Chapter 9
Spending time with Lindsey was just what Catherine needed after a day like that. Trying to work out the differences between her and Sara turned out to be more difficult and emotionally draining than the blonde had expected.
She hoped that she would be able to keep her temper in check around the brunette. The blonde would have to find another way of relieving her stress if their friendship was going to work this time.
Catherine had enjoyed spending the morning with the other woman. When they didn't fight and were relaxed they got along very nicely. The brunette had surprised Catherine with her sometimes dry humor. Catherine hadn't expected Sara to be so much fun to be around.
I guess it does make a difference; listening to Sara instead of seeing what I want to see.
The blonde was looking forward to having dinner with her sister and daughter. It was always more pleasant than when it was only her and Lindsey.
After Eddie was killed the Willows women's relationships had started to go downhill. The first couple of months Catherine had been walking on egg shells around Lindsey, like the rest of her family, and even the kids and parents from Lindsey's school.
Lindsey was struggling with her emotions and the people in her life didn't know how to relate, which made it worse. Catherine had soon found that she was the easy target for the youngest Willows to relieve all those troubling feelings on. The worst part was that the blonde believed that she deserved everything her daughter threw her way.
The sweet girl from before the accident had disappeared that night in the car. Catherine didn't how to help the confused and angry girl. Lindsey didn't know how to let people help her, or even how to explain what was wrong. That was until she had found Sara that night in the lab.
All of this combined had led to misplaced anger mostly aimed at her mom. They ended up shouting over minor things, and most of the time the blonde didn't know what had caused the particular fights.
It had been hard to anticipate the mood changes in Lindsey. Nancy had been subjected to attitude from the girl, but it never got to the same extreme as with her sister. Problems at school had started to rear their ugly head as the other kids' heard about Eddie on the news. The children were giving the young Willows grief about her father, and the young blonde had started reacting by lashing out.
Catherine didn't know how to help her daughter. Her sister was being extremely supportive and was helping by trying to give the stability that had been lacking in Lindsey's life. It didn't change the fact that the youngest Willows had almost died and had lost her father.
Lily on the other hand only criticized her daughter at any chance she got; mostly over how bad a mother she believed Catherine was.
In the last 6 months it had gotten so bad with her mom that Catherine had started to avoid Lily. Only having the older woman watch Lindsey when the blonde had no other choice.
After this weekend the blonde had realized that the negativity Lily subjected Lindsey to was indeed affecting the young girl more than Catherine had first believed. She now knew that she had to be the one to open up to her daughter to make it better. There would be no more holding back, Lindsey deserved to be told the truth and treated as a thinking and feeling member of their family.
The fighting and yelling was making the blonde crazy, but she had been seeing some improvement in the short time that Lindsey had spent with Sara.
Catherine had a hard time imagining how working on a car with the brooding brunette could help her daughter. Not that she hadn't enjoyed her own time with Sara; she was just not ready to admit how much. How a woman that was so hard to read and so closed off, could be so good at helping her daughter was a mystery to the older woman.
Lindsey was in a better mood than last night when Catherine dropped her off at Nancy's. The girl was now happily talking about the day spent in the presence of the brunette. Much to the blonde's surprise they had apparently started working on a car.
Catherine was even more surprised when her daughter started talking about the homework help that Sara had freely offered to Lindsey. The blonde had not expected the younger CSI to give her free time so graciously, especially when the brunette had so little. Cam had told her at the garage, but Catherine hadn't believed it at the time. Coming from her very excited daughter she had no choice but believe the words, and judging by the look on the young Willows face her Saturday had been wonderful.
Nancy had done a great job of drawing the girl out of her shell and Catherine had been grateful to get to spend a night in the presence of a happy and bubbly Lindsey.
