Title: Through The Dark
Author: mbinc
Pairing: Cath/Sara
Fandom: CSI
Rated: PG-13
Disclaimer: CSI belongs to CSB and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Summary: At the end of each dark tunnel there's always a bright light. The song 'Through The Dark' belongs to KT Tunstall & Martin Terefe.

***

Oh, how do I show
All the love inside my heart
For this is all new
And I’m feeling my way through the dark

Through The Dark –KT Tunstall

Part 1



Catherine entered the locker room. She was completely in thoughts about a case she and Warrick had just solved. They had been working on a B & E for three nights and tonight they finally had a break-through.

As she headed over to the bench she was suddenly shocked by the sight in front of her: Sara, rummaging through her locker, completely clad in a leather motorcycle-outfit.

Her throat went dry and her mouth fell open. All thoughts that had filled her mind just seconds before were replaced by Sara and how extremely sexy she looked in that outfit.

Over the last few weeks Catherine had noticed the tension between her and Sara had changed. Their work-relationship had developed positively –of course they still had some arguments, but those helped them to get the best out of each other during cases- and they had even started to do stuff together with Lindsey after work once a week. Which was greatly appreciated by Lindsey who loved the attention she got from both her mother and Sara.

After Eddie’s death and Sara being unable to solve the case –despite the fact she tried really hard, and punished herself really bad for failing- they avoided each other a few days. In specific, Sara avoided Catherine. She couldn’t stand that she had been unable to give Catherine, and especially Lindsey a closure to all this.

About a month ago, Catherine had asked Sara to look after Lindsey for a few hours, because she was called by Grissom to come in and help on a triple homicide. Sara offered to go instead, but one look at Lindsey –who was looking forward on spending some time with Sara since “she will know all this cool stuff to do,” Lindsey had already told her mother when she suggested Sara (instead of aunt Nancy) to look after her– and she decided to stay with Lindsey.

From then on the bonding between Lindsey and her hand started resulting in a better relationship with Catherine –which Sara had wanted from her first day in Vegas. She had always hoped there could be more between her and Catherine, and therefore she saw this developing bond with the young Willows woman as a good start.

Sara grabbed a small toolbox out of her locker and turned around to see Catherine staring at her. “Something wrong, Catherine?” she asked with a smug smile on her face. ‘Definitely the reaction I wanted’ she thought seeing Catherine’s face color deep red.

“I…Uhm…What are you still doing here?” Catherine quickly asked, avoiding Sara’s question. She tried to pull her thoughts together and save herself from this embarrassing moment.

Seeing Catherine’s embarrassment Sara decided not to tease her any further so she answered, “My bike won’t start. I just got it two days ago, paid big bucks for it.” Then she raises her hand with the toolbox, and continues, “Came back in here to get my tools, see if I can get her to run again.”

Catherine walked over to her locker, trying to forget about the fact that Sara just caught her staring at her. She opened the door of the locker, and took out her bag. Meanwhile Sara walked to the exit, and just before she walked through the door Catherine looked over her shoulder once more taking Sara’s appearance in “Well, good luck with that,” she said.

“Thanks,” Sara said waving once before closing the door behind her.


Part 2



When Catherine exited the locker room she crossed paths with Grissom. Despite telling Grissom she was on her way out he had asked her about her case. So, after fifteen minutes Catherine was finally heading outside. When she walked out of the CSI HQ she saw Sara still trying to fix her motorcycle.

“Damn piece of crap.” She had to stifle a laugh as she heard Sara mutter under her breath.

“Can’t fix your new baby?” Catherine teased.

“Well, apparently this baby is more of an old lady,” Sara sighed, “I’ve tried all things I can think of at the moment,” she added while she wiped sweat off of her forehead, leaving a big black smudge behind.

Catherine tried to stifle a laugh, but failed miserably.

“What?” Sara asked, not getting why she was laughed at. But before Catherine was able to answer her question Sara saw her dirty hands. “Oh, I get it. I wiped my face, and now there’s dirt all over, right?” she said while looking up at Catherine.

