13/06/2007 09:11:00
I've had it with disclaimers- see chapters 1-5
The first thing Sara was aware of was that she was shaking. Why? She wasn't cold and her fear had died down hours ago. She moved her hand up from the ground to Catherine's arm and realized that it was Catherine shaking against her. For a moment she was afraid that she was sick, but no; she was crying.
"Cat? Catherine?" Sara pressed a kiss to her temple, "Cath, baby?" Sara lifted the other woman's chin and realized that she was still asleep.
Her heart jumped at the sight of the wet tears on her face. Without thinking, she began to kiss and lick them off. When she was done, she looked up to see that Catherine had stopped crying and was staring at her with wide blue eyes.
The brunette blushed, "Sorry. You were crying in your sleep- you scared me. I- I couldn't think of what else to do." Sara was surprised to feel firm lips against hers.
"It's okay." Catherine muttered, shaking her head, "Thank you." She wrapped her good arm around Sara's neck and began kissing her anew. After several minutes she laughed darkly.
"What?" The younger woman wanted to know.
"Nothing." She snuggled back into Sara's neck, "It's just that…here we are, stuck five hundred feet underground- no food, no real hope of anyone finding us, and I just received possibly the best wake-up I've ever had. Do you sense the irony?"
"No." Sara said firmly, "There would only be irony if we were never getting out. But we will get out." She ran her fingers through strawberry blonde hair, "We have to."
"What time is it? Not that it matters in the pitch dark."
Sara looked at her watch, "Nearly 8AM."
"I could be driving Lindsey to school right now. Or having breakfast with the boys."
"Won't someone notice that you didn't come to get Lindsey?"
"Ha! I wish that my sister would worry, but no, she'll just figure that I got caught up in work again. She'll drive Lindsey without question. She probably won't even call my cell, which is somewhere in that giant rock pile in six pieces."
"So, when's the earliest someone is going to think to look for us?"
"If we're really lucky, they'll notice that neither of us clocked out and that there's a Tahoe missing."
"That doesn't exactly look out of the ordinary."
"Not for Sara Sidle, maybe. But people know that I don't work overtime nowadays unless I'm pulling a double."
"Well, assuming people don't notice that we didn't come back…"
"Start of shift, I guess. God, my leg is killing me."
"Want some water?"
"The miracle drug?" Catherine rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"It's all I've got."
"No it's not." Catherine raised an eyebrow expressively and blew lightly on the underside of Sara's chin causing her to look down further, "I'm interested in researching the medical benefits of tonsil hockey with thirty-four year-old female criminalists."
"Hmm…anyone in particular?"
"Only one in this cave." Catherine grinned wickedly and hooked her arm around Sara's neck once more.
At just that moment, the flashlight flickered and went out, plunging them into pitch dark. Sara released Catherine and felt around for the batteries.
"Leave it, we should probably save the energy for things that can't be done without light."
Catherine felt rather than saw Sara shake her head, "No- need it on."
"Why?"
Sara paused, "I'm a…I don't like the dark."
"You work the night shift."
"Night is not dark." Sara continued to feel around, "I'm fine if I can see, I just don't like the complete dark."
A realization struck Catherine and she stilled the brunette's hand with her own, "You mean you're afraid of it," she said, her voice low and cautious.
"No." Sara said defensively.
"Sara…" Catherine's voice was compassionate.
"Fine." Sara relented, "I really don't like the dark."
"Why? Don't tell me you were one of those kids whose parents locked them in basements or closets when they went out."
Sara stiffened and tried to pull away.
Catherine tightened her grip. "Wait, Sara…are you serious?"
"Crawl space, actually. Sorry if it's too unoriginal for you," she said bitterly.
The brunette jumped when she felt a light touch on her face, "Baby…"
Sara allowed herself to lean into the touch and find comfort in the voice.
Comprehension dawned in the redhead's mind, "That's why you hate the domestic violence cases."
Sara nodded, "I just…don't want anyone else to get hurt."
Catherine found Sara's lips with her fingers but quickly covered them with her own.
Sara kissed her for a moment, but then pulled back, "So…can I turn on the light now?"
Catherine pulled Sara down so that their foreheads touched and she shook her head, "Kiss me."
Sara tried to move away, her heart beating faster, "Cath…"
"Sara." The tone of Catherine's voice froze the brunette in place. Slowly, the older woman moved her hand up Sara's neck to cradle her face, "Sara, close your eyes," she whispered.
Sara shuddered at the low sound.
"Are they closed?"
Sara nodded.
Catherine brought her face down so that she could kiss both fluttering eyelids, "Now, breath. Keep your eyes closed, and breath."
They sat for several minutes like this until Sara's breathing evened out. Catherine leaned in even closer, "Now," she whispered huskily, "kiss me."
The brunette complied without question.
Catherine pulled back and sighed, "This sucks."
"When does being trapped with a limited oxygen supply not suck?" Sara asked, but she was smiling.
"Not that. I mean, we've been in here for what? Fifteen hours?"
Sara looked at her watch; it was nearly noon, "Twelve and a half."
"Fine. Twelve and a half hours. And I'll admit, we've found a really great way to pass the time-"
Sara flicked on the flashlight and held it to her face like a microphone, "Thank you, a thank you very much." she grinned.
Catherine took her hand and returned the content expression, "But kissing only gets you so far. We better get rescued soon. If we were on a bed, I'm sure I could ignore the pain better. Remind me, the next time someone tries to blow us up, I should bring an air mattress and not get crushed in the debris."
"What makes you think we'd be going farther if you could move your legs and the side of my face didn't feel like a bruised peach? I'll have you know-I'm not a sex on the first date kind of gal."
Catherine laughed, "I never thought you were, babe. But I think that twelve and a half hours counts more than dinner and a movie- it's at least two dates, more like three. And I know plenty of respectable women who have sex on the third date."
"I'll admit to sex on a third date."
"So see? If I weren't virtually paralyzed…"
"No, we still wouldn't. My first time with anyone is not going to be in a cave. Besides, what if our rescue party arrived and discovered us…in flagrante?"
Catherine howled, "Warrick would probably just laugh and ask if we wanted them to just put the rocks back. Nick would turn six shades of red!" she cackled, "Grissom would have a fit!"
Sara went rigid at the mention of the man's name, and she held her breath.
"Sara?"
"Nothing."
Catherine felt her stomach plummet, "Are you…" she gulped, "are you in love with Gil?"
Sara shook her head, "No. I was once, but that was a long time ago."
Catherine nodded, "So was I."