WARNING: SUGGESTIVE MATERIAL IN THIS CHAPTER!

Undercover Disaster

Keiko Fujiwara

Chapter Five:

Split-Second Decision

Catherine ran as fast as she could towards the crime scene. She couldn't allow her co-workers to see her tears streaming from her face. She thought she could handle being Evan's fake wife for a few days to solve this quintuple homicide but after that petty show Evan basically presented to the entire Greenbrier guest list of people, she just couldn't take it anymore! She had enough of it! She couldn't believe how incredibly spiteful Evan acted! He could have just kept those damn rings in his pocket for all she cared.

As she ran down several left and right turns, she didn't even care where she was going anymore. Hell, she didn't even KNOW where she was going anymore. She was in a different wing than where she was supposed to be. She heard her name being called in the distance as she sank to her knees, helpless. Sure, she's suffered through worse guy problems but Evan—her supposed friend—crossed the line. All of the guys in her past treated her like she was just another trophy to present to the world. Zeke was the worst. And now, even though Evan Marks was never her boyfriend, he humiliated her just like her past boyfriends. He presented her like a prize; just like she always thought he would.

She stood up and continued to run down a deserted hallway, she suddenly stopped when Vincent gently grabbed her wrist. She tried wiping her tears from her eyes to hide her humiliation but she knew he saw through her façade. He gently tugged on her arm, pulling her right into his embrace. She felt her face pressing against his strong chest as her arms hung almost lifeless beside her. Suddenly, Vincent whispered something that made all of her guarded walls fall apart, sending endless tears to her eyes. She pounded on his chest as her world caved in from under her feet. Not once did he let go of her. He just pulled her tighter to his body. He hated seeing her in this condition but what could he do? He was not very good at consoling broken hearts but he just couldn't stand seeing her like this.

"Catherine…" he whispered. He wanted her to know he shared her sympathy as well as her anger. If he had it his way, Evan would have been thrown halfway across the room for even considering on kissing her. After fifteen or so minutes of nonstop crying, he could tell her voice was going dry. He kissed the top of her head and said, "Come on." Without saying another word, he picked her up and carried her down the steps.

"Is she alright?" a concerned maid asked as Vincent held Catherine close to his chest, much like the time after she was shot.

"She'll be fine. I'm a doctor and I'm taking her back to her suite to get some rest." Vincent said before exiting the building. The case can wait for now. As he walked away from the main building, he heard Evan running up to him.

"Where're you taking her?"

"As if it's any business of yours." Vincent scowled, trying to control his current death fetish for a certain British coroner.

"Look, I didn't mean for the kissing to go too far. It was the crowd's doing, not mine." Evan stated.

"Are you serious right now? Do you honestly not get it?!" Vincent barked. "It was ONLY the crowd's doing because you provoked them! If you only just swallowed your pride and not let the best of it consume you, then maybe you wouldn't have been so stupid to pull out the lousy fake wedding band."

"Look, mate. It wasn't my fault for this undercover assignment. We were assigned by our boss to act like a married couple! Don't be pinning this on me when it was our job in the first case to be all lovey-dovey."

"You just don't get it do you?! Your job was never to act like a husband to Catherine. Your job was to put on a façade so you can get access to the crime scene WITHOUT guest interference. If they saw you as a forensic scientist, the guests would start to worry. Sure, the most you two were probably going to have to do was hold hands as you travel from one place to another to throw off suspicion but you didn't have to humiliate her like that and kiss her in front of ALL those people!"

Evan could have sworn he saw Vincent's eyes shift yellow but he noted it off as a trick of the light. "Married couples kiss. Alright?! If we didn't share a kiss, people would think we were imposters or something."

"Yeah but you didn't have to surprise her like that! You basically ambushed her and in front of a crowd of at least three hundred people no less! Besides, not all married couples kiss in public. If you knew her like I do, you would know that she is a very secretive person. She doesn't just kiss people because she thinks it's fun."

"Her flirty attitude over the past six years state otherwise." Evan scoffed.

