DISCLAIMER: CSI and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Written to a LJ femslash_fluff challenge involving a nail file and Denali.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
First on Scene
By Ann
"Where was the damn officer who was supposed to meet us at the scene?" Catherine growled, attempting to shift to a more comfortable position.
"You didn't want to wait, remember? You were the one who had the hot date you had to get to." Sara grumbled her response, pushing her shoulders against Catherine's.
Pushing back forcefully, Catherine countered, "It was a simple B&E. How was I supposed to know the burglar was still on the scene? And better yet, how in the hell was I to know that he'd handcuff us together in the back of the fucking Denali? And what was he doing with two pair of handcuffs?"
"Who knows? At least we can describe his height, weight, and body build to the police if they ever show up." Sara scrunched up her nose in an effort to alleviate the sudden itch.
After a few moments of silence, it became obvious the fight had gone out of Catherine, her next words whispered, the tone soft compared to her earlier rant. "Well, maybe you can. All I saw was that huge cannon he was waving in front of our faces. I'd never been so scared in my entire life."
Wiggling her hand, Sara managed to take hold of one of her colleague's in an attempt to reassure the other woman. "Catherine, I don't think he ever intended to shoot us; he was just trying to scare us."
"Well, he damn sure succeeded in doing that." Catherine lightly squeezed Sara's hand before releasing it. She leaned her weight against the brunette. "We can't just sit here and wait until someone shows up. It might take all night."
"Do you have something in mind or are you just thinking out loud?"
"Warrick taught me how to open handcuffs with a nail file." Catherine informed her colleague, her voice taking on a more optimistic tone.
Sara chuckled. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you and Warrick were doing with a pair of handcuffs."
"It's not what you think. We had a slow couple of evenings when we were working the swing shift, and, well, Nick and Warrick were always coming up with something to keep from being so bored. One day, Warrick showed us the art of the nail file." Catherine turned towards the front seat, spotting her purse sitting prominently on the console.
Her excitement was echoed in her triumphant words. "I've got a nail file in my purse."
Turning her head to mirror Catherine's, Sara spied the purse in question. "You've got to be kidding. There's no way we can get to it."
"Yes, we can. If we swivel around, you can step over the seat, and I'll follow you."
"Of course, you'll follow me; you're attached to me. Problem is, we'd overbalance and fall. No telling where we'd land," Sara objected, mentally mapping out the redhead's plan.
A short argument ensued with Catherine finally coming out the victor; not because she'd managed to talk Sara into her idea, but because the brunette didn't want to spend the rest of the night arguing with the other woman.
Several minutes later, Sara had successfully stepped over the seat, but just as Catherine tried to mimic the brunette's action, the two did indeed overbalance and fall forward, landing Sara face first against the seat and Catherine lying on top of her trapped colleague.
"Are you okay, Sara?" Catherine asked, concern evident in her tone.
"Oh, yeah. I'm just peachy, Cath. I managed to break the fall with my face," Sara answered sarcastically.
Laughing aloud, Catherine offered, "Well, I do have to admit that this is the first time I've ever been in the backseat of a car in this position."
"You mean you've never 'danced' cheek to cheek?"
"Exposed my cheeks? Yes. Danced cheek to cheek? No, not with these particular ones anyway." Catherine attempted to shift some of her weight off of the brunette.
"Sara, I'm going to try to roll a little towards the front. See if you can lift up with me."
Visions of Catherine exposing her cheeks, combined with a few mental images of a cheek to cheek encounter with the redhead, caused Sara to almost miss the request as she closed her eyes and shook her head to clear the delicious thoughts.
Together, the two managed to right themselves so that Catherine was kneeling on the floorboard while Sara struggled to stay upright, and soon, they were both in an upright position with the purse just out of reach. Throughout the entire process, they'd only managed to grope each other a couple of times.
Breathing heavily, Catherine teased, "Whew; that was fun. Was it good for you, too?"
"Oh, yeah." Sara panted her reply, surprised at how much she really did enjoy rolling around in the backseat with the redhead.
"Well, if you thought that was fun; you're going to love my next idea."
Anxious to hear what the investigator had up her sleeve, Sara leaned back against the other woman. "Oh, goody. I can hardly wait."
Catherine turned her head as far as she could to her right and began to slowly lay out her plan while Sara visibly shivered at the nearness of her colleague's voice.
"If we lean down together towards the console, I think we can pick up the purse with our teeth. The hard part will be to try to drop it straight down so that it's next to our hands."
Sara immediately realized that she was about to experience an entirely different cheek to cheek encounter with the redhead, and she closed her eyes to mentally prepare herself.
"Okay, I'm ready." Sara turned her head to the left to meet the soft skin of Catherine's cheek, and she couldn't help but wonder if her lips would be equally as soft.
Thinking the same thoughts, Catherine forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. "Let's do it."
This time, neither woman made a comment about the multi-meaning words the redhead had offered as each slowly leaned toward the purse, eyeing the strap.
As Sara attempted to gain purchase on the strap with her teeth, Catherine halted her progress. "Wait, Sara. We need to unzip the top zipper and carefully lift the purse so that the contents don't spill out. If we can pick it up, swing it in this direction, and just drop it, I think we can manage to maneuver it towards us."
"Okay, let's do it." Sara repeated Catherine's earlier words, and both women smiled.
Slowly, but surely, the two were able to unzip the zipper with their lips side by side. Each woman quickly realized that if either of them turned a millimeter more, their lips would be pressed against each other, but gamely, they persevered, concentrating on the task at hand.
Soon, they'd maneuvered the purse in position, releasing it at the same time, and thankfully, it landed with the opening near Catherine's hand. Quickly rummaging around, the investigator successfully gained purchase on the file.
After several failed attempts and numerous jabs against Sara's skin, the female Houdini finally slid the file into the opening, releasing the cuff connecting her right hand to Sara's left. The two investigators slowly began to turn towards each other until they were face to face.
Glancing down at their freed hands, Catherine immediately saw the red marks on Sara's hand, and she gently picked it up to inspect the damage. Pleased that it wasn't bleeding, she lifted it to her lips and placed a soft kiss on the red surface. Looking into each other's eyes, neither woman said a word as they slowly leaned in towards the other.
The gentle kiss soon grew in intensity as the passion that had been building between the two from the first moment they'd laid eyes on each other finally broke free. So engrossed in the kiss, they almost didn't hear the knock on the tinted window, and both women groaned pitifully in protest of the interruption.
Pulling away, Catherine smiled at Sara before opening the door to reveal a LVPD officer. Apologizing profusely for being late, he moved to assist the two women out of the Denali, but was verbally stopped by Catherine who instructed him to call the lab and request a CSI to process the Denali as well as she and Sara. The young man nodded his head in understanding and quickly headed toward his squad car.
"We'll need to remain handcuffed together, Sara," Catherine pointed out, not at all unhappy that they'd have to stay in close contact with each other to preserve as much evidence as possible.
"Fine by me, Cath," Sara agreed, settling back against the seat.
Grinning, the two women sat in the Denali, obviously content with their current situation, and joining their cuffed hands, they patiently waited for one of their colleagues to arrive to process the new crime scene.
Until then, each investigator silently planned where to take things from here.
The End