Title: Like a Bee to Honey
Author: Ann
Pairing: Sara/Sofia
Fandoms: CSI
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own no one.
Summary: Honey.

***

Sara leaned over the body, noting the substance adhering to the shoulder area of the victim. It appeared to be the same texture and in roughly the same location as she'd found on the other victim, Sally Abernathy. The CSI raised her camera and snapped several photos, zooming in on the residue.

"Damn, I don't understand it. Why can't the killer just take their purses and leave? Why does he have to kill them?" Catherine placed her kit next to Sara and knelt down on the other side of the body. Turning, she unlatched the metal lid and grabbed a pair of gloves.

Sara shook her head. "There doesn't seem to be any sign of a struggle, although, Doc said he found bruising on Sally Abernathy's knees and left shoulder. There wasn't any other sign of trauma. Well, except for the bullet hole in her head. Kind of like this one here." Sara gestured to the prominent hole in the victim's forehead.

Sofia's voice came from the shadows of the alley. "I can't find anyone who saw or heard anything. You'd think someone would have heard the gunshot." The detective moved closer to the two investigators, stopping just short of the victim's feet.

"Especially a gun that would put a hole that size into someone's head. It had to have sounded like a cannon going off." Catherine leaned over the body, trying to determine the caliber of the gun.

A chirping noise had all three women reaching for their belts, but Sara held up her cell, indicating the call was hers. Flipping the phone open, she answered, "Sidle."

"Honey," the voice on the other end stated simply.

"Hodges?"

"What is the one substance that will attract even the most stubborn of bees?" Hodges asked in his usual arrogant manner.

Sara sighed, going along with the strange, little man. "Honey?"

"Huh?" Sofia answered without thinking. Her focus had been solely on the body and its position and, when Sara had spoken, she'd just reacted.

The beginnings of a smile began to form on Catherine's face, but she continued to study the gunshot wound. Reaching into her kit for the caliper, she waited to see how the other two women would worm their way out of Sofia's slip of the tongue.

From the corner of her eye, she just managed to keep track of both women. The CSI's head had snapped up to look at the equally shocked detective. Sara's jaw was slack, and Sofia's eyes were huge. The brunette gripped the phone more tightly and attempted to reply to Hodges as if Sofia had never spoken.

"Um, what are you getting at, Hodges?"

"The substance on the swatch was honey. The victim had honey on the shoulder of her blouse."

"Okay, Hodges. Thanks." Sara snapped her phone shut and focused on the victim's blouse. The discolored stain could definitely be honey, and Sara resisted the urge to sniff the brown-looking substance. She'd just have to wait until Hodges could test it.

Sofia nervously shifted from foot to foot while her lover completed her call with the trace specialist. She couldn't believe she'd just outed their relationship to Catherine of all people. The detective had pretended to continue her study of the body, using her peripheral vision to see Catherine's reaction to her slip.

The redhead seemed to be totally involved in her study of the wound. She'd turned to retrieve her caliper and that's when Sofia noted the ghost of a smile. Catherine had indeed heard the detective's unintentional reply, but for the time being, she was keeping mum on the subject. Sofia was hoping that the investigator would just pretend she hadn't heard a thing and let it go but, just in case, the blonde decided that perhaps it might be better if she found something else to do and, finding that something away from the alley, would be even better.

"Um, I'm going to go check with Brass and see if he's found anything. I'll catch you two later." Sofia turned on her heel and left the alley as quickly as she could without giving the appearance that she was fleeing the awkward scene.

The moment the detective turned the corner, Catherine smiled widely. "So, you and Sofia, huh?"

"Catherine, . . ."

Sara's resigned tone was cut off abruptly by the other woman. "Hey, I'm not offended. In fact, I'm kind of envious."

"Catherine, . . ."

The redhead ignored Sara's attempt to explain herself. "Sofia's hot and definitely a major improvement over your Grissom crush. I say more power to you." Chuckling, Catherine added, "And I'd imagine you'd need a lot more energy to keep up with Sofia."

"Catherine, . . ."

"I just bet Sofia has quite the staying power, too." Catherine measured the wound once again, making sure she hadn't made an error since her attention had been focused elsewhere.

"Um, Catherine . . .," Sara hesitated, waiting for the investigator to interrupt her once again, but this time Catherine held her tongue.

"Um, I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to anyone about this. I'm not sure how the others would react and, well, we're just not ready to tell anyone yet."

Catherine grabbed her camera. "No problem. Hey, would you hold the caliper while I take a photo of the wound?"

