Hustle and Flow 9/? Repost
Title: Hustle and Flow (9/?)
Author: Maaike
Pairing: C/S, S/OC
Disclaimers: See chapter 1.
A/N: The first time I posted it, it was still unbetad. So here is the repost, with thanks to my beta Emma :)
I’m not a great conversationalist. I know that. Hell, the whole world knows that, and explaining a situation like this is definitely something that I’m not going to do. Christine is just going to have to trust me on this.
“I’ve got to go,” I say as I button up my shirt.
Yes, I was pissed off with Catherine. But I was also worried about her. Some part of me still cared way more about her than I should.
“That was Catherine Willows, wasn’t it?” Christine asks. The look on her face tells me that we both know the answer to that question. She is angry. She probably found out I know Cath because of my reaction to Lindsey. I guess I look really guilty because when our eyes meet, she sighs.
“Where do you know her from?” She crosses her arms in front of her chest, another sign that she is angry. I’ve seen her do it when Chloe crosses the line.
“Work,” I answer, while I look for my jacket.
“Did she call you about work?” She raises her voice, probably without even realising it.
“No,” I don’t feel like explaining right now. I need to help Catherine.
I look at Christine, preparing myself to say goodbye. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this, she seems so angry.
“So, she calls you about a personal matter and you don’t know how fast you need to get your ass over there?!? If she tells you to jump, will you ask her ‘how high’?”
Okay, I think she is jealous. Does she know about Catherine’s sexuality?
“She needs my help with something,” I say calmly. I hope that if I stay calm, it will rub off on her. I don’t want to fight.
“And what about me, Sara?” she asks, moving closer to me, “don’t you know I need you here?” Her voice lowered. This time she sounded more desperate than angry. I have to admit that this scares me.
I’m at a loss for words. I didn’t expect her to say that. Instead of saying something, I kiss her gently. I find it’s a lot easier to say something with actions than with words.
Christine pulls back and moves her hands to rest on my hips. She looks up at me and smiles. I can see in her eyes she is still insecure, probably about where she stands.
“I’m sorry, Sara, I just..,”
I cut her off by placing my finger on her lips. “Shh,” is all I say before leaving her standing alone in the living room.
I look back once more before leaving. I take a deep breath once I get outside. It seems that this crisis has been averted just in time. I’m just going to help Catherine. I’m just going to talk to her and then I will return to Christine. I promised Chloe I’d be there in the morning to help her make pancakes.
This whole thing suddenly got a lot more complicated. What if Christine finds out I used to date Catherine? Oh God, I hope Lindsey won’t tell Chloe about that. I start to panic, but then I realize that Lindsey doesn’t know. With a sigh of relief I park my car in Catherine’s driveway.
As I stand in front of Catherine’s door, all kinds of scenarios are going through my head. I have no idea what state I will find Catherine in. I just know she sounded very drunk. Oh God, Lindsey is probably at home. I hope the little girl is still asleep.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
I guess she noticed I’m here. She opens the door and lets me in. It’s even worse than I thought. My heart sinks at the sight of her.
She is still wearing the same clothes as before, but now they are wrinkled and stained. It looks like half of the bottle of wine ended up on her clothes. Her hair is messy, just like it always was after our extensive fuck sessions, only now I know it’s not from having sex. Her mascara is all over her face, she has been crying.
“I came here to help you, Cath. You sounded like you needed someone,” I say as I take my jacket off.
“I don’t need anyone, Sara. I’m fine,” she says. I would have believed it if she hadn’t slurred slightly.
“Come on, Cath, let’s get you to bed,” I say as I guide her to her bedroom.
There is no way I can talk to her now. We should at least wait until she is sober.
“Ah, trying to get me into bed already, aren’t you?” She smiles that sexy smile of hers.
“Yes, I’m going to get you into bed, but just you. I’ll be leaving after that,” I reply. This would have been funny if I wasn’t in so much trouble.
As I help her take off her clothes, the smell of alcohol fills my nostrils. It’s almost sickening, how much did she drink?
“Cath, you need to take a shower. You wouldn’t want Lindsey to smell you like this in the morning,” I tell her.
