Disclaimer: I still don't own this.
A/N: Sorry I took longer updating, but I explained why before. Thanks to all of you who reviewed the last chapter: gilcathlover, Jen, A Bloom, cRaZyPiXiE, MissyJane, The Madhatter, Charming-Storm and Moose. You guys are great. Please keep them coming. I'm really nervous, because tomorrow I'm performing a new play on stage for the first time and I'm still stuffing up my solo and dance :o( Oh well, I hope it's alright on the night (well afternoon). Please leave a review, cos I could do with something to smile about. Only a few weeks left of school, so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently. R&R and ENJOY!!! - Bex
Warrick stirred from his sleep; blinking around himself in confusion, until he remembered the events of the night before. Smiling, he looked down at the stunning woman still asleep on his lap. Jenny's face was so peaceful and relaxed that he knew she hadn't had any more nightmares: he'd prevented that. He allowed himself the guilty luxury of watching the fragmented light - which had broken through a gap in the curtains - dance softly on her face. Slowly, she woke and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at him looking down at her and smiled.
"Morning," She whispered.
"Morning," He replied in the same hushed tone.
She sat up and ran a hand through her hair to calm it, then straightened her top. Warrick watched her, mesmerized by every movement.
He realised what he was doing and coughed self-consciously.
"How was your sleep?" He asked quickly.
"A lot better," She responded, her wide smile still playing on her lips. "Especially seeing as I had my guardian angel to protect me."
Their eyes locked again and the same electricity as the night before passed between them. It was getting stronger. Warrick knew that it was only a matter of time before something happened.
And it did - Melissa's cries came bounding down from her room, shattering the moment. Jenny's mothering instincts took over and she leaped to her feet.
She smiled slightly at Warrick. "Sounds like someone else is up," She said before heading towards Melissa's room.
Warrick ran a hand over his face and slumped back into the couch. That had been too close. He was in love with someone he shouldn't be in love with. Someone who wasn't ready to be loved. Yet it was so hard not to.
'What am I going to do?' He asked himself.
He leaned over to the coffee table where he'd placed his mobile the night before and switched it on. After warming up, the screen filled with the message 'You have 11 missed calls'; and if by taking a cue, it rang again.
"Brown," Warrick answered.
"Warrick where the hell have you been?" Demanded the familiar voice of Catherine. "I've been trying to reach for the past half hour. Where the hell would you be, other then home, at 6.30 in the morning?"
He took a breath; "I'm at Jenny's."
"Again?"
"She needed a friend."
"Warrick- " She began but he cut her off.
"So we've got a case?"
"Yes."
She gave him the address and he noted it down.
"Get here quickly Warrick," She ordered before hanging up.
He sighed and shoved his mobile away.
"After I've fed this little one breakfast, how about I fix us some?" Asked a voice behind him.
Warrick turned around to see Jenny there with Melissa in his arms. Her smile widened when Melissa gurgled in delight on seeing him. Her wedding ring caught the light as she held her husband's daughter; reminding Warrick that even though she was so close, she was still just out of reach. His heart sunk, but he managed to force a smile back at her. He crossed over and stroked Melissa's tiny face.
"Hey sweetie. Hey there." He smiled as her petite fingers clasped one of his and she giggled.
"So what about breakfast?" Jenny asked again.
Warrick's smile faded. "I have to go."
"Oh." Her smile fell as well. "Work?"
He nodded.
"And you can't even stay for a quick bite?"
He shook his head; "No, I'm needed now. Sorry."
"It's ok," She reassured, thought she looked disappointed.
"Look, how about you come to the lab around 12.30 and I'll take you both out for lunch on my break?" Warrick suggested.
Her face brightened. "You sure?"
"Yeah. Would I ever pass up a chance to spend time with my two favourite girls?"
He held her happy gaze, her smile was so infectious that he couldn't help but return it. He kissed Melissa and then Jenny on the forehead.
"I'll see you then?"
"See you then. Bye Warrick and thank you," She said to him as he left.
He gave her one last smile before walking out of the door. Away from the source of confusion in his heart.
~*~*~*~*~
Any thoughts of Jenny and how to deal with his growing emotions soon fled Warrick's head as he pulled up to the crime scene to find Cath waiting. Under her glare, he couldn't help but see the tiredness and sorrow. He quickly grabbed his kit and climbed out of the vehicle to join her.
"Thank god you're finally here," She snapped as he approached her.
