Catherine Willows stood staring into the bare white room where a woman sat fidgeting with
her sweater, it was apparent that this woman was nervous. She had a good reason to be as in
Catherine's hands was a file filled with evidence that this woman had murdered her own six year
old son. The woman, knowing she had been caught, shifted her weight in the chair several times,
trying to stay calm, but was unable to do that. Catherine watched the woman with disgust, she
couldn't stand to see woman who would just kill their children for their own selfish desires. In this
case the woman had killed her son because her current boyfriend didn't want any kids and wanted
to move across the country. In the room beside this one was the woman's boyfriend, who didn't
know a thing that was going on and had just come back from a business trip, they had ruled him out
as a suspect when they found out that he had been in Los Angeles during the time of the murder.
he was very upset and demanding to know what was going on, the police officer in the room with
him was trying to calm him down and explain that he would be informed of what was happening
shortly. Catherine sighed, thinking of her own daughter when she was pulled out of her thoughts
by her partner on this case, Nick Stokes. He rested a hand on her shoulder and gave her a small
smile, knowing what she was thinking and feeling, he then turned to the window to see that the
woman had given up sitting still and had began to pace back and forth biting her bottom lip.
'are you ready to go in?'
he asked, taking one more glance at Catherine, who nodded and gave him a small smile.
'let's get this over with.'
she replied.
The two walked into the bare room, both had the same grim expressions on their faces, both
knew that it was never easy talking to the perp's, but in the end there was a small feeling of
satisfaction of knowing they had caught the person and that they were going to be locked away
for a long time.
The woman looked at the two and sat down as both Catherine and Nick did, for a few moments
they didn't say anything, just stared at each other. Catherine opened the file and looked at some
photos and reports, she then turned her gaze upon the woman, who was beginning to sweat.
'Natalie Cole, do you know why you're here?'
catherine questioned in a monotone voice, Nick watched the woman, Natalie as she looked around
the room before answering.
'I...I...I have an idea...'
she stummered.
'hmmm, You figured you could just wash away your past? and start a new with Tom Jinkins?
what was the last thing little Sammie said to you? How could you so cold heartedly take a
child's life like that!? He loved you, looked up to you, You were his Hero, he thought that you
would never let anything bad happen to him. How could you? Just because he was going to be
an inconvinience to your new life!? well, that's something you should have thought about! You
Catherine felt Nick had his hand on her shoulder again, and she stopped, knowing that she had
lost control of herself for the moment,she was glad that Nick was there otherwise she was sure
she would regret half the things she would have said. Calming down slightly, Catherine returned
to the file, letting Nick talk to Natalie.
'We found this under his bed. we believe he was hiding it...'
Nick pushed a small box towards Natalie, who stared at it for a moment, before slowly opening
it. When she did, tears rolled down her face and she gasped. Inside of it was a picture of Sammie
hugging his mum,glued to the bottom, on the sides was hand drawn pictures of his mum, and in
the center was a note: 'To My Mum the Hero, Happy Birthday. I Love you Mummy.' it had been
a present he had been making for his mum's birthday in a few days. Natalie could no longer keep
her composure, she fell onto the table, sobbing loudly and gasping for air. She then sat up again,
her mascara running down her face which was completely wet from tears, neither Nick or Catherine
said anything, they had seen too many people do this before, Natalie looked around and tried to
wipe her eyes before she began to speak in a breathless voice.
'I...I didn't know what else to do...I have no family to leave him with....and I couldn't bring him
with us....and...I couldn't just abandon him at someone's front door....what choice did I have?
what choice did I have!?'
she looked from Nick to Catherine then back again, Catherine's face was tight with anger
and she spoke in a tone that not even Nick had ever heard her in.
'You could have chosen not to move. You had many possibilities, but you chose murder....you
chose the wrong option....'
Catherine motioned for the police man that had been standing by the door to cuff Natalie and take
her away, she was now in hysterics and calling for her son. The room fell silent for a few moments
and Nick looked over at Catherine, she seemed to have tears brimming her eyes, but turned away
so Nick wouldn't see.
'Catherine, people like that aren't worth it. C'mon, I'll take you out for coffee, to take your mind off
of this.'
Nick offered, watching as Catherine wiped her eyes then smiled at him.
'Thanks Nick.'
'It's my pleasure...'
'No...for...'
'oh, no problem. let's go.'
Nick and Catherine stood up, both smiling at each other, feeling slightly better and for having an
unspoken bond. They were just walking down the hall when they saw Gil Grissom walking
towards them, in his hands was a small package, neither one of them thought much of it as Gil
was always recieving strange packages, most had to do with his strange bug hobby.
'Hey, Gris!'
Catherine smiled as the three stopped in the hall and exchanged greetings, Grissom noticed Nick
eyeing the package funny.
'It's not going to bite.'
'that would be a first.'
'haha. actually it's from a friend of mine from Canada, he told me that I should take a look at it.'
replied Grissom, before he began to walk off to his office.
Catherine and Nick grinned as they watched Grissom walk away and were about to head out when
they heard someone calling their names. walking towards them was Brass, They stopped to see
what he wanted.
'Why isn't Gil answering his phone?'
Brass asked, as if expecting either of the CSI's to automatically know.
'Why don't you ask him, he's just in his office.'
replied Nick.
'thanks.'
Brass walked quickly in the direction of Gil's office, deciding to head out before anyone else wanted
to talk, Catherine and Nick headed out of the building.
Brass knocked on Gil's office door, Gil looked up and motioned him to enter.
'Gil, we have a problem.'
'oh?'
Gil was preoccpied with opening the package, and hadn't noticed that Brass had blood on his hands.
'Gil...We found two more DB's, Identical to Tamora...'
this caught Gil's attention, he stood straight up and looked at Brass as if he had never seen him before.
'Where?'
'I'll show you.'
Gil didn't hesitate to grab his jacket and leave the package behind, perhaps there was more to the
murdered street worker then first meets the eye. He then noticed the blood on Brass, and raised
an eyebrow.
'I'll tell you on the way...'
was all Brass said as the two wasted no time heading towards their cars.