Sitting under the bright spotlights of the kitchen Cassandra could almost shake the nightmare. She glanced up at Horatio gratefully when he set a glass of orange juice on the small table before her and then took a seat opposite her.
The plucky, nonsensical sounds of a cartoon called softly through the open doorway from the living room where Marissa sat, wide eyed on the couch and hugging Becky. Horatio had just come from in there after turning on the television for the girl. The sofa and Marissa were fully visible to both adults through the open door and the noise of the television lent them an element of privacy without compromising Marissa's safety.
Cassandra only realised she was still shaking when she tried to lift the glass from the table and had to release it as the juice spilt over of the edges with her tremoring. She sighed and linked her hands together on her lap in an attempt to cease the shuddering.
"What happened in your dream?" Horatio queried softly.
Cassandra glanced over at him. It was three in the morning and whilst he looked tired there were no signs of annoyance or irritation, just that consoling calm he usually offered her. He was still in his night garments, a New York Yankees navy and white baseball t-shirt and a pair of navy shorts. It had amused Cassandra to see the redhead donning something so casual and when she had remarked upon it he had queried dryly if she had really thought he wore a suit to bed. His light copper hair was in disarray, sticking up at the front but Cassandra found it appealing.
"I couldn't get out," she said quietly. "I could hear Rick screaming and I couldn't find him and I kept running down corridors in the house but I couldn't find him and I couldn't find the way out." She swallowed hard. "Then everything was dark and I couldn't move and I could hear him instead...Garrett." She was surprised to feel a dampness at her cheeks and raised her right hand to swipe the tears away, pausing when her fingertips brushed against a scar she still wasn't used to. "I could hear his footsteps on the stairs and his voice calling, promising to tell me a bedtime story. Oh God." Cassandra let out a bitter laugh and looked at Horatio again. "That probably doesn't sound so bad."
Horatio thought of what Rick had told him, Ryan and Frank about Mr. Garrett's idea of telling a bedtime story to Cassandra. "Given who we are talking about I imagine it was," he said with a careful diplomacy. He didn't want to betray what Rick had told them and preferred to give Cassandra the chance to expel her own demons.
The blonde let out a soft sniffle and raised the back of her hand to her nose this time. "Even after all these years he still has me crying and shaking like I'm a little girl again."
Horatio stood up at last, heading to the kitchen counter to pluck a tissue from the box sitting there. He handed it to Cassandra and she took it gratefully.
"I lost your handkerchief," she confessed mournfully. "I mean it's somewhere with my things but I don't know if it's in Rick's place or yours."
"That's alright," Horatio retorted kindly, "I have others."
She shook her head. "No, it's careless of me, it meant something to you, it was a gift from someone and I should have returned it ages ago."
Horatio gave her a small smile. "Cassie you have a lot more important things on your mind than a handkerchief. I don't mourn its loss." He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head lightly. "Now, continue telling me about your dream, if you can."
She nodded as he pulled back before glancing briefly in Marissa's direction. The young girl had lifted her legs onto the sofa and was curled up hugging Becky tightly as her tired gaze lingered on the television. Cassandra felt terrible for waking the young girl with her nightmarish screams and frightening her again by sleepwalking into the wall. The poor child did not deserve to have her nights tormented by her aunt's screwed up subconsciousness.
"My mother compelled him to bond with me," she confessed quietly as she turned a grim stare on the glass of orange juice, "so he said he would read to me at night, which he did." She sighed heavily as she felt herself shaking again. "He'd get drunk, come up late and drag me out of bed." She tensed up and glanced up at Horatio with a pain stricken stare. "Sometimes I mean he'd literally drag me, yank me up by my arm and pull me across the floor. If I cried he'd hit me and tell me I'd go in the closet. I remember one night he got really cross, he'd pulled me so hard from bed I fell on the floor and hurt myself and I burst into tears. He dragged me by my hair into the hall to the closet, had the key out and ready but Rick was there."
Cassandra fell silent as the tears appeared again and she rubbed at them ferociously, reddening her scars and causing her eyes to burn. "I think I was seven maybe so Rick was about thirteen. Rick confronted him, so he grabbed Rick, unlocked the door and threw him in. I protested but he locked the door and told me if I wasn't good Rick wouldn't get out again. I had to go back to my room." She gave Horatio another woeful stare. "There was a chair in my room that he would sit on and he would make me sit on his lap whilst he read to me, it was always horrid. He'd bring up newspapers with stories about violent crimes and make me look hard at the pictures. My bedtime stories were about rapes and murders."
