I'm not entirely happy about this chapter but I haven't been able to get it just right . I hope it's not too bad.

Chapter 14

It had taken several hours before Sara and Emily had gotten off the floor. In the last hour or so Sara had started talking to Mrs. Sorensen. Arrangements for Emily to return to Las Vegas with Sara would have to be made.

The CSI was on good standing with DCSF and Samantha had appointed Sidle as Emily's guardian in case of her death. It would be possible for the brunette to take the young girl home. They would, however, have to appear in court in 6 months to establish permanent guardianship. Before that DCSF would do regular follow-ups and the judge would decide based on DCSF's reports and recommendations. Causing Sara's life to be under scrutiny, but the CSI considered it a small price to pay for Emily's comfort.

The young girl was refusing to let go of the brunette even for a minute. The cast on Emily's left arm was chafing Sara's neck. It was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Sara wasn't about to let go of the blonde because of a little pain. Not when the girl so clearly needed the close contact. At least by now Emily wasn't holding on in a death grip.

Still teary eyed the blonde leaned slightly back to look at the woman.

"I wanna go home."

Before Sara answered, she looked over at the old woman, who silently nodded. They were free to go. Sara would have to sign some papers, but they wouldn't be ready until the morning.
The brunette stood up, without asking the CSI knew that Emily wouldn't want to let go.
Gently shifting the young girl, so she was supported by the brunette's hip and arm. They headed to the door before Patricia handed Sara her card.

Emily and Sara came to an agreement getting into the cab. The blonde would sit by herself holding onto the CSI's hand. They couldn't go to Samantha's house. Sara didn't have a key. What was the point when the brunette lived in Vegas?

They could get into the house the next day. For the night though they would have to settle for a hotel room. However, Emily would be more comfortable in her own home.

Sara was exhausted. Not that the brunette hadn't been up for much longer time before, but this day had been especially hard. The CSI's emotions had been all over the place. Anyone would have been exhausted by that kind of day.

It wasn't until they were both comfortably in the hotel room that Sara noticed how hungry she was. The CSI had forgotten all about food when Judy had handed her the note.
Before that the brunette hadn't had an opportunity to eat for most of her shift. Leaving Sara with a grumbling stomach. Assuming that the young girl probably hadn't eaten much since the accident. Sara knew that Emily had a hard time stomaching food when upset.

Clinging to the brunette's left hand for all she was worth. Emily had broken her left arm in two places, but had otherwise escaped the accident without much physical damage.

When Sara had called for room service the CSI had convinced the other person to bring a couple of plastic trash bags and some rubber bands. While on the phone, Emily had quietly asked the brunette for a pen to write on the cast. Sara was lucky enough that the hotel employee had seen them come in and volunteered to bring permanent markers in the colors he could find.

Sara had made a deal with the blonde. After they had eaten Emily would get a bath and then the brunette would sign the cast.

Putting the trash bag over the cast and securing it was easier than Sara remembered. Of course this time it wasn't her own arm the brunette had to wrap. The last time the CSI had, had a broken arm was when she had first moved in with Carolyn. It had been easier that time than all the previously times the brunette had worn a cast. Carolyn had offered to help, but Sara had stubbornly refused every time. All the other times before no one had been there, or even cared to help.

Sara would make sure that this little girl knew she was loved. That had been all the brunette had longed for as a child.

Emily was a resilient girl. It didn't mean that everything was fine, but Sara was sure that they would get there eventually. The proof came when the CSI got a cautious smile out of the young girl. Nothing much, but it was a start.

The bath time had turned out to be more healing than both of them had expected. The brunette had gotten Emily to experiment with placing the girl's left arm in the water to see it float up to the surface. That had gotten the blonde's attention.
After several tries the young girl was softly laughing along with Sara. It didn't last long though, but for a moment they both forgot what had happened.

Sara didn't have any alternative for the girl's clothes, but the brunette let Emily borrow one of the clean shirts from the CSI's bag.
Emily like her mother was of slight build and the shirt was one of Sara's looser ones. This resulted in the shirt being more like a dress, which was fitting as the blonde needed it for sleeping in.

The brunette was in a desperate need of a shower to wash off the day's events. But that would have to wait till she got Emily to sleep. At the moment the CSI was keeping her promise. The girl's cast was in need of decoration, and that was what Sara was doing.
Emily's left arm was covered in purple cast. The girl's favorite color. The blonde didn't have any specific demands as to what the brunette was to draw. Sara was left to her own devises, except that it needed to be signed with mama.

The choices in colors were limited so they agreed that Sara would only do a happy face next to the mama the CSI wrote. They would wait with more drawings to when they could get Cam to do them. The mechanic had made some sketches for Emily when the young girl was visiting in Vegas.
There needed to be enough room for Cam's drawings and Sara was limited to a small space close to Emily's wrist.

