Title: Save the last dance for me
By: lewis771750
Challenge: Money
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Not mine, Jerry and the people at CBS would never be quite this twisted:) But it is all just for fun, honest.
Spoilers: No
Words: 2210
AN: AU, KickButt Sara and Stripper Cath return...

***

Catherine gulped nervously. Tonight was the last night she would dance publicly, ever.

It was a decision that she had been putting off, and putting off, but one she knew she had to make. The decision to do it as her engagement present to her lover had been a good one. Sara hadn't asked her to, had never pressured Catherine at all about dancing, although to be honest the bulk of their income came from the self-defence classes they taught together and separately around the city. Dancing was now a one-night a week habit for Catherine, tying in to the night that Sara used to sing karaoke, a diversion that Catherine didn't enjoy at all – Sara's voice was good, wonderful for Catherine to hear at home, but too many of the other so-called singers couldn't carry a tune if it had handles, and that was just painful. But sometimes, just occasionally, Sara would come to see her love dance, and Catherine knew that tonight would be one of those nights.

Catherine also knew her father, Sam Braun, would be there. She'd found out that he was her father by accident, he had needed a transplant and approached her as a potential familial donor. They'd had the tests done and although that made it clear he was indeed her father, she wasn't a suitable donor as all her other histocompatibility markers were no match for him. One of his sons was eventually found, and Sam was ill, but still alive.

Catherine wasn't sure how she felt about that. She'd got on OK with Sam, had adjusted to the changes of finding out he was her real father but Sara and Sam just hadn't hit it off. Sara saw the predator, the killer in him, which both Sam and Catherine knew was there, and wouldn't settle in his presence. In his part, Sam saw the killer in him reflected back and was uncomfortable seeing it, uncomfortable with the fact that someone had so quickly seen through the urbane, genteel façade he presented nowadays.

As well as Sara and Sam, there was quite a crowd of regulars too. Catherine was far from the youngest dancer, in fact she was the oldest that she knew about, but she still had that ability to catch the eye, to make them believe, each and every one, that she was there just for them. Sure some of the other girls had better bodies, but the youngsters that came in and were willing to learn from Catherine left as far better dancers than when they arrived. They learnt that just having a beautiful body, taking your clothes off and gyrating worked for a while. Men, especially men in strip clubs, were soft touches, but to really dance you had to be able to read the crowd. Responding to them, changing just little things could double or treble your tips, deflect the troublemakers before they kicked off, and keep the place happy and the money flowing Giving everyone a good night.

Suddenly Catherine's stomach flip-flopped, dragging her from her wool gathering. The beat in the music had changed, Estelle the dancer before her, was about thirty seconds away from finishing. She checked herself in the mirror one last time, all ready, and headed out to the stage for the last time.

As she hit the stage the sound was incredible. For the first time in years she actually faltered, feeling the waves of sound buffet against her. She covered the shock with a slow twirl, a move drawn straight from aikido, letting them drink in the sight of her body and the layers of almost nothing she was wearing.

Actually you could see college girls out for a night on the town wearing less, but these layers were going to be removed, slowly to be sure, and they were artfully designed to tease and please all the way through.

The crowd continued to be noisy, but settled down, they wanted to see this dance, most of them were here only to see this dance, which is why it was the last act of the night.

As she completed her twirl Catherine felt in control again, and quickly scanned the crowd. It was huge, almost certainly over the fire capacity, but she managed to catch sight of Sam standing by the bar. She couldn't see Sara anywhere, but knew she would be there somewhere.

As the music changed she started to move, sashaying along the stage, making sure everyone had a chance to see her, assessing the crowd, working out what to do where, how to link the moves together, something that learning taiji had taught her was important and that she had translated effortlessly into her dancing.

With everything sketched out in her mind she turned and strutted back to her chosen start point, still giving it a bit of the old bump and grind, but signalling to all that knew her that the real action was about to begin.

A hush fell over the audience, punctuated by the sound of people moving, leaning forward to see the show.

Catherine started by running her hands up her body, pressing the various sheer layers against herself. This actually served to make it harder, not easier, to see the detail of what was underneath, as there were denser patches on all the layers that added up to make a moderately concealing outfit, but it showed the shape that was under those layers more clearly, continuing that teasing that was part of the show.

When she knew the audience were ready, nicely brought towards frustration, teased to perfection, she dropped her hands, letting the clothes float free. Grasping the pole she started to swing on it. No-one, well no-one except her and a few of the girls knew how she'd managed it, but as she swung around the pole the first time the outermost layer of her outfit was torn from her body, audibly ripping, and falling to the floor. The piece of fishing line she'd flicked back to the people waiting in the wings as she dropped her hands was almost invisible, and no-one was looking there anyway, they were watching the rest of her body after all. The audience gasped at the sound and the sight, then groaned. That layer had taken some covering away, but she still had more to go to reveal what they really wanted to see.

