Title: Violet and Blue

Chapter Title: Adjusting.

Summary: Catherine has a niece she didn't know about? One who's coming to live with her? How will she cope and who can help her? Cath/Sara. FEMSLASH!

Authors Notes: So it's been over a year since I last posted on this story. And even longer since I posted on So Many Times. I don't really have an excuse, except everything has been a bit of a mess and I've had major writers block. On the upside I've almost written the entire next chapter. On the down side for those of you who read So Many Times I'm going to put it on hiatus for a while, so I can hopefully work out where it's going and stuff.

C+S=LOVE

"Hey," A voice said from the other end of the phone Catherine had just picked up, "It's Stacey Matthews here, I was wondering if I could talk to Claire please."

"Sure, let me just get her for you." Catherine responded. "Claire!" she yelled up the stairs, "there's a girl on the phone for you, I think her name was Stacey."

Claire quickly walked down the stairs, "Thanks Catherine," she said quickly taking the phone, "Hey little miss, what's up?"

"Are you going to call me little miss or little one, my whole life?"

"Probably."

"Great," Stacey sarcastically responded, "how's your summer been so far?"

"Good, been doing a lot of swimming, went to the movies with Lindsey, not much else. You done much?"

"I went away with my ma for a week while mom stayed home to work, we went camping, it was kind of boring really."

"Your ma likes camping?"

"Not particularly, why?"

"She just didn't seem like the type who would want to go camping."

"Oh she didn't. But she said I could choose what we could do, I think she thought I would say California or Florida or something."

"So you like camping?"

"No, but ma really hates it, it was kinda funny seeing her do her best not to complain so we could spend time together,"

"So you're an evil daughter?"

"Pretty much."

"Excellent. What are you doing for the next month?"

"Whatever comes up? Thought I might go to the movies, bug my mom to take some time off work."

"Want to come over?"

"Yeah, sure. What time?"

"Whenever, I can pick you up if you need, I don't have a car, but Catherine would let me borrow her car to pick you up."

"That'd be great, mom's home because it's her and ma's anniversary so they're all lovey-dovey and I don't want to have to get one of them to leave."

"Right well I can come over right now or later on if you want."

"Now would be good, I'll see you in about 10 minutes, oh what's your address?"

Stacey gave Claire the number and soon Claire was on her way.

-

"Who's this friend?" Lisa asked her daughter.

"A friend," Stacey said shrugging, she really didn't need her parents butting in.

"Cool it with the attitude, Anastasia," Annabelle said, "We can just ban you from going out."

Suddenly a car pulled into the drive and Claire got out of the car.

"Who's she?" Annabelle asked.

While Lisa snapped, "You're going to Claire Scott's house?"

"Claire Scott, mom, and yes I am, ma, why? Do you have a problem with it, you said she was a 'good kid'," Stacey snapped.

"Doesn't mean that I want my 14 year old daughter hanging out with her, she's 17, Anastasia."

"She's still only 16 and she's way nicer than anyone else I met at your stupid school."

"Anastasia." Annabelle warned, "Don't talk to Lisa like that."

"Whatever, can I go n..." Stacey began but was cut off by the door bell ringing, which she dashed to get.

"Hey Claire," Stacey said smiling at the older girl.

"Hey, little one, ready to go?"

"No, ma kicked a fuss and doesn't want me going out,"

"Oh I'm sorry, I don't want to cause problems," Claire said blushing slightly.

"No, it's fine, here come in, meet both my 'darling' mothers and promise them you won't kidnap them and you'll have me back my six, or something."

Claire laughed and followed Anastasia into the house.

"Hi, Ms. Matthews and er..."

"I happen to be Ms. Matthews as well, but call me Anna," Annabelle told Claire smiling at the girl in front of her.

"Hello Claire," Lisa snapped slightly.

"I'm sorry to cause any problems, Ms. Matthews and err... Anna, I invited Stacey around for a swim, Catherine has a pool and I thought she might like to come over and swim," Claire said giving her best 'I'm-polite-and-caring-and-will-take-good-of-your-daughter-because-I-am-also-very-responsible-smile'.

"Catherine will be there?" Lisa asked pausing, "she doesn't work?"

"She does, but she works the night shift at the LVPD, so she's home at the moment, she has tonight off anyway."

"She's a cop?" Lisa asked curiously.

"Nuh, a CSI there."

"Ok, does..." Lisa began but was cut off by Annabelle, "Don't interrogate the poor girl, Lisa, she was being nice and invited Stace over, they're not doing anything wrong."

"You don't know that," Lisa responded glaring slightly at Claire.

