Disclaimer: All characters seen or mentioned on COLD CASE belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer and are used without permission. Sueing me would be a waste of time, since there's nothing you'd get out of this, because I don't make any money with this story.

If you don't like the idea of Scotty/Lilly, you should definitely leave. No sex, but a bit of romance in this part.

Erm, okay: this is possibly one of my darkest and most disgusting chapters to date. I think the character of Frederick Zimmer is pretty effective, but still ... anyway, consider yourself warned (maybe I'm just overreacting, but better safe than sorry, right?):

Rated NC-17 just to be sure. Don't say I didn't warn you.

ORPHEUS AND EURYDIKE
No. 7: Cerberus
by Dare

"You know Frederick Zimmer? Eric Orson's former partner?" Scotty asked Lilly, while he tried to keep up with her: she was running down the staircase, taking two stairs at once. "How do you know him?"

"Just one second," she said. She had her cellphone pressed against her ear and was trying to reach Tess. When they were on the first floor and past Miss McPhee, who ordered them to be quieter, since some of the neighbours were still sleeping, Tess finally answered. "Tess? It's me, Lilly Rush. Listen, I need the address of Frederick Zimmer. You know, Orson's former partner." There was a short silence. "St. Anthonys Road 117," she told Scotty. "Thanks, Tess." She hanged up.

They reached Scotty's car. "I'll drive," Lilly said. "Get in."

"Lil, I seriously don't think --"

"Do you want to stay here or do you want to accompany me?"

Scotty handed her the keys and opened the passenger door. "You owe me big," he told her and shook his head. When she drove off the parking lot, she started to talk. "Frederick Zimmer or really Carlson Frederick Eddings Zimmer wasn't --" She hesitated and gave Scotty a long, scrutinising look, before she continued. "Have I ever told you about Patrick Bailey?"

"No," he said. He looked at her and knew, whoever it was, he was important to her. "You haven't."

"He was my fiancé," she said. Her lips were a thin line. "It's a complicated and long story, but it was Carlson introduced us. He was Patrick's childhood friend – and responsible for his death. That's why he was transferred to this place. Originally they wanted to kick him out of the department, but his family, especially his father interfered." She took a rather sharp curve and some cars behind her started to honk, while Scotty held onto his seat. "Mr. Zimmer knew the right people and offered the right amount of money."

"Why didn't you recognize him earlier? His name was all over Diana Trent's file," Scotty asked.

"It's been eleven years now, Scotty – and Carlson, or Frederick, as he calls himself know, belongs to a circle of my past I'd rather not think or talk about, or remember," she said. "And furthermore, when I remember the friend of Patrick, I think of him as Carlson Eddings, not Frederick Zimmer."

"And why, do you think, he sent me all those cats? Why didn't he sent them to you? What are they, anyway and – watch it!"

Lilly overtook several cars and Scotty stole a glance into the mirror – he could see several shocked and surprised drivers wave with their hands; some of them made some gestures that weren't all too polite.

"Maybe you should slow down a bit," he advised her, but she ignored him and continued.

"Carls – Frederick is a difficult man, and he can be very dangerous. He is brilliant, very charming, has lots of money, but nobody should ever underestimate him," Lilly said. She exchanged a small glance with her passenger. "I don't know why he send them to you – and, well, they are --" She grimaced. "You'll see what they are."

The tour ended in front of a very large building, Victorian style. It was dark, covered with ivy and looked intimidating, like the cave of a monster.

"Are you sure it's the right address?" Scotty asked and pulled his coat tighter around his shoulders. He looked around – the street with lots of shiny houses with red, colourful brigs and light claddings looked completely empty.

"Trust me – this is the right place," she said, as she determinedly climbed the stairs.

Scotty followed her. He knew instantly that they weren't exactly welcome, but it was a feeling he was used to – he dealt with people who didn't want to talk to him every day and every day, he was sure he could manage it and get every information he wanted, but now ...

There was something about this house – like it harboured someone who was – who was ...

Lilly ringed. It took some time, then the door opened. It was an old woman who looked at the couple suspiciously. A very old woman, as in 'ancient'. Her face was covered with wrinkles and her eyes had lost almost their colour and were white.

"Miss Rush," the woman croaked.

If there was a prototype for the stereotypical apple-bearing witch, this was it. She could give Miss McPhee a run for her money.

"It's been a long time."

"Yes, it has, Mrs. Crowley," Lilly answered. Her tone was crisp and full of underlying anger. "We are here to see Frederick."

"Yes, he is expecting you." Her face was completely void of emotion. She stepped aside and let them in. "Let me take your coats."

The entrance hall was a large room with a big staircase leading towards a second floor. Various paintings were hanging on the walls, but most of them were covered with large, white sheets. Scotty noticed dust laying on the stairs that lead upwards, as if they hadn't been used for years.

It was, indeed, a very strange place.

"No, thanks, we won't be staying very long," Lilly said. "Where is he?"

Mrs. Crowley nodded towards the hall. "In the conservatory," she said.

"Thanks. C'mon," she urged her partner to avert his gaze from the surroundings. "Let's try and keep this visit as short as possible."

