"Catherine, I'm coming."
Before Catherine can object, Shannon hangs up the phone and is on her way over to Catherine's house. Ten minutes later, the doorbell rings. Catherine goes down and lets her best friend in. Shannon says nothing. She just opens her arms and let's Catherine cry on her shoulder.
"Cath, it's okay. You'll get through this. You know I'm always here for you."
"How? My mom is going to flip…I can't have a kid…not now."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"I don't know. I'm just so confused."
"Cath, I…"
Their conversation is cut short by Catherine's mother, who has just arrived home. She sees immediately that she appears to have interrupted something.
"Hi girls. What's going on?"
"Not much. I didn't want to spend the night alone, so Shannon stayed over. She was just leaving."
Catherine looks at Shannon, indicating that she will be fine. Shannon squeezes her hand before leaving. Once the door shuts, Catherine turns back to her mother.
"So, how was work?"
"Work was fine. Catherine, are you alright? You look pale."
"I'm fine…I just…I…I need to talk to you."
"Okay."
"Can we sit down?"
Catherine leads her mother into the living room, where they take a seat on the couch.
"Mom, there's something I have to tell you. Please don't be upset with me."
"Catherine, I already don't like where this is going. What did you do?"
"I…well, I…I'm…" Catherine shuts her eyes and looks down for a moment. "I'm pregnant."
For a moment, her mother says nothing. Then she speaks. "You're pregnant? Catherine, how in hell did you get yourself pregnant?!?!"
Catherine flinches at the anger in her mother's voice. "Mom, I swear I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Catherine, saying you're sorry doesn't fix things. You're still in high school. What do you plan on doing about this?"
"I don't know…I just did the test this morning."
"Well, it's still early on. I suggest you explore your options. Think it through…because it's not just your life that's at stake."
With that, her mother walks out of the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
2000
Catherine finished getting ready for work. She was supposed to have off, but Greg had to call in sick, so she got called in. As she headed for the door, she addressed her 16-year old daughter who sat on the couch watching a movie.
"Christina, you're in charge. Make sure Lindsay gets to bed early. Lock the door behind me. And no friends over. Don't forget you're still grounded. Understand?"
"Yeah, I understand."
"Good, have a good night." Before she can object, Catherine goes over and kisses the top of her head and walks out the door.
After Catherine left, Lindsay came into the living room.
"Can I watch the movie with you?"
"Sure, come on."
Lindsay takes a seat next to her sister. The two girls watch the movie in silence. When the movie is over, Christina turns to Lindsay.
"Okay, bedtime."
When she gets no response, she looks at her and sees that she is leaning on the other arm of the couch. She gently wakes her and helps her upstairs and into her pajamas. She tucks her in and then leaves the room. She heads into her own room, where she briefly sits down on the bed before catching a glimpse at the clock. It is nearly 10pm…that means she has to get ready for work.
She heads into the closet and grabs everything she will need for work. She peeks in on Lindsay once more and then quietly walks out the front door, making sure to lock it behind her. With Lindsay secure in the house, Christina begins her walk to where her boyfriend, Rocky, will pick her up to drive her to work. When she arrives, she sees him already waiting for him.
"You're late. You know Robert won't like that."
"I'm sorry babe, it's just that Catherine left me in charge and I had to get my sister in bed before I left."
"Whatever. Let's go. If we're not that late, maybe Robert will let ya go."
Christina gets into the car and they drive to the French Palace, where she works.
"I'll pick you up at 6am."
"Okay babe. Love ya."
She leans in to kiss him goodbye. They deepen the kiss momentarily before they pull back. She climbs out of the car with her bag in hand and heads inside. Just before she reaches the door, he calls out to her.
"Do your stuff baby."
She smiles back at him. "Like always."
As he drives away, she goes inside. She barely gets in the door before Robert calls out to her.
"You're on in 10 minutes."
"Gotcha. I'll be ready."
She heads to the back where she changes into her first costume for the night…a silver ultra mini skirt, tassel-covered bra, and silver stilettos. She then settles in front of the mirror and styles her thick blonde hair and applies her make-up. She barely finishes before Tamara, another girl who works there, comes to get her.
"You're on."
She gets up and goes to the spot off stage where she waits for her cue to begin her routine. She takes a deep breath as she hears the announcer begin to speak.
"And now, we have a treat for you. You've seen her before and if you thought that was hot, you've not seen anything yet. Doing her new routine, the French Palace is proud to present Kitten."
