A/N: Hey everyone! I got bored at work one week and occupied myself with writing a new story. Like my other stories this one is about Sara and Catherine. The plot is nothing new. I'm sure it was done a lot of times before, but I just felt like writing it:

Sara is getting drunk in a bar after a tough case and Catherine runs into her by accident.

I hope you enjoy reading it anyway :-)!

And of course a big THANK YOU to Emily who's acting as my beta again! You are great, girl! ;-)

~Stormy

Chapter 1

Why is this world so cruel? Sara had asked herself this question for the twentieth time this morning - but she still had no answer. She was well through her third beer, but still felt as depressed as she had right after her shift had ended. There were times when alcohol did make her feel better - for a few hours at least. Sara wasn't so delusional as to believe that it could solve her problems forever. Alcoholics did that - she wasn't one.

But it certainly would be nice if the memories would blur enough to let her sleep at least a few hours. Sara knew that if she went home now and tried to sleep it would be a waste of time. The moment she closed her eyes would be the moment when all of the pictures from the crime scene would come rushing back to her. And she didn't feel like facing that challenge right now. So, beer it was.

The brunette finished the rest of her beer and sighed. Why did she have to go to this crime scene anyway? Nick or Warrick should have gotten the assignment. Even young Greg would have been more suitable! Anyone would have been more suitable. But what did Gris have to do? He had to send her!

Sara knew that he wasn't the most sensitive man in the world. He was without question socially more inept than her - and that meant something. But that wasn't the reason why she was angry with him. The thing she couldn't understand was that he knew. Everyone knew that she had a problem with cases of domestic abuse, but HE was the one who knew why. After her suspension as a result of her fight with Catherine that one day he came by and Sara had told him - of course not everything, but enough to satisfy his curiosity. Even though a long time had passed since then she still wasn't sure whether or not she was glad that he knew.

Most of the time she thought it was good that he knew. Like that he could make sure that she didn't get the 'wrong' assignments - assignments which made her lose her professional distance. That was the general idea. So what the hell had made him send her out there tonight???

She closed her eyes for a moment and immediately the images of Marina Cruz came rushing back. The way she lay on the floor, the blood and the bruises from where her husband had hit her, the lifeless eyes staring up at her. But the worst thing was Lilly, the seven year old daughter, who knelt beside her dead mother, holding her hand and begging her to wake up. Sara shuddered. She ordered another beer.

Why is this world so cruel?

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"It's really good to see you again, Catherine." The man said, while holding the door open for the blonde CSI. Even after the long shift Catherine still looked fresh - and she was in a good mood. She hadn't seen Jack in almost a year. They had met at a seminar on blood spatter a few years back. They immediately got along ... and kept in touch; A telephone call here, an email there. It wasn't regular, but it felt good talking to him from time to time.

Like Catherine he was a CSI, his speciality blood splatter. He was normally working in Atlanta, but was here on vacation with his wife. She hadn't heard from him in a while, so she was surprised when he had called the other day. The blonde was even more surprised when he had announced that he was in Vegas and what she thought about having breakfast together. Catherine didn't have to think twice about it.

But after leaving the lab today she decided she didn't feel like breakfast - more like a drink. It was an exhausting shift. She even thought about cancelling altogether. But Jack would have nothing of it. He told her he never had a beer for breakfast, but there was always a first time and that he would pick her up at work. And so he did. That was about twenty minutes ago.

Since then they had chatted lively and Catherine's mood had increased rapidly. Jack was good company. He was funny, smart and charming. Of course she knew that he was married and anything beyond a friendly chat was out of question. But she wanted to enjoy herself as much as possible.

Catherine led the way to one of the booths in the back of the bar. It wasn't like the bar was crowded at this time of the day, but she found it more comfortable in the back. She was so absorbed in her conversation with Jack that she didn't notice the lonely figure sitting at the bar.

They slid into the booth opposite of each other and ordered their drinks. Before the waiter brought their orders Catherine excused herself. Still smiling about Jack's last joke she made her way to the ladies room. It was only then that her gaze fell on the familiar figure at the bar. She stopped and her smile vanished. Sara...

Catherine took in the appearance of her younger co-worker. Her shoulders were slumped, her hair out of place - probably from running her hand through it too often - and a beer in front of her. She was still clad in the same clothes as last night, which meant she hadn't gone home yet. Considering that Sara - on her own order - had left two hours before the official end of shift, that meant that she had most likely been here since then. And if that was the case, the beer in her hand had probably had a few predecessors. That wasn't good. She was about to move over to Sara, but suddenly stopped.

What would she say to her? Tell her that she should go home and start another fight with her? She had already expected one when she was telling Sara to go home earlier in the lab. The distress from the case was written all over Sara's face and she didn't understand why Grissom gave her this assignment in the first place. When she approached the brunette to tell her to leave early, she was surprised that Sara was hardly protesting. To her it seemed that she was glad to get out of the lab and away from the case.

While Catherine had hoped Sara would go home and sleep she obviously chose another way to deal with tonight's brutal case. She had heard about the case from Wendy, one of the lab techs. The moment she knew the details she knew that Sara would take it especially hard - like she does with all cases of domestic abuse. She had kept an eye on the younger women for a while but then decided that the brunette needed a break. She should have been alarmed about how easily she had given in, but instead she was just proud of herself for making the stubborn Sara Sidle go home early. Obviously a mistake...

Should she talk to her or leave her alone? She turned back to Jack, who was currently chatting with the waiter, telling him one of his jokes from the looks of it. He was oblivious to her inner battle. She looked back at Sara, who still hadn't seen her. She was taking another sip of her beer. Did she have the right to interrupt? Sara was obviously upset and the last thing she wanted was to make that even worse - or make her mad at her again. They'd been getting along lately - at least kind of. And she wanted to keep it that way.

Sara was a big girl. She could look after herself. With that Catherine made her way over to the ladies room.

A/N: Any comments? You know how much I love your reviews :-)!