Chapter 9
A/N: Thanks to Gomes for the incredibly fast beta! You guys will have to wait a looooong time for chapter 10 – cause Mad AND Hell will be gone for a while (holiday, celebrate!)
When Gil drove back to the lab he couldn't get Catherine off his mind. Not that she ever was not on his mind, but this time it was different.
He opened the door to the lab and headed straight for his office. He had to fight the urge to run back to his car and race back to Catherine, even though he knew he had no choice.
The last thing he wanted was to blur his mind with work related stuff and with that forcing to push aside the precious memory of that short but yet so beautiful moment with Catherine.
He was browsing through some files when Warrick walked past his office and noticed him sitting there.
"Hey when did you get back? I thought you went out to tell Catherine about what we found."
"I did and I got back some time ago." Grissom closed the file.
"Oh...and?"
"And what?"
"Well, you've been gone for over 1,5 hours. I mean, what did you say? Informed her of the entire case again? She knew most of it already." Warrick casually leaned against the doorframe.
"Well, we had some... unfinished business to talk about so that took some time too."
"Oh, the shrink thing?" Warrick inquired. "Yeah. Catherine told me about that."
"Uh...yes, that was it." Gil answered quickly. He then looked up in surprise. "Hold on, you know about what happened there?"
Warrick shrugged apologetically. "Cath might have mentioned it...don't know the whole story."
"I think 'the whole story' is something that's between me and Catherine." Grissom snapped suddenly, growing more and more annoyed by Warrick's questioning. He didn't want his behaviour at the shrink's office to become 'public knowledge', so to speak.
"Yeah, well,....I think I hear Nick calling, gotta run!" After glancing at his irritated supervisor one last time, Warrick spun around and left the office.
--- ------------ ------------------- -------------- - -------------- -------------- -
When morning came, Lindsey was already awake and so were Reese and Alexis. The little girl had no idea about the double identity of her newfound friends.
"Hey?" She whispered and opened the door to her own bedroom, where the other two girls slept. "You guys awake? I gotta tell you something realllly weird!"
Alexis and Reese both looked up. Reese narrowed her eyes, deciding whether she wanted to know, or not. Eventually, curiosity got the best of her. "Okay, what's so weird then?" she asked.
"Well..." Lindsey began with a mysterious look on her face. She sat down on one of the beds. "I woke up last night because I heard my mom downstairs talking to someone, and it sounded a lot like uncle Grissom. I'm pretty sure it was him.."
"Why do you call him your uncle? He's not your real uncle is he?" Alexis suddenly interrupted her.
"Um...I don't know, I've always called him that." Lindsey shrugged. "But anyway, so I heard them talk and talk and talk, and suddenly they stopped talking."
"Yeah? So?" Reese didn't see the point in the Lindsey's story. "What's the big deal?"
"Because I thought he'd left but I didn't hear him leave and mom said they had been watching TV but I didn't hear the TV."
"Maybe they were watching TV, really quietly." Alexis suggested.
"Mom doesn't watch TV in the middle of the night."
"Well, maybe last night she did?" Alexis shrugged.
"Why would she?"
"How should we know? And who cares, anyway!" Reese looked away and turned around in her bed.
Lindsey stared at them for a few seconds. "Are you still mad at my mom for taking you to see that doctor?" Her question startled both girls.
"I'm not ma-"Alexis began but was cut off by Reese.
"Shut up Lex!" Reese glared at her younger sister. "And no, I'm not mad, I just don't want to listen to your stupid stories anymore!" She was now glaring at Lindsey. "Just leave me alone! I wanna sleep." Reese pulled the covers over her head and didn't respond anymore.
Lindsey sighed. "Ok....Well.....I'm going downstairs, you wanna come?" She looked Alexis and the little girl nodded eagerly.
Alexis knew her sister and at moments like this it was best to leave her alone for a while. "Linds? Can I ask you something?" Alexis said shyly as they walked through the hallway.
"Of course! You can ask me anything."
"Were your mom and Mr. Grissom talking about Reese and me last night?" Alexis sat down on the couch and Lindsey followed.
"I don't know, I could hear them talk but I couldn't hear about what" Lindsey stared out the window.
