Happy Halloween! Thanks for my reviews! More please! I know, I'm greedy but hey it's inspiration! I hope this chapter's not too bad, I quite like it...
Anyway, remember in this story MOST THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON so I wanna hear your theories! Please?
ReAd. EnJoY. rEvIeW!
Chapter Twelve # ...And what have you done? #
Sara raised her head slowly, Eli's screams ringing in her eyes. Someone crunched through the snow and stood over her, gun raised.
She took Catherine's hand and the blonde pulled her up, her gun pointed at the groaning man behind her. The man whose blood had splattered all around Sara.
"Get inside." Catherine said quietly and Sara nodded, stumbling back toward the house. On her way in she was bombarded by a small, powerful force. She hoisted Eli into her arms and he held onto her as tight as he could, while his little face stared in terror at Catherine and the man.
"Sara are you-" Grissom stepped forward, his hand outstretched, but she interrupted him.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She murmured. She looked at Grissom as Catherine cuffed the man, keeping her gun trained on the woods. Another couple of gunshots rang out and Eli screamed hysterically.
Not wanting to close the door on Catherine, Nick stiffened, reaching for the nearest counter and grabbing a couple of guns and passing them around.
"I'm getting him further into the house." Sara said quickly, and the others pushed her back. Nick pressed a small handgun into her hand.
"Safety's on. There's a panic room in the back of the laundry room." He said quickly.
Greg, Barbara and Morgan appeared at the door of the living room with three shocked babies and Nick started pushing people back towards the panic room.
Finn, Brass, Nick, DB and Grissom, the ones not holding kids who knew how to shoot, each held took a position by the door as Catherine crouched down firing into the woods as snow flew up around her, while the others headed for the panic room. Doc Robbins held open the door as they all filed through.
Eli took one last look back at his family guarding the door. He watched as Catherine fell to the floor in time with a gunshot.
"AUNTIE CATHERINE!" he screamed, stretching his arms back towards her desperately. Nick stepped outside, shooting into the woods and suddenly hit the deck. Eli screamed again and started crying. Grissom turned and Sara nodded at him, taking Eli into the panic room, closing the door behind her but not locking it.
Kristy had started to cry, as had Loeila, though Reuben remained more calm. He didn't understand what was going on. There had been screaming when they were playing yesterday.
Eli on the other hand was almost hysterical.
"It's okay, Eli, it's going to be okay, I promise, we're going to be alright, you're gonna be okay." Sara murmured over and over again, stroking his hair. Eli shook his head, tears pouring down his cheek.
"Auntie Catherine, Auntie Catherine, Auntie Catherine!" he wailed, his eyes wide with fear.
Sara swallowed. "Eli, can you calm down for me?"
A loud shout of "Jesus Christ" from Nick frightened Eli further and he tightened his grip around Sara, crying harder.
"Sara I'm scared!" he sobbed.
"I know, I know, baby, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. I promise I'll look after you. I got you, Eli, I got you, it's gonna be okay." Sara said softly and honestly, stroking the side of Eli's face with one hand, supporting his weight with one arm.
Finn screamed in what sounded like pain and Eli huddled further against Sara.
"Sara?" Eli whispered, his big green eyes wide as he stared at the door.
"Yeah?" She murmured back .
"Are we gonna die?"
"No, baby, we're not gonna die." Sara murmured into his hair.
"Why do you have a gun, I thought you said they were bad?" he cried between sobs.
"Just in case, sweetie, it's going to be alright, I promise. I won't let them hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you." She pressed a kiss onto his head.
There was a knock at the door and Hodges peered through the small hole. "It's Nick and the others, are you good if I open the door?"
"One second." Sara balanced Eli on her hip and pointed the gun at the door, taking it off safety.
"Sara, what are you doing?" Eli breathed.
"Eli, I want you to turn your head away, look at me, okay? Close your eyes." She said. He nestled his head into her neck and stiffened. "Okay, Hodges."
Grissom and Russell walked in first, their guns pointed behind them, where Catherine and Nick where half dragging half carrying the man who had tried to drag Sara away. Finn and Brass both had guns trained on the man who was gagged, cuffed, unconscious and bleeding.
"Catherine, put him in here." Nick motioned to a small alcove just big enough for the man to fit in. "This place was some sort of hide-out, the original owners were paranoid to the point of disbelief but this..." he pulled a thick glass door across the small area, trapping the man in. "...may come in handy."