Only in that moment did Horatio finally realise why Cassandra rarely read Marissa bedtime stories and why Rick so readily did without protest. The past four nights Cassandra, Horatio and Marissa had spent here, Cassandra hadn't once read to Marissa. Horatio had put it down to Cassandra's struggles with the vision in her right eye but now he realised there was a darker truth to it.
"Your stepfather twisted a lot of good things in your childhood," Horatio remarked bluntly, "and robbed you of much of it but he didn't rob you of your life Cassie and you can still have good things."
"I can't even have sleep," she said bitterly. She shook her head at this. "Listen to me complaining, you and Mari can't have any sleep either with me around."
"Cassie you have to take things one step at a time, you went through a very serious ordeal and you're still suffering the stress from it combined with your grief. You need time."
She nodded. "I know but..." She trailed off and pushed back her chair. "You know I think I'll sit with Mari for a bit, maybe the cartoons will help." She offered Horatio a weak smile. "Do you want to join us or maybe you should try and go back to sleep."
Horatio smiled back. "I'll sit with you."
The pair headed into the living room. Horatio took care to turn the light off and shut the kitchen door behind them.
They occupied the three seater with Marissa, with Cassandra seated in the middle. She drew her legs up onto the sofa and sat with them bent sideways and leaned into Horatio. Horatio put an arm about her and rubbed her arm gently in an attempt to console her.
By four am the girls were asleep on the couch. Not wanting to disturb them, Horatio instead eased Cassandra down onto his lap and then pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and bundled it about the pair.
Horatio knew he was going to have to go to work in just a matter of hours. Sure his superiors had offered him leave in light of his personal circumstances and the fact that they had solved all the murders even if one criminal was still on the run. Horatio knew he couldn't take leave, he couldn't stop until Josh Silverstone was caught because Cassandra, Rick and Marissa wouldn't have peace until he was. That was the unvoiced 'but' in Cassandra's words and Horatio knew it, the reason why she couldn't attempt moving on with her life because she was terrified he would come again and hurt her or Marissa or Rick, maybe kill Rick while he was at the hospital or seize Marissa from them. Horatio knew all of the woman's fears because he held them too.
Even Frank had dared to suggest Horatio took a step back from it all, grumbling that an arrest was just semantics, Horatio and Ryan had done the groundwork, they didn't have to make the arrest personally. Horatio knew what Frank was getting at, his less than professional dealings with Jose Salaz. Frank hadn't mentioned it to anyone else or even commented on it directly to Horatio and Jose hadn't mentioned it either as far as Horatio was aware but the redhead knew that even if he was getting away with it, it had been wrong. It made Horatio think of the irony of how he'd done it for Cassandra and Rick but how, had Rick been on duty and learned of it, he'd have probably come to have a formal talk with Horatio about it.
Frank feared, and Horatio couldn't blame him for it, how much worse the redhead might be when he finally confronted Josh Silverstone. Josh was the one who had tortured and murdered Gilly, because of him Erica Sykes and the social worker Mrs. Burke had to die, deaths he had been involved with, and he had been the one to decide that Cassandra and Rick should be kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured, and he had tried to get Horatio and the others to murder Rick on his behalf and had left Cassandra scarred. Josh was mad with the news of his brother's demise and Horatio knew that madness would only have worsened at the news of Cassandra and Rick both surviving him, he might be hiding but he would return to hurt them again as soon as he could.
Natalia Boa Vista glanced over as she heard a mumbling noise. She uncrossed her legs and stood up from the chair she had been positioned in for over an hour before walking over to the hospital bed as quietly as she could. She stared down at its occupant, Rick Stetler, with uncertainty as he let out a groan of pain.
Rick had taken a fever a few hours ago, the doctor advised one of his wounds was showing signs of infection and now he was on a powerful dose of antibiotics. Ryan had been on duty then and given Horatio a ring before advising Natalia of what to expect.
"Leave her alone," Rick murmured, "leave her alone."
Natalia frowned as she watched him. She wasn't used to seeing Rick like this, he had always presented a formidable figure with his height and his heavy set frowns but now he appeared vulnerable and Natalia didn't know what to do.
His dark eyes shot open, wide and unfocused as he yelled, "don't put her in there! Cassie!"
Natalia jumped before instinctively reaching out a hand to grip his. She was startled when she felt the heat blazing from his palm. "It's alright Rick," she said soothingly, "Cassie's okay."
