I jerk awake to Kate struggling next to me and I look down at her and note the small smile. She must not be dreaming about the case, I relax, look over at the clock and note that it's almost midnight. Our first Christmas together as a couple and she barely lasts through dinner. Not that I mind, I'm perfectly content to stay here on the couch with her all night.

And its not like I can really blame her, we hadn't been home in
six days and she hadn't slept in four. We had gotten the call at
four in the morning and been at work by five. Little did we know
that we would be spending the next six days away.

She sifts again and this time she mumbles something incoherent and
starts to struggle. I release her hand and run my fingers
through her hair and kiss her on the head.

"It's okay sweetie, calm down. Your home baby, I've got you." I
say as I hold her closer to me and rub her hand gently with
mine. She starts sobbing and she screams something about letting her
go. "Come on Katie, wake up." I say as I start to shake her
gently. "Wake up Kate. Come on baby." I say as I shake her again
and she opens her eyes.

"Oh God." She sobs as she pulls me to her chest and clings to me
like I was going to disappear if she let go.

I wrap my arms around her and pull her into my lap. "What was
that about Katie? Huh? You okay?" I ask as I hold her at arms
length.

"Please, don't leave me." She begs as tears poured out of her
eyes. "Please."

"I'm not going anywhere Katie, I promise." I reply as I pull
her back against my chest and kiss her head. "I'm not going
anywhere. Come on, I'm putting you in bed now." I say as I gently
stood up and carried her, cradled in my arms, up the stairs to the
bedroom. I gently pulled the covers back and laid her under them.
I take my robe off and throw it over the back of the nearest
chair and turn on the bedside lamp on. "Katie, look at me." She
turns to face my and my heart melts. "Baby, what was that about?"

"Please, I… I don't want to talk about it, just don't leave me." She
begs as more tears stream down her face.

"I'm not going anywhere Katie." I say as I climb in bed next to
her and she cuddles up to me. I wrap my arms around her and
plant a soft kiss on her head. "Go to sleep sweetie. Everything is
going to be okay, I promise."

We lay this way for a while. Her asleep and me lost in my own

thoughts. The case we had just finished up and really hit the team

hard, especially Kate. The victim and her husband had been good

friends of Kate's and it had taken all the strength she had to get

me to let her work on it.

The victim's husband had been tortured and then killed and his wife

was raped and beaten to death. Our first suspect had figured out

that we were on to him by the end of the second day and had

kidnapped Kate. It had only taken me a few hours to realize that

she was gone, and I immediately went after her. We had started

searching at midnight on the first day and found her at noon on the

third day. She was tied to a bed in the basement of an old

warehouse. Her clothes had been torn and ripped off and it was

obvious that he had rapped and abused her. I had thanked God

many times after that and despite how hard she tried to make me go

back to work I spent the next two days with her at the hospital.

The guy had gotten stupid and returned to the house to kill her.

We had the house being watched and when he showed up they took him

down. I did the interrogation and the guy eventually just

cracked. He had been given life without parole.