A Shot at Redemption

Catherine stared up at the ceiling, just like she had for about an hour now. It was early in the morning, but she knew in about five minutes her alarm would go off, telling her that it was time to get up. No matter what she did Vincent would not leave her thoughts. It was quite obvious that she loved him; she loved him so much that it hurt sometimes. It would be so easy to just let him into her heart, but she just couldn't allow herself to do it. He had almost picked Alex. She knew that he had only wanted to escape the killers looking for him, but in some ways he had to have wanted to be with her. There were no easy answers to this situation. How was she supposed to give him her heart when she was not his first choice? Sighing, she decided it was time to get up. After getting a shower and getting dressed, she went to grab some coffee before leaving for work. As she passed the kitchen counter her eyes glanced over at the calendar. It was Valentine's Day.

"You have got to be kidding me!" As if things were not hard enough for her, today was the freaking day of love. Was it too late for her to go back and crawl in her bed!

"Good Morning, lovely sister of mine!" Catherine looked over at her sister and just wanted to throw something at her happy perky attitude.

"Today is not a good day Heather. Why are you so happy this morning?"

Cat, it's Valentine's Day. Who knows what could happen!" Catherine had to smile at her sister's optimism.

"There is nothing special about today Heather. It's just a day where Hallmark gets a lot of money."

"Oh come on Cat." Catherine didn't let her finish her little pep talk. She just walked out of the apartment to go to work. As she was walking down the street she couldn't help but feel like someone was there with her.

"Of course he would be here today." Catherine swore under her breath. Spinning around she saw Vincent waiting in the shadows.

"Vincent, what are you doing here?" Vincent was looking at her very sheepishly, almost like he was nervous.

"I…umm….I wanted to give these to you. I hope you like them." He then pulled a bouquet of the most beautiful red roses from behind his back.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Vincent tried to hand them to her with one of his signature smiles. Catherine wanted so badly to throw them in his face, but she just couldn't do it.

"Thank you Vincent. They are beautiful, but giving me flowers is not going to fix anything."

"The flowers are not to fix anything. I just thought you deserved flowers on Valentine's Day. Especially, considering if I hadn't been such an ass that today would probably be very different." Catherine tried to hide a smile. At least he knew he had been an ass.

"Vincent, I have to go." With that she turned and finished walking to her car. When she arrived at the precinct she couldn't help but bring them inside. They would have died in the car.

"Well Well. Looks like ass found his way back in huh." Catherine looked up at Tess and swore in her head. She didn't even think about the fact that people were going to ask her about the sender of the mysterious flowers.

"He's not in. He caught me this morning and gave them to me. Who wouldn't turn down perfectly good roses?"

"He's totally making his way back in."

"No, he still has a lot of groveling to do if he wants that to happen." Tess looked at her like she had three heads and she couldn't blame her. She may say that he isn't in her head but he was, every second of every day.

"Tess, he hurt me and it is going to take a lot for me to let him back in."

"So, does that mean you aren't going to meet him?"

"Meet him? What are you talking about?" Tess leaned over and grabbed a little card out of the flowers. The card read 'Will you please join me for dinner?'

"So what are you going to do?" Cat thought for a long time in her head. She would love to have dinner with him, but she couldn't be his second choice.

"I'm going to tell him no." Tess gave her a look of Sympathy, but didn't comment any more on the subject. Why did love have to be so hard?

After one of the slowest days at the precinct, she began to pack up her things and go home. On her way home she decided to call Vincent. The phone rang for a long time, but he never answered.

"He is not going to make this easy for me." Instead of completely blowing him off, she decided to tell him in person and give him the roses back. She didn't know why she took them in the first place.

Walking into the warehouse she noticed it was incredibly quiet.

"JT! Vincent!" She called out for them multiple times, but no one ever answered.

"Just great; he's probably waiting for me at my apartment." Just as she was about to turn to leave she noticed a note for her. 'Come to the roof.' She thought about it for a few moments and cursed herself for being so weak. As soon as she reached the roof she gasped a little. The roof had lights strung around it and there was a table set up in the middle. Vincent immediately got up and made his way to her. He was dressed in a nice button down shirt and dark-colored jeans.

"I didn't think you would really come."

"I'm not staying for dinner. That's what I came to tell you." Catherine watched his face drop briefly, but he recovered quickly.

"OK. I understand, but why don't you take some food with you. I mean I made it for you anyway."

"Fine, Vincent." Catherine took the food and turned right away to leave. As she got in her car she couldn't get Vincent's face out of her mind.

"I don't care. He deserves this." When she got home she saw a note from Heather saying she was out with friends. Today had been just the worst day ever. Opening up the bag that Vincent had given her she noticed there was an envelope on top. Opening it up, she realized it was a letter from Vincent.

Catherine,

I know it was optimistic thinking to believe that you would have dinner with me, but I had to try. I completely deserve to be treated like an ass because I was horrible to you. I am so sorry that I treated you so badly. I never planned on hurting you, I just got swept up in a fantasy that I knew could never really happen. There was never a choice over you and Alex. My choice has always been you. I thought that going with Alex would allow us both to be free, but the truth is that we would have both been very unhappy. Ever since we met you have accepted me not for the monster that I become, but for the man who I am. No one has ever done for me what you have done. You risk your life for me daily and I can't believe I have been so blind. There is nothing in this world that can erase my behavior, but I will do whatever possible so that you can trust me again. My world is not worth living if you are not in it and I can promise you that is the complete truth. I will never stop trying to fix this and I will always be there for you. Just like I have been for the past nine years.

Always,

Vincent

After reading Vincent's letter she had a few tears in her eyes. This didn't fix everything, but it was definitely a start. Looking over at the fire escape she really hoped he was out there. She ran to the window and quickly pulled it open. He stood in front of her with a single sunflower. She took it with a very confused look.

"Catherine, everything I said in that letter is the truth. I'm sorry that I have been so bad at showing my feelings. I guess I'm still a little rusty. I'm giving you this sunflower because you have brought the sunshine back into my dark life. I can't imagine my life without you." Catherine just stood there stunned. She didn't know what to do, let him in or not. He then stepped close to her and brought his hand to her cheek like she had numerous times.

"Catherine, I love you." Catherine just stared up at him with tears in her eyes. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her cheek. His thumb brushed across her cheek and his touch distracted her so much that she could not think.

"Vincent, this doesn't fix everything, but I love you too..so much." Catherine then let her heart take over and took that last step to press her lips against his. As their lips met, Catherine couldn't help but feel at home. This is where she wanted to be forever. In the arms of the man she loved. Catherine brought her arms around him and let herself live in the moment. After a few minutes they reluctantly pulled apart and leaned their foreheads together.

"Catherine, I am going to spend the rest of my life making things up to you because I never want to see that hurt look on your face again." Catherine just wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shoulder. The tears finally escaped..the only difference was that now they were happy tears. Maybe this Valentine's Day didn't turn out to be so bad.

She only had one question. Where the hell did he get a sunflower in the middle of winter?