Title: All That Is Left Is You
Author: Dawny
Pairing: Catherine/Sara
Rating: PG-13
Summary: When Sara gets upset over a case, Catherine is there to comfort her.

***

"And where do you think you're going?" Catherine's voice called from the other side of the hallway. "Out!" Sara yelled back at her, making her way towards the door. She opened it and let the cool night air wash over her. It felt good, especially tonight. They had a difficult case, a woman died after her husband went too far in her abuse. They all knew it, but they didn't have any prove. These were the kind of cases that got to Sara. Everybody knew. Grissom had even tried to hide the case file from her so she couldn't get upset. It was sweet of him, but unnecessary. She was a trained investigator and if it came to Grissom, she read him like an open book.

"Hey you." Catherine said from behind her.

"Hi." She said, in a week attempt to sound cheerful.

"Are you okay?" Cath carefully asked, placing a hand on her shoulder for support.

Sara could feel a warm rush going trough her body, that always happened when Catherine toughed her. She closed her eyes and sucked in another breath. "I will be." She sighed.

"Why is it that these abuse cases get to you this much?" Catherine asked with readable interest in her voice.

Sara turned around, but did not look at her. Her shoes seemed far more interesting at that moment. "You don't wanna know."

"Yes I do, talk to me, girl." Catherine pushed.

"Okay maybe you want to know, but I'm not gonna tell you." She smiled, looking up to meet Catherine's begging eyes.

"Why not? You stopped talking to everybody else a long time ago, but I'm still here. Willing to listen to you, willing to be your friend. And you just shut me out, you're like Grissom. When he has a bug up his ass he crawls away in a corner and waits for it to just go away, I thought you weren't like that, I thought you were brave enough to stand up against your problems." Catherine speeched, surprising Sara with the sudden seriousness in her voice.

"I... I'm... I'm sorry Cath." Sara stuttered clumsy. Watching her very interesting shoes again. "I never talked about it, and I'm not willing to change that yet. Please stop pushing me, I'll tell you. I promise."

"Please don't wait to long, or people are gonna stop listening." Catherine pointed out, turning around to get back inside the building.

"Will you?" Sara asked. Tears swelling up in her eyes.

"What?"

"Ever stop listening to me?" At that moment a tear fell down her cheek. She quickly whipped it away. But not fast enough for Catherine not to notice it.

She walked towards Sara again. Pulling back a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. "No." She whipped away another tear, pulling Sara's face up to meet her eyes. Catherine was shocked by the sudden sadness in Sara's eyes. "C'mere." She said, pulling her in to a tight embrace. Sara held onto her as if her life depended on Catherine. Tears kept falling onto Cath's shoulder. "I will always be here for you, ready to listen to your problems." She whispered into her ear, softly stroking Sara's hair with her right hand. While the other was firmly pulled around Sara's waist, keeping the younger woman close to her.

"Thank you." Sara whispered back. Not knowing if Catherine had even heard her. Apparently she did because she felt Catherine's soft lips on her cheek, placing a delicate kiss on it.

Sara immediately missed the warmth of Catherine's body when she pulled back. It had felt good when she was buried in the arms of the smaller woman. It felt complete.

Catherine found herself drowning away in the deep brown eyes that were locked onto her blue ones. Her hand made it's way up to Sara's cheek again, stroking the wet flesh beneath her fingertips. From her cheek her hand wandered downwards towards Sara's incredible lips. They looked so tasty, if

she could only... and she probably had if Nick hadn't opened the door behind her.

"Ladies, we might have a major break through! Get your asses in her instead of in the cold." He called.

Her hand leaving Sara's face and turning around to Nicky she asked: "What is it?"

"You remember those fibbers I lifted off of the husbands sweater when we went to tell him about his wife?" Both Sara and Catherine nodded in assurance, making their way through the crowded halls. "We found similar ones at the vic's. They are carped fibbers from the elevator where our mrs. Dollenganger was found. They have a unique combination of cotton and polymetholeen. This proves us that our mr. Dollenganger was in the elevator. And it proves a timeline to because according to our Cath here the victim washed clothes that very morning, so his sweater must have been on that morning when his wife was dumped in the elevator."

