AN: Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, and expressed interest in this story - I appreciate your support of my writing. Still baffles me that anyone has any interest in reading what comes out of this head of mine.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Take care and enjoy.

CHAPTER 2

CATHERINE POV

"That looks like it hurts."

The only other occupant of this small room doesn't answer, simply tossing more things around in her locker before lifting out an old book bag.

Slinging it over her shoulder, my angry companion turns to leave.

"Sidle."

Pausing slightly, she still doesn't turn around.

"We haven't been formally introduced, I'm – "

"I know who you are, Miss Willows."

I hesitate a moment, but quickly suppress my surprise. Sidle is a CSI after all, and there can't be too many other new faces roaming around CSI headquarters today.

"Then you know why I'm here."

Sidle's jaw tightening is the only indication she heard me.

"We need to talk."

She finally turns, giving me her full focus.

Here, this close, despite the dim lighting it's clear to see that Sidle's CSI file picture doesn't do her justice.

She's intense, just like in her photo, but at a level that the 2D image can't capture. Sidle's tall, all but feeling like she's towering over me, and I'm the one with heels on. Her gaze is dark, like her features, and the light hazel specks in her eyes don't do much to lighten her glare.

Sharp, angled features, tight jaw.

The girl looks like she's ready to either bolt or punch someone. But, judging from her rapidly reddening knuckles, I'm hoping the violent attack on her locker I walked in on moments before has rid her of that particular impulse for a while.

Otherwise, I'd find her a hell of a lot more intimidating than I currently do.

But, I refuse to let even the slightest hint of intimidation pass through me. I'm here to investigate Sidle. For her role in the shooting of another CSI.

If anyone here is going to be intimidated, it's sure as hell not going to be me.

Sara Sidle strikes me as a girl with a chip on her shoulder, someone who is used to being able to push people away.

But, she's never met me before.

When she starts to turn away from me a second time, I reach out and pull her back around.

Ripping her arm from my grasp, she glares at me darkly.

"Get your hands off me."

Wow.

Sidle is going to be a treat to work with.

Gil so owes me for this.

"We need to talk," I repeat myself slowly, as if she's hearing impaired and not just being insolent.

"Not now."

"Oh?" I query, crossing my arms over my chest. "Then when do you propose, Sidle?"

I shrug. "Maybe we can grab dinner, some coffee. Find a more convenient time to discuss the fact that your partner is lying in a hospital bed with a bullet in his chest. You know, whatever works with your schedule…"

Sara's jaw is so tight I'm afraid she's going to crack a tooth.

Now that I've gotten the girl's attention, I step closer.

"Make no mistake, Sidle," I caution her tightly, eyes meeting hers with my own intensity. "I'm not here for you. I'm here for Gabriel Williams and his family. They deserve answers and you sure as hell aren't going to stand in my way of getting them."

Yes, I'm sympathetic to what Sidle is going through right now.

But, I'm a hell of a lot more sympathetic to what Gabriel Williams and his family are going through right now.

Sidle's eyes are still glaring into mine, but they seem to have lost just a slight amount of anger. Instead, they start to fill with other, sadder emotions.

I suspect that has something to do with my words about Gabriel's family.

"I.."

Sara swallows before taking a slight step back.

"Where do you want to do this?"

"They aren't on," I tell the other occupant of this room. "For now."

I know my choice to do this particular activity in one of Gil's interrogation rooms isn't exactly the most polite move on my part. But, I'm not here to be polite.

I'm here to get answers, and close a case.

While the setting may be overly formal, and a bit rude, I'm not playing around.

A CSI was shot while his partner left the scene. This is serious. And I'm not going to treat it as anything but exactly that.

Sidle sends one last look at the cameras in the corner of the room before glancing at the back mirror.

"It's just us."

Looking down, Sara swallows against my reading her thoughts.

"Sit."

She hesitates, eying the table with dark eyes.

"Now."

Finally, apparently deciding to pick her battles, Sara sits her tall frame across from me. Pushing her chair back, she seems like she wants nothing else than to be as far from this table, as far from me, as possible.

And, I'm sure she's not used to sitting here, on the suspect's side of the room no less.

"Let's talk about your scene. What happened, Miss Sidle?"

"You know what happened. It's all in my statement."

"I want to hear it from you," I don't waver. "And, let's both be honest, the statement you gave left a lot to be desired in regards to details."

"It's what I know."

"Not nearly all of what you know."

Sara's eyes remain averted, watching the floor, the mirror, the table.

"Let's start with the scene. Walk me through it."

"Standard B and E at a residence in Henderson. One victim, female. Shot in the kitchen."

"Who arrived first?"

"We arrived at the same time."

"What time did you get there?"

"Eleven thirteen at night."

I raise a brow.

"I looked at the clock on the dash before I got out of the car."

"Who processed inside?"

"Gabriel."

