A/N: Thank you, yet again, for all of your comments and reviews! They made me very happy! Dark-girl-faith-sidle, a "shish-kabob" actually exists. You make it on a skewer, and it is alternating pieces of meat and fruit… chicken, pork, pineapple, apples, melons, etc. I've never had one, but I've heard that they are good! And I'm glad that you liked the chapter! Anneruhland, I'm sorry that the chapter made you cry! We'll all see how the ending turns out, together (I just go where the story takes me)! RunsWithScissors007, Final Fantasy is one of my all-time favorite games. Thanks for reading! Sanderswife, thanks for your comment. I really want a shish-ka-bob now… hmm… The Lovely Desdemona, glad you liked the chapter! Cherrydrops12, Greggo takes song requests… have anything in mind? Hey, odeepblue, don't you worry, Sara will get happier…I think… I was actually going for "shy," at first, but it just didn't quite turn out that way! Thanks, Lennexa! I am trying really hard to stay in character (wow… I almost wrote OOC there. Oops!).
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS. The song is Lean on Me, by Bill Withers.
Title: Catherine's Story: Lean on Me
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Around the campfire
"It's just not fair!" Greg again grumbled, as he rescued his smoldering shish-kabob from the flames. "I have the best of luck, don't I…?" he asked his colleagues, studying the skewer in front of him.
"Sorry, Greggo!" Nick grinned, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, sure you are…" he muttered, as he plucked a charcoal-black piece of meat off of the skewer, and plopped it into his mouth. "Hmm… surprisingly not so bad, though!" he smiled, cautiously chewing the burned meat.
Warrick raised an eyebrow, watching Greg eat the food. "That, uh… looks very tasty, Greg…" he trailed off.
"Vegetarian… thank goodness, I'm a vegetarian…" Sara whispered to Grissom, trying her best not to gag.
Catherine just chuckled. "Do you want us to make you another one, Greg…?" she kindly asked the younger CSI.
"Nah, this one is just fine!" Greg laughed, as he popped a piece of fruit into his mouth.
Grissom bit his lip, glancing at the rest of the shish-kabobs. "Well, folks, the rest of ours aren't quite done yet, so… shall we continue…?"
Nick rubbed the back of his neck, staring into the fire, while Warrick gazed into the trees, lost in thought.
If I can't see him, he can't see me… Catherine thought to herself, before bursting out into a fit of laughter.
Grissom raised an eyebrow, looking over at Catherine. "Do you… have something to share with the rest of the class…?" he teased her, flashing her a slight smile.
Grissom's choice of words only made Catherine laugh harder.
"What? What is it?" Greg asked, glancing up from his shish-kabob in order to grin at Catherine.
"Do you all remember being in school, when the teacher asked you a particularly difficult question that you didn't want to answer?"
No…no, not really… Sara mused. I actually liked the attention…
"Well…" Catherine trailed off. "I remember thinking that if I didn't make eye contact with the teacher, then he or she couldn't see me… and if he or she couldn't see me, then I couldn't be called on to answer…"
Nick chuckled. "Actually, yeah… I do remember thinking like that," he smiled.
"Yup!" Warrick simply replied.
Grissom chuckled, nodding at her. "So… now that I can see you, do you care to share with us…?" he gently prodded her.
Catherine's smile slowly faded away, to reveal an uncharacteristically nervous expression on her face. "I…guess so…" she sighed. "Okay. So…what do I like the most about myself…? I love my ability to triage…"
Warrick furrowed his eyebrows, once again studying the ground. Triage…? That… doesn't sound so good…
"I watch ER just like the next guy…" Nick trailed off. "But… I don't really know what you mean…"
"Like… triage parts of your life…?" Greg asked.
Catherine simply nodded. "I'm good at self-management…" she quietly said, glancing around the fire at her friends. "And… I guess… to some extent, I pride myself on having the ability to prioritize…"
"I'm not sure that I like the word 'triage,' though," Sara spoke up, frowning. "That implies… crisis in your life…" she added, as she rested her head on Grissom's shoulder.
"I know…" Catherine replied, biting her lip.
Warrick cleared his throat, glancing up at Catherine. "Are you… are you saying that you have crises going on…? Right now, as we speak…?"
