Back again hope this hasn't been to long and worth the wait.
"Sara Sidle you are up to something and I'm not moving from this house till you tell me what it is!" Catherine stood in front of Sara staring directly at her.
"How am I up to something, all I want to do is take you out to lunch on your day off? I haven't been able to do much for you lately." Sara pouted a little holding up her damaged hand.
"Lunch is fine and you know I said I would love to go with you but." Catherine paused taking a step closer to her lover so she could jab her in the chest with her finger. "You are up to something why else would you want to take me to the Ramparts one of Sam's Casinos?"
Sara contemplated lying and saying she had forgotten that Sam owned it but she knew there was no way Catherine was going to believe that it sounded lame enough just thinking it.
"Is it so bad to want to show him that he hasn't scared me off?"
"I could phone my mom and tell her that. Why would you be so keen to annoy Sam unless you were up to something? So I ask again what are you up too?"
"About here." Sara held her hand up to her head indicating where here temper was rising to. "So unless you want me to lose it get in the car so we can have lunch."
"Uh! You annoy the hell out of me." Catherine groaned picking up her purse and slipping in to her jacket before heading out the door.
"Ditto." Sara told her following her out of the door and heading to the car.
%%
"This must be hard for you." Angel stated staring Aaron straight in the eye.
"Like you have no idea." Aaron did not break eye contact with Angel. "I'll live though this for Sara. I know, like you or not that you care for her too and again like it or not you have ways of helping in this situation that I can't."
"Well, no more said we're here for Sara end of discussion."
"Right." Aaron nodded in agreement.
"So you want to fill me in on the situation. I'll hear it from Sara but she can gloss over things when she wants to."
"Can't she just." Aaron smiled. He hated the fact that being with Angel was so easy you sometimes forgot he could be a cold blooded killer.
"So?"
"Long story short." Aaron sighed "Catherine's dad doesn't like Sara."
"So he stabbed her?"
"Oh no, not Sam." Aaron shook his head. "He would never get his hands dirty. No it would have been one of his heavies but Sam would have been there making his point because that's what he does."
"He likes himself!" It was a statement rather than a question. Angel had met people like that before.
"Sam owns Vegas near enough. He's what they call old Vegas mob like you must remember the times?" Aaron tried a cheap dig at Angel.
"Never did the whole Vegas thing though looking back maybe I should have, the city only seems to come alive at night."
"God I'm not talking about your hunting patterns." Aaron sighed in exasperation.
"I'm a good boy these days you know that."
"You drink blood how does that make you a good boy?" Aaron's tone was mocking he hated Angel and everything that he stood for. He was a symbol of everything that made Sara's life dangerous.
"Look do you want to discuss my eating habits or shall we workout what we're going to do to help Sara?"
"Well I for one have no wish to talk blood."
"Good now let's get to work."
%%
"That wasn't so bad." Sara tried to smile but in light of the look on Catherine's face she thought better of it. Some times the car felt so small and Sara wondered why they had so many conversations in it. Really wouldn't it make more sense to go inside? 'On the other hand' Sara thought to her self. 'There were more things Catherine could throw in side.'
"Not so bad!" Catherine bit out between gritted teeth. "I had to sit through the whole meal with you and Sam glaring at each other. Do you think it was coincidence that he turned up about five minuets after we did?"
"No of course I don't he knew we were there and it was his little way of telling us he has eyes every where."
"Yes so I asked you once again what your up too." Catherine turned so she could face Sara better.
"Cath." Sara reached out her hand to touch her girlfriends face but let it fall to her side as Catherine batted it away.
"Don't 'Cath' me. I was the one who had to sit next to your bed while you were passed out from blood loss after my father stabbed you. I'm the one who had to tell Lind's that you were in hospital again. What do you think I'm going to tell my daughter when you turn up in the desert with a GSW to the back of your head? All because you wanted to play the big I am with Sam."
Sara turned her attention to the front of the house holding onto the steering wheel more for something to do with her hands than out of any real need. She was just contemplating her answer when she noticed a slight movement from inside the house. She realised that Catherine was too busy glaring at her waiting for a response to have noticed it. One thing Sara realised, monster hunting gave you keener senses.
"Hold that though and wait here." Sara told her reaching in to the glove box and pulling out her personal weapon.
"Sar?" Catherine asked both curiosity and concern evident in her voice.
"Wait here!" Sara reiterated her previous statement before getting out of the car, quietly shutting the door and heading down the drive.
%%
"A gun really Sidle what you going to do tickle me with it?" A voice spoke from directly behind her as she stepped through the door.
Arms tightened from behind her and squeezed a little till she pulled back an elbow connecting solidly with ribs.
"Ow!" the voice complained a little dumping her unceremoniously on the floor.
"Angel." Sara huffed out as she landed in a heap.
