Title: Gratia Plena (1/?)

Author: Tina
Disclaimer: I don't own them so don't sue.
Spoilers: A little one from "Pledging Mr. Johnson"

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

When they had left the room Grissom turned to
Catherine. She looked at him and he looked worried.

'Are you okay,' Grissom asked making it clear that the
worry was in his voice as well.

'I'm fine. I just started to ask myself why I followed
you here,' she answered.

'I shouldn't have let you come.' She could hear the
guilt in his voice.

'No, Grissom don't blame yourself. I decided to come
with you. I have only myself to blame,' Catherine said
hoping that that would make Grissom feel less guilty.

They both turned around at a sound and saw the nurse
who had first met them.

'Was everything to your liking?' she asked kindly.

'I'd like to say yes but I can't,' Grissom responded
somewhat bitterly.

'Oh, I hope nothing too bad happened,' the nurse said
sounding apologetic.

'I'm sorry. We'll be going now. Goodbye and thanks for
the help,' Grissom said sounding and feeling somewhat
shameful.

'Oh that's okay. Will we be seeing you the same time
next year?' the nurse inquired.

'Maybe,' Grissom answered.

They said goodbye once again and then went out the
door towards their car. As they reached the door
Grissom once again put his hand on the small of
Catherine's back. When they reached the car he opened
the door for her and allowed her to get in long before
he did.

Why did I let her come Grissom thought as he stood
beside the passenger door of the car? I should've
known how this might effect her. Not to mention that
nurse. It was true that he had sealed off the file to
Catherine because of that he'd thought she might not
want to be forced to look into it. But it had also
been to hide from her that he'd sat by her bed waiting
for her to get well. He didn't exactly know why he
just knew that for some reason he didn't want her to
find out. He was awaken from his reverie by
Catherine's voice.

'Grissom, are you alright?' Catherine asked the worry
evident in her voice.

'I'm fine. Why do you ask?'

'Because you've been standing outside my door now for
some time,' Catherine answered she hadn't stopped
worrying and her voice was proof of that.

Grissom went to the other side of the car and opened
the door and positioned himself behind the wheel. He
and Catherine put on their seatbelts and then they
were on their way.

Their way back to C.S.I. headquarters was a silent
one. And as they reached it Grissom got out and once
again opened the door for Catherine. She stepped out
of the car and together they went toward the entrance
of the building. As they were getting closer Grissom
stopped. He suddenly remembered what Brown had said

about Catherine, about how she felt about him. He had
never liked Brown but if there was anything that he
did know for sure about him it was that he never lied,
nor was he ever wrong in his interpretations. If Brown
said that Catherine had feelings for him that she
loved him Grissom knew it had to be true. But he would
not put Catherine in that position, he decided. He
suddenly felt a tingle in his arm and as he looked at
it he saw that Catherine had placed her hand there in
order to get his attention.

When Grissom had stopped she had become worried, when
he had just kept standing there staring at something
that she hadn't been able to see her worry had grown.
Even though she had tried to avoid it Brown was once
again in her thoughts. What he had said about how she
felt about Grissom in there scared her. Because it was
true. She did have feelings for Grissom. But she knew
she couldn't contemplate that now. That was why she
decided to try to get Grissom's attention. When he
turned his gaze towards her she knew she had
succeeded.

'Grissom, don't you think we should go inside?' she
asked as she kept looking at Grissom.

At first he just kept looking at her but then he
answered.

'Sure Catherine, let's go.'

They were once again heading for the door walking in
complete silence. As they reached the door Grissom
once again allowed Catherine to precede him through
the door and as he followed her he placed his hand on
the small of her back.

TBC.

Chapter 3

Just when they came in through the door, while Grissom
still had his hand on the small of Catherine's back,
they met Nick and Sara.

'Hi guys, how are you doing?' Nick asked them.

'We're doing just fine,' Catherine answered him.

'So how was the visit?' Sara asked.

'Yea, how was it?' Nick joined in.

After he'd asked that he looked at Sara who looked at
him then they once again turned their gaze's to
Grissom and Catherine.

Grissom looked at Catherine and decided to respond.

'It was as usual,' he just said.

Nick and Sara looked at each other with puzzlement
written on their faces they turned against Grissom
wearing the same look on their faces and then at the
same time they asked Grissom

'What do you mean as usual?'

'As usual. As in just like every other time I've been
there,' Grissom answered.

Nick and Sara just kept looking like question marks.

At his answer Catherine started to wonder how many
times Grissom had actually visited Brown. By the sound
of that nurse it had seemed as a lot but Grissom's
answer led her to believe that he had been there every
year since Brown had been captured. She wondered idly
if that could be true but judging by the look of
Grissom's face and his behavior towards Brown she
believed it could.

'So how many times have you been there then?' Nick
asked.

Grissom looked at him once again he felt that he
didn't want Catherine to know this, it had been bad
enough with the nurse but at least then it had come
from a stranger. If it came directly from him he
wouldn't be able to deny it later.

'So, Grissom. How many times have you visited Brown?'
Sara chimed in.

'I don't really know,' Grissom decided to answer.

'Oh that many, huh?' Nick asked.

Grissom wasn't sure of how he would get out of this
situation. However help came from an unusual source.

'Don't you kids have anything better to do then to
bombard your boss with questions?' a sharp yet
authoritative voice said.

Brass, Grissom thought.

'I don't know our "boss" haven't given us our
assignments yet,' Sara answered.

It was true, Grissom thought. He had started the day
by coming in and telling them that he was going to see
Brown. To his surprise Catherine had said that she
wanted to come with him and he had agreed. He had told
Nick, Sara and Warrick that they could wait for him
and Catherine to come back and then he would give them
their assignments. Apparently they had done exactly as
he had told them.

'No and how is he supposed to be able to do that when
you don't even let him speak,' Brass said.

Nick and Sara just looked at Brass, then at each other
and last at Grissom and Catherine.

'Okay well then let's go into the assembly hall,'
Grissom said.

And he allowed Nick and Sara to precede him as they
went towards the assembly hall. Catherine was walking
beside him and Brass who was walking on his other side
gave him a look that said that he wanted to talk to
him about what had happened in the corridor and what
had happened when they visited Brown.

When they reached the assembly hall Brass excused
himself and left Grissom and Catherine alone. Nick and
Sara had already gone inside and as he and Catherine
was about to, Grissom saw Warrick go inside the room.
Once again he put his hand at the small of Catherine's
back as they went inside. And this time Nick, Sara and
Warrick didn't miss it. Grissom started to give out
assignments while Nick, Sara and Warrick appeared to
be whispering.

'Nick and Sara you take the wedding murders. Warrick
you take the dead body on the toilet,' Grissom
started.

He looked at Catherine and wondered whether she was up
for it or not. She hadn't spoken since they'd gotten
inside and this made him somewhat worried.

Meanwhile Nick, Sara and Warrick observed Grissom and
Catherine.

'You see what I mean don't you?' Nick asked the other
two.

'What are you guys talking about?' Warrick asked.

'When Grissom and Catherine came back from Brown,
Grissom had his hand on the small of Catherine's back
as they came in through the door,' Sara started.

'And? He always does that doesn't he?' Warrick asked.

'Well maybe, but he refused to answer what had
happened when they had visited Brown,' Nick continued.

'And this leads you to conclude that something
happened?' Warrick asked him.

'Yes. As a matter of fact it does,' Nick answered him.

Warrick looked at Grissom and Catherine before he said
anything else.

Nick and Sara followed his example. This enabled them
to hear what Grissom was saying. However none of them
felt like going before everyone, including Grissom and
Catherine, had gotten their missions.

Warrick had to agree that something was going on
between Grissom and Catherine although he wasn't sure
what. But something was always going on so he decided
it wasn't anything unusual with that. What was unusual
though was the time it took for Grissom to give out
the assignments. Warrick knew that Grissom often did
the task faster than he probably should but this time
he seemed to linger and as Warrick studied Grissom he
saw what the cause of that lingering was, Catherine.
Grissom was looking at Catherine while he contemplated
on whether to continue or not. Warrick gave a quick
look at Nick and Sara to see if they had seen it too.
He discovered that he hadn't needed to worry, his
fellow CSI's had seen exactly what he'd seen or rather
at first noticed.

TBC.

Chapter 4

Catherine looked at Grissom and roused herself from
her reveries, as she understood that she was the
reason he hadn't give out all the assignments yet. She
thought once again of the nurse at Brown's hospital
and that made her understand that Grissom was worried
whether or not she'd be ready and able to take on
another case. She gave Grissom a nod as she realized
she couldn't say anything at the moment. She hoped
that would do and she realized that it did as he once
again started to talk.

'Which leaves me and Catherine on the murder,' Grissom
finished.

Nick and Sara saw this as their cue to leave, which
they did with Warrick in tow once again leaving
Grissom and Catherine alone.

Brass saw as Nick and Sara left the assembly hall.
When he a few minutes later saw Warrick as well he
decided that maybe it was time to talk to Grissom. He
decided that he at least should try. He went towards
the door and knocked on the wall beside the door.

'Knock, Knock,'

Grissom could hear how someone was knocking on the
door.

'Hey you guys can I come in?' Brass asked.

'Sure,' Grissom answered.

Brass went inside the room and Grissom could see that
he still bore that look that said that he wanted to
talk to him. He looked at Catherine and wondered if
this was the time to talk with Brass about their visit
to Brown.

'Cath, I'll meet you at the car,' Grissom said and she
nodded as she went out the door.

Brass could see how Grissom didn't take his eyes off
Catherine as she exited the room. Not even when she
had gone Grissom took his eyes off the door through
which she had left.

'Grissom, tell me what happened?' Brass asked.

'In the corridor or when we visited Brown?' Grissom
asked.

'Both. You can start with the one that you prefer
starting with,' Brass answered.

'Nothing happened at the hospital or in the corridor,'
Grissom answered although he could see that Brass
didn't believe him.

'Try again,' Brass said and looked at Grissom.

'What do you mean, "Try again"?' Grissom asked.

'I mean try again. Try again to answer my question,'
Brass answered.

'I guess you don't believe that nothing happened
then?' Grissom asked.

'No, I don't,' Brass answered.

'Okay,' Grissom started.

'Brown was just doing what he does every year. The
only difference this time was that I had Catherine
with me so I had to hear him talking about how much I
care about her and how much I love her,' Grissom
continued.

'Wow, slow down a sec. Are you telling me that Brown
said you love Catherine?' Brass asked.

'Yes,' Grissom answered.

'And this is true?' Brass asked again.

TBC.

Chapter 5

Grissom didn't answer directly. He wasn't sure what he
was supposed to say. It was one thing having Catherine
hear it from Brown and telling Brass about what Brown
claims but it was a completely different thing to
admit to it all being true, which it was.

'So, am I going to get an answer this century or?'
Brass asked.

'Yes, it's true. I love Catherine,' Grissom finally
revealed.

'Does she know? I mean have you told her?' Brass
asked.

'No I don't know if she knows and no I haven't,'
Grissom answered.

'Will you tell her?' Brass continued.

'I don't know if I should,' Grissom answered.

'Well I can't tell you what you should do. I mean it's
up to you what you want to do. But how did she react
to Brown's "confessions"?' Brass asked.

'What do you mean, all of them or just the ones about
me loving her?' Grissom asked.

'All of them,' Brass answered.

'She looked uncomfortable, but I'm not completely
sure,' Grissom answered.

'At which of them. Brown's confession about his
feelings for you and Catherine or those about your
feelings for her?' Brass once again asked.

'At Brown's confession about his feelings for me and
Catherine,' Grissom said slowly.

'What about his revelations about your feelings for
her?' Brass once again tried.

'I don't know. I looked more at Brown at that point
than I looked at Catherine,' Grissom said.

Brass could easily hear the confusion in his voice.
Wow he's got it bad he thought as he observed Grissom.
Brass knew he would be the last to say that Grissom
loving Catherine came as a surprise. He had known them
both for a long time and he had almost anticipated
this. Although he had to admit to himself, I thought
Grissom would've put up more of a fight. I actually
thought I would have to tighten the thumbscrews to get
anything out of him, he thought. However Brass
suddenly felt how Grissom tightened up and he
understood that this was the end to their conversation
at least for know.

'I have to go now. Catherine is waiting at the car,'
Grissom said as he headed for the door.

Brass just stood and looked after him, as the door
slammed shut behind Grissom. Even if Grissom still
hadn't told him about what had happened in the
corridor he himself had a pretty good idea. All he
needed now was confirmation from the other ones
involved in the incident' Nick and Sara.

TBC.

Chapter 6

Catherine watched as Grissom came out the door of
C.S.I. Headquarters.

He hurried to the car and placed himself behind the
wheel in what felt like a matter of seconds.

Catherine observed Grissom to try to get some kind of
clue about what he and Brass had discussed. Though she
quickly realized that if she was going to be able to
find out something Grissom or Brass would have to tell
her.

She felt how she was breathing heavily as Grissom
pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the
crime scene. She tried to control it as to not alarm
Grissom but her early attempts were failures. She
could feel him watching her from time to time and
finally her breath had slowed to a normal pace.

She looked over at Grissom his eyes seemed glued to
the road but she knew this wasn't true. She knew very
well that he had been watching her even though it
didn't appear to be that way now.

She thought about Brown's words ".And my look at you
shows love and outmost respect. How can once look or
smile show anything else in the presence of such a
wonderful creature as yourself. I'm pretty sure his
look contains the same thing every time that he looks
at you". Once again she wondered if it was true. She
scolded herself for hoping it was.

Grissom tried to keep his eyes on the road but it
wasn't as easy as he had imagined it to be. His
attention was continually drawn back to Catherine and
even though he would much rather enjoyed watching her
he knew that if he didn't keep his eyes on the road it
was possible that he'd never get to look at her again.

He silently hoped that they would soon arrive at their
location so that he wouldn't risk their lives any
longer.

As he saw the house with the matching address he gave
a sigh of relief. He got out of the car and went
around it to open the door for Catherine. She stepped
out and he followed close behind her.

As they approached the house a uniformed officer met
them.

'This building is off limits so why don't you and the
Mrs. go and have a nice evening at home. You know with
candles, wine and romantical music,' the officer told
them.

Grissom and Catherine took out their identification.

'I'm Gil Grissom and this is Catherine Willows we're
crime scene investigators,' Grissom told the officer.

The officer moved away thus allowing Grissom and
Catherine entrance to the house.

As soon as they were in the house they put on their
latex gloves and began the search for evidence.

TBC.

Chapter 7

Brass went around C.S.I. head quarters looking for
Nick and Sara. So far he hadn't seen either of the
crime scene investigators. He was about to give up
when he went into one of the many lab rooms and found
them in front of one of the computer terminals.

'I need to talk to you,' Brass said as he approached
the two young crime scene investigators.

'About what?' Nick asked.

'About what happened in the corridor between the two
of you and Grissom and Catherine,' Brass answered.

'Oh that,' Sara answered somewhat uncomfortably and
looked at Nick.

'What about that?' Nick asked.

'What did you say? What was it all about?' Brass
asked.

'Well basically nothing,' Nick said.

'Nick, I'm no fool so tell me what it was about,'
Brass said.

'We just wanted to know how their visit with Brown
was,' Sara answered.

'And?' Brass asked.

'And to find out how many times Grissom has been
there. That's when you came and saved him,' Nick
answered.

'So that's what all this was about. You wanted to know
what happened when Grissom and Catherine visited
Brown?' Brass asked.

'Yes,' Nick answered.

'So how was it?' Brass asked.

'According to Grissom like every other time he has
been there. So we actually didn't get anything,' Nick
answered.

'What made you ask in the first place?' Brass asked.

Nick looked at Sara before he responded

'We both know about how Grissom was affected by
Catherine's abduction. We've read the case. We also
know that he's been there a lot of times. And
according to what we know Catherine has never come
with him before. Besides he had his hand on the small
of her back as they entered through the door. We could
see that easily,' Nick answered.

'Yea, and they had this tension between them as they
entered through the door and when they talked to us,'
Sara added.

'So you asked them about what happened at the meeting
with Brown because of this?' Brass asked.

'Yes we did,' Nick and Sara answered.

'But they didn't answer you, did they?' Brass
continued.

'No they didn't because you saved them from having to
say anything,' Nick told Brass.

'Do you really think they would've answered you
anyway?!' Brass asked.

'Well maybe not but we would have had a better chance
if you hadn't saved them,' Nick answered.

Brass couldn't argue with that. He still didn't have
the complete picture but he had enough to continue his
search for the rest. With this he decided to leave
Nick and Sara alone to their own thoughts about
Grissom and Catherine and the nature of their
relationship.

TBC.

Chapter 8

After having searched for hours after evidence Grissom
and Catherine decided to take a short brake. They went
out into the sunlight and sat down on the porch to the
house. There they relaxed as they allowed the warm
beams from the sun warm their bodies and faces.

He couldn't help but look at her as the sun reflected
in her red-blonde hair. She was so beautiful, he
thought. But the thought got him thinking of Brown and
that was the last thing he wanted to think about. He
had never liked Brown. Not even when he and Catherine
had been sent to interview Brown as a suspect after
they had done the preliminary investigation of the
crime scene.

It had been just like Brown had described it.
Catherine had walked in first and Grissom had come
some time after her, since an officer outside insisted
on talking to him. The rest that Brown had described
like the fact that it seemed that Catherine belonged
to Grissom was not something he himself had noticed.
It was after all only the way one person had
interpreted the situation.

Brown's behavior around Catherine had been enough to
alert his senses and he had become extremely
protective over her. And the next time that they
visited Brown and the police officer that had been
waiting there for them had wanted to talk to him
Grissom had declined and instead followed close behind
Catherine. He had seen the look on Brown's face as he
had seen both him and Catherine. It was obvious that
Grissom had spoiled Brown's day.

It had turned out that Brown hadn't preformed the
killing. But even after Grissom and Catherine had
proved this Brown wouldn't let them be alone. He kept
following them and it was as this happened that he and
Catherine were becoming really scared of Brown.

Then Brown's obsession with Catherine had gone
completely out of hand and he had kidnapped her.
Grissom still remembered how powerless he had felt.
Even after they had gotten Catherine back and she was
in the hospital he had felt powerless as he had waited
by her side for her to wake up. He had then decided to
close down the files to the case for Catherine. So to
keep her from knowing what he had done. He had been so
happy when she had finally awoken.

Every year since he had gone to visit Brown at the
prison. He still wasn't completely sure why he did it.
But he guessed that maybe he did it to assure himself
that Brown was still behind bars. He knew he could
never handle loosing her. She meant way too much to
him. Just as he had said to Brass he loved her.

TBC.

Chapter 9

Catherine looked at Grissom. He had seemed like he was
in another world for a long time. She glanced at her
watch and decided that it was time for them to once
again start working.

'Grissom? Grissom?' she started calling.

'Grissom,' she said and gently touched his shoulder.

'What is it Catherine?' he asked her.

She was surprised she was sure that he would have
jumped at her touch but it seemed as if he hadn't
completely left earth.

'I think we should continue collecting evidence,' she
answered him.

'Okay,' he answered and they started to go inside
again.

Once inside Catherine started to think about how
Grissom had been looking at her when he had seemed to
be in another place. She once again thought about
Brown and as soon as she did this she searched for
something else to think about. Because the last thing
she wanted to do was to think about a man that had
kidnapped her years ago whom Grissom visited each
year. She found it in the comfort of what she was
doing, investigating a crime scene. She took a deep
breath then she and Grissom continued collecting
evidence.

TBC.
 
Chapter 10

Meanwhile back at C.S.I. Headquarters Nick and Sara
were on their way back to the crime scene.

'So why do you think Brass asked all those questions?'
Sara asked Nick.

'I don't know Sara,' Nick answered her.

'Do you think he knows something that we don't?' she
continued.

'It's possible. After all he has known Grissom and
Catherine much longer than we have. Maybe Grissom told
him something after our encounter in the hallway,' he
answered.

'Maybe. Have you read the file a lot of times?' Sara
asked.

'No, have you?' Nick answered.

'No, but I read it once. However I didn't read it
carefully. I've actually thought about reading it
again, this time more carefully. What about you?' she
then asked.

'I've read it, but like you I didn't read it with much
care. Do you think we should borrow it again?' he
answered.

'Well we do have access don't we!?' Sara said with a
smile.

'Yes, the only one who doesn't have access to it is
Catherine. So what do you say about borrowing the file
and find out for ourselves what is going on?' Nick
asked.

She could hear that his voice had a hesitance to it,
which she couldn't ignore. She idly wondered why.

'Do you think Warrick would be interested in this
too?' she asked instead.

'Maybe, it's possible. We should ask him when we get
back,' he answered.

'Okay. Deal,' she said.

She still wondered why he had sounded so hesitant. It
was almost as if though he was ashamed over his
suggestion. But she couldn't understand why. He hadn't
said anything bad or offensive, had he? No he hadn't,
she reasoned. She decided that she should probably
stop thinking about it. So she did and instead
concentrated on the upcoming crime scene.

TBC.

Chapter 11

They where on their way back now. It was already
beginning to get dark outside and she knew that as
soon as she got back she had to go and pick up
Lindsay. She longed to hold her daughter she knew very
well that that was exactly what she needed right now.
To hold her daughter and forget about the days events.
As if I would be able to do that, she mocked herself.

She did her best not to look over at him and when it
felt to overwhelming to do that she started to lookout
the window. She could see her own reflection in the
window and she could also see his profile. However
occasionally it changed and she could she how he
turned his face towards her. She could see the worry
in his eyes and as much as she wanted to soothe him
she couldn't, at least not right now.

However as his gaze kept wandering to her staying
longer at her each time she felt the need to tell him
to keep his eyes on the road so that he wouldn't end
up crashing the car.

'Grissom, I would appreciate if you kept your eyes on
the road. I need to pick up Lindsay when I get back
and I think I would do a much better job doing that if
I'm still alive and able to drive a car,' she said in
an attempt to sound stern rather then worried.

She was worried not about him ruining the car but
about Brown. Even now she could remember his face she
had also started to remember some of the things he had
told her when he had kidnapped her. Not even Grissom
was aware of what Brown had told her. She hadn't even
told the therapist that she had been forced to visit
in order to get back to her normal life again. No one
except her and Brown knew the truth. And compared to
that truth what Brown had been saying this morning was
nothing. She only hoped that Brown had been able to
keep his mouth shut during the previous times that
Grissom had visited him and that it still was only she
and Brown who knew.

TBC.

Chapter 12

Grissom couldn't help himself. He knew that he should
keep his eyes on the road but something drew them to
Catherine instead. However after she had told him in a
pretty obvious way that he should keep his eyes on the
road he had been able to do so.

However this did not go for his thoughts that were
constantly shifting between Catherine and Brown. He
had never been allowed to know the whole truth about
what Brown had done to Catherine. She had never told
him and every doctor and specialist that had been on
the case had been kept just as in the dark as he was.

He had tried to get the truth out of Brown what seemed
like a hundred of times but he had never been able to
get Brown to disclose that information. One time when
Brown had answered him that that was between him and
Catherine he had thrown himself at him and a few
minutes later he had been surrounded by security
guards that had determinedly but yet politely escorted
him out of the building.

It had taken yet another year before he had been
allowed back in. Still Brown had kept quiet. All he
ever did during their talks was torment him. Every
time he had told him a story about what he had done to
Catherine and how she had pleaded for mercy. Each time
Brown had been able to make Grissom's blood boil.

Sometimes he had been able to withstand it other times
he went for Brown's throat. However this year he had
been exceptionally well at not killing or rather
trying to kill Brown. He supposed this had to do with
the fact that Catherine had been in the room with him.


He had concentrated his energy on getting her safe out
of there rather on continuing on with his tradition to
find new ways on strangling Brown.  Sometimes he was
frightened as to how one man could wake such a rage in
him. 

Before Brown he had thought that the only one capable
of waking a rage in him, though not as strong as the
one Brown awoke, was Eddie. Grissom had tried not to
tell Catherine what a lousy husband as well as man
that he thought he was.

When he had seen him with a blond one night he had
though about telling Catherine but then he thought
about Lindsay. He didn't want to be responsible for
breaking up that little girl's family. He also had
known although Catherine would never admit to it, she
probably wouldn't have believed him.

Instead she had been equally mad at him and Eddie when
she found out about the affair and about him knowing
about it. He still wondered if she would have become
even angrier with him if he had told her about Eddie's
affair, he hoped so.

It had been his only comfort through her period of
anger at him, another was that Eddie was getting as
much maybe even more than what he had been forced to
endure.

TBC.

Chapter 13

As they reached C.S.I. headquarters Grissom once
againbreathed a sigh of relief as he had been able to
avoidrunning the car into a ditch even though he had
kepthis eyes glued to Catherine rather than the
roadduring the larger part of their journey.

He quickly got out of the car, got around to the
otherside and opened the door for her. However
Catherinedidn't step out. Instead she just sat there
and staredout into open space.

