A/N: Someone new is in this chap and sorry guys, still no Bobby D. But I do have some ideas on him in the next chap. Meanwhile, this chap takes place around a week or two after the last one.
Kaylenn walked into Gil's vacant bedroom. She climbed into his bed and buried her head in his pillows. After breathing in his soothing scent, she looked up at his alarm clock, 3:37 AM. She sighed and sat up. "Nova, Star- Shadow?"
The two German Shepherds came strolling in and Star-Shadow jumped up into the bed, while Nova whined to be let up. Kaylenn smiled and patted the bed, the dog barked as she jumped up onto Gil's sheets. When she heard the growls emitting from the other dog, Kaylenn snapped, "Don't start Star!"
The redhead smirked at the reproachful look that crossed over the black face. "I decide who's in this bed right now." The girl laid down between the big dogs and laid her head on Nova's stomach, thinking of the last month and half of her life.
She smiled at the thought of first meeting Brass and telling him to lick her. That had been the moment of bonding for them, since most people didn't stand up to him. Actually that whole day had been like that. She had been fiery, something she seem to be losing.
This place was changing her and she could tell. Her defenses weren't up to strength and this city kept throwing things at her that kept lowering them. Actually her whole life had been turned upside down in the last three and half months, and it kept getting worse.
First her parents dying, one piece of news she didn't need, being moved from her home, city, and state, being thrust upon her Uncle, being a burden to Warrick and probably to her Uncle, and then the icing on top was falling in love with Greg. 'Ok, maybe not love but pretty fucking close to it, I'm just not ready to love again right now.'
At that thought, memories of a bad past resurfaced, the memories that plagued most of her nightmares. What would Gil say or even think if he knew of what those nightmares held, of why her parents and her hadn't had the greatest relationship? "Probably disown your ass," she sighed, shaking her head.
She sat up slowly; she was starting to get a panic attack at these memories. She looked around the room uneasily, she needed to get away from this room, from enclosed spaces, and she needed fresh air. She was suffocating in the staleness of the house.
Kaylenn ran into the living room, both dogs on her tail, sensing that something was wrong with their human. She went to the front door and slid on some shoes before exiting the house in a hurry. The crisp cold of the desert night hit her heated, sweaty skin like a welcome bath.
Kaylenn stood there and willed herself to calm down; this was one of the worst attacks ever. As her nerves started to settle, she started walking. Her mind wasn't thinking of the dangers of this, especially when there was a serial killer who preyed on young girls exactly like her, no her mind was blank, a black void. Kaylenn just walked and really didn't give a shit about what could happen, just that she needed this.
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Catherine walked into the lab and found Greg staring at the ceiling, a haunting song playing on his jukebox. She frowned, where was the Static X or Rancid or Disturbed. "Hey Greg, you ok?"
He looked at her and said, "I had Kaylenn burn me a CD of all the songs that killer had used so far, and asked her to add a few of what she thought he could use in the future."
"I didn't know this song was bad." Catherine cocked and eyebrow as she recognized the song as Shawn Colvin's 'Sonny Came Home'.
Greg shook his head. "That's what I said, but Kaylenn told me that's what she thought too a while ago, but the song is actually about this chick Sonny, who comes home and starts planning on taking back her life." Catherine nodded, following what he was saying. "Any-hoo, her big plan is bringing these children and some other people into her old house and burning them alive, which is what she does." At her shocked and slightly appalled expression, Greg smiled slightly, "That was my look exactly, we've been singing to this song forever and never knew a thing about it, but she does burn them and she has no guilt for it."
Catherine closed her mouth slightly, "Well, Kaylenn certainly has a taste in music," she took a breath, "she's not normal is she?"
Greg nodded slowly, "You have no idea! She is one chica who is not afraid to toy with the darker side of her being or morbidness of life."
She smiled uneasily and changed the subject, "Where's Gil?"
"Uh," Greg bit his lip slightly, "in his office I think. He went in there about the same time shift started."
She nodded and bid a goodbye to Greg.
