Dangerous Secrets

**Spoiler Warning - Everything up to and including "Tough Love"**

Part 1

"How is she?" Tess demanded the moment the doctor stepped out of Cat's room.

"Are you family?"

"I'm her partner," Tess lied flashing her police badge. She didn't care that her and Cat weren't officially partnered any more, the moment she'd heard that Cat had been injured on her first shift with another officer Tess had regretted everything that had passed between them. So what if Cat had secrets? Didn't she? Cat had never threatened to out her and Joe. Cat had never been anything but supportive. If Cat said she had a reason, Cat had a reason, a good one, Tess should have listened. Cat was a good cop, in her heart Tess had known that all along, only anger had made her question her faith.

"Well, I'd prefer to talk to family but-"

"Her sister's on her way and I called her Dad, you can talk to me, we're practically sisters."

"As you know she sustained a head injury, she's stable now but she was concussed when she came in and there may be some memory loss."

"Memory loss? What are we talking, a couple of hours, days… Tell me this isn't turning into a bad episode of a soap opera."

"Only time will tell, but hopefully when the concussion resolves itself most of her memory will come back to her. We just need to be patient."

Patient? Tess didn't do "patient," not when someone she cared about was injured.

"I need to see her," Tess demanded.

"It's best if only her next of kin visits, the more pressure her memory is put under the more traumatic the shock. She's likely to be very confused and even frightened when she wakes up."

"Just let me sit with her until her sister gets here," Tess begged. "She'd want me there," maybe that was a lie but she needed to see Cat.

The Doctor nodded reluctantly.

Tess rushed into the room, then stopped at the door, looking at her partner lying in a bed for the second time in as many months. She took a deep breath before walking further into the room.

Tess pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down. She gingerly took Cat's hand in hers and held it awkwardly. "Hey partner," she greeted in a low warm voice. "It's me Tess, I know you're not in a coma or anything but I've got to say this before you wake up because I'm not sure if I'll have the guts too when you do. I'm an idiot, I should have trusted you and I'm sorry I almost got you killed."

"Wasn't your fault," Cat whispered, struggling to open her eyes.

"Hey no fair!" Tess replied, nearly jumping out of her skin.

"Sorry," Cat responded quietly. "What happened?"

"Can't you remember? The Doc said you might have messed up your memory for a bit but I thought you said it wasn't my fault."

"I don't need to remember to know it wasn't your fault," Cat smiled. "You've always got my back."

Tess smiled but then hesitated. "Cat, do you remember why I wasn't there when it happened?" she asked carefully.

Cat shook her head slightly then stopped because it made her vision blur and everything swim around her. "No."

Tess nodded realising what that might mean. "So you don't remember me asking for a different partner?"

Cat looked shocked. "What? No. What happened?"

"Don't worry about that now, you're weak, Doc says you need to rest. It was stupid, just me and my stupid insecurities; you know I've been a mess lately with this whole thing with Joe. Anyway I'll straighten it out, get Joe to fix things so we're back together, this wouldn't have happened if you'd had a chick watching your back."

Cat nodded slightly but she was only half understanding, all she really knew was that Tess was there and everything would be okay. But someone was missing, someone important. She could see his face dancing in front of her mind surrounded in shadows. There was a scar on the side of his face but it didn't make him disfigured, just interest, rugged. His fringe was a little too long but it just made her want to touch his hair. His lips were full but oddly she couldn't remember if they'd kissed, but it felt like they should have. He felt important to her. Was her husband? No she'd remember that surely, boyfriend?

In her memory his eyes changed colours, suddenly yellow, then dark again. It was like a nightmare but it couldn't mean anything, she felt so safe and sure when she remembered his face the way it should be.

Suddenly the memory of his arms around her and his name came to her.

"Vincent?" Cat whispered.

Tess was still perched at her bedside holding her hand. "Hey Cat, you're back. It's Tessa. You kind of drifted off for a bit there girl. Whose Vincent? Was that the perp?"

"No, a guy, my guy, I think. I need to see him."

"So mystery guy has a name after all," Tess smiled. "Sorry can't help you unless you give me a little more to go on, has he got a last name or a phone number? I could check your cell."

