First and foremost:

TONIGHT'S EPISODE WAS AMAZING AND TRAGIC AT THE SAME TIME!

NOW I HAVE TO WAIT A WHOLE FREAKING MONTH AND A HALF TO SEE THE NEXT EPISODE! WHAT THE FRIGG!?

I JUST MIGHT KILL OVER BEFORE THAT!
X_X

Thank you for the reviews! PLEASE keep them coming! X3

~BATB~

This was an idea that popped into my head once so I decided to write about it.

Disclaimer:

I DO NOT OWN THE WONDERFUL CW SERIES, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

Though, I do have it on iTunes!

:^]

Keep Me Safe

Keiko Fujiwara

~Catherine's POV~

My eyes flashed open when I heard my cellphone going off. As quietly as possible, I slipped out of Vincent's arms and turned on my lamp before answering my phone.

"Chandler." I said with confidence.

"Hey Bud. How're you holding up?"

"I…I'm adjusting…." I replied, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Well, first of all, I'm sorry for waking you up this early in the morning but duty calls."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…first and foremost, I wanted to tell you that we caught the Jack the Ripper perp. One of his prospective victims came to the police station after receiving about three notes full of death threats. Same writing as all of his other victims' notes. So, we decided to set a trap for him and he fell for it…big time."

"That's good…but something tells me you called for a different reason." I said.

"Yeah…the D.A. is here and, because of his tight schedule, he wants you to come down to the station and ID the perp as well as restate your statement."

"Why do I have to do that? I've already told you what happened."

"Yeah but the perp is telling the story a little bit differently."

"How so?" I gulped.

"He claims that someone else hit him in the head with the branch." Tess replied.

"Well…that's impossible…there was no one else there except for the two of us." I lied.

"I know but still, the D.A. has to make it fair…so do you need a ride or are you up to driving down to the precinct?"

"I can drive…does he want me there now?" I asked as I feel Vincent rubbing my shoulders. He must have woken up from the phone call.

"The sooner the better." Tess replied.

"Alright…give me 15 minutes." I sighed, not really wanting to go to the precinct.

"Sounds like a plan." Tess said before ending the call.

"Isn't there a rule about not showing up for work until after 8?" Vincent asked as I grabbed a new change of clothes.

"Obviously not according to the D.A." I replied. "I hate to say this but I have to go."

Vincent stood up and walked over to me, placing his hand on my face. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine…at least I hope I will."

"Maybe I should go with you…at least, hide in case you do need me." He said.

"No…I don't want you to risk something like that." I replied.

"I'll go!" Heather exclaimed, causing both of us to jump.

"Heather, no offence, but, do you even know what we're talking about?" I asked.

"Yeah…I heard your cell go off. I thought it could be your work, because, honestly, let's face it, who else would call you at O'dark early? Anyways, when I heard that it was Tess, I sort of eavesdropped. So, if you want me to, I don't mind babysitting you while you do your thing!" she smiled.

"You would honestly waste the next two hours of your prescious sleep time to help your poor, unfortunate, older sister?" I asked with sarcasm.

"Absolutely! I mean, I might have not helped you in the past but since that huge fiasco two weeks ago, I almost lost you! I feel like I need to do more with you, Cat. You're the only sister I have."

"Thanks Heather…I think." I replied, not sure if doing more with Heather would be a good thing or a bad thing.

"Okay! I'll get my car ready!" she beamed before dashing out of our room. I wonder if she realized she wasn't dressed yet.

Vincent suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind and whispered, "You know, ever since your sister has found out about us, it has made both our lives a little bit easier."

I leaned into his embrace for a moment before saying, "As much as I would love to just skip the trip to the precinct, I can't and that means, I'm going to have to change."

"Okay…I'll go." Vincent said, heading towards the fire escape.

"Woah there, Mister. I didn't say you could leave. I'm just going to change in the bathroom." I said, pulling him back towards me.