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Kaylenn turned the corner of the street and felt a hand grab her shoulder. She screamed and turned around. "Fuck me Declan!"
Declan was standing in front of her, trying to hold back his laughter, but it was hard since her face had been priceless. "Sorry, I didn't mean it, I had been calling out your name." His smile was wiped clean when he saw tears were starting to form in her eyes. He cupped her face, "You alright? I really am sorry . . ."
She sniffed, "I thought I was gonna be killed you asshole!"
"Well, it's good to know your sense of sassy isn't lost."
"You wanna walk me home?" Kaylenn asked trying to change the subject.
Declan stared at her. She was biting her lip, and hugging her shivering frame. "Yeah," he whispered as he took off his coat and handed it to her, "here, put this on, you're startin' to remind me of Chihuahua."
She laughed and slid on the offered jacket. All of a sudden her senses were filled with the smell of Old Spice and Declan's own scent; these smells caused a reaction in Kaylenn that made her face flush. "You're blushing."
"Shut up."
He grinned at her, "Ok, since you're feeling a little calmer, do you mind actually if we head towards the park, instead your house, I left Zoë there."
"Zoë?" Kaylenn's heart fell, were they going out?
"Yeah, she snuck out to meet her boy toy of the month and I decided to follow her to make sure she would be ok."
"You're not going out?"
He grimaced, "Uh, no." They turned to head toward the park. "That would be like dating your sister."
Kaylenn looked at him, "Your that close?"
He nodded, "Yeah, I'm her adopted, unofficial, brother."
"Unofficial?"
"My parents gave me up when I was born and I grew up in foster families or orphanages, until I just sort of ran away from it all." He took a deep breath. "Zo's mom had known the last family I had been with and when I ran away decided to take me in." He threw up his arms, "And now I'm part of Zo's fucked up family!"
Kaylenn giggled a bit at that and wondered, whether Zo's family was all that it was cracked up to be. "Well, you turned out all right." They smiled at each other until they reached the swing set in the park.
"So how long do these rendezvous usually take?" Kaylenn sat herself on the edge of the slide and laid back, while he sat on the side of it and anchored himself by entwining his leg with hers.
"As long as the make-out session lasts." He glanced at her and asked, "Why were you out by yourself anyways, know with the killer at large?"
"I had a panic attack and kinda ran out of the house and just started walking. It's, uh, a habit." He looked at her strangely. "I did it in San Antonio, so it didn't really occur to me not to do it here at the time." She shivered and he cocked an eyebrow. "I also have a bad feeling about these killings, which kinda started the panic attacks."
"Why don't you tell your Uncle?"
"It's just a gut feeling."
He squinted his eyes, "And this comes from the girl who 90% of the time gets the cases solved in class by hunches."
"Yeah, but that leaves a huge 10% margin of error."
He shrugged and inched closer, "Whelp, I always say go with your instincts."
"And what if your instincts are telling you to go for two different things?"
"Then I say," his lips were almost touching hers, "experiment . . ." As his lips caressed hers, a voice interrupted them.
"Looks like I wasn't the only one who was getting some lip action." Zoë stood there looking a bit harassed.
Declan put a little distance between he and Kaylenn but still didn't move away from her. Kaylenn, though, had her neck at an odd angle trying to see more of Zoë, since Declan's arm around her was making it hard sit up. "What happened to you?"
Kaylenn heard her snort, "Oh nothing, just an asshole that thought the third date was the charm he needed to get into these Levis."
Declan and Kaylenn traded a look, and Kaylenn asked quickly, "You alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine, disappointed . . ." She walked over to the slide and looked down at Kaylenn, "He was a major hotty."
Declan finally moved aside and Kaylenn sat up, "Though it looks like my Levis weren't the only ones who were coming off."
"Zoë, lick me."
"Gladly babe," she turned to an amused Declan, "c'mon stud, we gotta get home." She turned to Kaylenn, who looked slightly disappointed, "Wanna spend the night? Mom won't mind."
Kaylenn thought about it. Along as she's home by 8:00 AM, she wouldn't get caught, and plus it was Friday. She grinned at them, "There enough room?"
