A/N: This is about Cath. I have NO Fing idea what will happen yet. I will write as I go.
Edited by: Awesomepossum
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"Cath? Catherine? Wake up." Warrick was sitting next to a sleeping Catherine in the break room. He had come in to find Catherine effectively passed out on the couch. "Cath? WAKE UP!" Warrick was getting fed up now. Catherine's eyes fluttered a bit.
"What is it Warrick? How did you get into my house?" She blinked, yawned and sat up. Warrick rolled his eyes. "Look Cath, shift started half an hour ago, Grissom sent me to find you. We have a case to investigate. Come on, you never fall asleep on the job. Is everything okay?"
Catherine's eyes finally opened all the way. "Huh? No nothing's wrong, um… I'm fine Warrick. What's our case?"
Warrick smiled, his green eyes sparkling, "We're late, we'll talk in the car, let's go."
Warrick wrapped his arm around Catherine's shoulder. "Come on," he said, "let's go, we better boogie." He opened the door for her. "Your carriage awaits, milady."
Catherine laughed, "Alright alright, quit with the jokes, let's move."
Warrick climbed into the driver's seat. He started to drive. "Okay Cath, we have to head to the hospital; tonight we're doing a rape and home invasion. Our vic is 16, she refuses to talk to anyone male, so it's up to you to process her tonight. I'll be going to the house and you can meet me there when you're done." Catherine felt a lump in her throat, "Okay, no problem."
Catherine walked the long, antiseptic-smelling hallway to the room where the vic was being held. She turned in to the doorway, and was faced with a girl in a hospital robe sitting with her back toward Catherine. When Catherine entered, the girl stood up. She was taller then Cath, easily 5'10. She had long, fiery red hair pulled into a ponytail, and green eyes that rivalled Warrick's. The girl looked shy. She looked at Catherine and opened her mouth to speak. "Who are you?" she asked, suspiciously.
Catherine smiled, "Catherine Willows, CSI, I'm here to collect evidence from you."
The girl's eyes darkened. "What kind of evidence?"
"Well, first I'll need to do a rape kit..."
The girl interrupted, "No you don't, he wore a condom. It's probably still in my garbage can at home." Catherine looked surprised. "Well, I also need to examine the clothing you were wearing and take scrapings from under your nails. And, since we're going to be here for a little while, can I get your name?"
"Aeryn, thanks for asking." She extended a hand. "Now let's catch this bastard."
Aeryn sat on the hospital bed after Catherine had finished taking evidence. Now they were onto the interviewing. "So Aeryn, I know this is hard, but you need to tell me exactly what happened, starting with when you woke up."
Aeryn cocked her head, a tear rolling out of the corner of her eye. "Well, I think it was about 1:00am, and I woke up to a noise. God, you have no idea how hard this is."
Catherine looked down. "Trust me, I know."
Aeryn looked shocked. "You mean, you…"
Catherine attempted to smile. "Yeaaah. Anyway, enough about me, continue, please."
Aeryn squinted, trying to remember. "I looked over and there was this guy, standing by my bed; he was holding something… A scarf maybe?… and a knife. He told me that if I screamed, he would kill my family, he tied the scarf to my mouth. After that everything is a total blank, I just remember him on top of me. I was watching the clock, waiting for it to be over. That's how I remember the time. When he was done, he threw the condom out… I think… I did scratch him though, tried to make him go away, figured if he knew I could fight back he'd leave. He didn't go, but I guess you know that… he left through my bedroom window, probably the fire escape. Old apartments, you know? Hah, they're supposed to safer, but I guess not. That's it, I can't remember anything else."
Catherine reviewed her notes. "Okay, Aeryn, did you get a look at him? Anything, the clothes he was wearing? The colour of his hair or skin, eyes maybe?"
Aeryn looked thoughtful. "Yes. Yes, now that you mention it, he was shorter then me. I'm 5'10 and a half. He was a shrimp, as guys go... maybe your height, or an inch taller, tops. He had light hair, I think, in the dark it was hard to tell… and a big nose."
Catherine smiled. "Well, Aeryn, here's my number, if you remember anything else call me. But with what you've given us, plus the DNA from under your nails, we'll do all we can, okay?"
Catherine turned to leave, but Aeryn called after her, "Ms. Willows, when you were… you know… did they get him?"
Catherine turned to face her. "No… No they didn't." Aeryn narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Thanks."
Catherine left the hospital feeling very drained indeed. She remembered what it was like to be on the other end of that conversation. She called Warrick.
"Brown."
"Hey Warrick, it's Catherine, I'm finished at the hospital, sorry it took a little while longer than expected."
"No probs Cath, I'll come pick you up. It's pretty routine over here, but I could always use an extra pair of hands."
