"So how many text messages did you send then?" Catherine queried Sara as she listened to her version of exactly how things at the crime scene had unfolded.

Sara was doing her best to keep her responses calm and succinct despite the inner turmoil she was feeling. The last thing she needed was to lose it while giving her statement to Catherine, although that would be far better than losing it while giving to IA should the need arise. "I don't know, six or seven. I tried both Grissom and Nick multiple times...I didn't have a lot of time." Of course, it could have been three or four, she wasn't completely sure.

"Six or seven text messages." Catherine's brow furrowed; she knew that Lindsey and her friends lived and died with the text message, even for teens who were adept, six or seven messages could take a little time; and one of the things she was trying to establish was the timeline of the events that led up to the shooting.

"You can check my phone if you don't believe me." There was a part of Sara that often wondered if Catherine would find some sort of satisfaction in finding some reason to see her permanently dismissed, but then she had to remind herself that although they didn't always see eye to eye, they weren't really enemies. Ecklie was really the only one Sara had to worry about these days with the way he seemed to be looking for a reason; but then Ecklie was an ass, he had his moments when he could be almost human, but at his core he really was an ass.

"Sara, we're on the same side here." Catherine arched a single brow and raised a hand as if to say 'down girl'. "I'm just trying to make sure that I have an accurate record of what you believe happened." She smiled at Sara with one of those smiles that put most people at ease; it wasn't patronizing, just genuinely kind.

Sara let out a breath she hadn't realized that she was holding and nodded. "I texted 9-1-1 to both of them; alternating between them really. I knew that Nick was closer so I started with him; I think I sent him four messages and Grissom three. I was afraid if I made a live call that he would shoot her." As it was, she had been afraid that the shooter would hear the keystrokes on her phone as she furiously typed the messages.

Catherine could see the anguish of the situation reflected in Sara's eyes, but this was an official interview, she couldn't interject her own emotions into it too much. "So what happened next?" She could just imagine that the next few seconds probably had felt like an eternity to Sara.

"I hadn't gotten a response; I'm not sure how much time had gone by at that point, a few minutes, 30 seconds, I don't know." Sara's brows were knit together as the images flashed through her mind. "I stood up and drew my gun...I told him that I was with LVPD and that he needed to put his gun down...he just laughed at me...he started to pull Sophia towards the door." Sara had a sort of glazed expression on her face as she tried to tell Catherine what had happened. "I aimed at his head..." She paused as she tried to remember exactly what had happened and when she spoke, there was a slight waver in her voice. "He pulled Sophia against him, his gun was against her ribs...he had her in a choke hold and he was using her as a shield." It was as if the images in her mind were moving in slow motion as things became crystal clear.

Catherine winced involuntarily. "What happened next?" She knew this had to be difficult for her coworker, hell if she'd been in Sara's position she would have been scared to death. She'd been attacked by a suspect at a scene herself and for a very long time it scared her to process a scene alone. Now she just made damn certain that the officer had actually cleared the scene.

"I wanted to shoot him...I had my finger on the trigger." Sara faltered for just a second. "He kept moving...If I'd shot at him, I would have hit Sophia..." Sara choked back a sob at the realization that she had done all that she could but it hadn't been enough; there wasn't anything that she could have done differently. "She was yelling at me to call for backup...but I already had...and then he just shot her." Sara's eyes widened at the horror of it all running through her mind. "The bastard just shot her with this smile on his face that looked like pure evil..." She considered that in another split second, she could have been shot too. "And then Nick shot him...three times I think...and that was it." Sara looked exhausted as she met Catherine's kind smile with her eyes.

"And that's when you administered first aid." Catherine concluded. The rest was pretty straightforward; the shooting details were really what they were after. She had no doubt in either Sara or Nick that if a gun was fired that it was justified.

"She said she thought she was going to die." Sara's face clouded. "I hope to hell that she's wrong." If for no other reason than the fact that Sophia had found a man that truly loved her in Alex Vartan; they all could hope to be so lucky as that. Her own love life was a haphazard string of events that didn't really amount to much substance; at least the sort of substance that she really longed for.

"Hey." Catherine reached across the table that was between them and put her hand over the top of Sara's. "She's a fighter; she may have pissed me the hell off a time or two, but she's a damn good cop and she was a damn good CSI; all of us are going to be pulling for her." That's just the way it was in the world of law enforcement; no matter what differences you had, you were all one big family when one of your own was injured.

Sara nodded and then let out a sad smile. "Catherine, I know you and I don't always get along, but I wanted to say that I think you're a damn good CSI." Life was too short to have regrets. As it was, she'd accumulated quite a few; the least she could do was to try and correct the ones she had some control over.

Catherine could appreciate the sentiment and she offered a smile in return. "Sara, you are too." They really didn't always see eye to eye, but maybe that was the nature of being strong intelligent women in an industry so dominated by men. There were bound to be clashes now and then, but she could certainly see that Sara was very good at what she did.

Sara didn't want this to become some sort of female bonding moment and she cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I suppose you need to take Nick's statement too." Not that is wasn't the truth, but it was a truth convenient for the moment. She just wanted this whole experience over sooner rather than later; as it was, she was going to have at least a few days of administrative leave until everything was clear to the powers that be.

Catherine nodded in understanding. "Yes, I do. You want to send him in for me?" She smiled as Sara got up from the table and headed towards the doorway. She hadn't expected the brunette CSI to turn to say something else.

"You're a good mother too, Catherine." With that Sara exited the room, relieved that she had gotten through what she'd been dreading. She really did believe that despite the turmoil in her personal life that Catherine was a far better mother than hers had been; far better than she expected that she'd ever be herself. Not that she was looking for that in her future at all; right now, keeping things on a steady even keel seemed to be more than enough.