"Fuck yeah!" Came the reply from both Zoë and Declan.
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The only thing that had been on her mind for the last few minutes had been whether or not wake him up by calling his name or by pushing him back in that chair and straddling those hips of his. Catherine settled for the first one, the latter might leave her a lawsuit or some explanations; neither were an option.
Though at the same time she didn't want to wake him.
Gil was currently asleep at his desk. His hand still held the pen and his head had obviously slid off his palm and down his forearm. He was so cute and looked so peaceful but she knew he would have the most God-awful kinks if she didn't wake him now.
She walked over to him and leaned down to his ear as not to startle him like a week ago. "Gil, honey, wake-up . . . C'mon Gil."
He grunted and his eyes opened slowly trying to focus on his surroundings. "Cath?" He voice was filled with sleep, and she ran a hand through his slightly ruffled curls.
"Hey Sleepy." He raised his head and looked around the room lazily. "Why haven't you gone home, isn't this your fourth shift or is this still your third?"
"Work . . ." His voice was raspy with sleep as he looked blankly around his desk as if searching for something.
"That's it mister, your going home or at least to my house, since it's closer."
He rubbed his face, "Nah, I'm fine, I just need to wake-up."
"No, what you need to do is go to sleep," she looked at his appearance, he hadn't shaved and there were bags under his eyes, his clothes were also wrinkled, "or at least get cleaned up."
He shook his head, "No, so where are we in the case?"
"Same place we were in when you fell asleep."
He gave her a look that said 'don't start with me Catherine', "So, in that case, nothing."
"Yep." She sat on the corner of his desk and again took in his appearance. "Did you even go home?"
"No," at her look he held up a hand, "and don't worry about Kaylenn, she's fine. I called her at the beginning of shift-"
"Which is your fourth."
"- And she's fine but pissed off that I missed movie night." She raised her eyebrows. "It's a thing we do every Friday before shift, we watch a movie . . ."
She noticed his look, "What?"
"They've all been with William Petersen." She burst out laughing, "What?"
"He's gorgeous!"
"That's what she said."
"Though he does look a lot like you."
His eyes grew a bit at that, "Are you saying I'm gorgeous?"
"Maybe I am," Catherine sounded a lot braver than she was feeling. "But the truth was I didn't even think about Kaylenn, I'm worried about you pulling more than double shifts. You know that when you go on your third you start getting sloppy, and now there's no way of telling how sloppy you are."
"Are you making fun of me?" He watched, as she didn't answer him and how her hips swayed as she walked to his door and opened it.
"You have fifteen till everyone gets here, so get cleaned up." She walk outside and almost closed the door, but she popped her head back in. "You know you're gorgeous."
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When the group walked up to the house, the Goth-ness of it took Kaylenn aback. It looked like a mini-castle, something that really didn't fit with neighbors, which looked like normal houses.
"Wow?" Zoë and Declan grinned each other as she stared at it, "You guys live here?"
"Nope."
Zoë took Kaylenn's hand and started to lead her behind the mini-castle, she also noticed there was no fence. "Where the-"
Kaylenn's eye grew wide as she saw a two-story house with a fence around it, "This where we live Kaylenn, and you have dogs right?"
The red head nodded at Declan, who opened the gate and let to the girls go first. All of a sudden Pit Bull and a German Shepard bounded at them. "Stop! Sit!" Both dogs sniffed at Kaylenn's shoes and sat down in front of them at Zo's command. She pointed to the Pitt Bull, who was a lush red almost, "She's Ginger, mine, and this big gallute," she pointed to the black and silver German Shepard, "is Bale-Wolfe, Wolfe for short, and he's Declan's."
"Kick ass dogs y'all." She petted them both as they licked her hands, arms, and face. "They're playful."
"Yep," Zoë started walking toward the front door. "And we have four other beasts inside."
"You have six dogs!"
Declan shook his head, making his brown locks disheveled even more, "Nope, more like half and half."
