Title: Show Me the Ropes
By: lexus-grey
Pairing: Catherine/Lady Heather, Catherine/Sara
Rating: NC-17

At first Catherine had dismissed the idea, though truth be told she wasn't opposed to it on moral grounds, and the salary would certainly be more lucrative than what she made as a CSI. But she liked her job, she was damn good at it, and she loved the people she worked with. Yes, even Sara Sidle, pain in the ass that she was.

Then, though, Heather had casually mentioned that even a few hours a month could supplement her income nicely, and the enjoyment she'd get from the mild exposure could be explosive.

Now, as she finished collecting the masks and straws, bagging and tagging them each separately, she turned around and leaned against the sink, one corner of her mouth twitching into a smirk as she caught Lady Heather's attention. "So..."

Heather raised an eyebrow, stopping what she was doing to look at Catherine, watching the way the CSI's lips slowly formed a smirk. Her body language was apprehensive, but her eyes twinkled with confidence. "Yes?" the Lady inquired, staring right into those baby blues.

"Show me the ropes?" Catherine asked, grinning at the look of mild surprise on Heather's face. There was no harm in learning the way of the house, so to speak... she was just looking to gain some firsthand knowledge and keep her options open.

Heather crossed the distance between them and gracefully took Catherine's chin between her thumb and forefinger, applying the subtlest amount of pressure. "Do you know what you're asking, Kitty Cat?"

Catherine's first impulse was to laugh at the nickname, but she quelled it and stood up straighter, leaning into the touch. "I believe I do."

Heather grinned and released her hold. "I believe you do," she agreed, just as Nick stepped in and cleared his throat.

"We're set," he announced, but instead of walking away to leave Catherine to her own devices, he stood in the doorway, waiting for her to follow him.

"Take these back to the lab for me," Catherine said, all business with Stokes as she handed over the armful of plastic bags containing the evidence she'd gathered.

"Maybe you missed it, but you're actually on the team and can transport your own evidence?" Nick pointed out, staring at the pile of bags he now held. "I'm not one of the guys who comes here to be smacked around and told what to do..."

"No, but you are one of the guys that works for me and takes any evidence I damn well tell you to take. I'll catch up with the team tonight. Shift is over in ten minutes anyway."

Nick opened his mouth to respond but seemingly thought better of it and just left, leaving the two women alone.

"Nicely done," Lady Heather commended her new protege. "Follow me."

Catherine stripped off her gloves and tossed them in the trash on her way out of the kitchen after Heather. "I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion," she observed, following the Lady up two flights of stairs and through a locked door which Heather opened with a very ornate key. "What's this floor used for?"

"This is my private domain; I live here," Heather replied, closing and bolting the door behind them. "And don't worry about your clothes, you won't be wearing them long." She moved down the hall and opened a door on the right, pointing Catherine inside. "I hope you won't mind my insisting that you shower, after going through my garbage and playing with forensic powders. You'll find a stack of towels in the cabinet on the left side of the room." She pointed to a fluffy black bathrobe that hung from a hook on the back of the bathroom door. "Take off your clothes and place them in a neat, folded pile on the edge of the sink. When you're through showering, I want you in nothing but this bathrobe."

Catherine felt the first stirrings of nerves and excitement begin as she nodded her head in acceptance of the instructions laid out for her. She was grateful for the opportunity to shower. It would relax her, and make her feel much sexier for what was to come.

At Catherine's wordless nod, Heather smiled a little and stepped closer, lifting a finger beneath the blonde's chin. "Yes, Lady Heather," she said quietly, knowing that Catherine would understand.

Catherine resisted the urge to laugh yet again, and closed her eyes, swallowing hard before repeating the vocal response. "Yes, Lady Heather."

"Very good, Kitty Cat," Heather purred softly, stroking the underside of Catherine's chin a few times before leaving her alone in the bathroom.

Catherine stood staring at the closed door for several long seconds after Heather had retreated from the room. A wry smile tugged at her lips and she started to undress, folding each article of clothing and placing it in a neat pile on the edge of the sink, as instructed, until she was naked and ready to feel the cleansing spray of hot water on her body.

The pulsing cadence of the water hitting her back felt so good, and Heather's shampoo smelled like raspberries and champagne. Surprisingly, it complemented the cherry almond body soap perfectly, and Catherine felt luxuriously pampered as she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She wrapped her hair in the towel and slipped the bathrobe on. She was about to open the door when she remembered Heather's exact words, 'nothing but this bathrobe', and she removed the towel from her hair, shaking the blonde locks free, and draped the towel neatly over the shower doors.

Again she moved to open the bathroom door, but hesitated at the last second, calling out Heather's name instead. "Lady Heather?"

The door opened outward to reveal the Lady, whom Catherine was proud to note looked rather pleased.

"You listen well, Kitty Cat... and you're quite intuitive. I knew you'd be perfect for the job," Heather praised the beautiful woman standing naked under her bathrobe. She moved into the room and slid a hand up Catherine's back, curling her fingers into those dripping blonde tresses with a gentle squeeze. "Here's to the beginning of a profitable working relationship..."

Heather leaned close, and Catherine let her eyes drift closed, anticipating a kiss. Looking forward to a kiss. Wanting a kiss. But Heather didn't kiss her... she whispered something instead.

"Have you ever been spanked, Catherine?"

Now that was unexpected, and despite her efforts to the contrary, Catherine felt a blush creep onto her cheeks, her lower lip worried between her teeth as she shook her head.

Heather squeezed her hair just a bit harder, putting her lips just a bit closer to Catherine's. "No, Lady Heather..."

Catherine could feel Heather's breath on her lips. "No, Lady Heather," she quickly answered, making a scientific note in her brain to remember to answer aloud from then on.

"Wonderful. We'll start with that, then," Heather said brightly, releasing Catherine's hair and taking her by the hand, leading her out of the bathroom and down the hall to the right. "You are being honored with the privilege of my inner sanctum," she announced casually as she opened another door and preceded Catherine inside. "This is my bedroom. No clients or employees have ever seen the inside of my personal living space."

Catherine looked around, appreciating the gothic decor and warm, tasteful furniture. The bureau was glossy mahogany, as was the four poster bed frame. Plush dark purple carpet was soft beneath her bare feet and the room was lit by glowing candles in sconces along the walls. Finally her gaze landed upon Lady Heather herself, and she smiled a bit as she had to ask, "why am I so privileged?"

Heather's grin was positively scandalous as she once again curled a fist into the hair at the nape of Catherine's neck, pulling her close. "Because I want to do things to you, Kitty Cat. Things that I would never do to any client or employee... very personal things that involve fingers and tongues without gloves, and dildos without condoms. I want to spank you over my lap instead of chained to a cross, so that I can feel you on my thighs. You've wanted it too, since you walked through the doors into my dominion. If I'm wrong, then by all means speak up, but I make a living reading people, and we both know I'm not wrong... am I?"

Catherine debated lying, simply because she didn't like the thought that she could be read so easily and have her desires laid out before her by someone she hadn't confessed them to. But she didn't. She gave in to the feeling of exposed vulnerability that Heather invoked in her, and hoped that she could return the favor in time. "You're not wrong." A light slap to her cheek surprised her, and her eyes flew open wide, a sharp intake of breath hissing through suddenly clenched teeth.

"How do you answer questions, Kitty Cat?" Heather purred, soothing the slight sting with stroking fingertips.

Catherine racked her brain briefly, cursing at her indiscretion. "No, Lady Heather," she amended her previous response. A beat of silence, and then, "I'm sorry, Lady Heather."

"Are you going to try harder?" Heather leaned in and slowly licked Catherine's cheek with the very tip of her tongue, circling the faint pink tint left by the gentle slap.

Catherine's eyelids fluttered, but she forced them to remain open as she rushed her answer. "Yes, Lady Heather!"

"Good." Heather pulled away. "It's time for that spanking, now." She sat languidly on her fluffy crimson comforter, pleased that Catherine had not moved along with her. "Remove the robe and drape it over that chair," she instructed, nodding toward a rocking chair in one corner of the room.

Even in her time as an exotic dancer, Catherine had never felt so naked as when she slipped the bathrobe from her shoulders and turned, moving to the rocking chair with shaky steps to drape the garment over the back of it. Her heart was hammering in her chest, her pulse racing, her thighs clenched as she stood with her back to Heather, awaiting further instructions.

Heather let her stand there for a good minute, just watching the play of tense muscles in Catherine's sculpted back and shoulders until they relaxed. "Come here."

The CSI took a deep, calming breath and turned, counting the number of steps it took to reach Lady Heather's side, trying desperately to focus on anything other than her nudity and Heather's penetrating gaze.

Heather smirked knowingly. "How many steps did it take?"

Catherine almost groaned at the woman's intuitiveness, and sighed in defeat as she answered. "Five, Lady Heather."

"You have a beautiful body," Heather changed the subject easily, allowing her eyes to rake the other woman's trembling form. "And your ass is divine. I'm wet just thinking about spanking it."

"Oh Jesus," Catherine huffed on an exhale, shooting Heather a steely glare.

"Don't look at me like that. You're here of your own free will. Aren't you?"

Damn her hot temper. She calmed quickly. "Yes, Lady Heather."

"You asked me to show you the ropes, did you not?"

"Yes, I did, Lady Heather."

"Have you changed your mind?"

"No, Lady Heather."

"Then what do you say when I give you a compliment?"

Swallowing was not helping to wet her dry throat. "Thank you, Lady Heather."

"Place yourself across my lap."

That was a request like none other for Catherine, one that made her tingle with anticipation and flush with embarrassment at the same time as she carefully laid over Heather's lap, hoping she was in the right position.

"Why are you being spanked, Kitty Cat?" Heather whispered close to her ear, running her palms up and down Catherine's finely sculpted back and shoulder blades.

"What?" Catherine asked, surprised at the question. "Because I'm learning, right?"

"No," Heather said with a low chuckle. "Invent a reason. Make your fantasy. Why are you being spanked, Kitty Cat?" she asked again.

Catherine blew out a long breath, gripping the comforter as she let her mind wade through possible scenarios, and one fleeting fantasy image sent a shiver of excitement up her spine. Who knew? "Because I skipped Chemistry class, Lady Heather."

Heather slipped effortlessly into the 'professor' role, resting her palm on Catherine's naked backside. "That's right, young lady. This is the second time in a week, and I won't have it. Your potential vastly exceeds that of the other students combined, and you *will* attend class each and every day, is that clear?"

The shiver of excitement that had run up her spine seemed to explode and penetrate every nerve in her body now. "Yes, Lady Heather, I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as you will be when I'm through spanking you," Heather promised, and with that, she lifted her right hand and began to bring it down rhythmically across Catherine's ass, starting with slow, gentle taps to get her used to the sensation, or 'warmed up'.

"Yes, Lady Heather," Catherine acknowledged, tensing as soon as Heather lifted her hand, but the gentle first smacks that fell allowed her to relax and enjoy the feeling. The way Heather spanked her was frustratingly delicious, working her up slowly to the point where she almost wanted to ask for it harder. The progression from soft to firm was seamless, and soon she was really feeling the sting of each slap, fisting the comforter and rocking her hips to the cadence Lady Heather had set.

Heather gauged the CSI's reactions carefully, and finally felt she was ready for a firmer touch. Her skin was glowing a shade between pink and red, and radiated warmth into the Lady's hand with each blow. She gave each cheek a gentle rub, then raised her arm and brought her palm down solidly, closing her eyes with pleasure at the mewling whimper Catherine let out and the way the CSI struggled not to throw her head back. She landed another punishing slap to the other cheek.

Catherine cried out again, burying her face between her forearms as her body jerked with the blow, her hips pressing firmly against Lady Heather's thighs. She was wet. She was so wet, and in that instant she really understood why people came here for release. They could express themselves without fear of rejection while being spanked or paddled or whipped, and she found herself doing just that, which was much more than she'd expected out of this encounter. "I'm sorry, Lady Heather," she begged, though she didn't know if she wanted the spanking to escalate or wind down. She was glad not to have to make that decision. Lady Heather would make it for her.

Heather pushed her further, tugging on her hair as she increased the force and the speed of her slaps. Catherine was moaning and grinding on her thighs, but she was also crying, and it was that delicious mixture of pain and pleasure that Heather so loved to give.

After drawing it out for several more minutes, Heather wound the spanking down slowly, finally letting her hand rest once more on Catherine's blazing bottom, admiring the beautiful bright red color of that pale, creamy skin. She stroked the crying woman's hair, leaning down to whisper into her ear. "You did good, Kitty Cat."

Compliment. That was a compliment. Could she find her voice? "Thank you, Lady Heather," she managed to reply. Her ass was on fire and she felt so, so good. So liberated. The tears were automatic, purely her body's outlet for the pain - she didn't feel like crying. She was nowhere near upset.

"I trust this punishment has helped you think over your mistakes, and you will attend every class in the future?" Heather asked sternly once she had straightened back up, her palm now rubbing circles over Catherine's inflamed skin.

"Yes, Lady Heather."

Heather's teeth bared in a devious grin, though Catherine couldn't see it. "Are you sure, young lady?" she purred, leaning down once more to put her lips to the CSI's earlobe. "Are you sure you didn't enjoy it enough to skip class again in the hopes of a repeat performance?" Before giving Catherine a chance to respond, she spanked her sharply once and sucked on the earlobe in her mouth. "My skirt is wet."

Catherine yelped in surprise at the smack, but the mouth on her ear quickly grabbed her full attention, and the words hissed into it made her groan. A flush spread over her neck and face, and she moved to get up, embarrassed at her arousal being brought to attention in such a way. She dropped back over Heather's lap when she felt a slender finger slip between her thighs from behind. Her embarrassed flush disappeared at the lustful sound from the Lady above her. Heather groaned.

"Kitty Cat," the Lady breathed, amazed at the amount of slick heat that enveloped her finger before she had even penetrated the woman.

"Ye--uhhhhhhhhh, yes Lady Heather?" Catherine gasped as Heather slid two fingers fully inside her. She had never been so easy. "Fuck, that feels amazing..."

"Hands and knees," Heather growled softly, sliding out from under the blonde as she instantly complied. She had never wanted to fuck someone so urgently. Catherine Willows was very bad for her self control. She hitched her skirt up around her hips and freed her strap-on from her underwear within seconds, and pressed the head between Catherine's legs, burying the entire shaft within her when she heard the woman whimper out a plea to be filled. Very bad for her self control indeed, as her fingernails raked down Catherine's back, leaving angry red scratches in their wake.

Catherine sucked in a shuddering breath, dropping her head between her shoulders, her golden hair falling in front of her face and tickling the sides of her arms as she rocked back and forth onto Lady Heather's dick.

Heather grabbed hold of Catherine's hips and pulled backwards hard, slamming her own forward, sweat beading on her body beneath her clothes. Good thing she didn't have a wall to wall mirror in her bedroom, because she didn't know how she'd react to seeing herself in such a position - on her knees behind Catherine, skirt around her waist, the toes of her high-heeled sandals digging into the place between the mattress and the bedframe to hold her balance. Not to mention her thrusting hips and bleeding mascara, and the marks on Catherine's back and hips. Her marks. Made by her own two hands, not one of her whips. She hadn't done that in years.

Catherine, for her part, graciously and eagerly took everything that Heather gave. She reveled in the painful scratches, knowing her skin would linger beneath the Lady's fingernails, and she would share the Lady's passion for days to come, in the form of ten red lines, raised and tender, across her back. Heather wasn't gentle with her dick, but she was with her hands (putting aside of course the assault with her fingernails). Soft, careful touches grazed Catherine's swollen clit, and she cried out loudly, tossing her head back and bucking first onto the dildo and then down against Heather's fingers. "Please, please," she begged, her heart racing, breath coming in rapid pants.

Heather was lost in the feel of Catherine's responsiveness. So much so that she almost gave in to the very lacking request. She stopped her fingers from pinching at the last second, and instead asked sharply, "excuse me?"

Catherine grunted her displeasure at Heather's response, attempting to force harder contact with her clit by bracing herself up on one hand and grabbing Heather's wrist with the other.

Heather froze, the trance completely broken, Catherine's disobedience settling over her with a bitter taste, and she freed her hand, withdrawing her dick from the CSI and tucking it back into her underwear as she stood from the bed and let her skirt fall back down to flow across her ankles. "No." The word echoed off the walls of her bedroom, sounding stark and clinical compared to the heated lovemaking they had just been engaged in.

Catherine froze as well, realizing what she'd done and why it was wrong in the span of the split second between Heather pulling away and Heather saying 'no'. She had just broken a very cardinal rule, she suspected, and she had no idea what the penance for such a thing would be in a world where spanking wasn't considered a punishment. She wanted to apologize, but it would seem trite, considering she'd already apologized for several other things this afternoon. She remained quiet and frozen on her hands and knees on the bed, until the Lady spoke again.

"Are you allergic to nylon or steel?"

The CSI shuddered. "No, Lady Heather." She heard a drawer opening and the rustle of fabric, but didn't dare turn her head to look toward the source of the sound.

"If you were performing a session as a Dominant, and your submissive sought to control you through force rather than the natural appeal of his or her submission, what would you do?"

"If he or she was new to the game, I'd cut them some slack," Catherine answered automatically, regretting the caustic reply as soon as she'd said it.

"Oh?" Heather asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked around in front of Catherine, stretching a crimson rope between her hands, then fondling it as if it were a lover. "Is that what you think I should do for you, Catherine? Cut you some slack because you're new to the game?"

Catherine thought before speaking this time. Yes, she would *like* the Lady to cut her some slack, but she didn't think the Lady *should*. "I'd be incredibly grateful if you would, Lady Heather," she finally answered without looking up at the woman. "But I understand that you shouldn't."

"On your knees, give me your left hand, palm up," Heather instructed before returning to the subject under discussion. "I should inform you, Catherine, that most of the men and women walking through my doors are not here to play a game. This is not a game to them. I play in my personal life for fun, but on the job, someone's going to get hurt if you don't see eye to eye." She took Catherine's extended hand, looping the nylon rope around her left wrist slowly, enjoying the contrast of crimson against pale ivory. "Other hand."

Catherine listened intently, offering her right hand when instructed, taking in what Lady Heather was saying even as she was quite distracted by the feel of the rope binding her wrist. Why wasn't she nervous about being tied up?

Heather looped the rope around Catherine's right wrist, then brought the two together and bound them securely, tying off the knot and wrapping the excess rope around her own hand, giving a sharp tug.

Catherine fell forward onto her stomach, her arms stretched above her head, reaching just slightly over the edge of the bed. "Struggle."

Did she hear that right? She was being told to struggle? Well, one way to find out. She pulled at the bindings, half-assedly a few times and then once, hard, but nothing gave way.

Heather chuckled, the sound coming from deep in her chest. "I should paddle your ass black and blue for even daring to touch me without permission during a scene."

Catherine couldn't see the look of amusement on Heather's face or, most importantly, in her eyes, and her voice gave away nothing to suggest that she might be joking. Tears sprung to Catherine's repentant blues, but she merely choked out the required response. "Yes, Lady Heather."

Heather didn't miss the body language, and a smirk tugged at her lips as she bent to one knee in front of Catherine, bringing her face close. "But... since you're new to the game, I suppose I should cut you some slack." She licked away the lone tear that had forced its way down the side of Catherine's face. "In the future, if I am ever Topping you again and have allowed you the free use of your hands, don't make me regret it."

"Yes, Lady Heather." Now Catherine could see the look in her eyes, and the butterflies in her stomach went from painful to excited. The Lady was so close... her lips were just a breath away. It would be so easy to kiss her...

"Don't," Heather whispered haltingly, her eyes dancing with danger. But she didn't move away. "Be close to me... look at my eyes, look at my lips, and resist temptation."

God, that was going to be hard. Catherine started to pull her head away, but a firm hand on the back of it stopped her.

"No. I don't want you to *remove* the temptation, Kitty Cat... I want you to *resist* it."

Catherine breathed in hard, her nostrils flaring as she exhaled through her nose. "I don't know if I can."

Heather smirked. "You can. Trust me. Now do it."

The trembling CSI moved her head back into place, struggling to keep her eyes open and stare at Lady Heather's lips. She had never wanted to kiss anyone so badly in her life, and being so close yet not being able to touch almost translated into a physical pain. But she did it. She desired, but she did not take.

Heather realized the dangerous waters she was treading, but the pull was too strong to resist. She watched Catherine closely, tempering her own breathing, and finally the push-back left those bright blue eyes and she could tell that her Kitty Cat understood. And at that moment, Heather kissed her.

Catherine understood the significance of the timing - she gave up complete control over something she wanted, willing to lie there all night long and never get it, just to please Lady Heather, and as soon as she did that, Heather's lips were on hers. She was smart enough to keep her tongue in her own mouth, and opened when Heather demanded it. The silky warmth of perfect crimson lips started a fire in her blood that raged through her, flames licking at every place within her, lighting up dark corners that she didn't know were there. The touch of Heather's tongue to hers was almost too much for her to handle, and she was glad her hands were bound so she didn't have to worry about doing something stupid with them.

Heather knew she shouldn't be kissing Catherine Willows. She knew she shouldn't allow Catherine to kiss her back. But she did. Both hands tangled in Catherine's hair, and she pulled away just long enough to murmur, "kiss me back, Catherine," before she closed her lips over the blonde's once more.

"Yes, Lady Heather," Catherine hummed against insistent lips, opening her mouth and sending her tongue out to tangle with the Lady's. They licked each other, inside Heather's mouth, until neither woman could breathe properly and they had to pull apart.

Heather rested her forehead on Catherine's cheek, collecting her thoughts before dropping a kiss to the warm skin and lifting her head to look at the bound, naked beauty. "I probably don't need to tell you this, but never, *ever* kiss a client, or allow a client to kiss you. Not under any circumstances. It's a very important rule. If a client ever attempts to kiss you, the session should be cut off immediately, as should the client's membership to my dominion." She paused then, grinning knowingly at Catherine and answering the question she knew the CSI would never initiate. "You're not a client."

Catherine licked her lips, savoring the taste of the kiss. "What am I?" she asked curiously.

Heather urged the blonde to roll onto her back, then climbed on top of her, sitting astride her hips. "You're someone I'm very attracted to, on sexual and intellectual levels," she began, "which is rare for me these days. You're not a client, you're not an employee, and as much as the thought is thrilling, you're not my little bitch." She paused to afford Catherine a broad, genuine grin. "I'd say you're my equal. If I weren't teaching you about dominance and submission, you'd never be under me. As it is, I hope I teach you well, because the first person I'm going to offer up on a platter when you're ready to play is myself."

That was a really nice thought, and Catherine tried to pull her hands free from the ropes, making Heather laugh.

"You'll never get out of those unless I free you," the dark-haired woman informed her willing captive.

"I know, but it gives me something to do other than stare at you, Lady Heather."

"Oh, Kitty Cat," Heather sighed, shaking her head with a grin. "Do you want out of the ropes?"

Catherine closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and exhaling through her nose. "No, Lady Heather."

That answer surprised the Lady, and her smile grew brighter. "Oh? What is it you do want, then?"

The CSI opened her eyes again, replying with a wry grin of her own as if the answer should have been obvious. "I want you to make me cum." And at the last second, she quickly added, "Lady Heather."

Heather threw her head back and laughed, thoroughly amused by the woman beneath her. "I should have known." She leaned down and nibbled Catherine's earlobe, whispering into her ear. "If you were a client, I'd exploit that desire and make you wait until you were sobbing and begging for it." She flicked her tongue inside the shell of the pale appendage, then withdrew and retreated until she could look into Catherine's eyes. "But you're a lover, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see you cum. I probably want to see it more than you want to do it." She snatched up the excess rope and tied it swiftly around one of the bedposts, effectively limiting the blonde's range of motion.

Catherine pulled, but her hands didn't go anywhere, and she groaned at that fact, spreading her legs without even thinking about it, affording Lady Heather a very enticing view.

Heather stared, and before she could stop herself, she gripped Catherine's thighs, digging her fingernails into the smooth, creamy flesh, and forced them further apart. "Keep them this wide," she purred. "Open for me. If your thighs get any closer together, they'll find out what the tail of my whip feels like."

The threat was terrifying and tempting all at once, but Catherine didn't want to disappoint the Lady again. She'd keep them spread wide no matter what Heather did to her. "Yes, Lady Heather," she answered in a hoarse, throaty voice.

Heather reveled in the quality of Catherine's voice, and again at the strangled cry and renewed struggles the blonde made when she dipped her head between those delicious thighs and kissed Catherine's throbbing clit.

"Oh God," Catherine gasped, throwing her head from side to side in an effort to relieve the tension in her belly. She knew, though, that the only release in sight wasn't going to come from her. Lady Heather was totally and completely in control of her body, her passion, her pleasure. She could do nothing to influence her own release. Lady Heather's tongue was wicked, teasing her to the brink and easing her back down, again and again, until tears leaked from her tightly closed eyes and she begged. "Please, Lady Heather," she choked out, her need so focused and intense that it encompassed her every conscious thought. She had never been denied an orgasm like this, and the pounding of her pulse was becoming painful.

Heather brought her to the edge and backed away again, and held Catherine's hips as the blonde struggled wildly, screaming her frustration, breaking down before the Lady's eyes. Sobs consumed the beautiful CSI, and when she finally gave up the fight, slumping back to the bed, her muscles slack, Heather spoke. "Good girl, Kitty Cat..."

Catherine couldn't answer. She was crying too hard, and was too angry and frustrated and confused to even know what to say if she could get words out.

Heather brought her hands up to stroke Catherine's quivering stomach. "I know you're angry with me," she whispered. "You're frustrated. You don't understand why I won't let you cum. I want you to trust me, Catherine. Let go of your need and enjoy the journey that *I* want to take you on." She kissed Catherine's belly button. "You've surrendered your body to me... I want you to surrender your will."

"I don't know how!"

"Stop wanting."

"I can't..."

"You're not even trying."

"I am trying, I can't just turn off my brain!" Catherine yelled indignantly, giving a fierce pull on the ropes. What the hell did Heather want from her? She was tied up for God's sake!

"Catherine," Heather warned calmly, though she felt anything but calm. "Do I need to untie you?"

The thought was so disappointing that Catherine didn't think she could take it. She didn't want to be untied and sent home in the middle of their scene. She shook her head, finally starting to understand what Heather expected. "No, Lady Heather... I'm sorry. Please, don't untie me. I'll stop."

"Good girl. Just enjoy each feeling for what it is, not where it's leading," Heather said in a quiet voice.

Catherine nodded mutely, a low hum starting in her throat as she felt Heather's head drop and that wicked tongue began licking her thighs. She focused on the smooth, wet sensations as Heather alternated thighs, licking her way up one, then the other, then back again. She watched how sensual and graceful the Lady's movements were. She thought about everything in the moment. Everything except her aching need, and soon it was subdued. It became background noise to everything else she was experiencing. She transcended the boundaries of her own will and fully surrendered herself to Lady Heather. It was hard, but it was fucking amazing.

The feel of the nylon rope around her wrists was magnified until she could sense every stitch and thread. They trapped her in some ways, and released her in so many others. The air in the room settled over her like a blanket, and while she breathed it, it breathed her. Each breath carried a different scent - first shampoo, then sweat, then arousal, then skin, lipstick, mascara, silk, satin, leather, until they all swirled around inside her head and made her dizzy.

Fingers moving into her and teeth on her clit blended to a rising crescendo in her belly. The pressure grew with each stroke, each scrape of ivory across swollen flesh until Catherine was screaming her release, arching off the bed, overwhelmed with the display of lights and colors crashing through her mind. The pulsing wave of pleasure rolled through her, pulling out every last drop of energy she had left and then anchoring her to the mattress, tears of intensity coursing down her cheeks.

The whole team was in the break room before shift the next night, munching on donuts and drinking coffee, reading magazines, watching tv, etc etc. Catherine swallowed a bite of donut and made a general announcement to the room at large. "I need a volunteer for something."

Everyone glanced at her, not too curious, figuring it was work related, then went back to what they were doing to wait for further clarification.

"I'm going to be entertaining at Lady Heather's a few hours a week, so I need someone to practice spanking."

Greg and Sara choked on their coffee, Warrick dropped the remote, Grissom crushed his fists around the edges of his magazine, and Nick just laughed. Then for some reason all eyes in the room fell on Sara.

"Why is everyone looking at me? It's not bad enough that I choked on my coffee and have to change clothes, now you think I should volunteer to let Catherine manhandle me to get ready for a job with some chick? Hell no, why not Greg?"

"Hey, I choked on my coffee too," Greg quickly pointed out, his face flushing red at the suggestion.

"Come on Sara, take one for the team," Nick piped up, grinning like an asshole.

"Fuck you," Sara said in that way of hers, pushing her chair back and standing up. "I'm going to change, you bunch of misogynistic pigs. I can't believe just because I'm a female, you all think I should offer my ass up."

Catherine was definitely amused. "I won't hit you that hard, Sidle," she promised, fighting down a smirk at Sara's outrage and discomfort.

"You won't hit me at all, Willows," Sara snapped back as she strode from the room, her cheeks glowing with anger and embarrassment. Who the hell did they think they were?

"Any of you want to take that?" Catherine asked, inclining her head toward the doorway after Sara.

"No, thank you," Grissom was the first to decline. He carefully folded his magazine and set it on the table. "I'll be in my office." And he left.

Everyone else shook their heads... even Greg.

"Come on guys, do you really think I'm the best person to go after her?" Catherine asked wearily, puffing out a breath of air as she stood and put her hands on her hips.

"No," Greg answered, "but none of us brought up the subject that pissed her off."

"Oh bullshit! She's pissed off because you all automatically looked at her to volunteer. Not because I brought up the subject."

"Well in that case, you're the perfect person to go after her," Nick said with another shit-eating grin.

"Grow some balls, would ya?" Catherine snorted, striding from the room and heading for the lockers to find a shirtless Sara cursing and rummaging through her stuff. "Hey," she said as she approached.

Sara turned on her, brown eyes blazing. "I don't have another shirt! Look what you did!"

Bright blue eyes blinked in surprise. "Relax, Jesus, you can borrow one of mine. What's got you so high-strung?" Catherine asked as she yanked open her own locker and pulled out a dark red sweater, handing it over to her colleague with a raised eyebrow.

Sara snatched the sweater and pulled it over her head in such haste that she put it on backwards, shoving her arms roughly into the sleeves anyway and pinning Catherine with an enraged glare. "Oh, let's all volunteer Sara to get her ass beat. Nevermind that it happened all the time before she was old enough to stop it!"

"Shit." Catherine rubbed a hand over her face and exhaled a slow breath. "I didn't even think about it."

"Of course you didn't," Sara said with quiet poison, closing her locker door. "Why would you?" She went to move past Catherine, but a gentle arm around her waist stopped her, Catherine's forearm pressing lightly into her belly.

"Sara."

Sara froze, tensed, all her senses on high alert. "What?"

Catherine slowed her breathing before speaking, leaving her arm where it was, blocking Sara's path away from her. "It could be a healing experience for you."

At that Sara laughed, a mirthless, bitter laugh that echoed off the walls of the locker room and hurt her own ears. "Get out of my way, Catherine."

"Getting a spanking isn't the same as having your ass beat," Catherine tried to explain.

"Get out of my way, or I'll hurt you without meaning to," Sara said tersely, feeling the panic starting to rise in her chest.

Catherine wisely dropped her arm to let Sara by, trying one last vocal appeal as she watched the brunette walk away. "It actually felt really nice!"

Sara just kept walking. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and everyone else as possible right now. Too bad she was wearing Catherine's sweater, and it smelled like her. Nothing like the scent of freesia in your nostrils to prevent you from feeling alone.

Catherine groaned, running her hands through her hair and taking a deep breath, then slammed her locker door and headed to the briefing room to get the day's assignments.

--

Greg and Sara got a DB in a warehouse, Warrick and Grissom got a strangulation at the Stardust, and Catherine worked with Nick on a breaking and entering at a private residence. About an hour before the end of shift, she was in her office going over paperwork when a very dirty and grimy Sara poked her head in the door.

"Fine."

And she popped back out. Catherine stood staring at the door, wondering if she'd just hallucinated that. She finally got up and went in search of Greg, finding him in the lab running a DNA sample. What a surprise. "Why is Sara covered in dirt and grease and you're perfectly clean?" was her first question upon noting Greg's pristine condition.

Sara was heading for the shower when she heard the question from the lab, and threw a comment in the door as she walked past. "Because he's a big fat baby."

Greg stood up from the microscope and yelled after her, "someone had to watch your back!"

Catherine couldn't help the snicker that escaped at Greg's pathetic attempt to defend himself. "One more question. Did--"

"Yep, I did," Greg said with a very Nick-like grin. Then his grin faltered at the look on Catherine's face. "Wait. You were gonna ask if I talked her into the spanking thing, right?"

Catherine's eyebrows shot up and she looked at Greg knowingly.

"Well, not talked her into it exactly. But we talked about it." Catherine was still looking at him. "All right! She yelled at me for a half hour and I had no influence on the decision whatsoever!"

"Did she say why she was going to do it?"

"No."

"What information do you actually have, Greg?"

"I'm really busy here Catherine. Work to do."

Another snicker and Catherine was out the door, heading back to her office to finish up the paperwork she'd started, a huge smile on her face. She had someone to practice on. And it was Sara Sidle.

--

At the end of shift, Catherine looked up to find Sara lingering in her office doorway, hands shoved into her jeans pockets, staring at her shoes. When she looked up to find Catherine watching her, she cleared her throat and spoke quickly.

"So, uh, how do we do this?"

Catherine grinned and grabbed her purse, standing up and shutting off her computer. "First I take you to breakfast, as a preliminary thank-you, then I planned on taking you to my house."

"I can't eat right now," Sara said, her eyes anywhere but on Catherine. "You'd better just take me to your house before I chicken out."

Catherine raised an eyebrow, slipping on her jacket and preceding Sara out of her office. "You? Chicken out of something? I think I'd faint. You're the most stubborn, hard-headed--"

Sara interrupted her. "Cath? Not making me want to go home with you..."

"Okay, okay, truce."

Neither woman said a word the entire drive to Catherine's house. Catherine finally broke the silence as she parked and shut off the engine.

"I meant what I said, you know. That this could be a healing experience for you."

Sara just shrugged and got out of the car, nudging the door closed with her hip and immediately shoving her hands back into her pockets. It was her safety net when she was nervous, rare though the times may be. She jumped when she felt human contact, and settled when she realized it was just Catherine putting a comforting hand on her back to guide her up the walk.

Five minutes later they were in Catherine's bedroom. Sara couldn't even take stock of her surroundings, let alone appreciate the fact that she was in Catherine Willows' bedroom, because her brain was focused on pacing the room to calm her shaking hands. Good thing they were in her pockets, so Catherine couldn't see.

Catherine sat on the bed and watched Sara pace for a few moments, fighting down a little smirk at seeing her usually unflappable colleague striding around like a nervous teenager. "Sara, come here," she finally said, and watched as Sara registered the words. She went from pacing to standing stock-still, her back straight as a rod, facing away from Catherine.

After what seemed like hours of indecision but was probably only five seconds, tops, Sara turned and walked to Catherine's side, staring at the wall behind the bed. "I don't know if I can do this," she confessed, her fingers digging into her thighs inside her pockets.

"I think you can. It won't hurt any more than you're comfortable with, and you can stop me at any time."

Sara didn't think she was comfortable with any amount of hurting, but she had agreed to this, and she had something to prove to herself. She gave a slow nod, unable to find words.

Catherine smiled reassuringly and patted her thighs. "Okay, boots off please and climb on up, lay across my lap and get as comfortable as you can."

Her eyes back to the floor, Sara sat down on the carpet and untied her boots, slipping them off and putting them by the closed bedroom door before returning to Catherine and awkwardly bending over her lap.

"All the way up," Catherine clarified, reaching down and lifting Sara's legs onto the bed. She grinned to herself, knowing what it was taking for Sara to keep herself here. She knew the fiery young woman wanted to bolt. "You feel real good right here, Sidle," she commented in a low voice, flexing her thigh muscles for emphasis.

Sara attempted to squirm right off Catherine's lap at that little announcement, but an arm around her waist gently held her in place. Not the kind of hold she couldn't escape... just the kind that reminded her where she was supposed to stay.

Once she had Sara steady, Catherine started to explain a couple things. "So. I have learned, that any good spanking starts with a warm-up, which is basically just a series of gentle taps that increase slowly."

"Right. Like boiling water."

"Stop being a scientist for ten minutes," Catherine scolded sarcastically.

"That leaves nothing else," Sara countered, though her tone was more wistful than scrappy.

"There's more to you than science, darlin, and we're gonna prove that right now," Catherine insisted, rubbing her palm over Sara's bottom and starting to lightly spank her over her jeans. "Now, everyone's technique is slightly different, and everyone's response is different, so I need you to tell me what you like and what you don't."

"Uh, okay... I don't like having to talk about what you're doing."

"Cheeky little girl," Catherine said with a laugh, continuing the gentle taps for a few silent moments before she reached underneath Sara and freed the button of her jeans, sliding down the zipper.

"Don't like that!" Sara piped up instantly, no longer having such a problem voicing her opinion about what Catherine was doing.

"Sara," Catherine said in her 'motherly' voice, starting to peel the jeans down over the brunette's hips, "stop deliberately misinterpreting my words." She lowered Sara's jeans to her knees, blinking at the sexy black thong her colleague was wearing. "Nice underwear."

"Catherine!" Sara growled, starting to push up onto her hands, but a firm swat to one bare cheek sent her back to the bed with a gasp. She felt the same on her other cheek, and her face flushed bright red at the thought of how she must look to Catherine right now.

"Your butt is gorgeous," Catherine nearly purred, squeezing both cheeks firmly before running her fingertips lightly over each one, drawing invisible circles across Sara's pale skin. When Sara didn't give a response, she had to remind herself that she had no right to expect one. Sara wasn't her client, or submissive, she was just doing this as a favor.

Sara tensed, a shiver running through her body when Catherine squeezed her ass. So far, this wasn't too bad. It was actually kind of nice, despite the fact that she was across Catherine's lap like a child, with her jeans around her knees. When the gentle taps started up again on her bare skin, she swallowed her embarrassment and whispered in a rush, "I like that, Cath."

Wow. Catherine was wholly unprepared for the rush of endorphins through her mind at those four simple words from Sara. She held back the whimper she wanted to make, instead purring at Sara and continuing the soft spanking. She resisted the urge to lean down and nibble the side of Sara's neck, which was so deliciously exposed to her by the way her colleague was laying - on her stomach, of course, with her head turned to the side, her left cheek pressed into the comforter. "Thank you Sara," she hummed appreciatively, resting her free hand on Sara's back.

"Uh, you're welcome," Sara replied, surprised at the thank-you and not knowing how else to respond.

After a few minutes of silence, except the quiet slapping sound of skin on skin, Catherine threw caution to the wind and just outright asked for permission to nibble on Sara's neck. "Sara, would you strenuously object to my lips on your neck while I spank you?"

Sara's jaw dropped, and she was glad she was facing away from Catherine. She knew she had one of those 'OH my GOD' looks on her face, in a rare moment of shock she wasn't able to keep hidden. "Uh, I don't know, really," she drawled, her voice sounding a little huskier than usual, which was saying something, since her voice was normally pretty husky. "Why don't you try it and find out?" Did she just say that? Science-geek Sara Sidle managed to pull out something that cool in the face of a potentially awkward moment? Right on.

"Oh yeah?" Catherine grinned, enjoying the challenge, and she leaned down to capture a mouthful of flesh, bathing it gently with her lips and tongue as she started to spank Sara a little harder.

Sara tensed at first, registering the harder hits, but Catherine's tongue sliding across her neck pulled her full attention, and she relaxed with a low moan. "Oh God, Cath... this is really inappropriate," she managed to protest slightly, though she moaned again and shut her eyes. Catherine was very skilled with her mouth. And her hand, actually... despite the mild sting that was starting up in her backside, she found herself enjoying the way Catherine spanked her. She hadn't expected to be affected on a sexual level, but the first stirrings of arousal were forming in her belly.

"I'd have to agree with you, but I think propriety went out the window as soon as you bent over my lap," Catherine snickered, tracing her tongue up and down Sara's top few vertebrae. "I'm gonna spank you harder now, Sidle, so if it's too much, just speak up, okay?"

Sara tensed again, her whole body going stiff, but Catherine eased her back down with gentle kisses along the top of her spine and the back of her neck. Once she relaxed her muscles, she was treated to a very firm, stinging slap to one of her cheeks. "Ow!" she yelped, intending to say it was too much, but the sting quickly spread into a warm glow, and she realized she wasn't panicking. It hurt, but not in the way she was familiar with. She settled back down and received another hard smack on the other cheek, and again she yelped, but this time it was without a definitive word, just a little noise.

Another, and another, and another, and after at least a dozen good smacks, the swirling emotions in the pit of Sara's stomach were starting to make themselves known between her legs. She squirmed, not wanting Catherine to realize where her body was taking her, especially not without the barrier of her jeans between her thighs and Catherine's pants.

Catherine was surprised that Sara was letting the harder slaps continue for so long, but she was thrilled. Sara was responsive and beautiful and vulnerable, and above all, trusting, which wasn't something the CSI was used to in her daily life. Not in her job, and not with her ex-husband, and lately not with Lindsey either. But Sara was trusting her, even though she knew that her colleague had been terrified to come here and do this. Her responsiveness was empowering, and Catherine was loving every second of it. And the way that gorgeous pale ass felt beneath her hands was indescribable. Especially now that it was glowing red and warm to the touch. And Sara had not asked her to stop, or slipped away - the squirming brunette was right there with her. "How you doin?" she asked gently, even as she kept up the swats.

"I'm, I'm good." Sara cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound less... exotic.

"Just 'good'?" Catherine asked knowingly, slowly winding down to soft taps again, then flattening her palm over Sara's warm, red bottom and rubbing back and forth across her cheeks. She wasn't stupid, she could feel the intermittent clenching of Sara's stomach muscles and smell the sweet, musky scent of her colleague's arousal.

"Yeah, you know, what else would I be?" Sara asked, her eyes going wide, once again glad she was facing away from Catherine. "It's, you know, it's good."

Well, if Sara didn't want to fess up, Catherine wasn't going to press her. She would confess her own excitement, however. "Well, Sidle, you did it. You survived a spanking. And I gotta tell you, it was more than 'good' for me, if you know what I mean."

"I'm not sure I do..."

"Oh no?" Oops... her rubbing hand slipped.

Sara gasped, fisting the comforter with both hands and squeezing her thighs together tightly. She couldn't even find the words to yell at Catherine, she was so embarrassed and turned on.

"That's what I mean," Catherine said wryly, pulling her hand away and taking hold of one of Sara's instead. She shifted her weight a little and guided Sara's hand between her thighs, closing her eyes at the feel of having Sara Sidle's hand between her legs, even covered by her own.

What was Catherine-- oh, shit. She was wet through her slacks. And really warm. Sara curled her fingers to rub them along the seam of Cat's pants. She couldn't help it.

"Oh my God," Catherine moaned uninhibitedly, tossing her head back and urging Sara to rub harder. She certainly hadn't expected that little movement, but damn if she was going to let the opportunity go by without encouraging a little more.

Sara felt the pressure on her fingers, and her breathing picked up speed. It had been a long time since she'd been with anyone. Eyelids fluttering, she pressed her fingers harder between Catherine's legs, stroking with a firmer motion.

Catherine couldn't believe that Sara was taking the prompt. "Yes," she hissed, pushing harder on Sara's fingers before letting go and using both arms to keep herself sitting upright. Please, please don't let Sara stop.

Sara was starting to lose herself in the feel of Catherine, but soon it wasn't enough. "Cath," she breathed. "Button and zipper." Wow. Was she really reduced to half-sentences so fast?

It took Catherine a minute to process the request in her desire-clouded mind, but as soon as it registered, her hands shot forward to work the button and yank down the zipper.

Sara's hand was immediately inside Catherine's pants, fingertips rubbing along the crotch of her soaked, silky panties. Both women groaned.

"Not enough, Cath," Sara panted lightly. "And this angle sucks."

"I kinda like this angle," Catherine said with a cheeky little grin.

"I'm gonna break my wrist like this," Sara complained. "And trust me, you'll like other angles better."

There was no way to deny that, no matter how sexy the brunette looked in her current position. "What did you have in mind?"

Sara breathed a sigh of relief and slowly pushed up onto her knees. She had gathered that Catherine was boss in this encounter, even though nothing had been expressly stated, and she was glad for the chance to set her own stage. She kicked her jeans the rest of the way off, then threw one leg over Catherine's and lowered to straddle the blonde's thighs, quickly returning her hand to the warmth between them.

Fingers expertly brushed Catherine's clit and slid lower, fingering her opening through her panties. "Ugh, Sara," she moaned, unable to remember anything ever feeling so good.

Hearing Catherine moan her name like that ripped away any shred of inhibition Sara had left, and she knew in that moment that she was going to fuck Catherine Willows.

Any unspoken roles and rules flew out the window as Sara took the lead, shoving Catherine's panties out of the way and pushing two fingers into her soft, slick heat. "Okay Catherine, I know I'm the one that got spanked, but you're the one who's gonna get fucked," she growled, letting Catherine know who was in charge now. "Any objections?"

Catherine threw her head back and let out the loudest moan she'd ever heard herself make when Sara's fingers plunged inside her, and then she couldn't help snorting with laughter at the question. Objections? Only if she was insane... "No objections at all, Sidle..."

"Good. Because for some reason, right now, all I wanna do is fuck you senseless."

Catherine's lips twitched and slowly pulled into a smirk. "That's because I spanked you *so* good."

"Hey, now, watch yourself, I may not be experienced with the spanking thing, but finger fucking is something I've got down to a science," Sara smirked back, curling her fingers just right and swiping her thumb across Catherine's clit.

Catherine groaned, both at the science correlation and the feelings erupting between her legs. "I'll give you that," she conceded, dropping her head back between her shoulders and closing her eyes. "How's your bottom feel, though?"

