Work has been busy and probably will be for the foreseeable future, but I'm trying to find some time to write this story. Thanks for the reviews they mean a lot and help keep me focused on getting this story finished.

Chapter 30

Nancy had rushed to Catherine's home as soon as she could get away from work. Catherine had left her first message when she had found Nancy wasn't home. That message had gotten Nancy to plan to stop by Catherine's on the way home, but hadn't thought it was an emergency. The message she had received shortly before she could leave work, had gotten Nancy to break the speed limit the whole way to her sister's house.

Catherine had sounded panicked, and Nancy knew it wasn't a good idea to leave her sister alone too long when panicked. Catherine tended to make horrible decisions, without seeing the consequences or even if there was a reason to panic.

In the past Catherine's terrible decisions mostly affected herself, but this time Nancy feared Lindsey would be the one paying the price.

So Nancy rushed there, mostly for Lindsey's sake. Catherine was a grown woman and could take care of herself, but Lindsey didn't have much say in her own life. Not to say, that Nancy didn't care about what happened to her sister, but there was only so much she could do when Catherine made up her mind.

Nancy didn't bother knocking before going in through the kitchen door. She found Catherine pacing the kitchen. That wasn't a surprise, the kitchen had become the place they talked. It had been Catherine that started the tradition. Nancy had never figured out why, it wasn't as if Catherine had spent all that much time in a kitchen or liked cooking.

Catherine was pacing and rambling to herself. Nancy could only hear tidbits of what Catherine was saying, but what she did hear made her anger come to the surface.

Catherine had been rambling on about Lindsey hating her, and that it didn't matter what she did, it wouldn't make any difference.

Nancy didn't want to hear any more of the pity party Catherine had going. This feeling sorry for herself gave Nancy the compulsion to literally shake some sense into Catherine.

Pushing the blame away, and giving up without even trying. To Nancy the latter was the worst. Catharine usually fought hard and didn't give up, but when her feelings were involved, she would flee rather than fight for what she wanted.

"Catherine, slow down and tell me what happened."

Nancy started out talking calmly, trying to get Catherine to explain what had happened. It was like Catherine didn't notice Nancy was there, but somehow reacted to the question. At least Nancy managed to get some answers to what had happened to cause this panic.

Nancy felt that this was the time for Catherine to grow up and really show what she was made of.

"If you could stop acting like a five year old long enough to hear me out, you would know that YOUR daughter got into more than this fight, and you're too busy acting like a child to notice anything going on around you."

Nancy had wanted to talk with Catherine, not scream at her. She had started out almost yelling to get Catherine's attention, but hadn't wanted to sounds as angry as she had ended up. But it was the only way she could think of to get through to Catherine at the moment. Nancy wasn't sure how effective it had been screaming, but at least it seemed to have stopped Catherine's pacing. She took it as a sign that Catherine was ready to hear what she was saying.

"Another fight? When did that happen?" Catherine's voice was trembling. She hadn't noticed how bad it had become with Lindsey. Too busy with her own denial to notice what had been going on with her daughter.

Nancy proceeded to tell Catherine about everything the older woman had been missing, while caught up in herself. Everything Lindsey had been doing, every small thing, Nancy now knew had been a call for help. She told Catherine all about the bad, but also about the good times.

Nancy wanted to know what had caused both of the Willows to hurt, but it wasn't the right time to try to work out what Catherine was feeling, or what had caused the imbalance causing Catherine's want to escape.

Helping Lindsey was higher on Nancy's list, than finding the reason for Catherine's problems. So getting Catherine to acknowledge that something wasn't right was the first step, and apparently Catherine had started realizing that even before Nancy next step, Nancy knew was to keep Catherine focused so she wouldn't panic again. Nancy would try to help keep Catherine's fighting spirit up, and from getting discouraged and giving up. That would be the hard part, and not only a one time thing.

rrrr

The first step of turning things around was that Catherine took the time to spend with Lindsey. But Lindsey at first didn't want to believe the changes her mom promised. The first week Lindsey hardly spoke to her mom, and didn't want to spend time with her. It did get better, but it was slow going.