'Catherine,' he said in an attempt to gain
herattention.

When that didn't work he gently touched her shoulder.

Surprised at the sudden closeness she looked up at
him but seemed to realize the reason to why he had
touched her and satisfied with that had gotten out of
the car.

'Sorry,' he said sheepishly.

'But I tried to get your attention by calling your name
and when that didn't work.' he gently explained.

'It's okay,' she assured him.

They started to walk towards the C.S.I. building
and Grissom once again noticed how Catherine seemed
to become lost in her own thoughts.

He was becoming worried. He could still remember
how she had been after she had awoken in the
hospital. Even a few weeks afterwards she was avoiding
him. And it wasn't just him it was the entire male
staff, sometimes even the female.

Eddie had once come to C.S.I. headquarters to talk
to him. Apparently she wasn't just avoiding the
male staff at C.S.I. headquarters; she was also
avoiding her own husband.

Grissom had never liked Eddie but this had been
before things had gotten really bad between Eddie
and Catherine and this new piece of information had
thus made him more concerned.

He had tried to talk to her, tried to encourage her
totalk to the doctors assigned to help her, he had
evengone so far as to encourage her to talk to Eddie.
Butshe had attempted to avoid the subject thus the
timeshe had brought it up she had told him that she
justdidn't want to talk about it.

At her words his concern had not become less, it hadin
fact grown. He had noticed that she had been actingthe
same way this day. Ever since they had visitedBrown.
He blamed himself for it since he had allowedher to go
with him to Brown.

She wanted to go herself, an inner voice said in
hishead. Even though he had heard the voice of comfort
itwas soon overwhelmed by a less pleasing thought
thatsaid that yes it was true that she had wanted to
go.But he hadn't had to say out as loud as he had that
hewas going to visit Brown. If she hadn't known she
would never have been able to invite herself along.
Hejust hoped that she would feel better and act
morelike herself as soon as she got home to Lindsay.

He wasn't sure if he could handle her being as
coldagainst him as she had been after she had
recoveredfrom her kidnapping. Just the thought of it
made his blood boil. Whatever Brown had done it must
have beenawful if it had the ability to cause that
kind ofreaction to Catherine.

The fact that she had been so afraid of men had
beenthe thing that had bothered him the most, it was
thething that was still bothering him.

In his line of duty he had come in contact with
manyrape victims. When talking to their loved
ones,usually the boyfriends or husband of the girls or
women, because for some reason the victims were
mostcommonly female, they had all said that the women
hadbecome reluctant to their touch and seemed afraid
of men in general.

Since this had been how Catherine had been
Grissomfeared that Brown had raped her. He still
wasn't sureabout how he would react if he found that
out to betrue, he felt though as if he would probably
go to theinstitution and kill Brown.

He didn't care if that action would land him
prisontime, for some reason it seemed like the most
logicalthing to do. Even though he was pretty sure
that mostpeople would not think it logical to kill a
man nomatter what his crime was.

TBC.

Chapter 14

Meanwhile Brown sat in his prison cell and thought
about the events of his day. It had been a long time
since they'd left now. But Brown could still feel the
presence of his beloved Catherine in the room.

Despite his anger and sadness from his understanding
that Catherine and Grissom were in love he was very
delighted by the fact that she'd come there to visit
him. He missed her terribly and each day he regretted
that he hadn't been able to kill her to enable her to
become his instead of Grissom's.

The thought of that man made his heartbeat speed up
and his temperature rose as the blood in his veins
turned to hot lava.

When he couldn't keep it in any longer he folded his
hands into fists and with all the strength he
possessed he slammed his fist into the wall.

Even though the wall was rock hard he didn't feel any
pain, his feelings were focused on Grissom and
Catherine.

He heard the guard scream but the sound was muzzled as
if though he wasn't really there.

He saw the blood run down his hand and gather in a
pool at his feet.

As the medics rushed in and tried to suppress the
bleeding he didn't hear anything but his heartbeat.

He didn't even notice when they cleaned the wound with
iodine sometime later.

He was lost in his thoughts of revenge, revenge on the
man that put him there the man who ha stole his
beloved.

TBC.

Chapter 15

As they were walking towards the building Grissom's
cell-phone rang. He immediately recognized the number
and thus signaled to Catherine to precede him.

He made sure she was inside before he answered the
phone.

'Grissom,' he said.

'Hi, you told me to call if anything changed,' the
nurse said.

'Yes, what happened? Did he escape?' Grissom asked.

He felt the panic creep into his voice as he awaited
the nurse's reply. Even though it only was a matter of
seconds he felt it like hours. The rational part of
his mind knew very well that time is a constant and it
doesn't change. But the rational part of his mind had
been turned on and off ever since they'd visited
Brown.

This malfunctioning in his brain allowed his feelings
to get the advantage. As much as this scared him he
realized that he couldn't do anything about it.
Besides right now he had more important things on his
mind.

'No he hasn't Mr. Grissom,' the nurse said in a calm
voice, hoping this would calm him down.

She had always been amazed of how she had always felt
that she had to treat him as she would a worried
husband who feared that the man who had hurt his wife
would escape.

Her reverie was broken by Grissom's voice.

'So what is it then?'

'Brown is in the infirmary,' she said.

Just as she was about to speak again Grissom
interrupted her.

'Why? Is he sick?' he said and secretly scolded
himself for wishing that was the case and that the
disease was lethal.

'No, no. He broke his hand. Apparently he slammed it
into a wall,' the nurse explained thus crushing
Grissom's hope.

'The doctors think he did it out of frustration.
They're thinking about enhancing his current living
standards,' she continued.

'In what way?' Grissom asked. He had become curious as
well as concerned. When it came to Brown he didn't
take any chances.

'They thought that maybe some books and crossword
puzzles would cheer him up,' she answered. If she was
bothered by what she was telling him she was very good
at concealing it.

'Oh,' was all Grissom managed to say.

Then it came, the thing he'd been dreading the whole
conversation without actually knowing how much he
would dread it.

'He wants to see you,' she said.

She eagerly awaited his answer. There were few cases
that were as interesting as this one.

She was to busy waiting for Grissom's answer to notice
the shadow that was lurking behind her.

Just as Grissom was about to talk it attacked. The
last words she ever heard was Grissom's "Why?".

TBC.
 
Chapter 16

Meanwhile Catherine had gone inside just like Grissom
had told her to. When she thought she had waited
enough at the door for people to start talking about
it she made her way to his office.

When she got there she slowly walked around looking at
the glass cases and jars. She then sat down in the
chair behind his desk and continued waiting for him
there.

Meanwhile Grissom was waiting for an answer from the
nurse.

He didn't understand how it could take her so long.
That he had needed time to think was understandable.

After all she had asked if he would let Brown get the
advantage over him. During all the years that Grissom
had visited Brown it had always been on his terms.

That was when he heard a gurgling noise on the other
side of the line.

'Miss?' he tried hoping that she would answer him.

When she didn't he tried once again.

'Miss?'

He waited a while longer and was about to hang up when
he heard it.

One last gurgling noise and the rest was silence.

He waited a short while longer. When he once again had
decided to hang up a voice came over the other end of
the line.

'If I can't have her no one will,' said the voice and
then hung up.

He quickly hung up himself and then called the guard
at the prison. He had gotten the number as a
precaution and always hoped that he would never be
forced to use it.

'Guard Tom Willis badge number 34 89 50 speaking!' the
guard said.

'My name is Gil Grissom. I visited Brown this
morning,' Grissom quickly explained.

'Oh right. What can I do for you Mr. Grissom?'

'I just talked to one of your nurses but something
must have happened because all of a sudden she got
quiet,' he continued.

'Ok, I will check it out,' the guard said.

'Thank you. Goodbye,' Grissom said.

The guard said the same and they both hung up their
phones.

After the conversation had ended Grissom took a long
deep breath and decided to go inside to find
Catherine.

TBC.

Chapter 17

When he got inside he noticed that Catherine wasn't
waiting for him in the lobby. He kept walking past the
rooms in the corridor and occasionally he looked
inside to se if she was there.

When he had gotten to his office he had given up on
finding her. Thus he was very surprised when she sat
there behind his desk in his chair.

Catherine was intently studying the butterflies on the
wall so she hadn't noticed that he had come in.
Therefore she was as surprised as he was when she
turned her gaze to the door and saw him standing
there.

'Gil?' she said as surprised as he was of her use of
his Christian name.

'I was tired of everybody staring at me so I.' she
started trying to explain her presence in his office.

Just as he preferred to keep people out of his home,
especially when he wasn't there, he wanted to keep
them out of his office too. Unless they came to talk
about work of course.

However he surprised her with his next few words.

'It's okay Catherine,' he said softly.

As he made his way to his desk she rose from his
chair.

When he reached his desk she tried to slip past him
but she accidentally rubbed up against him instead.

At that moment when Catherine tried to pass by Grissom
the door opened and revealed.

TBC.

Spoilers: Just to be safe from now on and in this
chapter SEASON 1 SEASON 2 and some from SEASON 3, no
longer than to A Little Murder

Chapter 18

Meanwhile Brass was continuing his investigation. He
had decided to call the prison to find out first hand
if something weird had happened when Grissom and
Catherine had been there.

He was currently on the phone waiting for an answer.

He had asked to talk to the same nurse that had met
with Grissom and Catherine and the one who had
answered had walked away to find that nurse.

He didn't understand why it took so long. But when he
decided to hang up he heard a voice on the phone.

'Hello? Sir?' said the nurse.

'Are you still there?' she added.

'Yea, I'm here. So you got any news for me?' he asked.
He was perfectly aware of how impatient he sounded but
he really didn't care.

'Yes. I've been looking everywhere for Jenny, that's
the nurse, but I can't seem to find her. Is it okay if
I call you when I've found her instead,' the nurse
said apologetically.

'Sure. That's fine.'

As soon as he said that he heard a rumbling in the
background and a while later the rumbling was added by
screams and panicked voices.

'What's going on? Miss talk to me?' he tried.

'Oh my god it's Jenny. Jenny!' the nurse screamed.

'What? What's wrong with Jenny?' he gently asked.

'They found Jenny, she's dead. Somebody killed her,'
the nurse said her voice was filled with tears and
panic.

'Miss, what's your name?' Brass asked. He knew he was
going to need it if he was going to be able to reach
her when she reached chock.

'My name? Oh, my name. It's Eve,' she answered.

'Eve, listen to me. I'm with the police. It's okay you
don't have to be worried,' he felt like an idiot
saying this but what was he supposed to do. He had to
try to keep her calm.

'Okay, can you come and help us with Jenny?' she
asked.

She had started to sound like a little girl and he
felt how he was slowly starting to loose it when she
started to remind her of his own.

'Eve, take a deep breath. Sit down, head between you
knees, breath. Okay can you do that for me honey,' he
said. He'd even begun to talk to her as he would a
little girl.

'Okay. I'm sitting. Jenny's dead. Okay,' she said and
then she started to hyperventilate.

'Eve, honey. Could I talk to somebody else?' Brass
asked knowing that he couldn't keep doing this.

'Okay. Tom's here will he do?' she asked.

'Sure. Put Tom on the phone.

He waited patiently while Eve gave the phone over to
Tom.

'Hi, I'm Tom, Eve said you wanted to talk to me,' a
male voice said.

'Hi, Brass. I'm with the police. What's going on?'

'I got a call from a Gil Grissom. Said he'd talked to
Jenny. Apparently the line got quiet. He got worried
and called me. I checked it up and found Jenny. Her
throat was slit there was nothing I could do. Damn it.
She was just a kid,' Tom said.

Brass could here how much it had affected him. At
least Tom seemed more calm then the nurse.

'Tom, I need you to get her out of there. Give her
something warm and give her a blanket or something.
She might be going into chock,' Brass instructed.

It was must easier now when he wasn't talking to the
girl. She still reminded him too much of his own girl.
At the though of Ellie he almost lost it again and
took a deep breath as he continued the conversation
with Tom.

'Okay. Could you wait a sec. I'm gonna take her to the
lounge,' Tom said.

Brass could hear them moving slowly down the corridor.
He waited patiently as they arrived at their
destination.

'Okay, are you still there?' Tom asked.

'Yea, I'm here,' Brass answered.

'Good. I'm gonna get her something to drink and a
blanket and then we can continue our talk. Will you
wait?'

'Sure.'

TBC.

Chapter 19

She couldn't believe it Jenny was dead. How could she
be dead? She couldn't understand it. They were
supposed to have dinner. They had needed to talk.
Jenny had met a new guy that she'd wanted to talk
about. So how could she be dead?

'Tom, why is she dead?' Eve asked.

'Tom, do you hear me?' she continued when he didn't
answer her.

That's when she noticed the phone in his hand. He was
apparently still talking to that police. She liked
him, he kind of reminded him of her father. He was
dead just like Jenny. The thought of Jenny made her
break out in sobs.

'Excuse me a minute,' Tom said.

He came up to her and crouched down in front of her
chair and put his hand on her knee.

'It's okay, Eve. I'm here,' he said trying to comfort
her.

'Eve, I need to talk to Mr. Brass is that okay. If you
need anything just tell me, okay?'

She nodded.

'Okay, I'm here,' Tom said.

'How is she holding up?' Brass asked.

'I'm not sure. She and Jenny were close. Best friends,
almost like sisters. I can't believe she's dead,' Tom
explained.

'Okay, Tom concentrate. What happened?'

'I don't know. We're still trying to find out. We've
close off the crime scene and are waiting for the
crime scene investigators to arrive,' Tom said.

Brass could hear that he wasn't going to able to keep
it together much longer.

'Okay. Could you ask them to call me, Jim Brass?
They'll know who I am,' Brass explained.

'Sure,' Tom said.

Brass noticed that he had been forced to press the
words out. He was going to loose it and very soon.

'Thanks. Goodbye,' Brass said hurriedly.

'Goodbye,' Tom said and they both hung up their
phones.

'What did he say,' Eve quietly asked.

Tom turned around surprised at that she'd talked to
him.

'He wanted me to tell the crime scene investigators to
call him as soon as they arrive,' he answered.

'Oh,' was all she could get out.

'Eve, everything is going to be okay. You trust me
don't you?'

'Yea, I do. But Tom she's dead. Somebody killed her,'
Eve said.

He could hear her suppressed sobs in her voice. He
made his way over to hear and held her in his arms as
he said.

'I know sweetie I know.'

As he held her he thought who could've done this. He
didn't understand it any better than she did. He hoped
this Brass guy knew something and that whoever did it
would soon be behind bars.

Meanwhile Brass still held the phone in his hand. The
conversation had ended about 10 minutes ago. Still he
couldn't let go of the phone.

Something was wrong he could feel it in his gut. What
the hell was going on. This day had been creepy ever
since Grissom and Catherine had decided to visit
Brown.

At the thought of Brown the blood in his veins turned
to ice. Why had Grissom been talking to the nurse? Had
he found out? He couldn't remember.

He quickly dialed and hoped that Tom could give him
the answer.

'Tom,' came a voice over the phone.

He could hear how the guy's throat was beginning to
close up.

'It's me Brass. I need to know why did Grissom talk to
Jenny?'

'I don't know. I'll ask Eve. Maybe she knows. Wait a
sec,' Tom answered

Brass could hear the mumble of their voices in the
background.

'Apparently Grissom had asked Jenny to call him if
anything happened with Brown. He put his fist into a
wall. So she called to tell him that Brown was in the
infirmary. That's all she knows,' Tom said.

'Okay. Thanks,' Brass said.

Well that takes care of that. Brown is in the
infirmary. They have guards there everything is okay.

That's when he realized.

'Tom, how many guards are there at the prison?' he
asked hoping that the answer wasn't what he feared.

'Well, I don't know. Where about 5 at this section.
Why?'

'Brown's in the infirmary right?

'Yea. So?'

'Who is watching him?'

'I don't know,' Tom said.

Brass could easily hear the doubt in his voice and
with each doubt panic and desperation creep into his
own.

'If no one's watching him he might have escaped,'
Brass finally said.

'Oh my god. You don't think he's the only who killed
Jenny, do you?'

'It's possible,' Brass said.

He really hoped that wasn't true.

TBC.

WARNING: Not for those with a week stomach.

Chapter 20

Brown was thinking. He had her blood on his hands. It
wasn't Catherine's blood but it still filled him with
an excitement that he hadn't felt since he had first
laid eyes on Catherine.

He moved his finger to his face and started to draw
lines on either side of his cheeks with her blood.

She had been younger than Catherine, too young to have
had time to experience the great wonders of life.

Now he owned her. Still he didn't want her he wanted
Catherine.

Just wait and see Cath, he thought using the name that
Grissom sometimes used, you will be mine.

He took a deep breath and tried to remember her sent.
She didn't use a perfume but he had been able to feel
a mixture of her shampoo with what he had identified
as just her.

She was truly beautiful. What joy he would get when it
would be her throat he slit. Her blood spilling on his
clothes her last breath echoing in his ear. He could
hardly wait.

'Catherine,' he started to whisper.

'Catherine,'

'Catherine, come to me,' he drew out every syllable.
Enjoying how they played in his mouth.

He licked his finger feeling the still warm blood
against his tongue. How he wished it was Catherine's
blood.

He would kill her then himself. Then they would be
together forever.

'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate,' he started
to recite from memory.

He had always loved Shakespeare and this poem
described Catherine to a teeth. He knew Grissom liked
Shakespeare too. Another thing they had in common.

'But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,' he
continued.

Each line brought him closer to her. However he
intentionally skipped the rest of the poem instead he
started to make up a poem of his own.

'In thou shadow I would live
To wait forever for your sweet kiss
In death we join forever hands
And you'll be mine mine for eternity,' he said.

'Yes Catherine. You will be mine,'

TBC.

Chapter 21

Meanwhile Nick and Sara had gotten back to CSI
headquarters and were currently searching for Warrick.

'So, have you found him?' Sara asked Nick.

'No, you?'

'Nope.'

They had decided to split up to cover more ground.

'Maybe he's in the break room,' Sara tried.

'Maybe, we should check it up,' Nick agreed.

They were making the way there as they heard a sound
from Grissom's office. Alarmed they hurried there
instead.

However what met them when they got there made them
more stunned than alarmed.

Meanwhile Brass was once again waiting on the phone.
My cell-phone bill will have skyrocketed by the time
this is over, he thought.

'Okay. He's not there. I just checked no one is. But I
guess they could've moved him back to his cell. So it
doesn't have to mean anything,' Tom tried.

Although he didn't seem more convinced than Brass
felt.

'Alert the guards. Brown is very dangerous. What's
worse he's smart,' Brass instructed.

'Way ahead of you. I've already alerted them. They'll
get him you'll see,' Tom said but once again his
confidence didn't reach his voice.

'Right,' was all Brass managed to get out.

He was already dreading the conversation he knew he
would have with Grissom. How the hell am I supposed to
explain to him that the man who almost killed the
woman he loves is at large, he thought. Man this is
not my day, he added.

'Have the crime scene investigators arrived yet?' he
asked Tom.

He needed to steer away the conversation from Brown
otherwise he would be the one loosing it not Tom.

'Not yet, or at least I don't think so. I could
check?'

'Do that,' Brass said as he once again got put on
hold.

'Mr. Brass,' a soft female voice came over the line.

'Eve?' he asked dreading the answer.

'Yes, Mr. Brass it's me. Do you know who killed
Jenny?' she asked.

Her voice was steadier than before but she still had
tears in it. He couldn't stand it. But he knew he had
to.

'No, honey. I don't. But I have my suspicions,' he
answered her hoping the truth was enough to satisfy
her for now.

'Okay. Tom will be back any minute now,' she
continued.

'Yes, honey he will,' Brass said.

Damn it why did she have to remind him so much of
Ellie. He took a deep breath before he started talking
again.

'Honey, how do you feel?' he gently asked.

He couldn't stop treating her as a child. For some
reason it was easier to talk to her if he thought of
her as a child instead of an adult.

'I'm tired and I miss Jenny,' she said.

Then her voice broke and once again the sobs came.

With each sob his heart broke. Damn it where is that
kid, he thought as she kept crying.

'Eve, honey. Listen to me,' he tried.

He had to get her to stop crying.

'What?' she asked.

'Sit down and try to relax. Tom will be there any
second now. Okay?' he tried.

'Okay,' she agreed.

She hadn't hung up but at least she wasn't talking any
longer. That had to do for now.

'Tom's back. I think he's got news,' she suddenly
said.

'Put him on,' was his curt reply.

'Okay,' she said and handed the phone to Tom.

'Mr. Brass. I've got a guy named Ecklie here. Says
he's a crime scene investigator and that he knows you.
Should I put him on?' Tom said after Eve  had handed
him the phone.

'Yea, sure,' Brass said.

'Brass. What the hell is going on here. I get called
to a crime scene at a prison and when I finally arrive
after having been stuck in traffic a guard comes up to
me and say that you want to talk to me,' Ecklie said.

Brass couldn't miss the irritation that laced his
voice.

'Conrad. It's Brown. He might have escaped. He's
probably the one who killed the nurse and he wants
Catherine. They visited him this morning. He hasn't
gotten over her and seeing her again probably just
made his craving worse,' Brass explained.

He patiently awaited Ecklie's answer. He knew he had
gotten his attention by using his first name.

'Shit, Gil knows?' Ecklie asked.

'Not yet. I'm gonna call him but I'm not gonna lie to
you I don't look forward to this conversation.'

'I can't say I envy you,' was all Ecklie said.

'Keep me posted will you?' Brass inquired.

'Sure. You too. Concerning Grissom I mean,' Ecklie
explained.

'Yea, concerning Grissom,' Brass said.

He didn't even try to hide the awkwardness in his
voice.

'You know the only way this could be worse is if there
was a legal document that constituted that she was
actually his wife. I don't have to tell you how
important it is that we keep him off the evidence.
Otherwise they might rule it out because he's bias,'
Ecklie continued.

'I know. Hopefully it won't come to that though,'
Brass said.

'Hopefully not,' Ecklie agreed.

They said their good-byes once again and then hung up
their phones.

Brass took a deep breath to prepare for the phone call
he dreaded so much.

TBC.

Chapter 22

'Uh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything,' Greg said
and stared at Grissom and Catherine.

'Had I known you would be doing it in your office I
would've asked you to put up a sign,' he continued and
immediately regretted it as he saw the look Grissom
threw at him.

Nick and Sara just stood in the doorway and looked at
the scene that was unfolding in front of them.

Grissom had his hands on either side of Catherine. She
was holding onto him by his shoulders and Greg just
stood there blurting out inappropriate comments.

Just as Grissom was about to reply his cell-phone
rang.

'Grissom,' he answered.

The look on his face suddenly changed and he walked
away from Catherine and his desk.

'Get her out of here!' he suddenly yelled to Greg,
Nick and Sara.

'What? Gil what the hell is going on?' Catherine asked
walking towards him.

'Didn't you hear me. I said get her out of here!' he
repeated.

This time they didn't dare to refuse.

Nick and Sara each took hold of one of Catherine's arm
and started to walk her out of Grissom's office with
Greg following close behind.

'Okay. What happened?' Gil asked when he was alone.

'He walked out of the infirmary. They hadn't enough
guards so they left him unattended. He might have
killed a nurse,' Brass explained.

'A nurse? Who was it?' Grissom asked.

'Jenny, she's the one who welcomed you and Catherine
this morning. The one who called you up to tell you
that Brown was in the infirmary,' he explained.

'So that's why the line got quiet. He killed her,'
Grissom mused.

'We think he might have killed her. But we don't have
any evidence yet. I'm gonna go down there to add my
two cents,' Brass continued.

'Okay,' Grissom agreed.

'Gil I don't have to tell you how crucial it is that
you don't work on this case do I? Either way stay out
of it. The last thing we need is catching Brown and
then get the evidence thrown away because the judge
thinks you're bias. I know you don't want that. So Gil
let us handle it. All you have to do is be there for
Catherine. She will need you now more than ever.
Goodbye. I'll keep you posted,' Brass said.

'Goodbye. Thanks for the news,' Grissom said.

'Yea, sure just don't kill the messenger,' Brass said
thus ending their conversation.

No I won't kill the messenger, Grissom thought. But I
can't make any promises concerning Brown, he added.

TBC.

Chapter 23

'What the hell do you think that was all about?' Nick
asked Sara as they were making their way back to
Grissom' office.

They had left Greg to guard Catherine while they went
and got some answers. Nothing that had happened a few
minutes ago in Grissom's office was normal around
there and they both knew it.

'I don't know. But he seemed pretty freaked out by
that call,' Sara answered.

She was a confused as Nick.

Just as they reached Grissom's office they almost
collided with the resident as he rushed out.

'Grissom, what the hell is going on?' Nick shouted at
him.

'I'll explain later just stay with Cath,' Grissom
hastily instructed.

