Title: The Revolving Door
Author: Angie
Email: hill@grics.net
Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.
Author's Notes: Welcome to chapter 9. For those new to the lists, the first 8 chapters of this fic can be found at I highly recommend the site, at last count you could indulge yourself in 1056 G/C fics.
Many many thanks to Marianne for betaing this. I know this is shorter then the last few chapters I've posted… but I got it out a lot faster then I did the previous chapters.
Rating: PG-13 … still
Spoilers: Everything that has been aired in the US is fair game.
Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage
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Catherine turned her head as she woke the next morning. A smile came to her face when she saw Gil sleeping soundly, his arm protectively draped over her waist. She gently snuggled closer to him, loving the feeling of protection he brought to the household. Glancing at the clock over Gil's shoulder, she sighed, knowing they would have to begin their day shortly. She closed her eyes, wanting just a few more minutes before facing her demons.
"You awake?"
Catherine nodded her reply, burying her head in Gil's neck. "Just hold me, please." Catherine didn't say anything more as she felt Gil reply to her wish, his arms gently guiding her closer.
"You don't have to…"
"I know." Catherine interrupted and pulled back slightly to look at him. "I need to face it though. If I don't go back… I just need to face the fear."
"But we can go back later, after you've had a chance to heal."
"The longer I put it off, the harder it will be. I just need…"
"I know. I just want you to know that you don't have to do this. No one is pushing you. We'll take things at your pace, all right?" Gil smiled as he saw Catherine nod her reply. "Why don't we start getting ready? Lindsey will be up soon. And I have a feeling we are going to have a full day ahead of us."
*~*~*~*
Catherine's anxiety increased as Gil eased the car to a stop outside her home. She was startled when the door opened and he appeared before her.
"Sorry, Cath…"
"It's all right. I was just… thinking."
"Are you sure you're up for this? We don't have to…"
Catherine smiled and put her hand to Gil's face effectively stopping his words. "It's going to be hard. But I want to do this. We need to know what they were looking for, and I'm the only one that will recognize if something is missing."
Gil nodded, knowing that Catherine was right. "Let me get the wheelchair, I'll be back in a second."
"No."
Gil turned back to her. "What?"
"I hate that thing. Can't I just…"
"Hop around on one foot? You can't do that Catherine. We could be here for hours. It's just not practical. The wheelchair will just make you more comfortable."
"No it won't. It will just remind me of what happened. Please don't make me…"
Gil sighed, unsure what to do. He didn't want to make this any more difficult on Catherine then it was going to be, but he also knew there was no way she was going to be able to get around the house on her own. "How bad is your rib pain?"
Catherine smiled, knowing she had won this battle. "It's not bad."
"So do you think you can get your arm around my shoulder?"
"Yeah."
"If you get tired, or I think you are getting tired, I'm going to get the wheelchair. No arguments."
"No arguments." Catherine quickly agreed before Gil could change his mind.
He held open his arms and slipped them around Catherine's waist. "Let's give this a try." He slowly pulled her closer to him, sliding her out of the car and pressing her body into his, keeping her suspended in mid-air. "Don't put your right foot down." Gil reminded her as he slid her down his body until her foot touched the ground. "You okay?" At Catherine's nod, he slowly released his hold on her and turned slightly, keeping one arm around her waist. "Let me know if I go to fast."
Catherine nodded and took a step forward, both slowly moving towards the house. "Maybe we should wait? Brass and Ecklie are both coming, right?"
"They should be here any minute."
"I don't want to go in until they get here, okay? I don't want any doubts…"
"We'll wait for them." Gil said as he stopped walking. "Are you…"
"If you ask me one more time if I'm…"
"Sorry. I'll try not to ask again. But I'm worried."
Catherine turned to look at him, sighing as she did. "I know you're just looking out for me. It's sweet, it really is, but…"
"But I'm driving you nuts."
"I wouldn't say that."
"You didn't say that. I did." Gil chuckled. "I promise I'll try to relax a little."
The sound of the car pulling into the driveway stopped any further conversation between the two. They both turned and watched as Brass and Ecklie walked to them.
Ecklie's eyebrow raised slightly as he watched the two colleagues before him. "You two look pretty cozy. Anything you want to tell me."
"Don't even try to start anything, Conrad." Gil started, but stopped when he felt Catherine brush his shoulder.
"You want me to tell you something, Ecklie? Do you want to hear about how I was woken out of sleep and attacked in my own bedroom? How about the fact that I can't even move around on my own? Or maybe you want to hear about how all the skin was torn off my wrists as I fought to get out of the ropes that bound my hands and legs together? Which one do you want me to tell you about first?" Catherine took a breath, trying to calm herself down.
"I'm sorry, that was out of line." Ecklie stopped and looked at Catherine, clearly seeing her for the first time. "Are you all right? We don't have to do this. I can go in by myself."
