This story takes place in season 7. I decided to explore this possibility, and see where it took me. I hope you enjoy!

It had been a little over two months since they got married. Catherine and Simon had been married after spending one night on the strip together. She had met him at a bar, and he seemed nice so they had a drink together, and then another, and then another. They were both completely wasted when they got married that night. Catherine had no memory of any of it. She woke up the next morning with a ring around her finger, and his gentle arm around her. He was nice at first, and she thought they may be able to make it work.

It took her forever to explain it all to her fourteen-year-old daughter Lindsey. Lindsey was extremely upset at first, and would not accept it, she wouldn't ever come home at night. She would stay at her friend's house every night. After a couple days, she started to get used to this new guy in her life. He was nice to her, and her mom seemed happy. It took a while, but they were finally one happy family.

But then things changed.

It was only three days after Lindsey had accepted Simon as her new dad when, he started to get aggressive with Catherine. He hit her for the first time.

The abuse continued to get worse and worse as time went by, but never when Lindsey was around. He used Lindsey as his hook in Catherine. Lindsey was happy for the first time in a long time, and he knew that was all Catherine cared about.

Catherine never told anyone at work about the marriage or abuse.

Catherine got home from work after having to pull a double. She knew Simon would not be happy, but there was nothing she could do about it. She contemplated not going home that morning, but she knew he would be enraged if she didn't show up two days in a row. Besides, she had nowhere else to go.

She walked into her house slowly, not knowing what would be ahead when she entered. When she stepped inside the house she found Simon sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand. He drank while she was at work, and came home just after Lindsey had left for school. He was drunk just about every time she arrived at her house, and she regretted ever coming home every time.

She hesitated before speaking to him, thinking he might not have noticed her coming in. "Hey."

"Where were you?" Simon said, it was obvious he was drunk and angry.

"I had to pull a double, I tried to get away, but they wouldn't let me leave." She said trying to pretend nothing was wrong.

"Is there anything you'd like to say to me?"

"I'm sorry, Simon. It won't happen again."

Simon stood up. "Aaaand..."

"...And I'll do anything to make it up to you."

"Anything?" He asked getting excited. He had trained her to say what he wanted, and got excited when she did what he wanted without him having to tell her what to say.

"Yes, anything." She cringed as the words fell from her mouth. She knew what it meant.

He slapped her across the face. She held her cheek, and braced herself for the beating that was sure to follow.

"You call me if you're not coming home! You understand that!?" He yelled.

Catherine bit her lip in order to hold in the cry that was sure to escape her lips the moment she opened her mouth. She looked away from him, not able to look at him while he was this angry. She liked to remember the better times she spent with him, and avoided his gaze as much as possible while he beat her.

He slapped her again. "Answer me!"

She could barely get out a, "y-yes."

"Anything else you want to say!?"

Catherine stood quiet, she opened her mouth, but couldn't find the will to speak. She knew what would come next if she didn't answer, but still no sound came from her mouth.

He grabbed her chin, and held her face up, forcing her to look at him. "What? You're not gonna answer me? Your choice." He grabbed her forcefully, and threw her against the wall.

She screamed out in pain as her back hit a picture on the wall, shattering it completely. The glass shards fell by her feet, but just missed cutting her. She walked toward him, and he threw her to the ground. She let out a whine, and a tear slipped from her eye. She hated herself for crying in front of him, but she couldn't help it, and the tears kept coming.

"Are you gonna answer me?"

"I-I'm sorry. I-I know I deserve this." She said in tears, lying on the ground. She was willing to say anything to get him to stop.

He smiled at what he heard. "That's better." His foot then, made contact with her stomach, and she moaned grasping her stomach. This made him happy, and he kicked her again. His adrenaline was pumping, and he couldn't stop.

The last thing Catherine saw was his foot coming at her straight in the face before she blacked out.

He always stopped after she blacked out, he thought it took away the fun.

When Catherine finally re-gained consciousness, she was in her bed. Simon was already gone, and she looked at the time. She had a few hours before she needed to be at work. Then she saw a note on her nightstand, I'm sorry I had to do that last night. You come home on time today, and I'll make it up to you. I love you. -Simon

She got to her feet, and showered the dried blood from her, and applied heavy makeup to any exposed skin. She wore a long-sleeved shirt, and long pants to cover most of the bruises. She checked on Lindsey who was sitting in her room with music blaring. She put the music on pause when Catherine entered.

"Hey mom."

"Hey, Lindsey. You alright?"

"Yeah." Lindsey said completely unaware of the entire situation.

That was the reason she stayed with Simon. Lindsey was happy.

"Whaat?" Lindsey asked noticing her mom staring at her.