They walked inside letting both dogs come in, while a small beagle came running and jumped into Zoë awaiting arms. Kaylenn laughed even though she did noticed that she could smell urine; Zoë seemed to notice too, "Hey D, could yah?" Kaylenn watched as he disappeared into what seemed like the hallway to the kitchen. "And this little munchkin," the dog wiggled a bit, "is my baby Rose."
"Hey Rose!" The beagle licked Kaylenn's hand as she petted it.
"Sorry about that Kay." Declan had come back and Kaylenn noticed the smell of urine had disappeared. "Rose here stays inside while we're gone so we put some stuff down so she can go if she wants, and that's what you were smelling."
"You want the tour?" Kaylenn nodded at Zoë, "All righty, let the tour commence!"
Declan pointed to their surroundings, "This is the living room." It had blue-gray carpet, white, leather couches and a la-z-boy. The room was painted a baby blue and it had heavy white curtains. The room then lead to a separate room though an arch, they walked into the room and it was filled to the max with a pool table, bean-bags, a royal purple couch, a T.V. with game stations hooked up to it and a desk with a computer. "And this is the game room as you can tell."
"Down that hallway," she pointed down the hallway, which Declan had disappeared, "is the kitchen, guest room, bathroom and dining room . . . and Mom's room." They walked to the stairs that lead up to the second floor in the living room and walked up them. "The second floor consists of my stuff."
"While the attic is all mine."
Kaylenn stared at them, "You guys get a floor?"
They both nodded and Zoë pointed to another living room, with blood-red walls, black carpet, and two black leather couches. It was very dark but Kaylenn liked it. "This is my living room, the guest room is on the other side of the stairs, my office space is down that hallway and my room is at the end with my own toilet."
"I have exactly the same shit upstairs, except my color scheme is different and my living room is more like a damn game room."
"What's color scheme?"
"Black walls, with yellow sponged over it, midnight blue carpet and very loud yellow and very mellow blue furniture."
"His life is brighter than mine I guess," Kaylenn laughed at the remark. "Which one do like better?"
"I love both but he gets brownie points for the yellow."
"Kiss ass."
Declan and Kaylenn smiled at each other as they headed back downstairs. Zoë called after them, "Hey Kay, I'm gonna call my mom, to tell her that your staying over and to call your Uncle just in case alright?"
Kaylenn thought about it, "Yeah that sounds good."
"C'mon Kaylenn, lets get something to eat I'm starvin'," Declan took her hand and lead her to the kitchen.
Zoë however walked to an intercom that was in the game room and punched a button and spoke into it. "Mom? Mom, you there?"
Zoë waited a moment and then her mom's silken voice drifted over the COM. "Yes, Zoë?"
"Me and D's friend Kaylenn is staying over that ok Mamamia?"
"Yeah baby, it's fine," a scream echoed though the com, "do you want me to call her par-, no wait this is the one who lives with her Uncle right?"
"Yeah she's that one," Zoë paused as she looked for Kaylenn's number in the Rolodex. "You sound tired, everything alright?"
"Just a busy night Zoë, you know how it gets," her mom laughed, as another scream echoed, "though everyone's happy."
Zoë giggled at that, "I can hear, here's the number mom . . ."
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"Is your phone vibrating Gil?" Catherine looked at him as he opened to the break room where everyone was assembled, "Or do you do tricks I don't know about?"
Sara choked on her coffee, Greg and Nick shared a look and burst laughing, while Warrick just leaned against the sink and smiled. "Ha, ha Cat." Gil reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone, 'Why is it in my pants pocket?' "Grissom."
"Gil?"
Gil's heart stopped at that silken voice, memories of that voice screaming his name in passion came back to him. All vivid. Aware of his colleague's stares and that Catherine was mouthing 'what's wrong', he shook his head, "Lady Heather."
Whoa, in the shadows of our life
We can fall into the night unscarred
Whoa, in the shadows of our life
We can never let it go this far
Somehow my words are rendered useless
Still I pull my lip down to my chest
Just to show you how my jaw is
'In the Shadows' by Story of the Year
A/N: Ok, so there. I hope you enjoyed, please review and again sorry for the 6 months.