"Oh..ok" Alexis sounded somewhat disappointed.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Well...nothing...just that..." Alexis hesitated "That Reese is acting all weird since yesterday and being mean to everyone and I don't know how to make it better. I don't know what to do." She folded her arms and stared at the floor.
"I think my mom will help you, with Uncle Grissom, they are the best." Lindsey said proudly, after giving it some thought.
Alexis gave a small smile. "I really hope so."
When Catherine came down a few minutes later, Lindsey and Alexis were still sitting on the couch and now watching TV. "Hey!" She said cheerfully. "You guys are up already, where is Reese?"
"Reese...um...wanted to sleep, so we let her." Lindsey said quickly., glancing at Alexis.
"I'll go see if she's awake! Be right back." Alexis slid off the couch and went upstairs.
"Mommy?"
"Yes Linds?"
Lindsey sighed. "I don't understand.....Why is Reese acting so weird? She said she wasn't mad at you about what happened with that doctor...but still.."
"Reese said that to you?" Catherine asked, surprised.
"Uh...yeah...is that so weird?"
"Well, no...no it's not weird, it's good. I better go check on her then" Catherine turned around.
"Whatever..." Lindsey didn't see why everyone was acting so strange.
-- ---------- ---------------- ------------- ------------- ---------
"Reese? You alright?" Catherine opened the door and saw Alexis sitting next to her sister, who had the blankets pulled over her.
"I'm fine."
"You sure about that?" Catherine asked her, in a cheerful voice, ignoring the cold response.
"You sure you want to know?" Reese made no point of hiding her anger, even though she was still hiding underneath the covers of her bed.
"I'm pretty sure, yeah." Catherine sat down at the end of the bed.
"GO away..."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong." She could guess what was wrong, but wanted to hear it from Reese. Alexis shot Catherine a panicked look.
"Everything is wrong." If possible, Reese buried herself even deeper under the covers.
"Lexi." Catherine whispered, as she leant in. "Go down and tell Linds to make you guys some breakfast."
Alexis hesitated, looked down at her sister and then sighed. "Ok."
Catherine watched as Alexis quietly left the room and closed the door behind her.
"Reese...please...." Catherine began. "I know something went wrong yesterday and I know now why...I know what you two have been through..."
Suddenly, the covers were kicked off and Reese's reappeared. "You don't know anything!!! She made me remember, I don't want to know!!! I told you, I told you. You don't know!"
Catherine reached out and put her hands on the girl's shoulders to stop her from shaking. " I know who you are Romaine." she whispered. "I know."
-- ---- ------- ------------ ------------- ------ -------- --------- ------- -------
At the LVPD CrimeLab
"So, tell us about the Byrnes."
Reese leaned forward, gazing past Brass and Catherine, as if she was talking to someone standing behind them.
"They paid money for us. That's what Peter said 'I paid good money for you two'."
Brass frowned. "Who...did they buy you from?"
Reese exhaled slowly. "Our nanny, Nina, she told us to get in a black van. I did, but Alexis wouldn't come with us. Then, I saw two men, they were in the frontseats and dressed in black. Nina knew them. She said ' I'll get the kid, you just make sure this one sits tight.' So she went after Alexis and I asked the two men 'what's happening?' but they wouldn't say."
She narrowed her eyes a bit. "I kept asking them, but they wouldn't answer my questions. Then, mom and dad's car came up the driveway and everyone all panicked. They were shouting and I could hear dad's voice and my mom was yelling at Nina 'what are you doing?!'."
She paused. "The van hadn't left yet, we were still in the driveway. And I heard ...explosions. Like 10 of them. One of the men had gotten out earlier and when he got back in he was bleeding. Then, we drove away."
"So you-" Brass began.
"They wanted to ask ransom. That's why they took us. Because our parents have money. Then, they said everything had gone wrong and they'd have to get rid off us. Marian told us that they were going to sell us for money. Killing us meant no profit at all, or something like that. And we could never tell anyone what happened."
"And they sold you to the Byrnes?"
"Yes.."Her eyes widened a bit. "Maria really wanted children and in the beginning, they were nice. Then after awhile, Peter wanted us to bring packages to their friends. They said they were presents. But, I know that wasn't true.."
"What do you think it was?"
