Diamonds and Rust Chapter 1, a csi fanfic

Title: Diamonds and Rust

Rating: M, just to be safe

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or any of its characters or affiliates. I also don't own Diamonds and Rust, the song written and performed by Joan Baez, which was the inspiration for this story's title. This story and its contents are strictly intended for entertainment purposes by someone who is still a fan of this amazing show 20 years after it premiered.

Pairing: Catherine/Sara (eventually)

Episode References: There will be numerous episodic references throughout this story, particularly in this first chapter. This first chapter references Cool Change (Catherine and Sara's first onscreen meeting), Crate 'n Burial (Catherine's blow-up about Lindsey not wanting a birthday party), and Too Tough to Die (the scene where Eddie shows up at the lab and Grissom has to pull him off of Catherine). You'll notice a few instances of directly borrowing dialogue from these episodes, but I'm also changing a few events that happened onscreen in order to better jive with this story.

Author's Notes: Well hello there, lovely people! QTR here, with a new story that I honestly wasn't expecting to write at all. I wasn't bitten with the writing bug for a very, very long time (ahem, not that any of you were aware of that…) but after having FINALLY posted the new chapter of Catherine Willows' Guide to Surviving Sara Sidle, I found myself really wanting to start something new. Now, with my track record, I can't promise how frequently new installments will be added to this story, but I promise that I will do my best to update as quickly as I can.

This story explores Catherine and Sara's relationship from their very first onscreen meeting in the second episode of the series and goes from there. I've always wondered how their relationship would have unfolded if Sara had ever witnessed Eddie being abusive, so just a warning that there will be depictions of domestic violence throughout this story. This first chapter is on the lengthy side, but I couldn't find a spot that seemed like a natural place to pause for separate chapters, so I hope you guys don't mind.

Anyway, enough from me – I hope that you will enjoy this first installment!

"Do you know where I can find Catherine Willows?"

"She's out in the field."

Brown eyes stared down blue, not willing to back down. The blonde sensed this.

"Let me guess… Sara Sidle?"

"I know who I am, I think you're a little confused."

"If you think you're taking my case… forget it."

The tension in the room was palpable. A few years back, the blonde's behavior and demeanor would have intimidated the brunette. No longer. She was still young, but she had experience to back up her confidence. Before she'd even become a CSI level one at the San Francisco lab, she'd assisted on more autopsies than she could even remember while she'd worked her way through grad school in the coroner's office. Catherine Willows was not the first difficult, strong personality she had dealt with in her career, nor would she be the last.

"Look… we can stand here and argue, or we can get out there and find out who did this to Holly Gribbs. Two sharp women are better than one."

The blonde's eyes narrowed in anger but also defeat. Sara had won. Catherine hated her just a little bit for it.

As Catherine rattled off information about the pager found at the scene and Sara stood over her shoulder, taking notes and asking questions, the blonde tried to ignore the younger woman's presence as best she could. Just because she was sharing information about the case with her didn't mean she trusted her. Just because she allowed herself to crack the smallest of smiles at the brunette's joke, and just because she offered a joke of her own, didn't mean she liked her.

And just because Sara stuck around to become a permanent addition to the night shift after the investigation was over didn't mean she had to start liking her, either.

A few weeks after their first meeting, Sara tried to form a truce. The two women had hardly spoken to one another since the investigation into Holly's death and that wasn't exactly an accident. Sara had justified it to herself by reminding herself that she'd had a lot of details to worry about since then – finalizing new employee paperwork, securing her own place to stay, finalizing her official severance with the San Francisco lab, and arranging for her belongings to make their way to Nevada, to name just a few. She had no idea what excuses Catherine might have, but the blonde had gone out of her way to avoid her. Sara hadn't sought her out. Their only interactions had been the few short, shared words about cases they were assisting on.

But before shift one night, Sara decided to approach her. They couldn't continue this way, she decided. It was clear that both of their personalities were going to clash, but they had a job to do, and they were going to have to learn to get over it so they could work together when the time came. It was the adult thing to do, even if they both seemed to revert back to teenagers whenever they interacted with one another.

Sara found her in the locker room, where Catherine had just stepped in to put away her purse and jacket. Sara watched her for a moment, waiting for her to acknowledge her presence at the door, and then softly cleared her throat when Catherine either chose to ignore her or didn't notice her.

The blonde turned to her, her face impassive. "Hey."

"Hey."

Two exchanged words, and once more the tension in the room was nearly thick enough to cut with a knife.

The blonde turned away from Sara, pulling the door to her locker open as she shrugged her jacket off her shoulders. She hung it up before she removed her purse, placing it on the metal shelf inside. As she reached inside the locker for her ID card and began to clip it to her belt, the silence was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable, as were the brunette's eyes, which she could feel digging into the back of her head.

