"I need to get you home." Catherine said after a while. Sara blinked at her.

"I am home." Cath laughed.

"My home. You're still not well hon." She said. Sara pouted.

"I'm fine, I'm feeling much better." The younger woman said with a smile.

"I'll bet." Catherine chuckled, nudging Sara playfully. "But that's beside the point. You're staying with me until you're better. And before you say it, you are still not going back to work. You are coming with me." She insisted. Sara pulled a face that suggested she was not happy about this arrangement, but she had a feeling that Cath knew she was grinning inside.

"Make me." She said, raising an eyebrow seductively. Catherine looked surprised, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Hmm? Is that a challenge?" She asked, leaning forward with a feral grin. She held Sara's gaze for just a minute, before grabbing her sides again, tickling her devilishly once again. Sara squeaked and fell back, dragging the blonde on top of her.

"Alright, alright! I give in. I'll come." Sara laughed, trying to regain her composure again. Catherine smirked and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"Good. Come on Stutterbug." Sara buried her face in Catherine's chest.

"Shut up. It's a serious problem." She mumbled. Cath smiled.

"Hmm. It's cute." Cath kissed her head and stood up. She offered her hand to Sara and pulled the reluctant brunette to her feet.

X x x

They arrived home to an empty house. Cath found a note stuck to the fridge from her sister:

Taken Lindsey to school. Hope everything is ok. Behave yourself :P

The blonde chuckled and shook her head. "You have no faith in me Nancy." She murmured.

"What?" Sara's voice startled her and she grabbed the note, stuffing it in her pocket.

"Jesus Sar, don't sneak up on me." She said in an unusually high pitched voice. She wasn't sure exactly why she didn't want Sara to see it, she just didn't.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." The brunette held up her hands in defence. "Just wanted to see if you needed any help ... with anything?" Cath shook her head and smiled.

"What have I told you? You," she forcibly sat Sara in a chair, "are here to rest." Sara didn't argue. Instead, she settled for watching Catherine work around the kitchen making lunch. She loved the way the blonde moved, still very much the dancer. She had seen this before, of course, but she had never allowed herself pay too much attention to it. But now she could let herself notice. The way her hips swayed when she walked, the way she would spin and slide to reach for things. The way she moved so naturally, effortlessly, like she didn't even know she was doing it. Sara would bet that Cath could dance in her sleep if she tried.

Finished making sandwiches, Catherine turned back to the table to find Sara watching her intensely. "What?" She questioned suspiciously.

"You're beautiful." Sara answered simply. Catherine blushed furiously.

"Oh hush." She mumbled, setting the plate down in front of her girlfriend. Her girlfriend. Wow that sounded weird. Good, but weird.

She didn't know why she felt so embarrassed hearing Sara say those words, she was no stranger to them after all. But something about the way she said them, something in her voice, told her that it was more than a line, or even an observation. It went deeper than that.

They ate in comfortable silence for a while. Out of the blue, Catherine spoke.

"What's it protecting you from?" Sara gave her a look which told her that she had no idea what Cath was talking about. Her cheeks started to turn pink, again, as she realised she had been thinking aloud. "The tattoo." She clarified. "You said it's a guardian angel. What's it guarding against?"

"Not it. She." Sara said. "I got her the week I turned 18. The week social services left me out on the street. Not that it mattered; I hadn't seen my last foster parents in over a year anyway, not since I finished school." A sad look clouded her features briefly. "I guess she's just there to protect me. It was kind of symbolic. So that, no matter where I am, I'm not alone." She confessed quietly. A soft hand covered her own and she looked up into caring sapphire blue eyes.

"You're never alone."

X x x

Somehow they had gotten from the kitchen to the bedroom, and misplaced the majority of their clothes in the process.

Catherine hit the bed first, pulling Sara on top of her. They never broke the kiss that they were both thoroughly engrossed in. Rolling over, reversing their positions, Catherine hurriedly tried to remove Sara's front clasp bra, but her hands were shaking too much. Eventually she had to break the kiss and looked down to see what she was doing. With the garment successfully tossed aside, their lips fused together once again. Catherine could practically feel the note from her sister burning in her pocket. 'Behave yourself.'

She knew she should, she knew deep down that this wasn't right. Sara had a fever, and they had only just got together, and they were colleagues, and... This was so wrong.

But then why did it feel so right?

Catherine's mind stopped working all together once the last of their clothes were removed. Now nothing stood between them. Skin moved on skin, hands stroking, feeling, touching everywhere there was to touch. The older woman pulled back momentarily, studying the flushed face of the girl beneath her.

"Are you sure?" She asked, although it was a probably a little late. Sara nodded, unable to speak, but it was good enough for Catherine. "I promise I won't hurt you." She whispered, brushing a strand of hair out of Sara's eyes tenderly. Sara's only answer was to join their mouths together again.

There were no thoughts now, they were acting on instinct. Pure, unchained desire took control.

And as they brought each other to the top of the universe, their gaze never breaking, Catherine saw something in Sara's eyes, black as night, that she had never seen before. Something that seemed to scream at her 'I give in, I'm yours.'

Trust.