It hadn't been as hard as Sara had expected to get the blonde to fall asleep. The brunette had been in the middle of the story when the young girl had started snoring little kitten snores.

After a long shower, with the bathroom door open to listen out for any sound Emily might make, Sara was ready to start on the phone calls she needed to attend to. Catherine would be the first. The brunette needed to apologize for ruining the older CSI's time with Lindsey. That would also be a good chance to start with the explanation. The brunette also needed to let Grissom know that she needed more time, but that could wait.

It wasn't too late to call the blonde CSI. Catherine wouldn't have left for work, but Lindsey would be asleep.

Sara would have to plan Samantha's funeral. For the brunette to get everything started she would have to spend a good portion of the night making calls. Arrangements with the funeral home would have to wait until the ME's office released the body. But that would depend on what the CSIs found. The brunette still had some contacts in San Francisco. That might make it easier to get answers. Sara couldn't be brushed off as she knew some victims families were.

Sara was baffled by the courage needed to actually call the blonde now that it wasn't an emergency anymore. The brunette thought it would have become easier to talk to the older woman now that they were friends. That was the case until Sara had become aware of her attraction to Catherine. Then everything changed.

Catherine was more difficult to talk to than any other woman the brunette had ever been attracted to. The younger woman thought it might be due to Catherine being great at finding the truth. That was what scared the brunette the most. Sara knew that this had caused a lot of tension, but didn't know how to change that.

The CSI didn't want to leave the young girl or wake her. The call had to be made sitting across the room from where Emily was sleeping.

"Willows." Catherine always sounded guarded and professional when answering her phone. Sara guessed the older woman had expected Grissom to call her in early and hadn't looked at the caller ID.
"Hi Catherine… uh, it's Sara."
The brunette could hear the older woman chuckle. "Yeah, I could hear that. Is everything alright? Do you need any help?"
The blonde got more worried as it took some time for the younger woman to answer. When Sara finally found her voice, the answer wasn't exactly what Catherine had hoped for. Not that the blonde was entirely sure what she had wanted Sara to say but this wasn't it.
"I wouldn't say alright, but I got here and Emily will be fine. I called to apologize for ruining your time with Lindsey." Sara's voice was softer than usual, as not to wake up the young girl.
"Hey, that's okay. We both know that it had to be something important for you to have to leave town so suddenly. No need for you to apologize, hon."
Catherine had surprised herself with how right it felt to call the brunette hon. Sure the older woman was liberal with the endearments for the people in her life. Sara had never been included in that list before. Until the older CSI had asked the brunette to have dinner with her and Lindsey.
"I also called because I owe you an explanation," Sara had interrupted the blonde's thoughts of the younger woman.
Catherine was quick to interrupt the brunette. "You don't owe me anything, but if you want to or feel like talking, I'll be here."
That caught the younger woman by surprise. Not once had Sara expected that the blonde wouldn't pressure her for the truth.
"I know you have to be at work soon. It's a long story and I can't tell you everything over the phone…"

Here there was a longer pause, while the brunette tried to figure out what to say that wouldn't need a long and complicated explanation. Catherine knew that if she interrupted now, the younger CSI might not continue. And no matter how understanding the blonde was, she was dying to know who Emily was and what had happened.

"I don't know what actually happened, but from what I heard Samantha and Emily were involved in a car accident yesterday."
Sara didn't want to lie, but she thought that the blonde deserved to hear about Samantha face to face.
"The doctors tried to save Samantha, but something went wrong. This left her daughter, Emily, all alone."
"Oh my God. Is she okay?" The mother in Catherine wanted to protect that girl and Sara.
"Yeah, she got lucky, sort of. Emily broke her arm in two places. Besides that she is physically okay, only some minor scratches."
Catherine could hear the sigh, and knew there was more the younger woman wanted to say.
"She doesn't have anyone but me, Cat." Sara couldn't keep the tears back any longer and they slowly rolled down her cheeks.
"Sweetie, everything will be okay. She has you and I know that you will do great. I'll help, we'll all help you Sara."

The rest of their conversation had mostly been the blonde trying to console the younger woman. Not an easy feat over the phone. Especially when the older woman just wanted to hold the brunette. That had surprised Catherine.
The younger CSI was horrified that she had broken down in front of Catherine. Well not technically in front of. Sara had apologized several times before they had hung up. Not believing the blonde's reassurance that Sara had nothing to be sorry for.

The conversation had taken a toll on the younger woman. Luckily the next calls to some of Sam's friends were relatively easy. They had all volunteered not only to inform all that needed to know, but also to arrange the funeral.

Was it as horrible as I think, please review ;-)