"Sara." Angel mock whined rubbing his ribs.
"Oh like I hurt you." Sara shook her head pulling her self up.
"Could have." He pointed out with a smile.
"You're a 251 year old wimp."
"I'm a wimp." Angel chuckled "Since when did you need a gun."
"If people break into my house when my girlfriend's in the car with Me., it might take a bit of explaining if I pulled out the stake I keep under the seat." Sara paused for a moment as Aaron stepped down the last few stairs where he had been waiting and into view.
"Ok what the hell is going on?" Sara asked looking from Angel to Aaron. "Well some one better start talking." Sara said after a moment when no one had answered her. "I may not be able to hurt you." Sara said glaring at Angel. "But you I can." She turned to look at her brother.
Aaron was unable to meet her eyes, he was sure that she was going to be so very mad with him when she realised what he had done. He looked down at his feet moving his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for her to make the connection.
"Ok you I get." Sara told Angel. "I called you here though why you feel the need to break in I don't know."
"We didn't break in." Angel told her enjoying the thought of causing trouble between the siblings.
"Then how the hell did you get in!" Sara asked looking directly at Aaron this time she knew that what ever was going on was something to do with Aaron he just looked too guilty.
"We had a key." Aaron told her.
"No, I know for sure you don't have a key to this place."
"Nance does." Aaron pointed out.
"You stole it." Sara was indignant.
"We borrowed it ." Aaron smiled a little then realised it was a big mistake as Sara's face darkened.
"So you STOLE! Nance's key then sneak in here for what?" Sara asked squaring up to her brother. Sometimes Aaron was just to annoying for words. Angel and Aaron just stared at her as the last of the pieces feel into place. "You're trying to find something on Sam here!" Sara found herself getting madder by the moment. "What the hell do you think you were doing going through Catherine's private things Aaron I could kill you?"
"Me!" Aaron asked "What about him you really think this was all my idea."
"No." Sara said after a moment she knew all to well that when Angel got an idea in to his undead head then it was impossible to talk him out of it. It was hard enough for her so Aaron would have found it even harder since all the two of them seemed to do was butt heads.
"What did you think you would find?" Sara had to ask.
"Who knows?" Angel shrugged "Had to start somewhere."
"Please don't hate me." Aaron moved down the stairs to stand closer to his sister hope in his eyes.
"I don't," Sara sighed. "Just get out of here I left Cath in the car. I'm going to get her. You really shouldn't be here Az I can't explain that away. And you put those away." Sara motioned to Angel whose fangs were on display.
%%
"So we're not being robbed?" Catherine asked as Sara took her by the hand leading her in to the house.
"No we're not." Sara smiled at her lover. "It's a friend of mine he just never has learnt to wait outside or call ahead."
"The way you took off it was as if you were expecting the bogeyman to be in here."
"The Bogeyman." Angel laughed from the middle of the living room. "Really Sidle."
"Not the Bogeyman just his alter ego." Sara shot at Angel who conceded the point with a small smile and a shrug.
"So Sidle are you going to introduce us?"
"Yeah Sar' who's your friend?" Catherine put just enough emphasis on the word friend to earn a look from Sara which the older woman ignored holding her hand out to Angel for him to take. Sara just rolled her eyes 'why did woman always fall over him so he was tall dark and relatively handsome if you liked that sort of thing and he can wear a coat well.' Sara sighed 'He's not all that and he's dead!'
"Catherine Willow's MY girlfriend."
Angel didn't miss the emphasis on the word my and smiled a little kissing Catherine's hand.
"Meet Angel an OLD friend from Sunnydale."
"My pleasure." Catherine smiled stepping back next to Sara. Smiling at her girlfriend liking that she could make Sara a little crazy in somewhere other than the bedroom. 'Or the hall or the bathroom or the stairs or the…' She smirked to her self as the list went on and on.
%%
After a while listening to Sara and Angel catch up and tell her a few stories of their past together Catherine decided to make some coffee and head upstairs. She could tell that there was something Sara wanted to say to this man that found himself in their home and it seemed that whatever it was Sara felt that she could not say in front of her.
Excusing herself Catherine headed to shower and rest before work having the night off was nice but it was easy to mess up an already delicate sleeping pattern. As she took the stairs a couple at a time eager to reach the relaxing pulse of a shower Catherine pondered when she had started to think of her home as her and Sara's and more to the point why the hell didn't it scare her.
She decided the latter was probably due to the fact that Sara never seemed to feel the need to go home and slowly but surely more and more of the brunettes belongings seem to find their way to her house. It wasn't like they ever talked about it and it was nothing written in stone which she realised was what she loved. There were no rules they had to follow they just did what felt right for the three of them and it wasn't forced rushed or the least bit scary it was safe and for the first time Catherine realised that this was really what coming home felt like.
