A/N: This chapter is dedicated in memory of Tyesa Bowens. Love and miss you always!
Chapter Fourteen: Rolling Along
Sara was glad she wasn't standing in front of Catherine when she voiced her question. Otherwise she'd be wearing the contents of the water bottle. She watched Catherine from the corner of her eye as the blonde pulled the wet fabric of her camisole away from her flesh.
Tthe water that had come shooting from Catherine's mouth, reminding Sara of the Bellagio fountains, was an answer in its own right. But Sara wanted confirmation from the proverbial horses mouth…well, verbal confirmation. Keeping one eye on the road and one on her passenger, she waited for Catherine's response.
Catherine was quiet for quite some time. She dabbed absently at the front of her top with the napkins Sara had gotten from the cashier and momentarily contemplated lying. She just didn't see the point, though. Everybody would know soon enough anyway.
Still, she hadn't planned on having another "I'm pregnant" talk with anyone so soon after dealing with Hurricane Lindsey, least of all Sara
She heaved a defeated sigh and turned warily to Sara, pressing a forefinger to her temple. "What tipped you off?"
"Well, I am a trained investigator."
Catherine raised an eyebrow, pushing some stray hairs behind her ear. "And that means what, exactly?"
Sara had known that explanation was far too simple and far too vague to appease Catherine. She paused, gauging just how much she should say about how she'd come to suspect the pregnancy. Maybe taking an investigative angle would make it hard for Catherine to deny the truth.
"Okay," Sara said, the word coming out slowly. "Since you have so little faith in my abilities, let's look at the evidence. You threw up right in front of me, and I don't buy the seafood excuse. Between you and me, Greg had, uh, sampled some of that salad earlier and he was fine. You gagged—twice—at our scene tonight, which is something I've never seen you do, even with the worst of decomps. You haven't had a drop of coffee the entire shift, even though it's obvious you really want some. Plus," she paused again, glancing at Catherine's stomach, covered by the clingy silk of her damp cami, "you're getting a bump."
Catherine glanced down at her midsection, noting not for the first time that she indeed had the very beginnings of a baby bulge. She just hadn't expected anyone else to notice. The change was minimal and she doubted she would have noticed if she hadn't been looking for it.
She looked back at Sara, her expression skeptical. "And all of that means I'm pregnant?"
Sara glanced at her and flashed a grin. "No. That means I had a hunch, and you just confirmed it."
Catherine gave her a look but couldn't say anything because what Sara had said was true. Instead, she changed the subject. "Well, your master deductive skills aside, something specific must've clued you in. I mean, none of those things would've made the word 'pregnant' jump to mind. So, what was it?"
This time it was Sara's turn to grow quiet. She too considered lying, opting instead for a half truth. Or maybe a quarter truth.
She knew Catherine was waiting for an answer. Sara finally glanced at the other woman and was met with an expectant look. "Well, I was, uh…driving home after I dropped you off at home that day and this ad for First Response came over the radio and I thought to myself 'Wouldn't it be funny if she was pregnant?"
Catherine gave one of her patented nod-and-smile combinations and said, "Hilarious."
Sara smirked, absently noting that the story she told didn't qualify as any true percentage of truth, but she couldn't change tracks now. "Anyway, I, of course, laughed it off. But, the thought kept coming back to me and I started thinking there might be something to it. So, using my 'master deductive skills', I kept an eye open."
"And you came to the conclusion that I was?"
"More or less. But, like I said, it was just a hunch."
"And if you were wrong?"
"I'd just blame it on Hodges," she said matter-of-factly.
Catherine nodded. "Ah, yes, the old 'Hodges did it' defense. Usually works, 'cause it's usually true."
Sara grinned. "Well, he does start more rumors than he can possibly keep track of. He's worse than a teenage girl."
Catherine chuckled. "Right. But do you think we can keep this away from the lab rat grapevine for a while? I'd rather it not be a topic of discussion just yet," she said, imagining just what would happen if Warrick found out that way. She had a scary Jerry Springer-esque "That ain't my baby" moment before Sara's voice put an end to that unpleasant mental picture.
