Greg put on his best puppy dog look, hoping that it would serve him some benefit, but Sara's expression remained stoic.
"We really are sorry." Nick insisted. "We thought we were doing the right thing."
"I did not want you guys to know about this." She stated firmly. "Catherine told you that."
Behind her, Cath nodded pointedly in agreement. Nick resisted the urge to roll his eyes, sensing that it would not do him much good right now to incur her wrath on top of Sara's.
"For what it's worth," Warrick chimed in unhelpfully from the coffee pot. "I told them too."
Sara offered him a tight smile, acknowledging his support.
"You do forgive us, right?" Greg asked optimistically.
She stared at them for a moment, watching the fear settle on their faces at her obstinate silence. Finally, she turned to glance over her shoulder at Catherine, who merely raised an eyebrow in a silent communication the boys couldn't hope to understand.
"I suppose so – this time." She teased, causing relief to flood their features.
"Glad that's sorted." Warrick placed a hand on her shoulder, sinking onto the stool beside her. "Now what's with all this secrecy between you two?"
"What do you mean?" She shook her head, taking a mouthful of her coffee.
"They mean us." Cath explained. "Apparently we've been too subtle for their liking."
"Oh." Sara frowned, still not entirely following the conversation.
"Well, yeah," Nick agreed, resting his elbows on the bench opposite them. "I mean, you guys have been hanging out together all these years without us knowing and drinking together and ... hell, Catherine knows your grandmother!"
Sara laughed softly, evidently surprised by the fact that they knew this.
"Yeah, she does."
"Yeah, how did that come about?" Greg enquired curiously, planting himself beside Nick.
In response to the question, Sara cast a dark look in Catherine's direction, whose lips had spread into a Cheshire cat grin.
x X x
Flashback – The Strip Strangler
She pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine, taking a moment to sit and process the whirlwind of thoughts swirling around her head.
She wasn't too worried about IAB; after all she had discharged her weapon in the line of duty to save a colleague and took out a dangerous serial killer in the process. Nobody could say very much about that.
No, that wasn't what had her so rattled right now.
Lifting her head from where it lay on the steering wheel, she inhaled a deep, calming breath. Even though she was the one who pulled the trigger, it was still hard to believe that it was over. That the risk was truly gone, especially in light of what she now knew.
She desperately wanted to go home and sleep off her newfound discovery, but she was still too wired. She could only hope that with a little breakfast and some caffeine, hopefully she would feel better.
Opening her eyes, however, she suddenly felt her heart lurch again.
Sitting right across from her, on the opposite side of the parking lot, was Sara's car.
Feeling all her nerve endings spring into life again and, deciding that she wasn't going to be able to relax until she had gotten this out of her system, she climbed out and headed quickly towards the stout little building.
Inside the diner, she was immediately hit by the warm smell of pancakes and coffee. It was mid-morning, not early enough for the morning rush and too early for the lunchtime crowd. She spotted Sara easily, sat in a booth to one side, sipping contentedly from her mug and staring lazily out of the window.
However, the brunette's tranquillity was quickly shattered when Catherine came to a stop beside her table, causing her to jump so much she almost spilled her drink.
"It was you." She blurted out without preamble. That was not where she had intended on starting, but it would do. "You were his next victim."
Sara's eyes went wide, flashing involuntarily over Catherine's shoulder.
"Uh, Cat..."
"I re-checked the sign-in sheet for Strong's Gym." Cath continued. "You signed up for a free trial a week ago. He was there that same day. You were the woman he was planning to abduct next, the one he was preparing for when we..."
"Catherine, please ..." Sara again tried to interrupt, with little success.
"He wanted to kill you!" Tears had begun to spring to Cath's eyes against her will and her voice was starting to crack, but she continued unperturbed. "A few more hours and we could have been finding your body."
"I'm fine, we got him..." Sara held her hands up defensively, her eyes flicking haphazardly from Catherine's face to somewhere behind her, not that Cath could notice through her own watery gaze.
"We found your address written at his house." She whimpered, distressed. "If we hadn't got him when we did..."
"Sara..."
The voice behind her cut Catherine off, startling her into silence. She spun around, finding herself face to face with an older woman who, despite her age, retained her natural reddish hair and had familiar hazel eyes, which were currently narrowed suspiciously at Sara.
"What is she talking about?" The woman demanded, taking a step closer. Sara, for her part, was trying very hard to look innocent and failing miserably. She slithered out of her booth, standing up beside Catherine.
"Uh, well ..." She began, not quite sure where to start. "Grams, this is Catherine Willows – we work together. Cath, this is my grandmother, Penny Halliwell."
