Okay, short chappie, but ya'll get the last one with ity, so no complaints :P
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Chapter Ten: Going Home, the Trial, and Dealing with Nightmares.

As far as physical injuries, all of the ladies were as well as could be expected. Summer had to have a few stiches on her side, and Lindsay had to have a few on the back of her head, but other than that, no serious injuries. All were exetremely happy about finally getting to go home. And who could blame them?

Lindsay, despite being exausted, had no intention of sleeping that night. She didn't think she'd be able to. After the initial excitement of being free wore off, she began to remember Ellie Brass' screams, and everything else that had happened. Nightmare city. She figured a night of just sitting up, and talking with her parents was in order. When they got home, they did just that. They talked.

About mundane, every day things, to keep her mind off of what had taken place, get her mind off of listening to a woman die.

Warrick and Catherine knew Lindsay was distracting herself, so they let her. They were glad of the distraction as well. Despite her claims that she wasn't going to sleep, it wasn't long before Lindsay was sound asleep on the couch, between her parents, dead to the world.

They got up, and situated her on th couch where she would sleep comfortably. "I'd take her to her room," said Warrick, "But I'm not sure I could lift her."

"Don't worry about it," said Catherine, brushind Lindsay's hair out of her face, "She'll be fine here." She straightened, "Good night, Lindsay."

"Good to have you back, Lindz," said Warrick, draping his arm over Catherine's shoulders. They walked towards their room, leaving Lindsay to sleep off the past days' exhaustion. As they went into the room, Catherine caught her husband in a rather heated kiss, to which he responded eagerly. Unlike Lindsay, they weren't going to be asleep for a long while.

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Susan was a chatter box all the way home from the hospital. Nick didn't understand half of what she was saying. The faster she spoke, the more her lousianna accent came out, and when that happened, she was as hard to understand as he was... That was a side effect of being from the southern states... You tended to never lose at least some of you accent, and sometimes, the full accent came back to throw people off track. He simply stayed quiet, until she finally stopped, either because she was out of breath, or her jaw had finally unhinged, one of the two.

"Jaw come off track, finally, Darlin' " he asked, as they headed for their apartment, which, at some point in time, crime scene clean-up had visited.

"Nah," she said, "I jus' noticed ya weren' runnin' your mouth at nine'y miles an hour like I was, an' I figured that meant ya didn' feel like talkin'."

"I was just waitin' for a chance to get a question in, 'tween you breakin' the speed of sound with that mouth of yours..."

"Well, I'm listenin' now," she replied, as they stepped into the apartment.

"Okay, well since I'm a knucklehead, as you've said, I won't dance around, won't be fancy, I'll be my usual, blunt self," said Nick, "Will you marry me?"

She never even missed a beat, "Well, it's about dratted time, " she said, laughing at the Texan's nervous grin, "I thought ya'd never ask, Nicky... Yes."

And the night got a whole lot better.

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Summer was asleep before they even got home. She had just conked out in the middle of saying something about a dog. Despite the fact that she looked perfectly peaceful, sleeping in the back seat right then, Sara knew she'd be awake, and nowhere near ready to sleep again by the time they got to the house. And she was right. All though, she was awake, by the time they arrived, she was quiet, staring off into space, with an expression that said she didn't want to be dragged out of her little world right then.

Some hours later, once she finally had gone to bed, Grissom and Sara were just getting to sleep, when screams woke them up. Grissom was the first up and out of the room, as Sara had gotten her feet tangled in the blankets.

"What's wrong, Kiddo?" He asked, turning on Summer's bedroom light.

"Bad dream..." she said sheepishly.

"I see... Think you can get back to sleep?"

She shrugged, "I dunno..." she paused a moment, "Can I sleep with you and Mama tonight? Please?" She gave him the puppy-dog eyes routine... And it worked. "Sure thing, Lady Bug... Come on." The girl practically lept out of bed, and beat her father to her parents' bedroom.

Grissom shrugged when he saw Sara's questioning glance, at the girl. Summer fell asleep again rather fast, curled up between her parents, and didn't wake up once from another nightmare.

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It didn't matter how tired he was, Brass couldn't sleep. He didn't even want too. He'd never thought his daughter's death would hit him this hard, even though he'd never stopped loving her, but it was.. It was hitting him really hard.

By the time the sun rose the next morning, he still hadn't slept, and he was still sitting in a chair, thinking of all the things he could do to Eli Shaun. But none were as satisfying as letting him rot in prison, for however long the sentence... And it was going to be a long one. They couldn't pin the other twenty-one victims on him, but the five he was guilty of in Vegas? They'd get him. They'd damn sure get him.

Of the group, he was the only one who went to work the next shift. He wasn't to surprised that no one else was there. They had earned a few days off, with their families. He was glad of being at work alone, at least. He didn't need the 'are you okay' looks, or the constant questions.

That was something he wanted to avoid for as long as he possibly could.

