Title: Third Time's the Charm
Summary: AU: Catherine returns to Vegas to help find the terrorist who exploded a bomb in her casino, the Eclipse. This tragedy also brings back Gil Grissom. Is she ready to see her ex Sara with her Ex-husband, and what are these strange feelings she is having every time she is near Sara?
Fandom/Pairing: CSI – LV: Catherine Willows/ Sara Sidle
Author: Cherokee62
Rating: NC-17/M Sexual Situations involving women, hurt, comfort, language, angst
Spoilers: Final episode of CSI Fix it fic
Word Count :20,212

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, just having some fun with them. They are owned by CBS Corp. No profit is being made with this story.
Edited by: dhamphir
A/N: This is a fix it fic in response to the final episode of CSI. I love the show and have shipped Catherine and Sara for years and felt insulted both intellectually and fan wise to her 'sailing off in the sunset' with Grissom at the end of the series finale. So I decided to end it my way. Made me feel better at least. I hope you at least are amused by it and thanks for reading it.

Third Time's the Charm

Chapter 12

"Why are you here Sara?" Grissom asked. "You should be at the office, it's your first day."

Sara smiled and touched his arm lovingly. "I couldn't just ignore what I heard and saw on that tape, Gil."

Grissom shrugged, "I never really expected you to see any of that. I know when I was Director I wouldn't have watched a closing interview. Would have been an extraneous waste of time."

"I thought as much myself," Sara laughed. "But Lindsey insisted it would make interesting viewing, and I guess she piqued my curiosity."

"Did you know I had no idea she was Catherine's daughter when I met her the other day?" Grissom laughed. "I actually asked Catherine where she came from." He shook his head. "At least I refrained from calling her an idiot."

Sara laughed loudly, "Good thing, too. Catherine would have knocked your head off. Lord, she loves that child!"

"And damn, she looks like a young Catherine! So much like she did when I first met her twenty years ago."

They both smiled, thinking different thoughts. Grissom was the first to break the silence. "What did Catherine say about you coming down here?"

"I didn't tell her. I sort of did it impulsively." Sara frowned a little as she thought of how Catherine would feel about the similarities to today and the day Sara had left Vegas for Costa Rica.

"Which brings me back to my original question. Why are you here Sara?"

Sara sighed, "I really don't know, Gil. There is a part of me that has waited so long to hear the words you said to Heather."

Grissom looked up surprised and stared into Sara's eyes. "I thought you always knew how I felt about you, Sara. I always enjoyed working side by side with you. You stimulate me intellectually like no one ever has before or since." He smiled, "I enjoy our conversations. I enjoy our silences together. I enjoy every moment we have ever spent together." He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath. "I love you, Sara. From the first moment I allowed myself to admit that you have been my best friend, then more than that, I have loved you."

Sara felt the first tear run down her cheek and she closed her eyes. When she opened them she looked directly at Grissom, "So many years I longed to hear that. So many years."

"And now it's too late?"

"It's never too late to hear you are loved, Gil." Sara smiled sadly. "You have always been my mentor, my hero and my best friend, Gil. When I fell in love with you, no one was more surprised than me; though I suppose it was a natural progression." She reached up and cupped his cheek and gently stroked his beard. "I think I will always love you in some fashion, Gil. How can I not? You have been such a large part of my life, my world, and my heart for so many years." She leaned up on her tip toes and kissed him softly on his lips with a smile.

"Come for a ride with me, Sara?"

She nodded and he rushed over and pulled the rope off the piling. He went up into the Captain's station and started the boat. Sara climbed up next to him, threaded her arm through his, and smiled up at him. There was a blast of a horn in the distance, but when she turned her head to look she saw a tug boat and thought no more of it. Grissom also turned, stared for a moment and began to say something until Sara looped her arm in his. He glanced down at her and smiled, then pulled the boat out into the harbor and sailed off into the sunset.

Catherine pulled up to the marina's gates and waited impatiently for the car in front of her to move. The driver was talking to the security guard about something so she could just glance out the window and see Grissom's boat. "Still there. That's a good sign. I just hope I'm right and this is where you are," Catherine said to herself.

Finally, the car moved and Catherine drove up. The guard approached. "Can I help you, ma'am?"

"I'm here to see Gil Grissom. Slot 33."

"You can't drive on the pier, ma'am."

"He did." Catherine motioned to the car that had been ahead of her.

"He's just dropping off supplies to that yacht over there, so he's not parking or visiting, ma'am."

"Okay, stop calling me, ma'am. And I'm not visiting either. I just need to ask Mr. Grissom a question then I will be on my way."

"Mr. Grissom is planning on leaving in a few minutes, so I really can't let you drive out to his boat, ma'am."

"Oh, for Christ sake! This is an emergency and I am here on official business!" Catherine pulled her purse over and began to dig in it and pulled out her ID. She held up her Federal shield and credentials, "I'm with the F.B.I. and I have to talk to Gil Grissom!"

"Well why didn't you say so? You can park right over there and walk down to his boat."

"Why can't I drive over there?"

