Disclaimer: see chapter one
Sofia's POV
I couldn't help but smile to myself as that worthless piece of shit ex walked out of Sara's room. I turned back to Sara who was still staring at me wide-eyed.
"Do you kiss Wendy like that?" she asked me.
I couldn't help but laugh. "I save the good kisses for her. That was a hi-how are ya kinda kiss."
"WOW! Well, in case no one has ever told you before, you can kiss. You certainly can kiss, Sofia."
"I'm certain you get your share of kisses from Catherine. A woman like that has to know how to kiss. Right?"
"We've kissed a few times."
"Speaking of Cath, where is she? I expected her to be here."
"She was here earlier. She left."
"And she left Allie here? Wendy said she stormed in last night and took Allie."
"I told her to leave Allie. I didn't want her staying with Catherine and Lindsey. I told her that Greg, you or Wendy would take care of her."
"What's wrong with Allie staying with Catherine and Lindsey? I think that's actually the best situation for all parties involved."
"You don't know anything about the situation or the real parties involved, Sof."
"Then why don't you try enlightening me, Sar." I couldn't help being sarcastic with her.
"It doesn't matter. If you won't take care of Allie, I'm certain that Greg or Wendy will."
I sat down in the chair beside her bed. "This isn't about Allie and me not being willing to take care of her, because you know that I will. This is about whatever the fuck was going on before I walked in that door. What was she doing here?"
Sara sank back against the pillow behind her head. "She said the hospital called her because I still had her listed as the next of kin on my emergency contact list." She turned to face me. "Catherine was here when she first walked in. We were talking. Julie just came right in and pushed past Catherine and kissed me. She was acting like we were back together. The look on Catherine's face. My god, Sof, I couldn't even say anything. And then she just turned so professional. She told me she hoped I felt better soon and thanked me. And then she left. By the time I could talk and called her name and asked her to wait, she was gone."
"That's pretty fucked up, Sara."
"Thanks for the apt assessment, Dr. Phil. Between Lindsey being, well, Lindsey and Julie pulling this shit, I don't think there's any hope of anything happening between me and Catherine. I think that ship has sailed."
"So you're just going to give up on something between the two of you?"
"Yeah, I think so. Lindsey hates my guts. She thinks I didn't try hard enough to find out who killed her father. And on some level, I know she got that attitude from Catherine. I may not be an expert on kids, but I know that they sometimes adopt the feelings of the adults in their lives as their own. And Catherine certainly didn't make her feelings about that case a secret. Every one knows she felt like I couldn't do my job and that I called the case too early."
"So a teenager gets to make decisions about your love life?"
"I don't expect you to understand this. Being a parent is…complicated. I wouldn't want to date anyone that my daughter didn't like or that didn't like my daughter. I told Catherine that I wouldn't pursue anything with her unless Lindsey approved. Allie isn't a problem. She adores Catherine. But Lindsey…that kid has some major issues. Catherine is going to have her hands full with her for the next few years. I can see it now. There will be smoking. There will be drinking. I guarantee you that the kid has a tat within the year. And sex—I wouldn't be surprised to see her using sex to cope with the shit that she's going through. Catherine should have gotten therapy for her after Eddie was killed. Instead, she just swamped herself in work and ignored the situation. Now, Lindsey is an angry, bitter teenager. If I didn't have Allie, I might still try to date Catherine. But I'm not exposing my daughter to Lindsey. I don't trust her."
I leaned forward in my chair. "Sounds like you know an awful lot about what Lindsey is going to go through in the next few years."
"I should. Do me a favor Sofia. Greg took Allie to get her something to eat. Can one of you guys take her for the evening? I get out of here in the morning. Can you come and pick me up and take me home?"
I stood up to speak to her. "You know, I should use the handcuffs on you like I implied to your ex that I had." I threw my hands up in the air. "You know what? This is your life. I'm your friend, I'll do whatever you want. I'll take Allie home with me and one of us will pick you up in the morning. Happy?"
"Abso-fuckin-lutely ecstatic. Can't you tell?"
"Get some rest, Sara. You look like shit!"
I turned and walked out of the room.
I found Greg in the hospital cafeteria and explained to him what had happened in the room after he had taken Allie. He wanted to spend a little more time with Allie and said that he'd give me a call when he was bringing her over.
"Call me on my cell. I've got some errands to run so it will be a while before I make it home."
As I pulled up in front of the house of Catherine Willows, I couldn't help but wonder if I was doing the right thing. Their little tango around one another had been humorous at first, but here we were a couple of months later and the relationship so many of us were rooting for had gone nowhere but backwards.
I had to knock on the door for several minutes before someone answered it. Catherine was half-asleep as she cracked the door open and looked at me through squinted eyes. When she recognized me, she threw the door open completely and said, "Sofia! What are you doing here? Is something wrong? Did something happen to Sara?" Her voice was filled with panic.
I walked into the house and shut the door behind me. "Nothing else has happened to Sara. Something is wrong though."
"You want something to drink?"
"No, I'm only going to be here for a few minutes."
She came back into the living room and offered me a seat on the couch. "So, what's wrong?"
"You and Sara."
"Excuse me?"
"You and Sara. That's what's wrong."
"There is no me and Sara. And after what I saw today, there never will be."
"You're talking about that skanky ex of hers that showed up in her hospital room?" She nodded. "I got rid of her in short order. Sara was so pissed that she had shown up. And she was even more pissed off that you left the way you did."
"That slut stuck her tongue down Sara's throat while I was standing there. I wasn't going to stand there and watch her fuck her, too."
I couldn't help but laugh at this situation. "You know, you two hated each other for six years and then Allie brings the two of you together. And now, you two…"
"Sofia, there is no us. There is no two when talking about me and Sara. There is Sara and then there's me. And you butting in is not going to change that. We're both big girls. We can deal with this without your interference."
"So are you telling me that you have no feelings at all for her?"
Catherine stood and walked back toward the kitchen. I followed her. I needed to be able to read her body language when she answered my questions.
"I have feelings for Sara. I don't know exactly what those feelings are. When she was shot…Sofia, I froze. I couldn't even touch her. I couldn't speak to her. If you hadn't shown up and started putting pressure on her wound, she would have bled out. She saw that man holding a gun on me and she came in there and put herself in harm's way and she got shot. I couldn't have done that. If that had been her in that room, I don't know that I could have done that because of Lindsey. She has a daughter now and she still did that. I can't…"
Catherine started sobbing uncontrollably. I put my arms around her and held her until she calmed down.
"Cath? Cath, you're getting my shirt all snotty. How about a Kleenex or a hankie?"
She pulled back at me and was visibly embarrassed by her emotional outburst.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to get so upset. It's just…Fuck! Why can't anything ever be easy when it comes to this shit?"
I couldn't help but laugh at her. My phone started ringing. "Curtis…Yeah, Greg….I'm at Catherine's….Yeah, bring her over here."
I turned my attention back to Catherine. "Greg is going to drop Allie off here. You don't mind keeping her tonight do you?" I didn't give her time to answer. "Good. And look, Sara needs someone to pick her from the hospital in the morning. You'll do that too, right?" Once again, no time to answer. "Great. Well, gotta go."
