Disclaimer: CSI characters are not mine, never will be…but just in case, they are in my letters to Santa.

Catherine emitted a low moan and, letting go of the brunette's hand, instinctively brought her fingers to the back of Sara's soft hair. She kissed the younger woman soundly before either woman realized exactly what was happening and both pulled back.

"Umm…" Catherine blushed but it went unseen in the ghostly light, "What was that for?"

Sara smiled tearily, though that also went unseen, "I don't know, I thought I had lost you…you were so pale. And then you came back to me and I had to be near you."

"I thought I had lost you, too." Catherine whispered, momentarily derailing the approaching conversation.

"What? Why?"

"I was awake for a long time. I could see you beyond the light. I called out to you but you didn't answer. I thought…" Catherine's voice trembled, "I thought you were dead. And then I heard you stir. I tried to get to you but my legs- I think maybe one is broken or else my hip. Either way, when I moved…I must have passed out from the pain." The redhead smiled up at the brunette and lightly touched her face, "And when I woke up, you were here beside me."

Sara leaned into the touch, "I'm not going anywhere. How are you? Where does it hurt?"

Catherine laughed, "I thought I was supposed to be the mother hen."

"You can be when I get your legs free."

The smaller woman protested, "Sara, if you move a single rock, it could cause another cave-in."

"So? If we don't get the circulation going in you legs, they'll have to be amputated. At the very least. You might get an infection and die."

"Sara…" Catherine hesitated, "We're going to die anyway."

"What? No we're not."

"No? We're two hours drive from anyone who might know where we are, Nick is the only one who knows what we were doing. No one will think to look for us until tomorrow night's shift. And to make matters worse, we're in an unmarked mine." She began to cry, "I'm so sorry, Sara. You told me that we shouldn't come in here and I made you anyway. This is all my fault!"

Sara slid down so she was cradling Catherine's head in her lap and pulling her silk hair through her fingers, "Hey, hey," she murmured soothingly, "this is not you're fault. I didn't want to come in here because I thought it was unstably constructed, not because I thought some lunatic was going to blow the joint and trap us." Without thinking, she kissed her colleague's brow, looking in her watery blue eyes, she jutted her chin forward stubbornly, "And we are not going to die. We have several bottles of water and we have first-aid. And the temperature hasn't decreased." She looked at her watch; 3:30 AM. Had she truly been unconscious for more than two hours? "And in the time we've been in here, if we had no circulating oxygen, the temp would definitely have risen. So don't worry. I'm going to free your legs and then we'll tend to your arm." Unable to resist, she kissed the soft brow once more, "Everything's going to be okay, alright?"

Sniffling, Catherine nodded.

It took a long time to clear even the smallest bit of Catherine's torso. By now, Sara realized that some of her ribs must have cracked, and her head wound was adding to her disorientation. Several times she had to stop and sit before returning to her knees and lifting another rock out of the way.

Slowly though, she made progress. Every rock had to be moved gradually and with caution, for fear the unequal balance would cause another collapse. Eventually, Sara had cleared Catherine of rocks to the knee. Finally, Catherine suggested that Sara pull her the rest of the way out if she had the strength to manage it.

"No way, Cat. If you have a broken leg or hip, that's going to hurt like hell. I'm not going to do that to you."

"Oh, buck up Sara, it will only hurt for a moment. Besides, I can't keep watching you take one rock off at a time. You're using up all of your energy- energy we're both going to need. If you yank me out fast, we have a chance of keeping the rocks balanced."

"Like pulling out a table cloth from beneath a place setting." It made sense.

"Exactly."

"Okay." Sara maneuvered behind Catherine and hooked her arms under the small, strong shoulders. "Ready?" she asked, unsure.

Catherine patted her wrist and hissed through clenched teeth, "Be quick, baby; I trust you."

"Okay. On the count of three?"

Catherine shut her eyes tight and nodded.

"One."

Catherine took a deep breath.

"Two."

Sara shut her own eyes tightly.

"Three!" Sara pulled as hard as she could and cringed at the sound of the wrenching flesh.

Catherine screamed in agony, but her legs were freed. Both women froze as they waited for the sounds of another rockslide. None came. Sara breathed a sigh of relief as Catherine whimpered and shook softly. The brunette took her upper half in her arms and cradled her gently. If she were showing any signs of pain, then it must be horrible.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie, it's okay. It's over, it's okay." Sara whispered tenderly, occasionally running a hand through the soft red hair.

Eventually, Catherine calmed. She opened her eyes and smiled comfortingly at the face above hers, "Thank you, Sara."

For the first time she saw the matted hair and the bloody smears running down one side of Sara's neck, her eyes clouded over, "Sara, baby, you're hurt!" She gingerly turned the other woman's head. Picking up the flashlight, she gasped when she saw the ugly, angry gash and the bruising that was spreading over Sara's right temple and cheekbone. "Oh, sweetheart, I think you've got a zygomatic fracture. And you've certainly got a concussion."

Sara tried to smile but Catherine saw her wince, "Really, Nurse Willows?"

"Sara…" Catherine looked at her seriously.

The brunette nodded, "I know. I felt them when I woke up. I've got another gash on the back of the head, though the temporal one is probably what knocked me out. I've also got at least two broken ribs, maybe a bruised sternum. Two of the fingers on my right hand are broken pretty bad, possibly my nose too, though I don't think so. And I've got a wrist sprain."

She shrugged, "No big deal," lightly, she ran a hand over the dark bruising over Catherine's torso, her blood soaked jeans, and her awkwardly twisted arm, "I'm more concerned about you."

"No big deal?" Catherine tried to get angry and failed. She settled for overly concerned, "Sara, you're hurt pretty bad."

"It could be worse. And you're hurt a lot more than I am. With all this bruising- you may have some internal bleeding."

"Nonsense, I wouldn't be this coherent. It's just bruising from a crushed pelvis or something; I've probably pinched a nerve. Don't worry about me."

"No? We're going to get you set up as best we can and then you can help me, okay? You're in no position to argue and you know I'm right. If we don't patch up whatever's bleeding in your leg you could have a lot of problems when we get out of here."

Catherine shuddered in pain and fought hard to hold back the tears that flooded her at the thought that they might never get out. But she felt courage hold back the flood when Sara kissed her head and then her shoulder.

"Come on, Cat. Let's get you fixed up and comfortable, okay?"

The redhead nodded, her eyes closed against the tears, "Okay, baby."

Where were all of these endearments coming from? Was it just stress? Or something more? And what about that kiss? Waking up with Sara's lips on hers was something she could definitely get used to. If they ever got out of here. Right. One thing at a time.