When Demons Come A Calling

By Kimmi

CSI: CSR - mild GSR angst

Summary: When Sara's past comes back to haunt her it arrives with a vengeance.

Warning this is femslash, you have been warned.

Disclaimers: If I owned them Cath and Sara would have been playing house by the third ep.

Catherine Willows groaned as she looked at the slips of pink paper on her desk. Five rape-homicides in one day were more than swing shift could handle by itself. Even if she, Nick and Warrick all took one each there was no way they could possibly hit the other two without losing precious evidence. These cases were time sensitive and they were going to need help. She'd have to call in reinforcements. Picking up her cell phone she dialed her friend and former boss.

"Grissom."

"Hey Gil it's Catherine. I hate to ask but I need some help."

After filling him in on the details and receiving a promise to call in his entire team Catherine made her way to the break room to send the guys to two of the scenes while she took a third. She picked up her kit and made her way to her SUV.

The drive was relatively short, no more than twenty minutes even with traffic, but it gave her time to think. With a hundred and thirty murders last year in the metro Vegas area, five in one night was a little unusual and for them all to come in within minutes of each other was unheard of. Catherine wondered briefly if there was a full moon or some weird planetary alignment that had brought out the lunatics.

Catherine arrived at the scene and was retrieving her kit from the back when a second CSI SUV pulled up beside her. She watched Sara Sidle's long legs exit the vehicle moments before the rest of her body. "What are you doing here? Why didn't Gil send you to one of the scenes no one is working?"

Sara cursed silently to herself as she wondered the same thing. She and Catherine hadn't really spoken since the blowup that had gotten her suspended and she wasn't looking forward to working a scene with her. It promised to be a long and tense afternoon. "I really couldn't tell you. Maybe it's because I live two blocks away."

It sounded like a plausible explanation but Catherine thought it more likely that this was Grissom's way of trying to get them to work out their problems. She didn't think it would do any good. Not until she and Sara could have a personal conversation without the brunette getting defensive and throwing up walls.

She waited for the younger woman to grab her kit, taking in the slumped shoulders and dragging feet. The woman looked like she had just rolled out of bed after not having nearly enough sleep. Knowing Sara that was exactly what had happened. "Well let's get started. The scene isn't going to process itself."

Sara watched Catherine's retreating back for a second before moving to follow her. She didn't regret what she had said, just the way she had said it. There was no way that conversation should've taken place in the halls. There was nothing she could do to change it however, short of apologizing and that was out.

Catherine reached the front door and looked back for Sara. Normally the tall brunette's long strides could easily outdistance her, but she was lagging behind. She made a vow to find a way to get them past this latest setback in their rocky relationship, with or without the other CSI's help.

"Hey Catherine, Sara I gotta warn ya this one's not pretty. Vic's name is Robin Hamilton, 33. This is her house. Looks like she was raped and beaten. She's in the bedroom down the hall, second door on the right. You've got your work cut out for you." Captain Jim Brass gave them a quick rundown of the details.

Sara saw the appraising glance Brass threw her way and took her shades off to look him directly in the eye. She gave him a small smirk to let him know she understood he was looking out for her but that she was fine. She hadn't been drinking before being called out, she was just tired. When she saw his answering smile she knew he had gotten the message. It was weird but they had developed this silent communication after her DUI. He knew she still drank, but she was a hell of a lot more careful now. She had made a stupid mistake. She didn't have a problem with alcohol; she had a problem with herself.

Oblivious to the unspoken conversation going on behind her Catherine started for the bedroom. She hugged the walls and started to tell Sara to do the same but stopped when she saw the younger woman was already doing so. She got a quick look at the dark circles under her eyes before she had to turn her attention back to where she was going.

Sara silently followed the blonde concentrating so hard on where she put her feet that she barely kept from running into Catherine's back. She hadn't noticed her stop at the open door and her only warning was the sharp intake of breath and a muttered curse. Peering over the shorter woman's shoulder it was easy to see what had prompted the expletive as one of her own squeezed its way out from her tightly clinched jaw. Written in what was most likely the woman's blood in three foot high letters above the victim's bed was the word 'YOU'.

