Hey there, I'l back. I'd like to apologize for the delay, I had to prepare my last concerts anyway, I just gave the last one an hour ago so now I'm devoted again to writing. Thanks for your reviews you are awesome.
Enjoy,
So ;)
ps: scuby, thanks for putting up with my laziness and my lame english, you're the best ;)
Chapter 21: Sara
I arrive at work early and in a good mood. My, my, what an excellent day with family can do for you. I'm keeping myself from whistling even though I feel like it. I knock on Cath's office door and wait for her answer. "Come in," she says.
"Hey there," I greet her with a smile. "How are you?"
"Sara," she seems surprised to see me. "I'm fine thank you," she answers in a not so convincing tone.
I wait for her to say something more, but she doesn't. "I want you to know that I'm here if you need to talk or if you need anything at all," I tell her honestly. I know she still has to prove herself to me but we are slowly getting back to where we once were.
"I know."
"Good, I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget it," I smile. There's no use pushing an issue with Cath, but every now and then it's good to remind her that you're there for her. She tends to forget it because she doesn't like feeling weak or needy, just like me. "We have an assignment together," I announce as I get up from my chair. I'm in ass kicking mode tonight, there's no crime I couldn't face, I'm on fire and at the top of my game. "Oh and Griss says to take overalls, we'll get dirty," I wink at her.
"Wait, it says homicide in the Bellagio," she says confused as she reads the pink slip of paper in her hand. I don't answer and keep on walking, with a smug smile on my face, "Sara, wait!" she exclaims running after me.
Four hours later we're on all fours in the mud. It turns out that tonight the Bellagio had organized a mud wrestling event. One of the girls fell dead after being stabbed. So we need to look for the murder weapon and now we're paddling in the mud. We saved it for the end as if pushing the fateful moment would make it disappear.
"Why are we doing this again?" Cath asks.
"I don't know at this point," I answer. "Oh and Sara take overalls you might get dirty," I mimic Grissom's tone. "You think he'd have mentioned we'd have to look into mud, but no he didn't. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when we're back," I ramble. The trouble with mud is that you can't see anything through it so we're basically blindly looking for anything with our hands and knees. We've been like this for the past hour and we still have a hundred square meters to process. Needless to say, the situation is straining our nerves.
"I dream of a job where I stay clean from the beginning to the end…and oh!" Cath whimpers as a smudge of liquid dirt lands on her face. I moved so quickly to get up that I sent mud everywhere.
"Oops, sorry," I chuckle. She grabs some mud and throws it at me angrily. "Hey! What's wrong with you?!"
"Don't you throw dirt at me. I'm already pissed enough as it is," she spits.
"I didn't do it on purpose!" I protest.
"Yeah, right," she snorts before returning to her blind search. I debate for a second whether or not I want her to be off the hook that easily then I decide that no, I don't want to. I take some mud and throw it in her hair. She gasps and looks at me with fury.
"That's what happens when I throw mud on purpose. I aim and never miss my target," I state petulantly.
"I have mud in my hair," she enunciates each word carefully and then she turns to me. "Oh, you're going to pay for this," she groans before throwing dirt right on my face. I gasp in surprise and then retaliate. Two seconds later she tackles me on the ground and we wrestle for dominance. We roll and roll in the mud until I finally get the advantage thanks to my long legs. I push some mud in Catherine's face and she tries to avoid my grip. "How do you like that, Muddy Locks?" I say with a smug smile, quite happy at my word game.
I'm straddling Cath and holding her wrists still on the ground. We look at each other and then the ridiculousness of the situation gets to us and we start to laugh hard. I move away and sit next to her as I keep on laughing. Once we stop we're both on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry," we say at the same time, which only makes us laugh harder.
"Look at us. We're a mess," Cath laughs.
"Well, it's not like we could get any dirtier," I reply.
After a few minutes, we compose ourselves again and start to search again for the murder weapon. This time the atmosphere is light and relaxed. After two more hours of searching, we finally find what we were looking for: a nail file.
We get out of the mud and gather our bags of evidence. We don't have access to showers here so we have to cover the seats with anything we can find to avoid ruining the interior. We finally get in and head to the lab as quickly as possible without breaking the law. We both want a long, hot shower to rinse the mud out of every orifice of our bodies.
I open the first buttons of my overalls and reach for my chain only to find it's not there anymore. No, please don't tell me I lost it. "Stop the car!" I say suddenly with panic.
"What?"
"Stop the car," I repeat but Catherine keeps on driving "Catherine stops the damn car!" I bark, she jumps and complies. "Make a U-turn. We need to go back there. I lost my chain and my ring. It must have fallen off when we were wrestling. We need to go back. I have to get them back..."
"We can't go back now…"
"Yes we can and we will, now make a U-turn….please," I say hastily.
She looks at me silently not saying anything, just letting my words hanging in the air. "We're not going back, not now," she simply said before starting the car again.
"Excuse me?" I ask surprised. Surely she's kidding me. "Turn around I need to find them. I have to," I say firmly.