There was no magic fix for Lindsey or Catherine. Them spending time together was a help for both of them. It wasn't easy for Catherine to find all that much time to devote to her daughter. They were still one CSI short at work, but had been promised that someone new would start in the new year.

Resolving things with Lindsey, also affected Catherine at work in a good way. The good news for the rest of the people working in the lab was that Catherine stopped bitting everyones head off.

Catherine didn't go back to her usual self. She became more quiet and closed off. Not socializing unless absolutely necessary. Quietly going about her work. Her whole being radiating a sadness, that those around her didn't know how to ease.

Catherine spent as much time as she could with Lindsey. Doing what she could to shield Lindsey from all the bad things in the world. Usually that mostly meant from anything work related. After they started spending time together again, it was as much herself Catherine wanted to shield Lindsey from. It wasn't that Catherine was afraid she would physically hurt her daughter. But she didn't want Lindsey to be affected by the depression Catherine knew she was falling into.

rrrr

Nancy had talked to Catherine daily, after the day she had screamed at her sister.

At first Nancy had focused their talks on what would help Lindsey moved on from the anger. After Lindsey had started coming around, and was willing to talk to Catherine, Nancy started focusing their talk on Catherine.

To get Catherine to look at her own emotions, that had caused the withdrawal, had been difficult and drawn out. Nancy felt like she had had to pull out every word to begin with. It had gotten better, but it hadn't gotten easy for Catherine to talk about her emotions.

By Thanksgiving Nancy felt the Willows' were doing better, and that brining the subject of Sara up wouldn't cause Catherine to withdraw again.

Catherine hadn't been happy about having to talk about Sara, and had tried avoiding the subject. Nancy hadn't let Catherine get away with the avoiding. The disagreement had resulted in a heated discussion Catherine had left, before she regretted something she said.

The next day had brought Catherine back willing to talk.

"You ready to tell me why Sara is such a sore subject?" Nancy hadn't expected Catherine to be back so soon.

"I'm not sure I know why."

Being willing to talk about Sara, didn't mean Catherine knew why she had been reacting as she had.

When Catherine didn't say more, Nancy let the silence continue, wanting her sister to talk on her own, and not having to interrogate her to find the reason for Catherine's anger.

Not wanting to hurry Catherine, Nancy started coffee brewing. By the time Nancy had poured two mugs of coffee, Catherine still hadn't started explaining. Nancy was all for taking your time, but she didn't have forever, and it was starting to look like she would have to wait that long if she didn't prompt her sister with questions.

"Before all this happened, what was Sara to you?"

Catherine looked up from the table, she had been staring at, to Nancy like she should have known the answer to the question already.

"She was a friend."

"Was that all?"

"Okay, a great friend. Was that what you meant?"

"We're getting somewhere at least. But you have to start talking, if we're to get anywhere. I need you to talk. Try elaborating on what made Sara a great friend."

Nancy hoped she could get her sister to talk about Sara, and that way open Catherine's eyes to what had happened.

Catherine didn't know what her sister wanted, but Nancy had helped her so far and she was willing to give Nancy the benefit of a doubt. But that didn't mean she knew what to say.

"What do you want to know?"

"What about why you changed your mind about Sara? For a long time all I heard was how horrific you found Sara."

"I didn't hate her." Catherine was quick to point that out.

"It sure sounded like it." Nancy was hoping this would get Catherine to finally talk.

It did work and Catherine talked about how Sara had helped Lindsey and how that had changed the way she regarded the brunette.

By the end of the long talk, Catherine still didn't see why Nancy thought Sara was so important in getting her life back in order.

Nancy though, had gotten the confirmation she needed to be sure that Catherine didn't just want Sara as a friend.

Before leaving Nancy managed to get Catherine to admit that she would like Sara back as a friend.

"You could talk to her Cath, say you're sorry. That goes a long way."

"I'll think about it, baby sister." Catherine knew how much Nancy hated being called that, but she couldn't help wanting to get in a parting shot after a difficult afternoon.