"Are you fishing for compliments, Cath?" Sara asked, grinning as she used her free hand to push Catherine all the way down onto her back. "It feels good. It feels really good. In fact, I can't feel the sting anymore, just a nice little glow. Say, after I'm done making you scream, you wanna try spanking me harder, so I'll have a little reminder of you when I sit down?"

"Hell yes," Catherine answered without hesitation. "You just might be kinkier than you thought you were, Sidle."

"Well, we'll see if I can take it, won't we?" Sara grinned, leaning over Catherine and letting her lips hover just a breath away as she pushed her fingers in deep and stroked the blonde beauty from the inside out.

"Ohhhhhh, yeah," Catherine encouraged, rocking her hips against Sara's hand. The pursing of her lips was enough to make contact with Sara's, and they kissed slowly, soft and gentle, everything else put on hold so they could explore each other's lips for the first time. Catherine could still feel Sara's motionless fingers inside her as she opened her mouth to accept the brunette's tongue.

==

"You know, I don't think you're gonna have a reminder when you sit unless I use a paddle. Sorry Sidle."

"Do you... *have* a paddle?"

Catherine stared down at the woman across her lap. "I have... a cutting board," she said slowly, trying to figure Sara out. Why did she want to be hit with a paddle after she'd been so angry about the prospect of a spanking in the first place? Angry and scared. Catherine wasn't sure if she should take a paddle to Sara's backside. There could be a trigger at any time, and she really wanted this to be a positive experience for the younger woman.

"But you don't want to use it." Sara was quite intuitive. She didn't miss much, and the tone of Catherine's voice alerted her to hesitation.

"I'm not sure," Catherine admitted, subconsciously reaching over to stroke Sara's hair, her protective instinct kicking in. "I really want you to look back on this experience with no regrets."

"I've never felt more empowered than I do right now," Sara confessed. "I like having control of my pain. It's something I've never had before. It feels so good when you spank me, Cat... I can't explain it. I never want to forget how it feels."

Catherine grinned. Deep down she was so relieved and grateful and proud to hear that, but for now she just grinned. And leaned over to whisper in Sara's ear. "I'll use the paddle... but for the record, you never have to forget how this feels, because you have an ass that I could spank forever."

Sara actually blushed.

"But before I head off to grab that cutting board, Miss Thang, there's something I wanna do first."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Catherine curled her fingers into the waistband of Sara's thong and began an agonizingly slow descent over her hips, lightly scraping her nails along Sara's flesh as she went. She felt the delicious shiver that ran through her colleague's body, and when she had the thong halfway down, she paused. "Now... I want you to climb off my lap, and bend over the bed, and don't touch anything until I get back, got that?"

"Cath, what am I gonna touch?" Sara asked sarcastically, climbing off of Catherine's lap and bending over the bed as instructed.

"Nothing. Didn't you hear me?"

"That's not what I--" she turned her head to see the twinkle in Catherine's eyes, and snorted. "Smart-ass."

"Now now, Sidle, pipe down," Catherine teased, giving her a wink before disappearing out the door.

"This is uncomfortable!" Sara yelled after her, but she was smiling. She couldn't remember the last time she'd smiled this much in one day.

"That's the point!" was the yelled reply, and Catherine returned to the room a few moments later. "Did you touch anything?" She set the cutting board on the bed.

"Oh yeah, didn't you hear me getting off?"

"I was gone for thirty seconds."

"I'm quick these days."

"Don't make me test your clit for epithelials."

Sara burst out laughing so hard and unexpectedly that she ended up choking. "It'll never hold up in court," she wheezed.

"Well I don't plan on going to trial. This is a matter I'll enjoy handling myself."

Sara was finally able to calm herself down after long moments, and she turned to look over her shoulder at Catherine. "So handle it already."

That made Catherine snicker, and she walked up behind Sara, squatting down and tugging Sara's panties the rest of the way off. "Step out of 'em, Snappy," she ordered, and when Sara did, she picked them up and put them in her pocket, standing as she did so. "You look really good like that."

"Some people say my ass is my best feature."

"I've heard the rumors, why do you think I took your pants off?"

"Hey, who spilled?" Sara was surprised at how comfortable she was with Catherine. Bent over with her ass on display was not an easy position, despite her confidence in the appeal of said ass. And, throwing back and forth with her was easy. They were naturals at it.

"Ecklie, Brass..."

"Do you want me to walk right out the door?"

Catherine grinned, stepping up closer to the brunette until her hips lightly touched Sara's backside. "Oh please," Catherine replied flippantly. "Your jeans are under the bed and your underwear's in my pocket."

"You're stealing my underwear?"

"Borrowing."

"Yeah, right."

"Okay stealing, yes. Is there a problem with that, Miss Sidle?"

Sara smirked into the comforter and wiggled around a little. "Guess not. My souvenir's physical, yours is tangible. Makes sense."

"It's not a souvenir," Catherine argued, clearly teasing by the tone in her voice. "It's for blackmail." At Sara's laugh, Catherine leaned over her, pressing her body lightly against her colleague's back. Sara's head was turned to the side, some hair falling over her face to obstruct Catherine's view. She reached up to gently tuck the locks behind Sara's ear, then kissed her cheek. "Sara... are you sure you want me to hit you hard enough to leave bruises?" she asked quietly.

"Bruises?" Sara wrinkled her nose adorably.

"Yeah... if you want to have trouble sitting, I have to give you bruises. Or welts, but we're not going there."

"Well, you'll stop if I say so, right? Just work me up slowly."

"None of my business I guess, but I gotta ask why," Catherine grinned.

Sara reached a hand up and over Catherine's head to run her fingers through the silky blonde hair. "I have my reasons."

Catherine purred into the touch and then stood up, grabbing the paddle. "Wait a minute. Did you bet with Greg?"

"What am I, Warrick?" Sara scoffed. "No I didn't bet with Greg. They're personal reasons, known only to me. Look, if you don't have it in you..."

"Watch yourself, Sidle." Catherine gave Sara's ass a good pinch and then laid the paddle against it. "You ready?"

Sara squeaked at the pinch, turning her head with amusement. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Catherine rubbed the wooden board back and forth a few times, then raised her arm and brought the paddle down swiftly across Sara's naked rear.

"Shit!" Sara jumped, sucking her lower lip between her teeth and biting down, a shiver running through her entire body at the flames suddenly licking her skin.

"You okay?" Catherine asked immediately, leaning over the brunette once more, smiling at the blush on Sara's face.

Sara nodded, flicking her eyes up to Catherine, whose face was about an inch from hers. Those bright blue eyes were sparkling so brilliantly... and she was pretty sure it was because of her. "You turned on?" she answered with a question.

"You have no idea," Catherine drawled, standing back up before she lost herself in those dark brown depths. "You?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" Catherine raised an eyebrow, resting the paddle on Sara's butt again, then lifted her arm and delivered a second, stinging blow just below the first. "Maybe?" Sara's second yelp was drowned out by the sound of the board cracking across her backside twice more in quick succession, and then Catherine's free hand was on the blazing skin, rubbing gently.

Sara yelled with each smack, shivering every time she felt the force of Catherine's hand through the extension of the paddle. "All right, all right," she muttered. "You win. More probable than 'maybe'. There's a 51 percent chance that I'm turned on."

"Oh man, I landed myself a smart-ass with you," Catherine breathed, rolling her eyes skyward. "I'll take the sarcasm as a request to hit you harder?"

"Oh come on, Catherine, you already knew I was a smart-ass. This is not news to either of us," Sara shot back. "If you want to hit me harder, go ahead." She paused for a second, and then added, "I'm really turned on, Cat."

Catherine smiled and replied softly, "I know."

"I didn't expect to be."

"I know that too."

"You were right, though. This is nothing like what happened to me growing up. It hurts, but... we're both in complete control of ourselves, and nobody's mad. You're giving me a chance to take back my power, a chance for *me* to decide who hurts me and how, and how much. I like the way you hit me. The harder the better. I want to feel it for days..."

"You will, baby doll," Catherine promised. "You just say 'yellow' if it starts to get too hard, okay?"

"I will."

Catherine started up again, with a rhythm this time. And man, did she love the way Sara pressed her hips into the bed with each stroke. And the noises Sara was making - oh God. Groans and whimpers and wordless cries. And the way Sara's ass was turning a brighter shade of red every time the paddle connected.

Sara closed her eyes, finding herself at ease with the rhythm Catherine had set. It made the blows predictable, expected - nothing sudden or jarring - so that she could settle in and focus on how it felt, not wonder when the next one was coming. Catherine was steadily hitting harder, and at a particularly forceful blow, Sara hissed in a breath through her teeth, then let it out slowly through her nose.

Wow. Sidle was tough. She herself had cried over Lady Heather's lap, and the Lady had only used her hand. Now here was Sara, taking a pretty hard paddling, and she wasn't even whining.

Sara could feel herself starting to bruise, and she held out for several more smacks after that before the pain started getting too intense. "Y-yellow," she finally said, and noticed the change instantly. The blows lost their edge, winding down slowly until Catherine's hands were on her ass, the paddle set aside. Soft, trembling hands rubbed her bottom, making her gasp at first and then purr.

"Think I did the trick?" Catherine asked quietly.

Sara took a minute to just breathe before attempting an answer. Her voice came out low and raspy when she did. "Yeah."

"I am so curious why you don't want to be able to sit," Catherine admitted, feathering her fingers across the inflamed skin beneath them.

"You're just gonna have to stay curious," Sara replied, loving the gentle rubbing. Her ass was throbbing, not to mention blazing with heat. She was impressed with herself for taking such a hard spanking, and she couldn't help grinning.

"I hate being curious. I like knowing." Catherine grinned too, then climbed up onto the bed and sat criss-cross next to Sara's head. "Come here, you."

Sara drew her knees up onto the bed and crawled over. "Yeah?"

"Well, I just wanted to hold you for a minute. It's called after-care."

"There's a name for that? It's not just called holding a person?"

"Yes, after-care." She pulled Sara into her lap, snickering at the pained hiss from her colleague, and wrapped her arms around the blushing woman. "Smart-ass."

"Again, we already know this about me," Sara smiled, showing off the adorable gap between her front teeth as she leaned her head on Catherine's shoulder and allowed herself to be held. Several minutes of comfortable silence passed between them and then she said, "thank you, Catherine."

"You're welcome." Pause. "Thank *you*, Sara. I wanted a volunteer just for some rote practice, but I got more than I bargained for."

"Oh yeah? What'd you get?"

"You call it."

"Okay, let's see... you got a stubborn CSI with a smart mouth and--"

"No," Catherine interrupted. "You just lost your chance to call it. My turn. I got an extremely responsive, compliant, respectful partner that gave me her trust and her body. I got a chance to not only practice my skill and technique, but to enjoy doing it and have a complete blast. Not to mention I got finger-fucked to almighty oblivion, and that certainly wasn't part of the deal. Oh, *and*, I got to spank the most gorgeous ass I've ever encountered. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not I get to fuck *you* to almighty oblivion."

Sara was touched, flattered, and even honored at Catherine's words. She didn't want to show it, though, at least not yet, so she smirked up at the blonde and replied sarcastically. "Oh I don't know, Cat. I'm in your lap, naked from the waist down, so that wouldn't make any sense."

Catherine shrugged. "Okay, if you say--"

"Catherine?"

"Yeah?"

"Fuck me."

"Okay." Catherine didn't have a problem with that. "Pick your poison, tongue or fingers."

"Fingers," Sara answered without hesitation. "You'd go down on me, Cath?"

"Don't know a single person that wouldn't," Catherine said, raising an eyebrow and sliding Sara off her lap and onto her back on the bed. "Why do you sound surprised?"

"I don't know, I just-- it's not something I'd expect the first time I sleep with someone, that's all."

"Sure you don't want to change your mind?" Catherine asked, gently pushing Sara's legs apart and laying herself in between them.

"No!" Sara said quickly. "I'd die if you didn't like it," she explained with a blush.

"Didn't like it? Are you kidding me?" Catherine drawled, dropping her head between Sara's legs and inhaling a deep breath through her nose, a moan escaping her slightly parted lips.

"So, are you saying, like, that you *want* to go down on me?" Sara asked, looking anywhere but at Catherine.

Catherine's lips hovered a breath away from Sara's heat, and she groaned, closing her eyes. "Oh yeah, Sidle. Give me the go ahead and I'm all over it."

"That's really not sexy, Cath," Sara complained, pulling a face at Catherine's wording.

"Do you want sexy, or sex?" Catherine countered, blowing a cool breath between Sara's legs.

Sara shivered, the sensation running through her entire body before she settled back down. "If you really want to, I guess it's okay, I mean, it's not like *I'm* against it, I'm just afraid *you* won't li--" She was cut off mid-sentence by lips closing softly around her clit. "Oh fuck."

"Oh fuck." Catherine said the same thing when she tasted Sara inside her mouth. "Oh God. Sara, you're delicious." She sucked the brunette's clit between her lips and flicked it rapidly with her tongue.

Sara's eyes rolled back, her lids fluttering as rapidly as Catherine's tongue. "Catherine," she growled, forcing herself to look at the blonde between her legs. "I don't want to cum as soon as you start licking me, Jesus. There will be no rumors going around about my stamina, thank you very much. Ease off a little!"

Catherine's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's like asking a lion to use a Goddamned fork and knife to eat his steak, Sidle."

"You just compared my pussy to a steak."

"The analogy was valid."

"You just compared my pussy to a steak," Sara repeated, in that 'I can't believe this is happening' way of hers.

"Give me thirty seconds and you won't even remember your own name, let alone what I just said."

"A fucking steak. I'm a vegetarian. I can't believe you fucking said that, Cath. The countdown begins now," Sara drolled, clearly having no faith in Catherine's cocky promise.

The first thing Catherine did after that was bite Sara hard on the inner thigh - hard enough to leave an instantaneous mark and an impression of her teeth. Hearing Sara cry out, she grinned and licked the pulsing wound, bathing it back to pleasure.

Well, Sara did forget her name in that moment, as she was too busy cursing the pain in her thigh and resisting the urge to yank out a handful of Catherine's hair. But then Catherine's hot, wet tongue was pushing inside her, and the sheer visceral pleasure made her forget much more than her name. She put a hand on the back of Catherine's head, urging her to make firmer contact, and when Cat did, she curled her fingers into blonde hair and squeezed.

Nick was the first to notice Sara's difficulty sitting, even though technically it should have been Greg, since he already knew she'd agreed to let Catherine go at her.

"What the hell's the matter with you, Sara?" Nick finally asked when he'd had enough of her squirming in her chair.

That brought things to Greg's attention, and his lips split into a wide grin, but he said nothing. It was one thing to know, it was another thing to tell, and he wanted to remain living thank you very much.

Catherine, however, had no such qualms. "What, you forgot yesterday's conversation already, Nicky? Some investigator you are."

Nick's jaw dropped. "You spanked her? She said yes?"

"Hello, I'm right here, can I not answer questions for myself?" Sara piped up, waving a hand first in Catherine's face, then Nick's. "Yes, I said yes. You should try it, it's quite amazing."

"Yeah no thanks," Nick said, looking slightly disgusted.

"Square," Sara coughed under her breath, just as Catherine muttered 'pussy' under hers.

"Call me what you want, you're not getting your hands on this prime piece of ass," Nick said, shaking his head and snatching the newspaper right out of Sara's hands.

Sara watched the newspaper go with a scandalized look on her face. "I was reading that."

Nick snorted and turned the page. "Yeah, right. You were too busy dancing in your seat there to be reading anything."

Sara snatched the paper back and ripped it in half. "For your information, I was reading it, and even if I wasn't, you'd have no right to grab it from me," she snapped.

Catherine and Warrick could sense a storm brewing, and they both stepped in. "Nick, man, what's the deal?" Warrick asked, as Catherine laid a hand on Sara's shoulder.

"Hey gorgeous... my office?"

Sara turned and frowned at her. "You don't have an office, Catherine."

"I use the little girls' room. Come on."

Sara managed a smirk as she followed Catherine into the bathroom. "Nice office."

Catherine grinned and locked the door, then twirled a finger at Sara to indicate she should turn around. "Let's see the damage."

"You're not serious, you want me to drop my pants at work?" Sara asked, both eyebrows shooting up.

"The janitorial service works days. Nobody else has a key to my office. Now drop 'em, Sidle."

Sara actually laughed, and after another few seconds of indecision, she turned around and lowered her pants and underwear. Catherine's wolf-whistle made her blush.

"Hot damn, girl."

"Yeah, I know. I looked in the mirror before I left the house." The lower half of her ass had been almost entirely black and blue at that time, and she wouldn't imagine it looked any different now. That had been just a few hours ago.

"All right, I won't torture you by touching it."

"Gee thanks." Sara rolled her eyes as she pulled up her pants and underwear. She turned around to face Catherine, buttoning and zipping the jeans, then a frown creased her brows again. "What do you think Nick's problem is?"

"Who knows," Catherine shrugged, shaking her head. "Could be jealous. Could be closed-minded. Could be protective of you. There's a ton of could be's. Just shake it off and hope Grissom doesn't partner you up."

--

Sara got paired up with Warrick, and Catherine with Nick. The blonde didn't mind... she'd get the truth out of him one way or another.

"DB in the middle of the desert, no fluids," Nick announced when they finished glossing over the body, wiping sweat from his brow caused by the early morning sun. They'd only been outside for five minutes, but that was long enough to start sweating. Everything was dry as a bone out there, including the body. He looked at Phillips. "Preliminary COD?"

Phillips shook his head. "Nope, have to get him back to the morgue. I see no open wounds, and like you said, no fluids. No blood means no obvious COD until I do the autopsy."

Catherine nodded, slowly standing up and wiping her brow with the back of her wrist. "No bugs, no animals... can't have been out here long. No footprints, no tire treads, nothing. What the hell happened? And what do you think he might be hunched over?"

"It looks like he's trying to hide something, don't you think?" Nick asked, pointing at the vic's body positioning.

"Only one way to find out," Catherine grinned. "Take him away, David. Let's see what lies beneath."

As the body was moved onto a gurney, both Catherine and Nick stared in disbelief at what was revealed - a hole in the ground. They both had their flashlights shining down it in under two seconds.

"A ladder," Catherine observed. "You wanna go first, or should I?"

"Be my guest. I'll cover you."

"All righty then," Catherine said, taking a deep breath and putting her flashlight in her pocket. She carefully climbed onto the ladder and started descending down the shaft, the way lit by Nick's flashlight. "It's pretty far down here, Nick," she called back up. "I can't even see the floor yet! But I can hear music coming from below!"

"Music?" Nick called back. "What kind of music?"

"Something with a mean bass beat!"

"Dance music? Are you serious? All right hang on, wait for me, I'll catch up and we'll go down together!"

"Call Grissom for backup first, would ya? Just in case," Catherine yelled, then waited until Nick was right above her before she continued to climb down. "Great, now we have no light."

"Hang on, testy, I got it," Nick said, taking his light back out of his pocket and shining it down into Catherine's eyes.

"Hey, watch it," Catherine tossed back, averting her eyes from the bright beam and making her way further down.

When they finally reached the end of the ladder, it was a short jump to the floor, and they hit it one after another, the soft thump of their boots echoing throughout the large underground room. "That must've been a quarter mile," Nick guessed, looking back up through the hole. He looked back down when he heard Catherine's gasp.

The blonde was shining her flashlight around in amazement. Pictures on the walls. Furniture. A bar. A lot of empty and half-empty glasses, some still with ice. "What in the hell," Catherine breathed.

"Holy shit," Nick echoed her sentiment, shining his light around as well. "We gotta wait for backup. This is weird."

"I have a feeling we're gonna need everybody on this. Look at the amount of abandoned drinks in here. And the size of this room? Who knows how many people we're gonna find wherever that music's coming from."

"Well, Gris should be here any minute, let's climb back up and wait for him, then tackle this thing together."

"Yep."

It was easy to get back on the ladder and climb up, much easier than climbing down without knowing where you were going to end up.

"Maybe we should've stayed down there. It's cooler down there," Nick complained, taking a seat in the dirt.

Catherine sat next to him and nudged him with her elbow. "Baby." She looked sideways and caught his grin. After a brief pause, she ventured into the topic of earlier that morning. "So what was your issue with Sara?"

"Nothin, man," Nick said defensively, his smile vanishing as soon as she started the question.

"From where I'm sitting it wasn't nothing, and you're sitting right next to me Nick. What's up?"

"All right, fine. I don't like that Lady Heather woman, and I don't like that you're gonna work at her place. Further, I don't like that you dragged Sara into it, either."

"Excuse me, but weren't you the one I heard saying 'take one for the team, Sara'?"

"Catherine, I was joking. I thought you were too."

"Well I wasn't. Next issue, you don't even know Lady Heather. What's not to like?"

"Oh come on, Catherine. She makes money off of other people's pain. It should be illegal."

"Why? Because you don't agree with it?"

"Well yeah!" Nick yelled frustratedly, then ran his hands through his short hair and sighed. "No. Because it's wrong."

"It's wrong according to... you," Catherine pointed out. "My opinion, Sara's opinion, Lady Heather's clients' opinions, none of those matter? Just yours?"

"You're twisting my words," Nick shook his head.

"No I'm not, but I wish I was," Catherine said with a sad smile. "I had no idea you were so judgmental, Nicky."

"I'm not judgmental, a woman died working for her for God's sake Cat!"

Understanding dawned on Catherine, and her irritation deflated. She looked at Nick for a long moment before finishing his unfinished thought. "And you don't want me to be next."

Nick didn't say anything, he just folded his hands on his knees and stared off into the horizon. Anything he might have said after that was interrupted by the arrival of Grissom, Warrick and Sara.

"You owe her an apology."

Nick sighed again and stood up. "Yeah. I know."

"Sara, Warrick, Nick, you three down first. Catherine and I will follow in a minute."

Catherine raised an eyebrow, walking over to Grissom as the other three descended the ladder. Once they were all out of sight, Gil turned to Catherine with a worried frown on his face.

"What's up, boss?"

"I think Sara might be on drugs."

"What?" Nothing could have been further from what she might possibly have expected Gil to say at that moment. She did that little 'what the fuck?' head shake and squinted her eyes at him. "Why?"

"I've never known Sara to be restless, at least not physically, and never on a case. But she would *not* sit still the entire ride out here."

There was a split-second void before Catherine burst out laughing, patting Gil on the shoulder. "She's not on drugs, Gil. Don't worry." And with that, she disappeared down the ladder shaft.

"What does that mean?" Grissom asked himself after Catherine was gone and he was standing alone in the middle of the desert. He took a moment to attempt a decryption, but gave up quickly and followed his CSIs down the hole.

Several minutes later, the five of them were standing in the cavernous underground chamber that Nick and Catherine had discovered a half-hour earlier. The beat of the music had changed, but not the type.

"So, in this situation, do we need a warrant?" Sara asked after everyone had been standing around staring for a short while.

"We don't even know if there's a crime yet," Grissom answered, pulling on a pair of gloves. "Glove up anyway and have a look around. Don't touch anything."

The other four put gloves on, and they split up, looking around the room. "Hey Gris? Look at these glasses... what does that look like?" Sara called, pointing to a thick, dark red liquid staining one of the glasses. As she looked around, she noticed it on every single glass in the room. "Uh, guys?"

Everyone else looked where Sara had been looking, and then they all looked at each other.

"What the hell did you stumble on here?" Sara finally asked Nick and Catherine, shining her flashlight directly into a pool of the viscous fluid. She leaned down and took a tentative inhale, then made a face and stood back up. "It's blood."

"Are you sure?" Grissom asked in that way of his.

"No, wait, let me see... it's lemonade," Sara replied sarcastically. "Of course I'm sure. Smell it."

"No, thank you."

Catherine moved up behind Sara and subtly pinched her ass as she leaned down to take a whiff of the 'drink'.

Sara shrieked, her hands flying to her ass to rub it gingerly. "Ow, Cat! What the hell?"

Catherine grinned and stood back up, nodding an affirmative to Sara's preliminary findings. "Yep. It's blood. Mixed with something, but definitely blood."

Nick narrowed his eyes at the women briefly, then his expression changed to curious calculation. "Why would there be dozens of glasses half-full of blood in an underground room in the middle of the desert?"

Catherine continued the thought. "A quarter mile beneath a dead guy with no visible signs of blood loss."

"Yeah, what are we looking at here?" Warrick jumped in.

"There's something in there," Catherine spoke up, having squatted down to be eye-level with Sara's glass. "Come on, Gil... let me touch."

"No."

"Too bad." She already had her tweezers out and proceeded to extract some kind of bug from the glass. "It's a bug."

"Put that back!" Grissom freaked out slightly.

Catherine snickered as she dropped the bug back into the glass and cleaned off her tweezers, tucking them away.

"Lipstick on some of the glasses suggests that people are drinking the bug blood," Sara pointed out, tilting her head to the side in contemplation.

"Oh come on," Nick snorted.

"What?" Sara asked defensively. "Look at the trace on that glass. It dripped toward the lipstick mark when it was tilted up, then dripped back down when it was put on the table."

"Whatever, they're not drinking the blood," Nick insisted.

Sara had finally had enough, and she blew a fuse. "Jesus, Nick, what's wrong with you? You can't see beyond your own narrow interpretation of reality? Just because you don't do it, then it can't be done?"

"Listen, Spanky, just because I--"

Grissom interrupted. "Spanky?" Flashback to Sara in the car. Flashback to the conversation before shift the previous night. Flash forward to the present, and understanding hit him full in the face, leaving him slack-jawed.

"Hey," Catherine snapped. "Potential crime scene. Save it for later. Get your guns out, and let's go crash a party."

"Don't mention the bug," Grissom warned. "We don't want anyone to know you already touched." He gave Catherine a *look*.

"What are you gonna do, Gil, spank me?" Catherine threw over her shoulder with a grin, winking at him before cocking her weapon and heading toward the music.

"Would it surprise you to know that I spanked Lady Heather?" Grissom countered in that infuriatingly casual tone of his.

Catherine tripped and went crashing into Warrick, who in turn stumbled into Nick and Sara, who were heading up the group.

"Hey, easy on the ass!" Sara complained loudly, turning sideways to keep her bruises out of harm's way.

"Would you stop talking about your ass?" Nick asked frustratedly. "You're making me tempted to kick it."

"Fuck you, square boy," Sara shot back. "You don't have the balls."

"Would you keep moving?" Warrick prodded them both after steadying Catherine and glancing suspiciously at the lack of obstructions on the floor behind him. What the hell had she tripped over?

Sara and Nick were still in the front, and their argument escalated to the point that they didn't even realize they'd stepped out of the maze of hallways and into the room that had been playing the music... until they realized that the music had stopped and it was eerily silent apart from their bickering. They both stopped yelling and stared at the sea of faces staring back at them.

Sara spoke first. "Uh, hi."

A voice rung out from the middle of the crowd. "Who are you?"

"Yeah, I think the more important question is who are *you*, and what are you all doing down here?" Sara replied.

"I asked first," the voice persisted.

It was at that moment Sara noticed all the insect specimens adorning the walls and ceiling. Apparently Gil noticed it too, because he stepped up beside her, looking around in awe. "We're from the Las Vegas crime lab. Your doorman had a problem," he informed the group at large.

"What sort of problem?"

"Death."

"Excuse me?" Now the voice was closer, and a man emerged from the crowd, concern creasing his brows. "There must be some mistake."

"No, there's no mistake. How do you think we got in?" Gil asked.

"You killed Jimmy?" the man asked, clearly alarmed, especially when his eyes fell on the gun in Catherine's hands. "Look, we're peaceful people, take what you want..."

"What?" Gil asked, and it was the closest to shocked that any of his team had ever seen him. "You think we... no, I said we're from the crime lab. We were called out to a dead body who happened to be your doorman. We didn't kill anybody."

Catherine couldn't hide her amused smirk as she safetied and sheathed her weapon. "We're not here to rob ya. We might arrest you though, depending on what we find. Now who are all you people?"

"We're an entomological society," the fearful man identified his group.

Grissom looked as though he'd been slapped. "Why don't I know about this?"

Sara bit her lip in an attempt to fight down her grin. "Guess you're a geek even in the bug world, Gris."

Grissom was not amused, and he slowly turned his eyes on her. "Shut up, Spanky."

Sara didn't think her mouth could fall open any further than it did at that moment. She just stared at him as he moved away to talk to the society man in private.

"Well, he told you," Catherine drawled as she walked past, throwing a dazzling smile Sara's way.

Sara just stood there, until a sleek, well-dressed woman approached her and laid a hand on her arm. "He doesn't normally say things like that, does he?" she inquired in a far too intimate tone.

Far too intimate for Catherine's liking, anyway, and she buzzed over to the pair, sliding an arm around Sara's waist and raising an eyebrow at the society woman. "Hands off, lady."

The woman raised an eyebrow back. "I don't see any marks."

Catherine tugged Sara closer, giving a soft snort in response. "The marks are all over her ass. Now get lost."

"Why don't you let her speak for herself?" the woman bristled, obviously not liking Catherine's response.

Sara stuttered, caught completely off-guard by the whole situation and having no idea what to say. "I, I-I-I, it's, I..."

Catherine smirked, kissing Sara's blushing cheek and turning to the society woman with a twinkle in her eyes. "Don't make me get physical. You'll lose."

"What makes you think that?"

"I have a gun."

"Point taken. Bitch," she sneered, giving Sara a parting once-over before she finally walked away.

Sara turned to Catherine. "That was *so* embarrassing."

Catherine's grin couldn't get any wider. "I know. You're really cute when you stutter. And that blush is to die for. Think they have a bathroom in here?"

"For what?"

"What do you mean for what? What do you think?" Catherine asked with a laugh.

"You want to look for trace evidence."

"Uh, no."

"You... need to pee."

"No. Are you playing dumb, Sidle?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not gonna have sex with you on the clock, Cat."

Catherine was saved from having to decide whether or not to protest, because Gil's phone rang, and all four CSIs headed over to the boss.

"Grissom."

They watched as he got information from whoever was on the line.

"Okay, thanks Doc." Gil hung up and looked at his team. "Tox screen negative, COD cirrhosis. No foul play."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "So these guys are off the hook? What about the--"

Gil interrupted her loudly. "YES, Catherine. They're off the hook." He gave her another *look*.

"Well, I want to look around. It's a little suspicious to have a secret entomological society underground in the middle of the desert," Catherine said flippantly. "Did you get permission from the other bug man?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," Gil said with a nod.

"Great. I'll start with the other room," Catherine grinned triumphantly. She fully intended to nail someone for drinking bug blood. If she could find a way to make that illegal.

"No you won't," Grissom said with a smile that was meant to be placating, but just pissed Catherine off. "I didn't say *you* had permission to look around, I said *I* have permission."

Catherine looked at him as if he were off his nut. "Are you serious?"

"No, go ahead," he chuckled, finding himself incredibly amusing.

Catherine just stared at him for a good thirty seconds and then shook her head, walking back to the hallway, and then into the first room again. She swabbed each glass's rim, took a sample of the contents of each glass, and bagged the bugs from each glass. There was nothing else of interest in the room, at least not until she got the current samples to the lab and got results.

Upon returning to the dance room, or whatever the hell you want to call it, Catherine was rather surprised to see Sara chatting with flirty lady. She really didn't like that woman... something about her gave Catherine the creeps, and it was this creepy feeling that caused her to pull her gun as she walked over to break it up a second time. "Beat it," she barked, and the lady immediately put her hands up and started to back away. "Come near her again and I'll shoot your tits off, you get me?"

Nick, Grissom, and Warrick stopped what they were doing and stared, open-mouthed, at Catherine. Sara couldn't remember ever blushing so hard. Seriously. Ever.

The woman nodded, clearly believing Catherine's threat, and when she was far enough away, Catherine holstered her gun and grabbed Sara by the arm. "You. Come with me. I found a bathroom off the main room up front."

Sara allowed herself to be dragged through the hallway and into the front room, mostly because she was still trying to decide whether she liked the way Catherine was behaving. She decided she did. No one had ever wanted her enough to threaten someone with a gun, and Catherine's actions were stirring a familiar sensation deep in her stomach.

Catherine pulled Sara into the bathroom and locked the deadbolt behind them. "I thought I was pretty clear on how I felt about that woman."

"Yeah, and?"

"Smart-ass again, are we?" Catherine shook her head. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and her hands went to the button of Sara's jeans.

"You can't really be planning to spank me for this," Sara protested as she moved her hands out of the way, letting Catherine undo her pants.

"Why not, Sidle?"

"Because my ass is covered in bruises and I already can't sit. Gil thinks I'm on drugs."

That got a snort of laughter from Catherine as she pushed Sara's jeans over her hips and down to her knees. "Bend over the sink and hold on," she cautioned. "I'm not aiming for your ass."

"What the hell are you aiming for then?" Sara asked, even as she moved to the sink and bent over, grabbing onto the edges.

"Your thighs." SMACK!

"Ow!" Sara shot upright in surprise, turning around to pout at Catherine. "You just want a reason to hit me. I didn't do anything."

Catherine bit her lip to stifle a chuckle, looking away from Sara's adorable expression. "Get back over there, Sidle..."

"Catherine, look at my face. This is me trying to charm you, and it might never happen again, so you probably shouldn't look away."

"I'll look at you when you're bent over the sink, little miss."

"So unfair," Sara muttered to herself as she turned back around and bent over the sink again, continuing to grumble until Catherine smacked her other thigh. She stopped complaining and bit back a moan. It stung. She could feel the transfer of Catherine's skin to hers each time her palm connected. She gripped the sink tighter with each blow, her eyes rolled back a little, her head dropped forward between her shoulders, the tips of her hair brushing the basin of the sink.

When she opened her eyes, she blinked. "Catherine, hand me a swab."

Catherine pulled a swab from her vest and handed it over, then smacked Sara's bottom once for good measure before returning the welcome assault to her thighs. She didn't care what the brunette wanted it for, and handing it over quickly would mean less interruption to her spanking.

Sara groaned in pain at the swat to her ass, jamming the swab into the drain. But Catherine quickly went back to spanking her thighs, and that was delicious. She loved having Catherine on her in any form. She swabbed the drain amidst a few more smacks and moans, then capped the lid and handed it back to the blonde.

"What is it?" Catherine asked, tucking it back in her pocket and raking her fingernails lightly over Sara's panties, delighting in the bent-over woman's shiver.

"Blood."

"I hope you didn't drool in there," Catherine offered, sliding her palms back and forth over Sara's bright red thighs.

"I don't drool, okay? My hair touched the basin, but not near the drain." She enjoyed the soothing sensation that the rubbing provided, and let her eyelids flutter closed. When Catherine finally stopped rubbing and pulled her pants up, she turned around. "I got a question for you, Cat."

"Shoot," Catherine consented as she did up Sara's zipper and popped the button back through the buttonhole.

"Thanks," Sara nodded to her pants, then placed her hands on the sink behind her and leaned back against it. "So, you learned all this stuff from Lady Heather, right? You said she spanked you? Well, you said it felt really good to get spanked, you didn't say it was her, but that's not the point."

Catherine regarded Sara for a moment and then nodded. "That's right."

"Can I ask like, what else you guys did?"

One corner of Catherine's mouth tried to twitch into a smirk. "You can ask, I might not answer."

Sara thought she *had* just asked, but she picked her battles and this wasn't one of them, so she asked again. "What else did you guys do? I just, I'm interested in your whole experience, what it felt like for you."

Sometimes Sara was too cute for her own good, and the way she was looking at Catherine just then was one of those times. Her nose scrunched up like it always was when she asked a question she was hesitant about asking. The blonde smiled, lifting a hand to Sara's face and stroking her cheek as she leaned in to give her a kiss. "Well, first she spanked me, and I gotta hand it to you Sidle, you take much more than I could." The look of proud surprise on Sara's face was precious, and Catherine kissed her again.

"I do?"

"Yeah, you do." She waited a minute, then continued with the story. "She told me I did good, and made me get on my hands and knees on the bed so she could use her dick. I fucked that up by trying to take control, so she tied me up and teased me til I cried and begged. But when she finally made me cum? It was. Fucking. Amazing."

Sara stared at her hands, blushing hotly at the image Catherine's words created in her mind, unable to look at her colleague while she fished for more information. "She, she made you cry, and beg? Like, how, exactly?"

Catherine's lips split into a wide grin. "You want to know what I said?"

"Well, you know, mayb-- yes, I do."

Catherine's grin turned wicked. "Well... she pushed my thighs apart and promised to whip me if I didn't keep them spread, and then she licked me. And I said, 'please, Lady Heather', but she teased me, Sara. She teased me until I screamed." She adopted a low, lilting voice to portray Lady Heather's part of the conversation. "Catherine, do I need to untie you?" Then she imitated her own breathy tone. "No, Lady Heather. Please, don't untie me. I'll stop."

Sara's breathing was far from normal, imagining the scene playing out in her head. Talk about teasing... Catherine's voice dynamics felt like a physical caress. "You uh... you were bad, Cat?" she finally asked, a twinkle in those dark chocolate eyes as she looked up at Catherine.

Catherine nodded, her tongue poking out from between her teeth. "I was." A beat, then, "don't get any ideas. You're in enough trouble already."

"I didn't do anything," Sara argued, pushing off of the sink to stand up straight. "I maintain my innocence in this matter. You have no proof that I even said a word to miss high and flirty."

Catherine stared at her, looking right through her, and then smirked. "The proof is in your eyes. You talked to her."

Sara showed off her gap-toothed smile. "You'll never know."

Catherine grabbed her by a handful of hair and kissed her, hard. No spot inside of Sara's mouth went untouched by her tongue. When she pulled back, they were both breathing heavy, and Sara's eyes were starting to glaze over with desire. "Yes I will. You'll tell me."

"Jesus, Catherine. I just said hi, that's all. You already punished me."

"I spanked you, I didn't punish you. It's hardly a punishment if you enjoy it so much you soak your panties."

"Oh my God. Shut up."

Catherine cackled gleefully, capturing Sara's lips again as the door opened to reveal Gil with a cocked eyebrow.

Sara stuttered, turning bright red for the hundredth time that day, staring at Gil. "No. We locked the door," she shook her head.

Gil grinned, lifting his hand to reveal a set of keys dangling from one finger.

Catherine cleared her throat and smoothed her hands over the front of her slacks. "We got a swab. Blood in the sink."

"That sink? The one Sara was just bent over?"

"How did you know I was bent over it?"

"You just told me."

"Fucker!" Sara cursed under her breath, glaring at Catherine.

"Yeah, that sink," Catherine drawled.

"No," Gil stated simply. "Don't even run it."

"What? It's a good swab, Sara was not *in* the sink, Gil."

"You don't want to chance it," Gil insisted.

"If it comes back a match to Sara, we'll throw it out. But it won't."

"Catherine, I said no."

Catherine was about to get pissed, but Sara tilted her head to the side and approached Gil slowly. "What do you know that you're not telling, Bug Man?"

"Yeah," Catherine now added suspiciously. "You got a date with the head of the cult?"

"No, Catherine," Gil said calmly, that infuriating smile still plastered on his face. "I'm not quite as gay as you apparently are." And he left the bathroom, leaving the two women staring after him, wondering if they really ever knew him at all. Then they both laughed.

As their laughter faded, Sara suddenly got shy and found a spot on the floor to analyze with her eyes. "So, I don't want to ride back with Grissom."

"Ohhh, I see baby, are you trying to say you want to ride back with me?"

Baby? Sara's head shot up, her brown eyes wide, searching Catherine's face for any clues that might tell her where that term of endearment had come from, and whether or not Catherine regretted it now that she'd said it. But there was only a coy smirk and twinkling eyes, which gave away nothing. "Uhhh, I think I hear Greg calling me."

"Greg's not here."

"Damn." Now what the hell was she supposed to say? "You know, if you don't see me safely back to the lab, there's always the possibility that some bug lady could find me and start flirting," she slowly said, letting her words trail off at the end.

Catherine fought it but the rumbling laugh escaped anyway. "Go get in the fucking car."

"I'm not going in there," Sara stated flatly, shaking her head and gripping her seatbelt as if she were afraid of Catherine physically dragging her from the car.

Catherine shrugged and handed over the keys. "Okay. You can take the car back and I'll ask Lady Heather to loan me a sub."

Sara snapped her eyes to Catherine. "Did I say I wasn't going in? I meant let's go."

Catherine snatched the keys back and got out of the car. When Sara was out too, Catherine was at her side, taking her hand and leading her toward Lady Heather's domain.

Heather answered the door and smiled to see Catherine. "Hello Kitty Cat," she offered in greeting, then flicked her eyes to Sara. "And who is this lovely, petulant lady?"

"I'm not petulant," Sara spoke up without missing a beat. "That's my normal expression."

"Wipe it off your face before you enter my domain," Heather replied smoothly, also without missing a beat, as she stepped back to allow the ladies inside.

Sara turned to Catherine, that petulantly un-petulant frown on her face. "She's not touching me, right?"

"Watch yourself, Sidle," Catherine grinned. "Smile and get inside."

Sara spared one more childish look at Lady Heather before plastering a fake smile on her face and stepping over the threshhold.

"Sara," Catherine barked, stepping in behind her and swatting her ass firmly. "Knock it off."

Heather was an expert at hiding her reactions to things, and now was no exception as she kept her amusement carefully concealed.

Sara thought that if she acted like an ass, maybe Lady Heather would eject them from the facility. But as she rationalized her behavior, she realized that it would be easy for Heather to let Catherine stay. And she didn't want that. As much as Catherine had been possessive of her back at bug central, she felt a twinge of the same in Lady Heather's foyer, ridiculous as it was. But she did not want Catherine learning the ropes on anyone else, at least not today. "I'm not a submissive," she blurted out, seemingly for no reason at all.

Both Catherine and Lady Heather looked at her, each raising a perfectly sculpted brow. Lady Heather spoke first, not to Sara, but to Catherine. "Now that that's cleared up, follow me."

As soon as no one was looking at her, Sara made a disgusted face at herself. Way to go, Sidle. No one asked you if you were a submissive. You definitely just threw yourself on the proverbial train tracks with that one. She trailed along behind Catherine and Lady Heather, and when she was unable to take the awkwardness she felt any longer, she reached out and snagged ahold of one of Catherine's back belt loops.

Catherine felt the pull, and without stopping or turning around, she reached one hand behind her and up into Sara's hair, lightly squeezing as they walked. It wasn't the most comfortable way to walk, but comfort was a minor concern at this point. Soon enough, they were in Lady Heather's bedroom on the top floor, and she released Sara's hair, pointing to a chair against the wall beside the bed. "Go sit down, Spanky."

Sara's eyes flashed, and she flicked one corner of her mouth up for a split second before doing as she was told. "I swear, Catherine, if you start calling me that..."

Lady Heather looked at Catherine. "You have your hands full with this one."

Catherine grinned. "Tell me about it."

Sara waved from her seat. "Hey, I *am* still in the room."

Heather glanced her way almost disdainfully. "Does your own medicine taste bitter?"

"I'm a little out of my element here, okay?" Sara defended herself. "Cut me some slack."

Heather laughed, turning to Catherine, who was blushing slightly. "That sounds familiar."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Oh fuck off," she muttered with a chuckle.

The discipline she received was so swift and immediate that it left her breathless, her cheek stinging hotly from the slap, tears brimming in her wide blue eyes.

Sara yelped and nearly jumped out of her chair, having no idea what to say or do in this situation. If Catherine looked at her, she'd get up and kick Heather's ass, that was for sure, but Catherine didn't seem angry. And Sara didn't know any of the rules, other than that Catherine was essentially her boss while they were here. She didn't want to fuck up *too* badly by jumping in when Catherine didn't want her to.

"Our relationship may be casual, but you will never, ever speak to me like that, in my home or elsewhere," Heather said sternly, wrapping one hand around the back of Catherine's neck and forcefully pushing her face-down onto the bed, holding her there. "Apologize."

"I'm sorry," Catherine gasped, and she really was. Not only had she been slapped, but she had been slapped for something she should have known better than to say... and worst of all, she had been slapped in front of Sara. Heather's hand on the back of her neck was unyielding. The fabric of the Lady's comforter was trying to invade her mouth.

"Apologize correctly."

Her entire body trembled as she repeated the apology. "I'm sorry, Lady Heather."

Heather lifted Catherine from the bed and turned her to face Sara. "Now apologize to Sara for making me do that in front of her."

Catherine's jaw worked as she stared at a very intrigued and confused Sara. "I..." she started to say, but trailed off, getting lost in those deep brown eyes. She could feel Heather stiffen behind her, but when the dominatrix spoke, her voice was soft and calm.

"If you cannot respect her enough to apologize to her as you did to me, then you have no business topping her."

It only took Catherine a micro-second to realize that Heather was absolutely right, and not only did she apologize to Sara, but she got on her knees to do it. "I'm sorry, Sara. I'm sorry for needing discipline when I'm supposed to be teaching *you*."

Sara didn't really know what to say, but she had to say something to that. Catherine on her knees wasn't your everyday experience. "You, you're not really supposed to be teaching me, I'm just here to... help you get ready for your new job, that's-- that's all, right?"

"Yeah," Catherine said quickly. Too quickly. She didn't mean it exactly, but she wanted Sara's attention on anything other than her burning cheek. Right then she felt like everyone in the world was staring at the side of her face.

Heather curled a hand into Catherine's hair and tugged her to her feet. She then looked directly at Sara. "I'll need to see your ass, please."

"Uh, no."

A dark brow lifted, she turned Catherine to face her. "I thought you said she was willing?"

Catherine flushed, wanting to look at Sara, but Heather had a tight hold. She didn't know what to say. "I thought she was..."

Sara got pissed, not liking to see Catherine being treated like that, and she pushed out of her chair, standing toe-to-toe with Heather. "I am willing, I just don't like you," she said with a frown. "Catherine didn't do anything wrong."

Heather found the protectiveness to be charming, but as was her penchant, she hid it well, releasing Catherine's hair and speaking in a neutrally even voice. "Perhaps the two of you would like a few moments alone to talk things out," she suggested.

Sara gave her a patronizing smile. "That'd be great." She waited for Heather to leave the room, but the Lady just stood with her hands behind her back. "Well?"

