Chapter 12 Sara and Warrick entered the hospital, and Sara could not shake the déjà vu feeling of the cases. Amy Jenkins wound up in the same hospital after her attack. They entered room 106, and Warrick followed Sara inside. He thought it would be better if she asked the questions after what this woman has gone through. His mind drifted back to Catherine realizing she went through this very same ordeal, but by herself. She did not reach out for help, and that concerned him greatly. “Hi…Lauren Beckett right?” Sara asked softly as she placed a small smile on her face. The other woman immediately started crying. “I was supposed to get married today, so technically my name would be Mrs. Scott except the wedding has been called off. I don’t know is this a sign from God saying that I was going to marry the wrong man,” she asked as her attention fell on Warrick. Warrick looked at the woman, not knowing what to say, knowing he screwed up big time on his choice of his first bride. He closed his eyes, and his mind flashed back to all the many fights he had with his wife. He was not home enough? She thought he was having an inner office affair. She accused him of gambling. She hated the thought of having children, and after it was all said and done—he realized they just did not get along. He rushed into marriage afraid to go after what he wanted, not wanting to be rejected by the one woman who had him literally at hello. He sighed feeling dumb at his last thought…you had me at hello—great now he was getting his lines from movies. “Oh gosh, you married the wrong person. I had my doubts about this marriage, and now I know,” Lauren said to Warrick as she began to cry. Sara turned abruptly and shot Warrick a wary look. Was his marriage falling apart? She had no idea because he never talked about his wife in the first place. “Oh…well, Lauren I’m here to talk to you about what happened to you last night,” Sara said as she turned her attention away from Warrick and focused back on Lauren. “It was my bachelorette party.” Sara’s eyes widened in complete shock as she looked down at her note pad. “So you had quite a few people with you then?” Sara asked slowly. “No…it was a total of three of us. By that time anyhow…the others left early. We decided to go to this bar because I wanted to see a band play. I sat at the bar and the bar tender told me a gentleman wanted to buy my next drink, and I looked over and said sure. What the heck it was my bachelorette party? Then I remember feeling odd, almost sick like. Everything seemed blurry, and that is all I remember. Then I woke up in some nasty motel, naked. So I called 911.” Lauren wrapped her arms around her body as she finished her statement. “Lauren, if you remember anything else please don’t hesitate to call me. Here is my card, and feel free to call me if you need anything.” They left Lauren’s room, and when they reached the Denali Sara took a deep breath. “Warrick, the stories are so close to Catherine’s except she remembers more. She remembers being shoved in a van. She remembers being dragged to the motel room, but incapable to prevent anything,” Sara said as she lightly tapped her right index finger on her cheek bone. “Well, Cath could have fought against the drugs, and made herself pay more attention to detail. Obviously she knew she had an idea of what was going to happen to her—so she fought harder to stay awake.” “Yeah, that all makes sense. Catherine is one to pay attention to detail. But, she did not report anything. She was prepared to let the bastard or bastards walk free except her case is now linked to two others. Why?” Sara asked as she looked at Warrick. ~~~~~ Catherine pulled up into her driveway, and noticed that her Dad’s car was parked in the street. She walked briskly up to the front door, and turned at her father’s voice. “Mugs…it’s so good to see you. I came by to check on you and Linds.” “Sam…we are fine. You didn’t need to stop by,” she said as she scanned his face with her vibrant eyes. Truth was she was far from fine. Her nightmares that no one knew about were getting worse. She woke up almost every two hours, and sometimes more depending on the severity of her dreams. Though, she still could not recall anything from them. Then again she usually was woken up by Lindsey’s own nightmares as well. “You don’t look fine to me. You actually look like shit,” Sam bluntly replied. He noticed her dark circles under her eyes, frail body from lack of eating, and her lack of emotion on her face. “Don’t start—don’t sit here and try to be the father I never had. Quit pretending you care when all the years you never existed amount to so much more. I’ve managed to get by in my life without you, and I definitely don’t need you treating me like a freaking charity case,” Catherine spat angrily at Sam. She turned towards the front door when he roughly grabbed her arm which yanked her to face him. She let out a small cry of alarm as the pain shot through her shoulder. She glared at him, but he did not loosen his grip. “Let go, Sam!” He pulled her forward to where she was just inches from his face. His voice growled with anger as he began to talk. “I screwed up with you. I know that, but I’m here now. So don’t piss this away just because you’re angry with me. You want to be angry…fine be angry, but don’t you dare tell me you don’t need me. Damn it Cath—your life is filled with horrible decisions because you didn’t have the guidance you needed. The first time I met you before I knew who you were—you stripped in front of me. My own freaking daughter stood in front of me bare, broken, and lost. You were just a kid barely out of high school. A father isn’t supposed to see his daughter that way. One bad decision after another—cocaine, Eddie. I take the blame for this, and always will. I’m sorry Mugs, but I’m here now.” Catherine’s eyes filled with tears as he brought up all her mistakes, and the pain of his points hitting too close to home. “Go…Sam just go,” her voice catching as she tried to control her emotions. “If that is what you want—then I will go, but I will be back,” he said as he squeezed her shoulder. “You can’t just throw all of this at me, and expect me to be okay with it,” Catherine said as her eyes filled with tears. “I need time to think things through. I need to be by myself. I have everyone hounding me, and its just getting to a point where I can’t breath,” she continued as her voice thickened. “I can’t do this right now,” she finally sobbed. Her hands shot forward as they covered her face. “Not now, okay.” “I understand…I just want you to know that I’m here for you.” He hugged her from behind, and kissed her softly on her cheek. “Love ya Mugs,” Sam whispered as he turned and walked to his car. ~~~~~~~~ wasn't too sure about this chapter....hope you like! And hopefully the crying will end very soon!!!! ~~~~~~~~
