Chapter 10

Grissom had fallen asleep holding Catherine. The sound of the grandfather clock striking 6 woke him up. "Sara will be back soon" he thought to himself. Moving carefully so as not to hurt Catherine, Grissom tried to rouse her from sleep. "Catherine. Wake up." He said as he pulled the hair from her face. He hated to move her. She was sleeping so peacefully. He had done this enough times before to know his holding her was the only thing keeping the nightmares at bay. He and Catherine had been through a lot together. They had known each other almost her entire career as a CSI. "Catherine, come on honey, I need you to wake up" he spoke softly. As she began to stir, Grissom moved from behind her and lay her back down. "Hey there" he said holding her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Ok." Catherine whispered. "I hurt all over."

"Let me get you some pain medicine. I'll be right back." While he was in the kitchen getting the medicine the door bell rang. It was Sara.

"Hey, how's she doing?"

"Hey Sara. She's still in a lot of pain but ok. She got some sleep which will help her more than anything."

"I have to ask." Sara said. "What makes you so sure Eddie won't be back tonight? I mean if he's stupid enough to break in during the day, what's to say he won't come back when it gets dark."

"You have to understand. Eddie's a creature of habit. He made his threats and he will wait until the deadline for those threats to come before doing anything else. Before Catherine left him, he would beat her, give her threats or ultimatums and give her a deadline then he would go away for a few days. See, Eddie thrives on inflicting fear almost as much as he does pain. To him, the few days he was gone was enough time for Catherine to start to feel safe again. Just as she was almost over the beating from before he'd show back up. It's just like ripping the scab off of a wound. I have no reason to believe he'll be back tonight. If I had, you two wouldn't be staying here."

"OK. At any rate, I took a cab so my car wouldn't be here. Dr. Haywood said the more normal things appear the better for Catherine."

"Very true. Let me take these to Catherine then I'll be back." Grissom disappeared down the hall. Feeling only slightly better about Eddie being a creature of habit, Sara checks all the doors and windows making sure they're secure.

"Hey Sara" Grissom called from Catherine's bedroom. "Could you come here for a minute please?"

"Coming" she replied. "His voice was calm" she thought to herself, "so nothing must be wrong." As she entered the bedroom, Grissom had Catherine standing and moving slowly towards the door.

"What can I do?" Sara asked.

"Can you help her to the bathroom?"

"Sure" she replied as she moved to take Grissom's place helping Catherine. "How ya feeling?" Sara asks.

"Ok I guess" Catherine replied weakly.

Nervous, Sara looks to Grissom for reassurance.

"The walk will do her good, Sara."

Grissom excused himself and went to the kitchen to fix dinner, as if anybody was hungry. A few minutes later, Sara and Catherine appear before him.

"Something smells good" Catherine said. "Hey, Gris, help me to the couch, would ya?"

"Don't you think you should go back to bed Catherine?"

"I need to be up and moving around Gris. Now are you going to help me or not?"

She was right. Grissom knew from times past that the sooner she was up and moving, no matter how little it was, the sooner she'd be back on her feet. Grissom moved to help her to the couch and covered her with a blanket. "Can I get you anything?" he asked.

"Yea. Eddie's head on a platter" she said trying not to laugh.

"That's my girl," Gris said, "that's my girl."