With an exasperated sigh, Catherine turned to her again. "Did you need something?" She noticed Sara's jaw tensing reflexively and just briefly, she admired how sharply sculpted the younger woman's cheekbones were.

"Look." Sara folded her arms across her chest and leaned her shoulder against the doorframe. "Can we… call a truce or something? I think we got off on the wrong foot. We're obviously going to be working together, so can we just clear the air?"

Catherine hadn't known what she'd been expecting Sara to say, but it wasn't that. She kept her face fairly stone-like as she placed a hand on her hip, and tried to ignore how ridiculous it was that someone probably a decade younger than her was acting like the mature one. "Fine."

Sara bit the inside of her bottom lip as she fought to keep her heart from pounding too hard. Yes, she had dealt with strong personalities and difficult people before, but there was something about this woman that just rattled her. Maybe it was because Sara wasn't used to dealing with someone whose stubbornness was on par with her own. In the short time she'd known Catherine Willows, it had quickly become apparent that she was a woman who didn't back down. Normally, that was Sara's job.

As clipped and annoyed as Catherine's tone was, she couldn't give it back to her, Sara told herself. That would only make things worse. "Okay. So… we're good, then."

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright."

"Fine."

The two women stared at each other for a few more moments. They both recognized how juvenile the exchange was, but neither one of them acknowledged it verbally, nor did they say anything about how contradictory the entire thing was. Agreeing to a truce through gritted teeth and barely-restrained verbal jabs wasn't exactly a recipe for success.

Sara finally pushed herself off the doorframe so she could reach her own locker, which placed her back to Catherine's. She busied herself with attaching her own ID card to her belt and affixing her service weapon to her holster, and didn't so much as flinch when Catherine slammed the door to her own locker and walked out without another word.

Some truce.

A couple of months passed. Both women were polite, if somewhat formal with one another. There was no friendly banter in the break room over coffee or invitations to grab a drink after work, but they were working together. Despite the coldness of their working relationship, they were a formidable team, and this didn't go unnoticed by Grissom, who was beginning to pair them up on assignments more and more.

After assignments were handed out one morning and both women found themselves partnered up again, they walked to the locker room to grab their kits. As Sara removed the clunky metal box from her locker and turned around to slip her jacket on, she noticed the Polaroid photos stuck to the inside of the door of Catherine's locker. They all featured a little girl with an adorable smile. Between her bright blue eyes and blonde hair, it didn't take a CSI to figure out she was Catherine's daughter.

"She's a cutie." Sara's voice startled Catherine, who flipped around to stare at her, blinking in surprise as if she was just now noticing she was also in the room. At Catherine's confused look, Sara motioned to the photos on the door. "Your daughter?"

Catherine's face softened as she followed Sara's gaze to the photos. She ran the tips of her fingers over a few of the photos of her daughter's smiling face. "Yeah. Thanks, she is."

"What's her name?" Sara asked, pulling her jacket over her shoulders. The tenderness with which Catherine was touching the photos warmed her heart. There was obviously a lot of love there.

"Lindsey," Catherine answered, the corners of her lips curling up in a small smile. "She's five, and she's my whole world. I would give anything to be able to spend more time with her, but the job makes it difficult. She's able to stay with my mother when I can't get off, but sometimes I think she sees her more than I do. Her birthday's coming up on Saturday and I'm just praying Gil doesn't give me another double." It suddenly occurred to Catherine how much she was talking, and who she was talking to, and she stopped herself. Removing her kit from her locker, she nudged the door closed, and tried to ignore the discomfort she suddenly felt. Though she worked with her every day, she hardly knew Sara, and she made it a point not to talk about her daughter with people she hardly knew. Besides, it wasn't like Sara even cared, right?

"I can see how that would be hard," Sara replied, and Catherine glanced over at her long enough to notice that the brunette could no longer maintain eye contact with her. In fact, she looked a bit nervous. "Um… if you want… I could cover for you that night. I mean, if you need it."

Catherine stared at Sara in stunned silence. "…You would do that?"

Sara offered a shrug, still avoiding Catherine's eyes, especially now that they were staring straight at her. "Sure, if you want."

Sara was offering to do something incredibly nice for her, and Catherine's defenses were forcing her to think of possible ulterior motives for why she was offering. She couldn't think of any. It would be stupid not to take her up on her offer.

"Um… wow, Sara. Okay. I mean… thank you. That… I would really appreciate that." Catherine had only ever said Sara's name once or twice before, and she wondered if it sounded as strange to Sara as it did to her.

The younger woman looked like she didn't know what to do with her thanks, and instead, she shot the blonde a small smile, nodded her head, grabbed her kit, and headed out the door. "I'll meet you at the car."

