Catherine walked into her new office. She hated it. It's so new and small and… empty. This did not work out well at all. Could this situation get any worse?

There was a knock on the door, she looked up and cringed. "May I come in?" Conrad Ecklie smiled an evil grin.

She shrugged, "Am I allowed to say no?"

"Being your boss," He stepped in and shut the door, "No. You're not allowed to say no."

"Then please come in," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Like your new office?"

She took a picture frame out of a box and set it down on her desk. "I'm getting there," she said finally.

He picked up the picture, "Lindsey's really starting to look like you, isn't she?" Catherine reached for the picture annoyedly, Ecklie pulled away. "You're so beautiful, Catherine."

"What do you want, Ecklie?" She glowered at him.

"You."

"What?" She scoffed.

"I want you."

"You can't have me."

He laughed evilly, she started to get nervous, but she'd never let him know that! "That's where you're wrong, m'dear."

"Get out of my office!" she raged.

"You do not want to fuck with me, Catherine!" He countered. "I can make trouble for you."

She scowled.

"I was reading through your personnel file… Grissom, made a note. It says that you cashed a check from Sam Braun."

"He's my-"

"I know."

"Then-"

"But he was a suspect." He grinned a crooked smile. "And this would not look so good to certain higher ups, you know…"

"I'll quit."

"I'll make it so you'll never work again." He chuckled, "What would you do? Go back to the French Palace?" he paused to take pleasure in watching her seething, "What would happen to Lindsey? Eddie'd probably get custody, huh? And they'd make it so you never saw her. Don't want that do you?"

She remained silent, not trusting herself to speak. She shook her head.

"So you're going to give me what I want, aren't you?" He took her face in his hands. She averted her eyes, "Aren't you?"

She blinked a tear out of her eye. It rolled down her cheek. "yes…" she said weakly.

"Good," he leaned down and kissed her. Pulling her closer he forced his way into her mouth. Reluctantly, thinking of Lindsey, she started to return the kiss. She wanted to cry but at the same time didn't want to show her weakness.

Catherine burst through the door to her house. Tears streaming down her face she wiped desperately at her face trying to regain her composure.

"Mom! What's wrong?" Lindsey demanded nervously.

"I'm fine, sweetie." Catherine threw over her shoulder, "I'll be out in a minute." She closed the door of the bathroom. Turning on the shower she waited till the water got hot and stepped in.

She let the hot water cascade down her body. Sinking down to the floor of the shower she held her face in her hands and started to sob.

There was a gently knock on the door, "Mom?" Lindsey's soft voice wafted to Catherine's ears.

"Come on in, sweetie." She said trying to slow her tears.

The door opened slowly and Lindsey walked in, "Mom are you ok?"

"I don't feel clean."

"What's wrong?"

"I just have a problem…" Catherine said. A big problem, she muttered to herself.

Grissom sat at his desk, eyes squeezed shut, rubbing his temples. He feared a migraine was approaching. The door opened and shut quickly.

He was startled out of his concentration and was surprised to see Catherine. "I would've figured you'd be home, your shift ended," he glanced at his watch, "two hours ago."

"I went home," she said, her heart pounded in her chest, "I came back."

"Catherine," he rose and went to her, "Is something wrong? Is it Lindsey?"

"Lindsey's fine." She shook her head, "My problem is with me."

"What is it?"

"Oh god," she started to cry again. "I shouldn't even be bothering you with this…" She turned to grab the doorknob.

He pulled her in gently for a hug. "Catherine," he said soothingly, "Whatever it is you can tell me."

She broke down again and started to cry. Gil appreciated the fact that it took a whole lot of shit to get the better of Catherine and he realized something must be very wrong. "I'm being black-mailed, Gil."

"By who? Do you know?"

"Ecklie…" she said softly.

"How much does he want?"

"The price is *too* high."

"I can help you." He said reassuring her as he started to rub her back.

"I don't think so, what he wants…" her breath caught in her throat, "Oh god… what he wants…"

"You." Grissom said in disbelief, "He wants *you*, doesn't he?"

She nodded. "We just… he just…" she paused to allow for a burst of tears, "I feel so unclean! I don't know what to do, Gil. I just…"

"It'll be ok."

"I just wanna pound Ecklie's ass into the ground!" She raged, "I wanna kick his ass and make *him*… oh my god. What'd I do?"

"What you felt you had to, I'm sure."

"Maybe… maybe I'm just a whore with a fancier title. Maybe I'm still the girl who danced for money and had anonymous sex, but with a degree in science. It's all semantics, really."

"You're *not* a whore, Catherine," He hugged her tightly, "You're, forgive the expression, a survivor, you're a fighter. I don't think you have ever done *anything* if you didn't believe it was necessary."

She started to sob again, "I… I'm so… unclean!"

~*~

Grissom walked into Ecklie's office. Ecklie looked up from his papers and grinned coldly, "Can I help you?"

