Oh THERE you all are! Ok, well since you're still hanging on, here's the next Chapter. Still no Vincent, sorry. His day is coming... soon...

Chapter 15 – A Madness Most Discreet

Cat and Evan watched Tess storm out of the room. They waited for a minute before even attempting to converse. As if on cue, they both started to talk at once.

"Evan what are you-" "Cat is everything ok-"

"Checking up on you-" "Yes why do you ask?"

They both laughed. "Ok," Evan conceded. "Ladies first."

"Why are you checking up on me, Evan? And what makes you think something is wrong?" She knew that Tess hadn't called Evan in on this, so what had he meant by "As soon as I-"? She presumed "heard" was the final word he hadn't spoken before seeing Tess.

Evan came and perched on the edge of her bed. "JT called me, frantic. He asked me to come and check on you. It seems your 'friend' had some sort of… episode this morning. Around 5:30 or so, give or take. Anyway, apparently he woke up half-" Evan looked to the door warily, then leaned close to Cat and whispered, "transformed. And he was out of his mind saying you were in danger and he needed to get to you. JT wasn't about to let him go out like that so he shot him with a tranq gun. 'V' made him promise to check up on you right before he passed out from the drug." Evan grew concerned as he watched Catherine get even more pale than she'd been. He wouldn't have believed it possible if he hadn't seen it. "Cat, sweetheart, what's wrong? He's safe, and so are you. Everything's okay." He tenderly reached out to push a strand of hair from her face, and stroke her head. Her hair was so soft…

He smiled sadly and slowly pulled his hand back. He needed to stop noticing all the little things about her that made her so irresistible to him. He knew where her heart lay, and he wasn't going to be pining for any woman, least of all one that clearly was in love with someone else. This infatuation he had with her would pass. Eventually.

"Evan, something really strange is going on with me," she confessed quietly. "Ever since the accident, I've been feeling things and seeing things… and now it seems maybe it's affecting Vincent too. I don't even know how that's possible, but this morning at the time you said, I was having a horrific nightmare – only it wasn't a nightmare. It was a vision of something that was actually happening…" Her voice faded away as she closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart. Good thing Vincent wasn't here, he'd be all worried about her. "Before that," she continued, her eyes still closed, "I had sensed that there was evil and danger close by. I called Tess and woke her up – that's how half the precinct ended up down here chasing some crazy guy that had kidnapped Dr. Salter."

"The redhead?" he asked, suddenly . Catherine nodded. "Why would someone want to kidnap her, I wonder?"

Catherine opened her eyes and pinned Evan with her stare. "Think about it, Evan. She was wandering around here yesterday talking about…?" She was satisfied he was following her line of thought when his eyes widened appreciably. "Yes, well, it gets better. Apparently she's his ex-fiancée."

Evan let out a low whistle. "Well now, curiouser and curiouser. I assume you figure you know who the bad guys are behind this?"

"I'm certain of it. The only cells who knew about me is dead, so whoever has replaced them must have figured she'd be the most likely bait."

"Wait-what?" Evan looked clearly confused. "What cells knew what about you?" He was getting a bad feeling about all of this suddenly. If these people could nab Dr. Salter, what would stop them from coming after Catherine?

Catherine sighed. "The dead agents in the subway?" She soundlessly mouthed the word, Muirfield. "They tried to kill me because I knew about.. what they'd done. It was my own fault really… I had called looking for the agent that handled my mom's case after you found the umm… 'unusual evidence' in the Webster case. That was before I knew who was the source of it."

"Yeah, he mentioned something about that. You said 'cells' though. There were more who knew about you?"

"Well, once they were gone, a new team rolled into town and kidnapped me…" She waited for the explosion.

"WHAT?! How did we not know any of this?" Evan was clearly disturbed by this news. She was touched that he cared about her. He might not be dating material, but he was the best kind of friend to have at your back. She sighed.

"I suppose it's no secret to you at this point how much I've had to lie to everyone these last few months. There are a lot of things you don't know, Evan. No one really knows me anymore. I feel like I'm a stranger in my own skin at times, you know? Like I'm living one life, but it's not really the life I'm meant to be living any more. I'm sort of trapped between two worlds."

"We knew something was going on with you," he agreed. "We just didn't know what, or why you were so distant. I must say, we never would have guessed something like this. So tell me about this kidnapping? How did you get away?"

"Remember when I disappeared that one night and Tess was all up in my face wondering what guy I had been with? It was that night. That's why no one could find me. But eventually they released me. They only wanted to frighten me and try to turn me against… him. They were hoping that if they let me go and followed me, I'd lead them straight to him. I tried so hard to protect him, you know? And then he just up and turned himself in to them…"

Evan blinked. "He did? But then how is he-?"

"Are you sure you really want to know?" she asked.

"In for a penny, in for a pound."