"Oh right! I forgot! You're quite the expert on women aren't you?!" Vincent stated with sarcasm. "In case you haven't noticed, Catherine Chandler is different than other women. Just because she flirted with you in the past doesn't give you the right to kiss her when you want to. As a medical expert, you should know that flirting can be a sign of insecurity; not an open door to sex. I know I barely know you but I care about Catherine. I always have and so, if she doesn't tell you later when she sees you, I'm going to tell you it now. You were WAY out of line this morning! She didn't deserve to be ambushed like that!"

"And you think you're better for her?!" Evan asked, aghast from Vincent's attitude towards him.

"Not a chance! But I'm willing to go the distance for her! If, in the future, she ever asked me to bring her home a star from the sky, I'd bring home a galaxy because she's far worth more than any star in the universe. If a gun was ever pointed in her direction, I would step in front and gladly take the bullet for her. What about you? Would you be willing to make a split-second decision and take a bullet for her?!" Vincent asked, still trying to keep the Beast inside of him.

Evan didn't answer. In all honesty, he never thought about Catherine Chandler in that way. Sure, he cared for her but to what extent? Would he be willing to heed her bidding? Maybe so. Would he be able to push her out of the way and take a bullet in her stead? Most likely not. He could see the altruism in this man's eyes and he knew there was no way he could ever compete with that. It was clear to him now that Vincent really cared about Catherine—more than he ever could. "Looks like you win, mate. I can't compete with you anymore." He sighed.

"That's where you're wrong, Evan." Vincent stated. "There was no competition to begin with." Evan watched Vincent as he pressed his lips against Catherine's forehead. Something nagged at him when he saw Vincent kiss Cat's head. He's seen this before.

"Oh my God…" Evan suddenly gasped. "You're him!"

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked, fearing his cover was blown.

"You're the man who pulled Cat out of the car the night of her wreck. I know I've seen you before!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Vincent tried to stay calm.

"Don't play dumb with me, Vincent. I know it was you. You're holding her the same way she was held that very night. Except…you looked a little bit different…"

"You must have me mistaken for someone else. I haven't seen Catherine in almost ten years."

Evan thought about it and realized that Vincent could be right. It was dark out so who knows what or who he actually saw. "Maybe you're right."

Vincent started walking without another word until a thought stopped him and made him turn around. "Just to let you know, Evan, Catherine is staying with me from now on. It's clear she won't want to stay with you after what's happened. I suggest you two pretend you don't know each other for the remainder of your stay."

With that, he turned back around and walked away before Evan could try and question him again. 'That was close…'

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

Tess stepped over the caution tape in front of the crime scene's door and heard a noise coming from the master bedroom. She didn't have her gun due to the ugly outfit she was wearing so she looked around for anything she could use to attack her possible assailant. 'Damn…I guess I'll just have to use this crappy dusting stick.'

She walked closer to the door of the master bedroom and saw someone's shadow, indicating there was someone hiding to the right of the door. She took one step closer, so did the perp. Just as she was about to ram her duster into the head of the creep, she was threatened with an old man's cane. She squinted her eyes and said, "W-wolansky?!"

"V-vargas?!" He replied, lowering his cane. "Where's your so called partner?"

"She's…not feeling well at the moment. Evan should be on his way up soon. Where's Philmore?"

"He's trying to talk with other residents on this floor to see if they saw or heard anything. Don't worry; he's not going to blow our covers. You know, I never thought I'd peg you as the maid type but you're workin' that outfit pretty damn well." Wolansky smirked.

"Save your breath." She rolled her eyes. "I could say the same about you, old fart."

"Philmore is posing as a news reporter. I think he got the better deal." Wolansky smirked as Detective Philmore walked back in.

"Did you get anything?" Tess asked.

"Actually, I did."

"What?" Tess and her former partner asked at the same time.

"Emily Sheridan, a woman who is staying in a room a few doors down, claimed to have heard people screaming from this room. She was too scared to walk out and see if everything was alright but later that night, she went to talk to Thomas Gilmore. He assured her she was hallucinating and that if she ever tried to tell anyone what she may have heard, she'd be exiled from Greenbrier in an instant."

"Why would the CEO tell her she was hallucinating if he was the one who called for us?" Wolansky asked.

