Monday, August 17

"You don't wear a uniform!"

"Ditto."

"I expected to see you in a uniform today."

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"You can make for that by wearing the uniform at home only for me."

"You're a pervert."

"No, I like women in uniforms." Sofia grinned and pulled Sara in her arms. "How was your first day at work?"

"Exhausting." Sara closed her eyes for a brief moment and leant on to the blonde. There had been so many new people, so many new places, so many new things to learn. "And I end up at the same place I've been before."

"What do you mean?"

"Law enforcement."

"Huh?"

"I wear a gun while I'm working. With my background as a CSI, I'm perfect for the law enforcement unit. At least until I'm qualified for something else. I told them, I didn't go to police academy, they didn't care about that. Apparently all the years as a CSI are enough."

"That means, the Angeles National Forest isn't a safe place to be."

"Bitch." Sara poked Sofia.

"Your bitch. I cooked a dinner for us."

"You cooked?"

"Yes. Vegetarian Lasagne with extra cheese."

"Wow."

"Where do you want to eat?"

"In the garden."

"After a whole day surrounded by bushes, trees and grass and when she's back home, she wants even more. A real freak of nature."

Sara gave Sofia the evil eyes, but her big grin showed, she wasn't mad. She had survived the first day. Why didn't she sleep last night? She had been so excited, had thought of so many things, that could go wrong, made herself crazy and now? Now she knew, everything was alright, she had a good day, her coworkers were friendly and she looked forward to a new day.

Her first day of as a ranger. And what did her boss do? She gave Sara a gun. Being close to L.A., the forest was a good place for people to hide when they were running away from the police. They worked close together with LAPD and until Sara was fit enough to guide tourists and school classes through the forest, she was part of the security team.

"Tell me, who do you have to arrest? A squirrel when it runs too fast? Do you have one way trees? Rush hour to the waterhole and you're the traffic cop?" Sofia carried on teasing her friend.

"One more comment like that and your Lasagne ends up in your face, lieutenant."

"Careful I can arrest you."

"You tried that once last month and it didn't work out."

"This time you're guilty."

"You've no evidence."

"I'll have the Lasagne in my face with your fingerprints on the bowl. You need a very good explanation to get out of that. The question is, why do you want to do something like that? You want to lick off the Lasagne from my face? If you do that I might not press charges."

"My tongue won't come close to your face."

"What a pity." Sofia served them some white wine.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Greg called me right after I finished for today, I was on my way to the car when he called."

"Is it your calling day?"

"You know we wanted to call each other once a week, so far we've talked almost every day. It's good to hear his voice, I miss him."

"Will he be back here soon?"

"Two more weeks. He could talk Grissom into giving him five days off and I'm supposed to ask for the couch. I think, he can have my bed."

"You don't sleep in it anyway." Sofia smiled. Sara had stayed with her every night. It got them a few comments from Don, but he knew, the only reason why Sara was in Sofia's bed were the nightmares.

"One day I've to sleep there again."

"Is that what your therapist says?"

"Yes."

"What do you think?"

"She's right."

"Do you want to sleep alone tonight?"

"No. When I'm alone in my bed it will be likely a night with nightmares and not a lot of sleep, I'd prefer to have that when I have the next day off. As long as I need to be fit the next day, it's not smart to risk a sleepless night. Especially not after I didn't sleep a lot last night."

"That's true. So what exciting things did you do today?"

"I walked around a lot, talked to a million people, who all work in and for the park, I've forgotten all their names, drove around the park, listened to a list of work I've to do, forgot it, saw some animals, transported a man with a sprained ankle to the next hospital and learnt that you always have to have at least three bottles of water in your car."

"Yo Ranger, where's your hat?" Don came into the garden.

"Yo detective, where's your badge?"

"In my room, I don't need it here. Is your uniform in your room too?"

"No, it's in the locker room at work."

"You won't show us how you look like in uniform?"

"I tried it already, Don. I'm afraid we won't see her in uniform unless we visit her at work or buy one for her." Sofia said.

"I know a nice shop on Sunset with some really nice uniforms. She could dress up every night as something different and we'd like what we see. These uniforms will show her nice legs, we'll see a lot of…of her trained upper arms…and in which great shape her body is."

