Hello all! I am so happy that I have gained some new followers!I hope this chapter makes up for the long wait. Mouse's point of view is coming soon and so is a Vincent and Cat chapter. YAY! I hope you all stick with us! Love you all and I am happy to say "Mouse is Back Baby!" Let Me know what you guys think!

Chapter 11

Catherine's POV

I was tired. I had been on many cases that I had wanted to get to the bottom to. But this case was so different that the others. I wanted to put this sick and twisted person behind bars. The thing was, the raid was the closes we had come to catching "The Butcher". Just thinking about this guys nickname made chills run down my back and gave me goose bumps down my arms. Thinking about what we found on the raid made my stomach turn. I needed to catch this guy. Catch him and look him in the eye when I ask why and how could he do such horrible things to another human beings. All the sociology class I had taken in college still hadn't prepared me for what I had seen.

Tess had told me to go home and get some rest. I told her I couldn't. She said she had been having bad dreams too and dropped the subject. I had a couple of nightmares after the raid but the real reason I couldn't go home was because I was afraid that I was going to see Vincent.

Just being near him the day of the raid was, excruciating. The entire time I made sure not to make contact with him. Knowing all to well if any part of me touched him my resolve of being indifferent to him would shatter like glass on a marble floor. I would tell him to forget Alex and pick me. That I am here for him. That I loved him.

I could feel my heart starting to tighten and my throat starting to swell with tears. I took a deep breath and then stared directly in the mirror. Ok, if I was completely honest with my self, I had looked better. With another deep breath I turned on the faucet and cupped my hands under the cold running water. I brought it to my face hoping that the cold water would somehow make the circles under my eyes a bit less noticeable.

The precinct had the first update meeting for the day, which only resulted in a bunch of information we already knew. The only thing that was keeping me going, beside the barrels of coffee I had consumed over the past week, was finding out that none of the body parts found in the house belonged to Maria. Which gave me a small glimmer of hope that she was still alive. I had to find her. With my new-found energy, I pushed away from the bathroom sink and made my way back to my desk.

As I came upon my desk I found that there was someone crouched down looking underneath my desk. "Um...excuses me?" I said. The young girl came out from under the desk and stood up. She had shoulder length brown hair, no makeup, black glasses, black business slacks and a white collared shirt. She looked kind of familiar but I wasn't able to place her. "Can I help you?" I asked. The girl adjusted her glasses and then something in my brain snapped.

I was sure my eyes had grown in size because Mouse's smile had become knowing instead of friendly. "Mouse! What are you doing here?!" I asked in the quietest voice I could manage.

Mouse's face had become serious and her voice had taken on a business like tone. "Are you Ms. Chandler?". My eyes narrowed, what was she doing?

"Yes" I replied carefully.

"And this is your computer, correct?" she motioned towards my desk with the pencil she was holding.

"Yes, but what is this all about?"

"Oh, sorry Ms. Chandler, I'm from the Tech department and we are performing random inventory checks. Your computer was selected as one of the items that need to be checked. We have to make sure that the computer you were assigned is still the same. I have already completed all the checks necessary and everything seems in order. So unless you have any questions, I'll get going." She said quickly. I was surprised that I caught any of it.

She turned and grabbed a bag that was laying on the floor. The bag had tools that I had never seen before and Mouse reached in the bag and pulled out an envelope. She put the envelope stealthily on my desk and turned to give me a meaningful look.

My brain, which had been on auto pilot or vacation not sure which, snapped into action. "Wait," my hand reached out and grabbed Mouse's shoulder, "can you fix a teleconference mic?". This time it was Mouse's turn to be confused. Her eyebrow lifted slightly and then she nodded. Before heading towards the conference room I grabbed the envelope from my desk. We walked quickly to one of the smaller meeting rooms and once inside I dropped and shut the blinds. Once the door was close I spun on my heel to face Mouse. Who, was already sitting down in a chair and smiling expectedly.

I put on the face I used for interrogations and put my hands on my hips. Mouse only rolled her eyes but I was only starting to realize how angry I was. Did she come on her own? Did Vincent send her? Why?