Catherine sighed, gazing into the fire. "No, not in the ER sense of the word 'crisis,' but… there's a lot going on in my life… Lindsey… work… Lindsey…"
"Is…Lindsey okay, Catherine…? Are…you okay…?" Grissom asked, his arm still wrapped around Sara's shoulders.
"Yes… and no…" Catherine mumbled.
"I don't…understand…" Greg frowned. "What does that mean…?"
"It means, Greg…" Catherine snapped at him. "That yes, she is okay… and that no, she isn't." Sighing, Catherine then added, "I'm… I'm sorry, Greg. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that…Lindsey is really giving me a run for my money, and… I'm completely exhausted…"
"Oh…?" Warrick asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's she doing, Cath…?" he hesitantly asked. He knew that his question was highly personal in nature, but… Catherine was his friend, and he was concerned about her.
"For the past couple of years," Catherine frowned, "she has been… difficult, to say the very least. You all know that. But over the past six months," she continued, "she has gotten… very out of control… she's… hanging around with the wrong group of kids, she's…doing things that she really shouldn't be doing, and she's just… getting into a lot of trouble…"
"Define…'trouble,'" Grissom asked, looking across the fire at her.
"She's smoking, she's out all hours of the night… she's skipping school…" Catherine quietly replied. "But… I'm managing to balance her, with work… this whole conversation was what I liked about myself, right…? Well, I like my ability to focus on Lindsey when I need to, and on work, when I need to do that, as well…"
Nick cleared his throat, as he stared at the fire. You might be surviving, and you might be 'triaging,' Cath… he thought to himself. But… it sounds as if you are having a heck of a hard time staying afloat…
Warrick rubbed the back of his neck, glancing over at Catherine. "It's… good that you can prioritize, Catherine…" he cautiously told her. "But… we have to do something to help both you and Lindsey do okay…"
"…What…?" Catherine asked, staring at Warrick. "We're both doing just fine…" she stubbornly told him.
"Take it from someone who is not doing just fine, Catherine…" Sara whispered. "You need some help… from your friends…"
Catherine frowned, once again staring at the orange and red flames emanating from the fire. "I don't… I don't know what you can all do to help me, though…" she finally mumbled.
"Well, for starters," Nick spoke up, raising his gaze to meet hers. "We can be there to listen to you. I would imagine that you feel a little bit stressed out right now, and… we're your friends… we care… you can depend on us…"
'Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow,' Greg thought to himself, singing the lyrics of Lean on Me in his head. 'But if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow.' "Yeah… lean on us, Catherine…" he finally said aloud. "That's what friends are for…" he added, flashing her a small smile.
"And as for Lindsey…" Grissom cleared his throat. "We can work with her… she still… respects me a little bit, I believe…" he trailed off. "Or at the very least, she still calls me 'Uncle Gil,' whenever I see her. Can I talk to her…? When we get home…?" he asked.
Catherine swallowed, slowly shaking her head yes.
"I can't promise that I will change anything, especially because it sounds as if this has been going on for quite some time, but… I can talk to her."
"We all can, Cath…" Nick told her. "We've known Lindsey ever since she was a little girl. Maybe we can take her out or something… do something fun… try to get her away from the bad influences…"
"You can… try," Catherine mumbled, once again biting her lip. "But… it won't be easy for any of you, I can promise you that… she's not the same little girl that you all once knew…"
"We know that it won't be easy," Greg assured her. "But…like Warrick said before, we don't quit on our friends... and like it or not, Catherine, you're a friend…"
"You bet you are…" Nick confirmed.
"We'll do what we can, Cath… promise…" Warrick assured her.
"But at the very least, Catherine," Grissom spoke up. "We need to look out for you, as well… make sure you talk to us…keep us informed… let us help…"
"I will…" Catherine finally smiled at her friends, making eye contact with each individual criminalist. "And thank you, guys…really…"
"You're welcome…" Sara smiled, glancing at the fire. And then laughing, she added, "Uh… Nick…?"
"What, Sara…?" Nick frowned.
"Your shish-kabob is on fire…"
"What…?" Nick asked, jumping up.
"It's been on fire for the past five minutes…" Greg grinned.
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TO BE CONTINUED
