A/N: So, I borrowed the fight from "Nesting Dolls" for this one. Try not to think of the episode at a whole, I just wanted to barrow the one little piece of it! Another short one too, I know. But the next one will probably be the last, and hopefully much longer!

Sara had already been gone when Catherine woke up. Her sinking heart had been raised slightly when she saw that Sara had at least left a note.

Cat,

Went into work early. Help yourself to whatever, lock up when you leave (key's on the counter).

See you tonight.

-Sara

So it wasn't exactly a warm letter, but it wasn't bad, Catherine had told herself as she got ready for work. Maybe it wasn't a big deal, maybe she'll let it slide. But deep down, she knew Sara had to be freaking out.

Now, at work and fully immersed in a case, Catherine was sure she'd made a huge mistake. She and Sara were working the case together, but Sara was distant, like nothing had ever happened between them. It is a domestic violence case, Catherine told herself, those always get to her. Maybe it's just the case.

Catherine watched Sara, apparently completely absorbed in the case file. If she could feel Catherine watching her this time, she wasn't showing it. She wanted Sara to tell her what was wrong, tell her she was freaked out, that the case was getting to her. She knew Sara could be emotional, hot one minute and cold the next. It was part of who she was. Catherine could accept that, but she needed Sara to let her in.

"Sara?" Catherine called quietly.

"Yea," Sara replied, still sounding far away.

"Do you wanna… talk? About, anything?" Catherine asked.

"No," Sara said shortly, then added, "No thank you, I'm fine."

"You can, you know," Catherine continued, "talk to me, I mean."

"I know."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Leave it alone, Catherine," Sara said flatly before leaving the room. Catherine stayed behind, completely clueless what she should do. She was sure Sara was stressed over what she had said, or almost said, and that it was making her even more emotional towards the case. At the same time, the case itself was surely getting to her on its own, making her stress out even more. The two kept intermingling, snowballing, and Catherine knew that sooner or later, Sara was going to lose her cool.

After interrogating the suspect, and remaining in work mode, Sara continually babbled on about the suspect's mail-order bride.

"Look all I am asking is to have black and white do regular welfare checks," Sara said again.

"Did the wife ask for help?" Catherine asked.

"Well, that's kind of hard to do when you don't speak English and you're a sex slave," Sara shot back. "I'm sure she doesn't know her rights."

"You can't arrest someone for marrying the wrong person," Catherine tried to reason.

"You would know."

Now Catherine was starting to get agitated. Sara wanted to be scared? Fine. Angry at the suspect? Fine. But now she was taking personal jabs that were completely uncalled for.

"If the guy's an abuser," Catherine said, trying to maintain her composure, "if he killed his first wife, we will build a case and we will nail him."

"And in the meantime, he can just keep using her as a punching bag," Sara said, her voice growing louder.

"Sara, I was there, there wasn't a mark on her."

"Not that we could see, Catherine."

Sara was being impossible, she'd been distant all day; Catherine was reaching the end of her rope.

"You know, every time we get a case with a hint of domestic violence or abuse, you go off the deep end, what is your problem?" she demanded.

"Yeah, you know, I probably do. And you let your let your sexuality cloud your judgment about men, and I'm going to go over your head!"

"Sidle. Get in my office, now," came Ecklie's voice from down the hall.

Dammit, Ecklie! Catherine thought. This is not what we need right now!

Catherine waited for Sara to come back out, which surprisingly didn't take long at all. Sara looked as though she was going to walk right by, but Catherine caught her by the arm.

"Sara? What happened?" she asked.

"Suspended. One week," Sara said, moving out of Catherine's grasp.

"Will you please, just talk to me?"

"Catherine, I told you to leave it alone," Sara said again, then walked away.

Catherine was on the verge of tears, but she wouldn't cry, not yet. She could still fix this, she had to. One day with Sara just wasn't enough.