He was taken aback by this and studied her face in confusion. Then it dawned on him what it must be. In all of his confused thoughts about his relationship with Jenny, he'd completely forgotten what last night was. He felt a twang of guilt serge through his stomach.
"They found Portia didn't they?"
It was more of a statement then a question. Cath could only manage a tiny nod before her grief broke through. Warrick held her, wishing - like he did for Jenny - that fate had never given them this sorrow in the first place.
"You ok?" Warrick asked when she pulled away. "You sure you can handle this?"
Cath wiped her eyes and gave him a brave smile.
"Yeah. I need something to take my mind off things."
"Yeah?" He checked.
"Yeah," She confirmed, touched by her friend's concern.
"Do her kids know yet?"
Her smile vanished. "No. I'm going to go over there and tell them after we've finished checking this crime scene."
"You want me to come with you?" Warrick offered.
"No, it's ok. Gil's meeting me there. Thanks all the same." She smiled slightly and decided to change to subject; "So why were you at Jen's?"
"She had that dream again. I guess she needed to see a friendly face."
"Oh."
"What does 'oh' mean Catherine?" Warrick questioned suspiciously.
"I know you two are getting really close and I know you care a lot about her -"
"We're just friends Cath," He cut her off. "Only friends."
"All I'm saying is that her husband's only been dead for just over a year. She's still grieving. Just be careful for both of your sakes," She warned as they walked towards the crime scene.
"I will. But you have nothing to worry about," He lied as much to himself as to her.
She didn't look convinced, but decided to drop the subject. She lead him down an ally between two warehouses, where the area around a large industrial dumpster had been squared off by yellow tape. Sergeant O'Riley was waiting for them there.
"Hey," Catherine greeted him with a smile that he returned.
"Hey Cath. Warrick." He nodded to each in turn.
"What have you got for us?" Warrick asked.
"A guy dumping his trash reported it in. Our John Doe's been dumped in with the trash, but get this, his hands are missing along with half of his face."
Cath climbed up onto the stepladder and peered into the dumpster. The vile stench of rubbish and dried blood stung her nose. She covered her nose and mouth with a hand, then studied the body.
"You're right, his hands are gone. Looks like the C.O.D was a slashed throat, but he's covered in a hell of a lot of blood. And someone's also slashed up his face." She turned her head to look at Warrick, "Do you want to take the picture or shall I?"
"Be my guest," He answered handing over the camera.
After she finished taking the picture he help her down.
"So what are you thinking? Mafia?" He asked.
She shook her head. "Don't think so. Mafia usually remove the head. But who did this one thing's for sure; the state this guy's been left in, he pissed them off badly."
~*~*~*~*~
Catherine sat in the stationary car with her hands gripping the wheel, frozen in place. She stared ahead in some sort of conscious sleep at the apartment block that loomed ahead. The tall building cast a shadow on the street below like a nightmare. Fear held her in place. The fear of being the messenger of bad news. For being the person who was going to let the new effect two innocent children, destroying their false image that the world was not such a bad place. Destroying their lives and hopes.
She was too lost in her daze to realise that Grissom had approached the Tahoe. It wasn't until he opened the door that she even register that he was there. Catherine turned to look at him; fresh tears streamed down her checks, her face plagued with loss and confusion. Seeing her like this broke his heart and it pained him. He pulled her into his arms and allowed her to shed more tears in grief for Portia's death.
"It's alright Cath. It's going to be ok," He soothed. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
She nodded. "I owe them this."
She pulled away, sniffing and wiping her eyes. She inhaled deeply and offered Gris a weak smile.
"You would have thought I would have gotten a grip by now."
"Well, every one can master a grief but he that has it," He quoted.
"Shakespeare?"
"Shakespeare," He confirmed.
He took her hand and helped her out. Their fingers entwined together as they walked towards the building. Cath held his hand tightly, glad that he was with her giving her the strength she desperately needed. She didn't know what she would do with out him. She couldn't remember how she coped before she met him. It was like she was never really living before she met Gil Grissom. Amazing how a man who's life revolved around death could bring her soul to life and show her what she'd been missing. In his eyes she was complete and it was only when she was drowning in them did she feel that way as well.
Brass was waiting for them outside the apartment door. He greeted them with a grim nod and thin smile. No one ever wanted to give this type of news to children. If the team had their way: no one ever would need to. He knocked on the door and Catherine moved her hand from Grissom's, still comforted by his presence.
