A/N: This is a long chapter (a gift for my readers) :-)! I'm not going to say much about it, that would ruin the fun. This chap is based on episode 8 of season 4 (After the show)...enjoy!

Immi - Rest assured I'm not a GSR-fan either, in fact I loathe the whole idea... Thanks for the long review, I got your point. Sara and Catherine are immature and irrational now but that will change. I'm not going to tell you what I have in store for them and how and when they get together again, but they will... It's just a matter of time and I'm following canon...but don't worry, I'll fix it ;-)!

Chapter 30

I'm lying on my couch with a killer headache, the case eventually is solved, turned out we had the wrong guy but it's not the case that gave me this headache. It's all the trouble I got myself into in less than 24 hours. Grissom is going to think I'm a nutcase and Catherine… well I just managed to confirm all her fears. I am so stupid, I should have said something, anything…

I get up and walk over to my medicine cabinet and pull out something to make this headache go away. I stumble into my bedroom and fall onto my bed, I immediately doze off. I took enough pills to knock a horse out. I have a dreamless sleep which is all the better, with the exception of the wake up call... A piercing sound reaches my ears, I give my alarm a couple of slams until I realize it can't be my alarm because I didn't set it.

I grab my phone and answer it still a bit groggy 'Sidle.'

'Sara, you are late and we have a case. Where are you?'

It's Catherine and she sounds concerned, the sound of her voice like this is enough to wake me up completely. 'Hi, everything okay. I took something for my headache this morning, guess I took too much.'

'Oh good…' she sounds relieved and I smile to the phone. 'Now get your ass over here, I covered for you but I don't think I can continue much longer. Grissom is becoming suspicious.'

My smile only gets bigger, she covered for me although it's somewhat strange I get a fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach. 'Thanks and Cath…' I almost tell her I love her 'I'll be there in no time.' I close off the phone and get into the shower.

In a matter of minutes I am leaving my apartment and heading towards HQ.

Catherine is leaning against her car, waiting for me I believe. I park my car and walk over to her, I want to pull her into a hug and kiss her. Having to hold back is hurting me physically and mentally, it feels like someone just tore my heart out and replaced it with a nest of fire ants. I swallow round the lump in my throat and greet her.

She surprises me even more when she doesn't give me a hard time, not even a glare. She smiles at me and gets in her car. I get in without a word and we drive to the scene in almost complete silence, Catherine started to fill me in apparently we have a suspect for the abduction of Julie Waters. We also process the scene almost in absolute silence, occasionally we share what we found or think.

Back at the lab, Nick and I show Catherine the photos we took when we processed Julie Waters' place, the missing girl. We tell her nothing was missing, so it is most unlikely she left on vacation or something. When Catherine asks about her purse I look at her, we lock eyes and get lost in the moment. I want you back. Catherine's phone breaks the moment. It's Brass telling us we have a little problem, our suspect tried to kill himself in the interrogation room.

When he is stitched up, Brass decides it's time to talk to him. He's not even paying attention to us. When Brass mentions something about it, the suspect asks for Catherine. I don't like the look he got in his eyes when he mentioned her. If Brass wasn't there I would have threatened him with my gun to leave her alone and stay as far away from her as possible. I just sit there, giving him a death glare, I don't think he noticed.

Well Mr. Howard Delhomme got what he asked for, Catherine. He took us all out into the dessert, he told Catherine that's where the girl would be. So now we're walking here, looking for any kind of evidence or disturbance. I know he is just playing a game with us, he just wants to be close to Catherine. This guy is sick, I'm keeping an eye on him the whole time, fortunately I'm wearing sunglasses so nobody notices.

I think Catherine is as sick as he is, because she actually plays along! What is her deal? I honestly don't know… the sun is setting and as I predicted we haven't found anything. I ask Grissom if he thinks this is logical, a suspect picking his own criminalist dragging her out for nothing. Grissom as always wants to see good in everything and he doesn't really answer my question. Damn I hate Howard!

Mr. Delhomme is brought back to the station. Thank God, this was just a total waste of time! The officer not too gently pushes him into the police car, I like that I would have done the same thing if I had the opportunity. Catherine however thinks otherwise 'Hey, uh … we need him in one piece.' Again…what is her problem?

Then they engage in a staring fest, I am going to be sick. Maybe we should speak with the sheriff and hire a room for those two then they can do whatever they want but at least I don't have to watch them. Nick clearly agrees with me when I hear him say something about this guy being nuts.

'Well, until we find the body, he is all the evidence we've got.' She has an explanation for everything so it seems.

'We don't even know if he did it.' I can't hold back any longer.

