Chapter 6
The whole gang pitched in to help Sara pack up her and Gil's belongings and stow them away in a storage unit. They were all sitting around eating pizza and enjoying a few beers at Catherine's, having successfully completed all the lifting and transporting of boxes. Sara had a few boxes and suitcases with her at Catherine's. She still had yet to officially tell them all about the real reason for the sale of her and Grissom's home.
"So, Sara, now that you are all moved, what next?" Wendy asked from her seat on a bar stool next to Hodges at the kitchen island.
"Well, I'm going to be staying here with Cat for a while."
"How come she can call her that and I get reprimanded?" Hodges whispered into Wendy's ear. She slapped his leg. "What?" Hodges narrowed his eyes at her.
"So is Griss going to show up here for a visit or are you meeting him wherever it is you guys are going to be doing the next project?" Nick asked as he took a sip of his second beer.
"Ummm.......Hey, who ate all the veggie pizza up?" Sara was obviously trying to avoid answering the question. Nick eyed her suspiciously and threw Greg a look. Greg just shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, how long do you plan on gracing us with your presence?" Nick was persistent.
"Umm....the PD seminar is for a couple months. Anyone else want a beer?" Sara got up and grabbed a few beers from the fridge passing them out to Greg, Mandy and Catherine.
"So, where is your research project?" Mandy innocently asked.
"Well...Grissom is going to be heading off to Africa to head up a study for some Grad Students from France when he is done with the current Seminar he is teaching." Sara took her seat next to Catherine on the couch, taking a giant swig of her beer.
"So, you are going to just join him there?" Mandy kept questioning. This time Brass interrupted by getting up and clearing empty boxes and taking people's plates into the kitchen.
"I can't believe we went through 4 pizzas!" Brass commented as he hurried off into the kitchen.
"Sara." Nick stared at her, a serious look on his face. "Is everything ok with you and Grissom?"
Sara let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. Catherine gently placed her hand on Sara's knee, giving it a squeeze of reassurance. She had put off telling the truth for too long. Now was as good of time as any.
"Ok, look." Sara put her beer down on the coffee table and leaned forward, looking at each person in the room. "Gil and I aren't going to be doing any more research projects together."
"He doesn't want you distracting him." Hodges commented, earning him another loud slap from Wendy. "What?"
"No, Hodges." Sara looked at Catherine and she gave her a smile and a nod of encouragement to continue. "We won't be doing any together because .... we split up."
Sara nervously watched the reactions of everyone as they sat staring in disbelief. Hodges looked happy, while Wendy looked sympathetic as did Mandy. Nick just stared, no emotion on his face. Brass just sipped his beer. He already knew, of course. Greg tried to sink into the chair he was sitting in and not be seen.
"Look, guys. Its for the best. We are still friends, but we discovered we aren't in love with each other like we once thought. We kind of broke up while I was away and both of us experimented with other relationships. When Gil came to Costa Rica, we tried, but it just wasn't the same. I hope you can accept this and know that we are both ok with all this and just trying to move on in life and be happy."
"Lady Heather." Nick stated. "I knew something was going on."
"Nick." Catherine warned him.
"No, Cat, really it's ok." Sara closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes she directed her gaze at Nick. "Like I said, we BOTH experimented in other relationships. Don't be mad at Gil. And I hope you don't blame me."
"I don't blame anyone, Sara. I just thought you two were meant to be together." Nick took another swig of his beer.
"So did we." Sara sank back into the couch. She couldn't wait for this day to end.
An hour later everyone had cleared out of Catherine's living room and headed home. Sara busied herself by picking up beer bottles and placing them into the recycle bin in the kitchen. Catherine was on the phone with Lindsey, arguing about her curfew.
"I don't care, Lindsey. Midnight is your curfew and I'm not making any exceptions. Be home by then or I'm taking your car away." Catherine snapped her cell shut and let out a groan.
"Everything okay?" Sara asked as she took a seat on the couch next to Catherine.
"Yeah, just our usual Friday night argument. She's always trying to get away with breaking the rules we set up."
"Is she okay with me staying here?" Sara turned to face Catherine.
"Yeah. She likes you! Me, not so much." Catherine chuckled.
"Well, I'm not her mom, so she doesn't have to hate me." Sara teased.
"Yeah. Lucky you!" Catherine teased.
"Yeah. Lucky me." Sara grinned at Catherine. They stared at one another for a long moment, each smiling at the other.
"So, I guess I should unpack some of this stuff." Sara stood. "Want to help?"