"Okay but the moment you and Heather go to the precinct, I gotta go back to the warehouse before and make sure JT didn't die from a heart attack." He smiled.

He leaned over and kissed me before lightly twisting me in the direction of the bathroom. I swore I looked like a high school girl walking away from her first kiss. The moment the bathroom door was closed, I leaned against the door—forgetting my main reason for going in there in the first place.

Suddenly, I heard Vincent say, "Catherine, you better hurry up and get dressed or your sister is going to think you went back to sleep."

"Oh! Right!" I replied, shaking my giddiness away.

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

"It's about time you got here!" Tess exclaimed as Heather and I entered the precinct. "Wait, why is your sister here?"

"I'm here because I'm making sure she stays in one piece!" Heather replied.

Tess gave me a confused look and I said, "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Anyways, looks like all you need to do is point the perp out, Cat."

"Why? I thought you said I had to regive my statement."

"Well, while you were taking your sweet time getting over here, the boss decided to allow a psych eval of the perp. It turns out he's a major schizophrenic. So, the shrink believes the perp imagined a person bashing his head when in fact it was you."

"So all I need to do is ID the perp and I can leave?" I asked, being very hopeful.

"Yeah…but, before you go, I would like to speak to you in private." Tess said.

"Okay…well, let's get this stupid ID thing over with." I groaned.

It felt weird being the one who would have to point out the perp rather than arresting the perp. I was glad Heather was with me. She had her hand on my arm the entire time, giving me strength—giving me the reality I needed in order to keep sane. As instructed, I pointed to Everett or Steven or whoever the hell he is.

Mental or not, he knew why he was brought in there with five other men. He knew I was standing behind the one-way mirror because, during the whole identification process, he was grinning. He was grinning that stupid same grin he continued giving me when he was busy stabbing me with a knife.

Even as I pointed him out, I couldn't help but fixate myself on that twisted smile. Suddenly, I could feel my entire body freeze as I start to breathe heavier.

"Cat!"

Suddenly, I snapped out of my trance and Tess gave me a concerned look. "Is everything alright."

"Y-yeah…I'm fine." I replied with a little hint of nervousness.

"Are you sure? You were zoning out on me."

"I'm fine, Tess. Truly, I am."

I ran my fingers through my hair and inhaled a deep breath.

"Cat, you're shaking. You're obviously not fine. Damn it! I knew this was a bad idea! I told the D.A. that it was too soon to do all of this! You're obviously still shaken up from what happened!"

"I SAID I'M FINE, TESS!" I shouted—a little louder than necessary.

She immediately dropped the subject and said, "Listen, I'll talk to ya later. It can wait."

"Sorry…It's just…there's a lot going on right now." I replied.

Suddenly, I felt a tug on my arm and Heather said, "We should go."

Without another word, I followed my sister out of the precinct.

As we got into the car, Heather and I latched our seatbelts and I felt her touch my arm—causing me to jump.

"Cat…what happened back there?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I replied.

"Okay…fine…this time, I'll let it pass. Not because you don't want to talk about it but because the last time I opened that Pandora's Box, you were out of control."

"Thanks…" I answered.

"But…can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"I understand if you don't want to talk about your experiences and what not with me—I get it. You want to keep me in the dark because you think it'll be better if I don't know. That's fine. For now at least, but if you won't talk to me, talk to Vincent. He cares a lot for you—I can tell. You can shut me out in your life as much as you want because I'm your sister but don't shut him out. He's too good for you to lose him."

I silently nodded, not really wanting to talk the rest of the ride home.

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

~Vincent's POV~

As Catherine left for the precinct, I made my way to the warehouse, knowing she would be safe within a building full of police officers.

I opened the door to the upper level of the warehouse and there was JT, once again waiting for me.

"Do you ever sleep?" I asked as I walked over to my dresser to change shirts.

"I just woke up…thirty minutes ago. I was simply having my morning coffee. I have a class to teach in a few hours and thought I would get up early today. So…how did your late night excursions go with Lady Chandler?"