Sara took hold of the instrument and placed it next to the gunshot wound, pleased that Catherine was downplaying her new discovery. She just hoped that the other woman wasn't planning on using the information against her when she needed Sara to do something for her later.

The two CSIs stood side by side, staring at the shelves and shelves of honey. The killer had finally been arrested, but only because someone had caught him in the act. He'd pushed the intended victim into the alley and roughly grabbed her purse, throwing it to the ground behind him. He'd held the woman at gunpoint and pushed her down on her knees and, unfastening his pants with his free hand, he reached into his pocket and removed a container of honey.

According to the victim, he'd flipped the lid and made her pour the substance into his hand where he then promptly rubbed it up and down his penis. She'd turned her head and refused to perform oral sex, and he'd placed his sticky hand on her shoulder and the gun to her forehead; however, he'd panicked and ran when someone spotted him and shouted from the alley's entrance. Problem was that he temporarily forgot that he was running towards the safety of a dead end.

"Wow, that's a lot of honey." Catherine would've whistled if she could; the little bears containing the sweet liquid stared back at her from every angle in the room.

Sara made a complete turn. "Surely, he didn't intend to use all these containers on different women. I'd think that after the first three refused to um, service him; he'd realize the honey wasn't helping his cause."

"The honey wasn't the problem, Sara. Telling the woman he was going to kill them anyway was his biggest mistake. Coating the truth would have been helpful."

"Yeah, well, coating his penis sure wasn't." Sara pulled her camera from her shoulder and began to snap photos of the bears of honey as Catherine smiled despite the fact that two lives were cut short. It was just that Sara rarely made light of any situation.

Catherine shook her head at the senseless acts of violence and raised her own camera to document the evidence of the room. A complete search of the house would have to wait.

Sara climbed into the driver's seat, waiting for Catherine to join her. They'd found the murder weapon along with a silencer which explained the lack of noise in the alley, and they'd also discovered the stolen purses as well as the clothes the killer had worn when he committed the murders. With a witness to testify, coupled with the evidence they'd procured, this guy would be locked away for a very long time.

A few minutes later, Catherine slid into the passenger side. "Sorry, I forgot something." Sara looked over at her smiling colleague, wondering what she'd left behind. Shrugging, she pulled from the curb.

At the end of shift, the two women walked out the doors of the lab to head for home. They'd left the evidence to be processed and decided not to wait around for the results. They already knew the story; the information gleaned from their investigation would add to the mound of evidence already stacked against the killer.

At the parking lot, Sara veered towards her car, stopping when Catherine called her name.

"Hey, Sara. Hold on a minute." Sara frowned as she watched the other woman jog towards her; however, the brunette's eyebrow shot midway up her forehead when she saw the little bear poking its head out of Catherine's purse.

Catherine reached for the container of honey and smirked. "Here's a little treat for you and Sofia."

Sara looked around frantically. "Catherine, that's evidence."

"Oh, please. No one's going to miss a container or two. Besides, I got these in a box under the shelves. The killer never laid his hands on these."

"These?"

"Yeah, you don't think I only took one, do you?"

Afraid to ask, Sara did anyway. "How many did you take?"

"Just two; one for me and one for you."

"Well, take it back. I don't want it." Sara attempted to shove the little bear head into Catherine's purse, but the redhead was too fast and swung the bag back behind her.

"Just take it, Sara."

"Catherine, I haven't found anything I like honey on."

The sound of fast approaching footsteps came nearer, and Sara looked up fearfully, afraid that they'd been caught. "Hey, Catherine. Sorry, I'm late."

Wendy jogged up to the two women and stood next to Catherine, very close to Catherine in fact, and Sara watched in shock as her colleague opened her bag to show the DNA specialist what lay within.

"Oh! Your place or mine?"

Catherine grinned and turned towards Sara. "Sara? You really need to be more creative."

Taking Wendy by the hand, Catherine pulled the young woman behind her, leaving Sara standing frozen next to her car as she watched the pair drive away.

The investigator slowly lifted the honey bear and focused on its painted little face. Frowning, she thought about Catherine's parting words but, a few moments later, a mischievous grin had worked its way onto the usually stoic investigator's face.

Sara reached for her door handle and grabbed for her cell phone. "Sofia? Feel like company?"

The CSI shut her phone and jumped into her car, speeding towards her lover like a bee to honey as the little bear sat snugly beside her with a perpetual smile on its face. Sara had a feeling she'd finally found the perfect complement to her honey.

***