"Sure," Catherine nodded, watching her go. Maybe she should work a little harder at this truce thing…

Two days later, the night shift team were crowded in the break room, sipping coffee and looking over casefiles as they waited on lab results and pages. Catherine and Sara were both standing on their usual opposite sides of the room, and as Sara sipped at her mug of coffee, she couldn't help noticing how tense the blonde appeared.

"You have to see the gift I got for your daughter," Gil Grissom's excited voice announced his entrance as he entered the break room carrying a plastic bag.

Sara recalled her conversation with Catherine in the break room two days prior, and she bit back a smile. "Hey, what's the rule? How long do I have to be here before I start kicking in for gifts?"

"Whenever the spirit moves you, Sara, so in your case, I guess… never."

Catherine's reply felt like a slap to the face, and Sara tried to hide her look of hurt behind her coffee mug as she took another sip. She tried not to focus on just how badly Catherine's comment stung. Over the past couple of days, since they had chatted in the locker room together, their interactions had been more relaxed, more pleasant. She had been hopeful that things would continue in that direction.

As Catherine blew up at those in the room over her daughter not wanting a birthday party, Sara could hear the hurt in her voice she was attempting to mask with frustration and a raised tone. One by one, each staff member excused themselves as pagers beeped and phones rang with results and messages. Sara stepped out of the break room to retrieve her lab results, but stopped after taking a few steps down the hallway. She waited for the other team members to file out before she took a hesitant step back into the break room. Inside, Catherine had her back to the door and was gripping the sides of her head, looking like she was fighting a headache.

Sara softly cleared her throat to let her know she was there, and Catherine jumped a bit in surprise. It seemed like she was doing that a lot to her lately.

"Yeah, what?" Catherine sighed in irritation.

Sara's heart fluttered in sudden nervousness. Why did she feel like this whenever she was alone with Catherine? "Um… I just wanted to let you know that my offer for this Saturday still stands, if you'd like me to cover shift for you. I know it's none of my business, but I don't know if you had something else planned for Lindsey's birthday, and if you still want to take the night off, I'm still free to cover."

Catherine's eyes locked with Sara's, and she stared at her for a few moments in silence. The frustration over Gil and Nick's unwillingness to just drop it was still there, she was definitely fighting off a splitting headache, and her anger over her ex-husband's most recent bullshit meant that she wasn't in a place to appreciate Sara's words right now. In fact, they had the opposite of their intended effect, and just served to fuel her irritation. Sara was an easy target for it. "You mean you still have no personal or social plans that day? What a surprise."

Sara stared at her in stunned silence, her words feeling like another slap to the face. "Look, Catherine, I was just saying—"

"You were right the first time, Sara. It's none of your business, and I don't need anything from you."

As Catherine walked off, her high heels clicking loudly on the tile floor, Sara stood alone in the break room, feeling very much like she had just been used as a punching bag.

Catherine found herself walking to the locker room, intent on grabbing her wallet so she could take herself somewhere to get a decent cup of coffee. In her haste to open her locker, she didn't notice the white envelope taped to the door until it fell off and she stepped on it. She bent down to retrieve it and saw her name scribbled on the front in handwriting she didn't recognize. She quickly glanced around the locker room, as if needing to reassure herself that she was by herself, before she tore the envelope open to inspect its contents.

She shook out a small piece of paper first.

Catherine,

I wasn't sure what kinds of things your daughter likes, but I asked Nick and he mentioned that she's really into sea animals right now. I thought you might like to take her sometime. The passes are good all year, so you can go anytime. Please tell her happy birthday.

- Sara

Catherine shook out two passes for the Mandalay Bay Aquarium, and her eyes went wide in surprise. She hadn't seen the envelope on her locker first thing this morning or when she'd stopped to change shoes right before her episode in the break room, which meant that Sara had to have put it here right before then. That also meant that Sara's teasing comment about kicking in for gifts was just that, because she had obviously already purchased the gift.

Catherine stared down at the two passes in her hand, and her heart twisted in guilt at how sweet the gesture was and how nasty she had just been to the younger woman.

After opening her locker long enough to grab her purse and place the passes inside, Catherine went off in search of Sara. She finally found her in one of the smaller labs in the back, and her head was down in concentration as she read over lab results. This time, it was Catherine's turn to clear her throat to announce her presence.

Sara's eyes found hers, and they narrowed ever so slightly. "What?"

Catherine bit back a flinch at the harsh tone of Sara's voice. She deserved that. "Um… hey. I just wanted to say thanks for the passes to the aquarium. Lindsey and I have never been, and I think she'd really like that."

Sara stared back at her, her face a mask of stone, before her eyes returned to the paperwork in front of her. "Sure."

Catherine's heart pounded violently as she watched Sara dismiss her, and she truly felt awful. She had a sudden, insatiable need to fixthis somehow, but knew the very last thing the brunette probably wanted was her lame attempt at an apology. "Look, Sara… I'm really sorry how I reacted back there. I didn't—"

"You know what? Save it, Catherine. I'm through playing this game with you. I've tried to mend whatever fences I apparently burned with you by showing up here, and I'm just… I'm done. So do whatever you want with the passes – use them, burn them, I don't care, but I'm not going to continue to go out of my way to try for a civil working relationship with you when you clearly want nothing to do with me."