'Oh, I've got a good feeling about this.' That's rich! My blood is boiling and my head is feeling like it might explode any time now. I can try as I might my anger is winning and I just speak my mind.

'So does the suspect. The only reason that we're out here today on this wild goose chase is because he wanted to hang out with you.' I don't care if she hears the jealousy in my voice, I don't care if she sees the wrath in my eyes, I don't care if we have a fight about this, I just don't care! 'It's weird.'

She looks at me with disbelieve in her eyes 'Believe me, I'd rather follow the evidence, but if it takes having the evidence follow me ...'

Nick feels the tension building and decides to end our argument by telling Grissom we, meaning him and me, should work this case because we worked it long before Catherine was involved. Catherine pulls rank and I can't help but hate her at the moment. Grissom chooses Catherine's side, like I expected him to. I just leave 'Fine.' without saying another word, knowing all too well if I would say something I would most definitely get fired.

Back at the lab I find out Greg is helping Catherine, I know her she didn't do this to piss us more off but because she is too stubborn and too proud to ask for our help. Nick and I look into other girls that are either missing or murdered. I try to talk to him about it, but he has already forgiven Cath until I tell him she's got Greg helping her. But then he says something about Greg gaining experience. Nicky boy do you really believe I think you're okay with it…

We discover one of the murdered girls was also a model and guess who one of her photographers was, yes indeed Howard Delhomme. Nick and I walk to a lab with a computer in it, maybe we can figure out where Howard has been with the rental car. Not long after we got there, Catherine walks in holding a file. She needs our help and now she comes back… I am not going to let her off the hook just like that.

She says hi, but we don't acknowledge her, we continue working. 'How's it going?' she didn't come here to ask that, she wants to know if we're okay. We're not and I immediately let her know that 'Your case. You tell us.'

She expected that, but decides to let it slide. She informs us on how many miles Delhomme drove with the car and what he did along the way, I put all the info in the computer trying to map out where he has been. Catherine keeps glancing at me, wanting to make eye contact silently pleading me that everything is okay. But I pretend to not notice this, I think she knows that but it hurts her all the while.

We are lucky, we discover where he went… same place the other dead model washed up. And… we find the body of Julie Waters there also.

I walk into the break room, I really need coffee. I am fixing myself a cup, I brought a trash can back with me to the lab and now I need to find Catherine. I empty my cup and go looking for her. Last time I checked she was working in a lab with Archie, she still is…

'Cadet got a hit off a trash can. I brought it in. You want me to get Greg?' it's stronger than myself…

She rolls her eyes 'Archie, let me know when you've got these printed up.' Then she leaves with me to process the trash can.

We find a lot of interesting things, a lot of headshots, her clothes, tissues used to clean her, … Catherine discovered he told a couple of lies.

'Here's our big lie. Delhomme said when she injured her earlobe, she was in her underwear and she was barefoot.' She shows me the blood stains on Julie's stockings.

'I think Howard's been lying to you.' I look at her, making eye contact. Showing the meaning of my words, after all she doesn't like liars… she thinks I lied to her and see how she threats me. I am enjoying this far too much.

She stares at me, I see understanding in her eyes and a little guilt. Wow, I didn't know she was capable of having that sentiment. She opens her mouth to say something but I'm not ready to have that conversation, not now not here. 'Let's see how the blood got on her stocking', I take the useful evidence we found in the trash can with me and walk into a different lab. Catherine silently agrees and follows me.

'Okay so what did you have in mind?'

'You tell me, you're the blood spatter analyst.' I attempt not to smirk.

She just looks at me then rolls her eyes, she does that lovely thing with her tongue that makes me blush. Every time she does that I remember how much pleasure her tongue gave me. 'Well, he told me she wasn't standing when her ear started to bleed, I think she did. Now all we have to do is prove it.'

I am looking at the receipt I found in Julie's bag, while Catherine now wearing shorts is trying on a pair of stockings. '$65?' Who spends so much on a pair of stockings???

'Capital investment. Our victim hadn't made it to the show yet. Her life was all about after the show. The right guy, the right meal, and after that ...'

I am swabbing the inside of her shoes to see if there's blood in them, Catherine tries to explain to me why she spent $65 on stockings. Well I can't imagine to do something like that, according to Catherine she was screwing her way to the top. I can't understand why women choose that kind of life, like the only thing we're good at is sex and using our sexuality. Such women make real women and women emancipation seem like one big joke. No wonder we still have to fight to be equal to men, we have come a long way but real equality is still something that exist in our fantasies. Look at the number of female presidents we have had… 'It's a tough way to get ahead.' I state critically.

'Did your father ever tell you you were pretty?'