"It's possible he didn't believe her until a maid went in to clean the suite. A maid would have surly noticed the bodies before anyone else."

"Tess, is it possible for you to find out who was working during on this floor during the time of deaths?" Detective Philmore asked.

"No problem. Leave that to me."

Suddenly, Evan came in and said, "Found this under the door of my suite this morning. I didn't want to bring it up until we were away from the crowd."

"Yeah…but that didn't stop you from doing OTHER things not called for." Tess said, sending a glare towards Evan's direction.

"Dude! I saw that!" Wolansky smiled. "That was wickedly awesome! Give me a high five for getting one with the ladies!"

Evan ignored him and Tess slapped Wolansky in the head before the coroner continued. "ANYWAYS, I think Cat must have requested it. It's a list of everyone who has access to this room."

"Great…this is a start. Like I said, Tess, you find out what you can with the maids. Wolansky, you…stay and help Evan. If there's anything he needs, don't hesitate and get it for him. I'll start on this list and ask Mr. CEO if he could gather all of these people in a single room for a secret interrogation."

"How're you going to conduct a secret interrogation?"

"I'm going to pretend I'm writing a story for Greenbrier's finest employees. I'll ask them questions like who has night shifts and who has third floor shifts…things like that."

"I get it so you'll find the perp by process of elimination." Tess stated.

"Precisely." Detective Philmore replied before leaving the crime scene. Tess soon followed; glad to get away from both Evan and Wolansky.

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

Vincent placed Catherine on his bed and pulled off her shoes before pulling the covers over her. As he was about to leave so she can have her privacy, she managed to grab his wrist, begging him to stay with her.

Vincent sighed, and walked over to the other side of the bed before sliding himself underneath the covers to join her. She, just like the other night, twisted under the sheets and buried her face into his right breast as she wrapped her arms around him. He kissed the top of her head and tried to comfort her as best as he could.

"I can't believe I was so stupid." He heard her mutter under her breath.

"Catherine," he whispered, "Don't you blame yourself for what Evan did."

"I should have seen it coming!" she exclaimed. "Evan is a flirt. He's always been a flirt so I should have known he would have tried something like this."

"Catherine, no one anticipated it! I know you didn't hear Tess as you ran out of the dining room but she called Evan out on it, telling him that what he did was super low. I would have thrown him from his seat if I knew he was actually going to go through with it! He shouldn't have ambushed you like that and I shouldn't have let him. I should have snapped his neck when I had the chance!"

Catherine looked up and Vincent's eyes were yellow and his veins were darkening. She held him tighter and whispered, "Calm down." She could feel his muscles slowly retracting and she continued to hold him as tight as she could.

"Sorry." He muttered, apologizing for slightly losing control like that.

She shook her head and sat up. "No…Don't be. In all honesty, I was hoping you'd punch him after I left. I guess I was asking for too much." She somewhat grinned.

"I was tempted. Believe me. I was definitely tempted." Vincent replied as he sat up as well.

"I'll be right back." Catherine whispered before slipping out of the bed. She walked over to the bathroom and closed the door, leaving a very confused Vincent Keller waiting in the bed.

Catherine closed her eyes when she shut the bathroom door behind her. She walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet before splashing her face with cold water. After drying off her face, she opened the door back up and walked towards the bed.

"All better?" Vincent asked.

"A little…Thanks, Vincent. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you." She smiled. "You seem to know just what to say without fail. And I appreciate everything you've done to make me feel special—something no other man in my life has ever done before."

Vincent noticed a slight blush covering Catherine's cheeks. He was about to say something but she continued.

"I heard what you were saying to Evan…"

"You h-heard that?" He suddenly felt nervous.

She smiled, "Yes. I did. I was exhausted; not sleeping."

"W-what do you remember?"

Suddenly, she hopped onto the bed and surprisingly straddled him against the bed. As he gulped she whispered, "I remember you saying how you'd go the distance for me."

"It's true." Vincent replied as his heartbeat increased.