This time, Catherine did flinch. She knew she deserved that, too, and as Sara grabbed her paperwork and walked out of the room, the blonde didn't try to follow her.

A couple of months after Lindsey's birthday, Catherine and Sara were back to hardly speaking to one another. They worked as a team as required, but both women made it a point to limit their interactions together. Sara was still pissed off at how Catherine had treated her. Catherine was still mad at herself for her own behavior, and, for some reason she still couldn't quite identify, she still felt angry toward Sara for just being here in the first place.

One evening, after a very long shift she really should have clocked out from hours ago, Catherine was getting ready to leave for the night. Lindsey was away for the weekend with her grandmother, and she found herself not wanting to go back to her empty home to spend the night by herself.

She walked around the lab, looking for Nick, Warrick, or hell, even Gil, to see if she could talk one or more of them into grabbing a drink or a bite to eat. So far her search has come up empty, and she poked her head into the break room, looking for friendly faces.

Her eyes fell on Sara, who was seated on the couch, one arm propped up on the armrest to support her head. She had some sort of file in her lap, but it was clear from the slow, even rise and fall of her chest and the way her head was tilted, she had dozed off.

Catherine stood in the doorway and watched her sleep. This wasn't the first time she'd caught Sara asleep at the lab, and she frowned as she realized that it was becoming more of a frequent occurrence. It had happened once or twice to all of them, when you were caught in the middle of a hot case that called for overtime but were forced to succumb to a few hours of sleep once your body decided to call it quits, but lately, it was as if Sara lived here.

Throwing a glance at her wristwatch to note the time, Catherine sighed. It was 1:00 AM, which meant that Sara, like herself, should have clocked out hours ago.

Without giving her body license to, Catherine found herself walking into the break room to stand in front of the younger woman. She continued to watch her for a few moments before she took a seat on the couch beside her, and leaned over to very gently shake her shoulder.

When Sara startled awake, the action also startled Catherine. Her eyes looked wide and afraid, as if she were expecting an attacker, and when they locked onto Catherine's, that look only slightly lessened. Catherine's heart hurt at how haunted those auburn eyes appeared.

"I'm sorry," Catherine said, her voice soft. "I didn't mean to startle you. I was just heading out and saw the time, and you looked like you'd dozed off. I was thinking about how you – and I – both probably should've clocked out hours ago, so I thought I'd wake you so you can go home and actually get some real sleep before we do it all over again. Gil's caught me snoozing here before, and I thought I'd spare you his lecture."

As Sara's look of fear subsided, the grogginess began to set in, and she rubbed at her eyes as she glanced at the clock. With a heavy sigh, she nodded. "Thanks. I guess I didn't realize how late it'd gotten."

"It happens," Catherine shrugged and offered a small smile. "You okay? I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't," Sara replied, and the way the words came out, a little too quickly, didn't convince Catherine at all. "Thanks. I'll head out in a few."

Taking that as her cue to leave, Catherine rose to her feet. "Alright. Well… goodnight, Sara."

"Goodnight."

Catherine took a few steps toward the door, and then stopped. She slowly turned around so that she was once again facing Sara, who was blinking her eyes to make herself become more alert. "Hey, uh, Sara?"

Sara met her gaze as she rose to her feet, raising her lanky arms high above her head to stretch. "Yeah?"

"…Want to grab a bite or something?" Catherine asked, truly not knowing what the hell she was doing. Okay, it was very possible she was still feeling incredibly guilty about how she had treated Sara and was hoping that maybe she could clear the air with her the same way the brunette had tried months before. She owed that to her. Continuing to give the younger woman the cold shoulder when she hadn't done anything to warrant it wasn't fair, if Catherine was really being honest with herself. She also really didn't feel like being alone right now, as awkward as this outing between two people who were practically still strangers to each other would probably be.

Sara also seemed to sense the awkwardness, and she stared at Catherine for a few moments in silence as she contemplated her answer. "Uh… no thanks, Catherine. I'm not all that hungry."

"How about a beer, then?"

Sara let out a resigned sigh, and Catherine knew her answer before she'd ever voiced it. "Alright, yeah, I could use a beer. Um… just give me a minute to grab my jacket."

"Sure," Catherine nodded, stepping aside to let Sara pass her. "I'll drive. Meet me in the parking lot. I'll give you a lift home after."

Too tired to argue, Sara waved her acknowledgement of the plan, and disappeared down the hallway to grab her things.

Catherine continued down the hallway until she pushed the double doors of the lab open, and she took a deep breath of the cool night air. Reaching into her pocket, she retrieved her car keys and pressed the fob, hearing the vehicle chirp in response.