"Very paranoid." DB remarked as they secured their guns. "You know this is really pi- making me angry. This is supposed to be Boxing Day; I mean come on, these people? I'm sick of them."
"Do you think they're the same people who shot Morgan?" Greg asked.
"And blew up Greg?" Morgan returned.
"I reckon the odds are pretty good." Russell ran a hand through his hair, his wife putting a hand on his arm.
"Eli, it's okay, you can look now. See, Auntie Catherine's fine." Sara murmured. Eli peeked around and relaxed when he saw his Auntie.
"Auntie Catherine!" he cried softly. "I thought they'd ki...killeded you!"
"No, sweetie, I'm okay, I'm okay." She smiled, moving over from where she was hugging Lindsey to stroke Eli's hair.
His little hand flew up to hers but his legs and other arm didn't even loosen from around Sara.
Meanwhile Kristy was still screaming.
"It's okay, baby girl. Shh, sh, Daddy's here..." Nick murmured softly. "There's a girl, it's okay."
Slowly, Kristy stopped crying. She stared up at her father.
"Thatta girl. It's alright baby girl, Daddy's got ya. Everything's gonna be okay now." He smiled. She cocked her head.
"Dada."
Nick laughed in shock. Finn put a hand on his arm a smile on her face.
"Did you hear that?" he asked with a smile.
"I did hear that. You're a clever girl, Kristy!" Finn smiled.
"What happened?" Greg asked as the others started to notice.
"Dada! Dadadadada!" Kristy gurgled.
Everyone laughed.
"Kristy's talking." Eli sniffed, wiping his eyes which were trained on the man behind the glass.
"Yeah, she is." Sara smiled, jostling Eli on her hip.
Nick rocked Kristy happily, for a moment, before snapping back into reality. "We need to call somebody."
"The phone lines in the house are dead; I checked when people started shooting." Morgan piped up.
"Yeah, but down here the phone's connected to a totally different line." Nick explained.
"Really, really paranoid." Greg raised his eyebrows.
"Uh huh, but good for us." Nick nodded. "That's why I hired the place, I mean we haven't caught the people that... hurt Morgan, Greg and the twins yet so I thought it would be a good idea to come prepared."
"Good call." DB said, his face stony.
"I'll call it in." Brass volunteered.
About half an hour later, the screaming of sirens indicated a police presence, and Brass confirmed on the line it was the police. There were sounds of running through the house and Brass carefully opened the door to Officer Mitchell.
"Aw, Mitch, thank god."
"You all okay?" the familiar officer asked.
"Yeah, I think so. All apart from our shooter over there." Catherine nodded. "Sara, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine, I'm fine." Sara nodded, returning to stroking Eli's hair.
"We're clearing the surrounding area and seeing if we can get you all back to Vegas soon." Mitchell nodded.
"If we're careful we might be able to get our stuff." Grissom mused.
"Book, my book!" Eli cried.
"We won't forget your book." Grissom soothed the boy. "How many cars have you got out front?"
"Five." Mitch nodded. "Calling in for more."
"I say we get the kids out of here first." Brass shrugged. "Sara, Eli and Gil take one car, Greg and the twins in another, Nick and Kristy in another."
"That's fair enough," Nick started, "But three per car, I can take someone else home. And there are two more cars."
"Okay..." Russell thought. "Morgan can go with Nick, perhaps. Hodges and Doc and Judy could take a car, then Finn, Barbara and Lindsey go in the third. Then Catherine, Brass and I will follow. If we all go back to PD, give our statements, then we can figure out what we're going to do."
Brass nodded. "Sounds good to me."
"What about our stuff?" Morgan asked.
"Take what we need now, get the rest back later." Grissom said simply. "Lay low, in case there's anyone still waiting."
"Sounds good to me." Mitch nodded as paramedics walked into the room, taking the man with them.
"Keep an officer on him, I want answers." Catherine ordered.
The paramedics nodded. A couple of hours later a group of exhausted CSIs made their way into the living room at the Russell's house.
Eli was asleep in Grissom's arms, his little face not quite peaceful. Kristy and Loeila were also asleep, but Reuben was awake and playing with his dad's scruffy hair.
"Have a seat, guys." Russell invited tiredly.
"Thanks." Greg sighed wearily, copying Barbara's graceful flop onto the end of the sofa. Reuben poked his face softly.
"Dada." Reuben said softly. Greg smiled wearily at his son.
"Reuben."
