Chapter Ten- All Comes Down to This
Thanks to Dardeile, mj0621, angelaumbrello, DrusillaBraun, CanadianHalliwell, CissaMalfoy, jwoods471, Grammar Maven, fallinidentity, and my fairlady for their reviews
Sergeant…I know you do. Lol
Special thanks to jwoods471 for telling me how to spell Lindsey, sorry for the slip up!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this show, I just like to write.
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Catherine was getting cold. She shivered as blood ran down her wrists from her twisting in her bonds and her body was bruised from the constant throwing herself at the door. The door jiggled and Catherine moved away quickly from the door to avoid being slammed full on in the face. Due to loss of blood and stress, her legs were wobbly and she fell, slamming her head against the wall. She let out a soft cry as she sank to the floor.
Charlie opened the door and looked down at her. Her blue eyes were fierce as she glared back at him. He smiled in a sick and twisted way that made Catherine's stomach churn. He shoved a smaller form into the room. The figure emitted a soft cry of "Mommy!"
Catherine moved forward to shelter her daughter who buried her face in her mother, sobbing.
"Charlie you won't get away with this." Catherine spat at him.
Lindsey wormed away from him, closer to the wall, but Catherine faced him with fearless eyes. She was a trained CSI, didn't scare easily…at least she didn't show it. Deep inside, every nerve was shaking for fear of her life and more importantly the life of her daughter and everyone she loved so much.
He knelt down beside her and stroked her cheek. She trembled in spite of herself. He smiled at that.
"I'll be back. Enjoy your time left, Catherine dear. When Grissom arrives Lindsey will be dead and you will watch him die." He said cruelly.
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Grissom quickly dialed a nonfamiliar number on the phone. He had never done anything like this before, but found he had no choice. This was all for Catherine…if she was still alive.
"Tangiers, this is Melbourne speaking." A professional voice came on the line.
"This is Gil Grissom from the Las Vegas Crime Lab, I'm asking about Sam Braun's private jet and if I could borrow it to save his daughter."
Silence followed his almost matter-of-fact statement.
"I'm sorry sir, I have no way of confirming that you are who you are or if you are at all even related to Miss Willows." The lawyer said softly. "I cannot authorize it."
Grissom lost his already strained temper. "Look Sir you may not know me, but I know Catherine. I'm listed on her next of kin list along with her daughter Lindsey. If you want me to run off facts about her I will. She worked for me on the graveyard shift for a number of years before she transferred to the swing shift. Then after our colleague Nick was buried alive, she returned to the graveyard shift. She worked as an exotic dancer, came from Montana, and was married once to a man named Eddie Willows. Okay?" he said all in one breath.
Silence again. Finally a sigh. "I guess it wouldn't hurt." The lawyer replied. "Sam always told me that when it came to his only daughter, money, time, nothing was an object. Take the jet. The pilot will fly you to wherever you need to go."
Grissom let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding. "I'll be there in five."
Without the jet, it was would take at least 8 hours to drive up to where Catherine lives, and another 3 hours if he booked a flight. That was time that Catherine didn't have and Grissom couldn't spare.
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Sara confronted Grissom was he raced out of his office.
"Where are you going?" she demanded to know, moving so that her body blocked his path.
Lately things had gotten out of control. It was no longer just about Grissom and Catherine's relationship, it was now about how Grissom was dancing around Sara. Sara had had enough. She wanted to fix this or end it and move on. She refused to stand there like a toy until Grissom felt it was time to right things. It was possible that that would never happen.
"Rescue Catherine. She's been kidnapped. I need you to lead shift while I'm gone." He said, trying to move around her, only to be blocked again as she followed his steps.
"This can't go one Gil." Sara said softly. "I can't take this anymore."
At this, Grissom's shoulder slumped. "Sara, I don't know what to say." He said softly, his worry for Catherine clouding his better judgment of saying something better.
Her eyes filled. She furiously wiped the tears away. "Gil, I've stuck by you when Catherine was gone. She comes back for only one or two weeks and she turns you upside down and inside out. I can't do that. She makes you laugh, I can see that. Of course I can compete with you mentally, but so can she. Why are we still doing this?"
Grissom had no answer for once in his life.
Sara continued. "Maybe this is what was supposed to happen. Before she left she asked me to take care of you, to keep you from becoming a stone. I did my best and I guess I succeeded in a way. You care for someone. It may not be me, but at least you have a heart now. So Gil, it all comes down to this. Who do you want to spend your life with, love, cherish, and hold…me or Catherine?"
Sara's gaze was intense, but Grissom's stare was just as strong and hard.