Scotty nodded and followed her dumbfounded. He didn't know much about Lilly's past, but that it had taken place on such a stage?

The conservatory was the extension of a large, dark hall, filled with a long table and several, white-apparelled paintings on the walls. There was violent, white light coming through the large windows of the winter garden – Scotty narrowed his eyes in order to adjust to the lightning conditions, but to no avail. Frederick Zimmer was nowhere to be seen. But there was some kind of unshaped, black mass in front of the glistening windows and when Lilly called out --

"Hello, Frederick."

-- the black mass moved.

When they came closer, Scotty realised what it was: it used to be a human being, but now, it was just a large mass of fat in a wheelchair that could barely contain all of it.

Frederick Zimmer had no hair left – even his eyebrows were completely bare. He couldn't possibly move at all and when Scotty noticed the faint smell of urine, he assumed that Frederick Zimmer or whatever was left of him, hadn't left that chair for a very long time. He almost looked like a baby – an oversized, ugly version of a baby.

Next to him, there was a small, round table and on top of it sat a chess board and it's associated chess figures.

He would have almost crashed into Lilly when he recognised the pieces: the white (or really green) side was missing two pawns – little cats made out of jade – and it's king, the lion.

"Lillian," the thing that was Frederick Zimmer, said. His voice was unnaturally high. "You look good."

"I wish I could say the same thing," Lilly answered him. There wasn't any disgust in her voice – something that impressed Scotty – only anger.

"Well," tiny black eyes looked at her in a way that made Scotty feel uncomfortable. "I was a little bit greedy in the past. And this is Scott Valens, I presume." Just his tiny eyes wandered over to Scotty. "I would shake your hand, but currently I am unfit to do so."

"Detective Valens received your gifts," Lilly hissed at him, before Scotty could say another word. "Why are you giving them away? Is this part of your game?"

"Game? I didn't notice I was playing one, Lillian," he drawled lazily. "And since this is one of Patrick's favourite belongings, I thought I give pieces of it to a dear person." He looked up at Scotty who noted with abhorrence the trail of saliva that wandered down several of Frederick's chins. "Did you like my presents, Mr. Valens?" he asked. The way he pronounced every single word sent chills down Scotty Valens' spine: it was like he cut them out with a very sharp knife.

"I don't know how I deserve them," Scotty said in a neutral kind of tone.

"You are currently working on Diana Trent's case, are you not?" Frederick asked. "How is it going? It was my favourite of all cases." A tiny smile played on his fleshy lips.

"It's going," Scotty said. "Thank you very much." Currently, he didn't care for the case, but for the woman who was with him: he could see unbelievable rage in Lilly's eyes and her hands formed white-knuckled fists. She looked as if she would bare her teeth any minute. He had never seen her this way: Lilly rarely laughed, but she smiled. She was serious, earnest, compassionate and sometimes too sensible for her own good. When she got angry, it was usually a slow burn, and as far as he was concerned, it almost always ended in tears.

"That is nice. The poor girl, you know. Did you know that her parents were sent her cut-out uterus?" Frederick Zimmer asked in a let's-exchange-cooking-recipes-voice.

"Is it because of Patrick?" Lilly snapped. "Why are you doing this? Why are interfering and why do you sent one of Patrick's most prized possessions to one of my friends?"

"Well, as you have noted in the past, Lillian, I am, what professionals call, a maniac, a mentally ill person. We Americans have such an amusing term for it – a kook, a crackpot. What do you think, Mr. Valens, is more fitting: A kook or a crackpot?"

Lilly was close to tears, Scotty could tell. He knew how she felt: as if they had time-travelled into a part of her past that was connected to some of her worst memories and greatest injuries. And as Scotty watched her, she fell deeper and deeper into that time and the hurt gradually grew. He was about the grab her arm to get her away from this crazy man, but for Lilly it was the last straw.

She apparently lost it.

"Listen, Carlson," she bent down to him, each of her hands on his armrests. A muscle twitched in her jaw. They noses almost touched. "I don't know what you are up to – and I don't care. Just leave me and my friends alone and stay out of my life. I closed this chapter of my life and you are in it." She leant even nearer if this was even possible. "If you don't heed my advise, you are going to regret it."

On Carlson's lips appeared the terrible smile of a manchild. "I think I just ejaculated," he whispered.

"Fuck off," she whispered back and then turned on her heels and stormed off.

"Mr. Valens," Frederick Zimmer called out, when Valens started to follow Lil.

"I don't think there's anything left to say," Scotty managed to press out. He just wanted to deck the guy and there were several appropriate bon mots on his tongue that wanted to get out, but he managed to behave.

"Then just listen," Frederick Zimmer told him. "Keep the cats. They are some of the few things I have from Patrick, Lillian Rush's fiancé. They are important to her, whether she acknowledges it or not."

"Why are you doing this to her?" Scotty asked. "Hasn't she suffered enough?"

Frederick Zimmer smiled. "And I will put an end to her suffering, as it was Patrick Bailey's last will." He struggled for air and his lungs seemed to be rattling. The masses of fat were wobbling.