Heather returned Sara's patronizing smile. "There's the door," she said with a nod toward it. "Were you under the impression that I'd be leaving my own bedroom to allow you a little tantrum in it?"

Catherine held up a hand between them. She was a little pissed. Whirling on Sara, she furrowed her brows and asked, "if you weren't going to cooperate, why did you agree to help me learn?"

Sara was stunned. "What? You can't be serious?" But apparently Catherine was, so she continued, a tinge of outrage lining her words. "I agreed because I like the way you spanked me... I didn't think I was going to have to drop my pants at some, you know, bitchy stranger's whim."

Heather bristled almost imperceptibly. "For your information, young lady, I intended to go over the placement of your bruises with Catherine and make sure they were well-placed and not straying from the safe areas to hit."

"Young lady?" Sara asked, getting ready to launch into a tirade, but Catherine interrupted her.

"Sara? Zip it!"

Catherine had that look in her eye, wild and dangerous and full of promise, and Sara snapped her mouth shut, taking a seat on the bed behind her.

The blonde turned back to Lady Heather. "Lady Heather, I'm sorry. For my comment, and for Sara's behavior. On the phone you said you had a submissive available to instruct me on?"

"No!"

Both heads snapped to Sara, who had jumped up from the bed and was fumbling with the button of her jeans. Catherine smirked, watching Sara free the button and tug down the zipper.

"There," Sara offered, staring at her shoes.

Catherine started to move to her, but Heather subtly put a hand out to stop her. She addressed Sara, who still wasn't looking at either of them. "We're waiting."

"Waiting for what, exactly?" Still staring at her shoes.

Catherine caught on quickly and at Heather's slight nod, she answered Sara's question. "For you to present your ass to the Lady and myself."

"It's... that's just... I undid my pants for you," Sara blushed hotly. She made the mistake of glancing up, and saw two pairs of intense blue eyes focused on her. She spun around like a bat out of hell to face the wall, not wanting any more accidental glimpses of those penetrating gazes. "They're, you know, they're ready to come down, for you I mean, they're ready," she stammered. Smooth, Sidle. Bees and dogs can smell fear. So can sadists.

"That's wonderful news, but you will be taking them down, not Catherine, not myself," Heather said distinctively. "Now would be lovely."

"Well that's just fucking great," Sara muttered to herself under her breath, forcefully shoving her jeans and underwear down to her knees and leaning forward, bracing herself up with her forearms on the bed. The impressed hum from behind her did not go unnoticed.

Heather was duly impressed. "Nice work, Kitty Cat," she exclaimed, stepping forward and stopping just behind Sara. "Sara, I'm going to lightly touch a few of the bruises while I speak to Catherine about them, is that acceptable to you?"

Well, at least Lady Heather said lightly and at least asked for permission and didn't just go pawing all over the place now that her ass was on display. "Yeah, whatever," she consented, trying to sound casual when in fact her stomach was doing flips about the entire situation.

Heather reached out and with one fingertip, gently traced the perimeter of the darkest bruise. "This is perfect," she told Catherine in a low, pleased voice. "Not too high, not too low, and not too far out toward her hips." She regarded the blonde's work for a moment longer and then added, "as a matter of fact, they are all well-placed."

Sara ground her teeth, not really knowing what to feel at the moment. So she just decided to be proud for Catherine about the praise her lover-- errrr, colleague-- was getting.

"I'll need to show you how to flog. Have you discussed specifics and limits with her?" Heather asked Catherine.

"Uh... no," Catherine admitted sheepishly.

Heather tilted her head to the side and regarded Catherine with a slightly raised brow. "No? So she is unaware of what may be asked of her?"

"It certainly seems that way," Catherine drolled.

Heather gave Catherine a look, not unlike the looks Grissom tended to give her when he was disappointed. "So it does," she agreed with the blonde's statement. "And as such, if she does not want to be flogged, you will be held responsible, Kitty Cat. You disappoint me. Why would you bring her into a daunting situation without discussing what to expect?"

Catherine was at a loss as to how to answer that. Finally she just blurted out the truth, as egotistical as it was. "Because she's Sara. I figured she'd just do whatever I wanted."

"Catherine Willows," Heather scolded her, appalled at Catherine's answer.

Sara didn't like where this seemed to be heading, so she spoke up quickly. "Whatever it is, just go ahead and do it," she consented.

"I'm sorry Sara, but it doesn't work that way. Consent needs to be informed consent. The submissive needs to know what he or she is agreeing to, and these decisions cannot be made on the spur of the moment."

"Well, I already said I'm not a submissive," Sara pointed out. "I'm just the practice dummy," she added in a mumble.

Catherine looked as if she'd been slapped... again. "Are you crazy, Sidle?" she asked, walking over to sit down next to the bent-over woman. "Is that really what you think?"

Sara shrugged. "Unless you tell me different, why wouldn't I?"

"Because I-- you-- we-- Jesus Sara, I don't know! I can't believe you think that!" Catherine stood up and started to pace back and forth in front of the brunette. "What the hell is going on here, you can't tell how much I like topping you, this is ridiculous..." she rambled, talking half to Sara and half to herself.

Sara turned her head around to look at Lady Heather. "Does my ass really still need to be on display for this?"

Heather swallowed a chuckle and moved forward, effortlessly pulling Sara's clothing back into place. "I think Catherine's met her match in you," she said with a small smile. "Just don't let her push you into anything you're not comfortable with." She leaned down to whisper her next piece of advice into Sara's ear, for only the brunette to hear. "Just because you love her doesn't give her the right to take advantage of you."

Sara shot upright off the bed, her eyes wide. "I don't love her!" she denied vehemently, yanking up her zipper and buttoning her pants. "I don't." She was shaking her head now, trying to convince herself. "No, I don't. We're just, you know, messing around. That's it."

Catherine was offended even though she knew that she and Sara didn't love each other. "Well let's just announce it to the world, shall we?" she said bitingly.

"Because it's not obvious?" Sara's eyebrows shot up as she stopped in front of Catherine, hands on her hips.

Catherine waved her hands in the air as she volleyed, "just because it's obvious doesn't mean we need to start screaming it from the rooftops."

"You know I don't get you, Cat," Sara said, her incredulity fading as she took a seat beside Catherine. "You've never gone out of your way to even be my friend, and now, well, now you're freaking out because I said I don't love you? What *is* that?"

"I'm not freaking out. If I was freaking out, you'd know."

"You're avoiding the question."

"Yes I am."

"Why? You don't love me, do you?" Sara asked fearfully, her eyes going wide.

Catherine laughed and slid a hand up Sara's back to tangle in her hair, pulling her in for a fierce kiss. When she pulled back, she shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's an ego thing."

Sara smirked and wiped a bit of Catherine-slobber from the corner of her mouth. "I do love the way you kiss, though."

The blonde didn't miss a beat. "And I love the way you take it." She was quiet for a second, and then asked, "so, are you amenable to being flogged?"

"What exactly is that? Exactly, I mean. I have a general idea, but, you know, exact would be good."

Catherine grinned, showing off her pearly white teeth. Sara was making her smile so much today... "It's a little hard to explain, *exactly*," she informed the brunette.

Lady Heather, who had been silently observing the banter between the two ladies, spoke up at that moment. "Since she did not take the time to prepare you for this afternoon, I'm sure that Catherine would be more than happy to offer her body as an exemplar." At the horrified look from the blonde, Heather smiled. "Shirt off, Kitty Cat."

Catherine grumbled and turned bright red as she stripped her shirt and bra off, folding them neatly and placing them on Heather's bureau.

"I'm not taking my shirt off," Sara frowned.

"That is between you and Catherine," Heather deferred.

Sara looked at Catherine, only momentarily distracted by the hard pink nipples begging to be sucked. "I'm not, Cat. I'll walk out the door and crawl back to the lab before I take my shirt off."

Catherine regarded her curiously, and she couldn't help but ask. "Why?"

"I don't like showing off my scars." Her face was set into a deep frown, her eyebrows furrowed as she continued to look at Catherine. "If you can't do it with my shirt on, then you can forget it."

Bright blue eyes stared into Sara's, trying to figure her out. But the maze of complexity made the attempt futile. "Sara, there's nothing to be ash--"

"Catherine," Heather interrupted smoothly, laying a hand on Catherine's bare shoulder. "Sara has just stated a hard limit. You need to respect that, and accept it without question."

"Oh," Catherine said, clearly wanting to push the issue, but falling silent with a nod of understanding.

Heather had selected an implement from her walk-in closet, and she now stood beside Sara, showing it to the CSI. "This is a flogger. The tails are deerskin, one of the softest leathers you'll ever find. As far as I know, Catherine has never felt the lash of a whip, and this is one is gentle compared to most of its counterparts."

Sara wasn't really sure what to say to that, but she sensed that a response was required, so she nodded. "Right on." Oh wow, that was bad.

Heather's nostrils flared slightly as she swallowed a snort of laughter, and she turned back to Catherine, whom she noted with some satisfaction had already taken a position against one wall with her hands pressed against it.

Sara's attention was drawn to Catherine at the same time Heather's was, and she watched the way her colleague's fair skin twitched beneath her shoulder blades. The roll of smooth muscle under flexing skin had Sara transfixed, until Lady Heather stepped up behind Catherine and obstructed her view. It was at that moment that Sara realized, Heather intended to strike Catherine's back. She should have known that as soon as Cat stripped out of her shirt, but for some reason it hadn't clicked at first. Now, she felt her heart start to beat faster, her palms started to sweat and a panic was rising up in her chest. Without speaking, she stood up and bolted from the room, not even bothering to close the bedroom door behind her. She had no idea where she was going... just that she had to get away.

Heather stepped back and was already holding out Catherine's shirt by the time the blonde turned around.

With a smile of gratitude, Catherine pulled on the shirt and took off after Sara, catching up to her in the foyer, where Sara was just about to open the front door. "Sara, wait up a second," she asked as she reached out a hand to stop her colleague from turning the door handle.

When Catherine's fingers brushed hers and settled on top of her hand, preventing her from opening the door, Sara yanked her hand away and stepped back, almost hissing at the blonde through clenched teeth, with tears streaming down her face. "Don't touch me right now Catherine!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry," Catherine said quickly, at a loss for what to do with her hands. The urge to put an arm around Sara was overwhelming, but was clearly not what Sara needed at that moment. "Please, don't go," she then said more quietly. "Talk to me?"

"Why, so you can feel sorry for me? I don't want that," Sara said bitterly, swiping at her tears, but she didn't reach for the door again.

Catherine lowered her voice, speaking softly and without judgment. "You were abused."

Sara's eyes flew wide, her hands clenching into fists, but just as quickly she relaxed her muscles, giving in to the pull and almost melting against Catherine, the resistance leaving her body.

"Oh Sara," Catherine breathed, a few tears stinging her own eyes as her arms enveloped the woman in a comforting embrace, one hand rubbing her lower back while the other stroked Sara's head, which was resting on her shoulder. She couldn't imagine ever hurting Lindsey, and she didn't understand how Sara's parents could have ever hurt her, either. "I'm sorry. Not in the pitying way, I promise." She was quiet for a minute, and the moment soon became awkward, so she attempted some levity. "Do you want me to give you head?"

Sara couldn't help the grin that she tried to suppress, and she playfully bit Catherine's shoulder in response. "Oh yeah. Right here, right now. On your knees, baby," she drawled sarcastically.

To Sara's unequivocal and immeasurable surprise, Catherine gave her a coy smile and slowly slid down to a kneel in front of her.

"Yeah, I was joking," the brunette said with an awkward laugh, glancing around the foyer.

"I wasn't," Catherine purred, leaning forward and wrapping her lips around the button of Sara's pants. She tongued the silver hardware until it shined brilliantly even in the dim lighting.

Sara wouldn't have thought that a simple button could provide the basis for coming in her pants, but Catherine got her close with that little display, and she groaned, pulling the blonde head away from her crotch. "Not here."

Catherine looked up at her with a sultry pout. "Please, baby?"

There it was again. Baby. Sara faltered for a split second, but quickly came back to herself and shook her head incredulously. "No! If you want to give me head, take me home."

"Oh," Catherine said sarcastically, scoffing and getting to her feet, waving her hand in the air for emphasis as she made fun of Sara's slip. "Home, huh? You don't love me, but now we've got a home together?"

"You-- what? Shut the fuck up," Sara groaned, gently putting her hand to Catherine's face and pushing her away.

"Ooh, do it again," Catherine purred, wagging her eyebrows at Sara.

Sara obliged, and before she pulled her hand away the second time, Catherine had turned her head and was kissing her palm.

"Good girl," the blonde murmured between kisses. "I like it when you're good."

Sara lightly scratched Catherine's face and flashed a wicked grin. "I'll try so hard to be bad... Kitty Cat."

Catherine stared at her in something resembling shock for a minute before she uttered, "You did not just call me that."

"Do you need your hearing checked?" Sara asked, feigning concern.

"Do you need your ass any more bruised?" Catherine shot back, taking hold of Sara's bicep and tugging her close.

"Yes please," Sara said with a sweet smile plastered on her face.

Catherine hissed into Sara's ear, licking the lobe as she did so. "Then you'd better behave."

Sara almost groaned playfully, but dropped her head at the last second and whispered the truth. "I can't, Cat."

Catherine opened her mouth to retort when she realized that Sara was serious. "What?" She immediately went into protective mode, placing her hands lightly on Sara's waist and pulling her close. "What's wrong, baby? Can't do what? Can't behave?"

Sara leaned into the touch, her hands at her sides, and rested her forehead on Catherine's shoulder. "I can't take this to that level," the brunette explained quietly. "I can't be submissive. It... it has to be playful for me."

"Okay baby that's fine," Catherine soothed her, stroking Sara's hair and again using the term of endearment without thinking. "Don't you worry about a thing. I like you just the way you are," she added with a grin. "Sassy and sexy."

"You keep calling me baby..." Sara started.

Catherine blushed, realizing it at about the same time Sara stated it aloud, but she quickly re-gained her footing and countered with, "and you screamed in protest when I asked Heather for someone else to play with, so we're even."

Sara frowned into Catherine's shoulder. "I don't think that makes us even. You've called me baby three times."

"And you've been counting them, apparently. We're even, Sidle." She turned to head back up the stairs, intending to tell Heather that she'd come back another time, when Sara stopped her.

"Hey, Cat?"

"Yeah?" She turned her head around, one foot on the stairs.

"I don't mind. If you call me baby."

Catherine flashed a dazzling smile at her and nodded. "I know." She started up the stairs and called back down to a frowning Sara, "I'll be right back."

Sara waited with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the doorframe, annoyed that she was so easy for Catherine to read. When the blonde came back down the stairs and took her hands away from her chest keeping a hold on one of them, she offered an awkward smile and an apology. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you in front of her," she said, not quite sure how to refer to Lady Heather, substituting the standard female pronoun in place of her name.

Catherine's heart melted a little at the insecure tone in Sara's voice, and gave her colleague's hand a squeeze, opening the front door and tugging the brunette out onto the porch. "Honey, she's jealous. Stop being so hard on yourself. You wanna know what she said to me?" Without waiting for Sara to answer, Catherine closed the door behind them and led her toward the car. "She said she's wildly, insanely jealous that I got to mark you like that and you would barely even let her look at you, let alone touch you. She told me you are beautiful and stubborn and full of sparks, and that I'm damn lucky to be enough in your good graces to warrant some kind of intimacy."

Sara stared at her, watching first her face, then the flexing of the muscles in her arm as she yanked open the car door, and finally back up to her eyes, which the brunette found staring back at her curiously.

Catherine watched, and suddenly Sara got this intense look on her face and before she had time to wonder what was going through that pretty little head, she found herself grabbed around the neck and kissed desperately.

Sara couldn't explain the butterflies in her stomach as she'd listened to Catherine's hearsay, but whatever exactly had caused them also caused her to need those lips on hers like she needed air in that moment.

Surprised, Catherine was frozen for an instant before she got back her equilibrium and returned the kiss, sliding her hands through Sara's hair and then down to squeeze her ass.

"Ohhh," Sara groaned into Catherine's mouth, the heat in her ass flaring up at the rough handling, and for a second it felt like she'd just been paddled all over again. The groan turned to a moan, then a needy whimper as Catherine's tongue pushed through her lips, claiming her mouth possessively. The butterflies kicked again and Catherine was undoing her pants, forcing her hand inside, stroking once and then penetrating her with the same possessiveness she felt in the kiss. They were in broad daylight, in the middle of the street, and yet Sara couldn't tell her to stop. It felt too good and the compulsion to be fucked was too strong.

Catherine marveled at how wet Sara was, and how much wetter she became with the rough penetration. "You're soaked," she growled into the brunette's ear, thrusting her fingers in hard and lightly scraping her way back out.

Sara just whimpered, consumed by sensation, her knees faltering at the feel of Catherine's lips on her ear. "Please," she begged, grinding her hips, not caring who might be able to see her.

"Sara Sidle, I wanna take you home and fuck you so good..." Catherine nearly groaned herself. "I'll do it here if you want me to, but I know you really don't."

Sara took a moment to steady her ragged breathing, Catherine's fingers still lingering around her entrance. "Let's go," she decided, her voice raspy and broken as she moved around Catherine, grunting at the loss of contact as she flopped into the passenger's seat of the car.

Catherine got in the other side and started up the car, turning to Sara with a lustful gaze as she hissed softly, "touch yourself while I drive. I don't want you to lose that intensity."

Normally Sara would have flat-out refused, but the way Catherine was looking at her and the insistent throbbing between her legs combined to make her work her hand inside her pants as soon as the words left Catherine's lips.

Catherine's eyelids fluttered and she forced her gaze to the road ahead as she pulled into traffic, her breathing quite irregular. "Lean the seat back baby, get comfortable, but don't cum yet, save it for me, okay?" she half demanded, half requested.

Sara could only nod, rubbing herself through her panties, trying to stay hot but not go over the edge.

They were stopped at a red light when a problem presented itself. A man crossing the street caught sight of Sara's... situation... and turned to head for the car.

Catherine could feel Sara tense as much as she could see it, and she quickly commanded, "keep rubbing. I'll take care of it."

Sara growled, but she trusted Catherine enough to take her at her word, so she kept rubbing herself, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and biting gently.

Catherine wasted no time pulling out her gun and pointing it directly at the man's head through the window, and his lecherous smile vanished, replaced by wide, fearful eyes, and he took off running back in his original direction.

"Brandishing a firearm is illegal," Sara groaned, tilting her head back and softly rocking her hips into her hand.

"He's lucky I only brandished it," Catherine muttered, tucking the gun away and hitting the gas as the light turned green.

Sara smirked, even though her hand was feeling really good right then. "You'd shoot someone over me, Cath?"

"Damn right I would," Catherine answered without hesitation. "Ogling my piece of ass is a capital crime."

Sara reached over and smacked Catherine's arm with the back of her left hand, hard enough for Catherine to squeal in surprise.

"Ow!"

Another smirk from the brunette. "You're gonna have to work me back up with some major flattery now, Cath. You killed my buzz."

"Believe me, I know how to work you up," Catherine drolled, growling under her breath as she finally turned onto her street. "Almost there."

Sara started to button her pants, but Catherine stopped her.

"Why don't you just leave those open, baby? They're gonna be around your ankles in thirty seconds anyway." She parked the car in the driveway and got out, going around to Sara's side and opening the door, then practically dragging her colleague out of the car and kicking the door closed. A hand immediately went into Sara's open pants, which Sara forcefully pushed away. Now it was Catherine's turn to smirk, and she popped Sara on the ass, loving the way both hands shot back to rub it. "Inside, Sidle. March."

Sara deliberately zipped and buttoned her pants before striding up the walk and stopping at the locked front door, arms crossed over her chest, a petulant frown on her face.

Catherine followed her up with a laugh, shaking her head and unlocking the door. "Don't look at me like that. Get inside and wait for me in the bedroom," she ordered nonchalantly.

"You know, you seem awfully comfortable throwing out orders," Sara pointed out, stepping into the house and turning to face Catherine. "And I don't think I want to obey." She caught Catherine's look and backed up into the wall beside the door, raising her arms above her head and adopting a coy expression.

Catherine readily took the bait, locking the front door behind them and moved to Sara, taking hold of the brunette's wrists and pressing them lightly against the wall. "Can I tie you up?" she asked in a low, silky voice.

Sara shook her head, speaking softly as well. "No... but you can pin me down..."

"I'll take that offer gladly," Catherine grinned, slowly licking her lips and pushing Sara's wrists more firmly into the wall, testing the waters.

Sara tested back and struggled against Catherine's grip, holding her breath... when Catherine immediately let go of her wrists, she exhaled slowly and put her arms around her colleague's neck. "You let go..."

"You struggled."

"I know."

"What did you want me to do?"

Sara rested her forehead against Catherine's and lightly kissed her lips. "Exactly what you did."

"Well good," Cat grinned again, rubbing her hands up and down Sara's sides, letting her fingertips slip just beneath the hem of the brunette's shirt. As she started to push the fabric upwards, though, Sara's hands flew to hers, pushing them away.

"No," Sara reminded her, pulling her shirt down as far as she could.

"Sorry, baby," Catherine apologized, smoothing out Sara's shirt and then sliding her hands around to rub the brunette's lower back.

"It's, it's okay, Cat, I just, I just..." Sara dropped her head to Catherine's shoulder, trying to find the words to explain.

"Hey... you don't have to explain," Catherine assured her. "I get it. And you're sexier with your shirt on than half the people in Vegas with them off."

Sara's lips twitched and she bit her bottom one, ending up grinning. Sometimes Catherine could be so... perfect. "Just half?"

Catherine laughed, raising a finger beneath Sara's chin to tilt her colleague's face up. "I've only seen half, Sidle."

Sara nodded and looked away, fidgeting with her fingernails. "I'm getting pretty tired, so..."

"Yeah, same here. Bed?" Catherine asked without really thinking about the implication of her words.

Now Sara looked at her. Stared was more like it. "What? Are we... I hadn't planned on staying the night, Cat... I mean, I didn't bring anything, or expect to, or you know."

Catherine cursed internally, realizing her mistake in assuming Sara would stay to sleep before shift that night. She tried to play it off. "Well we have about six hours to sleep, and if I drive you back to your apartment, that cuts off a half hour for you and an hour for me. I've got extra sweats and a toothbrush, you can have my bed and I'll take the couch if you're un--"

Sara interrupted her, quickly shaking her head. "It's not that. We've already fucked, I think I could handle sleeping in your bed with you. I just don't sleep well when I'm not at home, that's all."

"Really?" Catherine asked, raising an eyebrow. "What if I put on some music and give you a massage?"

Sara raised an eyebrow back. "I don't know, but it's worth a shot just to get a massage," she accepted.

"It's cool if I slide my oiled up hands under your shirt, right? As long as the shirt stays down?"

"Yeah," Sara said with a quirky smile, finding the question to be oddly sweet. "As long as it's one of your t-shirts that's getting oil all over it."

"How nice," Catherine drolled, patting Sara on the ass and then practically trouncing down the hall to her bedroom.

--

Sara laid face down on the bed and folded her hands under her cheek, trying to relax. She was naked from the waist down, and Catherine was about to give her that massage, and she could smell the strawberries and champagne massage oil that her colleague was heating up next to her. She could hear the slick, squishy sounds of the oil being rubbed between Catherine's hands, and when Catherine finally climbed over her to sit straddling her thighs, she felt warmth and bare skin against her own. She craned her neck to look back over her shoulder. Catherine was completely naked. Holy. Shit.

She must have been staring, because when she finally looked at Cat's face, her lo--colleague was grinning like a kitten.

"See somethin ya like?" the blonde drawled, continuing to rub her hands together, keeping the oil warm. She loved the way Sara was looking at her. It sent chills and thrills up her spine that spread outward and made her shiver. And she loved the blush on those adorable cheeks when Sara realized she was caught. But to the brunette's credit, she just answered the question.

"Yeah, a lot of things." And she laid her cheek back onto her folded hands, closing her eyes.

Catherine laid her palms over Sara's buttocks, and as soon as she touched the woman beneath her she heard and felt the moan reverberate out from deep in Sara's chest. Encouraged, she slid her hands up Sara's spine, under the t-shirt she'd given her, and worked her thumbs firmly over the tense muscles they found.

Sara groaned and gasped and purred when it felt good, and whimpered when it hurt. Some of her muscles were so tense it felt like a knife slicing through them at the lightest pressure, but Catherine somehow managed to work the kinks out of every knot along her spine. She couldn't remember ever feeling such a warm, relaxed glow settle over her, and she was definitely glad she'd agreed to stay.

"How do you feel?" Catherine asked softly, tracing light circles over the back of Sara's neck with one fingertip.

Sara licked her lips before attempting to answer. "So good, Cat. Ugh. Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," Catherine purred, dropping a kiss to the spot her finger had been circling. "You have a beautiful body," she added, pushing back up to a sitting position straddling Sara's thighs. Her fingernails now lightly raked up and down the bruised ass beneath her. "Thank you for trusting me with it."

Sara ignored the beautiful comment, not wanting to ruin the moment with her cynicism, and instead focused on the thank-you. "You're welcome... thanks for not betraying that trust."

"Never, ever, Sara bear," Catherine whispered.

"That nickname dies when and where it was spoken," Sara said immediately.

Catherine laughed, settling her weight more fully on Sara's thighs and bending over the brunette's back, kissing the side of her face. "Fine, fine."

"Cat?"

"Yeah?"

"You're getting me wet."

"I thought you didn't like the nickname."

"No, Cat, *you're* getting me wet."

"Well what do you expect?" Catherine asked, rubbing herself a little on Sara's thighs. "I'm looking at you."

"Come on," Sara nearly growled. "We both know I'm not enough to bring you to your knees."

Catherine easily flipped Sara over and grabbed her wrists, pinning them to the pillow on either side of the brunette's head. She dipped her face low and hissed, almost angrily, "yes. You are."

Sara arched her back, but didn't try to get free of Catherine's hold. Her breathing picked up, her heart started to race as she stared into those incensed blue eyes that seemed to see right through her. Why had her statement irritated the blonde? Wasn't she just speaking the obvious truth? Neither of them had made any claims of love or adoration, so why was Catherine being so defensive about it? "What?" she breathed, her voice barely audible around the lump in her throat. "What'd I say, Cat?" She didn't like how small her voice sounded, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"I don't like being accused of lying," Catherine explained, squeezing her thighs around Sara's hips. "If I say looking at you makes me wet, then it damn well makes me wet, Sidle."

Sara was just trying to even out her breathing and calm down her pounding heart, so she didn't say anything, she merely nodded, inhaling and exhaling through her nose.

Catherine's gaze softened after that and she kissed Sara sweetly. "And I don't like hearing you talk about yourself that way," she added gently. "You're a beautiful woman, inside and out, and you've got to be able to see that. I don't understand why you can't."

"I don't know," Sara said, her voice even quieter than before. She turned her head to the side, unable to look at Catherine, not wanting to see the disappointment she was sure would be there.

Catherine had a knot in her own stomach and a lump in her own throat as she stared down at the side of Sara's face, watching the brunette look away from her. She wanted to kill whoever had stolen the self confidence that should be behind those deep brown eyes. Most likely Sara's parents, but it could have been a friend, a teacher, a lover... "Let me see your scars," she finally said.

"No," Sara answered without missing a beat. Still she didn't struggle against Catherine's hold.

"Let me see them," Catherine insisted. "Please, Sara."

"No, they're ugly," Sara stated firmly.

"Scars don't make you ugly, they make you unique," Catherine tried to reason, but Sara wasn't hearing it.

"No."

"I want to kiss them."

"No!"

"Please."

"NO!" Sara screamed, sitting up so suddenly that she knocked Catherine off her lap, and in the process she managed to twist her arms out of her colleague's grip. "You need to LISTEN!" she continued to yell, feeling the anger start to bubble too close to the surface for comfort.

Catherine sat on the bed next to Sara, shocked into immobility and silence for a good ten seconds, just staring at the seated brunette. Her jaw worked several times with no audible result, and she could see how angry Sara was.

They both sat, unmoving, just breathing hard, for what must have been at least five minutes, and then Catherine moved.

Sara watched in disbelief as Catherine crawled toward her and laid across her lap. Oh God, what was she supposed to do with a naked Catherine across her lap? The gesture wasn't lost, she knew what she was *supposed* to do, but what the hell was she supposed to do?! "I'm, yeah. I don't know what to do with this," she spluttered lamely.

"Just..." Catherine tried to think of something suitable to say. "...teach me to listen." Yeah. Simple and-- "Jesus Christ!"

"Are you listening?" Sara's palm was stinging.

"Yes, my God, I'm listening," Catherine promised. Sara hit her again. Fuck! Even Lady Heather hadn't gotten her that hard. "I'm listening!" she shrieked.

Well Sara was rather proud of herself. Judging from Catherine's reaction, she was listening. "When I say no, don't push me, okay?"

"Okay, yes, I swear," Catherine affirmed, hoping to avoid another devastatingly painful blow, but no such luck. When Sara hit her the third time, she burst into tears.

Sara's jaw dropped and she stared at Catherine in horror-struck shock. "Why are you crying?"

Catherine would have laughed at the naivety of the question if her ass wasn't stinging like hell. She couldn't help the tears that continued to fall even as she tried to swipe them away. "Because it fucking hurts!" she choked out on an exhaled sob.

Sara was astounded that she'd made Catherine cry, and she had no idea how to fix it. "I, I told you I didn't know what to do," she defended herself, feeling panic start to rise in her chest. "I didn't mean to make you cry, Cat..."

"I know you didn't," Catherine said shakily, feeling her mascara run down her cheeks as she sniffed and blinked out another round of tears. "I'm probably just being a baby... I cried when Heather got me, too, but she'd been hitting me for a lot longer before I lost my pride that time."

"So, if it makes you cry, why do you like it?" Sara asked carefully, tilting her head slightly as she absently began to rub Catherine's behind.

"I didn't like that, I wasn't supposed to like that, it was a punishment for pushing you too far... Can we not talk about it anymore? I'm embarrassed enough already."

"Just... don't park yourself over my lap again unless you've taught me how to, you know, spank you the right way."

"You did fine, Sara, you gave me what I was supposed to get."

"I, yeah. So... I like it better when you spank me."

"Believe me, baby, so do I."

Sara grinned at that, and the grin slowly turned into a smirk. "And I like that I'm tougher than you."

"Yeah well, if I were you I wouldn't mention that again. Might make me feel challenged to see how tough you really are."

"I can take anything you give, Catherine," Sara said with a cocky drawl.

"No, you can't," Catherine disagreed.

"Yes I can," Sara insisted, her smile turning into a slight frown.

Damn but that woman was stubborn! "No, Sara, you can't." She didn't want to have to prove her point.

"What the hell, Cat?"

"All right." Catherine pushed off of Sara's lap, sitting on her knees next to the brunette. "Take off your shirt."

Sara was speechless for awhile, staring at Catherine with her mouth slightly open, that adorable and sexy gap between her front teeth just barely showing.

Just when Catherine thought she was going to get up and leave, Sara stripped her shirt off in a fury and balled it up in one fist, throwing it to the floor beside the bed. "Do your worst," she whispered in an eerily calm voice, her eyes much too hard for Catherine's liking.

Gracefully, Catherine slid off the bed and picked up the shirt, holding it out to Sara. "No," she whispered, shaking her head. When Sara didn't move, Cat slipped the shirt over her head and took her hand, fitting it through one sleeve.

Sara allowed Catherine to re-dress her, her jaw set, expression stony, but deep down inside she was relieved at her colleague's reaction. Relieved and grateful, and her respect for Catherine grew. Sara knew she wanted to see the scars, but apparently she was unwilling to take advantage in order to do so. It made Sara feel safe.

Safe. Now there's a feeling she didn't often experience.

Catherine wasn't sure what was going on in Sara's head at that moment, as the brunette sat stock still and allowed her to finish putting on the shirt. She had no idea what to say, and tried to imagine what she might want to hear if it were her in Sara's place. "I cheated." Brilliant.

But it got a reaction. A confused one, but a reaction nonetheless, which was hopeful.

"Huh?" Sara finally looked at her.

"I deliberately misinterpreted your words."

Understanding was beginning to dawn on Sara and one corner of her mouth twitched upward before settling back down into its previous position. "Yeah. You did."

"I knew you were talking about a spanking. I pushed you until I knew you wouldn't back down."

"But you didn't take advantage once you got what you thought you wanted."

"I realized it wasn't what I wanted."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want you to show me, when *you're* ready. I don't want to betray the trust you've put in me."

Sara's mouth curved upwards once again, a genuinely happy smile gracing her features. "You didn't betray my trust, Catherine." She reached a hand out to tuck Catherine's hair behind her ear. "Matter of fact, just the opposite."

Catherine lifted one knee over Sara's legs, slowly straddling her, and took the brunette's face in her hands, gracing her with a long, sweet kiss. "I'm glad to hear that, baby."

True to her word, Sara didn't sleep a wink all afternoon. She didn't mention it to Catherine, though, she just drank a cup or five of coffee and got in the car when it was time to leave.

Gil still hadn't explained why he wouldn't let them run the swab from the entomology 'den'. He was being especially coy about that. He definitely knew something that he wasn't telling.

Sara was laying on the couch in the break room with an arm draped across her eyes, blocking out the harsh lights, trying to ignore Greg's off-key singing, when Catherine strolled in and tossed an assignment slip onto Sara's chest. "You're with me. B and E, get up, let's go."

--

"I've got prints, on the drawer handle, and the top of the desk," Sara announced, lifting each one carefully and preserving them according to standard protocol.

"Guess what I've got?" Catherine replied, an extremely comedic expression tinting her face as she looked over at Sara.

"No idea," Sara gave up without guessing, slowly getting to her feet. She was done processing the desk and was deciding between interviewing the neighbors or helping Catherine with the kitchen.

"Seminal fluid. On the kitchen table." You could just *hear* the amusement in her voice.

Sara nearly choked, on nothing, and then busted out with one of her full-fledged Sidle grins. "That's awesome."

"Isn't it? Gotta love the couple that still gets it on all over the house after what, fifty years of marriage?"

"Unless... suspect got a little too excited?"

Catherine snorted, swabbing the fluid and capping it. "You think the suspect masturbated in the kitchen after stealing five hundred thousand dollars in cash? You know how many bills that is? He would've had his hands full."

"Not if he bagged the money."

"Why would he stop to do something so stupid?"

"Oh, because criminals are always the brightest crayons in the box?" Sara countered, raising an eyebrow at Catherine.

"It doesn't matter anyway, until we get the swab to DNA. No use speculating, it won't get us anywhere."

"You want it to be Mr. Ziegler's, because you desperately want to believe that there's sex after seventy," Sara said with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Go interview the neighbors, Sidle," Catherine sighed with a roll of her eyes.

Sara patronizingly blew her a kiss and slipped out the door, heading for one set of neighbors.

--

"Okay, thank you, you've been very helpful," Sara intoned with a smile to Mrs. Kaplan, who was rather attractive and had noticed a black van lurking around before the burglary.

"I have? Are you sure? I wish I'd gotten the plates, but I didn't think much of it at the time," the redhead said wistfully.

"No, you did great," Sara assured her, flashing a dazzling grin. "You've given us something to pursue. Thanks again Mrs. Kaplan, if you think of anything else, give us a call."

"Of course," Mrs. K nodded eagerly, returning Sara's smile before stepping back and closing the door.

Sara heard the deadbolt click, and she turned around to see Catherine standing a few feet away, arms crossed sternly over her chest. "What?"

Catherine frowned, waiting for Sara to reach her before she spoke. "Go wait in the car."

"Why?" Sara had no idea what the hell that was all about.

"What do you mean why? Because I fucking told you to, that's why. You were flirting with the Zieglers' neighbor. Now go get in the car."

Sara's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? You think I was-- Catherine, she's married."

"I don't think you want to argue with me, now get in the car. I'll handle the last interview and deal with you when I'm through."

"Catherine--"

"Sara, get your little ass into that car right now. Do not make me say it again."

Sara growled and stomped petulantly to the car, yanking open the door and practically jumping into the passenger's seat, then slamming the door shut and kicking the dash with her boots. She rolled down the window to get some air, and Catherine threatened her on her way to the other neighbor's house.

"Watch it, Sidle. Deploy the airbag and you buy me a whole new car."

The interview was entirely unhelpful, seeing as how the neighbors had just returned from vacation and therefore had not seen anything suspicious the few previous days. When Catherine returned to the car, Sara was still sulking.

Cat got in and shut the door, then turned to the brunette. "When we are together, you are mine, and I don't want you flirting with anyone else," she announced hotly.

Sara took a moment to digest that, trying not to flip out at the ownership Catherine was not only implying but expressly claiming over her. A small part of her, a very hidden, underdeveloped part, found it thrilling, but the rest of her found it terrifying and objectifying. She got out of the car and slammed the door, yelling at Catherine through the open window. "I never agreed to be yours! I'm not anybody's, I'm not even my own!" she said frantically. "Send someone else back to pick me up!"

Catherine's jaw dropped and she jerked the car into reverse, backing out of the cul-de-sac without a word, making a two-point turn and racing toward the lab.

Sara sat down on the curb and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her cheek on them, to wait for a ride.

--

"Greg, go get Sara. Catherine, you did *what*?" Gil asked in disbelief as Greg hurried off.

"She said to send someone else back to pick her up," Catherine defended herself with a shrug. "She's outside, not inside."

"So what?" Gil countered. "You left a fellow CSI alone at a B and E, Catherine. What were you thinking?"

"Oh she's a big girl, she can handle herself," Catherine spat bitterly. "Are we done here? I've got work to do."

"No, we're not done here," Gil said, his incredulity growing by the second. "Need I remind you what happened to Holly Gribbs?"

"Give me a break, Gil. She was a rookie, inside the house with her back to the door. Sara's outside on the curb and she's been doing this for a long time."

"I don't care if she's down the street having a hamburger. You don't leave anyone alone at the scene."

"Gil,"Catherine started, leaning over his desk with that *look* on her face. "She's a vegetarian." And she left his office before he could lecture any further.

Gil, however, was not amused in the least, and he stood quickly, following her into the hall. "It's an official warning, Catherine," he said seriously.

Catherine spun on her heels and stared at him, her jaw slack. "What?" she finally said, her cheeks burning with indignation.

"You and Sara need to keep your personal relationship issues away from the job," Gil pressed. "I don't care what you do on your own time, but on my time, I want my team to work together. I want everyone safe." He gave Catherine a few minutes to calm down, and then switched gears, feeling he had adequately made his point. "What happened?"

Catherine sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. "I said something I shouldn't have."

"And Sara reacted badly."

"You could say that."

"As a friend..." Gil started, looking distinctly out of his element but pressing on anyway, "how are you going to fix it?"

"I don't know," Catherine said slowly, shaking her head.

"Perhaps if I knew what was said, I might be able to offer a solution."

Catherine couldn't help but smile at that. Sometimes Gil really was too sweet for his own good. "I said she was mine, and I didn't want her flirting with anyone else, at least not when I'm around."

The look on Gil's face clearly stated how ill-advised he thought the comment to have been.

Catherine returned the look. "Yeah. I know."

Gil thought for a minute, then waved his hand in the air in suggestion. "Flowers?"

"We're not even technically dating."

"A plant?"

"No, Gil! She'll know that came from you."

"Well how about a good old-fashioned apology?"

Catherine appeared to think it over. "You know you may just have a point there."

Gil grinned, starting to walk away, and turned back halfway down the hall. "And if that doesn't work... you could always try giving her the power."

"I did that once, and my ass will never be the same."

"Did what once?" Warrick asked, walking past Catherine, but at the look on Gil's face he decided to retract the question. "Nevermind." And he kept walking.

"So this is the second time you've made her angry?" Gil asked, processing the new information.

"Unfortunately, yes," Catherine nodded.

"I've got it!" Gil suddenly announced, much more animated than Catherine had ever seen him. "Do a dance thing for her."

Catherine stared at him. And stared. And stared. "Do a what?"

"A dance thing. You used to be a dancer, do a dance thing."

"It is not a *thing*, Grissom, it requires skill and stamin--"

Grissom waved his hand dismissively. "Irrelevant. Why are you wasting time arguing semantics with me when you should be thinking about what to wear?" And he walked away.

"What to wear for what?" Warrick asked on his way back down the hallway, but at the look on Catherine's face, he again muttered "nevermind" and continued on to the DNA lab.

--

When Sara got back to the lab with Greg, she avoided Catherine like the plague. Finally the blonde had to stand in the doorway of the break room and say what she wanted to say to the room at large. "Sometimes, saying sorry doesn't mean anything," she started, and both Sara and Greg looked up from their lunches.

"I'm outta here," Greg decided on the spot, and he zipped out the door faster than Sara had ever seen him move.

Sara stared at her hands in her lap, refusing to look at Catherine. She didn't know what to do or say, she'd never been in this situation before.

Catherine stepped further into the room and closed the door, moving to stand beside Sara's chair, resting one hand on the table and leaning her hip against it. "So I'd like to do something for you instead. If afterward, you're still upset, I'll back off completely."

Sara liked the way Catherine was making her feel. Excited, a little nervous, but mostly, important. Wanted. She couldn't bring herself to speak just yet, or look at her colleague, but she gave a slight nod of her head to indicate that she'd accept the offer.

Catherine beamed, trying to keep a lid on it, and had to force herself not to start barking out orders. "Great. So if you'd please wait for me outside after shift?"

Again, Sara just nodded, staring at her hands, until she heard Catherine leave the room, and then she exhaled the breath she'd been holding for the past two minutes.

Catherine should have been nervous, but she wasn't. She knew she could dance, and she knew Sara would like it. Now she had a few phone calls to make.

--

Sara still didn't say anything for the entire limousine ride to the French Palace. Of course, she might have, if she'd known where they were headed. When the limo stopped in front of Catherine's old haunt, brown eyes went wide and she finally looked at her colleague. "You think I want to see a bunch of naked women dance?" she asked, a little incredulous despite her resolve to remain indifferent.

Catherine leaned in close and whispered into Sara's ear. "No..." And she got out of the limo, waiting for Sara before giving instructions to the chauffeur. "Take her inside and get her the VIP seat right in front of the stage, and whatever she wants to drink." And with that she strode off around the back of the club.

Sara turned to the driver. "She's not gonna..." But she let the question trail off at the impassive look on the man's face. She'd just have to trust her co-worker and wait and see.

--

Sara had been sitting for about twenty minutes, nursing a beer, wondering where the hell Catherine was, when the lights dimmed and the emcee made an announcement over the microphone. "This next dance, and dancer, are dedicated to Sara Sidle, from Miss Catherine Willows. Catherine would also like to say, 'let me show you how sorry I am, baby.'"

Soft, slow music began to pulse from the club's speakers, and Sara gripped the neck of her beer bottle like a vice when Catherine emerged on stage. She was sure her face was bright red, she could feel her cheeks burning from the emcee's announcement, or rather Catherine's dictated announcement, and felt like everyone knew who she was and was watching her. But when Catherine started to move, she forgot all about being embarrassed. The song had no words, but Sara could almost hear them anyway, and Catherine's bright blue eyes were fixed on her with an intensity that burned.

Watching Cat move across the stage like a lioness stalking her prey, Sara started to feel the heat in places other than her face. She stared, transfixed as Catherine's hands wandered up beneath her shimmering, sheer top. The outline of hard nipples was visible until Catherine's fingers closed over them, pulling and tugging with Sara's name rolling off her glossy lips in silence.

The brunette's chest was heaving by the time Catherine's top came off and was dropped provocatively into her lap. The dancer had no bra, and Sara gasped at the realization that Cat was up there, half naked, gyrating and hugging that silver pole, for her. Just for her. That blue gaze had never strayed from her, not for a second, and Sara knew it wouldn't.

Catherine didn't care who else was looking; she could feel Sara's stare like a physical caress. It sent shivers up and down her spine in rhythmic pulses, and she strolled to the front of the stage again, hooking her thumbs into the waistband of her skimpy skirt and inching the garment down over her hips, thighs, knees, to pool at the floor. She spread her legs slightly, just for Sara, and touched herself. With a heady groan, she dropped to her knees, rolling her hips and leaning forward into the brunette's personal space. "I'm wet for you," she whispered, her tongue bathing the tip of Sara's earlobe. "I want your hands on me so badly it hurts..."

Sara could barely breathe, her lungs inflating to full capacity and emptying rapidly several times in a row, her nostrils flaring slightly at Catherine's scent and her nakedness. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure building between her legs, but she knew there was only one way to make it go away. When she spoke, her voice was harsh and scratchy and demanding. "I want a private dance."

Still clutching her beer bottle like a life preserver, Sara allowed herself to be led behind the curtains and into a private room, where she was gently pushed onto the sofa and Catherine released her hand. Before the blonde could back out of reach, Sara thrust a hand between her legs, grabbing hold of her and dragging her close again.

Catherine gasped, her knees buckling at the unexpected gesture, and she fell to straddle her prey on the couch, groaning and pushing her hips into Sara's demanding palm.

Two fingers slipped easily inside the soaking wet, writhing blonde, and the hand still holding the beer brought the rim to her lips where she drained the rest of the bottle in one long swallow. "Lay down," she growled, the blood pumping through her veins with renewed vigor at the feel of Catherine's pussy clenched around her fingers. She removed her hand as Catherine complied.

Sara looked positively ravenous, and Catherine couldn't lay down fast enough. The low, rumbling growl that commanded her was just... divine. She knew she whimpered when Sara's fingers withdrew, but her pulse was so loud in her ears that she barely heard herself make the noise.

Sara gripped Catherine's thighs hard and pried them apart, kneeling between them and leaning over her on all fours. Keeping her left hand braced beside Cat's chest, she snagged the empty beer bottle with her right and licked the rim, then eased it between her lover's legs and pushed.

The penetration was smooth and seamless, but the bottle was cold, and before Catherine could even register what she was being fucked with, Sara pinched her clit and she came with a string of curses.

