Chapter 5

Plan B

Sara pulled up to Catherine's house but sat in the driver's seat for a moment to pull herself together. She had talked to her landlord and assessed the damage. From what they could tell, the leak had come from the kitchen sink and managed to flood her kitchen and part of the foyer area. There did not seem to be damage to the kitchen floor or the cabinets but the carpet in the foyer would most likely have to be replaced but thankfully that could all happen without any cost to her. Her landlord did want to do a full inspection to ensure that there would not be any mold in the future which meant that between that and the time that it would take for necessary repairs she would be out of her apartment for at least a week. She hoped that Catherine wouldn't mind if she stayed that long. She was also wondering if she would be able to make it that long without doing something to seriously embarrass herself.

Finally mustering up the motivation she grabbed her bags from the seat next to her and exited the car. She only had to wait a moment after ringing the doorbell before the door in front of her opened. All the while she was sitting in the car trying to prepare herself, nothing in the world could prepare her for this. Catherine stood before her in the shortest pair of shorts that Sara had ever seen and a black tank top. Her hair was pulled back in a loose pony tail and her face was scrubbed of make up. She had never looked as beautiful as she did at that moment. So natural.

"Hey Sara! I was about to think that you weren't coming after all," Catherine said stepping back to allow the younger woman into the house.

Sara had to shake herself out of her haze before following her inside. Setting one of her bags down by her feet she began to look around. After all the years of working with Catherine she had never been inside her house, "Yeah, I had to talk to my landlord about everything. It looks like it will be at least a week until I can move back in. If you don't want me to stay that long I can find some place else."

"Don't be silly! You can stay as long as you need to. Here, let me show you to the guest room." She picked up the bag and began to walk upstairs with Sara following close behind.

She began point out different rooms as they went. "The first room on the right here is Lindsay's room; right next to it is the bathroom. I'm very sorry to say that the guest bedroom does not have its own bathroom so if you don't want to use Lindsay's feel free to use mine. Speaking of which, the master bedroom is right on the left here and your room is right here." She said as the entered the last door on the left of the hallway and placed the bag on the bed.

Sara stood in the doorway and surveyed the room. "Wow, Catherine. It's beautiful." The walls were bright white to match the white carpeting, the queen sized bed in the middle of the room was covered with a dark blue comforter and there were photos hanging above the bed and on the wall next to the closet.

"Thank you. I just redecorated last month. It used to be full of a bunch of old junk but for some reason I got the urge to clean out and clean it up. Just in time too as it seems," she said smiling at the brunette.

Sara cautiously entered the room and began to look around. She felt like she was going to break something just by walking in the room. Making her way over the closet she studied some of the pictures that were hanging up. "Who took these photos?"

"I did." Catherine stated as the stood next to her. "This one right here is actually Lindsay." She said pointing to the picture that Sara was currently looking at. It was a black and white photo of children on a swing set at a park. All the kids were facing the opposite direction so you wouldn't really be able to tell who they were if you didn't already know.

"I didn't know that you were into photography." When she turned to face Catherine she found that they were actually standing closer then she had realized. Her breath caught in her throat as she came face to face with the blonde. They held each others gaze for a moment before Catherine spoke.

"Yeah, it's just a hobby. I've been doing it for a few years. I hear that you are pretty good with a camera was well."

Sara again caught herself in a haze before she responded. Catherine's proximity was definitely affecting her, "Yeah, it's you know…just a hobby. I haven't really gotten to do too much lately. I've really missed it."

"We should compare pictures sometime."

Sara smiled, "I'd love to." She was happy to hear that the word 'to' had actually come out of her mouth as opposed to another word that could have changed their situation entirely.

Once again they held each other's gaze for a moment before Catherine stepped back, "Well, I will let you get settled in. I was about to make some tea before you came so feel free to come down and have some when you are done but if you just want to go to bed then I understand. Lindsay's bathroom has just been cleaned and there are fresh towels hanging in there if you want to take a shower. But as I said you are also more then welcome to use mine as well. It's just right through my bedroom. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you Catherine. I really appreciate it."

"Anytime."

Sara closed the door to the bedroom after Catherine left and let out a sigh as she leaned against it. It was going to be a long week.

"Jordan do you think that this is really necessary? Don't you think that you have done enough by flooding her apartment? Now you want to go after her car too!"

Woody was trying to talk Jordan out of the next phase of her plan as they got closer and closer to Catherine's house. They had gotten a rental car and parked around the corner from the CSI's house and were now walking the rest of the way.

"Calm down Woody. It's not like I am going to cut her break lines or anything. I am just going to make sure that her car can't start so that they have to drive to work together. The more time they spend with each other the better." Jordan tried to explain.

"How do you know that it won't make them hate each other?" He asked.

"Trust me. It won't," was her simple explanation.

"Alright, since you seem to have an answer to everything, how do you expect to get into Sara's car to pop the hood? What are you gonna do try and pick the lock?" He knew that Jordan was completely capable of picking locks – he has seen her do it before. Right now he was really hoping that that was not her plan.

"Simple." Jordan reached into her pocket and produced a set of car keys.

"How did you get those?" That definitely was not the answer that Woody had been expecting.

"It's her extra set. They were hanging by the fridge so I took them before we left. Now come on!"

As they slowly approached their destination, Jordan was happy to see that Sara had parked on the far side of the driveway and that they would be given some cover by Catherine's car. Jordan pushed the unlock button on the keyless entry remote and asked Woody to get in and pop the hood.

"Oh no ya don't! I am not touching this car. They are CSIs. What if they decide to dust the car for prints or something?"

Jordan let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine then. Put these on." She said handing him a pair of latex gloves.

"I should have known you would come prepared," he said as he snatched the gloves from her hand.

"Don't I always?" She asked with a smile.

Woody's response of, "No," got him a slap across the arm. "Just pop the hood farm boy."

Jordan quickly donned a pair of her own latex gloves and completed her task. She knew that with Sara's knowledge of cars that she would be able to easily identify the problem -and it might seem suspicious as to how a few certain parts of her engine went missing - but that was the least of her worries right now. All she cared about at the moment is that Catherine and Sara would have to drive to work together that evening and possibly even tomorrow night if Sara didn't have time to resolve the issue. And that would put them at least one step closer to being together.

Sorry it has taken forever! Things have been crazy finishing up the school year. But here ya go! Let me know what you think! :)