Cath shifted her gaze between the two women, realising far too late that she had perhaps dropped Sara in a situation here.
"Lovely to meet you, Catherine." Penny greeted coolly, eyeing her up. "Now, what's this about my granddaughter being next to be killed?"
"It's really not like it sounds." Sara jumped in hurriedly. "We've been working a case recently and ..."
"The Strip Strangler." Penny surmised for her. "I know; I saw it on the news at the airport."
"Of course you did." Sara smiled tightly, already sensing her attempt to minimise the situation slipping away.
Cath shot her colleague a sympathetic look, hoping her silent apology would be recognised.
"Uh, Mrs Halliwell," she began, the mother in her hoping to offer a little comfort, or at least some damage control.
"You see, this is exactly what I was just talking about." Penny cut her off sternly, gesturing in the general direction of the strip. "This city, it's not safe for a young woman living alone. I really think you need to reconsider coming home."
Alarm bells started to ring in Catherine's head as she realised exactly what kind of conversation she had interrupted. Apparently, Penny hadn't come to Vegas for a visit with her grandchild – she had come to take her grandchild back to San Francisco.
"I am home." Sara said earnestly, soothing Catherine's fears a little, but not enough. "I like it here."
"Oh Sara, Las Vegas is nothing but a sand-filled sin-fest for reprobates and gamblers." Penny rolled her eyes, before catching herself and shooting a blatantly unapologetic look at Catherine. "No offence, dear."
Cath smiled, offering a small shrug.
"You're not entirely wrong." She conceded lightly. "But I promise we wouldn't let anything happen to Sara."
"Five minutes ago you were worried about finding her body." Penny pointed out, crossing her arms. Cath briefly caught sight of the look that Sara was sending her, but tried to ignore it and focused her attention on the situation at hand. She could smooth things over with her friend later.
"Yes," Catherine answered carefully. "But I was just upset; it's been a very long few days."
The argument sounded weak and they all knew it. As she was trying to think of something stronger to offer, she felt Sara's hand on her arm and heard the brunette clear her throat softly.
"I know you worry about me and I appreciate that, I really do." she said to her grandmother sincerely. "But you and I both know that you'd worry about me wherever I was working. And I have people here who worry about me as well. Don't you see, you don't need to be here to shout at me when I screw up – I've got Catherine for that."
Penny was chewing on her lower lip, internally debating this logic for a moment. Finally, she rested her gaze on Catherine's beseeching expression.
"I'm really good at it." She promised, earning her a small smile despite Penny's best efforts to remain stony-faced.
After an agonisingly long moment, Penn sucked in a deep breath and gestured to the table, where their coffees now sat abandoned.
"In that case, would you like to join us for breakfast?"
x X x
Present
"That was a terrible day." Sara shook her head.
"I had a lovely time." Catherine countered blithely.
"Yes, I remember." Sara quirked an eyebrow. "I especially remember you and Grams having a wonderful morning discussing all my character flaws."
The boys cracked up at the idea of poor Sara sitting through a meal while Catherine and her grandmother debated her life choices.
Catherine laughed brightly, draping herself over Sara's shoulders from behind and enveloping her into a loose hug.
"Hey, you started that." She pointed out, nuzzling her face. "You were the one who highlighted the fact that we had something in common – how we both worry about you so."
"I should have just kept my mouth shut and let you dig yourself out of that hole." Sara hummed, swirling her near-empty coffee mug idly.
"So, you kept in touch with her after that?" Nick asked.
"She kind of enlisted me." Cath agreed with a cheeky smile. "If she can't get hold of Sara, she calls me to check up on her."
"Which is great fun for me, of course." Sara offered dryly. "God forbid I'm in the shower when she calls, I end up with Catherine kicking my door in."
"Well that's what you get for call screening."
Laughter spilled out of the boys again at their playful little argument.
"Hope I'm not interrupting?" A slick voice interrupted the joyous bonding session and the team turned in unison to the door, where Ecklie had appeared and was leaning against the doorframe.
"No, not at all." Nick attempted to regain a straight face. "What's up?"
"Actually, it's Catherine I need to speak to."
Cath straightened up, not quite relinquishing her hold on Sara. Both women had picked up on the edge to his voice and shared a nervous look.
"My office." He declared, walking back out before she could respond.
Cath pursed her lips, sucking in a shaky breath. Sara reached up to grip her hand where it lay on her shoulder and whispered something that the boys didn't quite hear.
"Yeah, I know." Catherine mumbled back, squeezing her hand before letting go entirely and striding as confidently as she could after the boss.
x X x
Disclaimer: The character of Grams is borrowed from Charmed - which I also don't own