AN: Hope everyone is doing well. Take care and enjoy.
Chapter 28
CATHERINE POV
As Greg comments on Nick's latest story, Sara quietly steps up to join us, the brunette taking a slow drink from the bottle in her hand.
"Guys, try not to scare Catherine away," she smiles slightly. "These stories you've been sharing for apparently the last hour are probably inspiring her to buy plane tickets back to Montana."
Laughing, I shake my head, "No fear of that," I state honestly. "You guys have been amazing, and there is no regret anywhere to be found. Though, I'm a bit concerned to leave my locker unattended after that last story. You boys seem like quite the pranksters."
"Boys?" Greg laughs. "Yeah right. It's not us boys you have to worry about. You should see this one here..."
Gesturing to Sara with his drink, he shakes his head.
"Sara's by far the worst out of all of us. She and Gabe used to always..."
His words catching up to his ears, Greg immediately stops what he's saying, color leaving his cheeks.
"Shit, Sara..." Cringing, he shakes his head. "I didn't mean to..."
Trailing off, he looks at his friend nervously.
It's easy sometimes to forget that this team just recently lost one of its members. They are always so professional and kind, having welcomed me with open arms and working cases with me like it's just another day at the office. It's sometimes easy for me to forget the reason I joined them in the first place. The colleague and friend they barely laid to rest at the cemetery that's not even a mile from the lab.
And, having worked most of my cases with Sara, it's especially surprising that I don't think of Gabe more often. He was, after all, her partner. Well, the CSI version at least. CSIs don't have partners per se, not like cops do. They rotate who they work with and don't have one single CSI they share all cases with. It helps spark new theories, new ideas between CSIs.
But, I know Gil's management style, and I know he recognizes good pairings when he sees them. Just like I did in Montana. While everyone generally works well together, there are certain combinations of your CSIs that work especially well together. Certain people that, when paired, have higher solve rates and quicker turn around times. Certain people that simply work together particularly efficiently, minds and approaches blending together nearly flawlessly. When you are lucky enough to get one of those pairings, you tend to place them together more often than not. It helps you, it helps your lab, it helps your solve rates, and most importantly it helps your victims.
Having reviewed Sara and Gabe's files, it was clear to me very early on that Gabe and Sara were one of those pairings. Gil placed them together more often than any other CSIs. And, with good reason. Alone, their solve rates were outstanding. Together, they were nearly improbable.
"It's fine," Sara says, working hard to hide the tension in her voice. Reaching out, she squeezes Greg's arm gently. "Really, Greggo. Don't worry about it."
"You sure?" he asks. "I didn't mean to ruin the mood."
"I'm sure," Sara sends him a smile. "And, it's not fair to Gabe to pretend like he didn't exist. He was, and still is, a part of this family. We owe it to him to remember him. Even all those ridiculous jokes he insisted on pulling on you gullible people."
Greg laughs, a lot of the tension leaving at the sound. "Alright, deal. I still stand by my statement, though, that you're the worst of all of us."
"Me?" Sara asks innocently, though I can see as clear as anyone the glint in her eye.
Just like it's hard to remember sometimes that this team lost someone close, it's harder to remember that Sara perhaps wasn't always as stoic and guarded as I know her to be. That I came into her life at a time when the brunette's world was falling apart around her. That there was this whole period before then when she was here, with her team, and was presumably happy.
I know Grissom has been pairing me with Sara a lot lately for a couple reasons. I know he doesn't want to break up the other partnerships the team had made with Sara and Gabe being paired up. He's hoping that Sidle and I also form a cohesive and successful pair, perhaps someday getting to the level she and Gabe were at. But, I suspect part of it is also to give Sara the opportunity to be with someone neutral, someone who doesn't remind her of Gabe like the guys would.
Sara and I have our own troubled background drama to work through, and in some ways perhaps that's been a good thing as it's diverted focus from the other changes in the brunette's life.
