DISCLAIMER: CSI and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Amazing Technicolor Love
By Esther
Whatever was going on with Sara, Catherine had decided that it was too much trouble to talk to her anymore.
Every time she approached the younger woman Sara would visibly bristle and make a pathetic excuse to get away.
Frankly, Catherine was sick of it and as she looked at Sara heading towards her she folded her arms and pouted her annoyance.
Sara climbed into the truck next to Catherine.
"Hey," Sara said.
"Nice of you to turn up at last," Catherine said tartly and started the engine.
Sara gave a little shake of her head in annoyance and turned her face away as they drove to the crime scene.
Catherine drummed her fingers on the steering wheel to release her irritation and eventually Sara's patience snapped.
"Would you stop doing that please?" Sara hissed.
"Excuse me?" Catherine turned to look at her in disbelief.
"It's getting on my nerves," Sara muttered.
"Well I'm terribly sorry your highness," Catherine's voice had a dangerous tone. "Would you like me to stop breathing as well? Perhaps that's getting on your nerves."
"Sometimes it gets on my nerves," Sarah muttered.
Catherine slammed on the brakes and glared at Sara.
"Do you want to walk to the crime scene?"
"Suits me," Sara attempted to call Catherine's bluff and opened the car door but before she could set foot outside Catherine screeched away.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Sara shouted and slammed the door closed.
"I'm thinking about it!" Catherine retorted.
As they drove the rest of the way in silence Catherine wondered how it had come to this.
They could not stand to be in the same room together let alone a car together and work a crime scene together.
This was becoming ridiculous.
The flashing blue lights up ahead threw an eerie glow around the neighbourhood and Catherine realised that they were not that far from where she lived.
"Hi Catherine, Sara," Sofia greeted them as they got out of the truck and Catherine retrieved her kit from the trunk.
"Hey Sofia," Catherine said.
Sara tutted and wandered over to Brass.
Catherine knew that Sara was tutting because she had got out of the truck and acted as though nothing had happened in the car.
Sara wore her heart on her sleeve whereas Catherine was old enough and wise enough to control her emotions and behave professionally.
"The body was found by a neighbour that could hear the dog barking," Sofia lifted the crime scene tape so Catherine could step under it. "It's a real mess in there."
"Blood?" Catherine asked knowing that one person could not cause that much mess.
"More like Jospeh and his amazing Technicolor house," Sofia said and nodded her head towards the door for Catherine to enter.
Catherine looked at her in confusion but as she stepped into the house everything became clear.
There was paint everywhere, of every shade of colour you could imagine.
"How the hell?" Catherine muttered staring in despair at the dogs paw prints that were all over the open plan house. The place was almost hidden by paint.
"Well, the dog had a fun time," Sofia said. "Where do you start in a case like this?"
"Sara!" Catherine called.
Sara looked up with exasperation on her face but walked up to where the other two women were standing.
"Wow!" she pulled a face. "Nice new way to decorate. Get your dog to do it."
"Indeed," Sofia muttered and looked across at the family pet that stood by the dog handler looking like a dog from a cartoon that had been inked. "Poor thing."
Catherine and Sara went back to the truck and pulled on overalls.
One at a time they stepped cautiously into the house and began processing the scene.
"Whatever evidence that might have been here is going to be buried under all of this paint," Catherine said after about half an hour.
"You know," Sara said as she snapped away with her camera; "I was thinking – what if the dog didn't do this. It's possible that he knocked the paint tins over but perhaps the perp did it to try and hide any trace. No dog could get the paint up the walls like this. I know it sounds far-fetched but nothing surprises me anymore."
Catherine looked thoughtful.
"It would be an awful lot of paint tins to have opened at one time even if you were decorating," Sara continued and as she went to step closer to Catherine she lost her footing and slipped, landing on the floor with a loud thud and chorus of swear words.
"Sara," Catherine leapt up and as she did so slipped and landed almost on top of Sara but managed to put her hands down before she landed on the younger woman and ended up straddling her instead.
If Sara was not in such a bad mood all of the time this situation might have been amusing and Catherine wanted to laugh.
Instead, she pushed herself up and wiped her hands on her overalls.
Sara sat up and cursed.
"I have paint in my hair," she complained as she touched her head.
"More importantly – did you hurt yourself?" Catherine looked down at Sara.
"I don't think so," Sara said.
Catherine held out her hand and Sara took it. The older woman pulled Sara to her feet and turned Sara gently to look at the back of her head.
"You're sure you haven't hurt yourself?" Catherine persisted.
"Yes," Sara walked away; "don't fuss over me."
"Sorry," Catherine held her hands up.
Sara was infuriating.
Catherine smiled to herself as she noticed that Sara had pink paint all over her back.
Sara was not happy being in Catherine's home and using her shower but she had accepted anyway.
It was the end of the shift and the crime scene had taken all night due to the technicalities that made it more complicated.
After seeing the mess that the two CSI's were in, Sofia had offered to take the samples to the lab, leaving Catherine and Sara to go home and get washed and changed.
"This paint will take days to come out of my hair," Catherine moaned running her fingers through her golden tresses and studying the paint that marred them.
"At least your hair is light," Sara said indignantly. "I look as though I'm a hundred years old with this white paint. Although the pink looks kinda fetching."
