Thank you everyone for your reviews and follows. I know that Cat being molested is awful and I couldn't bring myself to have her being raped. But I do think that even in a situation like that she would put Vincent's safety first and I also think that it is possible that an organization like Muirfield or a crazed Joe would do awful stuff like that to see whether she is linked to Vincent or not.
So… read on for more flashbacks to the horror night and some more interesting developments – this might turn into quite a long story!
Catherine woke up at her usual time, 7am, the next morning. Feeling Vincent spooning her really close made her smile and she started to turn to get a better look at him. The pain that shot through her body as she did so made her gasp and within a split second she clearly remembered all the horrific events of the previous night. The painkillers that Vincent had given her must have been quite strong: she had not woken once and could not remember any nightmares, either. Thankfully.
Vincent was a light sleeper (one of the side effects of the DNA experiment) and had heard Cat's gasp, although it had not been very loud. Within seconds he was wide awake and hovering over her, looking at her with a worried expression. Catherine looked at him lovingly and whispered "Hey!" while lifting her hand to trace his scar. As she did so, the sleeve of Vincent's hoodie which she had worn as a pyjama slid back and revealed a large purple bruise on her wrist. Vincent's facial expression darkened even more and he slowly pulled Cat into an upright position before taking off the hoodie very carefully to inspect her battered body by daylight. Her bruises had darkened over night and parts of her face were still swollen. Most of the cuts had scabbed nicely and would heal well. Vincent inspected his stitches, remembering how much willpower it had cost him to steady himself enough to be able to stitch those wounds. They looked good. He sighed, relieved. "All good?" said Catherine who had been trying to catch his eye. "Yes," Vincent said, finally meeting her gaze and smiling a tentative smile.
Catherine got up from the bed slowly and with Vincent's help put the hoodie back on. "I have to call work and take some time off. I can't show up all bruised and battered. And I should get away from the warehouse before switching on my phone. In case someone is trying to track me." Vincent nodded and then said quietly: "You have become really good at this… watching your every move, thinking ahead, trying to guess what might come next." "I've learned from the best," Cat replied and, trying to lighten the mood, quickly added, "by which I mean JT, of course." Vincent smiled and then pressed a fleeting kiss on her forehead: "You are truly amazing, Catherine," he said as he helped her up. "And I will feel even more amazing after a big mug of coffee," Cat said as she started gesturing towards the kitchen. Finally Vincent got the hint and rushed off to make coffee.
Catherine stiffly walked to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Unlike her torso, her face was not too badly beaten up but there was no way she could face Joe, Tess, Evan and Gabriel like this. Or Heather, actually. Cat was glad that she had discussed several possible cover stories with JT over the last few weeks in case she would ever have to disappear off the radar of the outside world for a while. Actually, after the altercation with Joe the previous evening, he had given her the perfect excuse to miss work for a week or ten days, until these bruises were gone and her stitches were out.
Cat slowly made her way downstairs and as soon as she smelled the coffee, she realized that she was starving. She had only eaten a tuna salad for lunch the day before and hadn't had anything since. JT and Vincent were already sitting at the table, waiting for her, and Cat couldn't help but ruffle JT's hair as she walked past him. Without really thinking about it, Cat did not sit down on a chair but grabbed the bowl of cereal that Vincent had prepared for her and manoeuvred his right arm out of the way so she could squeeze between him and the table before sitting down in his lap. Catherine could feel Vincent tense up for a moment before sliding his arm around her. He clearly had expected her to react as most women do after they had been sexually attacked: shy away even from the men they loved, often from physical contact with others altogether. But somehow it was different for Catherine: The revulsion she had felt towards her attacker somehow made her appreciate the wonderful bond that she had with Vincent even more. She needed to be physically close to him even now, especially now.
"So, JT," Cat said after she had shovelled some cereal into herself and taken two painkillers. "I think we all know that I need to lay low for a while but that we can't make people even more suspicious. So I was thinking: it might be best if we slightly amend scenario 3 considering that I had an argument with Joe last night. He accused me of not giving a 100% on the 'vigilante case' and said that I had become sloppy and unreliable." Vincent had drawn a sharp breath at the mention of 'scenario 3' but he let Catherine finish before growling: "Are you guys serious? Scenario 3? How many scenarios did you two think up behind my back? And in how many of those are you two getting killed while I lie around unconscious thanks to a not so helpful dose of tranquilizer?"
Cat and JT couldn't help but chuckle at Vincent's comments. Cat explained, while JT went to his room to get the necessary props for scenario 3. "Vincent, honey: scenario 3 just implies me suffering from 'burnout syndrome', complete with fake medical certificate thanks to Dr. Forbes here, and me needing headspace and therefore disappearing off to a 'burnout clinic' outside of Albany for about ten days." Vincent stared at Catherine in disbelief.
JT had come back with a small bag, took out a brochure of an actual burnout clinic and waved it under Vincent's nose. Catherine continued: "Colleagues or friends are not allowed to disturb the patients, but the patients can call once or twice during the stay if they wish so… which should keep Heather off my back. I'll leave a brochure in the apartment for her to find, along with a letter in which I partly blame her for causing my burnout: you know, the intervention, the wedding pictures, the way she treated you, her general irresponsible behaviour, her inability to grow up and live her own life, etc." JT had produced the letter and was grinning at Cat's summary: "Yeah, looking back I guess we had too much wine when we wrote that, didn't we?" Cat smiled back at him: "Well, that's what you get for filling me up with Cabernet in the middle of the afternoon in your shabby college office, mister! But I'm not rewriting the bloody thing."
"OK, OK!" JT backed off immediately. "How about you come for a drive with me now to call your boss? And tonight, when it's dark, my friend," JT turned to Vincent, "you need to do your night vision and super hearing thing to check that Cat's flat is not being watched so we can leave the brochure, the letter and Cat's phone there for Heather to find. So how does scenario 3 sound?" Vincent couldn't help but smile at the smirk on JT's face. Catherine took Vincent's face in her hands and whispered in his ear: "You know what my favourite thing about scenario 3 is? That I get to hang out with you in a dusty warehouse for days on end and you will finally have to teach me how to play those video games!" Vincent couldn't help but chuckle.
"OK, I'll teach you," he said, getting serious again. "Under one condition: you guys tell me every single detail of every other scenario you've come up with. No more going behind the back of any one of us. I mean, I made the mistake of trying to go solo when I turned myself in to Muirfield –which was a bad idea- and you guys zapping me last night was an even worse idea. OK?" Vincent's voice was hoarse with emotion.
Catherine and JT looked at one another. Vincent was right: they all needed to be on the same page. Catherine hugged Vincent for a long time, whispering words of reassurance and comfort to him before getting up to leave to set 'scenario 3' in motion. There was still so much they didn't know: who the attacker had been, who he had worked for, what this meant for Cat's career and how long it was safe for Vincent to stay in the warehouse.
But they needed time to regroup and recharge, and 'scenario 3' would give them that: time for Catherine's body to heal; time for Vincent and Catherine to talk about their fears of losing the other one and the lengths to which they should go to protect one another; time for the three of them to discuss possible scenarios, escape routes and survival plans together.
I felt a slightly upbeat chapter was needed after the angst and hurt in the last two. Hope you agree with me. More to come soon : )