"Catherine." He whispered. "Catherine."
Sara gave him a tearful smile. "That's what I thought. Thank you Grissom, for clearing that up with me." She gave him a hug. "Now go. Fly to Montana as fast as you can and bring the queen of the lab back. We still need her."
Grissom kissed her on the cheek and raced out of the lab and out of Las Vegas, to where his heart was.
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He was back. Catherine heard it the moment the door outside her room creaked open. Lindsey was asleep in her arms. It had been difficult, but finally Catherine had been able to coax her little girl to an uncomfortable sleep instead of the terror that she would be facing if she were awake. She clutched her daughter tighter.
The door flew open revealing a sopping wet Charlie with a rope and gun in hand.
"Looks like Grissom forgot all about you." He said, coming closer to her. "Maybe Sara won his heart back. Oh well, this has nothing to do with us. Now Lindsey come here."
Catherine shielded the now awake Lindsay with her body.
"Stay away from her Charlie. You can have me, but stay away from her." she said.
"I don't think you're in the position to call the shots Miss Willows." He said coldly. "Now let go of your daughter or else I will wrench her away from you and I can't promise I'll be gentle."
"Come closer and I'll send your balls up to live in your throat." She screamed at him.
She was projecting more confidence than she felt, but she knew this kind of men. They get satisfaction from being in total control, for putting fear into their victims. She refused to give him that pleasure. She refused to be called a victim. The rope around her hands were a huge handicap, but her mind was counting down the chances that she would have to kick him in the balls and avoid being shot.
He grabbed her by the arm to throw her across the room away from Lindsey. Catherine cried out in pain as her arm twisted and she hit the wall.
"MOM!" Lindsey screamed, wrenching herself away from Charlie trying desperately to get to her mother.
Charlie held the girl firmly as he slipped the rope around her neck, gun still in hand. "Think of happy things Lindsey." He commanded, as he started to pull the rope tighter as she started to gasp for breath.
Catherine struggled to her feet and body slammed him away from Lindsey, the rope dropped onto the floor. The door was again thrown open. Catherine didn't need to look to know who stood in the doorway behind her. Charlie seemed to know too. Before the figure could comprehend the scene before him, he shot, too fast for Grissom to even react.
Catherine, however, had spent enough days working with Charlie, understanding his ways, watching his back. They were partners before all of this, and on some level they did trust each other. That trust may have been broken, but she still knew how his training went and how he reacted in various situations.
The world seemed to move in slow motion as Catherine got to her feet and blocked Grissom's body as the gun went off. She let out a soft cry as the bullet hit her in the chest and she crumpled to the floor, struggling for breath.
Grissom's heart plummeted to the floor and then lower to Hell. He yelled in rage as he brought up his own weapon to aim and fire a collection of 6 shots into Charlie's chest. Charlie never got a chance to react to the fire, and he fell, beside Catherine, dead before he could hit the ground. His open dead eyes stared at her, not seeing her, not seeing anything for the rest of eternity.
Grissom numbly pulled out his phone, dialing for an ambulance and applying pressure to Catherine's wound. When he hung up he untied Catherine's hands and then Lindsay's while still applying the pressure. Lindsey grasped Catherine's hand and sobbed in childlike fear and pain. Grissom could not comfort her, not while he was so scared himself.
"Hang in there Catherine, hang in there." Grissom whispered, pressing on the wound that would not cease oozing red blood.
"Don't leave me." He begged softly, tears filling his eyes. "Don't leave me, not again. I just got you back. I can't lose you again. Don't leave me."
Catherine's lips moved as if she wished to speak. Say something to the two people she loved the most hovering over her as she took her last breaths, but found that all strength had left her. Her vision blurred as she tried desperately to come to terms with her death, with her good-bye to the life that seemed so normal, which suddenly became so precisely unique in its own way. She suddenly understood why terminally ill patients hung to every moment of life in spite of all the pain. She regretted every time she cursed the world that showed her so many horrors, but had also shown her so many blessings. She felt tears fill her eyes. All her career, death was part of her job. She had looked at it impassively, choosing to think hat if it came, she would accept it. Now when it was knocking on her door, it changed her perspective. Catherine Willows realized that she was not yet ready to die.
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Author's Note:
Only a few more cliffhangers left ya'll. But come on, you have to admit you like the action. Lol. I'm just kidding. I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter, because it was really fun to write. I feel like I'm watching on of those action movies when everything explodes at once. I'm still debating whether or not Catherine should live though, or if I should just write two endings for it. You know like those alternate endings on those movies with those cool special feature DVD sets. R&R with opinions.