She had no idea if going out for this drink was going to be a good thing or a bad thing, but both women seemed to need alcohol, and it wasn't like their relationship could get any worse at this point.

Pulling open the driver's side door, Catherine tugged her purse off her shoulder and placed it inside the car. As she started to slide onto the seat, she felt a warm hand wrap itself around her forearm and yank her back out. Her yelp caught in her throat as she came face to face with her very drunk ex-husband.

"Hey Cath," he greeted her, his voice husky and raspy, the way it got when he overindulged in whiskey. "Bit late to still be on the clock, isn't it?"

"Eddie." Catherine fought to keep her tone level, both to keep him from angering and to keep her voice from dripping with fear. Eddie hadn't been drunk around her for a while – or at least, not this drunk – and when he got like this, he was unpredictable. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I've been waiting for you," Eddie answered, still tightly gripping Catherine's forearm. "I meant what I said the other day when your boyfriend intervened – I wasn't done with you yet."

Suddenly Catherine knew that her fear was well-founded, and she felt the dread deep in her gut. He was still mad over Gil pushing him off of her when he'd grabbed her in the middle of the lab. "Ed." Catherine fought to free her arm, and winced as she felt his fingernails digging into her skin. "Let go of me."

"He's not here right now, is he?" Eddie gripped her tighter, tossing a cursory glance around the parking lot, and when she tried to use her other arm to push him away, he shoved her forward until her back was pinned between him and the car, in what was a very close recreation of their confrontation days prior. He pushed her back so hard, it nearly knocked the breath from her lungs. "Guess you didn't fuck him good enough."

"Eddie," Catherine's voice shook a bit as she unsuccessfully tried to struggle against his grip, "get off of me."

"You don't get to tell me what—"

Suddenly the two of them were separated, a strong force shoving Eddie several feet back, where he stumbled on one of the cement stoppers in the parking lot and just narrowly avoided falling flat on his face. Catherine rolled her head to find Sara standing beside her, fire in her eyes.

"Who the hell is this?" Eddie was so angry at being interrupted again, he got the words out without slurring.

"Who I am doesn't matter," Sara responded. "Get out of here and leave her alone."

"Fuck you, bitch," Eddie snarled, taking a step forward.

As he did, Sara also took a step forward, placing herself between him and Catherine. "I'm warning you one last time. Get out of here now and leave her alone."

Eddie's eyes alternated between Sara, who was still standing strong, and Catherine, who was cradling her arm against her chest, and staring at the two of them in shock. A split second later he made his decision, and unfortunately for him, it was the wrong one.

In his drunken rage, Eddie decided that his best move was to throw a punch at the very sober brunette standing in front of him. Sara had been expecting it and moved so quickly, Catherine could hardly follow her actions with her eyes before Eddie was pushed face-first against the hood of the car, his right arm firmly wrenched behind his back where Sara kept it pinned.

Even angrier now that he had been embarrassed and emasculated, Eddie growled as he pointlessly tried to fight against Sara's hold. The more he struggled, the tighter her hold became.

"Don't even try it," Sara growled back, "if you make so much as one false step in Catherine's direction, I'm going to lay you out so fast you won't even know it's happened until you wake up in the hospital."

Sara gave him another shove, this time off of the hood of the car, before she took a large step backwards, holding an arm out to usher Catherine further behind her. As Eddie stumbled again, he glared at Sara and rubbed the part of his face that had been pushed up against the car. "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend too, Cath. I thought you'd left your dyke days behind you."

For the first time since Sara appeared, Catherine found her voice again, her anger at him causing all of her emotions to swell over. "Go to hell, Ed."

"Meet you there, sweetheart."

"Goddamn you, Eddie," Catherine rubbed her arm, where she could already feel the new bruises forming, and tears sprung to her eyes before she could stop them. "If you think I'm going to let you see Lindsey after pulling this shit—"

Another failed attempt at a punch in their direction resulted in a sharp right hook to Eddie's face. Blood instantly began pouring out of his nose. The crack of Sara's fist connecting with his face was sickeningly loud in the quiet parking lot.

"Get. Away. From her." The ice in Sara's voice made Eddie take a few steps back as he gripped his bleeding nose.

"This isn't over, Cath," Eddie growled at her, finally retreating toward his own vehicle about twenty feet away. "You hear me? You don't get to keep Lindsey from me!"

"Get out of here!" Sara shouted at him, making sure Catherine's body was behind her own as they watched Eddie crawl into his car and peel out of the parking lot.

After a few moments, once the sound of squealing tires had finally faded away, Sara turned to face Catherine, who was still pressed up against the side of the car. "…Catherine?" she softly asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Catherine offered a small nod, finally pushing away from the side of the car. She let out a shaky breath as she glanced around the parking lot to convince herself that Eddie was really gone.