'What about you?' Sara asked.

'I'm going to pick up Lindsay. I'll be back soon.
Don't worry.'

And with that he was gone.

'Don't worry you got to be kidding me. How are we not
suppose to worry when he's acting so strange?' Sara
responded.

'I don't know. Maybe he'll tell us when he gets back,'
Nick mused.

'I hope so. There's something about this that I just
don't like,' Sara said.

It was easy to hear how bothered she was by all this
secrecy.

'I don't like it any more than you,' Nick admitted.

Meanwhile Brass was on his way to the prison. He had
decided to go as soon as he had told Grissom about
Brown's escape.

This is not my day, he thought as he silently cursed
at the traffic in front of him. He gave a quick glance
in his rear-view mirror and noticed that there was as
much traffic there. So much for turning and taking
another road, he thought grimly.

He felt as the frustration was creeping up on him.
When he couldn't hold it in any longer he banged his
hand on the wheel and flinched at the pain.

He had promised Ecklie to get there as soon as
possible but he had hoped that soon would have been
faster than it now seemed.

Brown was a dangerous man what was worse, as he had
already told Ecklie, he was smart and the hatred he
held for Grissom was as passionate as the love he held
for Catherine. You didn't have to be a mind-reader to
understand that Brown's next move would be to try to
get his hands on Catherine.

Even though they were prepared for it this time Brass
didn't feel any more confident at the prospect of
keeping Brown away from Catherine.

Poor Grissom, he thought. Even though Grissom had just
admitted to him how he loved Catherine Brass had known
it all along. Poor Catherine, he then added. It
couldn't be too fun to have a madman, who despite the
fact that he loved you wanted nothing more then to end
your life.

If he had ever wanted to own a crystal ball and the
ability to see into the future this was the time. He
just hoped that his experience as a police officer
combined with the dayshift team who be enough to get
Brown before he got what he wanted.Catherine.

TBC.

Chapter 24

Meanwhile Greg was attempting to watch Catherine,
which wasn't as easy as he'd thought.

She was sitting still but he could easily see how much
she wanted to get away from the room and get some
answers out of Grissom.

The more he thought about it the more he agreed. He
wanted answers too. Grissom had just had them throw
out Catherine out of his office, no explanation no
nothing. Something was wrong he could feel it.

Actually he'd felt it all day he just wasn't sure why
though. He loved his job but days like this he wished
he were working with something less creepy.

During his reverie he had taken his eyes off of
Catherine and as he once again turn his gaze back to
the sofa where she had been sitting he realized that
he had apparently failed with his mission. She was
gone.

'Damn it,' he swore under his breath as he got up of
the chair he had been occupying and went to find
Catherine.

He was speeding he knew he was but he simply didn't
care. He knew that if anything happened to either one
of them he would never be able to ever forgive
himself.

Catherine was currently safe back at headquarters now
all he had to do was get Lindsay and then he would be
able to breath easier.

As soon as he arrived at her school he jogged to the
entrance got it and then walked briskly down the
corridor towards Lindsay's classroom.

That's when he realized that she still was supposed to
be in class for a pretty long while. How was he
supposed to convince her teacher that he needed to
take her away from there?

Damn it, he thought. I guess I didn't think this
through as well as I thought I had, he continued.

Well here goes nothing, he thought as he knocked on
the door to Lindsay's classroom.

Where the hell was he and what the hell was going on,
Catherine thought as she walked briskly through the
corridors of CSI headquarters in search of Grissom.

She couldn't understand why he had thrown her out of
the room. Nor could she understand why he hadn't come
to explain the nature of his actions to her.

Suddenly she felt a chill down her spine. The sudden
coldness made her stop. She looked around but couldn't
see anything that could've been the cause. Satisfied
she kept walking down the corridor.

She decided to check his office first but when she got
there she saw that he wasn't there. She then went to
the locker rooms but he wasn't there either. So she
decided to go through the lab rooms and that's when
Nick and Sara found her.

'Catherine, I thought you were supposed to wait in the
break room,' Nick said surprised at her presence.

'Got bored,' was her curt reply.

'So I guess Greg isn't the best of watch dogs then?'
Sara asked.

'Nope. So can you guys tell me why Grissom ordered you
to get me out of his office?' Catherine asked.

'We know as little if not less than you do Catherine,'
Sara answered somewhat apologetically.

'Well do you at least know where Grissom is now?'
Catherine continued.

Sara and Nick looked at each other they weren't sure
whether they should divulge what little they knew to
Catherine or not.

'Damn it, do you know where he is or not? Sara, Nick
answer me,' Catherine demanded.

She was becoming more and more irritated by the
minute. She just couldn't understand. It was like this
every year but why didn't they believe she could
handle it. It was one thing when Grissom treated her
like a porcelain doll that could break at the
slightest touch but when the others did it she just
became mad.

She was beginning to panic as well. She didn't know
where the hell Grissom was and that distance was
making her go crazy. Another thing was Brown. He felt
closer than ever as if though he was just around the
corner.

Just that minute someone came rushing towards them.

Catherine froze. She could feel how her heartbeat sped
up and the distance to Grissom felt even more apparent
at the sound of each footstep coming towards them.

'Hey guys what's up?' Warrick asked.

When no one answered him he continued.

'I hardly got in. There are guards at every entrance
and I swear they almost made me take a DNA-test.'

'That's weird,' Sara commented.

'Yea,' Nick agreed.

They both had frowns on their faces.

No one seemed to notice how freaked out Catherine
looked until Warrick asked what they were all doing in
the corridors.

'We were going to process the evidence we got from our
case,' Nick began.

'That's when we found this little runaway,' he
continued and pointed to Catherine.

'Runaway? What's going on?' Warrick asked.

They all looked at Catherine.

'Catherine are you ok?' they all asked.

'What?' she said.

She didn't understand what they were talking about. At
least Brown wasn't there, she thought.

'Cath are you alright?' Warrick tried.

'Oh, yea sure. Where's Gil?' she asked.

They just looked at her. She usually didn't use his
first name and when she used it she generally directed
it at him. To use it when she talked to people about
him was very rare. They weren't even sure it had ever
happened before.

'We don't know,' Sara said gently.

'Oh,' was all Catherine managed to get out.

'I think we should get her back to the break room,'
Sara stated.

'I think you're right,' Nick agreed.

Together Nick, Sara and Warrick escorted Catherine
back to the break room. It went slowly but at least
they were moving forward.

When they had almost reached their destination Greg
came sprinting around the corner and almost knocked
them over.

'Sorry. Have to find Catherine. She escaped. Grissom
kill me,' was his hasty excuse.

'Slow down boy. She's right here,' Nick said.

'Oh. Good. Grissom won't kill me then,' Greg said
somewhat happier.

'No, unless we tell. Now help us get her back to the
break room,' Sara said.

'Okay.'

Meanwhile Grissom was trying to come up with an excuse
that would enable him to take Lindsay out of class. So
far he wasn't having much luck. He thought about
telling the truth when the door opened.

'Sir? Can I help you?' a young woman asked.

'Yes. My name is Gil Grissom could I speak to Lindsay
Willows?' he said urgently hoping she wasn't noticing
his embarrassment.

'Grissom? Why do I recognize that name?' she said
slightly puzzled.

'I'm a friend of Catherine and I'm also her
supervisor,' Grissom explained.

'Oh, the infamous Gil Grissom. To what do I owe the
pleasure,' she said with a smile.

'Infamous? I'm not sure I understand?' Grissom said
puzzled at her statement.

'Lindsay has told us quite a bit about you,' she
explained.

'Lindsay, right. There's a situation at work and I
really need to take Lindsay there,' he started.

'Sure. But I still need to ask. Why isn't Catherine
picking her up?'

'Because she's involved in the situation. Look a
madman is on the loose he wants Cath I'm here to
ensure that he doesn't get Lindsay. Ok?' Grissom said
somewhat exasperated.

'Oh. I'll get Lindsay,' the woman said and was about
to leave when Grissom started talking again.

'Don't tell her about the madman. I don't want to
worry her,' Grissom pleaded.

'Ok, wait here.'

With that she was gone and he was once again alone in
the corridor outside Lindsay's classroom. Now all I
have to do is get Lindsay and then back to C.S.I.
Headquarters, he thought. He was relived that at least
something was going as planned. Hold on Cath, I'm
coming, he thought. I won't let him get you again, he
added. Never again.

TBC.

WARNING: Will contain gory details just warning so no
one reads something they know the can't handle.

Chapter 25

They had gotten back to the break room but Catherine
still hadn't talked since she had asked for Grissom.

Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg sat in the silence and
waited for Grissom to come back. Neither of them had
told Catherine that he had gone to pick up Lindsay.
Neither of them recognized the woman who sat in one of
the break rooms' sofas and stared at the floor.

'She's really starting to scare me,' Greg suddenly
whispered.

'I know. Maybe it will get better once Grissom comes
back?' Sara questioned.

'You mean "Gil",' Nick said.

'She does call him that from time to time doesn't
she?' Warrick contemplated.

'Yes she calls him that but she usually doesn't use
that name when she's asking for him does she?' Nick
responded.

'No you're right,' Warrick said.

He sounded as defeated as the others felt.

Meanwhile Brass had finally reached the prison and was
on his way in when he once again got stuck. However
this time it was because the guards refused to let him
in.

'I'm Jim Brass with the Las Vegas Police. What more do
you want?' he asked.

Damn it he could feel the frustration flooding every
part of his body.

'Wait, ok. I need to confirm,' the guard said and was
once again on the phone.

'Call Tom Willis, he knows who I am,' Brass tried.

'Ok, just wait,' the guard said.

He ended the call and then dialed again.

Brass hoped to God that he was dialing Willis' number
so he could finally get inside and find out what was
going on.

'Tom, there's a guy here says he knows you. Goes by
the name Jim Brass. Says he's with the LVPD. Ring any
bells?' the guard asked.

'Oh ok. I'll let him in then. Thanks,' he said and
hung up.

He looked apologetically at Brass.

'Sorry. A prisoner escaped and we can't take any
chances.'

'I know. That's why I'm here,' Brass said, he didn't
even bother to hide his irritation.

'Oh, I'm sorry sir,' the guard said.

Brass could hear the embarrassment in his voice and
suddenly wondered how Ecklie and his team had managed
to get in.

He soon got his answer.

'Ecklie, how did you guys get in? I almost had to
break down the door,' he said as a way of greeting.

'Thanks to our friend here,' Ecklie responded and
pointed to a young man in dressed in a guard's
uniform.

'So I guess that means you're Tom then?' Brass
concluded.

'That's right sir. When you said I should go to see if
they had arrived I decided to wait instead so I could
vouch for them,' the young man said.

'Some of the guys have the tendency to get too careful
when something like this happens,' he explained.
 
'So it happens often then?' Brass asked.

'No, of course not. I'm sorry.it's just.' Tom tried.

'It's okay son I'm just being mean to you,' Brass said
somewhat apologetic of his behavior.

'Oh. Is it okay if I go back to Eve? I really don't
want to leave her for too long,' Tom quickly asked.

'Sure. Say hi from me,' Brass said and with that he
and Ecklie continued towards the crime scene.

'So what do we got?' Brass asked as they neared the
crime scene.

'Young girl, pretty, got her throat slit. That's about
all we know right now. We'll no more as soon as the
coroner has preformed the autopsy,' Ecklie responded.

'Have they come to collect the body yet?' Brass asked
as they were just around the corner of the crime
scene.

'Check for yourself,' was Ecklie's response.

Brass looked at the crime scene. It was a normal room
nothing about it signified that it was situated in a
prison. But as soon as he saw the blood the room
changed from normal to a place where someone had been
killed. Where a young person's dreams and hopes had
been taken away in a very brutal way.

At first he couldn't see the body so he thought they
had already come and got it. However this assumption
proved to be wrong as he went further into the room
and saw her lying on the floor in a pool of her own
blood.

He could see that her hair had once been dark brown
but now it was dark red at the sections that were
drenched in her blood. Her eyes were open but the
whites of the eyes were clouded. However he could see
the hazel color of her irises. Her face had been
contorted into a last silent plead for help, a scream
that was only audible for the dead. Despite this her
beauty had not faded, she would forever remain a
silent beauty, he thought as he went back to the
doorway to Ecklie.

'We can't do much until they have come to take the
body. So maybe we should just sit here and wait until
that,' Ecklie said.

'Yea, maybe,' Brass contemplated.

'So how did he take it?' Ecklie suddenly asked.

Brass didn't need any further explanation he
understood directly who Ecklie was talking about.

'He's upset and worried. Can't say I blame him,' Brass
answered.

'Oh and don't worry I told him that he would only be
hurting the case if he gets anyway near the evidence,'
Brass added.

'Good. That gives us one less thing to worry about,'
Ecklie said and then they both sat in silence awaiting
the coroner.

Meanwhile Grissom and Lindsay were heading back to
C.S.I. Headquarters.

Lindsay hadn't argued, instead she had gotten into the
car. She hadn't even asked any questions. Grissom was
worried that she somehow knew what was going on.
However he refrained from asking her and when they
arrived he led her to the break room.

Catherine heard footsteps and looked up.

'Gil?' she said surprised at suddenly seeing him in
the doorway.

Her surprise grew as she her daughter beside him
holding his hand.

'Lindsay?' she said as her daughter let go of
Grissom's hand and moved quickly towards her mother.

Catherine accepted her daughter's embrace as she
somewhat puzzled watched Grissom signal to Warrick,
Nick and Sara that he needed to talk to him.

As soon as they got outside the break room none of
them could hold it in any longer.

'Grissom what the hell is going on?' Sara asked the
exasperation was easily heard in her voice.

However Grissom decided to keep quiet and instead he
signaled for them to follow him.

When they finally reached his office he made them go
inside and closed the door before he started to talk.

'Brown has escaped. I have increased security around
here to ensure that he doesn't get in. Brass called me
he is at the prison to talk to Ecklie. They got the
case. Apparently he might have killed a nurse,'
Grissom quickly explained.

He patiently awaited an answer but by the look of
things he would have to wait longer.
Warrick looked stunned, Nick too and Sara looked like
she wasn't sure if she had heard him or not.

Finally Nick regained the ability to speak and voiced
the question that was on everybody's mind.

'That's why you had us get Catherine out of your
office, right?'

'So that's why you went to get Lindsay, then,' Sara
said before Grissom had a chance to respond.

'Yes. I didn't want to give Brown a chance to get to
her before I did. He wants Catherine I'm sure of
that,' Grissom responded.

'So what should we do?' Warrick asked.

'There's not much we can do.' Grissom started.

'Have you told Catherine?' Warrick asked again.

'No, not yet. I'm not sure of what I should tell her,'
Grissom said.

'Grissom, she needs you maybe more now than ever.'
Nick started and looked quickly at Warrick and Sara.

'He's right. We hardly got a reaction out of her until
you came back,' Sara continued.

'Something seems to have spooked her. But we're not
sure of what,' Warrick chimed in.

'Ok. I'll talk to her,' Grissom said.

'Now go back to the break room and tell Greg to come
to my office. Wait with Catherine and Lindsay and
don't tell them anything,' Grissom instructed.

'Sure thing boss,' they agreed and then walked out the
door leaving Grissom alone with his thoughts and
worries.

They were happily surprised by the fact that the
atmosphere in the break room seemed to have changed
since Grissom had come back and brought Lindsay with
him.

However Catherine was still far from normal. They
could easily see this as the anticipation that was in
her eyes as she heard them walk into the room was
changed into disappointment when she saw that it
wasn't him.

'Hi guys,' she tried but she wasn't fooling anybody.

'Hi Catherine. Greg, Grissom wants to see you in his
office right away,' Nick said.

Warrick and Sara said hello to Catherine and together
with Nick they took occupation of the other sofa in
the break room.

Lindsay studied them for a while and then asked.

'What did he want?'

'What are you talking about Lindsay?' Warrick tried.

'Don't be silly,' she scolded.

'What did Grissom want?' she tried again.

Catherine was quiet and the other three looked at each
other as they tried to find a way out of the
situation.

'Nothing really. Lindsay how about you go with Nick
and me and play some computer games?' Warrick tried.

Lindsay looked skeptic but she still decided to go
with them. However before she left she whispered
something to her mother which caused Catherine to
smile.

When they were alone, Sara tried to find a subject
that would warrant a discussion. But she simply
couldn't find one. It didn't matter how hard she
tried. Instead she decided to remain quiet and wait
for either Warrick, Nick and Lindsay's return or Greg
and Grissom's. She didn't have to be a mind reader to
know which one Catherine anticipated the most.

Meanwhile Greg had arrived at Grissom's office. He was
kind of hesitant about entering. He wanted to know
what was going on but all of a sudden he had gotten
cold feet.

'Greg, are you out there? Come in,' Grissom ordered.

Greg silently walked into Grissom's office and sat
down in the visitor's chair.

Grissom could easily see how nervous he was by
studying his moods. Greg appeared less extravagant
almost shy.

Grissom decided to end the torture and began to tell
him the subject of their discussion.

'Greg I don't know if you are aware of mine and
Catherine's whereabouts this morning,' he started and
waited for an answer.

'You visited a guy in prison, right? I think the name
was Brown,' Greg said.

'Yes that is correct. Do you know why he is in
prison?' Grissom continued.

'He kidnapped Catherine, didn't he?' Greg said.

'Yes. His intention was to kill her. Fortunately
enough we got there in time. Anyway Brown has escaped.
They think he might have killed a nurse. Brass and
Ecklie are at the crime scene as we speak. You can't
during any circumstances tell Catherine or Lindsay any
of this. Is that clear?' Grissom asked.

'Yes. Is that why you had us throw Catherine out of
your office?' Greg said.

'Yes. I'm going to talk to her know but I thought it
was more important at the time that I got hold of
Lindsay before Brown did,' Grissom explained.

'Okay. Can I go?' Greg asked.

'Sure.'

With that Greg left Grissom alone so that he once
again could bury himself in his thoughts and worries.

A few minutes later he decided to go talk to Catherine
and started to make his way towards the break room.

When he got there he quickly asked Greg and Sara to go
so that he could be alone with Catherine. They obeyed
and once he and Catherine were alone he took the seat
beside her and gently took her hand as he started to
tell her the bad news.

'Catherine. There's no easy way to tell you this.Brown
escaped,' he started but was immediately interrupted
by Catherine's gasp.

'That's why you went to get Lindsay,' she quietly
stated.

'Yes,' Grissom said.

They sat beside each other with Grissom holding her
hand for about 10 minutes. Neither knew what to say so
they remained silent.

Despite what Grissom had just told her Catherine felt
safer as he once again was back by her side. She knew
how much she needed him but she usually didn't feel
like admitting it to anybody not even herself.

Meanwhile the coroners had just arrived at the prison.
After looking at the body they took it with them back
to the morgue.

Brass stood outside the room and silently watched how
Ecklie and his team began to secure the evidence.

He began to contemplate on where Brown could have gone
if it was he who had killed the nurse.

The corridor stretched open at both sides of the room.
The coroner hadn't yet decided the time of death but
once they knew that they would be able to decided on
how far Brown could have gotten before she was found.

Maybe he's still in here, Brass thought. It was
possible. Tom had told him that the guards had upped
security to a maximum once the nurse had been found,
maybe he never got out.

'We're done,' Ecklie suddenly stated and came out of
the room.

His team followed holding the bags of evidence.

'Are you heading back?' Brass asked.

'Yea, aren't you?' Ecklie responded.

'I think I'm gonna go and talk to Tom and Eve a bit
more,' Brass answered.

'Say hi to Grissom from me,' he added and then walked
away to find Tom and Eve.

'Sure. Call if you find anything out,' Ecklie added.

Then he and his team walked the opposite way, out of
the prison and into freedom.

Meanwhile back at Headquarters Warrick, Nick and
Lindsay were playing one of the computer games on
Warrick's computer when Lindsay suddenly asked.

'What's wrong with mom and Grissom?'

Warrick and Nick looked at each other. Neither of them
knew what to tell her. They decided to try to ignore
the question but Lindsay was determined.

'I said what is wrong with mom and Grissom?' she once
again stated.

'Nothing,' Warrick tried and failed miserably.

'Mom say you're not supposed to lie,' Lindsay said and
patiently started to wait for an answer.

Just when they were about to crack Sara and Greg
stepped in through the door.

'So who's winning?' Greg asked as he quickly made his
way towards the computer.

'Who do you think?' Nick said kind of irritated.

'Well you can always comfort yourself with the thought
that you were beaten by a true master,' Warrick said
humbly.

'Yea, right,' Nick said grumpily.

'Can I play?' Greg asked eagerly.

'Sure,' Nick said and moved away so that Greg could
take his seat.

They were all too occupied with the game to notice
that Lindsay had snuck away.

She decided if Warrick, Nick and Sara wouldn't tell
her what was going on her mother and Grissom would.

Meanwhile after many wrong turns Brass had finally
found the room were Tom and Eve was.

He gently knocked as to not alarm them and then
patiently waited for an answer.

'Who is it?' he heard Tom ask.

'It's me Brass. I'd just like to talk to you for a
while. Is that ok?' he responded and then walked in
after getting approval.

Just like the room where Jenny had been killed this
room didn't have any characteristics that would show
it was in a prison either.

He looked around and spotted a young pretty woman on a
chair with her head bent towards the floor. Beside her
was Tom gently stroking her back in an attempt to
soothe her.

This must be Eve, he thought as he made his way
towards them.

'Eve, this is Mr. Brass you spoke on the phone,
remember?' Tom said when Brass had reached them.

Eve slowly lifted her gaze off the floor and silently
looked at Brass as she processed the information Tom
had told her.

'Mr. Brass?' she said sleepily.

'Yes, it's me,' he said and bent down in front of her.

'Do you know who killed Jenny?' she said.

He could hear how her voice wavered with her attempt
to contain her tears.

'No, honey. I don't. But where gonna find out, I
promise.'

As soon as the words had left his mouth he regretted
them. He couldn't make any promises, still he had.

'Thank you,' she said softly and then went quiet.

But they could easily hear her sobs.

'Tom, do you think we could talk?' Brass said and
signaled for him to come to the door.

'Sure. Eve I will only go to the door. I won't be gone
long, okay?' Tom said and then followed Brass.

'So what can you tell me that I don't know already?'
Brass asked when they had reached the door.

'Not much,' Tom said apologetically.

'Do you know anything about why Brown was here?' Brass
continued.

'No. I think he kidnapped someone with an intent to
kill her. But that's about all I know,' Tom said.

'That's true. The woman he kidnapped is one Catherine
Willows. She works at the Las Vegas crime lab. The man
who talked to Jenny is here supervisor. He helped in
the capturing of Brown,' Brass started to explain.

He waited a while to let Tom process the information
and then continued.

'They came here this morning and visited Brown. It's a
routine for Grissom he comes every year. Catherine
wanted to come and he allowed her. They left after
Brown said some things to them that freaked Catherine
out. Grissom got a call from Jenny. He called you. You
find her dead. Brown has escaped and his target is
Catherine,' Brass concluded.

'You're sure about the target?' Tom asked.

'Yea. He wants to possess her. He thinks that in order
to do that he has to kill her,' Brass explained.

'Oh,' was all Tom could say.

This guy was worse than he'd thought. He quickly
looked at Eve and then asked.

'Why did he kill Jenny?'

'First of all we don't know if he killed Jenny or not.
We're just assuming. Second a distraction, or he just
needed to fill his craving for blood,' Brass
responded.

'What can I do?' Tom asked.

'Nothing. Just stay with her. She needs someone she
can relay on right know. Be that person,' Brass said
indicating Eve.

'How is he?' Tom suddenly asked.

'Who?'

'Grissom, wasn't that his name?' Tom clarified.

'Oh, yea,' Brass said.

Tom could hear the confusion in his voice.

'You said Brown tried to kill one of his people,
right? So how did he react to the news that Brown
escaped?' Tom said.

'Bad,' was Brass' only answer.

'He loves her doesn't he?' Tom responded.

'How did you know?' Brass said more confused than
ever.

'I've read the file. But I didn't remember all the
details. However what you said jagged my memory and I
remember something about him staying by her side at
the hospital while she was recovering. You don't do
that unless you love someone, nor do you check up on
their kidnapper each year,' Tom stated.

'I guess you don't,' was Brass' only answer.

'Well, thanks Tom. Take care of her. Call if you find
anything out,' Brass said and with that he left.

He couldn't stand it anymore. He needed to get out of
there before he went insane by her crying. It hadn't
helped to met her. She didn't look like Ellie but she
still reminded him of her. He was grateful for the
fact that she had Tom there to comfort her and with
that last thought he exited the prison doors and was
greeted by the warm inviting sun and the fresh air.

He might have left the prison but the thoughts of what
had occurred in there hadn't left him. Now he was
faced with an even bigger dilemma. Should he tell
Grissom or wait?

With that he climbed into his car and joined the
traffic back to C.S.I. Headquarters.

