Hi everyone! Would you look at that? I said I'd be back in a week and I am. : ) Thank you for the reviews and still putting up with me. Anyway, here's the new chap
Enjoy,
So ; )
Act 53: Sara
"Ah!" I groan in frustration and hang my head down with a heavy sigh. I take a deep breath to calm down and look up again to face the source of my torment. "Okay pal, I am tired and just about to lose my temper with you, so start working with me you piece of…" my curse is cut short by another voice.
"Wow, wow, wow that is no way to talk to a Bunsen burner," Catherine chastises me as she enters in the lab I'm working in.
"It is when they are reluctant to work," I mumble pettily. I send one last death glare to the offending object and focus on Catherine. "Do you need help with anything?"
"No I was just checking the different labs to get updates. I take it from the abuse you were spewing at that poor burner that you're at a standstill," she chortles.
"I need a red flame, and that stupid burner refuses to give it up."
"Alright, let's hear it," she simply says as she leans her hips against the table.
I give her the details of my case and she listens carefully. "…so far I have I don't know how many shades of orange, pink and fuchsia but no red and I'm just about to commit a murder."
"Okay, first, step away from that burner, I mean it. The poor thing can only do so much."
"Figures you'd side with it," I roll my eyes.
She smirks. "What have you tried?"
"Different dosage of lithium and calcium and…"
"Strontium?" she asks.
I mark a pause. "No."
"It has properties as calcium and barium, you find it in…" she launches in a great details 'everything there is to know about strontium' tirade. "They use it to get red fireworks or flares," she adds as an afterthought when she's done.
My shoulders slumps and I sigh. "Oh wow, I hate you so much right now," I say flatly.
She has an amused hiccup. "Excuse me?"
"I've been hitting a wall for almost two hours, you waltz in and most likely cracked this whole thing in two minutes flat," I explain. "That is not cool, like, at all."
"So much for gratitude," she chuckles. "Remind me that moment the next time I'm trying to help you."
I stick my tongue out in response. "You know so much about strontium because…" I let my word linger waiting for her to fill the blanks.
"Because of you actually," she points out. I look at her in confusion clearly if I had known that much about stupid strontium we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. "It was in one of you magazines."
I'm about to protest. I have this thing, this gift, I never forget anything I read. I just have to read something once for it to stick in my mind forever and I can use that knowledge at any given time as well, be it one hour after reading or five years. This gift is greatly responsible for my success at school, sure I worked my ass off, but with such a skill I had some of the work cut out, let's be honest.
That brings me to now, I know for a fact that I never read anything about strontium. "You didn't read it because it was a number about mineralogy and you said rocks were boring," Catherine specifies as if reading my mind.
Of course the only time I skip a number is when it matters. This is one karmic joke right here.
"Darn it," I pout.
"I remember because they did make the remark about fireworks and I thought then that it was one odd and random trivia to write… come to think about it, thank you, I thought that knowledge would be forever useless."
"Sure, rub it in."
She smiles, the tip of her tongue poking through her teeth. "Sorry."
"No, you're not."
"You're right, I'm not," she confirms, her eyes still shining with amusement. "You owe me breakfast now."
"My place after shift, that way afterward you can spank me for being rude," I wiggle my eyebrows and the effect is immediate, she blushes at the underlying thought.
"Right… uh I'm off smarty pants, see you after shift."
"Okay."
"And stop abusing that burner," she points an accusing finger at me.
"Yes, ma'am."
She stares at me for a few seconds biting her bottom lip then winks before walking away. I watch her until she disappears in the corridor.
Things have been progressively getting back on track between us. It's been four weeks since I told her about my history and we've talked. We're taking things slow, we both need it.
I hurt her rather deeply and I think she needs the slow pace to nurse her wounds and completely trust me with her heart again. As for me, I still have mood swings here and there, less than before but still.
I came to realize that this time around they had stemmed from my anxiety about letting Catherine know about my past. I think that I had always known that I'd have to talk to her about it but that fear of losing her because of it triggered the mood swings and once they start the rest follows.
Now I'm readjusting little by little, but it's okay because Catherine understands and she doesn't push as long as she knows what's going on. She said that she'd give me what I need be it space or time and she does just that.
A few hours later we're at my place and all thoughts of food has been put aside in favour of kissing. I have initiated the kiss once we had entered my apartment with the intention to share a quick kiss, Cath didn't hear it that way and after kissing for several minutes standing against my door – not wanting to break the contact for even a second – we had to galumph to my couch to get a more comfortable position and stop worrying about trivial things such as gravity.
Cath's hands get more insistent and adventurous on my body, while my desire matches her as soon as her hands sneak up under my clothes I tense despite myself.
She immediately stills herself, neither of us move for the next two seconds then I force myself to ease the death grip I have on her hand.
We have yet to be intimate ever since our fall out. Since our talk we have kissed, hugged and cuddled, but each time the desire to share more was present I've experienced something akin to terror, like right now.