%%
"So the Mrs doesn't know what you do in your spare time?" Angel smiled looking at Sara intensely.
"What's that look about I don't like it."
"You whipped."
"I am not!" Sara protested standing knowing full well her was right she'd been thinking the same thing for a while. Faith had been right when she was in town Sara had lost her edge. Point proven by the now healing hole in her hand. It wasn't like she needed that edge these days her efforts were turned in a different direction when it came to fighting the good fight. She made paper work that could be difficult disappear she took care of unwanted evidence and generally made the unbelievable look creditable. That was its own battle hell she felt like a double agent at times she was never quite what the others thought.
"I didn't say it was a bad thing." Angel pointed out standing next to her looking at a picture of Catherine Sara and Lindsey on a beach. "A family looks good on you and that brings the big question what am I doing here?"
"Let's not pretend that Az hasn't told you everything. What is it with you two, well with him anyway he can't normally be in the same room as you and now you're working together"
"It would seem that he loves you more than he hates me."
"Wow he must really love me then." Sara mused because she was well aware of just how strong her brother's feelings towards Angel were.
"Anyway I want to hear this from you." Angel brought Sara's thoughts back into focus.
"I have a problem." Sara admitted some how she never felt weak admitting things like that to him maybe it was something to do with the fact that he was an immortal being she couldn't seem much weaker to him than any other human.
"Well I guessed that when you phoned saying 'Angel I have a problem.'"
"Smart arse are you going to let me finish."
Angel held his hands up in surrender and Sara held her hand up showing him the bandaged appendage.
"What happened?" Angel asked his eyes darkening menacingly and Sara worried for a moment he was going to vamp out. For her plan to work Catherine couldn't find out about Angel not just yet any way.
"Catherine's Father did it."
"And you let him?" Angel asked.
"What am I meant to do he's my girlfriend's dad and one of the biggest men in Vegas? If I went against him it would be suicide" Sara stated agitated with the situation she found her self in.
"And is that where I come in?"
"Yeah well you have different persuasive powers." Sara pointed out.
%%
"Where's Angel?" Catherine asked coming down the stairs to find Sara alone flicking through the cable channels. It still amazed her sometimes all those channels and there was hardly anything on most of the time. The money she could save just cutting the plug on cable. Then again how would they keep Lindsey entertained when they wanted to be 'alone' if there was no MTV?
"He had to do something." Sara replied absently still flicking through the channels. Catherine came to stand between Sara and the T.V and for a moment Sara thought about being really petulant and just shifting till she could see around her lover. Looking up though Sara changed her mind Catherine was still damp from her shower hair tussled around her shoulders blue eyes looking pleadingly down at her. Sara was well aware of the fact that she was still in the dog house over her lunch stunt all she hoped was Catherine wouldn't kill her when Angel could be back any moment.
Sara slipped forward on the sofa placing her hands on Catherine's hips and gently pulling the smaller woman closer. Once Catherine was close enough Sara laid her head on Catherine's midriff running her nose lightly over soft creamy skin marvelling at the scent Vanilla Jasmine and Catherine all rolled in to one.
Catherine let her hand wander to Sara's hair. It was one of the things she loved about Sara most it was always so soft so inviting. Catherine always found her self wanting to sink her fingers in to it. She also liked the little sound Sara made in the back of her throat when she massaged her scalp.
"Keep that up and I'll fall asleep here." Sara muffled voice pointed out.
"That won't do at all." Catherine told her pulling away a little "We need to talk." At Sara's little sound of protest Catherine pushed her back on the sofa and sat on her lap holding her in place. "Didn't say you couldn't hold me though."
"So what do you want to talk about?" Sara asked there was a lot really. She knew there was the whole Sam thing still hanging over their heads and she felt bad for not letting Catherine in on her plan. For it to work though Catherine couldn't know about Vampires or Sam would have a way out because if push came to shove Catherine too had to believe that her Father was insane. Sara was all to aware that Catherine hated the gun ho approach Sara some times took over things that was evident after the fight about lunch. The list went on there always seemed to be something that they needed to tackle.
"You and coming back to work."
"Oh." Sara was surprised and there was no hiding it that hadn't been on any of the top five things she thought Catherine might have wanted to talk about. Sara was at a sticking point over returning to work. Grissom had laid out his rules to coming back to the lab and Sara was finding it difficult to fulfil them.
"Not what you were expecting." Catherine smirked she liked keeping Sara on her toes. "You have only done about a quarter of what Griss asked you to do before you come back to work."
"To be fair I've been to talk to the shrink." Sara pointed out half heartedly. In truth she had made an excuse to leave and dodged making another appointment for nearly two weeks.
"Did that sound as lame to you as it did to me?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah it did." Sara admitted.
"I don't want to push you Sar, I know how hard you find it to talk to me at times and you must have seen your fair share of psychologists in your life. Griss isn't going to back down on this though he needs to know that you're in the right frame of mind to be around the lab after what happened."
