Disclaimer: CSI belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.

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Chapter 2

They walked into Desert Palms and went to the counter and asked where they could find Brass.

The receptionist referred them to the second floor where the ICU was situated.

Catherine followed Sara, still uneasy about seeing Brass like this. She'd been in enough hospital rooms to know what to expect. But she as she walked through the door Sara held open for her she was still surprised.

Seeing the strong, invincible Captain lying half asleep on the bed was almost more then she could take.

She tried her hardest not to let the tears fall, but she couldn't, so instead she focused on Sara, the tall brunette she felt she could always rely on to stay strong.

Sara had noticed Catherine's hesitation to enter, and now saw how she tried to fight against the tears from falling, and placed her hand on the strawberry blonde's lower back.

She pulled her close and put her arms along the slender waist of the smaller woman. Her hands unconsciously started to trace circles across Catherine's back, and before she realized it, she placed a kiss on top of the blonde's head.

When they heard the door behind them open, they quickly let go of each other –both a bit embarrassed and avoiding one another's eyes. Turning around they looked up to face the person that had entered the room.

It was their boss, who held up two evidence bags before saying "I've already retrieved the bullets" He walked over to his colleagues and handed over the evidence.

"Thanks" Sara started as she reached and grabbed hold of the bags. Turning back to watch the wounded Captain on the bed she continued "You'll let us know as soon as his situation changes, right?"

Grissom gave her a nod in response.

"Alright. Catherine, let's go."

Not immediately receiving a response from the older woman –who had placed her hand over Brass'– she took a step towards her.

Placing a hand on Catherine's shoulder she asked again "Are you coming?"

By giving the strawberry blonde a reassuring squeeze she got her attention, and without further words they walked out of the room, leaving Grissom at the detective's bed.

Outside, the two women got into their Tahoe and headed off for the CSI HQ again.

While Sara stopped the car at a traffic light, she looked over at Catherine –who hadn't said a word since they left the hospital. Seeing a single tear finding its way across the strawberry blonde's face, she couldn't help herself and reached over, wiping away the tear.

Looking straight into two pools of blue she started inching closer. Softly their lips connected and it seemed for a moment time stood still…until Sara's mind caught up with what she had just done.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have…" Sara stammered, but was stopped by a finger gently placed against her lips.

"Sara," Catherine said softly, "You shouldn't talk so much."

She leaned back over to Sara, but just before their lips met for a second time, an impatient driver behind them honked their horn, startling them. Apparently, the light had turned green while they were absorbed with each other.

"But you should drive." She said, sitting back in her seat, grinning, and watching Sara as she drove, looking slightly confused.

Catherine was confused too. After all, the object of her desires had just kissed her. But what if Sara didn't really feel that way? What if she just was seeking comfort from someone, and Catherine was the closest one there.

Catherine shook her head to get rid of 'what ifs', but, try as she might, she couldn't shake that little seed of doubt.

The rest of their trip over to the HQ was done in silence –which was almost deafening. They could almost hear their brains working overtime on what had just happened between them.

As Sara pulled the Tahoe onto the parking lot, both of them realized that there was another job at hand first. Their thoughts about everything that wasn't case-related had to be put on hold.

Catherine was already leaving the car when Sara grabbed her shoulder. "Maybe we could talk after shift?" the brunette said, knowing they had to talk things through at one point. "I'll buy you breakfast" She quickly added, trying to lighten the mood.

Looking at Catherine, she saw a small smile creep onto her face. "Sure" was the answer she got before the strawberry blonde exited the Tahoe.

After grabbing the evidence bags with the bullets, and quickly locking the car, Sara and Catherine walked towards the HQ entrance.

Walking through the halls their investigative minds soon took over again and the women started discussing their next steps.

"Let's bring these to Bobby" Catherine said, as she pointed to the bags in Sara's hands. "Then we'll go to the break room. The guys'll probably be here already." Getting a nod in response they headed of towards the ballistics lab.

"Bobby" Catherine said as she and Sara finally found the ballistics tech.

"Catherine, Sara. Any news on Brass' situation?" He answered, looking up from a microscope.