"Do you really want to hear the juicy details?" I asked, egging him on.

"Oh my God. Vincent. You and Catherine had sex!? I can't believe you! I mean, after our huge argument last night, I thought you made it clear that you WOULDN'T sleep with Cat! This is not good! What if…What if she's not on the pill? What if she is in the middle of her cycle! Oh…This CAN NOT be good, Vincent! I thought you had more sense than that!"

"You should see your face right now, JT." I grinned before chuckling.

JT's mouth dropped open as he realized why I was laughing at him. "I hate you, Keller."

"I'm sorry…I couldn't help it."

"Wait...so you two didn't have sex, right?"

"No, JT. We didn't."

"Something tells me you're not here for very long…Going back to Cat's?"

"What gave you that idea?" I asked.

"Well, you put on a clean shirt for starters. Not to mention, you just dabbed a little bit of cologne on yourself."

"What? No I didn't."

"Dude…look what's in your hand. Now you tell me that THAT isn't a cologne bottle I see."

I instantly put it back down and said, "That doesn't mean anything. I just picked it up because I didn't like where it originally was."

"You know, for a guy who has been "dead" for ten years, you really suck when it comes to lying. I may not have your super-senses but I can definitely tell when you're lying. And that, my friend, was the lamest lie you've ever come up with." JT said before patting my back. "So…now that we've established the fact that you're going back to Cat's, what do you plan on doing?"

"I don't know…we might watch a movie or we might just talk." I replied.

"Just wondering, did Cat ever tell you what happened a few weeks back?"

"Yeah…she did…technically she yelled at me…but, I do know what essentially happened." I said.

"Dude, you're eyes are glowing…"

"Sorry." I said as I walk over to the sink to splash water on my face.

"Vincent, you seem tense all of a sudden. Why?"

I dried my face of and said, "I just can't get over the fact that if I arrived a moment later, she could have been killed. I didn't kill the guy because I knew Catherine wouldn't want me to but, I swear, that creep deserves it! No one deserves to live after doing something like what he did to Catherine."

"That's funny how you say that considering you've done some pretty crappy things in your life as well. Do you believe that about yourself?" JT asked, catching me off guard with his question.

I didn't answer that question.

"See? Even psychos like him deserve some type of justice system—even if the situation merits death."

"I'll be going now." I said as I pull on my jacket. "Catherine should be on her way back from the precinct."

"Wait—precinct? Why was she at the precinct?"

"They needed her to ID the perpetrator. Don't worry, she didn't go alone. Her sister went with her to make sure she didn't have any PTSD episodes."

"Oh yeah, I was going through the laundry and I found these three photos of the two of you—did Cat hire a professional to take them?" JT asked as he handed me the three photos I took from the perp's apartment.

"No…the perp had a photo collage of Catherine in his apartment. These three pictures were a part of that collage so I removed them before the police could see them. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing…at least nothing definitive." JT replies as if he was waving the thought away.

I rolled my eyes and said, "See ya later, Dude."

"When?"

"I'll call you." I replied before disappearing out the door.

I couldn't help but chuckle as I heard JT mumble, "Might as well create a grave epitaph that says "I'll call you." At least that's more concrete than an empty promise. No pun intended."

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

In no time, I was back at Catherine's, entering through the window next to her fire escape. I noticed that she had already gone back to bed so I slipped off my shoes and slipped under her covers before wrapping my arms around her. She turned around in my arms and faced me before gently placing a kiss on my lips.

"Hey…" I whispered but then I noticed tears in her eyes, "Are you alright?"

At first, she was silent but then, after one more kiss, she said, "No…I'm not."

"Want to talk about it?"

She started to sit up so I sat up with her, taking her hands in mine.

"I t-thought I could handle going to the precinct earlier…I thought I could go end it once and for all by merely pointing at him. But…I just wasn't ready to go back there…to see him through that one-way mirror….smiling at me…knowing I was behind that layer of glass. It was the same smile he wore when he was…when he…wh—"

"Hey…it's okay…you don't have to relive the story, Catherine. You'll get through this and I'll help you every step of the way." I said softly.