In the doorway stood Portia's younger and only sister. Unlike her sister, Maura Osler was married and ran a florist - a respectable lifestyle unlike Portia. The two siblings had fallen out about three years ago, just after Abby had been born. Maura's husband, Adam, always looked down his nose at Portia and the two couldn't stay two minutes in a room together before launching into a shouting match.
Maura's hair was a darker shade of her sisters, but shorter, and her eyes didn't seem as striking. She was definitely smaller and didn't posses the same kind of confidence as Portia.
Her sad eyes landed on Catherine and she nodded in understanding. Cath hugged her as she cried, her own eyes misting over.
"I'm so sorry Maura," She told her.
"Not as sorry as I am. I should have made an effort to sort out our relationship," Maura sobbed. "She was right when she said my husband was bang out of line for calling her an unfit mother. I just wish I'd admitted it before."
She brushed away her tears and straightened up.
"What's going to happen to the girls?" Cath asked.
"When we've finished sorting everything out here, they're coming back to L.A to live with me and Adam," Maura informed her. "They're in the living room. They've been waiting for you, do you want to go in and see them now?"
Cath gave a numb nod and Maura led them the three of them to the living room.
Marie sat on the couch, braiding her sister's hair two plats. Over the past two years, Maura's hair had been ever colour of the spectrum; now resigning at a purple so dark that it was almost black. It had been cut into a choppy boyish style, that dried within tem minutes of getting wet, but right now it was dull from going three days without washing. Her eyes were swirled with green, grey and blue, and her ears had been pierced three times each. She wore a frumpy blue T-shirt; with an orange square that had a black cross through it and the 'Irritant' written underneath in bold, along with a pair of baggy purple cords. Her wrists and neck were usually covered in plastic beaded jewellery, but now remained bare.
Abby was a beautifully innocent and sweet. Her hair was a shade of blond you'd only expect to see on an angel and her sapphire eyes were the same. And something about her appearance was familiar to Catherine, but it wasn't inherited from her mother. A smile spread across the young girl's lips when she saw Catherine, oblivious to these people's visit meant.
"Aunty Cath!" She squealed and ran over to hug her.
Marie's eyes snapped towards Catherine.
"Have you found mum?"
This was the way it was with young people - they never believed what they see until a person they trust confirms it. It was killing Cath to look into the girl's hopeful eyes knowing that she was about to shatter it.
"I'm so sorry Marie. I'm so sorry...." Her voice faded away as Marie burst into tears.
She pulled her into her embrace, tears running down her own cheeks as well. Abby, who was too young to understand, started to wail with confusion and scared sobs.
"Where's mummy? I want mummy!" She howled.
Catherine and Marie pulled her into the hug. The three of them held each other tightly, as if they need each other to hang onto life itself. Minutes passed before they broke apart.
"I'm so sorry," Cath told Marie softly. "We tried our hardest to find her, but the killer made sure we had no leads. But he's not going to get away with this. I swear I'm not going to stop looking until he's found."
Marie nodded.
"I know," She whispered. "What happens now?"
"Your Aunt is going to sort things out here, then you and Abby are going to move in with her and husband in L.A."
"I don't want to live with that asshole. He called mum a cheap whore," She snapped.
Cath nodded in mutual dislike for the man. Her eyes fell upon Abby. She knew Marie's father had left the country with another woman, but Portia refused to tell her who Abby's father was. All she knew was the child was a result of a drunken one-night-stand.
"Marie, do you mind if Abby leaves the room for a bit?" She asked the teenager.
"Ok," She turned to her sister, "Abby can you do me a big favour? Can you go in the kitchen with Aunty Maura for a bit?" The younger girl nodded. "Good girl."
When Abby was safely out of earshot, Cath turned to the older girl and asked her question; "Marie, do you know who Abby's father is?"
The teen hesitated. "Mum made me promise not to tell."
"It's important that you tell me Marie," Cath pushed.
"She said if you knew then you wouldn't love her anymore."
Cath gave her a confused look.
"Sweetheart, nothing could ever stop me loving or caring for you and Abby," She promised.
The girl still looked uneasy and unconvinced. She stared into Catherine's reassuring eyes and made her decision.
"Abby's dad is...was..." Marie took a deep breath. "He was Eddie."
