Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. I wish they did so we could see some of these fics as actual eps. I'm a poor (really poor) college student. I have some candy, text books, and pocket lint, that's all you get if you sue. This is my first CSI fic any constructive criticisms will be greatly appreciated.
Author's Notes: I am totally ignoring, destroying, and basically annihilating the cannon of Sara's past. Catherine has not been promoted. I am also not a doctor or know anything about drugs so sorry if I totally make something up that couldn't possibly happen.
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Prolog
There was a muffled pop as the stitches that attached Catherine's sleeve to her shirt finally gave way. A few more tugs and the sleeve fell down her arm. Using her other hand she gave the same treatment to her other sleeve. The plastic glass with little ducks on the side was on the floor next to her and only half empty so she didn't need to get up off the new looking, and hopefully clean, mattress. Catherine squeezed the excess water from both pieces blue cloth, thankful that she had chosen to wear a long sleeved shirt...this morning? Or was it yesterday morning? She didn't know and at that second didn't really care. Her concern was focused on the woman whose head was on her lap.
"Oh honey why did you..." Catherine's voice trailed off. A faint stinging sensation pricked at her eyes signaling the tears she had been trying to keep at bay since the beginning. "Later." She whipped her cheek against her shoulder. "Take care of Sara now."
The blonde took a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly, calming her understandably rattled nerves. Carefully, she used one of the folded wet sleeves to clean the large scrape that took up half of Sara's left cheek. Catherine winced at every twitch the unconscious woman made, but soon the scrape was bright red and clean of dirt. A gentle tug towards her and Sara's face was now turned to Catherine's stomach. She tenderly cleaned the shallow gash on her right cheek and the dried blood that had reached down to her throat. The bruise was changing colour to a dark purple before her eyes. The skin beneath her fingers felt warm so she placed a cool hand on Sara's forehead.
"Dammit!" Catherine cursed even though she expected Sara's temperature to rise. She placed the other wet folded sleeve on the brunette's forehead.
A big sigh and Catherine looked around the basement. The mattress they were on sat right on the floor, the tight woven and surprisingly warm blanket folded on Catherine's other side. The linoleum floor was black, the walls were a dirty brown (darker in some places making Catherine cringe), a ground level shoe box sized window had long ago been covered over with a translucent brown paper that had been scraped off in the shape of an hour glass in one corner letting a stream of unfiltered light in, and the wall next to them had an old porcelain sink that dripped constantly. The room was large, the queen sized mattress taking up just a third of the length of the wall.
Sara began to shake. Strong arms tightened around the brunette and Catherine rocked her while murmuring nonsense comfort words.
"It's all right honey...I'm right here...Everything will be all right..."