"Please, I don't remember anything else," Cat admitted.

Tess nodded, "I'll be right back."

Cat closed her eyes again and gave into the swirling cloud of daydreams and fantasies and memories. Some felt real, some felt surreal, the strange thing was some of the ones that had to be made up felt the most real of all.

When Tess came back she looked confused. "Well his name isn't in your iPhone, but the weird thing is when they brought you in you had two phones on you, looks like the other one is one of those disposables. Any idea what the go is with that? You told me this guy wasn't married."

Then Tess remembered. The torn page. Cat destroying evidence to protect someone. The only people she could think of who used burner phones were criminals, undercover cops, and people in witness protection. She really hoped that Cat and her mystery man weren't in the first category.

"I don't know. Show me," Cat responded weakly.

Tess reluctantly handed over the phone. Cat looked at it. There was nothing in it, no stored numbers, no previous calls, nothing. It was completely blank. Maybe it was evidence? It felt like it was important. Then the phone rang in her hand, jolting both of them. Cat scrambled to answer it but said nothing.

"Catherine? Is that you?" an unfamiliar voice greeted her.

"Yes, this is Catherine Chandler," Cat replied cautiously.

"It's JT. Don't say anything. Vincent is on his way to you, but after what happened last time we thought some extra precautions were necessary this time, that's what took him so long, he wanted to come sooner I promise."

"Who is this?" Catherine asked confused.

"JT? Catherine you okay?"

"I'm sorry I don't remember who you are."

"Holly crap. This is bad. Catherine do you remember Vincent?"

"Yes. He's my boyfriend, I think."

"That's a bit of an oversimplification, but yeah. Okay so you love Vincent, you trust Vincent, right?"

"I think so."

"Cat this call is putting us both in danger but I need to know now. Do you remember Vincent's secret?"

"I don't think so," Cat answered awkwardly.

"Crap. Just stay calm. Stay calm. I've got to go. Catherine Vincent loves you and you can trust him, I'm his best friend and you can trust me too, but Vincent is a complicated guy you know that and you understand his problem. But you can't tell anyone about him. He'll explain more later, just don't say anything until he has a chance to explain himself. You might get a shock but he's worth it Cat, just remember that. And don't tell anyone anything about him, especially not his last name. Promise me?"

"Uh okay," Catherine agreed, and then the line went dead.

"What was that about?" Tess asked curiously, she looked worried, very worried.

"Nothing," Catherine replied too quickly, the confusion still evident on her face. "It was nobody."

"You've got a secret phone just to talk to nobody? Cat you might not remember everything right now but something serious is clearly going on with you."

"I wish I could explain."

"You said that before."

"I did?"

"Right before I asked not to be your partner anymore. Cat I know you don't remember this but I caught you tampering with evidence," Tess whispered in a hushed tone.

"I would never do that," Cat responded quickly.

"You were. You said it was to protect someone. You said you couldn't tell me without putting me in danger."

"I did." Cat paused for a long while, struggling to force her addled brain to work, to make sense of everything, to reconcile these mysterious facts with her muddled memories. It didn't work. She was clueless. Her instincts told her to be very careful because she couldn't undo anything once it was said or done.

"Who is this Vincent?" Tess pressed.

Cat realised she'd already made a mistake. Maybe answering the phone in front of Tess was another one. "I really don't know. It was probably just a dream or an ex. Nothing important."

"Damn it Cat you're lying to me again," Tess complained.

"I'm not trying too," Cat responded, "I really don't know."

"Sure you don't, look I'm going to see if Heather's here yet. I assume you remember your sister?"

"Sure," Cat responded awkwardly. "Thanks," she added, feeling confused and awful all at once.

Moments after the door closed it opened again but it wasn't Heather that walked in. It was a Doctor, with short blonde hair that didn't look quite right and green eyes. Cat couldn't work out why that bothered her. Even his perfect skin looked wrong somehow. He smiled in an overfamiliar way and walked over to pick up her chart, which he read with a concerned expression and then returned to its place at the end of the bed.

"Cat it's me," Vincent whispered as he approached the bed. "Sorry it took me so long to get here; JT insisted I wear this ridiculous disguise." He sat down next to her and held her hand. "I don't know how long we have but I had to see you."

