Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with this story so far. I swear, come hell or handbaskets, I am going to finish this story.
x x x x
She had awoken to a silent house, which was not ordinarily unusual, except for the agreement that Lindsey would stay home from school today.
Having searched the girl's bedroom, the bathroom, the entire downstairs and even the garden, panic was beginning to set in; when a sharp knock at the door drew Catherine's scattered senses back to reality.
"Oh, thank God." She sighed when her wayward daughter's dejected face came into focus through the peephole. Swinging the door open, her relief quickly turned to shock at the sight of Lindsey's companion. Sara looked anxious, shuffling her boots through the layer of dust covering the porch steps; not that Catherine noticed as she was too busy attempting to reclaim her composure.
"Where have you been?" She managed to enunciate after several failed attempts to speak. The question still didn't quite come out as forceful as she had planned, but Lindsey flinched all the same.
"It's okay, Cat." Sara held up her hands to save the shamefaced child from answering. "She just came to see me. She's fine."
Lindsey went to see Sara. Voluntarily?
Something didn't quite add up about that in Catherine's head, and she beckoned them both inside for the full story. Sara visibly did not want to oblige, but after Lindsey shot her a hopeful glance over her shoulder, she didn't really feel like she had a choice and sloped into the house after the Willows'.
"Alright, explain this to me." Cath requested, placing her hands on her hips. "What exactly were you thinking? I was terrified when I woke up and you were gone."
Despite having invited Sara in, her questions were directed solely at Lindsey and she was making studious efforts to avoid meeting her ex's eye.
"I wanted to bring Sara back." Lindsey answered earnestly. "I'm sorry I made you split up, I never meant to ruin things for you."
"Linds," Cath sighed but her daughter cut her off urgently, her blue eyes wide and watery with unshed tears.
"I'll be good, I promise! I don't want you to give up because of me."
Catherine felt her heart constrict and reached out to tuck a loose strand of silky blonde hair lovingly behind her daughter's ear.
"Lindsey, baby, it's not just you." She shook her head, struggling to locate the words. "It's ... complicated."
"But you love her, I know you do." The girl persisted. "It's all my fault."
Catherine wanted desperately to comfort her child, to reassure her that what happened between herself and Sara was not her fault; but her own emotions were at breaking point as it was.
"Honey, why don't you go to your room and I'll be up in a few minutes." She said as calmly as she could around the lump in her throat.
"But mom..."
"Go, now ... please."
The tremor in her voice was unmistakable and this time Lindsey didn't argue. With a final forlorn glance in Sara's direction, she skulked reluctantly upstairs towards her bedroom, leaving the two women alone in cavernous foyer.
Catherine suddenly became very aware that she was still in her gown, and very little else.
It wasn't like Sara hadn't seen it all before, and much more besides; but given the circumstances, she couldn't help feeling a little exposed right now and wrapped her arms around herself protectively.
Sensing her unease, Sara took a deliberate step back towards the door to keep as much distance as possible between them.
"I guess she doesn't hate me as much as I thought." She attempted to joke, but it fell flat in the void between them.
"She doesn't hate you." Catherine said softly, scrutinising Sara's features. On the surface, she looked fine, if a little tired. But looking closer, you could see the dark circles barely concealed by make-up, the bloodshot eyes and the slight crease to her forehead as she tried not to catch the glare from the lights.
"Hangover?" The older CSI inquired calmly.
"No." Sara replied, attempting to cover the telltale signs a little better and quickly thinking better of it when a shot of pain ran through her head. "What makes you think that?"
"I saw you leaving work with Greg this morning." Cath explained hoarsely. "And I've tried calling you three times at your flat; I got your answer phone each time."
"Oh." Sara looked away guiltily, before it dawned on her that she didn't actually have anything to be sorry for. She straightened her shoulders a little, standing as tall as her aching muscles would allow. "What did you want?"
The blunt question made Catherine wince. She had almost wanted an apology, although she had to acknowledge she didn't really have the right to one. After all, she was the one who had ended things out of the blue. If Sara wanted to drown her sorrows on a friend's couch, why the hell shouldn't she?
"I just wanted to talk." She answered, allowing a little vulnerability into her voice once more.
"Oh." Sara repeated. "Well, I'm here now if you still want to talk?"
Catherine dropped her head, watching Sara from beneath her lashes. Did she want to talk to her? Yes, of course she did. She wanted to hold her and kiss her and take it all back.
But she couldn't. And the main reason why was currently monitoring their conversation from the top of the stairs.
Sara took the muted response as a negative one and exhaled slowly in acceptance.
"Okay, I'm going to go." She said at last, gesturing uneasily towards the door. "I hope Lindsey's okay."
"Yeah, thanks." Cath said huskily, able only to watch on as Sara shuffled back down the drive.
She noted how the brunette wrapped her arms around her stomach, holding her long woollen cardigan tight around her slender frame. How she kept her head bowed and allowed her curls to fall in front of her face. How she paused for a moment longer than necessary before opening the car door, though she never turned around.
The actions of a broken-hearted woman, who was trying so hard to hold herself together.