"I know." She smiled. "If it weren't, Vincent, you wouldn't be here with me. You were willing to risk everything you've done so far in order to be here with me. That means a lot, Vincent. I don't think any other man would have gone to great lengths in order to make sure I was safe."

"Catherine, I'd do anything for you." He said as he began running fingers through her hair. "Even if that means risking my identity."

She couldn't help but grin—remembering a certain conversation before her father's wedding. "Are you still willing on being Vincent Zalanski forever?"

"In a heartbeat." He whispered before planting a kiss on her forehead.

As he leaned back down, he froze when he felt Catherine's lips right up to his ear, whispering, "I still have a message to deliver."

He smirked and said, "Oh?"

SUGGESTIVE MATERIAL BEGINS HERE!

She slowly nodded before courageously pressing her lips against his. She only meant for it to be a simple peck on the lips but she soon found herself thirsting for more. Her fingers twisted and tangled into his hair as his hands snaked behind her back to pull her closer to him. Ten years ago, he never thought he would be in a hotel room passionately kissing Catherine Chandler but he was and there wasn't anything he'd change about his life if this was exactly where it was leading him.

He felt her tongue glide passed his lips and brush against his own tongue and before long, their tongues were delving into each other's mouths, familiarizing each individual taste. In a heat of passion, Catherine slid her hands underneath the hem of his shirt and slipped it over his head before finding herself trapped between the bed and Vincent's strong body. His lips moved slowly down her neck, causing small moans to exit from her throat. She blushed as she felt his fingers unbuttoning her blouse as he continued to brush his lips across her skin. He managed to fling the blouse elsewhere in the room before pressing his lips back to hers in efforts to prove his love to her. She involuntarily wrapped her legs against his waist and moaned when his lips moved from her mouth to the center of her chest, between her breasts.

As Vincent trailed his lips back to hers, Catherine's cellphone rang, startling them both from their little world. Catherine dug into her pants pocket and looked at the Caller ID. "Tess." She said.

SUGGESTIVE MATERIAL ENDS HERE!

"You should answer it then."

"Right…" Catherine replied, sitting up. She pressed the talk button and placed the phone against her ear. "Chandler."

"Hey, Bud. I hate to bother you right now but could your friend Vincent come to the crime scene? Philmore asked Wolansky to help Evan but Wolansky is being an ass and seriously I swear his IQ has just dropped. So, since Vincent is more medically inclined than the rest of us, do you think he can try and help Evan without biting his head off?"

Catherine looked towards Vincent for his answer, knowing he was listening to the conversation and he nodded, whispering, "I think I can tolerate him on a professional level." She smiled; glad he was willing to still help and replied to Tess, "I think I can get him to come. We'll be up there in about ten. Alright?"

"Are you sure you're okay with this? I mean, if you decide to come and help too, I won't stop you from slapping Evan. He deserves a whooping for what he did to you."

"I'll be fine Tess. Besides, we have a job to do. I can save my wrath for after the investigation." Catherine said as she felt Vincent's hands massaging her shoulders.

"Okay. Sounds good. See you in ten." Tess stated before hanging up on Catherine. She put her phone back in her pocket and said, "Looks like we'll have to take a rain check."

Vincent nodded and slipped off of the bed along with Catherine and handed her blouse to her. She smiled, taking it from him before buttoning the material around her body. Vincent bent down, picked up his own shirt, and slid it over his head. "By the way, Catherine, I'm not sure if I'll be able to deliver such a provocative message to your friend. It'll be way too awkward." He smirked as she playfully smacked him in the arm.

"Then I guess I'll just have to resend it later." She sneered in response.

"I'm betting on it." Vincent chuckled before leaning in to kiss her again. He wondered what would have happened if Tess hadn't called. Would they have gone pass the point of no return? Or would they have stopped short before anything too much happened? As his mind wrapped around all of the different possibilities of where he and Catherine could have gone, Catherine shook him out of his trance by calling his name. "Vincent?"

"C-coming." He said before picking up a briefcase.

"What's in there?"

"A few doctor tools I thought might be useful for the trip." He replied as he laced his fingers with Catherine's.

"So what're we going to tell everyone who saw the little presentation this morning? They're going to realize I'm with a different man."