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It was several weeks later that the trial was held. The charges? Five counts of murder, and five counts of kidnapping. Eli Shaun's wife, Daisy, was going to be doing some jail time as well, as she had admitted to knowing of her husband's plans, and had even admitted to helping him. Shaun didn't look too happy at the trial... Mostly because he kept telling his lawyer to shut up, and to stop trying to prove him innocent.

When the time came for him to speak, he shocked everyone. "To hell with my lawyer, and his feeble attempts at keeping me out of prison. I freely admit that I killed five people on June fifteenth, and that I took four young women, and one child from their homes. Seven people worked hard to catch me, they did, so I go to jail... That's the rules, and I play by them... Even if those seven did get there late."

He was found guilty on all charges, and given the death sentence. His wife was given ten years in prison.

It wasn't easy for the victims of it all to show up and testify, especially Summer, who, being a child, didn't quite uderstand why she had to. She, like the others had just gotten over the worst of her nightmares. Talking about what happened, and seeing the man again was sure to send them into new boughts of bad dreams.

But at least they got the guy. He wasn't going to do anymore of his sick little lessons. That was certain.

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Dealing with the nightmares was the worst part. Beth, despite her constant claims to Greg that she was fine, still had trouble falling asleep at night... still kept remembering the laughs of those men as they raped her. Even remembering brought her close to tears, but she hid them in front of Greg. She'd worked hard to convince him that she wasn't going to break, and that she didn't need coddling, and she'd be damned if he was to find out how badly everything had affected her.

Instead of starting up the old argument with Greg, she got a night job, as Susan had months ago, so they were on the same schedule. It was working out fine, for now. It was hard to adjust to the change, at first, but she managed. Sleeping during the day was easier than sleeping at night anyway. The dark was something she no longer liked. But that was beside the point.

Really, all Beth wanted was to stop waking up in the middle of the, well, day, but night was more familiar to say, drenched in sweat from bad dreams. She knew that after a few times, Greg stopped believing her when she said she was alright, and she was almost glad of it. Because if he knew she was still having nightmares, he could comfort her. And that always banished the dreams...even if it was only for a little while.

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Susan also had the same problem, but unlike Beth, she didn't try to hide it from her future husband. But then, he wasn't like Greg, who would bombarde her with questions. She was getting alot of practice drawing at least... But the drawings were being put where she'd never see them again, hopefully. And besides, she had other things to worry about, than her nightmares. She had a wedding to plan. Wasn't going to be anything special, that was for sure. When one of her and Nick's friends had asked, both had scoffed and said "On my salary?" at the same time.

The worst of the dreams, however, even cast a shadow over the wedding plans... The one where that man... Eli Shaun... showed up. He didn't do anything to anyone... It was the way that he simply stared at her and Nick that made it worse than the others. That calm, calculating, unfeeling stare that he'd used on her, Lindsay, Beth, and Summer in the courtroom. His wife's stare was just as bad... To think she, according to Catherine, had been one of Lindsay's favorite teachers.

But, maybe she was as good at hiding her true colors as her husband was, as there had been several people at the trial that said over and over again that he was a kind man, who wouldn't harm a fly... Even after hearing seven people say they saw him torturing a woman. Just goes to show how blind some people can really be... Ridiculous.

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Lindsay didn't hardly sleep, otherwise, she might have had as bad a time as Beth, and Susan. She was always reading, keeping up with her studying, since she had gotten accepted in one of the several colleges she'd applied to. The night she'd gotten the latter, had been a fun one. She and her parents had gone out for dinner, and had run into Greg, and Beth. Greg could always make just about anyone laugh, even a recently traumatized teen.

Too bad it had been spoiled the next day, by the trial. At least her part in that was over fairly quick. That was a plus. But it still didn't stop it from spoiling the fun she'd had the night before... She'd just gotten to where she could sleep properly again, too.

Oh well, that was life... and she still had plenty of time before school to stop waking up, stifling screams. At least, she hoped it was enough time. She didn't want anyone thinking she was crazy. Her mom was of some help, in comforting her, when she woke up like that, as was her dad, well stepdad, though it didn't really matter if it was by blood or not, Warrick Brown was her dad.

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Summer had a harder time than the others, being a child. She pointedly slept facing towards the closet, as if to keep an eye on it... When she slept in her room, that was. Most times, after being in there for a few hours, and trying to get to sleep, or after getting to sleep, and having a nightmare, she would go to her parents room, and crawl into bed with them. The times when she walked in on certain activities, she would go back to her own room, turn on the lamp, and lie awake all night. Or she would wait until said activies were over, take a pillow, and blanket, and sleep on the floor. (she knew better than to crawl in with them after that.)

Every night she slept in her parents room, she expected them to scold her, or tell her she needed to stay in her own room. She even thought her father considered it once, but her mother had just given him one of her 'don't bother' looks, and he hadn't said anything. Summer'd stop eventually, she'd make herself. But for now, she didn't want to be separated from her mom and dad for too long. Even went so far as to ask if she could go to work with them. They had let her once, but she'd gotten kinda bored, so she'd opted to stay home from then on.

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