DISCLAIMER:Don't own it... No money made... Just for fun and enjoyment.

SUMMARY: Sequel to Displacement. The CSI team and their recently hired coroner Stephanie are back to work solving cases, sharing companionship and generally making their way through the dire world of criminal investigation with humor and friendship... This one will show the development of the relationship between Grissom and Sara and there should be some other surprises down the road as well. Romance/Drama/Angst/Mature Situations

RATING: M for Mature - I'm starting this one out at "M", since we won't be waiting quite so long for the smut this time out ;) Also, there is a sprinkling of language throughout the story.

A/N: I had so much fun writing different versions of this chapter... And know that in the other versions, I got downright nasty. However, I settled on a middle ground for the final one. Otherwise, it would have resembled a WWF Smackdown Main Event LOL

REVIEWS: I am always looking for ways to improve my writing, and your reviews let me know if I am hitting my mark. Thank you in advance for the time you take to read & review this story.


Chapter 53

Catherine was still nursing her cup of coffee as she walked through the halls of the Desert Palms hospital. It had been a hellish shift the night before, and she was unable to stop in to see Stephanie when her shift finally came to an end. When she woke up that afternoon she had taken Lindsey to her volleyball practice and then headed straight for the hospital. She was dying to find out about Stephanie's latest plot and the surprise arrival of Grissom's mother in Las Vegas, so she was somewhat distracted as she made her way through the hospital.

Her distraction became problematic as she rounded the corner on her way to the respiratory unit, and came face to face with a dangerous thing; Tina Brown. As they collided, Catherine was taking a drink from her cup, which sent the coffee all down the front of her. She was forced to jump back as she tried to shake the hot liquid off of her hands and blouse. Catherine was about to apologize for the collision, when she was struck with the harsh words coming from the woman before her. "No Way! There is no damn way you're gonna come trampin' through my hospital, like you own the place."

At first, Catherine was shocked by the woman's outburst, but she was able to recover once she understood who it was that was shouting at her, "Look, I'm not intereste-…"

"Shut up, bitch… You don't talk to me." The rage that Catherine saw in the woman's eyes startled her, but not enough for her to lose her own defenses.

"Watch it… Just walk away and go about your business, lady." Catherine warned the woman, as calmly as she could, without coming unglued herself.

"You walk away! I am not gonna be told nothin' by no skank ass hoe." The woman took a step towards Catherine, bringing the confrontation to an even more dangerous place.

Catherine, however, was not about to back down from anything. "Have you lost your mind?" The woman's face turned two more shades of pissed off with Catherine's question, but there was still no sign of fear in the brassy criminalist. "Back the fuck off and go back to work, lady. You do not want to tangle with me."

When the security guards arrived on the scene, the two women were nose to nose, and it was obvious neither was going to back down from the fight. The two men took up their positions and the senior guard took the initiative to speak, "Ladies, what seems to be the problem here?"

"Other than one of your nurses getting up in my business?" Catherine fired the first shot, but never took her eyes off of the fuming woman in front of her.

The guard was about to step between the women, when his face changed from blank to one of recognition. "Catherine Willows?"

Catherine was shook from her anger by the voice speaking to her, and she looked away, meeting the guard's gaze. "Yeah… Do I know you?"

The man shrugged and said, "Sort of… Bentley, Jack Bentley from Traffic…" Catherine relaxed a little, once she realized just who the man was, and she gave him a weak smile to show it. "I'm the one that picked up your daughter when she was hitchhiking."

"Figures…" Tina was not about to disengage from her attack, and she confronted the guards. "You guys gonna stand there and chit chat, or are you gonna toss this bitch from the hospital?"

The man was shocked at the use of language, and he turned to face the woman who had used it. "I'm sorry… Why would I be doing that?" Tina stood there in shock at the man's response, and he took the opportunity to continue. "Sam, you wanna escort Ms. Brown back to the ER, and I'll get housekeeping up here for the mess."

The other guard took the woman by the back of the arm and attempted to pull her away from the scene of the altercation. "You have got to be kiddin' me? I work here, damnit!"