"Like I said, ma'am…no personal vehicles allowed. If you could just pull over there…"

"Shit!" Catherine began to move her car as close as she could when she glanced back over to Gil's boat and saw Sara and Gil standing on the deck. "Sara," she whispered. The two were standing close together talking, Sara looking up at Gil in that way that made Catherine shake in both anger and fear.

Catherine inched a little closer, hoping another car would move to the security shack so she could just drive toward the boat before the guard could notice. Suddenly she saw Sara lean up and kiss Grissom and Catherine couldn't breathe. She stopped the car and just sat there. "Oh, God. I'm too late…oh, God." She almost turned the car around and left but something in her just wouldn't allow her to give up that easily.

"NO! Not this time Grissom. You don't win without a fight." She looked behind her and began to park the car when she saw Grissom run up the ladder to the control tower to start the boat. "Sara! No! Don't do this! Not again, not again!" As Sara ran up the stairs behind him, Catherine hit the horn to get her attention and cursed loudly when a tug boat blew its horn at the same time. Sara looked up but in the wrong direction, not seeing Catherine, not expecting to. Grissom looked up and directly at Catherine. Catherine got out and waved at him. Their eyes met and for a moment Catherine expected him to stop, but he turned, glanced down at Sara then slammed the control on the boat and sped out of the slip.

Catherine was stunned for just a moment. "You bastard!" She began to run toward the boat slip as fast as she could. She waved her arms and called, "SARA! SARA!"

As the boat moved farther away she stopped at the edge of the dock and just cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled, "SARA, WAIT! SARA, PLEASE! SARA!" Catharine fell to her knees, tears running down her face freely. "NO, DON'T GO! PLEASE, SARA!" She stayed on her knees calling to Sara until she was hoarse and the boat was simply a dot on the horizon. "Sara…Sara, I love you…Don't leave me again…Sara!"

"Sara…Sara…Sara!" Catherine yelled over and over. "Don't. Oh please don't!" Tears ran down her face as she cried unheeded. "Sara! Nooooooooo!"

The door crashed open, a woman ran in, and grabbed Catherine, pulling her into her arms.

"Baby…baby, wake up!" She crushed Catherine to her chest, kissing her forehead over and over again. "Baby…shhhh, baby."

"SARAAAA!" Catherine violently pulled away as she screamed Sara's name and sat up. She looked around wildly then at the woman sitting next to her in the darkened room.

"I'm right here, baby. Right here where I will always be."

"Sara? You left…you left with him!" Catherine sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"No, baby, I didn't leave. You're having a bad dream." Sara gently pulled her back into her arms and kissed her again.

Another head peeked into the room, "Hey! You're not supposed to be in here! You know its bad luck! OUT! OUT!"

"She was having another nightmare, Lins!"

"OUT! I'll take care of it."

Sara looked down at Catherine and smiled, "Gotta do what she says, honey. See you in a few hours, beautiful." She kissed her softly on the top of the head and got up. As she passed Lindsey she stuck her tongue out at her, "You won't be pushing me around for much longer, young lady!"

Lindsey laughed, "Oh it will just be getting worse. Now go get dressed." She slapped Sara on the ass.

Lindsey slid into the room, turned on the bedside light, and sat next to her mom. "Hey, Mom, you all right?"

Catherine nodded, still a little confused. "That was, Sara?"

Lindsey smiled and nodded. "Yup. And she knew better than to come in here. So stubborn."

"I thought she left…left with Gil." Catherine took a deep shuddering breath and wiped her eyes again.

"I thought those dreams had stopped. But I'm not very surprised you had one today of all days. So much going on and all the planning and everything. So much leading up to this and you just waiting for Sara to either get hurt, killed, or back out." Lindsey laughed and hugged her mom.

"Today? What's today?"

"Seriously? Did you fall out of bed and hit your head or something?"

"I took a sleeping pill," Catherine admitted with a blush.

Lindsey shook her head and leaned down and whispered into her ear. Catherine's head shot up, eyes impossibly wide and all she said was, "No shit?"

"No shit."

As Catherine worked her way to the front of the room, she kept expecting to wake up. This part had to be the dream. Watching Sara sail away, Gil's arm around her, that was the reality. This was the dream, had to be. When she got to the front of the room she turned and looked back and swayed a little. She felt the warm strong hand on her elbow and turned to look at the loving face smiling at her.

"I got you, babe."

"You know this means they all know, right?"

"Yeah, I kinda figured this made it a little difficult to be in the closet, darling."

"Just checking."

"So gorgeous…"

Catherine smiled, "Pretty damn sexy there yourself, Sidle. Making it hard to stay focused."

Sara grinned, "Good to know."

They both turned their backs to the crowd and Sara took Catherine's hand. Catherine stole a peek at Sara and grinned, "Never really thought I would do this again. First time kinda sucked."

"I know what ya mean. But this time will definitely not suck Catherine Willows. Know why?"

"Why?" Catherine asked in a sotto voice.

"Because I trust you with my all heart and I love you like I've never loved anyone else in my life."

They smiled at each other for a moment.

"Ready?"

Sara nodded, "More than ready"

They looked at the woman in front of them and Sara nodded to her and she smiled back.

"Dearly beloved we are gathered here to join together Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle in beloved Matrimony…"

The Beginning…