Post-Butterflied

Disclaimer: I still don't own CSI and get no profit from writing these stories…yadda yadda yadda.

Chapter 14

"It's almost time for shift to start," Warrick eyed the clock.

"Look, you stay here, I'll go in tonight," Sara offered.

"No, you can't do anything," Catherine protested, "you wouldn't be any help in the field, no offense."

"I may not be any good in the field, but I can at least help out around the lab. You do not need to be going to work," Sara countered, "come on, let me do this for you."

Catherine noted the serious look in Sara's eyes, "All right. But if you guys are slammed, you have to call me in."

"Only if we really need you," Warrick put in, "you need to get some sleep."

"I can't sleep," Catherine sucked in a huge breath, "not until someone finds Lindsey."

"Grissom, Greg, Nick and a whole brigade of LVPD officers are looking for her, Cath, someone is going to find her," Warrick soothed.

"I'm more worried about how they'll find her," Catherine sniffled.

"She's a smart kid, she is probably fine. Lost track of the time or something," Sara said.

"I hope you are right. You guys better get to the lab, don't want to be late," Catherine ushered them to the door, "my cell phone will be on all night."

"The second anyone hears a thing, you're the first one that gets called," Warrick assured her.

Catherine closed the door behind Sara and Warrick and slumped back down on her couch. The past day had been pretty much a blur. She knew she should probably get some sleep because it had been nearly 48 hours since the last time she had even seen her bed. Yet her mind could not let her rest until Lindsey was safely at home in her own bed. She couldn't believe that Lindsey would pull something like this. Half the lab and a good chunk of the police department was out looking for her. If it turned out she was at a friend's house or something like that, Catherine thought she might snap.

After a while, she flopped over on the couch, deciding it couldn't hurt to take a little nap. The second she was laying down, her eyes were shut and she fell asleep. It was not a restful nap, her mind was still entirely focused on her daughter. The nap was interrupted after about an hour by the ringing of her cell phone.

"Is this Catherine Willows' home?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

"Yes it is," Catherine stifled a yawn.

"My name is Randy Miller. I was wondering, Miss Willows, do you have a daughter?" the man asked.

"Oh God, do you have Lindsey? Where is she?" Catherine shot up from the couch, "is she okay?"

"Try to keep calm, your daughter was brought in to Desert Palm a couple hours ago. We weren't able to ID her until just a little while ago," Randy explained.

"What happened to her? Is she dead?" Catherine shouted into her phone.

"She was hit by a car this evening. She is alive," Randy continued.

Catherine hung up her phone before the man could even finish explaining. She grabbed her purse and car keys and ran for her car. She had to get to the hospital and see that Lindsey was alive for herself. It was as she was pulling out of her driveway that she realized she probably should have waited to at least hear Lindsey's condition. It was too late now and she hoped she wasn't going to break any laws as she sped to the hospital.


"She's not answering her phone," Warrick announced worriedly, "I left her another message."

"Maybe the hospital already called her," Greg offered, "we should see if that's where she is."

"I'll call them," Sara volunteered, "they'll know if Catherine has been there yet."

"I'm going to her house just in case," Warrick said, "she might be sleeping or something."

"Thank God we're really slow tonight," Nick sighed, "is Grissom still out in the field?"

"Yeah," Greg nodded.

Grissom had been the one to come upon the scene where Lindsey had been hit. She was gone by the time he arrived, but he asked some officers at the scene to identify the victim. They saw the picture of Lindsey and were pretty sure it was the little girl the paramedics had whisked away. They explained to him that a couple had been arguing as they drove and the driver accidentally swerved onto the sidewalk, hitting Lindsey. Grissom took it upon himself to take this case. Nick and Greg had showed up to help him, but he sent them back to the lab with evidence, insisting that he would stay at the scene until they were sure they had everything.

"Catherine is with Lindsey right now," Sara told everyone, "she's very upset, but glad that they found her according to the admit desk."

"Did they say anything about Lindsey's condition?" Nick asked.

"They wouldn't release it to me," Sara shook her head.

"I want to go to the hospital so bad, but I know we should stay here in case any new cases come in," Greg sighed.

"Yeah, with Warrick gone, and if I know him, he's going to go to Catherine, and Grissom out in the field, we should definitely stay here. Sara can't go out in the field and you can't go alone, so that leaves us really short," Nick said.

"I'd say so," Sara raised her eyebrows, "technically there's only one real CSI here right now."

"I just hope no big cases come in," Greg said, "that'd be bad."

"We might have to make gimpy here hobble out to a scene with us," Nick teased.

"Shut up, the second I can get a walking cast put on, I will. And then I'll walk up to you and kick you with my good foot," Sara threatened.

"Now that would be fun to see," Greg laughed.

"Don't you have some DNA or something to go run?" Nick asked menacingly.

"Hey, you know what, you're right," Greg slipped out of the room.

"You're so mean," Sara punched Nick in the arm.

"And you're not, ouch," Nick gave her a puppy dog look.

"Oh come on, that didn't hurt you," she laughed.

"You're right, you're just a weak little girl, you can't hurt me," Nick grinned and moved out of her range.

"You are so lucky that I'm disabled at the moment," Sara growled.

"I know, that's what makes it so fun," Nick smirked.

"What's fun?" Grissom asked, walking in to the room.

"Hey you're back," Nick suddenly changed subjects.

"He's making fun of me," Sara said, then mentally smacked herself for how childish that sounded.

"Is that so?" Grissom smiled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nick crossed his arms, trying to look innocent.

"I'm sure you don't," Sara narrowed her eyes at him.

"Do I need to put you two in time our or something?" Grissom tried not to laugh as he said that.

"No, I think we're good," Nick slipped out of the room.

"So, do you know what happened with Lindsey?" Sara asked soberly.

"Well, from the looks of things, it was pretty much an accident, but the driver is still going to be held responsible for something," Grissom said, "he wasn't drunk or anything, just suddenly swerved onto the sidewalk. Lindsey was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"That's awful," Sara shook her head sadly, "any word from Catherine?"

"I haven't talked to her since this morning," Grissom told her, "I called a few times when I found out what happened, but I think the hospital got to her first. Probably dropped her cell phone in the rush to leave. Or else has it turned off."

"I can't imagine what she's going through right now. I could see the pain and worry in her eyes when I was with her this afternoon. It was really killing her to not have a clue where Lindsey was. Then to get a call from the hospital…" Sara trailed off.

A/N: So uh, I was logged in yesterday to upload a new chapter and I realized the 18 is missing from my penname. I went to my profile to put it back and the site will NOT allow me to have numbers in my name. I'm so confused as to why that happened...how long has it been missing? lol It really doesn't matter, but I thought it was weird. Anyway, thanks for reading as always.