Authors Note ;Please see chapter one for disclaimer and the legal stuff

As promised, a longer chapter. Thank you kindly for the reviews, in particlular, those who are following this tale and being kind in their comments. I appreciate them and take them to heart. You know who you are.........eternal gratitude for giving a Brassfic a chance.

FIFTEEN

Jim opened his eyes slowly. There was a strange, misty light surrounding his head, which felt fuzzy and almost pleasant. It felt like his hair was being smoothed back by gentle fingers in long, languid strokes. Was he dead? Was this an angel making his passage to the other side easy? He could barely see the face, but he knew it was a beautiful face. The skin flawless. Strangely, he felt a calm wash over him and right then thought that he could stay like this, cradled in the arms of this beauty for the rest of eternity. Then the pain became very real. Catherine held her torch in one hand and dabbed the hankerchief on the cut with her other. The blood flow on his forehead had now ceased to be even a trickle but the bump on the back of his head was turning nicely into something of a small hillock.

'Congratulations,' she said sourly. 'Now we're both stuck.'

'You say that like it's my fault,' he growled back repossesing his full faculties and wincing as he prodded the injury on the back of his head, moving to a sitting position at the same time.

'And you've bled onto my best shirt.'

'I'm sorry.Next time he pushes me down a flight of stone steps I'll ask him to make sure you're not wearing your best blouse.'

'God aren't we the cranky one!'

Brass sighed audibly then fell into silence. Catherine began brushing the dust from her shirt. It was ruined she thought, but said nothing else about it and switched off her mag-light. The room fell into total darkness.

'Thank you,' she said quietly after several minutes. Brass turned in the direction the voice had come from.

'For what?' he asked, almost inaudibly.

'For coming to rescue me.'

'Some rescue. I stink at the Knight in shining armour thingy.'

'At least you tried.'

'Yeah,' he half snorted, half chuckled. They fell silent again.

***************************************************

'They're where?' yelled Grissom over the noise of the police helicopter hovering overhead.

'At St Jude's we think,' shouted back Nick.

'You think?'

'Well, that's the answer to the clue Sara came up with.'

'And where's Brass now?'

'Waiting for us there.'

'Waiting?'

'Yeah. I called him when we'd worked it out. He said he'd go over there and take a sneek. He's probably stood outside getting real pissed at our lack of time keeping skills.'

'You honestly think he'd wait for back up?'

Nick shrugged and fell silent. That he had no answer for. Grissom grabbed his coat sleeve and half dragged him to the Tahoe where Sara had kept the engine running. Gil climbed into the passenger seat and Nick clambered into the rear.

'Miss Sidle, St Jude's if you please. Quickly.'

*****************************************************

'They're on their way?' asked Catherine eventually.

'Should be. Nicky said they were going to Grissom and then they'd be here.'

'You could have waited outside for them.'

'Could have, but didn't. I had no idea what had happened to you. I wasn't gonna stand idly ouside while you were injured, or.....or whatever.'

'You get a look at this guys face?'

'Nope. You?'

'Nope.'

'How the hell did you end up here anyway?'

'Some cop at the hosptial where I was dealing with the little girl said you'd asked to meet me here. He said you were in trouble with your puzzle.'

'So you came right over?'

'Yeah. I came to rescue you from your own bad habits.'

'Do I have any?'

'I don't know, do you?' Silence.

'I sing in the shower sometimes.' Catherine switched the maglite on and shone it between them so it lit up their faces.

'You SING in the shower? She asked incredulously. Brass grinned.

'Yeah. Don't you?' Catherine thought about that for a moment. Staring the dectective directly in the eye, she eventually broke into a huge grin and nodded.

'What you know. Guess I do.' The light went out again as Brass began to whistle and Catherine began humming along as she shuffled closer to her companion and dropped her head on his shoulder.

**************************************************

'Warrick's going to meet us there with Vega,' said Grissom snapping shut his cell phone cover.

'What about S.W.A.T?' asked Sara negotiating the left turn with the skill of a rally car driver.

'Let's hold back until we can assess the scene first. We have no idea what's going on, who or what we're gonna find when we get there and I don't want any sirens or cops scaring this guy into doing something rash if he has Cath or even Jim for that matter. Nick, you managed to get Jim yet?'

Nick heaved a sigh of frustration and held out the phone in a 'you wanna inspect the phone' type gesture. 'Naw,' he drawled. 'No signal. There's a loada electricity lines around there. Kills any signals.'

'Let's just hope that's all that's dead Nick.'

****************************************************

'How's your head?' asked Catherine.

'It hurts like hell,' Brass inhaled sharply as he touched the bump again. 'Feels like I've been hit by a train.'

'Well, if it makes you feel an better, you LOOK lie you've been hit by one.'

'Gee thanks. And I thought angels were suposed to be kind.'

'What?' Brass fell quiet again. He was glad it was dark so Catherine couldn't see his cheeks redden. He had come very close to admitting his mistaken view of the situation when he'd been coming around from the hit on the head. 'What did you say?' Catherine pressed on with her question.This time Jim switched on his torch and related his confused state after being hit. When he'd completed his confession, Catherine was giggling.

'You thought I was an angel?' She mused.

'C'mon, I'd just had a knock on the head and fallen on my ass.'

'No, you fell on top of me.'

'Under different circumstances I'd have enjoyed that position.'

'Well you woke up in my arms.'

'Didn't appreciate my good fortune especially with you griping at me.'

'Griping?'

'Yeah, you were nagging me about bleeding all over the place.'

'Well, you shouldn't have gotton yourself in that position in the first instance.' Her voice began to rise. Brass matched her.

'What am I supposed to do? Leave you in the mercy of this guy?'

'I can handle it.'

'Oh sure, you're locked behind a wall in a disused church in a part of Vegas that the rats won't even visit!'

'So are you!'

'Why are we shouting at each other?'

'I don't know!' She lowered her voice. 'I don't know.' Brass composed himself, took a deep breath and moved his face closer to Catherine's.

'I didn't wait for back up because I couldn't stand the thought of anyone hurting you, and I not being able to do anything about it. I'd never forgive myself, and I wouldn't want to.' She lowered her eyes and looked at his mouth as he spoke. Using a dusty fingertip, she dragged it from his top lip, across his bottom and down his chin where it rest.

'It's not your job to worry about me,' she chastised kindly.

'I can't help it.'

'You're gonna have to get that out of your system.'

'I don't want to.' He pushed his face against hers, planted a kiss against her cheek then withdrew hastily and waited for the slap. It never came.

'Jim, it would never work, you and I.'

'Why? Because I'm a short, slightly overweight, thinning, middle-aged guy and you're beautiful?'

'No. Because I care too much about you as a friend.' The look between them shattered the silent atmsophere without a word being spoken. Brass tried desperately to hide the disappointment in his eyes by shutting off the light, but Catherine turned her own on. Then she pressed a kiss to his lips. When they parted she smiled slightly and swiped a thumb across the lipstick which had transferred to him.

'Jim,' she said finally.

'Hmmm?'

'Have you been eating garlic again?'

tbc....................