p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"uspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"Chapter 9br /br /br /span/u/strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"Author's Note: I do apologize for the shocking sentence construction in Chapter 8 – words left out and words used in incorrect places. I was overtired!br /br /br /I felt my body slowly calling itself to life, the blood starting to flow through to my limbs; almost like coming out of a deep mind clouding sleep - one that makes you feel /The room, assuming it was a room, was as black as the ace of spades – wait, something wasn't quite right. I couldn't see anything and I couldn't move a muscle, that's strange. On my back with my arms at my sides and my hands flat, I tried to push against the surface I was lying on – might give me an idea as to where I am and what the hell happened. Had I been drugged? I must have been; that would explain the brain fog. I felt smooth and cool stainless steel underneath me and I tried to move my head to look around, but couldn't. Then I realized I was naked and started to panic. Why was I here? Who had brought me here? Where was Nick? Is Lindsey safe? My heart started to pound louder and louder, drumming in my ears, with each disturbing unanswered question until I thought it was going to beat right through my /All of a sudden there was a ray of bright light breaking through the darkness and it settled on my face. My eyes burned at the intensity and heat and I wanted to scrunch my face into a squint to see if I could know more about where I /Then a figure appeared out of nowhere – almost like a creepy apparition. It leaned over me and hovered – a doctor's mask! The apparition blocked out most of the light framing the individual giving off a soft, misty-like glow. Had I been injured? Is that why I'm here? I'm in the hospital – that must be it! I tried to speak - my brain yelling at my mouth to do its job and deliver the audio version of my thoughts, but my tongue felt swollen and heavy; way too heavy to move. I tried to groan, but my voice box felt like it was being strangled. I felt my breathing increase as fear shot through my body like a thousand icicles pinning me all at /The Figure hovered and slowly leaned down for a close up as I tried to force my mouth open in a silent scream. There was no face. The Figure had no face – no facial features at all, almost like being an incomplete model of clay. The Figure held something in Its hand and opened it like you would a dollar bill and my heart paralyzed in fear. It was a toe tag for the morgue and on the toe tag was "Catherine Doe". The Figure moved down towards my feet to attach the tag and I tried to escape. I tried to roll. I tried to sit up. I tried to move my legs. I tried to lift my feet to kick It. All was in vain because no matter what I did, how hard I tried, I couldn't /The Figure walked back to the upper half of my body and stopped next to my shoulder, completely nonplussed and at ease as though It were working on a project. If I could just maneuver my tongue out the way then perhaps I could push some words out or a sound – anything to be able to /It reached across me and picked up something lying just next to my ear. It dropped it and I heard a clatter – steel against steel is what it sounded like, so the object must be steel. As It held the object a couple of millimeters above my face it glinted in the light, catching a shine. As terrified as I already was, I felt my stomach clench and the feeling to throw up so badly I thought I'd choke. It was holding a scalpel and glacially aimed at my chest to start a Y incision. Finally, I was able to scream, and I shrieked as lout as I could in the hope someone would hear /br /br /I bolted upright, my screams turning into gasping sobs. I felt strong arms and a muscular chest – Nick was holding me tightly murmuring, "Cath it's okay. You're safe. I'm here. It's okay. No one is going to get you, I'm right here." I started shaking violently and he tightened his hold, murmuring into my hair and softly kissing the top of my head. I felt the rush of tears that I just couldn't stop, wetting his chest – he didn't seem to mind though. Outside a loud grumble of thunder and a flash of lightening lit up my bedroom triggering a fresh adrenaline of fear and I cried out while rain down poured, belting against the window. Nick continued to hold me, allowing me to snap out of the nightmare in my own time with my brain struggling to try and differentiate between fact and fiction. He rocked me slowly – barely moving, but the soothing motion could still be felt and gently rubbed circles on my back trying to comfort me. Eventually I had calmed down and had managed to gain some control over my breathing, stopping the sobs and tears. I couldn't stop the shaking though, but I reluctantly pulled away