Disclaimer: See chapter 1


Chapter 5:

We arrived at her place 30 minutes later.

"Are you coming in Sara?"

"Erm... okay." It's not really the best thing to do, but hey not my fault blame the damn alcohol.

We stumbled into her house as at the third attempt she managed to get the door open. I think she is more drunk than I am.

I heard her mumble, "I'll put some coffee on." I can't stop myself checking her out then suddenly she turned round and caught me. Busted. She is smirking at me now; damn she looks sexy.

"Sara?"

"Yes Catherine?"

"Would you like to sleep here tonight? I mean I've got a spare room and we need to sober up."

"I'm not sure that's such a great idea Catherine."

"Oh okay then." She sounds disappointed.. nice work Sidle. "Would you like me to call you a cab?"

"How about after the coffee?"

"Sure thing." She smiled at me; that's better I don't want to upset her, it just makes me feel guilty. There is silence while we wait for the coffee to finish and I decide to settle on a safe topic, her daughter.

"So where's Lindsay? How's she doing?" I immediately see her face light up; she looks amazing when she is smiling like an angel.

"It's okay, she is staying at my sisters. And she is doing great at school. Thanks for asking."

"I knowing how she's getting on, she's a great kid."

"Yeah she is." As she looks at me I see the pride on her eyes, just as coffee finishes.

A couple of minutes later, she is heading me coffee just the way I like it I didn't know she knew that.

"You ok Sara?"

"Yeah fine just thinking."

"About what?" Damn the investigator in her. Um let's see about how hot you are and how much I would like to kiss her.

"Nothing, just work. Thanks for tonight Catherine."

"My pleasure Sara. It's good to see you relaxing for once. You need to take a break once in a while you know."

"Yeah I know. I'll try and do it a bit more in the future."

"Good, everyone works hard sometimes, but you need to learn to relax. Find yourself a couple of hobbies."

"You sound like Grissom."

"Sorry, but its true. If you keep going the way you are, you are going to burnout. None of us want to lose one of the best, because she burns out."

"You think I'm one of the best?"

"Of course you are. You work in the second best lab in the country and your solve rate is second only to Grissom, that's how good you are." Wow, never expected that, I can't help but blush.

"You need to learn to take a compliment Sara, but you're cute when you blush." My head snapped up. Did she just say that??!!

"I guess I'm just not used to them, I get a lot when I was growing up."

"Sorry Sara I didn't mean to bring up bad memories for you."

"It's fine Catherine, don't worry about it."

"Maybe I should call you that cab now."

"Thanks Cath." She nods and thankfully didn't notice my slip.

After talking some more about Lindsay and her latest school science project, my cab arrived.

"Hey Sara..." I turn round, she looks nervous that is not the Catherine Willows I know.

"Yeah?"

"Lindsay is always asking to see you, do you that maybe you could come over for dinner sometime? It'll get Lindsay off my back about inviting you over for a while."

"Sure Catherine. I'd love to, besides as I said before Lindsay is a great kid and I like spending time with her."

"Great thank you so much. I'll let you know once I've asked Lindsay." The cab driver honked his horn to get our attention.

"I better get going before the guy drives off. Thanks for tonight Catherine, I'll see you at work."

"Yeah sure see you later Sara and thanks for coming. We should do it again sometime."

"Definitely." I grin at her and gently close the door behind me. I can't help but smile the whole journey home. Maybe this friendship isn't going to be so bad after all...

It's been two weeks since Catherine and I went out that night. It's been so hectic at work, people have suddenly decided to commit a lot of crimes the last two weeks, so much so that often we have been sent out solo. Even Greg got a solo B&E, which delighted him, finally he feels part of the team and rightly so. Greggo has worked hard and deserves the chance to prove himself.

I've almost not worked as much overtime and stopped drinking so much after clearing all the beer bottles out of my apartment. I've finally had my guitar out again and it has definitely helped me de-stress more than the beer plus I don't have to buy cough drops to cover my hangovers. I've even been going out with the guys after work more often, much it appears to the delight of the team who were always nagging me to come out with them.

After the past few years, we've all grown close almost like a family.. well as I don't really have any family, these guys pretty much are my family and I can't help but smile at the thought. My life is definitely better after catching the serial killer that was praying on single, workaholic women (those cases got to me, but I didn't let it show) I decided enough was enough and I was going to sort my life be more sociable and have been. It's only now that I'm seeing the benefits of that. The guys are chatting about some stupid new computer game and I see Catherine looking at me.

"Sara?"

"Sorry Catherine I was miles away."

"What were you thinking about?"

"About how good my life has been recently."

"That's good, it's about time you started coming out with us."

"Yeah I know." I blush in embarrassment.

"So about that dinner invitation?"

"Yeah I remember."

"Would this weekend be ok with you?"

"Sounds good."

"Lindsay would love to see you, besides she wants you about some maths thing. She knows how good you are with figures."

"Sure no problem."

"Great." Then she gets up and puts a twenty on the table to cover her drinks.

"Sorry guys. I have to go, I'd like to spend a bit of time with Lindsay."

"Sure Catherine."

"Bye guys."

"Bye." They all say in unison while continuing to talk, now about some basketball game. Boring.

"Look guys I better get going too. As much as I would like to discuss basketball with you, I have some stuff to do. So I'll see you at work."

"OK Sara, thanks for coming. It was great you did."

"Sure Greggo, we'll do it again sometime. See you later.

So what do you think? Not the most interesting chapter I know, but I'd like Cath and Sara to have some kind of friendship before things go further. Any comments or criticisms? The next chapter will be the meal at Catherine's.