Author's Note: It's not as fast as I had hoped, but here's the update! The next chapter will be out soon...very soon if you review and give me advice! I hope you all enjoy…

Disclaimer/Spoiler Alert is the same as in previous chapters.

Chapter 5 - Breakfast

A curt nod was all Sara got as a response from her coworker. Hopefully that won't change to ex-coworker, she thought, hesitating a moment more. I just have to tell her, and then it'll be over. Right, Sidle? You can do this, she reasoned to herself.

"Catherine, I…" She finally looked back into Catherine's eyes, those intense blue irises that had haunted her dreams for the past week finally piercing into her again as she let her walls down. She could feel herself tense up in preparation to defend herself, to put those walls back up, but she stopped herself. "I shouldn't be telling you this at work," she continued, the narrowing of Catherine's eyes causing her to hurry up and nearly stumbling over her next few words. "I was at home one night and I was drunk and I was alone, and…Itouchedmyself. Andthoughtaboutyou. Andnowyouwon'tgetoutofmyhead. EverytimeIlookatyou."

Sara took the long pause and stunned look from Catherine as a negative response and snapped her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to hide herself as she felt her cheeks and neck burn with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Catherine, I'm so sorry. I told you it was horrible, you must think I'm a horrible person, I never meant—"

Before Sara could continue, Catherine's fingers were placed delicately over Sara's lips in a successful attempt to silence her. Oh god, she thought after a brief pause, her fingers are so soft. Sara struggled in these thoughts, hardly able to make out Catherine's whispers of numbers counting down from twenty to zero over her internal battle between her libido and her rational mind.

"You're right," Catherine began. Sara felt her heart sink into her gut where her stomach churned and she thought she might be sick. "You shouldn't be telling me this at work."

Sara searched Catherine's eyes for any other response, positive or negative. She couldn't see what Catherine was thinking or feeling at all, and for once she felt lost and alone instead of comforted by Catherine's gaze. She cornered me, I had to tell her, she rationalized over and over again.

"Not when I've cornered you like this, at least," Catherine continued, echoing Sara's thoughts. Her face sported a look of confusion, and so Catherine continued. "You should have been able to come to me if it was bothering you so much, if you were having such a difficult time at work. I never meant to intrude, I was just worried about you. I was worried you were going to leave the team again."

Sara was dissatisfied by Catherine's lack of reaction to what she'd truly just exposed, what she'd been hiding now for a week, the feelings that could have been there for much longer. Sara stared at Catherine, silent. A few painful moments passed, and Sara groped around inside her head for words.

"That's it," were the most eloquent words she could find.

Catherine nodded, confused. What else am I supposed to say? She thought. Sara just told me she's been thinking about me when she… Catherine shivered visibly.

"Are you okay? Are you cold?" Sara asked, her recent panic levels causing her to be reactive. Catherine shook her head quickly, then nodded. "What does that mean? Do you need a blanket? Or do you need me to leave? What do you need, Catherine, I—"

"Sara, stop. You're rambling." Sara clamped her mouth shut, her shoulders sagging. "I'm fine." Sara nodded slowly.

She thinks about me when she touches herself, Catherine allowed herself to finish. Sara touches herself. She stared off past Sara's shoulder. Sara Sidle has a sex drive. Suddenly, images of Sara being intimate…with men? Women? flashed across Catherine's imagination. She shook her head to refocus on Sara's face, her younger coworker's lips turned down in both fear and concern. Sara Sidle has sex. With people. And with herself…by herself. And she has fantasies. Catherine was having trouble wrapping her head around the thought when she realized she'd been staring at Sara's lips. Snapping her gaze up to Sara's eyes, she realized that her choice of focus had likely been confusing and detrimental to the whole interaction. Sara Sidle doesn't just go home, order chinese food on delivery, and listen to her police scanner before bed. Sara Sidle has fantasies. Catherine noticed her thinking was starting to go in circles as she tried to re-imagine Sara's life. She thinks about me when she touches herself.

Sara raised one eyebrow, drawing Catherine back out of her thoughts. "Everything all right in there, Cath?" She asked, having calmed down significantly during Catherine's inner ramblings. Catherine nodded, her head jumping around as if she had forgotten how to make the simple motion.

"Yeah. Yeah. Everything's fine, Sara," she said, slowly standing up. "Look, do you want to go for breakfast after shift?"

"What do you mean?" Sara asked. Does she mean on a date? I'm definitely not ready for that, she thought. Does she want to fire me over breakfast? I have no idea how she feels about this…it's almost like she doesn't feel a thing!

"I want to talk to you, Sara. I need to tell you a few things. And they shouldn't be said at work."

AN 2: Another cliffhanger! What does Catherine have to say about Sara's…confession? Sorry if this chapter seems awkward or jumpy, at least more than what it maybe should be considering their situation. I've written this over the course of a few sittings so the text may not flow very well, which is another reason why it's shorter than other chapters. I want to sit down and write the next chapter and make sure it flows well, all in one sitting. Thanks to all of my reviewers who have helped me along the way. If I start to stray from their characters too much (more than is believable), please please PLEASE let me know!

As always, reviews make me write faster!