The little boy was confused. He didn't know any words for how his dad seemed. He did not know what tired was. He did not know what scared was. He had no words for the face his daddy was pulling. He didn't understand the emotions, the expression. He had barely any negative words in his vocabulary at all.
He was too young.
"Dada?" It was more of a question this time.
"Yeah, Reubs?"
"Bad? What bad dada?" the baby asked.
Greg laughed softly. "Nothing's bad. Everything's good."
Reuben smiled. That was all the baby needed to hear. His daddy's happy voice was all he needed to feel safe.
CSIVCSIVCSIV
"And you didn't get the people behind it?" Alyssa gaped.
Catherine shook her head, her fists clenching. "No. The asshole bled out en route to the hospital. There were no casings, no blood, no anything!" she threw her hands in the hair. "All we have is the carcass of a two month old lamb and the body of a guy who's not in any system we, they, checked, and its killing me! I mean, there were kids there, babies!"
Alyssa shook her head. "And there are no leads?"
"Nothing." Catherine sat down behind her desk, and dropped her head into her hands. "I'm scared for them, Alyssa, I really am."
"I would be too." Alyssa frowned. "So Christmas was great, Boxing Day sucked...how about the rest?"
"You know, the twins' first birthday...that was..." Catherine laughed. "Well. That was really something."
"Come in, Catherine." Greg opened the door, a huge smile on his face. In the living room was a small pile of presents. Most of the people who had spent Christmas in the hunting lodge were there, with the exceptions of Nick's family, Hodges' mom, Ecklie, and Bobby Dawson, who had been dragged into work.
Loeila was busy drawing splodges and stripes on Hodges with brand new non toxic finger paint. Reuben was having fun with Mandy, who was stacking little bricks as quickly as Reuben could knock them down. Eli was showing Nick his book and Kristy was crawling across the floor, followed by Morgan.
Catherine couldn't help but smile at her CSI family, as Nick once called it.
"Thanks. Hi everyone! I brought presents." She smiled, putting them down on the pile.
"Aundie Cafwin!" Reuben smiled. "Dicks!"
"Uh, Reubs?" Mandy caught the baby's attention as Catherine tried not to laugh. "B-r-icks. Bricks."
"Bicks?" he frowned.
"Better." Mandy nodded. Reuben smiled and started to throw the 'bicks' around.
"Ow!" Hodges protested.
"Na ba macka ba da mee poh cosco my Odges!" Loeila babbled angrily at her brother.
"Ba cah ma da mo copo!" Reuben returned quickly.
"Ba ca foppa…"
"They have their own language?" Catherine grinned.
"I'm not sure you could call it a language." Greg rolled his eyes as the twins continued talking, if you could call it that.
"...and dis one's of my daddy and Auntie Catherine and you!" Eli finished with a flourish.
"Hey, Cath, come have a look at this!" Nick called Catherine over and she looked at the book.
"Oh, wow... That was your thirty...fifth birthday right?" Catherine smiled at the familiar photo. She was in the middle of Nick and Warrick, her arms wrapped around both of their shoulders.
"Yeah, Grissom took this picture. Look at this." Nick pointed to the paragraph next to it.
Eli started to read aloud. "When...Nick...had...his...three five th..."
"Thirty fifth." Nick corrected with an encouraging smile.
"Bir...th...day. Birthday... Warrick...Catherine...and Nick...went...out...for...drinks. They...went...to...the...strip...and..." he paused from following the words with his finger to look up at Nick. "You read it!"
"Aw, but you were doing so well!" Nick cried. Eli just snuggled into his uncle's chest and looked up at him expectantly. Nick sighed. "Fine. They went to the strip and went to a party, where they danced for hours. Sara and Greg joined them later on, along with Mandy and Wendy from the lab. After they finished dancing they all went back to Nick's house for coffee. However, Warrick went straight home, because he wanted to see his girlfriend, Tina. Before they all left though, they decided to sing happy birthday to him. It was funny, because Nick was very embarrassed when everyone started singing. Warrick sang the loudest and everybody stared." Nick laughed softly, the memory surrounding him. "Yeah. Everybody stared."
"I remember." Catherine murmured. "That's some book, Eli."
"I know. It's the best. Sara and Grissom made it for me for Christmas."
Suddenly the lights dimmed and a couple of candle lights illuminated the opening of the room.
"Happy birthday to you..." Greg sang, carrying a large Thomas the Tank Engine cake and the others joined in.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Reuben and Lola, happy birthday to you!" They finished, and Greg put the 'Thomas' cake down in front of Reuben as Wendy put a Princess cake down in front of Loeila.
