Savior

Chapter 23

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Cate felt like she was back in high school, watching the front driveway at her parent's home for her date to drive up the path. She currently say on the front steps waiting for Derek to pull up the driveway.

It was close to 10pm, but the team jet landed in Quantico almost forty-five minutes ago, and Derek promised he would be at her parent's house as soon as he could.

She took his advice and stayed with her parents until he returned from the west coast. She knew it was only in her best interest, but part of her still felt like she was being treated like a child. Derek had to beg her to go stay with them.

Four days had passed since Derek received the photograph, and a temporary protective order had been placed against Cole.

What the officers found in her backyard was just ash from a cigarette, but there was no butt left behind. He knew what he was doing, Cate mused to herself. Apparently that's what happens when your dad gets cases dropped for a living.

Cate jumped to her feet when she saw headlights enter the driveway. She prided herself on not being overly clingy, and accepting his work trips, but for the past few days, all she wanted was to be by his side.

Derek had a calming demeanor to him that she had never found in another person before. She knew full well what he was capable from the work stories he's told her, but that all dissipated when he wrapped his arms around her.

As he parked his SUV next to her mother's car in the drive, Derek threw the car door open and headed straight for Cate. She could barely step off of the last step before Derek had her in his arms.

He burrowed his face in her hair as she clung to him, fresh tears falling freely down her face. He was home, and there was no greater feeling in the world for Cate than him holding her.

Derek immersed himself in her scent as her arms wrapped further around his neck. It was the most agonizing four hour plane ride back to Virginia, followed by a longer drive than he would normally take after returning from a case.

But to be with Catherine Johnson, Derek would move Heaven and Earth. Nothing was going to stop him from being with her tonight, knowing just how badly she needed him.

"I love you," she mumbled against his shoulder. Three words were enough to cause goose bumps to climb his arms.

Derek tightened his grip on the fragile brunette causing her feet to lift from the porch step beneath her. She clung to him as though her life depended on it, acknowledging how long the two had been apart.

The pair finally pulled away from each other, Derek with a need to analyze her facial features. He placed a hand to each cheek and found himself caught in her steely gaze.

"Let's go home," he muttered against her lips.

Cate nodded and gestured to the front door of her parent's home. "I need to get my bags," she mentioned with a soft laugh.

Derek followed his girlfriend up the front steps, keeping a hand on her waist the entire time. As Cate opened the double doors, she noticed her mother trying her best to get away from the entry way.

Cate could not contain her laughter. "You're not that swift, Mom," she noted before turning into the living room.

Helena shrugged from the doorway to the kitchen as she walked towards the pair. She gave Derek a hug as she approached. "Thank you for taking care of her," he whispered into the older woman's ear.

She backed from Derek and grinned in his direction. "I have no doubt you would do the same if you could be here." Derek bowed his head softly before nodding. When she noticed Cate had walked into the kitchen to retrieve her purse, she added, "I can't think of any one else I'd rather my youngest daughter be with."

Derek pursed his lips into a smile at her admission. "Thank you," he replied and gave her hand a squeeze. "I will do everything in my power to put him behind bars."

Cate caught the last line from the threshold to the kitchen, and her breath caught in her throat. She willed herself to take deep breaths and not break down in front of the two in the entry way.

"Between you, her father and Alex, he picked the wrong family to mess with." The justification in Helena's voice caused Cate to shudder. She had never heard her mother speak like that before, even when it came to Dennis Stone.

Just as Cate walked back into the entry way, her father descended the stairs. As he reached the bottom, he shook hands with Derek. "Good to have you back, son."

The brunette beamed at her father's words. If she ever had a doubt in her mind that she picked the wrong person in her life, her family definitely made her know that she made the right choice. They had accepted Derek into the family sooner than she had ever seen them do so with her sisters-in-law.

It was if Derek could sense her standing behind him, as he turned and grinned in her direction. Cate eased herself under his inviting arm to curl next to him. "Thank you," she directed towards her parents, "for everything this week."

Helena gave her youngest child a soft smile. "Anything for you, sweetheart."

Cate pursed her lips into a smile when her mother patted her arm. "We're going to head home," she left the statement in the air, and paused when she turned to her father. His stoic demeanor was not easy for her to read. "Thank you, Daddy."

She caught a quick smile in her direction under his facial hair. "We'll follow up on everything Monday morning."

The brunette nodded solemnly; the order would be lifted Monday if there was no proof that it was Cole who sent the photo to Derek.

Without hesitation, Derek grabbed her duffle bag and laptop bag from the living room before meeting his girlfriend at the front door. He shifted the bags to open the passenger side door for her before putting her bags in the back seat.

Cate fiddled with her cell phone as she waited for Derek to get behind the wheel. As he situated himself in the driver's seat, Derek leant over the center console to place a kiss to Cate's lips.

She smiled against his lips, and found her shoulders relaxing from the tense position she felt all week. "Can we go home?" she asked meekly as the two pulled apart.

"Absolutely," he replied and started up the SUV. The music kicked on as Derek circled through the rounded driveway to leave. He caught himself watching Cate in the passenger seat smiling. "What?" he asked nonchalantly.

Cate leant forward to turn the music up, only to have Derek change it from the steering wheel. "I caught you," she teased before pressing the button to change the music back to where it was.

Derek smirked; he would never admit to her that lately he had kept country radio on in his truck, or even downloaded a few of her favorite songs. It was all that got him through the past few days. It made him feel almost connected to Cate from across the country.

"Some of it isn't so bad," he said with a shrug.

Cate pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "Likely excuse," she replied.

If for nothing else, at that moment, Cate felt the most secure she had in four days. Derek gripped her hand tightly as he drove, his thumb drawing circles on the top of her hand. She slowly fell asleep, humming the song on the radio.

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