"Why?"

"You know how I feel about you," Vincent replied, hurt by her question.

"How do you feel?" Catherine probed.

"I, I love you. Are you okay Cat? The chart said there was some concussion and memory loss…. You do know who I am don't you?" his tone was panicky.

"You don't look like the man I remember."

"It's the face, and the hair and the eyes, JT made me put all this stuff on. It's still me under here," Vincent reassured her and he pulled the wig off and the cap that was covering his natural hair.

"What's going on? Why do you need a disguise?"

"You don't remember do you?"

Cat shook her head minutely, she looked frightened.

"It's okay. It doesn't matter right now." Vincent soothed. "I'll explain it later, you just focus on getting better. You do remember me don't you? You remember Vincent? I normally have a scar on my face, do you remember that?"

Cat nodded and fingered the place where his skin curved slightly. JT had done his best to conceal it, but when she looked closely the skin looked marred and it had been painted with some sort of stage makeup.

"You remember… caring about me?"

"Yes," Cat admitted.

"Good. I can explain everything else later, just remember that. We trust each other. But no one can know I was here."

"That's what the guy on the phone said."

"Someone called you? What was his name."

"The one you said before." It was on the tip of her tongue but it was gone.

"JT?"

"I think so."

"And he told you to keep my secret?"

"Yes."

"Can you do that for me Cat? Can you trust me?"

"I think so," she answered uncertainly. "You're not dangerous are you? You're not going to hurt me?"

"I would never hurt you. Knowing me is dangerous but I would never hurt you," he promised carefully.

"If someone found out about you, what would happen?"

"I'd be in a lot of danger, and so would they. This secret is dangerous Cat. That's all I can say right now, someone's coming." Vincent jumped up and went into "pretend doctor mode."

"Get some rest and someone will be in to check on you later," he instructed as Heather rushed into the room. He turned around quickly so she wouldn't catch sight of his face in the rush to Cat's beside.

After asking if she was okay about a hundred times Cat finally convinced Heather to give her a break. While Heather was out of the room Tess asked her about Vincent. Heather confessed she'd met him the night before – at the apartment when she'd walked in on them kissing, Cat had shut things down quickly sending him down and telling Heather almost nothing about him. They'd fought and now Heather felt horrible. She did remember that his full name was Vincent Salanski. He'd been Cat's date for their Dad's wedding. But when Tess looked up "Vincent Salanski" there wasn't anything local. Leaving Cat in her sister's hands Tess made her way back to the station. The name Vincent rang a bell but not Vincent Salanksi. She started combing through old case files and notes. Strangely she didn't turn anything up on the computer, but her notebook had a name in it "Vincent Keller" a doctor who'd died in Afghanistan while serving as a solider. His name had been a red herring after a false DNA match. Normally Tess would have stopped there, but with all the clues mounting up that Cat was involved in something big Tess took it one step further and went to talk to Evan about the DNA results.

"What can I say, equipment makes mistakes, even in my capable hands," Evan smiled awkwardly, nervously when Tess asked him about it.

"But that doesn't happen very often or we wouldn't use the stuff," Tess countered.

"But it does happen," Evan insisted. Tess got the creepy feeling he was stonewalling. "If you know something you're not telling me Marks, there will be hell to pay."

"I can't think what you're talking about. Look I know you're worried about Cat."

"Time was you would have too. I noticed you didn't exactly rush to the hospital."

"I was busy here, and Cat and I are not as close as we once were."

"Yes I notice that. I wonder why that is."

"Don't look at me, she moved on first," Evan countered defensively.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Tess agreed reluctantly.

Disclaimer: Beauty and the Beast and its characters are not mine. This is a work of fanfiction only, it is in no way authorised etc.

Author's Note: If you would like to see this continued let me know, while I write for the joy of it I don't have the motivation to continue a multi-part story if there aren't people interested in reading it. Let me know, is this a promising start or a pathetic soap opera rip off? I normally try to avoid the obvious story clichés like "pregnancy scare" or "memory loss" but Beauty and the Beast sort of screams out at you to go there because the ramifications of such predicaments are so much more ripe with drama and complexity than in a 'normal' drama.