"Wow, this might be enough to catch him if he talks himself into a corner." Sara said, looking much better than she did 'bout a minute ago.

"Can Sara and I question him? I feel like talking like an idiot." Catherine asked.

"Sure. Knock yourself out, he is in exame 1." Nick said and started walking back towards the lab.

"We are gonna have so much fun." Catherine said in a low voice when she opened the door.

"Mr. Dollenganger. Hello." Sara started. "Our team has found some new evidence, so we're going to have to question you some more. Okay?"

"That's alright, I have nothing to hide." The arrogant ass said.

"Where were you when you're wife was murdered, mr. Dollenganger?" Catherine asked.

"I told you, I was at the golf cours, like every Saturday morning." He replied.

"But what 'bout your wife, what did she do every Saturday morning?" Sara asked shooting a look at Catherine. She knew what Sara was up to.

"She always did the laundry." He said looking straight into Sara's eyes.

"Right, so your sweater was freshly washed when we came to see you." Catherine stated.

"Yes, I never wear unwashed things." He started to get tired of the , to him, unimportant questions.

"So when our team recovered the same carpet fibbers of your sweater as we did of you wife's you must have got them on you sweater at the same time, right?" Sara asked, on her innocent tone.

"Yes I guess so, but what has this got to do with Carries murder?" He didn't even expect the lightest bit. Oh, he must have not known about the existence of forensic science, or he wouldn't have been so stupid.

"The fibbers that we are talking about are a match to the carpet of the elevator your wife was found in. You just told us you and your wife were in the elevator at the time she was murdered." Catherine pointed out.

"You just framed you killed your wife, mr. Dollenganger." Sara said bitterly, while walking towards the door, Catherine following her closely.

"But I... didn't." He stuttered, stunned by the directness of Sara's voice.

"Yes you did, you filthy prick! Now shut your ugly mouth or I'll nail it shut!" Sara freaked out and lunched at him. "You fuckin' killed your innocent wife when you went too far in your abuse on her!"

"Get off of me bitch! What I do with my wife is my business and not anybody else's and if I decided to hit her I'll hit her ugly face into a form that I like better."

Catherine quickly got to the couple lying on the floor. "Sara, get off of him!" She started pulling at Sara's arms so Sara wouldn't be able to use them on him. He took advantidce of that by using his, and slammed into Sara's head. She yelled in pain and disgust. Catherine instantly let go of her arms and reached for her gun. When she let go Sara slammed back onto him and he punched her in the stomach. She fell onto the floor next to him, curled up into a foetus position.

"Stop it! Get back, you asshole!" Catherine yelled, sounding almost hysterically. Cops came rushing in, pinning mr. Dollenganger down on the spot on the floor.

Catherine rushed over to Sara. "Sara, honey, are you okay?" All she got in return was a soft moan. "C'mon Sara, can you sit up?"

She slowly turned her attention towards Catherine. Reacting way to slow. "Cath? Hurts..." Was all Catherine could make up out of it.

"Lets get you fixed." She said, pulling Sara into a standing position. She leaned onto Catherine so much that she was almost carried into the bathroom.

When Catherine let go of her she stumbled towards the sink, managing the sit on it a couple of seconds later. Catherine got a paper towel out of the machine, soaking it with water and bringing it up to Sara's face. When it got in contact with her skin she quickly pulled back as far as she could. "Don't be a baby, your wound needs to be cleaned or you'll have an infection."

"But it hurts." That was all Sara could find against it.

"That's weak. Just let me fix you." Catherine laughed, softly pushing the towel to her wound. Making a couple of funny noises Sara gave into the gentle tough of her hand.

"You know, you shouldn't fight guys like that, they're a lot stronger than you are. I mean he beat his wife to dead. That should be reason enough to not let him get to you that much."

"Well, it makes me look though." After getting a punishing look from Catherine she continued. "No, it's just, I can't stand those guys and than, I don't know, it's like something inside me just... snaps... you know?" Sara said, asking for reinsurance.