"We're on the clock. Right now there's more important things than your ring…"
"You don't get me. It's was Nancy's gift to me for our six months anniversary. I have to get it back. So please make a U-turn and drive me back there," I continue my pleas with a bit of desperation.
"You can go back later. We have a job to do…."
"No, we have to go back now," I protest feeling anger invading me.
"Suspects are waiting for us to interview them. Evidence needs to be processed and so on. You of all people should know that each case is a ticking clock. We don't have time to waste looking for a silly ring…"
"Don't lecture me about my job. I'll do it, but I have to find my ring. Drive me back there, now!" I bark at her.
"The scene won't be released before two days so your stupid ring is secure wherever it is!" she shouts.
"Drive me back!" I shout back. I am beyond pissed off now. And Catherine's attitude is not helping my state.
"We're going at the lab period. If you're not happy, go ahead and get out of the car," she seethes. "We're not going to put our case on hold for…" and she keeps on ranting.
I groan, "I can't believe you're such a cold hearted bitch!"
It takes me two seconds to realize what I've said. There's so much pressure on Cath's jaw I think she's about to crack her teeth. Her grip on the steering wheel makes her knuckles turn white. The rest of the drive to the lab goes by in stone silence. Once in the lab, we switch to our work mode and do what we have to without talking to each other.
As soon as the shift ends, I go back on the scene and spend three hours in the mud only to come back empty handed. I go back home upset; upset that I lost something as precious as my ring and upset that I insulted Catherine without so much as an apology afterwards.
When I arrive home Nancy has already left to take the kids to school. I take a long shower and go to bed. Nancy doesn't teach today, so not so long after a pair of arms snake behind me. She likes to have some cuddling time with me in bed when she doesn't have class – it sort of make up for the nights I miss holding her.
"Hey babe," I say.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," she says softly. I turn my head to her so I can kiss her. "Hey," she smiles as I pull back. She frowns instantly. "What's wrong?"
I can't hide from her, I'm an opened book. I turn to face her and sigh. "I lost your ring," I say with a little voice.
She needs five seconds to understand my words. She does she doesn't go ballistic, but just looks at me with a gentle and surprised expression "Oh."
"I'm sorry," I say then I proceed to tell her what happened. "I went back to try to find it but…I'm sorry," I repeat myself.
"It's okay. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy you lost it, but there are worse things than losing a ring. We'll get you another one," she says caressing my cheek softly in a soothing motion.
"I don't want another one," I whine. "I want mine, the one you gave me."
"I know. It happens and it's not that important. What matters to me is that you come back home after work every day. Now it's a shame you lost it, but it's not the end of the world. So stop berating yourself, okay?" she tells me with a reassuring smile. "You need to apologize to my sister though," she warns me.
"I know and I will. Experience taught me that we generally need some time away from each other to cool off after an argument before even considering talking to each other again," I reply.
"Good, now try to get some sleep and don't worry about your ring anymore," she says before kissing me.
I snuggle deeper into her side and comply.
xxxxx
I'm sitting on the bench of the locker room. It's been two days since the 'ring incident', and Cath and I haven't spoken to each other since. I think she avoided me yesterday. I took that as a silent request to leave her alone some more. I know I told Nancy that I'd stop worrying about my ring. But truth is that I feel stupid for losing it and it hurts me to lose it. This ring represents the happiness I've had lately and the seriousness of my relationship with Nancy. So I've been moping around about that ring. It's funny how such a little thing can come to mean so much.
"Knock, knock," I hear from the door of the locker room. I lift my head and see Catherine leaning on the threshold. She doesn't seem angry. She actually she seems relaxed. She comes next to me and leans against my locker facing me. Neither of us speaks for a moment.
"I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for what I said the other day. You didn't deserve any of it. I was upset, out of line and fucking stupid," I tell her honestly.
"Yes you were," she agrees.
"I'm sorry Cath," I repeat.
"Apology accepted. We're cool," she says after a moment. I give her a small smile glad that we'll get through this in spite of my stupidity. I sigh and focus on my feet again.
There's a light metallic sound. I frown and lift my head again only to face my ring dangling from its chain. My eyes widen and I look at Cath silently asking her for an explanation and then look at my ring. "It's my ring…where did you?"
Cath chuckles. "They say mud is good for the skin," she jokes.
I'm speechless, I hold my palm up and Cath drops my ring slowly in it. I take the ring and scrutinize it closely as if it wasn't really there. I read again the words that Nancy had engraved inside and feel my heart swelling as I read it. I can't help the smile tugging at my lips. I have my ring back. I look at Cath again and get up. Our bodies are inches away from each other. I wrap her in a fierce hug. "Thank you, so very much. You've no idea how much this ring means to me," I tell her honestly.
"I think I do," she replies. And though I can't see her face, I know she's grinning.
I pull my head back a little and crush my lips on her cheek as if I wanted to get through her skin. I kiss her with a big 'smack' sound and then hug her again. There's no word to express my gratitude right now.