"You gotta blow out the candles!" Eli hinted loudly.
"Why don't you come help them out?" Greg held out his arm as the two babies stared at them blankly.
Eli nodded and scrambled off the sofa. Greg put his arm around Eli's shoulder and he blew out the candles.
"Who wants cake?" Greg called.
"Me!" Morgan, Sara and Finn called.
Eli looked at Greg. "Can I have some?"
"Everyone can have cake!" Greg declared.
Archie laughed, holding the video camera on Greg as he cut the cake and started dishing it out. Reuben swiped at the cake and immediately put his fingers – and the icing on them – into his mouth with a giggle.
Greg roared playfully and lifted him into the air. Reuben squealed in delight and Greg brought him onto his hip and returned to cutting the cake. Kristy crawled over but Nick scooped her up.
"You're too small for that much cake, baby girl."
Kristy's little brow furrowed and Nick scooped a little bit of icing off of the top of the cake, and placed it gently in her mouth. She smiled at him.
"Um um um um um!" she gurgled happily.
They were all happy.
"Sounds like a great party." Alyssa smiled.
"Oh, it was." Catherine grinned. "I have a feeling Greg's going to have some pretty good parties coming up over the next few years. Oh, he says you're amazing by the way."
She laughed. "It wasn't a problem. Lisa Cooke was easy to find."
Catherine nodded.
"Hey, Cath?"
"Yeah?"
"They're at the second best crime lab in the entire country. They'll find these guys." Alyssa said seriously.
"I hope you're right." Catherine sighed.
"I often am." Alyssa teased.
"Anything happen while I was gone?"
"Nope. Not really anything that affects us, anyway. Jamison was busy."
"Good." Catherine sighed. "Not for Jamison, but good."
Alyssa subtly stole a glance at one of the new photos on Catherine's desk. A pair of one year old twins, cake around their faces.
It was so hard to tell herself when she was in so much pain, but she knew in her heart and in her mind that her strongest voice was telling the truth.
Greg's a great dad. You made the right choice.
"Hey, Willows, Brown, have you heard the news?" Corey Peterson, a young agent burst into the room.
"What news?" Alyssa frowned.
"Some guys been washed up on the beach in New York, and he was an ex CIA operative! They think there's a mole in the CIA, the rumours are all over the department, they think loads of ex operatives could be in trouble." Both Corey and Catherine glanced at Alyssa. "But don't worry, Roger in Communications thinks it'll be only people that worked with the guy that'll be in trouble. His name was Ronnie Brooks."
"Ronnie Brooks?" Alyssa blurted out.
"You knew him?" Catherine asked.
An overwhelming sense of loss swallowed Alyssa. "Yeah, he was my partner."
Catherine and Corey exchanged looks. "That..." Corey stammered. "That could be bad."
"What happened to him?" Alyssa asked.
"According to the grapevine, the coroner says he was probably tortured for a few weeks before he bled to death." Corey muttered as Alyssa fell backwards into a chair, massaging her forehead.
"Ronnie...Ronnie was a good guy." She muttered. She locked eyes with Catherine. "A really good guy."
Catherine nodded. "I'm sorry."
Alyssa nodded. Her phone rang and she picked it up, neither surprised or happy to hear her old bosses voice on the phone.
"Hello Alyssa."
"Hello." She returned coldly.
"Ah, I take it you've heard about Brooks."
"Yes."
"Unfortunate, unfortunate. You may be in trouble my girl."
"Yes, I may be."
"Don't be like that. It wasn't us."
"Of course it wasn't."
"Alyssa, someone was out to get Brooks and I think it was to do with Operation Fox-Strike."
Alyssa's blood went cold as he continued.
"I don't have to tell you what that might mean."
"No. You don't."
"Fancy coming back for some protection?"
"No. I don't."
"Okay, then. You're on your own. I did warn you, Alyssa."
"Goodbye."
"Bye."
She hung up the phone. "Good riddance."
Catherine looked at her sympathetically. "Your old boss?"
"Yeah." Alyssa nodded. "Catherine, if I stay and I put a target on your back-"
"It's called being part of a team." Catherine waved away Alyssa's worries. "I got your back."
Alyssa smiled, but tears filled her eyes, much to her surprise. She could count on two hands the number of times she'd cried since her eighteenth birthday and over a hand of that was since she became pregnant. She couldn't count the number of times she'd cried in public. She never had.
"Excuse me." She whispered, racing to the nearest ladies room. She shook and tried to regain her composure.