After dinner Lindsey wanted to practice her speech for the next day one last time. The blonde was at a loss for words as her daughter had talked about why she had chosen to do her project about engines. Catherine was stunned to learn how much the two Saturday's Lindsey had spent with Sara had meant. She knew that her daughter had enjoyed the time, but not that it had in fact inspired the girl.
This day was improving by the minute, and Catherine was smiling brightly when she walked into the lab that night. The blonde was looking forward to work, but even more to starting on this new path with the brunette. Hopefully now that the older woman was this determined to make it work, she would be able to draw the other CSI out of the shell Catherine had noticed.
Sara had also enjoyed the time spent with the blonde, though the younger woman was two hours early for work. If for nothing else she had to make sure the folders were returned to their rightful place before Grissom found a new reason to yell.
The younger woman wanted to give Catherine that second change they had talked about, but that didn't stop her fear of trusting the blonde.
Trust had never come easily to the brunette and her childhood had not improved her quiet tendencies. Sara had become even more withdrawn as her parents had become worse. The wonderful Carolyn had opened the door, but the younger woman was always guarded.
Catherine had previously used every bit of information she had been able to get her hand on to provoke and belittle the brunette in front of the other CSI's. That didn't exactly instill trust or openness.
It was so much easier to open up to Lindsey. The girl didn't judge or even blame the brunette for not solving Eddie's case like Catherine. Children weren't prone to hiding behind appropriate behavior and usually said the truth as they saw it.
Sara wanted to give the blonde a second chance and she would try. Sometimes it was likely to become too much, which would result in the younger woman retreating into her shell. It was safer and easier to keep people at arms length; Sara wouldn't risk getting her heart broken.
Work that night had been a little awkward for the both of them. It was never easy putting the past behind and starting over, but they were both willing.
Grissom was planning on keeping the two women apart the next three nights. He wanted to be sure that there were no more blow ups at the lab. Ecklie was on the war path. Someone had blabbered to the lab director, ensuring that the balding man had decided to be around to catch Sara. That way the Ecklie would finally be able to fire the brunette.
Grissom knew that the lab director had, had it in for Sara from day one. He just didn't know why the other man disliked the brunette.
Ecklie had hoped that when Holly was killed it would have reflected badly on Grissom. It seemed like it had been working to the balding man's advantage until Sara arrived. The brunette had been a main character in the take down of the dirty judge. Showing Grissom and his team in a good light to the sheriff.
The lab director believed that Sara was a thorn in his side. Losing him, on several occasions, his promotions. What he didn't understand is that he himself was the cause of his lack in promotions.
Ecklie would happily spend time hanging around the lab at night, trying to find a reason to have the brunette fired. He had so far collected quite the folder for the young female CSI. Now he only needed the last damning piece before he could take it to the Under Sheriff.
The lab director wished that he had been there the night before to hear the fight that was all over the lab grape vine.
Before the night shift supervisor handed out that night's assignments he wanted to make it clear that Ecklie was sneaking around.
"I don't want any fighting," looking sternly at the two female CSI's. "That means you two. If Ecklie finds anything not up to protocol he'll take it straight to the Under Sheriff. And my hands will be tied."
Grissom looked at all the CSI's. One after the other, making sure that they all understood the severity of the lab director's snooping around.
Handing out the three assignment slips that had come in so far.
"Catherine, Nick. You're got two DB's. At first sight it looks like a hit and run."
Turning to Warrick, Grissom continued.
"Warrick you got an armed robbery gone wrong. The owner had a shotgun under the register. The robber is on the way to hospital."
Gil smiled as he looked at the brunette.
"Sara you got a suspicious circs at the Venetian."
The younger woman looked at her mentor with a blank stare. Guess this is where it starts, but it's better than a decomp.
The brunette turned to leave; there was no reason to hang around when Grissom was clearly still on the older woman's side.
"Sara wait up. I want you to take Greg. He has expressed his interest in being a CSI. I was planning on having you train him and you could start tonight."
