I'm really sorry for the long delay… My muse took a vacation. I told her to leave a note when she leaves, but she's a bit fickle.
Thank you all so much for your kind words! They never fail to make my day, thank you!
Anyway, here you are and I hope you enjoy!

Love,
Jellicos

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Stage five: Healing

Two hours, seven pairs of pants, and twelve tops later, Sara was sitting in her car outside Catherine's house trying to remember how to walk.

One foot in front of the other until you reach your destination. Right. Here we go.

Nothing happened.

Five minutes later she did get out of her car and walked up to the front door.

Knocking. Right. Raise your right hand and do it.

Another thirty-seven seconds later she knocked on it.

She could hear the loud shout from within: "I got it!" A young female voice rang through the heavy wooden door.

"Hey Lindsey." Sara had to smile at the youngest Willows who opened the door with such enthusiasm it almost looked like it would fall of its hinges.

"Sara! Mom told me what happened!" Lindsey almost shouted as soon as she laid eyes on the brunette.

"Uh-oh." This could not be good.

"So, is it true? You really can't lie?" Lindsey looked sceptically at her, reminding Sara so much of Catherine that it was almost uncanny.

This wasn't good. It was one thing to get interrogated by Catherine, but this could only end in disaster.

"Nope." She replied while peaking in through the door. "Cath?" She called out in hopes of getting her co-worker's attention.

"She's not ready yet." Lindsey informed her as she crossed her arms over her chest, eying Sara sternly. "So, what are your intentions with my mother?" She asked, sounding much too old for her age.

"Wine her, dine her, show her how much she means to me. And hopefully feel her up." As she realized what she'd let slip, Sara bit her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Ewwww!" Lindsey dramatically threw her hands over her ears.

"I'm sorry Linds, but don't ask unless you really want to know. Not today." Sara said carefully.

"Ok, you're right." Straightening up again, Lindsey cocked her head to the side. "Do you like her?"

"Very much." This she could answer.

"Do you love her?" Wow, Sara briefly wondered if interrogation-skills where hereditary. Or maybe Lindsey had just been watching her mother too much.

"I think so." She answered earnestly wondering how much of this she would have to endure today.

"Do I really have to eat vegetables or is it just something mom says?" Wow, the kid was too bright for her own good.

"You do have to eat your vegetables Linds." Catherine's voice came from the end of the hallway. Sara sighed in relief. Saved by the bell.

"Wow…" Or maybe she'd just gone from bad to worse. Catherine looked incredible. The spaghetti strapped light blue dress reached her mid thigh and showed ample cleavage. Sara found herself in an inner conflict as to where to let her eyes rest. "You look…" Sara trailed off as she forced her eyes to stop raking over Catherine's body.

"Yes?" Catherine asked suggestively but Sara took one look at Lindsey and then zipped her mouth shut with her fingers, making the older Willows smile and the younger break into another chorus of 'eeeew!'

Forty minutes and a quick drive later, they where seated at a cosy and very dimly lit outside restaurant eating. Well, Sara was eating. Catherine seemed to busy watching the brunette trying to persuade the stubborn tagliatelle to wrap itself neatly around her fork.

"How's your food?" She asked not even trying to hide the wide smile on her face.

"The pasta is a bit overcooked, there is too much basil in the sauce and the wine is a bit too dry for my taste." Sara replied not being able to keep to her standard phrase of 'it's good'. "But the view is breathtaking." She added as she looked up at her now blushing date.

"I think I like this truth thing." Catherine said quietly.

"No, you like embarrassing me." Sara muttered into her food.

"That's just an added bonus." Came the casual reply as Catherine finally dug into her food with a satisfied moan. "You're so cute when you blush." Sara found her food very interesting. "Like that." Catherine continued with a smirk.

"You're loving this." Sara pouted.

"Yes, I am." Catherine admitted as she popped a cucumber into her mouth.

"It's not fair! Why do these things always happen to me?" She whined as she threw her fork down next to her plate.

"Because you stuck your hand into a package of unidentified bugs in Grissom's office." Catherine pointed out.

"Well, if you're gonna be all rational about it." Sara muttered, earning herself a chuckle form Catherine.

"Why did you anyway?" She asked, still wondering how her bright co-worker managed to get herself into this mess.

"I wasn't thinking. Or well, I was but about other more distracting things." She confessed, taking a large sip of her red wine.

"Oh? What things?" Catherine asked smugly, having an idea or two about what was going on in that mind of hers.