Sara liked the way Catherine responded to her, and she liked the way it felt to make Catherine respond that way. "I'm not ready to belong to you, Cat," she whispered, slowly pulling the bottle from between her panting lover's legs and letting it roll off the sofa and land with a clink on the floor. "Not yet, okay?"

"Okay," Catherine gasped, nodding her head, immediately missing the sensation of being filled. When her brain fully realized what Sara had just said, she wanted to explode with the possibilities her lover's words alluded to. She hadn't expected to hear 'not yet'. She'd expected to hear 'not ever.' When she calmed down a little more, she lifted her head to search for evidence. "Was that your beer bottle?"

"Yeah."

"Can I have your fingers now?"

"Yeah." She rubbed two fingers around in circles before gently pressing into the woman beneath her. "Cat?"

Catherine purred quietly, rocking her hips in appreciative bliss. "Yeah?"

"I don't mind if you're possessive of me. Like at the geek-fest, when you threatened the bug lady and then took me into the bathroom and spanked me? That was hot."

Now Catherine was confused. "What's the difference between that and what I did today?"

Sara stilled her fingers for a moment so she could explain with Catherine's full attention on her words. "If you had told Mrs. Kaplan that I was yours? Told her not to flirt with me? I would have been okay with that. Maybe even fingered you in the car on the way back to the lab. But it's different when you said it to *me*."

"Okay," Catherine panted lightly. "Duly noted. Next time I'll stare down the neighbor and paddle your ass afterward. Now please... your fingers are driving me crazy, Sidle... start moving them!"

Sara leaned down, her position hiding her broad grin from Catherine. "Yes Ma'am," she whispered in a sultry voice, rubbing her fingers gently over Catherine's g-spot.

Cat closed her eyes and groaned, arching her back off the sofa and crossing her ankles behind Sara's back. "Harder," she demanded.

Sara pushed harder, adding a third finger, softly scraping with her nails every so often, until Catherine was a squirming mess beneath her. Blonde hair was splayed everywhere, sweat dripping into it from Catherine's forehead, and she was making the most delicious mewling noises, clawing at Sara's back through her shirt. It was feminine and animalistic at the same time, and Sara was so wet she was going to need a change of clothes.

Catherine was loving every minute of it, driven to distraction by the raw talent of the fingers working inside her. It wasn't long before Sara made her cum, again, and she yelled loud enough to warrant a pounding on the wall, which was the standard sign to keep it down. She tried to catch her breath, ending up with tears streaming down her cheeks from the intensity of her climax. But Sara was there, holding her, talking to her, helping her calm down enough to breathe.

"I've got you Cat, I'm right here," Sara promised, kissing away the tears. Her lips soon found Catherine's and they kissed, long and slow and sweet.

After a long while of just laying there together, Catherine yawned and stretched, giving Sara a peck on the cheek. "You ready to go home?"

"Yeah, can you drop me at the lab? My car's there."

"Oh," Catherine said, unable to hide her frown quick enough for Sara not to notice. "Yeah, of course."

"Catherine," Sara said slowly, taking Cat's face in her hands and brushing her thumbs back and forth across her lover's cheeks. "I stayed at your place yesterday, and I couldn't sleep. I need to go home, to my own place..."

"I know," Catherine tried to play it off with a shrug and a smile. "Now get off of me so I can go find my clothes."

Sara chuckled, but she had seen the disappointment in Catherine's eyes and hated being the one to put it there. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend more time with her colleague, it was that she needed her own space, too. She wasn't used to being social for such a long stretch of time without a break. Plus she needed a shower and a change of clothes, and she really did need to sleep in her own bed. But when she climbed off of Catherine and stared down at her beautiful naked body, and looked into those shining blue eyes, seeing the masked hurt that her lover was trying to hide, she faltered. "Do you want to come over?"

Catherine sat up slowly, then ran her fingers through Sara's hair. "Don't you need your space?"

Sara purred into the touch, nodding regretfully. "Yeah, I really do."

"I understand, I promise," Catherine smiled, giving the brunette a quick kiss and then hurrying off to find her clothes.

--

When Sara got home, there were no messages on her answering machine, she had no new mail, and no food in the house. With a groan, she closed the refrigerator and kicked off her shoes, flopping onto the couch face first and snagging the cordless phone. She ordered a pizza and then dozed off, waking with a start at the sound of the doorbell ringing in her ears.

She got out her wallet and opened the door, but it wasn't the pizza man. It was the bug lady from the underground entomological society... the one Catherine had threatened to stay away from her. "Uh, you're not the pizza."

"No, but you can still eat me," the lady offered with a little chuckle.

"What can I do for you Miss?" Sara asked, hoping that this was a business call. And how the hell had this woman gotten her address?

"The blonde woman. Is she your girlfriend?"

Sara faltered for a minute, not sure how to answer. "Uhh... yeah, actually, she is. Why?"

"Liar."

"I'm not lying," Sara said cautiously. "And I think she warned you to stay away from me, if memory serves..." She did not like this woman showing up at her apartment door. Had she followed them around all day and then back here? For now, she would try to let the bug lady down easy to avoid confrontation. "You're gonna get me in a lot of trouble showing up here... I, I already got one spanking," she blushed, embarrassed at telling a stranger about something so intimate, but if she wanted the woman to back off, and didn't want to just say so, then she'd have to make a few sacrifices. Although, really, why didn't she just tell her to back the fuck off? Well... because deep down the thought of belonging to Catherine made her very excited.

"Let me see," the lady offered. "I could--"

"If I showed you, I would get another spanking," Sara whispered, feeling her cheeks flush hot even as a thrill shot up her spine at the thought of Catherine punishing her again.

"It's okay honey, no one would have to know..."

Now Sara was getting pissed, and she dropped the act. "Look, lady. I'm not interested. I'm taken. Now fucking beat it." And she slammed the door.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang again, and this time she looked out the peephole before she opened the door, confirming that it was indeed the pizza. Then she called Catherine.

"Hlo?" a sleepy voice slurred into the phone.

"Cat?"

"Sara?" She was wide awake now, sitting up in bed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine, something weird just happened."

"What, what is it?"

"That bug lady just showed up at my house."

"What?!"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I said."

"Are you okay? She didn't touch you, did she? Do you want me to come over?"

Sara grinned into the phone, picturing Catherine fretting on the other end of the line. "No, really, I'm fine. I just... wanted to tell you that I didn't flirt with her. I, I told her to get lost." She chewed her bottom lip waiting for Cat's response.

Catherine froze, and slowly stopped fussing, laying back down with a slow grin spreading over her features. She had to be very careful what she said here... she knew that much. "Sara?" she said softly, unable to keep the smile out of her voice. "I really like that."

"Yeah?" Sara asked, and Cat could hear the hesitant pride in her voice.

"Yeah," she assured her lover, a warm, fuzzy feeling migrating through her entire body. "You just made me wet. Good night."

"Night."

After she hung up the phone, Catherine laid staring at the ceiling with a goofy smile on her face. She was going to have to do something special for Sara for that one.

--

Sara opened her locker at the start of shift that night to see a jar of red fingerprint powder staring back at her. Jaw dropped, she spoke to the small jar. "Where did you come from?"

"Sanders in your locker again?" Catherine smirked, daintily closing her own and exiting the room before Sara had a chance to reply.

With a slight frown, Sara picked up the jar to read the note underneath it. A gorgeous scripted handwriting showcased the words,

Sara,

Thanks for the call.

XO, Cat

Watery-eyed and smiling softly, Sara took the print powder to her kit and tucked it safely away inside. She folded the note and put it in her pocket, then headed off in search of Catherine. She couldn't have gotten far yet.

When Sara caught up to her, Catherine expected playful banter, but instead she found herself pushed against the wall in the hallway being kissed. The kiss ended much too soon for her liking, and she tilted her head to the side a little, wondering what Sara was thinking. She wondered that a lot these days... "What was that for?" she finally asked with a grin. "Not that I'm complaining."

Sara stared at her, trying to find the words to express how she felt. She couldn't. So she went for the next best thing. "You bought me red print powder."

"Yeah," Catherine started slowly, giving Sara a funny look. "If that's all it takes to get you kissing me in the lab hallways, I don't know what I was waiting for," she teased. Sara's slightly choked up voice in response was confusing.

"You know I love red print powder?"

Catherine laughed, though her laugh was rather cautious. "Of course. Why would I bother giving you something you didn't like?"

"Why would you bother remembering what I do like?" Sara asked, her eyes filled with tears.

Catherine was a bit astounded, and she waited a few seconds before responding. "Look, I'm sorry if I upset you with the gift. I just wanted to make you smile... I can take it back if you--"

"No," Sara interrupted her quickly, swiping at her traitorous tears in a valiant attempt to pretend they weren't there. "I know it doesn't look like it, but I love it. Thank you," she forced before turning into the closest room and closing the door behind her. When she felt the knob turning, she called out loudly, "Cat, give me some time!"

Catherine let go of the door handle, hearing it snap back into place, and now she really, really wanted to know what Sara was thinking. Why was the gift such a big deal? It was a jar of fingerprint powder, what was emotional about that? It was one of those 'grab on the way in' type of things, not a long, thought-out, romantic gesture. Sara was acting like it was practically a proposal of marriage for God's sake. Sometimes she could be so baffling it drove Catherine crazy!

With a grunt of irritation, Catherine stalked off down the hall to the break room to wait for assignments.

When Gil stepped into the room, she looked up and started talking before he could get a word in edgewise. "Greg still wants field experience, right? Put him on whatever case I pulled."

Grissom glanced over the assignment slips, chewing on the cap of his pen, and then handed one over to Catherine. "Okay. Homicide at the Palms."

Catherine handed it back. "No, something that requires less focus."

Gil blinked at her, staring for a minute, and then decided to just not even ask. He took the slip and gave her another. "Four nineteen?"

"Gil, give me a hooker roll or something," Catherine said impatiently.

"I don't have a hooker roll, Catherine," Gil said calmly. "Would you like the night off? Am I interfering with your plans?"

Catherine pursed her lips in irritation and snatched the 419 slip out of Gil's hand. "Greg!" she barked when the eager young man stepped foot through the door. "You're with me. Get your Goddamn coat and meet me at the truck."

"Coat?" Greg asked, both he and Grissom slowly turning their heads to watch Catherine stalk out of the room. Once she was gone, he turned to his supervisor with an incredulous look. "Coat?" he asked again. "In the middle of a heat wave?"

Grissom shrugged, his patented half-smirk making an appearance. "She felt pretty chilly to me, Greg."

"SO funny," Greg smiled, his tone indicating that it was not. Sometimes Grissom said the corniest things...

--

Sara pouted her way into the break room when she saw Catherine stalk out of the building with Greg trailing behind a few seconds later. "Is she avoiding me?" she asked Grissom, pointing her thumb back over her shoulder in the direction Catherine and Greg had left. Nevermind that she was the one who'd told Catherine to give her some space.

"I really have no idea," Gil answered honestly. "She turned down the homicide case I offered her. Do you want it?"

"Am I lead on it?"

"You are if you take it..."

Sara plucked the slip from his fingers with a grin. "Mine. I can use my new print powder."

"New print powder?" Grissom asked, his interest piqued. "I wasn't aware of any new shipments."

Sara fought her grin down to a manageable level as she tried to stop beaming. "The red stuff. Catherine gave it to me. You know, like a present."

Grissom's jaw dropped and he turned and fled the break room, making a beeline for his office. He went straight for his private stash, rifling through it until he was satisfied that Catherine hadn't shoplifted any of his precious cargo.

Stunned, Sara could only stand there until he returned. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" Grissom asked as if he hadn't just flipped his lid. "Don't you have a case to lead?"

Sara frowned, that concentrated look of hers. "Grissom, you just ran to your office. Ran."

"So what?" Grissom asked with his 'what's your point' shrug.

"So... wow. Nevermind," Sara said, scratching the back of her neck and finally just grinning at him, shaking her head. "Can I have Warrick?"

"Warrick's out on a solo. Take Nick."

Aw fuck. "Yeah, sure." Fuck fuck fuck. She really didn't want to work with Nick tonight. Not after the way they'd been bickering like a married couple the past few shifts. Oh well, she'd just focus on the case and leave no room for chit-chat.

--

"Where'd you get that?" Nick asked as he swabbed blood from the bathroom floor, watching Sara take a jar of red powder from her kit.

"It was a gift," Sara answered vaguely, dipping the tip of her brush into the jar and swirling the bristles lightly over the bathroom counter.

"From who?" Nick pressed, capping his swab and tucking it away in his vest.

"Does it matter?" Sara asked, almost mesmerized by the way the bright red powder illuminated several sets of prints on the marble counter. This shit really was awesome.

"Catherine give it to you?"

"What if she did?"

"Did she?" Nick stood up, staring at Sara's back, watching her lift the prints she'd found.

"Yeah, she did, Nick. Why do you care?" Sara snapped, turning around once she'd finished with the tape and safely stored her evidence. "Are you jealous of something? What is your problem with me lately?" She really did not want to have this conversation right here, but it wasn't looking like Nick would back off.

"Jealous of something? Jealous of what?" Nick shot back, trying not to raise his voice. "Jealous that you got your ass pounded on?"

"Yeah, Nick. Jealous that I got my ass pounded on," Sara didn't relent. He wanted this confrontation, he got it.

"No, I'm not jealous of that," Nick said, his face twisted slightly in disgust, but Sara wasn't buying.

She went to step forward, completely forgetting about the pool of blood on the floor, but Nick grabbed her and picked her up, swinging her out of the way before her boot hit the ground.

"Watch it there," he said quietly, setting Sara down a few feet away from the blood pool.

Sara sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly, finally catching a glimpse of the Nick she knew. "Thanks," she mumbled, realizing how close she'd been to compromising her own damn crime scene.

Nick nodded, then ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Sara, I'm sorry," he said after a minute. "Maybe I am a little jealous. But not over what you said."

Relief flooded through her as she accepted Nick's apology with a nod. "It's okay." And a thought occurred to her... a thought she really didn't like. "Are you... in love with Catherine or something?"

"No," Nick said, but not defensively. "It's not even that."

"Well I know you're not in love with me, so what is it?" Sara asked with a grin.

Nick finally grinned as well, shaking his head. "I'm not sure exactly," he admitted. "I keep asking myself that same question, and all I can come up with is that I'm a little jealous you can just flaunt yourselves like you do. You and Catherine, you know?"

"Not really," Sara offered.

"Like... there are things I'm into that I'd never admit, and it pisses me off that I'm such a chicken shit about it. And that's before you two come parading in spouting off about your kinks without a second thought. Makes me feel like a pussy."

"So tell me then. What are you into?"

"No way man, I just said I'd never admit it."

"You into guys?"

"Nope."

"Spanking, whips and chains?"

"Nope. And I won't tell you even if you guess."

Sara narrowed her eyes at him, folding her arms across her chest. "Spill it, Stokes."

"Not gonna happen."

--

"You know Sara pretty well, right?"

Greg stopped mid-step on his way to the body and turned to face Catherine. "Is this one of those conversations where you try to get me to reveal intimate details about Sara and then she ends up killing me when she finds out?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't know her well at all," Greg said with a decisive nod.

"Look, either you tell me what I want to know and Sara kills you, or you don't tell me and I kill you here and now. Slowly and painfully. *Agonizingly* slowly and painfully."

"I knew there was a reason you dragged me out here other than my value as a field CSI," Greg said, pointing at Catherine with that 'aha!' look on his face. "But like I said. I don't know her well at all."

"Uh huh," Catherine nodded, clearly not convinced. "So tell me Greg... why would Sara freak out over a little present?"

"No clue."

Catherine gave him the *look*.

"Really. No idea," Greg said, rubbing his hands together and starting to walk again. "So... how about that body..."

"There's gonna be two bodies here in a minute," Catherine warned, balling her hands into fists at her sides and stalking after him.

"HELP!" Greg screamed into the empty field, and at Catherine's horrified expression, he chuckled. "Don't make me squeal like a bitch."

"You just did," Catherine informed him dryly, crossing her arms and following him to the body. "I gave her a jar of red fingerprint powder, and she practically started crying."

"Really? Hmm. Okay look at the angle of this guy's head--"

"Greg!"

"You should be asking her these questions, not me!" Greg protested defensively.

Catherine growled, but Greg refused to speculate on Sara's reasons for anything.

--

Catherine didn't see Sara anywhere when she and Greg got back to the lab, but as she was putting her purse in her locker she noticed a note.

Catherine,

Thank you for the gift. Maybe someday I can explain my reaction to you, but for now I hope it's enough to tell you I love it. I used it today at my scene and it got me four sets of perfect prints.

If you're not angry, text me when you get this.

XO, Sara

A grin tugged at the corners of her lips as she read the note, and she slipped it into her purse before closing her locker. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open, sending Sara a message.

I'm not angry.

A few seconds later her phone buzzed and she cocked an eyebrow at the return message.

Good. Come to the back lab, just walk in.

"All righty then," she said to herself, flipping her phone shut and putting it back in her pocket. She headed for the back lab, pausing at the door when she realized all the blinds were drawn. Oh boy... what exactly did Sara think she was doing?

Shaking the grin off her face, Catherine slowly opened the door and stepped into the lab, closing the door behind her. When she turned back around, her jaw dropped and her stomach clenched convulsively at the sight before her. Sara was in the middle of the room, on her knees with her head bowed and her hands behind her back. Catherine couldn't help but let out a soft gasp as she walked closer, her entire body feeling the effect of Sara's position. "Oh my God," she breathed, reaching her hands out to stroke Sara's hair, pulling her lover's head against her belly.

Sara said nothing, though she desperately wanted to say about a million things. Her nostrils flared with the effort to control her breathing, and she willingly leaned into Catherine's touch, allowing her lover to take the lead if she wanted to. She hoped that's what she was conveying with her body language.

Catherine wasn't sure what Sara's intentions were with this, but she had some idea, and with a voice that cracked, she issued a quiet, gentle command. "Take off your blouse, please." When Sara moved to comply, she thought her knees might give out on her.

Sara was breathing heavily by now, making no attempt to hide it. She kept her head down, finding it hard to think about looking at Catherine while she offered this side of herself. Shaking fingers worked the buttons of her shirt until she could open it and peel it from her body. The cool air rushing over her exposed arms made her shiver, but she removed the shirt completely and laid it on the floor next to her, glad she was wearing a tank top underneath.

Catherine bent down until she could reach Sara's hands, then took them in her own and straightened back up. "Stand up."

Sara got to her feet, hoping her legs would hold her.

"Look at me."

That one was hard to do, but somehow Sara managed to force herself to look up. The desire she saw in those baby blues was enough to reassure her that Catherine did want her. This was okay, she could do this. She liked having Catherine in charge. And she knew that Catherine liked being in charge of her. God, it was exciting.

Catherine released Sara's hands, giving her a reassuring smile before issuing her next command. "Take off your pants and put your hands on the back of your head."

Oh wow. That was just... wow. She removed her boots and socks without incident. Her hands trembled as she brought them to the button of her pants and freed it, then slid down the zipper and pushed her pants to the floor, stepping out of them and nudging them over to join her shirt. She felt exposed, even though she was wearing a tank top and panties. At the last second she remembered Catherine's other instruction and clasped her hands behind her head, blushing at the way the position made her back arch slightly.

"Fuck," Catherine whispered, pulling Sara lightly against her, squeezing her lover's hips. "Good girl."

Sara couldn't resist a snarky comment, the tension was getting too hard for her to take. "Glad you approve."

Catherine laughed, recognizing the fact that smart-ass Sara was surfacing to protect submissive Sara, and she just hugged the brunette to her, hands running up and down Sara's back. "Not bad for your first try," she teased into a blushing ear.

Sara grinned, enjoying the touch, dropping her head to Catherine's shoulder and trailing kisses across her neck. "Who said I was done yet?"

"Oh yeah?" Cat challenged, her eyes darkening a shade as she pulled Sara's head away from her neck. "Underwear off."

"Uh..." Sara started, but Catherine interrupted her hesitation with a quiet demand.

"Now, Sara."

"Yeah, I think I was getting a little ahead of myself there," Sara replied with a sheepish grin.

Catherine squeezed Sara's hair lightly and brought her lips very close to her lover's ear. "I know you want to obey me, but you're scared," she whispered in a low, husky voice. "Take. Your underwear. Off." She took hold of Sara's wrists and brought them to the waistband of her sexy black panties, curling her fingers in for her before letting go. "Now."

Oh fuck. The half-naked brunette's knees nearly buckled. She was almost hyperventilating. She was so wet. How hard could it be to do what Catherine told her? She'd even gotten the process started for her. "Oh," she said with a nod, as if she were just now realizing that Catherine was serious, even though she'd known it from the start and they were both aware of that.

Catherine waited. She saw Sara's fingers twitching, starting to pull down the underwear, but her lover stopped before she got anywhere. Cat was about to comment, but at the last second she gave Sara a little more time, and oh was she glad she did. Sara pushed those panties down over her hips, letting them fall to the floor where she stepped out of them, her face bright red. Catherine could hear her labored breathing, see the rapid rise and fall of her chest, and it was indescribable. "Oh Sara," she whispered reverently, trailing her fingertips up and down her lover's sides, "you're so beautiful... you look so fucking sexy right now I could eat you."

"Please," Sara whimpered, glancing at her discarded underwear. "Let me put them back on, Cath..."

"Shhh," Catherine soothed, lightly tapping Sara's lips with one finger. "I want you to keep them off for me for sixty more seconds."

Another whimper escaped and she started counting the seconds in her head. One, two, three, f-- She lost count when Catherine spoke again.

"I can't believe we haven't been fucking for longer than we have."

Sara really couldn't contemplate anything other than being without her underwear. "Please, Cat, can I put them on yet?" she nearly whined.

Catherine smothered a grin, kissing the tip of Sara's earlobe and whispering sweetly into her ear, "just thirty more seconds, baby. You're making me *so*... wet."

Now Sara did whine, but it was wordless and pleading. Thirty seconds had never seemed so long in her life. Even when Catherine's palms slid over her belly, she couldn't get past the feeling of vulnerability to enjoy the touch. But the fact that she was doing this for Catherine, *just* for Catherine, *just* because Catherine told her to, made her shiver. And she was turning Cat on. She wasn't even doing anything, she was just standing there. Knowing that her compliance was enough to turn Catherine on was an incredible feeling. Mind-blowing. Even as she trembled, she was soaked.

Catherine groaned and lifted her eyes to the ceiling, then dropped her forehead onto Sara's shoulder and pinched her nipples through her tank top and bra. She felt them harden instantly - or rather, harden more than they already were. "Okay," she breathed. "Lean over, pick them up, and you may put them back on."

Sara exhaled with relief and bent down, snagging her underwear and pulling them on. The elastic settling around her waist had never felt so good.

Catherine waited, but when Sara didn't speak, she raised an eyebrow at her lover. "Sara, what do you say to me for allowing you to put your panties on?"

Sara's breath left her in a rush of air, her brown eyes going a bit wide at that. "Thanks?" she tried.

"Come on now, you're smarter than that," Catherine chuckled softly, shaking her head.

"Okay, yeah," Sara reluctantly admitted, a nervous chuckle escaping her as well. "Uh... thank you, Cat."

"For?"

"For letting--"

"Allowing," Catherine corrected her.

"For allowing me to put my panties on." Oh, my God, her cheeks were flaming at having to say that. She squirmed around, unable to look at Catherine.

"Hold still and look at me, and say it right," Catherine admonished, her tone mostly gentle but with a bit of an edge.

Sara took a breath, straightened up and looked at Catherine. The swirling desire in those bright blue eyes gave her confidence she wasn't sure she felt, and she said what Catherine wanted to hear. "Thank you, Cat, for allowing me to put my panties on." She took it a step further, wanting to unhinge the blonde as much as she was becoming unhinged. Her voice dropped low. "Thank you for making me stand in front of you for sixty seconds without them. Thank you for making me take them off in the first place. I'm so wet, Cat. So wet for you it hurts. Just you, Cat. Nobody else. Nobody else gets a drop and I'm dripping, Cat. Thank you for letting me put my panties on because I would have left evidence all over the floor."

"Jesus, Sidle," Catherine rasped breathlessly, her chest heaving with the effort to control herself. She needed an outlet, because clenching her thighs wasn't working. Without another thought about evidence left on the floor, her hand was in Sara's panties, her fingers working quickly inside the surprised brunette.

"Anybody could walk in!" Sara gasped in protest, trying to squeeze her legs together, but Catherine's hiss changed her mind.

"Spread your legs," the blonde demanded, coaxing Sara's clit out of hiding with smooth strokes of her thumb.

Sara didn't want to be found by any of their co-workers like this, but Catherine's fingers felt so damn good, and the strokes across her clit were too hard to resist. She spread her legs.

Unfortunately, Sara's fear turned out to be justified, because the door swung open and she saw Gil over Catherine's shoulder. He shrieked like a girl and dropped his clipboard and a vial full of something, which shattered all over the floor.

Sara was mortified, and even Catherine had the good grace to blush as she pulled her hand out of her lover's panties. Sara grabbed her pants and put them on faster than she could ever remember moving in her life.

"Whose sperm is that?" Catherine asked, raising an eyebrow as she watched Gil scuffle around trying to clean up.

"No one's. What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" Grissom asked angrily, frantically trying to rip enough papertowels off the roll to clean up the mess.

Catherine started to move away, quite suspicious of that answer, and when she reached the supply cabinet she snagged a swab and discretely swabbed the floor when Gil's head was turned.

Sara's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she watched Catherine swipe Grissom's evidence, and she had to admit, this was going better than it could have. Cat seemed to be good at deflecting the scandal back onto Gil with his inexplicable sperm. She herself had nothing to say, and was contemplating her chances of getting to the door undetected while the other two bickered.

Catherine was having none of that, though, and just as Sara reached the door, her voice rang out through the room. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Besides into a hole and never coming out?" Sara asked, her heart pounding in her chest. "I don't know. Anywhere but here."

"Grissom, what the hell are you doing?" Catherine asked irritably, watching her supervisor get out a bottle of bleach.

"Nothing," Grissom barked, pouring bleach over the cleaned-up area. "Get out of here, both of you, and don't let me catch you having sex in any of the labs again."

Catherine stared at him. "That's it? Don't have sex in the labs again?"

"What would you like me to say, Catherine?" Gil asked, finally stopping his cleaning crusade to look up at her.

"Nothing," Cat said slowly, shaking her head. She followed Sara out the door, and once they were out of earshot of Gil, she pulled out the swab she'd taken. "I have *got* to know who that sperm came from," she said with a grin.

Catherine grabbed an apple from the break room and munched on her way to answer Greg's page. "You rang?"

"Yeah. Results are printing out now on the mystery sperm." Greg was standing by the printer. He grabbed the sheet and looked it over.

Cat took a bite of her apple and mumbled around a mouthful, "well?"

Greg stared at the paper, then up at Catherine. "It's Grissom's."

Apple flecks spewed from Cat's mouth as she choked. "WHAT?"

"Yeah. What are you doing with the boss man's little swimmers?" Greg asked, ducking to avoid the flying apple bits, then again as Catherine threw the core at his head.

Cat snatched the paper from him, she had to see this for herself. True enough. No wonder Grissom didn't want to push the 'sex in the lab' issue - he was doing something against company policy himself! She couldn't help a little victory dance, and when she noticed Greg's raised eyebrow, she effectively knocked him down a peg or two by kissing him on the cheek.

--

Sara was brooding, standing in front of her locker at the end of shift. She didn't even know what she was brooding about, she just couldn't focus, staring into the mirror on the back of her locker door. Finally she smirked at herself, shaking her head and tapping the mirror knowingly. "People always told me to get a life outside of work..." She got her purse and closed the locker, but just as she was about to turn and leave, Catherine's silky voice rang out from the doorway.

"Drop your purse and put your hands flat on the lockers."

Without thinking twice, Sara set her purse on the floor and placed her hands in front of her, shoulder-width apart, her palms pressed into the cool metal.

Catherine shuddered discretely as she walked toward Sara, a sway in her hips. When she reached her lover, she pressed her body flush against the lithe brunette, pinning her to the lockers. "I didn't get to finish what I started."

Sara moaned, the metal cold against her flushed cheek. "Shift's over, you can take me home."

"I want you here."

"Cat," the brunette groaned, squeezing her eyes shut tight. "We already got caught once today, and the locker room is ten times more likely to get us caught than the back lab."

"I want you here," Catherine repeated, not moving an inch.

"You can't always have what you want," Sara growled, managing to spin around and grab Catherine's wrists, wrenching them behind her back. "Stop being so spoiled."

Cat yelped at the forceful move, her blue eyes going wide with surprise - she hadn't expected that from Sara. "I can't fuck you at home right now," she explained. "Lindsey's there." She tried to kiss Sara, but the brunette held her back.

"You should go home to her. How long has it been since you got to spend time with her?"

"Don't start, Sidle," Catherine warned, trying to break Sara's grasp on her wrists unsuccessfully.

"Why not? You get to press all my buttons, now it's your turn under the microscope for once. You are not going to blow off your daughter to have sex with me!"

"It's none of your business who I do or don't blow off!" Catherine escalated quickly.

So did Sara. She shoved Catherine away from her, hard. "Don't do this to Lindsey!"

"Goddamnit I am the boss in this relationship and I told you to back off!" Catherine shouted angrily, her eyes wild as she stared Sara down, breathing heavily.

Sara opened her mouth to retort and was suddenly struck with a sad, empty feeling, and she deflated as quickly as she'd puffed up, sinking down to sit on the bench behind her. "My mother never had a minute for me," she whispered. "I'm not going to be the one that takes your time from Lindsey."

Catherine felt like she had been slugged in the stomach, and everything went into slow motion for a few long seconds as she stumbled over her shoes and quickly sat down on the end of the bench. Why could Sara make her feel so much, so fast, so intensely, with just a few sentences? Her anger drained away and she slid toward Sara on the bench once she'd regained her balance, reaching her hands up to cup Sara's face. A strong maternal urge overcame her and she gave Sara a soft smile. "How about I take both my girls out to lunch?"

Sara's throat went dry and tried to close up on her. The walls tried to close in on her, too. She pushed her hands out to the sides to make sure she was just imagining it, which she found she was, but that didn't keep her heart from trying to pound right out of her chest. Not that this was a bad thing... just a weird, unexpected thing. Apparently she had been silent too long, because Catherine spoke again.

"Baby?" the blonde questioned, stroking Sara's cheeks with her thumbs. "Baby I'm sorry I yelled at you, and I'm sorry I was even thinking of making Lindsey wait. Come on, come to lunch, I'll be the perfect mommy to both of you, I promise."

"I-- I'm not good with kids," Sara stammered, leaning into Catherine's touch.

Catherine winked at her. "Then just be one."

--

"Eat your salad."

"I don't want it."

"Eat it, it's good for you."

"No, I don't want it."

"Young lady, eat your salad or we'll be taking a trip to the bathroom for a spanking."

Lindsey's jaw dropped. She looked at Sara.

Sara's jaw dropped with Lindsey's, her cheeks flaming red as she quickly stabbed a piece of lettuce with her fork and ate it. Talk about making her feel like a kid. And she couldn't *believe* Catherine said that in front of Lindsey. She gagged slightly as she swallowed the lettuce... she didn't like the texture.

The six and a half year old stared in wonder as the grown-up sitting next to her gagged down a bite of salad.

"Gagging, Sara? Lindsey has better table manners than you do. Really. Sit up straight and eat your salad."

"I don't like it!" Sara yelled petulantly, before she could think better of it. "It's slimy."

Catherine put down her fork and stood up, scooting out of the booth and putting her hands on her hips. "That's it. Stand up."

Sara's eyes went wide and she shook her head, grabbing up her fork again and trying to get a piece of lettuce on it. "I'm eating it!" she proclaimed a bit desperately.

"It's too late, you disobeyed me and you talked back. Now I don't think you want a spanking right here, do you? Stand up, Sara."

Sara slammed her fork down and got to her feet, thinking this was incredibly unfair. Chuck E. Cheese was supposed to be fun for Lindsey. And maybe for her too.

"Watch it," Catherine warned, grabbing her purse. She turned to Lindsey and gave her strict instructions to stay at the table and not speak to anyone.

Lindsey nodded agreeably and watched her mom drag Sara off to the bathroom. Poor Sara.

Poor Sara indeed. The bathroom was not empty, they had to wait in a short line, and Catherine already had her hairbrush out of her purse. And it was obvious she wasn't going to use it to brush her hair.

Sara stared at the floor with a frown on her face, only moving forward in line because Catherine pulled her by the elbow. When it was finally their turn, she heard a gasp of surprise from behind them as they entered the same stall.

Catherine locked the stall door and hung her purse on the hook, then turned to face Sara. "Pants down," she dictated, pointing the hairbrush toward Sara's jeans. When Sara looked like she might argue, Catherine added quickly, "don't make me tell you twice."

The brunette undid her pants and pushed them down, but she wasn't happy about it in the least. Her face was set in a scowl, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Just for your attitude? Underwear too," Cat said with a nod toward the garment in question.

The scowl escalated as Sara grabbed her underwear and jerked them down, returning her arms to the crossed position. "Whatever."

"Young lady, you had better knock the attitude off right now or you won't be sitting for lunch."

"I'm already not going to be able to sit for lunch, and everybody out there is gonna know why!" Sara whined, the scowl turning to a pitiful pout.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to misbehave." Catherine was done discussing it, and she closed the toilet seat, then sat down, pulling Sara across her lap. There would be no warm-up this time, this was going to be a quick punishment as if Sara really were a child.

After the first crack landed, Sara's hands flew back to protect her rear and she wailed into the stuffy air of the bathroom. "Noooooo!"

"You're making it worse," Catherine said calmly, pinning Sara's wrists to her back with one hand and peppering her bottom with crisp smacks of the brush with her other. Sara squirmed and kicked and vocally protested for the entire spanking, which she had never done thus far in their relationship. Cat knew this one was different, though, and that Sara needed to not want it and not like it. They both knew that.

As Catherine finished up the spanking with several sharp swats to the back of Sara's thighs, she finally spoke. "You are going to march back out to our table and eat your salad, am I clear?"

Sara howled, nodding over and over again. "Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I'll eat my salad," she promised. "I'll be good..."

Catherine helped her up and pulled her pants and underwear back into place over her bright red backside, zipping and buttoning the jeans for her. "You weren't bad, you were just a little naughty. Now go on..."

When she opened the stall door, she was so embarrassed she started to actually cry, staring at the floor as she shuffled out of the bathroom and toward their table. But she knew she'd deserved what she got, and a part of her was really glad that Catherine didn't let her get away with that bullshit. Even if she thought she might die of humiliation. She slid into the booth next to Lindsey, looking away to swipe at her tears, trying to pretend they weren't there. She was extremely surprised when she felt Lindsey's arms wrap around her.

Lindsey hugged Sara tight. "It's okay Sara, I cry when I get a spanking, too. It hurts."

Sara had no idea what to say to that, so she just nodded and swallowed before going with the truth. "I'm just embarrassed because there were so many people in the bathroom," she whispered.

"Yeah that's not very nice of Mommy." When Catherine returned to the table and sat down, Lindsey let go of Sara and crossed her arms over her chest. "Mom, that wasn't very nice of you to spank Sara when there was a lot of people. You made her embarrassed and crying."

Catherine raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "Sara needs to eat her salad," was the only explanation she offered.

"Mom that was totally not the point!" Lindsey informed her, gesturing wildly with her hands as Sara started to eat. "Couldn't she have gotten in trouble at home, or at her house?"

"Linds, I have my reasons," Catherine said firmly with a pointed look, and Lindsey got *her* point.

Sara managed to choke down the rest of her salad without further incident, and with a strained look around, she relaxed a little when no one was staring at her anymore.

"Sara, will you go in the tubes with me?" Lindsey asked hopefully when she noticed Sara was done eating.

Sara bit the inside of her cheek and glanced at the tubes in question. "Yeah, sure," she mumbled awkwardly, not wanting to disappoint Linds.

"Yeah!" Lindsey exclaimed, turning to her mother. "Can we Mommy?"

"Oh so now I'm Mommy?" Catherine asked with a smirk. "Go ahead, go ahead," she consented, nodding toward the play area. "Take good care of Sara in there..." she teased.

"I will!" Lindsey promised, grabbing Sara's hand and tugging her toward the structure.

--

Catherine watched from their table, sipping her soda and grinning like an idiot. She could see Sara crawling hesitantly through the tubes after Lindsey, glancing around nervously when they stopped in one of the 'cars' so Lindsey could pretend to drive. Really it was just a box at the end of a tube, with a steering wheel mounted on one side. Lindsey waved to her, and she waved back, her grin somehow getting even bigger at the sight. Sara was blushing, she could see it even from the table, and Cat could tell she was nervous about having too good a time in a children's playset. She waved at Sara too, and Sara shyly waved back. Then Lindsey started talking to Sara, and while she couldn't hear what her daughter was saying, she watched the transformation slowly take place in her lover. Sara listened raptly to Lindsey, her body language becoming less rigid, and tears sprang unbidden to Catherine's eyes when Sara nodded eagerly at some question or other and then switched places with Lindsey, taking hold of the steering wheel. Lindsey had asked if she wanted a turn to drive.

Up in the 'car', Sara was losing some of her inhibitions and starting to relax. Lindsey was great at having fun, and it was rubbing off quickly.

"Look out!" the little girl shrieked, ducking an imaginary object flying toward the car. She burst into giggles, flopping her head into Sara's lap. "Sara, you just drove us through a meteor shower! You shoulda turned left!"

Sara laughed too, pretending to be very serious as she replied. "I couldn't, there was a floating dinosaur blocking the way!"

Lindsey howled with laughter, clutching her stomach and kicking her feet as she rolled from side to side with her head in Sara's lap. "You're fun!" she decided once she had calmed down enough to use words.

"You're fun too," Sara agreed. "Uh oh..." She screeched the car to a stop and looked down at Lindsey. "Hurry up, that dinosaur's thinking we would make a good lunch!"

"Oh no!" Lindsey squealed, taking off out of the car and through the maze of tubes once more, with Sara hot on her heels. "Come on Sara, hurry! In here!" She found an exit and jumped into the ball pit with a squeak of delight.

Sara jumped in after her, careful not to land on Lindsey, then grabbed Lindsey and tossed her out of the way of the oncoming dinosaur. They ended up in a playful wrestling match, then had a game of basketball with the small round balls and Lindsey's hat. About a half-hour later, Catherine wandered over to the netting surrounding the pit and grinned in at them.

"Time to go, girls," Catherine announced, not surprised when Lindsey spun to face her with a pleading expression, but quite surprised when Sara did as well. She immediately laughed, shaking her head. "All right. Five more minutes, you brats," she conceded, wandering back to the table to gather up their things.

"Ten!" Lindsey called out, and she heard Sara's echoing voice agree.

"Five," she shouted back without turning around, because she knew she'd cave if she had to look at them. She heard groans behind her, then some sort of conspiratorial giggling, and she couldn't help laughing as she slid back into the booth.

Five minutes later, on the dot, Sara and Lindsey appeared in front of her. "Can we go for ice cream?" Sara asked.

"Yeah please Mom, please?" Lindsey added, jumping up and down in hopeful excitement. There was no way her mom could say no if another grown-up was asking! Even a really fun grown-up who was good at acting like a kid.

Oh boy. Catherine hadn't realized what she was getting herself into when she decided to take these two out together. But she wouldn't have it any other way, she realized with an affectionate smile. "Yeah, but only because you're so cute," she answered, tapping Lindsey's nose and standing to kiss Sara's cheek. "Let's go."

--

It was just assumed that Sara would spend the night, but Catherine and Lindsey argued over whose bedroom she was going to sleep in. Catherine only won because she pulled rank and used the hated reasoning of "because I said so".

As Sara settled down next to Catherine, she felt the inexplicable yet overwhelming urge to cuddle. Now that just didn't fit into the equation. Catherine plus Sara equals hot sex and no emotional attachment. Cuddling really did not fit. She took a shuddering breath and forced herself to stay still. But when Catherine turned on her side and reached her arms out, Sara willingly melted into them. "Don't think this means I love you," she mumbled under her breath, snuggling into Cat's side and resting her head on her lover's shoulder.

Catherine threw back her head and laughed. "Don't think this means I love you either."

--

Sara was exhausted, but as usual when not at home, she couldn't sleep. She lay staring at the ceiling for a few hours, sometimes glancing over at Catherine to watch her breathe in sleep. So calm, so peaceful - the exact opposite of their waking lives.

Finally she couldn't stand just laying there anymore, and she quietly slipped out of bed and into the bathroom, closing the door and stripping off her clothes, getting into a nice hot shower. She stood with her head down, so the water could get her hair and then cascade down the rest of her body. She was just about to reach for the shampoo when she heard the bathroom door open and close, then a rustle of clothing, and she looked up in time to see Catherine climb into the shower with her.

They locked eyes, staring in silence for a long time, and Catherine spoke first, stepping forward to touch her body to Sara's. "I want you on your knees," she whispered, snaking a hand up Sara's back to curl tightly in her dripping wet hair, made an even darker brown by the saturating water. "I want you on your knees with them spread wide, and then I want you to put your hands behind your back and lick me once."

The hot water beating down on her neck and shoulders somehow gave Sara an extra burst of confidence, and she immediately complied, sliding down to her knees and spreading them wide, then clasping her hands behind her back and leaning forward to slowly lick the length of Catherine's pussy. Her eyes closed at the exotic taste, and she shivered, but stayed still, waiting for Catherine's instructions.

"Good girl," Catherine groaned, releasing Sara's hair and just resting her hand on the back of the brunette's head instead. "Lick me again."

Sara licked her again, whimpering softly as she had to force herself to stop again and wait. Catherine felt and tasted so damn good, not to mention the way she smelled. Sara's nostrils flared slightly in an attempt to stifle some of her arousal at the scent. "Please Cat," she begged, flicking her eyes up to Catherine's.

Catherine's knees felt a little shaky, but she kept it together, managing a sultry smile down at Sara. She wanted to push, just a little. "Please Cat, what?"

Sara whimpered again, her eyelids fluttering as she struggled to keep them open. Catherine really wanted her to beg. She realized that the thought made her warm to a startling degree, and uncomfortably wet between her legs, in addition to the shower's water that had settled there. "Please Cat, let me go down on you... let me put my tongue in you... let me fuck you as hard as I want, please Catherine," she begged openly.

Catherine really liked the sound of that, but she wasn't quite done pushing. "Why should I let you?"

Sara whined, then growled. "Because I'm gonna bite you if you don't."

Catherine debated slapping her, but she didn't think Sara was ready for that yet. Instead, she was out of the shower before Sara could even try to protest. She heard a strangled cry and the water shut off. She was almost halfway down the hall, and with a sigh she turned around, intending to tell Sara to get back in the shower, but she almost fell over instead. Sara was on the bathroom floor on her hands and knees, crawling towards her. The play of muscles over her shoulder blades as she crawled was exquisite, and the rhythmic dripping of her hair on the tiles, then the hard wood of the hallway, was distracting. That wet hair draped across her eyes in curtains was almost Catherine's undoing. Sara was naked and wet, crawling toward her in the hallway. Holy shit. She was so focused on the eroticism of the situation that she almost didn't hear what Sara was saying.

"I'm sorry, Cat... I'm a bad girl... please, please, please punish me and then let me fuck you, I need to feel you around my tongue. I need to feel you cum in my mouth. I need to feel your discipline, Cat, I know I was bad and I'm sorry..." Sara shivered as she crawled slowly toward Catherine, keeping her head up to at least partially hide her scars from view.

"Jesus," Catherine whispered, watching in awe as Sara came to a stop in front of her and sat back on her heels, finally bowing her head.

"Please punish me, Cat... I can take it. I want to show you that I can do this... that I *like* this... that I'm sorry for talking back." It was hard to admit, but not as hard as she thought it would be. Her entire body was on fire, despite the chill in the air that settled around her wet, naked skin like a blanket. And she found that she was less worried about showing her scars than she was about making her indiscretion up to Catherine. It wasn't love, but it was damn good.

"How... how..." Catherine was at a loss for words, overwhelmed by Sara's pleas. She dropped to one knee and cupped Sara's face in her hands. "Sara," she began softly, rubbing her thumbs back and forth over her lover's cheeks, "I already blistered your bottom once today... it has to hurt still." She waited for confirmation, and when Sara nodded, she continued. "If I punish you, it'll be with one of my belts, and I can't see any enjoyment in that for you. The dynamic we're playing here is not one-sided, despite how it may look to people who don't understand. If you're not enjoying yourself, I don't enjoy it either."

Sara leaned into the touch with an appreciative sigh. "Once upon a time, you told me you usually enjoy getting spanked, but that sometimes you're not supposed to enjoy it."

"You haven't done anything that bad, Sara..."

Sara dropped her eyes to the floor. "It was bad enough to make you walk away from me."

Catherine had no argument for that. She tried to, but she didn't. "All right," she said slowly. "Get a belt from my closet and lay it on the bed, then bend over next to it. You may put a tank top on but nothing else."

Sara nodded wordlessly as she got to her feet, and then at the last second she rushed, "yes Ma'am," and hurried into the bedroom.

Catherine put a hand on the wall to steady herself, unprepared for Sara's words and the rush of liquid heat that twisted in her belly and settled between her legs. She took several moments to get composed, and then entered the bedroom to find Sara in a black tank top, bent over the edge of the bed, a sturdy brown leather belt laid out beside her.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Catherine stepped up behind Sara and picked up the belt, folding it in half to increase her control over the implement. "Sara, you know that what you're doing right now is submissive?"

"Yes," Sara answered, closing her eyes. She felt Catherine behind her, felt the belt in Catherine's hand even though it wasn't touching her. "I kept trying to tell myself that I would never be this way, not even for you, but sometimes I'm not a very good listener," she whispered.

Catherine laughed sweetly, tears pricking her eyes. "Thank God for that, huh?" she asked rhetorically, and then turned serious again. "What are you being punished for, Sara?"

Sara thought for a second on how best to word her reply. "For taking liberties I was not entitled to, for threatening you with physical harm, and for talking back. I'm sorry, Catherine."