"He's had surgery, and is on the ICU now, the next few hours are critical. He needs to pull through the next couple of hours, then he'll be in the clear." Sara said as she walked over to him. "And these," She said as she pointed to the evidence bags containing the bullets "are your priority"

Taking the bags from the brunette he said "I'm on it." Receiving a short nod from both of the women before they walked off, he added "I'll send you the results A.S.A.P."

As they reached the break room, Sara stopped before entering, and let out a big sigh. Within less than an hour they had been to the hospital, collected the bullets, and were now back at the break room –where their other colleagues were waiting impatiently for both of them.

"Ok, let's update the guys" Sara said to Catherine.

"You can do this" was the reply she got.

A confused look came onto the brunette's face as she turned to face Catherine.

"You're the one who took the lead on the scene when the shooting just happened, so you're going to be the lead on this case" the strawberry blonde explained as she tentatively reached for Sara's hand.

"Which means I'm going to be the one doing the talking" Sara said, a little scepticism noticeable in her voice.

Feeling the older woman's soft fingers gently squeezing hers, Sara pulled herself together, and took the last step to the door of the break room.

"Well then, let's get this show on the road" she said as she pushed the door open, and let Catherine enter first.

Catherine went and sat in the one of the two chairs that were left vacant in the room. Sara followed behind, somewhat reluctantly, and sat in the other. She surveyed the faces of her co-workers.

Warrick looked like he had just come from dinner, and she felt sorry for dragging him away from Tina. She already complained that they didn't spend enough time together.

Nick looked tired, which was understandable, but he looked alert, ready for what was coming, even if he didn't know exactly what that was.

And then there was Catherine. She looked...well basically, she looked like crap. Which was understandable, considering the fact that she had just seen Brass, and had been crying recently.

But her eyes held an emotion that was foreign to the brunette, and she almost couldn't place it. She was worried that it was wishful thinking on her part, but remembering what had passed between them just a few minutes ago in the car, she started to realize that it was anything but.

She was brought out of her reverie as she remembered everybody was waiting for her to tell them all the facts about Brass.

"Ok guys, listen up. Catherine and I just got back from the hospital. Brass has had surgery, one of the bullets had hit his spleen. The other just missed the aorta, but did perforate her lung."

Looking around at her colleagues, she noticed they all had sad looks on their faces, but one face showed her something else. Receiving a supporting nod of the strawberry blonde, she continued.

"They were able to retrieve one bullet, intact. It's being processed by Bobby as we speak."

"So, what next? What do you want us to do?" Nick asked, trying to contain his emotions as thoughts of his own case were starting to fill his mind.

"Well," Sara thought for a moment. "I want you two to work on another case that..."

"NO WAY!" the Texan interrupted almost screaming, slamming his fist on the table, and standing up quickly –knocking over his chair.

All eyes were pointed at him now, shock written on his colleagues' faces. Catherine –who sat next to Nick- placed her hand on his arm.

"Calm down Nick. Sit and let Sara finish."

Sending the older woman a look of gratitude, Sara spoke up again. "The case might be related to the shooting. Last week Brass has been working on a gang related drive-by-shooting, and arrested one of the gang-members."

Hearing that he was still working on a case that was probably related to Brass' shooting, Nick calmed down.

After handing Nick a brown file, she turned her focus to Warrick. "Grissom saw part of the number plate, PFM, guess that's a good starting point."

"On it, we'll check with DMV." The tall dark man said.

"Catherine and I will go through the other evidence we found at the scene. It's not much, but you'll never know." Sara stated.

"If anything changes in Brass' situation I'll inform you, alright?"

Receiving nods from all her colleagues, Sara let out a breath she apparently had been holding.

"Ok, well, let's go." The brunette said as she stood up.

"I'm sorry about what just happened Sara. It's just…" Nick said.

"It's ok Nick, I understand." Sara started, "Now, let's get the bastard who did this."

Just as they walked out of the break room Sara's cell phone started to ring.

"Sidle"

"Sara? It's Grissom."

To Be Continued

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