~~~~~ Sara and Warrick showed back up at the lab twenty minutes later, and they both walked into Grissom’s office. “Griss, I think its time the bartender and the motel manager are called in for questioning. That is the only connection to the cases that we know of,” Warrick informed Grissom. “Daniel Perez is the motel manager at Motel Eight, and Jake Lexon is the bartender—actually he owns the bar called Highest Life,” Sara said as she looked down at her jotted notes. Grissom picked up his phone, and dialed Brass’s extension. He hoped he was in his office. “Brass?” “Grissom,” Brass mocked back at him jokingly. “Hey, Sara and Warrick found a lead. I need you to bring in two guys for questioning,” Grissom said as he also relayed the information about the possible suspects to Brass. “Brass, oh bring them in at the same time, but separate rooms.” “Sure thing. I’m on it. Give me half an hour.” Brass said as he hung up the phone. ~~~~~ Hours past as Catherine sat at home alone; Lindsey was with her mother shopping, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She took a deep breath and decided then she was going to fight Grissom on her leave of absence. This was absolutely crazy, and she did not know what to do with herself. She grabbed her keys, and jotted a note to Lindsey letting her know she would be home soon that she needed to talk to Grissom. Before she knew it she was parked in front of the lab sitting behind the wheel rehearsing what she wanted to say to Grissom. She moaned at herself, and hopped out of the vehicle. She entered the lab in a rush, cheeks already flushed as she rounded the corner to Grissom’s office confidently. “Hey…we need to talk,” her voice was more in a demand, and of course Grissom caught the tone. “Fine, but I don’t have long. I’m on a time frame here.” He said as he scanned some notes, and then tucked them under a folder. “I want my badge and gun back, and now. I came back here to discuss this rationally with you.” She looked him directly in the eyes wanting him to know she was in for a fight. “Sorry, but you are on leave for a reason. I’m not changing my mind about this.” He returned her stare just as stubbornly as he refused to back down. He was concerned for her well being, and she did not need to be here especially now. He grimaced slightly as he realized the timing she pulled off. Of course she did not know that a few of the men responsible for her crime were either in this building or about to be here quickly. He motioned her out of his office, and shut and locked his office door behind them. “Catherine, I’m sorry but I’m refusing your request to come back to work so soon after your attack. “I can understand a couple days Grissom, but a whole month? Can’t you at least be reasonable here?” She asked as she continued to walk with him down the hallway. “Catherine my answer is no,” Grissom said strongly. She continued to argue with him for a bit hoping that he would soften up to the possibility of her coming back sooner. “You know you need my…,” she stopped talking abruptly as she looked up briefly, and noticed Brass walking with a man. A man she recognized. Her face fell slightly as she realized he was the bartender. The bartender of that horrid night. Her mind quickly put two and two together, as she came to a complete stop. It seemed that Catherine also held his attention just as much because he stopped walking momentarily as he noticed her. His face set in anger as he recognized her from his bar. He continued to walk forward until he was standing a couple of yards from her. His eyes penetrated her blue eyes as his jaw pulsed. She saw the blood vessel pop from his neck as his stare turned into a hateful glare. He broke eye contact as his eyes traveled lustfully down her body with a smirk on his face. Her head tilted in anger as the heat rose to her face. Her mouth opened slightly at his coy attitude, but then she quickly shut it as she noticed his eyes focused briefly between her legs before they slowly made their way back to her face. His smirk intensified as he noticed that she had been watching him as he undressed her with his mind. He was ready for her to flinch at his investigation of her body, or be cradled away from the guy next to her as she cried at his lewd suggestions. Instead, she buffed up to him as her cheek flushed a deeper crimson with anger. She took a couple of steps forward to where she was just mere inches from his face. Her eyes glared at him with complete disgust as she sneered back at him. “The gentleman over there wants to buy your next drink," Catherine said in a throaty voice as her vibrant eyes narrowed and her lips formed in an all knowing pursed expression. “Your games up…, you’ve been had,” she said in an even lower voice almost in a growl. Her eyes scanned his face before they looked down his body, and slowly come back up to meet his fierce eyes. “The prison boys are just gonna love you,” she snarled at him. His eyes were still connected to hers as his temperature continued to rise. She noticed as his hands repeatedly clenched into fists at his sides. She pulled back quickly as he lunged forward at her. Brass quickly yanked him back, as Grissom grabbed Catherine and pulled her further back. She continued to glare at him with a victory smile implanted on her face. She was just daring him to do something. He pulled forward again, but Brass held him firmly back. “Bitch…it’s no wonder someone wanted to rape your ass,” he screamed at her as he continued to fight his way at her. Brass and Grissom exchanged quick looks of shock before Brass pulled him into an interrogation room. Grissom looked over at Catherine, and noticed that she was still fired up. Many questions began to pop in his head. How did that guy know she was raped if he was not connected? How did he know someone wanted to do that to her? They just got a huge lead as the guy unknowingly admitted to a connection.
I'm glad that Catherine could help in some small way... helping this bartender along, stirring him up a bit, to giving a very big clue. Awesome writing As always can't wait to read more!