What does that have to do with this case… Why did she bring up my father… Of course Catherine doesn't have an idea, she doesn't know my past or what kind of man my father was. I honestly don't know if he ever said I was pretty, maybe once or twice. Mostly he told me I was ugly and no one would ever want me then he would beat me for being ugly or just because he felt like it. I don't want to go there, I shrug 'I guess.'

Catherine continues 'He ever tell you you were smart?'

Again what does this have to do with our investigation? This one is a lot easier, of course he told me I was smart, then he beat me because I was too smart. It always gave him a reason to hit me. 'Yeah' I answer, sounding beat.

Once more Catherine continues 'So, it probably never occurred to you that you wouldn't be successful.' Of course it didn't occur to me, I promised myself I would do anything in my power to get away from that place and never become like my parents. I would rather kill myself. I only nod. 'If all you ever hear is that you're gorgeous, you can let everything else fall away, and it can leave you in a very dangerous place.' I give Catherine a quick questioning look then return to swabbing the shoes and testing them for blood.

Catherine knows something is going on inside my head but she knows now is not the time nor the place to discuss it. 'Okay, the bloodstain on the top of the foot is round. Gravitational. On the bottom of the foot, it's smeared.'

Both swabs showed no signs of blood 'There's no blood on these. She wasn't wearing them.'

'The only way we can get this guy is if the evidence counters every one of his lies.' She states while taking a sample of the blood, she holds it up to the area of her ear and releases a single drop to fall directly on top of her foot. 'That matches the drop on the top of her stocking. Separate bloodstain. Separate drop.' She releases a second drop onto the covered floor then steps on it. She lifts her foot to show me the smeared stain on the bottom of the stocking.

'She was standing.' That makes him a liar again!

We are going through some of the photos taken right before she died. Nick walks in and informs us he found something on the double exposure. We follow him to the AV-lab there he shows us the different odometers. I conclude that maybe if the car's different the naked body is also from a different victim. Catherine decides to check the photos of the autopsy to compare bodies.

'Uh, why don't you guys take a break.' Catherine is starting to get uncomfortable. Nick and Archie immediately leave the lab, I don't.

'Uh, it's okay. These photos don't bother me.'

'They bother me.' she says coldly. What is it with this case! Although I don't like it one bit, I get up and leave making sure I send her my best death glare.

I grab a lab coat and decide to process everything we found to see which foreign object he used to rape her with. A couple of minutes later Catherine walks in.

'Well?' I don't even try to be friendly, I had it with Catherine and her behavior.

She informs me the naked pictures weren't of Julie then she wants to know what I came up with.

'Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If he raped her with a foreign object, it's not on this table.' I turn back to the last object I need to process. 'Do you want me to leave you alone so you can do it yourself?'

She glances at me with disbelieve visible on her features. 'Look, the entire lab didn't need to see pictures of Julie's vagina plastered all over the screen.'

'So, Nick and I are the whole lab now? That's not it, Catherine, and you know it.' She really thinks I don't have a clue of what's going on. She is clearly having a hard time with this case, I don't know exactly why but if she would explain it to me I could start to understand. Instead she chooses to act like everything is okay and she gives me mixed signals, she should know by now I absolutely loath that!

'I saw the look in Howard's eye. I used to make my living off that look. He wanted me. We needed him. I decided to exploit that situation. And as angry as that made you, when you're in my shoes, you'll do the same thing.' I'm glad she notices I am angry about that, but I don't agree with her last comment, she knows how I think about using people or letting people use you. I'll never do the same thing.

Catherine opens the gun case, I tell her I already checked it. She stares at the empty case and a thought hits her 'We're looking at the wrong evidence. His initial arrest was for brandishing a firearm.'

When we have the results Catherine went back to the interrogation room and I walk towards the locker room, my work is done we nailed the bastard! I don't feel like doing paperwork, I just pulled a double all I want to do now is go home. Nick has the same idea because he's already in, he smiles at me clearly happy we nailed that guy and it's all over for now. Catherine walks in and looks at me. Nick senses the tension 'Bye Sara. Bye Catherine. See you tonight.' Then he leaves us.

I open my locker without paying attention to Catherine. 'Look Sara, I know you're still mad at me and I don't blame you. I know you would never do what I did, that makes you special and I like that… I really need to know if we're okay and I really need to talk to you.'

'I don't know, Catherine. Let me go home now and think about, I'll call you when I wake up.' It pains me to see how much Catherine is hurting right now, but I don't have any energy left. We have a lot to talk about and I'm not ready to do that right now, the only thing I need is my soft bed and sleep, lots and lots of sleep.

Thanks for reading... Talk is good, isn't it? Now the question is: when will they finally talk and how will it turn out???