Claire held her hands up in a surrender position, "I promise you Ms. Matthews, Stacey and I are not going to do anything wrong. I will still look after her though."

Lisa stood in the same position her eyes still boring into Claire's, "fine," she snapped, "but I'm coming to pick you up, Anastasia Louise."

Stacey blushed, "okay ma, can we go now please?"

"Fine."

The two teenagers quickly moved out to the car in the driveway.

"Sorry about that," Stacey said, blushing.

"It's fine, kid, I don't mind, it's sweet your parents care enough to interrogate your friends," Claire smiled sadly. The tone behind the words caused Stacey to stop complaining.

"So where's your house?"

"San Francisco, but Catherine lives just a 5 minute drive from here." Claire said as she reversed out of the driveway.

"Oh, ok, did you like your home in San Francisco?"

"Yeah, I love my mom, she was great, but for the last month of her life she was in a coma, from a car crash, a stupid drunk driver rammed into our side."

"Oh I'm sorry."

Claire just nodded.

They soon pulled up at Catherine's house and moved towards the front door.

"I'm home Catherine!" Claire yelled the second she had opened the door.

"Don't yell inside the house." Catherine responded coming out from the kitchen into the hallway.

"Sorry Catherine, I'll try, anyway this is Stacey." Claire gestured loosely towards Stacey, "and this is Catherine."

"Hi Stacey." Catherine said smiling, glad Claire had made at least one friend, even if she didn't look quite as old as Claire.

"Hello Ms. Willows," Stacey practically whispered.

"Don't call me Ms. Willows, sweetheart, call me Catherine."

"Ok, Catherine."

"Great," Claire said, "Now we've met Catherine you just need to meet Lindsey, do you know where she is Cath?"

"Yeah she's upstairs in the living room watching Hannah Montana or something like that."

"Thanks Cath, I'll go introduce Stace, then we'll go up to my room."

"Sure, would you like to stay for tea Stacey? I'll be leaving at 8 but you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Umm," Stacey began, but was cut off by Claire, "Her ma is coming to pick her up so we don't actually know when that will be so..."

"Ok."

"Let's go upstairs," Claire said pulling Stacey by the arm up the stairs.

-

"I'm sorry Stace, I didn't want you to get in trouble."

"Claire. Stop apologising. My ma is really protective, she loves me and the school and she doesn't like the fact that I didn't make any friends my own age. Especially because ma was very much one of the 'popular' girls in high school"

"Lisa was part of the popular clique?" Claire asked her voice betraying her disbelief.

"I know, right? She really doesn't seem like the type. She was a cheerleader and was the girlfriend of the football captain."

Claire laughed. "She's changed a lot then."

Stacey smiled. "Yeah, speaking of changing, what was this about a pool?"

Claire laughed. "Oh, I see, you're only hanging out with me to use the pool."

"Of course. Why else would I be hanging out with you?"

"My good look? My charms?"

"Fat chance." Stacey responded, giggling at Claire who had struck a pose in the middle of her room.

"Hey!" Claire called out and threw a pillow at Stacey, who returned the courtesy.

A few minutes Claire went to her drawers and pulled out her bathers, "I'll go get changed in the bathroom, I'll be back in a moment."

When Claire returned Stacey was ready to go.

Claire grinned, "just let me check if Linds wants to come swimming, Catherine sleeps during the day so she's really only allowed to swim if she's with me."

Stacey nodded, "Sure, I'll meet you outside."

Stacey moved into the kitchen to find Catherine hanging up the phone. "Hi Stacey."

"Hi Catherine."

"Did you want to stay for dinner? I know Claire would like you to."

Stacey smiled. "Sure, I'll just text my ma quickly," she responded tapping out a quick message on her phone.

A minute later there was a beep. Stacey scanned the message. "Thanks for the offer Catherine, but my ma is going to pick me up at about 5: 30. Apparently we're having a family dinner."

"Alright." Catherine glanced at her watch. "Well I'm going to go to bed now. Can you let Claire know that there's cold chicken in the container with the green lid if she wants to put that in everyone's sandwiches."

Stacey nodded.

Catherine passed Claire and Lindsey as she went upstairs, kissing both of them on the cheek, "night girls." She said.

"Right, well let's go swimming."

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" Lindsey cried rushing towards the back door, closely followed my Claire and Stacey.

Lindsey jumped in the pool, instantly followed by Claire and Stacey.

"Ha! I beat you Stacey!" Claire called after surfacing.

"No you didn't Claire, I beat you. Tell her Lindsey." Stacey retorted.

Lindsey nodded solemnly. "You got beaten Claire."

Gasping in mock horror Claire swam quickly towards Lindsey and picking her up she threw her to the other end of the pool.

