When the door opened, Sara turned to it with an instinctive smile, which faltered upon seeing her visitors.
"Hey guys." She said, peering behind them into the hallway. When it was apparent that they were alone, she frowned softly at the noticeable absence. "Where's Catherine?"
Nick and Greg exchanged a look, before Nick plastered a false smile on his face.
"What, we're not enough for you?" He joked playfully, moving closer to the bed and pulling her into a hug. She was dressed and ready to go, but the way she gripped his back for support suggested that she still felt a little shaky.
Greg, sensing the scepticism washing off Sara, cleared his throat from the end of the bed.
"Cath got held up at the station." He lied tactfully. "And we thought that, rather than hanging around waiting for her, you might be in the mood for some breakfast?"
Released from Nick's embrace, Sara smiled brightly at the suggestion, although the guys couldn't help but notice that it didn't quite reach her eyes.
x X x
He shook his head sadly at the sight before him.
He had seen her breakdown before. He had seen her scared before. He had seen her on the brink of giving up...
But he had never seen her look as pathetic and vulnerable as she did right now. She was sat on the floor of the interrogation room, curled into the corner on the cold, hard ground, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head buried in her folded arms. She looked small.
Witnessing her in this state, it was not lost on him that he had come pretty close to ending up here himself a few times. One bad night at the casinos and his life could have taken the same downturn that Catherine's apparently had.
Addiction, whatever the poison, was a powerful ruler.
Releasing a soft sigh, Warrick tore his eyes away from the viewing window and opened the door.
She lifted her head at the sound. Her eyes were red and swollen and she seemed to take a whole minute to work out who had walked into the room.
"Hey," he greeted warmly. "You ready to bust out of here?"
Slowly, without saying a word, she crawled to her feet and walked tentatively towards him.
"I can go?" She asked uncertainly, her voice weak from crying.
"Yeah." He smiled. "Your hair follicle test came back negative. Brass talked to the DA and convinced him not to press charges."
She exhaled, almost deflating with the effort, and let her eyes close with relief.
"Come on. I'll take you home" Warrick held out a hand towards her. She started at it for a moment, before lifting her own shaky one to grip his.
However, as he tried to gently tug her towards the door, she dug her heels in.
"Wait. I ... I can't go home yet." She said. "I need to go to the hospital, I need to ... Sara'll be waiting for me. I promised her I'd pick her up."
While she was rambling, she had retracted her hand and began straightening out her crumpled clothes in a failed attempt to make herself look more composed. However, Warrick shook his head to put a stop to her efforts.
"Sara's not at the hospital anymore." He explained gently. "She was released an hour ago; Nick and Greg already collected her."
Her face visibly fell at this news.
"Oh. Right." She mumbled, dropping her eyes. "Okay. Does she know?"
"No, I don't think so." He assured her, tugging her close enough to wrap an arm around her waist in an effort to comfort her. "Look, you've been here for hours, you must be starving. Let me take you out for something to eat?"
"No." She shrugged him off and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. "No, I just ... I want to go home."
He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to read the myriad of emotions battling for seniority on her face and ultimately coming up short.
"Okay." He agreed sadly. "Come on. I'll take you home."
x X x
She opened the door, her joy soon fading at her guest's morose expression.
"Wow, you look like someone just killed your best friend." Sara half-joked, inviting her in. Catherine slipped inside, her head ducked.
"They almost did." She mumbled. "Unfortunately, that someone was me."
Sara's expression faltered, but her eyes remained bright and alert.
"I'm fine." She assured her. "Which is more than can be said for you."
Catherine sucked in a deep breath, casting a glance over the younger woman. She did look fine, if a little pale still. Tossing her bag in the vague direction of the couch, she stepped forward and wrapped Sara into a tight hug, attempting to soak up some of her optimism.
"It's not been a good day." She mumbled against her shoulder.
"No, I know." Sara agreed, holding her close and sinking a hand into her blonde curls.
"You know?" Cath pulled back, cocking an eyebrow curiously.
"Yeah, I managed to weasel it out of Nick and Greg, eventually." She confessed. "Are you okay?"
"No." Cath finally slipped off her jacket and moved into the lounge area, kicking her discarded bag down the side of the couch on her way. "Jim convinced the DA not to file charges, but IAB are still going to be all over me."
Sara sauntered into the kitchen to begin making some coffee and had already filled the pot when Catherine realised what she was doing.
"Hey." She scolded. "You're supposed to be resting. Sit down." She ushered the brunette out of the kitchenette and took over, absentmindedly helping herself to mugs and plating up a handful of cookies for them to snack on.
"What's the worst that IAB can really do?" Sara asked when her friend finally sank down beside her. "I mean, if you're not being charged, how can they overrule that?"
"They can make my life very difficult." She noted with a heavy sigh. "I just ... I don't know how I've got in this situation – a couple of weeks ago, everything was fine!"
Tears had started to creep down her face and Sara slipped an arm around her waist, tugging her closer and feeling her sink into the embrace.
"And it will be again." She assured her. "You just need to ride this out. Everything will settle down."
"I wish I could believe that." She sniffled, tucking her head against Sara's shoulder.
"You know," Sara mused, "this wouldn't have happened if you'd told me what was going on in the first place."
Cath flicked her eyes up, relieved to see that the girl had a small smile on her lips, indicating that she was just teasing and wasn't genuinely upset.
"Yeah, I know." She acknowledged nonetheless, straightening up and wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry, I wasn't intentionally keeping you in the dark – I thought I could handle it."
A thought suddenly wormed its way into her head and she slapped Sara lightly on the leg.
"Anyway, I'm not the only one who's been keeping things quiet." She pointed out indignantly. "Why didn't you tell me that you'd started taking anti-depressants again?"
Sara flinched, sinking her teeth into her lower lip nervously.
"Oh. That." She hummed sheepishly. "I ... I was going to tell you, but ..."
"But?" Cath pressed, nudging her.
Sara smiled, a silent admission that she didn't really have a valid excuse.
"I guess we both have some explaining to do, huh?" She offered by way of response.
Catherine matched her expression, nodding sadly. With a weary sigh, she heaved herself to her feet and snatched up the phone.
"I'll order us some food." She declared knowingly. "We could be here a while."