TBC.

WARNING: Brown chapter thought I better warn you, just
in case.

Chapter 26

He could feel her presence almost as if she was just a
few feet away. The memory of her filled every part of
his body and gave him a pleasure he hadn't felt since
she'd been at his mercy. 

Soon Catherine, very soon. I just have to find you, he
thought.

He looked down at his hands. They were still covered
in her blood, Jenny, he had seen the name on her
nametag. The blood had coagulated and gone from
crimson to dark burgundy so he couldn't paint it on
his face any longer.

The dark burgundy sparked another memory. It was
almost the same color as the shirt that Catherine had
been wearing when he had been so close to get
possession of her.

At the memory of it he suddenly remembered the
silkiness of the shirt. He longed to feel that
silkiness again. Run his fingers over the fabric and
revel in its softness.

Her skin was as soft as the fabric of the shirt had
been and if he longed to touch the shirt the longing
to touch her again was greater.

The craving was too much he needed it so bad, to once
again possess someone, even if it wasn't her. Someone
beautiful like Catherine and Jenny.

However before he could take possession there was
something else he needed.a dark burgundy scarf.

He knew it would be easier to keep the memory alive if
he just had a scarf like that. The he could touch the
soft fabric and imagine it was her shirt all over
again. But where could he find one?

That's when he saw it, his scarf around the neck of a
beautiful, young woman.

He needed that scarf; he needed to possess her.

He started to stalk her, keeping enough distance so
that she couldn't notice him. But not so much that he
would loose her.

He felt the excitement rise within him as he pursued
her. Then it became almost unbearable as he saw her
cut her finger on a piece of paper in her hand.

He saw the blood run down her finger like a crimson
river and felt the urge to taste it as she put her
finger in her mouth and gently began to suck it to
stop the bleeding.

She winced softly at the pain and stopped inside an
alley to look for a Band-Aid in her purse.

He saw that she had stopped and unable to control his
urge any longer he decided that is was now or never.

He slowly crept up behind her and felt how the
excitement that had filled him when he killed Jenny
fill him all over again.

He studied her for a while longer then he grabbed her
from behind.

She didn't even have time to scream before he slit her
throat and allowed her blood to soak his clothes and
mix with Jenny's.

He was wearing latex gloves and had to fight the urge
to take them off so that he could touch her.

Not this time, he thought. Just wait when I have
Catherine I will take off the gloves.

Satisfied with that he dropped her body to the ground
and looked inside her purse for her ID. He wanted to
know her name. He found it and then left before anyone
saw him.

She lay there alone. She was still alive but since
he'd cut her throat she couldn't speak, she couldn't
cry for help.

She tried anyway but all that came out were gurgling
noises. She then realized that she would die and
allowed the tears to spill down her cheeks.

He watched from a distance as she attempted to take
one last breath. After failing she gave up and the
alley was imbedded in silence.

He had seen how she had died in that alley but she
wasn't really dead because she was his now. He
possessed her, her soul, her very being.

He cursed the fact that it wasn't Catherine. He wanted
her so badly and he would have her.

He once again started to whisper her name and briefly
though about Jenny, the nurse and then Carol, the girl
in the alley. They were substitutes, he practiced on
them. Everything had to be perfect when it was
Catherine's turn.

'Yes, it will be perfect Catherine,' he softly
whispered.

'And this time no one will disturb us. Together we
will walk, side by side into eternity,' he continued.

Then he did what he had longed to ever since he had
seen Carol suck her finger he licked the blood of his
gloves and painted new circles, this time on his
forehead.

He then took the scarf that he had taken from her neck
and started to stroke the fabric reveling in its
softness.

It was just as he had remembered it, now all he needed
was the softness of Catherine's skin beneath his
fingers and then everything would be perfect, as soon
as he had killed her and himself that was. Grissom
wouldn't be able to stop him now. He and Catherine
were meant to be together and not even Grissom could
prevent the ways of destiny.

TBC.

Chapter 27

She was so tired. Her feet were killing her and so was
her back. She herself wouldn't mind killing her bosses
who had been the ones who had put her threw the
nightmare that had caused her this pain.

Amateurs, she thought bitterly as she continued
walking.

Damn, amateurs, she continued.

'Why was it that as long as you were pretty everything
in this world was served on a silver platter,' she
muttered to herself feeling the bitterness rise inside
her and threatening to burst out. 

God knew she wasn't pretty but she sure as hell didn't
claim to be either.

She had worked her way to where she was and everybody
knew that she was much better than she got credit for.
She was qualified to be a boss not a secretary.

All that hussy had to do was flaunt herself around and
with a snap of a finger there was a diamond on her
finger and a husband on her arm.

That damn hussy had done this to her, well maybe not
directly, but she was partly guilty.

The day had started pretty good. She had awoken to the
sound of birds chirping outside her window and the
morning sun's rays that had tenderly caressed her thin
curtains.

She hadn't even been late but right on time and then
it happened. They had come out of his office hand in
hand, she should have known that something was wrong
but she hadn't. Instead she had been sitting there
blissfully unknowing and then they had dropped the
bomb. They were getting married, he had already told
his boss and they knew they couldn't continue working
at the company so they had decided to leave.

This they told her in the morning just like that and
then they both left and she had to pick up the pieces.
If they just had told her earlier she would've been
able to get them replacements but no she found it out
at the same time as the others. Everybody got mad but
not at them, at her as if it was her fault that all
the bosses had to work extra to cover his workload.

She had to do extra work herself to cover the workload
left by his fiancée but nobody seemed to have cared
about that. The other secretaries had also become mad
at her both because of that there bosses were mad and
had taken it out on them and because she had asked for
some help, not much just enough so that she wouldn't
be forced to do everything herself.

The day had then continued to plunge into hell as she
had been forced to work over her lunch thus missing
her doctor's appointment. Her boss had threaten to
fire her if she left work before she was done and now
she had to get a new appointment. It had almost been
impossible to get the first one. 

'Damn,' she muttered as her heel broke sealing the
dread of this particular day in her life.

She stopped at the entrance of an alley and searched
for something to lean on so that she could inspect the
damage on her shoe. She didn't find anything so she
went further in and saw a wall that looked moderately
clean. She leant against it and removed her shoe.

As she inspected the broken heel she saw something in
her peripheral vision. She got curious and looked. It
looked like a woman. Forgetting about the heel she
limped closer and what she saw made her utter a silent
scream. She tried to again but no words would come out
of her mouth.

What she had seen had indeed been a woman, a dead
woman, by the looks of it her throat had been slit.
She was beautiful and she instantly regretted her
utterance about how if you were pretty you got
everything served on a silver platter. This girl
obviously hadn't and she was so young.

'Not like me I'm just an old bat. I should be the one
lying here not this pretty girl. She should have her
whole life ahead of her instead her life has been
ended in such a brutal way,' she finally whispered in
voice choked with tears.

She looked around for a phone and found one. She took
a deep breath and then dialed 911. For some reason she
had taken a liking to this girl and even if she hadn't
been able to help her when she had been alive she was
determined to help her get the justice she deserved.

Meanwhile Brass had gotten back to C.S.I.
Headquarters. It had been a slow drive due to all the
traffic so he had been able to thinks things through.
But still he didn't know what he should do.

As he walked up to the entrance he saw the extra
guards and immediately understood that Grissom had
started to enhance security.

Maybe I shouldn't tell him now. He seems to be scared
enough as it is, he thought and after going through
the security check he started walking down the
corridor.

He decided to go talk to Ecklie first but didn't get
far until he bumped into someone. He looked down and
saw.

At that moment his cell-phone rang.

'Brass,' he answered somewhat irritated.

He felt that he really needed to talk to Ecklie.

But his mood soon changed when he listened to what the
caller had to say.

'Ok,' he said quickly and pocketed his cell-phone.

Then he ran out of the building and headed towards his
car again.

He quickly got in and then joined the Las Vegas
traffic once more.

Meanwhile Warrick and Greg were engaged in a computer
game with Sara and Nick observing them. Nick was
exited but Sara seemed slightly bored.

She looked around and then she saw what none of the
others had noticed. Lindsay was gone.

'Lindsay is gone,' she said quickly.

'What?' said the guys and looked at her, puzzlement
evident on their features.

'She is gone,' she once again stated.

Still it seemed that none of them had heard her.

'Lindsay, Catherine's daughter who Grissom told us to
watch, is gone,' she then tried.

This prompted a reaction.

Warrick and Nick looked at each other. Booth looked
worried mixed with shame for not listening to her the
first time.

However the most interesting, and at a different time,
most amusing reaction came from Greg.

First he looked at Sara to see if she was joking. When
he saw no indication of that his features
metamorphosed and showed panic and also an immense
fear.

'Grissom's really gonna kill me this time,' he said
the fear evident in his voice.

'Don't forget Catherine,' Nick suddenly said.

Greg looked if possible even more terrified.

'Well maybe we should try to find her instead of
painting up the worst case scenario,' Sara suggested.

As soon as she had spoken they all rapidly evacuated
the room and went in search for the little runaway.

Meanwhile Brass was stuck in traffic again.

Damn it, he thought.

He started to search for his cell-phone to call ahead
about his impending lateness when traffic started
moving again.

Suddenly he heard a loud ringing noise. He brought out
his cell-phone and answered.

'Brass.'

'Where the hell are you? We've been waiting here for I
don't know how long,' he heard a harsh voice yell in
his ear.

'Glad to see you too Sheriff,' he said in a mock
salute voice.

'Knock it off.'

'I'm stuck in traffic. Okay?' Brass said.

At first he was surprised that the Sheriff had been
called in but then he remembered that where there were
cameras there would the Sheriff be.

'Just get here as soon as you can.'

With that they both hung up their phones and Brass was
relieved to discover that the traffic had started to
move again.

When he finally got there he saw the Sheriff, Ecklie
and a couple of police officers stand and talking
beside the crime scene itself.

'So, what do we got?' Brass asked as he approached
them after showing a police officer his badge and
being allowed under the tape that sealed off the crime
scene.

'Young pretty woman got her throat slit. Pretty much
like the other one,' Ecklie answered.

'The other one?' they suddenly heard a shaky voice
say.

Brass looked around and saw a woman in her late
forty's early fifties a couple of feet away from their
location.

She was moving towards them so the distance kept
minimizing.

'There's another one like her?' she asked her voice
still shaky.

'Who's this?' Brass asked.

'Clara Jones, she's the one who found the body and
called it in,' a young police officer said as he read
the information from his notepad.

'Mrs. Jones.' Brass began only to be interrupted.

'Ms. Jones,' she said.

He could easily hear how her voice was still shaky but
a new touch of bitterness had been added to it.

He decided not to dwell on her social status and
continued to ask questions that were important in
solving the case instead.

'Did you see anything out of the ordinary?'
 
'No, I don't think so,' she responded.

She had stopped focusing her eyes on him. Instead they
were going from him, to the Sheriff and so on. Her
voice had started to waver even more and he understood
that she would be going into chock.

'I just found her in this alley. Someone slit her
throat she was young and pretty. Someone that pretty
shouldn't lie dead in an alley. She should be married
with 2.5 kids in a house with a garden and a white
picket fence,' she continued.

'She doesn't seem to know anything. She just came by
found her, called the police and waited by her side.
That's it,' the young police officer that had
previously spoken said.

'Get her out of her. Take her to the hospital and get
her checked up. She might go into chock so give her a
blanket,' Brass ordered.

The police officer took the woman by the arm and led
her to the awaiting ambulance.

Brass watched them and involuntarily thought that the
woman had been right someone this pretty shouldn't lie
on the ground. Maybe it would've been better if it had
been Ms. Jones instead. No, it wasn't up to him to
decide who lived or died. But he couldn't help that it
always felt like such a waste whenever they found a
young life that had been extinguished.

It looked like Brown's work, that much he could
distinguish but why had he killed this woman. It
seemed that he would have to find that out before he
killed again or before he found Catherine.

Damn it, I have to tell Grissom, he thought. He had
really hoped it wouldn't come to that this soon but he
no longer had a choice. If he wanted them to have a
chance of being ahead of Brown he had to prepare
Grissom otherwise God only knew what could happen if
Brown took Catherine again.

Brass knew Grissom enough to know that this time one
of them might not make it and his bet was on Brown. It
wasn't that he didn't want the bastard to die but he
didn't want Grissom to have to pay such a big prize
for it. Although Grissom probably wouldn't see it as a
sacrifice but a privilege.
He hated to see his friend like this.

Brown brought out a side in Grissom that normally
wasn't seen. A side, which he so desperately tried to
hide and usually he was good at it.

Hatred was what he had seen in his friend's eyes every
time they had talked about Brown. A hatred so great
that it almost hurt to look Grissom in the eye when it
was there. A hatred that consumed him. But thankfully
there was a cure. Catherine whenever he talked about
her or saw her he seemed to be filled with an
inexplicable joy. However this joy was tinged with a
bit of sadness.

He knew where the sadness came from. It was from the
fact that despite his deep love Grissom couldn't find
a way to express it to Catherine. He didn't dare to.

Brass just hoped that as soon as this thing with Brown
was over Grissom would finally be able to express what
he so deeply felt and what was so apparent to everyone
else. 

TBC.

Chapter 28

Grownups could be so weird sometimes, Lindsay thought
as she was walking down the corridors of C.S.I.
Headquarters.

First Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg had just seemed to
forget about her, though she didn't mind this. It gave
her an excellent opportunity to find her mother and
Grissom. Then Brass hadn't even as much as said hello
to her when they had bumped into each other before.
Instead he had just run out of the building leaving
her there very puzzled at his weird behavior.

She was beginning to think that it was something
contagious. Grissom's behavior this day could at best
be described as weird that also went for her mother,
Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg. Something was troubling
the adults but she didn't know what. She wasn't very
comfortable with not knowing.

For a child it was always hard to be patient
especially when it came to such things as birthdays
and Christmases. That all the adults seemed to share a
secret was quickly being added to the list as she
tried to find her way back to the break room and her
mother and Grissom.

Meanwhile the two objects that currently held the key
to Lindsay's desire were sitting side by side still
holding hands and still remaining quiet.

It wasn't that they had nothing to say to each other
it was rather that they didn't know how to phrase what
they wanted and in a way needed to say to each other.

As he held her hand Grissom couldn't help thinking how
he desperately wanted Brass to call him. He needed to
know what was going on he couldn't be kept in the dark
much longer, if he was he would scream out of
frustration.

However at the same time he wanted this moment to last
forever, the handholding not the cause of it that was.

Her hands were so tiny in comparison to his and her
skin was as soft as silk. He longed to kiss her hand
or at least bring it to his mouth so that his lips
could feel the softness of her skin.

However he didn't dare to do that, so instead he just
sat there in silence and held her hand.

He tried to give her what little comfort inside him
that he could muster. He wanted so badly to eradicate
the pain as well as the memories. She might not have
told him but he could feel how she suffered from them.
One day it could be fine the next she could be going
crazy. She never told anybody but he knew.

However his inability to say the right things at the
right time had kept him from being able to console her
during these flashbacks. It had also kept him from
letting her know that he knew about them. Thus she had
continued to keep quiet and he had continued to suffer
from his inability to help the woman he so deeply
loved.

Meanwhile Brass was looking at the crime scene.

Ms. Jones had been taken to the hospital so now his
only company was Ecklie and a pissed off Sheriff.

At leas he could comfort himself with the thought that
if Grissom had been there the Sheriff's mood would
have been worse.

He decided to ignore it though and after talking to
Ecklie he left to go back to C.S.I. Headquarters to
talk to Grissom.

Ecklie was alone at the crime scene. His team had gone
back to headquarters a short time after Brass.

For some reason though he couldn't leave. It almost
seemed as if there was an invisible force field that
kept him rooted to this place.

The coroners had already taken the body but the blood
was still there and right now that was what held his
attention.the blood.

It had turned from crimson to a dark burgundy. It
almost looked as if someone had spilt a bottle of
expensive wine on the ground.

The thought of wine made him thirsty. He could feel
how his throat slowly metamorphosed into a desert.

The dryness of his throat started to get to him and
finally he was able to break the spell the crime scene
had put on him.

Now he saw if for what it was. An eerie, filthy alley,
were a young beauty had been killed. Why and how he
didn't know but he intended to find out.

He climbed into his car after giving the crime scene
one last look. He then sped back to C.S.I.
Headquarters and the evidence that would help him
fulfill his silent promise.

Meanwhile Greg was going crazy. She was a little girl.
Despite that they had lost her despite that it seemed
impossible to find her.

He hoped that the others had had better luck. He
really didn't want to be the one that had to tell
Catherine and Grissom that they had lost her daughter.


He wouldn't have been to eager to do it any other time
either but when there was a madman on the loose who
wouldn't stop at anything to get Catherine it really
didn't seem as a too good idea to lose her daughter.
Not just because Brown could then use Lindsay to get
Catherine but because of how mad Grissom would become
at him not to mention Catherine.

However Sara wasn't doing any better. She could
honestly not believe how four adults, three CSI's and
a lab tech could loose a little girl. It seemed even
more implausible that said adults couldn't find the
little girl.

For god's sake they were trained to find things that
normally were hard to spot. A little girl was loud,
she mad noises, she was everything but invisible. Or
at least that had been what she had thought, before
they had lost Lindsay.

She headed around the corner and suddenly remembered
something.

She was supposed to try to get hold of the report that
Grissom had written on the original Brown case.

She pondered for a while and then decided to go get it
now. She had enough confidence in the guys to believe
that they would be able to find Lindsay. Besides she
was too curious to let it go now that she was so
close.

'Have you seen her?' Nick asked as he saw Warrick move
down one of the corridors.

Nick had never thought that there workplace was that
big but now it felt as if they might as well have lost
Lindsay in Vegas. It would have been as hard to find
Lindsay there as it was trying to find her here.

'What?' Warrick said and stopped.

Nick started to jog toward him.

'Have you found Lindsay?' he said again as he reached
him.

'No, what about you?' Warrick responded.

'Nope. So what should we do? If you were a little girl
where would you go?' Nick asked.

'If I was a little girl?' Warrick said with a
questioning look on his face.

'Well.It would take a number of operations but I think
we could manage,' Nick responded.

Warrick looked at him. His face wore a look of worry
and his eyes looked like saucers.

'You're kidding, right?' Warrick asked.

He hoped to God that Nick wasn't serious.

'Because if this has anything to do with the fact that
I didn't want you to set me up on that blind date. I'd
be happy to reconsider. After all we live in a free
country and a man has the right to change his mind,
right?' Warrick began.

Nick could hear that he was seriously freaked out. He
didn't know how long he would be able to contain his
laughter though. Damn this was funny.

'Relax man. I was only kidding. But if you're
interested Linda is free this weekend,' Nick finally
admitted.

'Maybe we should continue looking for Lindsay?'
Warrick asked.

'Yea,' Nick said and then they both headed down a
corridor each.

Meanwhile the little runaway had gotten to the
destination of her hearts desire.the break room.

Lindsay crept up to the doorway and looked inside. She
could see her mother and Grissom sitting on the couch
holding hands.

The image is so cute, she thought. But she could also
feel something else a sadness that seemed to be
emitted from both her mother and Grissom.

She silently crept towards them. She tried to be as
quiet as possible so that she wouldn't be noticed.

'Hi Lindsay,' Catherine said and looked down at her
daughter.

'Hi mom, Grissom,' the little girl said and then
seated herself between the two adults.

Catherine started to look toward the door convinced
that she would soon see Warrick, Nick, Greg and Sara.
However when they didn't show up she got concerned.

They were supposed to watch Lindsay so where the hell
are they, she thought.

She then felt how her daughter took hold of her hand.
She looked down and saw that Lindsay had grabbed onto
Grissom's as well.

She smiled at her daughter and Grissom. Right now
everything seemed to be perfect. But where the hell
were they? She couldn't get away from that thought.

'Have you found her yet?' Greg asked somewhat
exasperated when he met Warrick in the hallway
sometime later.

'No. You?'

'What the hell do you think?!' Greg almost screamed.

'Sorry. It's just I really am way to young to die,' he
apologized somewhat frightened.

'They're not gonna kill us,' Warrick said in an
attempt to calm him down.

He realized that it had obviously failed when Greg
exclaimed.

'How do you know that? Grissom is probably already
pissed because I let Catherine slip away. Now I will
have to suffer the wrath of both of them for losing
her precious daughter and Grissom's precious. You know
what I mean, right?'

'Yes. I still don't think he will kill you though,'
Warrick tried again.

'No luck?' they suddenly heard a voice exclaim.

They turned around and found out it belonged to Nick.

'So where's Sara?' Nick asked again.

'First no luck. Second no idea,' Warrick said.

He suspected that Greg still needed some time to find
his calm before being able to reclaim the ability to
talk again.

'Maybe we should just go to the break room and tell
Catherine and Grissom?' Nick suggested.

'Are you completely nuts?' Greg asked, thus proving
that he had indeed reclaimed his ability to talk.

'What do you mean?' Nick asked somewhat bewildered.

'You just suggested that we should tell Grissom and
Catherine that we lost their daughter,' Greg said.

Nick and Warrick looked at each other. Greg had
obviously not realized what he had said.

However when he noticed that neither Warrick nor Nick
were listening he suddenly got quiet and just looked
at them.

'What?' he asked.

'Greg you just said that Lindsay was Catherine and
Grissom's daughter,' Nick explained.

'Yea, so?' Greg asked.

He saw the puzzled looks from Warrick and Nick and
decided to elaborate.

'I'm sorry guys. It's just.I don't know what else to
call her. Besides Grissom sure acts like a father,'
Greg explained.

'It's okay,' Warrick said and gently squeezed Greg's
shoulder for reassurance.

'So, should we stay here or go search for Sara?' Nick
asked, successfully changing the topic of the
conversation.

'I'm right here guys!' Sara said before Warrick or
Greg had time to respond to Nick's query.

'You'll never guess what I've got hold of,' she
continued.

'Lindsay?' all three said eagerly.

'No,' Sara said, realizing that she had been right in
her previous assumption. They would never be able to
guess what she had.

'The file from the original Brown case,' she said, a
tad too eagerly for the others liking.

She quickly picked up on this and said.

'I'm sorry. It's just.I couldn't find Lindsay and then
I remembered about the file. I'm so curious aren't
you?'

Greg looked at Nick and Warrick. None of them could
hide their desire or curiosity to read the file.

'So what did you have to do to get it?' Greg suddenly
quipped, earning angry stares from the others.

'It's not that hard really. As long as your name isn't
Catherine Willows that is,' Sara explained.

'I think I have never been this glad that your name
isn't Catherine Willows,' Nick said.

'So there has been a time when you wished it was?'
Sara asked.

'Uh, guys help me out here,' Nick pleaded.

Greg and Warrick jus looked on amused. Sara was
surprisingly enough the one who came to his rescue.

'I think we should go back to Catherine and Grissom.
Maybe Lindsay is there. Then when we have found her we
can go and read the file,' Sara suggested.

None of the guys protested and in a gathered troup
they headed towards the break room.

'Strength in numbers,' Greg slowly whispered to
himself.

When they finally reached the break room they all gave
a sigh of relief for the happy surprise that greeted
them.

Lindsay was safely seated between Grissom and
Catherine holding each of the adults by the hand.
However their newfound glee subsided when they saw the
looks on Grissom and Catherine's faces.

Grissom was just about to yell at them when Ecklie
came by.

'So this is were everybody is,' he stated.

'Greg we have some things for you to analyze. So I
suggest you get your ass into the lab now,' Ecklie
commanded.

Even though Ecklie sounded very harsh almost angry
Greg looked at Grissom for approval to leave. As soon
as he had gotten that he followed Ecklie out of the
break room heaving a sigh of relief.

However his relief became short-lived when Grissom
said.

'Don't think were done yet Greg.'

Greg gulped and continued his walk with Ecklie to the
lab room.

'So I guess I don't have the pleasure of yelling at
Greg. But I don't see any reason why I can't yell at
you,' Grissom said.

However the reason came in through the door at that
moment.

'Grissom, I need to talk to you,' Brass said.

Grissom looked over at Catherine who game him a nod of
approval and a small smile just for him.

He gently let go of Lindsay's hand and got of the sofa
then he picked up Catherine's and gave it a kiss
before he left with Brass through the break room door.

Warrick, Nick and Sara stared on in amazement. Lindsay
just smiled as happy as if it was both Christmas and
her birthday all at the same time.

Catherine wasn't sure if Grissom had been aware of
what he had done but either way the gesture filled her
with happiness and a new reassurance that as long as
Grissom was around everything would be fine.

However her newfound joy did not improve her temper
with the kids. She showed this by saying.

'Just wait until Gil gets back. Then we will have a
talk.'

Warrick, Nick and Sara gasped at the statement.

Content with that Catherine gave all her attention to
her daughter.