"Oh, yeah," she nodded. "My lips are sealed."
"Thanks," Catherine said, relaxing only slightly. The fact remained that if Sara knew, the rest of the lab would be sure to follow. Not because Sara would break her vow of silence, but because the Las Vegas Crime Lab was home to the nosiest busybodies in the world and no secret remained secret very long.
She had to tell Warrick, before someone else did.
x
Warrick awoke the following morning in a slight fog, the bright sunlight beaming directly in his eyes pulling him from a dreamless and less than fitful sleep, and adding to the disorientation he already felt.
He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head in an attempt to escape the sun's powerful rays and found himself inhaling a familiar scent. A faint mixture of lilies and antibiotics flooded his senses, and as his consciousness returned to him bit by bit he also noticed that his face rested not on the smooth, warm surface of a pillow but on coarse, thick locks of hair, and that his arm was tucked snugly around a soft, womanly form.
The disorientation cleared away and he remembered where he was and why sunlight had managed to come through his light-reducing blinds. Those weren't his blinds and he wasn't in his home. It was the home of Wanda and Luther Johnson, Tina's parents.
He cracked open an eye, taking in the back of Tina's head, and waited.
When nothing happened he sighed. He didn't know exactly what he'd been expecting but he knew it wasn't this. He and his wife had reconciled and he felt nothing. There was no joy, no contentment, no feeling that this was right. He sighed again, shifting slightly so that he lay on his back and opened both eyes to stare at the light blue ceiling of the guest room.
He told himself that those things would come later, trying hard to ignore the niggling thought in the back of his mind that those feelings weren't supposed to come later. And, though he tried not to, he remembered there had been a time when those feelings hadn't come 'later'. It had been a morning just like this one. The sun had shone merrily on that day as well, and he'd awoken just like this, inhaling a familiar scent, arm wrapped securely around a warm body next to his. There had been only one exception though….
That warm body was Catherine's.
He pushed the thought from his mind as soon as it formed. Or at least he tried too, but it refused to be displaced. He sighed again, the weight of guilt steadily taking root and he adjusted his position, bringing both arms to rest behind his head.
His movement must've disturbed Tina because she too shifted, turning on her left side, bringing her front into Warrick's view. He watched her face, peaceful in slumber, the guilt becoming more pronounced. She was his wife, the soon to be the mother of his child, and he was thinking about someone else.
He reached out a tentative hand and rested his palm on the protrusion of her belly, smiling slightly as she let out a little sigh. He was going to be a daddy and they were going to be a family. With newfound conviction he firmly pushed all thoughts of Catherine and their time together from his mind. This was his life. His future. He was doing the right thing, feelings of contentment or not.
Wasn't he?
x
When Catherine dragged herself into the house well after noon, she didn't think she'd ever been so tired in her life. If she'd been capable of rational thought, she would have remembered all those nights of double shifts and triple homicides, but she'd hit that plateau of sleepiness that was beyond reasonableness. She couldn't even find a reprieve in the fact that she'd racked up a decent amount of overtime.
She tossed her purse on the couch and headed for the kitchen because, as tired as she was, she was just a tad hungrier. She pulled open the fridge and was debating between a tin of moo shoo pork or sausage and mushroom pizza when a voice came from behind her.
"Hey, Mom."
She jumped, barely missing the inside of the fridge with her head and spun around, pressing a hand to her chest. "Jeez, Linds. You scared me half to death."
Lindsey's expression was sheepish. "Sorry. I thought you heard me come in."
Catherine brushed her hair away from her face with her hand and eyed Lindsey, her exhaustion momentarily on hold. "I was looking for something to eat. Wait, what're you doing home? It's only," she glanced at the microwave's clock, "12:53. You didn't skip school today, did you?" Lindsey was supposed to catch the bus whenever Catherine didn't get home in time to drop her at school.
Lindsey shook her head. "No. No school today. Some sorta teacher institute thing. I was gonna tell you yesterday, but…." she shrugged, the room going quiet for a moment as they both remembered the excitement of the previous afternoon.