"I know you are," Catherine assured her. She rested the belt over Sara's backside, the bruises already there pulling at her conscience. "Ten strokes."

Sara nodded. She knew Catherine was going easy on her with that sentence, but it was her lover's call, not hers. She wouldn't disrespect her Cat by questioning the decision.

The sting of the belt was different than the hairbrush or Catherine's hand. It was lighter than the brush, easier to take, but even so, the ten strokes left her clutching the sheets in tightly closed fists, panting out her breaths at a slightly elevated rate and rhythm. She could feel the stripes of fire licking across her ass and thighs as she breathed heavily into the bed. She liked it. "Cat, I'm sorry," she exhaled, her cheeks tinged with embarrassment. "I liked that. A lot."

Catherine could tell that Sara felt bad for enjoying what was supposed to be a punishment. She leaned over her lover from behind and nuzzled her lips against the soft, warm skin of Sara's neck. "It's okay, baby, I liked it too. And I'm glad you liked it because I'd love to do it again sometime," she purred, planting soft kisses along the top of Sara's spine. "I know you're sorry for what you did even though you enjoyed the punishment. Consider the slate clean, all right?"

"All right," Sara said, managing a weak nod, and then in a shaky voice, she added, "Cat?"

"Yeah baby?"

"Pl... please fuck me." Her voice still shook and it was barely audible, even to herself. She felt vulnerable asking, considering what had happened in the shower, but she wanted it so badly. She needed to feel Catherine inside her.

Catherine dropped her forehead to the back of Sara's left shoulder and groaned. "Just like this?" she asked, a lewd suggestion behind her words. "You like it from behind?" Her fingers snaked down Sara's back and over her backside, tickling their way across one thigh to stroke softly between her legs.

Sara breathed out slow, trying to control herself. She did not want to do or say anything wrong and make Catherine walk away again. What was a submissive thing to say? It's not like she had a lot of experience with this. Or even any examples, really. She racked her brain, finally coming up with something she thought Catherine would enjoy hearing. "I like it however you choose to give it to me," she whispered nervously. Did that sound right? God she hoped so.

Apparently Catherine was pleased with her response, because she felt Cat's fingers slide gently inside her from behind. Three of them, filling her completely, making her breath catch and forcing a shuddering moan from her chest. And then Catherine moved, and she missed the warmth of her lover's body covering her protectively, but hot breath on her abused thighs distracted her from the loss, and when Catherine started placing open-mouthed kisses on her bruises, she nearly came. She wanted to whine that it felt too good, that she couldn't take it, but she didn't. And then Catherine bit her. Hard. And curled her fingers, pressing against a very sensitive membrane. The intense, searing pain coupled with the intense, searing pleasure made her scream into the sheets, her body consumed with the white-hot pulsing fire of orgasm.

When she came down from the high, she was crying. Overwhelmed with sensation and vulnerability, satisfaction and gratitude, anger and love. She didn't want to feel that for Catherine, but how can you give yourself to someone so completely and intimately without making some kind of visceral, primal connection?

Catherine's heart seized as she noticed Sara's tears, and she pulled her fingers out, quickly sucking them clean and stifling an appreciative moan. "Hey now, what's wrong, baby?" she asked, rubbing Sara's back as she took a seat on the bed beside her lover's head.

"I could end up loving you, Cat, and I'm scared," Sara confessed without allowing herself time to invent an excuse for the tears. She didn't want to lie.

Catherine wasn't sure how to reassure Sara on that one. She couldn't promise that Sara would never love her, that would be ridiculous. Uncertain how to proceed, she just went with her instincts and pulled Sara's head into her lap, stroking her hair. The wet tears were warm on her bare thighs. "Would it be so bad if you loved me?" she finally asked.

Sara wrapped her arms around Catherine, pressing her face into her lover's belly. "I don't know," she murmured against the soft skin. "If I start to love you, and you're not on the same wavelength, it'll hurt."

"Well you can't tell your heart what to do, Sara," Catherine sighed. "All you can do is make the best of what you have right now, you know?" She paused for a minute, just looking down at the beautiful woman partly in her lap, and when Sara's eyes opened, Catherine gave her a coy smile. "Besides... I'm... pretty addicted to you," she said slowly, a soft pink tinging her cheeks at the admission.

Sara blushed as well. "What?"

"Yep," Catherine nodded, overcompensating for her discomfort by being especially confident in her next line of thought. "It's true. In fact, the Halloween party is next Friday night, and you're going to be my date."

"I am?" Sara wasn't sure if she was asking if Catherine was serious, or if she was being smug, so it came out about halfway between the two.

"You are," Catherine nodded again. "And you're going to wear what I want you to wear."

Now she knew she was being smug, but she couldn't help it. "Is that so?" Somehow Catherine had managed to quell her fears without really addressing the issue. She tried to hold back a smirk as she continued, "and what would that be, exactly?"

Catherine eased Sara's head off her lap and swung a leg over her lover's hips, straddling her and leaning down to whisper in her ear. "A collar and leash."

Good thing she was laying down, because she would've hit the floor on that one. "You're not serious," she managed to gasp around the sudden lump in her throat.

Catherine used the flat of her tongue to lick Sara's cheek, then kissed her temple. She held herself up with one hand and lightly feathered the fingers of her other hand across Sara's throat, delighting in the surprised whimper from the woman beneath her. She applied a bit more pressure and Sara started to squirm, so she backed off and kissed her sweetly, allowing her tongue to taste the fear so palpably clinging to her lover.

She kissed Sara for a long time, letting her calm back down, and then brought her fingers back to her lover's throat, barely touching with her fingernails as she raked them over the rapidly pulsing tendons.

Sara didn't know what to feel. She had never had a lover play with her throat. It caused an automatic tension, though she couldn't find a rationalization for it other than general wariness of having one's airflow cut off. It could also possibly be due to the sensitivity of the area. Whatever it was, she was on high alert, but she didn't struggle or ask Cat to stop. She trusted Catherine Willows more than she cared to admit. And that was Catherine's next question.

"Do you trust me, Sara?"

"Yes."

There was no hesitation in Sara's answer, and that thrilled Catherine on so many levels. "Good, because I would never knowingly or negligently put your life in danger. Now close your eyes, and just breathe... and trust me."

When Sara nodded and complied, Catherine scratched at her throat a bit harder, then once more hard enough to leave four red parallel lines marking her lover's skin.

Sara breathed deeply, in and out through her nose. She could feel the welts being left by Catherine's fingernails, and when she imagined what they would look like, a soft moan escaped her and she arched into the touch.

Catherine could feel the tendrils of dominance flare up in her blood. "Do you still trust me?" she whispered, her hands moving down to the neck of Sara's tank top.

"Yes," Sara answered, again without hesitation, though her voice was more strained this time.

"Yes Ma'am," Catherine hissed quietly, offering the correction just as Lady Heather had done for her, taking two handfuls of Sara's tank and carefully pulling in opposite directions.

Sara squeezed her eyes shut tight and gasped in a rush, "yes Ma'am." She heard the fabric rip and felt cool air on her newly exposed flesh. She wanted to make a sarcastic remark about the price of the luxurious wife-beater tank, but this time she swallowed it down. Fingers were immediately on her nipples, clamped softly and tugging until Sara couldn't help moaning.

"Do you like that?" Catherine was positively throbbing with the power Sara gave her.

"Yes," Sara answered, arching her back, pressing her breasts more firmly into Catherine's hands.

Catherine released her nipples and gave her a slightly sharp reminder. "Yes Ma'am."

Sara winced and quickly corrected herself, surprised at how easy the word was to say to Catherine. "Yes Ma'am."

The blonde slipped the straps of the tank top-turned-vest down Sara's arms and pulled the garment out from under her lover. Sara was naked, looking nervous but flushed with excitement. "Mine," she whispered, lowering her lips to Sara's quivering stomach and placing a soft, sweet kiss there. She noticed the nasty bruise her teeth had left on Sara's thigh, and she slid down to place a kiss there as well. Sara flinched, and Cat smiled. "I think you need a matching mark on the other side," she purred, shifting her mouth to Sara's other thigh.

"No!" Sara rushed, then corrected before Catherine could do it for her. "No Ma'am, I don't. I don't need another one, really."

Catherine was fast approaching headspace and she knew she had to be careful, so she talked herself back down quickly to avoid doing something that would break the mood for Sara. They hadn't talked about safewords, so she had to stop when Sara said no or stop. Even if the 'no' was in the form of a cute and desperate protest. No meant no, no matter what form it took. As much as she wanted to sink her teeth into Sara's thigh and hear her lover scream, she held back, instead licking her way up Sara's body and kissing her deeply. "Put your hands above your head."

Sara complied.

"Tell me what you feel."

Sara exhaled through puffed cheeks, not quite wanting to spill her feelings. "I don't know."

"Uh uh uh," Catherine shook her head, raising her left hand to hold Sara's face while she lightly tapped her lover's cheek with the palm of her right. "You do know. Tell me."

Sara gasped, even though the light tap didn't hurt at all. A multitude of sensations and thoughts rushed through her head and she tried to sort them all out. "Vulnerable," she blurted. "Safe." A short pause, then, "hot. Wet. Scared. Excited. Nervous."

"Give me more than one-word answers," Catherine coaxed gently, continuing to tap Sara's cheek.

"I feel desirable, and important, like I'm the only one in your world right now," Sara breathed. "I'm afraid of disappointing you, afraid of getting slapped harder, afraid I won't get slapped harder, all at the same time."

"You are desirable, and important, and the only one in my world right now," Catherine said in a quiet voice. "And you're naked for me, Sara. Just for me, right?"

Sara bit her lip and nodded, her eyes shining and sincere.

Catherine couldn't tell if Sara was trying to get in trouble on purpose or just forgot the rules, but either way, she gave her lover a slightly harder slap to the face. "Just for me, right?" she repeated.

Sara jumped and nodded again, her pulse racing, blood pounding in her ears. "Yes, yes, just for you, Ma'am," she remembered, the words tumbling out in a rush.

"That's my good girl," Catherine purred, rubbing Sara's cheek even though she still hadn't hit her hard at all. "If you forget again, I'd like to slap you hard enough to make you remember, would that be okay with you?" There was no way Catherine was going to haul off and smack her without permission. Not with Sara's past. She didn't know what exactly might trigger a bad reaction, and she never, ever wanted to do that.

Sara's breathing picked up as she thought about whether it would be okay. If she said no, she might never know how it felt. If she said yes, and she forgot to say what Catherine wanted to hear, she was afraid how she'd take the slap. But she was curious, and turned on, and she trusted Catherine, that was already established, so again she nodded her head, completely not realizing that she was failing to answer the way Catherine wanted her to.

Catherine waited a second to see if the nod would be accompanied by any words, but it wasn't. Slightly incredulous, she gripped Sara's chin tighter with her left hand and used her right to deliver a forceful, stinging blow flat across the plane of Sara's cheek.

Sara gasped out a whimper, instantly feeling the sting of the blow as tears sprang to her eyes unbidden. She worked her jaw in an attempt to ease out the pain, but her cheek continued to throb. She choked down a moan and rasped out an apology. "I'm sorry... I didn't do that on purpose," she promised, then quickly added, "Ma'am. I didn't do that on purpose, Ma'am." Her eyes closed and her heart hammered in her chest, her brain trying to focus on anything other than the burn. But the burn was the reason for the moan she'd managed to choke down. Imagining Catherine's handprint on her face. Imagining herself on her knees, begging for forgiveness, and Catherine slapping her again because she hadn't given permission to beg. Holy fuck. Her eyes snapped open, the tears gone, and she grabbed Catherine's wrist desperately, making the blonde stroke her stinging cheek. "Oh God, Catherine," she offered in a strangled cry. "I'm falling apart."

"No baby," Catherine soothed, allowing Sara to control the movements of her hand for the moment. "You're not breaking, you're learning new things about yourself. The hidden parts of you are coming out to play, and you might feel unhinged until your desires find a permanent place. Now, if you feel bad about what we're doing, feel like it's wrong for you, just tell me and I'll stop... but I promise, you're not falling apart."

"I just-- I just don't understand why it feels so good when you hurt me," Sara finally breathed. "I never thought I'd be... I never thought I would, you know, get off on being hit. I know the science behind it, I don't have a problem with the science."

"What does the science tell you?" Catherine asked, brushing a lock of Sara's hair back from her face and then running her fingernails lightly across her lover's scalp.

"That, you know, since I was abused as a kid, grew up in a shitty household, had no control over anything, that I'm taking my power back, being hit when I say so, not when I couldn't run fast enough to avoid it." She paused, and when Catherine nodded encouragingly, she continued, leaning into the gentle touches her lover was providing. "And that's probably true. And I'd be fine with that, could totally let it go, but it doesn't stop there, Cat. It goes way beyond making up for the past. I don't just feel empowered, I feel... I don't even know what the hell I feel but whatever it is makes me hot and wet and aching for you. What I let you do to me... what I *love* to let you do to me, has nothing to do with my past, Cat. It's all here and now, and I don't understand why it feels so good."

Catherine was never one for generic answers or standard advice. She wasn't going to sit there and try to help Sara figure out why it felt so good, when there was no hope of her being any help for that. "Honey I know you're a scientist, but for God's sake, sometimes you need to let go of that compartmentalization, stop trying to rationalize, and just get the fuck off. Your brain will tell you what's up when it's ready, and you're gonna drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out before then, so just *feel*, Sidle. Let go. You're still trying to hold on to control, and I want you to let go. Don't try to make yourself fit into a box... throw caution to the wind and ride the waves of *this*, baby..." Catherine indicated herself with an arrogant grin.

Sara rolled her eyes and groaned. "If your head gets any bigger it won't fit in the room..."

Catherine's grin grew and she kissed Sara. "I love you," she laughed.

For a brief second Sara's mind went into overload and her body stiffened, but she forced herself to calm down and instead of freaking out, she easily flipped their positions and pinned Catherine to the bed, her lover's wrists held firmly on either side of her head. "Don't say that," she growled, licking Catherine's lower lip with just the tip of her tongue. Her grip tightened around Cat's wrists.

Catherine struggled to lift her head and capture Sara's tongue, but the brunette was amazingly strong and determined, and she got absolutely nowhere. So she pushed a knee up between Sara's legs.

Sara groaned again, this time for an entirely different reason, and dropped most of her weight onto Catherine's body. "Cheater."

Catherine wriggled and rubbed her knee back and forth, with some difficulty due to Sara's weight pressing down on her.

"Don't make me spank you," Sara teased.

Cat's first instinct was to say something like 'for the love of God, no', but she decided that she wasn't going to play it that way this time. "Did you just threaten me, little girl?" she growled, her eyes shining bright with promise and intent.

Sara's breath caught and she stared at Catherine, having expected a much more light and playful response, maybe even for Catherine to beg her not to do it... but this... wow. She eased her grip until she was no longer holding her lover's wrists, then slowly sat up and shook her head.

Cat followed her up to a sitting position and took hold of her chin, applying a firm, swift slap to her cheek once again, reveling in Sara's sharp exhale. "Over my lap."

"Cat, I'm naked," Sara protested, her eyes wide and filled with tears, though they were only an automatic physical reaction to the slap. Like when you get something in your eye.

Catherine slapped her again, harder, feeling her palm start to sting. "Over my lap, Sara."

Sara cried out, her face turning sideways away from Catherine, her breathing labored. She could do this. Her cheek hurt like hell and the throbbing in her face matched the throbbing between her legs. She said nothing, could not look at Catherine as she slid off her lap and laid across it instead. Well this was it. All of her horrible scars on view for her lover. She'd either get pity or disgust. People who had seen them were always either overly apologetic or immediately turned off. She had just learned to hide them to avoid going through that.

"I don't like having to tell you twice. What do you have to say for yourself?" Catherine asked, determined not to be like everyone else when it came to dealing with Sara's physical scars.

Sara blinked, confused for a moment, sure Catherine couldn't be talking about anything other than what she saw. But apparently she was, and Sara felt herself smiling into the sheets. "I'm sorry, Ma'am," she said, hoping her giddiness wasn't portrayed in her voice.

"I should hope so," Catherine scolded, running her fingertips up and down one of the scars. "What made this one?"

Sara tensed. "Broken beer bottle."

Catherine continued to trace it, scratching lightly with her fingernail every so often. "Now it's mine."

"What?" That was certainly new and unexpected.

"This scar, it's mine. When you think of it from now on, you'll feel my tongue, my fingers, my teeth... not a broken beer bottle." She let her words sink in while she slowly scratched the length of the scar, which stretched from Sara's left shoulder down to her left hip in a jagged sort of pattern. "Understand?"

Sara willed herself to stop shaking so she could answer the question, but to no avail, so she had to answer with a shaky voice. "Yes Ma'am."

Catherine licked her fingers and traced the mess of scars covering Sara's back, causing the skin to glisten lightly with her saliva. "Beautiful," she murmured, meaning so many different things about Sara.

"They're not beautiful," Sara snapped, her voice suddenly full of acid. "Don't pretend on my account, I already know how ugly they are."

SMACK! "Don't you dare tell me that any part of you is ugly," Catherine scolded, her hand falling crisply over Sara's bruised bottom. "Not even your scars." SMACK! "They are a part of you, and that makes them beautiful, and sexy, and unique. Each one tells a story that helped make you the woman you are, and there is nothing ugly about that." SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

"Ow! C-aaaaah! Cath-ahh! I thought you were just-- ow, Cat! I thought you were just trying to be different! I didn't know you really meant it... I thought you were patronizing me, I'm sorry!"

"You're going to be," Catherine promised. "Go stand in the corner."

"What?"

SMACK!

"God damnit!" Sara cursed, still not moving, waiting for elaboration on Catherine's instruction.

SMACK!

Finally she realized she wasn't going to get any elaboration, and she was going to keep being spanked until she obeyed. Grudgingly she scrambled off of Catherine's lap and shuffled miserably to one corner of the room.

"Face the corner," Catherine told her, pointing toward said corner with a stern look on her face. "Hands on the back of your head."

"Why are you making me do this?" Sara asked with a frown, turning to face the corner and lacing her fingers together behind her head.

"Because I've already told you how I feel about being accused of lying. And you just accused me of patronizing you, which is something we both know I would never do. I'm insulted, and you're going to make it up to me. You're being punished and I don't want to hear another word until I ask you to speak."

Punished? That sucked. Lucky for Sara, her brain was processing the information with such focus that it left no room for words. Otherwise she may have landed herself in even deeper shit. The scowl on her face would have been comical, if anyone could see it.

Finally Sara got tired of standing in the corner and she spun around to face Catherine, who was seated on the edge of the bed watching her intensely. "This sucks!" she announced hotly, narrowing her eyes at her lover. "What kind of punishment is this? Making me stare at the wall? What the hell is the point?"

Catherine stood and walked slowly to Sara, taking her by the shoulders and calmly turning her back around. "A punishment you don't enjoy," she explained. "I've just started your time over."

"How long am I supposed to fucking stand here?" Sara asked, getting angrier by the second.

"As long as I fucking want you to," Catherine warned darkly. "Longer every time you speak or turn around." She hoped she wasn't pushing Sara too far, but she had a feeling it was okay, and returned to sit on the bed and watch her lover. She watched the tension in Sara's back and shoulders stand out like ripples on a pond. She watched Sara squeeze her fingers together so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She watched her lover's knees falter every few minutes, and watched the way Sara forcefully straightened them to keep them from buckling each time. She watched as the defiance slowly began to drain out of the beautiful woman in front of her eyes, noticed the almost imperceptible bowing of Sara's head which signaled acceptance, whether it was intentional or not. And she watched as Sara's shoulders began to lightly shake with tears. "Come here."

Sara sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then turned around and dropped down, crawling to Catherine's side.

"Now what do you have to say?" Catherine asked, her tone not gentle but not harsh, either.

Sara nuzzled her cheek against Catherine's knees, taking a slow breath before answering. "I'm sorry, Cat," she whispered. "I know I've been saying that a lot today, but I... you were so wonderful about my scars, and I didn't know how to deal with that, so I lashed out and questioned your sincerity. I'm so sorry... I know you would never say anything untrue, even if it was to make me feel good about myself."

"You're right, I wouldn't," Catherine agreed, pulling Sara up onto her knees by her hair and leaning down herself to be eye level with her lover. "If you ever accuse me of lying or being insincere again, my hairbrush will be making an appearance that'll make Chuck E. Cheese seem like a picnic. You get that?"

Sara shuddered, her head nodding before Catherine had even finished speaking. "Yes, yes Ma'am, I get it," she assured the blonde. Again she was struck by how easy it was to make herself call Catherine 'Ma'am'. It didn't feel silly or demeaning like she imagined it would. "Thank you, Cat..."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

Sara wrapped her arms around Catherine's waist and laid her head on the tops of her lover's thighs. "It's what I should have said in the first place. You told me I'm beautiful, that you think my scars are beautiful, and I should have said thank you. No one has ever said that to me before and meant it. And no one has ever said anything like that about the mess on my back. But I know you mean it. I know you do, Cat. Thank you."

"How do you feel about anal sex?"

Sara choked, breaking into a spluttering coughing fit. Catherine was so damn good at taking the solemnity out of a situation by throwing out something so far out of left field that you couldn't possibly ignore, thereby making you completely forget about what you were emotional about in the first place. Finally she squeaked, "what?"

Catherine threw her head back and laughed, then dragged Sara up onto the bed with her, laying down and embracing her lover tightly. "Go to sleep, naughty girl."

"Right," Sara snorted, rolling her eyes. "Like I can sleep after that. You'll probably wake me up with anal sex before you even get my answer."

Catherine cackled gleefully, the sound musical to Sara, and it made her laugh too. "So will you wear a collar and be on my leash for the Halloween party?"

Sara had forgotten about that request, conveniently, but how could she say no? It was a delicious thought, and despite the fact that she wasn't fond of being the center of attention, she didn't think she'd mind being looked at for being on Catherine's leash. It would connect her to the blonde on a level no one could question. "Yeah," she finally answered. "I'd love to."

"Uh, I don't wanna go in," Sara said nervously, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. They were in the car, in the parking lot, ready to head into the Halloween party, and Sara was freaking out just a little. Catherine had her dressed as a schoolgirl, with a white polo shirt and a light blue pleated skirt, white socks that stopped just below her knees, and blue patent leather mary-janes to match the skirt. She didn't even want to know how Catherine had managed to find the shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her face dusted lightly with make-up, and Catherine had fawned over her for the entire drive. Well, as much as she could while driving. You look so cute, I can't keep my hands off you, etc. etc.

Catherine got out of the car and walked around to open Sara's door, squatting down and resting a hand on Sara's bare knee. "Baby, we talked about this. Come on now." She took Sara's hand and gently pulled her out of the car, then took the pretty white collar from her purse and guided Sara onto her knees as she herself stood up.

Sara allowed herself to be pulled out of the car, though she was pouting about it for sure, and she went willingly to her knees, the asphalt uncomfortable but bearable, her eyes riveted to the collar that was about to be put around her neck. She tilted her head back slightly at Catherine's prompt, and gasped when the shiny leather touched her throat. Slender fingers slid across her skin as Catherine carefully buckled the collar in back, making sure it wasn't too tight, then attached the leash to the dainty silver o-ring on the front of the collar. As soon as the clip closed around the ring, she felt physically connected to Catherine. A shiver ran down her spine and she realized instantly that she liked the feeling. She felt comforted, safe, protected, and... cared for. It didn't make her feel owned or objectified, which she had been a little afraid of, and the sigh of relief that passed her lips didn't go unnoticed by either woman.

Catherine gave an easy tug on the leash and Sara got to her feet, brushing off her knees, which were now scraped, the blonde noticed with a sly grin. Scraped knees... the perfect accessory to Sara's outfit.

"Cat?" Sara asked in a tiny voice.

Catherine melted, but kept her cool exterior as she replied, "that's Ms. Willows tonight, little girl."

"Ms... Ms. Willows?" Sara asked, scuffing the toe of one shoe against the concrete as she stood in front of Catherine.

"Yes?" Hot damn, Sara was adorable.

"Will you... uh... what if..." Her brows furrowed as she couldn't quite get the question to form.

"Don't worry," Cat said softly, taking Sara into a hug and breathing in the strawberry shampoo she'd used on her lover's hair. "If anybody stares too long or even thinks of making a sarcastic comment, I'll put my foot so far up their ass they won't be able to talk... *and* I'll give them detention."

Sara laughed, squeezing Catherine tightly and appreciating the humor-laced sentiment. "Okay," she said with a nod. "Then I think I'm ready."

Catherine nodded too and stepped forward, leading Sara toward the building.

Now that her last-minute nerves were quelled, at least for the time being, Sara really noticed Catherine's costume. She wore a dark blue, very chic, very expensive business suit and a pair of black wire-rimmed glasses. She looked... fucking amazing, and every bit the teacher she was playing tonight. The glasses especially sparked Sara's fire, and then a sharp cadence drew her eyes to Cat's navy pumps, the heels of which were rhythmically clicking against the sidewalk until they reached the doors.

Catherine paused with her hand on the doorknob and turned to face Sara. "Are you going to be a good girl tonight?"

Sara blushed, but managed not to look away, and nodded. "Yes Ms. Willows." See? She could remember instructions once in awhile.

"You're gonna do what I tell you?"

"Yes Ms. Willows."

"And do you know what'll happen if you don't behave?"

Another blush. "You, uh, you'll slap my hands with a ruler in front of everyone." She almost couldn't get herself to say that aloud, but the look of pride on Catherine's face made it worth it.

"Damn right I will, little girl," Catherine grinned. "But I'm sure I won't have to."

"No Ms. Willows, you won't," Sara said with a goofy grin.

"Okay, you ready?" Cat asked, and at Sara's nod, she started to open the door, and then at the last second turned around and pulled Sara into her arms, breathing in the scent of her lover's skin almost desperately. "Christ," she exclaimed, then let go of Sara and pushed inside the building, tugging gently on the leash.

Sara followed after her, confused as hell. She slipped one hand into Catherine's back pocket and walked very close behind her, whispering into her ear, "are you okay?"

Catherine took Sara's hand from her pocket and held it instead. "I'm okay, let's talk about it later?"

"Sure..." Sara grinned and then added, "I mean, yes Ms. Willows."

Catherine smirked and squeezed Sara's hand. "Such a good girl. How about you, are you doing okay?"

"So far so good, Ms. Willows. I don't think anyone's really looked up from their drinks yet."

Suddenly Catherine went rigid, but not in a bad way, and hissed into Sara's ear, "holy shit, look at Gil and Sofia..."

"That CSI from days?" Sara peeked around Catherine to see what she was looking at. "Oh wow." They were dressed as Caesar and Cleopatra. Gil looked right at home in a toga and laurel crown, Sara had to admit. And Sofia... fucking wow. With that Egyptian-style make-up and gown... she was like something out of a movie.

"Yeah, wow is right," Catherine agreed. She looked at Sara with a half-grin. "You're still the cutest, sexiest girl in the room," she whispered. And she meant it.

"Ms. Willowssss," Sara whined a little, ducking her head against Catherine's neck to fight the blush. Her body tingled at the statement, but she wasn't used to taking compliments like that, and old habits were hard to break.

Catherine laughed and ran a hand up and down Sara's back. "I know, I know," she said, still laughing as she kissed the top of Sara's head. "Would you like a snack?"

Sara shook her head, keeping it buried in Catherine's neck for the moment. "Can't eat," she mumbled into the soft, protective skin.

"I have never known you to be shy," Catherine whispered amusedly. "Why are you hiding?"

"Not really sure," Sara confessed, pulling her face away to grin sheepishly up at Catherine. "Not good at taking compliments, especially ones like that. Plus I think we've been noticed, because a million people are staring. I feel like they can see right through my skirt. I don't wear skirts."

"I promise, no one can see through your skirt," Catherine said lightly. "And the only one who's going to be seeing under it is me, much later on. Your cute little cotton underpants are safely secret, baby."

"I don't know why you're the top in this relationship," Sara teased into Catherine's ear. "You're much naughtier than I am."

"You have your moments," Cat replied with a shit-eating grin.

Greg waved at the teacher and student as he made his way to the punch bowl, and consequently, Sofia and Gil. "Hello, ladies," he said brightly, getting a dirty look from Gil and a laugh from Sofia as he filled a plastic cup with the classic 7-up and sherbert punch.

Sofia leaned over to Greg and nodded toward Sara and Catherine. "What's with them?"

Greg glanced at his two favorite women and then grinned at Sofia. "They're fucking."

Gil choked on his punch, even though he pretty much knew that piece of information, but Sofia just lifted one brow and smirked. "Really? I didn't think they were even friends."

"Does one have to be friends with another in order to fuck?" Greg asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I don't know, they look pretty friendly tonight," Sofia drawled back.

"*You* look pretty friendly tonight," Greg said with a hopeful wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Don't make me kick your ass in these shoes," Sofia said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, there's Warrick," Catherine announced to Sara, pointing toward the golden boy, who had just walked in stag. As soon as he saw them he made his way over to them, whistling his appreciation.

"You two look *hot*," he complimented, shaking his head. "Damn, ladies."

Catherine snaked an arm around Sara's waist and tugged her close. "You don't looks so bad yourself, Batman."

"I'm not Batman," Warrick grumped. "I'm Val Kilmer."

"Who played Batman," Catherine supplied.

"He also played many other roles," Warrick fought back, intending to start listing them off on his fingers, but Catherine put up a hand.

"Why would you come dressed as Val Kilmer? Batman is so much cooler. You're losing style, Brown."

"You look nice," Sara quickly added when Warrick frowned. "I think Catherine's just joking. Aren't you, Ms. Willows?" she asked, feeling Catherine's fingers dig slightly into her hip.

"Thanks, Sara," Warrick mumbled, nudging Catherine's elbow as he walked past her toward the drink table.

Catherine turned to look at Sara, raising a dubious eyebrow. "I thought you were going to be good?"

"I am being good," Sara pouted, rocking back onto her heels, then forward again. "You were hurting his feelings. I was helping."

Catherine laughed, squeezing Sara's waist and kissing her on the nose. "Shall we get drinks?"

Sara nodded, and as they headed to the table, she asked sheepishly, "can I have a beer, Ms. Willows?"

Catherine made sure no one was looking and gave her a discrete, light little swat on the rear. "No you may not," she answered, trying to conceal her amusement at the question. There were other people nearby so she whispered into Sara's ear, "I can't believe you would even ask me that, little girl."

Sara played her part well, which was easy since she was actually frustrated at the answer. "Well what can I have?" she whispered back, resisting the urge to stomp her light blue mary janes in protest.

"You can have punch, young lady, and a trip to the restroom if you keep up the attitude," Catherine continued to whisper to avoid being overheard.

Sara frowned, her brows furrowed, but she was thrilled on the inside. She loved it when Catherine talked to her that way (when she was trying to get away with something she knew she shouldn't). "Sorry Ms. Willows," she murmured against her 'teacher's' ear.

"That's better," Catherine said with a nod, adjusting her glasses and picking up a cup. "Now, would you like some punch?"

"Yes please Ms. Willows."

Catherine filled the cup and handed it to Sara, struck for the thousandth time that night by her beauty and the look of innocence she was portraying. As Sara took the drink and brought it to her lips, Cat waited for her to swallow before saying quietly, "do you have any idea how fucking cute you look? You're driving me crazy just standing there."

Sara's jaw dropped in mock surprise. "Ms. Willows, did you just cuss at me?"

Catherine blinked, thinking over her words, and then smirked, tugging lightly on Sara's leash to bring her very, very close. "What do you think you can do about it, little girl?" she breathed.

Sara's eyelids fluttered and she fought to keep control of her senses. "Nothing, Ms. Willows," she let out on an exhale. "Not a single thing."

Greg chose that moment to meander over and sling an arm around each of the women's shoulders. "Hey lad--"

"Hands off, Greg," Catherine snapped, and he pulled back as if she'd burnt him, his eyes wide as they darted back and forth between her and Sara, fast enough to make him dizzy.

"Woah, a little territorial there, Cat?" he asked with a boyish grin.

"Didn't your mother teach you not to touch a girl without asking?" Catherine tsked, shaking a finger at him.

"Don't bring my mother into this," Greg rallied, his grin widening as he bowed and left them alone with a flourish.

Sara leaned in and rested her head on Catherine's shoulder. "I love it when you fight people off," she purred. The rest of the world was starting to disappear, and she could only feel Catherine. She was warm, and safe.

Catherine sensed the shift beginning in her lover, and she brought her arms around Sara, rubbing slow circles over her lower back. "I think we should go home now," she said softly.

Sara said nothing, she just nodded. They hadn't been here very long, but they had put in an appearance, and she really wanted to be alone with Catherine. She wanted to feel Cat's hands on her, and she liked playing student to Cat's teacher. It was more of a turn-on than she'd expected.

--

Catherine had excused them and led Sara to the car, helping her in and gently removing the collar, massaging Sara's throat even though the collar hadn't been tight enough to either hurt or leave any sort of chafe marks. It was just a gentle way to ease Sara out of the feeling of having it around her neck. Her palms stroked up and down, all the way around from front to back, and then she placed a kiss on pouty lips and walked around to get into the driver's seat.

Now they were parked in Catherine's driveway, getting out of the car.

Cat felt a giddy urge to hold Sara's hand like a teenager as they walked up to the door, and she let them in, locking up behind them.

Sara leaned into Catherine, nuzzling her lips across the side of her lover's neck. "Ms. Willows?" she asked, flicking her tongue over the soft skin.

"Yes?" Catherine asked, fighting down the moan that wanted to escape. Having Sara call her that was just... yeah.

"I know you're my teacher, but you're so beautiful, and sexy, and I can't stop thinking about your hands on me... does that make me a bad girl?" Sara asked coyly, looking up at Cat and batting her eyelashes.

Catherine's eyes threatened to roll back and she went with the scene Sara was creating. "Yes," she answered, slowly nodding her head, her blue eyes full of lust and longing. "But it makes me a bad girl too, for thinking about the same thing."

Schoolgirl Sara's eyes widened a bit and she gasped. "Really?"

"Really," Cat offered, breathing in Sara's deliciously natural scent in the air between them.

The brunette bit her lip and toyed with the hem of her skirt, pretending to be nervous about asking her next question. "Ms. Willows, would you... would you touch me?"

Catherine's nostrils flared. Sara was really too good at this. She was starting to *feel* like a naughty teacher. "Where would you like me to touch you, Sara?" she barely whispered.

"Right-- right here please, Ms. Willows," Sara breathed, placing a finger on her lips.

"I think I can do that," Catherine granted, and as Sara's finger slipped away she replaced it with her own, sliding it across her lover's soft lips and gasping as she felt it being sucked between them, a warm, wet tongue flicking over her fingertip.

"Mmmmm..." Sara purred, loving the taste of Catherine's finger. She took it further into her mouth, closing her lips around it and sucking rhythmically, her eyes focused on her lover's face. She liked what this seemed to be doing to Catherine. She leaned forward, slowly dragging her mouth away from Cat's finger and placed it beside her lover's ear. "What if Principal Grissom catches us?"

Catherine's knees buckled and she grabbed on to Sara for support.

"What's wrong, Ms. Willows?" Sara asked cheekily, holding Catherine up with ease.

"You know very well what's wrong, you naughty little girl," Catherine scolded her.

Sara bounced out of the foyer and into the living room to sit on the couch. This was a lot more fun than she would have expected. Especially the getting-away-with-teasing-Catherine part. "Who, me? I'm not the teacher. You're the naughty one for even thinking that way about one of your students." Oh yeah, the look on Cat's face was priceless.

Catherine's jaw dropped, and she adjusted her glasses as she stalked toward Sara, pulling her ruler from her purse. She dropped her purse, keeping hold of the ruler, and stood above Sara, tapping it into one palm in a menacing manner. "How old are you?"

The question surprised Sara, and she started to answer with her real age, wondering what it had to do with the situation, but realization quickly dawned and she answered haughtily, "twenty-one. So what?"

"Put out your hands."

"No." Said hands were folded across her chest and tucked underneath her biceps for protection.

"Little girl," Catherine warned, "do not make me wrestle you into compliance."

"You would put your hands on a student that way?" Sara mock-gasped.

"You are awfully cocky for someone who's in trouble," Catherine said with a raised brow.

"I'm only in trouble if you can catch me," Sara replied, and shot up off the couch and over the back of it, crouching behind the piece of furniture.

"Maybe I should send you to Principal Grissom instead. I hear he gives quite the spanking."

Sara was up and back over the couch, sitting up straight with her hands out in front of her before Catherine finished the sentence. "Why did you want to know how old I am?"

Catherine smirked, on the verge of laughing at Sara's quick compliance. "Because that's how many times you're going to get hit."

"Oh." Sara wrinkled up her nose. "Did I say twenty-one? I meant... one."

Now Catherine did laugh, and it took all she had not to smother Sara with kisses. She was so fucking *adorable*! "Nice try. We'll see if you want to keep teasing your teacher when you can't even pick up your pencil to write the essay you're getting assigned."

Sara's pout was monumental, and her hands twitched.

Catherine laughed again. "Oh God, you're too cute. I'm just playing, I'm not going to give you twenty-one licks. Just one. But you do have to write me an essay, and I want your best work, little girl, you got that?" She pointed a stern finger at Sara.

Sara kept the pout as she nodded. "Yes Ms. Willows."

"Good." Catherine stepped forward and rapped Sara's knuckles once with the ruler, not very hard despite the imposing way she had advanced on her 'student'.

"Ow!" It hurt just a little, and Sara jumped, immediately popping one or two knuckles in her mouth to make it look like it had hurt more. She had been expecting much worse. She sat there sucking on her hand and looking penitent, gazing at Cath from under her lashes.

Catherine wanted to take a picture. "Oh stop it, I didn't hit you that hard," she said, shaking her head. "Now get your little butt up and go get a pencil from the desk in my office."

Sara groaned and made a show of dragging her feet the entire way, scuffing her shoes on the hardwood floor, but she went and got a pencil and returned to the living room.

"You'll be polishing the floor later," Catherine said with a raised brow. "And those shoes."

Sara didn't reply as she set the pencil on the coffee table and sat back down on the sofa.

"Now go back to the office and get a piece of binder paper from the top drawer."

"Uh!!!" Sara protested indignantly, jumping to her feet. "What's wrong with you? You couldn't have told me to get it when I was in there getting the pencil?!"

"Now you can get two pieces, the length of your essay just doubled."

The unruly 'student' stalked off to the office and returned with two sheets of binder paper. "Anything else before I sit down?" she asked tartly.

"No," Catherine said pleasantly. "I want a two page paper, front and back, single spaced, about why it is inappropriate to tease your teacher, and how you will go about avoiding the behavior in the future." She saw Sara pick up the pencil and start to write her name at the top, in rather large letters. "And if you write that big, or I get a smart-assed essay, not only will I spank you, but I will have you start from scratch and write three pages, sitting on a hard-backed chair. Am I clear?"

Sara's jaw dropped and she erased her name, writing it much smaller, eyeing Catherine with something akin to respect before she answered. "Yes Ms. Willows."

Catherine gave her a smile and nodded toward the paper. "Good. Get working."

It took Sara nearly half an hour to get two pages worth of decent material that wouldn't get her spanked, and when she looked up Catherine was reading a book. "I'm finished, Ms. Willows," she announced, waiting for Cat to acknowledge her before she held out the essay to her 'teacher'.

Catherine put away her book and took the papers, settling back to read them while Sara watched raptly, hoping her work was good.

A few parts made Catherine smile, a few others made her laugh, and she was very pleased with Sara's work. She set the essay on the coffee table and moved to sit beside Sara on the sofa. "That was very well written," she praised her girl.

"Thanks," Sara beamed, biting her lip nervously when Catherine took gentle hold of her hands.

"I think you deserve a little reward, what do you think?" the blonde asked, rubbing her thumbs back and forth over Sara's (not) bruised knuckles.

Sara nodded. "I think I deserve a kiss," she said quietly.

"I can't do that," Catherine said regretfully. "I could be fired."

"I won't tell anyone," Sara said earnestly. "Please?"

The pleading in her 'student's' eyes did her in, and she started to lean closer, still trying to talk herself out of it. "I really shouldn't..."

"You're the most beautiful teacher I've ever had, Ms. Willows," Sara whispered, leaning in closer as well. "I've been dreaming about kissing you ever since I ended up in your class." Their lips brushed, just a fleeting touch, and Sara closed her eyes. "I always sit in the front row because I don't want to miss a word you say or a move you make..."

Their lips brushed again, and Catherine closed her eyes too. "I always catch you looking, Sara, and I wonder if your skirts are that short because of me, or if you have a crush on some boy in the class..."

"I wear short skirts for you," Sara whispered. "I think about how warm your hands would be underneath them."

"I wish I could help you find out," Catherine breathed, pressing her lips to Sara's, longer this time but no less chaste. "But I can't. That's something I can never do. I shouldn't even be kissing you, Sara. I'm putting my job on the line here already..."

Sara snuck her tongue out to take a swipe across Catherine's lower lip, reveling in the moan that poured from her sexy 'teacher's' throat. "No one would ever know..." She sensed Catherine's resistance fading, and took hold of her teacher's hand, guiding it to rest on her bare knee. "I won't tell anyone Ms. Willows, I promise," she swore. "Please?" She spread her legs a little, encouraging Catherine's hand to travel...

Catherine was nearly gone and she hadn't even felt Sara's heat yet. She knew it was there, she could tell by the breathy quality of that trying-to-be-innocent voice. When her girl spread her legs a bit, her resolve crumbled and her morals as a 'teacher' went to hell. She slowly inched her hand up Sara's thigh, under the hem of her skirt, stopping there to rub up and down.

Sara's breath hitched and she moved her legs further apart, leaning her back against the couch and pinning Catherine with a wide-eyed gaze. "Higher Ms. Willows... touch my panties..." Her cheeks flushed and she bit her lip, waiting for Catherine's fingertips to graze her aching sex.

As soon as her hand reached Sara's panties, Catherine groaned, shedding all pretenses of the teacher persona, tossing her glasses over her shoulder and pulling those white cotton panties down around Sara's knees. "Sara," she breathed. "Do you have any idea--"

"Yes," Sara interrupted, not needing to hear it to know what Catherine was going to say. "Fuck me, Cat."

"Oh I plan to," Catherine growled, putting her hand back under Sara's skirt, combing through her soft curls and parting her lips with two fingers, stroking between them with a third. "I like your panties around your knees..."

"Me too. I like your hand up my skirt," Sara agreed, rocking her hips into Catherine's fingers. "Inside please? I'm fucking aching for it, Cat..."

"I know," Catherine moaned, pressing one finger slowly into Sara's opening. "I can feel how hot and wet and swollen you are..." Her lover's pussy swallowed her finger too easily, she added another and slid in deep.

"Don't forget throbbing," Sara added, dropping her head back onto the top of the couch, cursing the ponytail getting in the way of her comfort and quickly reaching up to yank out the rubberband holding her hair up. As it fell down over her shoulders, she laid her head down with a sigh, wanting to open up further for her lover, but the panties around her knees wouldn't let her.

Catherine didn't need Sara's thighs spread any wider, she had worked her hand between them without a problem, and even two fingers wasn't enough to fill Sara's need at the moment, nor her own, so she slipped in a third, stretching lightly, pausing to let the muscles adust to the intrusion.

Sara didn't need adjustment. She groaned and whined and pushed up hard into Cat's hand when she felt a lack of movement. "It doesn't hurt," she panted. "Keep going. Please. Hard."

Catherine was surprised at that, but she wasn't about to argue. She drove her fingers in hard, absolutely fucking reveling in Sara's satisfied growl. She pulled out and pushed in again, getting into a rhythm, watching Sara buck and writhe under her touch. It was intoxicatingly, mind-blowingly, head-spinningly hot. Little explosions were going off on all of her nerve endings as she fucked Sara like a rockstar, good and fast and hard. And Sara took it like a rockstar, good and fast and hard, making noises Catherine could only dream about and had never heard before.

The first hint of contact to her clit sent Sara screaming over the edge, her fists squeezing the sofa cushion beneath her as she came. Muscles clamped on Catherine's invading fingers, convulsing and pulsing pleasure outward in waves in all directions. The orgasm claimed her, body and mind, and she released onto Catherine's hand, slumping back to the couch, exhausted and drained and with a very content expression. She laid still for a few minutes, getting her breathing back to normal, and when her eyes finally opened with a lazy blink, they locked onto Catherine's blazing ones, surprised to see something besides just lust and passion lurking behind the clear blue windows. She didn't know what it was, but the sight of it warmed her from the inside out, and she gave her lover a lopsided smile.

--

Catherine wanted to tell Sara what she felt, but she couldn't quite explain it to herself, so she'd have a hell of a time trying to explain it to Sara. She made the mistake of glancing down and noticed Sara's panties still around her knees, and she flopped backwards onto the couch with a groan. "You're just... you've got to pull up your underwear Sara. I can't take the heat."

Sara grinned wickedly and shook her head, no longer bound by the rules of being a student. "No." She slipped the panties off over her shoes and crumpled them into a ball, quickly laying on top of Catherine and shoving the wet cotton into her lover's open mouth.

Catherine's eyes widened almost comically and she actually whimpered at the taste, and at the fucking audacity of a bold move like that. She kept the panties in her mouth, closing her teeth around them as she sat up, grabbing Sara around the waist and hoisting her into the air, depositing the smirking brunette across her lap. She flipped up her lover's skirt and started peppering her backside with playful swats that left her kicking and squirming and laughing. Catherine loved every minute of it, and when she'd had enough, she stopped spanking and took the panties out of her mouth. "Stand up..."

Sara, still laughing, managed to get to her feet.

"Actually, first sit down," Catherine changed her mind, and when Sara sat, she took hold of an ankle and lifted it, sliding the panties over one shoe, then repeated the process with the other leg. "Now stand up."

Sara stood, and shivered as Catherine pulled the wet panties up her legs and fitted them around her waist.

"Now you have to wear them wet."

"How unsanitary."

"Speaking of unsanitary, miss 'scuff up the floors', you have some hardwood to polish."