"I know. But still, be more careful in future. Is your belly okay?" She asked, touching the edge of Sara's shirt.

"It should be, I'm used to this." Sara replied.

"Can I take a look anyway?" Sara shrugged. Cath took this as a yes and pulled up her shirt. Sara's belly was already starting to bruise. Cath slowly started running her fingers over it. "Does it hurt?" She asked, noticing a slight blush on Sara's cheeks.

"Not really, but it feels like I've been punched in it." She smiled, while Catherine was still rubbing her tummy. Stopping suddenly.

"You have a scar." She said, sounding surprised.

"Yes, I've had surgery there." Sara answered, informing her,

"Why? What happened?" Catherine asked, not taking her eyes of the scar.

"I got into a fight and my spleen had to be removed." She simply said. Catherine looked at her with disbelieve in her eyes.

"A fight?" She asked, suddenly interested. "With who?"

"Does it matter? You wouldn't know him." She said and looked away from the piercing blue eyes.

"Did he hurt you anywhere else?" Catherine said, turning back to Sara's inguries.

"Nope, I'm all good. I was just a little fuzzy from the hit to the head." She replied.

"You shout get a head CT or something, it was quite a big bang." She advised while dropping the paper towel into the trash.

"That's okay, I'll see if my head stays fuzzy." Sara said while jumping off of the counter a little to fast. She got to her feet and felt her head spin again. Suddenly the floor seemed to be coming at her, when strong hands grabbed her and let her softly fall down on the white tiles.

"Sara, you okay?" Catherine's voice sounded very worried.

"Yes, but can I go home now?" She asked in a weak attempted to sound funny. But than all the lights went out and darkness came rushing towards her.

"Hell yeah, I am taking you home right now." Catherine said seriously and pulled Sara's arm around her neck. When the opened the bathroom door, it bumped into Grissom. His face was already filled with worry but when he saw Sara hanging from Catherine's neck it got even more worried.

"Oh god. Is she okay?" He asked, while walking to Sara's other side and pulling her other arm around his neck.

"She says she's fine, but she blacked out a second ago. I'm talking her home now." Catherine explained.

"Can you open the doors for me? Than I'll carry her to your car." He proposed. Catherine nodded and let go of Sara's arm. Grissom swooped her feet of the ground and lifted Sara's thin posture into his arms. Her head fell onto his chest with a light bump. She was so light. He had to remind himself to make her eat more often.

Before they had even reached the front door Greg had spotted an unconscious Sara hanging from Grissom's arms. He ran towards them and before he had even reached them he yelled: "What happened?"

"Calm down Greggo. She just blacked out." She tried to make it sound like it was nothing, but she was worried to.

"Don't fuck with me Catherine. I know you don't trust this either." He shot at her, while stroking Sara's hair out of her face.

"Okay, she tried to take on a suspect who beat his wife to dead and got slammed in the belly and her head, I am worried as hell and I would really like to take her home now, thank you very much." Catherine said frustrated.

He nodded to her little outburst and stepped a side, so Grissom and Sara could pass. When Catherine wanted to go outside as well he touched her arm. "Can you page me if anything changes? I mean she's my best friend. I have the right to be worried, don't I?" He asked, looking at Catherine with questioning eyes.

"Yeah, I guess you do. I'm sorry I snapped at you... I'll page you." She said, leaving Greg alone and running to the car.

Grissom carefully lay Sara down on the back seat, making sure she was not going to hit her head in the ride. Catherine watched the scene in front of her. Grissom actually cared about Sara, who would ever have thought he would show it.

He pulled back out of the car. "Are you going to stay with her?"

"Yeah, just until she wakes up and starts nagging that she wants to go back to work." She smiled at the thought of Sara waking up. That would be nice. Catherine got into her car and slammed the door hard, maybe she was trying to wake Sara up, she didn't know but it felt like the right thing to do.

Grissom knocked on her window and mentioned to open it. She cracked the thing and shot him a questioning look. "Will you keep me posted? If anything changes..." He was afraid to end his sentence.

She nodded and drove off.

