Taking hold

part 2

Right now, as she stood from her Denali and headed towards the lab entrance all she wanted was to at least see the woman who had plagued her thoughts for the past hours. She knew she couldn't take her in her arms like she wanted to but she'd at least be able to see her smile, to hear her voice and to maybe catch a lingering stare from the brunette. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing Sara looking at her. There was little hesitation when she entered the lab, she was half hour early and knew that Sara was in this place somewhere as the Tahoe was parked outside.

"Hey Cath…your in early" Warrick smiled as he walked into the break room, it was a short smile though that was done mostly so as not to be anti social. Catherine could see he had something else on his mind. He walked over to the coffee machine.

"Yeah, thought I'd maybe try to be the first in for once" She explained with a smile

He nodded his head and turned to face the blond, "Well sorry to put you down but – you lost. Sara and I have been in for a good few hours"

Catherine was still amazed that the two of them had managed to keep the relationship on a low. No one in the lab knew. "Is everything okay?" She asked.

"We got a murdered mother of a sixteen year old - who we think saw everything but is yet to be brought from the shock of just what's happened to tell us anything. The father is AWL and Sara…well she's not Sara." Warrick explained.

Catherine wanted to question Warrick instantly, with urgency – knowing he was very worried about the younger CSI. It took a lot to get Sara messed up on the job – but she couldn't be too forceful. "What do you mean?" She asked, trying not to look as worried as she was.

"I don't know" Warrick pushed it away not really comfortable with talking about Sara behind her back like this. Little did he know that Catherine knew Sara almost as Sara knew herself, "She's just…spaced on me a lot tonight…and she, she's acting funny…"

"Where is she now?" Catherine asked.

"Not sure – girl asked me to get the coffee on…she'll should be heading down here"

"What are you waiting on, I mean the case?"

"DNA…we want all the evidence back to us before we go into the daughter" He explained.

Catherine just nodded and then she stood to her feet, she was nervous now and couldn't just sit there so instead she walked over to the coffee pot pouring herself another mug and silently hoping that Warrick hadn't caught onto the way she was acting.

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"Yeah…I appreciate it…thanks… Just… tell him something came up" Catherine instantly looked over to the doorway of the break room when she hared Sara's voice. For the past ten minuets she spoken with Warrick about stuff – about Lindsay, work and he'd tried to explain something about football to her but all the while she was worried about Sara. She knew instantly that she should be worried - Warrick was right – Sara didn't look like her usual self. Her eyes held something that Catherine couldn't put her hand on, her face was flushed in worry and what looked like anger and her thought's were clouded with fear. What the hell was going on with her? She'd been more than fine that morning…everything had been great. She listened to Sara's conversation into the phone. "No, I'll call him later and explain everything. Thanks." With that Sara cut the call and placed it on her belt.

"Hey Girl" Warrick had beat Catherine to the welcoming

"Hey" She mumbled as she got a mug of coffee, she kept her back to them all as if knowing they were looking at her.

"Catherine tried to beat us all here today…I told her she lost cause we've been here for hours" he tried to get the brunette to respond in a usual Sidle way but it was proving difficult.

"Sorry to disappoint Cath" She offered, still not turning around. She looked down into her cup knowing that owed her Girlfriend a lot more than this. Even a smile, a glance…she just couldn't bring herself to look into the eyes of Catherine though.

"You okay Sar?" Catherine didn't care if Warrick found this odd; she needed to at least look into Sara's eyes.

"Yup" Sara mumbled, "Just…great" before she had to look or respond to them he mobile rang again. Without hesitation she lifted it and answered "Sidle… you got my tox report. Yeah sure…" She waited and listened as did both Warrick and Catherine. "…I'll be over to pick it up." She closed her phone then looked to the table for the first time – something in her eyes told them that something was about to happen.

"Sar?" Warrick asked, "What you got?"

"Tox report - no alcohol or drugs in the system of the vic" She let the guy process it and then she nodded – "time to go to interview room" She was adamant. She was so focused on the Case that Sara hadn't even acknowledged Catherine this time.

Catherine didn't like the look in Sara's eye; she didn't like it at all. That wasn't the Sara that she'd been with earlier – what the hell had happened in the last few hours to do this to her? Sara didn't even wait for an answer from Warrick she walked away. Warrick put his coffee down, offered Catherine a 'look' that said so much and took off after her.