Catherine shook her head, not wanting to have to go through this again. "You won't know what to look for. I'm the only one that's going to recognize if anything is missing, or at least where they concentrated their search."
"Let's get this done with then, shall we?" Brass asked, stepping closer to Catherine and Gil. "Do you have the keys?" Brass held his hand out, taking the keys as Gil handed them to him and passing them to Ecklie. "I'd ask why you aren't using your wheelchair, but I don't think I want to get in that argument. Let me help?"
Catherine nodded, and let the two men help her walk into the crime scene, her former home. They paused at the doorway and waited for Ecklie to open the door. Catherine closed her eyes as she waited to go in, forcing herself to concentrate on her breathing.
Brass watched her intensely and was about to say something when he saw Gil shake his head, indicating he should remain quiet. The three men stood still, all waiting to take their cue from Catherine.
Slowly she opened her eyes and saw the three sets of eyes watching her, awaiting her move. "Let's go. It's now or never." She went to take a step and felt herself lifted off the ground. "What are you two doing?"
"Just keep your arms around our necks, we aren't going to let you fall." Gil assured her as they stepped closer to the doorway, turning sideways so the three could fit through the frame together.
"Besides it's easier to lift you then it is to stoop to your level. You're not very tall, Cath."
They stepped into the house and Catherine gasped at her first view of her destroyed home. "Oh my….what the…" She paused and looked around, feeling the tears come to her eyes. "Look at what they did."
"Catherine? Are you sure?" Ecklie looked at the fellow investigator, he'd be reluctant to admit it to anyone, but he had always liked Catherine. She had an amazing personality that seemed to draw everyone in, and he was no exception.
She took in deep breaths, trying to control her emotions before answering. "Is the rest of the house like this? Or is it concentrated here."
"Lindsey's room is all right. We don't know if they were interrupted before they had a chance to go in there, or if they purposely avoided it." Brass answered
Catherine nodded, still taking in the scene before her, blinking back the tears that continued to threaten to fall. "That's something positive. I don't know if I'll be able to tell what's missing."
Gil looked up at Catherine's words, remembering something he had said many times in the past. "That's the point. Distraction. Maybe all of this is designed to make us think they were looking for something down here. We need to focus on Lindsey's room."
The group moved up the stairs, as quick as they could with Catherine's injuries. Ecklie opened the door to the child's room and the four stepped in, looking to see if anything appeared out of place.
"Catherine? Are you noticing anything?"
She ignored him, continuing to look around the room. "Did any of our people take anything out of here? What did Warrick bring over to the townhouse?"
"What do you see?" Gil asked and slowly walked her further into the room.
"Go over to the dresser." Catherine told him. Once there she looked at the slight layer of print powder over the furniture. "Warrick wouldn't have taken anything out of here before they processed the room." Catherine said to herself, the three men listening intently to her thoughts. "Someone call Warrick for me please? We should have had him here…" She trailed off, her mind still focused on the surface before her.
Brass looked at Gil and nodded, both knowing what needed to be done. They bent slightly and gently let Catherine's foot touch the floor, giving her time to get her balance before Brass removed his grip. He retrieved his phone and pressed a few buttons, waiting as the line rang. "Warrick? It's Jim. We're here at Cath's house right now and we need to know exactly what you took over to Grissom's house the other…wait a minute." He noticed Catherine's gesture and handed her the phone.
"Warrick it's me. Lindsey's room was processed before you took anything…"
"Of course it was! I wouldn't think of compromising the…"
"I know, I'm sorry. But I had to make sure. You didn't bring over a jewelry box did you?"
"No. I didn't see one." Warrick replied over the phone. "Is that what they were looking for?"
"It's too soon to tell Warrick. We'll tell you more about it later though, okay? Bye." Catherine flipped the phone closed and handed it back to Brass. "Her jewelry box is missing. Warrick didn't take it. Lindsey always keeps it on her dresser, right here in the middle." Catherine pointed to the empty space.
"We need to make sure she didn't move it before we come to any conclusions."
"She didn't move it, Ecklie. I know my daughter. Eddie gave it to her for her birthday last year. It's the last gift he gave her before…"
Gil cleared his throat and turned to face Catherine. "What do you remember about the box?"
Catherine closed her eyes, trying to picture it. "It was wooden. Had one of those dancing ballerinas in it and played 'Beautiful Dreamer.' It was actually pretty nice, a dark mahogany with red velvet inside. There was a vine like carving on the top. There's a picture of Lindsey and Eddie with the box… or at least there was. It was in the living room with the rest of my pictures."
"I'm sure it's still there, Cath. It's a big mess, but for the most part things weren't destroyed… just… redistributed."
Catherine couldn't help the smile that came to her face. Trust Gil to come up with the word 'redistributed' to describe the current state of her home.
"And look on the bright side. At least now you can get that new furniture you've been wanting to buy."
Catherine laughed and all the men smiled, glad to see a glimmer of happiness brighten her eyes.
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