"Open relationship? Affair? Evan is mentally delusional?" Vincent suggested as Catherine laughed at the last suggestion.

"I like the third one. We'll use that." She grinned, wanting as much revenge on Evan as she could get. There was NO WAY he was getting off easy. She was going to make his next year of life a living hell.

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

As Tess looked through more drawers and doors, Catherine and Vincent appeared at the crime scene.

"It's about time you two got here! What happened? Took a stroll in La La Land?" Tess asked with her hands on her hips.

"Sorry, just a lot of stairs." Catherine lied. She couldn't actually tell her partner that, on their way to the crime scene, Vincent had pulled her into a dark corridor and fused his lips with hers—distracting her for almost seven minutes.

Tess noticed how raw both Vincent and Cat's lips were and knew exactly why they were late. "Uh huh…Sure. Anyways, right now Detective Philmore is running a fake interrogation and Wolansky and Evan are trying to find anything that could give us more clues to the murder weapon. Cat, by the way, the list you requested, is taped to the window. I've also circled all of the names of the maids who worked in this hallway during the time of death from what Abigail told me."

"Okay." Catherine replied as she walked over the caution tape and made her way to the window with Vincent in tow. She ran her finger down the list and noticed a name added that wasn't on the original list. "Tess, why is Eliza Summers hand-written on the list?"

"Well, Abigail told me she was the maid sent to clean this suite and the next suite. Funny thing is, as you've noticed, her name isn't on the list the CEO-guy gave you."

"What if she witnessed the murder, saw who murdered the family, tried to report it but the murderer got to her before she could say anything?" Catherine suggested.

"Well, interesting theory, Cat. Abigail mentioned something like Eliza Summers not showing up to work since her late night shift. Either she was too scared to come forward or something indeed happened to her." Tess stated.

Suddenly, Vincent interjected, saying, "If she never showed up for work, wouldn't her name still be on the list though? I mean, it is one thing if she resigned but if she just left, her name would have still been on the list because the CEO or whoever is in charge of the hiring would have probably assumed she was sick or missing. But, there haven't been any reports of a missing person have there?"

"We don't know. I could give a call to the local precinct and see if anyone has reported a missing person." Tess replied. "Yeah, I'll go do that." She walked out of the crime scene suite as Catherine pulled Vincent to the side, away from any other cop ears.

"What is it Catherine?"

"I think you have a good theory, Vincent. Thomas Gilmore knows we are cops because he sent for us. Don't you think he would have told us if he thought an employee was missing?"

"Unless he's our killer and tried to shut her up by sending her on her way or killing her." Vincent replied.

"Okay…well, once Tess gets the information from the local precinct for Eliza Summers, I think she and I should pay a visit to her residence. If she's a maid here, she probably lives in one of the suites at Greenbrier. Either that, or she lives very close by."

"Good plan. Make sure you stop by to grab your gun and badge." Vincent said.

"I will. Thanks for reminding me. While I go and find Tess, try and behave around Evan. Despite what he's done, he doesn't deserve to be thrown across the room. Don't worry, I have a full proof plan of revenge in stock." She whispered before kissing him.

Evan scoffed as he watched the two of them make-out in front of him. Even if he told Vincent that he lost the Catherine Competition, he still didn't like the doctor very much. In fact, if he weren't trying to be professional right now, he'd walk right up to him and punch him for 'stealing' Catherine from him. After thinking about what he said to Vincent earlier in the day, he realized that Cat was too good of a woman to lose her to a lowlife such as Vincent. After this crime investigation is over, he'll make sure he shows Catherine just how much he does care about her—even if he cares for her differently than Vincent Zalanski.

Evan cleared his throat to stop the two before they started making love right in front of him and Catherine removed her lips from Vincent's. As she walked out of the room, she gave Evan a death glare before disappearing.

"Alright, mate, let's see what you can do." Evan said and Vincent walked over to him.

"Something's not right." Vincent stated.

"What do you mean?"

Vincent ignored Evan and searched the suite for the odd smell intruding his nose. There was a foreign smell in the suite.