“Yeah,” Catherine nodded, avoiding Sara’s eyes.

“I could give you a lift?” Catherine said still looking at the ground like there was something very interesting there.

“Well, I…” Sara started as she wiped her hands on an old rag, but before she could finish Catherine interrupted, “I have to make a quick stop at my house first. Lindsey will be glad to see you.”

She held out her hand and pulled Sara onto her feet. Looking into her eyes Catherine’s body got a will of its own. Her hand reached for Sara’s face, and she started to wipe at the smudge. Both women seemed lost in the touch and after a few seconds Catherine realized what she was doing. She quickly took her hand away, and started off into the direction of her car.

“Aren’t you coming?” She asked as she put her sunglasses on and opened her car.
Sara, still completely lost in the marvelous feeling of Catherine’s hand on her face, snapped out of her thoughts and grabbed her stuff.

The first few minutes of their trip passed in silence as they were both still thinking about what had happened on the parking lot, but as they stopped at a red light Sara turned to face Catherine who was persistently watching the traffic light while holding the wheel in a firm grip.

“So,” Sara started, “Why that death grip?”

Catherine turned and looked at Sara questioningly. Pointing to Catherine’s hands Sara added, “Seems like something’s wrong.”

“No…not really,” Catherine started getting more nervous. ‘Jeez, I’m feeling like a lovesick teenager again.’

Seeing Sara didn’t buy that answer she continued, “It’s just…euhm…I…I had a long day. Guess it wore me out more than I thought.”

“Right, that explains it,” Sara laughed turning her head to look outside the window. Sara thought she knew what was really going on inside the strawberry-blonde’s head. She felt the same way. When she had been working on her bike she had been thinking about the way Catherine had looked at her. That look had shown her all she needed to know and made her decide to no longer hide her own feelings she had for Catherine.

“What? Now you’re the people-person?” Catherine said. Seeing the smug smile still plastered on Sara’s face she decided to play along with Sara. “Well, then you tell me what’s on my mind.”

The car pulled up and Catherine focused on the traffic again, so she didn’t see Sara turn her gaze over to her again. Fully serious she answered.

“I am.”

“Excuse me?” Catherine almost shouted surprised of Sara’s directness. Stopping at another red light she turned to face Sara again.

“You were thinking about me,” Sara said raising her hand and taking off Catherine’s sunglasses so she could look her in her eyes.

“Why…how…I…” Catherine rambled nervously. Sara pushed a string of strawberry blonde hair behind the older woman’s ear and kept looking into her eyes.

Surprisingly calmed by this gesture Catherine continued, “Am I that transparent?”

“Well, back in the locker room you were practically undressing me with your eyes.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean t...” Catherine started but was stopped by the brunette as she put a finger on her lips –sending a shiver down her spine.

Catherine had only dreamed of what happened next. Sara removed her hand from the blonde’s lips and started to inch closer to the face in front of her. The hand that had just before pushed the hair away now clung to the older woman’s neck, pulling her closer.

She could feel Sara’s breath on her own lips. She saw Sara had closed her eyes already, and she decided to close them also…To concentrate on what was coming…What she had wanted to do for a long time.

But seconds before their lips connected they were interrupted by a loud honk. Sara backed away, and started laughing loudly.

“Damn, this close,” Catherine muttered while quickly accelerating the car.

Ok, in her dreams there was less laughing and more kissing, but hey, she wouldn’t be stopped by one impatient driver. She would get what she wanted, she always had. A big smile crept on her face as she felt Sara rest her hand on her thigh.


Part 3



As they entered Catherine's street Sara was still watching Catherine, a content smile on her face. Suddenly she saw Catherine's look of new-found happiness change into a look of complete shock. Sara turned her head, following the path of Catherine's shocked gaze. Then she saw it: fire, and a lot of smoke.

Getting closer to the Willows residence it dawned upon both of them -it was Catherine's house that was on fire. Even before the car was completely stopped both of them jumped out, both running towards the house. On the lawn Nancy was screaming for Lindsey. Catherine grabbed Nancy by her shoulders.