slightly so I could look at /He looked at me with worry stitched all over his face, his mouth in a line and his eyes exuding fear and concern. He still held both hands in his, refusing to let go. "Are you okay now?" I tried to nod, but shaking as badly as I was did not help the confirmation. He squeezed my /"Wha… wha… what happ-ened?" I choked out. "Ni... Ni… Nick I wa… wa… was Ca… Ca… Catherine D… D… Doe." I stuttered, not believing that this was just a /"Hey." He brought his hand to my cheek and I flinched, until he tenderly pushed a stray lock of hair out the way. "Cath, look at me." Dazed now, I lifted my head and looked at him. "You're Catherine Willows. Okay? Catherine Willows. You're NOT Catherine Doe. I could beat Greg into next year for coming up with this idiotic label." My breathing started to slow down and had returned to normal after a couple more minutes. We were still sitting up in bed, my tank soaked in sweat. "I need to change," I muttered attempting to slide off the bed. Nick let go. "Cath I think we need to make you some sweet tea." Typical Southerners social protocol. My heartbeat – now returned to normal – twisted and my breath caught in my throat. What would I have done had he not been here? I threw my sweat drenched tank top and sweats into the laundry basket and pulled on boy shorts and a massive, oversized tee shirt that was Nick's. I had accidentally packed it into my suitcase while we were on one of our out of town cases and I had just never given it back. It still held his scent and used to be such a comfort until I got the real thing. I climbed back into bed and Nick pulled me to spoon against him as he locked his arm around my waist, hugging me close. I didn't resist and sank back into him. We were both quiet for a couple of minutes, listening to the rain hammer against the windows and the odd boom of thunder followed by the flash of lightening that continued to light up my /"Cath…" his said in a low voice, his breath right next to my ear. "I don't think you should continue with the case. I just think it's taking too much out of you and I'm worried."br /I stiffened in defense and feeling that he quickly said, "You're a damn good CSI. I'm not questioning your qualification, experience or skills, but I don't want this case cracking you instead of the other way around." He kissed my temple and lingered there for a few seconds before stamping another /I took a deep breath, giving it a moment before I answered him. Yes, I could see where he was coming from and why he would feel that way, but I can't just let this case go. The fact that the perp is now after me says it all – they're afraid of being caught and are obviously threatened by me knowing that I could probably be the one to put them behind bars, if not in the /I found his hand around my waist and squeezed it, running my fingers along his arm before I turned to lie on my back in order to face him. He was still lying on his side, now propped up with one arm while the other rested on my chest. I looked up at him lovingly and said, "Nicky, I know you're worried. I hear and understand you. I can't just quit though. You of all people should know I never just walk away from a case. Hell, even if I'm pulled off a case I still work it." He gave me a small smile at that and tenderly kissed my /"When we start getting results I'll feel better. I didn't realize how much this case was embedding itself in me. Or maybe I did, but I chose to ignore it." I sighed, feeling a little /He put a hand on my cheek and lightly moved so my head faced him and kissed me slowly, almost protectively, in reassurance. I returned the kiss in equal capacity, trying to be as tender and loving as I could. We broke apart, both of us out of /"I can't let anything happen to you," he whispered. I smiled softly. "I'm serious Catherine. I will not let anything happen to you."br /When he called me "Catherine" I knew he was trying to catch my attention as to how severe he was being whatever the situation. My fingers lightly danced across his chest now before I pulled his head down and kissed him urgently this time. "Nothing is going to happen to me," I whispered, a hairsbreadth away from his lips. "I have you." I kissed him. "And you know." I kissed him again. "I never." Another kiss. "Let the bad guys win." A final /He sighed. "I should've known it's pointless arguing with you."br /With that he lay on his back and maneuvered me with him so I was lying wedged against his side with my arm over him, my fingers making walking movements up and down his chiseled chest. He reached down and lifted my hand to brush a kiss across my knuckles. I hummed a contented sigh and drifted off into a dreamless sleep – one that had no faceless men. The only real man's face was lying right next to me. I smiled at style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span /span/p