Chapter 21

"So she yells, 'Don't you have any manners?' at him, I had to separate them, and it all went downhill from there," Catherine was telling Nick, Warrick, and Greg, who were gathered around Greg's computer, listening avidly. "Grissom must've gotten himself in trouble with her again. Or maybe she's just pissed that he didn't remember kissing her . . ."

Nick grinned. "That's possible. You know how Sara gets with him not paying attention to her, and if he totally forgot that night – yeah I can see her head exploding. Poor Sara."

Catherine shrugged. "None of us were exactly at our best after however many rounds of drinks we had. Maybe one of us should talk to her, explain that alcohol tends to do that to people." She and Warrick both looked at Nick.

"Uh-uh, no way. Are you kidding, I'm scared of her when she gets in moods like this! Besides, that can't be the only reason she's mad at him; after all, she asked him to drive her to work, which must have meant she wasn't mad at him earlier today."

Warrick shook his head. "I dunno man. Who gets Sara, anyway? I think they fight so much 'cause they're so alike. You know, all that pop-psych stuff about seeing their own worst qualities reflected in each other." He realized Catherine and Nick were eyeing him curiously. "What? I read too, you know. I just don't publicize it as much as Sara. Anyway, my point is that maybe she doesn't know exactly why she's mad at him. Women get vicious when they can't put things into words . . . ow!" He looked down at Catherine, who was standing on his left foot. "Fine, I'll shut up. Hmph, a man tries to put in his opinion, and look what happens."

Nick, grinning, slapped Warrick on the back. "Dude, you're in so much trouble with Cath right now . . . and if Sara ever hears about what you just said? Whoooeee!" he said, shaking his hand in front of him in a "too hot to handle" gesture. Looking over at Catherine, he added cautiously, "But . . . I think Warrick may be right about Sara not having an exact reason for being mad at him. She's . . ." his voice trailed off as both Catherine and Warrick became fascinated with something over his left shoulder.

Greg coughed. "Er . . . hi, Sara. What can I do for you?"

Sara was furious. They were just standing here, talking about her. Psychoanalyzing her! "First off, you can drop the innocent act. I heard you guys from all the way down the hall. You're not much for consideration, are you?" She shook her head violently. "Never mind. Just leave it alone, ok? Greg, I need the blood results from last night. And no comments from the peanut gallery from now on," she added, glaring around the room. "My life is MY life. Period." Snatching the print-out from Greg's shaking hand, she stalked out of the room, still fuming.

When the anger faded a few minutes later, Sara was left with a deep feeling of hurt. People she thought were her friends, standing around just gossiping about her. Talking about her like she wasn't someone important enough to deserve privacy. God, this was why she didn't have friends; it wasn't worth it - when it came down to it, humanity sucked. She leaned against the wall, head down, trying to calm herself. Why was she getting so worked up about this, anyway? It wasn't any more than she'd learned to expect from people.

She sighed, wishing she could talk to Grissom. But no – there were still hours left to shift, and he'd made it quite clear that she wasn't to talk to him about anything other than work during those hours. Damn, this just was NOT her day. Hopefully they'd get a case soon, so she could get the hell out of this building and away from these people.