"I believe it," I shake myself from my thoughts, sending Sara a playful wink when she looks over at me in surprise. "It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for."
Sara watches me for a moment before letting out a small smile, shoulders relaxing just a little bit.
"Guess you'll just have to wait and find out."
Smiling, I nod, hoping that the day does indeed come when I see Sara Sidle without so many of her walls.
"You have a beautiful home," Sara says as she turns in the doorway. "Thanks again for inviting me."
"Of course," I nod. "Thanks for coming."
"I uh, I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow."
She fiddles anxiously with her keys, clearly feeling as uncertain as I am in this moment. While it was natural to hug the guys goodnight before they left, Sara and I aren't exactly the hugging type. Well, more like Sara isn't exactly the hugging type.
"Goodnight, Sara," I settle for instead, reaching out and gently squeezing her shoulder. "Get home safely."
She nods, looking relieved to be done with this awkward goodbye.
Quickly descending the porch, she doesn't look back as she gets in her Jeep and drives off.
Letting out a long breath, I turn around to face the messes waiting for me to clean up.
"Not too bad," I mutter, dropping down to the couch with a relieved sigh. About an hour and a half worth of hard work and my house looks reasonably put back together. And, the few things left can definitely wait until tomorrow.
Now that Lindsey's been put to bed, it's the first moments of silence I've had all day. And, I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.
Reaching over, I grab a pillow from the couch and place it behind me. Leaning back, I lift my legs onto the coffee table and let out a long breath.
Just as I'm closing my eyes, they catch on the item tucked away on the top shelf that I'd nearly forgotten about in all the rush to get everything cleaned up.
Immediately, I'm on my feet, taking the wine bottle and its accompanying package in my hands. Separating the bottle from the package, I move back to the couch.
The package is relatively small, but big enough for me to use both hands to hold it. Looking at the simple paper packaging, I raise a brow.
Deciding that the package isn't going to open itself and no longer able to take the mystery, I tear carefully into the paper. As I remove the last of the wrappings, the back of a wooden frame comes into view. Furrowing my brows, I turn the frame over.
And, immediately, my heart catches in my chest.
Eyes trying to take in the sight before me, I feel my brain working to form thoughts, words. Anything.
Fingers reaching out, I gingerly touch the dark black and grey lines displayed along the picture's surface.
"Holy shit," I whisper.
Reaching over, I notice for the first time the light yellow post-it sticking out from the side of the frame.
"Sometimes running in the middle of nowhere has its benefits. Welcome to Nevada. ~S"
Eyes moving from the post-it back to the picture, I take in the stunning scenery depicted along the framed canvas. The deep black lines that seem to dance along the mountain ranges in the background, becoming even more striking as they merge into the canyon walls near the foreground of the picture, all blending together to reach the majestic blossoming desert tree along the far right.
The strokes of black are strong, confident, and absolutely surreal in their ability to capture this gorgeous scene that is so crisp and realistic that it almost looks like a photograph.
But, I know it isn't. And, having been to Sara's apartment and seen the artwork displayed along her own walls, I know it's not a photograph at all. It's hand painted, and hand painted by the artist I always suspected was responsible for her own stunning home décor.
Sure enough, so small that you would almost miss it, is a gentle "SCS" signed in the bottom corner. Fingers moving of their own accord, I gently trace the letters.
"God, Sar..."
I shake my head, not knowing words adequate enough.
"Hey," Sara glances behind me in surprise. "Everything okay?"
Seeing the empty hallway behind me, she grows even more nervous.
"Is Lindsey alright?"
"She's fine," I answer to calm Sara's worried expression. "Kelly's still at the house, spending the night so we could take our time cleaning up."
"Oh," Sara states, looking slightly less worried, but still very confused as to why the hell I am standing at her doorway in the middle of the night.
"I didn't even hug you goodbye."
Sara's eyebrow raises, first one, then the other. "What?"
