She walked into her apartment, putting her purse on the kitchen counter by the door and hanging her coat up in the small closet. She knew that the babysitter had already taken Lindsey to school so she debated rather to grab a quick breakfast or just go to sleep. She decided to go to sleep, it was bad to sleep after just eating anyway, yet she ended up doing that constantly with her shift. She thought about Grissom and what might be wrong with him. He acted strange lately, like he was out of it even more than usual, like he couldn't hear her. She'd start talking to him and he'd ask her to repeat it or he'd stare at her intently. She knew that it was probably one of his newest oddities, but somehow she couldn't just dismiss it. Maybe Sara knew; she'd ask tonight. She heard the door close behind her and she knew that she hadn't done it. She spun around and saw a man standing there, staring at her.
"What are you doing in my apartment?" She tried to keep her voice strong and authoritative.
"You don't remember me, do you, Catherine?"
"No." She said firmly.
"You sent me up the river for rape and you don't even remember it. My wife divorced me, I lost my kids…you destroyed my life and you don't even remember me." Catherine thought quickly and reached for the phone, managing to knock it off the hook, but not calling anyone.
"We don't want anyone else here." He pushed the phone away from her and got on top of her. She remembered feeling trapped and helpless as she fought against him. "I went down for a rape I didn't do, might as well get a freebie, huh?" His voice made her even more panicky and she wished that she hadn't pushed away Grissom's offer of breakfast. She would have been there and maybe whoever this was would have gotten tired of waiting. She was scared and vulnerable and she hated those feelings more than anything. The pain became unbearable, but she never cried.
*****
Grissom was still alone in his
office when he could swear that he heard a woman crying. He looked in the break room and then in the
locker room for Sara, but she wasn't there.
The crying hadn't stopped though and suddenly he realized what it was,
grabbed his keys, and headed to his Tahoe.
*****
"Catherine." Nick tried to
wake Catherine up from her nightmare; she was crying so hard that he was
worried if she could breathe enough or not.
He felt someone's hand on his shoulder and jumped a little. "Grissom." He moved aside and let his boss sit near the
couch.
"Grissom?" Catherine asked through tears.
"I'm here, Cath. It's okay. Everything's okay." Everything wasn't okay, but he couldn't stop saying it. Neither of them noticed when Nick slipped from the room, giving them more privacy.
"It was so awful."
"I know." He moved to where he could put an arm around her shoulders for comfort. "I know. We're going to catch him though. I promise." She suddenly reminded him of a cross between a woman and a child; he'd never thought about her like that before. Sara, Warrick, and Nick were 'their kids', but never Catherine.
"He said that he was a suspect in an old rape case of mine. I couldn't even remember him."
He thought about the stack of folders on his desk. "Well, you've done a lot of cases." He made a mental note to concentrate on her old rape cases and forget about the burglaries and other similar cases before he turned his attention back to Catherine. "Why don't you lie back down and get some more sleep?" She shook her head and clung to him. "Okay. It's okay. You don't have to. It's okay. Why don't I just take this blanket and cover us up? We can sleep like this. It's okay." It sounded stupid to his ears, saying it's okay constantly, but it was all he could think of to say.
"Are you going back to the lab?" She finally asked, searching his face.
"No. I'm going to stay here with you. I won't leave you again…not unless you want me to." She shook her head and laid it down on his shoulder as she sat next to him for protection and warmth.
