For the author information, disclaimer, etc. please read the first part of my story. Plus, you should anyway otherwise this one won't make any sense. A/N: To the fans, please don't be made at me for not elaborating on the relationship more in this part, but you have to remember I have a case to solve too! ********************************************************************* Sara walked up the drive with a defeated look on her face, knowing that later she would have to have "the talk" with Catherine. There was nothing she dreaded more than exposing her feelings to hurt and pain. And she was absolutely sure that this was exactly what was going to happen. But a small part of her was elated and held out hope. She said I had a beautiful face. Is it possible…. "You ready for this?" Catherine asked as they reached the door. "Yeah, let's do it." Catherine knocked on the door to Scott Freese's residence. After three knocks, the door was answered by a gentleman in an expensive looking three piece suit. He was short, for the average male, about 5'6" and though he had broad shoulders and a well built physique, he was small. Certainly smaller than his ex-wife who had a good six inches in height and an extra twenty pounds on him. "You Scott Freese?" Catherine asked. "Yeah, who's asking?" Came a rough reply. "Catherine Willows Vegas Crime Lab. This is Sara. Can we come in?" "Yeah, I guess." Was all he said as he opened the door wider and walked into the house, presumably towards a living room. Catherine and Sara followed Mr. Freese into his home. The house, a relatively small one story ranch-style, was extremely well decorated. Just from glancing around Catherine could tell that Mr. Freese had spared no expense in decorating his new bachelor pad. Most of the rooms were dark, but as they entered what Catherine supposed was the living room, Scott turned on the lights. "Can I get you ladies anything to drink?" Scott asked, trying hard to play good host. There was a range of emotions flickering just behind his eyes, and Catherine couldn't quite put her finger on all of them. There was definitely sadness, and exhaustion, but also something close to anger or frustration. "No thanks. Just got some questions to ask about your ex wife." Catherine replied. "Actually, I could really use a glass of water," Sara interjected, speaking for the first time since they entered the house. Scott went into the kitchen and left the ladies alone in the living area. Sara and Catherine had a chance to observe more of the room while he was gone. "Thanks," Sara said when Scott returned with a glass of water for her. She took a long drink and nearly drained the glass. "Guess I really needed that." "Mr. Freese, I have some questions about your ex-wife and your divorce." Catherine stated. "Why would the crime lab care about my divorce?" Scott asked, looking genuinely puzzled. "Well, Mr. Freese, it turns out that your ex has been murdered. The neighbor has indicated that your son, Jonathan, was upset about the divorce. Care to tell us why?" Catherine asked. "Jessica was murdered? That's shocking!" Scott said. Catherine noticed he really did look shocked at the news and just behind his eyes was a look of great sadness. "Jessie and I had a really great marriage that lasted for over twenty years. Jonathan took it pretty hard. He couldn't understand Jessie's need to be free of our marriage. But I did. I had to let her go, she explained to me how she needed this, and I couldn't deny her anything. So everything went smoothly and the next thing I know, I am a middle-aged divorced man. The twins handled it great. Jessie had started them in counseling for it, and the psychologist was just great at helping them understand that our divorce had nothing to do with them, and that we both loved them very much. Jonathan was old enough to handle it himself, though he did not handle it well." Sara drank the remainder of her water and asked, "About the twins, Mr. Freese. Where are they now?" "I get two weeks solid with them during the summer as part of our custody agreement. I had some company over earlier this evening, and I asked my parents to let the kids stay overnight. I don't think they're ready to see me back in the dating scene." "Okay, that means that we'll need the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of your parents and your `company'. What exactly was Jonathan's problem with your divorce? Did he confide that in you? Jessica's neighbor said he was closer to you than to his mother." Catherine continued to work the angle with the son. "Excuse me," Sara interrupted, "Do you mind if I get more water?" "No, go ahead. There's tap water, or cold water from the fridge." Scott replied, not attempting to play good host anymore. Sara was grateful that she would be given this chance to check out is kitchen. "Jonathan was upset because he thought is mom and I were a perfectly happy married couple. There was much to our relationship that he didn't understand." Scott explained, blushing just a little. Catherine continued her questioning; wondering what was taking Sara so long to get her water, since the kitchen was barely 20 feet away. "What wouldn't he understand?" "Before I get into this, I want you to know that I did not kill Jessie. And that the twins don't know any of this information. Jessie and I married over twenty years ago. Back then, my lifestyle was not as accepted as it is today. Jessie was very understanding and loving. Had I been inclined too, I probably would have fallen in love with her. But, at the time, I was in love with someone else. A man." Scott spoke these words with reverence for Jessie and a little bit of embarrassment about revealing this information. "Why did Jessie agree to marry you if she knew you were gay?" Catherine asked as Sara finally returned to the living area with a fresh glass of water. "When I first started dating Jessie, I told her the truth. That I was gay, and even had a boyfriend. At the time I was being pressured about `meeting the right girl' and getting married so that my parents could finally have grandchildren. I had just finished law school and started working as an associate at Schuster and Fannin. The firm had no idea I was gay, and probably would have fired me if they had. Jessie knew about all of this and our relationship progressed and she met my family and some of the attorneys at my firm. She is actually the one who suggested marriage. She had free reign to date anyone else, and she got the financial benefits of being married. She came with me to family functions, and to firm functions. It was all her decision. Just as her decision to leave me." "So, are the kids yours then? If she could date others, and you two obviously weren't physical, do the