Disclaimers, etc. in the first part of the story. We're finally getting nearer to the end of tis shift. Cloe to breakfast time..... ********************************************************************** Part 4 Thankful that Warrick and Nick were out in a field on a drive-by shooting, Sara set up all her evidence in an unusually empty lab room. Normally someone else from the night shift was around and using this room to analyze evidence. Sara liked this room the best because it provided the most light, and it was next to the break room, where Greg usually had some of that hundred dollar coffee brewing at around this time. Sara started to get to work, but found her concentration a little lacking. Could that have been a flicker of want or desire in her eyes? No, it couldn't have been. Catherine's straight for god's sake. She's been married, and she did date Paul. But then again, I dated Hank. So maybe that was it. Oh hell, Sara, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into? Falling into lust with a coworker. A female coworker. Who for all you know is straight as an arrow. But she said I was beautiful, and that we were going on a date. Dammit Sara, quit thinking about this before it drives you completely nuts. Back to work, back to work. Sara got down to business to process the rest of the evidence from the scene. There were fibers, prints, blood samples, and of course the pictures. She had so much too keep her busy that she didn't notice that the end of her shift was rapidly approaching. Grissom stopped by to check on her and see where Catherine was. "Sara?" Grissom asked for the third time. "Huh? Oh, hey Grissom." Sara said as she looked up from the microscope she was using to analyze some fibers. "Sara, are you okay? I said you name like three times before you noticed. Everything all right?" Grissom looked at her with his patented questioning look. "Yeah, just got lost in time analyzing the evidence, you know." Sara replied. "Have you seen Catherine? I was hoping to see how far along you two have gotten." How far along we've gotten? There's no way he can know about the date right? Catherine wouldn't have told him. Would she? No, she wouldn't. Okay Sara, just calm down and answer his question. No reason to be nervous. Crap, shift's over in about two hours. Crap. No need to be nervous. Yeah, keep telling yourself that. "Last time I saw her Catherine was leaving to go interview our vic's son. But that was more than an hour and a half ago, and he lives near here, so I don't know what's holding her up." Sara replied. Now she was slightly worried about Catherine. Catherine can handle herself, but she went alone to interview their top suspect. Man, I knew I should've gone with her. Stupid, Sara, stupid. Grissom grabbed his cell phone and dialed Catherine's number. The phone rang three times before being diverted to voicemail. Grissom frowned. "Have you got an address for this kid? Catherine's not answering her phone." "Uh, yeah, sure," Sara said as she searched through the paperwork in front of her, grateful that she had already copied down the information. "Here it is. It's about three miles from here. I'll run over and see what I can find." Sara was already at a half-run out the door when Grissom yelled to her. "Take Brass with you." By the time she reached the parking lot Brass was waiting. Sara wondered how he got there so fast, but then just figured Grissom had called him. "Ready Brass?" "Yeah, let's go. What's the address?" "Kid lives on the university Campus. 1400 Delta, apartment F. Must be near Fraternity Row." "Meet you there." The drive was only about three miles, but Sara's mind was reeling over the possibility that anything might have happened to Catherine. God, don't let her be hurt. I shouldn't have let go by herself. Catherine, you've got to be okay. Fuck the consequences, I'll tell her at breakfast how I feel about her. Even if she tells me that she will never feel the same way, there's no way that hearing that could make me feel nearly as bad as I feel right now. Sara slammed on the brakes in her Tahoe and ran up to the building, only pausing long enough to figure out where apartment D was. Upstairs. In less than five seconds Sara was up the stairs and in front of the door to apartment D. Brass wasn't far behind her. Sara pounded on the door and got no response. Looking at Brass, to silently confirm that he knew her next step, she unholstered her weapon and used her free hand to try the doorknob. The door was unlocked and swung open silently. Not ten feet away from her, Catherine was lying on the floor. Her nose was bleeding and there were the beginnings of an unsightly bruise on her left cheek. Sara rushed over to Catherine and motioned for Brass to check out the rest of the place. "Catherine? Come on Catherine." Sara pleaded as she attempted to revive her coworker. Brass checked the rest of the place and came up empty handed. "I'll put out an APB for the kid. How's Catherine?" "Slow but steady pulse. Still not coming around tough," Sara said. She decided to plea some more. "Come on Catherine, wake up." Sara said as she lightly slapped Catherine's cheeks, careful not to hit her left cheek too hard. Catherine started to stir. "Oh, thank god." Sara mumbled. "Sara, my angel," Catherine whispered. "What was that Catherine?" Sara asked, having heard Catherine clearly, but silently hoping that Catherine would say it again. Hearing Catherine whisper those words and know that she was all right had sent shivers of pure happiness through Sara. Catherine, who was still clearly groggy, pulled Sara closer and whispered again, "Sara my angel." But this time she followed up the words with a very light brush of her lips against Sara's. Before pulling away from the brief kiss, Catherine's tongue slipped out and took a taste of Sara's lips. "Mmm. Vanilla" She whispered, this time clear enough for Sara to hear her the first time. Brass, whom Sara didn't notice had even left the room, returned. He looked immediately relieved that Catherine was now awake and getting more lucid each second. "I got the APB out for the kid, and an ambulance is on its way to look at