Chapter 6

Daughter's Blessing

Catherine left the lab as soon as shift had finished. Even when Grissom tried to talk to her before she departed, Catherine didn't stop. She merely smiled and waved at a very confused Grissom, and continued on her way to the car park. When she reached her Tahoe she jumped in the front seat, closed the door and laid her head on the steering wheel. After a few minutes she sat upright with her head against the headrest. 'I've got to go home, shower and get some rest before Lindsey comes home.' Catherine thought to herself. With that thought at the foremost in her mind, she turned on the ignition and drove out of the parking lot, heading for home.

A short while later Catherine arrived home. She pulled up in her driveway, turning off the engine she gathered her things and headed inside. Catherine walked up the path to the front door and unlocked it, walking into her home and closing the door. She immediately walked over to the couch and flopped down on it. 'It has been such a long day' she thought, and closed her eyes.

Catherine awoke to the sound of someone coming in the front door. She rubbed her eyes, and looked to the clock 'I must've fallen asleep. Lindsey will be home soon' she thought. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair just as Lindsey's head appeared in the doorway.

"Hey mom, I didn't wake you, did I?" Lindsey asked.

"No sweetie…" Catherine smiled. "How was school?"

"Ahhh, you know!" Lindsey waved her hand, "boring and totally pointless." She smiled sweetly, "but…I think there's a boy who likes me." Lindsey winked.

"No boys!" Catherine said. Lindsey just laughed.

"Chill mom, I was only kidding…just keeping you on your toes." She smiled at her mother.

"Very funny! Hilarious in fact." Catherine stated a little more violently than she intended.

"Bad day, huh?" Asked Lindsey.

"Why do you ask? Actually don't answer that…you'll probably just tell me you're not blind." Catherine looked to her daughter and saw the look of confusion. "Sorry, Uncle Greg just asked me the same question today…that was the answer he gave me for how he could tell it was an off day."

"Anything you wanna talk about?" Lindsey asked. "I hear it helps...to talk, I mean."

"Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you about…but I don't really know how." Catherine started.

"Try asking a question" Lindsey grinned and sat down next to her mother.

Catherine ruffled her daughter's hair and laughed, "Yeah, that's probably a sensible way to go about it, huh?"

Lindsey nodded. "Yep, so shoot…what did ya wanna ask me?" Catherine bit her lip and looked at Lindsey. "Come on mom, I'm sure I'm old enough to deal with whatever it is you want to talk about." Lindsey smiled encouragingly at Catherine.

"Well…" Catherine began. "Lindsey do you remember Sara?"

Lindsey looked puzzled. "Yeah, course I do. You two work together, why what's up? I didn't really think Sara would be a reason for a deep and meaningful."

"What do you think of her?" Catherine asked a little too quickly.

Lindsey grinned. She'd put all the pieces together a long time ago. "I like her. She's incredibly smart, you know?" Catherine nodded. "She's pretty and she's fun too…you know she's one of the few people who actually treats me as an adult? She took the time to explain things to me, and to answer all my questions." Lindsey watched as a smile spread its way across Catherine's face. "Oh, and there's one more thing…"

"What's that?" Catherine asked. She was curious as to why her daughter hadn't just told her straight away.

"I happen to know that you are smitten with her." Lindsey pronounced proudly.

Catherine's jaw dropped. "I'm what? I don't think you know what you're talking about!" Catherine tried unconvincingly.

"Oh come off it mom! Denial is SO not cute on you" Lindsey grinned at the look she received from her mother. "Besides, you'd have to be blind not to see it" Lindsey grinned again. "So therefore, I have no objection if you want to date her. In fact, it could be a HUGE bonus!"

"I…what? Hang on a sec Linds, slow this down for me. You knew I had a thing for Sara? How could you possibly know? And, what is this 'bonus'?" Catherine asked in a rush.

"Mom, you are SO funny sometimes!" Lindsey laughed and Catherine scowled at her. "Well, like I said it was pretty obvious you liked Sara. Your bad days were always if Sara was away or if you had a fight. Your good days were if you were working together or if 'Sara did this…' or 'Sara did that…'! I'm a teenager and you sound exactly like my love struck friends. Mind you, at least they have an excuse because they're teenagers. You…" Lindsey grinned pointing at Catherine "are obviously NOT a teenager!"

Catherine feigned hurt. "Ouch Linds…you're breaking my heart here. So what is this 'bonus' with me dating Sara then?"

"There's actually a couple of bonuses." Catherine raised an eyebrow. "For one thing there will be no more of your loser boyfriends coming around."

"LINDSEY!" Catherine chastised.

"I know, I know…but seriously some of them were…" Lindsey caught the look on her mother's face. "Never mind!" she huffed, before suddenly realising her second reason and beaming. "The other reason is that Sara can actually help me with my homework."

Catherine laughed at this statement. "You mean you'd actually do it without me having to nag you all the time if Sara was around?"

Lindsey nodded. "Course, I like Sara." She beamed.

"I'd better go get Sara now then! Anything that can get my daughter to willing do her homework has got to be a blessing." She joked. Both mother and daughter were laughing together. When the laughter had subsided Catherine asked seriously "you really don't mind if I get involved with Sara?"

Lindsey looked at her mother. "Do you love her?" Catherine nodded. "Will she make you happy?" Catherine nodded again. "Then that's all I need to hear. Go for it! So long as you're happy, that's all I care about." Lindsey smiled cheekily. "Now, I'm going upstairs to play some exceedingly loud music in my bedroom…so, you go find Sara and ask her out" Lindsey grinned and ran off upstairs before Catherine could argue with her.

'When did my daughter grow up so much and become so knowledgeable?' Catherine thought to herself before collecting her belongings and heading out the door to find Sara. Catherine just prayed that Sara would be at the beach Greg had told her about.

Catherine had been driving for ages and she was relieved to finally be pulling into the car park at the beach Greg had suggested. She parked the car and got out closing and locking the car behind her. She began to walk towards the beach with only one thought in mind 'I hope Sara's here. I don't know what I'll do if she's not.'

Catherine followed a short sandy path down onto the beach. The path was lined with bushes which obscured her view, and so she hurried down the path and only stopped when she reached the open sand. She glanced to the left and to the right. The blonde thought she saw a lump lying on the sand. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she managed to discern the shape of a person lying on the sand. She decided against yelling out. Whether it was Sara or just a stranger, she didn't want to startle them or for Sara to run. They needed to talk, and they could hardly do that if Sara was running off down the beach. Instead Catherine decided to quietly walk to the person lying upon the sand.

As Catherine got closer she began to see more features of the person on the sand. Catherine could now tell the person was definitely female. They also appeared to be a brunette and her heart leapt at the possibility of it actually being Sara. Suddenly the happiness which had moments ago engulfed her, left. The person wasn't moving. What if something had happened and she was about to find Sara lying dead on the sand, then what would she do?

By now Catherine was only a few paces away and was relieved to see that the person on the sand was merely asleep. They were clearly breathing and to Catherine's amazement, the person was also clearly Sara.

"Sara…" Catherine whispered as she sat down next to the sleeping form. She removed a strand of brown hair from the sleeping woman's face and tucked it behind her ear. Catherine leant forward and placed a light kiss on Sara's forehead. She felt Sara stirring and was soon looking in to chocolate brown eyes.

Well, this is the chapter I promised. Hope you all like it, please leave some reviews for me :) No idea when I'll get to update next, but I do hope it's soon. Sorry for the bit of a cliff hanger too ;)