kids have a different father?" Sara asked, thinking to herself that Jonathan could have been upset to learn that Scott wasn't his real father. "No, the kids are mine. Jessie had that in vitro fertilization done. We told family and friends that it was hard to have kids, and this was our only chance. But, like I said, the kids don't know any of this, so please don't mention it when you speak with Jonathan." Scott looked thoroughly exhausted from having exposed the secrets of his family. "Is there anyway that Jonathan could've found out? Apparently the fights between him and his mother got pretty vocal. Would she have told him?" Catherine asked, her mind turning over the possibilities. "No. We agreed when we got divorced that it would be better if I were the one that told the kids. After all, they were going to have to adjust to seeing their father dating again. And not only that, but seeing their father date a man. I haven't had the guts to tell anyone yet." Not forgetting other possibilities, Sara asked, "What about your wife? Is she back on the dating scene? Does she have a boyfriend?" "Last I heard she was dating a nice young lady by the name of Eliza McCoy. But she lives in California now, so I don't know how you'd get a hold of her." Sara was a little shocked at this revelation. Not only was Scott living in the closet, but so was Jessica? How many other secrets did this family have? "Would Jonathan have been upset to learn his mother was dating another woman? Did he know about Eliza? The neighbor had mentioned that she heard Jessica tell Jonathan that she was tired of living a lie." Sara queried, still stuck on the Jonathan angle. "He should know about Eliza, though he never mentioned it to me. For a short period Eliza was living with Jessie, and I'm not sure how she chose to explain that to Jonathan. If he felt upset, I would think he would come to me. We have a pretty good relationship. He has always felt closer to me than to his mother. In fact, he occasionally stays here for days at a time when he gets tired of the stress from school." Scott explained. "Thank you for your time this evening Mr. Freese," Catherine said as she prepared to leave. "Before we go, can we get those names and numbers from you? And we'll need Jonathan's too." Mr. Freese retrieved some paper and wrote down the names, addresses and phone numbers of his parents, Jonathan, and his date for the evening. He also wrote down the last known information he had for Ms. McCoy. "Here's everything you asked for," he said as he handed the paper to Catherine. "Plus I wrote down what I could remember about where Ms. McCoy used to live." "Thank you for your time sir. We'll call you if we need anything else." Sara said politely as the left Mr. Freese. Sara walked behind Catherine on the way to the Tahoe. Catherine walked with a grace and style Sara completely adored. Plus she liked to watch Catherine's well toned butt. The way she walks is even attractive. Man, have I got it bad. But just look at her lean legs and toned rear. Bad thoughts, Sara, bad thoughts. Catherine walked ahead of Sara on the way to the Tahoe. She could almost feel Sara's eyes on her body. She reveled in it. The thought that Sara might be slightly interested pumped up her heart rate and made her skin flush. A broad smile grew on her face as she thought about Sara checking her out. Bad thoughts, Catherine, focus on work. You'll get a chance to talk to her after shift. Once in the Tahoe, Sara could hardly wait to talk about what Mr. Freese had revealed. "So you think maybe the son's some kind of homophobe and attacked mom? Maybe she outed herself and he couldn't handle it. Or maybe she outed dad to him and he became outraged. What do you think?" "Well, I would like to speak with him first and see what happened, but for now he's looking like a strong suspect. Mr. Freese didn't seem the least bit angry at Jessie for the divorce or even anything else. But he claims to have a good relationship with his children, yet they don't know he's gay. He's hiding more than just that. I can feel it." Catherine stated. She wasn't sure what it was she didn't really like about Mr. Freese. He was calm and collected throughout the entire interview and was very agreeable. They had suggested Jonathan as a suspect many times and he didn't even get angry at the thought. He seemed pretty detached from it all. Catherine knew if Lindsey were ever accused of any wrongdoing, she would defend her to the end. It's just what parents did. But Mr. Freese didn't seem at all like that. While she was thinking about Mr. Freese, and focusing on driving, she didn't notice that Sara was staring at her intently. Sara couldn't help but think about how sexy Catherine looked when she was so focused. Will she ever focus on me like that, Sara wondered. Ah well, even if she never does, at least she doesn't have to know that I have this puppy love crush on her. Actually it might be more than a crush. It might be full blown lust. It might go deeper than that, but I'll never find out. I can just tell her that I'm upset about Hank. I wonder if she'll buy it. "Well, I think Jonathan is looking like a good suspect too. But, when I was in Mr. Freese's kitchen I noticed he's missing a rather large butcher knife from his butcher block. Before you say anything, no I wasn't snooping, it just so happens that his butcher block sit atop a shelf above his sink. Plain sight." Sara said. "So Mr. Freese may be looking like a good suspect as well," Catherine said as they pulled back into the lot at the lab. Getting out of the Tahoe, and heading toward the building, Sara told Catherine, "I'm going to go see Greg and see if the unfamiliar DNA belongs to anyone in CODIS. I had him run it, just in case." "I need to go see Doc and see what he can tell me about our vic. Oh, and Sara?" "Yeah?" "Don't forget about our breakfast date." This statement nearly stopped Sara in her tracks. Date, she said Date. Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into? Sara was still contemplating this "date" as she headed in to see Greg. Catherine, hanging back and watching Sara walk away, had chosen her words carefully. She was still trying to figure out the enigma that was Sara. I think I just might be on the right track here. She looked so adorable as her face flushed and she practically fell over when I said date. Oh, this is going to be fun. Catherine thought as she admired the view in front of her before she headed off to see Doc Robbins. ********************************************************************** Don't forget the feedback folks. Gotta know if you like the story enough for me to post the rest of it. Or maybe you hate it and I should throw away my keyboard. Either way, let me know!