"Where's Lindsey?" she shouted, becoming more and more anxious. Nancy -being in shock- didn't respond immediately. Catherine hadn't even noticed Sara was already at the front door. "Call 911!" she screamed at Catherine before walking inside.

Thinking about the fact that she was still wearing her leather bike-clothes –and therefore being reasonably protected- Sara didn't wait any longer before heading inside.

"Lindsey? Lindsey where are you?" Sara screamed. The smoke made it difficult for her to see her hand in front of her face. Despite the fact that it was morning already and the sun was shining brightly outside, inside it was as dark as night. Sara reached -what she thought was- the living room. Not getting an immediate reaction Sara called out for Lindsey again.

"I'm here!" she suddenly heard coming from the left.

"Lindsey?" she said, "keep talking so I can find you!" Sara carefully walked towards the screaming voice of Lindsey, but because of all the smoke she overlooked the coffee table and trips which causes her to hit her head on it. Shaking her head a few times to get rid of the dizziness she called out for Lindsey again. As she was still with both hands and feet on the floor she decided to crouch further. Almost flat to the ground she was now able to see a bit more, because smoke ascends.

Entering the kitchen Sara saw Lindsey hiding under the table in the middle of the room. Quickly heading towards Lindsey Sara scanned the room for possible ways out, but all the smoke made it impossible. Grabbing a crying and shaking Lindsey in her arms, she decided to go back the way she came.

"Lindsey, stay low. There's less smoke there," Sara said as she pushed Lindsey in front of her. Sara heard several sirens outside coming closer. She distinguished the different tones: fire engine, ambulance, and the police. "I'll get us out of here."

By now parts of the living room had also caught fire, and Sara saw there was only a small pathway towards the front door that was still free of fire. Protecting Lindsey by hanging over her, they crawled forth. When they're only inches away from the front porch Sara helped Lindsey to her feet, and told her to run.

Seeing Catherine wrap Lindsey up in her arms Sara also scrambled onto her feet, and started to head outside. Just as she reached the threshold an explosion threw her a few feet forward on the front porch. The last thing she remembered was Catherine's worried face as she was being lifted onto a gurney and into the ambulance.

One of the paramedics was already inside the ambulance working on Lindsey and Nancy who both only seemed to suffer from smoke inhalation.

But Sara’s condition seemed to be worse. Two other paramedics –who had just arrived with another ambulance- were looking after Sara.

The explosion had thrown her hard against the floor, leaving her unconscious. The fire fighters that had arrived had started extinguishing the fire and two of them had carefully carried Sara away from the porch. As she was put on the gurney she came to.

Catherine saw Sara being transported into the back of the second ambulance. Turning back to Lindsey she said, “I’ll be right back. I have to check up on Sara.” Lindsey and Nancy both nodded. They both weren’t in an as bad shape as Sara. The paramedic had said they still had to go to the hospital for a total check-up, but probably the extra oxygen they got would be enough.

As Catherine reached the ambulance she felt someone pushing her away. “Step aside ma’am,” one of the paramedics said while closing the doors, “We need to get her to the hospital a.s.a.p.”

Just before the doors were closed completely she caught a glimpse of Sara’s eyes.

The ambulance sped off, and Catherine was nailed to the ground –still remembering the scared look on Sara’s face. That look made her whole body shake, and she started to cry.

A black Tahoe pulled up beside the ambulance with Lindsey and Nancy in it. Warrick stepped out of the car, and quickly walked over to Catherine. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling her whole body was trembling.

He had seen the ambulance drive off, and had got a sick feeling in his stomach. “Why are you still here?” he asked, thinking that Lindsey had been in the passing ambulance. “Shouldn’t you be with Lindsey on the way to the hospital?”

Catherine’s cries became a bit louder. Between sobs she said to him “Lindsey’s OK, considering what happened, but …” A big lump formed in her throat.

“What?” Warrick asked, “Who was in it then?”

“Sara.”