"Are you sure?" Sara asked. "He didn't hurt you?"

"No, he… I mean, you didn't give him time to." Catherine absentmindedly continued to rub at her arm, which didn't go unnoticed by Sara. Catherine realized it when she met Sara's eyes. "Just a few bruises, really."

"Can I see?" Sara asked, hesitantly holding a hand toward her arm. At Catherine's nod, Sara gently pushed her jacket down over her shoulder to expose her forearm. Her sharp intake of air caused Catherine to look down at the pavement, suddenly unable to meet the brunette's gaze.

"That bastard," Sara growled, inspecting the rapidly-forming black and blue marks. His fingernails had clearly broke some of the skin.

"Really, Sara, it's not a big deal." Catherine's weak attempt at reassurance didn't provide comfort to either of them.

"Did I hear you both say something about Lindsey being his daughter?"

"Yeah. Eddie's my ex-husband and Lindsey's father."

"You were married to that asshole?"

"Unfortunately."

Catherine allowed her gaze to meet Sara's again, and she noticed that the younger woman was once again tensing her jaw, over and over, looking like she was physically fighting back the anger clearly present in her eyes.

"I'm glad you're not married to him anymore," Sara finally said. "But Catherine… this is serious."

"I know," Catherine responded, letting out another shaky breath. "I know it is. He's not normally like this, but he's been worse lately. He showed up at the lab a few days ago and Gil had to pull him off of me, and now this." She suddenly realized that she trusted Sara enough to disclose all of this.

"Do you have sole custody of your daughter?"

"The paperwork is in process."

"A restraining order?"

"No."

"You need to get one," Sara replied. "Immediately."

"I know."

The parking lot once again grew silent, both women standing a few feet apart as the adrenaline from the ordeal began to ebb.

Catherine tugged her jacket down so that it was covering her arm again, and then spoke. "If you don't mind… I think I might take a raincheck on grabbing that beer."

"Of course."

Catherine's eyes once again found the brunette's, and she held her gaze there for several moments. Sara's face was hard to read, except for her forehead, which was slightly creased in concern.

"…Thank you, Sara," Catherine said, finally releasing the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in.

"Catherine, you don't have to—"

"Yes I do. Of course I do. After how awful I've treated you, you didn't even hesitate when you stepped in just now. If you hadn't done that, he would've beaten the shit out of me."

The look on Sara's face in response to her words told her that the brunette had already figured that part out herself.

"So… I know it's not nearly enough, but thank you."

"You're welcome," came Sara's soft reply.

"Sara, I'd like to start over with you. I'm sorry that I lashed out at you when you tried to clear things between us, but if you'll give me another shot, I'd like us to be friends." The words spilled from Catherine's lips so quickly, she didn't even have time to think about how much they surprised her.

To her even greater surprise, Sara's lips curled in a soft smile. "I'd like that too, Catherine."

Two hours later, Catherine and Sara were leaving the police station after giving their statements about the confrontation with Eddie in the parking lot. Thanks to Brass pulling a few strings, paramedics were brought to the police station to check Catherine out, saving her a trip to the ER and several more hours. After going through the events of the ordeal over and over again, both women found themselves even more exhausted than they were when they'd started off their evenings and were ready to go home and sleep for a couple of days. It wasn't yet over – Brass told them they'd probably be back to answer additional questions once they reviewed the CCTV footage from the parking lot – but at least the hardest part was done, and paperwork was officially in place for a restraining order against Eddie.

The bad news was that Catherine couldn't go home. Given Eddie's thinly-veiled threat before he'd driven off, neither Sara nor Brass thought it was a good idea. With Catherine's mother not returning to town with Lindsey until Monday morning, the blonde found herself with no place to stay for the next two days. Sara immediately offered for her to stay at her apartment, and Catherine was too tired to argue.

"I'll drive you to your place to get your things," Sara offered to Catherine, holding the door to the police station open for her as they walked out. "You look like you're ready to drop."

"You don't look much better, Sidle."

"I had a cup of coffee," Sara shot her the smallest of smiles. "I'll be fine. Besides, if we veer off the side of the road, we've got uniforms tailing us, remember?"

Catherine could hardly muster up the energy to snort out a laugh.

Five minutes later, Catherine was lazily staring out the window in the passenger's seat of Sara's Tahoe as the brunette drove them toward her home. In truth, she'd been relieved when Sara had offered to drive. She couldn't remember the last time she was this tired, and not for the first time, she found herself thankful that Lindsey was away for the weekend.

