"What about Lindsey?" Grissom asked.
"What about her?" Catherine frowned.
"Well, where does she factor into this? How do you have time to look after them both?"
"They're not that high-maintenance." Cath chuckled. "Lindsey's fine, she's been looking after Sara's dog."
"I was going to ask about Maverick." Greg said with a smile.
"He's here too." Cath nodded. "Lindsey's been great, actually. The other day, I thought I'd slept through one of the alarms I have set for Sara's medication – it turned out, Lindsey had switched it off and gone to sort it herself."
"And you're not worried about the affect this will have on her?" Grissom pressed, sitting forward and pinning his hands between his knees.
"What?"
"Well, seeing ..." he gestured towards Sara. More specifically, towards the hand that Catherine was absentmindedly dragging up and down her ribcage.
"Compassion?" She finished for him when he trailed off, raising a sceptical eyebrow. "Understanding? Unconditional love?"
He frowned, sensing that she was deliberately missing his point.
"God forbid, something like this should happen to someone Lindsey cares about in the future, I'd want her to be there for them. To care for them." Catherine explained when he didn't answer. "She has to learn that from me."
"And how exactly do you care for her?" Nick clarified. "I mean, why is she here instead of at home?"
"Some days are better than others." Cath shrugged. "Sometimes she's alright and can pretty much take care of herself; others, she can't even dress herself because of the pain. I do whatever she needs me to do."
"And she lets you do that?"
"She doesn't have a choice." Came the blunt response. "She doesn't like this, Nicky. She fought it for as long as she could, but she had to accept that she can't live alone right now. That wasn't easy for her. That's why I didn't tell you guys – she's made enough sacrifices lately, all she wanted was to keep things at work as normal as possible."
"We still should have known. She should have told us." Nick scowled.
"She needed some normality in her life, something that the cancer hasn't taken away from her." Cath explained as gently as she could.
"This is normal?" Grissom asked.
"This was her concession." Catherine countered. "She agreed to stay here and let me take care of her, if she could carry on working."
As she was talking, she had begun gently tickling Sara's ribs, causing her to frown in her sleep.
"I can't believe she lets you do that." Greg noted with a small, somewhat envious smile.
"She doesn't. If she was awake she'd tell me to pack it in." Cath acknowledged, still not ceasing her actions.
"So, maybe you should stop touching her." Grissom frowned. He, too, had been scrutinising the blonde's casual actions closely.
"Maybe I want to touch her." Cath retorted without hesitating. "Maybe I want to hold her. Maybe, if I hold her tight enough, I can keep her here a little longer."
Unexpected tears had sprung to her eyes and she attempted to blink them away. Turning to the side to gather her emotions for a second, she released a small, shaky breath. When she turned back to the group, they were all staring back at her in surprise at the sudden emotional outpouring.
"I'm scared, okay. I'm scared that I'm going to lose her." She admitted.
"Hey, we're not going to lose her." Nick said, sitting forward.
"How do you know that? We have no guarantee that she can beat this. And I'm not sure I can cope with losing her."
"Catherine..." Warrick started, but she cut him off.
"I can't make her better, and I can't take away the pain she's in; but I can look after her. I can make sure she takes her tablets on time and that she eats and she gets enough sleep. I can keep track of her appointments and I can comfort her when she's frightened or in pain."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as the guys processed this. Until now, Catherine had seemed fairly in control, but it was obvious when the mask slipped that the last ten weeks had taken a toll on her.
"So, how long is she going to be here?" Jim asked at last, clearing his throat.
"As long as it takes."
"Weeks, months?" Nick pressed, unsatisfied with the answer.
"Years, if that's what she needs to get better." Cath answered. "I want her healthy."
"What about you?" Warrick asked. "Who's been looking after you through all this?"
She exhaled, thinking about the question for a moment.
"Well, Lindsey's helping where she can. Nancy's been great. She's treating her at the hospital, but she calls in every couple of days to check on her as well. Mom's been pretty good too – the freezer's full, because she keeps turning up with food. Even Sam's helping out."
"Sam?" Grissom scrunched up his face at the very mention of the mogul's name.
"Yeah, he's loaned her his lawyer and financial advisor, free of charge."
"What does she need a lawyer for?"
Catherine glanced up, a dark look crossing her face.
"To get her affairs in order."
"What about her apartment?" Greg asked, quickly moving on from the heavy implications of that statement.
"It's empty at the moment. I go round once a week to get her mail and clean it. We're going to wait until she's finished this round of treatment and take it from there. If she's improving, she's going to hold on to it. If not, she's going to give it up and we'll get her stuff put into storage while she's considers her next move."
"We can help you look after the place, if you like?" Nick offered, earning him a warm smile.
"Thanks, that would help."
Grissom opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was got cut off by the arrival of Lindsey, a little white dog padding alongside her.
"Mom," she announced, holding up Catherine's cell phone. Cath quickly flicked her eyes to the clock and nodded in understanding.
"Okay, thanks honey." She carefully stood up, letting Sara curl back up into a ball in her absence, and moved into the kitchen. Lindsey followed her with Maverick on her tail, watching her get Sara's medication ready.
In a carefully rehearsed routine, Catherine washed her hands and gathered together the necessary items. Returning to the lounge, she perched on the coffee table in front of Sara, sterilised a small area of skin on her stomach and produced a little syringe in an individually wrapped plastic wrapper.
"Shouldn't you wake her up first?" Grissom enquired as she tore into the packet and uncapped the syringe.
"Why?" Catherine asked without looking up, already sticking the tiny needle into Sara's stomach.
"What's with the bruises?" Nick asked, peering around her and noting the mottled purple marks adorning his friend's pale skin.
"She bruises like a peach at the moment." Cath shrugged, holding a cotton pad to the injection site for a moment before covering her up again. "It's a symptom of the condition."
Warrick sat forward, placing a hand on Sara's head affectionately.
"Damn." He commented, shaking his head in awe at the swiftness of the whole operation. "You've got this down to an art."
"I've had to learn." She laughed softly. "Believe me, this isn't a skill-set I wanted."
As she was talking, she scooped Sara back into her arms and slid back underneath her.
Unfortunately, this time, the movement caused the brunette to stir and grumpy dark eyes blinked up at her, perturbed at being disturbed.
"Morning sunshine." Catherine greeted sweetly, brushing a strand of hair delicately out of her eyes. "I'm glad you could join us."
Sara caught the edge to her voice and shifted position, spotting first Greg, then slowly dragging her eyes across the rest of the team, who were staring back at her expectantly.
Meeting Catherine's gaze again, she found the blonde smiling tightly at her with an undeniable 'I told you this would happen' look on her face. Cath nodded, confirming her obvious fears.
"You've been rumbled, honey."