"Nothing." She said, and left Lindsey's room. Her phone went off, and she realized Grissom had been trying to get a hold of her for about an hour now. She answered her phone. "Willows. I'll be right there. Bye." She said, and hung up the phone, and headed out the door.

They had got a call out to a house where they found a woman dead with stab wounds in her back. Nick was processing the perimeter while Warrick was with David and the victim's body in the kitchen. "Victim was 25 years old. Angela Peters." David said looking at the license.

Catherine walked in, and headed to the back of the house. She found a little girl's room, and she shook her head. It didn't look like any fights had took place in there, she was relieved at that. After putting on her gloves, Catherine walked over to the nightstand, and picked up a picture of the girl with her mom, that she recognized as the victim. Then she felt something at her leg. Catherine jumped back and then looked down there was nothing there. She was confused, and looked under the bed.

A six-year-old girl was under the bed shaking terribly, and looked at Catherine with wide eyes when she was spotted under the bed. "Hey, it's okay. Come here, you're safe. I'm the police, come on out. It's okay." Catherine said, and the girl made her way out from under the bed, and hugged Catherine tightly. She cried in Catherine's arms unmoving for a while.

Catherine's body was hurting as the girl hugged her. She didn't mind though, the girl didn't have much strength anyway. As she was hugging the girl she couldn't help but to think of her own daughter, Lindsey. What if something happened to me, and Lindsey was left here all alone. Her next thought sent chills down her spine. She wouldn't be alone... she'd be with Simon. She stopped her thoughts, she couldn't afford to think like that. Simon wouldn't kill me, he needs me. She tried to rationalize, but she knew it wasn't true. Simon would just go and find some other woman to beat on, and drag Lindsey with him, or possibly beat on Lindsey.

When Catherine stopped her thoughts, she was surprised to find herself with the little girl outside. Catherine knelt down by her. "My name is Catherine, what's your name?"

"Laicey." She said softly.

"That's a really pretty name. How old are you?"

"Six."

"I liked that age. Why don't you hop up in that ambulance, and they can make sure you're alright? Does that sound good?"

"I want my mom. Can you get her for me?"

Catherine tried to hold back the tears, but they fell anyway. "Honey, someone hurt your mom, very badly."

"I know." Laicey said, then fell quiet.

"Laicey, do you know who hurt your mom?"

Laicey didn't respond, she just pulled her legs close to her chest, and rested her head on her knees.

"Laicey, can you answer me?" Catherine asked, but still didn't get a response. She felt Laicey drifting farther and farther away in her thoughts, and decided not to push her.

Catherine left Laicey with the paramedics, and helped to finish processing the house.

Catherine arrived at the hospital, and talked to a nurse before entering Laicey's room. Laicey had completely shut down since she last talked to Catherine, and hadn't spoken a word since.

"Hey, Laicey, do you remember me?"

Laicey nodded, but still didn't speak.

"I need to talk to you. About what happen."

Laicey looked down. "My daddy."

"What about your daddy, sweetie?"

Laicey was quiet again, and Catherine left the room after trying to get her to talk.

Nick, Warrick, and Catherine met at the morgue for the autopsy. Doc. Robbins greeted them a little too happy to be preforming an autopsy. "Hey, guys I was just about to cut into her, but I thought you ought to see this first."

"Whaddya got for us, Doc?" Warrick asked.

"There were abrasions on her wrists, she was obviously held down. I found cuts and bruises on her legs, arms, face, and stomach. Some more recent than others. But that wasn't the only thing. I took x-rays, and she has a fracture in her right arm, and multiple partially healed fractures in her ribs, legs, and arms. None of them are consistent with the stab wounds."

"Someone was beatin the crap outta her." Nick stated.

Catherine looked up, "Her husband." They all looked at her, amazed she was jumping to conclusions. "Laicey told me." Catherine looked back down, she couldn't let them see how much this case was getting to her. She couldn't help but to make notes of all the similarities between this case, and her situation.

"You alright Cath?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah. I'm good." She lied. Then she looked at the time, her shift ended ten minutes ago. "I have to go guys, our shift ended ten minutes ago. I need to get home. You guys good here?"

"Yeah. Lemme give you a lift." Nick offered.

"No, it's okay, I really need to get going." Catherine said, and hurried out the door. Nick followed, he knew something wasn't right.

Catherine was in the locker room when, she noticed Nick had followed her. She didn't want to talk to him.

"Cath, what's going on? And don't you tell me nothing." Nick had been paying attention to her recently, and noticed she always panicked every time she spent even one extra minute at work.

"It's really nothing, Nick. I have to go. I have to pick Lindsey up from school." She always used that as her excuse even when Lindsey took the bus home on most days. She ran out of the lab knowing what Simon would do when she arrived home late.

Catherine drove to her house already shaking as she prepared herself to face Simon... again.

I hope you liked it! Please let me know if you would like me to continue.