Budding
Chapter Eight
Warrick wrapped his arms around Catherine's waist as they watched Keith R. Sutton being escorted from the court house to the police car from a distance. There were cameras and media men swarmed around the front of the courthouse.
He kissed her neck.
"Ready?" He asked.
She watched a little longer and then she nodded.
The ride back to their suite was long and quiet. They just held each other's hands, still unable to believe what they had done over the last two weeks. It was incredible to them and surprisingly enough, they didn't feel guilty about what they did.
When they entered the suite, Warrick pulled her gently to him and kissed her.
"I can't believe how far we've come over the last two months together," Catherine whispered.
"I know," he said. "Are you scared?"
"A little," she admitted.
"Me too," he said. "But this is for real. I really do love you, you know that right?"
"Yes," she said with a smile. "I know that now more than ever."
They kissed each other again more passionately.
"Make love to me," she whispered.
Warrick grinned against her lips and laid her gently down on the bed.
That night, the only sounds that were heard were that of rustling sheets and the soft blow of the wind through the window.
***
Grissom sat in his bed staring at his phone. He was trying to decide whether or not to call Sara. He knew that he hurt her beyond repair, but he figured he should at least say that he was sorry about what he said to her just a few days ago.
He made a motion to pick up the phone, but decided against it and pulled his hand away. There was nothing that he could say to put Sara's broken heart back together.
In truth, they were both disillusioned about love; they both thought love to be a powerful thing…something easy to admit. They were both wrong. Love for them was complicated and powerful at the same time, swirling together into one big mass that floated helplessly around them, making them ache all the more because the mass made itself known.
The thing that was perhaps the most damaging was the fact that he made her cry. He'd never made her cry before, at least he didn't think he ever made her cry before, and he'd only seen her cry twice. Seeing her cry made him realize that she wasn't resilient to feelings. She was just as vulnerable to emotion as he was. After seeing her cry like that, he no longer viewed Sara as a strong, vivacious woman; he viewed her as a vulnerable, fragile young girl who suffered from the inability to deal with a problem of infatuation that she thought she brought on herself.
Grissom wondered how he was able to hide the fact that he loved her for so many years. He knew that he hadn't given her so much as the time of day.
Sara Sidle was the love of his life, the woman he had been waiting for, and he was letting her slip through his fingers like sand through a sieve.
***
"Have you ever experienced any social anxiety before?" Dr. Tyler questioned Sara.
"Um, once," she admitted. "When I was a teenager, I had a panic attack."
Dr. Tyler furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
"Okay," he started. "Sara, give me a reason why I should prescribe anti-depressants for you."
"Why? You're the doctor," she said.
"Well, I just need an explanation from you," he said.
Sara rolled her eyes.
"You should prescribe anti-depressants for me because I'm losing it," she said bluntly. "Lately, I just haven't been able to deal with my life. I've gotten myself in and out of bad habits to help me cope. Just recently I gave up my nasty little habit of having a beer or two after lukewarm Chinese takeout leftovers," she explained. "I am almost at the end of my very short, very thin rope. I'm at wit's end right now. I can't deal with work, I'm jealous of other people's ability to feel, I'm in love with a man that wouldn't know love it bit him in the armpit, and I forgot my birthday," she paused to wipe her tears. "I forgot my own birthday. I'm thirty four, unmarried, childless, and virtually unlovable in every sense of the word. I can't sleep because I have nightmares about the people I couldn't help. I'm so unhappy," she cried. "I was just fine before I came here to Vegas and now that I've been living here for the past four years, my life is unbearable."
Dr. Tyler looked at her. "Your prescription should be ready in twenty minutes."
Zoloft and sleeping pills.
Sara opened the Zoloft and popped a pill for the day.