She laughs out loud. “What do you care?”
“Come on Cath, work with me please,” I plead.
“I hate you, Sara, you know that,” she says, looking me straight in the eye.
It hurts to hear her say that. I don’t know where it came from all of a sudden. I just hope she doesn’t mean it.
“Let’s get you into the shower,” I say as I help her into the adjoining bathroom.
How am I going to do this? She can’t really shower in her underwear and I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to see her naked. Fortunately, despite the amount of alcohol she consumed, Catherine is still coherent enough to realise I feel uncomfortable.
“I can shower myself, thank you very much,” she says as she makes her way to the shower.
“I’ll be out here waiting, call me if you need anything,” I say before I quickly get out of the bathroom.
What did I get myself into? When I heard Catherine’s voice on the phone, it seemed like a good idea to come over. But now I’m actually here, I wonder what the hell has gotten into me. Why would I leave Christine, a woman who wants me for me, to help out Catherine, a woman who just wants me for sex? I’m just looking for trouble.
Christine is not stupid, she will find out. I’m being unfair to her. Then again, Catherine is my colleague. I’d like to see her as a friend as well, and she needs my help. Everyone has their bad days, right? I’ll just go back to Christine later and make up for leaving like I did.
As I sit on the bed, I feel like the walls are closing in on me. This whole room smells of Catherine. She smells so good. It was actually one of the first things I noticed about her.
I look around her room and see several pictures of Lindsey and Catherine, at the beach, at a theme park, at Lake Mead, at the lab’s Christmas party. There is a picture of our whole team. There is one picture of her and me, talking at one of the parties we held in the lab. It catches my attention because I don’t recall it being taken.
“That was last year when we celebrated Lindsey’s birthday at the lab,” her voice startles me. She sounds a lot more coherent than she did before. I guess the shower has sobered her up a little.
“I don’t remember it being taken,” I say, avoiding her eyes.
“Lindsey did it. She thought it would be cool to have a picture of just you and me,” Catherine moves in front of me.
She smells so good. I can’t help but look up at her and smile. I’m sure that Lindsey will become an investigator later, or maybe host of a dating show. She certainly has a nose for those things.
“Thanks,” Catherine says as she takes my hands into hers. She looks embarrassed.
I get up and smile at her again. She still has a huge impact on me. This is bad.
“No problem. You should get some sleep,” I say as I guide her to the bed.
Not that she really needs the help anymore, but she still is a bit unsteady on her feet. I have never seen her drunk before. Normally she is very good at keeping her composure and holding her liquor. Catherine Willows is a woman who knows her boundaries. She crossed them knowing she was going too far.
“Sara, I..,” she starts, but I don’t want her to talk right now. I shake my head and she stops talking.
“Not now, Cath, you are drunk,” I take a step back while she crawls into her bed.
“Thanks for coming here, you didn’t need to,” she says. She knew I would come. That’s probably why she called me in the first place. She knows damn well what effect she has on me, and she is not afraid to use that to her advantage. Damn her.
“It’s ok,” I reply. Dammit Sara, it’s not ok. She shouldn’t be doing this to you. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at work,” I say as I turn around. I have to at least try to show her she isn’t affecting me as much as she thinks she is. But damn, I can’t lie to her.
“Come here for breakfast?” She asks, looking at my with puppy eyes.
“I can’t,” is my answer. She knows where I’ll be going, and where I’ll be in the morning.
“Oh yeah, you have to go back to fucking that other woman,” it sounds crude.
She might as well shove a dagger into my heart. I try not to let it show, though. She was the one who didn’t want me. I shouldn’t feel guilty for going to someone who does. This time, however, I can’t pretend it doesn’t hurt me. I reached out for her. I helped her, even though she didn’t ask me to, and this is the thanks I get?
A single tear escapes and rolls over my cheek. I refuse to let her win. Not this time. The voice in my head tells me that she is drunk and she doesn’t know what she is saying, but Catherine Willows always knows what she says.
“At least she cares,” I say before leaving the bedroom.
I hear Catherine shouting things at me, but I’m not listening. I guess this means the end of our friendship. Or what was left of it, anyway.