I apologgize for the delay it is on my behalf...hope you'll forgive me.

Enjoy,

So ;)

Chapter 2 : Catherine

I snuggle a bit deeper into the body lying next to me and sigh contently.

"Morning, beautiful," a soft whisper caresses my ears.

I smile and tug my lips upward. "Morning," I , still not opening my eyes. I receive two butterfly kisses on my eyelids – a gesture I've been addicted to ever since the first time and now it seems that a good day cannot start without it. My eyes flutter open and my smile grows bigger. I kiss the lips of my lover.

I roll over so I'm on top of her body and my lips attach themselves to her neck. My hands travel freely on her flesh, eliciting moans and low growls.

"Cath, baby, we have a lot to do before shift and I also have to go back to my apartment…" she tries with no real conviction.

"I know…" I say before nibbling on her neck.

I keep my exploration of her body and bite her as I pinch one of her nipple.

"…you have ten minutes…" she finally concedes.

"Much more than I need," I smile against her skin as we start to give into each other.

xxxxx

I decide to have a coffee break and go find Sara as she's working in the A/V lab. I enter and close the door behind me. I walk up to her and put a steaming mug in front of her.

"Coffee with milk and one sugar," I announce before sitting next to her.

"I take it this is your peace offering," she smiles a bit.

"It is," I reply before taking a deep breath. "Listen, the decision I made has nothing to do with us. I do think you were too emotionally involved, and we both know that in those cases, you're more hot tempered that usual which always lead to situations we'd rather avoid."

"You had no right to go behind my back to Grissom and make him take me off the case. At the very least, you could have been come to me and talked to me about it before acting like you did. There's nothing I hate more than having my abilities as a CSI questioned and you did just that, basically suggesting that I'm incompetent to my superior."

"I did what I thought I had to."

"We're supposed to keep what's going on outside of work, outside of it and no matter what you claim, you made that decision as my lover, not as my co-worker."

"Sara, I don't want to fight about it. I know you're upset and I hope that once all your anger has faded away, you'll see that my decision had real basis."

"Next time, come to me before going straight to Grissom," she repeats calmly but firmly.

"Truce?"

She sighs. "Truce."

I take a sip of my mug and debate whether or not to ask her what's been on my mind for the past two weeks. Lindsey's play is in two days, and I've been wondering whether or not to ask Sara to come. The 'lovers' part of the equation is still fresh between us and I don't know if now is a right time to ask her to come to that kind of event.

I sigh deeply, I probably won't invite her anyway.

"You're okay?" she asks me.

"Yeah, just a little tired, someone kept me from having my ten extra minutes of sleep," I tease her.

"Yeah, right…" she rolls her eyes. "You know the first thing that goes is the mind."

Things are working as well as can be, thanks to the ground rules we've established. I know that she's finding her place in my life, little by little, and her relationship with Lindsey is far from being bad, although I wouldn't say they are exactly close. And it's way too soon to even consider her as a second parent figure. She picked Lindsey up only once because I couldn't make it, but as a general rule I don't really involve her in Lindsey's life, I think it's too early for this. She, however, offers her help nonetheless, which I appreciate, because at least I know that she understands the implications involved with dating me.

Another complication is the fact that Eddie will be there. That in itself is more than enough reason to avoid inviting Sara. The last thing I want is him finding out about Sara right now. It's still too new. And being the bastard that he is, well, I'd just rather not think about what he's capable of or what he'd do.

"I should get back to work," I finally say, standing with my mug in hand.

"Thanks for the coffee."

"You're welcome."

"Cath?" she calls me back at the last moment.

"Yeah?"

"You're sure you're okay?"

I send her a genuine smile, no need to burden her with my emotional turmoil. "I'm good, don't worry."

"Alright," she winks at me.

"I'll see you later."

"Later," is the last thing I hear before leaving the room.

Thank you for reading