I just realized that I had another chapter on my computer, so I thought I'd update. I'm sorry of the lack of updates, but I just haven't been writing much lately and what I've written have mostly been Criminal Minds. I promise to work on this, but I just can't make any promises. I hope you will enjoy this chapter.
Again, a big, big thanks to Jess who is still the best beta in the world.
A/N: I'm not trying to offend vegetarians or Chinese people or even cows in this chapter, I'm just having a little fun at their expense.
Chapter Ten
Calling in Sick
Sara awoke with a jerk. Somehow her father had worked his way into her dreams again. She looked around and realized that she was in a strange room. Sitting up she reached out to see if there was a lamp on the nightstand beside the bed.
"I'll get it." A voice said from beside the bed and a light was turned on. "Hey." Veronica sat down on the bed next to her.
"Foxy?" Sara looked around the room. "Where am I?"
"In my very nice guest bedroom." Veronica smiled. "Isn't it better than your car?"
"Yeah." Sara lay back down remembering what had happened. "Sorry." She said, looking away from the woman.
"Don't worry about it. But could you please just come inside next time so I won't have to wake up Kim?" She asked with a laugh.
"Sorry." Sara repeated. "About everything." She added.
"Don't worry about it." Veronica backed up so she was leaning against the headboard and patted her lap. Sara moved to lay her head on her lap, enjoying the fingers combing through her hair.
"Am I hurting you?" Sara asked referring to her position and the other woman's injuries.
"No." Veronica whispered softly, and they sat in silence. "But I think you might be hurting Catherine." The doctor said after a while.
Sara didn't answer but her body tensed up.
"You wanna tell me about it?" Veronica asked when she didn't say anything.
Sara started to pull away, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"I think it's time we started talking instead of sitting in silence, hon." Veronica said softly.
"Maybe." Sara whispered. "I think she might have broken up with me today."
"I don't think she has." Veronica kept running her hand through the brunette's hair.
Sara lifted her head slightly. "How would you know that?"
"I talked to her." Veronica admitted. "And she wants you to call her."
"What?" Sara sat up facing the other woman. "When?"
"Earlier tonight." Veronica said casually. "When she called your phone and I answered it."
"What?" Sara sat up straighter, looking around the room for a clock. "What time is it, Foxy? I have to get to work." She got out of the bed.
"It's around 2, I think." Veronica got out of the bed as well. "A.M." She added.
"What?" Sara looked around for her clothes when she realized she was wearing a t-shirt and boxers. "Where are my clothes? Grissom's going to kill me for being this late!"
"Sass." Veronica held out a hand stopping her. "I called in sick for you."
"What?" Sara shouted.
"Shh…" Veronica held a finger to her lips. "Julie is sleeping."
"You called in sick for me?" Sara whispered incredulously. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"Maybe because you were sleeping in your car outside my house this morning," Veronica whispered back in the same tone of voice, "and you've been sleeping until now. You never sleep this much, so obviously you needed the sleep."
"Who gave you the right to judge what I need or don't need?" Sara was calming down a little.
"You did when you fell asleep outside my house." Foxy looked at her for a second before sitting back down on the bed laughing. "God, Sass!"
"Sorry." Sara laughed too and sat down next to her. "What did Grissom say when you called?"
"He just said ok." Veronica laughed again. "I guess he figured that he couldn't fight with a doctor."
"I'm impressed." Sara said, lying down.
"Well, this is the first and last time I'm using my doctor privileges to get you out of work." Veronica eased herself down to lie next to her. "So, are you going to run to work now, claiming to suddenly feel better or are you going to play hooky with me and talk about all of this?"
"I don't know." Sara stared up at the ceiling. "They might be swamped."
"They weren't when I talked to Catherine." Veronica informed her. "I asked."
"Hmm…" Sara said, still not having made up her mind.
"Call her." Veronica got up slowly. "And then decide. Your phone is on the nightstand."
"Ok." Sara sat back up. "Veronica, I'm…"
"Please don't say you're sorry again." Veronica interrupted her. "I heard and forgave you the first time." She smiled at her. "I'll be in the kitchen." She said and left Sara alone in the room looking at her phone. "On second thoughts," the doctor returned to the room and took the phone from Sara. Hitting a few buttons she held up the phone to her ear and then returned it to Sara. "Now I'll be in the kitchen." She winked at her and left the room.
"Willows." Catherine answered the phone.
"H-h-hi." Sara stammered out. "Uhm, it's me. Sara."
"Hi, how are you doing? Gil said you called in sick." Catherine walked away from the officers standing next to her.
"Uhm, Veronica kinda made that up." Sara smiled. "I'm fine, I just woke up."
"Good." Catherine nodded even though Sara couldn't see her. "So you're ok?"
"Yeah." Sara sighed. "Are you guys swamped?"
"No, I don't think so." Catherine shook her head. "I would have heard from Gil by now if we were."
"Good, then I think I'm gonna stay here for a while." Sara shook her head over the awkwardness of the conversation. She decided to bite the bullet. "Catherine, have we broken up?" She whispered.
Catherine stayed silent, so silent that Sara thought she had hung up on her. "Cath?"
