Chapter Eight- Broken Wing

Thanks to Bart Simpson Rox, CissaMalfoy, soliz, Nisha14, myfairlady, DrusillaBraun, and sparkling-strawberries for their reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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Catherine drove as fast as she could through the blinding rain. "Lindsay hang in there!" she said desperately trying to give her daughter a sense of calmness over the phone.

"Mommy Hurry!" Lindsay screamed, panic laced in every fiber of her voice.

"I'm hurrying honey. Tell me what you passed." Catherine said, searching desperately for some sign of her little girl.

"We passed the castle." Lindsay said through tears.

The tower. Catherine thought. "Good Lindsay. Anything else?" she asked.

"We went through a fence." Lindsay recalled.

Catherine saw the fence with a giant hole in it. "I'm here Lindsay. I'm coming." Then the battery died.

Catherine leaped into the cold water and power stroked toward the sinking car. Lindsay was banging on the car window, screaming for her mother.

"Lindsay back away from the window!" Catherine yelled.

"NO!" she screamed her voice muffled from the glass in the window. "Mommy it's underwater!"

Catherine yanked on the door. It was locked. Child safety lock. Damn she thought. She would have to break the window, but she couldn't with her daughter right under it. She had no choice. She took a breath and dove under.

"MOMMY!" Lindsay screamed when she saw her mother go under. "MOMMY!"

Catherine swan to the passenger side window of the driver's seat. She could see her daughter's legs kicking frantically trying to stay afloat. Only a small section of the car was left above water. She grabbed her gun from her waist and smashed it again the window, breaking it and wincing as a shard cut into her arm. She swam into the car and grabbed Lindsay, pulling her out.

They broke the surface gasping for air, Catherine's arms wrapped tightly around her daughter. They swam for the shore and Catherine pushed her daughter onto dry land before climbing out of the icy cold water herself. Lindsay was exhausted, mainly from fear. Catherine was feeling a sense of pure rage at her ex-husband. She quickly dialed Grissom's phone.

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Eddie was ready to punch through a wall. One mistake. One mistake and his whole plan was down the drain. He shouldn't have gotten high before seeing Vanessa. He should've know she would be high when she drove and would drive off a cliff. Why did he leave the girl in the car? Catherine would be furious. Charm and sweet words were going to help him anymore. If he knew Catherine she would never forgive him. He would have to take a different road. No matter what happened he would be Lindsay's guardian. Catherine would leave everything to Lindsay, but Eddie couldn't just drop in and murder Catherine. That would be too suspicious. He needed to gradually break her. He thought it over. He had no choice but to kill her, he just needed to know when and how. At the moment, however, he felt searing rage at his ex-wife. He grabbed his coat and went out to find her.

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Grissom ran every red light to get to Catherine's location. He saw that the ambulance had already arrived and so had Sara. Sara was watching the car being pulled out of the water. He looked around in panic, scared that something had happened to Catherine. He finally spotted. She was sitting on the bumper of the ambulance with Lindsay, both were wrapped in blankets. Someone had brought her a cup of coffee, which she was sipping slowly, listening intently to what her daughter was telling Detective Vega. He could faintly make out Lindsay's words, something about her father and pink-haired lady.

"Catherine!" he cried running toward her.

Her head shot up. "Gil." She breathed, and smiled as she felt his arms wrap around her in a tight hug.

"I was so scared that…" his voice trailed off, not wanting to speak the words that he had been dreading.

"Gil I'm okay. Lindsay's okay. We're both fine." Catherine reassured. She saw the car finally make it to the surface. "Lindsay Mommy's gonna help Sara with the crime scene, you stay here with Detective Vega." She said gently and in her motherly tone to her daughter.

Lindsay reluctantly let go of her mother's shirt, which was still soaking wet. Catherine kissed Lindsay on the top of her head, before following Grissom toward Sara.

"Hey Cath, you okay?" she asked.

