Chapter 10

Driving and Calling

As the night progressed, the weather cooled. The pair had laid in silence staring at the heavens for quite a while. Catherine moved closer to Sara and placed her head on the younger woman's chest. Immediately Sara moved one of her arms to hold Catherine closer to her, while her other arm came up to run her fingers through the silky blonde hair in front of her. Catherine sighed contently at the feeling of Sara's fingers softly running through her hair. She could hear Sara's heart beating in her chest, and felt the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. Soon enough, Catherine had been lulled to sleep. She felt safe in Sara's arms. As Sara felt Catherine's breathing become steady, she smiled and kissed the blonde lightly, before allowing sleep to take over her as well.

***

As sunlight fell over Catherine she tried to snuggle into her pillow. 'This doesn't feel like my pillow' she thought, 'and, it doesn't smell like it either.'

Sara had been awake for a little while, and smiled down at Catherine who had finally awoken and was trying to bury her face into the brunette's stomach.

"Good morning." Sara said with a smile.

'Ok. This is evidently not my pillow.' Catherine thought to herself, as she looked up into the chocolate eyes of Sara Sidle. "Good morning to you." Catherine said with a grin.

"I thought you might just stay asleep forever. I was wondering when you were gonna come round" Sara said softly.

"Hmmm…I'm not much of a morning person."

"Neither am I. But when I get to wake up to Catherine Willows, I don't mind at all. Especially not if I get to be your pillow." Sara said with a grin.

Catherine groaned "I didn't use you as a human pillow the entire night did I?"

Sara laughed, "yeah you did. Really, I don't mind though. I quite enjoy you nuzzling into me when you wake up."

Catherine blushed lightly "I thought you were my pillow, hence I was trying to shield my eyes from the light. You know, it's a bit scary when your pillow talks to you."

Sara just laughed at Catherine. "Now who's cute when they blush" she said with a smile. "Although, I just think you're cute all the time."

Catherine tried to hide her blush by burying her head into Sara's chest. But Sara just laughed at her. "Really, you're just too cute for words." Sara said leaning down and kissing the blonde on the head.

***

The two lay there for a little longer before Catherine spoke up once more. "You think we should get moving?" she asked.

"Mmm, I guess so." Sara replied. "Although, I have no real reason to leave. I've got a week off. So, I'm not going back to work until then."

"You could always spend some time with me. After all, you did promise me a date last night."

"I guess we'd better go then. Hit the road and we can organise a time to go out together." Sara replied.

"I could do with some time off." Catherine said as she stood up and dusted off the sand from their night on the beach.

Sara stood up as well and tried in vain to brush the sand off her. "When was the last time you had time off?" she asked.

"Mmm, it's been so long I don't remember." Catherine said with a laugh. "Maybe I should call Grissom and ask for a week off."

"The poor guy will totally flip."

"Why's that?" Catherine asked confused.

"Well, if you take time off as well, he'll have lost his two leading ladies." Sara replied.

Catherine laughed "He's a big boy. I'm sure he can play with his bugs without the two of us around."

Sara grasped Catherine's hand as they walked back to Catherine's car. "Maybe you should take some time off." She said.

"You think so?" Catherine asked.

"Why not? You said yourself you needed a break. Also, I think it might be easier for us if we start dating away from work. You know…get a feeling for each other out of the crime lab." Sara said.

Catherine reached over and pinched Sara's backside. "Yeah, I think I'd rather get a feel of you outside the lab."

"That's not quite what I meant." Sara laughed and turned Catherine so they were facing each other. "Although, I do like the way your mind works." Sara grabbed Catherine round the waist and pulled her into her. She crushed her lips against the blonde's, holding onto Catherine's backside to keep her in place. Before Catherine could deepen the kiss, Sara had broken it and kept walking. "C'mon."

Catherine grumbled, and caught up. "Now I am definitely calling Grissom."

Sara laughed at her. "How about you call and I drive?" she asked.

"Sounds good. You prefer to drive don't you?"

"Yep. So long as you don't mind of course." Sara replied.

"Be my guest." Catherine said putting the keys in Sara's hand. "Maybe this way I can get some more sleep. My human pillow talking to me woke me up." She said with a smile.

"Oh yeah." Sara said. "Blame it all on me."

Catherine grinned at her. "Exactly." She replied as she opened the passenger side door and jumped in.