***********************

Catherine stopped the car in front of Sara's apartment building. She sighed, how the hell was she going to get her up there without knocking her into a coma or ... damn it! She turned to see Sara only to find her eyelashes flash a couple of times.

"Sara... sara...SARA... !" She heard Catherin call and slowly opened her eyes.

"Cath? What happened... and why am I in your car?" she asked confused.

"You faited. And I took you home." She explained the short version.

"I don't want to go home. I want to help and work!" She said very clear.

"Oh no, you gave everybody quite a scare there. I at least have to get a drink from you and call Greg and Grissom." She half-joked.

Sara smiled and waited for Catherine to open the car door. When she did Sara's hands reached for her. She smiled. "What? You can't even stand and you want to go back to work?"

"Yes... after that drink of course." Sara glared back.

They struggled into the elevator, where Sara was parked against the side. But she didn't let go of Cath. It felt to save and to warm. Sara's head fell onto Cath's shoulder. Catherine smiled and placed the second kiss today on Sara's head.

The elevator stopped on Sara's floor and they stumbled to her apartment. She fished her pockets for her keys. She held them out to open the door when Catherine grabbed them from her, touching her hand in the process. Sara could have sworn there was another electric vibe. She wondered if Catherine had felt it. Catherine got Sara onto her couch. Good, now she couldn't hurt herself anymore. "You want something to drink?" Catherine asked.

"Depends... are we going back to work tonight?" She smiled.

"You aren't. That's for sure. But do you want me to stay?" She asked a little uncertain.

"Hell yeah, if I sit here all alone in the dark I'll just be watching the discovery channel the entire night." She joked.

"2 whiskey it is." Catherine laughed.

"Make those doubles!" Sara yelled after her.

**** After a couple of minutes Catherine returned to the couch. She sat down next to Sara, handing her the whiskey.

"Can you tell me why you don't want people to know why you don't like abused women?" Catherine said, coming back on the subject.

"Well, it involves a very personal part of my life, a part nobody really knows about. It's like a secret." Sara tried to explain, without sounding like a complete idiot.

"You really don't want to tell me? It'll do you the world of good." Catherine tried one last time. And to her surprise Sara took the bait.

"If I tell you, will you promises to, you know, not pretend you don't know me afterwards?" Sara asked vague.

"Sara please, you know me better than that. I love you and nothing is ever gonna scare me away from you." Catherine assured her.

"Well, it was my freshman year at Harvard. I was a good kind, as you know, the science nerd. I had good friends and a very nice best friend. Her name was Betty Milder. She was so sweet and she always came to our drive in. You know, my parents." She explained. Catherine was watching her; fascinated by the story Sara was telling her. Like she knew Sara was telling her, her deep and darkest fear. "My uncle was staying over at our place than. He was a real ass. But he didn't have a place to live, so my parents decided to play the nice brother and sister. I hated him and so did Betty because she could never do anything right in his eyes. My parents were out one night, I can't remember were they went, probably to the drive in movie a couple of block farther, but it doesn't matter anymore. We thought my uncle was in the nearest pub as well, like always. And we chose that night to ... emmm, take our relationship a little farther." She paused. Afraid to look at Catherine, afraid of what she might find lying in her eyes. Would it be fear or anger or even disgust? When she worked up the courage to look all she found was understandment.

"I know what you mean, now carry on." Catherine said, encouraging her to get to the big finish.

"We started getting it on and in the heath of the moment we didn't hear the door. And there he was, he found us there, lying butnaked on the floor and... he just lost it. We knew he didn't like lesbians but... I wasn't that scared to tell anybody back than but he... all the fear I have is because of him. When he found us he just went ballistic. He beat Betty and me, he slammed us onto the table, he kicked us, he... well I can't remember what he all did because I lost consciousness somewhere in the process and when I woke again I remembered hearing screams..." She stopped, swallowing away her tears, but not succeeding. Tears fell down her cheeks in small waterfalls. "When I found her, there wasn't a piece of her beautiful body in place or its natural colour. She was blue and cold. My uncle was gone, my parents were gone and my girlfriend was gone as well. So I sat there beside her, naked, until my parents came home and they called 911." She finished her story.