Catherine nodded, slipping out of her blanket. "Yeah, what have we got?" she asked all business.

She regretted slipping out of the blanket. Doing so allowed her to have freedom of movement, but she was freezing. Her clothes were still wet and she had nothing to change into. Her teeth chattered despite her attempt to stop herself. Luckily, Grissom understood. He slipped out of his jacket and put it over her shoulders. She flashed him a grateful smile.

"Thanks." She said, moving to examine the car. She noticed a blue vial on the dash of the car. She picked it up with a gloved hand.

"I got something." She said as Grissom and Sara moved closer to glance at it.

"What is that? Drugs?" Sara asked.

"Knowing my husband…no doubt about it." Catherine said plainly and looking at the vial in her hand with a forlorn expression in her hand.

Grissom wanted to comfort her. Hold her, kiss her, talk to her, anything, but watch the grief flood her eyes, knowing there was nothing he could do. She wouldn't let him in and he couldn't break down the wall she had built around herself.

"Catherine you might wanna hand me that since you're not on this case." Sara said slowly.

Catherine glared at Sara. "What?' she asked as she whirled around to fix her gaze on Grissom, who lowered his eyes.

"I'm sorry Catherine, but procedure calls." He said, not wanting to see the anger that he knew would be in her eyes.

Catherine was hurt. Grissom didn't trust her to keep an open mind about this case. She couldn't be on the case that her own daughter was involved in. "Whatever." She said rather coldly, handing the vial to Sara roughly. She turned on her heel and walked briskly back to her daughter.

"Ready to go home?" she asked Lindsay gently.

Lindsay held out her arms for her mother to pick her up, something she hadn't done since she had been six. Catherine tenderly picked up her only child. She turned to find herself face to face with Grissom, the last person she wanted to talk to.

"Catherine let me give you a ride." He said imploringly.

She held up a hand. "No Gil, I can get myself home. Not to mention, Lindsay and I need some time by ourselves." She said rather standoffishly. With that she walked back to her car. Lindsay settled into the front seat, one hand still holding tightly to her mother. Catherine turned on the heat and put some soft music on the radio and drove away, leaving Grissom watching them go with a heavy heart.

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Lindsay was asleep by the time they got home. Catherine carried her daughter upstairs and into her bedroom. She dressed her sleeping child in her pj's and wrapped a blanket around her. She kissed Lindsay on the top of the head and slipped quietly out of the room.

Back in her own room, she hopped into the shower, feeling the warm water wash away the dirt on her, but winced when she saw the scar on her arm. That was going to be there for a while. She slipped out after a couple of minutes and pulled on sweats and a cami. From upstairs, she heard her front door being thrown open. She grabbed her gun off the bedside table and raced downstairs.

Eddie stormed into Catherine's house. "Come out bitch. We need to talk!" he yelled.

Catherine came down the stairs with her gun in hand. He was angry and high, Catherine was scared. She couldn't just shoot him thought.

"Drop the gun, Catherine. I'm just here to talk and apologize." Eddie said raising his hands.

Catherine put it down. "You have got hell to pay Eddie." She seethed.

He smiled which infuriated her even more. Her voice rose.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU LEAVE MY DAUGHTER…NO OUR DAUGHTER IN A SINKING CAR? WHY THE HELL WERE YOU DOING DRUGS IN FRONT OF HER?" she screamed.

Eddie covered the distance between them in three steps. He hit her across the face. "It's not my fault the kid wouldn't stop screaming." He stated coldly.

Catherine pushed him away from her. "SHE COULD HAVE DIED! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH?" Catherine shrieked at him.

This time Eddie was angry. He was here to try one last time to play his game without hurting the bitch, but she wasn't done.

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN IF YOU DATING SOME PINK HAIRED WHORE, BUT IF YOU PUT MY DAUGHTER IN DANGER, THEN THERE'S A FUCKING BIG PROBLEM. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU NEEDLEDICK?" she ranted.