Catherine gave a resigned sigh. It really was too late to start worrying about how Evan would react. "I tracked them and went to try and get him back; to stop him from giving up after all this time. Things turned ugly, I shot one of them and well, you know what stress does to him. By the time it was over the whole team had been 'neutralized'."

"Funny… I don't remember any more dead bodies being picked up by the FBI," he commented.

"That's because Vincent cleaned up the mess," she whispered. "We couldn't risk more exposure."

"Dear God, Cat, what a mess you've landed yourself in. I guess I should have kept a closer eye on you."

"Would that be your wandering eye, Doctor Marks?" she teased.

Evan reached up to cup her cheek. "Never. Not where you're concerned." He was gratified by her blush, and pulled his hand back. "So I guess this means that they've sent a new batch of henchman out to track your boyfriend, yeah? I hate to say it, Cat, but you can't just keep killing people to protect him, even if they are an evil sort. Have you considered it might be safer for him to just leave?"

Catherine looked down at where her fingers played restlessly with the blanket covering her. "They – he and JT – have talked about leaving several times; mostly since I came into their lives. I pretty much screwed things up for them. They've been flying under the radar all these years and then I show up and suddenly he's being hunted again." Tears welled in her eyes. "He told me to stay away but I couldn't, you know? I mean, first it was my mom… my need to know what happened to her and I knew he had the answers about why she was murdered… but then after a while it was him. I just couldn't stay away from him. Something just kept drawing me back, even when I knew it was dangerous for us both. And now all of this has happened because of me. Because I couldn't stay away."

"So why don't they leave?" Evan asked. "Why keep putting himself at risk?"

Catherine looked up at him with unshed tears in her eyes. "Because he's afraid to leave me. He's terrified if he leaves, something bad will happen to me."

"Sounds like you're not the only one who can't stay away," Evan observed. They sat in silence for a few minutes and then he offered, "I know it's none of my business really… but what if you both left? We would all miss you horribly of course, but JT and I could keep working toward a therapy to help him, and in the meantime you'd both be safe." He searched her eyes for some sign that he hadn't overstepped his bound with his suggestion. He let out a sigh of relief when she reached over and held his hand and squeezed it.

"Thank you," she said around the emotion tightening her throat. "You don't know how good it is to talk to someone about this after carrying this secret for so long. And you're right – I don't know why I didn't think of it myself sooner. I guess I just didn't trust myself to make any sort of big decision like that." She gave a sad laugh. "Especially when it comes to men. Not the best track record here."

Evan smiled sadly as he trailed his fingertips down her cheek. "It's just because you kept picking the wrong men, sweetheart. Lord knows, I tried to get you to give me a chance but you weren't having any of it. But what's most important to me is to see you happy. And I see the way the two of you are when you think or talk about the other. You're both clearly crazy in love and so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you'd be silly to let your past keep you from grabbing ahold of your future with both hands and hanging on for dear life. Unless – there's some other reason you are afraid to be gone alone with him?"

"No, truly there isn't," she acknowledged, blushing from his frank assessment of her feelings for Vincent. "I know that he's done some… awful things. But even in that, he's always had some sort of control. I mean, he has a good heart, Evan. He's a wonderful man. And somehow when he's not himself, he still tries to protect the innocent. He helps people. It's who he is. The problem is that the other side of him only seems to know one way to help. But I know he would never hurt me. For some reason… when he gets like that… my being with him helps to bring him back down – to ground him in some way."

"Love is a powerful thing, Cat. It makes us do all sorts of things that would normally seem out of character." Catherine wasn't sure if he was still talking about Vincent, or if he was revealing something a little more personal. She figured she would just have to file that under "unanswered questions" because it was a can of worms she did not want to open with him and risk losing their friendship. "Anyway, here's my advice to you, for what it's worth, young lady. You're going to need some time off to let that shoulder heal properly, so why not take a leave of absence and get away from here for a while, yeah? It would probably do you both a whole world of good." He gave her a sly smile. "And it sure beats desk duty, don't you think?"

Catherine blushed and looked down for fear he'd be able to see every emotion she was feeling in her eyes. And she wanted to save that privilege for Vincent alone. She smiled widely, tho, and nodded her head. "I think it's a possibility, and thank you for being such a great friend Evan. Truly, I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes." She braved a quick glance up at him to see him smiling tenderly, mildly amused at her uncharacteristic shyness with him. "Anyway, I'll think about it, and talk to you know who about this as soon as I can. I just wish I could get out of this stupid hospital…"

Evan laughed. "Only another day or two love. It will be over with before you know it." He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. "You rest now. I'll be in touch with our friends and see what we can come up with to get you out of here for a while." He stood to go, and Cat grabbed his hand and smiled up at him. Thanks again."

"Any time, sweetheart. Any time." And he was surprised to realize that he truly meant it.