--

The next night, in the middle of shift, Sara couldn't hold off the question she needed to ask Catherine any longer. She found the blonde peering into a microscope and lingered in the doorway, biting her fingernails until Catherine looked up.

"Hey, what are you doing standing there staring?" Catherine asked with a smile, stretching with a yawn and then walking over to Sara, kissing her cheek. "Shouldn't you be in the garage with Warrick? I hear you've got a car to take apart."

"Yeah," Sara said nervously, continuing to chew on her nails as she spoke. "I just, I have a question first."

"Well spit it out, it's obviously killin ya," Catherine said, tilting her head to the side, resisting the urge to pull Sara's hand away from her mouth.

"Yeah, it's no big deal, it's just that a friend of mine called me a couple hours ago and begged me to do a double date with her."

A very green-eyed monster reared its head in Catherine's psyche, but she choked on it and did her best to play it cool. "And you're asking me for what, for permission?"

"Well, not exactly... I just wondered if you'd mind."

"Hey, I don't own you, you can do whatever you want." Catherine waved a hand dismissively, though she was dying to scream that yes, she did mind, and she wanted Sara all to herself.

"Catherine--" Sara started to say, but stopped, realizing she couldn't expect more at this point. She didn't know whether she was relieved or disappointed that Catherine was taking this so casually. Or at least appearing to take it so casually. "I mean... yeah. Okay then," she stammered, biting into the quick of her nail and wincing, pulling it away from her mouth to avoid further damage. She really had to find another nervous habit.

"When is the date?" Catherine asked, keeping the jealousy and possessiveness temporarily at bay.

Sara puffed out her cheeks as she exhaled. "Tomorrow night, I have it off."

A sarcastic comment about enjoying it was on the tip of Catherine's tongue, but instead she kissed Sara's cheek and ran a hand down her arm. "Have a good time," she said with as much sincerity as she could muster, and she had to admit, she was damn proud of herself for being so cool about this on the surface. She didn't want to scare Sara off again with any inkling of 'you're mine' behavior.

Sara watched her go down the hallway, her cheek burning from the touch of Catherine's lips. She still didn't know what to feel.

--

Sunday night came far too quickly for Catherine's liking, and she paced the living room aimlessly for a good ten minutes until Lindsey came in and stared at her. "Mommy? What'cha doing?"

Catherine stopped and glanced at the clock for the hundredth time that evening... damnit, it was only seven-thirty. Hours and hours to go before Sunday was officially over. She looked at her daughter and flopped down onto the sofa. "Your mommy's being stupid," she said honestly.

Lindsey scurried over and sat in her mother's lap. "Is it about Sara?" she asked.

The innocent yet innate knowledge of a six-and-a-half-year-old child never ceased to amaze her. "It is," she confessed.

"Did you have a fight?" Lindsey scrunched up her nose.

"No honey, we didn't have a fight."

"Then what's wrong? Did she go to Chuck E. Cheese with somebody else?"

Catherine choked on a sudden lump in her throat, tears stinging her eyes as she hugged Lindsey tight. "Something like that."

"Don't be sad, Mommy. Will you read me a story?"

"Sure sweetie," Cat said with a smile, nuzzling her daughter's nose and standing up with Lindsey in her arms, carrying her to her bedroom.

--

Catherine woke up to... a rock hitting her window? What? She sat up and rubbed her eyes, glancing at the clock - two a.m.- and quickly got out of bed to investigate the sound. As she opened the curtains, another rock bounced off the window and she heard her name amidst the pouring rain outside.

Sara was standing on her front lawn, soaked to the bone, clearly drunk, throwing rocks at her window at two o'clock in the morning and calling her name.

She threw open her window, rain immediately pelting her in the face and she raised a hand to ward some of it off. "Sara? Go to the door, I'll let you in!" she yelled over the downpour.

Sara stayed where she was. Her jacket was going to be ruined. "She was beautiful, Cat!" she shouted across the yard, the wind whipping her wet hair arrhythmically against her face and neck, the water mixing with the salty tears streaming down her cheeks. "She was gorgeous and sexy and sweet! She kissed me, Catherine! She kissed me, and I should have melted into her but she didn't even get my pulse racing!" Her tears fell harder as she let the rain hit her body, her arms going around herself as she shivered violently.

"Sara, get in the house!"

"She didn't even get my pulse racing with a mind-blowing kiss, and all I have to do is look at you or smell your shampoo and my knees go weak!"

Catherine couldn't take another second of Sara pouring her heart out in the bone-chilling rain. Drunk or not, Sara's words meant something to Catherine, and she went to the front door and out into the mess, determined to drag Sara inside no matter how much the brunette resisted. The grass was freezing on her bare feet, and within seconds she was soaked through and through, but she pulled Sara into her arms, kissing her fiercely and wiping away her tears. Her lover tasted like whiskey.

"Are you crazy?" Catherine finally pulled back to whisper. "Come inside, Sara, please."

Sara nodded, following sedately now, her world turned upside-down.

Catherine led her inside and locked the door, then turned to her and kissed her again, as if discovering her lips for the first time. "You're freezing," she breathed, unmindful of her own body temperature as she stripped Sara out of her wet clothes, leaving them on the floor in the foyer, leading her lover to the master bathroom in just her bra and underwear. She turned on the shower and divested Sara of the remainder of her clothing, stealing several kisses as she did so. Once the trembling woman was naked, she pointed to the shower. "Get in."

Sara didn't argue, she just stepped under the warm spray and let it wash over her, melting away the icy cold of the weather outside.

Catherine undressed and joined her in the shower, and as she gently washed her lover's body, she made a confession of her own. "I didn't want you to go," she said quietly.

Sara nodded. She had figured as much. "Then why didn't you tell me that?" Her words slurred slightly together.

"I didn't know how."

Sara could understand that... hell, she didn't know how to tell Catherine half the things she wanted to say. She knew what it felt like. "I didn't know it when I asked you, but now I know I wanted you to mind." Did that make sense?

"I minded. A lot. But I didn't want to scare you away."

"Before tonight, it might have scared me away. But now I know. You said awhile ago that you're addicted to me."

"I am." Catherine nodded.

Sara turned around in her embrace and rested her forehead against her lover's. "I'm addicted to you too, Cat."

Catherine's breath hitched, her lips finding Sara's and dancing sweetly across them. "Even when you're sober?"

Sara nodded, closing her eyes and putting her hands on the wall to steady herself. "Especially when I'm sober."

Addiction was so much easier to cop to than love.

There was a long, comfortable silence, and Sara was the first to break it, her throaty words a whisper. "How did this happen to us, Cath?"

"I don't know," Catherine whispered back. "You're surprisingly lucid for a drunk person, but don't think too hard tonight, okay? Let's just get your hair washed and get you to bed."

Sara gave in to the dizzy exhaustion that had been trying to claim her all night, and as her head dropped to Catherine's shoulder, she mumbled agreeably yet sarcastically against Catherine's wet skin. "Yes Mommy."

--

Sara woke the next afternoon with a pounding headache, and after a momentary panic that she'd slept with Annabelle, she remembered the events of last night in crushing, vivid detail and groaned. "Tell me I did not," she muttered to herself. Oh, God. Her mouth tasted like something had crawled into it and died. She needed a toothbrush, immediately. She got out of bed, heading for the bathroom when she heard Catherine answer her non-question.

"Tell you you did not what?"

She continued into the bathroom, picking up Catherine's toothbrush and spreading more paste on it than necessary. "Throw rocks at your window in the middle of the night." She turned the water on and started scrubbing her teeth.

"Sorry, can't. You did. But it was... charming."

Sara choked on the toothbrush, causing bits of paste to fly everywhere, especially the mirror in front of her. "Charming? In a Silence-of-the-Lambs stalker type way?"

Catherine laughed, stretching out on the bed with a very content yawn.

Sara finished brushing her teeth and rinsed out her mouth, then shut the door and emptied what felt like five gallons of whiskey from her bladder. That accomplished, she returned to the bedroom, where Catherine was laying in bed, seeming to be watching her carefully. With a tentative smile, Sara started to put a fingernail into her mouth, but Catherine's words halted her.

"Don't you dare chew on your nails. Come here."

Surprised, but willing to comply, Sara dropped her hand to her side and walked over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. "Did I fuck this up, Cat?" she asked bluntly, before giving Catherine a chance to avoid the subject.

"Do you think you would have woken up in my bed, freshly showered and wearing my bathrobe if you had?" Catherine teased, pulling Sara to lay down next to her. At the stiffness in her lover, she kissed the back of Sara's neck and amended her answer. "No, you didn't fuck anything up. Except your leather jacket."

"I'm pretty sure I confessed things to you that now in the light of day I'm horrified that I admitted." The unmistakeable body language of hurt from her lover made her cringe. "No wait, Cat, that didn't come out right. I'm terrible at this."

"Terrible at what?"

"Talking about my feelings."

"You did fine last night... Just tell me the truth, Sara. I'm a big girl, I can take it."

"Last night *was* the truth," Sara frowned. "I know I was drunk, but it was the truth. I just-- I'm just--" She stopped trying and shook her head.

"You're just addicted to me?" Catherine breathed, running her hand down Sara's arm, over the fluffy white bathrobe.

Sara held her breath. "Didn't I already say that last night?"

Catherine's hand tightened around Sara's shoulder. "I want to hear you say it without liquid courage."

"I don't know if I--" A tightly curled fist in her hair changed her mind, and the words flowed effortlessly from her lips in a rush. "I'm addicted to you, Catherine."

Catherine's eyes filled with tears and she pushed them away, curling her fist tighter in Sara's hair and breathing hotly into her ear. "I want you naked."

"I am naked, Cat," Sara said in a shaky voice.

"Physically naked," Catherine clarified, resisting a smirk or a sarcastic comment. "Naked and spread wide for me, Sara. Take off the robe and lay on your back with your legs apart and your arms stretched above your head. I need to see you. I need to-- I just need--" She stopped trying to explain, because Sara rose from the bed and removed her bathrobe, letting it fall to the floor at her feet.

Catherine moved off of the bed so her lover could lay down, and she watched with rapt fascination as Sara laid on her back, slowly stretched her arms out above her and spread her legs. Oh God... it was exactly what she needed to see. Affection washed over her and threatened to choke her as she stopped fighting the tears and let them fall. She had never wanted to feel so strongly for Sara. That had never been part of the plan. But what they had shared, what they had given each other... what Sara had given to *her*... she could no longer imagine life without it. She finally asked the one question that she had never thought to ask. "Why do you trust me enough to give me your power?"

Sara didn't expect the question, but she lifted her eyes to Catherine's. She had to think about it for a few minutes, but she realized that she did in fact have an answer. "Because you never tried to take it." She was quiet for a minute, and then asked gently, "Cath, why are you crying?"

Catherine shook her head, indicating she didn't want to answer, and replied with a command instead, her voice thin and wispy. "Touch yourself."

Sara flushed with heat, her cheeks burning at the two-word request. She was naked, and open, and Cath would see *everything*... every touch, every twitch, every stroke. "I-- I don't--"

"Please," Catherine interrupted.

The need in Cat's smoky voice penetrated Sara's defenses, and she slowly brought her arms down from above her head. Just as slowly, she placed her right palm on her stomach and slid it lower until she reached the small patch of curls covering her sex.

"Oh baby," Catherine rasped, her eyes glued to Sara's hand. "Are you wet?"

Sara's eyelids fluttered closed and she slipped her fingers into her slick heat, biting her lip with a nod. "Ye-yes... What do you... want me to do?"

"I want you to make yourself cum," Catherine hissed quietly, her eyes darkening with passion. "However you most enjoy it."

"Okay," Sara whispered, keeping her eyes squeezed shut as her fingers played through her folds, parting and stroking them hesitantly. She had never done this in front of anyone before, excluding the time in the car, but that was entirely different. She had been fully clothed and not spread wide for Catherine's viewing pleasure.

Catherine sat on the edge of the bed next to Sara's left side, admiring her lover's beautiful body and the way Sara's fingers trembled as she pleased herself. She wanted to direct but she also didn't... she settled for laying a hand on one smoothly defined hip to offer silent encouragement.

Sara's hips jerked at the touch, her eyes snapping open and finding Catherine's again, her lower lip sliding between her teeth as she pushed two fingers inside herself. It felt weird. Familiar, she'd done it a thousand times before, but foreign, because the only fingers that had been inside her lately were Catherine's.

Catherine's pulse was pounding frantically in her ears, her heart racing as she struggled not to put her fingers inside along with Sara's. "I know I can see everything, but tell me what you're doing," she half-commanded, half-begged. "And try not to cum until I tell you to... if you can..." The last was definitely a request, not an order, and Cat swallowed hard, hoping Sara would do as she asked.

The thought floored Sara and her fingers stilled for a split second before she started moving them further into her. And if the rush of heat between her legs wasn't enough incentive, the unmasked vulnerability in Catherine's voice certainly was. "Okay," she consented, taking a breath and forcing the words past her lips. "I'm... I have two fingers inside myself, and I...'m pushing them in and out... they, they feel different than yours, Cat... I'm used to yours now..." She hoped this was what Catherine wanted - she had never narrated when touching herself.

"You amaze me," Catherine breathed on a shaky exhale, her eyes clouded with desire. "You make me feel so powerful, Sara... do you have any idea what a precious gift that is to me?"

"No," Sara admitted, and as she brushed her thumb over her clit, she gasped out a moan, vocalizing for Catherine at the same time. "Oh fuck, Cat, I'm-- I'm touching my clit... it's so hard... it's, I think it's swollen."

"For me?" Catherine's breath hitched, her gaze darting back and forth between Sara's hand and her face.

"Yes Cat, for you, I'm swollen for you, I'm fucking myself for you, I've got my fingers inside me and I'm playing with my clit, all of it's for you, oh please, shit, please say I can cum, I'm so close already Catherine, you make me so fucking hot..." She was getting into it more as each word left her mouth. It felt really, really good to talk dirty to Catherine. And the effect on her lover was incredible. She didn't know Catherine's eyes could get that dark. Fingernails dug sharply into her hip.

Catherine thought she might pass out. She realized the change the instant Sara started to get off on the dirty talk, and she loved it. She knew she was digging her nails into her lover's hip but she couldn't help it. "Yes baby, you can cum," she husked. "Tell me."

"Ohhhh, Catherine, fuck, I can't believe I'm doing this, can't believe it's making me so hot to talk to you while I do it, oh God, oh God, oh G--" She stopped talking as her orgasm overtook her, sweeping through her body like wildfire, singeing everything in its wake. As soon as she could, she talked through it. "I love cumming for you Cat, it feels so good, it's like a fucking explosion, it's, it's, it's, oh God..." She shuddered, the last vestiges of the flames licking themselves out, and she let her fingers slide easily from her pussy, her hand falling limply to the bed at her side. She could feel the sweat lining her brow, her neck, in the valley between her breasts.

Catherine watched. And listened. And throbbed, pulsed, ached. She couldn't believe she had this woman in her life, in her home, in her bed. Naked, vulnerable, confident. Touching herself. Talking. Cumming. And then lying there satisfied as if it were the most common thing in the world to have done for someone. As if there was no thanks necessary. As if she would have done anything asked of her to make Catherine smile. Anything. Without complaint or a second thought. Sara was, in a word, magnificent. And she looked simply majestic at the moment, those deep brown eyes clouded over, her motionless fingers glistening with honey, her lips parted but her mouth umoving, a light sheen of sweat dusting her skin.

After just staring at Sara for a long, long time, Catherine finally spoke, her fingertips lightly stroking Sara's claw-marked hip. "Sometimes, Sara, you take my breath away."

They laid together, holding each other, for a few minutes, and then Sara spoke up. "Last night... I think you said you hadn't wanted me to go on that date... was that true?"

Catherine flushed mildly and nodded, unwilling to lie. "Don't run."

"Run?"

"Like the last time I made the mistake of treating you like I owned you."

"This is different, Catherine," Sara said affectionately, giving her lover a kiss. "This is us talking about, God forbid, our feelings. This isn't you throwing your weight around without asking me first."

Catherine nodded, returning the kiss, tasting the faint hint of toothpaste that lingered in Sara's mouth. "Oh, by the way, help yourself to my toothbrush," she said with a wry smile.

"Thanks, I already did. You should be glad. You might be dead otherwise."

Catherine laughed and kissed Sara again, letting her tongue trace her lover's lips. "Mmm, I like my toothpaste like this."

Sara grinned, playing with Cat's tongue with her teeth, then groaned as she caught sight of the clock on the nightstand. "We have two hours until shift," she complained.

Catherine turned around briefly, noting the accuracy of that statement, and groaned as well. "I wanted to stay in bed with you all day... awake. Not sleeping the whole damn time."

"We could call in sick," Sara suggested, though she was not at all serious. Sara, call in sick? Unheard of. Sara call in pretending to be sick? Not a fucking chance.

"Funny, Sidle," Catherine snarked, rolling her eyes and turning onto her stomach, burying her face in her pillow and pounding her fists repeatedly in what appeared to Sara to be a temper tantrum.

Cat's head snapped up, blue eyes wide as she felt a light smack to the seat of her pajama pants. She flipped onto her back faster than she could ever remember doing so, putting her hands out in front of her for protection. "No! I stopped." She would never, *ever* forget the way a spanking from Sara felt. And the one time it had happened, she had only been hit three times!

Sara just stared at her, jaw dropped. "It was *that* bad?" she asked.

"It hurt so fucking bad," Catherine confessed candidly. "I have never been hit that hard in my life."

Sara's jaw dropped even further if possible and she continued to stare at Catherine. She focused on the memory, and slowly her expression faded into a frown. "I did hit you pretty hard," she said, rather embarrassed about that fact. "I think it was because I was so angry."

"It's okay baby, I deserved it," Catherine assured her, kissing the tip of her nose. "I just don't want to go through it again," she added with a playful grin.

Sara exhaled slowly and nodded. "I guess I wouldn't trust me either."

Catherine made a noise of protest and hugged Sara tightly to her, kissing her forehead. "No, no, no, that's not it at all," she promised. "I trust you, Sara."

Sara turned away from her with an amazing pout, crossing her arms over her chest.

Catherine fought down a chuckle, biting her lip to stifle it. "Are you being petulant so I'll punish you and forget about this conversation?"

"Yes."

The laugh escaped and she leaned forward, kissing Sara between the shoulder blades, right on top of a starburst-shaped scar. "Not gonna happen."

Sara stiffened at the touch. She knew which scar Catherine's kiss had landed on. Puncture wound from the neck of a broken whiskey bottle. Most of her scars were from broken bottles. She still wasn't used to sharing those with anybody, especially not a lover, and her instinctual reaction was to tense up. But instead of pulling away, Catherine kissed her there again, and again, and again, until she slowly relaxed into the feeling of having someone care about her that much. Enough to push through her walls instead of bounce off of them. Enough to really want to get inside her, for better or worse, and not only when it was convenient. Never in a million years would she have thought Catherine to end up being that person. Well, truth be told, she never thought that person would even exist. She never thought she would have that kind of bond. But here it was, staring her in the face, so to speak, and despite how good it ultimately felt, it would still take some getting used to.

"Sara?" Catherine whispered.

"Yeah?" Sara whispered back.

"What would you think about getting tattoos over some of these?" the blonde asked, tracing a few more of the scars with one fingertip. "I think they're beautiful, but I know that you don't... and getting tattoos would mean you could make new memories for each one."

Sara started to cry. She didn't know why the urge had come up so suddenly or so forcefully, but she turned over and clung to Catherine, burying her face in her lover's neck, sobs shaking her naked body.

Catherine gasped in surprise, quickly pulling a blanket up over them. She knew Sara felt vulnerable being naked, and that her lover would take comfort in the blanket's protection. She didn't even ask what was wrong - there was no way Sara would be able to answer right now, and she was more in tune with Sara's needs than anyone else on the planet at this point. Sara needed to cry, and she needed to do it without words from Catherine. Cat knew that as much as she knew anything.

Sara cried for a long time. She was past the point of being embarrassed about her tears, and at the point of acceptance - she obviously had needed this to happen for awhile and had never felt safe enough to let go until now. And Catherine was perfect. She didn't fuss over her, didn't ask a million questions, she just held her close and offered silent comfort. And covered them both with a blanket, for which Sara was so grateful. There were a lot of things about Catherine that Sara was grateful for, she realized. Moments of emotion between them never got awkward. And that was largely due to the fact that Catherine always seemed to know what to say to break the tension before it even formed.

When she finally calmed down, Sara sniffed and wiped her eyes on the shoulder of Catherine's pajama sleeve. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't you dare," Catherine said in warning.

"Okay." Sara nodded. Again, she was grateful. Grateful this time that Catherine wouldn't allow her to apologize for *feeling*. Because if the blonde had not refused to accept it, Sara would have kept apologizing. The fact that Catherine wanted her even when she wasn't happy and sarcastic and bleeding sexuality, well... that fact blew her mind, in the best of ways.

Catherine nodded as well, seemingly satisfied with that response. "I'm here if you want to talk, but I'm not going to ask you to. I'm just going to tell you a story, and when I'm done, we'll take a shower. We don't have to talk. Or we can talk about anything. And then we'll go to work."

Sara curled into Catherine a little further, resting the side of her head on Cat's shoulder, settling in for whatever story her lover had in mind.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess named Sara, and she was the most beautiful girl in the entire kingdom. Everyone thought she was perfect... except for the trashy girl from the other side of town, Catherine, who liked to take her clothes off in front of the princes and princesses for gold coins."

Sara snorted with laughter, but Catherine interrupted her, pretending to be serious.

"I'm not finished!" she scolded, trying to keep her grin at a minimum. "So. Catherine knew that Sara wasn't perfect. In fact, she knew that Sara was the loneliest princess she'd ever met. And Sara would never ever give her gold coins for taking her clothes off. The princess would turn away whenever Catherine started to dance. At first Catherine was mad, she felt rejected, but she soon realized it was because Princess Sara respected her and didn't want to see her doing that to herself."

Sara was intrigued now, wondering where this story could possibly be going.

"One night, Catherine snuck into Princess Sara's bedroom, and found her sitting by the window, staring out at the stars like she wanted to be taken away. She didn't know exactly what had happened to the princess, but she knew it had to be pretty bad to put that look in her eyes. Princess Sara heard a noise and turned to see Catherine in her bedroom. She asked what the other girl was doing there, and Catherine answered like it should have been obvious. She told Princess Sara that she was there to rescue her. The princess looked confused, and shook her head. She asked what she was supposed to be rescued from. Catherine said that it didn't matter... that everyone needed to be rescued from something, and that no matter what scary things happened to her, Catherine wanted to take her away to the stars, where she would always be safe."

"Mmm," Sara purred, snuggled up tight with her very own knight in shining armor. "Did the princess ever change her mind and decide to watch Catherine take her clothes off?"

Catherine grinned, showing her teeth. "You bet your ass she did."

"You know... I've thought about seeing you naked before. Before I actually did, I mean."

One of Cat's eyebrows arched dramatically. "Oh really?"

"A few times here and there, yeah."

Catherine liked this revelation. "When?"

"I don't remember specifically," Sara crinkled her nose. "I just vaguely remember thinking about it."

"All right, all right. We need to shower."

"Yeah," Sara grumbled, rolling out of bed. She was halfway to the bathroom when she turned around and walked back to the bed, where Catherine was just starting to stand up. She put her arms around the blonde and pulled her into a tight hug, much like Catherine had done to her outside of the halloween party. "I like the idea," she said. "Of the tattoos. You'll go with me?"

"Every step of the way, baby," Catherine said gently, resting her head on Sara's shoulder.

--

"Okay, everything's set. As soon as you get your shirt off and lay on the table, I'll get started."

"Ooh, let me take care of that," Catherine said with a mischievous grin, moving closer to Sara and sliding her hands under the hem of her lover's tank top.

The purple-and-green-haired girl snickered, but made no comment.

Cat's hands went up further, teasing Sara's nipples erect before removing the shirt. With those nipples standing proud in front of her, she couldn't resist leaning down to take one in her mouth.

Sara groaned, hyper-aware of their audience, but the fact that Catherine apparently couldn't help herself gave the brunette a sense of pride, and she allowed the contact for as long as her lover wanted it.

"Ladies, not that I don't enjoy the show, but I get paid by the job, not the hour," the tattoo artist said with a smirk.

Catherine grinned and tugged Sara's nipple through her teeth before letting go. "All right baby, let's get you some ink."

Sara loved tattoos. Even when they didn't have as much significance behind them as the ones she was about to get. She gladly laid face down on the table. She was about to reach for Catherine's hand when she felt slender fingers interlock with hers. How the hell did this woman know exactly what she needed and when? She didn't know how, but it made her feel so good, and a lazy smile graced her lips as she closed her eyes.

Most of the scars were on her upper back, and she had decided to get a pair of wings in place of those. The wings would also cover the top half of Catherine's scar, the one she had claimed so many mornings ago. The bottom half would bear Catherine's name. Sara knew that they might not be together forever, she wasn't that naive, but whether they were together or not, that scar would always belong to Catherine.

The constant hum of the needle lulled Sara to sleep, and she dreamt of herself as a lonely servant girl, rescued from evil bandits by Catherine on a white horse. In a white velvet queen's robe, a gold jewel-encrusted crown atop her head. The queen slew the bandits with her sword of silver, then hopped off her horse to lift Sara into her arms. Sara was shaking, more scared than she had ever been, and just as the queen leaned down to kiss her, she woke up.

"Sara... Sara," Catherine gently shook her lover, and once brown eyes were open and gazing into hers, she smiled. "It's done, we're all set to go."

Sara shook her head to clear it, some of the fog drifting away, and she blushed. "I was having a weird dream, thanks to your little story the other day."

"Well if it was good enough to make you blush, do tell," Catherine said, intrigued.

Sara slowly sat up and made sure she had her equilibrium before standing. Catherine was still holding her hand. She allowed Cat to help her back into her tank top, careful not to disturb the bandages on her back that covered the new tattoos, and then they walked out together.

"You were a queen," Sara started to tell about her dream. "You rode up on this magnificent white stallion and rescued me from a bunch of bandits." She should probably be blushing harder, but she wasn't.

"Wow, I sound great," Catherine laughed. "What was I wearing?"

Sara snorted. "You looked like the White Witch from Narnia."

Catherine popped her on the ass as they reached the car, shooting her lover a pout. "That's mean."

Sara grinned, pulling Catherine into her arms and breathing in the scent of her hair. "I'm just kidding. You were breathtaking in my dream, just like you are when I'm awake."

Catherine was the one to blush now, ducking her head against Sara's shoulder. "You're overcompensating."

"For what?"

"For the White Witch insult."

"That wasn't an insult, the White Witch was hot."

Catherine's jaw dropped. "But she was evil!"

Sara hadn't laughed so freely in a long time. "So?"

"So, you think I'm evil?" Catherine's pout grew, her blue eyes wide as she pulled back to look into Sara's.

Sara was highly amused at Catherine's childish behavior. "You know I don't," she laughed.

Catherine started to grin, but suddenly turned serious. "Hey, Sara?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"There's really no good time to ask you this, so I'm just going to spit it out before I lose my nerve."

Sara did not like the sound of that. "Okay..."

"I don't know if I'll end up working at Lady H's or not, but I still really want to learn how to use a flogger, and since I can't learn on you..." She paused, hesitantly looking at Sara, biting her lip. "Would you be okay with me learning on one of Lady Heather's submissives?"

Sara let go of Catherine completely and took a step away from her. Her first instinct was to frown, get defensive, and clam up. Refuse to answer. But the expectancy and confusion in Catherine's wide blue eyes made her reconsider. What right did she have to object, really? They had no official relationship status, they didn't even refer to each other as girlfriends, so how could she justify saying no to that? Especially when it was hard to deny Catherine anything in the first place. She really didn't want Catherine to flog someone else, but she wasn't going to make herself 'ready' for Catherine to do it to her, because she was nowhere near ready.

"You don't want me to."

Shit. Apparently she was quiet for too long. Might as well be honest now. "I don't have a right to object."

"Your right lies in the fact that I asked you," Catherine explained carefully, as if tip-toeing around the fragile areas of Sara's psyche.

Sara opened her mouth to say something to that, but Catherine started talking again before she could get a word out.

"I have to admit, the thought of anyone else spanking or flogging or touching you like that makes me crazy. So I'll accept it if you say no, Sara. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't really want to know how you feel."

Sara felt a flush of heat and stepped closer to Catherine again, ducking her head to hide her blush in her lover's neck. "Nobody else touches me like that," she mumbled against Catherine's soft skin. "I never let anyone before you, and I won't let anyone after you, either." She took a deep breath and continued. "I can't say no, Catherine. I wish I could let you learn on me, but I just can't. I won't ask you not to pursue something you're interested in, though. I want you to learn if you want to learn."

Catherine wasn't quite sure how to feel about that answer... grateful that Sara didn't object, yes, but also a little sad, because she knew Sara was only agreeing to make her happy. That her lover really didn't want her to do it.

It seemed Sara could read her thoughts, because the next thing Catherine knew, soft lips were on hers, warm whispers flowing into her ear. "I want you to learn, Catherine... Take the offer while it's still on the table."

Catherine grinned, returning the kiss and pulling back to look at Sara. "You'd take it back?"

"Damn straight," Sara said with a grin of her own.

"All right, let's go home. Why don't you lay on your stomach in the back?"

"Yeah," Sara agreed, climbing in behind the passenger's seat and stretching out on her stomach. "No sudden stops, okay?" she teased.

"I'll do my best," Catherine said wryly, getting in and starting up the engine.

--

"Ha ha HA! YES!" Catherine nearly shrieked as she waved a piece of paper in the air, thrusting it toward Sara while Greg watched on in fascination.

Sara didn't have to look at the paper to know what Catherine was so happy about. She raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. "It was Mr. Ziegler's?" she asked.

"It was Mr. Ziegler's," Catherine confirmed with a shit-eating grin. "You owe me... something."

"I don't remember betting?" Sara stated, in a tone that made it sound more like a question even though it was indeed a statement. And then she looked at Greg. "What took so long to get those results?"

Greg glared at Catherine. "Someone put it in the wrong spot, so I didn't even know it existed until Grissom barked up my ass about it."

Catherine got a vivid mental picture of that scenario and burst out laughing.

Sara smirked, turning to her lover. "I take it that 'someone' was you?"

Greg continued to glare. "It was," he confirmed. "Swami Greg is not pleased."

"Oh, get over it," Catherine said, rolling her eyes. "Stop trying to ruin my victory."

"Catherine, we did *not* bet," Sara insisted. "There is no victory."

Catherine looked at her and in an unexpected move, she pouted.

Sara's jaw dropped. "Cat, what could I possibly owe you that I haven't already given you? You get to spank me, paddle me, belt me whenever you want, we've had loads of sex, which you can also have whenever you want, I let you fuck me at work, confessed to being addicted to you, and got your name tattooed down my back." She had forgotten Greg was in the room for a minute until she heard his ass hit his chair hard. She ignored him for now, though, her amusement with Catherine taking precedence. "What is it you want that you think you have to win a bet to get?"

Catherine's pout turned to a grin and she pulled Sara into a sideways hug. "I don't know... I just like the thought of having you owe me something."

Sara groaned exasperatedly and finally turned to Greg. "The tattoo thing is not what you think."

Greg stared at her. "I was focused on the fucking at work part. Could you ladies possibly do that again? Say... right now?"

Before Sara could kill him, or at the very least shoot down his request, Catherine turned her lover to face her and gave her a hot, wet, open-mouthed kiss, her hands sliding under Sara's sweater to glide across her ribcage with firm, meaningful strokes.

Sara got the message loud and clear: Catherine wanted to kiss her in front of Greg, and unless she had a serious, soul-shattering problem with it, then she'd better allow it to happen. So she did, despite the fact that she was blushing ten shades of red and acutely aware of everything around her. Greg was gawking openly, she knew it without even looking at him, and if he was pitching a tent she would... whine about it later to Catherine, but she wouldn't do a damn thing. Damnit.

The heady sensation of Sara's quick compliance made Catherine dizzy, her eyelids fluttering as she kissed her lover, pouring herself into the connection between them. Her hands slid further up to find Sara's nipples straining against the fabric of her bra, begging for attention.

Sara gasped as she felt Catherine's hands on her breasts, even through her bra, and skilled fingers trapped both of her nipples, giving each one a firm squeeze. She opened her mouth to protest, but Catherine's hot breath on her ear and the husky whisper that followed changed her mind.

"You're not about to argue with me, are you little girl?"

Sara swallowed hard, the whole world fading away, leaving just her and Catherine, and she melted at that tone of voice and those words. "No, Ms. Willows," she murmured, her own voice softer than a whisper. She was suddenly so turned on that she actually thought about suggesting they leave work early and go home. Er... go to Cat's place. Her knees were actually shaking. "Please don't do this to me here," she begged just as quietly.

"Do you trust me?" Catherine asked, releasing Sara's nipples.

Sara whimpered, not liking that question right now, but nodded her head in honesty. "Yes."

"Then you should know I won't do this to you here," Cat said softly, stroking her hands back out from beneath Sara's sweater. "Not in front of Greg. Not in front of any of the guys we work with. I don't want to humiliate you Sara, not ever."

"But Chuck E. Cheese..."

"Chuck E. Cheese was a situation you got yourself into with your disrespectful attitude. If you were humiliated it should have been because of your behavior, not because you were spanked for it." Her tone took on a sharper edge, but immediately softened as she realized what Sara was saying. "I didn't mean to make you feel humiliated, Sara... I really didn't, and if that was the case, then I'm really sorry and I wish you would have brought it up sooner."

"It's okay," Sara blushed. "I didn't leave you much choice... I did misbehave, and in front of Lindsey at that. I know I deserved what I got, even if it was embarrassing. And I... I wouldn't ask you to do anything differently if it happens again. It won't, though, because I won't talk to you like that, especially not in front of Lindsey and--" she stopped when she realized she was rambling, and just looked at Catherine from under the curtain of dark bangs that had fallen in front of her eyes.

Catherine relaxed a little, brushing Sara's hair back behind her ear and giving her a radiant smile. "I can't wait to get you home after shift."

Without thinking, Sara answered instinctively, "I can't either, Ms. Willows."

"Mmm, so it's like that, is it?" Catherine purred against Sara's soft skin.

"God yes," Sara nodded. "Don't you remember how wet I was that night?"

"... Greg heard that."

"... Fuck."

Greg folded his hands behind his head and grinned. "Don't let me stop you."

Catherine shook her head at Greg and rolled her eyes, then leaned in close to whisper in Sara's ear, words meant only for her. "Be good now, make sure you get all of your homework turned in before we leave."

A shiver ran down Sara's spine as she nodded and whispered back. "Yes Ms. Willows."

--

Sara was absolutely riddled with nerves. She was back in her schoolgirl outfit and Catherine was in her teacher's suit, glasses and all, hidden behind the closed door of her office. Sara sat outside the door in a straight-backed wooden kitchen chair, messing with the hem of her skirt and scuffing her shoes on the carpet. She actually felt like she was outside the principal's office or something, even though she knew they were just playing. She had agreed to a caning, and they had set up a little scene they were going to indulge in. But she was still nervous. She had no idea what a caning felt like. Catherine had said it would sting like hell, but wouldn't give away any more than that.

So here she was, waiting to be called into Ms. Willows' office.

Catherine opened the door and cleared her throat, looking down at her student over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses. "Come in," she called, stepping back to allow Sara to shuffle into the office. She shut the door behind them and turned, giving Sara a stern look. "I hear you hit another student?"

Sara tried not to stare at her teacher, at how pretty and amazing she looked. She was in trouble, and she tried to remember that. But it was hard. Catherine was just so intoxicating, whether she was a student or a lover. Her nerves eventually won out, though, and she shifted her gaze to the floor. "Yes Ms. Willows."

"And are you sorry?"

"No Ms. Willows."

Catherine raised an eyebrow at that answer, not having expected it. "No?" she repeated, shaking her head at the delinquent girl. "You will be."

"I doubt that, Ms. Willows. I--"

"Be quiet young lady," Catherine snapped. "I can't believe you would do something like this. You know that violence is not allowed, we've discussed it before and you assured me you understood. This is a big deal, Miss Sidle, it's not like forgetting a homework assignment or even failing a test. You hit another student, and unfortunately the punishment for that is six strokes with a cane."

Sara's eyes widened, though she'd known that was coming, but even her student self was too proud to admit she was scared. "Fine," she said flatly. It hurt that her teacher didn't even ask why she'd hit that asshole, but she wasn't going to offer the information freely if Ms. Willows didn't even care.

"Bend over my desk and lower your panties to your knees."

Sara frowned at her, bending over the desk but making no move to do anything else. "You do it. You're the one that's going to hit me, just like you're telling me not to do. Don't you think that's a little bit hypocritical, Ms. Willows?"

Catherine ignored the petulance, flipping up Sara's skirt and dragging her panties down to her knees, enjoying the gasp of surprise from her little delinquent. "I should add another stroke for that but I doubt you'll be able to take the six you're already getting." She opened the top drawer of her desk and removed a sturdy rattan cane, inspecting it to make sure it was perfectly smooth before she would apply it to Sara's backside. Any imperfections could result in broken skin, and that was unacceptable, to Sara for sure, but to Catherine as well.

Satisfied with the implement's safety, Cat shut the desk drawer and walked around behind Sara once more, resting the thin rod against her cheeks. "This school does not allow bullying, young lady. And I personally find it disgraceful that you would engage in such behavior. I won't have my best student throwing away her future to get rough with some kids at school. You could be arrested for what you did... You're lucky your punishment won't be long-term." Of course, as soon as she started the punishment, she knew Sara would feel anything but lucky. Lady Heather had caned her during their first session together, just after she had finally allowed Catherine an orgasm. It was not something to take lightly, and she was honored that Sara trusted her enough to allow her to do it. "For the record, corporal punishment is quite different than schoolyard violence," she informed the sulking girl. And with that, she drew back the cane and let it swish forward, striping Sara's rear with an immediate and lovely welt.

For a split second, Sara didn't feel anything, and then she shot to her feet, giving a scream as her hands flew to protect herself from any further strokes. "FUCK! Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!" she shouted, stomping her feet in an effort to relieve the lancing pain. Just when she thought it was about to start a downward arch, the sensation intensified, and she turned around to face Catherine, her eyes wide, her hands never leaving her backside. Finally the pain receded into a dull ache and she just kept staring at Catherine.

Catherine stared back, one eyebrow arched at the language. "Turn back around and bend over young lady, and get your hands out of the way," she said sternly.

Sara was shocked at the amount of pain that little rod could cause. "But Ms. Willows," she actually whined, her hands staying where they were. "I'm a good student. I just made a mistake... that hurts so bad, please don't treat me like I'm one of the bad kids!"

"You broke a boy's nose," Catherine said firmly. "Remove your hands from your backside and turn around, Miss Sidle. Do not make me ask you again."

Sara's lower lip trembled but she turned around, leaning over the desk and grabbing the other side. It wasn't fair. Ms. Willows still didn't ask her why she'd done it. "It's not fair," she found herself saying.

"Hush," Catherine scolded her, moving into place again and flicking the cane a few inches below the first mark. She landed a third blow in quick succession, not giving Sara time to react in between, then paused.

Sara hissed sharply at the second blow, and as the pain from that began a rising crescendo, her teacher hit her again, and the overlap of the strokes made her jump in surprise. She had expected a rhythm to this, just like when Catherine spanked her. Again she swore. "Fuck!!! God damnit Ms. Willows that HURTS!" Her voice was twisted with bittersweet emotions and she pounded her fists on the desk, tears pooling in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. It was so cathartic... an unexpected release. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but there was something freeing about it that she liked.

"Language!" Catherine reprimanded her, laying down the last three strokes one after another across the middle of Sara's behind and the tops of her thighs. She stood back and watched her student squirm and kick and pound the desk. Listened to her wail out her protests, then start sobbing over the desk.

Sara cried hard, loving the fact that Catherine continuously provided these outlets for her in different ways. She felt so... *good*, including her stinging, throbbing, well-punished backside and thighs. She was flying through headspace, feeling like she was invincible because Catherine would never let anyone hurt her. Catherine cared for her, and she showed it on a regular basis. She'd never had that growing up, and she didn't know how good it felt until she'd started on this journey of sorts with Cat.

Slipping back into role in her head, Sara choked out a confession through her tears. "I was defending you!"

Catherine's body went stiff, the cane deposited back into the desk drawer, and she looked down at her crying student. "What?"

"He was saying horrible things about you and I was defending you!" Sara explained. "He raised his fist to hit me so I hit him first!"

Damnit. Damnit! Catherine walked around the desk and pulled Sara's panties carefully back into place. "Why didn't you tell me that, Sara?" she asked, halfway between exasperation and regret.

"You didn't ask!" Sara cried, wincing as her panties were fitted over her tender skin. "You didn't care! You, you didn't even ask why I did it, or or or even IF I did it! You, you just pun-punished me like a bad kid!"

"Sara, honey, you're usually so forward about things, I was sure that if you had something to say to defend your actions, you'd say it. That's why I didn't ask. I always care, young lady. Always." She hesitated for a moment, then lowered Sara's skirt and said, "come here."

Sara sniffled and shook her head, remaining bent over the desk, not wanting to have to look her teacher in the eye.

"Honey come here," Catherine urged, resting a hand lightly on Sara's back.

Sara liked being called honey, but only by Ms. Willows. The hand on her back felt so nice; the type of touch she wanted from her teacher. She wanted to stand out, to be thought of as an adult, not just another stupid kid failing through the ranks. She wanted Ms. Willows to be proud of her, to respect her, to treat her like a peer. Being bent over that big wooden desk and punished like a child was not the way she wanted to be seen, not by the most amazing teacher in the world. And now she *felt* like a child, when she so badly wanted to be all grown up. Ms. Willows would never want to get to know her on that level now. She didn't move to comply with the request, but she didn't shrink away from the touch, either.

Catherine realized she was going to have to make more of an effort. "Sara, I don't think you're one of the bad kids. I'm sorry I didn't ask for your side of things before I punished you. I should have done that, you're absolutely right. Now please, come here? I want to give you a hug."

A hug? Sara had to contain herself to avoid moving *too* fast. She slowly pushed up off the desk and turned around, gasping softly as she was enveloped in her teacher's arms. It felt so *good*.

"I really wish you would have told me that he was going to hit you first," Catherine said as she held Sara close. "I wouldn't have caned you."

Sara blushed, wishing Ms. Willows wouldn't bring it up again. "It's okay, it's not that bad," she said bravely, even though it stung like hell.

"Don't be a tough girl," Catherine scolded, pulling back to tap Sara on the nose. "Go lay on the sofa, I'll get some aloe gel."

Sara squeaked, her eyes going wide. "Ms. Willows, noooo," she whined, pleading with her teacher not to do that. She didn't want any more attention brought to the punishment. And she did not want her underwear coming down again, so that Ms. Willows could put some kind of ointment on her ass like she was a baby that couldn't handle a little bit (a lot) of pain. She was-- crap, what age had she said last time? Oh yeah, twenty-one. She was twenty-one, not five. "Please don't, it's fine, I promise," she added imporingly.

Catherine regarded her for a long moment and then sighed. "All right," she acquiesced, shaking her head to indicate she disagreed but was willing to compromise.

They were both quiet for a minute before Catherine spoke up again.

"The next time you hear someone bad-mouthing me, stay away from them, or come tell me, okay? Don't try to resolve the situation by yourself."

"Okay," Sara nodded, staring at the floor.

"Out of curiosity, what was he saying about me?"

Brown eyes snapped up to look at her teacher. "He said you used to be a stripper."

A blonde eyebrow raised. "You didn't know that?"

"No, I did," Sara shook her head. "That's not all. He said that you... well, he said you're a whore that uh... that fucks everything on two legs, including Principal Grissom."

Catherine blinked. "What?"

Sara blushed, biting her lip as she looked at her teacher. "I couldn't let him say those things about you Ms. Willows."

Catherine gave Sara a soft smile and placed a hand under her chin, stroking back and forth with her thumb. "Why not?"

Sara bit her lip harder. "I just couldn't." She hoped her teacher stopped pushing, because she didn't want to have to confess the deeper reason. It was bad enough to have a crush on your teacher without having to make it known to said teacher.

Catherine let it go. "Okay. Maybe someday you can tell me, but for now I'll just say thank you for defending what little honor I have left," she said with a grin. "It means a lot to me."

"Really?" Sara asked, gaping up at Catherine in surprise. "It does?"

"Mhmm," Catherine nodded, stroking Sara's cheek and leaning down to place a soft kiss on her forehead. She hid a grin at the shiver that ran through her student's body. "Are you cold?"

"No Ms. Willows," Sara replied, another blush staining her cheeks.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sara shook her head firmly. Nothing was wrong, exactly. She just wanted something she couldn't have.

"Are you lying to me, little girl?" Catherine asked, lifting an eyebrow in warning.

"No Ms. Willows!" Sara said earnestly, her brown eyes wide. "I wouldn't lie to you. Nothing's wrong, I just..."

"You just what?"

Oh, great. Open your big mouth, Sidle. "I just want something I can't have. Can I-- can I go home now?"

Catherine thought about saying no, pushing the girl to open up, but she quickly dismissed that idea. Sara would come to her if and when she was ready to talk about it. "Yes, you can go home. I really wish you'd let me put some ointment on your welts, since it turned out you didn't deserve the punishment."

Sara shook her head back and forth several times with a gentle vehemence. "No, thank you Ms. Willows. If I need it I can do that myself."

"All right, you may go," Catherine said with a resigned nod.

Sara walked slowly to the door and left the office, waited a few seconds, then walked back in and up to her lover, putting her arms around the blonde's neck and resting her head on her shoulder. "Thank you, Cat," she whispered.

"You're welcome, baby," Catherine answered. "And thank you."

Sara brought her lips to Catherine's and kissed her softly. "It fucking hurts," she informed her now grinning lover. "I can't even believe how much it stings."

"Are you complaining?"

"No, I'm just communicating."

"Okay, well, *now* do you want some analgesic ointment?"