"Vincent, I can't ask you to come here every day and night just to check up on me…You'd be risking everything you've done for the past ten years to stay under the radar."

I gently kissed her forehead and said, "Catherine, if my coming here every night and day is what helps you get through your night and day, than it is a risk worth taking. I would risk everything to keep you safe."

She looked away and whispered, "I can't ask you to give up the life you now have on my account. It's self—"

I placed my finger against her lips and said, "I wouldn't be giving up my life, Catherine. I would be making a new one. Don't you see? Coming here—seeing you—is what makes my life worth living. I'd risk everything to see you, Catherine…"

"But Muirfield?"

"What about Muirfield? Yes, okay, I know Muirfield has created a handicap in my life but honestly? I have been risking my life seeing you every year I've known you, Catherine. JT may think I've only started putting everything at risk but in reality, I've been risking everything at least once a year for the past nine years because I needed to know you were doing okay. You were and still are worth the risk, Catherine." I replied as I brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

I leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss to prove to her just how serious I was. As we departed, I kissed her forehead.

"You know," she began to say, "I've wanted to tell you something for some time now…but I just wasn't sure if I was ready to admit it to myself until two weeks ago when I was attacked...You see," she placed her palm against my cheek and continued, "Part of me was clinging onto hope that you would be there—that you would save me. But as time went forward, I believed his lies. He told me how I was alone and that no one would be able to save me. That was when I began to think I would never see you again, Vincent. During the entire time he was torturing me, all I could think of was you. As my life was slowly flashing before my eyes, my mind began to wonder what it could have been like for us to live a life without lies—to marry and start a family… After that night, I realized I did not want to go through life not knowing what we have—what we are to each other. Fearing I would never see you again has made me one hundred percent sure of something—something I've been longing to tell you, Vincent. This may sound completely ridiculous but I...but I've fallen for you, Vincent. I love you and I hate the thought of dying and not knowing what our lives could have been—or should have been."

"Catherine, this probably goes without saying but I have been in love with you since day one. Words cannot describe how long I've waited to hear you tell me that—especially considering my condition."

"Vincent, your condition shouldn't be looked down upon. It's who you are and I accept every part of you." She smiles before she wipes away my oncoming tears.

For the first time in a long time, I can clearly see a better life for me…for us. And I would do anything in order for me to hold onto that vision.

I kissed her forehead once more but cleared my throat as I noticed we had company.

"Well isn't this cute." Heather smiled.

"What is it, Heather?"

"Can I talk to your super-soldier boyfriend for a moment?"

"I g-guess." I replied, annoyed about Heather barging in on us…again.

I decided to go ahead and get dressed for the day while Heather and Vincent talk.

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

~Heather's POV~

I pulled Vincent away from Heather as fast as I could before I heard him say, "What is it?"

"Listen…By being Cat's sister, I know a few things about her. I know you may think this is none of your business but you're going to hear it anyways. You see, Cat hasn't had the best of relationships in her life and I just want to make sure this relationship with you won't end up breaking her heart…Because if it does, I'll beat you up—super-soldier or no super-soldier."

"I have no intentions of hurting Catherine." he replied.

"Good…you better not. Oh! And one more thing. I just wanted to say how I think it's cute that you never call Cat by her nickname—Cat. You're always calling her Catherine and I dig that. I find that saying her full first name is respectful and gentlemanly." I grinned.

"Is that all?" he asked, probably wishing to be kissing Cat's lips already.

"For now!" I smiled. "Now you two may go ahead and start kissing each other again."

I giggled as he rolled his eyes before leaving the living room to go back to Cat. I doubt honestly that he will do anything harmful but you can never be too sure of anything these days. But, I do like the idea of Catherine dating.

Keiko Fujiwara: Well? How was it?

Please send more reviews and give me feedback on either my story or on what you thought about Episode 9—which, btw, was my inspiration for this chapter.