"Uh… Sara? I'll have to breathe again at some point," she giggles.
I hug her a little longer before pulling back completely. I'm beaming, I can't help but cup her face and kiss her forehead. Then I take a step back before giving in to the urge to hug her again. I'm not sure she truly realizes how happy she just made me.
"Ask me for anything and if I can do it or have it, I'll do it or give it to you in a heartbeat," I tell her excitedly.
"Now, now, breakfast will do," she says dismissively.
"On for a breakfast then," I nod. She starts to walk away, but I grab her wrist gently and she turns to me again. "I mean it, I'm here for anything, and not just today, every time at any hour," I tell her seriously.
"I know," she says before winking at me before exiting the locker room.
xxxxx
"Can I say something?" I ask Catherine, my eyes glued to her.
"Go ahead," she says shortly.
"This is so not a good idea."
"It's only the 30th time you've said that," she replies with sarcasm.
"Proof that it's really a bad idea," I reason.
"Well if you have a better one I'm all ears," she say exasperated. I stay mute. "My point exactly. Now please hold this ladder tightly," she says before progressing further up the ladder.
We have some possible evidence stuck in a tree and the only way to retrieve it is to use a ladder. Only it's not that easy. I'm supposed to wait for Cath to be at the top of the ladder before pulling the thing toward me so she can grab the piece of clothing we're trying to collect.
"You're ready?" Cath asks me.
"No."
"Sara!"
"It's a bad idea.You're going to break your neck and I'll be to blame," I state.
"Oh please it's not like I'm a mile high," she chuckles. "Okay, on three."
"For the record, I said many times that it was a very bad idea," I repeat once more.
"Sara, come on. Okay, I'll count to three,"
"Wait! When you say on three, what do you mean? It's one, two and I pull or one, two, three and I pull?"
"Damn it Sidle, just pull the freaking ladder!" she orders. I comply and pull the ladder toward me with all my strength. The ladder swings until it's straight up and down. Cath grabs the piece of clothing victoriously, only the ladder starts to fall back on me and since it's too heavy I can't hold it steady.
"Cath, jump!"
I let go of the ladder and try to adjust myself quickly to catch Cath's fall. Cath falls on me and we both land on the ground. I graciously provide a soft landing for Cath while I take the blunt of it. "Oof!!" I breathe out in pain.
"Ouch," Cath groans. I knew it wasn't a good idea. "Don't say anything," she manages to say.
We turn our head at the same time and though our noses collide, our lips brush together. I jerk away quickly. "Sorry I didn't mean to…" Cath starts.
I wipe my mouth with my hand as if to erase the contact. "It's okay. Now, would you please get off me, not that I'm not comfy here," I say sarcastically. Cath rolls on her side and then starts to get up. I take a few deep breaths before sitting up and then getting on my feet. "You're alright?" I ask her.
"Yeah, and I think I'm alright."
"Not to be petty, but I told you it was a bad idea."
"Yes, you did. And as bad an idea it was, we have our evidence," she says with a grin. I shake my head.
"And bruises and scratches as a bonus, hooray," I say flatly.
"Oh, don't be such a pessimist," she scolds me.
"I'll ask Nancy to kiss my bruises to make up for you crushing me with your fall," I say with a little grin.
"You're such a baby," Cath says before sticking her tongue at me.
"Sure, admit it. You planned all of this so you could give into your irresistible want to kiss me," I joke with a waggle of my eyebrows.
"In your dreams, Sidle," she shoots back. She turns to me, suddenly looking a bit nervous. "Uh…Can you not mention the part where I accidentally kiss you?" Cath asks.
"Why? She'll laugh about it you know," I say lightly.
"No, she won't."
"Come on, Cath. It was an accident, nothing to be ashamed about. It's not like there is anything more between us than friendship," I laugh.
"Yeah, I know but…just don't mention it okay?"
"Why?" I ask intrigued.
She sighs and looks away. "Let's just say that I didn't give her very many reasons to trust me with her lovers in the past. Trust me when I say she won't laugh, and I don't want to be in trouble. So please, I'm begging you, don't mention this part," she pleads without breathing.
I process her words and their implication. "Okay, I won't. Don't worry," I reassure her. "Admit it you liked the kiss," I joke.
"Oh please don't flatter yourself it was lame, you're not such a good kisser," she says with amusement.
"Your sister doesn't agree with you on this point," I say smugly before leaving her behind and getting in the car.
We start to drive back to the lab to the sound of the radio. "You think I'm a horrible sister don't you?" Cath says still fixated on the road ahead.
"Where did that come from?"
"Oh, please don't play coy with me," she says with a sigh of exasperation.
"Cath I'm your friend and I'm not one to judge you. I'm not proud of everything I've done in my past either. So don't go assuming that I think any less of you now," I tell her truthfully.
She sighs and smiles a bit, "Thank you."
"What for?"
"For being you."
I just smile in response and then start to sing along with the radio. "Oh boy," Cath mutters. I think that should say something about my vocal abilities.
Thanks for reading.