Chapter Sixteen- Some Silence In Between

Thanks to Nisha14, Picard's Angel, Daydreamer1127, Teliko. x3, DrusillaBraun, CissaMalfoy, Pandy Roxy Chick, myfairlady, starkidtw, tough cookie, and JacobedRose for their reviews!

Babe? How can you be unhappy when you have me? Lol. I'm just kidding.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Sadly…

Author's Note: Only a few more chapters. I have to say I'm kinda sad this is ending. It was really one of my favorite stories.

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Catherine arrived at work early the next night. It killed to think everything was still so normal. She still took Lindsay to school and slept for half the day before getting up and picking up Lindsay from school and taking her to dance. Lindsay was such a talented dancer. It pleased Catherine to see her daughter take her own talent and dance for a better reason than Catherine had. Her mind was in jumbles though as Lindsay trotted up to her in her ballet shoes. She had cooked dinner and then before leaving for her job, had tucked her daughter in. It was so normal, but to Catherine, it was everything.

Her first arrival at the lab was greeted with awkward silence. Most of the techs didn't know how to treat a woman who had shot her ex-husband, no matter how justifiable it was. She ignored them. It would pass in time. Nick greeted her a moment later.

"You okay?" he asked.

Catherine gazed at him for a moment before answering. "yeah fine." She said. "What we got today?"

Nick raised an eyebrow. "We don't got anything. You have to talk to the psychologist." He reminded her.

She rolled her eyes. "Great the shrink. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse."

Nick gave her a sympathetic smile. "Hey Cath, chill. We're all backing you up." He said, giving her a friendly hug. "We always will be." He whispered softly as he pulled away.

Catherine almost smiled. Footsteps behind her. She turned to face Grissom eye to eye.

He didn't say a word. Neither did she. Just walked past each other in the hallway. She didn't know what to say. He didn't trust himself to say anything. They walked past each other in silence. Their first since they had met each other.

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The night went by like a blur. Catherine had worked so many cases the procedure had become routine. Swabs, prints, DNA, and blood splatter. Just like that. As she made her way back into the lab to drop off her stuff, she realized that she was feeling aggravated. She shook off her thoughts as she clocked out, ready to get home to her daughter.

As she drove home, she realized that the city lights didn't calm or excite her the way they used to. She felt numb. Disconnected. Something just wasn't right, but everything was in place.

Except Eddie. She thought.

She would understood why she wasted tears on him, but she couldn't understand why she couldn't look at herself the same way. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter, her knuckles turning white. They were clean, but in her mind, they were stained in blood. Blood that she could never wash away. She had done her job that night. She been trained to shoot and to kill. She protected Grissom and her team. She did what she had to do, but she could not make peace with herself. The city lights were still flashing and Catherine found a sickening feeling in her stomach.

By the time she made it back to her house, her mind was made up. She checked up on her still sleeping daughter. Lindsay probably needed a break too from the hectic city lights. As much as she hated putting her daughter in new situations, Catherine felt the maternal instinct that this was the right choice.

She picked up the phone and dialed a number she hadn't dialed in a logn time. Three rings and a young boy's voice came on the line.

"Hey Jeremy. Can I talk to your mother?" She said softly.

A pause and a woman's voice rang out with a terse hello.

"Hey Vivian. It's your sister."

A gasp of surprise from the other line. Catherine smiled a little.

"Catherine!" Vivian cried. "It's been a while."

"Yeah." Catherine replied. "Listen, I'm thinking about going back to Montana. Just to get myself and my daughter together again. Can you hook me up with an apartment or something?"

Vivian thought for a moment. "Our old farm's for sale if you have that much cash." She said in a slight country twang, that the Las Vegas city had cured Catherine of.

"How much?"

Vivian gave the price and Catherine felt herself smile.

"Yeah I can buy it. Just gimme the number of the owner." She said.

Vivian was surprised Catherine had done so well for herself that she could afford the place, but gave her sister the number anyway.

"Thanks sis. I'll see you soon."

"Can't wait."

As Catherine hung up, she caught sight of a lace teddy that Eddie had given her during their first anniversary. She knew she made the right choice. The memories were too strong here. Too loud for either her or Lindsay to move on. They needed the peaceful country nights, even just for a little while.

She wondered how she would break the news to Gil.

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She stood before his door with a nervous look on her face. She had never felt it difficult to talk to him before. She had already broken the news to Lindsay, who was thrilled at the idea of owning a pony. Sam had already planned on taking her house and holding it for her in case she wanted to come back. Packing wasn't a big deal. Sam could get people in her house and out within two days and her stuff would be in Montana by the end of the week. The hard part was telling her team, who have become her family, that she was leaving.

She wanted to start with Grissom, but found it impossible as she stood before his door. Perhaps he wouldn't even care if she left. He had made it clear that the closeness between was gone the night before. He had ignored her. Plainly. It had hurt her more than she let on. She didn't understand why, but it was almost as bad as killing Eddie. He walked away from her.

She turned away from his door. Now it was her turn.

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Next chapter will be the last. I'll start working on the sequel right away. Sorry if this is short.