Grissom raised his eyes from the piece of paper to the two women standing before him.

"I want this case." Catherine said before he could utter a word.

"Catherine," he took off his glasses slowly. "You know that you can't work this."

"Why not? I re-opened her case last year and you had no objections then."

"To you re-examining the evidence, not running the case from scratch." He corrected pointedly.

"Come on, Gil. She was my best friend." Catherine almost pleaded, taking a step closer to the desk.

"Exactly. You're too close." He insisted. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you're already on thin ice with the Sheriff after blowing up the lab and compromising Sam's case. If you mess up another case because of a conflict of interest..."

"I won't." Catherine interjected before he could finish his prophecy.

"Grissom, I'm happy to let Catherine take this one." Sara, loitering at the back of the office, jumped in. "I can back her up."

Grissom looked between the two of them, before settling on Catherine's hopeful expression. It was, he realised with a degree of surprise, the first time they had ganged up on him like this in a very long time. A familiar sense of futility washed over him and his shoulders visibly drooped.

For all that the night shift women could fight like cats when they wanted to, they were an indestructible force when they actually worked together.

"Alright, you can work the case." He said, well aware that they weren't really waiting for his permission anyway. "But Sara is still lead on this; you don't handle any of the evidence without her say-so."

Without waiting for further instruction, Catherine turned on her heel and stalked out. Sara nodded wordlessly at Grissom, before turning to follow her.

"Sara," he called her back. "Are you going to be okay working together?"

Sara's lips twitched into a half smile.

"She needs to do this." She replied, evading his question. "I can't take that away from her."

x X x

Catherine cleared her throat, breaking Sara's intense concentration.

"Thank you," she offered quietly. "I appreciate you coming to me first with this."

Sara nodded, turning her attention immediately back to her work.

"I promise I won't try to take over." Catherine continued, feeling the need to keep the conversation going, if for no other reason than to ease the awkward silence. "It's still your case."

"It's fine, Cat." Sara assured her coolly. "Stephanie was important to you. It's only right you get justice for her."

As emotionless as Sara's tone was, Catherine heard the crack in her voice and smiled weakly in gratitude.

"Thank you." She reiterated softly.

x X x

"Didn't you help Catherine with the Watson case last year?"

"Yeah," Warrick scratched his jaw absently. "Man, that case really got to Cath."

"Do you think it's such a good idea that she and Sara work this case?" Nick pressed.

"Why not?" Warrick challenged, placing his hands flat on the table. "Come on, Nick; they can work together."

"I know, but ..." he trailed off, shaking his head as the words he was looking evaded him.

"Hey," Warrick chastised firmly. "Cath needs to do this. Sara gets that. If she didn't, she wouldn't have taken the case to her in the first place."

Nick mused on this for a moment, cocking his head to the side.

"I guess." He drawled. "What's the deal with Catherine and this Stephanie girl anyway?"

"They were friends." Warrick replied calmly, resuming his work. Nick scrutinised his mate for a moment, picking up on the void in his answer but electing not to call him out on it just yet.

x X x

"Thanksgiving next week." Catherine stated randomly after a period of silence.

Sara hummed in agreement, continuing to stare at her notes.

"You got plans?" Cath pressed.

"Yeah." Sara answered without looking up. "I'm going to spend it with my family. That's what people do on Thanksgiving, right? Play happy families?"

Catherine inhaled, picking up on the sarcasm in Sara's blunt response.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't think..."

"It's fine." Sara cut her off. "I got over it a long time ago. Thanksgiving, Christmas ... they're just another day now."

Catherine dropped her head sadly.

"They don't have to be, you know." She offered, flicking her eyes up to peer at her colleague from beneath her lashes. Sara stilled, taking a couple of deep breaths.

"I'll go check in with Hodges." She declared at last, pushing herself away from the bench. "He should have our results by now."

Catherine's heart sank, but she nodded slowly, watching the brunette stalk out into the corridor.

Exhaling, she shook her head. Thanksgiving was a time to be thankful for all the things in your life, but Sara had a point – what did she have to be thankful for?

She had no real family to speak of, no happy childhood memories to look back on and not even any particularly close friendships. Sure, she got on well with the boys, but how well did they really know her?

Certainly not as well as Catherine did, that's for sure. But Sara hardly considered her a friend right now.

But Catherine was thankful for Sara's presence in her life, even if the brunette didn't reciprocate. Yet.

Checking over her shoulder to make sure the coast was clear, she slid her cell phone out of her pocket and dialled a familiar number.