Title :don't really have one yet..sorry

This is just like my alternate endingof WeepingWillows...you know how it is.

G/C of course

Spoilers : Weeping Willows

Starts off where Gil walked away...

Catherine stood there stunned. Why the hell was he so mad? What had she done so wrong?

Not knowing any of the answers herself she looked around at the people watching her. They seemed to be looking at her differently. like they were disappointed or ashamed. Like Gil seemed to be.

Unable to handle herself anymore she stormed into her office and slammed the door shut behind her. The events of the past few days lingered in her mind.

"How the hell did I get in to such a mess?" she asked herself as she pulled out her mirror to check the scratch on her cheek.

"It looks a lot better." a voice came form the doorway

Catherine looked up as Ecklie just barged into her office and closed the door behind him.

Not sure what he wanted or not really wanting to know she just watched him as he took it upon himself to sit down and get comfortable.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked coldly trying to make it obvious that she wasn't in the mood for any of his crap.

"We never got to finish our little discussion."

Catherine looked confused " Yeah, but he was the killer so what does it matter now?"

Ecklie nodded " It matters because you seem to get your self into these little spats quite often."

Catherine sat up in her chair " What are you taking about exactly?"

Ecklie scoffed " Well you go to a bar, and pick up a complete stranger and I know you say you never had sex but.."

Catherine cut him " I never had sex with him!"

Ecklie nodded and continued " Yes, that's what you said but Catherine your a beautiful women, you seem to have a bad track record for relationships and you want some release. So you pick up this guy, you lead him on, make him think he's going all the way, then after it happens you feel ashamed, because you just met him and no he thinks" he paused " No he knows your one of those easy ones."

Catherine glared at him " How dare you, you can talk to me like this,
I want you to leave. Get out of my office!"

"You mean my office, I can have you demoted" he smiled " You know that day Sara made that comment about you and men, I think she was right."

Catherine shook her head. She didn't have to take this, She had rights, There were boundaries and he was crossing them.

Catherine stood up and went to the door, after opening she turned back to Ecklie "Leave please"

Ecklie turned around in his chair " You like your job Catherine?"

Catherine didn't answer but he knew the answer.

"Well then SIT DOWN!" he yelled

Catherine watched him a second before closing the door and taking her seat.

"Now " Ecklie started as he leaned in forward " Let's recap, you lead him on, you had sex with him and then you try and frame or what exactly happened?"

Catherine didn't answer so he went on

"So then you decide to withhold information making our whole department look stupid." he paused once more " The point is you clearly show no remorse for your actions and .." he trailed off

Catherine kept her focus on her desk

"And...there are consequences for them so I spoke with Atwater and he seem to think suspension without pay would be good for you. Two days."

Catherine opened her mouth to protest but he spoke for her.

"Save it. Two days. I'll lead you out."

Catherine slowly got up, her heart was racing. She packed up a few things and walked ahead of Ecklie as he escorted her from the building like a criminal.

Catherine sat on her couch staring at the wall. She was so lost in a daze she never heard the front door open.

"Mom?" Lindsey called What are you doing here? Where's Grandma?"

Catherine wiped her tear stained cheeks and put a smile on her face " Hey baby, I just needed a few days from work is all, so we and you could spend some time together so Grandma went home."

Lindsey's face lit up. " Really. Cool" she ran to her bedroom and dropped her school bag.

"So what are we going to do?"

"Anything you want" Catherine replied.

"Okay." Lindsey turned and headed back to her bedroom " Give me ten minutes to change and then I let you know."

Catherine nodded and watched her daughter run off. Once Lindsey door shut the smile on her face disappeared and she sat back on the couch and once again was caught in her daze.

Ten minutes later Lindsey came out in her pajamas.

"Mom?" Lindsey sat next to her on the couch. "Are you okay?

Catherine turned to her daughter fresh tears in her eyes " Yeah baby" she wiped them away " I m fine, I thought you were going to.."

"I thought maybe we could just watch movies together.." she paused " Maybe talk."

Catherine nodded and sat back on the couch and Lindsey curled up next to her

"What do you want to talk about?" Catherine asked

Lindsey sighed " That man." she replied " The man you called the cops on the other night."

"Okay" Catherine responded even though she didn't want to get into it with her thirteen year old. "What do you want to know?"

"Is he knew..at your work I mean, because I never met him before."

Catherine shook her head even though Lindsey couldn't see her " No, he doesn't work with me."

"Why did you call the police, I mean he wasn't doing anything wrong, he was " she stopped " He seemed really nice, grandma liked him."

Catherine sat up turning Lindsey to face her " Because I thought he had done something wrong Lindsey and he shouldn't have come to our home."

Lindsey nodded " Did he kill someone?"

Catherine sighed " Linds..it's not...Can we talk about something else?"

Lindsey rolled her eyes " Your cheek" she pointed " You never told me what happened."

"It's nothing sweetie, you don't have to worry about it" she paused as Lindsey rested her head on her shoulder "How was school?"

Lindsey sighed " It was okay, my math teacher hates me. But the kids are nice, they don't hate me, they don't make fun of me and so I don't fight with them, not like I used to do at my old school."

Catherine smiled to herself, Lindsey had been making good progress " I'm proud of you ya know." she whispered placing a kiss on her daughters head " You hungry?"

Lindsey 's head shot up " Pizza?"

Catherine shrugged "If that's what you want."

Lindsey jumped up " I'll get the phone book." she went to run through the kitchen but stopped " And then when we eat you can tell me why you were crying ."

Catherine nodded " Yeah.." she whispered as Lindsey disappeared " I guess so.."

TBC