With that comment Sara smiled for the first time in months.
Catherine looked at the younger woman and Sara stared back.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sara shifted uncomfortably on the stool she was sitting on.
"I don't get you, Sara," Catherine shook her head sadly. "I really don't get you."
Catherine walked away and into the bathroom. Sara sat at the breakfast bar feeling stunned.
What did Catherine mean? She didn't get Sara?
There was nothing to get.
Sure, Sara was difficult sometimes but watching the woman that you love dating a string of losers was difficult.
Folding her arms Sara pouted angrily.
How dare Catherine say that to her, did she know what Sara was thinking, what she felt?
Did Catherine have any idea how much Sara's secret love for Catherine was tearing her apart?
No!
Catherine was perfectly happy dating all of these losers.
Losers that did not understand the pressure of the job; how it consumed your life.
They could not understand why the job was so important, why it was necessary to break off dates that could take place at another time and why it was essential that the rest of Catherine's time was spent with her daughter.
Sara could understand that. She lived the same life.
Catherine stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and let out a deep sigh.
That was the first time that Sara had smiled in her presence for months and then Catherine had to go and spoil it by opening her mouth.
She tugged at the streaks of white in her hair and gave another sigh.
Today had been a nightmare day all round and she could do with a little tension release.
She would call Andy once Sara left. Andy was always happy to oblige with a little tension release.
Not that Catherine approved of promiscuity but she was a woman that had needs and if the woman that she wanted was not willing to meet those needs then there was always a man willing and waiting.
Catherine undid the buttons on her blouse and tossed it on the floor.
She reached into the shower cubicle and set the water running.
She adored this shower. It sprayed water from all sides and although it had cost a fortune Catherine had felt that a little extravagance never hurt anyone.
She slid out of her skin tight jeans and threw them on top of the shirt.
"Catherine," Sara's voice sounded behind her.
Catherine spun around. "Sara! What are you doing?" she exclaimed. "I'm a little busy."
Sara drank in the sight of Catherine standing in front of her in black underwear.
"Stop looking at me!" Catherine objected and reached for a towel and wrapped it around herself.
"You used to like it when people looked at your amazing body," Sara whispered.
Catherine was just about to object to Sara's comment about Catherine's past as a dancer but became hung up on the word that Sara had used.
'Amazing.'
"That was a long time ago," Catherine felt disarmed. "I'm older now and don't enjoy it so much."
Sara moved closer to Catherine.
"It all looks pretty good from where I'm standing," the dark haired woman curled her lips into a salacious smile.
"Sara," Catherine used her business like voice. "What the hell is going on?"
Sara fixed her gaze on the floor.
"Sara?" Catherine probed.
Sara shrugged her slender shoulders. "I have no idea."
Catherine looked at Sara sympathetically.
Sara did not meet Catherine's gaze.
"We need to talk about whatever it is," Catherine said. "The situation is becoming unbearable."
"I know," Sara shoved her hands into her jeans pockets but looked up at Catherine.
"Why have things become so awful between us?" Catherine's eyes filled with tears. "I felt that we were getting to a point in our professional relationship where we respected one another and then all of a sudden that just disappears and we're back to square one and completely intolerant of each other."
"I know," Sara agreed softly. "I felt that too."
"So what happened?" Catherine asked.
Catherine knew what had happened on her part. As she had grown closer to the young CSI she had found Sara intoxicating.
The young woman had made Catherine rethink her entire sexual desires, and not just sexual desires but her emotional desires.
Sara had reached Catherine in places no man had ever reached.
Sara flared her nostrils and wrestled with her emotions.
'Oh what the hell?' she thought. 'I'm owed tonnes of leave; if it all goes horribly wrong then I'll just take leave until it blows over.'
"I fell in love with you," Sara ran her tongue over her lips nervously.
Catherine felt as though she had been slapped.
"You fell in love with me?" she repeated.
"Yes."
Catherine swallowed hard. How had she not realised that?
She had been so preoccupied with her own feelings that she had not taken time to consider how Sara might be feeling.
"You fell in love with me?" she repeated.
"Again, yes," Sara looked at Catherine with interest.
Suddenly Catherine burst out laughing.
"Why is that funny?" Sara felt herself stiffen.
Catherine shook her head.
Sara turned away huffily to leave but Catherine caught hold of her from behind and wrapped her arms around Sara's tiny waist.
"It's not funny," Catherine whispered.
"Then why are you laughing?" Sara's voice broke.
"I'm laughing because I fell in love with you too. For CSI's we've been completely blind to the evidence," Catherine pressed her lips against Sara's shoulder.
"You love me?" Sara sounded amazed.
"Yes," Catherine turned Sara around to face her. "I've never felt anything like this before. The closer we became the more I realised that I wanted you in a way that I shouldn't."
It was Sara's turn to laugh.
"I can't believe it."
Catherine brushed Sara's hair back. "Well believe it."
The two women gazed steadily at one another.
"What do we do now?" Sara asked.
Catherine looked thoughtful and cocked her head to one side.
"I think that maybe you should kiss me and then you can help me wash this paint out of my hair."
Sara grinned. "It would be my pleasure."
The End