"If you harm a hair on Lilly's head --" he warned him.

"Tsk-tsk. No one ever gets it. No one ever understands what I am saying." He shook his head. "It is the tragedy of my life." Then he changed the topic. "You found Juliette St. Claire, did you not? She is the last and only key to Diana Trent's murder."

For a second, Scotty's curiosity about the case took over. "Did you find out something? Something that --"

"-- is not in the files? No. I have not. No matter how much I asked her she would not tell me a thing. But Lillian can do it – after all, this is why she is here."

Scotty stared at him and wondered if he used the cats to summon Lilly from Philadelphia, but he dared not to voice his question: because he didn't want to spent more time in Edward-Carlson-whatever-his-name-was' company and furthermore, Lilly was out there, possibly in a bad state of mind.

"I hope we never meet again,"he told Frederick Zimmer, then he left the house.

Lilly was waiting for him – she sat in the car on the passenger seat and looked – oh surprise! -- completely miserable. She stared out at the windows and tried to compose herself, but Scotty could see her shoulders shaking.

He knew that Lilly Rush could handle lots of pain, lots of hurt and lots of sorrow, but even someone like her had a breaking point. And Scotty feared that she had reached hers. He knew there wasn't much he could do – and what worried him most was: maybe she wouldn't let him help her.

How high were the walls around her heart? And was Scotty Valens, of all people, able to climb them?

He opened the passenger door and knelt down. "Lilly --?"

"Let's drive to the police department," she commanded, not looking at him. Stains betrayed her tears.

"Lil, I think that's the worst of all places you want to be today," he told her gently. He tried to catch one of her hands that produced ugly wrinkles in her coat, but she moved it away. "If I can solve this case, I can leave this town again – and I can leave Carlson. That's everything which matters now."

Scotty stared at her and realised: he didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay, because of reasons he did not want to think about and he did not want to analyse: those kind of thoughts made it only harder for her – and for him.

Currently, only one thing mattered: help her to feel better. Everything else could wait.

"Lil – just ... let's get you something to eat, so you can calm down a bit, okay?"

"Scotty --"

He reached up, touched her chin and made her look at him. The moment their gazes locked he knew that she wasn't able to bear his eyes and the walls started to crumble. She raised her hands to hide the tears, but to no avail.

Softly, she started to cry, almost without any noise, but to Scotty, those quiet sobs almost broke his heart. He got up and finally moved her arms around her. It was a strange situation – two years ago, he would have laughed if someone had told that that one day, he would console Lilly Rush of all persons like this.

For the first time he actually felt how tiny, how skinny Lilly was. He could feel her shoulders through her dark coat and her collarbone that pressed against his crooked body, when he tried to wrap himself around her and shield her from the person that was sitting in a wheelchair in the house behind them.

She cried even more and her grip on his coat tightened. Scotty held her, his head hovering above yours. He rubbed wide circles over her back and when her shoulders stopped shaking, he held them and knelt down again. His look searched hers, but she still looked down, her messy blonde hair covering her eyes.

After several sniffles, she managed to resume eye contact. She looked at him with a teary, red-rimmed gaze and he scanned his pockets for a handkerchief and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she murmured and dapped her eyes and her cheeks. "Thanks for coming with me."

"Don't mention it. Feeling any better?" he asked. The concern was evident in his voice. He felt the sudden urge to lock her away from the world and all the harm that came with it.

"Let's just get away from this place," she whispered. "Please."

"And you're sure you'll be fine?" he asked.

She didn't meet his eyes. "Yes."

Scotty reached down and touched her chin to tilt his face up and force her to meet his eyes. "Sure?"

She looked at him with a gaze that told him she was testing him, searching for something in his glance. Whatever it was she found there – apparently, she liked what she saw and a tiny smile crept onto her lips. "No – but I will be."

And that was good enough for Scotty.

end #7

Mellie Erdmann: Thanks a lot for your kind words (and thanks for patiently reviewing each and every chapter I produce.) :)
lilsmiles: Thanks a lot.
Pealee: Me, too! ;)
kawaiipeach14 (cute nickname, BTW): Hope you didn't hurt anyone in the meantime. I work as fast as possible. ;)
AthenaIceGoddess:Thanks a lot. :) I try.
SidleIdol03: I try to update soon. And thanks for reading it. :)
XDareXDevilX: I try hard not to. :)
Annica: Thanks a lot. I know the chapters are sometimes a bit short – but I hope they'll grow a bit in the future. Thanks for liking "my" Lilly and Scotty. I always wonder if they are completely out-of-character or not.
Lea: Thanks for reviewing. Here's your update. :)
Evangelina Lilly: I love the L/S parts, too. :) And I hope you liked this chapters, since it is the most L/S-ish to date.
givemecookies: I made you giggle! Yay! Well, that's an achievement, isn't it:) And at least you have morning abilities; the only morning ability I have is to sleep until late afternoon. ;)
Tiantian Wang (BTW, you have a really cool name :)): Thanks a lot. I like the ending, too. They are the most difficult thing to write, I think. ;)
Nix707: I really hope so. And here's your new, next chapter. I hope I can keep things curious. :)