***

As Sara drove Catherine put in the call to Grissom. The phone rang for a while before Grissom finally picked it up.

"Grissom." Came the harsh voice from the other end of the line.

"Hey Griss, its Catherine."

"Hello Catherine." He said pleasantly. "Did you find Sara?"

"Yeah I did actually. I took your advice and tracked her down. She was at a beach of all places." Catherine finished.

"Yes, that doesn't surprise me. The bird will often fly far from its nest."

"Ahhh, right. Who said that then?" Catherine looked across at Sara who smiled at her.

"Grissom. That was an original."

"Oh, ok then. Well look, there's something I need to ask you."

"What can I do for you Catherine?" He asked.

"I need some time off Griss. About a week should do."

"Catherine." Grissom spluttered. "I'm already one CSI down. I don't think I can cope with two of you on leave at once. Can't you wait until Sara gets back?"

"No. I can't wait until Sara gets back Grissom. She needs this break, so I won't ask her to come back any earlier, and I need a break as well." She said sharply.

"But really Catherine. Why now? Are you sure you can't w…"

Catherine cut him off. "Look Grissom. I found Sara and she has a few issues to resolve, and also it is quite obvious that she needs someone to look after her. I have offered to be that someone, and so I hope that you will respect my decision to take some time off." Catherine finished.

Grissom softened. "Is Sara alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's driving at the moment."

"What do you mean she's driving?" He asked confused.

"I mean, Sara Sidle is driving my car at this current moment just so I can enjoy listening to your lovely voice." She finished sarcastically.

Sara looked at Catherine and called out "Hi Grissom!"

"Was that Sara?" He asked hurriedly.

"Yes it was. So, can I have some time off, or not?" Catherine asked. She was sick of listening to Grissom.

"I suppose if you are looking after Sara then I need to give you time off, don't I? So yes, you can have a week off. You can come back the same day as Sara, and um…call me if you need anything." He finished.

"Thanks Griss." She smiled at Sara and gave her a thumbs up signal.

"Oh and Catherine, I just wanted to ask you…"

"Sorry Gil. I can't hear you very well you're breaking up. I must be losing signal. I'll see you next week." She said and hung up before Grissom could ask her anything else.

Catherine turned to see Sara glance at her with her eyebrow raised.

"What!?" Catherine asked.

"Did you just pretend that you were losing signal?" Sara asked incredulously.

Catherine nodded. "Yes. I could just tell he was going to ask me about something that I would get dragged into an entire conversation about. I'm not in the mood." She replied.

"So you lied to him?"

Catherine shook her head. "No. Think about it as…saving oneself from the torture that is a Gil Grissom phone lecture."

Sara laughed at her. "He's really not that bad."

"I know." She replied. "It's just sometimes I really don't have the patience to listen to him blabber on about bugs or whatever." She said, as Sara pulled up at a stop light.

"But…" She began but was cut off by the blonde's lips on hers. Catherine kissed Sara passionately, and they only broke apart when angry car horns sounded behind them. "Oops." Sara said, putting her foot down and continuing the drive to Catherine's house.

***

Sara pulled up out the front of Catherine's house and killed the engine, before getting out. She got out and came around to Catherine's side, opening the door for her and helping her out.

"Thanks for driving me home." Catherine said as she gave Sara a quick hug.

"Thanks for finding me and professing your love for me." Sara countered.

"Touché" Catherine whispered.

Sara laughed and kissed the blonde on the nose. "You're too cute." She said.

"Mmm…well, how about that date you owe me?" Catherine asked with a smirk.

"Don't worry. I hadn't forgotten."

"Good." Catherine replied. "It would not end well for you if you'd forgotten about me already."

"I can only imagine" Sara replied. "How about I swing by tonight at about 8 o'clock." Sara asked.

"Sounds good. Where are we going?" Catherine asked curiously.

"I thought we'd go out to a little restaurant I know of." Sara smiled. "You'll love it, I promise, and the food is great too."

"Alright then. I'll see you tonight then." Catherine smiled and kissed Sara lightly before turning away and walking inside. "See you tonight Sara." She called over her shoulder.

"Yeah." Sara replied. "See you tonight."

Thankyou so much to everyone who has read this so far, and to those who are sticking with me. So, here you go…I got there just in time :) But once again I thank everyone for their patience and support, it means a lot to me. Please review and let me know what you think.