However unbeknownst to her Warrick, Nick and Sara's
reaction to the statement hadn't been the meaning of
it but the way that Catherine had formed the sentence.

First of all she still hadn't stopped with the
calling-Grissom-Gil part. Second the line sounded so
much like the wait-until-your-father-gets-home that
they almost cracked up despite the seriousness of the
situation.

None of them could help the fact that right now they
felt like a real family with mom and dad mad at them.
This was what promted them to respond to Catherine's
earlier statement.

'Yes mom.'
 
Catherine lightly scolded herself for finding it
amusing that they saw her as a mom. She was still mad
at them and she would not let the charm of "her"
children take away that well deserved anger.

Meanwhile Greg and Ecklie had reached the lab.

Greg took the large manila envelope that lay on his
desk and after prying it opened he displayed the
content on the table in front of him.

However he couldn't concentrate all he could think
about was the impending talk with Grissom.

'Grissom's gonna kill me,' he quietly whispered.

However not quietly enough since Ecklie responded.

'No he wont but I will unless you get back to work.'

With that Ecklie left Greg alone hoping to God that
the kid would finally start working.

As he went down the corridor to his office he couldn't
help but ponder on Greg's reaction.

It was a well-known fact that Greg seemed to regard
Grissom as a father from time to time. Ecklie wasn't
sure how it had all begun but sometimes Warrick, Nick
and Sara seemed to act that way too.

Yes. Grissom had his little family with Catherine as
the mother and Warrick, Nick, Sara, Greg and even
Lindsay as the children.

This was one of the things that Brown wanted to take
away from Grissom. Ecklie knew this as well as the
next guy. But he had always felt there was something
more he had just never been able to put his finger on
what it was. Once again he gave up on it and decided
to try to keep his promise instead.

Meanwhile Grissom and Brass had reached Grissom's
office. They both quietly went inside and Grissom took
the chair behind the desk leaving Brass with either
the sofa or the visitor's chair.

Brass opted on the chair and after sitting down they
both sat in silence for a while to gather their
thoughts.

Brass had no idea what to do. But he had to tell
Grissom he knew that much, but how?

He decided to stop with the postponing, then took a
deep breath and started talking.

'Grissom we haven't been able to prove anything yet
but we think Brown killed the nurse. If he did he has
killed again,' Brass started.

He then paused to allow Grissom to process what he had
been told.

'How many?'

'One more. A girl, young, pretty. Do you have any idea
why he is killing these women?' Brass gently asked.

Not many knew this but the one who knew most about
Brown was Grissom.

After being used to working with only the evidence
Grissom had realized that if he wanted to get Brown
that wouldn't do. Therefore he had tried to get inside
Brown's head instead and he had succeeded as much as
any man could.

'No.'

'Gil don't play with me. Do you know or don't you?'
Brass said.

He had been frustrated all day and finally he couldn't
keep it in any longer.

Grissom was silent. Instead of looking at Brass he was
studying the butterflies on his walls. The same
butterflies that Catherine had been watching when he
had found her there a couple of hours ago.

'Gil. I know that you want to catch Brown yourself. I
know that you want to make him pay. But revenge isn't
the way of a democratic society. Please help us find
him,' Brass pleaded.

Grissom kept quiet and studied the wall instead. Then
he finally said.

'Tell me about the crime scenes.'

Brass had hoped he wouldn't go there. That it would be
a one way conversation were he got all the information
he needed from Grissom without having to tell him
anymore than he liked.

I should have known better than to allow myself to be
so naive, he thought bitterly.

'The first one was at the prison, in one of the rooms.
The other was in an alley,' Brass said hoping it was
enough yet knowing it wasn't.

'How did it look?' Grissom continued.

Both he and Brass knew that whatever the crime scene
looked like it would be exactly as it would look if
Brown got his hands on Catherine once again.

'We found her in a pool of her own blood. Her hair was
partly covered by blood and he had cut her throat.'

'How did she look?'

'Her face was contorted in a silent scream.'

'And the other one?' Grissom continued.

'Never saw the body,' Brass tried.

'Jim, If I'm supposed to help you I need to know
this,' Grissom said.

Brass looked at his friend. The playful anger that had
been on his face before and the love and happiness
that had been there directly after he had left the
break room had been replaced by anger and hatred mixed
with hopelessness and sadness.

Brass wasn't a man who easily cried but as the sight
of his friend he could feel how a lump took form in
his throat.

'Same thing there. Except for one thing. She had been
crying,' Brass said slowly.

He felt as if every word he uttered was a blow to
Grissom's heart.

'Okay. They were both pretty, they were both young. He
still wants Catherine but he has changed. Before it
was only her. Now he can't contain his blood lust any
longer. He is going to keep killing until he gets her.
However if he gets Catherine this time he won't wait.
He will kill her as soon as he gets the chance,'
Grissom concluded.

'Were there any witnesses?' he then asked.

Brass could hear how his voice was breaking.

'Yes. A nurse named Eve at the first a middle age
woman named Clara Jones at the second.'

'What did they say?'

'Eve didn't know too much. I mostly spoke to a man
named Tom Willis. Apparently he was the guard who
received your call. Clara Jones was too shocked to be
able to answer any questions. I though about going to
her apartment to see if she might be more talkative
now,' Brass responded.

'Do that,' Grissom said.

Brass looked at Grissom.

Before his gaze had been directed somewhere else but
now he looked straight at Brass. He tried to hide a
silent gasp. He could see how Grissom's eyes had
become filled with unshed tears. The eyes seemed to
glisten like diamonds.

This scared him even more than anything had before.
Grissom was a man who usually hid his feelings but now
he was showing them on open display. Brass wasn't sure
if this was because Grissom didn't know that he was
showing them or if it was because he simply didn't
care any longer.

'I need to get back to Catherine and Lindsay now,'
Grissom said and rose from his chair.

Brass followed his example and together they walked
out of Grissom's office.

Grissom continued towards the break room while Brass
once again went out to his car to question Ms. Clara
Jones once more.

He really hoped that she held some of the answers to
this riddle because if this went on any longer he
didn't know if Grissom would be able to handle it. He
still didn't know about Catherine's reaction but
whatever it was he couldn't help but think that
Grissom's were more powerful.

With that he joined the Las Vegas traffic once more
and tried his best to not let the tears fall.

He had thought that the meeting with Jenny was what
would make him cry but his meeting with Grissom had
been so intense.

He realized he had to stop the car as the rain that
had started to pour made it impossible to see the
road.

He guided the car off the main road and stopped there
to wait out the rain.

As he felt something damp on his hand he thought the
car was leaking but as the drops started to fall in a
more even pace and wet his cheeks he realized that he
had lost the fight.he was crying.

He sat and waited out the rain crying in tandem with
it as he hoped that God would watch over them and take
them out of this hell.

He said a silent prayer for Ellie, Eve, Grissom,
Catherine and the others and continued his waiting at
the side of the road.

TBC.

Chapter 29

As soon as she got inside her apartment and had closed
the door she collapsed on her couch.

She looked around the apartment but couldn't see
anything. The blinds were closed and she hadn't even
bothered to put on the lights.

Poor girl, she thought.

She didn't have any children but this didn't make her
mother instinct any less for the girl in the alley.
She didn't even know her name.

If I had a daughter I would want her to be just like
that girl. So pretty, so innocent, she thought sadly.

The mother of that poor girl will be devastated once
she finds out what happened to her baby-girl.

To find out that your precious child was killed that
she will never have any children, no husband and that
someone had ended her life in such a brutal way.

She wasn't sure whether or not the girl was married
and had children but she looked too young so she
assumed that wasn't the case.

At first the darkness had been inviting.

No one can see you in the darkness.

You can cry all you want, you can show your pain
openly and no one will bother becasue no one sees you.

However as the apartment was suddenly illuminated and
grim shadows appeared on the wall the darkness lost
all its appeal.

She felt how her heartbeats started to speed up and
how her breathing became ragged.

Then she started to think rationally and realized that
she hadn't noticed that it had become dark outside and
the illumination of the room simply came from a car's
headlights.

Satisfied with this conclusion she remained seated.

However the firing of a gun made her jump in her seat
and she was just about to go away and hide in her room
when she once again started to rationalize and
realized that it was only a car that was backfiring.

As she sat there she heard noises that she hadn't been
aware of existed.

Cats that were fighting, dogs barking, glass-breaking,
footsteps in the staircase, footsteps outside her
door, someone knocking on her door.

The last one made her scared once again. She listened
again more concentrated this time.

Knock, knock.

There it was again that sound. She started to look
around the apartment there was nowhere were she could
hide.

The knocking was repeated and she felt like a woman in
one of those horror movies were the girl is alone in
the apartment when someone knocks on the door the girl
then gets a bat or a gun and opens the door to find
the killer there. However in her version there was no
weapon and she sure didn't feel like opening the door.


However she was overcome by her own curiosity and
slowly moved towards the door. She was utterly
grateful for the fact that she, when collapsing on the
sofa, had removed her shoes.

When she reached the door she slowly raised herself so
that she stood on her tiptoes and then looked out the
peephole.

Meanwhile Grissom was making his way towards the break
room when he realized that he had kissed Catherine's
hand before leaving.

It had just felt like the right thing to do he hadn't
thought about the consequences of such an action.

However now he was overwhelmed by what those
repercussions could be.

He felt dread at walking back there to find out what
they were.

However his need to see Catherine and Lindsay was
greater so he went there anyway.

Meanwhile Catherine had started to feel uneasy again.

She knew she wasn't alone. She had her daughter and
her "kids" there but despite that she felt more alone
than she had done in years.

Were the hell is he, she thought.

She felt a chill up her spine and even though the room
was warm and she was wearing a jacket she could feel
that goosebumps had started forming on her arms.

She gently pushed up her sleeve and realized that it
was true.

Damn it Gil where the hell are you? she thought as she
pulled Lindsay closer to her.

Then she could feel something that freaked her out
even more. He was there in the room with her.Brown.

At that moment he arrived through the door.

Warrick, Nick and Sara stared at him and gasped.

Catherine was completely silent and so was for a
change Lindsay too.

Meanwhile Clara was watching the man outside her door.
She had a hard time remembering who it was but
recognize him she did.

Then she saw something that sparked her memory, a
police badge. He had been one of the police officers
in the alley.

'Ms. Jones I need to talk to you. Could you be so kind
as to open the door?' Brass asked.

He was doing his best to seem friendly and nice.

Clara undid the locks but kept the chain on as she
pried open the door.

'What do you want?' she asked.

Despite the fact that she had realized that she had a
policeman outside her door the panic in her voice was
apparent.

'I need to ask some questions about what happened in
the alley,' Brass explained and waited patiently for
her approval.

'Okay,' she said and took away the chain.

As soon as she had done that she allowed him entrance
to her apartment.

'Would you like some tea or coffee?' she asked as she
heard Brass close the door.

Brass had flicked on the light and as she turned
around she saw the unmistakable redness of his eyes.

Brass saw the look she gave him and as if reading her
mind he responded.

'It's raining outside,' he said as if that would
explain everything.

She decided to let it go and instead repeated her
prior query.

'Would you like some tea or coffee?'

'Coffee would be nice,' Brass responded.

'Nothing warms a cold soul as a cup of hot coffee,'
Clara said.

As Clara prepared the coffee in the kitchen Brass had
seated himself in the couch and was attempting to get
into his professional mode.

It wasn't as easy as it usually was, primarily because
he normally didn't have to get into his professional
mode.

His personal and professional mode were usually very
alike, almost the same. Not this time though.

At least it was getting better. He could finally relax
so he did giving out a big sigh.

'So you wanted to talk,' Clara said when she came in
from the kitchen.

Brass was somewhat startled by her voice. He had
thought she would stay in the kitchen to wait for the
coffee to get ready.

'Yes,' he said trying to regain his composure.

Clara sat down in an armchair and silently watched
him.

'Why were you in the alley?' Brass asked.

'I had broken by heel and just happened to stop there.
When I was looking for something to lend against I
went further inside the alley that is when I found the
girl,' Clara said.

Brass could hear the sadness and bitterness in the
woman's voice.

However her next statement surprised him.

'What was her name?'

'Her name?' Brass asked somewhat bewildered.

'The girl. What was her name? Clara elaborated.

'Carol,' he said.

'Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl,' Clara
said.

The sorrow had not left her voice and due to his
earlier display of emotions in the car Brass felt how
his throat once again constricted with the emotions
that were overflowing him.

However at that moment both were saved by the sound of
the coffeemaker.

Clara quickly got up and left Brass alone with his
conflicting emotions.

A while later she returned with two cups of nice hot
steaming coffee. She gave one cup to Brass and kept
the other one for herself once again seating herself
in the armchair.

The coffee brought on a surprising comfort and Brass
could feel how the hot liquid dissolved the lump that
had once again started to form in his throat.

'Did you see anything unusual when you first got
there?' Brass asked.

He felt strong enough to continue the questioning now
that the coffee had dissolved the lump.

Clara thought for a while warming her hand on the cup
of steaming hot coffee.

'Not that I can think of. No,' she responded.

However Brass could hear the hesitation in her voice
and this prompted him to ask.

'But you're not sure, are you?'

'I guess I'm not as sure as I would like to be,' she
responded.

'I don't know why it's just.for some reason I feel
like I missed something. That there was something
there in the alley that could've helped you in finding
the monster that did this to Carol,' she continued
sadly.

Brass was taken aback by how she was talking about
Carol, almost as she was alive. That she had been
attacked but had survived and was now in a hospital
bed recuperating from the assault not in a cold morgue
in one of the boxes waiting for the coroner to look
for clues to her untimely death.

'Would you like some more coffee?' she suddenly asked.

Brass looked down in his cup and realized that the cup
was empty, he hadn't even noticed that he had emptied
it. He had thought he had just drunken enough of it to
dissolve the lump but apparently he had been wrong.

'Yes, please,' he got out and watched as Carla once
again entered the kitchen with one coffee cup in each
hand.

Once again alone, he thought through what he had found
out and realized that it wasn't that much. He really
wished that Carla would be able to tell him what she
had seen that she was so unsure about. Something told
him it could help in finding Brown.

He started to go through the rest of the information
he had accumulated about Brown through the years. It
wasn't as much as he would have liked it to be but he
still hoped, against all odds, that the key to finding
and capturing Brown could be find there.

However his thoughts were interrupted when Clara came
back with the two cups once again filled with steaming
coffee.

She gave him a cup and then reclaimed her place in the
armchair.

'Have you told Carol's mother yet?' she asked.

Despite how she had phrased the question he could
still hear the sadness lurking in her voice.

'No. We don't know anything about her family yet,'
Brass explained hoping that would satisfy her.

He knew that hearing her doubt their efforts would
only plunge him further into the dark emotions that
were already clouding his soul.

However he was lucky and Clara decided not to dwell on
the subject any further.

Instead she decided to go somewhere that he really
hadn't expected.

'Do you have any children?' she asked.

It might have sounded like an innocent enough question
but he knew she was going somewhere else with this.
Despite that he decided to answer her truthfully.

'A daughter.'

'What's her name?'

'Ellie.'

'That's a beautiful name. I don't have any children
myself and I have to admit that finding Carol in the
alley like that has made my emotions abut whether or
not is was the right decision to not have children,'
she managed to get out.

She then paused both in order for him to process the
information she had given him but mostly so that she
could gather her strength to continued what she wanted
to tell him.

'On one hand I would have loved to have a daughter
like Carol but on the other hand I'm not sure if I
could've handle losing her,' she concluded.

Brass was even more puzzled at this statement than the
one before. He had rarely seen this kind of compassion
being shown so openly and while he felt what it did to
his composure he was grateful that such an individual
as Ms. Clara Jones existed.

He suddenly hoped that someone like Clara Jones would
be there when his daughter needed help. Then he
changed his mind and prayed that Ellie would never
need help especially not this kind of help.

TBC.

WARNING: Brown chapter, just so you know.

Chapter 30

Meanwhile Brown was running the scarf through his
fingers. It was just as he had imagined it. The
softness enhanced his memories of Catherine and when
he allowed his own imagination to contribute it seemed
almost as if though she was there with him at his
mercy under his fingers.

He was once again becoming restless. He hadn't been
able to find her yet and he knew that even if he did
find her it would take a lot more than it had the last
time to get a hold of her. He knew that Grissom had
probably enhanced the security and if he did find
Catherine Grissom would be there with her.

He tried to think but his craving got the better of
him. He needed another victim, another possession, but
who that would always be the question.

The first time he hadn't thought it through. He had
just gotten out of the infirmary and he had found her.
Jenny talking on the phone with Grissom. He had heard
her say his name and the mere thought of him had made
him loose control. So he had taken possession of her.

However Carol had been a sign. She had been wearing
the scarf and so he had decided on her, because he
needed to get back "his" scarf.

He looked around so many pretty girls could be found
in Las Vegas but none like his Catherine. That's when
he remembered that she wasn't his yet. She was still
Grissom's but soon.

'Just wait and see Catherine. We will soon be together
again. Just like we were always meant to,' he
whispered.

He secretly hoped that each time he whispered she
would hear his voice and mesmerized by it come to him
willingly. However he knew that she still belonged to
Grissom and as long as she did she would never come to
him willingly.

That's when he saw her a pretty little thing.

He laughed quietly. He didn't know exactly why but she
would become his next possession.

Just like with Carol he started to follow the girl. It
was harder now when it was dark outside but he didn't
have to keep his eyes on her to know where she was. He
could feel it.

However unlike Carol she didn't stop instead she kept
on walking for a while longer. Then she stopped and
glanced at her watch. After completing this action she
raised her right hand and hailed a cab.

A lesser man than Brown would have been angered at
such an action. But Brown didn't need to see her to
follow.

He took the next cab and just like in the movies he
told the cabdriver "to follow that car".

He wasn't surprised at how excited the cabdriver
became at this request. He had always seen how people
could react to the slightest movie reference. It was
as if though people wanted to be a character in a
movie as if though their lives weren't interesting
enough as it was. Not him though all he needed was
Catherine and then his life would be perfect.

He suddenly noticed how the cabdriver had lost the
girl's cab and felt how the guy tensed up.

'I'm sorry sir but I just have no idea of where they
disappeared to,' the cabdriver said apologetically.

'It's okay just follow my directions,' Brown said as
nicely as he could muster.

There was no reason to make the guy any more nervous
than he already was. Besides he needed someone that
would cooperate with him and yelling at the guy would
hardly make him want to cooperate.

'Take a right at this intersection,' Brown continued.

He had been giving directions for quite a while now.
Apparently the girl didn't live too close to where
they had started the cab ride.

'And then left at the corner and then we will see the
cab,' Brown concluded.

When they had taken the left turn the cabdriver
realized that Brown had been right. The cab was right
in front of them.

They kept following it for a while longer until it
stopped outside an apartment complex. The girl stepped
out and payed the driver.

Brown did likewise except for paying the driver.
Instead he asked him to wait around then he followed
the girl.

She had gone in through the entrance and he was able
to catch the door just before it closed and separated
him from his would be possession. He followed her up
the stairs and was able to sneak in through her door
as they reached her apartment.

Once inside he studied her as she took off her jacket
and threw it on a chair. She then took off her shoes
and discarded her purse on the floor and then walked
into what he assumed was her bedroom.

A couple of minutes later she came out dressed in a
terrycloth bathrobe. Apparently she had decided to
take a bath or maybe just a shower.

He couldn't decide if he should take possession of her
now or after she had cleaned herself.

Thus it was she not he who made the decision when she
went into what he later found out was the bathroom. He
waited for a while then followed her inside.

He realized that, lucky for him not her, the bathroom
was sound isolated. Nobody would hear her scream not
that he would ever give her the chance.

She had discarded her terrycloth robe on the floor and
he could she her naked silhouette through the frosted
glass of the shower door. None of the others had been
naked and this excited him even more than before.

As he crept up to the shower door he thought once
again about the movies this time it was "Psycho" it
was almost like that scene where Norman Bates kills
the girl in the shower.

He silently opened the shower door and then he quickly
slit her throat before she knew what had happned. He
then turned off the shower and stepped in behind her.

He held her in his arms, slowly rocking from side to
side as if though they were dancing. The blood spilled
on his shirt and mixed with Jenny's and Carol's.

She was lovely, his new possession and owning her
filled him with great joy. Still she wasn't Catherine
and no matter how many he took possession of it would
never be enough if he didn't get Catherine. 

With that thought he dropped her to the floor of the
shower and went in search of her identity. However
before he left he once again turned on the shower to
fully complete his Norman Bates number.

Just like Carol she was still alive and she lay there
on the floor and watched how the water washed away her
blood and with that her life forces. She saw as the
mixture of blood and water made its way to the drain
and was slowly sucked in there forever being taken
from her reach.

Just like Brown she thought about the shower scene
from "Psycho". She had always loved horror movies and
she had all of the classics on DVD in her living room.
But unlike him she didn't see it as an honor, a homage
to Norman Bates, she saw it as punishment but for what
she did not know.

Nor would she ever find out and as she lay there she
thought about her life, her regrets and she realized
that the biggest one was not being there for her
mother when her sister had died.

However she did not cry she wouldn't give him that
satisfaction. She had seen that he had left her but
she wouldn't give in. With that in her thoughts she
took her last breath and just like Jenny and Carol she
became one of Brown's possessions.

Meanwhile he had found her purse and her wallet. He
quickly checked the ID then took money so he could pay
the cabdriver. He realized that it would be less
expensive to just kill him but he really didn't want
to possess the driver. He preferred women over men,
they were pure and innocent while men, himself
excluded, were vicious and guilty.

Not Grissom though he realized. The only way a man
could own a woman was if he was as innocent and pure
as she. Thus Grissom couldn't be vicious and guilty.

However he knew that he had the ability to awake an
anger in Grissom that was like nothing he had ever
encountered before.

Maybe this anger would be enough for Grissom to loose
Catherine. But he doubted that. For some reason
Grissom's anger didn't make him vicious or guilty. It
just made his love for Catherine much more obvious.

While all of this was taking place the cabdriver,
Bobbie, sat patiently in his car and waited for his
mysterious customer.

He didn't know what else to call him. He was new to
this job, had only been a cabdriver for a short while
but he had heard a lot of stories from his older
colleagues none like this one though.

His name wasn't Bobbie it was Robert but he had always
thought that Bobbie was so much cooler that Robert.
However his mother hadn't agreed and even though he
had been able to get everybody else to call him Bobbie
his mother insisted on calling him Robert.

He loved his mother he really did but sometimes she
could be so old fashioned. For instance this one time
when he had met this girl he had been stupid enough to
tell his mother when he had been there for dinner.

He had only said that they were going on a date
nothing more but his mother had started to say that
first he should take her home so that she could see if
this girl was something for "her" Robert.

He had learned from that mistake though and he had
never since told his mother if he had a date. As he
thought this he saw the mystery customer come out the
door.

Brown approached the cab and knocked on the passenger
window.

The cabdriver saw him and lowered the window. He
graciously accepted the money. Then he did what he had
wanted to do since Brown had started giving him
directions.

'Wow, I have to tell you I have never seen anything
like that before in my whole life. I just don't get it
how could you know where the cab was?' Bobbie asked,
amazement evident in his voice.

'Intuition,' was Brown's simple reply.

'Man the guys will never believe this,' Bobbie
continued unwisely.

'What will it take for you to let this stay between
us?' Brown asked.

He was trying to control his anger but he didn't know
how long he could succumb it before it would burst
forth and he would kill this obnoxious cabdriver.

Bobbie could feel the tension that was starting to
build between them and even though Brown hadn't made
any threats he was starting to become scared.

'It's okay. I haven't seen or heard anything,' he said
quickly.

Satisfied with this Brown started to walk away then he
changed his mind and came back.

'What do you want for that shirt?'

'This shirt Bobbie,' said an grabbed a hold of the
shirt he was wearing to emphasize his query.

'Yes, that exact shirt. Unless you have a spare. Do
you have a spare?' Brown responded.

As strange as the question was Bobbie didn't dare to
disobey. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and gave it
to Brown, leaving himself in the T-shirt he had
underneath.

'Thank you,' Brown said and left once again.

Bobbie heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Brown
disappear. The guy was seriously creepy even his thank
you had seemed like a threat.

However Brown was pleased. He had a brand new shirt
for when he would possess Catherine. She was special
so she deserved a shirt of her own.

He studied the shirt closer and realized to his great
delight that it was blue. Just like her eyes and
Grissom's he realized.

He pushed the last bit of that thought back into the
recesses of his mind. Soon he wouldn't have to be
jealous of Gil Grissom any longer. Soon Catherine
would be his.

He realized to his great delight that the cab ride had
taken him closer to her current destination. He could
feel her now, not a memory of her, but her. It would
now be so easy to find her.

'Soon Catherine,' he whispered.

TBC.

Chapter 31

Meanwhile Brass had left Clara's apartment. He hadn't
found out anything that would contribute in the
catching of Brown. Therefore he decided that he should
probably head back to C.S.I. Headquarters to see how
the others were doing.