"What are you doing here?" I kept my voice firm and calm.

Mouse's face became serious but still friendly. "I wanted to give you that." She pointed towards the envelope I was holding in my hand. I looked down and started to open it and found a picture of an older man. "Its the picture of the man who dumped the SUV. Thought you might want it."

"I thought you couldn't..."

"Oh my software couldn't but the Department of Defense software can." she said with a proud smile.

"The Department of Defense? Are you insane? The same people who are looking for Vincent and you hacked into their system? Do you have a death wish?" With out knowing I had come to stand in front of Mouse. With both of my hands on the table.

Mouse was shocked at my reaction but after a moment was able to compose herself. "I have done this before and I have never been caught." she said carefully. "And I know how to cover my tracks. There is no way anyone would know I was there." My body began to relax until it registered that she had hack into that system before.

"You've hacked into the DoD's system before? What for?" I started to look Mouse up and down.

"Whoa!" she said putting her hand up. "Just wait one minute. I think I know what you are thinking but I am not what you think I am." She sat up straight in her chair and looked me in the eye. "I am not a blackhat."

"What's a blackhat?" I asked. The response was not what I expected. Unless a blackhat was an undercover agent for Merfield. I was suspicious when she had a thin explanation for how she knew I was a detective.

Mouse relaxed seeing my confusion. "A blackhat is a hacker that who uses their skills for personal gain or just to be assholes." She said explaining. "For example they deface websites, steal people's personal information, or make virus. There are many other things that they can do but those are just some of the things that they are capable of."

"So what are you? A white...hat?"

Mouse snickered "No way. I don't look for loopholes and report them. I know people who were true whitehats and they got jail time. Call me selfish but jail doesn't sound like a good time to me. I guess if I gave myself a label it would have to be a greyhat. I fall somewhere in between. Story of my life." Mouse finished with a large exhale of breath.

Hearing all this. Made me realized that Mouse was no undercover agent. Just a normal girl. "Mouse you don't need to do this. You have so much life in front of you. How old are you 22?" Mouse nodded and her brows furrowed. "This isn't some game. Merfield is dangerous. If they find you, they will kill you. And if you become involved with Vincent you will have to live a double life. You can walk away now and just live a normal life." I liked Mouse and if I could help her, save her pain, I would.

Mouse was staring at her hands on the long meeting table. "I...don't have to lie to anyone. My Mom and Dad live in California." she looked up at me. "I have one really good friend that I only see maybe once a month because we are both workaholics. I don't have brothers or sisters. My parents tried but they never had another child. They are workaholics too." she smiled.

"But they always made time for me. It's not the same as having a brother or a sister though. Maybe that's why I like being around Bru...Vincent and J.T. I know I just met them but they are like the brothers I never had."

Her face became determined, hard and looking at her expression there was no doubt that the next words that came out were the absolute truth. "I have so few people in my life that matter. I wouldn't endanger one of them and I would do any thing for them. Even if that means giving up my life."

I smiled at Mouse, "I believe you." I looked down at the picture in my hand that I had forgotten about. "If you are going to be part of this group. We got to work on a better way of exchanging information."

"Well I tried to have Vincent give it to you but he seems to think that you don't want to talk to him." Mouse finished looking at me waiting for an explanation.

Wait a minute. How did the roles get flipped. I was the one doing the questioning.

Mouse's eye brow rose. "Why don't you want to talk to him?"

"Mouse I don't want to talk about it." I could feel my heart being squeezed.

Mouse's voice became softer, "Is it because of Alex?"

"He loves her." the words were quiet. I barely had enough air to get them out. I was tired, both emotionally and physically.

Suddenly a hand rested on top of mine. As I raised my head a tear escaped my eye. Mouse had an understanding look on her face. "He doesn't love her." she said so confidently.

I appreciated her faith but she didn't know. "He could have chosen me. But he...chose her."

"No..." Mouse said slightly louder.

"I asked him to choose me and he chose her." I tried to explain as the tears came. And I didn't care.