A/N: What do you think? I'm not gonna know unless you tell me, so hit that button NOW! Lol! :o)
A/N: Sorry I took longer updating, but I explained why before. Thanks to all of you who reviewed the last chapter: gilcathlover, Jen, A Bloom, cRaZyPiXiE, MissyJane, The Madhatter, Charming-Storm and Moose. You guys are great. Please keep them coming. I'm really nervous, because tomorrow I'm performing a new play on stage for the first time and I'm still stuffing up my solo and dance :o( Oh well, I hope it's alright on the night (well afternoon). Please leave a review, cos I could do with something to smile about. Only a few weeks left of school, so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently. R&R and ENJOY!!! - Bex
Warrick stirred from his sleep; blinking around himself in confusion, until he remembered the events of the night before. Smiling, he looked down at the stunning woman still asleep on his lap. Jenny's face was so peaceful and relaxed that he knew she hadn't had any more nightmares: he'd prevented that. He allowed himself the guilty luxury of watching the fragmented light - which had broken through a gap in the curtains - dance softly on her face. Slowly, she woke and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at him looking down at her and smiled.
"Morning," She whispered.
"Morning," He replied in the same hushed tone.
She sat up and ran a hand through her hair to calm it, then straightened her top. Warrick watched her, mesmerized by every movement.
He realised what he was doing and coughed self-consciously.
"How was your sleep?" He asked quickly.
"A lot better," She responded, her wide smile still playing on her lips. "Especially seeing as I had my guardian angel to protect me."
Their eyes locked again and the same electricity as the night before passed between them. It was getting stronger. Warrick knew that it was only a matter of time before something happened.
And it did - Melissa's cries came bounding down from her room, shattering the moment. Jenny's mothering instincts took over and she leaped to her feet.
She smiled slightly at Warrick. "Sounds like someone else is up," She said before heading towards Melissa's room.
Warrick ran a hand over his face and slumped back into the couch. That had been too close. He was in love with someone he shouldn't be in love with. Someone who wasn't ready to be loved. Yet it was so hard not to.
'What am I going to do?' He asked himself.
He leaned over to the coffee table where he'd placed his mobile the night before and switched it on. After warming up, the screen filled with the message 'You have 11 missed calls'; and if by taking a cue, it rang again.
"Brown," Warrick answered.
"Warrick where the hell have you been?" Demanded the familiar voice of Catherine. "I've been trying to reach for the past half hour. Where the hell would you be, other then home, at 6.30 in the morning?"
He took a breath; "I'm at Jenny's."
"Again?"
"She needed a friend."
"Warrick- " She began but he cut her off.
"So we've got a case?"
"Yes."
She gave him the address and he noted it down.
"Get here quickly Warrick," She ordered before hanging up.
He sighed and shoved his mobile away.
"After I've fed this little one breakfast, how about I fix us some?" Asked a voice behind him.
Warrick turned around to see Jenny there with Melissa in his arms. Her smile widened when Melissa gurgled in delight on seeing him. Her wedding ring caught the light as she held her husband's daughter; reminding Warrick that even though she was so close, she was still just out of reach. His heart sunk, but he managed to force a smile back at her. He crossed over and stroked Melissa's tiny face.
"Hey sweetie. Hey there." He smiled as her petite fingers clasped one of his and she giggled.
"So what about breakfast?" Jenny asked again.
Warrick's smile faded. "I have to go."
"Oh." Her smile fell as well. "Work?"
He nodded.
"And you can't even stay for a quick bite?"
He shook his head; "No, I'm needed now. Sorry."
"It's ok," She reassured, thought she looked disappointed.
"Look, how about you come to the lab around 12.30 and I'll take you both out for lunch on my break?" Warrick suggested.
Her face brightened. "You sure?"
"Yeah. Would I ever pass up a chance to spend time with my two favourite girls?"
He held her happy gaze, her smile was so infectious that he couldn't help but return it. He kissed Melissa and then Jenny on the forehead.
"I'll see you then?"
"See you then. Bye Warrick and thank you," She said to him as he left.
He gave her one last smile before walking out of the door. Away from the source of confusion in his heart.
~*~*~*~*~
Any thoughts of Jenny and how to deal with his growing emotions soon fled Warrick's head as he pulled up to the crime scene to find Cath waiting. Under her glare, he couldn't help but see the tiredness and sorrow. He quickly grabbed his kit and climbed out of the vehicle to join her.
"Thank god you're finally here," She snapped as he approached her.
