InsaneJournal

Sara stepped closer when Catherine didn't answer. "I'm sorry I said that, Cat..."

Catherine finally emerged from the maelstrom of thoughts in her head, and she put out a hand, shoving Sara backwards onto the sofa with a smirk. "Call me Cat one more time, Sara, and I swear I'll..."

Sara grinned, getting comfy. This was better. Their playful yet slightly antagonistic banter was something she was at ease with. It had taken awhile but they both had the hang of it now. "You'll what? Exactly what will you do, Cat?"

Catherine growled, but was saved from having to follow through with a consequence by the arrival of Nick and Warrick, who walked in without knocking, even though the door was closed. To their credit, though, they looked very worried. Nick spoke first.

"Where is it?" he asked, glancing around as if expecting to find the body right out in the living room.

"In the attic," Sara said, getting up and smoothing her sweater down where Catherine's palm had rumpled it. "I told Grissom..."

Catherine watched her smoothe out her sweater, imagining herself being allowed to do the same. Despite their constant bickering, they actually got along quite well, and Catherine had been entertaining fantasies of the brunette for some time now. Dangerous ground, she was on here, but it didn't stop her from watching the sway of those hips as Sara showed the boys to the hallway and the hanging ladder.

A few minutes later she heard arguing, and then a Sara-growl, and the brunette stalked back into the living room looking quite petulant. "Let me guess... they wouldn't let you help?"

Sara gave a sardonic smile and trailed a teasing finger briefly across Catherine's shoulder. "So you don't like to be called Cat, huh? How about Kitten?" She fully expected to be slapped, but any distraction was welcome at this point. She couldn't believe Nick and Warrick had sent her away without even letting her watch.

Catherine grabbed Sara's wrist and held it in a vice grip, her nails digging into the underside. "Don't fuck with me. Not right now. You'll get more than you bargained for." But she didn't loosen her grip, or push Sara away.

Sara's breath hitched for the slightest moment... Catherine wasn't implying... no, she couldn't be. The brunette pushed a little further with a smirk. "Oh, I see... you're not a kitten, are you? You're a full grown cat. A tiger, even."

"I'm warning you," Cat said shakily, feeling her self-control slipping by the second.

"All growl and no bite," Sara said playfully, though she had dropped her voice very low.

That was it. She couldn't hold back, not with Sara torturing her like this. Her control snapped, and she twisted Sara's arm behind her back, moving quickly and shoving the brunette hard against the wall. "You want to know what a cat feels like?" she hissed, moving Sara's pinned arm out of the way and sliding a hand up Sara's sweater, raking her fingernails brutally down the soft skin of her back. They came away faintly bloody.

Sara gasped, first at the impact with the wall and then the sharp, searing pain down her back. She shouldn't have pushed so far. But this was the most intimate Catherine had ever been with her, and she couldn't regret it. And it's not like she minded the pain. She didn't answer, didn't throw out any more challenges, didn't taunt or tease any more. But she didn't move, either. She didn't try to get away, didn't try to ease the sting of the assuredly bloody welts that felt like fire. She wanted Catherine to do more... something else... anything.

Cat was saved by Nick and Warrick again, this time from fully embracing her savagery. She heard their footsteps heading toward her and Sara from the hallway, and reality came crashing down, making her flinch, and she released the brunette, horrified at the blood under her nails. "I'm s- I'm sorry," she stammered, backing away slowly.

Sara stayed against the wall, breathing hard.

"What the hell is she doin?" Warrick asked, tilting his head to the side to study Sara's strange position.

"I don't know," Catherine managed to say pretty casually. "So what'd you find out?"

"Can't tell you exactly, but you're both cleared to leave if you need to," Nick explained.

"Well that's good news," Catherine said blandly, resisting the urge to run her fingers through her hair.

"We're gonna take the samples back to the lab, we'll keep you as updated as we can," Warrick added. "David just pulled up, he's on his way in to remove the body."

"So basically, right now, I know as much as you know?" Cat clarified.

"Yep," Warrick said with a nod. "You gonna be okay?"

"Oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Catherine brushed him off with a wave of her hand and a smile.

"All right, see you guys later, then," Nick waved, giving Sara one curious glance before shaking his head and following Warrick out.

David came in as the other boys were leaving, and Catherine pointed him in the direction of the body. Then she turned to Sara, who still hadn't moved.

Sara didn't know why she hadn't moved, other than perhaps not wanting to look at anyone, and the fact that her knees might not hold her without the support of the wall. She didn't move until David and his team had left with the body, and she was alone with Catherine. She turned around and walked on shaky legs toward the front door, intending to leave. She didn't want to talk about it, to admit that she wanted more, to see the look of disgust on Catherine's face when her colleague found that out.

"Sara, I'm sorry," Catherine called, though she was rooted to her spot in the middle of the living room. If she couldn't convince Sara to stay with just words, she wasn't going to convince her at all.

"It's fine, Catherine," Sara said without turning around. "It's nothing."

"At least let me take a look?"

"What for?" The thought of Catherine touching her again, in any capacity, was too much temptation. If that was what was being offered, she couldn't leave.

"I don't know, maybe there's something I can do... I didn't mean to hurt you Sara, I was--"

Sara interrupted her, finally spinning to face her. "I said it's fine, Cat."

"I know you did, but I--" Catherine inched closer to Sara, and Sara didn't move away. In fact, Sara stood there and let her close the gap between them. "I know you don't need anything, ever, and I know I have no right to ask anything of you, especially right now, considering what I did, but if you won't let me do it for you, then let me do it for me? Please?" She dared to reach slowly for the buttons of Sara's sweater, and a wave of relief washed over her when Sara allowed her to unbutton the garment without so much as a flinch.

Sara closed her eyes, imagining the touch was under different circumstances. She let Catherine remove her sweater and take her by the hand, leading her to the bathroom, where she was asked to sit on the plush purple bath rug and lean forward against the tub.

"I'm so sorry I did this," Catherine said quietly, pulling out a few cottonballs and some rubbing alcohol from the cabinet under the sink.

Sara folded her arms on the edge of the tub and rested her head on them. "If you apologize one more time, I'm leaving."

"Sor--ahem..." Catherine caught herself and quickly busied her hands so her mouth would stay shut. First she wet a few pieces of cotton and dabbed at the bloodier parts of Sara's back. A sharp intake of breath was the only indication that Sara felt any pain. Cat was extremely careful and gentle, wanting nothing more than to kiss away the welts she had not meant to leave. She had to stop herself from apologizing every time Sara tensed.

Sara could feel Catherine start to speak several times, and finally she laughed. "Catherine, really... have you heard me complaining? I'm fine." More than fine. Your fingertips are driving me crazy.

"I'm almost done." She had cleansed the wounds with alcohol and was now bandaging them with gauze and paper tape. She took her time, as when she was finished, she would no longer have an excuse to be touching Sara. As she placed the last bandage, she let her fingers stroke softly down the base of Sara's spine, to the patch of skin just above the top of her jeans. It was torture, having Sara like this and not being able to slide her hand into those pants and squeeze her gorgeous ass...

Only at Sara's gasp of surprise did Catherine realize that she had in fact slid her hand into Sara's pants. Well, not exactly her hand, not exactly as she'd been imagining it, but as she glanced down she was stunned to see her fingers curled tightly into the waistband, tugging downward. "Uh..."