"Alyssa?"
"I'm sorry, Cath." She gasped, but all she felt was a friendly hand on her back.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for. At least you made it to the right bathroom. My friend Warrick once ended up in the ladies."
Alyssa laughed slightly. "I...Ronnie was the only person who's actually given a damn, you know?"
Catherine smiled sadly and nodded.
"My parents were...well. Not really parents." She stared into the mirror. Keeping secrets only worked for so long. Sometimes you had to let them out, and Alyssa knew that. "Abuse was second nature, and I was told that that was what made me such a successful agent. Detachment. I had no loving relationships. Ronnie cared, took me under his wing, looked after me. I just... The thing is, I can't say I can't believe he's dead, because I know that he is. I just..."
Catherine swallowed. "You know, Ronnie's not the only one who cares about you."
Alyssa smiled sadly. "Not any more. Thanks, Catherine. Urgh, I hate crying."
"Join the club." Catherine passed her a tissue.
"You know, I never knew what I could say to my parents if I ran into them. I had no idea. So when they contacted me, do you know what I did?"
"What?"
"I emailed them a song." She laughed. "The stupidest thing...Because of You, by Kelly Clarkson. It was the only way I could think of to tell them how I felt."
Catherine hugged Alyssa. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I just need to let it out once in a while, then I'm fine." She insisted. "Ronnie's just...he was the first person I've let myself care for in a long time."
Catherine nodded, her expression pained. The woman in front of her was about Greg's age, and Catherine had developed similar maternal instincts towards both accomplished criminalists. "I get it."
Alyssa swallowed again, pushing her hair out of her face. "I'll be okay. I always am."
"At least that's what you tell yourself." Catherine smiled wryly.
"You know, I honestly think you might be the best thing that's happened to me in a long time." Alyssa grinned honestly.
"I'm glad I can help."
"Were you this...motherly to your old team?"
Catherine laughed out loud. "Yeah, I guess I was."
Alyssa nodded. She was so grateful for Catherine's friendship. She was terrified of what would happen if she found out about what Alyssa had done to Greg, but that was a secret for another day.
Later that night Catherine turned on the computer in her apartment. She couldn't sleep.
Worry for the CSIs in Vegas and for Alyssa kept her up. She checked her emails even though they were sent to her phone anyway. No new messages. Suddenly a new message popped up.
From: louvartaan
To: cathwillows
Hey Cath, just checking you're doing okay.
This jobs not the same without running into you, and I miss you a lot. I'm thinking of a change of scenery. How would you feel about having a flat mate for a couple of days if I chose to take an early retirement in Quantico? Just an idea.
I know you don't want a complicated relationship, but I've let too many go to let you be the one that got away. If I didn't try I know it would eat me up for the rest of my life, so, yeah.
I miss you Catherine, and I love you. That was hard to type, but it's true. So, if you wanna try, give me a call.
Lou
A shocked smile appeared on Catherine's face. She reached for the phone, making one of her split second decisions. She hoped it wouldn't be one she regretted.
Two hours and forty three minutes later, according to the phone, Catherine hung up from Lou with a smile on her face. They would try.
Suddenly something came into her head. She entered YouTube and typed something into the search box. As she got ready from the bed, she started to listen to the music.
"I will not make the same mistakes that you did
I will not let myself
Cause my heart so much misery
I will not break the way you did,
You fell so hard
I've learned the hard way
To never let it get that far
Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid
I lose my way
And it's not too long before you point it out
I cannot cry
Because I know that's weakness in your eyes
I'm forced to fake
A smile, a laugh every day of my life
My heart can't possibly break
When it wasn't even whole to start with
Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid
I watched you die
I heard you cry every night in your sleep
I was so young
You should have known better than to lean on me
You never thought of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry in the middle of the night
For the same damn thing
Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I try my hardest just to forget everything
Because of you
I don't know how to let anyone else in
Because of you
I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty
Because of you
I am afraid
Because of you
Because of you."
Well, Catherine thought. That explains a few things. It almost reminded her of Sara.
She stared at the photographs by the side of her bed.
There were so many people she missed who she would never see again, but she had so many people she loved. Alyssa didn't have that.
God, her personal life couldn't get much more screwed up, could it?
Catherine sighed and restored to doing something she hadn't done in years.
Catherine Willows bowed her head and prayed.
Hope it's okay. Opinions on Alyssa? On the plot?
Tell me, please!
Good enough to continue, or no?"