He was taken aback by this and studied her face in confusion. Then it dawned on him what it must be. In all of his confused thoughts about his relationship with Jenny, he'd completely forgotten what last night was. He felt a twang of guilt serge through his stomach.
"They found Portia didn't they?"
It was more of a statement then a question. Cath could only manage a tiny nod before her grief broke through. Warrick held her, wishing - like he did for Jenny - that fate had never given them this sorrow in the first place.
"You ok?" Warrick asked when she pulled away. "You sure you can handle this?"
Cath wiped her eyes and gave him a brave smile.
"Yeah. I need something to take my mind off things."
"Yeah?" He checked.
"Yeah," She confirmed, touched by her friend's concern.
"Do her kids know yet?"
Her smile vanished. "No. I'm going to go over there and tell them after we've finished checking this crime scene."
"You want me to come with you?" Warrick offered.
"No, it's ok. Gil's meeting me there. Thanks all the same." She smiled slightly and decided to change to subject; "So why were you at Jen's?"
"She had that dream again. I guess she needed to see a friendly face."
"Oh."
"What does 'oh' mean Catherine?" Warrick questioned suspiciously.
"I know you two are getting really close and I know you care a lot about her -"
"We're just friends Cath," He cut her off. "Only friends."
"All I'm saying is that her husband's only been dead for just over a year. She's still grieving. Just be careful for both of your sakes," She warned as they walked towards the crime scene.
"I will. But you have nothing to worry about," He lied as much to himself as to her.
She didn't look convinced, but decided to drop the subject. She lead him down an ally between two warehouses, where the area around a large industrial dumpster had been squared off by yellow tape. Sergeant O'Riley was waiting for them there.
"Hey," Catherine greeted him with a smile that he returned.
"Hey Cath. Warrick." He nodded to each in turn.
"What have you got for us?" Warrick asked.
"A guy dumping his trash reported it in. Our John Doe's been dumped in with the trash, but get this, his hands are missing along with half of his face."
Cath climbed up onto the stepladder and peered into the dumpster. The vile stench of rubbish and dried blood stung her nose. She covered her nose and mouth with a hand, then studied the body.
"You're right, his hands are gone. Looks like the C.O.D was a slashed throat, but he's covered in a hell of a lot of blood. And someone's also slashed up his face." She turned her head to look at Warrick, "Do you want to take the picture or shall I?"
"Be my guest," He answered handing over the camera.
After she finished taking the picture he help her down.
"So what are you thinking? Mafia?" He asked.
She shook her head. "Don't think so. Mafia usually remove the head. But who did this one thing's for sure; the state this guy's been left in, he pissed them off badly."
~*~*~*~*~
Catherine sat in the stationary car with her hands gripping the wheel, frozen in place. She stared ahead in some sort of conscious sleep at the apartment block that loomed ahead. The tall building cast a shadow on the street below like a nightmare. Fear held her in place. The fear of being the messenger of bad news. For being the person who was going to let the new effect two innocent children, destroying their false image that the world was not such a bad place. Destroying their lives and hopes.
She was too lost in her daze to realise that Grissom had approached the Tahoe. It wasn't until he opened the door that she even register that he was there. Catherine turned to look at him; fresh tears streamed down her checks, her face plagued with loss and confusion. Seeing her like this broke his heart and it pained him. He pulled her into his arms and allowed her to shed more tears in grief for Portia's death.
"It's alright Cath. It's going to be ok," He soothed. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
She nodded. "I owe them this."
She pulled away, sniffing and wiping her eyes. She inhaled deeply and offered Gris a weak smile.
"You would have thought I would have gotten a grip by now."
"Well, every one can master a grief but he that has it," He quoted.
"Shakespeare?"
"Shakespeare," He confirmed.
He took her hand and helped her out. Their fingers entwined together as they walked towards the building. Cath held his hand tightly, glad that he was with her giving her the strength she desperately needed. She didn't know what she would do with out him. She couldn't remember how she coped before she met him. It was like she was never really living before she met Gil Grissom. Amazing how a man who's life revolved around death could bring her soul to life and show her what she'd been missing. In his eyes she was complete and it was only when she was drowning in them did she feel that way as well.
Brass was waiting for them outside the apartment door. He greeted them with a grim nod and thin smile. No one ever wanted to give this type of news to children. If the team had their way: no one ever would need to. He knocked on the door and Catherine moved her hand from Grissom's, still comforted by his presence.