"Powder. I asked one of Peter's friends once what the powder did and he blew it in my face. Nothing happened though, it just smelled funny."
Catherine glanced at Brass who nodded. "So, the Byrnes, they were nice to you?"
"Maria was...." Reese frowned slightly, "nice. She taught us things, gave me books. Peter wasn't around much. He was always with his friends. Maria wasn't a mother though."
"What do you mean?"
"She wanted to have children of her own. But she couldn't. And Peter said that they needed us. To give away the presents. Said she got her wish and he'd get his."
"Did you see what happened in the hotel-room?"
"Yes." Reese blinked. "I can tell you now. Um...Maria was with Alexis in the bathroom. Peter said that I had to clean up their bedroom and stay there, because his friends were coming over. Their bedroom was a mess."
"Did you know his friends?"
"Yes." Reese nodded, but continued before Brass could ask their names. "Maria came out of the bathroom, I could hear Alexis singing in the tub. Peter yelled "shut up!" and then .... "
Catherine smiled at her reassuringly.
"I heard an explosion. A very loud bang. And then Maria screamed, and there was another explosion. Gunshots, because you told me they were shot. .. and I heard voices and footsteps too. So, I hid in the closet. I was scared. I thought they were going to find Alexis, but they didn't."
"You were very brave." Catherine assured her, tears welling up in her eyes as she heard Reese's emotionless account of what happened. This 9 year old little girl seemed more grown-up then most of the adults she knew.
Reese crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I stayed in the closet. I was scared. Not brave."
"Reese?" Brass tried to get her attention again. "Where did you live?"
"You can call me Romaine now. And I'm from Orlando, Miami." the girl said, unblinking. "Peter promised us, if I turned 10, I'd be old enough to go back home and take Alexis with me. That we wouldn't have to bring around presents anymore. Then I'd be Romaine again, and Alexis would be Avery again."
"I see." Brass answered, a little uneasy. "So where did you, er...Avery, Peter and Maria live then?"
"First in Miami, for.. a year. Then we went to....Chicago and then we came to Las Vegas. They had a lot of friends."
"And bringing around presents? How did that go?"
Reese sighed softly. "They gave us the present, I'd carry it with one hand and hold Avery's hand with the other. Sometimes they'd drop us off with the car and we had to walk a bit to another house. Sometimes, it was a room in the same hotel that we stayed in. Or sometimes we had to 'collect' presents."
"Ah, okay, thank you." Brass nodded, then glanced at Catherine.
"So, Romaine.." Cath began. "Why didn't you tell us this before? I mean, that the Byrnes weren't your real parents?"
"Peter said that if we ever told anyone, we'd never see our mom and dad again. And I turned 10 today . It's the day Alexis and I can go back home."
Catherine could barely stop herself from either reaching over to hug the girl, or from crying. The Byrnes had told Reese and Alexis aka Romaine and Avery, that their parents were still alive. All the while, they were using two little girls as drugs couriers.
Brass looked over at Catherine and knew she was trying to be strong, but wasn't exactly succeeding.
"Hey, how bout you and I go find a picture-book? Then you can tell me who the friends were that came over the day the Byrnes were shot. You think you could do that?"
"Of course." Reese glanced at Catherine before following Brass out of the interrogation room.
=== ---------- ----------- ------- ------ ---------- ----------
As soon as Brass, Reese and the uniforms had left, Catherine let her head fall into her hands, her tears now flowing freely.
"Oh my god" she whispered to the silent room, "Oh God....poor girls..."
She jumped up when she suddenly felt a pair of arms around her shoulders, but relaxed when she realised who it was. "This is so..."
"I know." Grissom soothed. "I know, Cath. "
She turned around in her seat, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close to her. "They don't deserve this. After everything, they still...they think their parents are still alive."
"They're both very strong, Cath. And we'll make sure that they'll be alright. I promise."
Catherine nodded and let out a shaky breath as she pulled away from him. "I'm gonna hold you to that, you know."
"Wouldn't have it any other way." He gazed around the room. "Come on, let's go find Alex...um...Avery."
She nodded. "You know... I just don't know how to tell them about their parents, Gil."
He extended a hand and gently pulled her up. "We'll tell them together."
---- ----------- -------------- ------------ ------------------
TBC? – To follow: the last chapter :(