"I can do it myself," Sara said cheekily, sticking her tongue out at Catherine.

Catherine pulled back and pointed to the couch. "Go lay on the couch, Sidle. Underwear down, skirt up."

"Nuh uh."

"Now," Catherine said, threatening a smack with the position of her hand.

Sara mock glared at her, but finally acquiesced, marching over to the couch and pulling her panties down before laying on her stomach and flipping up her skirt.

Cat stared at the parallel lines crossing Sara's backside. The welts were reddish-purple and slightly raised, and she shivered at seeing them. The fact that Sara had allowed her to do that to her, well, it made Catherine's nerve endings come alive. "Be right back," she whispered, and left the room, heading for the bathroom. She rooted around in the medicine cabinet until she came up with some bacitracin with a pain relieving additive. She returned to Sara's side and squeezed some of the greasy ointment into one hand, then set down the tube and rubbed her hands together to warm it up before applying it to Sara's backside and thighs.

"Ow, ow!" Sara whined, squirming all over the place. "That's making it worse."

"I'm sorry," Catherine said, biting her lip to hold back her amusement at the squirming and whining. "It might hurt worse now but it'll help in a few minutes, I promise." Sara really was adorable. How had she not seen it all these years?

"Has it been a few minutes yet?" Sara grumped, though she did stop squirming.

Catherine couldn't help laughing at that as she put away the ointment and wiped her hands on a discarded pair of jeans in the corner of the office.

"Hey, Cat?"

"Yeah?" Catherine asked, walking back to Sara and sitting on the edge of the couch, sharing a cushion with Sara's hips and stomach.

"Tell me something embarrassing that you've never told anyone."

"Oh God, let me think," Cat rolled her eyes, trying to think of something she'd never shared before. There were plenty of embarrassing things, but most of them were public knowledge. "Oh, I know. I wet the bed until I was ten."

Sara blinked, turning her head to look back at Catherine. "You did?"

"Yep. My mother's therapist thought it was a ploy for attention, and in those days my mother couldn't really think for herself, so she didn't do anything about it, she just made me wash the sheets."

"That sucks," Sara offered, furrowing her brows in annoyance at Catherine's mother. Not that her own was a shining example of motherhood, but for some reason she had expected Catherine's to be better than that.

"Luckily I didn't really care at the time, as long as no one found out about it."

"Well that's good, I guess. Don't get any ideas, though. If you wet the bed with me sleeping in it, you'll be doing more than laundry."

"Ooh," Catherine wiggled her eyebrows. "Are you and your striped ass getting dominant with me?"

"Low blow, Willows," Sara said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "Low blow."

Catherine snickered and slid a hand up under Sara's blouse, rubbing her back. "Out of curiosity, what would you do if I did? I won't, I swear. I just want to know what you'd do."

"Why do you want to know if you're not going to do it?" Sara asked suspiciously.

Catherine leaned down to kiss Sara's nose. "You never disappoint," she said with a smile. "I just want to know how you'd deal with something like that. I'm curious as to what your style of dominance would be."

"Well for starters you'd be sleeping on the floor," Sara said, crinkling her brows in distaste. "After you'd done the laundry and re-made the bed for me, of course."

"Of course. And?"

Sara thought for a minute. "And, you'd have to earn the privilege of sleeping in the bed with me again."

"How would I earn that privilege?"

"I don't know... cooking, cleaning, maybe writing an essay on how naughty you were and why you won't do it again."

"And if I ever did it again?"

"I'd probably spank you harder than I did that one time, and then I'd go home. You wouldn't get a third chance because you'd be doing something you know I wasn't okay with." She watched Catherine nod and process the information, and then her curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "what would *you* do?"

Cat grinned and shook her head. "I'd have you take the sheets off with your teeth, then I'd make you wear a diaper to bed," she laughed.

Sara turned bright red at that. It's not like she'd planned to get into the situation, but even hearing Catherine say that hypothetically made her flush with embarrassment. "I'm sorry I asked," she mumbled, squirming around on the couch. "Next subject."

"Okay, now you tell me something embarrassing that you've never told anyone."

Sara groaned. There was one thing that stood out in her mind, and she buried her face in the couch cushions for a minute to ready herself for the story. "All right. When I was at Harvard, I was the girl that never went to parties, was always studying, you know..."

"I'm shocked."

"Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Yes," Cat laughed.

"Okay. So, one night, my roommate finally convinced me to go to a party with her. I wasn't used to drinking, so a couple shots of whiskey and I was three sheets to the wind. I ended up sleeping with one of my professors."

Catherine raised an eyebrow, giving a little snort of disbelief. "How exactly is that embarrassing?"

Sara looked sheepishly up at her, then looked down at the floor. "He was in his late sixties. And he was married."

Catherine started laughing... she tried to stop when Sara smacked her on the arm, but it was hard.

"I'm not done yet," Sara grumped, resisting the urge to shove Catherine off the couch. "His wife caught us as I was frantically trying to find my clothes and get the hell out of there, and she filed a complaint with the Dean... he got fired and I got put on academic probation."

At that Catherine howled even harder with laughter, and Sara did push her off the couch. She landed on the floor with a grunt of pain, but was still too amused to stop laughing.

"Stop it!" Sara shrieked, on the verge of whining. "I didn't laugh at you!"

"Mine wasn't funny at all, it was just embarrassing!" Catherine defended herself. "Yours was funny!"

Sara had to admit that it was pretty funny, and she wasn't in a position to do anything about Catherine's laughter, anyway, with her ass on fire like it was. "Okay, okay, stop already," she grumbled, her lower lip sliding out in what she hoped was a cute little pout.

It was indeed cute, and Catherine leaned forward to capture Sara's mouth in a kiss. She had intended it to be short and sweet, but once she got a taste of Sara, she wanted more, as usual, and her tongue slipped between her lover's lips.

When Catherine pulled back, Sara leaned forward, unwilling to let the kiss end just yet. She couldn't believe they were here, like this, doing this, being like this with each other. Just a few months ago they were nothing but colleagues... now they were lovers. And not just in the purely physical sense. They didn't just have sex and go home... they spent time together. They kissed, like they were doing now. They spent time with Lindsey together. They shared secrets with each other. They... they cared about each other. Sara never would have expected something like this with Catherine, but now that she had it, she couldn't imagine going back to the way things used to be. And the thing that Catherine said next just solidified what Sara was thinking.

"Oh, can you pick Lindsey up from school tomorrow?"

"If I can sit to drive."

"Baby," Catherine teased.

Sara opened her mouth to protest, to ask if Cat would like to take a turn, but before she could say anything, she felt soft, warm lips on her welted skin, followed by Catherine's tongue. Suddenly words didn't seem so important right at the moment, and she moaned, dropping her forehead onto the arm of the sofa.

Lindsey got in the car and looked suspiciously at Sara, her arms crossed over her chest after she dropped her backpack on the floor of the back seat. "I forgot to be mad at you," she announced.

"What?" Sara asked, turning around to look at her. "For what?"

The little girl had an expression on her face that could rival one of Catherine's glares. "You went to Chuck E. Cheese with someone else and you made Mommy so sad."

Sara was incredibly confused for a few seconds until she figured out what Lindsey was talking about. And then her jaw dropped. It had been a few weeks since she'd gone on that blind date. She'd mostly forgotten about it. But this new piece of information just made her feel worse about accepting the stupid invitation in the first place. "I didn't mean to make her sad, Linds," she promised. "I won't do it again."

Lindsey stared her down for a good five seconds before asking, "you swear?"

"I swear," Sara nodded. "I don't ever want to make your Mommy sad. I care about her a lot."

Lindsey looked like she was almost going to let Sara off the hook. "She cares about you lots too. Don't make her cry okay?"

Catherine had cried? Holy shit. Holy. Shit. "I'll try not to, I promise," the brunette said in awe.

"Good," Lindsey said, and uncrossed her arms, her petulant expression fading, and she slipped easily back into being her bubbly self. "I gotta question. You're a grown-up, right?"

Sara grinned, and almost laughed at that, but managed to hold back and just nod. "Yeah... why?"

"How come Mommy gets to get you in trouble if you're a grown-up?"

Ohhhh, that was a bad question. How was she supposed to answer that? "Well, I think that even grown-ups need help to be good sometimes, don't you think?"

Lindsey chewed on that for a minute and then nodded. "Yeah. Sometimes even Mommy. Who gets her in trouble?"

No way Sara was going to tackle that one. "You'll have to ask her that, kiddo."

"Kay. Can we stop for ice cream?"

"We don't have time, we've got to get you home and dressed for your soccer game," Sara said as she turned a corner. "Maybe after the game though, if your mom says it's okay."

Lindsey pouted but nodded her assent, knowing that if Sara was saying no then it was for a really good reason. Because Sara didn't say no a lot. And Lindsey liked that. In fact, she just liked Sara. She loved it when Sara stayed over, and when her mom took them all out together. She wished Sara could live with them all the time. Maybe she would ask her mom.

--

It was pretty cold out, and Catherine was snuggled up to Sara as they sat in the bleachers watching Lindsey's soccer game. Lucky for her, Sara had worn her warm, fluffy black coat, and it hadn't taken much convincing to get her lover to share. She turned her head just in time to see Lindsey score a goal, and her hands shot to cover her ears. She had learned this afternoon that Sara was very loud when it came to sporting events, especially those involving Lindsey.

"YEAH! WHOO!" Sara screamed, jumping to her feet and whistling, clapping her hands and cheering for Lindsey. "That's my GIRL! YEAH!"

Lindsey loved it... it was her third goal tonight, and she thought Sara was so silly for screaming every time. She looked toward the stands and giggled at her mom... her mom looked embarrassed. Then she looked at Sara and waved happily. Maybe getting three goals would make her mom want to let them get ice cream after!

Sara waved back at Lindsey, whistling and yelling for another few seconds before she felt Catherine tugging on her jacket and she sat back down, wincing at the sharp pain it caused to yesterday's welts. "What?" she asked, looking innocently at Catherine.

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'what'? You're yelling like a crazy woman. You're embarrassing Lindsey."

"I'm not embarrassing Lindsey, I'm embarrassing you," Sara grinned. "Lindsey loves it. Didn't you see her laughing and waving? Oh, by the way, she wants to go for ice cream after the game. I told her she has to ask you."

Catherine resisted the urge to smother Sara with kisses, since they were in public after all, and settled for snuggling up again. "She really likes you."

Sara gave a lopsided smile, discretely kissing the top of Catherine's head. "I really like her too. And her mom. Have you seen that woman? Damn."

Catherine started laughing just as the buzzer sounded, ending the game. Her hands flew to her ears again, just in case Sara felt the urge to scream some more.

"Wooooo!" Sara shouted, clapping and getting to her feet again. "They won, Cat!" She saw Lindsey heading toward them and she rushed down the bleachers, wrapping the little girl up in her arms and swinging her around excitedly. "You were awesome!" she said proudly.

"Thanks!" Lindsey squealed, clinging to Sara tightly as she was spun around.

Catherine hurried down after Sara. She was proud of Lindsey too, she just didn't want to be the screaming mom that ended up banned from the games. "Wow baby, you did great!" she praised her daughter as she reached the spinning pair.

"Thanks Mommy! Can we go for ice cream, pleeeeeeeeease?"

Catherine was about to answer when one of the other mothers came bustling up to them, her lips drawn into a tight line. "Two women!" she said tartly, looking at them disapprovingly. "You're going straight to hell!"

Normally Catherine would just ignore stupid comments like that, but the hurt looks on both Lindsey's and Sara's faces compelled her to react. "And we might be able to get in, too, if your fat, ignorant ass wasn't blocking the way!" she hissed. And when the woman opened her mouth to respond, Catherine cut her off. "You had better think hard about what you're going to say next, because if you ever insult my family again, no one will find your body."

Lindsey didn't know exactly what that meant, but she was happy that her mom had stuck up for them. "Yeah!" she echoed. "Right Sara?"

Sara could barely breathe; she was amazed she was still standing, let alone able to continue to hold Lindsey. But she had to say something, or Lindsey might think she didn't agree. She cleared her throat and forced her voice to sound normal, cool even, as she narrowed her eyes at the woman and spoke quietly. "That's right... We're crime scene investigators, we know all the tricks." Oh, she definitely sounded serious. And scary. Even Catherine looked surprised. And just in case the lady wasn't quite scared enough, Sara put Lindsey down and put her hands on her hips, in just a way that pushed her jacket aside to reveal her service weapon.

The woman didn't bother to apologize before backing off, which suited Catherine just fine - she wouldn't have meant it anyway. She turned to Sara, knowing exactly what she'd just done, with a goofy grin on her face. "I was wondering if you were ever gonna flash your gun for me," she said softly.

Sara let her jacket fall back in front of her piece, and leaned in to kiss the tip of Catherine's nose. "I was just waiting for the right moment," she whispered back. "Now let's get this kid some ice cream."

--

They were laying in bed that night - they both had the night off - and just as Catherine was starting to doze, she felt Sara shift behind her. She was in tune enough with her lover's body language that she could tell it wasn't a 'getting comfortable' shift. She rolled onto her back, then to her other side so they faced each other. "What is it?" she asked sleepily, reaching out to attempt to stroke Sara's cheek. She wasn't fully alert, though, so she ended up stroking the pillow between them.

Sara's lips twitched into a grin, even as her eyes widened slightly. "How do you always know what I need?" she whispered, leaning forward to capture Catherine's lips in a long, soft kiss.

"Mmm, I just know you," Catherine sighed, nuzzling happily into the kiss. "Now what is it?"

"Nothing bad," Sara assured her. "You called me your family today."

Catherine wiggled closer and threw an arm across her lover, then tangled one of her legs between Sara's. "You are," she murmured, and before either of them could say anything else, she was asleep.

Sara almost laughed at how easy it was for Cat to fall asleep. If only it were that easy for her, too. She wasn't complaining, though, because at least for the past month or so she'd been able to actually sleep at Catherine's house, and that was a huge improvement for her. Right at the moment, however, sleep wasn't coming. Her mind was too busy racing with the fact that Catherine thought of her as family.

--

"Do you want to come with me? I can call my mother to take Lindsey to school..."

"No, I can't. I'm not ready. I-- don't know if I'll ever be ready for that," Sara said a bit sadly.

"It's okay baby," Catherine assured her quickly, pulling her into a hug. "Even if you're never ready, that's okay with me. I love you just the way you are."

Sara held her breath, feeling the walls closing in on her as they stood in Catherine's foyer. There was that word again, the word that made her feel like she was drowning. It was the second time Catherine had let it slip casually like that, but Sara couldn't say it back, or even acknowledge that Cat had said it at all. "Go, you don't want to be late," she choked out, forcing a smile.

Catherine didn't mean to say it, but she *did* feel it, so it came out on occasion. She knew Sara didn't want to hear it, and she cringed when she heard herself say it, but luckily Sara didn't seem to notice. "Okay," she nodded. "I'll see you tonight."

"Will you be back here before shift, or should I just drive myself in?"

"I'll be back before shift. Way before then. I should only be an hour or two, actually."

"Oh, okay. I think I'll try to take a nap. I didn't sleep too well last night."

"Aww, baby, I'm sorry," Catherine pouted, moving in for a kiss. "You should've woken me up."

Sara kissed her back, delighting in the taste of her lover's lips, and allowed the kiss to linger for a long while before she pulled away and reminded Catherine that she needed to get going.

Catherine reluctantly let go and headed to the car, missing Sara already.

--

Heather answered the door in a black vinyl catsuit, and Catherine's jaw dropped.

"Hello, Kitty Cat," the dominatrix purred, stepping aside to allow Catherine in. "You're late."

Catherine continued staring as she moved into the dominion, closing the door behind her. "I'm sorry... it was a little hard to leave," she blushed.

"Someone at home distracting you, I presume?" Heather asked, raising an eyebrow as she led the way upstairs, a tiny smirk pulling at one corner of her mouth.

"Oh yeah," Catherine agreed with a grin. As they reached Heather's bedroom, she took off her coat and draped it over an armchair in the corner, then stood with her hands clasped behind her back, waiting for Heather to instruct her. She wasn't going to make the mistake of being cavalier with the Lady, not a second time. Once was more than enough of a reminder to stay well-behaved in Heather's presence.

"Very good," Heather praised her, gliding across the room to stand behind the blonde. "Remove your shirt and bra."

"Yes, Lady Heather." Catherine complied, her fingers shaking only slightly as she folded her clothing and set it on the chair, then resumed her previous position.

"I am going to flog you first, and when I am finished, we will be joined by Mistress Jazmyne, who will instruct you in the art."

Catherine's eyes flew open wide and she couldn't help snapping her head around to look at Heather. "Who am I learning on, then?"

Heather gently took Catherine's face in her hands and guided her head back around. "Me," she said simply. "Now, go take your place on the wall."

Catherine knew better than to argue, even though a thousand questions were flying around in her head now. Why did Heather want to offer herself up? Why not a submissive? Why bring in another Mistress to show her how to do it? But, she obeyed the command without hesitation, stepping up to the wall and placing her palms flat against it. "Yes, Lady Heather."

"Good girl, Kitty Cat," Heather whispered, close to Catherine's ear. "I see you still know how to listen."

Catherine took the flogging very well, enjoying how the leather falls felt against her back and shoulders. Heather didn't hit her hard - in fact, it felt almost like a massage. When it was finished, she was allowed to put her bra and blouse back on, and instructed to sit on the bed and wait for Mistress Jazmyne while Heather went to change.

She had only been sitting for about thirty seconds when the door opened and a woman she assumed to be Mistress Jazmyne entered the room. And she really *entered* the room. What a presence. Flame-red hair and dark green eyes, tall, lithe body, clad in a shimmery, skin-tight black dress and thigh-high leather boots. Wow. "You must b--"

"Quiet," the redhead snapped, her eyes boring into Catherine. "Speak when you're told to."

Well that was certainly different than Heather's style of dominance, but Catherine was here to learn, so she merely nodded in response.

"On your knees," Jazmyne ordered then, pointing to the floor in front of her.

Catherine didn't like that one bit, but she started to move anyway when the door cracked open and Heather poked her head in. "Jazmyne," she said quietly, her voice clearly tinged with amusement. "I know she's hard to resist, but you're teaching her how to use a flogger, not how to be submissive."

Jazmyne sighed, her lips pulled into a tight line, and she stared at Heather for a moment before giving an almost imperceptible nod of her head.

"Thank you," Heather said in a sing-song voice, and the door closed again.

Catherine wasn't sure what to expect now, but she had to admit she was curious. She eyed the redhead carefully, not wanting to be caught staring.

"All right," Jazmyne said, her voice not having changed very much at all. "Go get a flogger from the closet."

Cat nodded and went into the closet, but when she went to grab a flogger, there were quite a few to choose from, and they all looked different. "Which one?"

"If you don't know which one, I'm not going to tell you," came the snippy response.

Catherine was getting tired of it now... this wasn't dominance, this was attitude. She snatched one of the floggers from its hook and marched back out into the bedroom, pointing the handle end at the other woman. "Isn't that what you're here for? To tell me?" she snapped back. "If you don't actually want to teach me, then turn around and get the fuck out. I'm not your slave, nor will I ever be, and if the attitude continues I'm going to drop this flogger and just straight up kick your ass, you got that? You're being rude to me for no reason, and that doesn't make you ultra-dominant, it just makes you a bitch."

Jazmyne raised her hand to slap Catherine across the face, but Cat saw it coming and caught her wrist, squeezing hard. She held on for as long as it would take, as they just stared at each other. Finally Jazmyne twisted free, took the flogger from Catherine, and went into the closet. She came back out a few minutes later with two different ones, and held one out.

Catherine took it without a word, though she did lift an eyebrow in question.

Jazmyne twirled her flogger in the air, then showed Catherine how to hold it. "The grip is important, so you don't lose hold of it or put too much strain on your wrist."

Catherine nodded, copying the redhead's hold, twirling the implement in the air a few times to get comfortable with it. "Like this?"

Jazmyne looked over, then put a hand over Catherine's, presumably to see how tightly she was holding it, and nodded. "Now, aiming. You always want to get going in the air before you even hit your target, and move in slowly, so you can see where your tails are falling before you actually connect."

"Start back, move in slow," Catherine repeated, thinking that made sense.

"Try it, with that pillow as your target," the redhead then decided, pointing to the throw pillow at the head of Heather's bed. "And when you're swinging, just use your wrist. Keep your elbow close to your body, don't swing your whole arm, and just flick it like this." She gave an example, connecting with the middle of the pillow, then moved out of the way and watched as Catherine tried it.

About fifteen minutes later, Jazmyne was satisfied enough for Catherine to get started on the Lady of the house. She went to the door and opened it, and a few seconds later Heather walked in.

Catherine's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw what Heather was wearing. Or rather, not wearing. She looked like... she looked... well, she looked submissive. It was throwing Cat for a loop. She had never seen Heather even remotely dressed or postured like this. She wore nothing above the waist, save for a hair tie that held her hair in a ponytail. Her bottom half was covered by a sheer blue skirt that matched her eyes, and Catherine could see a gold thong underneath. The Lady's head was bowed slightly and her hands were behind her back.

Was Cat supposed to order her around? Was she supposed to actually top Lady Heather? Apparently she was, because Jazmyne wasn't saying or doing anything, and Heather was just standing there. Maybe this was a test of how well she could dominate. Well, she'd give it her all, even though she was unprepared. She stepped up to Heather and ran her fingertips down the Lady's arm, grinning a bit at the shiver that ran through her, and the goosebumps that raised on her skin. She leaned in to whisper in Heather's ear. "Go stand at the wall and put your hands on it to steady yourself."

"Yes Mistress Catherine," Heather whispered smoothly, moving instantly to comply.

Catherine stood staring after her, her knees a little weak, wondering where in the hell 'Mistress Catherine' came from. She shot a questioning look to Jazmyne, and to her surprise the fiery redhead stepped closer and explained in a hushed voice. "Clients will most likely want to call you that. Treat her as you would treat a client."

That made a little more sense, but Catherine still needed a minute to collect herself. Mistress wasn't a title to be used lightly, at least not in her mind. It was a title that should be hard-earned, not just given indiscriminately. "What if I don't want clients to call me that?" she whispered.

"Tell them what to call you, then," Jazmyne replied with a shrug.

Well that was easy. She nodded to Jazmyne and stepped up to Heather, who was waiting patiently in the position Catherine requested. "You may call me Ma'am," she informed the half naked woman. "Not Mistress."

"Yes Ma'am," Heather rumbled quietly. Catherine's breath on the back of her neck was torture, but she didn't move a muscle. So far, the CSI was doing good. If Catherine did well enough that she didn't have to break role, then she'd allow the blonde to start taking on some of the milder clients.

Yeah, Ma'am sounded much better.

--

"Guess what?" Catherine announced as she closed the door behind her and found Sara in the living room reading a book.

Sara looked up and quickly hid the book between the couch cushions, her face flushing lightly. "What?" she asked curiously. "How'd it go?"

Catherine grinned and flopped down on the sofa next to her lover. She paused for effect, and then spilled excitedly, "Lady Heather said I can start seeing clients whenever I'm ready."

"Wow," Sara said, clearly impressed, a slow grin forming to show the gap in her teeth. "You must've been a quick learner."

Cat leaned in and stoke a quick kiss, then beamed as she nodded. "She said I handled her better than any of her previous trainees."

Sara's heart skipped a beat, and her throat was suddenly dry. She hoped she'd heard that wrong. Catherine had played with Lady Heather? "W-what?" she squeaked, getting that 'walls closing in' feeling for the second time that day, anger starting to bubble up in her chest.

Cat blinked, her eyes widening as she stared at Sara. "What do you mean, what? What's wrong?" she asked.

"I thought you were going to learn on one of her submissives..." She was trying not to overreact. Really.

"That's what I thought, too, but she had other plans." Now she was nervous. Sara seemed agitated... maybe even jealous. Was that possible? Sara being jealous of Lady Heather? "What's going on, baby?"

"You know how I feel about her," Sara snapped, getting to her feet and folding her arms across her chest. "You asked if it was okay with me to learn on one of her submissives. I said yes. You never asked how I felt about you learning on *her*!"

That was definitely jealousy flaring up, but Catherine had no idea what to do about it. Sara wouldn't admit to loving her, so how could she even approach the subject without scaring her off? "Sara, it's not like I fucked her, I just whipped her," she tried.

"Oh come on, Catherine. Why wouldn't you fuck her? She's perfect!" Sara shouted, her anger finally breaking loose with a vengeance.

"I didn't!" Catherine shouted back, feeling the inexplicable sting of tears behind her wide blue eyes. "Sara, I didn't!" She was desperate for Sara to believe her. It's not like they were even officially together, but it was important to her that Sara believed her. She hadn't slept with Heather, not since the first time she'd slept with Sara.

"Oh who fucking cares, it doesn't even matter," Sara waved a hand dismissively. "Just tell me my feelings really matter and then go whore yourself to that bitch anyway."

Well that was it. The tears spilled over, and Catherine pointed toward the door. "Get out."

Sara didn't waste any time arguing, she just walked calmly to the door and left. Basically on auto-pilot she got into her car and drove back to her apartment, not even aware of her own tears until she felt the dampness trailing down her cheeks. She had just royally fucked up something good.

--

Catherine waited for the phone to ring. It didn't. She stopped waiting after a day or so, and when the realization finally set in that she'd kicked Sara out and Sara wasn't going to try to come back, she felt sick. Breakfast threatened to come back up and she grabbed the phone, calling out of work. Gil was worried, but she didn't want to explain what had happened, and he respected her decision, always the good friend and compassionate boss.

To top things off, Lindsey came in and asked where Sara was. "She left," Catherine answered bitterly, as much as she tried to keep her voice neutral for Lindsey's sake.

"When's she gonna be back? She was s'posed to take me to school today."

"Well she's not going to, I'm sorry Linds... I'll take you to school if you want."

Lindsey squished up her face. "No, I want Sara to take me."

"Lindsey please. Sara's gone, she can't take you to school. Do you want me to drive you, or do you want to take the bus?" Catherine hated the disappointed look on her daughter's face, but she wasn't in a position to fix it right now. She was hurting just as much. Waking up without Sara in her bed was awful.

Lindsey got the picture. Sara had made her mommy sad again, after she promised not to. The little girl crawled up onto the bed and wrapped her arms around her mom, kissing her cheek. "It's okay, I'll take the bus," she whispered. "I'm sorry Mommy."

"It's not your fault, baby," Catherine choked out, stroking her daughter's hair, and not for the first time, she was amazed at Lindsey's insight. "I love you."

"Love you too Mommy. I gotta go if I'm taking the bus, cause it's gonna be here soon." She scrambled down from the bed and picked up her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder as she blew her mom a kiss and headed out front to wait for the school bus.

--

Sara had the hangover from hell. She'd drunk herself stupid after leaving Catherine's place, and pretty much stayed that way all afternoon and night, and all the next day. Now it was time to get ready for shift, and she glared at herself in the bathroom mirror, rummaging in the cabinet until she found a bottle of ibuprofen.

Popping four of the pills with a ridiculously large glass of water, she then jumped into the shower and let the hot water wash away the chill in her bones. Even drunk, it still hurt to be without Catherine. And waking up without her was harder than Sara ever would have expected. How had this happened to them? She certainly hadn't seen it coming. Had Catherine seen it? They had started out with spankings and sex, which developed into more and more time spent together for spankings and sex, which developed into more and more time spent together for other things too, which developed into... addiction. Fuck. She couldn't even say 'love' inside her head.

--

"Work or home?" the bus driver asked Lindsey as she got on after school.

Lindsey knew her mom wasn't at work, but she had some stuff to say to Sara. "Work," she said happily, skipping down the aisle and sitting next to her best friend.

"You said your mom didn't go to work today," Emma whispered, her eyes wide.

"I wanna talk to Sara," Lindsey explained. She had told Emma all about how Sara was supposed to take her to school and she didn't, and how she had promised not to make her mom sad and she did.

"Is your mom gay?" Emma asked as the bus started moving.

Lindsey giggled. She sort of knew what that meant. "Like kissing girls?" she asked. "I dunno."

"Does she kiss Sara?"

Another giggle. "I hope so."

Emma giggled too now, and nodded her head. "You want her to be your other mom?"

"Oh yeah she's so fun she barely ever says no and she plays with me and she's really smart and soooo funny," Lindsey rushed all in one breath.

Emma burst into laughter, kicking her feet against the seat in front of them. "Well good luck and stuff!" she squealed.

"Thanks," Lindsey said, finding the laughter to be contagious, and soon they were both doubled over, while not even remembering what was so funny to begin with.

--

Sara was just going through the motions, waiting for shift to be over so she could drink herself back to sleep, when she saw Lindsey trudging through the lab toward her, a distinctly displeased look on her face. She thought about hiding in the broom closet, but it was too late, Linds was already standing in front of her by the time she got the idea.

"You promised," the little girl said angrily, folding her arms across her chest, her eyes slightly narrowed. "You *promised* not to make Mommy sad again, but you did!"

"Uh!" Sara protested, her jaw dropping at the accusation. The fact that Lindsey was six and a half didn't occur to her as she argued back. "She made me sad first! It's her fault this time," she insisted.

Lindsey stared at the supposed grown-up for a minute before asking sharply, "do ya *hear* yourself?"

Sara sighed, dropping to Lindsey's height, taking a slow breath before continuing. "Linds, she--" How was the best way to explain things to Lindsey? "She went to Chuck E. Cheese with someone else," she finally said.

Lindsey's mouth fell into a perfect 'o', and she stood there processing the information for a good thirty seconds. "She did?"

"Yeah. And it wouldn't be a big deal, but I..." But what? Tell the truth, Sidle. "But I'm really jealous of the person she went with. I said it was okay for her to go with someone else, but I didn't say it was okay to go with Lady Heather."

"Who's that?" Lindsey scrunched up her face. "That's a silly name."

Sara blinked, realizing she'd just given information to Lindsey that was not age-appropriate. "Well, sometimes grown-ups are silly," she tried to cover somewhat. "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten so upset with your mom, but she should have asked me before she went with L-- with Heather."

Lindsey nodded, just as Warrick came into the room, and she looked at him with a huge smile. "Warrick!"

"Heeeeey," Warrick said, wondering why Lindsey was at the lab. Catherine had called out sick. Maybe she had stopped by to get something? "How are you doin, baby girl? Where's your mommy?"

"She's at home," Lindsey said. "Cuh-RYING..." She shot a look at Sara, which Sara returned full force.

"Not my fault," Sara muttered under her breath, turning away to look in one of the microscopes.

"Shouldn't you be at home then?" Warrick asked, scooping Lindsey up and sitting her easily on his shoulders.

Lindsey squealed and laughed, getting settled and trying to keep her balance. The backpack she was wearing kind of threw off her center of gravity. "I want Sara to give me a ride home."

Warrick saw Sara tense up at that, and he quickly intervened, shaking his head. "Nuh uh baby girl, you're mine," he announced. "I'll take you home now. I hope your mom's not worrying about you."

Sara gave him a grateful look, and when Lindsey wasn't watching she mouthed 'I owe you'.

Warrick mouthed back 'damn straight', but his grin gave him away as he swung Lindsey down from his shoulders and set her on her feet, ushering her out the door.

"Bye Sara," the little girl called, waving as she walked out with Warrick.

--

"I gotta have a talk with my mom," Lindsey told Warrick when he offered to come inside. "She's in big trouble."

Warrick hid his smirk, and nodded gravely. "Of course. You show her who's boss," he said seriously.

"I will," Lindsey assured him, leaning up to kiss his cheek and then hopping out of the car. She got out her key and let herself in, then dropped her backpack and marched off in search of her mother. "MOM!" she called through the house, leaving no doubt as to the fact she was not in any way pleased.

"In my room baby, what's wrong?" Catherine called back. Warrick had texted her that he was bringing Lindsey home, and she hadn't thought much of it. Sometimes the bus driver dropped her off at the lab on Cat's days off, so she was used to it once in awhile.

Lindsey marched into her mom's room with her hands on her hips, her best scolding expression set on her face. "Who gets to spank you when you're in trouble?" she asked without preamble.

Catherine had just taken a sip of water, and choked on it at hearing that. "What?!"

The little girl stared at her mother. "You need a spanking, Mommy," she declared. "Sara said you went to Chuck E. Cheese with Lady Heather, and you made her upset!"

Catherine choked again, this time on a breath of air, and when she'd stopped wheezing long enough, she stared at Lindsey. Sara had mentioned Lady Heather to a six and a half year old child?! "What do you know about Lady Heather?" she asked.

"Just that she has a silly name and Sara is jealous of her. But mom that's not the point! You're in big trouble and I need to use the phone."

Okay. Apparently Heather had been mentioned by name only, not by activity. Catherine could live with that. "Who are you calling?"

Lindsey picked up the cordless phone from her mom's night table and sat on the edge of the bed. "Whoever gets you in trouble when you forget how to be good," she said, as if it should have been obvious.

"Lindsey, that's enough," Catherine said firmly, taking the phone from her daughter and placing it back in the cradle. "You don't decide when I'm in trouble. I'm the mom and you're the kid, and I really don't like that."

Tears filled Lindsey's eyes and her voice was shaky when she spoke. "But Mommy, you made Sara go away," she whispered. "She's my friend and I want--her to--be my mom too." A few crocodile tears slipped out the corners of her eyes and trailed down her cheeks as she stared at her hands, which were now fumbling with the hem of her shirt.

Catherine's jaw dropped, and she sat looking at Lindsey in awe for a good few minutes before finally finding her voice. "You want her to what?" she breathed.

"If you and Sara kiss each other, she can be my mom too," Lindsey said quietly, still not looking up from her hands. "Cause if you're gay with Sara I can have two mommies, instead of a mommy and a daddy."

When had she fallen asleep and woken up in the twilight zone? Her daughter, in first grade for God's sake, was explaining the ins and outs of being gay! "Honey I know what being gay is," she said carefully, not wanting to get Lindsey's hopes up about having Sara as a mom. "But I don't think--"

Lindsey burst into tears and ran from the room, and Catherine heard her door shut a few seconds later. Oh boy. She hadn't thought about what would happen if Lindsey figured out that she and Sara were sort of dating. Hell, she hadn't expected her daughter to even know about things like this! And now she was in a fucking mess, one at least halfway caused by Sara, and she had to get out of it on her own. What could she possibly say to Lindsey to make her feel better?

--

Days and nights just dragged on without Catherine. Sara tried to fill the void with booze and sex, but Catherine had ruined her for anyone else. She couldn't get off, hell she wouldn't really even let any of the men or women touch her other than to go directly inside her, and she certainly didn't get naked for any of them. Matter of fact, Catherine was the only person she'd ever willingly gotten naked for in her adult life. She missed being able to feel that free, that safe, that... that loved. Her nights were spent having meaningless sex and then sneaking out to go home and touch herself, all the while remembering how it felt when Catherine touched her.

The raven-haired waitress she'd gone home with that night stirred as she slipped out of bed, and she cringed, waiting for the dreaded 'where are you going?' question. But to her surprise, that was not what the woman said.

"That was the best fucking I've had in a long time... I can only imagine what it's like when you make love. Whoever she is, she's luckier than she knows."

Sara pulled on her boots and shot an angry look at the waitress. "What is it about me that screams 'please, analyze me until there's nothing left'?" she snapped, wishing she smoked so she could light up and diffuse some of the tension in the room. Or maybe the tension wasn't in the room, it was just in her.

"I don't know," the waitress smirked, but not in a malicious way. "Could be the name 'Catherine' tattooed down your back."

Sara hadn't taken her clothes off, but when they were moving around, things did get jostled and shoved aside. It would have been hard to miss.

"Yeah, well, that's over," she said bitterly. "I fucked that up." Then she said the same thing to the waitress that she'd said to Greg. "And the tattoo isn't what you think."

"What is it, then?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because you picked me up at the place I work, came home with me, fucked the hell out of me, barely let me return the favor, and now you're leaving."

Well now that was her MO thrown in her face, for sure. Accepting defeat, she ran a hand over her face and sighed. "It's covering something I don't want."

"And I'm sure that the name 'Catherine' was all that was available, so that explains that," the waitress snarked, grinning at her.

"That's exactly what happened," Sara shot back sarcastically, in mortal danger of enjoying the woman's company. She *really* needed to leave. "I have to go."

"I know."

None of the women over the past few weeks had ever woken up when she was trying to leave, and now she felt bad. "Look, you're really beautiful, actually you're just, you're really, really hot, and clearly smart enough to have me pegged, but yeah. You're right. I'm in love with Catherine." Holy hell fuck, she'd finally admitted it. And out loud, even! *Way to go, Sidle. Too bad you couldn't have figured that out before you put a firecracker between the two of you and lit it.*

--

Catherine had thrown herself into learning her new trade. None of the girls she played with got her pulse racing like Sara did, though. They were well-behaved and very responsive, but they just weren't Sara. Spanking them didn't make her dripping wet and aching to be touched. Even fucking them didn't get her going, and she never allowed them to touch her at all. It quickly became known around the dominion that if you wanted to play with Ms. Catherine, you kept your hands and mouth to yourself.

As for clients, Catherine hadn't felt comfortable enough to see any yet. She actually wasn't sure if she wanted to at all, but she wasn't going to make any rushed decisions on the matter. She'd keep playing in her personal life, and could always go professional if she wanted.

The lab Valentine's Day party was coming up on Friday, and when she'd mentioned it to Lady Heather yesterday she'd said she wasn't going. Or at least that she really didn't want to go. And apparently Jazmyne had heard that conversation, because she had just offered to go to the party as Catherine's date.

"What?" Cat was shocked. Especially considering how Jazmyne had behaved when they met.

"I, want, to be, your date, for the Valentine's Day party," Jazmyne repeated, pausing between every few words as if she were speaking to a child that hadn't been listening.

Catherine was still shocked. "Why?" she blurted out, unable to grasp the fact that Mistress Jazmyne was asking her out on a date. To her own lab's party, no less.

"Because you don't have a date. How are you going to make her jealous if you don't have a date?"

--

Even though there was really no reason to, Sara put on a little red dress that she knew Catherine would love. It had been a month or so since they'd stopped seeing each other, stopped speaking to each other, but Sara still thought of her every day.

Greg was going to be her designated driver, so she could get sloshingly drunk and make an ass out of herself in front of her colleagues, so when she heard the knock, she picked up her purse for the evening, made sure she had everything she needed in it, and joined him.

When they arrived at the lab and Greg had parked, Sara just sat there, remembering when she didn't want to get out of the car at the halloween party. She had worn Catherine's collar that night. Tears stung her eyes and she looked at Greg, in a rare moment of vulnerability. "Do you think she misses me at all?" she whispered. "Or do you think it was just a game to her?"

Greg looked at his friend, trying not to appear as utterly shocked as he was. Sara never asked him things like that. She never talked about feelings or personal stuff. It was weird. But not bad weird. "The way I hear it, she said I love you, and you never said it back. That doesn't sound like a game to me."

Sara was about to ask how the hell he knew that, but she remembered having mentioned it during one of her more intoxicated moments a couple weeks back, so she just sighed.

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Love her."

She never would have admitted it if she hadn't been feeling so low without Catherine, but she gave a slow nod of her head. "Yeah."

"You gotta tell her, Sara."

"It's too late now."

"The Sara I know wouldn't say that."

"Well the Sara you know is a fucking idiot, she went and fucked up the best thing she'd ever had!"

"It takes two to fuck something up. But it only takes one to fix it," Greg said wisely.

Sara frowned at him, as if wondering when he'd become so worldly. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Tell her you love her."

"I can't just walk up to her and say that."

"So... find a better way to do it, then."

"Why are you being so reasonable?" she half snapped, half whined.

"Because somebody's gotta do it," Greg grinned, ducking out of the car before she'd have a chance to hit him. "Although it's hard to be reasonable with you in that dress."

Sara grinned, shaking her head slowly as she got out of the car, making sure the door was locked before she shut it behind her.

When she walked through the doors, she stopped in her tracks. Catherine was there already, and she was with a tall, gorgeous redhead. Her first instinct was to turn around and leave, but she couldn't. If she didn't tell Catherine how she felt right now, she'd never do it, and she'd always wonder what could have been. She didn't know how they'd ended up loving each other, but there was no denying that it had happened. And there was no denying that she missed Catherine more than she could even understand. She was going to swallow her damned pride and fight for what she wanted. For who she wanted.

She handed Greg her purse and headed toward the makeshift stage and the band that Ecklie had hired for the party, and after a few minutes of discussion with the guitarist, she was given the mic and allowed on stage. Without stopping for introductions of any sort, she launched right into song, because if she didn't start singing now, she'd lose her nerve. When the first words left her lips, the guitarist started playing along, and the soft sounds of Eric Clapton filtered through the room.

"It's late in the evening...

She's wondering what clothes to wear...

She puts on her make up...

And brushes her long blonde hair...

And then she asks me...

Do I look all right?

And I say yes, you look wonderful tonight."

Catherine snapped her head up as soon as she heard Sara's voice, her eyes wide, her mouth slightly open when she saw her. God, she looked incredible. She looked fucking amazing. And she was singing? Catherine had never heard her sing, other than mumbling a tune while she worked, but Sara's voice was beautiful. And when she saw brown eyes staring at her, she realized Sara wasn't just singing... she was singing to *her*. And it took her breath away.

"We go to a party...

And everyone turns to see

This beautiful lady...

That's walking around with me.

And then she asks me...

Do you feel alright?

And I say yes, I feel wonderful tonight."

Sara watched Catherine, though she knew everyone's eyes were on her. The only set she cared about right now was the pair of wide blue ones glistening with tears. Catherine had moved away from her date, closer to the stage, and even from several feet away, Sara could see her trembling.

"I feel wonderful, because I see

The love light in your eyes...

And the wonder... of it all.. is that you just don't realize...

How much I love you."

She let the song end there, setting the microphone back in its cradle before descending the stairs to stand in front of Catherine, who now had tears streaming down her cheeks. She took Cat's hands in hers, and finding no resistance, she whispered, "I love you, Catherine. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

Catherine squeezed Sara's hands, trying to find words that would do this moment justice. There were none, so she slipped her hands out of Sara's, grabbed her face, and kissed her.

Everyone who had been staring in shock now found something else to do, except Greg. He'd helped get that going, he deserved to be able to watch the fruits of his labor! Plus, he was holding Sara's purse. He needed to know when she wanted it back. It only made sense to be looking at her.

When she finally pulled back, Catherine kept her hands on Sara's face, stroking her cheeks as she spoke in a whisper. "You already know this, but I'll say it anyway, I love you too..." She slowly let her hands fall back to her sides, unable to stop the trembling in her entire body. "I'm sorry about Lady Heather. I should have asked you... I just didn't think to do it because the thought of sleeping with her, or anyone else, never even crossed my mind."

"I know," Sara nodded. "I mean I didn't know. But I should have known," she stumbled a bit over her words. "I'm sorry for what I said to you. I didn't mean it, I was just... caught off guard, and I know that's no excuse, but--"

Catherine silenced her with another kiss, this one less desperate and more loving. Her hands went to rest on Sara's waist, and as the band got going again, she started moving her hips with the music. "Dance with me," she requested, and a huge grin broke out on her face when she felt Sara's hips start to move beneath her hands. "I expected you to say you don't dance."

Sara leaned close and nibbled Catherine's ear, whispering into it. "There are a few things I don't do for anyone but you."

Catherine melted a little, and decided that dancing could wait. "Take me home."

--

"Is Lindsey here?" Sara asked as she stepped into the foyer after Catherine and closed the door behind her, clicking the lock into place.

"Sure Sara," Catherine smirked. "Six and a half is old enough to be left home alone."

Sara growled. "Now who's the smart-ass?" she asked. "I meant with a babysitter or something."

Catherine started backing slowly up toward the living room. "Do you see a babysitter anywhere? Did you see an extra car in the--"

Sara interrupted her. "Is she here, Cat?"

The look on Sara's face made Catherine's eyelids flutter. "No, she's at my sister's."

Sara advanced on Catherine, taking slow, deliberate steps, pulling off her dress on the way. She pushed her lover onto the couch and straddled her, wearing nothing but a pair of heeled sandals and a lacy black thong. "I touched myself every night and imagined it was you," she breathed, a little surprised at herself for being so candid, but she continued anyway. "My fingers just don't feel the same... neither did the women I tried to get over you with... I wanted you to be there, on top of me, taking me, reminding me why my heart and body belong to you... I need you, Cat. I was lost without you."

Catherine almost started crying again, but the needy tone of Sara's voice and the feel of her lover almost naked on top of her overwhelmed her senses, pushing the urge to cry far back in her mind. Confessions of her own spilled past her lips, her hands sliding up and down Sara's back, pulling her closer. "I didn't let anyone touch me... but the girls I played with never felt like you do... they never excited me the way you do... I missed you so much, Sara. You're the only one I want to be with." She wanted to tell Sara how much Lindsey missed her too, but not while they were doing *this*.

Sara rested her forehead on Catherine's shoulder, her breathing already irregular just from being so close to the blonde. "Take--take me, Cat... Please?"

Catherine had no desire to deny that request. She stood up, effectively pushing Sara off her lap, and steered her lover to the bedroom, guiding her onto her back in the middle of the bed. Her voice was low and husky now, Sara's request had turned her on. A lot. "Take off your panties and spread your legs."

Sara groaned quietly, her hands shaking as she moved them to her underwear and pushed the garment over her hips, down, and off. She wasn't worried about where they'd land - her thoughts were on Catherine as she slowly spread her legs, that feeling of exposed vulnerability creeping back over her to endear Catherine to her all over again. Not that her lover had ever stopped being endeared to her... the feeling was just renewed. And no one had ever made her feel like this before, except the gorgeous blonde staring hungrily between her thighs, those bright blue eyes seemingly on fire. That gaze could turn Sara inside-out.

Catherine was hungry. It had been far too long since she had touched, tasted, felt Sara. No one could satisfy the ache the way Sara did. "Grab the headboard and don't let go," she commanded hoarsely.