"I opened your present, Sara."
Trying to keep up with my random statements, Sara slowly shakes her head in confusion, though now looking slightly more hesitant to meet my gaze.
"I wasn't sure what to get you... nothing at the store seemed right... so...". Sara shrugs, shoulders tense. "I decided to share my favorite spot in Nevada... though I'm not sure the black and white does it justice...I probably should have used color for it... but I wasn't sure what colors you even liked..."
"Sara."
Sara goes still, head lowering as she stops her words from continuing.
"It's perfect."
Looking up, she searches my gaze, and damn her, she looks like she's trying to figure out if I'm lying.
"Sara Sidle. It's perfect. It's so fucking perfect that I drove here in the middle of the night to tell you how damn perfect it was."
Cheeks reddening, she turns her head slightly to the side. "I won't be offended if you don't want to put it up. More of a gesture than anything."
"Dear God, Sidle," I shake my own head in disbelief. "If you even continue that statement I will drag you to Desert Palms to get a hearing check. And sanity check. Did you not hear the part about it being perfect?"
"Sorry," she mumbles. "I heard...I just..."
"You've never shared your work with anyone before?" I take a guess.
Her eyes hold the answer.
If her gift didn't feel incredibly special and cherished to me before, it does even more so now.
"Thank you."
I shake my head at the inadequate words.
"It means a lot, Sara."
"You didn't have to drive all the way here to -"
"Just shut up and say you're welcome," I laugh, wondering when Sidle is going to stop being so damn polite and noble. But, knowing what I know of her, it isn't likely to happen anytime soon. I get the feeling that it's just simply who she is.
And, it's beyond endearing.
"Sara..." I hesitate, slowly feeling some of my own confidence leaving me as I look at Sara, standing in her doorway in an old Harvard t-shirt and pair of boxers, the brunette possibly having been woken from a rare night's sleep because I couldn't let my thank you sentiments wait until work tomorrow. "I hope I didn't wake you."
Sara smiles slightly, "You didn't."
"Do you ever sleep?" I question seriously.
She pauses, seeming to work her way through her possible responses.
Eventually, she shrugs. "Not really."
Her eyes are heavy when they meet mine, so much unspoken behind their greens and browns.
I want to ask her why. I want to reach out to her, figure out why she's so haunted. Why she's doing this to herself when she clearly needs rest. What demons she's trying, unsuccessfully, to run from.
But, I can't. Not yet.
Instead, I settle on the one gesture I feel perhaps I can do.
"I didn't hug you goodbye," I repeat my earlier words. "And then I opened your amazing gift, and I felt like an ass."
Sara looks at me, before suddenly letting out a light laugh.
"Really?" she questions. "These are the things you worry about?"
"I hugged all the guys," I explain. "And none of them gave me the most beautiful hand painted picture of the desert I've ever seen."
Sara smiles, "So if the picture sucked, then what? No hug?"
I smack her in the arm lightly, "Sidle, just shut up and let me hug you."
Still smiling slightly, Sara steps away from the doorframe, allowing me to move forward and close the distance between us.
Without another moment's hesitation, I wrap my arms around her. Holding her tightly, I feel her finally return the gesture, her arms placing themselves around me.
Resting my head along her shoulder, I notice the smell of her fabric softener, the feel of her strong back twitching slightly where my arms make contact, the softness of her dark hair where it brushes against my cheek, the firm thinness of her frame, the warmth of her body where it meets with mine.
I notice all of it.
"Thank you."
Sara doesn't answer my whispered words, likely not sure whether this particular thanks is referring to the picture or the hug.
Holding her close, I try to take in this moment, the feel of having her in my arms.
With everything that's gone on between Sara and I, and everything that's yet to, I know I'm not guaranteed to ever get a moment like this again.
So, for now, I'll simply cherish this one. And, I'll silently pray it's not the last.
AN: Thanks for reading.