Ties That Bind

Disclaimer: Refer To Chapter 1…

Sara successfully hid in Trace for most of the night. Most of the night, that is, until Catherine walked in about thirty minutes before shift was over.

"You got a minute?" Catherine asked.

"I'm busy, Catherine. Maybe later." Sara's reply was terse and unabashedly distant.

Catherine shut the door with a tiny thud. "Well, make the time."

Sara rolled her eyes and focused back on the microscope, making her best effort at ignoring Catherine's interruption. This was the last thing she expected or needed. Her hope had been that no one would mention what had happened earlier.

"Catherine," Sara said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "I really need to process these samples. I don't have time to sit here and chat it up with you."

"Look, I know we're not the best of friends. At times, our relationship has been strained to even remain professional. You're a great CSI – one of the best I've ever worked with. You were right this morning when you said that there was hostility and also about us being a good team."

"I do believe I know what I said. Get to the point so I can go back to work."

Catherine was undeterred, staring Sara down. "Why did Grissom call you here?"

"I'm here of my own accord. I'm trying to discern what this particular element—"

"You know very well I'm not discussing the case," she spouted.

The tone in Catherine's voice caused Sara to spin around in her chair, finally pulling her absent gaze from the microscope.

"He called me here to help him."

"Why you?"

"How the hell should I know?" Sara screeched.

"Sara, why were you the first one that Grissom called when he had a problem?"

"That's something you should ask Grissom."

"I'm asking you." Catherine's voice, for the first time, sounded sincere.

"We knew each other. He asked me to come out as an independent party to investigate what went wrong internally before I.A. got involved and crucified one of his team."

"Do you know that was the first official decision he made in his position? When we're all sitting around fearing for our livelihood, he calls in an outsider to save us. Do you know what it felt like to be put in a position that he felt that insecure about us as a team? It wasn't your fault that it was you, we'd have reacted that way to anyone. Point is that we were scared. And we were hurt because he didn't trust us."

"He couldn't trust you. It was internal. It needed someone who was not involved at all in the situation. We deal with situations like this in our job. It's called a conflict of interest," Sara replied dryly.

"So, I ask again: why you?"

"And I will tell you again: ask Grissom." Sara shook her head as her glance darted away, scanning the other rooms in the lab.

Catherine ignored Sara's comment. "Do you know how long it took us to trust you? Not really you, but what you represented. How were we to know if you were just a mole? It was hard for us to understand when, after you finished up your report about Warrick, that Grissom asked you to stay."

"I didn't ask to stay, Catherine. I had a job in San Francisco when I was called here. I never have asked for special treatment, and I never will." Sara pulled her gaze pointedly back to Catherine, growing impatient with this conversation.

"Why did you stay?"

"Catherine, I'm not liking where this conversation is going. I don't have to explain myself to you."

"How does it feel to be hand-picked by the infamous Gil Grissom to work on his team?"

"What kind of question is that?" Sara scrunched up her face in disgust.

"He got stuck with the rest of us because we applied for a position. He got you because he wanted to. You may never have asked for special treatment, but you certainly received it. I don't know how you met, and it's up to either of you to tell the story if you'd wish, but the fact remains that the two of you share some history."

"Just because we knew each other for a while doesn't mean he feels differently about any of us that work for him."

"That's right, he's helped us all."

"Yes, he has. Does this mean we're done, Cath?" Sara turned back to the microscope, hoping that Catherine would take a hint and leave.

Again, Catherine ignored Sara. "Do you know how it feels to not be trusted?" When Sara's response was merely to turn back with a blank look on her face, Catherine continued, "I was Grissom's right hand for so long, and when you got here, I felt threatened."

"You have remained in that very position throughout all these years. So, what's the problem? I never tried to take that away."

"You never had to try. It just always threatened me. Sometimes it still does. I see the way he's looked at you – I see the way he still does."

"I can't and won't take away the position that you have here at the lab," Sara defended.

"If you were offered it, you can't tell me you wouldn't take it."

"I think anyone would, not just me."

"And, that's why I feel threatened by you. You're driven, determined, hard, and goal-oriented. You'd take that shot if it was afforded to you." For the first time since they had been talking, Catherine felt nervous. She dropped her gaze to the floor. "I'm also afraid of losing my friend to you… Sara, I see the way he looks at you, as well as you at him, and sometimes it hits me that I won't be able to be there for him… It's selfish, wrong, and irrational. Doesn't mean I wouldn't wish you both the best, but it means that after all the years we've shared, I would be alone. I guess I got used to he and I being alone together."

Sara busted out laughing, attempting to cover the flush on her face. "Catherine, if you haven't noticed, he and I can barely be in a room together. Whether or not he or I ever wanted something, it's not going to happen. However, I must say that sometimes I've felt threatened by you as well. Your friendship with him that I could never have. Doesn't mean I didn't like you, but it did sometimes strain how I felt about you. You get to know his personal side, and I could barely get to know the professional one."

Catherine chuckled and looked back up at Sara. "Personal side? Grissom has always been a private man. I don't know as much as you think I do."

"Look, Cath, I'm not going to take your job, and I'm not going to take your friend. I actually enjoy working with you, contrary to what people may believe about me." Sara added with a smirk, "And, I'd hate to be the only woman on the team. All that testosterone and just me to take the brunt of it? Hah!"

"Are we good?" Catherine asked with an uncertain look on her face.

"We will be. And, thank you for your candor. I'm sorry about blowing up at the beginning of shift."

"Nothing I wouldn't've done. But, and, this is a big but… You tell anyone what I said, and I'll deny it with a vengeance." Catherine grinned as she walked over to the door. "See you at shift tonight."

"Later, Cath," Sara called out to her.

Sara picked up all of the evidence she had been working on. Glancing at her watch, she noted that her shift was officially over. The evidence was getting nowhere, and she wanted a nap. Packing everything up and heading to the vault, Sara felt the most peaceful she had felt in months.

Fate would be playing a hand as Sara reached the room. Warrick was standing in there logging in his evidence from the B&E he had worked that evening. His greeting was only a glance in her direction. Sara was not put off by it.

"Warrick, I… would like to apologize for what I said at the beginning of shift. I'm not very good at this stuff. I was just… um, a little peeved about the implications of…"

"Hey, girl, we don't have to do this. I didn't exactly give you time to explain yourself before I jumped to conclusions. I guess it's a character flaw in both of us sometimes. We've all got a job to do, and it wouldn't be fair to hold that against someone."

Sara chuckled and looked down at the floor. "Yeah…"

"Don't go and get all melancholy on me. That's what wives are for." Warrick grinned at her.

"Are we good?" Sara echoed Catherine's words of just a few minutes before.

"Definitely. Wouldn't want it any other way. We've been through hell and back many times. I kinda like the company."

Sara looked awkwardly at Warrick for a minute. A smirk appeared on her face. Raising her head confidently, she replied, "Hell and back is about right. Can't wait to get on that ride again."

"Good. 'Cause we're taking another trip in about fourteen hours. Speaking of which, I've got to get home and get some sleep. I'll catch ya later." Warrick touched Sara's shoulder on the way past and slipped out the door.

Sara found herself smiling. Packing the evidence away, she drowned herself in thoughts of how her life had changed in the prior weeks. Everything was settling into place. In the months prior, life had been strained, and, oh, how it had all turned around.