"Cat," Sara groaned again, putting her hands above her head and wrapping her fingers around two of the posts. "I don't know if I can hold on tight enough." She glanced toward the door. "My purse..." She swallowed heavily, past the lump in her throat. "My handcuffs are in my purse."

Catherine froze, a hitch in her breathing as she picked up her head, her gaze going from between Sara's legs, up over her stomach and chest to fix on her face. "Sara..." she whispered. "Are you sure?"

Sara bit her lower lip, nodding slowly. "I trust you."

That was all Catherine needed to hear, and she melted, crawling up Sara's body to kiss her, long and slow and sweet, with just a hint of the possession she felt for her lover. With a grin, she nipped at Sara's lower lip and pulled back, remembering one of their earliest bedroom conversations. "Don't touch anything. I'll be right back."

Sara's eyes lit up and she watched Catherine leave the room. She remembered that conversation too. "What am I gonna touch, Catherine?" she called after the blonde.

"Nothing," Catherine answered as she returned with the handcuffs, climbing onto the bed to straddle Sara's stomach. She leaned down to whisper in Sara's ear as she snapped one cuff closed around a slender wrist. "Because you won't be able to move your hands..."

Sara shivered at the breath on her ear, and at the words themselves. She felt Catherine thread the chain through the slats of the headboard, and as the cool metal closed around her other wrist, securing her to the bed, she closed her eyes, breathing deeply. With anyone else, she'd never be in this situation, but if she found herself in it, she'd be screaming and trying to get free in a panic. With Catherine, though? It was just... incredible. Sexy. Grounding. She tugged lightly on the restraints and let out a soft moan, her eyes drifting open to stare up at her lover. "It's been too long, Cat," she whispered.

The sight of Sara naked, cuffed to the bed beneath her was almost too much for Catherine to handle. She ran her fingertips down her lover's arms, lightly scratching the skin as she went, lowering her lips to Sara's once again and pouring herself into the kiss. "Spread your legs wider, baby," she husked into Sara's mouth, her words muffled because she hadn't stopped kissing.

Sara instantly parted her thighs even wider, feeling the strain on her muscles and loving it.

"Are you wet?"

"Touch me and find out."

A ghost of a smile flitted across Catherine's lips before she gave Sara a stern look. "If we're going for teasing, I'm going to win," she promised, her voice dangerously low.

"Fuck," Sara gasped, bucking her hips up toward Catherine, who was still straddling her stomach. "I'm wet!" she said quickly. "I'm wet... so wet. I'm fucking drenched Catherine, please touch me..."

"I want to touch you but I don't think you want it bad enough," Catherine teased, snaking down Sara's body to duck her head between her lover's thighs, blowing a cool breath across her glistening heat.

The contrasting temperatures made Sara suck in a surprised breath, and she just barely stopped herself from rocking into Catherine's mouth. "Yes I do, I do, I've never wanted anyone so much in my life," she choked out, her desire rising to a fever pitch. She dug the heels of her sandals into the mattress in an attempt to control herself. She would never cease to be amazed at how quickly Catherine could turn her into such a desperate mess. She rattled the handcuff chain in an effort to free herself, but it was only half-assed and she settled back under Catherine's warning gaze.

The blonde blew another cool breath between Sara's legs, and that was all she could stand. The scent was overwhelming her, twisting her stomach in knots, and the view she had, up close like this, was fucking mouth-watering. Sara Sidle, spread and open for her, soaking wet and swollen. Just for her. She had to taste.

Sara was about to go crazy, or start crying in frustration, when she felt Catherine's tongue slide into her. Before she had a chance to appreciate it for more than a second, though, her lover pulled out and flicked rapidly through her folds, then lips closed around her clit and sucked, hard. "Oh God, Cat," she breathed, arching her back off the bed, tugging again on her restraints. "Fuck me, please, I need you inside me..."

Catherine groaned and kissed her way up Sara's body, attaching her lips to her lover's neck and marking her with her teeth as her hand finally found its way between Sara's legs, briefly caressing her before sinking three fingers deep inside.

Sara cried out loudly, her hips jerking at the intrusion. The chain was rattling constantly now, she couldn't keep her arms still. But she wasn't trying to get away, she was just squirming because it felt so good.

"I love it when you scream," Catherine hissed. "The whole neighborhood will know what I'm doing to you." She bit down on the front of Sara's throat, making her lover cry out again, and she purred, bathing the mark with gentle licks as she pushed her fingers further into Sara.

Sara's eyelids fluttered and she arched her back, tugging so hard on her handcuffs that she could feel the metal chafing her skin, but she didn't care. She liked being tied down by Cat, with Cat on top of her, fucking her. It wasn't long before she felt the rising tide in her belly, and she tried to slow it down, draw out the pleasure, but Catherine was pounding her so hard that it was impossible to hold back. She came with yet another cry, this one bearing Catherine's name and echoing through the room, or at least through her ears.

Catherine would never get tired of it. Never get tired of hearing Sara cry her name, of feeling Sara tighten around her fingers, of seeing the look on her lover's face when she came. "Yes... yes, baby," she murmured, dropping slow kisses all over Sara's cheeks as she stroked her back down from her high.

It took a while before Sara was able to calm her breathing and the rapid rise and fall of her chest. Catherine's lips burned her skin wherever they touched her, and she wanted to wrap her arms around her lover, but the restraints kept them above her head instead. As she was about to open her mouth to ask to be released, she heard the key slide into the lock and one cuff popped free. How did Catherine do that? She always knew what Sara needed, was always one step ahead and doing the right thing to make Sara feel safe and comforted and... and loved. As soon as the second cuff was released she reached up to wrap her arms around Catherine, squeezing the blonde tightly to her. She suddenly found her voice choked up as she whispered into Catherine's hair, "I missed you so much..."

"I missed you too baby, but we're here now, and neither of us are going anywhere. Ever." Catherine was quick to reassure Sara, she knew how hard it was for her lover to talk about certain feelings. She pulled back to look into watery brown eyes and got a goofy smile on her face. "I adore you, Sara Sidle," she announced happily, pressing her lips to Sara's trembling ones.

Sara blew out a breath when the kiss ended, having gotten her emotions back under control for the moment. Now there was something she wanted to ask, but she'd never actually asked Catherine for it before - it had always just happened. Mostly when she was in trouble, either play trouble or real trouble. But right now she just wanted Catherine to spank her, for no reason other than that it had been a long time and she missed the feelings a good spanking provoked.

Catherine could feel the shift in Sara's body language, and she snuggled up closer, kissing her lover's chin. "You okay?"

"I'm okay, yeah," Sara said quietly. "I'm overwhelmed, but I'm okay. More than okay really. I'm happy." Wow. Now there was a revelation. "There's something I'm missing, though." Ooh, good segue.

"And what's that?" Catherine asked, lifting her head to raise an eyebrow at Sara. "A sore ass?"

Sara's deep blush probably gave her away at that, but she bit her lip and nodded anyway.

"Really?" Catherine asked, delighted to learn that. "I was just kidding, but mmm, that's sexy," she purred. "What kind of spanking do you want?"

The heat in Sara's face slowly started to subside - how did Catherine manage to make her feel comfortable talking about this? It happened all the time... she'd be embarrassed as hell and Cat had a way of making it seem like they were talking about the fucking weather. It was just one of many, many reasons she had fallen for the blonde. "I don't know," she still said, not sure what exactly she wanted.

"Nice and hard?" Catherine asked softly, a seductive edge to her voice.

Sara nodded. She hoped Catherine kept asking yes or no questions.

"Over my lap?"

Sara nodded again. She loved the feel of being across Catherine's lap, it was so... intimate.

"With my hand?"

Another nod. Now she knew what she wanted. "Yes please..."

"Take your sandals off," Catherine instructed, slowly climbing off of Sara and sliding to sit on the edge of the bed. "And come here."

"You still have a lot of clothes on, Cat," Sara noted as she sat up and unbuckled her sandals, slipping them off one at a time and dropping them onto the floor as she stood in front of Catherine.

Catherine gave her a sly smirk and worked her dress up around her hips, then patted her bare thighs. "Over my lap, little miss..."

Sara only caught a glimpse of Catherine's dark red underwear because she was already moving to lay across her lover's lap. She stretched out and laid her head on her folded arms, wiggling to get comfortable.

Catherine wasted no time in putting her hands on Sara's body, rubbing up and down her back, over her ass and thighs, before she started to slowly build up a rhythm, the slaps gentle at first. There was really nothing like the sound of skin on skin like this - the sound of a spanking had come to be one of Cat's favorite things to hear. Especially when it was her and Sara as the source.

Sara's eyes drifted closed, Catherine's touch burning trails across her body. She loved the way her lover always warmed her up first, and she had stopped comparing it to boiling water. She had learned how to leave the science out of some things these days.

The next round of smacks got harder and Sara let out little noises of not-really-protest. Her backside was starting to heat up, which was in turn starting a slow burn between her legs that only Catherine could put there. And only Catherine could satisfy that burn. "Ow!" She jumped at a particularly forceful swat, feeling the sting as she squirmed over her lover's lap. She kept quiet for the next few, until the heat in that whole general area of her body made her groan and press down against Catherine's thighs.

Catherine enjoyed the slickness that suddenly coated the tops of her thighs, and took that as encouragement of the best kind. Her voice was low and husky when she spoke. "You like this, baby?"

Sara groaned again, Catherine's palm connecting solidly with her cheeks as she gasped out an answer. "Yes... God yes, Catherine..."

"How much?"

"Ungh... so much..."

"How much?"

"More than I ever thought possib-- ohhhhh Cat, you're gonna make me come!" she choked out as Catherine started targeting her sweet spot.

"Oh, that would be a tragedy," Catherine replied sarcastically, continuing the assault on Sara's very favorite spot.

Sara didn't have time to give any sort of coherent reply before the pressure built up to breaking and coursed through her body, making her cry out and bite down on her arm as she came.

When her lover's body stopped shaking, Catherine stroked her reddened skin for a few moments and then guided Sara off of her lap to lay on the bed instead, and she kicked off her own shoes, climbing under the sheets and putting them over Sara as well, snuggling up close.

"I want to touch you," Sara half-whined, turning on her side to face Catherine, bringing a hand up to stroke blonde hair out of her lover's face.

Catherine leaned forward and kissed her softly. "We have forever for that... right now I just want to hold you, and sleep. What I want most is to wake up with you in the morning... every morning." When Sara nodded, she put her arms around her lover and squeezed, grateful that this time it wasn't just a dream.

"Eeeeeeeee!"

Sara was jolted from sleep by a loud, excited squeal, and she bolted upright in the bed, grateful for the presence of mind to hold the sheets over herself as she did so, because the next thing she knew, Lindsey had bounced right onto the bed and tackled her. Oh God. Oh God. Catherine needed to wake up right *now*, because there was no way she could explain this to Lindsey.

"You're here!" Lindsey shrieked, wrapping her arms around Sara so tightly that she couldn't ever get away again. When she calmed down a little she looked at her mom, then back at Sara, a huge grin plastered on her face. "You were being gay with my mom, weren't you?" she asked excitedly.

Sara's eyes went wide and she somehow managed to free one arm enough to jab Catherine with a finger.

Catherine stirred and groaned in her sleep, rolling away from Sara and settling back down.

Lindsey, oblivious to Sara's turmoil, sat up and crossed her arms over her chest, now looking suspicious. "You were, right?"

Sara desperately poked Catherine again, harder this time, and to her complete surprise, Catherine rolled back over and snagged Lindsey around the waist, pulling her close, on top of the covers of course, and mumbled, "yes baby, we were being gay, now go to sleep, please?"

Lindsey couldn't sleep after that confession! She wriggled out of her mother's grasp and turned to Sara, who was clearly more awake out of the two of them. "So you're gonna be my other mom?"

Sara was about to shove Catherine all the way out of bed to wake her up, but apparently at hearing that question, she came to rather quickly.

Cat snapped around to face Lindsey, her eyes wide as she tried to gauge Sara's reaction to the question. Her lover looked as if she'd just been told to put on a duck suit and jog across the Arizona desert in the middle of summer. "Nancy!" she yelled. She was going to kill her sister for just letting Lindsey burst in on them like this.

Nancy came hurrying into the bedroom, blushing as she apologized and ushered Lindsey from the room, scolding the little girl for not knocking first.

When the door was closed behind them, Cat inched closer to Sara, who still hadn't said a word. "I'm so sorry," she smiled, hoping they'd be able to just brush the whole thing off. The last thing she wanted was to spook Sara into running.

Sara's voice was a squeak when she finally gathered her wits and asked, "how does she know about things like this? She's only six and a half..."

"I don't know... I never know where she learns half the stuff she learns. Older kids at school, I suppose. So you're okay? We're okay? You're not freaked out?"

Sara was finally able to relax a little. "Of course I'm freaked out, I'm totally fucking freaked out, your daughter just caught us in bed together! And apparently she knows what that means. I don't like her knowing about sex, gay or straight," she frowned. "Maybe w-you should put her in a private school."

She almost said *we*. Catherine's heart started to pound in her chest as she argued back, "private schools aren't any better these days. Worse, even, because most of the kids don't just have ideas, they have money to go along with their ideas, which means even more access to trouble." She paused for a second, and then added, "and I don't think she was insinuating sex. I think she defines being gay as two women kissing." Another pause, and then, "she really missed you, Sara."

Sara cleared her throat and looked away, a blush tinting her cheeks as she mumbled, "I missed her too."

Catherine beamed, squirming until she was laying on top of Sara beneath the covers, and kissed her softly. "What? I couldn't quite hear you, Sidle..."

"Don't fuck with me," Sara pouted, and her eyes widened when she felt a sharp tug on both nipples, making her cry out. "I said I missed her too!"

"That's better," Cat purred, dropping another kiss to Sara's lips and soothing her nipples with a gentle touch. "Just because there's other people in the house doesn't mean you can misbehave..."

Sara smothered a smirk and nodded instead, biting her lip. "Yes Ma'am," she said cheekily.

"Yes Ma'am my ass," Catherine replied, giving Sara a look. "Watch yourself."

Sara snickered and leaned up to sneak a quick kiss, then flopped back to the bed with a sigh and a stretch. "What's the plan for today?"

"Well, it's Saturday, so no school for Lindsey..."

Sara grinned and dragged Catherine down on top of her again. "How about going to Chuck E. Cheese? It can be a Saturday tradition, and I'll eat my salad, I promise."

Catherine laughed and wrapped her arms around her lover, snuggling up close with a nod. "Sounds good to me. I don't know if Lindsey will want to go, though," she teased.

"I'm sure she'd hate it," Sara agreed. "Let's get dressed and ask her."

Ten minutes later, both ladies were dressed and washed up, and they found Lindsey and Nancy in the living room watching tv. "Hey, baby," Catherine said, sliding onto the couch next to her daughter. "How would you feel about a trip to Chuck E. Cheese?"

"Yeah!" Lindsey exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in excitement. She scrambled off the couch and started to run to her room to change, but stopped in front of Sara and looked up at her. "You better eat your salad like a grown-up," she said wisely, and then continued on to her room.

Sara blushed, staring at her shoes, hoping Nancy didn't catch any of that, or at least wouldn't know what they were talking about if she did hear it. "Thanks for watching her," she finally said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

Both Catherine and Nancy spun around to face her, and Nancy gave her a curious look. "You're part of her life enough to thank me for that?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Sara asked, and the warning in her voice was unmistakable.

Cat wondered if she was going to have to break it up, but she sighed in relief when Nancy smiled.

"No... Just checking. Catherine doesn't tell me too much, so I have to figure out other ways to find out."

Sara relaxed and stopped balling her fists inside her pockets, offering Nancy a smile in return. "Okay then."

"But I have to say, I'm glad you seem willing to fight for my sister," Nancy said, standing up and moving to the door. "Anyone who wouldn't even stand up to *me* doesn't deserve to be with Catherine."

"Oh you should have seen her at Lindsey's soccer game, Nance. She flashed her piece to back somebody off me."

A raised eyebrow and an impressed expression graced Nancy's face as she opened the front door, and she smirked as she left, throwing a good-bye over her shoulder.

Catherine walked to Sara and ran her fingers through her lover's hair, gathering a handful at the base of her neck and squeezing softly. "That was so sexy," she purred. "Do you have a problem with that?" she repeated Sara's words, as she squeezed her hair a bit more firmly. "You would fight for me, wouldn't you?" she then realized.

"I sang in front of a hundred people for you. That's scarier than fighting for you, Cath. I'll fight for you any time."

"And I'd fight for you any time," Catherine returned. "And I won't go to Chuck E. Cheese with anyone but you, Sara."

Sara felt herself choking up, and wanted to end this conversation as quickly as possible, but she found herself answering anyway. "Can we say it for what it is, Catherine? I don't want to be with anyone but you."

Catherine dropped her forehead onto Sara's shoulder and inhaled deeply, appreciating the scent that she'd come to know so intimately. "I don't want to be with anyone but you," she whispered.

Lindsey had been eavesdropping, and could no longer contain herself, letting out a squeal of delight and skipping into the foyer. She partially understood what they were talking about, but no matter what, she knew it was a good thing, what they were saying to each other. A good thing that meant Sara was staying around.

As they headed out to the car, Sara glanced around and then asked quietly, "do I *have* to have a salad?"

Lindsey groaned as she climbed into the back seat and buckled her seatbelt, and Catherine just turned to Sara with a smirk. "Yes, you do. Now get in the car, smart-ass."

And Sara did. She also ate her salad without complaint, and then went to play in the tubes with Lindsey, and they got ice cream afterwards. The whole trip did indeed become a Saturday tradition, and it lasted until Lindsey was twelve and deemed herself 'too old' for Chuck E. Cheese.

"You're never too old for Chuck E. Cheese," Sara said, clearly scandalized at Lindsey's announcement. "And what is that on your face?"

"It's called makeup," Lindsey said, rolling her eyes. "And I'd rather go to the mall with my friends. None of them go to Chuck E. Cheese anymore."

Sara frowned. "Is that the reason you don't want to go? Because your friends don't?"

Lindsey shrugged and played with her cereal, which she'd barely touched. It was hard to pretend she didn't want to do something, especially when Sara was such a good investigator. But she couldn't go, she'd die if any of her friends found out!

Sara knew something was up, and she stopped eating her own breakfast to give Linds her full attention. "Look at me, Lindsey."

"Nuh uh." That was how they always got her... they made her look at them, then they knew when she was lying. It was totally unfair to live with two CSIs.

Sara continued anyway, talking to the top of Lindsey's head. "If you really don't want to go, we'll understand. But if you're just pretending you don't want to go because your friends aren't doing it? I'll be a little disappointed, but I'll be really disappointed if you lie to me Lindsey, and I know your mom will too."

Oh, man... she *hated* the disappointed speech. That was the worst. Worse than the mad one for sure. "That's not fair," she stated, still staring at her hands. "Just give me a ride to the mall. I don't want to go to stupid Chuck E. Cheese."

"You'll have to ask your mother if you can go to the mall," Sara said, doing her best to hide the fact that she was actually a little bit hurt. She knew she shouldn't be, that this was normal behavior for Lindsey's age, but it still stung.

"Why do you always do that?" Lindsey yelled, looking up at Sara now, her hands balled into fists. "Like you're not my mom too?! You always put all the hard decisions on her, like you don't want to take any responsibility for me!"

Now Sara was stunned, and she stared at Lindsey for a minute before she could even find her voice. "All right," she finally said, trying to keep her voice steady, trying to sound confident even though she was terrified. She really never *had* made a decision like this about Lindsey without consulting Catherine. "No, you may not go to the mall, Lindsey. If you don't want to go to Chuck E. Cheese, that's fine, but no mall."

"Oh well that's just great," Lindsey shouted, standing up and slamming her fist on the table, making her spoon clatter against her bowl. "You're just saying no because you're mad that I don't want to go to Chuck E. Cheese!"

"I'm not mad," Sara explained, and she wasn't mad, but before she could say anything else, Lindsey overturned her chair, flipped her off, and stormed out of the kitchen. A few seconds later she heard her bedroom door slam.

Lindsey had never behaved that way to her before, and she was at a complete loss. She wished Catherine hadn't gone jogging on this particular Saturday. Glancing at the counter, she saw that Cath hadn't brought her cell phone with her, so she was stuck dealing with this on her own unless she wanted to wait for her lover to get home. It shouldn't be too long, right? Maybe she should wait.

Shaking, Sara walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, running her hands over her face and taking a deep breath. She heard Lindsey's door open, but she wasn't ready to face her yet, so she called as authoritatively as she could manage, "stay in your room until I ask you to come out."

The door slamming again indicated that Linds had listened, and another door opening, the front door, was the most welcome sound Sara had ever heard in her life, or at least that's what it felt like at the moment.

Catherine could instantly tell something was wrong, and she kicked off her shoes, going to Sara, who was sitting on the couch wringing her hands. "What's the matter, baby?" she asked.

Sara fought back tears as she related the story to Catherine, and was grateful to find herself in a comforting embrace by the time she finished. "I'm sorry I sent her to her room without asking you first," she said, after telling that last bit.

"No," Catherine said, shaking her head and rubbing Sara's back. "You are her mother too, she was right about that part, baby. I trust you to make decisions for her and about her, whether I'm home or not. What are you going to do?"

"I-- I don't know. What do you think I should do?"

"I think you should--" Catherine started to suggest a course of action but stopped mid-sentence and changed her mind. "I think it should be up to you. What do you think you should do?"

"I don't know." Sara said, glancing toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms. "I don't know, Cat. What should I do?"

"Think of it this way... would you ever behave that way to me, or to Lindsey?"

"You know I wouldn't. But I can't punish her, she'll hate me..."

"She'll respect you, not hate you," Catherine corrected her. "And if you don't do it, I will, but it'll mean much more coming from you. I think she's testing you, to see how much you care about her. Pushing your limits to see how far your limits can be pushed. Do you hate me when I punish you?"

"Of course not, but that's different," Sara shook her head.

"It's different in some ways, not so different in others. Go on... go deal with your daughter. I'll back any decision you make."

Sara really didn't want to, but she slowly got up and made her way to Lindsey's room. She knocked quietly before entering, and closed the door behind her. The twelve-year-old was reclining on her bed listening to her iPod. "Can you put that away, please? I'd like to talk to you," Sara said, just loud enough to be heard over the music. However, Lindsey ignored her to the point that after asking three times, she simply walked over and removed the earphones, taking the gadget out of reach.

"Hey, I was listening to that!" Lindsey snarled, grabbing for it back.

"And I asked you three times to put it away," Sara pointed out, tucking it into her pocket.

"Didn't hear you," Lindsey lied, grumbling under her breath as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from Sara to stare at the wall.

Sara chose not to pick that particular battle at the present time, and instead launched straight into what she'd come in to say. "Lindsey... you really hurt my feelings earlier."

Okay, that was worse than the disappointment speech, and Lindsey suddenly had to try hard not to cry. She never wanted to hurt either of her moms. She had been ready for Sara to come in and ground her, or yell at her, or maybe even spank her, but she wasn't prepared for what Sara said, and it was more effective than any or all of the things she'd been expecting. She knew she deserved to be in trouble, and maybe she was still going to be, but hurting Sara's feelings was worse. She wished for trouble instead. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice breaking as the tears started to fall. "Please... ground me or yell at me or something, but don't be hurt, please..."

Sara's own tears threatened, but she kept them at bay. "I am hurt, Linds. That's what happens when you treat people that way... they get hurt."

"No, please, I'm sorry!" Lindsey cried, turning away from the wall and launching herself at Sara, wrapping her arms around her and holding her tight. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I was just mad, *please* don't be hurt! Just--can't you just spank me instead? I'll never treat you that way again, I promise!"

Sara hugged her back, still amazed at how tall she'd gotten lately, and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "I don't want to spank you, Linds."

"But I deserve it," Lindsey said, which was a *rare* thing for the almost-teenager to admit. "And how else will you forgive me?" The thought of a sore bottom was nothing compared to the thought of Sara not forgiving her. She couldn't even believe it herself, the way she'd acted. She loved Sara so much... and Sara was always, always, always so good to her. Whether she was punished or not, she knew she'd never talk to Sara that way again. "Mom says if you make a bad choice, you get punished and then you get to start over."

Sara knew that philosophy of Catherine's *very* well. Grateful that Lindsey's head was buried in her chest and therefore could not see her blush, she gave her daughter a squeeze. She wasn't mad at Linds... but Linds was obviously mad at herself. She had never punished the little girl before, but maybe it was time she did. It was a good way to bring closure to hurt feelings and mistakes. "Okay," she finally said, hoping she could actually go through with this. She let go of Lindsey and sat on the edge of her bed, taking a slow breath and clearing her throat. Wow. How did Catherine do this with so much confidence? She cleared her throat again and looked at Lindsey. "Over my lap, Linds."

Lindsey chewed her lip as she inched closer to Sara. Well, she had asked for it, right? Everything could go back to normal after this. Right? It was weird, it felt weird, but it also kinda felt good, because she had been waiting for six years for Sara to *really* act like her parent, and she finally was. In a strange way it made her feel safe.

Sara wondered if she was going to have to say it again, or help Lindsey comply, but she watched in amazement as the little-- no, she wasn't little anymore-- girl walked over and laid across her lap. Sometimes, like earlier, Linds could be stubborn and childish, but sometimes, like right now, she was so grown-up it was scary.

Lindsey held her breath and waited, already on the verge of tears again, so when the first spank landed on her bottom, she started to cry. It hurt, and she was only twelve, so that didn't make her a baby, right? When she was thirteen she probably wouldn't need spankings anymore.

Sara almost stopped, but she forced herself to continue, making sure she wasn't spanking too hard. Lindsey had said and done some very rude things, and she did deserve to be punished, but it was so hard for Sara to do it. She steeled herself though, and gave her daughter about twenty good smacks. Lindsey's tears broke her heart, and she wanted to hug her, but she also wanted to wait until Lindsey was ready, so she just let her lay still and cry for as long as she needed.

Lindsey knew she had kicked a few times and tried to get off of Sara's lap once or twice before it was over, and now she felt like a total baby. She had wanted to be so good, to show Sara that she really was sorry, but once the spanking started she just couldn't help trying to make it stop. It sucked that Sara had to hold her in place, she'd thought she was so big and brave and grown up, but she wasn't. She was just twelve, and she was still a kid, and she really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese with Mom and Sara. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and tried to sniffle enough to keep her nose from running. "I do wanna go to Chuck E. Cheese," she finally said, her voice quiet and scratchy with her tears. "But if I ruined it and you don't wanna go anymore I understand, and no matter what happens I'm really sorry and I love you so so much," she said in a rush.

"I love you too Linds," Sara said, her eyes welling up again as she lifted Lindsey to her feet and wrapped her up in a hug. "I still want to go... and I promise to start acting more like an equal parent to you. I just... never wanted to overstep any boundaries... it wasn't about not wanting responsibility for you, okay?"

Lindsey nodded. "Okay," she whispered.

"And if you're ever feeling hurt or upset about something, you can always come talk to me, even if I'm the one that's upsetting you. If you don't tell me, I won't know how you feel, and I never want to hurt you. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Now why don't you have some alone time and get ready to go, while I talk to your mom, and we'll get going whenever you're ready."

"Kay."

Sara gave her one last tight squeeze and then left the room to give her some space. She found Catherine in the living room watching tv, but her lover flipped it off when she walked in and looked at her instead.

"Is everything okay?"

Sara nodded and went to sit next to Catherine, letting out a long, slow breath and ducking her head to bury her face in her lover's neck. "That was hard."

"What did you decide to do?"

"I uh, I spanked her," Sara mumbled into Cat's neck.

Catherine's eyes widened as she looked down at the back of Sara's head. "You did? Wow. I'm impressed."

"Well, I wasn't going to, but she said she deserved it, and I th--"

"She what?" Cat nearly shrieked upon hearing that her daughter had admitted to deserving a spanking. Not once, not ever, had Lindsey been so accepting of a punishment from her. "How in the hell did you manage that, Sidle? Now I'm *really* impressed."

"I hope I never have to do it again," Sara whispered. When Catherine's question registered, she sighed and picked her head up. "All I did was tell her she hurt my feelings, and she started crying and asked me for a spanking instead."

Catherine stopped making light of the situation when she realized that Sara didn't think it was humorous. She took her lover's face in her hands and looked into her eyes with a genuine smile. "Baby, I'm really, really proud of you," she said softly, planting a soft kiss on Sara's lips. "I know how hard it is for you to even scold her. But she deserved a punishment, and you were able to follow through and give her one, and I'm proud of you for that. Okay?" And she would have to remember to tell Lindsey the next time her daughter hurt *her* feelings. She wondered if it would have the same effect, or if it was only Sara's feelings she was so worried about hurting.

That made Sara smile and she nodded, reaching up to run her fingers through Catherine's hair. "Okay," she agreed. A lingering thought popped up again at that moment and she furrowed her brows, pursing her lips before she asked, "do you think she knows that you 'punish' me in the bedroom? Because I don't want her to think it's the same thing... oh God, that would be awful." She couldn't even imagine that.

"She's a smart girl. If she does know what goes on in our bedroom, she'll also know that it's completely different when it's between her and I or between the two of you. Don't worry about that, baby."

"Okay," Sara said, calming down somewhat and getting to her feet. "She asked if we could still go to Chuck E. Cheese. You want to get changed or are you okay going in that?"

Cat glanced down at her running pants and tank top, then looked back up at Sara and shrugged. "If you're okay going out with me in this...?"

"I'm okay going out with you in anything or nothing," Sara said, her eyes dancing over the curves nicely displayed by the outfit.

Lindsey came out, ready to go, and they headed for Chuck E. Cheese. For a few years, Lindsey wasn't interested in playing in the tubes with Sara anymore, and they had basketball and skeeball contests instead. Chuck E. Cheese slowly became 'cool' again with the teenage population, and by the time Lindsey was seventeen she was bringing a friend with her most weeks.

They were getting ready to go, and Lindsey was taking longer than usual, so Catherine peeked into her room to see what was taking so long, and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. Linds was getting dressed, and Catherine could see bruises on her thighs below her underwear. "Lindsey! What happened?" she asked, moving fully into the room in panic mode.

"Mom!" Lindsey screamed, spinning around and sitting down, yanking a blanket over her lap. "What are you doing?! House rules say knock first!"

"Lindsey what happened to you?" Catherine asked again, reaching for the blanket, her movements slightly frantic.

Lindsey held tightly to the blanket, a deep flush spreading over her face. "Nothing," she said quickly, refusing to look at her mother. How embarrassing.

The fact that Lindsey was blushing bright red was the only thing that kept Catherine from completely flipping out. Her daughter was embarrassed. Which meant that whatever had happened was consensual. She wanted to order Lindsey to talk to her, tell her what was going on, but she knew that it wouldn't work, and it was unfair of her to try it anyway. She opened her mouth and closed it, then tried again and finally was able to choke out, "would you rather talk to Sara?"

Lindsey was confused for a second until she realized what her mom thought, and then she shook her head. "Nooo, Mom, it's not that I don't want to talk to you," she assured her.

Catherine's expression was clearly pained, she couldn't help it. "Then please, tell me what's going on? Your thighs are covered in bruises, Linds..."

"You should see my--" Oops, shit. She stopped talking when she realized what she was about to say, to her *mother*. "Uh, nothing."

"Lindsey?" Catherine's eyes filled with tears as she stared at her daughter. "I'm freaking out. What in the hell hap--"

"I just-- I was just--" Lindsey interrupted her mom, then paused to gather her thoughts. "I was just messing around with a girl in my science class." The blush was back, full force, but she had to say something or her mom was gonna cry, and that would *suck*. "We were both curious about it."

"Sex?"

"No Mom. The thing you do to Sara that gives her bruises on her thighs. And... another place."

Catherine choked on her breath, eyes wide again at both the fact that Lindsey knew Sara sometimes had bruises, and that her daughter was experimenting with spanking. Oh, fuck. She had no idea what to say to that. What could she say? Without being a hypocrite, of course. There was nothing. Catherine Willows was at a complete loss for words. And thank God Sara chose that moment to come in.

"Hey, I would've knocked but the door's op..." Sara stopped mid-sentence and let her words trail off as she looked between Catherine and Lindsey. Catherine looked stunned, and Lindsey was bright red. "What's up?"

"Lindslindsey was just telling, uh, telling me that she-she-she..." she waved her hand in the air as she stuttered, unable to finish.

"Mom's overreacting," Lindsey said quietly, staring at the floor. "I was just curious and..." she shrugged.

"Okay what's going on?" Sara asked, more confused now than when she walked in the room. "You didn't have sex, did you? Because we said eighteen..."

"Nooo, I was just playing around with one of the girls in my science class and we spanked each other, okay? Can I crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment now, please?"

"She has bruises!" Catherine blurted out, wanting Sara to have the whole story.

Sara was torn between laughing and being worried, so she opted for neither just yet. She leaned down and kissed Catherine's cheek, and whispered into her ear. "Can I have a few minutes with her? I know where she's coming from, remember?"

Catherine swallowed hard, her jaw working in silence for a few seconds before she gave up trying to answer and just nodded, slipping from the room and closing the door behind her.

Sara sat down next to Lindsey on the bed, forming a lecture outline in her head before getting started. "Is this the first time you've tried it?"

Lindsey chewed on her fingernails as she gave a little nod.

"Okay," Sara said, nodding as well. "And did you like it?"

Lindsey kept chewing, and nodded again.

"Do you think it's bec--"

"No," Lindsey finally spoke up, and she couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face now. "It has nothing to do with you guys spanking me growing up. It's totally different."

Thank God. "Okay, that's good." VERY good.

"I mean it's the same, but it's different. You know what I mean, right? Mom spanks you all the time, and it's the same as when you guys spanked me, but it's different because it doesn't mean the same thing. Right?"

Sara processed that for a minute and nodded in agreement. "Right." And then she realized what Lindsey had just confessed to knowing about her, and it was her turn to blush bright red. "How do you know that?"

"Are you serious? You think I can't hear her smacking you? You think I can't hear you begging her to do it har--"

"Lindsey!" Sara squeaked, her cheeks on fire.

"Oh sorry, how does it feel to have your experiences put under the microscope?" Lindsey drawled sarcastically. "Harder Catherine, spank me, yes, harder!"

"Stop it!" Sara shrieked, amazed that her voice could reach such a high pitch. "I'm not making fun of you, Lindsey!"

Lindsey sighed and flopped backwards on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Then what exactly are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to talk to you about this, as someone who knows how it feels. And I know it can be exhilarating to experiment, but you really need to be safe, Linds. Spanking hard enough to leave bruises on your first time doesn't sound all that safe. Has this other girl done it before?"

"I think so, not sure," Lindsey shrugged. "What did you do your first time? Was it with my mom?"

Sara found it extremely awkward to talk about this with Lindsey, but her need for Linds to be safe outweighed the discomfort. "Yeah... she was very careful with me. And she had learned how to do it properly from someone who has been doing it for a long time."

"Lady Heather I bet, now the name makes sense," Lindsey said with a grin. She couldn't believe Sara was actually talking about this with her, but it was *so* cool. "You're the coolest parent ever, you know that?"

"I am?" Sara asked in surprise. "What?"

"Mom totally flipped out, I don't even want to imagine what my dad would have done if he was still around, but you... you're totally listening to me and taking me seriously. I don't know any other parents that do that. Especially not about stuff like this. I promise I'll be safe if I do it again, okay?"

Sara was beaming at the praise, she couldn't help it. That was one of the nicest things to hear, especially since she was often uncertain how good of a parent she was being. "Thank you Lindsey," she said sincerely, very touched by her daughter's declaration. "Being safe means no bruises, do we have a deal?"

"I didn't know there were gonna be bruises..."

"Let me rephrase. Being safe means no paddles or anything like that for now. Deal?"

Lindsey didn't really want to make that deal, but Sara was being so awesome, she just had to. "Yeah, okay, deal. Not thrilled about it, but you got a deal."

"I love you Linds."

"Love you too. Now can you get out so I can get dressed?" she asked with mock exasperation.

Sara chuckled and got up from the bed, leaving Lindsey alone in her room to get dressed. She went to find Catherine, and had to look in several places before she finally found her in their bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed with her face buried in her hands. Heart melting, she sat next to her lover and wrapped her arms around her, kissing the top of her blonde head. "Once upon a time, you taught me that consensual spanking was different than what happened to me as a child. That it could be a healing experience for me. That it's a healthy expression of sexuality."

Catherine leaned into the embrace with a sigh. "Lindsey wasn't abused as a child."

"No, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't experiment with control... it's natural, Catherine, and I know she'll always be your baby no matter how old she gets, but she's almost eighteen, and she's not having sex. We can't ask her to bottle *everything* up. She's promised to be safe if she decides to do this again."

"I don't like it, I don't want her doing it," Catherine insisted, pulling out of the embrace to look at Sara with a pained expression.

"I understand that. Do you think your mother wants you doing it?"

"That's different, I'm an adult. Well past eighteen if you hadn't noticed."

"Cat you can't keep her from exploring her sexuality, and if you don't want her to just shut you out, you need to be supportive."

"But what if she gives up control to someone who takes advantage of that?"

"Then you talk to her about ways to be safe and what to look for in a partner, but you don't judge her and you certainly don't be a hypocrite, which frankly is exactly what you're being."

"Don't you tell me I'm being a hypocrite," Cat said with a bit of a snarl, her eyes narrowing at Sara. "I'm a top."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You'd be fine if she only wanted to be on top?"

"I'd be a hell of a lot more comfortable with it, yes," Catherine replied, raising her voice. "I don't want her out bending over for any asshole that comes along!"

"And what makes you think she'd be so indiscriminate? Do you think that's what I do? I go out and bend over for any asshole that comes along? Just because I let you top me, it means I'd let anyone do it?"

"Well it certainly didn't take much convincing to get you in my bed!"

The argument had gone from bad to worse, and from Lindsey's welfare to Catherine questioning Sara's fidelity, and that just pissed her off. There was no reason for it; Catherine was being completely outrageous and nasty. "Stop it, Catherine."

"You didn't want me to stop back then, you asked for more if I recall," Cat snarled, and before she could even begin to comprehend the possible consequences of her behavior, she found herself face down across Sara's lap on the bed, an arm around her waist to keep her still, as she was quite soundly spanked.

Not caring that she was acting like a child, Catherine kicked and yelled and tried to get off Sara's lap for all she was worth, but her lover held her there, raining down firm, crisp smacks over and over again that had her in tears within seconds. She hated having Sara upset with her, hated having upset Sara so much that *this* was happening, and she hated the fact that over the last ten years, including right now, Sara had spanked her twice, and she'd burst into tears both times. She felt like a baby but it really, really stung, and on top of the burning in her backside, she had realized how awful her words had been to the woman she loved, and hurting Sara hurt her much worse than the spanking. Ironically enough, she knew Lindsey had felt the same way ten years ago, the first time Sara had spanked their daughter. And just like Lindsey had felt back then, Catherine's guilt also didn't keep her from wanting the spanking to end.

She cried and cried and cried, knowing she wouldn't sit comfortably for the next few hours, and wishing she had just taken a minute to *think* before she spouted out things she didn't mean. She did not think of Sara that way at *all*. She couldn't think of anyone she respected and appreciated more than the amazing woman blistering her backside, and she really did not take her lover's submission for granted. It was a gift she treasured, a gift she knew Sara had never given and would never give to anyone else, and she felt horrible for insinuating otherwise. The sudden thought that she may have just completely shattered Sara's trust in her nearly sent her undone. "I'm sorry!" she cried, and she really, really was. "I'm so sorry, Sara, I didn't mean any of that," she stammered through her tears. "I was ma-ma-mad and I--"

"Quiet," Sara scolded her. "I don't want to hear it yet." She was really hurt, and she didn't want apologies right now.

Catherine stopped trying to talk and just sobbed across Sara's lap, comforted only by the fact that Sara said 'yet', which meant that she did eventually want to hear it. She started to wonder if her lover was ever going to stop spanking her - her ass was blazing hot and felt like a thousand bees had stung her.

Sara did finally stop, but she still wasn't ready to hear from Catherine yet. She needed a little time to sort through her feelings first. She eased her lover off her lap and made sure she was steady on her feet before she let go, and pointed to one corner of their bedroom. "Pull your pants and underwear down and go stand in the corner with your hands on your head until I'm ready to hear what you have to say."

Catherine had made Sara do this a handful of times, and the brunette protested and pouted every time, and now she knew why. Now she knew exactly how it felt to be given that instruction and not think you'd be able to comply. "Please, Sara!" she sobbed.

"Move it!" Sara yelled, more harshly than she'd intended, and a wave of guilt coursed through her at the way Cat jumped and the way her fingers trembled as she tried to work the button of her pants.

Catherine hadn't been this miserable since she and Sara had been apart almost eleven years ago, and she couldn't stop the tears as she pushed her jeans and underwear down to her knees and stood in the corner. She stared at the floor, putting her hands on the back of her head, wishing more than anything to be in Sara's arms. She would never make Sara stand in the corner after a punishment again, not ever.

Sara stared at Catherine's back for the longest time, not really getting any thinking done. It was like when you went out to dinner and looked at the menu, but you weren't really deciding what to eat because you couldn't concentrate. Finally the crying did her in and she crossed her arms over her chest, a frown on her face as she said, "pull your pants up and come here."

Catherine pulled her pants back into place and swiped her sleeve across her nose, then hurried over to Sara and sat in her lap, throwing her arms around her lover's neck and squeezing as tight as she possibly could.

Sara's breath was squished out of her in a rush and she put her arms around Catherine, hoping to calm her down a little, or at least reassure her lover that she wasn't going anywhere. She had a feeling that's what Cat was afraid of. "We've fought before, I'm still here," she whispered. "But you had no right to say those things to me Catherine, no right at all, unless that's how you really feel. Is it?"

"No," Catherine said immediately, her voice hoarse and raspy with tears. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what the hell I was thinking other than panic about Lindsey... I have more respect for you than for anyone I've ever met. And I know I'm the only one you give up your will to, I know that, I promise I know it. I don't know what I was thinking, Sara. I must've gone crazy for a minute." She buried her face in Sara's neck. "And you were right, I was being a hypocrite, it's just so hard to let Lindsey grow up..."

"It's hard for me too, but I don't deal with it by hurting you," Sara said quietly, which sent Catherine into a fresh round of tears.

"I'm sorry!" Cat cried, clinging tightly to Sara. "Your love and submission are the greatest gifts I've ever been given and I treasure them with all my heart," she choked out. "The only person I've ever loved as much as I love you is Lindsey." She was quiet for a minute, afraid to ask what she wanted to ask, and then finally forced herself to whisper, "if you don't think I deserve your submission again after the things I said, I'll underst--"

"Shhhhh," Sara interrupted her, kissing the top of her head. "I know you're sorry. How many times have we been in this situation before, with me in trouble?"

That made Catherine smile just a little. "Quite a few..."

"Have you ever thought about taking that part of our relationship away because I messed up?"

"No," Catherine shook her head, seeing Sara's point. "I've thought of torturing you in plenty of ways, but never that."

"I don't want to take it away either." She tilted Cat's face up to look her in the eyes, and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "What's your rule about punishments?"

Catherine melted into the kiss, running her fingers through Sara's hair. "If you make a mistake, and are punished for it, you get to start over."

"That's right. That goes for you too, Cat."

Catherine nodded and gave a long, quiet sigh. "I should go apologize to Linds."

"Do you think you can be supportive of her choice?"

"I'm gonna try. I just... still see her as a little girl, you know?"

"Believe me, I know. But I don't want to lose her trust. If we don't support the decisions she makes, she'll just stop telling us about them."

That thought terrified Catherine, and she exhaled slowly through puffed cheeks. "You're right. As usual."

"Cheeky..."

"You love me."

"I do." Sara couldn't help grinning.

"I love you too," Cat smiled back, and got up with a groan, rubbing her ass as she headed to Lindsey's room and knocked lightly.

Lindsey had been dressed for some time now, but hadn't wanted to leave her room because she could hear most of what was going on outside of it. "Come in..."

Catherine opened the door and stepped inside, blushing when she saw the knowing smirk on her daughter's face. "Stop that..."

"You just got in major freaking trouble, didn't you Mom?"

"Lindsey!"

"Ha ha, you did, didn't you? I knew it wasn't Sara crying. Wow. You don't see this every day. You must have *really* pissed her off."

"Okay! That's enough! Now stop it... I came in here to apologize to you."

"Is Sara making you? Cause if she is then just don't worry about it." The last thing she wanted was a fake apology just because her mom got her ass whooped.

"No, she's not. Neither of us would do that to you, Linds. I really mean it. I'm sorry I reacted badly, I just have such a hard time letting you grow up, you know? You're my baby."

Lindsey smiled at that and stood up, walking over to hug her mom. "I'll always be your baby, Mom. But I can't help growing up."

"I know," Catherine said, hugging her daughter back. "And you can always come to me, I promise to be supportive, even if it takes me a few hours to process everything. Or you can go to Sara, who knows how to control herself better than I do and can be supportive right when you need it."

"It's okay Mom, really. I would freak out a little if I had a kid and she was messing around with SM. But Sara talked to me about being safe and I promised, so you don't have to worry, okay?"

"I'll always worry, but I trust you Linds. You really are almost all grown up, and you're certainly old enough to make these kinds of decisions about your sexuality. As long as you don't have sex until eighteen, because we made a--"

"Deal. I know, I've heard it like five times today and even before that I hadn't forgotten. When I promise something I don't go back on it unless it's some kind of emergency. And I don't see emergency sex happening any time before I'm eighteen. One question though. Does sex with a girl count as sex?"

Catherine's eyes widened and she missed the teasing smirk on Lindsey's face because she had turned to the door, and yelled, "SARA!"

Sara came running, and when Catherine told her the question, she took one look at Lindsey's smug expression and started to laugh. Catherine caught on and groaned, nudging Lindsey in the ribs, which knocked her to the bed, and soon they were all snickering at each other for one reason or another.

"Come onnnnnn," Lindsey whined, standing up again. "Let's go to Chuck E. Cheese already!"

And they did.

Fin

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