As the music starts and she steps out onto the stage, a roar goes through the crowd. She immediately turns off her feelings as she performs her routine to "Hot Child in the City" by Nick Gilder and Time Machine. As she dances and moves with the music, her costume falls to the side, piece by piece until she is in nothing but some pasties and underpants that are barely there. For the duration of the song, she goes to various customers and makes them think she is dancing just for them, which earns her excellent tips. As the song ends, she takes a bow and goes backstage to change for her next number.
Meanwhile
At CSI headquarters, Gil Grissom is handing out assignments.
"Warrick, you're behind on your paperwork, so that's what you'll be doing tonight."
"Aww, Gris…"
"It's out of my hands…I'm getting these orders from higher up. Nick and Sara, you've got a dead body at a casino."
Nick steps forward and takes the slip with the address from Grissom.
"Catherine, you're with me. It appears that our strip club killer struck again."
Catherine sighs. She used to work in those clubs and going in there reminded her of her past. At the same time, cases like this infuriated her because while the girls and women who worked there may have been misguided, they were making an honest living. She grabs her kit and follows Grissom out to the car for what will be a long night
Back at the French Palace, Christina is on break and decides to step outside for a moment. As she steps outside, a shiver goes up her spine. She chalks it up to the chilly Vegas nights. As she lights up her cigarette, though, she realizes that it is more than just the weather. She suddenly feels someone grab her and shove her hard up against a wall. She tries to scream, but a hand quickly comes over her mouth as the other twists her arm behind her back.
"Not a sound or I'll snap your neck!!! Understood?"
She nods and she is rewarded with the removal of the hand from her mouth.
"Good. Now let's get down to business."
The person slams her into the wall again and continues to beat her. He forces her down to the ground where he rips off what little clothes she has on. She immediately senses what's going on.
"Please don't. I'll do whatever you want."
He backhands her. "I said shut up!!"
He forces her legs apart with his knee and pins her hands above her head. He then proceeds to rape her. Once he is done, he beats her some more until she loses consciousness. He is about to finish her off when he is interrupted by a voice.
"Kitten, what's the hold up? You're on in…"
Sapphire, the girl sent to find her, stops dead in her tracks when she sees her lying on the ground all beaten up and unconscious. After a moment, her brain registers what happened and she screams.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Catherine and Gil are finishing up on the scene where the strip club killer last struck. Catherine looks at the victim, who looks to be nineteen at the absolute oldest and is glad that her own daughters are at home and safe. As they are getting into the car, Catherine's phone rings. She pulls her phone off of its clip on her belt.
"Willows"
As she listens, she grows pale.
"When?"
"We'll be right there."
She flips her phone shut as she turns to Gil.
"We have to get over to the French Palace. It looks like our strip club killer struck again."
Gil nods. "Let's go."
As they make the drive to the French Palace, Catherine remembers her days working at the French Palace and thinks of how she is lucky to have been able to quit working there when she did. As she thinks that she could have been one of the victims had she not gotten out when she did, she becomes emotional and squeezes Gil's hand. He understands what she is thinking and squeezes her hand back. They arrive at the scene and see that the police are already there. Gil puts the Tahoe in park and they jump out with their kits. After asking some questions of Sapphire and the responding officer, they go toward where the victim still lies.
The last thing Christina remembered before passing out was being raped and then beaten. As she came to, she heard commotion all around her. She tried to sit up, but the minute she tried to move, pain shot through her body, causing her to moan in pain.
One of the paramedics was standing nearby thinking to herself that it was quite a sad situation. This girl had so much potential and it was all cut short by some maniac. She was soon jarred out of her thoughts by moaning. Much to her surprise, she realized that it was coming from the girl on the ground. When she arrived on the scene, she hadn't checked her pulse, but now she did and found that she was still alive. She looked up and saw Catherine and Gil walking toward her.
"Hey guys, she's still alive."
Catherine and Gil run over to her. Catherine speaks first.
"What?"
"She's still alive…barely, but she's still alive. The girl who found her must have interrupted our killer."
"Do we have an ID on her?"
"Not yet. We know her stage name is Kitten. I just heard her moan…I don't know if she is fully conscious."
As they talk, Christina recognizes two of the voices…Gil's voice and Catherine's voice. She starts crying as she realizes that Catherine will find out.
"I'll check." Catherine walks over to her. "Sweetie? My name is Catherine. What's your name?"
Her question is just met with the sound of crying. The mother in Catherine immediately kicks in as she tries to comfort the girl.
"It's okay. We're going to help you and find whoever did this to you. Just calm down."
She reaches out and brushes away the hair that covered her face, revealing the victim's identity. Catherine's eyes bulge and she goes deathly pale as she finds herself face to face with her daughter.
"CHRISTINA!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD NO!!!!!!!!!"