In the few seconds between ringing the bell and the door swinging open, Sara had already lost count of the number of reasons that this was a terrible idea.

Yet when she found herself staring at Catherine's bright blue eyes and nervous smile, she couldn't help but match the expression.

"Hey." She greeted anxiously.

"Hi." Catherine breathed, reaching out a hand to tug her into her house.

Sara instinctively looked around in search of other guests and was surprised to find the living room empty.

"Who else is coming?" She asked, shrugging out of her jacket when she felt Catherine's hands on her shoulders, carefully switching her homemade pie from one hand to the other.

"No one." Cath frowned, accepting the dessert offering. "Why, who else were you expecting?"

"I don't know," Sara shrugged. "I assumed you'd be spending the day with your mom, or your sister, or both?"

"Nancy and her husband and son are doing their own thing." Cath explained, taking Sara's hand and tugging her into the kitchen, where she placed the pie on the side for later. "And mom and I ... we're not exactly on great terms at the moment, so she decided to join them instead. It'll just be us and Lindsey – I hope that's okay?"

She suddenly felt a stomach-full of butterflies flutter into action at the thought that Sara might be put off by the idea of a cosy family dinner. However, to her relief, Sara's tense muscles visibly relaxed at this news.

"That's fine." The brunette exhaled, gesturing to the mess cluttering up the kitchen. "How can I help?"

"You can't." Cath grinned, handing her a glass of freshly-poured wine and nudging her back towards the lounge. "You can go and sit down and make yourself comfortable – I'll be back in a minute."

As Sara disappeared, Catherine released the breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

She had been telling herself all morning that there was no need to be nervous, that it was just Sara. They had shared countless meals together over the years and she had even found a meat-free Thanksgiving alternative for the vegetarian's main course.

But as soon as she had answered that door and set eyes on her colleague, all those reassurances had gone out of the window. She had no idea what she was doing, why she was doing it or how it was going to turn out.

Today could be the start of something very interesting, or it could be an unmitigated disaster. And even if it worked out personally, she could still be committing professional suicide.

After checking on the food and taking another deep, calming breath, she smoothed out her clothes and wandered back into the living room, where she was not particularly surprised to find Sara perusing her bookshelf.

"You like the classics." The brunette noted upon hearing her enter. Cath smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"Me too." Sara murmured absently, going back to her examination. "Who's your favourite?"

Before she could answer, they were interrupted with the sound of little footsteps and Lindsey clattered into the room.

"Is dinner nearly ready?" She asked without introduction.

"Manners, Lindsey." Catherine chastised, causing the child to purse her lips and nod in understanding.

"Hi Sara." She greeted dutifully. Cath hummed with approval.

"Why don't you go wash up before we eat."

Rolling her eyes, the child ambled back off down the hall to wash her hands, leaving Sara and Catherine to share an awkward smile. Eventually, Catherine cleared her throat and gestured towards the table.

"Shall we?"

x X x

With Lindsey suitably neutralised in a food coma on the couch, Catherine and Sara remained at the table with the remnants of their wine, satellited by stacks of almost-empty plates.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" Sara asked at last, swirling the glass idly in one hand.

"Happened with what?" Cath frowned softly.

"With your mom." Sara half-smiled. "Last I knew, you'd just come out to her and she was supportive, if a little confused by it all. Now all of a sudden you're not speaking?"

"Oh, that." She laughed nervously. "Yeah, she is ... well, she was being supportive."

"So, what changed?"

"You."

The answer slipped out before Catherine could recall it and her cheeks flamed with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't meant to come out like that."

Sara chuckled, dropping her gaze bashfully.

"Okay, so how was it supposed to come out?" She asked, not content to let Catherine completely off the hook with this line of questioning just yet.

Cath cast a glance over her shoulder to check that Lindsey wasn't listening, but the child appeared to have dozed off.

"Well, it seems my charming little sister has been running her mouth off." She explained, lowering her voice just in case. "She told mom about my feelings for ... for you."

Sara smiled softly at her uncharacteristic stuttering, suddenly mirroring the blonde's blush.

"And she doesn't approve." She guessed with an understanding nod.

"Oh, it's not you." Cath pointed out hurriedly, placing a hand on Sara's arm. "She doesn't approve of me getting involved with a colleague who is so much younger than me – her words, not mine!"

Sara snickered at the disgruntled huff that accompanied that particular statement.

"I see." She pursed her lips, her expression sobering somewhat. "And ... are we 'involved'?"

Catherine slowly, tentatively, met her gaze, taking a few seconds to study her face. Unfortunately, Sara was giving nothing away with her expression beyond mild curiosity.

"Well, you're here today." She noted optimistically. "That's a good start."

"Yeah, I am." Sara hummed, nodding contemplatively. "You know, I nearly didn't come. I almost changed my mind so many times."

Catherine didn't appear remotely offended by this shy revelation. Instead, she sat back and apprised her inquisitively.

"So, why did you come?" She asked, an unusual vulnerability seeping into her voice.

"I don't know." Sara shook her head helplessly. "I guess I was ... flattered?" She grasped, not quite finding the word she was looking for.

Cath cocked her head to the side in silent question, encouraging her to continue when she trailed off in favour of scowling to herself at her current ineloquence.

With a sigh, Sara put her wine glass down and sat forward in her seat, folding her hands on the table.

"Nobody's ever fought for me the way you have." She explained, a mix of sadness and gratitude taking over her voice. "You broke all the rules for me; you risked your job for me! When I left your house upset that night, you kept phoning and when I didn't answer you came to my flat. Even when everyone else found out what had happened and held it against you, you didn't back down. You're ... persistent. Most people would have given up on me by now."

It wasn't the answer she had been expecting, but it made Catherine smile nonetheless. She reached out to brush Sara's hair aside affectionately, catching her eye in the process.

"Honey, I could never give up on you." She offered sweetly.

"I still don't like the way you went about it all." Sara pointed out, brandishing a hand in mock threat.

"I know." Cath assured her, unfazed. "And I promise; I won't ever do anything like that again."

Sara nodded to indicate that she believed her, letting her eyes fall back down towards the table.

"In a way, I'm kind of glad that you found out the way you did. It saved me having to figure out how to tell you. And I guess things have worked out okay in the end..."

At her shy smile, Catherine reached across the table and interlocked their fingers together.

"Mom?"

The sleepy voice from behind them startled both women into jerking their hands back and Catherine turned towards the noise wearing a well-rehearsed mask of innocence.

"Yes honey?"

Lindsey emerged, stretching, into their line of sight and eyed the two of them suspiciously for a moment, before brushing off whatever distrustful question was forming in her youthful mind and replacing it with a far more pressing request.

"Is there any pie left?"