However once again faith was against him and he got
stuck in traffic once again.

Meanwhile back in the break room everyone was still
quiet.

To her immense relief it hadn't been Brown who had
come in through the door it was Gil. But looking at
him Catherine didn't know whether that was good or
bad.

She was glad that the feeling of loneliness had
subsided as she had seen that it was Gil but at the
same time the quietness of the room was really getting
to her.

Something else that was also affecting her was the sad
look in Gil's eyes. He was usually very good at hiding
his emotions but right now he was displaying them for
the whole world to see.

As much as this alarmed her further it soother her to
see that for once he wasn't shutting everybody out.

The one who finally broke the suffocating silence was
Lindsay, who untangled herself from her mothers' arms
and ran straight toward Grissom.

He picked up the little girl who immediately started
to talk to him in a happy voice. It was obvious that
she was glad that Grissom was back. Apparently she
knew what a calming effect it had on her mother that
Grissom was there with her.

They silently walked towards Catherine who made room
for them on the sofa.

Meanwhile Warrick, Nick and Sara watched the scene
unfolding in front of them with amazement. It wasn't
that they were surprised of what was happening. They
were surprised that it was happening with them in the
room.

Seeing it as their chance to go without getting yelled
at by Grissom Warrick signaled to the others that they
should leave.

They silently rose from their seats and then snuck out
of the room leaving Catherine and Grissom none the
wiser.

Or so they thought. Grissom had in fact seen them but
deciding that Catherine and Lindsay needed him more
right now he decided to let their "kids" go.

Unaware of this knowledge they continued down the
corridor back to Warrick's computer.

When they finally reached their destination they sat
down and Sara brought forth the file.

Meanwhile a certain Mike was getting angry.

At first he had been slightly annoyed. That had then
grown into irritation that had slowly crossed over
into anger.

She had stood him up and what was worse now she didn't
even answer her phone. He had tried her home number;
her cell number, he had even paged her and no answer
whatsoever.

He loved her dearly but sometimes she could make him
mad as hell. This was evidently one of those times.

He finally decided to go to her apartment in order to
find out what had prevented her from seeing him. After
all it was their two-month anniversary.

He had even promised to take her to a real nice place
so they could have one of those romantic dinners.
Surrounded by others with the same intentions and all
bathing in candle light and romantic music.

He could almost feel it all around him and he longed
to see her again. Gaze into those hazel eyes and run
his fingers through her light brown shoulder length
hair. She was so beautiful and he was so incredibly
lucky to have her.

With this in mind his anger subsided as he drove to
her apartment complex. He took one last breath before
he exited the car and began to ascend the stairs
leading to his loved ones apartment. By each step he
felt how his love for her grew. He longed for her so
badly.

My sweet, sweet Brenda, he thought as he finally
reached her apartment door.

He was surprised to find it open also slightly
alarmed. As he made his way further into the apartment
he smiled knowingly at the discarded jacket and shoes.
However when he saw her purse his heart stopped.

The content of the purse was spilled on the floor.
Someone had gone through it. He didn't touch anything
as he went further into the apartment.

When he reached her bedroom and found her clothes on
the bed he realized that she most have decided to take
a shower.

He made his way to the bathroom and as he opened the
door he could hear how the water was still flowing.

'Had I known that you were taking a shower I would
have asked if I could join you,' he said teasingly as
he made his way towards the shower.

He was slightly puzzled at the fact that he couldn't
see her silhouette through the door but decided not to
dwell upon it any further. Instead he opened the door
and saw something that made his blood freeze to ice
and his heart break all at the same time.

Brenda was lying there, her throat was slit and her
blood had been washed away. She was so clean. Her skin
glistened with the drops of water that had made their
brief habitant on her body. Others soon replaced them
in an everlasting spiral, as long as he allowed the
water to continue flowing that was.

At first he didn't know what to do. A sudden emptiness
filled his being and overtook every part of his body.
Then he walked as if in trance to her kitchen, grabbed
the phone and dialed 911.

When he was done he went outside her apartment sat
down on the first step of the stairs that was leading
downwards again and started to wait for the police.

Meanwhile Ecklie was on his way to talk to Greg as his
phone rang.

'Ecklie,' he said somewhat irritated by the surprising
disturbance.

He kept walking as he listened to the phone call.

'Damn, okay. Call Brass I'll meet you there. I just
need to talk to Greg first, okay? Bye,' he said and
ended the conversation.

'Greg,' he said as soon as he reached the lab tech.

'What?' Greg said slightly annoyed at being disturbed.


Hadn't he told them to not disturb him so that he
could concentrate on his work? Yes he had.

It was then that he realized whom it was he had yelled
at and he gulped as he saw the expression that had
overtook Ecklie's face.

'Sorry, I didn't know it was you. So what can I do for
you, Sir?' Greg tried.

He hoped to God that Ecklie would forgive him. It was
enough to have the impending wrath of Grissom and
Catherine on you. There really was no need to add
Ecklie on that rapidly growing list.

'Apology accepted. I know you're as tensed as I am.
Besides rumor has it you already pissed off Grissom
and Catherine. Their wrath is enough to include me. So
I think we're even,' Ecklie said.

'However if I were you I would work as hard as I could
to get these things off my desk so I can start with
the new evidence,' he added.

'What makes you say that,' Greg said suddenly
intrigued.

'New vic. I'm heading over there right now, although I
came here first to see if you have anything for me. Do
you?'

'Not yet no. But as soon as I find out you're my first
call,' Greg responded and went back to work.

With that Ecklie exited the room and then the building
to once again join the Las Vegas traffic. Though this
time he hoped he wouldn't get stuck in it.

No such luck though and as he sat there he decided to
get a hold of Brass. He quickly found his cell phone
and started to dial.

'Brass,' a voice said on the other side of the line.

Ecklie was surprised. Brass had answered on the first
ring.

'Where are you?'

'In traffic. I'm on my way back to headquarters. I'm
not sure when I'm gonna get there though. How about
you?' Brass answered.

He was slightly alarmed at Ecklie's call. So far it
hadn't exactly been good news when Ecklie had called
him.

'That's why I called. We have a new vic. I'm on my way
down there now. I'll give you the directions and then
we'll meet there, okay?'

'Sure,' Brass said and listened.

After Ecklie had ended the conversation he saw an
opening and quickly took it and drove as fast as he
could to the crime scene.

He wasn't surprised by what greeted him. He spotted
his team and quickly exited the car to join them.

'So why are we here instead of Grissom's team. It's
dark outside right? The dark would indicate that its
night. Night means Graveyard, right?' one of the women
asked him.

'I know. But the situation is kind of delicate. I'll
brief you later, okay?' Ecklie explained.

'Does this have to do with Brown?' another of his team
members asked.

Ecklie froze.

'Brown?' he tried to fake.

'Yes Brown. The guy Grissom and Catherine put behind
bars. He kidnapped Catherine and he escaped from
prison today.'

'How did you know? I never told any of you who
escaped.' Ecklie asked.

'A cute nurse told me. Got her phone number too,' he
answered.

'Never mind about that, it doesn't matter. Now get to
work,' Ecklie commanded and watched as his team
started to file into the apartment complex.

He decided to wait for Brass though and that's when he
saw him, a young man who was leaning against the end
of the ambulance. He was wrapped in a blanket and
after asking whom it was he found out it was the
victim's boyfriend.

Poor guy, he thought.

He briefly wondered if that was how Grissom would look
if Brown would get a hold of Catherine again. He knew
as well as the others that if Brown got Catherine this
time she wouldn't be alive for long.

As he thought this he saw Brass pull up and decided to
talk to him before he entered the apartment complex.

'Hi.'

'Hi, so what do we got?' Brass asked as he followed
Ecklie to the building.

'Just like the others he slit her throat she was
pretty and young. Her boyfriend is over there. He's
pretty shook up,' Ecklie answered and pointed to the
young man at the ambulance.

'Okay. Let's talk to him before we go inside,' Brass
said and together they made their way toward the
ambulance.

'Hi I'm Brass. I'm with the police and you are?' Brass
said as they arrived.

'What?' the boy answered.

'His name is Mike. But that is all I know,' one of the
medics said.

'Thanks,' Brass said then turned his attention back to
Mike.

'Mike?' Brass said in an attempt to get the guys
attention.

'She's dead. My beautiful Brenda is dead,' Mike said.

Brass couldn't mistake the sadness in his voice and as
he once again tried to get the guys attention he broke
down in sobs.

'My beautiful Brenda is dead. Who can have done
something like this?' Mike continued between the sobs.

Brass looked at Ecklie and they decided to try the
apartment instead leaving Mike with his immense sorrow
from losing his beautiful Brenda.

As they reached the apartment they met up with
Ecklie's team. After saying hello they continued into
the bathroom.

The body was still in the shower and they meet up with
the coroner who was just about to move it.

'I'm sorry but since the water has been on a lot of
the evidence has probably already been destroyed,' the
coroner said apologetically.

'Damn its like that scene in "Psycho",' Brass
exclaimed as the coroner moved away so that he and
Ecklie could see the body.

'Our dear Mr. Brown has a sick sense of humor. I'll
give him that,' Ecklie responded.

They watched the young woman and both men understood
why Mike had been so upset.

Just like with Jenny and Carol Brenda hadn't lost any
of her beauty. However unlike them she wasn't covered
in blood. It had all been washed away and if you
didn't think about the angry red gash on her neck, the
paleness of her skin and the rigor mortis that had
started to kick in one could almost imagine that she
was only sleeping.

Brass thought briefly about one of the drawings in
Grissom's office. He had gotten it from Lindsay and on
it were Sleeping Beauty and her prince. The
interesting thing though was that the prince looked a
lot older than he had in the Disney version. Lindsay
had colored his hair black and white. The only ones
who didn't seem to realize why though were her mother
and Grissom.

Brass pushed away the memory. He was glad that he
could think about something else than the case bur
right now he couldn't give himself that kind of
luxury.

'Can we take her now?' the coroner suddenly asked
interrupting Brass' reverie.

'Sure,' he answered and he and Ecklie move out of the
way to allow the coroners to remove the body.

'Try to do it without the boyfriend noticing though.
He's upset enough as it is,' Brass said and watched
them leave the bathroom.

'How's Grissom handling, so far I mean?' Ecklie
suddenly asked.

'Not good. He wants to kill Brown and the worst part
is that I don't know how to stop him when I can't see
why I shouldn't let him,' Brass said.

Ecklie could hear the sadness in his voice. He knew
how Brass felt he felt the same way himself.

'So how do you feel about telling him that we have
another victim?' Ecklie asked as casually as he could.

'Not good. I'm just waiting for him to break down. But
so far he's concentrated on keeping Catherine and
Lindsay safe to be able to keep it together,' Brass
answered.

'You got to tell him.'

'I know. It's just.I wished I wasn't the one who has
to do it. I'm really starting to hate phones. It seems
that every call I have gotten today has been about how
this day can only get worse,' Brass explained.

'I know how you feel, same here,' Ecklie responded.

It was easy to hear how tired both men were.

'If you don't mind I think I prefer heading back. I
want to tell him this face to face,' Brass said and
started to exit the bathroom.

'Okay. Keep me posted,' Ecklie said and started to
gather evidence.

'Always. Good luck,' Brass said and left.

'You too.'

He took a deep breath when he was finally out of the
building, this day can only get better now, he
comforted himself. Or at least he hoped so.

He got into his car and once again headed back to
headquarters.

He noticed to his slight amusement that now he didn't
have any problems to get back there. He wondered if
this had anything to do with the reluctance that he
felt at going there.

He decided not to dwell upon it any further and as he
finally reached the building he took one last deep
breath to calm his nerves and then he went in search
for Grissom.

'I hope he still doesn't kill the messenger,' he
silently prayed.

TBC.

Here comes chapter thirty-two.

Chapter 32

Brass walked slowly down the hallway. He knew that he
would find Grissom in the break room. There was no way
that he would've have left Catherine and Lindsay
alone. Therefore he wasn't exactly surprised when he
found him on the break room sofa with Lindsay on his
lap and an arm around Catherine's shoulders.

Catherine had her head on Grissom's shoulder and Brass
felt ashamed of having to break up the cute scene in
front of him. But he had no choice he had to tell
Grissom about the latest victim.

He waited a while longer then he slowly walked into
the room. At first he didn't think they had noticed
his presence. But then he saw that they were all
watching him. None of them moved though so he decided
to take the first step.

'Grissom, I need to talk to you,' he said as
apologetically as he could.

Grissom didn't respond, instead he looked down at
Catherine. She raised her head from his shoulder and
gave him a silent okay. 

Grissom gently lifted Lindsay off his lap and put her
in Catherine's instead. He then slowly rose.

Catherine could still feel his hesitation. Despite how
much she wanted him to stay she knew that he had to
go.

She grabbed a hold of his hand in order to get his
attention then she signaled to him to come down to her
level. He crouched in front of her and she gently
cupped his face and then softly kissed him.

'It's okay Gil. I know you will be back,' she said and
then allowed him to go.

Grissom exited the room with Brass but before he was
completely out of Catherine's sight he turned around
and took one last look of Catherine and Lindsay. They
both smiled at him and he smiled back. Then he turned
around and walked out of their sight.

Catherine tried to find solace in the fact that she
had her daughter there. But right now that only
terrified her even more. If Brown would come there,
God only knew what things he would do to Lindsay.

Gil will be back soon, she thought. I don't have to
worry about anything, she continued. She just wished
that she actually believed what she tried to tell
herself.

Meanwhile Sara had brought forth the file. None of
them had dared to open it yet so it just lay there in
the middle surrounded by all of them.

'Okay, we have the file now maybe we should.I don't
know, open it?' Nick suggested.

'Sure. You do the honors,' Sara responded indicating
the file.

'Okay,' Nick said and placed the file in his lap.

Meanwhile Grissom and Brass had made their way to
Grissom's office. Grissom had taken the seat behind
his desk and Brass had once again seated himself in
the visitor's chair.

However none of them had yet spoken. They had come
there and sat down but after that nothing had
happened.

Brass knew he had to tell Grissom. He just wasn't sure
how to do it. He didn't need to worry though. Grissom
decided to start the conversation.

Brass was surprised at this but decided that Grissom
probably thought that the quicker they started to talk
the sooner he would be back with Catherine and
Lindsay.

'So what do you have to tell me?'

Brass still didn't know what to say so he stayed quiet
for a while longer.

'Jim I know you didn't force me to leave Catherine and
Lindsay for nothing,' Grissom continued.

Brass could hear the irritation in his friend's voice.

'We have a new victim,' he said with a sigh.

'What?' Grissom said.

Brass could hear the doubt in Grissom's voice. But he
knew his friend good enough to know that despite
Grissom's utterance he wasn't surprised at this new
information.

'That makes three,' Grissom added.

'Yes. You said he would continue until he gets
Catherine, right?' Brass asked.

'Yes. How did the crime scene look?' Grissom
responded.

'I just have one thing to say. Does Brown love
Hitchcock movies?' Brass asked.

'I don't know. Why?' Grissom said.

Brass could hear the confusion in his voice.

'The crime scene looked like the shower scene from
Psycho,' Brass explained.

'Who found her?'

'Her boyfriend.'

'Poor guy,' Grissom said sympathetically.

'Yea,' Brass agreed.

'How did she look?'

'As if she wasn't even dead. He turned the shower on
her blood was washed down the drain along with most of
the evidence,' Brass answered.

'Did you find out anything from the boyfriend?'

'No,' Brass said and hoped that would be the end of
that part of the conversation.

However he realized that the goddess of Faith wasn't
on his side today when Grissom said.

'What did he say?'

'Jim, tell me what did he say?' Grissom persisted.

'Nothing of importance for the case,' Brass answered
and hoped once again that Grissom would be satisfied
with that answer.

Grissom looked at him and Brass understood that he
hadn't been able to fool his friend. He knew that he
wouldn't get out of there until he told Grissom so he
decided to stop postponing and just tell him.

'All he said was " She's dead. My beautiful Brenda is
dead. My beautiful Brenda is dead. Who can have done
something like this?" Brass admitted reluctantly.

'He really loved her,' Grissom said.

'Yea.'

'How did it go with the woman who found the second
victim. Was it Clara Jones?' Grissom suddenly asked.

'She didn't have anything to add to the case,' Brass
responded.

'So basically we don't know anything,' Grissom
summarized.

'It doesn't seem that way, no,' Brass said sadly.

Then both men went quiet. They simply sat still and
processed what they had talked about.

Suddenly Grissom rose from his chair.

'I need to go back to Catherine and Lindsay. Tell me
if you find out anything else,' Grissom said and then
exited the room leaving Brass alone in the visitor's
chair.

Brass heaved a big sigh. He felt so helpless. He just
didn't know where to go from where they currently
were.

'We aren't any where that's the problem,' he uttered
sarcastically to whatever was listening to him in
Grissom's office.

He looked around and silently contemplated his next
move as he studied the walls of Grissom's office.

His eyes were drawn to the same butterflies that
Grissom had been watching on their first meeting about
Brown and that Catherine had been watching when she
had been waiting in Grissom's office. However this
last piece of information was still not known to
Brass.

The butterflies were really pretty and as he watched
them he thought about how all the women that Brown had
killed so far had been pretty.

Just like these butterflies, he thought. He briefly
wondered if there was any connection.

He couldn't really remember why Brown had wanted to
kill Catherine so much. He thought he had told Tom but
right now he couldn't remember. He guessed it had to
do with stress.

He would have asked Grissom but he knew that there was
no reason to go and get Grissom again. Especially not
when the answer could be found in other ways.

He suddenly wondered if Ecklie had gotten back yet.
There was a possibility that he knew and anything was
better than asking Grissom.

With that in mind he fished his cell-phone out of his
pocket and dialed Ecklie's number.

'Ecklie,' a voice responded on the other side of the
line.

'Hi, it's Brass. I was just wondering do you remember
why Brown wanted to kill Catherine so badly?'

'I thought you knew?' Ecklie said somewhat puzzled.

'Well so did I. I guess the stress is getting to me,'
Brass said apologetically.

'I think it had something to do with possession,'
Ecklie tried.

'Yea that's it. He wanted to possess Catherine. But he
couldn't since Grissom already had possession of her,'
Brass remembered.

'What are you getting at?' Ecklie asked.

He was becoming intrigued by this conversation. Maybe
they were finally getting somewhere.

'I'm in Grissom's office and I was just studying his
walls. He has a butterfly collection on one of the
walls. I just thought that maybe that is how Brown
looks at humans, women in particular. That they are
butterflies that he can collect for their beauty and
just like a butterfly collector he has to kill them in
order to get possession of them,' Brass explained.

'Sounds plausible enough. But how does Catherine fit
into this?' Ecklie asked.

'Well maybe he sees her as a rare butterfly who is so
much prettier than the others and he just needs to
have her,' Brass suggested.

'Possible. It still doesn't help any,' Ecklie
answered.

'No it doesn't. Have you talked to Greg yet? Maybe he
has found something out,' Brass asked.

'I was just on my way there with the new evidence,'
Ecklie responded.

'Okay. Keep me posted,' Brass said.

'You too,' Ecklie responded and with that the
conversation ended.

Meanwhile Grissom had made it back to Catherine and
Lindsay.

He was so grateful that nothing bad had happened to
them and now he silently watched mother and daughter
from his current location in the doorway.

He silently made his way towards them and smiled as
they both directed their gazes towards him.

As he reached the sofa he sat down and once again
eased Lindsay onto his lap while he allowed Catherine
to use his shoulder for a pillow.

Catherine was so grateful for the fact that he was
back. He hadn't been gone for long she was fully aware
of that but every moment without him had felt like an
eternity and now when he was back everything seemed
okay again.

She suddenly remembered what she had done before Gil
had left them. She had kissed him. She couldn't really
remember what had possessed her to do such a thing.
What she did know was that it had happened, there was
no doubt about that.

She was surprised at how, despite the fact that she
was embarrassed, she wanted to kiss him again. She
decided to try to suppress that feeling though and
instead revel in the happiness that came for him just
being there.

She looked down at Lindsay in his lap. The little girl
had fallen asleep. This made Catherine even happier.
Maybe everything would be alright after all.

TBC.

Author's note: The song is All night, all day.

WARNING: Sad chapter.

Chapter 33

Meanwhile Brass had exited Grissom's office and the
sight that met him made him very puzzled. He had gone
to the lobby and there he found a group of men and
women in different ages.

They were divided into groups and the first group
consisted of a man and woman in their late fifties, a
younger man who looked to be about 20 and an even
younger woman who looked like she was about 17.

The second group consisted of a man and woman in their
late forties, and two younger men who looked like they
were about 24 and 11 respectively. And the last group
consisted of a man and woman. The woman was clutching
something to her chest. It looked like a piece of
paper of some kind.

'I'm Gregory Smith. I'm here with my wife and two
children to talk with a Jim Brass,' the man from the
first group said to Brass with a soft southern voice.

'That's me,' Brass responded.

He wondered what they were all doing there than he
understood that it had to be the families of the dead
girls. Someone must have called them, he reasoned.

'So am I,' the men from the second and third groups
said in tandem.

Brass just looked at the men. He really didn't feel
like talking to the families of the dead beauties. It
didn't seem as if though he had much of choice though
and he realized this as the wives and children of the
men approached them.

'Well, follow me then,' he responded and led the way
to a place where they would be able to talk.

'I want to see her,' one of the women suddenly said.

Brass stopped and turned around.

The woman beside Gregory Smith had spoken, he guessed
it was his wife. The others started to discuss
something and soon they told him that they all wanted
to see the dead girls.

He sighed and started to walk them to the morgue. When
they were almost there he told them that they had to
go in family by family.

The families once again started to talk and it was
decided that Gregory Smith's family would be first.

Brass left the other two families outside and entered
the morgue with Gregory Smith and his family.

'Brass?' Dr. Robertson answered somewhat puzzled at
his presence.

'I'm here with the families of the girls,' Brass
answered and gestured to Gregory Smith and his family.

'I'm Gregory Smith and this is my wife Kelly, my son
Patrick and my daughter Gabriella,' Gregory said and
indicated the people beside him.

Brass could hear the strain on his voice and briefly
wondered if it was such a good idea to have them see
the body all at once.

'Our daughter Jenny. We want to see her,' Kelly said.

She was standing beside her husband and both Brass and
Al could see how her eyes were red rimmed. It was
almost hard to hear what she said as her throat
started to constrict from the tears that was
threatening to come.

Brass nodded an approval and Al brought forth the
body. He made sure to not remove the tarp so much so
that they would see the gash.

Kelly approached the body of her daughter. How could
she be dead? she wondered as she kept walking towards
her. She had dreaded this day ever since Jenny had
decided to move to Vegas.

She felt how someone was behind her and startled she
turned around only to find out that it was Gregory.
She breathed a sigh of relief and as they finally
reached Jenny she felt her husbands hand on her
shoulder.

'Goodbye Jenny,' she said.

Everyone in the room could hear how she was crying as
she spoke the words. This made Gabriella cry even
harder and Brass could hear as Patrick opened the door
to take her out of the room.

Gregory took his wife in his arms and together they
walked outside.

'Please find the one who did this,' Gregory said
before he and Kelly exited the room leaving Brass and
Al alone.

'It's always tough when the families wants to see the
deceased,' Al said to Brass as he replaced the tarp.

'Yea, especially when they come all at once,' Brass
responded.

'How may are they?'

'Three groups all and all about ten,' Brass answered.

He then exited the room to get the next group.

'Who's next?' he softly asked.

'We are,' the man from the second group said and
indicated himself and his family.

'Come with me then,' Brass said and led the way back
into the room.

Al watched them as they entered. He waited for
somebody to tell him whom they wanted him to bring
forth.

'I'm Hanna Scott and this is my husband Richard and my
sons Steve and Theodore,' the woman from the second
group said.

Brass and Al were surprised that it was she who had
spoken rather than him. However they soon found their
composure as she asked them to bring out Carol's body.

Al did as he was asked and once again he saw to that
the tarp covered the gash on her throat.

The younger of the two boys had a steady grip on his
mother's hand and she had to take him with her to his
sister's body.
 

'Carol, Carol, Carol. What have you done to yourself,'
Hanna admonished as she reached the body of her dead
daughter.

Carol's brother shyly watched his sister. He didn't
let go of his mother hand instead he clasped it even
tighter.

Hanna could feel the sudden pain in her hand as
Theodore bore his nails into her soft skin. She gently
removed his hand from hers and then brought if out of
his reach as she viewed her daughter.

'I told you not to go here but would you listen? No.
Because Carol always knows right isn't that right
honey,' Hanna continued.

Suddenly Richard came up behind her and grabbed a hold
of both of her wrists. He only had to use one hand
since his hands were so big and her wrists were so
slim.