Both men shook their heads at the woman's assertion, but it was Bentley that spoke again, "And so does Dr. O'Halloran." The man's tone had become very dark, "But those pictures you took are likely to change some of that. So, you should count yourself lucky all we're gonna do is make you go back to your own department." Tina could tell she was not getting anywhere, and as she turned to walk down the hall in the opposite direction, she pulled her arm from the grasp of the other guard in a huff.

Catherine breathed a deep sigh of relief and then thanked the guard, "Thanks… I really wasn't in the mood." The man smiled, and she felt compelled to ask him why he seemed so quick to side against Tina. And what pictures? But she thought it best start out with some small talk, "So, you're not in Traffic anymore?"

"What? Oh, no, I'm still there… This is my moonlight. I gotta kid in college." Bentley reached over to the nurse's station beside him and grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser to hand to Catherine.

She took them from him with a smile, and started trying to sop up some of the spilled coffee. "I understand that one… So, what's the deal with her?"

He laughed with a strange darkness to his voice, as though he was struggling to deal with something difficult, "Yeah, well, she's in the middle of this nasty divorce and her old man's friends with one of our docs. Anyway, the doc's wife was in ICU and she took a bunch of pictures of her old man with some woman while they were all waiting to find out if the doc's wife was gonna pull through." The man shook his head in disgust, "Can you believe that? These folks are waiting around, not knowin' if she was gonna live, and that broad has the gall to sneak up and snap pictures…" He looked Catherine in the eye and asked her, "How can anyone be that cold?"

She was so caught up in the things the man had just told her, it took Catherine a moment to realize the man was asking her something. "What?... Oh, yeah, well, in my work, sadly, I've seen worse."

"That's right, you're with ID… So, you here on a case?"

"Huh?" Catherine was still distracted by the information she had just been given. "Ah, no… Visiting a friend."

The man perked up a bit and asked, "Ah, well, I'd be happy to escort you… Who're you here for?" He reached over to the directory on the nurse's station to look up the patient name for Catherine.

"Ah, O'Halloran, Stephanie." She smiled, knowing the man was just trying to extend her a professional courtesy, and it was always a good thing to make nice with the patrolmen, whenever possible.

He closed up the book and chuckled. "Well, then you're about twenty minutes late." Catherine scrunched up her nose and he smiled as he answered, "I just escorted them out to the car about twenty minutes ago… She was released to home care this afternoon."

Catherine's jaw dropped dramatically at his answer. "You have got to be kidding me? How'd that happen?"

The man laughed and said, "Yeah, well, apparently it's really true about doctors bein' bad patients. Dr. O's gonna be mendin' fences for a while after the little tiff his wife had with the nursing staff this morning."

For the first time since she entered the hospital, Catherine laughed out loud and smiled broadly. "Oh yeah, I can see that happening."

"Well, since you gotta walk through the ER to get out of here… Why don't I take you to your car?" The man was glad to help, and Catherine nodded as they both started back for the elevators.

She had been grateful for Jack Bentley's concern as he walked her all the way to her car. They talked about their kids, and they chatted a bit about the job, but the whole time she was thinking about what he had told her about Warrick's wife. When her phone rang as they reached her car, she was grateful for the interruption that would let the man finally leave her alone in the parking lot. She stepped into her car as she answered the call.

"Willows."

"Mom, we're getting out of practice early… Can you come get me?"

Catherine was shook from her thoughts at the sound of her daughter's voice. "Ah, Linds… What happened?"

"Nothing big… Coach got stuck between a serve and the wall, so he cancelled the rest of practice."

"Oh God! Is he okay?" Catherine's face contorted with the thought of the pain that had to have caused.

"Yeah, he's fine… Just seeing stars, is all… Hey Mom?"

"Yeah, I can come get you, it'll just tak-…"

"Can you take me to see Steph when you pick me up? I mean, they took her out of ICU right?"

Catherine shook her head, as she tried to keep up with her daughter, "Actually, it looks like they just released her, so she's at home now."

"That's too cool! So, can we take 'em some dinner or something?"

A smile spread over her face as she realized just how special her daughter truly was in that moment. "Honey, that sounds like a fantastic idea… You pick the place and I'll be there in a jiffy, okay?" She smiled again as Lindsey said goodbye, and then closed her phone.

For a week which had started off with such unbelievable tragedy, Catherine was delighted that she could see the light at the end of the tunnel before the week was even over. All she had left to do was to figure out what the light really meant for her.