In the doorway stood Portia's younger and only sister. Unlike her sister, Maura Osler was married and ran a florist - a respectable lifestyle unlike Portia. The two siblings had fallen out about three years ago, just after Abby had been born. Maura's husband, Adam, always looked down his nose at Portia and the two couldn't stay two minutes in a room together before launching into a shouting match.
Maura's hair was a darker shade of her sisters, but shorter, and her eyes didn't seem as striking. She was definitely smaller and didn't posses the same kind of confidence as Portia.
Her sad eyes landed on Catherine and she nodded in understanding. Cath hugged her as she cried, her own eyes misting over.
"I'm so sorry Maura," She told her.
"Not as sorry as I am. I should have made an effort to sort out our relationship," Maura sobbed. "She was right when she said my husband was bang out of line for calling her an unfit mother. I just wish I'd admitted it before."
She brushed away her tears and straightened up.
"What's going to happen to the girls?" Cath asked.
"When we've finished sorting everything out here, they're coming back to L.A to live with me and Adam," Maura informed her. "They're in the living room. They've been waiting for you, do you want to go in and see them now?"
Cath gave a numb nod and Maura led them the three of them to the living room.
Marie sat on the couch, braiding her sister's hair two plats. Over the past two years, Maura's hair had been ever colour of the spectrum; now resigning at a purple so dark that it was almost black. It had been cut into a choppy boyish style, that dried within tem minutes of getting wet, but right now it was dull from going three days without washing. Her eyes were swirled with green, grey and blue, and her ears had been pierced three times each. She wore a frumpy blue T-shirt; with an orange square that had a black cross through it and the 'Irritant' written underneath in bold, along with a pair of baggy purple cords. Her wrists and neck were usually covered in plastic beaded jewellery, but now remained bare.
Abby was a beautifully innocent and sweet. Her hair was a shade of blond you'd only expect to see on an angel and her sapphire eyes were the same. And something about her appearance was familiar to Catherine, but it wasn't inherited from her mother. A smile spread across the young girl's lips when she saw Catherine, oblivious to these people's visit meant.
"Aunty Cath!" She squealed and ran over to hug her.
Marie's eyes snapped towards Catherine.
"Have you found mum?"
This was the way it was with young people - they never believed what they see until a person they trust confirms it. It was killing Cath to look into the girl's hopeful eyes knowing that she was about to shatter it.
"I'm so sorry Marie. I'm so sorry...." Her voice faded away as Marie burst into tears.
She pulled her into her embrace, tears running down her own cheeks as well. Abby, who was too young to understand, started to wail with confusion and scared sobs.
"Where's mummy? I want mummy!" She howled.
Catherine and Marie pulled her into the hug. The three of them held each other tightly, as if they need each other to hang onto life itself. Minutes passed before they broke apart.
"I'm so sorry," Cath told Marie softly. "We tried our hardest to find her, but the killer made sure we had no leads. But he's not going to get away with this. I swear I'm not going to stop looking until he's found."
Marie nodded.
"I know," She whispered. "What happens now?"
"Your Aunt is going to sort things out here, then you and Abby are going to move in with her and husband in L.A."
"I don't want to live with that asshole. He called mum a cheap whore," She snapped.
Cath nodded in mutual dislike for the man. Her eyes fell upon Abby. She knew Marie's father had left the country with another woman, but Portia refused to tell her who Abby's father was. All she knew was the child was a result of a drunken one-night-stand.
"Marie, do you mind if Abby leaves the room for a bit?" She asked the teenager.
"Ok," She turned to her sister, "Abby can you do me a big favour? Can you go in the kitchen with Aunty Maura for a bit?" The younger girl nodded. "Good girl."
When Abby was safely out of earshot, Cath turned to the older girl and asked her question; "Marie, do you know who Abby's father is?"
The teen hesitated. "Mum made me promise not to tell."
"It's important that you tell me Marie," Cath pushed.
"She said if you knew then you wouldn't love her anymore."
Cath gave her a confused look.
"Sweetheart, nothing could ever stop me loving or caring for you and Abby," She promised.
The girl still looked uneasy and unconvinced. She stared into Catherine's reassuring eyes and made her decision.
"Abby's dad is...was..." Marie took a deep breath. "He was Eddie."
A/N: What do you think? I'm not gonna know unless you tell me, so hit that button NOW! Lol! :o)