"Oh," Catherine said, preferring not to rehash what had happened, especially considering how docile Lindsey was at the moment. She reached in the still open refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, pushing the door closed. "So, what did you do all morning?" she asked, lifting the bottle to her lips.
Lindsey hopped onto one of the four stools that surrounded the kitchen island and shrugged. "Nothing much. Watched TV, did a report. Played around on the Net a little."
Catherine nodded, silently thankful that Archie had installed superb security programs on the computer that kept Lindsey from getting to anything Catherine would rather her not see. "What kind of report?"
Lindsey shrugged again. "Some biology thing. Asexual reproducing organisms."
Catherine raised an eyebrow, remembering what her eighth grade science reports had consisted of. Something along the lines of Mother Earth and Me. "Really? Did you finish?"
Lindsey nodded. "Uh-huh…Hey Mom?"
"Hmm?" she asked, taking another sip from her bottle.
"Um, about yesterday," she began, dropping her gaze and fidgeting with a paper napkin that had been left on the countertop, "I'm, uh, sorry about how I acted. I shouldn't have done that and I just wanted to let you know."
Catherine smiled and took a seat on the stool next to her. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. Thought I'd lost you for sure that time," she said, only half joking.
Lindsey smiled too, although she didn't meet her mother's eye and continued to fiddle with the napkin.
"Hey…." Catherine said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Lindsey looked up at her mother expectantly. "I promise that no matter what, I'll always have time for you. Truth be told, it may not always be when you want it, or expect it, but I will have time for you. I know I haven't done the best job of it recently but I'm going to try and do better. It won't always be easy, and with the baby coming, things are going to get a little…" she paused, searching for the right word, "…hectic, but if you ever feel that I'm ignoring you, just let me know, okay? I'll do my best to fix it."
Lindsey nodded. "Okay."
Catherine continued. "Now, I want you to know, that I might not be able to drop whatever I'm doing right then but that doesn't mean that I didn't hear you. And as soon as I can, you have my word that I'll do what I can to make it right." She grinned, "Just don't expect the world to revolve around you, okay? Last thing I need is two babies in the house. Besides, Grissom and the rest of the guys spoil you enough."
"I won't, Mom," Lindsey giggled, resting her head on her mom's shoulder. "Hey, does Uncle Gil know?"
Catherine tilted her head so that she could see her daughter's face. "Yes. And so does Sara, but that's it, so don't tell anybody, okay? Mum's the word."
"Not even Greg?" Lindsey asked in a faux nonchalant tone, her attention once again on the half-shredded napkin.
Catherine raised an eyebrow and forced the amusement from her voice. Seems her daughter had a crush on the youngest CSI. "Especially not Greg. It'll be all over the lab in five minutes. All over Vegas in fifteen."
Lindsey giggled again. "Okay. I won't say anything." She jerked her head up and looked up at Catherine, her expression befuddled. "Wait, you mean Warrick doesn't know?"
The question caught Catherine off guard and this time it was surprise, not amusement, she forced from her voice. "No. Not yet. Why?"
Lindsey shrugged. "No reason, I guess. It just seems a little weird. You guys are like this," she said, crossing her fore and middle fingers to demonstrate their closeness.
Catherine stared at the crossed fingers and wondered just what Lindsey would think when she found out how close they had really been. She hadn't even considered the fact that she'd have to tell Lindsey that little tidbit too. She cleared her throat, thinking of all the times she pressed being honest and forthright with Lindsey. This could very well be a moment of truth, as it were.
Besides, this could be a practice run.
She licked her lips and pushed thoughts of a repeat of yesterday from her mind, "Hey, Lindsey? Sweetie? There's something else I need tell you."
A/N2: Sorry guys no teaser for ya, I'm on the run. Many thanks to Greggo Maniac, Sunset and Chickie Baby for the wonderful beta job. They've made this chappie what it is. Hope you all liked it and if you feel that urge to review, give in and click that purple button. As always your reviews are much appreciated!