Title: Just Say No
By: coldbeer
Pairing: Cath/Sara
Rated: G
Challenge: Melrose Place titles
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Word Count: 400
Author Notes: Exactly 400 words, because I'm long winded. And I cheated by writing 'break room' as one word. Sue me. In my first language this would be allowed. :-P Also, I've never done this drabble thing before. It might not be what you're looking for at all.

***

They say thirst lags behind dehydration. This must be true. Sara watches the drops of condensation slide down the inside of the plastic bottle in her hand, and tries to remember the last time she felt thirsty. She can't.

Experts say irritability, grogginess and a feeling of heaviness are the first signs of dehydration. Sara's started carrying around a bottle wherever she goes; it gives her hands something to play with during breakroom meetings, when he's too busy not looking her in the eye to notice she's not paying attention to him at all.

She's sure this new habit of hers has nothing to do with the fact that it's getting harder for her not to stop for cigarettes on her way to work. She gave up smoking over three years ago, and it has never given her any trouble before. Up until now. Now every time she buys a newspaper she has to almost physically hold herself back.

Sara doesn't like watching the sun rise. It means her shift will soon be over. It means having to go home to an empty apartment and stare at the sunlight moving across the ceiling of her bedroom. But it's a slow night, and Nick has taken off with Warrick and the only homicide of the evening. Greg's running some samples in Trace. And Sara is craving a cigarette, so she drinks water instead.

She tenses when another person rounds the corner to the back of the building, forgets to relax as she realizes it's Catherine.

"Someone should inform college students once and for all that the suicidal roommate rule is a myth," she says, and exhales.

Sara watches her coworker as she leans back against the wall. She fears Catherine will look up and catch her watching so she turns her head away, and for a moment it's just the view of the red sky, the feel of the cool plastic against the palm of her hand, and the sound of Catherine rummaging through her handbag.

"Want one?" Catherine asks. When Sara looks to her side, Catherine has one cigarette between the slender fingers of her left hand and an open pack in the other, offering it to her. She must have noticed a change in Sara's expression, a need she's been trying to hide because when Sara looks back at the smaller woman's face, Catherine is smiling seductively. "Go ahead," she says.

Sara hesitates.

***