They moved the few boxes and bags into the guest room and began to sort through the clothes and books and other essential items. Catherine helped her make the bed and took the empty boxes out to the garage. When she returned, Sara was laying on the bed. She was on top of the quilt, flat on her back staring up at the ceiling. Catherine smiled and went around to the other side and lay next to her.
"I think it went okay today, don't you?" Sara asked, her eyes still glued to the ceiling.
"Yeah. I think some may have already wondered what was going on, but I think Mandy and Nick were the most surprised." Catherine turned onto her side, elbow on the bed, her hand propping her head up. She reached out and took hold of one of Sara's hands. Sara turned her head to look at her.
"I'm glad it's out in the open. I don't want them to hate me or Gil. I think they understood." Sara turned her head back to stare upward.
"Sara." Catherine gave her hand a squeeze. Sara turned her head once again, staring into passionate blue eyes. "I'm glad you are here."
Sara smiled at her friend and turned to face Catherine, now mimicking her position, their hands still joined between them on the mattress. Catherine leaned closer, Sara just smiled, knowing fully what the sexy older women wanted. Sara met her halfway and joined their lips in a tender kiss. Catherine moved closer, forcing Sara back flat onto the mattress. She placed her left hand on the mattress above Sara's right shoulder, half lying on top of her. They resumed kissing, each moment becoming more and more intense. Sara moaned when she felt Catherine's tongue flick at her lips. She greedily accepted, deepening the kiss. Sara's hand found it's way under the back of Catherine's shirt, caressing the soft skin just above her buttocks.
"Hey, Sara? Catherine?" Nick called out as he entered his supervisor's home. He was holding a small box he had found in his truck. Somehow it had been missed in all the moving. He looked around and decided they must be in the guest room unpacking Sara's things. As he made his way down the hallway, he heard Sara moan. "What's going on?" He said to himself. He stopped dead in his tracks, dropping the box with a loud crash.
"What?" Catherine jumped, sitting up and found herself staring at the wide eyes of her Assistant Supervisor. Sara jumped up off of the bed
"Hey! Nick!" Sara straightened her shirt and wiped at her lips. "What brings you back so soon?"
"You mind telling me just what the HELL is going on here?" Nick's eyes showed his anger.
"Nicky, I think you KNOW what you saw." Catherine walked around to stand next to Sara.
"Don't NICKY me, Catherine!" He started to pace the small room stopping and looking at Sara. "Is THIS why you broke up with Grissom?"
"What? NO!!!" Sara couldn't believe he thought that is what happened. "Gil and I have been having issues ever since I was abducted and lost out in the desert. It has NOTHING to do with what's going on now."
"And what exactly IS going on now?" Nick demanded.
"Nick. I love you like a brother. And I understand you are upset. But to be honest....we haven't really figured it all out yet ourselves." Sara explained. Nick didn't seem to be satisfied with what she was saying.
"Nick, sometimes you just can't deny your feelings and realize that maybe you were hiding the real you. I know it's quite a shock to you, but I hope you can try to accept this, or at least deal with it without the anger." Catherine stared at him. "Okay?"
Nick shuffled his feet, looked from Sara to Catherine and finally nodded his head in agreement. "Okay. I can try."
"That's all we ask, Nick." Sara walked towards him intending to give him a hug, but he stepped back from her. "Ok, fine. Work it out in your head. When you are ready, come talk to us."
"Fine." He turned to leave.
"Oh, and Nick!" Sara followed him out into the hallway.
"Yeah?" He turned to face her.
"Can you please keep this to yourself for now? This was not how I wanted you to find out and I don't want the others to hear it from office gossip. If this works out, I want to be the one to tell them." Sara had a stern look on her face that Nick knew all to well.
"Ok, Sara. I just hope you know what you're doing." With that he once again turned and headed back out to his truck, his mind reeling with all this new information. He had never figured that either one of them was into women. Nick sat behind the wheel, staring out at nothing in particular. He just hoped that Sara was right and that she could truly be happy with someone else. The fact that is was Catherine had shocked him, but as he sat there in the quiet, he realized that Sara did seem to be happier now than she had in a very long time. He just hoped it all worked out for the two women. He loved them both like family. He would definitely try to be happy for them.
A/N: well, I just sat down and wrote and this popped out! So, I figured the team needed to know about the breakup but not the budding relationship quite yet, so stay tuned for more fun and frolicking! LOL. Please review! I love them and they do inspire!!! Peace! Wendy