Sara clears her throat, head lowering slightly. "Sorry, Investigator Williams."

I continue to study the woman before me.

"You took perimeter?"

Sara nods, "I joined him inside about an hour after we got there. Wasn't much evidence to collect outside the house."

"Then what?"

"The coroner came and went at about twelve-thirty, we finished working our way through the house."

"When did you leave?"

Sara swallows. "About twenty five minutes later. We had collected all of the evidence and needed to take final photos and secure the samples we'd collected."

"And you left Investigator Williams to do that?"

"Yes," Sara answers quietly.

"Why?"

Sara's eyes follow a deep scratch in the metal of the table.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," I offer when the brunette remains silent. "It's standard procedure to complete the scene together with your partner, yes? At least that's how we do things in Montana."

Sara remains quiet.

"Did you verify there were officers at the scene when you left?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I thought Gabe would-" she clears her throat. "Sorry, I thought Investigator Williams would be just another few minutes. Get the final shots and head back to the lab."

"You said you arrived together…how did you leave without him?"

"We drove separately."

I cap my pen, taking a deep breath in before letting it out.

"Where did you go, Miss Sidle?" I shake my head. "What was so important that you broke protocol, leaving your partner alone at the scene without officers?"

Sara's eyes are dark, her hands clenched tightly together.

"I read your file, Sidle," I state. "You don't make mistakes."

Sara turns her head away.

"Everyone makes mistakes."

"Not you," I counter. "Not a mistake like that."

It's true. The brunette's record is impeccable. So early in her career, but has the highest solve rate in the lab, beating out even Grissom. Near perfect scores on all of her competency exams, her case reports and documentation without one single oversight. Overtime maxed out nearly every month, numerous conference attendances. It's clear Sara Sidle is a woman who is not only brilliant when it comes to her job, but she's also passionate.

People like her don't simply break a dozen protocols and waltz away from an active crime scene.

Hell, if I weren't here investigating her, I'd be offering her a job on my team in Montana.

"I'll ask you again," I break into my own thoughts. "Why did you leave that scene?"

Straightening up, Sara finally meets my eyes. "It doesn't matter."

"I disagree," I counter. "Strongly."

"I left the scene, simple as that," Sidle stands her ground. "Where I was doesn't change that or make that any less of an issue."

She's right, in one sense. Where Sidle went isn't nearly as important as the sole fact that she went somewhere during an active case. But, I'm not willing to let this go. Sara Sidle got up and left that scene for some reason. And, I'm not going to rest until I know exactly what that reason is.

"We're not leaving until you tell me what the hell was so important for you to leave that scene."

"Then I hope you brought some water."

I study the young woman before me, the dark, angry eyes. The tense posture. The stark features.

I was wrong when I thought Sidle has a chip on her shoulder.

It's not a chip. It's a fucking canyon.

"I'm not trying to be difficult."

As if reading my thoughts, her dark, smoky voice breaks the silence, her words echoing slightly through the cold, metal room.

"Then what, Sidle?" I toss down my pen in frustration. "Because that's exactly how it appears to me. It appears to me like you're more worried about your own damn agenda than you are about giving that poor family the answers they deserve."

Sara stands, angrily pushing away from her chair.

"I…" she swallows tightly. "I swear to you, I've told you what I can."

I get up from my seat, matching her gaze.

"What are you trying to hide?"

Sara remains silent, her expression as tight as my own.

"I will find out, you know," I tell her honestly. "I'm a CSI, and a damn good one at that. You know you can't hide this from me for long."

"Look," Sara bites out. "I walked away from the scene. Gabe is in a hospital bed fighting for his life because of it." She raises her hands angrily. "That's all you need to know. Go file your damn report."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" I ask the younger woman. "Put in there that you were negligent, then just walk away from this." I wait a pause. "What is it? The real truth of where you were will bury you further? Is that it? Any hope of continuing as a CSI will be over if I find out what you were doing? Destroy your reputation?"

"That's not…"

Sara lets out a frustrated breath, pacing back and forth along the far wall of the room, fists clenched so tightly that her abused knuckles, previously red and raw, are now almost white.

"I'm not trying to save my own ass here, Miss Willows. If I were, don't you think I'd be trying a hell of a lot harder than this to justify my actions?"

"That what are you trying to do, Sidle?" I glare. "Besides piss me the hell off."

Sara shakes her head, expression dark as she pushes her fingers into her temples.

Looking up, she casts a brief glance at the mirror before she takes a deep breath.

Then, right in front of me, I watch her replace her stoic mask.

The anger, the frustration, all of it tucked deeply back inside to be replaced by an expression so cold I find it so much more disconcerting than her anger.

"Are we done?"

Having nothing to hold her here on right now, I have no choice but to nod.

"Sidle."

She pauses with her hand on the door.

"I will figure this out," I promise her darkly. "And God help you when I do."

AN: Thanks for reading.