Author's Note: I'm so sorry this took me so long to finish! School/work are really stressing me out and I wasn't able to write anything that people would want to read. I hope this is a nice finish for the story though.

It wasn't long before I felt immensely guilty for what I had said. I mean, I had this amazing thing going on with Catherine, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. And I ended it. Yes, my reasoning was good; but the way I handled the situation was not. As my cell phone rang, the cheerful tone filling my empty apartment, I didn't really expect to hear her voice on the other end of the line.

"Sara." Her tone startled me, the lack of emotion it had. It was frightening to hear her sound so calm.

"Yes, Catherine?"

And surprisingly, my voice matched hers perfectly. I didn't mean for it to, but it did, almost automatically.

"I think we need to talk." Her tone grew colder, if that was even possible. "And soon."

"How soon? Now?"

"Yes. I'll be…," She sighed and I winced at the obvious distain for me that was audible. "I'll be at your apartment in a few moments."

She hung up before I could protest. Closing my cell phone, it was my turn to sigh. I really didn't want to see her again so soon; not because I was angry at her or anything, I just didn't think I could handle being in the same room with her. Every other time we had been alone together, it had ended in… well, you know.

I didn't have time to formulate a plan and believe me, I wanted to. But a knock came from my door and I knew right away that it was Catherine. And that I needed to deal with everything right then. I trudged to the door, dragging my feet along the hardwood.

As I pulled the door open, I saw an unfamiliar sight: Catherine Willows was standing on my doorstep, her eyes red and puffy from what was most likely crying. I instantly, but gently, pulled her inside.

"I'm sorry." The first words out of my mouth were apologies; apologies that she deserved.

She shook her head and I took that to be a silencing gesture. "Just be quiet for a minute, Sara."

I really wasn't in any position to argue with her, so I did as she had requested. I shut up.

"Sara, I don't think we did the right thing. By stopping it, I mean."

Her words hit me and my intrigue started to rise. I inclined my head to signify that she could continue.

"Don't you think…? I didn't imagine anything, did I?" Catherine sighed once again. Her still puffy eyes met mine, and my heart skipped a beat. She looked as guilty as I felt, and I was responsible for any and all pain she was experiencing. But her questions confused me greatly; and I couldn't truthfully answer her until I fully understood what she was talking about.

"Imagine what, Cath?"

She ran her left hand over her face, hoping to take the sorrow away with the brush of her palm. "This is really hard for me to ask this, Sara."

Against my gut feelings, I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'm listening."

"Did I imagine a spark between us?"

I took a moment to look at her, to see if she really meant that. Her eyes, the most telling feature she possessed, gave away that she did mean what she had asked. I had to suppress a smile before I could answer.

"No. I noticed it too." My voice came out quiet, much more so than I had intended.

Catherine raised her head to glance at me and I swear I saw just the briefest hints of a smile. "I didn't think I had been imaging things, but I wanted to be sure."

I smiled, unable to keep my grin hidden any longer. "How about we sit down and do something we've never done before? Talk, about us."

Now it was Catherine's turn to grin. She took my hand and led me over to the couch, where we both sat down and begin talking. For the first time since I met her, I was actually connecting with the strawberry blond in a way that I had always wanted to. After going through some rough times, we were finally having the heart-to-heart we should have had a very long time ago.