Act 41: Sara

When I enter the kitchen to put down some empty bottles, I see Lindsey giving orders to her cousins.

"Alright, Jem and Al you go put those on the table and Tim and I we'll take care of the drinks."

"You guys are alright?" I ask.

"Yup, we got it covered," Lindsey beams with pride.

"Okay, how about you finish what you're doing then you guys can take a break and enjoy the party before we get the cake?"

"Cool," Jem agrees.

"I want you guys to know that you're doing an excellent job."

My statement is met with a chorus of 'thank you', then they all head out again with full trays. I put dishes away, ordering things to make the cleaning faster later.

"Do you like your party?" I ask with a grin, not turning around.

"Oh come on! What gave me away?" Cath whines which only makes me chortle.

Catherine apparently made it her challenge to sneak up on me, she likes to say that I have eyes in the back of my head.

I turn around and look at her. "Your perfume," I wrap my arms around her waist as soon as she's close to me. "It's so rare when you wear some that I always notice when you do."

I feel playful so I lean in and start peppering her neck with tiny kisses. She laughs and moves her head so I can't access her neck easily because it is one of her most ticklish spots. She captures my lips to escape my attack, I briefly deepen the kiss but keep in mind that we are not alone.

"You haven't answered," I remind her when I break the contact.

"Just so you know, every time we kiss my brain takes a holiday, so you'll have to remind me your question."

I chuckle and shake my head. "Do you like your party?"

"Yes, it's awesome, thank you very much," she kisses me with a wide smile then rests her forehead against mine.

I only now notice her necklace. I can't help the broad grin splitting my face. "You're wearing it."

I delicately touch the engraved metal guitar pick I gave her a month and a half ago. I couldn't be happier right now. "I told you I loved it," she states before kissing me.

"I have the feeling that Nancy is going to walk in on us any second now and crack a joke, so we should stop," she says, interrupting your kiss.

"I walked in alright, but I'm not going to say anything since it's your birthday and all," Nancy announces her presence, goes to put down a tray on the table then gets a few beers out of the fridge.

Cath looks at her sister suspiciously. I can understand her, since I've known Nancy I don't remember her ever passing an opportunity to tease. "Thanks," Cath finally says.

"Of course I mean, I know firsthand that you two need to suck on each other's face at least once every half hour or so to function," Nancy shrugs.

I chuckle, I should have known that Nancy was just setting up her punch line, Catherine just hangs her head in defeat. "One of these days…" she mumbles the rest of her threat against my shoulder and I laugh at their antics.

"I'm sorry to break the mood, but Cath, you do have people to entertain."

"She's right," I agree. I cup her face and give her one deep kiss, one I know will get her dazed. Sure enough, when I pull back her eyes are glazed over, she has a silly smile and she needs a few seconds to get her wit together.

"Uh… right, I'm off," she leaves, swaying her hips a little at my attention. I smile and bite my bottom lip when she turns around to wink at me before she goes out again.

I turn to Nancy, feeling her gaze on me, she's smirking. "What?" I ask. "Half an hour is a long time," I quip and she just rolls her eyes at me. "I gave an hour break to the 'staff' before we serve the cake," I inform her.

"That's fine by me, they deserve it."

"You need help with anything?"

"Could you take two apple juices and a sparkling water, it's for Diane, Amy and Mark respectively."

"Got it."

We both head out and part to give the drinks to the intended people. I make sure everyone's needs are met, then I notice that Lilly is standing alone watching her grandchildren play. I wouldn't say that I've avoided her ever since she arrived, I did say hello and exchanged the mandatory 'how are you' but beyond that I just made myself scarce. I know Catherine said that Lilly had asked about me when I was away, but the only time I actually spoke to her since that time back in Montana was when I called her to invite her to this party.

"Can I get you anything?" I hear myself ask.

Lilly turns her attention to me and as soon as her eyes are on me I feel a chill running down my spine.

It's okay, breathe you can do this.

I plan on being with Catherine for a long time which means that I have to learn and communicate with her mother, as intimidating as that is.

"Allan just brought me a new glass of iced water, so I'm good, thank you."

Well, that was the extent of my conversation topics so this should be a fun minute. I feel very naked under her scrutinizing eyes, which is not a good feeling at all. She looks at the children again and I guess that it's my cue to leave her alone. I'm about to move when she speaks again.

"I can't remember the last time someone threw a party for my daughter. This is a nice attention," she nods slightly. "This is a nice party."

"Thanks," I accept her compliment shyly. "I'm glad that you could make it."

"I was pleased to be invited."

"Of course. It's your daughter's birthday it's only normal that you'd be here."

Yes, Lilly intimidates me and we're not buddies or anything, but I think that making a party with all of her children and leaving her out of the loop would have been outright rude. At the very least I had to give her the choice whether or not to accept the invitation.

There's another long pause. I'm trying to come up with something to say, but fail miserably. "It seems that I may have made my opinion about you rather hastily," she states pensively. Our eyes meet and her gaze, for the first time, is somewhat soft. "I present you my apologies for that."