Lindsey giggled, "do it again."

"Okay," Claire responded before diving deeper into the water and swimming over to Lindsey.

Lindsey squealed as she was thrown back into the pool. Once Lindsey surfaced Claire spoke, "Hey Linds, think I should chuck Stacey in too?"

Lindsey laughed, but Stacey swam away from Claire as quickly as she could.

"No, I'm already in, you don't need to throw me to the other side."

Claire laughed as she wrapped her arms around Stacey's middle. "I think I do, kid." Winking at Lindsey, Claire picked a writhing Stacey up and threw her, causing a large splash at the other end of the pool.

Stacey glared at Claire. "Oh it is so on."

Claire laughed, and diving under the water she swam towards Stacey, grabbing her feet and pulling her under the water.

C+S: Love

The door rang and Claire who was sitting in the lounge room with Stacey and Lindsey moved to get it.

She grinned at the tall brunette woman on the other side of the door. "Hi Sara."

Sara smiled, "Hi Claire. How are you?"

"I'm alright, come in." Claire said as she moved out of the way, facing the stairs she yelled, "Catherine! Sara's here!"

There was a thump from the living room as Lindsey heard.

"Sara! Sara! Sara!" The little girl cried out.

Sara bent down, dropping the two plastic bags beside her, scooping the little girl into her arms Sara laughed. "You get bigger each time I see you."

Lindsey shook her head, "Nuh-uh, I see you every day I can't get bigger every single day."

Sara laughed, "I think you can."

Stacey entered and Claire smiled at her, "Oh, sorry Stace, this is Sara, Catherine's girlfriend, Sara this is Stacey, she's a friend of mine."

Sara smiled, adjusting Lindsey on her hip. "As Claire said, I'm Sara. I would shake your hand but as you can see I'm a little tied up at the moment."

"No problem."

"Are you cooking dinner?" Claire questioned Sara.

"Mhm. I thought we'd do veggie burgers. What do you think?"

"That's fine with me."

"Are you staying for dinner, Stacey?"

Stacey blushed. "No, my ma is coming to pick me up around 5: 30."

Sara nodded. "Alright, veggie burgers for four it is."

C+S: Love

"Mmm. That smells wonderful babe." Catherine commented as she came downstairs, her hair wrapped in a towel.

Sara grinned and wrapped her arms around Catherine's waist, pulling her closer. "Thankyou."

Sara pressed her lips against Catherine's and turned her around so Sara was against the bench.

The doorbell rang. Sara sighed, "I'll get it, you finish getting ready, we need to leave in 45 minutes and we still have to eat."

Catherine nodded, smiling softly as Sara left.

Sara opened the door, to end up facing Lisa Matthews. "Hi. Ms. Willows? I'm Lisa Matthews, Anastasia's mom" Lisa questioned.

Sara moved to the side. "Actually my name's Sara, I'm Catherine's girlfriend, come in."

"Oh I'm sorry."

Sara laughed. "No problem. Claire!" Sara yelled, "Stacey! Your mom is here."

The two girls quickly came down the stairs. "Hey ma," Stacey said softly only glancing up from her conversation with Claire for a moment.

"Hi darling, you ready to go?"

"In a moment ma."

Lisa glared at Stacey, "Anastasia."

Stacey paused, "I mean could you possibly wait just one moment, please?"

Lisa nodded. "Sure."

Sara grinned.

"So do you live here with Catherine and Claire?" Lisa asked curiously.

Sara paused, "No, Catherine and I are fairly new, and at the moment I think Cath just likes living with Claire and Lindsey."

"Lindsey?" Lisa questioned.

"Catherine's daughter, she's almost eight."

Right at the moment Sara spoke Lindsey came rushing in. "Sara, mommy says she can't find where you put the bread."

"Ok Linds," turning to Lisa Sara spoke, "this is Lindsey, Linds this is Stacey's mommy, If you don't mind I need to show Catherine where I put the bread."

"That's alright. I don't mind, infact," Lisa glanced at the two girls who were talking in the corner, "if you don't mind I'll come with you, I'd like to meet Catherine and it doesn't seem that Anastasia will be ready to leave anytime soon."

"Sure, this way."

They entered the kitchen. "Cath, this is Lisa, she's Stacey's mother."

Catherine smiled at both women. "Where'd you put the bread, Sar? I cannot find it. Hi Lisa, I'm Catherine, I'm Claire's aunt."

"Hi."

"Are the girls downstairs?"

"Yeah, they're standing by the stairs chatting about something or well something. Cath, the bread was in the bread box, I told you that earlier."

Catherine sighed, "Sorry, I've never kept bread in the bread box."