Mouse pulled a Kleenex out of the box that was on the table that I didn't notice. She handed it to me.

"Maybe he chose her outwardly but I know that inwardly it has always been you. Looking at you guys in my apartment the other day no one would doubt that."

"Outwardly. Inwardly. What difference does it make?"

"Oh, believe me. It makes all the difference. Guys are not like us. They don't examine their feelings on an hourly basis. They don't understand what they feel." She rolled her eyes. "And even though Vincent doesn't seem like a regular guy, especially when he Hulks out, don't be fooled he is a very typical guy. And didn't know which way was up until very recently." Mouse's rant made me forget my tears for a moment.

"He Loves You Catherine. I have seen it."

I wiped my nose and dabbed my eyes hoping not to smear my mascara. "Mouse, I...I can't feel like this again. I can't feel like my heart and my life is finally coming together only to have it all ripped away. Its...so...painful."

Mouse gripped my hands more firmly. "That won't happen. I promise. If he gets another chance with you he won't let you go."

Though the tears realization hit me, "Did Vincent tell you to come here and tell me that?"

Mouse shook her head and the hope I allowed myself to feel for a second crumbled away.

"He sent me to secure your computer. He worries about your safety." Mouse smiled. "Oh and he ask me to ask you if you wouldn't mind meeting him at the top of your building tonight." The rest of the sentence Mouse spoke was as if she was trying to say it word for word. "He knows that he doesn't deserve another chance with you. And he knows that how he has hurt you can't be undone. But if you meet him on the roof, maybe he can start to mend what he has done." Mouse waited for my response. "And what it's worth. I am pretty sure when I left him this morning he was on his way to tell Alex it was over."

I wasn't sure I could open my heart again. I could only image the pain if I were to get even more attached and then be let down again. I was sure I would be a walking shell of a person. But, I needed closure and to deny Vincent his closure would be cruel. So I nodded yes to Mouse "I'll meet him. What time?"

Mouse seemed to jump for joy in her seat. "He said he would text you."

As we both got up and I was able to dry the last of my tears away. I came up with a question to defuse the awkward silence. "How much was the wig? It looks good. Must be an expensive one."

Mouse unclipped a piece of the wig and underneath a lock of bright green hair peeked out. "It's expensive. I use it when I have to attend charities or art openings and have to represent my parents company." Mouse re-clipped the section of the wig she had undone. "Can't exactly show up to that kind of event with green hair." She smiled mischievously.

I was about to ask who her parents were. When the door flew open and standing in the doorway was Evan.

"Oh so sorry to interrupt Cat but Larry said he thought he saw you come in here but I didn't know you were with some one." He looked over in Mouse's direction.

I waited for Mouse to answer but when I looked over at her I noticed that Evan had the same effect over her as he did every female. Mouse's eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open.

"Um, yeah. I noticed that there was a problem with the phone line last time we had to call to get an update from another precinct helping out on the Butcher case. So I called Tech Support and they sent down...Jenny here to help."

Mouse recovered her balance at that point and answered, "Just a loose wire. easily replaced." Mouse turned to me, "Well if that is all I'll be going now." She straightened her glasses and made her way towards the door. As she reached the door she turned to me and mouthed the words "OH MY GOD!" behind Evan's back and started to fan herself with her free hand as she left the room.

I had to clear my throat to stop myself from laughing. "What you got there Cat?"

Evan had nodded toward the picture that I was holding. "I just got this from the Department of Transportation." I lied smoothly, "It's a picture of the guy that ditched the SUV. I am going to run it through face recognition, if you want to come with?"

"Do you think it could be the Butcher?"

"It's possible. However, he could also be an accomplice. Why were you looking for me?" the thought had just popped into my head.

"Oh that's right." Evan grabbed the picture from me, "Joe told me to tell you to go home and get some rest. And since I am a doctor, it's doctor's orders." he turned on his most charming smile.

"This isn't fair." My hands were on my hips and I tried for my best scowl. But Evan just put his free had on the small of my back and gently nudged me toward the exit. I had the feeling there was no arguing my way out of this order.