Disclaimer: Not mine. Sucks to be me.
The Long Road
Chapter 3
Sara surreptitiously studied the woman seated in the chair next to her. She and Catherine were leaned back, enjoying the massaging chairs, as two strangers clipped and scrubbed and beautified their feet. Finally, when she couldn't stand the suspense any longer, Sara said, "Okay, spill it."
"Spill what?" Catherine asked, not meeting Sara's gaze.
"Why am I here? And why is Lindsay babysitting for me for the next six months?" Sara smiled and added, "Not that I don't appreciate it."
Catherine thought for a moment before saying, "When I got home from my date last night, she and Blake were half naked out by the pool." At Sara's quick intake of breath, she continued, "I thought she needed to understand what kind of responsibility taking care of a child could be."
Further conversation was halted when Catherine's cell phone began to ring. Checking the caller id she smiled and answered the call. "Hello."
"Hey. How're you this morning?" Warrick asked.
"I'm good. How're you?" Catherine almost purred the response.
"I'm good too." He paused before saying, "I had a good time last night."
"Me too. Sorry I was such a basket case."
"You weren't a basket case. I was nervous too."
"Even nervous, you were cooler than I was." The smile that had been tugging at her lips spread slowly across her face.
"Whatever. What are you doing today?" he asked casually, igniting butterflies in her stomach.
"Right now, I'm having a pedicure. Then I'll probably get some lunch. After that, I don't have any plans." She caught sight of Sara's amused look and glared.
"Do you want to have dinner again tonight?" Hurriedly, he added, "If you say no, I'll understand. I don't mean to be pushy. I just thought that if you didn't have plans, we could…" His words trailed off and Catherine could almost hear the shrug that filled the silence.
"That sounds good. How about I cook dinner and you can pick up a movie for us to watch?" Before he could protest she said, "I can't leave Lindsay alone two nights in a row. It'll be the three of us if that's okay."
"Okay. What time?"
"See you around six-thirty?"
"See you then." Warrick hung up, leaving a grinning Catherine being watched by a bemused Sara.
Sara kept her eyes on Catherine's face as she asked, "Why didn't you tell Warrick I said hello?" She laughed when Catherine started to splutter a response. "It's okay. I won't tell anybody."
"There's nothing to tell. We had dinner."
"That's it? Dinner?" Sara teased.
"Yes. What else did you think we'd be doing?" Catherine snipped.
Sara held up a hand in defense. "I was kidding. Don't be so touchy."
Shaking her head, Catherine responded, "Sorry. I'm just a little sensitive." She paused before adding, "Lindsay blamed her behavior on my 'loose morals'. It's a touchy subject."
"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." Sara looked uncomfortable in the face of the other woman's blunt honesty. "I surely didn't mean to imply that you have loose morals."
"I know. Sorry." Catherine studied Sara a moment before asking, "When did you know you wanted to marry Gil?"
Sara's eyes widened in surprise. "God, Cath, I don't really know. Our relationship was so screwy that I'm not sure there was a moment."
"Come on. There had to be some point when you knew."
Sara thought for a moment, brow furrowed in concentration,before saying, "If I had to pinpoint a time, it would be right before he got suspended." At Catherine's questioning look, she continued, "I worked a suicide. The woman had fought with her husband and he killed himself. Anyway, I went home and Griss had cooked breakfast and…," Sara blushed a little at the next part, "Are you sure you want to hear this?" At Catherine's nod, she continued, "We took a shower and he bathed me while I told him the story and cried like a baby. Then we made love. It was the sweetest, most intimate time I had ever had with anyone. I decided that day that I never wanted to be without a man who would do that for me."
Catherine's mouth had dropped open in surprise and she had to clear her throat before she could speak. "Are we talking about the same man? Gil Grissom? He actually bathed you and didn't get all freaked out because you were crying?"
"Yep. That's the man I'm talking about." Sara smiled a secret little smile and said, "You guys don't know everything. He's not the Tin Man after all."
"Wow. I'm amazed." Catherine huffed out a laugh and said, "I thought you'd say something like 'when he let me hold his pet spider'."
Sara laughed and shook her head. "Trust me I didn't get two kids out of him by holding his stupid spider."
Catherine let loose with a raucous laugh and Sara joined in, causing people to stare. When they had both recovered enough to talk, Sara asked, "Why did you want to know?"
"No reason." Catherine shrugged.
"Wouldn't be because you have a little romance on your mind?"
Catherine shook her head before quietly saying, "He didn't even try to kiss me. He doesn't want to jinx it." She looked at Sara with eyes that were suspiciously bright and said, "I'm in big trouble, huh?"
Sara just smiled and nodded.
