Sara arrived home to suitcases strewn over the living room floor and clothes laid out on the couch and chair. Part of her packing was done but she also needed to do some cleaning. She didn't want to come back to a messed up apartment. She would be making a big enough mess when she returned.
Two hours later, Sara was still cleaning when someone knocked on her door. Oh, please tell me it's not him. I can't hold off telling him if it is. She reached the door and looked out the peephole to see the strawberry blonde she now considered her friend. She opened the door. "Hey, Catherine." Sara could see by the look on Catherine's face that she wasn't happy about being there. "Is something wrong?"
"I could ask the same of you. Can I come in?" Catherine's tone of voice let Sara know that the look on Catherine's face was for real. Sara opened the door wide so that Catherine could enter. Catherine walked in to the living room and saw the suitcases that Sara had packed and that now sat against the couch on the floor. "So you want to explain what is going on? You have Grissom so riled up he couldn't work the crime scene tonight. He's worried and confused. Why are you doing this again?"
"Catherine, this isn't like before, I just need to deal with some stuff and need to take the time off." Sara realized what Catherine's last comment was. "Is… Is he that bad? He really couldn't work the crime scene?" Grissom never let anything bother him that much especially at a crime scene.
"Yeah, he is. He almost touched evidence without any gloves. I made him go back to the lab and do paperwork." Catherine had raised her voice slightly. "What the hell is going on between you two?"
"Nothing is going on." Sara sighed. She knew Catherine was protective of Grissom and she wasn't about to let her think that she was going to hurt him.
"Well, Sara, maybe that's the problem." Catherine spurted out as she dumped her purse on the coffee table.
"What's that supposed to mean?" That last comment startled her. Sara wasn't sure where Catherine came up with it.
"Exactly what it sounds like. If you two would just admit your feelings for each other maybe then you could actually talk and quit doing this… this… little flirting dance you both seem to do." Catherine folded her arms against her chest and started tapping a foot like a mother scolding a child.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Sara didn't want to think where Catherine was headed with her comment.
"Don't I?" They both stood there and stared each other down. "Sara, at least talk to me. That way maybe I can tell Grissom it's not a big deal and he can still function at work. With you leaving, we can't afford not to have him at his normal level."
Sara was biting on her lower lip again and she turned and walked into the kitchen. Catherine followed. "I'm not leaving permanently. I just know I am going to need more time off than a couple of weeks."
"Why? Are you going out of town? If you aren't looking for another job, why can't you take the time off here?"
Sara sighed with frustration. She turned around and looked at Catherine. She gave in. "I'm going to bring my daughter to live with me."
Catherine shook her head as if trying to clear out her ears. "Excuse me! Your what?"
"My daughter."
"You have a daughter?" Catherine never pictured Sara as a maternal type. "How old is she?"
"She's only three years old." Sara started to cry. "She's been without me for the last year and a half and I am afraid she won't know me anymore. I visit her when I can, when I have a couple days off together but you know as well as I do that it doesn't happen often enough. I need her here with me." Catherine closed the space between them and pulled her into a hug.
They walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "Is she with her father?"
"No, her father doesn't know about her. He… He doesn't want children so I didn't tell him."
Catherine thought that Grissom knew a lot about Sara but wondered if he knew about her having a daughter. "Does Grissom know about her?"
Sara shook her head and looked down at her hands in her lap. "I couldn't tell him." She whispered it and then looked up at Catherine to see if she understood.
Catherine understood immediately. "Grissom is the father?" Sara nodded while her right hand swiped the tears off of her face. "Sara, why do you think he doesn't want children?"
"He said so. I called him when I found out I was pregnant. You and Lindsay were at his place. I could hear the tantrum Lindsay was throwing in the background. Grissom was a little upset and he made the comment that he was glad he decided to never have any children. That's when I decided not to tell him."
"Oh, Sara, he loves Lindsay, it was just a bad day. People say stuff like that until they actually have a child of their own." Catherine leaned over and pushed some hair off of Sara's face that had fallen forward and was sticking to her tears. "You have to tell him and tell him exactly that."
Sara sniffled and reached over for a tissue. When she finished wiping her eyes and blowing her nose she asked Catherine. "What do I do now? How do I tell him that I have kept this from him for so long? I don't think I can tell him face to face and see his anger at me for holding this from him. And there isn't time; I'm leaving in a few hours."
"I don't know… wait, why don't you write it, in a letter. I'll give it to him and that way you can still leave on time." Catherine was going to make sure this worked out right if it was the last thing she did.
"Would you?"
"Of course. I have to get back but I'll come by in a couple of hours and pick it up. When were you planning on leaving?" Catherine reached over to the coffee table for her purse and then stood up.
"Six." Sara stood up also.
"Okay, I'll come by right before. You just get some rest before you go though, okay, promise?" Catherine and Sara walked to the door.
"Yeah, I will." Catherine turned and gave Sara one last hug and then left.
Sara dug around for some paper and a pen and slowly began her letter to Grissom to explain why she was leaving and at the same time, she hoped he would understand why she hadn't told him.