Catherine's expression must have given away her guilt, as Nick nodded grimly to himself in confirmation of his findings.
"Nick," she licked her lips, slowly peeling off her gloves. "I know that you care about Sara, and I'm sure you think that you're doing the right thing; but I assure you, this is not something she needs to deal with now."
He crossed his arms defiantly, jutting his chin out.
"By 'this', you mean her being raped by her former boss, the head of the San Francisco Crime Lab?"
She flinched, her gaze searching his face suspiciously.
"How the hell did you know that?" She asked, her voice low and mildly threatening.
Nick offered a tense smile, a far cry from his usual affable grin.
"So you did know." He hummed. "Just some guy in a bar, huh?"
"I asked you a question." She demanded testily.
"He worked for law enforcement, Catherine. His DNA is in the system."
"His DNA?" She clarified. "You got into the evidence?"
"Yeah, we did." He agreed calmly. "You didn't hide it as well as you thought."
"We?" She caught his slip up easily, narrowing her eyes. "Who else was in on this? Warrick?"
"That's not important Catherine." Nick spat, raising his voice. "The point is, you lied to us! This seems to be a habit of yours!"
"Hey, that's not fair!" She countered angrily. "Sara didn't want you to know about this, she didn't want anyone to know!"
"Oh right, you were keeping this quiet to protect Sara." He scoffed. "Meanwhile that bastard is allowed to carry on abusing women. Has it happened before?"
"Nick..."
"Did he rape her before?" He snarled. "Before she came to Vegas? Come on, you're such good friends, you must know?"
"Nick!"
Unfortunately, her attempts to silence him fell on deaf ears, as his temper rose with his voice.
"He was in a position of trust over her. You knew that! You knew it and you let him get away with it!"
In his frustration, he turned around with the intention of slamming his hand into the doorframe. However, as he raised his fist, he barely managed to stop himself before it collided with Sara herself, who was standing in the threshold, tears spilling unbridled down her horrified face.
Warrick was stood behind her, shaking his head at Nick.
"Sar," Nick started breathlessly.
She took a deliberate step back, bumping into Warrick, before ricocheting off him and bolting back down the hallway towards the front entrance.
The Texan took a few seconds to gather himself, casting his startled gaze between Warrick and Catherine, who by now had her head in her hands.
"I tried to tell you." She mumbled weakly.
Unable to offer any kind of rational response to that, Nick emitted an irritated growl before moving towards the door. However, Warrick stepped into his path, shoving him roughly backwards by his shoulders.
"Oh no." He snapped. "I don't think so, man."
"Rick, come on," Nick gestured in the direction that Sara had gone, indicating that he wanted to follow her, but his friend was not listening.
"I told you to stay out of it!" Warrick pointed out darkly. "I told you to leave it alone, but you just couldn't do it could you? You couldn't just let Sara have this her way, for once. You had to keep stirring it up."
"After what he did to her?" Nick shot back. "I just wanted to make sure he didn't get away with it."
"Nick, Sara is a CSI!" Warrick bellowed. "Do you think she doesn't know what options she had? She chose not to say anything and you should have respected that. Instead, you go and shout it all over the damn lab. So well done, everybody knows. Now she can relive it all over again."
"Not everybody knows."
It was true that curious lab techs had been eavesdropping on the conversation since Nick had started raising his voice and some brazen onlookers had even begun to gather outside the lab during the argument. But nobody had noticed the figure quietly emerge from the back of the group until it was too late.
One stern look from Grissom caused the techs to quickly disperse and return to their relevant workspaces, leaving just the CSIs, looking suitably ashamed of themselves as he stepped into the room.
"So, who wants to start?" He asked, flicking his cool blue gaze from one person to the next.
Warrick, having said as much as he was prepared to on the matter, pointed an accusatory finger at Nick before spinning on his heel and storming down the hallway.
"Alright," Grissom blinked at his abrupt departure. "I guess that leaves you two?"
"Ask Nick." Catherine spat, having finally found her voice again. "I'm sure he can't wait to tell you all about it. God knows, he's told everyone else."
As she, too, brushed past Gil into the hallway, the supervisor fixed his attention on the final member of his team, who was rubbing a stressed hand over his face.
Grissom took a step closer and cleared his throat.
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?"
x X x
It didn't take long to find her, leaning against her car with both hands on the bonnet, trying to catch her breath.
He suspected that, if she hadn't left her keys in her locker, she'd have peeled out of the parking lot in a cloud of dust by now.