"Sara, I... I'm really sorry, I had no idea." Cath stuttered. She was not sorry she asked the question though. It wasn't good to keep something as big as that in.

"About what, me being beaten up by my own uncle and loosing my girlfriend or me being a lesbian?" She asked sarcastically.

"Actually, just the first. I had my suspicions." Catherine smiled at her.

"Please, don't tell anyone. I can't imagine what I would do if they couldn't accept." Sara begged her. Looking really desperate.

"You know, I think you took too much time to think about the fact that they can't accept that you didn't even take the time to think what to do if they will accept." Catherine told her. Sara turned away her gaze focussing on the table in front of her. She was very quiet now. So quiet that Catherine started to wonder if everything was okay.

"You really think they'll accept me, if I'm a lesbian?" A soft voice beside her asked.

"Oh baby, of course they will, we will even love you if you turn out to be a flesh eating and murdering lesbian. It takes a wholes lot to shock us, girl." She laughed, taking a trembling Sara into her arms. "You'll be just fine, we'll love you. As long as our Sara is happy." She shushed her.

She snuggled herself into Cath's protecting arms. Whenever she held her, it seemed like the world had faded away. Or at least that nobody could hurt her. She knew Catherine would never do that so it felt safe. Catherine's arms were locked around her shoulders, while hers were firmly pulled around her waist. The hand in her hair comforted her even more. It was moving in a soft rhythm, fingering Sara's brown locks. Her head was buried in the crook of Catherine's neck.

Catherine could feel Sara's hot breath on her neck. It was nice, holding that younger woman close to her. She was just thinking about how to freeze the time so she and Sara could stay there like that forever, when she felt Sara's lips touching the soft tissue there. Catherine felt her eyes close at the sensation of feeling those wonderful lips on her body. Another kiss was placed on her neck, dragging it up to her jaw, lips never leaving the skin beneath them.

She felt Catherine's grip on her loosen when her lips had first touched her skin. She could feel her pulse rise in her neck. It made her want to continue her assault on the woman beneath her. She dragged her lips up her neck, placing soft kisses on her jaw and up to her mouth. When she reached it she stopped. Her lips left Catherine's delicate skin and she pulled away to look at her for reassurance. She found Catherine's eyes closed in pleasure, or at least it looked like that.

Not feeling those wonderful lips on her anymore she opened her eyes, finding those brown pools of beauty locked on her eyes, which were closed only seconds ago. She felt Sara searching for something, it took her a couple of seconds to find out that the thing she was looking for was permission. Catherine smiled at her, leaning into her. Sara smiled as well. She felt those soft lips gently brush against her own. Examining every inch of them, memorising their taste. Sensation washing over them, making them want more. It was Catherine who opened her mouth and slit her tongue out to deepen the kiss. She gently traced Sara's bottom lip with her tongue. The younger woman willingly opened her mouth. Wanting to feel what she needed so badly. Their tongues met in a subtle dance where passion was the leading man. Catherine's hand was trailing up and down Sara's back, leaving hot trails all over. Sara's hands were in Cath's hair, keeping her close, not ever wanting to let her go again.

Sara could feel her lungs screams for oxygen. But she refused to leave Catherine's wonderful mouth. When she finally worked up the courage to do what she wanted to do ever since she first met this incredible woman, she was not going to stop for some stupid O²! Well, if she wouldn't, Catherine would. She brook away gently, placing soft kisses on her lips before actually backing away. Sara didn't open her eyes, she was hoping this moment could last a while longer. That's when she felt Catherine's forehead touch hers, they leaned into each other, both knowing they had to stop not because they wanted to, but because they had to.

"So. how do you feel about taking our relationship to the next level?" Catherine asked. It was meant as a joke but when it came out it felt very serious.

Sara grinned. "Fine with me." She dropped her left leg over Catherine and pushed herself up to a sitting position on her lap. "But I don't know it you can handle me." She laughed.

"You might find yourself surprised by that fact." Catherine said, while stroking a strand of hair out of her lovers face.

"Than show me what you got." Sara said seductively, while starting to fumble with the button of Catherine's shirt.

***