Catherine." "Thanks Brass." Sara said before grabbing her phone to call Grissom. "Yeah. She's just coming to know. Brass already sent out the APB and requested an ambulance. I know. Okay. We'll be back as soon as the EMT's finish up with her." "So what does Grissom have to say about all this?" Catherine inquired. She pulled on Sara's arm to get her attention. "Help me up?" Sara had forgotten that Catherine was still sitting on floor. Sara extended both her arms and pulled Catherine up off the floor, and simultaneously into her arms. They stayed that way for just a little longer than necessary both enjoying the way Catherine fit into Sara's taller frame. Brass let out a little cough and Sara immediately let go of Catherine, her face turning about twelve new shades of red. "Um. Grissom says that he's glad you're okay. Says thanks to Brass for the ambulance and getting the APB out. And wants us to know that this is now a crime scene and not touch anything. Oh, and we're to report back as soon as you get all fixed up so that you can fill out some paperwork on the incident." "Sound like him. Now that you're okay, get back to work. And don't forget that it's a crime scene, so don't touch anything." Catherine mocked Grissom, eliciting smiles from both Brass and Sara. "Glad to see you're back in good spirits Catherine. Want to wait for the ambulance outside then?" Brass questioned, already steeping outside the door to the apartment. As the trio headed down the stairs, the met an officer on his way up to the apartment. Brass left the officer with instructions to just close and stand by the door until a CSI arrived to run the scene. Downstairs, the ambulance was just pulling up next to the Tahoe that Sara had driven over. By they time they were beginning to get out of the rig, Sara and Catherine were next to the ambulance. The EMT's took Catherine to the back of the rig and Brass motioned for Sara to come over to his car and speak with him for a minute. "Yeah Brass?" "Just wanted to let you know, it looks like they're going to get someone from dayshift to run this scene, since it's close to that time anyway. Grissom cleared it with the day supervisor, and you can leave one of those Tahoes here, and the CSIs that come to run the scene will take it back.." "Thanks Brass." Sara stated as she began to walk away. "Oh, and Sara? One more thing, take good care of Catherine this morning okay." Brass said with a little smirk and a light chuckle. "Uh, okay Brass," Sara replied again turning red. Back at the ambulance, one of the EMT's was placing a small piece of medical tape on Catherine's cheek to close a tiny wound that had begun to bleed. "There's no need for stitches, but you should still go to the hospital. If you were unconscious for a little bit, you really should get checked out." The EMT was telling Catherine. "No thanks, I have some paperwork to do, and then I've I got a hot date." Catherine said to the EMT while looking directly at Sara. "All right then, but if you get at all dizzy you need to tell your `hot date' to take you to a doctor. If you can, put some ice on your cheek for a while, it will help the swelling go down." The EMT said as he finished up. Catherine read the EMT's nametag before replying. "Well thank you, Sanchez, for that wonderful medical advice. I've got to finish my work, thanks for the help." "Brass have anything enlightening to say?" Catherine queried. "Huh? Uh, no. Just wanted to let me know that day shift would run the scene and that I should drive you back and leave of the Tahoes here." Sara said, obviously distracted. "Okay then. We'll take yours back, since I assume you have the keys. I'll just leave mine with the officer upstairs." Catherine said as she hurried up to the apartment. Sara had decided that the time was now to make her move. She just hoped she hadn't misread all the signals. Hard to misread that kiss she gave me. Here she comes. Oh well, here goes nothing. Sara stood by the passenger door waiting for Catherine. She was just beginning to open the door when Catherine came around the truck. "Playing the gentleman are we?" Catherine joked as she watched Sara open the door. "Only for a little bit," Sara replied with a mischievous grin. She held out her hand, as if to help Catherine into the Tahoe. Instead, when Catherine gripped her hand, Sara pulled her close and wrapped her arms around Catherine's back. Catherine gasped in surprise, but before she could say, or think, anything, Sara's lips were on hers. Catherine's gasp of surprise soon melted into a moan as Sara's lips pressed against hers in a hungry fashion that was not to be denied. Sara traced her tongue along Catherine's lips to get a taste. Sara slid her hands down Catherine's back until her hands were lightly resting on Catherine's hips. Just as she was pulling away from their brief kiss, she only wanted a taste, she felt Catherine's lips open and Catherine's tongue brushed across the tip of Sara's retreating tongue. Sara groaned at the touch and tightened her grip on Catherine's hips. Catherine then took the initiative and used the opportunity to slip her tongue inside Sara's mouth. Sara felt such a rush of desire at the way Catherine's tongue was moving around in her mouth, that she felt herself tightening her grip on Catherine's hips even further to keep herself from falling over. Catherine groaned, it was a deep animal-like sound that renewed Sara's desire for her. Sara reluctantly pulled away from their heated kiss. Nearly out of breath, she whispered to Catherine "We'd better get back. You have paperwork to fill out and we don't need Grissom getting worried about you again. He might send Brass out to find you and we certainly don't need Brass to see that!" Sara joked. Catherine, too was out of breath. Her mind was reeling from everything that the kiss had implied. Certainly desire, and whoa, was there lots of heat in that kiss. "Um. Yeah. Back to work. Okay." Catherine stated, climbing into the passenger seat of the Tahoe. ********************************************************************** Tell me what you think. I gotta know if I'm any good at this. (Especially the last part!)