"Something smells like its burning." Vincent said gravely.

"Burning? Burning how?"

Vincent focused on his senses and heard ticking coming from family room. He saw a fireplace and realized the ticking was a timer for the fire to ignite in five minutes. "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Evan and Detective Wolansky heard Vincent's command looked at him weirdly.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! THE SUITE IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!" Vincent shouted as he grabbed the list of suspects and literally locked his arms around Evan and Wolansky before opening a window.

"Hurry and jump out the window!"

"Are you mad! We're three stories up!"

"Would you rather be blown to bits and pieces then?" Vincent asked as he couldn't believe they were arguing with him. "Look, below. There's a roof for a walkway underneath us. Jump onto that before jumping to the ground. Then run to the tree off in the distance."

"Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to warn Catherine and Tess! Just go! Take this with you!" He gave the list of suspects to Evan and ran out of the suite's door before they could ask any other questions. Evan and Wolansky thought Vincent was crazy but he seemed as if he was telling the truth so, without further ado, they did as he said and jumped onto the small roof underneath them, only earning a few bruises in the process.

"That guy Cat's into is totally insane!" Wolansky shouted as he and Evan ran to the tree.

"Something tells me he's telling the truth. I think I know where I've seen him before and knowing what he's capable of doing, I somewhat trust his instincts." Evan replied.

"What do you mean by what he's capable of? He's not some kind of freakazoid is he?"

"Nevermind! Our main priority is making sure Cat, Tess, and God forbid I include him, but Vincent as well." Evan stated.

"Well, if that suite doesn't blow up, I'm suing him for literally endangering our lives by making us jump out of a window."

Evan didn't say a word. He just focused on the suite window of Greenbrier. 'Vincent said something smelled like it was burning…What if what he smelled was gas?'

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

Vincent pulled his cell phone out of his pocket as he searched for Catherine and Tess. He dialed her number and pressed the phone to his ear. 'Come on! Come on! Answer Catherine!' The line continued to send him to voicemail so he slammed his phone back into his pocket and tried to sniff her out. He could hear Tess's voice on the phone with her boss originating from the front of the Greenbrier building. But he couldn't smell or hear Catherine anywhere. As he was running down a flight of stairs, he heard her say, "Vincent? Evan? Andrew? Where are you?"

'Damn it! She's back in the suite. I can't get there in time unless I—" Without thinking of the matter any further, he summoned the Beast, hoping it had the same desire to save Catherine. He felt his muscles ripple and noticed his veins blackening. He ran as fast as he possibly could back to the crime scene and saw Catherine searching the room.

"Vincent!" she exclaimed as she saw him in his beast form. He looked at the clock and noticed it had only ten seconds left. He grabbed his briefcase and wrapped his strong arm around her waist before jumping out of the window as a split second decision. As he and Catherine were in midair, they could feel the explosion of the suite slam against their backs, sending them flailing towards the ground.

Vincent held onto Catherine as tight as he could with one arm wrapped around her waist and the other wrapped around her head to keep her from having whiplash. They stumbled and skidded on the grass until Vincent's back slammed into a tree, causing the top half of it to fall behind them.

"W-what just happened?" Catherine asked but Vincent was still transformed. He shakily pointed towards the building and Catherine's eyes widened as she saw the flames engulf a large chunk of the Greenbrier main building.

"I tried to warn you." Vincent suddenly said, back to his normal self.

Evan and Andrew (A/N: I didn't know Wolansky's name. I decided to give him one so I didn't continue saying just Wolansky) ran towards them.

"Dude! That was one wicked move you just pulled there!" Andrew exclaimed. "How did you manage to jump that far before being hit by the blast?"

"Luck." Vincent lied as he stood up.

"Andrew, go and check up with Tess and Sam." Evan stated.

"Right! On it!" Andrew said as he made his way towards the building to find Tess and Detective Philmore.

"I called 911. They're sending a fire department as we speak." Evan stated.

"Thomas Gilmore won't like that." Catherine said. "He doesn't want his rep to go under the water."

"Cat, I highly doubt he can cover up an explosion like that! I'm sure I'm not the ONLY one to have called 911."