Oh my…

Is this happening?

Okay, keep breathing and don't look too shock, that'd be moronic.

"I can appreciate your efforts," she continues. "I won't lie, I still need to adjust. I will, in my own time and terms," she pauses. "That being said, I'm starting to get confident that we'll meet halfway, eventually."

Alright, brain, process this quickly and give me a reply, I can't fuck this up because that won't happen again.

"As I told you, I'm here to stay so… yeah, I'll be there halfway, when the time comes."

Not so bad Sidle, not so bad.

She gives me a tiny nod in response. "I know you were looking after your daughter and trying to protect her with her best interests at heart… so no apologies are needed," I decide to clean the slate for a new start.

She looks at me for a moment, I'm ready to swear that there's grin fighting to stretch her lips. Our conversation comes to an end when Lindsey comes near us. "Come on, Gram, you promised you'd try to play video game with us."

"I did promise," Lilly confirms. "Excuse me," she addresses me one last time then lets her granddaughter take her away.

I watch them go, grinning like an idiot. "Alright, tell the truth, are you practicing voodoo on my mother?" Nancy comes to stand next to me.

"You said it yourself, voodoo's out of style," I chuckle with a shrug.

"You're the only significant other to smile after talking to my mother, seriously what kind of magic are you using on her?"

"Woman's got to keep a little mystery," I wink at her.

I spend the next half hour talking to the guests then Warrick, Greg and Nick drag me into the living room to play in a tournament against the children.

Another hour goes by quickly and I decide it's time to get the cake. Lindsey and Nancy come with me in the kitchen while Lindsey's cousins gather everyone in the yard again and prepare the table.

"Okay the scene is set, we need to put the car in place," Lindsey talks about the cake.

I don't think I've ever cooked something that complicated before. The cakes were easy, the icing and the shaping was the hardest. Lindsey's idea was to make a crime scene. The first cake is a big rectangle. The icing represents chalk contours of a body, with strawberry jam to make blood spots. Then there's another cake we shaped like a car, we put a little figurine next to it and then we surrounded the 'crime scene' with a yellow band saying alternatively 'Happy Birthday Catherine' and 'Happy Birthday Mom'.

Nancy and I carry the whole thing carefully and Lindsey spots us to avoid any unfortunate drop. The sight of the cake elicits laughter and awe.

"Oh my, this is excellent!" Catherine exclaims beaming.

"All the credit goes to Lindsey, it was her whole idea," I inform her.

Catherine cups Lindsey's face and kisses her cheek enthusiastically. "This is amazing baby, thank you very much!"

"I just hope it tastes as good as it looks," Lindsey blushes.

We light a dozen of candles and sing before Catherine blows them. After that Lindsey cuts the cake and serves everyone while I gather the presents with Nancy.

Catherine can't stop smiling as she opens her presents. She gets several books, a pair of earrings, two DVDs, a gift certificate for spa treatment, golden print powder, two goofy t-shirts – one she puts on over her dress, a hoodie sweatshirt, and a photo album.

Finally, it comes to mines. My heart is pounding in my chest so much I'm nervous about the whole thing.

"There are two more gifts," I announce.

"Talk about being spoiled," Catherine smiles brightly when she sees the big box next to me. "It's from my siblings and me…" I tell her as I hand her the first present with a birthday card attached to it.

She opens the card to read. "It says 'Catherine, we thought these would be the perfect accessories to your pick,'" Catherine shows the guitar pick hanging around her neck to everyone. "Sara gave me this a month ago," she explains then returns her attention to the card. "Alright, reading on, 'Rock on and rock hard, Happy Birthday. Loads of Love, the Sidle Clan'. Awww… thank you," she grins and beckons me with her finger for a light kiss.

"Come on, and open it already!" Nancy demands.

I hand Cath the first package, she unwraps it and gasps at the sight. It's a soft leather jacket; over the left breast the words 'Black Jacks' are embedded into the fabric in a gothic font. "Oh my… wow, this is… wow," she breathes out in admiration.

She puts it on and it's a perfect fit. She looks badass in it… and sexy as hell, I might add.

"You do look like a rock star!" Nick points out.

She pulls the collar up and takes a rock star pose. "Why, thank you Nicky boy," she makes a gun with her hand a clicks her tongue as she cocks her thumb. "Hey wait a sec… the card said 'these'… so there's another gift?" she asks.

"Uh-huh," I confirm.

"Don't tell me, I'm getting the sunglasses to go with the jacket?" she tries to guess.

"Actually we forgot those, but hopefully this is better," I move aside the table I was standing in front of, revealing a rigid guitar case.

"You didn't," Catherine gasps.

She opens the case and the world comes to an end. The smile she was wearing all but vanishes instantly and she pales, her eyes move from the guitar to me then back on the instrument.

Nausea grips my guts, she hates it…

Worse, I think I've committed a crime by touching her guitar in the first place.

Fuck.