Title: Jet Lag 4
Author: neo-chef
Pairing: Catherine/Sara
Rating: PG for now, will progress later
Spoilers: anything is fair game
Archive: let me know and it can go anywhere
Disclaimer: If they were mine, I wouldn't have the time or the energy to write about them…
A.N. Sorry everyone for the long delay in posting this, its been hectic with work recently. I will try and post more regularly.
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Part 4
Cath's eyes were in the process of leaking out through her head as she stared, unblinking, at the page in front of her. She wasn't even sure what she was looking at anymore. Glancing at the clock, only three hours had passed since her last meeting with Sara in the break room. Rolling her head, feeling the muscles bunched at the base of her skull, she figured coffee was in order.
Stretching her arms over her head as she left her office, she felt the kinks pop out of her back. Walking through the aquarium like structure of the Crime Lab she saw Sara standing in Greg's lab, laughing, with a big smile on her face. 'It looks good on her,' thought Catherine as she rounded the corner of the lab to see if she could take advantage of Sara's good mood.
Greeted with Greg's wildly gesticulating arms and the end of Sara's sentence. "…She wouldn't think that and I'm not sure."
"Who wouldn't think what, guys?" Cath immediately noticed the change in Sara's posture at the sound of her voice. Shoulders slumped forward and her head fell.
"Sara here was telling me what she thinks…" The smile faded from his face as his sentence came to a halt at what was a firey glare coming from the brunette.
"Its personal business Cath," retorted Sara as she turned and strode out of the room.
Questioning eyes turned to Greg. "What is going on with Sara? She can barely stand to be in the room with me recently," questioned Catherine of the spikey haired CSI.
"I'm not sure I can tell you Cath. Sara confided in me and I'm not going to betray her trust." The youngest member of the CSI team was more mature than he let on sometimes. "She is worried about how to deal with something, that's all I will tell you. If you want more then you will have to go to Sara yourself."
"Ok, fair enough. I might just do that," said Catherine as she wondered how to talk to Sara without her younger colleague clamming up. As she turned and headed for the break room for her much needed coffee, she head Greg pipe up.
"Please be kind to her." A quick look back at Greg's almost expressionless face, a rare sight, and she walked round the corner, almost collecting Nick as he headed to see Greg.
"Sorry Catherine, almost knocked you over," apologised Nick as he held onto Cath's upper arms, keeping her steady.
Momentarily flustered, Cath found her feet and smoothed her top down. "Not a problem Nicky, my mind was in other places." With a quick pat on the shoulder she walked around the Texan and into the break room to pour herself a coffee and ponder the meaning of Greg's last statement.
'Why wouldn't I be kind to her,' thought Cath. 'Probably because you have barely shown her a kind moment since she came here years ago,' a voice echoed from the back of her head. Sitting down on one of the couches with her coffee, Cath realised she could see right through the lab to where Sara was working, an advantage of glass walls.
To watch the brunette unguarded, in her "natural environment" so-to-speak, was intriguing to Catherine. Sara seemed move fluidly around her lab space, knowing where everything was, working with practiced ease. None of the close guarded emotions were held in, a smile graced her delicate lips when a piece of evidence was found, a frown creased her brow when something didn't fit into one of her current theories.
Cath thought over the last couple of days, the initial meeting in the locker room, the phone call for forgiveness, this morning's run-in in the locker room and the latest part of the saga in Greg's lab. Sara seemed uninhibited and free until in Catherine's presence, where she would shut down and shrink into her shell.
Walking back to her office, determined to accomplish something work related, she resumed finishing off her paper work.
Looking at the clock on her desk, the delicate fingers showed thirty minutes left in the shift. A quiet one all round, only one more case had come in and Warrick had taken it solo. Catherine's paperwork stack now a shadow of it's former self, the strawberry blonde decided now was the time to talk to Sara. Tidying her desk up, she left her office in search of the brunette.
Finding in the same lab as a few hours ago, she leant against the door frame watching Sara work, worried about what might happen if she startled Sara. After a couple of minutes of Sara looking at a piece of evidence alternating in scribbling down notes on a pad to her right, the younger woman stretched her body up in an effort to unkink her back. Watching the lithe body of her colleague stretch out, her shirt riding up to reveal a thin strip of her taught midriff, made Catherine's breath catch. At this small noise Sara turned to see Catherine staring at her stomach.
Unsure as to why Catherine was in her lab, let alone openly staring at her body, confused Sara slightly. "Anything I can help you with Catherine," queried Sara.
'Plenty of things,' thought Cath, her eyes rising to meet Sara's slightly confused, slightly panicked look. "Sorry to startle you Sara," started Catherine, taking a small step into the lab, "I was wondering if you wanted to come to breakfast with me this morning, maybe talk about why you tried to kill that locker yesterday." Cath looked down at the slightly swollen knuckles of Sara's right hand.
Covering her swollen hand, Sara quickly replied, "I'd rather not talk about it." As Catherine moved closer to her in the lab, Sara took a step back, bumping into the layout bench. Trapped, her body language instantly closed off, shoulders slumped forward, body tensed as if expecting some unseen attack. At this realisation, Cath stopped and took a step backwards.
"Sorry Sara, I didn't mean to intrude, I just thought we could have a pleasant friendly breakfast," said Cath, holding her hands as if to surrender.
"Well you are intruding Catherine. I've got to go," answered Sara, a little harsher than she meant. Sweeping past Cath into the hall, she then disappeared into the rest of the Crime Lab. Sighing to herself, Cath walked slowly back to her office and collected her things, shut down her computer and headed home.
All through the drive, she tried to make sense of Sara's reaction to her and her invitation of breakfast. Unable to find a reason to her younger co-worker behaviour, she pulled into her driveway and turned the ignition off. Grabbing her bag she headed into the house looking for nothing more than to collapse on her bed. Making it as far as the couch, she slumped down closing her eyes, trying to cease the endless thoughts bouncing around in her head. Feeling her body starting to drift into the land of sweet slumber, her quiet reverie broken by an almost inaudible knocking at her front door.
Dragging her tired body off the lounge she walked to the door, wondering who would be calling at this hour. Opening the door to revealed a tall, skinny brunette hold two cups of coffee. "Sara, what are you doing here?"
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TO BE CONTINED…
A.N. Thanks to anyone who has hung around this long waiting for the next part. I promise they will come sooner this time. My eternal thanks to my avid readers.