"Still, it's kind of hard to hide a crime scene when you just leave the bodies to rot in the room like that. Something tells me Thomas Gilmore was the one responsible for the explosion." Catherine stated.

"Not him again. Cat, you need to start thinking clearly. I think you might have had a concussion."

"I'm fine, Evan. Just think about it! He didn't want to call the local poli—"

"Cat! I highly doubt it was Thomas Gilmore. Besides, the person responsible was a professional. Thomas Gilmore doesn't exactly qualify as a professional when it comes to slicing up human bodies. He's a Resort CEO. Not a butcher." Evan said before he looked at Vincent. "Anyways, I was right."

"What?" Vincent gave him a stern look.

"You were the one who saved Cat the night of her accident. Don't deny it Vincent. I saw you, just now, jump out of that window with incredible strength. To create such a projectile, you'd have to have the strength of at least five men. I also noticed that the door of Heather's car was completely ripped off of its hinges that night. Something the wreck couldn't have done. Your stature when you jumped out of the window, holding Cat, was much like the build of the one who saved Cat on that night."

"Evan, you're making things up." Catherine said, trying to help conceal Vincent's identity.

"No I'm not! I know what I saw, Cat! Don't try to protect this man! He's responsible for many deaths across New York City!" Evan shouted as he pointed at Vincent.

"Evan! Do you think I'd actually protect someone who went against the law?"

Vincent knew Catherine was lying in order to protect him.

"You would if you were in love with him! I see the way you to look at each other and the way you to hold hands and kiss when almost no one is looking! It's truly disgusting!"

"Evan, you're in shock. You're thinking about the attack at the Manhattan Mainline aren't you?"

"Don't give me that crap, Cat! I know what I heard in the mainline and it certainly wasn't human! And to think that you've known about it all this time! That's just maddening that you'd hold out on me like that! You…You knew who or what that thing was and you just pretended like I was another crazy PTSD patient!" Evan yelled as he tried to wrap his mind around everything he was processing.

Catherine was about to say something but Vincent pressed his finger to her lips. "I'll handle this." He whispered before kissing her forehead. "Evan, you're right. I was the one who saved Catherine the night of her wreck. I was also the man who killed the psycho who tried to kill you in the abandoned subway tunnel."

Evan looked at Vincent. "So now you're admitting it?!"

"Evan!" Catherine shouted as she stood up. Suddenly she felt a sting of pain. She didn't realize her back was slightly burned and cut up from the explosion. She hissed in discomfort but continued her statement, "There are reasons I lied to you. I was protecting Vincent."

"You were protecting a monster, Cat! A monster!"

"No! He's not a monster! He's saved me hundreds of times as well as other people! Remember Ashley Webster!? He was the one who gave her CPR! Unfortunately, she was poisoned and he couldn't do anything about it."

"You're only just saying that because he's hypnotized you with his bad boy charm! He's probably already seduced you into having sex with him! That's sick!"

The moment those words came out of his mouth, Catherine quickly walked over to him and slapped him hard on the face. "HOW DARE YOU?! YOU DON'T KNOW A SINGLE THING ABOUT VINCENT! HE'D NEVER STOOP AS LOW AS YOU!"

With that, she stormed off and Vincent followed her without another word. Like Catherine, he couldn't believe the words that slipped from Evan's mouth. The second Catherine smacked him in the face; Vincent felt a smirk forming on his lips. He's been waiting for someone to do that to NYPD coroner for months—ever since he first kissed Catherine at her birthday party.

As Evan watched Vincent follow Catherine, he couldn't help but wonder if he was wrong about Vincent. He was definitely going to do some digging when he got home. For now, he had to focus on the crime scene. The sooner they figure out who killed the victims as well as wipe away any evidence including the bodies from the explosion, the sooner he can go home and return to his research project. Now that he knows the source of his research, he's going to do whatever he can to bring it to the light—no matter the costs.

~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~

Keiko Fujiwara:

What did you think? I do not really like Evan right now! I'm soooo glad Cat slapped him! He so deserved that!

Let me know if anything seems confusing or inaccurate or whatever!

:)