"Yeah, I'm still here." Catherine sighed. "And… No, we haven't, but we have things to talk about."
"Oh thank God." Sara breathed out a sigh of relief. "Can I come by tomorrow?"
"If you're prepared to talk to me, and I mean really talk to me, then yes." Catherine nodded. "I need you to…" Catherine stopped.
"Be with you, I know." Sara whispered. "I'll let you get back to work now though."
"Ok." Catherine looked back at the scene that she was almost done processing.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Sara smiled at the thought.
"Yeah, see you in the morning." Catherine smiled a little as well.
"Hey Cath." Sara called out just before the blonde hung up.
"Yeah?" Catherine put the phone back to her ear.
"I… Be safe." Sara settled on.
"I will. Bye."
"Bye." Sara hung up the phone and walked downstairs.
----------------------------------------
"Hey." She greeted Veronica when she reached the kitchen.
"I made coffee." Veronica pointed at the coffeemaker. "I figured you'd want coffee no matter what you decided on."
"Thanks." Sara poured coffee into the empty mug on the counter.
"So what did you decide?" Veronica asked.
"I'm gonna hang around here for a while." Sara smiled at the surprise showing in the other woman's eyes.
"Wow! Way to go Sara Sidle!" Veronica smiled widely. "Didn't think you had it in you."
"You're funny!" Sara sat down opposite her at the kitchen island.
"Yeah, I'm a regular Ellen DeGeneres." Veronica laughed to show she was kidding. "You hungry?" She asked, getting up to find food before Sara had a chance to answer.
"Sure." Sara nodded. "I'm a vegetarian now by the way." She added.
"Really?" Veronica looked at her from the fridge. "That's just wrong! You still eat cheese?"
"Yes." Sara nodded. "And why is that wrong?"
"It just is. Could you imagine how many cows would be walking around out there if we weren't here to eat them?" She asked, placing different things in front of Sara. "I mean, forget about China, it would be the cows we'd have to worry about."
"Wow, you are really funny today." Sara couldn't help laughing. "You should be on stage in one of the casinos."
"I know." Veronica sat back down watching Sara eat. "So, are we going to get serious or do you want me to keep going?"
"I'll take serious for 500 please, Alex." Sara said between bites.
"Ok." Veronica smiled at the joke. "What's going on with you and Catherine?"
"I'm messing things up." Sara said honestly after a pause.
"Ok." Veronica nodded. "Why?"
"It's what I do." Sara said with a shrug.
"I know that." Veronica thought for a minute. "And I also know that you don't want to keep doing that, so what are you going to do to change it?"
"I talked to Lindsey." Sara said. "Before the Adams case I went to Catherine's and talked to Lindsey. Explained how much her mother means to me."
"Wow." Veronica was almost speechless. "That's progress." She said with a smile. "That takes care of the daughter, now what are you going to do about the mother?"
"I don't know, Veronica." Sara put down her food. "It's just hard, you know."
"Hard being with you? Yeah, I have a pretty good idea. But I get Catherine though, it really shouldn't be this hard this early in the relationship." She looked Sara in the eye. "I know how hard it is for you to open up, but you really have to if you want this to work out. You have to tell her about your childhood – all the details. If she's going to put up with your mood swings she deserves to know the reason why."
"It's hard, Veronica." Sara looked down at her plate. "You have no idea how hard it is."
"That's just it, Sass," Veronica reached over and held her hand, "I know exactly how hard it is." Sara looked up and met her eyes, realizing the truth of the statement. "I mean, I wasn't abused in my childhood, and what happened to me was nothing compared to what you've been through, but I do know." The doctor continued. She held up a hand when Sara was about to talk. "What happened to me was really bad, both times, but no crime committed against an adult is as bad as a crime committed against a child. Crimes against children are especially unacceptable."
"How are you, Veronica?" Sara asked. "I mean, how are you really?"
"Honestly?" Veronica looked out the window. "I'm not that good." She looked back at Sara with a sad smile. "It's going to take a while to get better, but I will get better. If I don't he'll have won and I don't want him to win." She looked out the window again.
"I'm sorry we couldn't stop him." Sara said, holding onto the hand in her own.
"There was nothing you could have done, Sara." Veronica kept looking out the window. "I'm as much to blame as anyone. I wasn't careless, but I wasn't careful enough either."
"What can I do to help?" Sara asked, squeezing the hand she was holding.
"Nothing." Veronica looked back at her. "I need to work things out in here." She pointed at her head with her free hand.
"Ok." Sara nodded and let go of Veronica's hand when she pulled back. She started eating again and they sat in silence until she was done.
"So, about Catherine." Veronica started up again. "You should buy her flowers."
"I don't really think flowers will fix this." Sara got up and poured herself another cup of coffee.
"I know it's not gonna fix things, give me a little credit here, but it's not gonna hurt your chances either. I know I love it when Kim buys me flowers after an argument."
"Ok." Sara nodded, thinking about it. "I'll buy her flowers then."
"And tell her about your childhood." Veronica added.
"And tell her about my childhood." Sara nodded again.
"And hope that it isn't too late." Veronica said with a small smile.
Sara sat down again with a sad smile. "And hope that is isn't too late."