Cath kisses my neck then moves to my lips before pulling away just enough to look at me. I flee her gaze a bit ashamed at the situation, but when I dare look I don't see anything but affection in her eyes.
"I believe you promised me breakfast," she breaks the silence.
I give her a slight grin. "Yeah."
She pecks my lips once more then disentangles herself from me, stands up and goes to my kitchen. I stay on the couch a few more seconds, trying but failing to figure out what is happening.
I think back to the beginning our relationship, back then she was the one putting things to a halt when it came to take a step further physically. Now it's my turn. I know I want her, and I know whatever is happening has to do with me but I can't understand what it is.
I stand up to join her and rather than talk I take her in my arms and hold her tightly. She returns the embrace and doesn't let go until I do.
I don't want her to think that she's the source of my anguish or that her touch is the problem, it's me, I know that. I just can't verbalize it because right now I don't understand the problem myself.
"I love you," I profess, my eyes dipping into hers.
She beams and kisses me before resting her forehead against mine. We're fine, that's what her kiss means and that's all I'm asking.
I'm about to say something else when a familiar noise erupts from her belly. "Growl is getting impatient," she jokes even though she's blushing.
"Time to feed the beast," I chortle.
The rest of the morning goes quietly and an hour later we're both lying in bed ready to be taken in the realm of Morpheus.
The next few days go rather fast. Catherine and I are getting back together, finding our marks again in our routines, making new ones. We're spending as much time as possible together so I'm at her place most of the time.
Things are different, in a good way for the most part, for instance we always take a moment where she asks me questions she'd already asked but to which I had avoided answering, or question she'd always wanted to ask me but hadn't because she had known I wouldn't answer. Of course it goes both ways, and it's good to see that there are still many things we don't know about one another.
Some other things are different but I wish it wasn't the case. My relationship with Linds fall into that category. Even though we're still having a good time together, I can sense that she has clammed up and put back a certain distance, maybe she's waiting to see if I'll stick around for good, maybe she's just still hurt about the way things unfolded when I was struggling with my issues. Whatever it is, the closeness we had managed to reach is no longer there and I deeply regret that.
There's also Nancy, I now understand what Catherine meant when she said that given a chance to face either an angry Lilly or an angry Nancy, she'd pick her mother in a heartbeat.
Yes, things are much better Catherine and I even though we're still tacking things slowly, I'm confident that we're on the same wavelength and will be able to face any obstacle together, but Nancy has silently let me know that she and I were back to square one.
"Your car has been pampered, the oil has been changed, I checked all the levels and the pressure of the tires. I've cleaned it so it's good as new," I announce as I walk back into Catherine's kitchen.
She beckons me with her finger and I get close to her to receive the offered kiss. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," I grin, then move to the sink to clean my hands.
"Are you staying tonight?" Cath asks me.
"I'd like that," I nod.
I go to the sink and start washing my hands, I can feel Catherine staring at me. I glance back and frown when I notice her faraway look. "Are you okay?"
"Uh huh," she nods while biting her bottom lip.
I turn around while I'm drying my hands so I can face her properly, I simply wait for her to continue.
"There's something hot about you in overalls," she confesses with a bashful smile. I look down, I'm wearing a faded red shirt covered with grease, the top of my overalls hanging down and just as covered in grease as the shirt.
I look back at Cath silently questioning her seriousness and find that she does mean that. I chortle "It's good to know I don't have much to do to turn you on," I joke.
"You have no idea," she bites her bottom lip looking at me with hunger; the sight wakes up the butterfly in the pit of my stomach. She chortles "Four years ago we had a case with stolen cars and underground racing… we had to process cars for almost three weeks straight."
"Oh yeah, I remember," I snort. "I felt like I had changed my job from CSI to mechanic."
"I came around for an update, you and Warrick were doing I don't know what, anyway you had the top of your overall rolled down, clear sleeveless blue top dirty with grease and what not, you had even some on your cheek, and fine sheen of sweat all over…" she sighs. "I've always thought that you were good looking but that very moment is when I found you very, very… hot and sexy and attractive…I mean, that image made for very vivid fantasies."
My mouth has started to dry from the way she's been looking at me as she reminisced. She stands up and slowly advances toward me, I can feel my heart pounding and my hands getting clammy. I feel like I'm about to be devoured.
"So you see right now I'm extremely…" she stops inches away from me and leans in until her mouth is close to mine. "Turned on…"
I swallow audibly and exhale a shaky breath. She's about to close the remaining distance when the phone rings. "Well, saved by the bell," she waggles her eyebrows.
"I… uh… going… shower," I stammer still a bit dazed.
"Uh-huh," she nods before reaching for the phone.
I feel so hot that I think the cool water of my imminent shower will turn into steam right after touching my skin.
Damn.
In the words of a famous badass time traveler: I'LL BE BACK… (next week)
Thanks for reading.
