Fic; Show Me Chapter 7
TITLE: Show Me
AUTHOR: vanillabug
RATING: T/PG-13 (will be NC-17/M in later chapters)
CATEGORY: Catherine/Sara Romance
DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything!
SPOILERS: Anything up to “Crash and Burn” is fair game.
ARCHIVE: With Authors Permission VanillaBug1@comcast.net
STATUS: WIP
SUMMARY: Catherine and Sara, along with Greg and Nick attend the Annual Pacific Coast Conference in San Francisco. How long can Catherine and Sara keep denying that they are nothing more than friends? CATHERINE/SARA PAIRING (will be rated M in later chapters)
Show Me
Tonight was without a doubt one of the worst nights of Catherine Willows’s life. She was delayed for almost an hour in Las Vegas because a stupid bird decided to commit suicide in one of the engines of her plane right before take off. Her nightmare continued when she went to grab her luggage, which happened to be the last that was unloaded from the flight. And the icing on the cake for this perfect night was the fiasco, getting her room key from the front desk. 20 minutes of searching through the hotel system and two supervisors later, the gentleman at the front desk did find Catherine’s name attached to the room number she was to share with Sara. Now finally at 3:50am the strawberry blonde found herself slipping her card key into the door of her room.
She opened the door as quietly as she could and was surprised to find a light on inside. Dragging her luggage into the room, she was greeted by the sight of Sara sleeping soundly with book laying across her chest. For the first time all night, Catherine found herself smiling as she gazed at the brunette. She eventually tore her eyes away from Sara’s sleeping form and took a look around the room. Catherine was actually impressed with the accommodations that the lab had arranged. That was until she noticed that the only bed in the suite was occupied by the object of her affection.
Trying not to make to much noise, Catherine unzipped her suitcase, pulled out a blanket and a pillow and began setting up a makeshift bed on the sofa in the room. With the weight of the horrible night on her shoulder she decided not to change and made her way to the end table to switch off the light. With the hotel room in complete darkness she misjudged where the corner of the bed was and stubbed her toe on its edge.
“Shit!” The strawberry blonde exclaimed.
“Catherine?” Sara mumbled stirring in the bed.
“Yeah, go back to sleep Sara,” Catherine whispered as Sara turned the light back on.
“Are you okay?” The brunette asked sitting up.
“Oh yeah, just the perfect ending to the perfect night,” Catherine grumbled rubbing her injured toe.
“What do you mean? What happened?” Sara questioned setting he book on the end table. “ Are you just getting in?”
“No, I’ve been here about 5 minutes,” the older CSI attempted to smile.
“What the hell happened? You should have been here hours ago,” Sara replied.
“Uh, tomorrow I swear. Right now I just want to sleep for a couple of hours before we have to get up,” she stated, the exhaustion evident in her voice.
“I must have dozed off. I was waiting for you to get here. I guess since Tarrah and Jason were married, Ecklie booked them a single bed room. I tired to get our room switched when I realized it but the hotel is completely booked because of the conference. I asked about a pull away bed and they were all in use. The boys were all freaked out by the whole one bed thing, and I tried …”
“Sara, stop, it’s fine. I am so tired I will take the floor at this point I don’t really care. It’s not big deal,” Catherine stated running a hand through her hair.
“No, no, I was just reading until you got here. I’m taking the couch,” the brunette replied stubbornly.
“Sara, have you seen the size of that couch? There is no way you are going to fit on that thing comfortably,” Catherine reasoned.
“I’ll be fine Cath, you take the bed,” Sara smiled.
“I’m exhausted and in no mood to argue right now. Move over.”
“Here,” the younger CSI replied getting off the bed.
“No,” Catherine replied, “I said move over, not get up.”
“Huh?” Sara asked with a puzzled expression.
“We’re two adults and more mature than Greg and Nick. This bed is huge. You are not taking the couch and that’s final so just lay back down,” Catherine stated firmly.