Part 4



Half an hour before, in the car, she had just admitted her feelings for Sara, and now she felt at loss. Warrick had called Grissom and filled him in on what had happened. Grissom told him he’d send Nick over and ordered both of them to process the house as if it were a crime scene.

“I’ll send Nick. Both of you process the house. It could be a possible crime scene,” Grissom said.

“Crime scene?” Warrick inquired.

“A week ago Catherine worked on an arson case in which the suspect was released due to a failure of the sheriff’s office.”

“Ah, and now you think this can’t be a coincidence,” Warrick stated.

“There’s no such thing as coincidence, Warrick, you know that.” Even though Warrick couldn’t see Grissom’s face he knew the smug look that now plastered the face of his boss.

“Nick is on his way,” Grissom added and before Warrick could reply he had hung up.

The tall dark man walked over to the ambulance that was still on the scene. He told Catherine that Grissom sent Nick so both of them could process the house.

“Process my house?” Catherine asked, not immediately seeing the possible connection between the arson-case and the fire at her place.

“The McKinnen case,” Warrick countered, “this could be related. We have to look into it.”
Catherine started to cry again. “So, this is my fault,” she sobbed.

“Of course not, you know that,” Warrick said while he pulled Catherine in his arms. He saw the paramedics were about to head out, and so he walked her over to the ambulance.

To Catherine it seemed as if the ride to the hospital took hours. Consoling Lindsey, who had started to cry again because all that had happened started to dawn upon her, Catherine’s mind kept replaying the look on Sara’s face over and over again.

The ambulance arrived at Desert Palms Hospital. There the doctors told her Lindsey had to stay one night for observation. As the paramedic had already told she only suffered from smoke-inhalation and had to be on extra oxygen for the rest of the day.

While Nancy stayed in a room with a now sleeping Lindsey, Catherine went looking for Sara. She walked over to the nearest nurse’s station. “Excuse me, where can I find Sara Sidle?” she asked the nurse that was sitting there.

“And you are?” the petite blonde nurse asked as she looked up from the paperwork she was doing.

“Catherine Willows, she was involved in an accident at my house. I really would like to see her.”

“I’m sorry, only relatives are allowed in the ICU,” was the answer she got.

“ICU?!?” Catherine almost screamed. “What’s wrong with… How…I…” Catherine felt her world collide. Everything around her started spinning and she grabbed hold of the desk in front of her to find her balance.

“I think you should sit down ma’am.” The nurse walked over to Catherine, and tried to get her into a seat.

“No! I need to see her,” Catherine snapped back. “She needs me, she looked so scared.” As she was almost starting to tyrant against the nurse someone called out her name.

“Catherine?” Grissom was walking towards the two women who were now both seated in the chairs opposite the nurse’s station. “Are you Ok? Are Lindsey and Nancy alright?”

“Yeah, They’ll be fine. They’re asleep right now.”

“Then what are you doing here? What’s wrong?” He noticed that Catherine was still looking very anxious.

“They won’t let me see her,” she started, “they won’t let me see Sara.”

“Relatives only,” the nurse repeated, now to Grissom.

As Grissom started to talk with the nurse, hoping to pry out some info on Sara’s conditions, Catherine decided she wouldn’t let it pass.

Catherine started off towards the end of the hall where the ICU was situated. As she went through sliding doors that had in large white letters ICU on it, a door opened, and she caught a glimpse of Sara. As she raced over to the room she heard a voice behind her.

“Ma’am, you’re not allowed in there!”


Part 5



Catherine totally ignored the nurse who tried to grab hold of her. Nothing was going to stop her from seeing Sara.

Before the nurse could react Catherine was already at the brunette’s side, totally in shock about the state she found Sara in.

The nurse tried to pull her out of the room, but Catherine wouldn’t move an inch. One look at Catherine’s face and the nurse knew not to bother the strawberry blonde. So, deciding to give her a few minutes, she took a step back.

