Disclaimers: Theusual speech... See chp. 1. But I still own Gareth though.
Chp. 5.
Yesterday night I arrived at CSI, a little earlier than I usually did, after I had spent a great day with Sara. I managed to catch Catherine in her office, just as she had been packing up.
"Hey Catherine?" I say after I have knocked. She looks my way and smiles. This week have been a bit of a strainer regarding our friendship, but we're almost back to normal again I can tell by that smile.
"Oh hey." She greets me. Then she looks puzzled. "You're here early, aren't you?"
"I am. But only because I needed to catch you before you left." I say to her. She looks at me in question. "Can you be at my place, say around 9 am tomorrow morning?"
"Sure." She answers me frowning. "Can I ask you why?"
"It's Sara. She wants to share something with all of you guys." I begin. "That will be Greg, Nicky, Warrick, Jim, Al and yourself. The good old team, if you can call it that." I see her gears work in her head, and then something clicks in her eyes.
"It's that thing she shared with you? The thing that I shouldn't pressure her into telling me?" She asks after cleverly discover why I need them there.
"Yes it is." Answer her. "So can you make sure that Nicky and Warrick will both be there?"
"I will." She says. She walks around her desk and stops beside me. "There's something else?" She's one very good CSI, since she notices that "Right?"
"There is." I tell her. "But you'll know more tomorrow about that."
"That's good enough for me for now." Apparently she has learned a thing or two."See you tomorrow and have a good shift."
"I will." I say and she moves down the hallway, in direction of the locker room.
I then proceeded to call Jim, since I didn't know if, or when, we would be on any crime scenes together that shift. Jim told me that he'd be there, at 9 am sharp. Then I had to wait for Greg to come in, and then I asked him to show up too, which he said he would. As said Al when I asked him. So that leaves us all to be collected, in my living room, a little after 9 am. All of Sara's scattered stuff has been stuffed into my bedroom, so no one can detect before time, that she has been there, round the clock, for quite a few days now.
No one really knows what to say, as they sit around, waiting for something to happen. I glance at Sara, who is sitting on my couch and I look right into her eyes. I notice that her beautiful chocolate colored eyes, have a scared shade in them and I can tell that she's terrified at this moment. So I gather that the only option for me is, to walk over and sit down beside her. We agreed on, just before Nicky arrived as the first, that we'd tell them about us, about how and when we met and how long we'd actually known each other. I know that they have always speculated, and wondered about these things, but we have always brushed them all off. So I go to sit beside her. To ease it for her, I put my hand on her shoulder and squeeze it, as to tell her that she can do it and I put all of my love into that squeeze. I can feel her taking a deep breath under my hand, as her shoulder lifts, and I can tell that she ponders where to start.
"Okay." She finally says. "I am going to tell you all something, that I under no circumstances, what so ever, wants other than you to know. So in other words: They are not to leave this room after I have told you about it." Her voice had taken a stern tone to it. "I want you all to promise me that. And I want you to stay quiet until I'm done." After having received everybody's affirmation to that, and seeing the worried faces, she is quiet for a while.
"I know you can do it." I say quietly to her. That does the trick.
"Catherine?" She finally says and looks at the other woman in question.
"Yes Sara." Catherine says back. Sara the find a spot attached her eyes to that and let it stay there.
"You asked me, the day I blew up, why I have such a problem with wife abuse cases." Sara said and the older woman nodded. "And I wouldn't tell you." Another nod. "See, I have a somewhat first hand experience with wife abuse, and what can happened, if things get seriously out of hand."
I could see her become sad again. Without thinking, I reach out and take her hand in mine. I see the raised eyebrows, of the rest, my actions prompts.
"My father was a lot of things. Amongst being a husband, the father of my older brother Gareth and me, he was a lapse Hippie, B&B owner and a general good guy." That was how a daughter would speak about her father. She picks up again; tears instead of the proud one soon replace the 'I'm-always-be-my-daddy's-girl' gleam. "Sometimes my parents fought like any other parents would. The only difference here was, that when my father was angry with my mother, he couldn't just keep it at loud words. No he also used to get his point across by using his fists too." She stops at the gasp from the other in the room, and the tears in her eyes spills over, running down her cheeks, voice nearly cracking when she speaks again. "That went on for many years, but one day in March when I was twelve, my mother had had enough."
I tug at her hand and she let her eyes leave their spot. They find mine, and I use my eyes to send all my love, and my trust in her, through that bond. It seems to reassure her, that I'm here and will always be. I'm here to help her through it. So still holding my eyes, she finds the courage to say the last of what she has to say.
"That night, after my father had once again been hitting her, this time so bad that she almost couldn't stand up, she did something that forever would changed my life. My mother killed my father, by stabbing him to death with a knife." The walls once again breaks down and she starts to cry as I gather her into my arms, rocking her to the loud gasp's that emerges from the six other people in the room. I see the stunned faces, but no one says a word yet.
After a while she lifts her head and look at them again. "That is what I have been hiding from you all, and it's the reason why I never really tell anyone about my past. And mostly why I never really tell anyone about my childhood. But now you know. I wanted you to know about it, because you have become my surrogate family since my mother is in jail, my father dead. Then there is my brother. But he rarely stays the same place for long periods of time, since his job takes him around the country and in some occasions abroad, so I haven't seen him for over five years. I wanted you to know because of that." She is drying her eyes, while she says all of this. "Well one of you represents a lot of other things to me." She says looking at me and I affirm by a nod.
"I think that you all have been wondering when and where Sara and I met each other?" I say as I take over. That should give her time to get on top of things again. They all nod once again. "We, that's Sara and I, have also always been very closed up about that, but now after all of what have been happening, we decided to share this with you." I tell them. "And especially about one valid thing."
NOTE: I'm not entirely sure about how this chapter turned out. And I'm a bit annoyed about the endind, but I couldn't milk it any furter.So please bare over with me if this one is a bit lame.
Yes,yes,yes... More to come.
I appriciate reviews as always.