DISCLAIMER: Jerry Bruckheimer, CBS and Alliance Atlantis all beat me to the bunch. Just borrowing, as usual, I'll put them back before Christmas. I swear! I adore writing these two together, such opposites, but they work out so well.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Green Saturday
By carpesomediem
For those who work in retail, the weekend of Black Friday is three-fold. There's Black Friday, of course, which kicks off the holiday shopping season as well as brings out the craziest group of rabid shoppers known to mankind. Stores open at the crack of dawn, vouchers are handed out to those in line who have been there since Thanksgiving, and everyone fights for this or that marked down to unbelievable prices. Most never experience the exhilaration of Black Friday, and some don't live to tell the tale.
Next came Green Saturday. While the deals aren't as good as the day before, they still bring out enough people for stores to make up what they've lost throughout the year. Green Saturday brings most businesses out of the black, over the red and into the green profit-wise for the year, hence the color-coded scheme of the busiest weekend in the fiscal year. Last but not least was Cyber Monday. In the last few years, it's become the new shopping craze where vendors like Amazon.com slash their own prices to compete with brick and mortar stores on Black Friday.
Sara tried to explain it to Catherine over Thanksgiving dinner at the Willows' house, but the blonde was having none of it. She was ready to hit the shops bright and early the next morning with Sara in tow.
"Do I really have to come?" Sara asked while tidying up the kitchen after dinner. Lindsay was eating a piece of pumpkin pie at the table along with Catherine's mother. They were chatting about winter break and what the youngest of the Willows clan wanted for Christmas.
"Come on, Sara," Catherine teased, "It won't be that bad. I mean, you do have to shop for new clothes at some point, don't you?"
"And what's wrong with my clothes?" Sara responded defensively.
"Absolutely nothing," Catherine countered, smiling, "I happen to like them… but my closet is in some serious need this holiday season."
"I just had to start dating the most stylish CSI in Las Vegas, didn't I?" Sara chided.
"You could've dated, Grissom," Catherine teased. "He's got about as much style as that radiated fetal pig of his." Sara chuckled and finished up the dishes before grabbing her own slice of home-made pie.
The next morning, Catherine's pager went off moments before she was due up by alarm. Sara silently thanked whatever higher power was at work and went back to bed as the blonde headed to a crime scene, being the only on-call in the crime lab for the day.
There was a 419 in Henderson. The case was easy to close; somebody jumped a voucher-wielding customer in line at a consumer electronics store and stabbed them to death when they wouldn't give it up. The idiot killer went into the store, presented the blood smeared voucher and tried to buy a $499 plasma television. The associates called the police, they eventually found the body in a ravine in the back and Catherine came to collect a few bits and pieces of evidences while trying not to be run down by drivers in the nearby parking lot.
"Before I get out of my car, can you explain to me why I want to go in there again?" Sara had turned off the ignition and was now pointing towards the crowds filtering into the mall. She reasoned there had to be thousands of people filtering in and out of the mall, most with shopping bags filled with clothes and accessories and other things they'd never wear or use in a millions years. Normally, she did her shopping online. It was so much easier that way.
"It'll be fun, Sara, I promise," Catherine said, getting out of the car and taking her sunglasses off. She looked ready to take out the first shopper who tried to snag a sale from her; it was a good thing they weren't packing heat today, Sara laughed on the inside. She could just imagine the blonde pulling out her lab ID and making a scene just to grab the last blouse or pair of slacks she saw.
"Famous last words," Sara finally stepped out, too, shielding her eyes from the harsh sun. It was sometime after one. They were at the Fashion Mall, hardly the place Sara normally shopped. Places like Neiman Marcus, Macy's and Saks all shared stock in this particular mall. Sara still couldn't believe Catherine wanted to brave the crazy shoppers inside Saks; when they passed by it the first time, after hitting up Nordstroms and Bloomingdales, she could've sworn she saw two older women batting at each other with umbrellas over a cashmere sweater two sizes too small.
"I still can't believe Hodges was in Saks," Catherine chuckled at the thought. He was rifling through a few racks when Sara spotted him and before she could even wave, he was off and out of the store not wanting to be caught there in the first place.
"Yeah, definitely not a place I'd imagine him shopping." She was out of breath. "I didn't realize I was going to be carrying all of this." Sara was carrying no less than twelve bags from various shops around the mall when Catherine said she wanted to head to the Mandalay. "I don't even think these are going to fit in here."
"Maybe we should've borrowed the Denali from work," Catherine smirked, watching as Sara tried to maneuver the bags into her Prius. The brunette smiled triumphantly when she closed the trunk and headed for the driver's side door as Catherine slid into the passenger seat.
"I don't think Ecklie would think it was being used for crime lab business," Sara said in all seriousness, the joke going over her head.
"Well, if there's another DB today over a computer or a TV or even a nice pair of Jimmy Choos, at least we would've been prepared," Catherine shrugged, staring at her reflection in the rearview mirror. She wasn't getting any younger, but then again, she still looked as breathtaking as ever, Sara thought as she watched discreetly. She loved sneaking glances this way, without Catherine knowing, she'd become such a professional at it when they were working.
"So, to the Mandalay, then?" Sara asked.
"Yeah, let's go," Catherine replied, "I know a few places that you might even like." Sara just shook her head again; it was certainly an exhausting first Green Saturday for her. But since she was with Catherine, she'd make a few sacrifices, even in the name of fashion.
The End