She jumped when he placed a firm hand on her shoulder, but he didn't remove it, instead using it to turn her around and drag her into a strong hug.
"You knew?" She murmured tearfully against his shoulder.
"Yeah." He agreed, holding her tighter. "Yeah, I knew. I told him to leave it, but you know Nick..."
"Apparently I don't." She pulled back, wiping at her eyes. "Why the hell would he do that?"
"Because he loves you." Warrick replied without hesitating. "And because he never listens to me."
Despite her distress, she choked out a small laugh at his deadpan comment.
"I know he can be an ass sometimes," Rick continued, tugging her closer again and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "But you know it'll kill him if you don't forgive him."
She laughed again, humming warily at the assertion.
"He's not the only one."
The quiet voice emanating from the shadows caused them to turn in tandem. Catherine was walking slowly towards them with her arms out, an optimistic smile dancing on her lips.
"I'm really sorry, honey." She shook her head sadly. "I never thought they'd find out. Please don't hate me for this."
Sara narrowed her eyes at the pitiful plea, but there was a sparkle behind them that Warrick easily caught even in the low light. With a knowing chuckle, he nudged her playfully towards Catherine, who grinned as Sara walked into the offered hug.
"After all this, it is definitely your turn." Sara mumbled. Warrick didn't understand the comment, but Catherine's lips spread into a smile where they lay against Sara's cheek.
"So noted."
x X x
Flashback: The Finger
She released a heavy breath, her gaze fixed firmly ahead yet seeing very little.
It had been a long day and she wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep it off. If only she had the energy to do so.
Yet despite her exhaustion and intense focus on staring into nothingness, she was still self-aware enough to realise that she was being watched.
Turning sharply towards the door, she instantly relaxed upon seeing her observer.
Sara was leaning casually against the doorframe, one leg crossed over the other and an affectionate smile on her face. Her relaxed stance indicated that she had probably been there for a while.
"Hey." She greeted softly. "You alright?"
Catherine chewed on the inside of her cheek as she mulled the question over. Physically, she was fine. Emotionally, on the other hand...
"I will be." She decided at last.
Sara nodded at the half-answer, understanding her friend's desire not to discuss the kidnapping just yet. Catherine was tough – too tough, sometimes. She would need time to process everything that had happened in the last few hours before she was able to properly talk about it.
Once she was ready, and not a minute sooner, she would call Sara up and rant, or cry or whatever she needed to do to get over it.
In the meantime, the least Sara could do was make sure she got home in one piece. She held up her hand, her car keys hanging off her finger.
"Need a ride?"
Catherine looked from the keys to Sara's face, weighing up the offer.
"No." She declared at last. "I need a steak and a strong drink."
Sara laughed brightly, drawing a smile to Cath's face for the first time since this odious case had been closed.
"Alright," the brunette agreed, holding out a hand to tug her to her feet. "Where do you want to go?"
"Oh, you're driving, you choose." Catherine shrugged lazily, snatching her bag off the bench and following Sara out into the hallway. "I'm buying though, after what you guys did for me today. It's my turn anyway."
"Your turn?" Sara frowned at her, not following.
"Yeah," Cath mirrored her expression. "You paid last time we ate out."
Sara sniggered to herself, shaking her head at the suggestion that them grabbing a sandwich together mid-shift two weeks ago had been the start of some ongoing arrangement. Still, she agreed non-the-less.
"Sure, okay." She smiled coyly. "Besides, you do owe me for ruining my date."
"Ah!" Catherine suddenly dug her heels in, dragging them both to a halt in the middle of the hallway. "I almost forgot about that! Just why did I have to find out about that from Warrick?"
Sara's lips twitched into a cheeky grin and she attempted to walk away without proffering an answer, but Catherine remained on her tail.
"I thought we had a deal." She scowled. "I tell you about all of my dates."
"Yeah. Feel free to stop doing that." Sara teased, earning her a playful slap on the arm for her trouble.
"Fine." Cath stuck her bottom lip out. "You can hear about my love life from Warrick from now on."
"Warrick's imagination couldn't keep up with your love life."
For the second time, Catherine stopped in her tracks at the quickfire retort. Shocked, she stared open-mouthed at Sara's retreating form as the younger woman continued to stride sassily towards the front doors.
"You know what," she called at her friend's back, finally regaining the use of her legs. "Just for that, you can buy dinner."