In the car, Warrick noticed that Catherine was unusually quiet. Warrick knew that rape cases stressed her out, but he never bothered to ask why. When they arrived, he turned to her and said, "I saved the vic's bedroom for you. I've been processing the fire escape, I got a few prints and some semen, my guess is that he may have been watching her for some time before. Her parents said that she would probably not want a guy picking through her room. It's all yours."
"Thanks Warrick, What are you gonna do while I'm in here?"
Warrick smiled. "I'll be questioning the parents, her sisters Finnea and Kassidy, and her little brother Fergus, see if any of them heard something. It may take a while, so take your time."
"Thanks Warrick, I will."
Catherine entered Aeryn's bedroom, which was a typical teenage girl's room. Two ajacent walls were bright blue, the other two were bright purple. A big vanity table sat against one wall, covered with every imaginable kind of makeup. The bed was in a state of disarray; Catherine checked it over thoroughly, finding hairs all over. Several of the hairs could easily be identified as Aeryn's but she bagged them anyway. She did find three ash blonde hairs with follicular tags, which she bagged. Since the perp had worn a condom, she didn't find and semen, but she was still holding out hope for blood, maybe from the scratches Aeryn had given him. Unfortunately, she found none.
Once Catherine had deemed the bed clean, she moved on to the garbage can. Aeryn had said she thought the rapist had thrown the condom out, and luckily she found it. She bagged it and checked over the rest of the room. She found a shoe print, approximately a men's size 11. She took a print and some photos. The room had given her all it could. There were no fingerprints, he had probably worn gloves, but Warrick said he had found prints outside, so the perp had probably taken them off, not realising they would look outside too. Catherine laughed, people never failed to surprise her.
She walked outside to meet Warrick. As she walked up, he was chatting with a little blonde boy of no more than 7 years of age. Next to him sat Aeryn's parents and two girls who were obviously identical twins, both with the red hair and green eyes she remembered from Aeryn.
Warrick stood. "Thanks Everybody, we understand that this is a traumatic time for all of you, but we'll do our best to catch whoever did this to Aeryn." Upon closer examination, Catherine realised that there were tears in the eyes of the whole family, not uncommon in families where such a crime had occurred; they all obviously felt that it was their fault for not noticing.
Back in the lab, Catherine examined the condom from the girl's trashcan. She ran the DNA through CODIS, but got no hits. The hairs were of no use except colour comparison now. Warrick interviewed a few guys from Aeryn's school, and in the end, he detained one. Brice Matthews, who fit Aeryn's description to a T. About 5'7, with dark blonde hair and a rather prominent nose. Catherine was given the task of interviewing him. They sat down in the interrogation room, his parents with him. Catherine started the questions.
"So Brice, do you know Aeryn MacWilliams?"
Brice shrugged, "yeah I know her, half the guys at our school know her. She's a slut. What happened to her?" Catherine looked him dead in the eyes. "She was raped two nights ago, and you fit the description of the perp perfectly. What size shoe do you wear?"
Brice looked back, obviously not a shy young man. "What do you care?"
"I found a shoe print in her bedroom. You're avoiding the question."
Brice shrugged, "Size 11." Catherine smiled. "Good, mind if I see the shoes you have on?"
Brice lifted his feet onto the table, "Look, if you think I did it, you're wrong, you got nothing on me, lady."
"Well Brice, that may be the case, but I'm gonna need your fingerprints. You want to rule yourself out don't you?"
"Sure, look, lady, take whatever you need."
Catherine ran the boy's prints against the ones from the fire escape, and she got a match. Warrick got a warrant for a DNA sample. When Brice came in the second time a few days later, his manner had shifted, he was now nervous and furtive. After running the sample he gave them, they got another match, Brice Matthews had raped Aeryn MacWilliams. This case had wrapped surprisingly quickly. Catherine broke the news to Brice. "Looks like we got you. But I have one question - why would you do that to her? What did she ever do to you?"
Brice sneered, "Lady, you don't get it, girls now, they parade around in these skimpy little outfits, but then get mad at us guys for looking. Aeryn was a total slut, she would do any guy who asked, except me. You know you're a loser when even the school hoe won't let you do her. I wanted to show her she wasn't all that." Catherine had never wanted to strike a child before, but this came pretty close.
When Catherine was done with Aeryn's case, she went to the break room and fell into a long, dreamless sleep on the couch. When she awoke, there was an envelope on her chest. She opened it. Inside was a card, and she read the message curiously.
'Dear Ms. Willows,
I'm sorry they never caught your guy, but thank you for catching mine.
A million thanks,
Aeryn MacWilliams.'
Catherine lay back, her head resting on the armrest. "I'm sorry, Aeryn, I'm sorry too."
TBC
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A/N: Wow, that went further then I thought it would. Um, R&R, Your responses will determine if I continue this story, so please R&R ASAP.