Catherine wanted to run after her, to shout, to do something.
But by the time she found her voice, it was too late. And all she could do was watch, defeated, as Sara drove off her property and disappeared into the glare of the hazy late afternoon sun without so much as a final glance in her rearview mirror.
X x x
"Hey Greg!"
He skidded to an abrupt halt, doing a u-turn and swerving back into the lab.
"What?" He gasped exasperatedly, throwing his hands out.
Nick and Warrick were on either side of the layout room table, on which was scattered all of the current notes of the case.
"Wow, you look rough." Warrick noted the dark circles under the lab tech's eyes and his dishevelled locks sprouting in all directions.
"Yeah, thanks." He retorted sarcastically. "What do you want?"
Sussing out that he wasn't in the mood for light-hearted banter, Nick got straight down to business and handed him a printout of a security image taken from the gas station down the road from their victims' house.
"Here, take a look at this." He instructed.
"What am I looking at?" Greg asked. His eyes were still a little blurry and his head wasn't quite cleared yet, despite the four cups of coffee he had downed since waking up.
"That car visited our victim every Tuesday, 7pm on the dot." The Texan explained, tapping a stack of similar images.
"Oh." Greg frowned, scanning the rest of the evidence the boys had dug up. "Why are you guys doing this? Your shift doesn't start for another four hours."
"We're trying to get our heads around it before Connolly comes back for the night." Nick explained.
"Yeah, we figured the sooner we get rid of him, the sooner the girls can relax." Warrick added.
"I think it's a bit late for that." Greg scoffed, his attention remaining focused on the image in his hands. "They broke up this morning."
"What?" Nick dropped his photos back onto the table, causing a sharp smack to echo around the room.
"What happened?" Warrick dragged a hand across his face.
"Do you really want to know?" Greg raised his eyebrows, gesturing to the lab. "This. Us, Connolly, Lindsey – Cath decided that she couldn't do it anymore."
"Oh man." Warrick groaned again. "What about Sara?"
"What about her?" Greg echoed, trailing his hand across the edge of the table. "If Cath says it's over, it's over. She can't do anything about it."
"Damn." Nick met Warrick's gaze across the table, flummoxed by the change of events. Suddenly, Greg's blatant hangover made perfect sense, and they guessed that Sara would be battling a similar affliction when she eventually rolled into work. "So, what do we do?"
Greg offered a resigned shrug, finally meeting their eyes.
"Honestly, I'm not sure there's anything we can do."
X x x
If Catherine was aware that she was being watched, she never let on; studiously dragging her tired eyes across the pages of information the boys had managed to drag up about their victims – if you could still call them that.
"Are you actually going to do some work tonight, or are you just observing?" She breathed at last, never lifting her gaze from the papers.
Nick emitted an embarrassed chuckle at being caught staring and dragged a hand through his hair.
"Look, Catherine." He cleared his throat, scuffing his shoes awkwardly across the tiled floor. "I know it's none of my business; but I really think you and Sara could make a go of it."
She stilled, but still didn't look up from her work.
"You're right – it is none of your business." She asserted coolly after a long pause.
Not one to be easily deterred, he reached across the table and snatched the sheath of paperwork from her hands.
"Cath, I'm serious." He assured her gently. "I don't really understand what happened, but you and her – you can work through this, I'm sure of it."
Finally, her expression began to soften as she searched his earnest brown eyes.
"Really?" She cocked a questioning eyebrow. "I thought you were against the idea."
"No." He shook his head fervently. "I was ... surprised, initially. But I've thought about it, and I think you two would make a good couple. A really good couple."
Sensing there was something more that she was missing, she took off her glasses and fixed him with a look of scrutiny.
"Did Greg put you up to this?"
"No." Nick laughed softly. He should have realised that the sharp woman would see through his internal guilt. "I just ... I'd hate to think that you broke up with her because of us." He confessed at last.
Catherine sighed sadly.
"It wasn't just you guys. It was everything really – Lindsey needs my attention right now."
"But you do still love Sara, right?" He pressed. The words reverberated peculiarly in his head, but oddly enough it sounded perfectly natural out-loud.
"Yeah, of course I do." She answered solemnly. "All day I've felt ... I've felt like I've made a huge mistake. But I'm not sure she'll feel the same about me after everything I've put her through lately."
"I wouldn't say she's given up on you just yet." Nick answered cryptically, earning him a hopeful look from the strawberry-blonde.
"You think?"
Nick laughed, reaching across the table to grip her hands firmly between his own strong ones.
"Cath, she's been sulking in her lab all night. And how desperate would she have to be to spend the morning on Greg's couch?" The comment earned him a small smile and he returned it sincerely. "The best thing you can do for Lindsey is to give her a stable family and Sara's offering you that. Now, she's sat there on her own, waiting for you to make up your mind Catherine." He encouraged gently. "So, what are you going to do?"
She pursed her lips, her eyes flicking instinctively in the direction of Sara's lab.
What was she going to do? That was the question she had been battling for months now, and she still didn't know the right answer.