This should have been up yesterday, but the French strikes over airspace delayed our flights on Thursday and has set me back a bit. Anyway, hope you enjoy it :)
x x x x
"What have I done?"
Catherine had tried to appear blasé in summoning Lindsey to the living room. Clearly, the facade had failed miserably.
"Nothing, honey." She cleared her throat, perching carefully on the edge of the coffee table. "I just needed to talk to you about something."
"Why's she here?" Lindsey nodded across the room, to where Sara was lurking quietly at the bottom of the stairs. Sara opened her mouth to offer some kind of explanation; but Catherine spoke up before she had to.
"I asked Sara to be here." She asserted, making it clear with her tone that Lindsey wasn't going to get a say in that matter. The girl was visibly dissatisfied with the answer, but kept her opinions to herself as she slumped into the couch cushions with a scowl.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"
Cath rolled her shoulders, straightening her back in an attempt to garner enough courage to do this. She hadn't felt this sick since she first saw that photo on Lindsey's phone.
"This." She produced the pills, placing them carefully on the table.
Lindsey's eyes widened, her gaze flicking frantically between her mother and the illicit drugs.
"You went in my room?" She squeaked. "Under my mattress?"
"Yes." Catherine agreed, nonplussed. She hadn't actually been intentionally snooping, but it couldn't hurt if her daughter believed it was fruitless to hide things from her. "And apparently, you went into my bathroom cabinet."
Lindsey dropped her gaze, realising that there was no way that she could win this particular fight. She had, after all, broken the number one house rule.
Only one person can disperse medication. And that person was mom.
"I'm sorry." She sniffed. "I only took a few, I promise!"
Catherine scanned her features, deciding whether or not to believe the impassioned assurance.
"Okay." She pursed her lips. "How many is 'a few?'"
"Six." Lindsey mumbled. "Two at a time – I followed the instructions exactly."
"You could read that?" Sara piped up, surprised. She had struggled to read the name on the label, let alone the prescribed dosage. Lindsey glanced up, having almost forgotten about the brunette's presence.
"I Googled them on a computer at school." She confessed. Sara pursed her lips, biting back a scathing remark about the reliability of internet medical advice. The kid really didn't seem up to that kind of criticism right now. Catherine, however, was not going to be as kind.
She reached out to grip her daughter's hands, getting her firm attention.
"Lindsey, you know how dangerous it was of you to do that; don't you?"
The teenager nodded eagerly, chewing on her lower lip. It was a bad habit, one that she had picked up from her mother; and Cath unconsciously mimicked her actions now.
"Okay, well ... the next thing then is for us to get you to the doctors."
"What?" Lindsey's head shot up, her gaze flashing frantically between the two women. "Why?"
"Sweetheart, you took medication that was several years out of date." Cath pointed out gently. "We need to make sure that it hasn't done anything to hurt you."
"But I feel fine!" Lindsey insisted, launching herself to her feet. "I'm fine, and ... I won't do it again, I promise! Please don't make me go ..."
"No Lindsey, honey, you don't understand." Catherine emitted an exasperated sigh, shaking her head sadly in loss. "You're just a child."
Sara, sensing even from across the room that her girlfriend's inner strength was starting to fade, stood up and moved carefully towards them.
"All they'll want to do is a couple of blood tests." She assured the terrified girl. "It's more to give your mom peace of mind than anything."
Lindsey's panicked expression waned as she mulled over the idea, scrutinising her mother's features. She had to admit, she had been quite a headache for her family lately.
Maybe she could do this one thing for her, if it was just a couple of blood tests.
"Are you coming too?" She asked of the brunette; but once again it was Catherine who answered.
"No, Sara's going to stay here and make some phone calls for me." She explained, standing up. "I think it's time we started looking at other options – like getting you into new school."
X x x
"Catherine?" Lily, never one for knocking, poked her head into the kitchen.
"Mom, hi." Catherine dropped the leaflet she was reading – one of the dozen scattered across the kitchen table – and removed her glasses.
"I got your message." The older woman explained her presence, coming fully into the room. "Is Lindsey okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine." Cath half-lied. "She's in her room. I just wondered if you could watch her for a few hours – there's been a triple homicide in North Vegas and Days are slammed; they need the whole team on board. Sara's already gone in."
"Really?" Lily droned, visibly stiffening at the sound of the other CSI's name. One sharp eye had caught sight of the mass of paperwork on the table and picked one of the printouts up. "What's all this?"
"We're looking at other schools. I think it's the only way to get her out of this depression."
"By taking her away from her friends?" Lily countered. "Was this Sara's idea, too?"
"What friends?" Cath asked, blatantly ignoring the slant against her partner. "Her friends aren't talking to her anymore. If anything, that's what's making things worse."
But Lily wasn't listening, her attention already defecting across the room.
"What is that?" She asked, moving towards the sink where a familiar little orange tub stood empty on the draining board. "Are you taking pills again?"
"No." Cath rose from her seat to take the pot back, but Lily held it out of her reach.
"So they're Sara's?"
"No." Again, she shook her head. "They're mine, from years ago – I'd forgotten I had them. Lindsey found them in my bathroom cabinet." She held up her hands before her mother could cut in again. "She's fine, I took her to the doctors this morning. Everything's okay."
"This is your fault, you know." Lily spat, slamming the empty tub onto the counter and brandishing an accusatory finger at her daughter. "How on Earth is Lindsey supposed to know how to deal with things when all she's ever seen is you burying your head in the sand?"
Catherine blinked, taken aback.
"I deal with things in my own way." She insisted. "And Lindsey knows that what she did was wrong – she admitted that much."
"I'm not just talking about the pills Catherine, I'm talking about everything! About how you throw yourself into work; how you go out and pick up strangers in bars; about ..."
"Sara." Cath finished for her, shaking her head in bitter disappointment. Lily opened her mouth to speak again, but Catherine cut her off with a raised hand. "You know what mom, save it." She spat bitterly. "I've heard it all before."
"Well maybe it's time you started listening." Lily retorted without missing a beat. She picked up the leaflet Catherine had been reading, giving it a once over before tossing it back onto the heap. "Lindsey doesn't need a new school. She needs a mother."
"Mom..."
"Call your work, tell them you're not coming in today." Lily said calmly, making a show of slinging her handbag over her shoulder to indicate that she was not planning on staying to babysit. "Spend some time with your child, before it's too late."
X x x
When there was a soft knock on the front door less than an hour later, startling Catherine's already rattled nerves, a fruitlessly optimistic part of her hoped it might be her mother returning to apologise.
Brushing her clothes down in a vain effort to appear composed, she took a calming breath and threw the door open.
However, it was not her mother waiting sheepishly behind the door. Nor was it her sister, returning the impassioned plea she had left on Nancy's answering machine after her mother refused to babysit.
Instead, the person blinking against the afternoon sun, one hand resting lazily against the doorframe,was the last person she expected to see on her doorstep. He lifted his head slowly, cast an affectionate glance over her stunned expression and offered a tired smile.
"Hi Muggs."