"Your detective is a customer of a sex shop." Sara looked at Sofia.

"Sounds like. As long as he doesn't arrest criminals with fluffy cuffs that's alright with me. Maybe he has some interesting toys hidden in his room."

"Want to try some with me, Sofia?" Don offered coy.

"You don't like blondes, I don't want a man, we can't use them together. But we can both try them with Sara, she's what we're both after, a brunette woman."

"I need my gun at home, it sound like I need it to defense myself."

"She wants to play cop, very sexy." Don grinned. "I want you in nothing more than cuffs."

"Dream on."

"Sofia, do you chain her to your bed every night?"

"No, when I handcuff her, she can't have her arms around me and I like it when she holds on to me. I like her hands on my body all the time actually. No, I have to rephrase that: I like her, no matter if she has her hands or anything else on me, is around me. I simply like Sara and I'm glad to have her here. Now it's out and I feel better." Sofia smiled.

"We had worse housemates, yes."

"Yes we had."

"But she's the cutest one. Could be because she's a woman and all the others were men. Why didn't you take women before?"

"I thought, I can't have a woman here, what if we'll start to fight over her."

"We fight about Sara?"

"No, she'll kick our asses if we do. She'll do that anyway if we go on talking about her like that."

"Very true, Sofia." Sara pushed her empty plate away. "It's about time that Greg comes back. I need one normal person."

"Greg will be back? When?"

"Two weeks."

"Perfect, I'll finally meet him after we didn't meet the last time. Will he be here to see you or to date your apparently sexy therapist?"

"Shut up!"

"That's a good question, does she know he'll be back?" Sofia asked.

"Doctor Weinberg and me don't talk about Greg."

"Not?"

"No, he isn't part of the therapy and I don't care whom she dates or meets for dinner."

"Doesn't Greg tell you?"

"He knows better, Don, he knows I don't want to hear a word about that if he dates her, meets her, calls her. As a good friend, he respects that."

"Unlike two other friends, who want to know gossip like that. Tell me about your new job, Sara." Don made the decision to pull Sara on his lap, what brought him a amused look from the brunette.

"Actually, there's a chance I'll work with you."

"With me?"

"Yes. If you're chasing a suspect and it makes the decision to hide in Angeles National Forest, I'll be there to search with you. I've got a gun, I'm in the law enforcement team, that means, if LAPD suspects a person of interest in our forest, I'll be there and look with you for the suspect. And if we catch somebody doing something wrong, I'll call you or your coworkers to get this individual out of my forest."

"You need a sheriff star."

"No I don't."

"Want a sexy deputy? For you, I take a second job and be your faithful companion."

"And you'll wear nothing else than cuffs?" Sara turned the tables.

"If you like that, I'll do that. Want to try it upstairs now?"

"No, you can have the blonde."

"I don't want the blonde."

"The blonde, who has a name, doesn't want to have sex with Don." Sofia grumbled. "She's done with sex."

"Was Ellen that bad?" Don chuckled.

"Very funny."

"I heard, she tried to get you back."

"She didn't."

"Not for more than one night."

"I don't want to talk about that, Don." She hadn't told him about her night with her ex, it was nothing she was proud of. Plus the fact that he had always told her, Ellen was only playing with her, wasn't interested in her.

"I'm sure you didn't talk a lot with her, her strength isn't talking, it's something else that includes…"

"Don, stop it!" Sara stopped him. "Leave her alone."

"You met Ellen too."

"Yes, I did. She isn't somebody I have to know, not somebody I want in my life. She plays with people and sometimes, you can't stop yourself from the influence of other people. In that case you need friends and not people, who tease you with your weakness. I'm sure there was a time when you were played by a woman or a suspect too."

"Happened, yes."

"So leave her alone." Sara got off Don's lap and sat next to Sofia, pulled her in her arms. "With whom Sofia sleeps isn't your business. Friends don't have to share everything."

"Thanks. My CSI takes care of me." Sofia smiled. She liked the fact that Sara was defending her, even if it wasn't necessary. She was capable of doing that herself. But having Sara taking care made everything a little bit more special.