Title: Silly Fluff The Perfect Night
By: Listener15
Pairing: Cath/Sara
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sara plans the perfect night. Kind of a sequel to "Silly Fluff: Who Loves Satin Sheets?" but you don't need to read that to enjoy this.

***

Sara nervously checked her watch, then the wall clock. She loves me, things will be fine. Even the voice in her head sounded nervous.

The phone rang.

"Mom just dropped me off."

"Thanks Linds."

"Don't forget…"

"I remember you little con artist." Sara smiled. "I'll bring them over tomorrow evening."

Lindsey giggled before hanging up.

A month ago after Sara picked Lindsey up from school, she took her to McDonalds as a treat. There she had asked the youngest Willows for permission to ask Catherine to marry her. Lindsey had gotten a thoughtful look and said she didn't know, causing Sara to turn even paler then her normally light skin and fidget nervously. The little blonde couldn't hold back her giggles as she flung herself at the brunette demanding to know when she was going to ask. The two had spent three afternoons looking for the perfect ring, after that all that was left was orchestrating the perfect night.

That was when Sara got swindled by a ten year old.

The brunette had friends in San Francisco she would buy Sees candy from. Every other month a box with various chocolates, bonbons, and suckers would arrive at her door. Now the boxes arrived every month since sharing her stash with the Willow's women, both her girls had a sweet tooth. Four butterscotch suckers, four chocolate suckers, three pecan buds, and a promise to take Lindsey to a movie of her choice was the price to get the girl to tell her mother that she wanted to spend the day just the two of them. Sara then chimed in to go ahead claiming the wanted to fix a few things at her old apartment before the lease was up. She was lucky, it had only taken a box of chocolates to bribe Nancy to take Lindsey for the next three days.

Sara looked around the bare apartment. Three months ago she had officially moved into Catherine's house and now all that was left were the things for that night. She checked the small balcony. The table was set, a candle ready to be light. In the kitchen everything was clean, chopped, and measured ready to start cooking. The stereo had a mixed CD she burned and was powered to standby. The bedroom, she peeked in the room for the seventh time in five minutes, the bedroom was perfect.

Confident that things were fine, Sara went to the bathroom to shower and change clothes.

Forty-Five Minutes Later….

Ring. Ring.

"Hello?"

"We're on our way."

"Thanks Greg." She had called in a favor and got the aspiring CSI to barrow his Aunt's town car and drive Catherine from her house (where a note was waiting with instructions to dress for a romantic dinner) to Sara's apartment.

Sara had just put the last live crab in the pot to cook, when there was knock at her door. She quickly placed the lid on the pot and went to let Catherine in.

"Wow." Her mouth hung open at the sight of Catherine. It was then that Sara found out that she had never properly appreciated the beauty of a little black dress.

The blonde laughed as she stepped up to her lover to wrap her arms around the taller woman's neck. "You look wonderful too honey." The tender kiss between them was interrupted by the sound of something falling in the kitchen.

"Shit!" Sara dashed to the kitchen. She grabbed the tongs from counter and started hitting the crabs trying to escape from the pot back in. "Get back in there! God damn—Yikes!"

One of the two crabs had somehow gotten a grip on the tongs and was now waving it about. Sara picked up the metal lid from the ground and a long wooden spoon from a drawer. While whacking the crab with the spoon, she could have sworn the thing was trying to fend her off with the tongs, Catherine was standing at the doorway laughing at her. One whack seemed to stun the creature so the cook knocked the tongs from it's grip and slammed the lid back on, this time she remembered to put the small but heavy led brick on the top to keep them in.

"That was exciting." Catherine grinned at her lover.

"What is a nice dinner without entertainment?" She grinned back, the adrenaline and alcohol danced around in her system. Ten minutes ago she had to frantically down a Corona and put some of the marbles from the Smirnoff bottle-candle holder into it when she saw that one candle wasn't going to be enough, usually all the light pollution from the city would have made one candle plenty but not that night.

"So," Catherine walked up Sara and wrapped her arms around her again. "What's the special occasion?"

"I love you." She leaned in and gently kissed the tempting lips so close to hers. "Ready to eat?"

The blonde's eyes darkened when she nodded.

Sara shook her head and led the other woman to the balcony. A dark glass bottle was chilling in a bucket of ice. The multicoloured candles had burned down a little, the wax dripped down the bottle, leaving a couple of drops on the tablecloth. The soft glow of the candles, the beautiful night, the soothing music in the background, and the pleasant company gave the small intimate place a comfortable, relaxed feeling. The long leisurely dinner went along smoothly, the crabs cooked to perfection as they ate their other courses, the wine complimented the food, and the evening was going just as planned giving Sara courage that it would all go well.

"You did not!" Catherine couldn't hold back her laughter at Sara's sheepish look.

"I didn't think he would believe it was real. I thought everyone knew about henna in high school."

"So did he actually do it?"

"Yup. He streaked through the cafeteria shouting 'Sara Sidle is a goddess, bow down to her' the next day. He chased me home that afternoon after Jill and I told him that the 'tattoo' saying Kiss This on my backside was in henna." Sara shook her head. "Adam did get me back the next week when he filled my locker with confetti."

"The guys would never believe me if I told them what a prankster you are."

With a grin the brunette stood and held out her hand. "Dance with me?"

Catherine smiled widely as she placed her hand in the other woman's outstretched one. Neither lady was paying attention to the music as they swayed slowly.

Sara opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, trying to work up her courage. "Catherine, you know I love you"

A nod.

She pulled back slightly getting ready to go down on one knee. "I was wondering—"

"CAN WE COOK WITH YOUR JUCIES?" Both women were startled by the loud noises of the TV from the apartment above them.

"Damn you Ray." Sara grabbed a mop from the kitchen and used it to hit the ceiling in the living room. The TV immediately got turned down. "I guess he needs a new battery for his hearing aid."

"Sara, you were wondering…?"

"Hmm?" She had lost her train of thought. "Oh, yes…"

WHOOSH!

The gentile breeze that had been blowing all night gave way to a strong wind. The Smirnoff bottle tipped over hitting the Corona bottle, knocking both candles onto the table sending it up in flames.

Sara stared at the burning table for a second before springing into action. Grabbing the fire extinguisher from the kitchen, she put out the fire.

"Before anything else happens…" The memory of trying to ask the blonde out for the first time with all those damn interruptions flashed through her mind as she went down on one knee. "Catherine Willows, will you marry me?"

The woman had a wide smile as she nodded yes. "Why…" The blonde had a thoughtful look on her face.

A smirk firmly in place Sara said "I'm worried that five years from now, I'm going to look across the breakfast table and say 'You're going to be here tomorrow, aren't you?'"

Catherine gently smacked Sara's shoulder. "I was just realizing why Lindsey told me to take off my jewelry for today." She gently pulled Sara up, placing a hand on her chest. "I'm guessing Lindsey was in on…What is that?" She frowned at the feeling of something lumpy on her lover's chest that actually wasn't supposed to be there.

"Oh." The brunette pulled at the chain around her neck revealing a fake rabbit's foot. "Linds told me to wear this for luck. Figured it couldn't hurt."

"Hmm, want to see how lucky a rabbit's foot is?" Catherine's eyes darkened as she leaned in and kissed Sara.

***