“You’re comfortable with that. I mean, are you sure?” The brunette questioned,
Catherine placed her hands on her hips and glared at Sara.
“Sara, I have slept with my head on your leg, drooled on your shoulder, and you are gonna sit there and ask me if I am comfortable sharing a bed with you? Are you uncomfortable with it?” Catherine challenged back.
“Of course not. I just .. “ Sara began.
“Then lay back down,” Catherine repeated.
“Okay,” the brunette replied.
“I’m sorry, Sara. It’s just been a really long, nightmare of a day,” she added softly, noticing the hurt look on Sara’s face.
“I understand. It’s fine,” Sara stated forcing a smile as she pulled down the sheets.
Catherine moved to the other side of the bed over to where Sara stood, pulling the brunette into a hug. Sara gladly wrapped her arms around Catherine’s waist squeezing her tight. “Thank you, Sara,” she whispered into the brunettes ear.
“For what?” Sara asked.
“Offering to sleep on the couch, putting up with my attitude, shall I go on?” Catherine smiled.
“That’s what friends are for right?” The younger CSI replied.
Catherine let out a smile as she pulled away from Sara’s embrace. “Yeah, that’s what friends are for,” she agreed as she walked back to her side of the bed. “Friends,” she whispered.
“What?” Sara asked.
“Nothing,” the strawberry blonde said pulling the covers down on her side.
Catherine turned off the light and both women crawled into the bed. The older CSI settled herself in and pulled the sheets Sara brought around herself.
“Finally,” she sighed as her head hit the pillow. “I never thought a hotel bed would be so comfortable.”
“Wow, you really have had a bad night haven’t you?” Sara joke earning a soft laugh from Catherine.
“You have no idea,” she sighed. “What time is the alarm set for?” the strawberry blonde asked.
“Wake up call is at 6. The whole conference check in, meet and greet thing starts at 8 at the community college.” Sara replied.
“Okay, at least I’ll get a couple of hours of rest,” the strawberry blonde stated turning on her side, back to the brunette, “Goodnight Sara.”
“Goodnight Catherine.”
Within minutes both CSI’s were fast asleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The evil shrill of the hotel phone jolted Sara out of a pleasant sleep. She quickly picked up the receiver before another ring could scare Catherine awake.
“Yeah?” Sara answered, knowing who was calling at this early hour.
“It’s 6 am ma’am, this is your wake up call courtesy of the Bay Shore Hilton,” replied an irritating cheerful voice.
“Um, thank you,” the CSI answered rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“You’re more than welcome ma’am. Thank you so very much for choosing the Bay Shore Hilton. Have a pleasant day,” the mystery voice chimed before disconnecting.
Sara let out a yawn as she hung up the phone. The brunette stretched a little before looking over at her companion. The loud wake up called seemed to have no effect on strawberry blonde who was still sound asleep. Sara stepped out of the bed and moved around to Catherine’s side. She gently placed her hand on Catherine’s shoulder and knelt down.
“Catherine?” she whispered.
When she received she tried again.
“Catherine?” the brunette repeated a little louder squeezing Catherine’s shoulder. “Catherine, it’s a little after 6,” Sara stated hoping to get a response, but still no luck.
“Catherine?” she tried again this time earning a small grunt from the strawberry blonde.
“Hey, you want the shower first?” Sara asked softly rubbing her friend’s shoulder.
“Hmm, what?” Catherine grumbled into the pillow, eyes still closed.
“It’s a little after 6,” Sara stared receiving an unhappy groan from Catherine. “I’m sorry,” she offered softly. “You want the shower first or …” she started.
“You go. Just a few more minutes,” the older woman mumbled.
“Okay.” Sara smiled standing back up and making her way to the bathroom.