Lindsey. God. What the hell was she supposed to tell her? The girl likely wouldn't think anything strange of staying with her grandmother for a little while – after all, what kid would, when their grandmother spoiled them as much as hers did? Eventually, though, Catherine knew that her daughter would likely ask questions, and even worse, her mother certainly would. She'd always made it a point to shelter Lindsey from Eddie's volatility to the greatest extent possible. He'd never physically hurt her in Lindsey's presence, but Lindsey was as perceptive as her mother, and had been able to tell on multiple occasions that things weren't quite as fine as her mother tried to assure her they were. With them unable to return home for an indefinite amount of time, it was only a matter of time before Lindsey figured out something was wrong.

Catherine rubbed at her forehead, fighting the headache that was coming. When she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, she jumped in surprise, and let out a shaky breath when she realized it was just Sara.

"I'm sorry," Sara softly told her. "I was just trying to tell you that we're here. I think you dozed off a sec."

"God," Catherine shook her head and ran a hand over her tired eyes. "Sorry, Sara. Okay, um… I guess I'll be right back?"

"Let the uniforms clear it first," Sara instructed her, watching as the two LVPD cops exited the cruiser parked at the street, hands on their service weapons. "Do you want me to come in with you?"

Yes she did, and it startled Catherine how quickly she had come to that decision. But that was dumb. This was her home. The cops were going to clear it and make sure there were no Eddies hiding in any closets. It would be ridiculous to still be worried about going into her own home once they had given it the all-clear.

And, moments later, that was exactly what the cops did, stepping out onto the porch with a wave.

Sara waved back at them, before turning to Catherine. The two women sat in a few moments of silence, before Sara unlatched her seatbelt and reached for her door, making up her mind for her. "Come on. We'll grab your stuff and get going."

As Sara crawled out of the car, Catherine let out a silent sigh of relief as she also unfastened her seatbelt to follow her.

For reasons she wasn't yet sure of, the brunette's presence made her feel safe.

"Almost there," Sara told Catherine as they very nearly finished making their way up the last flight of stairs to her apartment. Her unit was on the third floor, and while the trek upstairs wasn't, by any stretch, a particularly difficult climb, both women were at their physical limits and ready to drop. Catherine found her breathing a bit labored as she finished climbing the last set of stairs, lugging a couple of suitcases stuffed full of hers and Lindsey's clothes. Sara had insisted on lugging the heaviest suitcase, and she wondered why the brunette didn't appear nearly as taxed by the climb as she did.

"How the hell does your landlord get away with not having an elevator?" Catherine huffed once they came to a stop in front of Sara's door.

"I'm told that one exists, but it's always out of order," Sara answered, digging her keys out of her pocket. She quickly unlocked the door and nudged it open with her foot. "I've gotten kind of used to it, but trust me, I know it sucks. Try lugging groceries up three flights of stairs after you've worked a double."

"Point taken," Catherine muttered, stepping through the door to Sara's apartment. She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust when Sara reached for a light switch on the wall and the dwelling was illuminated.

"Go ahead and set those anywhere," Sara told her, setting the heaviest suitcase down by the couch. As Catherine set her things down, Sara walked back to the front door, pushing it closed and sliding the deadbolt in place.

Catherine took a long, slow look at her surroundings. The apartment looked empty, like Sara hadn't quite finished moving all of her things in yet, but there was a noticeable absence of moving boxes and clutter. Only a few personal items were visible, consisting of a couple of framed photos on the table in front of the couch and one or two pieces of artwork hanging on the walls.

"I'll be right back, but, uh, make yourself at home, okay?" Sara asked, a bit awkwardly, as she disappeared down the hallway toward the bedroom. Catherine nodded and watched her go, the strangeness of this situation finally sinking in as she allowed herself to take a seat on the couch.

She was sitting in Sara Sidle's apartment, about to spend the night, after the younger woman had probably saved her life in the lab parking lot. They hardly knew each other, had butted heads with one another since Sara first came to Vegas, and now they'd been forced together in an incredibly intimate way, the events of the evening shining a bright light on very private details of Catherine's personal life. Facing Gil after Eddie's outburst in the lab had been difficult enough, but things had escalated even more tonight and Sara had been there for the worst of it, having actually witnessed her ex-husband brutalizing her. Catherine felt vulnerable and exposed, and it was somehow magnified by the fact that it was Sara who had come to her rescue. There was something about the brunette, about her quiet strength, that added to her feeling of vulnerability.

Sara returned a few minutes later, carrying a blanket and a couple of pillows. Placing them on the couch, Sara motioned behind her toward the hallway. "Bathroom's down the hallway on the right and there's clean towels in the closet if you want a shower. Bedroom's immediately opposite the bathroom, clean sheets on the bed."

Catherine nodded, about to thank her, before she stopped herself. "…Clean sheets?" She glanced at the pillows and blanket Sara had brought for the couch, and realized that they weren't intended for herself.

"Just changed them," Sara confirmed, "so if you'd rather get some sleep and shower in the morning, go right ahead."

"Wait a minute," Catherine slowly shook her head. "Sara, no. I am not taking your bed."