'Hanna, isn't it enough that she's dead? Do you have
to mock her even now?' he asked as he turned her
towards him.

Theodore looked up at his parents and Steve quickly
moved over and picked up his little brother.

The brothers quietly watched their sister as Richard
admonished Hanna.

Her face had started to constrict with the pain she
decided he caused her. In reality he wasn't holding
her hard at all.

When he didn't stop she quickly drew back her wrists
and in the process she knocked down the instruments of
a table that was beside her daughter.

Richard looked at her. He didn't make any more
attempts at grabbing her wrists instead he walked over
to Al's side and silently looked at his daughter.

'My little girl,' he whispered.

'My beautiful little angel,' he continued.

Hanna just watched them. She then looked down at her
hands and saw that she hadn't been injured. There
weren't even any bruises forming from her husband's
treatment and she bit her lip as she looked at how
loving he was toward their daughter.

It had always been hard for her to have such a pretty
daughter when she herself wasn't exactly a beauty.
Truth was Carol wasn't her daughter. Carol's mother
had died in childbirth and Richard and her had gotten
married when Carol was still a baby.

Even though she had tried to raise her as her own
daughter she had never developed any maternal feelings
for the girl. To be completely honest she didn't
exactly have maternal feelings toward the boys either
even though she had given birth to them. However it
had always been easier with them than with Carol.

She felt how Richard put an arm around her shoulders
and she realized it was time for them to go. Not even
now when Carol was dead she could feel any sympathy
for the girl. Carol had been born with a silver spoon
in her mouth. Pretty as a picture and lovely as a
flower. Everybody had loved her except Hanna. With
that thought she and her family left the room.

'Wow, I've never seen anything like that,' Al said as
they left him and Bras alone.

'People react differently to the death of a lowed
one,' Brass responded.

'I'll get the next group,' he continued and left Al
alone.

Despite what he had scene before with Gregory Smith
and his family his heart broke as he approached the
last couple.

Husband and wife were sitting close together. The wife
was still clutching the piece of paper to her heart
while her husband hand one arm around her shoulder and
a hand on her knee.

'Would you like to see her know or do you want to
wait?' Brass asked as he approached the couple.

The husband looked at his wife and gently took away
his arm and hand as he rose from the chair. He
indicated that Brass should follow him and they walked
down the corridor out of hearing range for his wife.

'It's hard for her. For both of us,' he started
softly.

'We lost Brenda's sister, Deborah, not too long ago.
We still haven't gotten past that yet,' he continued.

'I understand. Do you want to see her know?' Brass
asked.

'Yes,' the man said and they started to walk back to
his wife.

She could hear their footsteps as they clicked against
the floor but she didn't look up as they approached.

Her husband gently took her arm and still clutching
the piece of paper she rose from the chair.

Brass looked at them and felt how his heart felt to
the bottom of his stomach being digested by the
digestive fluids. The pain burned like fire even
though he knew it was just his imagination.

He followed the couple into the room and watched as
they stumbled inside seeking support in the other.

'I'm.I'm.,' the man started.

'I'm Paul Miles and this is my wife Samantha,' the man
said.

'Our daughter Brenda.we want to say goodbye,' he
continued.

Brass could hear how he was breaking as he said those
words.

As Al brought forth the body Samantha broke free from
her husband and slowly walked to Brenda's body.

As she reached it Al pulled down the tarp and she
gasped at the sight of her daughter. Then she took a
few deep breaths.

'When I lay me down to sleep. Angels watching over me,
my lord. Pray the lord my soul to keep. Angels
watching over me,' she sang in a low voice. 

'If I die before I wake. Angels watching over me, my
Lord. Pray the lord my soul to take. Angels watching
over me, she continued in the same low voice.

She loosed the claps on the piece of paper in her
hands and they saw a picture of two girls about the
same age. They were both very pretty and Brass guessed
it was Brenda and her sister Deborah.

She continued singing and as she sang a weird feeling
came over the room it spread quickly and in the end it
felt as if though they were about to suffocate.

'It was her favorite song,' Paul suddenly said.

'Both of them loved that song. Both Deborah and
Brenda,' he continued as he sadly watched his wife.

Brass felt how his throat started to constrict again
as he thought of how he would react if he and his
ex-wife had to come down to ID Ellie.

It was hard to be objective at the blunt show of
sadness, Al thought as he watched Paul and Samantha.
He briefly wondered who Deborah had been but he
decided not to ask them incase it would upset them
further.

Meanwhile Ecklie had reached Greg.

'Have you found anything yet?' he asked as a way of
introduction.

'Not yet,' Greg sad regrettably.

'But I'm getting there,' he added.

'Page me as soon as you got anything,' Ecklie said and
handed the envelope with the new evidence to Greg.

Greg saw him exit and he briefly wondered where
everybody else where. At firs it had seem like a joke.
When he had found Grissom and Catherine it had just
been so fun to tease them. But then Grissom had told
them about Brown and then the bodies started to turn
in one after another.

He hoped it would all end happily just like in the
fairytales they sometimes read to Lindsay when
Catherine had to leave her at the headquarters.

Meanwhile Nick had opened the file. Once he had
removed the documents he started to read them.

CASEFILE 6305

SUSPECT: Brown,

AGE: 30

SEX: Male

MARITAL STATUS: Single

BACKGROUND: UNKNOWN

This case has been a particularly difficult one for
me. Therefore I am aware of that this report is
probably not as objective as it should be. The only
information that will be in this report is the one
that comes from the information that has been
collected during this case. We have unfortunately
enough not gotten any information from the victim. She
still will not talk to anybody. Not even her own
husband knows what happened. This troubles him as well
as me. We have discussed it but none of us have come
up with any reason to why she will not confide in
either of us. I have to admit that this kind of
behavior frightens me. I have enough experience to
know that she acts like a rape victim but just the
mere utterance of that word terrifies me. I have
visited Brown and he refuses to tell me anything. I
have not given up yet and I do not intend to either.

Gil Grissom

'Wow, the case really got to him,' Sara said.

'Are you surprised?' Warrick asked.

'No. It's just freaking me out to see him like this.
To see them both like this,' Sara answered.

'Should I continue?' Nick asked.

Warrick and Sara nodded and Nick recommenced his
reading.

Catherine Willows and I encountered Mr. Brown when we
questioned him during an ongoing investigation. I
could feel how Mr. Brown took a particular liking to
Catherine but neither of us allowed ourselves to be
bothered by this. During the case we came back to Mr.
Brown and during each of our interviews both Catherine
and I realized how deep Brown's caring for Catherine
went. After the case had been finished and our visits
to Mr. Brown had stopped Mr. Brown started to send
flowers to Catherine. She wasn't too bothered by this
at first but I felt how Brown's caring was more of an
obsession.

Nick suddenly stopped as they heard a noise outside
the door. He put down the file as they all rose to
find out what was going on. As they approached the
door they heard it again. Then everything was drowned
in darkness.

TBC.

Chapter 34

Meanwhile Brass was still down in the morgue with
Brenda's parents. Samantha hadn't stopped singing and
he wondered how long he would be able to keep the
tears from coming when all of the sudden the room was
invaded by darkness.

'What the hell,' he exclaimed as he wondered when
exactly the ground would open below his feet and the
four riders of the Apocalypse would come riding in as
the seals were broken.

'Must be a power failure,' Al said.

Even though they had no light, even though it seemed
as if the darkness were eating them Samantha kept
singing.

Meanwhile Grissom and Catherine were in the break
room.

They were still sitting in the sofa, Lindsay was still
asleep on Grissom's lap and Catherine still had her
head on his shoulder.

She had started to feel how the events of the day had
worn her out. She felt so tired but she didn't know if
she dared to sleep or not.

He could be there in her dreams once again. Just like
he had been after he had kidnapped her. He had even
been there long after he had been put in prison and
she had been found.

Even now she would sometimes wake from a nightmare of
Brown that would leave her soaking wet, from the cold
sweat and with her breathing increased.

She was almost sure that every time it had happened
her body reacted so strong to the mere suggestion of
Brown being there that it actually sent out a signal
to her adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. Because
after feeling really alert and ready for battle she
all of a sudden started to shake and feel as if though
she would die from exertion if she lifter her finger.

As she finally allowed herself to succumb to sleep the
room was invaded with darkness. This made her open her
eyes and she felt how all her senses were becoming
alert at the sudden darkness. She felt a hand take a
hold of her hand and sighed with relief as she
realized that it was Grissom.

She started to calm down when she heard his and
Lindsay's even breathing. Everything would be fine she
told herself.

Then Grissom started to speak.

'Maybe I should go and see what happened?' he said it
more as a question than as a statement.

His words made the blood in her veins freeze and her
heart started to beat so fast that she was sure it
would explode from the strain she was putting at it.
Despite this she still managed to say.

'Yes. You probably should. Don't worry about Lindsay
and me, we'll be fine. Hurry back, though.'

Despite how well she hid it Grissom could hear the
objection in her voice. Because of this he didn't
move. Instead he waited with Lindsay in his lap and
Catherine on his shoulder.

'It's okay Gil, really. You can go,' Catherine said.

She didn't feel like that but because she wasn't able
to think rationally right now she decided that
whatever his decision was it had to be more rational
than her own.

Therefore she did everything she could to make him
walk away even though every cell in her body screamed
how wrong it was.

Finally he relented and carefully lifted Lindsay off
his lap and onto Catherine's. He then stood up but
before he left he made a decision. If anything should
happen to either of them he hoped to God that that
wouldn't happen but if it did he didn't want to have
any regrets. Therefore he bent down and softly kissed
her.

'Don't worry, honey. I'll be back soon,' he then said
and before she had a chance to give him any kind of
reaction he left.

Catherine just sat there in silence. She brought the
fingers of one of her hands to her lips. She then
gently ran them over her lips. She could still feel
the sensation of his lips against hers. The feeling
sent a jolt through her body and she was filled with
an inexplicable joy.

Meanwhile Ecklie was walking down the corridor.

All of a sudden everything became black and as his
eyes adjusted to the darkness he fumbled around trying
to avoid to hit anything.

As soon as his eyes had finally adjusted he slowly
walked down the corridor as he tried to remember where
they kept the flashlights.

Then he started to wonder why the backup generator
hadn't kicked in yet. Evidence could be destroyed and
people could start to rotten if they didn't have any
power.
 

He calmed himself with the thought that the power
failure had probably not occurred in the morgue or in
the labs.

However his hope quickly subsided as he saw how there
wasn't any lights on in any of the rooms he passed in
his search for flashlights.

He suddenly bumped into someone and whoever it was
pushed him away with such a force that he landed on
the floor.

'Ouch,' he exclaimed.

Meanwhile Greg was performing some tests when his
computer screen blinked once and then went black.

'Damn,' he exclaimed as the blackness of the computer
spread to the rest of the room.

'How am I supposed to do any tests when I don't have
any power,' he continued to no one in particular.

'Don't we have backup generators or something?' he
mumbled as he rose from his seat to try to find a
flashlight.

Fortunately enough for him he had one in a drawer in
the lab room. It had been there since Halloween when
he together with Warrick, Nick and Sara had
occasionally entertained Lindsay while her mother and
"father" were out catching bad guys.

They had sat in the lab in a circle and he had gotten
the flashlight. They had then turned off the lights.

It had been a slow day. The evidence he was supposed
to process was already finished and Warrick, Nick and
Sara finished their cases so none of them saw any harm
in taking a break.

Grissom had been forced to call in Catherine and since
she hadn't been able to get a hold of a babysitter for
Lindsay she had taken her to the lab break room
instead.

Lindsay had been told to do her homework but as soon
as she was done she started to walk down the corridors
ending up in Grissom's office where Warrick, Nick and
Sara had found her when they were seeing if Grissom
and Catherine had gotten back.

They had then decided to entertain Lindsay in some way
and had for some reason taken her to him in the lab.
Inspired by the day they had then decided to tell
ghost stories, which was what had forced him to find a
flashlight in the first place.

Despite how fun it had been that day he now regretted
the topic of the stories. He couldn't recall how much
they had laughed at them.

All he could remember right now were how the woman had
heard footsteps on the upper floor and how she had
gone to check them out. Or how the man had allowed the
woman into his home even though he had seen animal
feet from under her long black dress.

In both cases it had lead to death and since he knew
of the saying third time's the charm and he already
had two death threats, even though they hadn't been
verbally spoken, on him he didn't feel like taking any
chances. Therefore he walked out the door in search
for Warrick, Nick and Sara.

He could hear how his footsteps clicked against the
floor and how the sound seemed to travel with a speed
that went far above 340 m/s. This made him even more
scared. It was almost as if though his footsteps
functioned as a sort of beacon that would tell whoever
was after him of his whereabouts.

He quickened his steps as he said a silent prayer that
he would soon find them.

Meanwhile Warrick, Nick and Sara had made their way to
the door they had just swung it open as they heard a
loud thud.

As they registered the noise they quickly moved out of
the doorway and closed the door. They then spotted the
dark form on the floor. It had the outlines of a human
but it was too dark for them to se who it was.

They slowly approached it. Just as they were about to
reach it. It spoke.

'Ouch,' Ecklie exclaimed.

'Ecklie?' Nick asked.

'Yes,' Ecklie said a rubbed his head.

'Sorry we didn't see you,' Sara said apologetically.

'Well even if you didn't see me you didn't have to
push me so hard,' Ecklie complained as he rose from
the floor.

'What are you talking about?' Warrick asked.

'We didn't push you,' Nick chimed in.

'What do you mean? You must have. How did I otherwise
end up on the floor,' Ecklie stated.

'You collided with the door not one of us,' Sara
explained.

Ecklie didn't answer and none of the others decided to
comment on the matter either.

Warrick looked down the corridors and noticed how
there wasn't any light as far as his eyes could tell
him.

'I though we had backup generators,' he said a bit
puzzled.

'So do I,' Nick chimed in.

'We do. However they don't appear to be working,'
Ecklie explained somewhat irritated.

'So what should we do?' Nick asked.

'I think we should try to find some flashlights,' Sara
suggested.

'I agree,' Warrick said.

'So do I,' Nick said.

'Where do we keep them,' Sara asked Ecklie.

'I have a few in my office. We could go there and get
them,' Ecklie responded.

They all knew where they stored the flashlights they
had with them to crime scenes but right now their
brains weren't exactly tip top and thus they had
forgotten.

They continued walking down the corridors when they
spotted a light that was quickly moving towards them.

Warrick, Nick and Sara easily moved out of the way in
time. However Ecklie wasn't as fortunate.

'Ouch,' he exclaimed as he once again ended up on the
floor.

However this time he had an added weight on top of
him.Greg.

'Hi guys,' Greg said from his position on Ecklie.

'Could someone please get him off me,' Ecklie
exclaimed.

His voice was slightly muzzled but they had no trouble
hearing him. Thus Warrick and Nick took a steady hold
of each of Greg's arms and helped him off Ecklie. They
then helped Ecklie to get up and first then they saw
that Greg had a flashlight.

'You have a flashlight. Good,' Sara said.

'Yea. I've had it in a drawer in the lab since
Halloween,' Greg explained proudly.

His fear was quickly subsiding now that they were all
gathered again.

They started walking down the corridor towards
Ecklie's office. This time with the guidance of Greg's
flashlight. They had decided that even though they had
one flashlight a couple of extras couldn't hurt.
Besides Ecklie had told them that he had extra
batteries in his desk drawer and by the looks of
things those could come in handy.

Meanwhile Catherine was waiting for Grissom in the
break room.

She could still sense the feel of Grissom's lips on
hers as she sat and held her daughter. She still felt
the same joy as she had before.

However that joy was turned into fear as she sensed
who entered through the door.

She couldn't believe that she had thought he had been
there before. The feelings she had when he actually
was there was ten times what she had sensed before.

'Hi honey I'm home,' Brown said as he spotted
Catherine and Lindsay.

He had a flashlight with him and he allowed its beam
to rest upon them.

'Have you missed me,' he then said as he approached
them.

TBC.

Chapter 35

Meanwhile Grissom was slowly walking down the
corridors.

His gut had told him that he shouldn't leave Catherine
and Lindsay but being a man who always trusted
evidence over instinct he had ignored it.

However as he walked down the corridors he couldn't
help but wonder if they were alright or not.

The darkness was irritating him. He couldn't even see
the weakest flicker of a light and the sounds he could
distinguish were only the ones of his footsteps
against the floor.

As he once again bumped into an indistinguishable item
he gently cursed as he thought that he was preparing
for going dead not blind.

Now though he wondered if maybe he should have counted
the number of steps it took to get to his office from
the break room. That would have saved him from a lot
of the pain he had endured during his walk.

He hadn't seen any of the others and that had begun to
worry him. He should have met at least one of them by
now.

He briefly wondered how long it would take before he
reached his office. He had decided to go there first
so he could get flashlights. He knew he had a couple
in a drawer in his desk. Just as he thought that he
bumped into someone.

'Ouch! Watch where you go will you,' exclaimed an
irritated female voice.

'I'm sorry but I didn't see you,' Grissom explained
apologetically.

He didn't recognize the voice and this had him
intrigued. He started to ponder if they had hired a
new lab tech but he couldn't remember.

'I apologize for my wife,' a male suddenly said.

'I'm Richard Scott and the irritated woman who you
collided with is my wife, Hanna,' the voice continued.

Grissom could hear the pain in his voice and he
briefly wondered what could have caused it.

'I'm Gil Grissom with the Las Vegas Crime Lab,' he
responded.

He then asked the question that wouldn't leave his
thoughts.

'What are you doing here?'

Neither Hanna nor Richard responded at first. Then
Richard gently began.

'Our daughter, Carol, was killed.'

'Oh, I'm sorry,' Grissom responded.

'We were here to see her body and say goodbye,'
Richard continued.

'Apparently she wasn't the only one,' Hanna
interceded.

It wasn't a sad remark. It almost sounded as it though
she was gloating.

Grissom was aware of that his people skills weren't
always the best but he couldn't help but think that it
was odd for a mother to be happy at her daughter's
death. He knew for certain that Catherine would never
react like that if, God forbid, anything happened to
Lindsay.

'Three more,' Hanna continued.

'Three more what?' Grissom felt inclined to ask.

'Three more victims. Two more girls,' Hanna explained.

That's when he understood. They were the family of one
of the three girls Brown had killed.

At the thought of Brown he felt like to hell with
rationality he had to get back to Catherine and
Lindsay.

However Hanna had different plans.

'The other girls' families are here too,' she said.

'All the women cried except I,' she continued.

Grissom felt disgusted at the pride in her voice.

'I really have to go now,' he started.

He didn't even feel like apologizing for his impending
departure.

However Hanna had grabbed onto his arm. She was
surprisingly strong for a woman and he felt how her
fingernails dug into his skin.

That's when he heard a soft sob.

'It's okay. Don't worry everything will be fine,' he
heard a voice say.

It was said in the way you talk to a child when you
try to console him or her.

'My two sons Steve and Theodore,' Richard said.

The pain in the mans voice hadn't been decreased it
had rather increased by the way his wife talked about
the death of their daughter.

'Carol's with the angels now, right Steve?' a young
boy asked through muzzled sobs.

'Yes Theo, she's with the angles and right now she is
watching you and she is becoming sad at seeing you
crying,' Steve responded.

'You don't want to make her sad, do you?' he
continued.

'No,' Theo said and wiped his nose on the sleeve of
his arm.

'My bet is that she's in hell. Probably in the eight
or ninth circle,' Hanna said.

At this Theo started crying louder and more
heartbreaking then ever before.

'I don't want Carol to be burning,' Theo exclaimed
between sobs.

'She isn't. She's fine,' Steve tried.

It was still dark and Grissom couldn't see them but he
could feel the glare Steve directed at his mother.

Richard had finally had enough and he grabbed a hold
of one of Hanna's arms.

She hadn't been ready for this and her surprise forced
her to let go of her hold on Grissom.

He then took the opportunity presented for him and
quickly walked away from the crying and yelling of
Hanna, Richard and their two boys.

In the mean time Ecklie, Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg
had reached Ecklie's office and found the flashlights
and batteries.

As they shone the lights at each other they suddenly
noticed that Nick had something in one of his hands.

'What have you got? A candy bar?' Greg asked
excitedly.

'Huh?' Nick asked perplexed at Greg's query.

'You have something in you hand,' Warrick explained.

Nick realized that they were right as he both felt the
items and looked down at his hand as Sara shone the
flashlight to illuminate it.

'Oh this,' he started.

They walked up to Ecklie's desk where Nick emptied the
contents of his hand.

It was a couple of small cassettes like the ones you
used microcassette recorders. They were numbered and
the first one had a 1 on it and the rest had different
numbers but they weren't in order a few were missing.

'What do you think they are?' Warrick asked.

'I don't know. Ecklie do you have a microcassette
recorder?' Sara asked.

'Sure,' Ecklie said and opened a drawer and brought
out the desired item.

Nick picked up the microcassette that had the number
one and inserted it in the microcassette recorder that
Ecklie gave him.

At first they didn't hear anything else but a soft
buzz.

'Do you think there's anything on it?' Greg asked.

'I don't know,' Nick responded.

Just as he said that he microcassette recorder clicked
thus indicating that the cassette hadn't been played
back.

They started to replay the cassette and as they did
the only sound that accompanied them except their
breathing was the buzz of the microcassette recorder.

'What do you think is on it?' Warrick asked.

'I don't know?' Nick responded.

'Where did you find them?' Sara inquired.

'They were in the file,' Nick responded.

'Do you think it could be the cassettes from
Catherine's sessions with her psychiatrist?' Sara
asked.

'It's possible. Maybe we shouldn't listen to it. After
all it's supposed to be private,' Nick responded.

As they thought that the microcassette recorder
stopped buzzing indicating that it had been replayed.

They all watched the microcassette recorder on
Ecklie's desk. Neither of them knew what to do. Should
they or shouldn't they that was the question that they
were now battling.

They all wanted to find out what had happened to
Catherine. But they would have preferred if Catherine
herself had told them herself. It felt like breaking a
trust to listen to tapes that were supposed to be
protected by professional secrecy.

Meanwhile Brass had decided that he couldn't take it
any more. He just couldn't stay inside and hear
Samantha sing. He had to get out so that he could find
the composure that he was about to loose.

As he stood in the darkness outside the door of the
morgue he could still hear her singing. He knew that
he was imagining it but it was as if though he was
still in the room with her.

She had a beautiful voice, he had to admit that but
right now it was so sad that it almost broke his
heart.

Brown was a monster and a monster had to be stopped.
If Grissom had asked him now if he would allow him to
kill Brown he would have said yes without a second
thought but he knew that that would be wrong.

His eyes had started to adjust to the darkness and he
realized that Richard, Hanna and their sons had
already gone.

He heard as the door was opened behind him and he
briefly wondered who it could be.

'It's just me. I met be used to work with dead bodies
but their families that's a whole other thing,' Al
explained.

'I know what you mean,' Brass admitted.

'Poor family. Now they have lost both of their
children,' Al said.

'Yes, it brakes your hear doesn't it. Normally I can
shut off my emotions at will but this time it just
haven't worked,' Brass started.

'I know how you feel but its not that weird when you
think about it. This time someone is after one of our
own,' Al responded.

'Yes. I know but its more than that,' Brass said.

'Jim, you have been thinking about Ellie haven't you?'
Al stated.

'Yes,' Brass admitted.

He felt so incredibly tired.

'She's around the same age as those girls. One of his
victims could be her,' Brass continued.

'Don't worry Jim. She'll be fine,' Al said in an
effort to comfort him.

'I really hope so,' Brass said and with that the men
entered the morgue to encounter Paul and the singing
Samantha again.

Meanwhile Catherine was staring at Brown.

She couldn't believe that he was actually there. She
hated him not only for what he had done to her but
also for how he made her feel. She always felt so
helpless whenever he was around as if though she was
one of those pretty girls in the horror movies.

'Catherine, how I've longed to lay my eyes on you ever
since this morning when the two of you visited me.
Finally we are together again,' Brown said as he
continued to approach them.

'What a beautiful daughter you have. She looks so much
like you,' he then said as he reached them and
stretched out a hand towards Lindsay.

'Just let her go and I will come with you willingly,'
Catherine said with tears in her voice and with eyes
that were threatening to spill.

She tried to be brave but just as always she couldn't
when he was around. However she got some courage out
of the thought of her daughter and she knew she had to
do everything in her power to save Lindsay from Brown.

'Okay, for you my dear, anything,' Brown said and
allowed Catherine to wake her daughter.

'Sweetie, you have to listen to me, okay?' Catherine
began.

Lindsay nodded.

'Go out of here and find Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg.
Then you stay with them, okay? Can you do that for me
honey?' Catherine continued attempting to control her
voice.

She had to be calm to get Lindsay to obey.

'What about you mommy?' Lindsay sleepily asked.

She was rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out of them.
When she felt more wake she was surprised at the
darkness that surrounded them.

