"Hey gorgeous."
The playful greeting startled Sara, who stopped attempting to drag a stuck comb through her untamed hair and turned to find Catherine grinning at her from the threshold.
"Hey." She replied, turning back to the mirror in her locker and resuming her previous actions. Chuckling to herself, Catherine ambled over and carefully took hold of Sara's wrists, prising them away and coaxing the comb out of the brunette tangles herself.
"Thank you." Sara mumbled sheepishly as Cath handed her the comb and used her fingers to carefully unknot her curls and drape them across her shoulders.
"I'm glad you're here." She said, finally dropping her hands and stepping back to admire her work. "I have something for you."
"Really?" Sara quirked an eyebrow curiously.
After rifling through her bag for a moment, Catherine finally presented her with a delicately wrapped gift, adorned with gold ribbon.
Sara turned it over in her hands, raising a curious eyebrow at her colleague.
"It's not rigged." Catherine joked.
With a smile, Sara sank onto the bench and tugged gently on the ribbon, watching it fall open. Peeling away the paper, she was surprised to find herself staring at ... herself.
At least, the person she used to be.
The photograph – the one of her and her father – had been reprinted, blown up and placed in a beautiful silver frame.
As she stared down at the familiar image, now so clear and bright, she sensed Catherine lean down behind her and felt her breath behind her ear.
"I thought your house looked like it needed a few more photos."
Sara opened her mouth to speak – to say thank you ... to say anything, in fact ... but nothing came out.
"Hey Cath," Grissom interrupted, poking his head into the room and taking a moment to scrutinise their close proximity. "We have a 419 at a circus just off the strip – are you free to take it?"
"Clown lose his sense of humour?" She joked, straightening up and accepting the assignment slip.
"No, an elephant lost his patience with his trainer."
"Elephants?" Sara's ears pricked up and she suddenly found her voice again. "I'll go with you."
Catherine shot a look at Grissom, who shrugged his assent.
"I'll be in autopsy for a while, keep me in the loop." He said, waving a hand at them before shuffling off in the direction of the morgue.
Catherine was already rifling through her locker, getting herself ready, while Sara remained on the bench clutching her frame.
Slowly, she got to her feet and crept towards her colleague.
"Cat ... I ..."
Catherine smiled sweetly at her bashful stuttering. Swinging her locker door closed, she stepped up to Sara and wrapped her into a hug.
"You're welcome." She answered the unspoken thanks, peppering a kiss on her cheek.
When she moved out of Sara's personal space, she noted the pink blush that had crept up the brunette's cheek and playfully cupped her chin for a second.
"Unless you plan on bringing your dad with us, why don't you put that away and I'll meet you at the car."
Sara glanced down at the frame still sitting in her hands. Her father's beaming smile and dark eyes practically glistened behind the pristine glass. She hadn't seen his face so clearly since he was alive.
By the time she looked up, with tears in her own eyes, she was alone in the room.
x X x
"So, the body was found in the elephant pen by an assistant. First assumption was that he'd been trampled, but when the paramedics turned up to pronounce they found a bullet hole in his back. To the best of my knowledge, elephants don't use guns." Brass explained jovially, leading them into the pen.
"Where's the elephant?" Sara asked, her trained eyes scrutinising the pitifully small area with a heavy heart.
"Outside. A vet is on his way from the zoo. There are a load more animals through there."
"Thanks Jim," Catherine said, effectively dismissing the detective, who took his cue to leave the women alone.
Opening her kit, Catherine took out her flashlight and cast it over the messy scene.
"Well, we're not going to get any shoe prints with all this hay on the ground." She noted with a frown. "We might get something from the perimeter, but whoever shot him is most likely associated with the circus, so would have legitimate access anyway."
As she circled the body, it quickly became apparent that she was talking to herself, since Sara was already heading off in the direction of the other animals.
Rolling her eyes, Cath sighed and made to follow her through the curtain into the adjoining tent.
The next area looked very similar to the one they had just come from, with one glaring difference. On the far side of the tent, chained to a metal post that was dug into the ground, was a beautiful, snarling white tiger.
And to Catherine's absolute horror, Sara was frantically trying to unchain it.
"What the hell are you doing?" She asked, taking an instinctive step back.
"He's bleeding!" Sara protested, audibly distressed.
When she finally managed to lift the chain over his head, Catherine held her breath, waiting for it to launch.
To her surprise – and utmost relief – once released, the animal flopped onto the ground with exhaustion. Sara immediately dropped to her knees beside him, her gentle hands running over his blood-stained fur.
Building up her courage and creeping tentatively closer, Catherine could see now that the chain was far too high up the pole, it had been holding him upright and cutting into his neck as his weak body gave out on him.
"He needs a vet." Sara said, pulling her water bottle out of her belt holster.
"Okay, I'll hurry them up." Cath agreed. "Will you just get your hands away from his teeth, please?"
Ignoring her, Sara managed to pour some water into her cupped hands and held them up to his mouth, where his tongue lapped weakly at the cooling liquid.
Keeping one cautious eye on them, Cath extracted her cell phone.
"Jim, where's the ETA on that vet?"
He said something in response, but she didn't hear a word of it as she found herself mesmerized by Sara's gentle actions towards the injured beast and the way his scared eyes seemed to be watching her every move. Somehow, despite all the abuse and trauma this animal had experienced in his life, he seemed to know that Sara was no threat.
That, or he was simply too weak to attack her. Either way, Sara didn't seem to care.