A/N: Thankies to everyone for the reviews! You guys made my day :D
How long they had been in the middle of nowhere with the scorching Nevada sun beating down on their backs, Catherine Willows did not know. The only thing she knew for sure at the moment was that she had to get Sara and herself out of the desert as soon as possible.
Catherine stopped, holding Sara's arms around her neck to make sure the limp brunette stayed on her back, and moved her hand to the waistband of her jeans and unclipped her cell phone. Squinting against the glare from the sunlight on the screen, she checked to see if they now had a cell phone signal.
"Shit," Catherine muttered as she saw that the screen still clearly read 'No Signal'. She was getting hot and tired, and Sara was still unconscious. On top of all of that, Catherine had absolutely no idea what sort of shape her colleague was in at the moment. Catherine felt bad for not bringing it up earlier- if she had, then maybe they wouldn't be in this mess.
Catherine grunted, shifting the position of Sara's legs and began moving again. Catherine's feet were on fire and she mentally slapped herself in the face for deciding on wearing heels that day.
"Why did I not make a stop in the locker room before we went and changed shoes?" she thought to herself, sighing and lowering her head as she continued to walk with Sara on her back. Catherine knew they had only travelled about two miles from the crime scene, and she could tell it was getting later by the soft purple the sky was taking on.
Catherine turned around every now and then, wishing that a car would pass by so that she could get their attention and explain their situation, but alas no car did pass. Catherine looked back at Sara whose head was still resting on Catherine's shoulder, strands of hair still in front of her face and eyes closed.
"Sara? Sara, you awake?" Catherine asked, nudging the brunette gently as she continued to walk. She noticed Sara's eye twitch a little bit. "Sara? Sara...S-A-R-A...Sara, Sara, Sara!" she said in a sing-song voice. "Come-ooooon! Wakey-wakey!"
Sara groaned slightly and cracked one eye open. "Cath?" she said in a tired voice. "Where are we? What happened?"
Catherine smiled- at least she was coming to. "We were working that four-nineteen in the desert. Our car got stolen and you got sick and passed out. Right now we're just trying to get home."
"What about the scene?" Sara asked.
"Don't worry about it right now. We have no more water and we've gotta get out of here."
"Cath..."
"What?"
"Put me down, please."
"Why?"
"Because I said so and I know how to walk.."
"You're sick."
"So?"
"I'm not putting you down yet."
"Cath..." Sara said in a whiny voice.
Catherine sighed and came to a stop. She slowly lowered Sara onto the ground. Sara planted her feet as firmly on the ground as she could, but swayed back and forth a little bit. Catherine quickly grabbed her right upper forearm and Sara shot her an annoyed look. "I'm fine," Sara assured her, taking her arm out of Catherine's grasp. She began walking off with Catherine just watching her, until she stopped and slowly began falling backwards.
"Sara!" Catherine yelled, running over to her and catching her before she landed on the ground.
"God...what's wrong with me?" Sara asked, squinting at the harsh sunlight and moving a hand to her head.
"I don't know...how do you feel right now?"
"Like crap."
"Details Sara, details."
Sara moaned a little, sighing. "Well...my...head is pounding...and...my stomach feels like..." Sara didn't finish because she propelled herself forward, getting sick on the ground yet again. Catherine put a hand on her back and rubbed it slowly in small circles.
"I think it's the heat," Catherine stated. "I need to get you somewhere cooler..." She looked around- there were still no buildings in sight and it was the desert, so of course there were no trees to shelter themselves under. "Okay..." Catherine thought for a moment and then decided on what to do. She slipped her CSI vest off, and wrapped it around Sara's head. That would at least shade her face for a while and maybe cool her down some.
"I'm sorry my face is so repulsive you have to cover it up..." muttered Sara from underneath the vest as Catherine hoisted her onto her back once again.
Catherine smiled- at least she still had her sarcasm. That was a good sign. "Yes, I know, Sara. You should feel horrible."
From underneath the vest, Sara smiled a bit, even though she knew Catherine could not see her face. She sighed, closing her eyes as Catherine began to speak.
"In the car...um...you got mad..." Catherine began as she walked with Sara on her back. "Um...why...why did you get so mad...at...the mention of your mother?"
Sara sighed deeply, resting her head on Catherine's shoulder. "I really don't want to talk about it."
"...You can tell me anything, Sara."
"I know..."
"Then why won't you?"
"Because it's in the past. Let's just focus on the future, okay?"
"But it still seems to bug you..."
"Just drop it.."
Catherine was determined to make her talk now. Knowing Sara, she just swept every single bad experience she had in life under the rug until it came back to haunt her. With a vengeance.
"No, Sara. Not this time."
"Why?" Sara mumbled.
"Because it still bugs you. You're stubborn so I know that you probably never had any time to deal with this."
Sara sighed again. "I don't exactly like to go around telling everyone my life story..."
"It's just me and you, kid."
"I know...but...I'm not exactly proud of my childhood."
"I'm not here to judge you."
"What are you, a shrink?"
"No, a mother."
"Well, you won't understand anyways."
"Why do you think that?"
"My mother wasn't like you."
"I don't know of many mothers that were like me," Catherine said with a grin.
Sara smiled a little, an eye being able to see through an opening in the vest, before sighing once again. "It's a long story.."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Okay..."
"Okay, so shoot."
"Um...well...my mom and dad were ex-hippies. They had gotten along well for the most part, but then Sara Marie Sidle came into the picture, and...we'll just say sparks flew."
Catherine nodded for her to continue.
"As I got older, things got worse. Mom and Dad argued a lot. More than they did when I was little. Dad was drunk a lot and eventually got fired from his job. The first time he got fired, he came home in a drunken rage. I remember lying on the living room floor with crayons and paper drawing. I heard the door fly open and saw my Dad storm in. My Mom ran over to them and they started arguing, but he..." She hesitated. "He...hit her. Mom fell to the ground and I got up running over to him trying to make him stop."
Catherine watched as Sara slowly rose her shirt sleeve up to reveal a long faded scar. "Don't go against a drunk guy when you're only 6 and armed with crayons while he's got a beer bottle in his hand."
Catherine winced as she saw the faded scar on Sara's upper arm. "It needed twelve stitches," Sara said from underneath the vest.
"Did...did the hospital...suspect anything?" Catherine asked.
Sara grinned a little. "My Dad...he...always had an excuse for everything."
Catherine frowned. Now she could see why Sara didn't want to talk about it. "My mother...she...wasn't the best mother in the world," Sara explained. "She...never hit me...but...she kind of blamed everything on me. Whenever my Dad came home in another drunken rage, she blamed me. When the B & B went under because they scared customers, she blamed me."
"I'm sorry, Sara..."
"Mom killed him one night...she got a butcher knife and stabbed him eleven times in the chest..." Sara paused for a moment. "Right in front of me."
Catherine froze. She stopped moving along the dirt road and turned around slowly to look at Sara. Did...she just say that? Sara's own mother killed her father? "I...had no idea..."
"I went into foster care. But it worked for Mom. She didn't have to deal with her children anymore and she didn't have to live in fear of her husband."
"I'm sorry, Sara.."
"It's okay."
Catherine knew that was a lie. It was certainly NOT okay. She knew it and deep down inside, she could tell Sara knew it too.
"Just...try and get some rest," Catherine told her.
Sara just nodded and closed her eyes, welcoming the sleep that quickly overtook her. Catherine sighed as she watched her fall asleep and continued walking along the dirt road wondering how in the hell the brunette had managed to keep it all inside this long.