His bleary, bloodshot eyes rolled about with uncertainty. "No, they're in the dark!"
Natalia reached her free hand up to his brow and found it soaked with sweat and burning up. "Rick they're safe," she attempted to reassure him.
"Gilly, I wasn't there, I wasn't in the dark."
Natalia's eyes went wide with shock when the man started to make a noise that sounded like sobbing. She softened her expression to one of sympathy and stroked his brow briefly before leaning over so that she was closer to his face. "Rick," she addressed him gently, "it's alright. You have to let go and get some rest. Cassie and Marissa are safe and Gilly is in a better place. Come on," she urged him, "close your eyes and go back to sleep."
"In the dark, everyone's in the dark," he babbled as his eyelids fluttered closed.
"Shush," Natalia hushed him, "get some rest." She held his hand until he sank back into a quiet slumber, then she stepped back and returned to the chair which sat against the wall below the window.
The CSI waited warily for any more change in the man or an update from Ryan or Horatio. She knew that right now both of them were at work trying hard to find a lead to Josh. Cassandra and Marissa were in the safe house, or apartment as it were, with an ex-army private guard at their door and Yelina within for company.
Everyone, including Natalia, had reached the point of exhaustion. Given everything that happened no one wanted Marissa, Cassandra or Rick alone or without a familiar face but Ryan and Horatio weren't relenting on the case either so it was impossible to achieve and more often than not the three were under the care of unfamiliar guards. Natalia felt a huge pity for the family, she knew Cassandra wanted to be by her brother's side all the time but it was no place for Marissa, especially now with Rick in such poor condition. The young girl was already traumatised and she saw Rick as the protective figure in her life, she shouldn't have to see him suffering like this.
Cassandra had come this morning when Rick had taken a bad turn. Marissa had waited in the corridor outside the ward with Horatio, kept oblivious to the news but sensing that something was wrong. Natalia hadn't been here for it but Ryan had informed her that it had only made them all worse as Cassandra had filled with guilt when she had to leave, and Marissa was upset because she knew something was wrong with her uncle.
It was late in the afternoon when Natalia was roused by a knock on the door. She glanced up warily and called out a greeting whilst reaching for her gun just in case.
"It's Horatio," came the retort.
Natalia relaxed her stance and stood up from the chair. "Come ahead." She glanced over at Rick as she pushed down the wrinkles in her grey trousers.
The door opened and Horatio entered into the room. He had a tired stance and his auburn hair was mussed slightly. He plucked off his sunglasses and pocketed them as he shut the door behind him.
Natalia knew immediately from her boss' weary stance that today hadn't been successful. She felt pressed to ask about Josh Silverstone anyway but before she could Horatio spoke.
"How is he?" Horatio queried quietly. He studied the drip Rick was hooked up to and the machine that kept track of his pulse.
"He's still delirious," Natalia admitted, "his fever hasn't broken yet." She gestured to the drip, which was three quarters full. "It's another dose of antibiotics," she explained. She pursed her lips and gave Horatio a grim stare. "They're stronger ones, a blast to clear the infection and the fever. The good news is it hasn't spread."
Horatio nodded calmly and dipped his head as he took a step up to Rick's bedside. "I'll bring the girls tomorrow."
"Both of them?" Natalia queried.
"Marissa can wait in the hall with me unless Cassie feels differently about it," he admitted as he glanced over at Natalia. "Anyway, you can go now Ms Boa Vista, I'll wait until Officer Burke arrives."
"You don't have to do that," Natalia protested. She glanced at her watch, it was just after five and from what she recalled Officer Burke was due around seven. "It's only another couple of hours."
"You've been here since twelve," Horatio reminded her.
"I don't mind," she insisted. "Go back to Cassie and Marissa," she urged, "they'll want you around for dinner."
Horatio raised his eyebrows slightly and looked thoughtful at this. He glanced back down at Rick again and nodded. "Alright," he gave in, "if it suits you to stay."
"It does," Natalia retorted with a smile. "Give them my best."
"I will."
Horatio headed back to the door.
"Horatio, what about Joshua Silverstone?" Natalia called after him.
Horatio gave Natalia a serious stare. "He doesn't have long," he retorted sternly.
Natalia gazed back at her boss with surprise, unsure what to make of his remark.
Horatio didn't elaborate. "Good evening Ms Boa Vista." He stepped out of the room.
"Night," Natalia called quietly to the closed door.