With numb fingers Sara fumbled for her camera. Once Catherine moved into the room and out of her way she began snapping photos. The oppressive iron smell of the blood made her glad that she could only see the scene in small bits and pieces through the viewfinder. It made it a little easier to push down the bile that sometimes wanted to creep its way up her throat when this much blood was involved.

"Well it looks like she was strangled. I can see bruising on the side of her neck. He also slashed her wrist though. Overkill maybe? Or maybe it was taking to long for her to bleed out?" Catherine voiced her thoughts out loud. The victim was lying face down and she couldn't yet see the extent of the damage to the woman's throat.

"Maybe he cut her just to get the blood for the message. What's he trying to say though?"

Catherine looked up to see Sara absently rubbing her neck. She didn't think it was healthy the way the younger woman could immerse herself so deeply into a case that she could actually see herself in it. "I'm not sure maybe… Hey Sara come get a picture of this." Something barely sticking out from under the victim's head had caught her eye. "What is that?"

Getting as close as she could without actually touching the body Sara took a good look before taking a few pictures. "Looks like plant matter. A flower stem maybe?"

"Ladies."

The sudden voice from behind startled them both, making them jump slightly. They turned to see the portly assistant coroner standing just inside the room.

Catherine recovered first. "David please don't sneak up on people like that."

"Sorry. Are you ready for me?" Ducking his head slightly in embarrassment he never the less managed to send Sara a slight smile.

Catherine waved him toward the body giving silent consent as she and Sara stepped back to give him room to work. "Liver temp is 81 degrees so your time of death is approximately twelve hours ago."

"Thanks David. Sara do you have everything you need?" When Catherine received a distracted yes from the brunette she stepped back toward the bed. "Ok David I need you to lift her head and carefully roll her over. There's something under her and I don't want to damage it."

Sara waited with her camera ready while David lifted the dead woman and Catherine took a closer look. Cold fingers were wrapping themselves around her spine even before the blonde began to straighten up and she got her first look at what had been under the victim. The world fell away and all that was left was that flower. The brunette squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the sight in an attempt to get herself under control. There had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for it being there. Maybe the woman was a florist or a boyfriend had given it to her or she was an amateur horticulturalist anything but what her mind wanted to think. 'It doesn't mean anything, it's just a coincidence, it's not him' was running like a mantra through her mind.

"Sara! Did you hear me?" Catherine had told the younger woman to take photos of the flower but when Sara hadn't moved she turned to look at her and found her staring at it ashen-faced. She had then called her name three times before the brunette seemed to snap out of the trance she seemed to be in.

Shaking her head to clear out her thoughts Sara stepped toward the bed. She hadn't heard a word Catherine had said but she could pretty much guess what she wanted. As soon as she thought she had plenty of pictures she turned around and headed for the door. "I'm going to get started on the outside perimeter."

Sara stepped out the front door taking huge gulps of fresh air. She was still trying to get the smell of the blood and the sight of that damn flower out of her head when she heard soft footsteps behind her.

Catherine could see the brunette's sides heaving as she took deep breaths and as she came around to stand in front of her she nearly gasped at the younger woman's pallor. She hadn't believed it was really possible for someone to go white as a sheet but now the proof was in front of her. "Sara, are you all right? You look like you're about to pass out."

There was no way Sara could hide from Catherine's keen gaze in the unforgiving light of the afternoon Nevada sun. "I'm just a little… I just needed some air. I'm fine."

Cath could only stare after the lanky brunette as she wandered off around the side of house. She wanted to make sure that she really was fine but knew without a doubt Sara wouldn't give her a straight answer. They had never had much of a relationship and Willows knew she was mostly to blame for that. Years spent pushing the younger woman away, topped off with constant digs had made Sara wary of trusting her. The brunette's attitude had never helped either and of course their latest blow up resulting in Sidle's suspension had made things go from chilly to frozen. Well she'd just have to talk to Gil and tell him to find out what was bothering her.

"Is she okay? She looked a little green around the gills."

Brass's soft question stopped Catherine's retreat back into the house. "She said she was all right but you know Sara, she'd deny there was anything wrong even with her last breath."

Brass let the blonde go without a word, his thoughts on the brunette. He promised himself he would find a way to get her alone later and try to get her to talk to him.

TBC