As she worked the pole Catherine carried on scanning the crowd for Sara whilst letting her body respond unconsciously to the music and the feelings she was getting from the crowd, trusting her years of experience to carry her through. She still couldn't see her lover, but suddenly she noticed a hand holding out a folded bill, far earlier than she had ever had before.

Responding to the money Catherine left the pole, artfully turning that into another step in the disrobing process, this layer bringing gasps and catcalls as it revealed most, but not all, of her left breast, the remaining layers beneath too diaphanous to prevent a clear view. She slid to the floor, legs spread and running her hands up her body, teasing the punters as her nipple slid in and out of view as the layers moved under her hands. The hand reached out with the money tentatively, sliding up Catherine's thigh to the garter that she had revealed. Catherine recognised the touch, the feel of those fingers against her legs, and looked up into Sara's eyes, in a stranger's face. Suddenly, seeing the confusion in Catherine's eyes, Sara smiled. But the smile flashed out from between cheeks that were too fat, and through a day's worth of stubble. Catherine suddenly recognised one of the ‘mugger' masks they used in self-defence classes and smiled back. She knew it was only a dollar she'd been ‘paid' but the love and commitment that came with that dollar made it priceless to her.

Arching her back, thrusting her body towards her lover, Catherine kicked back into the here and now, continuing the motion, rising to her feet letting the crowd see her once again. This time she worked the crowd, strutting around, teasing enough of them that they all believed it could be them; it just might be their lucky night. More money started appearing in hands, being thrust into her garter, and Catherine repaid them all until the time came for another layer to be removed. Looking around she spotted one of her regulars, a man who visited and watched her most weeks. She'd told him, and some of the others, that she would have a special surprise for each of them, that surprise was they would help her disrobe and get to keep a part of her costume. She swung her hips a little more as she went to him, and gave him a quick little dance apparently just for him. As she finished he reached out with his cash, which she accepted, but as he withdrew his hand she thrust a tag of material into it and told him to hold tight.

This time her move to stand was different, driving herself back and up, stretching to catch the pole she knew was behind her. Again there was an audible ripping sound as another layer was torn from her body. Again the audience gasped, this time a large section of thigh and most of her pert ass was rendered visible through the remaining layers. Grasping the pole she went into a simple hip-thrust routine against it, working around so everyone could see the newly exposed part of her body. There was a sudden flurry of money, and again Catherine worked the crowd. Once more she felt Sara's hand was there, caressing her as she carefully tucked the dollar bill under the garter.

The dance continued in a similar vein, each layer being torn from her by some lucky man in the audience revealing more, all her regulars appreciating the gesture of farewell. One layer revealed her stomach and the bottom of both breasts, another the side of her right breast and an expanse of her back and shoulder, the fifth revealed the rest of her ass and her other thigh, the sixth revealed almost everything. For the seventh and final layer, still to be removed, had a patch over her pussy, and a patch over each nipple. At least it did if she was stood still, but as she danced, swung on the pole, fell to her knees and did all the other things she was bound to do during a routine the thin material shifted and moved, revealing and then covering those places that the crowd wanted to see in a wonderfully unpredictable way.

Catherine had always known who would be the person to actually disrobe her completely, but as she danced her final few twirls and slid up and down the pole the amount of money being thrust at her for that privilege was extraordinary. Catherine went round, accepting some, declining others, working on her instincts as to who would accept a small dance in their face without trying to grab the last layer, and who would not take no for an answer. Finally she worked her way around to where Sara was standing. This time Sara's face smiled up at her, mask gone, the dollar bill in her hand neatly folded hiding its denomination. Again Catherine fell to her knees, doing a dance for her love, for the first time in her career forgetting the rest of the audience.

As Sara's hands caressed her thigh once more Catherine had to fight not to clasp it to her pulling it higher. She overcame her urge, instead pushing the last piece of material into Sara's hand, before simply standing, spreading her arms, and deliberately opening her body to the gaze of the crowd as the last covering fell away.

The crowd went berserk. They knew what beauty they had seen. They would tell people and no one would believe it, they had seen a beautiful woman in one of the most erotic displays ever; it was a display that would be talked about for years to come. With a flash the vision before them vanished. Only a few people, those close to Sara and Catherine knew what had happened. The flash was a blinding glare of strobes overdriven, and in that instant Catherine had slid from the stage into the cloak Sara had ready for her, hood up hiding her hair. The pair of them melted away from the stage, using their well-honed skills in martial arts to ease their way through the crowd. As they approached the exit Sam stepped out, smiling.

"Great show, enjoy your retirement, best wishes to you both" was all he said. Catherine smiled up at him, surprised to feel Sara relaxed at his appearance there.

"Thanks dad" Catherine whispered, hearing an echoing "Thank you" from her lover.

Sam stepped aside, and the couple left, happy, elated to be together. Catherine shivered as the cool night air hit her body, and Sara pulled her close, sharing body warmth. The only odd feature between them was the rustle of paper as their thighs rubbed together crushing the cash between them.

***