'Don't worry, mommy will be fine. Just go honey,
Catherine answered and watched as a skeptic Lindsay
got off her lap to exit the room.

'Mommy why is it so dark?' she suddenly asked.

'Its just a power failure,' Catherine responded.

Lindsay then started to exit the room. She didn't like
it but she felt that there was probably a reason why
her mother didn't want her to stay. Besides she missed
Grissom and she thought that maybe now she would have
a chance at finding him.

She knew she had fallen asleep on his lap and she
figured since she had woken up in her mother' lap he
must have moved her there when he left them.

As soon as Lindsay had left the room Catherine asked
Brown the question whose answer she already knew but
she couldn't keep from asking anyway.

'What do you want?'

'You know what I want my Dear. I want to possess you,'
Brown said and smiled at the beautiful creature in
front of him.

His flashlight illuminated her in such a way that to
him she looked like an angel with her own halo around
her head.

'Leave my daughter and Gil alone and I will come with
you,' Catherine responded.

'How sweet, you want to protect your child and your
lover,' Brown responded.

He felt so exited at being there with her again. Now
she would finally be his.

'But I can't have you if I don't kill you. Therefore I
have to kill you no matter how obedient you will be to
me if I don't,' Brown explained.

'Gil is not my lover,' Catherine responded.

She had to say it but she could feel how each word
hurt her. She so badly waned it to be true.

'So you don't love him?' Brown asked.

Catherine could hear the excitement in his voice. She
pondered on what her answer to his query should be.

He hoped that she would respond that she didn't love
Grissom but he knew that even if she did she wouldn't
mean it.

TBC.

Chapter 36

Meanwhile Lindsay had started to walk down the
corridors. She had to walk really slowly since she
couldn't see anything.

She didn't know who the man was but she had felt how
her mother had tightened her grip on her. When she had
been woken she had seen him stand there in the
doorway. He had been holding a flashlight and the
sharp light hurt her newly opened eyes.

She hadn't expected the room to be dark. She hadn't
expected Grissom to be gone and she had definitely not
expected there to be a man standing in the doorway, a
man who scared her mommy.

Lindsay was clever enough to know that her mother
wouldn't have been scared of the man if he had been
good. Thus she came to the conclusion that he had to
be a bad man.

She had felt it before too. Every time Grissom had
left them alone her mother's demeanor had changed
dramatically. But when the bad man had been there it
had bee so much worse.

She thought about the monsters in the fairytales her
mother used to read to her and the ghosts, vampires
and werewolves in the ghost stories and horror films
she had watched with Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg.

Any other time she would have been able to think of
them as fiction, figments of her imagination. But now
when she had encountered a real monster and had to
walk alone down the darken corridors of C.S.I.
headquarters they seemed as real as if they been there
with her.

She was afraid that she would walk into something if
she walked faster. Therefore she forced herself to
keep the same even slow pace.

She tried to focus on some of the happier elements of
the fairytales like the prince and princesses, or the
cute animals or pretty fairies but she couldn't hold
onto those thoughts long enough to forget about the
monster that had her mother.

She knew what she had to do. She had to find Grissom
and tell him what happened. She was certain of that if
she just could find him and tell him he would make
everything good again.

With that conviction filling up her thoughts Lindsay
continued, determined and somewhat uplifted by the
thought of how everything would be fine as soon as she
found Grissom.

Meanwhile Ecklie, Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg were
still contemplating on whether they should listen to
the microcassette or not.

None of them felt like breaking Catherine's trust in
them. But at the same time they so badly wanted to
know what happened.

'Maybe we should just start to listen to the
microcassette,' Sara started.

'We don't know for sure if it is from Catherine's
sessions or not,' she continued hastily.

'Does it say anything about it in the file?' Warrick
asked Nick.

'The file?' Nick asked somewhat confused.

What file? What was Warrick talking about, he thought.
That's when he remembered.

'The file! I left it beside Warrick's computer,' he
explained.

'Well then go and get it!' Greg exclaimed.

'What? Me?' Nick asked.

'No I meant the tooth fairy,' Greg said sarcastically.

'Of course you,' he then added.

Nick looked at Warrick and Sara for support. When he
didn't get any he reluctantly looked at Ecklie but
just as he had suspected he wasn't getting any support
there either.

With a defeated sigh he picked up a flashlight from
Ecklie's desk and started to walk back to the room
were "he" had left the file.

Meanwhile Gregory Smith and his family were out on the
parking lot.

Unlike Hanna and Richard Scott and Paul and Samantha
Miles they had gotten out of the building before the
power failure had occurred. However that hadn't
mattered too much because they still couldn't leave.

When they had gotten out of the building the parking
lot had been bathing in light. Then as they had
approached their car the lights had all died. But
before that happened they had been able to see that
someone had punctured the tires. 
  
'There's no way were getting out of here with four
flat tires,' Patrick exclaimed.

He was so tired all he wanted was to get home and
process the grief, which right now was the opposite of
standing on a parking lot with four flat tires.

'We have to call a pickup truck,' Kelly reasoned.

She was still sad and even now you could distinguish
how the tears were still caught in her throat.

'I'll call mom,' Gabriella said in an attempt to be
strong.

She took out her cell-phone and thus discovered the
next bad news.

'It's dead,' she said.

'Gregory will you check your cell-phone,' Kelly gently
asked.

'It's dead,' he said as soon as he had checked.

'Mine too,' Patrick said before his mother had time to
ask.

'I guess we have to go inside to find a phone,'
Gabriella suggested.

'I guess so,' Kelly said defeated.

'It's okay mom, I'll go,' Gabriella said.

Kelly watched as Gregory gave her the keys so that she
would be able to retrieve the flashlight in the glove
compartment.

'Don't worry mom. I'll be back soon,' Gabriella said
and started to walk towards the building.

This didn't calm Kelly down but she had no other
choice than to watch her daughter enter the building
again.

Meanwhile Samantha had finally stopped singing.

When she had been singing she hadn't notice the
darkness but as soon as she had stopped she saw it and
as soon as she saw it she felt it and feeling it made
her scared.

That's when she noticed that Paul was still in the
room. She knew that he wasn't standing behind her. If
he were she would have felt him closer. But she could
indeed feel his presence in the room.

This calmed her down somewhat and Paul having noticed
her distress moved up behind her and placed his hand
on her shoulder.

The little gesture reminded Samantha that even if she
had lost two daughters she still had her husband. She
would never stop missing her daughters but knowing
that Paul was there for her made the pain somewhat
less.

With that in mind she softly asked him if they should
leave.

'I don't know honey. Maybe we should wait until the
lights come on,' Paul answered his wife.

She could hear the pain in his voice and she knew how
much he missed their daughters because she missed them
just as much.

'Well make it through,' she said in an attempt to be
strong.

Paul knew what she was trying to do but he could hear
the pain seep through even though she so desperately
tried to hide it.

'Yes we will. As long as we have each other,' he
answered.

They both knew that he was able to hide the pain any
better than she was.

Brass took out a few chairs so they wouldn't be forced
to stand up while they waited. He was so grateful for
the fact that Samantha had finally stopped singing.

Samantha gratefully accepted the chair and placed it
as close to Brenda's body as she possibly could. Paul
did the same and taking his hand in hers they sat
there together watching their dead girl.

Meanwhile Grissom had finally found his office and a
flashlight and now he was making his way back to
Catherine and Lindsay in the break room.

He had this feeling that everything wasn't right any
longer as if though someone had disrupted the barriers
that he had put up to protect Catherine and Lindsay.

It didn't matter what he did he still couldn't shake
the feeling that something was wrong.

This made him quicken his pace and with the flashlight
guiding his way he was allowed to do that without
bumping into every object in his way.

'Grissom!' he suddenly heard a piercing little girl
exclaim.

He recognized the voice as Lindsay's and this made him
quicken his pace even more. As he thought through what
horrible things could have happened to Lindsay he
bumped into someone.

Not again he thought as he heard another.

'Ouch!'

Just like before the voice was female. However this
time it was much softer and whomever the woman was she
didn't yell at him like Hanna had.

'Miss, are you alright?' he gently asked and shone the
light on the girl.

He had been right it wasn't Hanna Scott. This woman
was much younger.

'I'm fine. Who are you?' she asked from her place on
the floor.

'Gil Grissom, I'm with the Las Vegas crime lab,'
Grissom explained.

'I'm Gabriella Smith,' the girl said.

Grissom helped her to her feet again and Gabriella
smiled at him as a sign of gratitude.

'Thank you,' she then said.

'What are you doing here?' he asked.

He instantly regretted his question as he remembered
how Hanna had behaved.

'I'm looking for a phone. My mother, father and
brother were here today to say goodbye to my sister
Jenny. She was killed,' Gabriella said.

Grissom could hear the pain in her voice at the last
part of her statement. He realized that she was yet
another family member of one of the dead girls.

'I'm sorry. Why do you need a phone?'

'Someone punctured our tires, all four of them. We
can't get out of here if we can't get a towing company
to come and pick up the car,' Gabriella explained.

'You can borrow my cell-phone,' Grissom said and
handed it to the girl.

As she dialed the number to the towing company Grissom
wondered like so many times before if he should have
killed Brown when he had the chance. Just like so many
times before he couldn't come up with a satisfying
answer.

'Thank you,' Gabriella said and gave the cell-phone
back to Grissom.

'You're welcome,' Grissom said and accepted his
cell-phone.

'I need to go now. Thank you again,' Gabriella said
and left Grissom.

Once again he was alone and once again he started to
hurry back to the break room.

So many lives that could have been spared. So many
people who wouldn't have to be grieving all because I
didn't pull the trigger, Grissom thought as he kept
walking.

Meanwhile Nick had gotten hold of the file and was now
on his way back to Ecklie's office. That's when he
spotted Lindsay.

'Lindsay, what are you doing here? I thought you were
supposed to be in the break room with Catherine and
Grissom,' said surprised at the little girls presence.

Lindsay didn't answer at first and this made Nick
worried.

'Lindsay is anything wrong?'

'Grissom went away while I was sleeping and when a man
came mommy told me to go,' Lindsay explained.

'What man?'

'A bad man,' Lindsay said putting the emphasis on the
word bad.

'Let's get back to the others,' Nick said and picked
up Lindsay so he could get them back there faster.

It didn't take long before they reached Ecklie's
office.

'Well look who's coming,' Sara said teasingly.

'Where did you leave the file? In D.C?' Greg
continued.

That's when everybody noticed what Nick had in his
arms.

'Lindsay,' Ecklie, Warrick, Sara and Greg exclaimed in
unison.

'I found her in the corridors,' Nick started as he put
the girl back on the ground again.

'Lindsay why didn't you stay with Grissom and
Catherine?' Sara asked before Nick was able to finish.

Just like before Lindsay was reluctant to answer but
this time she didn't have to.

'Apparently Grissom left them and then a man came and
Catherine told Lindsay to go,' Nick explained.

'A man? What man?' Warrick asked.

'I don't know,' Nick answered.

'Neither does she,' he added before anyone had a
chance to ask Lindsay.

'Anyway I have the file now so we can check if the
tapes are included,' Nick said.

'Lindsay would you like to listen to some music,'
Warrick asked.

'Sure,' Lindsay said.

'But first we have to find Grissom,' Lindsay said.

'He has to help mommy,' Lindsay continued.

'Don't worry Lindsay, Catherine will be fine,' Sara
said.

Lindsay looked skeptic but she still accepted the
headphones and put them on her head.

They turned on the music and then turned their
attention on the microcassette.

'Should we listen then?' Sara asked.

Everybody looked at each other and silently agreed.
They then sat down and Nick pushed the play button.

'Catherine, my sweet angel. Have you missed me? I hope
you liked the flowers. They reminded me of you because
just like you they are beautiful, Soon now, very soon
we will be together,' a voice said.

'What is this?' Nick asked.

'Well it's not Catherine, that's for sure,' Sara said.

'It's Brown,' Ecklie said.

'What?!' Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg exclaimed.

'It's from Catherine's answering machine. After he
started sending flowers he began to call her,' Ecklie
explained.

'Then what is it doing here?' Sara asked.

'It was used in the evidence against Brown,' Ecklie
explained.

'Catherine, Catherine. Why haven't you answered me? I
love you, you know that. But you give all you
attention to a man who isn't even your husband. How do
you think Eddie feels as you flirt so blatantly with
Grissom? I know how it makes me feel, I hate it and I
hate him. Catherine we are supposed to be together,'
Brown said.

'How many messages did he leave?' Warrick asked.

'I don't know. All I know is that they get worse,'
Ecklie answered.

'Maybe we should check the next tape,' Sara suggested.

'Okay,' Nick said and replaced the tape with a tape
that had number 4 on it.

Once again all they heard was a buzzing sound and a
click.

'We need to rewind it,' Nick said as he pressed the
rewind button.

It went faster this time and as they once again pushed
play the buzzing began again but only for a short
while.

'Catherine, how are you feeling today,' a soft female
voice asked.

'Catherine, don't you feel like talking,' she
continued.

'Please Catherine, they are really worried about you.
I can't help you if you don't talk to me,' she said
pleadingly.

'We have nothing to talk about Diane,' Catherine
responded.

They could hear something in her voice that they
hadn't heard before. It wasn't sarcastic, it wasn't
flirty or witty it was just monotonic.

'Catherine, your husband and Grissom are worried about
you,' Diane continued.

'Eddie wants to know why you won't let him near you.
Catherine, why won't you let him near you?' Diane
tried.

'I won't let anybody near me,' Catherine responded in
a bitter voice.

'Normally no but when you do you let Grissom near you
instead of your husband. Do you know what kind of
signals that give, Catherine?' Diane asked.

'What happened when he found you?'

'Who?'

'Grissom. It's one of the few things that isn't in the
file. That and what happened to you,' Diane said.

'What happened,' she repeated.

Meanwhile Brown was studying Catherine.

He couldn't get enough of her she was so beautiful. He
wanted to touch her. He wanted to have her. He had to
have her.

Catherine watched on in amazement and fear as he
reached out a hand and gently stroke her cheek. His
touch made her skin crawl and a lone tear slipped down
her cheek.

Gil, where the hell are you, she thought as she tried
to suppress the urge to vomit.

'Finally we are together. Just like we are supposed to
be. I didn't get you any flowers this time though. I
didn't have time. I hope you're not mad at me,' Brown
continued as he grasped her hand with his other hand
still stroking her cheek.

'Brown get away from her,' they heard a voice say at
the door.

Catherine and Brown directed their gazes towards the
door and spotted someone in the doorway. Whoever it
was the person was holding a flashlight. As the
flashlight was moved Catherine could see who it was.
It was.

TBC.

Chapter 37

Meanwhile Gabriella had come back to her waiting
family and a short while later the tow truck arrived
and picked them up.

As they sat there in the car Kelly gave one last
thought about her daughter as she sadly watched how
they, in her mind, slowly left the C.S.I.
Headquarters.

Meanwhile Hanna and Richard were attempting to get out
which was easier said than done.

'We're supposed to go this way,' Hanna said and
pointed down one corridor.

'Honey I think it's the other one,' Richard tried
gently.

Hanna hated being wrong. It didn't matter if it was
how old a relative was or if it was the number of
socks that had vanished in the dryer. She always had
to be right. She even wrote up the number of socks
they had before she dried them and then cross-checked
it with what she found after she had dried them.

'No Richard. It's this way,' she repeated.

Steve had Theo in his arms since the young boy had
been too tired to walk from all the crying. He was so
tired at his mother's behavior.

Carol was dead and he hadn't seen her cry, he hadn't
heard her voice tremble or seen her eyes becoming
moist. All she had done was upset Theo.

He was aware that his mother and sister hadn't gotten
along that well and that if she didn't want to show
any sorrow it was okay but she could at least show
some consideration to those who were grieving.

'Does it matter?' Steve finally asked exasperated with
both his parents but mostly his mother.

Hanna turned around and glared at Steve.

He could feel her glare but he decided to ignore it.

'We can take any of the two and see were they lead,'
he continued.

Hanna opened her mouth to argue but before one word
had had time to escape from her lips Richard said.

'Okay.'

Hanna hated to not get her will through. But despite
all of her bad mannerisms she was a democrat at heart
and as such she obeyed the rules of a democracy, which
in this case meant that the majority decided.

With a sigh of defeat she followed her husband and
sons down the corridor that her husband had opted for.

However her smile held no boundaries when it was
proven that he had been wrong and that she, as was
proven when they walked back to their starting point
and took the corridor that she knew was the right one,
was indeed the right one.

When they had finally gotten out of the house and into
the parking lot Richard gave Hanna the keys without as
much as a word.

They climbed into the car but the car wouldn't move
even though the engine was running.

The irritation of having lost against her husband and
son was growing as she started to become irritated
over the fact that the car refused to move.

She got out of the car and since the parking lot was
still swept in darkness she asked Richard to give the
flashlight they had in the glove compartment.

Armed with the flashlight she got out to inspect the
car. She soon saw the flat tires and started to swear.

She hadn't wanted to go there in the first place. If
it had been she and not Richard that had answered the
phone they wouldn't have been there.

Now it seemed as if though it, the parking lot, Carol,
she didn't know what it was but whatever it was it
didn't want to let them go but seemed to want to keep
them forever.

Nothing had scared her that day but the possible
haunting of the parking lot scared the living
daylights out of her.

With this clouding her mind she quickly took out her
cell-phone and dialed the number to phone information.
As soon as someone answered she briskly said.

'Give me the number for a towing company.'

'Hold on a sec,' the young man on the other end of the
line said.

Men, Hanna cursed inwardly. If it hadn't been for the
fact that she needed his help she would've made sure
that he knew he was alive.

Where the hell is it, Brian thought as he searched his
data base.

Hanna hadn't said anything but he knew how impatient
she was and already had been from the beginning.

Why was it that he always got the most impatient and
difficult people?

One time ha had gotten a call from a man who had been
eager to know the number for a cab. That was fine
until he had asked him to compare the prices between
different cabs for the same distance.

He had almost said no and hung up the phone when he
saw a plaque on the wall. It said, "The customer is
always right".

With that in mind he had then called around to get the
prices. That had earned him a very happy customer and
a moderately happy boss.

The call had been so long that he hadn't worked off as
many calls as he had got or was supposed to get.

This had of course not made him the most popular man
that day. Everyone had to split his workload to get
through the calls. But his boss had decided to let him
off the hook since he had only done what he had been
told to do. The customer is always right.

'Sometime this millenium,' said Hanna's irritated
voice over the phone interrupting his thoughts.

He had always heard how men could only do one thing at
a time while a woman could do a lot of things at the
same time. He had just disproved that by finding what
the woman had been looking for at the same time as he
had been thinking.

'Miss? Do you want the number or do you want me to
connect you?'

'Mrs. Hanna Scott and yes you can connect me,' Hanna
said a lot more briskly than necessary.

'Yes Mrs. Scott,' Brian said and connected Hanna to
the tow company.

As soon as he had done that he breathed a sigh of
relief. That woman was seriously scaring him.

A few minutes later Hanna shut down her phone and got
back in the car again.

This day was only getting worse, she thought. She had
called the tow company and they had told her that it
would take a pretty long time before they would get
there.

She was tired of waiting she wanted to go home to a
nice bubble bath, some relaxing music and a big bucket
of macadamia nut brittle. She just wanted this day to
end.

Meanwhile Ecklie, Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg were
listening to the tape.

Catherine still hadn't answered Diane's question and
for a while they thought that nothing else had been
played in when Diane said.

'Catherine why won't you talk to me?'

'Please Catherine,' Diane pleaded.

She had started to sound desperate and since she was
supposed to be a professional and keep her cool this
terrified each of the listening occupants in the room.

'She's loosing her cool,' Warrick commented.

The others nodded

'What could have happened to make Catherine so
bitter?' Sara asked.

'I don't know. I don't know if even Grissom knows,'
Nick responded.

They were tired of walking into dead ends by the look
of things it almost seemed as if though they wouldn't
find out what had really happened to Catherine.

'Should we continue with the tapes or the file?' Nick
suddenly asked.

Warrick, Sara and Greg looked at each other. For some
reason it felt like choosing between your birthday and
Christmas. Either way they would get a treat they just
didn't know which treat was better.

Ecklie stood beside them. He hadn't said a word.
Instead he had just stood there listening to the tape
as mesmerized as the others had been.

'He doesn't know,' he suddenly said in a soft voice.

It was almost too soft for them to hear it but they
still did.

'Who doesn't know?' Warrick asked.

'Grissom. Grissom doesn't know what Brown did to
Catherine. Nobody does except Brown and Catherine that
is,' Ecklie explained.

'How do you know that?' Nick asked the amazement
evident in his voice.

'Because I was involved both in the actual
investigation of Catherine's disappearance as well as
the group that were supposed to investigate Grissom's
conduct during the whole thing,' Ecklie responded.

'What do you mean? Why would anybody want to
investigate Grissom's conduct during Catherine's
kidnapping?' Sara asked.

'Because he wasn't supposed to work the case. They
said he was too close but he refused to listen. The
official story is still that he didn't work the case
but everybody knows the truth by now,' Ecklie
continued.

'Who worked the case?' Warrick asked.

'Officially it was my case. But Grissom can be very
persuasive at times,' Ecklie explained.

I wonder what the hell he did to get the case, Nick
thought as he watched as Ecklie got a look on his face
that signaled discomfort.

'Diane, Catherine's therapist, said that Grissom found
Catherine. Weren't you there too?' Nick asked.

'I still don't know how Grissom managed to find
Catherine. None of us do. So no we weren't there when
he found her. He called us later because he needed an
ambulance for Catherine.'

'What did you write in your report about how Grissom
handled the case?' Warrick asked.

'I said he had done a very good job,' Ecklie answered
quickly.

'Let's continue with the file then,' Nick suggested.

'Okay. That sounds like a plan,' Warrick agreed.

Nick began to read from the file again.

He then started to send her chocolate and stuffed
animals. Catherine was still not that bothered but I
began to feel how far Brown's obsession went. However
neither of us could have predicted Brown's next move
and this time Catherine was very shaken an so was I.
Brown called her at home and left messages on the
machine and some of these messages were really scary.
Brown's obsession kept growing but not even in my
wildest dreams had I believed that Brown would abduct
her.

Nick stopped reading and looked at the people in the
room.

Lindsay was listening to music, Ecklie was watching
him and intently listening to the story so was
Warrick, Sara and Greg.

He was surprised at the fact that Greg had been silent
for so long but when he saw the look on Greg's face
his surprise quickly disappeared.

'I can't believe that he actually went through with
it,' Sara suddenly commented from her seat.

'Neither can I,' Warrick agreed.

Greg just looked on in complete silence.

'He didn't,' Ecklie said.

'What do you mean?' Warrick, Nick and Sara asked in
unison.

'Brown's plan was to kill Catherine to gain possession
of her but for some reason he never did it. Instead
Grissom was able to find her and bring her back,'
Ecklie explained.

Nobody commented on this. Instead they sat there
thinking over what Ecklie said and trying to
understand why what happened had happened.

Meanwhile Brown and Catherine were still in the break
room.

Brown heard the voice and turned around.

'Well nice to see you again Mr. Grissom,' he said in
mock excitement.

'Gil, just go,' Catherine said from her place on the
couch.

It was still dark and the features of her beautiful
face were being given an almost ghostlike appearance
in the glow from both men's flashlights.

Grissom saw the pleading look she gave him but he
couldn't leave her not now.

'Catherine I'm staying,' he said firmly.

Brown was watching in something that was a mixture
between amazement, enjoyment and jealousy.

Grissom hadn't pulled his gun and he knew exactly why.
Against Brown a gun would do no good. He had to come
up with something far cleverer than that.

He slowly moved towards Catherine and Brown and
watched how Brown slowly moved away from Catherine.
Grissom knew Brown good enough to know that as long as
he was in there Brown couldn't hurt Catherine. Because
despite his madness Brown couldn't take anybody else's
possessions while they were still there, alive.

This was what Catherine was afraid of. That Brown's
craving for her would become so bad that he killed
Gil. She couldn't allow that to happen but she didn't
know exactly what she could do to stop it except get
Gil out of there. The problem was she knew him good
enough to know that now he would never willingly leave
her side.

Grissom watched on as the amazement and enjoyment
started to evacuate Brown's features only to be
consumed by jealousy and a rage that he had never
before seen in the man.

Grissom could feel how the rage started to build in
him too. He was almost at the couch now only a bit
further. That's when he felt it the one thing he
hadn't expected. He had thought that Brown would be
following the same pattern as the time before. But he
realized he had been wrong as he felt a sharp pain
invade his body and fill all his senses.

As the pain overtook his body he heard Catherine's
scream and felt how his body connected with the
ground. He had never felt so heavy before.

Brown had come closer and was now standing over him
with a smug grin on his face and a smoking gun in his
hand.

The shot rang through the building and then everything
became silent.
 

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