Monitors were all around giving off bleeps, several IV-drips stood beside the bed. Sara was covered with cuts and bruises over her face, large parts of her head were wrapped in dressings.
After minutes of just standing next to the bed, staring at the younger woman, she carefully placed her hand over Sara’s.

“My God, Sara. You’re hand is so cold,” Catherine spoke up for the first time.
As she leaned over Sara to give her a kiss on her forehead she kept whispering, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Suddenly one of the monitors alarm went, and before Catherine’s mind fully understood what was going on she was being pulled back by the nurse and people from the medical staff came running into the room.

Grissom walked over to her and pulled her onto a seat. The door opened and three persons rushed a gurney with Sara on top through the hall.

Grissom, although not the person with the best knowledge of human characters, knew there had to be something between Catherine and Sara, although he couldn’t quite put his finger on what that ‘something’ was. He had never seen Catherine this desperate and this broken. Not even when Eddie died.

The nurse who had just minutes before tried to stop Catherine from entering Sara’s room walked over to them.

“What happened?” Grissom asked.

“She has an internal bleeding. She’s going into surgery right now.” With that said the nurse walked off, leaving Grissom and Catherine behind.

“Catherine, you should go to Lindsey now.”

“No,” Catherine said, her voice filled with emotion.

“There’s nothing you can do for Sara now. Don’t you think you should be with your daughter right now?” Grissom answered sternly.

This seemed to penetrate into her mind. Catherine realized Grissom was right, her conscience also told her to go to Lindsey, but the only thing that occupied her mind was Sara.

Grissom noticed that the woman in front of him was struggling with what to do. “Come on let’s go.” He pulled her out of the chair, and together they walked off.


Part 6



The sun was set low on the horizon, the sky had had all sorts of colors, and now it just turned into black. And with the change from daytime into night, dark thoughts also clouded Catherine’s mind.

The silence in the room where Lindsey was still being observed was deafening. Catherine sat in a chair next to Lindsey’s bed, her head in her hands and tears silently streaming across her cheek.
Sara was still in surgery. She already had been in for about five hours, and Catherine was on the verge of a complete break-down.

‘What if…’ she couldn’t even think about it. The blonde knew she should be grateful that her little girl was –given what had happened to her– ok, and that she had to be strong for her and for Sara, but she couldn’t.

Taking the hand of a sleeping Lindsey into her own she started to sob louder, and unwanted thoughts started to fill her mind.

But before her thoughts could completely go off into the deep end the door opened and in came the nurse who hours before had pulled her away from Sara.

Grissom, who had gone back to the HQ hours ago, had arranged with the nurse that as soon as Sara came out of surgery Catherine would be informed.

“Ma’am?”

“Yes,” Catherine’s voice croaked as she wiped away her tears, but as she realized who was in the room panic became visible on her face.

“Miss Sidle’s out of surgery. She had multiple internal bleedings which have been stopped successfully.”

This was a big relieve to Catherine who let out a deep sigh. That was until she saw the look on the nurse’s face. A look that wasn’t very promising.

The nurse, called Ann, walked over to Catherine and placed a hand on her shoulder hoping to give the clearly worn out woman some comfort.

“She is stable at the moment, but the next few hours are critical. If she comes through, chances are at her side.”

“Can I see her? I need to see her,” Catherine asked.

“Well I’m not…” Ann started.

“Please…We…I’m…I’m her…” Catherine stammered as she thought ‘what am I to her? We haven’t even had time to really talk about that.’

“I understand,” Ann said as she nodded her head, “I’ll see what I can do. Right now you should try to get some sleep. If Miss Sidle’s conditions change I’ll personally come by to tell you.”
Catherine nodded, a meek smile forming on her face.

“I know how it feels when you see someone you love suffer that much,” Ann stated, “I’ll make sure you’ll be able to visit her tomorrow.” With one last squeeze in Catherine’s shoulder she turned to leave.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm. She turned around and saw Catherine standing behind her.

“Thank you,” Catherine sincerely said.


Part 7



“Mommy! Help me!”