Catherine couldn't just stand here, she couldn't just worry she needed to know what was happening so she decided she'd slip into the room of the interrogation room.

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Brass, Warrick and Sara were all in the interrogation room. The two guys sat on the table in front of the girl as Sara stood in the doorway. Observing just what was going on. "We need to ask you a few questions…do you understand?" the girl didn't respond, she sat looking at the table in front of her.

Sara knew what she should do but she jut couldn't find the courage. "Miss…can you state your name for the record" Brass continued. The girl again didn't respond –

Sara just watched, at least a minuet passed without any movement or words, Warrick pushed his chair back and stood up – and this instantly caused the girl to stand up – she pushed the chair back and backed up. This was it for Sara, to see the fear in the young girl's eyes – it was too much.

"Stop" it had been the first thing Sara had said since they'd walked in there. Walking forward slowly she put her hand on Warrick's shoulder. He'd only stood up to move over to Sara – all of them knew that except the young girl in front of them. She was scared, and Sara knew what of "Go" She said.

Warrick looked to his co worker and friend. She looked dead into his eyes, "I know what I'm doing. Just leave us alone for a while"

Warrick saw something in her eyes, a determination like no other. He was pretty worried about her right now. But he saw she needed this so agreed. "Brass, lets give them some time" Sara offered a silent thank you and waited for them to leave.

When the door had shut she turned back to look at the girl who was now stood in the interrogation room her hands curled into fists as she shook a little. Sara took it all in before she offered a smile – "Sorry about that…got you a little scared huh?"

The young girl didn't respond. She was looking into Sara's eyes as if she was seeing something. "They are fine really." She explained talking about Warrick and Brass- "But hell… sometimes they scare me." She smiled a little, trying to lighten the situation. "It's fine…they'll get over me throwing them out."

Sara let the girl just have her space and time, all the time letting the girl know what was going to happen. I'm just going to take of my badge and stuff…I'm going over there okay" Sara walked slowly over to where the huge mirror took up the wall. She unzipped her CSI field vest she'd been wearing and taken off her belt that held her gun and phone and put it on the side and then walked back over to the table "I'm going to…take a seat. Okay? If you want…take your's if your more comfortable with standing …its fine by me" again no reaction.

Sara took hold of the chair and spun it so the back was facing the table, it was more for the young girl as it created a barrier between the two and Sara was going to be sure to not cross it. Straddling the chair she took a seat and placed her hand on top of the back rest leaning into it – she looked at the girl and observed her for the first time knowing that this was going to be the hardest thing that she had ever had to do in her career…

The young girl was so scared that it ripped Sara apart.

"I'm sure you really don't want to be here…" Softly Sara began, the girl hadn't moved, was just looking into Sara's eyes. Sara wasn't great with kids, not at all but she knew the way Brass was questioning her…it wouldn't help. As Sara stopped and waited she noticed the girl look the window.

"It's just you and me in here…I have no idea who's on the other side of there but…it doesn't matter. I'm going to say some stuff that I don't want anyone to hear so I'll pretend they are not there if you will to." She waits, wanting, and needing the girl to look her way again so her tone grows more serious "You're safe in here with me…" The girl contemplated what Sara said, and seemed to accept it when she looked back to Sara. "Like I said, I know that you have been through a lot today but I really need to ask you some questions. Is that okay with you?" There was silence, so Sara continued, "What's your name …the file says Danielle is it okay if I call you that?"

The first response that Sara got was the girl's small voice – "Danni"

Sara just nodded her head, happy to have gotten the girl to speak "okay, Danni…you can call me Sara"

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"What's she playing at?" Brass asked when they exited the room.

"She knows what she's doing" Warrick explained, "I hope"

They both walked quickly to the room next door and when they pulled it open they Saw Catherine stood there watching it play out. Warrick didn't take long to be stood next to her and Brass followed. Each watching carefully at how this played out. Warrick lifted his phone and dialed a number. "Gris…its Rick…yeah…you need to get to interrogation three. I think you need to be here."

----tbc...thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think. i hope to have more for you soon ;D