drugs, her mother hadn't protected her and here Catherine was shouting about how shallow she wasn't as she exposed every bit of innocence she had.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to Sara before giving her girlfriend a peck on her forehead. She then removed the book from the bed and slid behind her lover.

They went to the store earlier and bought several "skater" outfits. All that happiness created exhaustion so Catherine wasn't expecting Sara to be awake when she got back, but after their fight it was disappointing not to have the chance to talk about it. She figured the talk could wait until the morning…or later.

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