Catherine woke up. As she looked around it dawned upon her where she was and what had happened. After hours of worrying she had fallen asleep, her head resting on the edge of the bed Lindsey was in.

“I’m in here!”

Another cry from Lindsey. Apparently she was having a nightmare about what had happened to her.

“Shush…Honey it’s ok.” She stroked a string of hair out of her daughter’s face, trying to sooth her. “Wake up sweetie. You’re ok.”

Lindsey opened her eyes, tears streaming over her face, and leaned over to be embraced in a comforting hug by her mother.

Stroking her little girl’s back the sobs of the younger Willows woman became less.

“You wanna talk about it?” Catherine tried seeing the pensive look on Lindsey’s face.

“It was so scary mom, as if I was back inside the house,” she answered in between sobs.

“Everywhere I looked….” Lindsey started.

“It’s all over hon, but it’s better if you talked about it,” Catherine said, knowing it was best for her girl she wouldn’t keep it all to herself.

Suddenly Lindsey sat up straight. Remembering how Sara was her heroine and how her mother told her Sara had to go into surgery she looked up at her mother with concern in her eyes.

“Mom?” Lindsey asked.

“Yeah?”

“How’s Sara doing? Are the doctors still trying to make her feel better?”

“They stopped the bleeding, and now she needs to rest.”

“Can we see her?”

“No sweetie, it’s 4 am. Sara’s sleeping, just like you should. So let’s try and sleep some more and later we’ll see if you can visit Sara.”

She climbed onto the bed opened her arms for her daughter, and it didn’t take long before Lindsey had gone back to sleep.

Tightening her protective embrace, Catherine also dozed off.

“Ma’am?”

Catherine felt someone nudging her shoulder, but kept her eyes closed.

“Ma’am, wake up.”

“The name’s Catherine, not Ma’am,” the strawberry blonde stated, still half asleep.

Wiping sleep out of her eyes Catherine sat up. Looking at her watch she noticed it was 10 am already.

Ann stood by the bed, a smile on her face.

“Is Sara ok? Can I see her?” Catherine carefully extracted herself from the bed.

“That’s what I came to tell you. You can see her, but she is still in a coma.” The relief in Catherine’s eyes was replaced by fear when she heard that last part.

As Lindsey stirred in the bed, Ann took Catherine out into the hall.

“The doctors put her in a drug-induced coma so her body can heal faster. You can see her. Talk to her, let her know you’re there.”

“Thank you. How did you pull this off? I’m no relative,” Catherine inquired.

“Well, Mr. Grissom told me you were partners. Guess I must’ve misinterpreted that.” She winked as she walked off.

“Thanks!” Catherine said once again realizing the nurse had done a lot for her and she didn’t even know her name. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your name.”

“My name’s Ann…Oh and by the way…Miss Sidle is back in the same room, room 404.”

“Thanks, Ann,” Catherine said.

“It’s alright. I’ll stop by in a while.” She waved once and then disappeared into another room.
Catherine quickly checked on Lindsey who was still sound asleep, and then went to Sara.

Before opening the door she let out a big sigh, and tried to gather all the strength that was left in her body.

The sight before her made tears form in her eyes. Sara looked so vulnerable. Her whole body seemed to be tense, but when Catherine placed her hand on Sara’s and entwined their fingers, she could see the brunette relax.

Catherine leaned over and placed a soft kiss upon Sara’s forehead just the way she had done the day before. Only this time she continued with a kiss on Sara’s lips.

Pulling up a chair next to the bed, Catherine sat down and started talking to Sara. About Lindsey. About how Ann helped her to be allowed to visit.

“God Sara, I can’t wait until you wake up and I can look into your beautiful dark brown eyes again.” Catherine sighed.

Just as she pulled Sara’s hand to her lips there was a knock on the door.
Turning her head she saw Ann by the door.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but the doctor wants to check up on Sara.”

Catherine nodded and stood up, but before walking away she leaned closer to Sara, giving her one last kiss.


Part 8



As Catherine and Ann left the room a doctor entered and closed the door.

Catherine remained just outside the room, wanting to be as close to Sara as possible.