Sara laughed, "Of course you haven't."

Lisa smiled at the two women who conversed easily.

"Can I offer you a cup of coffee, Lisa?" Catherine asked as Sara took over the final preparations for their meal.

"No that's ok, you look like you need to eat dinner, so I'll grab Stacey and leave."

Catherine shook her head, "nonsense, dinner won't be ready for at least 15 minutes, right Sara?"

"Right."

"So, what do you do, Lisa?" Catherine questioned.

Lisa paused. "I teach at Claire's school. Didn't you know that?"

Catherine glanced at Lisa. "Oh. I spoke to you on the phone the day Claire was suspended."

Lisa smiled, "yes that's right. Claire got in trouble for hitting Michelle Peters."

"I'm err. Really sorry about that."

Lisa laughed. "It's ok, I can't honestly say that I was particularly please when I found out the only friend my daughter seemed to have made was Claire, but Anastasia really seems to like Claire so I guess I can't complain."

Catherine smiled. "Well from what I've seen today Claire likes hanging out with Stacey. Umm---If you don't mind me commenting," Catherine said slowly, "You don't really look old enough to be the mother of a 15 year old girl."

Lisa grinned, "I guess technically I'm not. I met Annabelle when I was 20, she was 30, and she had Anastasia already, she was 4 at the time. So I'm 30, 31 in a week or so and Anna is 40."

Sara smiled, "That's a fairly large age gap."

"It is, but we've always just made it work. I had too much of a restless childhood, I lived with my dad and he had a new girlfriend every month, we moved around a lot, so I was ready to settle down quite early and well Anna's just so beautiful that no matter how old she gets I will always love her."

Claire and Stacey had just walked into the room.

"Gross ma, I don't want to hear all the lovey-dovey stuff and I'm sure that Catherine and Sara don't want to either."

Catherine, Sara and Lisa laughed. "One day you won't mind, Anastasia."

"If you say so, ma."

"Alright, well let's go home Anastasia."

Stacey hugged Claire. "See you soon," she laughed, poking Claire in the stomach.

"See ya soon kid, ask your moms if you can come over soon."

Stacey turned to Lisa, "Can I come over again soon? Please ma."

Lisa turned to Stacey, "don't you think that maybe you should let Claire ask Catherine first?"

"It's fine, Claire's allowed friends at home, just as long as they're not too loud, Stacey's welcome any time."

Lisa paused. "Well, I guess that's ok. How about sometime next week?"

Claire grinned. "That's great. Text me, ok Stace?"

Stacey nodded. "Well thank you for having me over Catherine, and I'll see you soon, Claire."

Claire hugged the younger girl again and walked her towards the front door.

"Bye," said Lisa.

C+S: Love

"Stacey seems nice." Catherine commented as she ate dinner with Sara, Lindsey and Claire.

Claire shrugged, "she's a good kid I guess."

"You should be careful with her." Catherine said, biting into her burger.

Claire paused. "What are you talking about?"

"I think she likes you, as does Sara." Catherine responded.

"Well we're friends."

There was silence for a few minutes.

"You misunderstood Claire," Sara said, "we think she's got a crush on you."

Claire rolled her eyes. "I didn't misunderstand; I purposely ignored what you were suggesting. Now while you guys might think I'm just a kid, well to me that's what Stacey is, I'm not interested in her."

Catherine sighed, "Claire I can tell that, that's why you need to be careful, I don't think you're attracted to her, I think she's attracted to you."

Claire sighed. "I hoped I was imagining it."

"You noticed?"

"It was fairly obvious; she blushed any time I got less than 3 feet closer than her. When I picked her up in the pool she froze."

Catherine stared at her. "You picked her up in the pool?"

"Yeah, I was throwing Lindsey and so I was joking with Lindsey saying I should throw Stacey, so I did."

"Oh. Well just be careful, she seems like a nice kid."

Claire nodded, "I don't want to hurt her, but what should I do?"

Catherine paused. "I don't know, it's different if you're adults or even the same age, you're on a more equal level, but in this case she's so much younger than you in terms of emotional maturity."

"I'll do my best." Claire glanced at her watch. "Hey don't you have to get to work."

Catherine glanced at the clock on the microwave. "Yes, oh great, we're running late."

Quickly she hugged both Claire and Lindsey, then she and Sara were gone.

"What do you wanna do Linds?"

The little girl shrugged, "How long til I have to go to bed."

Claire glanced at her watch, "at least 2 or 3 hours"

"Can we watch a movie, please?"

"Sure kiddo, what movie do you wanna watch?"

"Cheaper by the Dozen!" Lindsey cried.