I still don't own them but I have included my own people but mostly in the following chapters.

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Chapter 3

By the end of their breakfast Lindsey hadn't been able to convince her mom to let her go with Sara, but over the next weeks Lindsey kept pleading until Catherine finally gave in and agreed to talk to Sara about the possibility of Lindsey going to the garage.

"Look Linds I only agreed to talk to her, I didn't say that you could go."

"Yeah I heard you mom, but that does mean that the chance of me actually going more than doubled. So I'll take my chances with you talking to Sara, because she is so cool you won't be able to find a reason to say no."

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During those weeks Lindsey was pleading with Catherine, the blonde had made a real effort to be nicer to Sara and smile at her. At first Sara had thought that it was just a new way for Catherine to hurt her. To get the brunette to open up and then crush her when she started trusting Catherine. Sara wasn't all that comfortable being in the same room as the older woman, but she knew that if she was ever going to take Lindsey with her to Cam's she would need to actually talk to Catherine. Plus she was enjoying them not fighting all of the time.

One night the two of them could be found alone on a break during a slow shift.

"Lindsey can't stop talking about you, or how you promised to teach her about cars and engines." Catherine stated.

At this Sara's expression became one of discomfort and uncertainty, but she allowed the blonde to continue, "Please don't make promises you don't intend to keep, she's had enough of that with her father and my mom. Every time her heart was broken I had to find a way to put it back together again." At this Catherine sighed and looked closely at Sara before she kept going, "We're just getting things back to somewhat normal after Eddie's death; so please don't promise Lindsey things and then back out at the last minute, because I'm not sure how to fix her heart this time. She is more excited than I have seen her with any of Eddie's plans."

Sara just held up her hand to try and stop the flood of words coming from the other woman.

"Catherine, I always keep my promises. If I'm not sure, I don't promise."

The younger CSI was unsure where this was coming from, but she instinctively knew that she had to reassure Catherine that she wouldn't back down. Sara wasn't even sure if this was actually about Lindsey, or if Catherine had seen too much and wanted to protect both her daughter and herself against the pain that comes with disappointment.

"Catherine I would never do anything to hurt Lindsey, and taking her to the garage to work with cars was just to give her the same kind of outlet I was given when I was a teenager. It's okay if you're not comfortable having Lindsey come with me, and I can talk to her so you don't have to be the bad guy here. She was just really excited when she was helping me with the car when you had to bring her in, and she reminded me of me when I was young. Working on cars helped me a lot."

Sara kept on going hoping to convince Catherine that going to the garage was a good idea, and that it could help Lindsey deal with her father's death.

She was so concentrated about finding the right words to convince the blonde that she hadn't noticed the smile forming on both off their lips.

"First of all, there is no way that I can say no to Lindsey, and not come out as the bad guy no matter how the news is delivered to my daughter." Catherine was smiling and looking at a very nervous Sara. "Secondly, you can take her, but I want to meet this friend of yours when you go."

Sara's nervousness disappeared as she heard this, and a grin formed on her lips that touched the corners of her eyes, which was not something Catherine had ever had the pleasure of seeing before. Sara is so beautiful when she smiles like that...great Catherine where did that come from?

Sara couldn't contain herself. "I have next weekend off, and had actually already planned on spending it tinkering on some car. So it would not be a problem bringing Lindsey along, and you can meet Cam before we start."

"Wow, I didn't expect it to be this soon, but Linds will be ecstatic. If you give me the address and time I will drop her off and then I can meet your friend."

"That should leave us enough time to find an old wreck we can work on." Sara was practically beaming at this point. She loved talking and thinking about cars. They had been her only real joy the first two years in Las Vegas after she left San Francisco and Emily behind.

"What? You're going to find a car for Lindsey? Does that mean that it will be her car? Why can't she just help with yours?"

"Catherine, you're starting to sound like your daughter. Asking tons of questions giving me no time to answer." Sara smiled as Catherine looked somewhat sheepish.

"First off, I don't have a car that I'm working on at this point; I am usually lending a hand on whatever Cam's working on at the time or general things in the garage. If you don't want to I can keep the car. I just thought Lindsey would have more fun if she was working on her own car. When it's done, she can sell it or keep it till she gets her permit. I did that with my first car."

She had been shipped around for the last 6 months from one foster family to another after her mother had killed her father when her case worker had placed her with Carolyn. At that point Sara hadn't expected anything but to be shipped off in the next week; however, Carolyn had been different than the other foster parents.

Sara was acting out and she knew she hadn't been easy to get along with and it had taken her two months to say more than two words to Carolyn. To Sara's surprise Carolyn hadn't given up on her like Sara had expected when she was placed there.

Carolyn had, had foster kids before and she knew she was being tested. She had not wanted to be another in a long line of adults that let the young girl down so when Sara had started talking she had introduced her to Henry. A friend of Carolyn's that owned a garage nearby. He was willing to let Sara let out some of her frustrations by working in his shop.

It had taken a long time before Sara had trusted Henry enough to spend any real time with him, but Carolyn and Henry had saved her life. Sara just didn't know it at the time, but that placement had been the turning point in her life.

"But Sara I can't afford to buy a car, or the parts, or for that matter having it stored until she can drive."

At this Catherine was looking embarrassed that she couldn't give that to her daughter, but things were tight and there was no way she could find that kind of money.

"The car itself won't cost anything. Cam can get these old cars for free, because people know what she can do with an old car, and they don't want to spend the time or money themselves. If Lindsey is willing to do the work the parts won't cost her anything either, and the storage we can talk about when it is finished."

Sara was looking extremely smug at this point. She knew there was no way the blonde would be able to say no now.

"I'm not stupid Sara. I know that the expenses for fixing an old car aren't cheap and that Lindsey working on "her" car can't pay for that."

"Uh, I don't think you're stupid, quite the opposite actually. And I don't mean to offend you, but that was the deal Henry made with me when I first started so I'm just carrying on with tradition. It's okay I can keep the car as mine and Lindsey won't have to know any of this."

Sara was backpedaling as fast as she could and her smile had vanished as the older CSI started raising her voice. She was sure the blonde was getting ready to yell at her. I should have known better, the smiling and friendliness with Catherine was a phase and we are right back to yelling and fighting. Now Sara was hoping that Catherine let Lindsey join her, but Sara was not taking any chances. There is no reason to get your hopes up Sidle, only to have them crushed again.

Catherine couldn't make sense of the myriad of emotions she saw crossing Sara's eyes. All the emotions disappeared as fast as they had come and Sara's eyes returned to unreadable; as unreadable as they had been since the day the younger woman had joined the team. Sara's changed from smiling to indifferent and started back peddling on her offer but why? I mean I didn't yell at her, yes I raised my voice, but only slightly and it is not like how used to be.

Catherine didn't know why, but she didn't like the change in Sara's expression and she wanted the smile back in Sara's eyes.

"Sara, I know that, but I can't let you buy my daughter a car and the needed parts."

At this Sara breathed a sigh of relief; the blonde was not planning on yelling at her and it sounded like she was still willing to let Lindsey come along. Catherine might not have changed her mind yet and Sara really wanted to get out of there before it happened, so she hurriedly said to meet her at 10am and gave Catherine the address for the garage and left the room.

Catherine was left with a puzzled expression on her face and didn't really know why Sara had left as if the building was on fire, but again pushed aside that thought for later. There was nothing Catherine could do about it anyway even if she wanted to.