"You. You in a lab coat. You with your glasses on. You screaming my name." Sara confessed to her glass.

"My lab coat? And glasses?" She asked, raising a brow.

"Uh-huh." Sara just nodded.

"I'll have to remember that." Came the husky whisper from the other side of the table. Sara had to bite her lip to keep from moaning.

"'K…" When did her voice get so high-pitched? Oh god, oh god, oh my god!

"You okay?"

"Mhm." Sara nodded, her hair falling in her face as she kept her eyes almost painfully focused on her food.

"What's wrong?" Catherine put her fork down and leaned over to take Sara's hand.

"mavipoblsfoksothenyoclev." Sara muttered.

"What was that?"

"I'm having problems focusing on anything other than your cleavage." She spoke up; forcing her eyes to meet amused blue ones.

"Really?" The sexy half smirk was topped off with a very low voice and a slight adjustment of her upper torso.

"Stop that." Sara's voice was low and her eyes firmly glued to her date.

"Why?" The innocent voice wasn't working with the seductive smirk.

"You're driving me crazy." Sara all but hissed, her eyes turning darker making Catherine's smile fade and her breath to hitch.

"Oh…" Was all that the blonde could utter and a small smile appeared on Sara's face at knowing she could actually affect Catherine too.

"So, how is your food then?" She asked, her smile widening at the fact that it took Catherine a while to answer.

"Uh… Huh?" Catherine shook her head. "Oh, it's fine." She replied sheepishly.

"Would you like something more to drink?" A slick haired waiter asked Catherine with a cheesy smile, not paying the slightest attention to the other woman at the table.

"We're fine thank you." Catherine replied politely before turning back to Sara who was eying the man with annoyance.

"I'll say." He said with a wink. That's it! Sara had enough. She knew everyone in here was looking at Catherine. She didn't like it, but there was nothing she could do about it. People would always look at her, and Sara couldn't blame them. But no one treated her with such disrespect.

"Stop embarrassing yourself." She sneered at the man who finally seemed to acknowledge her presence. "Look at her," She gestured to Catherine. "She can have anyone she wants in this place. You really think she'd ever pick you? Come on!"

The waiter looked like Sara had just reached into his greasy hair and plucked out his manhood. Without a word he walked off, leaving a surprised looking Catherine watching her date.

"I can have anyone I want?" She asked.

"Of course you can. Who could resist you?" Sara said looking at her like she'd just lost her mind. "And you damned well know it." She added.

"Well, not really no." Catherine said, letting her eyes wander over the place. "I know when someone is checking me out…" She started counting under her breath as she turned in her seat to get the view of the entire restaurant. "But there are… three, four, five men and two women who have been looking at you since the moment we walked in that door." She concluded, turning to face a very sceptically looking Sara.

"Excuse me?" Was all she could think of to say. There where about twenty-five people in the restaurant, and Sara had a very hard time believing that seven of them where checking her out. Especially when she was sitting there with Catherine.

"You don't even know it do you?" Catherine asked making Sara furrow her brow.

"Know what?" She really wasn't following this anymore.

"That you are beautiful. That people all around you are watching you, turning their heads to get a better look." Sara blushed at her words and started poking in her food. She was crazy.

"You're crazy. They do not." She muttered.

"I do." Catherine stated simply and took another sip of her wine as Sara looked up at her.

"And I join half the lab in watching you." Sara replied.

"Really? Do tell." Catherine smirked and Sara felt her cheeks grow warmer.

"I just… do." Good job Sidle! Way to work the vagueness!

"When?" Uh-oh. Busted.

"Uhm…" She tried to stall, but Catherine was doing a good job at piercing her with her gaze. "When we work?"

"Nice try. Details Sidle."

"Well, when you bend over the microscope. When you are too engrossed in a crime scene to notice me watching, when you sit in your office doing paper work, every chance I get." That could possibly cover it.

"Well, next time, feel free to do something about it." Oh god, that smirk…

"Uhm… ok…" Eloquence was her Achilles heel for the evening.

"How about we have desert at your place?" Catherine asked as she picked up her wallet and placed a few bills on the table. "No." She stopped Sara who was about to protest. "You asked me to take you out, and this is the price you pay. Besides, you're buying the desert." She winked and made to stand up.

"Ok…" She followed Catherine out the door, more than happy just watching her hips move as she walked. Sara made a mental note to thank Grissom for being an eccentric lunatic and bringing those weird bugs into the lab.

God, this was the best night of her life! The embarrassment aside of course.

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You know the drill my darlings. Please? I feed on your words;)