"Of course you are."

"The couch is fine. I'm sitting here already anyway."

"No, you're taking my bed, and I'll sleep out here. You'll sleep better there, trust me."

"Jesus, Sara, you've already probably saved my life and are letting me stay with you. Do you have any idea how letting someone crash at your place works? I'm sleeping on the couch."

Sara let out an exasperated sigh, and Catherine noticed her jaw tensing again. "Catherine, please don't fight me on this, okay? I'd feel much better if you took my room. I fall asleep on the couch all the time anyway, so I'm used to it."

Catherine met her gaze, and as she stared into Sara's eyes, the desire to argue and protest melted from her exhausted body. With a defeated sigh, Catherine finally relented with a nod. "Alright, fine. And… thank you. But for the record, I tried to dissuade you."

"Noted," Sara shot her a smirk.

Sara helped Catherine lug the suitcases to the bedroom, which the blonde noted was even more scarcely decorated than the living area of the apartment. Aside from the bed, a nightstand, and a dresser, the bedroom was incredibly bare. Only a blown-up photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge adorned the wall.

Once Sara had placed the heaviest suitcase by the foot of the bed, she straightened up and glanced over at Catherine. She seemed to realize how awkward them both standing in her bedroom was, and she cleared her throat to break the silence.

"Okay, well… if you need anything during the night, I'll just be on the couch. Feel free to grab something from the fridge if you want."

Catherine nodded, and responded the only way she could think to. "Thanks, I will."

"Alright. Um… goodnight, Catherine."

"Goodnight, Sara."

Sara turned to exit, but she only made it a few steps toward the bedroom door when she was stopped by a warm hand gripping her wrist. Surprised, Sara paused and turned to look at Catherine, who was still loosely gripping her wrist.

"Catherine?"

Catherine stared at the hand that was gripping Sara's wrist, and then slowly lifted her gaze to Sara's face. She didn't remember consciously making the decision to reach out to Sara, but she obviously had. Sara was staring at her in confusion, but was obviously more concerned than anything else. Catherine swallowed hard, overwhelmed by the countless emotions that were suddenly rising up in her chest. She was terrified by how badly she suddenly didn't want Sara to leave her, like the lack of her presence would make her stop breathing.

Fearful that Catherine might be going into shock from the events of the evening, Sara took a small step toward the other woman. "Catherine?" she softly asked, reaching a tentative hand out to her. "Are you alright?"

Sara had no time at all to react when Catherine yanked hard enough on her wrist to pull her body flush to her own. She suddenly found the blonde's lips pressed to hers, and the loudness of her heart pounding in her ears seemed to drown out rational thought as Catherine's hands lowered themselves to her waist.

"Catherine—" Sara barely got her name out as the blonde deepened the kiss, and she had to bite back the moan that threatened to slip out. She hadn't even realized Catherine was inching her backwards until she felt the back of her knees hit the bed, and moments later she found herself on her back against the soft mattress, Catherine moving to straddle her body.

Everything was happening so fast. As much as her body was responding to what Catherine was doing, Sara knew that she had to stop her.

"Catherine, stop," Sara reluctantly pulled away their kiss, gently holding Catherine back by her shoulders. She couldn't believe how badly she wanted Catherine. No kiss had ever literally taken her breath away.

"Why?"

"Because- because we can't."

"Why can't we?"

"Because… we just can't."

Catherine moved so that she was no longer straddling the younger woman's waist, and Sara lifted her body so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Chest still heaving, Sara got to her feet and ran her hand over her face, wiping away the beads of sweat that had suddenly appeared there. She watched Catherine, who had started to pace back and forth by the dresser.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Sara took a hesitant step toward her. "Look, Catherine…"

"No," Catherine shook her head, interrupting her. "No, you're right. I'm sorry, Sara. I don't know why I did that. We can't do this."

Sara bit the inside of her bottom lip. "It's nothing personal, Catherine, I hope you understand that. It's just… after everything that happened tonight, I think it would be better if—"

"Of course. You're right. Of course you're right. I… I had a lapse in judgment. I would never… I mean, normally, I would never…" Catherine's eyes once again met Sara's, and when she saw the hurt reflected there, she realized her mistake too late. "No, Sara, I didn't mean—"

"What? That normally you'd never have a lapse in judgment and kiss someone like me?"

"Of course not, Sara! I just meant that I didn't mean to just come on to you like that… this was a mistake."

She was only making things worse.

Sara laughed bitterly, stalking toward the door. "Well don't worry, Catherine, you won't make the same mistake twice. That momentary lapse in judgment that made you stick your tongue down my throat isn't likely to happen ever again."

The bedroom door slammed loudly behind Sara, and Catherine was left standing in stunned silence as she listened to the sound of the brunette's retreating footsteps.

TO BE CONTINUED