"I can't talk to him Cath. They're never interested in what's going on now they all want to talk about Mon dad and Aaron. Aaron and I have dealt with that and moved on best we can if I have to keep reliving it then I'll never be able to be here in the present with you and Lind's and that's all I want."
"Is it making you that unhappy? I noticed you withdrawing a bit I wanted to give you some time to adjust to what was going on. We can't move on though if you feel like this." Catherine gently touched Sara's face.
"I know, so what are we going to do? I get where Griss is coming from but I don't need a shrink poking around Cath, we'll deal with what happened."
"Will we?" Catherine looked directly into Sara's eyes.
"What does that mean?" Sara asked holding Catherine's gaze.
"Well you have something up your sleeve and I know you have your friend involved in that and I'm sitting here in the dark."
"It's the best place to be I promise you. Cath if you knew some of the things that I did you'd never sleep at night."
"You don't you wake up screaming."
"I know and I don't want that for you. Where I am now with you is the best I have ever been and I never want to lose that so trust me please."
"I do that seems to be my trouble." Catherine told her poking the younger woman's chest. "I still don't like not knowing what you get up to some times. I trust you'll show me some day. We'll sort out some way round therapy. You though have to talk to Brass or Sofia preferably both. They keep grilling me and I have no idea what to say."
"I will." Sara promised. "I'll talk to Brass after his next shift."
%%
"What are you doing in my living room?" Aaron asked glaring at Angel. He hated these Vamp rules once he had invited Angel in he knew there was no getting rid of him he was going to have to put a call in to Willow and see if she could come to town and sort out some spell to keep him out.
"I'm waiting for you." Angel answered like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Aaron growled a little under his breath he really had underestimated just how much having Angel around was going to wind him up. Just having the undead leech in his apartment had him wanting to burn the place to the ground. He was sure that Angel could snap his neck with out putting too much though into it, never the less Aaron found him self wanting to punch Angel.
"Did you just growl at me?" Angel laughed. He had guessed that Aaron would find his presence uncomfortable it was part of the reason he had shown up. Aaron and Xander were the only ones from the gang not to at least give him a second chance even Giles had found it in himself to help Angel out. Together Aaron and Xander had taken every opportunity to make him feel like the undead intruder he knew he was. It was nice at times to return the favour. Part of Angel the part tied to the pesky soul of his understood where Aaron was coming from the protective big brother had his reasons for hating the undead monster.
They would do this together though, make Sara safe again. That much had nothing to do with Aaron or what he wanted it just turned out in this instance they wanted the same thing. Aaron was a protective brother but Angel felt the same every time he looked at Sara.
"No." Aaron frowned he hated stupid vampires and there super vampire hearing. "I just want to know what you're doing here now."
"I have a plan." Angel stated.
"We need a plan." Aaron asked incredulously. "Why the hell can't we just go and scare the bastard to death?"
"See there's no art in that." Angel sighed.
"Art," Aaron scrunched his forehead up. "Man you have been dead to long."
"Yes that may be the point. Still in all those years I've learnt that people rarely listen to you till you make a good point."
"So you want to make a good point to Sam. Ok I'm all ears lets just remember when were making this point I'm human." Aaron pointed out.
"That we'll work around." Angel smiled giving Aaron a glimpse of the beast inside.
%%
"Mr Braun?" Aaron's voice cut crisply through the early morning Vegas Air.
Sara had been right he and Angel had found nothing of interest on Sam Braun at Catherine's house. It had taken a late night trip to Sam's home to get anything close to what they had been looking for. Angel had assured Aaron that they had hit the jack pot when they had discovered Sam's personal planner. Aaron was inclined –no matter how much he hated it. - to agree with the vampire. It was the information in that book that led them here this morning where Sam was alone with out his heaves for the only time of the day.
"Do I know you son?" Sam asked stopping to look in Aaron's direction.
"Not yet Mr Braun but we're going to get to know each other real well." Aaron smiled. He was so glad Angel had let him do this part he wanted to see the look of disdain on Sam's face. He wanted Sam to look at him like he was nothing it would make the end result so much sweeter.
"Son if you knew how many times I heard that." Sam laughed turning his back on Aaron.
"How many men have said that to you with the burning hate I have for you?" Aaron wondered aloud.
Sam turned once again to face him. "Son take a ticket and get in line."
"Do you make a habit of stabbing young girls in the hand?"
That caught Sam's attention.
"That little bitch screwing with my daughters head send you?"
"No the woman that your daughter's screwing doesn't know we're here." Aaron smiled as Sam's face soured.
"We?" Sam looked slowly around him.
"Come for a ride Sam." Aaron smiled holding the door to his car open. "I insist."
%%
…. BANG!
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