“Can I interest you in a cup of coffee?”

“Sure,” Catherine said a bit distracted. Her mind was still with the brunette.

She hoped that all that had happened hadn’t ruined the possibility of her having a relationship with Sara.

“Just sit here. I’ll be right back.”

Catherine did what she was told, and a few minutes later Ann reappeared with two cups of steaming coffee.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ann started, and after she took a sip of her coffee she continued, “So you two are lovers?”

“I don’t really know…we…” Catherine kept staring at the black liquid in the cup in her hand.

“The day we both kind of told each other we liked each other more than just friends all this shit had to happen. So I don’t really know where we stand.”

“What did exactly happen? I know there was a fire at your house.”

“I was going to drop Sara off at her place, but I had to stop at my place first. When we arrived the house was on fire. My daughter was still inside, and before I knew it Sara was already inside.”

Catherine’s eyes filled with tears again, but she fought hard against them.

Ann placed her hand on Catherine’s shoulder, “Well then, I think you don’t have to worry about where you two stand. She must love you a lot if she voluntarily enters a burning building.”

“Yeah,” Catherine smiled a little, “she’s so stubborn sometimes.”

The door opened and the doctor came outside. He motioned for Ann to come.

“Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” Ann said as she walked off.

Catherine drained the last out of the cup, and watched Ann and the doctor discussing something on Sara’s chart.

The doctor signed something on it and handed it back to Ann –who walked back to where Catherine was seated. A hint of a smile was detectable on her face.

“Doctor Bergman just ordered to stop her drug-induced coma. She is doing fairly well, considering. She pulled through the night and test results show she is on a good way of recovery. I’ll go get some things I need.”

“I’ll be back in five minutes,” Ann said as she walked off towards the nurse’s station.

This gave Catherine some time to check up on Lindsey.

“Hey sweetie.” Catherine placed herself on the edge of the bed, stroking trough her daughter’s hair.

Lindsey’s eyes opened slowly, and Catherine could just see in them how her little girl processed where she was and what had happened.

“You sleep ok?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Lindsey stretched and moved to sit up.

She looked at her mother and started to ask a lot of questions

“When can I go home? How’s Sara? Can I see her?”

“Whoa slow down…give me some time to answer,” Catherine smiled.

Her fear from last night seemed to disappear. The fact that Sara had pulled through the roughest part and that they were about to wake her gave her back her strength.

“You can go home later on today. The doctor is going to stop by to check on you once more, and then we’ll go to aunt Nancy’s.”

“As for Sara, she has made it through the night. The doctors are going to wake her up.”

“Can I see her?” Lindsey asked impatiently.

“Not now. You’ll have to wait a little longer.”

“Ah…I want to see her...she’s my hero!” Lindsey stated, pride noticeably in her voice.

“I’ll ask nurse Ann when you can visit,” Catherine tried.

Sighing Lindsey agreed.

Nancy –who was allowed to go back home the day before, and came by to check on Lindsey and to be informed on Sara’s conditions– stayed with Lindsey while Catherine went back to Sara.

Walking into the room, Ann was already there operating some of the machines. Injecting some kind of liquid into an IV she said:

“It will still take a while before she fully regains consciousness.”


Part 9



The strawberry blonde sat down again in the chair next to the bed and took Sara’s hand in hers again.

Catherine was still marveled by the way it felt when she touched the brunette. It felt safe, it felt like home, it made her feel at ease, but at the same time it made her feel nervous, it made her heart beat faster and her blood course through her body.

Ann picked up Sara’s chart and started to write something on it. “I’ll stop by in a while. If there’s anything you need, let me know,” she said.

Hanging the chart at the end of the bed she walked over to Catherine, placing her hand on the blonde’s shoulder.

“She’s lucky to have you,” Ann said giving Catherine a reassuring squeeze.

“No,” Catherine said, never taking her eyes off the brunette on the bed, “I’m lucky to have her.”

About fifteen minutes later Catherine suddenly felt her hand being squeezed. Catherine looked back and forth from their entwined fingers to Sara’s face.