The younger woman had turned around as Gil called her name. She was now met by the bright smile of the exited Greg. The DNA tech was almost jumping he was so excited.
The spiky haired man was drawing the attention of the CSI's in the break room with his exuberant behavior. Both Warrick and Nick missed the sad expression in the brunette's eyes when Grissom had handed her a rookie case.
Catherine on the other hand had caught the glimpse that the younger woman was quick to hide. The blonde had also seen the brightness in Sara's eyes when Gil had told them that she would be responsible for young man's training. The blonde didn't have the time or possibility of talking to Sara. That would have to wait to later.
On the way out Catherine sent the brunette a text message hoping that their agreement of a new chance would hold up at the light of a new work day.
Meet me 4 breakfast. I'll buy the coffee.
Greg couldn't sit still on their way to the Venetian. He was bouncing around so much that it started to get on the brunette's nerves.
"Could you sit still for a minute?" Sara growled at the young man. He looked pleadingly at his friend.
"But Sara, this is so exiting. I get to process a scene."
The spiky haired lab tech was carrying on like it was the biggest thing in the world. To him that was a close description of what the lab tech was feeling at that moment. Not only did Grissom allow him to train to be a CSI. No the supervisor had appointed Sara as his teacher. The young man was ecstatic of the prospect of the brunette teaching him all the things the CSI knew.
Sara might have talked a little harsh to her friend, but inside she was beaming with pride. Grissom thought she was capable of training a new CSI. The brunette knew that the other CSI's would all pitch in to teach Greg about their specialties, but Gil had chosen her and not Catherine.
"Greg, you know that this could very well be a natural death, right?"
Sara didn't want to ruin the great mood the young man was in.
"Yeah, but it could also be something like a black widow style."
He looked at the brunette with his big puppy eyes. How was Sara supposed to react with anything other than a big grin?
A lot of these suspicious circs at the casinos were the employees covering their backs. The casino owners wouldn't blink an eye at firing an employee that opened them up for a civil suit. Therefore every time a staff member found a dead body the police were called. It was then left up to the Crime Lab to determine what had happened.
It turned out that Sara had been right. The old man had died of a heart attack while he was sleeping. It had been a relative slow night for the CSI's and Sara's help hadn't been needed for another case. The brunette and Greg had stayed in the hotel room going through how to process a real murder. Sara let the DNA tech try to find the trace evidence that in an ordinary case would be needed.
Greg had not noticed all the evidence, far from it in fact, but that was all part of the learning process. The young man got to practice dusting for prints and tape lifting them. Sara had him collect more than 200 prints from the room to make sure he would get a usable print every time. Greg had stopped counting at 200, so he wasn't sure how many he had actually collected, but a fair share had not been usable in court.
The brunette had chosen not to expose the DNA tech to an autopsy on his first night in the field. She despised what Brass and Grissom had done to Holly on the young woman's first day. Sara believed that it was best to ease a new CSI into working with dead people. Greg had therefore not been included in the processing of their dead man.
The grave shift supervisor might have a mean streak and liked to scare of the potential CSI's, but the strong headed brunette would make sure that nothing like that happened to Greg.
The spiky haired blonde knew the theory and technique behind most of the procedures. Now he had to learn to combine what he knew with reality. Sara wanted to use the night to see how well the young man handled the change in venue.
The usual carefree lab tech had been serious and focused the entire time. From the time they stepped into the casino to the time they arrived back at the lab four hours later. When they were finally back at the lab, Greg's adrenaline had crashed and he had slumped onto the couch in a state of almost asleep.
It wasn't even close to the end of shift, but Sara thought she let Greg get some rest before he had to be back at the DNA lab for the rest of the night. The brunette had some of her open cases she had to go over anyway. And of course she had breakfast plans with Catherine after shift.
These breakfast plans they had a couple of times a week were becoming an important part of the brunette's life. Sara wouldn't want to miss this opportunity to be alone with the older woman.
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