A short time later the brunette reemerged from the bathroom dressed and ready for the day. She glanced over at the bed finding Catherine sound asleep in the exact position she left her in. It broke Sara’s heart, but she knew she had to get her colleague out of bed. She walked over to Catherine’s side, once again placing her hand on her shoulder.
“Hey Catherine, its 640, the shower is free,” she said, attempting to lure her friend awake. When she received no response she began rubbing Catherine’s shoulder. “Catherine?”
“Mmm, okay, I’m coming,” the strawberry blonde stretched a little in the bed.
“You sure?” Sara smiled as she ran her hand down Catherine’s arm.
“Yeah, I’m up,” Catherine replied groggily.
“Alright, I’m gonna go knock on the boys’ door and make are they are up and run down to the car real quick,” the brunette stated as she stood straight on her feet. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” Catherine replied.
The last thing Catherine heard was a loud knock on the next door over before she fell back asleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After finding the boys up and moving, grabbing a few files from the car, and picking up coffee for the crew at one of the three Starbucks around the hotel, Sara found her self back at her room door struggling with the card key, trying not to spill the coffee’s left in her hand.
“Oh my God, that door is impossible to …” she started until she saw Catherine still sleeping on the bed. She took one of the coffee’s out of the holder and made her way to the bed. She knew Catherine was tired and hated waking her but unfortunately she had to otherwise they were gonna be late.
“Catherine?” Sara asked as she sat down beside Catherine on the bed.
“I said I’m up Sara. Go down to the car, I’ll be done in the shower when you get back,” the strawberry blonde grumbled.
“Now I know where Lindsey get’s it from,” Sara laughed. “Catherine that was at least a half an hour ago. I’ve been to the car, made sure the guys were up, and I even found time to get you a present.”
“Huh?” came the groggy response.
“It’s just after 7, I hate to …”
“Oh my God! Are you serious?” Catherine replied sitting up leaning against the headboard. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You’re kidding right?” Sara laughed as Catherine looked at her in all seriousness. “I have been trying to get you up now for about an hour!” she smiled.
“Ugh” Catherine said running her hands through her hair. “I didn’t sleep much on Saturday night because I was getting my stupid lecture together. Then I was up at 8 and spent the day with Lindsey, and then that nightmare last night,” the strawberry blonde sighed, “I am so exhausted.”
“I’m sorry Catherine, but that stupid conference starts at 8 at the college and if I remember correctly the traffic at this hour is a mess. Not to mention the parking.”
“It’s okay, Sara, at least it’s just orientation today. I can sleep during all the welcome speeches,” she yawned.
“Oh that reminds me, your present,” the brunette smiled handing her the coffee. Catherine’s blue eyes lit up with joy immediately as she took the cup from Sara. The younger woman watched as Catherine closed her eyes and savored her first sip.
“Toffee nut?” She questioned eyes still closed.
“With two extra shots. Figured you could use the energy this morning,” the brunette answered proudly.
“You are officially my favorite person” Catherine smiled, taking another sip.
“Well, not for long,” the brunette said hitting her friend’s leg. “You have got about a half hour before we meet the guys downstairs so, “she continued standing from the bed, “GET UP!” Sara exclaimed as she grabbed the sheets and pulled them to the floor.
“SARA!” Catherine screeched as the cool air hit her skin.
“Well, get up!” the brunette laughed. “I think you could even be worse than Lindsey!”
“Ha, ha.” The older woman pouted as she finally rose from the bed. Catherine grabbed a change of clothes from her suitcase and made her way to the bathroom, coffee still in hand. “You know Sara,” she started as she reached the bathroom door. “It would have been nice if you would have woke me with enough time to at least dry my hair after my shower,” she teased taking another sip of her coffee.
“I don’t believe you!” Sara scoffed as she grabbed a pillow from the bed, throwing it in Catherine’s direction.
Catherine shut the bathroom door just as the pillow reached it’s destination. The brunette couldn’t help but smile as Catherine’s laughter filled the hotel room.
To Be Continued