The brunette’s eyes were still closed. The older woman stood up, and bent towards Sara.

“Sara sweetie, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you do.”

Catherine waited for a response and when she started to think she had mistaken –that it had been her imagination playing tricks with her– she felt her hand being squeezed softly.

“Sara? Can you open your eyes?” the blonde tried.

Dark brown eyes fluttered open and shut a few times before they remained focused on the older woman.

Smiles appeared on both of their faces as they saw each other. Catherine pulled Sara’s hand to her face and placed it on her cheek, closing her eyes as she momentarily lost herself in the touch of the brunette.

Her eyes opened again when she felt Sara tugging at her face. Leaning in Catherine carefully, but forcefully at the same time, kissed Sara on the lips.

“It’s good to have you back,” Catherine said tears silently rolling over her cheek.

“As if you were ever gonna get rid of me,” Sara joked, her voice sounding hoarse, and even darker than normal.

“How do you feel?” Catherine asked, immediately rolling her eyes as she realized what a dumb question she just asked.

“A bit shook up,” Sara said lightly. “What happened when we got here?”

“What do you remember?”

“I remember seeing you. Although, it was as if I wasn’t in my body. I was standing right beside you. I could see you. You kissed me…and then,” Sara stopped momentarily, “And then all those alarms went off. That’s the last thing I really remember.”

“You had internal bleedings, and after surgery the doctors ordered a drug-induced coma.”

“Oh,” the brunette said, “How’s Lindsey?”

“She’s ok, thanks to you,” Catherine said as she stroked a strain of hair out of Sara’s face.

“Good.”

“I was so scared. I thought I’d lose you, it’s all my fault.”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily…and you know it wasn’t your fault. I myself made the decision to go inside, you didn’t make me,” Sara started, and after a moment of silence she continued,

“I would do it again…no doubt.”

“I know they are only words, and it will never be enough to show you all the gratitude I owe you, but thank you,” Catherine said.

Leaning closer towards Sara’s lips she whispered “Thank you” over and over again before engaging their lips into a soft kiss.


Part 10



The next day Lindsey was allowed to visit her hero. Together with Catherine she had bought a new leather jacket to replace the one that had been cut up when Sara was brought to the hospital.

“Thank you, Lindsey. I love it,” Sara said as she embraced the young Willows woman who had crawled onto her bed.

The rest of her room was filled with flowers from her colleagues. Grissom, Nick, and Warrick had visited her that morning and told her and Catherine about the case.

Apparently the man who had been the suspect for the McKinnen case –but who had to be released because the only evidence they had was circumstantial and would not hold up in court– wanted to scare Catherine.

However, this time he had made a mistake. His DNA was found inside the Willows residence and there had been several witnesses who could place him at the crime scene.

Sara grew tired of lying in a hospital bed. Not being able to do anything except reading started to work on her nerves. Although the visits of Catherine and Lindsey, and of the rest of the team distracted her, she longed for the day she could go home. And so she was very glad that after six more days she was released out of the hospital.

Sara had decided that –since she was still recovering and still needed help with daily routine and because the Willows residence was still under construction– for the first few weeks Catherine and Lindsey would stay at her place.

“See you guys again sometime, although under other circumstances I hope,” Ann said as she first hugged Catherine and then Sara.

Ann had helped them from day one, and had become a good friend to both Catherine and Sara. “We’ll see you soon”

Ann shot a questioning look at both of the women.

“Oh, don’t worry we’ll be careful.” Sara joked

“We want to invite you over for dinner, to thank you for everything…so you’ll be hearing from us soon,” Catherine explained.

“Ah thanks you guys…now go on get out of this hospital,” Ann smiled as she waved them off.

Catherine and Lindsey walked through the halls, a wheelchair in front of them. Thinking about what had happened to them Catherine pushed Sara out of the hospital and into the hot Nevada summer sun.

That’s when she saw it…the light at the end of a dark tunnel. They had made it through the dark.

The End

***