Eddie had heard enough. He grabbed her by the wrist and flung her against the wall. It was an easy thing to do since she didn't weight a lot. She let out a cry of pain, when she hit the wall. He wasn't done. He grabbed her by the hair and hit her across the face, yelling at her. He slammed her head against the staircase before throwing her down on the floor. He twisted her arm behind her and held her in that position. Catherine let another cry of pain as a white searing hot pain, shot through her body. He clapped his hand over her mouth.

"No one calls me that Catherine." He said bring his face close to her ear. "No one tries to take away what's mine either, understand? Lindsay is my daughter too. She's as much mine as she is yours, only I have time for her, you don't."

He flipped her onto her back so that she was facing him. He stroke her cheek, enjoying her trembling whimpers. "Catherine don't tell anyone about this little spat or else you might find yourself and Lindsay in more trouble than you ever imagined." He warned, before slamming her head against the floor and getting up. Catherine lay still, unable to move.

Finally almost an hour later, Catherine regained consciousness. She winced as she got to her feet. She was probably covered in bruises and her arm was bleeding again. She walked into the kitchen and put her arm under the skin, before wrapping a bandage around it. She passed the mirror in the hallway and saw her bruises. She hoped her makeup tricks would be up to par. She headed upstairs to check on her daughter.

Lindsay sat up the moment her mother opened the door. "Mommy?' she whimpered.

"Hey honey, weren't you sleeping?" Catherine asked her daughter quietly.

"It got loud." She said.

Catherine felt tears flood her eyes. "It was nothing baby, just a little talk between Daddy and me." She said trying to keep her daughter away from the horrific truth. Her father was a drug addict and a violent one.

Lindsay wrapped her arms around Catherine's waist, which made Catherine draw a sharp breath of pain. Lindsay let go, but Catherine pulled the small girl onto her lap.

"We're gonna be okay." She said softly.

Lindsay leaned her head against her mother's chest. "Okay." She said softly, rubbing her eyes.

Catherine ruffed her hair. "I love you honey."

"I love you too Mommy. Can you stay with me tonight?" Lindsay asked with a pleading look in her eyes and her lips in a trembling pout.

Catherine had no problem with that. She was in fact glad. "Of course honey. I'm not going anywhere." She said softly, laying down onto her side, the only part of her not aching at the moment.

Lindsay smiled for the first time that night and snuggled close to her mother. Catehrine played with her daughter's hair and started to sing something to Lindsay that she hadn't sung since her daughter was a baby. In fact, Catherine hadn't sang since then, but she sang now, for both her daughter's comfort and her own.

Six pounds nine ounces, looking up at me

Like I have all the answers

I hope I have the ones you need

I've never really done this, now I know what scared is

Sometimes I'll protect you from everything that's wrong

Other times I'll let you just find out on your own

But that's when you'll be groing

And the whole time I'll be knowing

Lindsay let out a contented sigh, bringing a smile to Catherine's face.

I'm afraid you'll have to suffer through some of my mistakes

Lord knows I'll be trying to give you what it takes

What it takes to know the difference between getting by and living

Cause anything worth doing is worth doing all the way

Just know you'll have to live with all the choices that you make

So make sure you're always giving

Way more than you're taking

She knew she was singing to herself as much as her daughter. The lyrics held a message for her as well.

You're gonna fly with every dream you chase

You're gonna cry but know that that's okay

Sometimes life's not fair

But if you just hang there

You're gonna see that sometimes bad is good

You just have to believe things turn out like they should

Life has no guarantees, but always loved by me

You're gonna be.

Catherine kissed her sleeping daughter and softly murmured.

"Someday you're gonna see, just what you are to me"

With that, she closed her eyes and was soon asleep.

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Did you guys liked that? R&R if you did. If not, stop reading! Thanks so much for the support guys. Song is You're Gonna Be by Reba McEntire.