"What's your fucking problem?"

"Excuse me?"

"Where do you get off? Thinking you can do that to *Catherine*? She deserves respect. Especially from you!" Grissom snarled. "You're an ass, Conrad."

He chuckled, "This is so funny."

"What about this is funny to you?"

"The fact that you think whatever you say is going to help Catherine." He started to laugh harder.

"Fire me, I don't care." He shrugged, "You're dying for a reason to fire me. Do it, Conrad."

"If you don't shut-up soon, I'm going to fire Catherine. Not *you*." Grissom glared at him and Ecklie let out a peal of laughter. "Just do me a favor, let me tell Catherine it's your fault she's fired." Ecklie picked up the phone and reached for the buttons, "I'll do it. Or are you done?"

"This isn't over." Grissom said tearing out of the room.

Placing the phone back on the cradle he smiled to himself.

There was a knock on Grissom's door. Looking up and seeing the blonde who walked into his office, he couldn't hide the confusion on his face. "Lindsey?"

"Hi, Uncle Gil," She smiled politely.

"What's wrong? Does your mother know where you are?"

"No," she shook her head.

"You want to give her a heart attack?" He reached for the phone, "We have to call her!"

"Help her." Lindsey pleaded.

He was shocked again, "Huh?"

"She won't tell me what's wrong… specifically, and I'm worried about her…" She looked at Gil with an imploring expression that she inherited from her mother, a look which Gil knew all too well. "You're good for her. She's always happier when you're around." Lindsey blinked a tear out of her eye, "And I'm so worried about her!"

Gil stood and walked over to Lindsey, he hesitated. "Don't worry," he said finally, "I will do everything I can to help her, she means the world to me."

"Thank you!"

"We have to call her." He went back to his desk and picked up the phone, he dialed Catherine's cell number.

~~~~

"How much satisfaction can there honestly be in this for you?" Catherine stood embrassedly in Ecklie's office stripped down to her underwear. In light of recent events she had taken to modesty and had dressed herself in white panties and a thin tank top serving as a bra.

He looked her over, leering towards her he grinned, "Watching you pull away is half the pleasure, my pet."

"You're a sick fuck, Ecklie." She growled.

"You'll come around."

"I never will. Until the day I die, I will loathe you with all of my being,"

"Then this is going to be hell for you." He wrapped his arms around her waist.

~~~~

She clenched her fists, and fought back a pained scream. Never mind the fact that she was repulsed by the man, using the term loosely, but her body wasn't prepared for his onslaught.

He thrust into her, "I HATE YOU!" She cried.

"Don't stop, Cath…"

"You make me sick!"

"That's it!" Ecklie moaned.

Her phone went off. "My phone…" She reached for it.

"Ignore it!"

"What if it's Brass and I miss an important phone call? It'd be your fault and it'd make the lab look bad."

"Answer the damn phone!" Ecklie pulled away from her.

Thankful for his relinquishment, she picked up the phone, "Willows."

~~~~

"Lindsey's here with me." He paused to listen to Catherine, "She's fine. Want me to bring her home? You'll pick her up? Are you home? En route? Ok, See you in five minutes." He hung up the phone and turned to Lindsey, "She'll be here in five minutes. You can have a seat while you wait."

Five minutes later after dressing Catherine knocked on Gil's office door. She was beckoned in and was greeted by a big hug from Lindsey. "Whoa!" she laughed when Lindsey nearly knocked her off balance. "Nice to see you, too. Ready to go home?"

"Yes!"

"Lindsey, could you wait in the hallway for a second?" Grissom asked nicely.

"No problem." Lindsey assured him and when Catherine turned her back on her, she gave Grissom a thumbs up.

"You weren't en route." He stated.

She sank into the chair, "No…" she looked down embarrassedly, "How'd you know?"

"I could see it in your eyes." He drew her into a hug, "I hate him for doing this to you. And I hate myself for not being able to help you."

"It’s not your fault. Or your problem." Catherine responded in a whisper.

"Catherine, when someone I love is in pain it is my problem."

She looked up at him, fresh tears glistening in her eyes. "You… love me?"

"I've always loved you, Cath." He squeezed her gently, "And I'm going to do everything in my power to help you."

Ecklie walked out of his office, closing the door behind him. "Ecklie, we need to talk."

He turned around to see Gil Grissom. He grinned, "Can't talk right now. I've gotta go find Catherine." He continued down the hallway.

"I said we need to talk." He grabbed him by the arm and forced him to look at him. His blue eyes burning holes in the director.

Annoyed, Ecklie replied, "The last time I checked… I was your boss. You need to let go of me."

"You know as well as I do that the check Sam Braun wrote Catherine was perfectly innocent."

"This is neither the time, nor the place,"

"Answer me."

"Yeah." He stated, "Of course it was fucking innocent. But if I didn't twist it, it wouldn't be blackmail. Would it?"

"You're a son of a bitch." He growled, "You really are. You're a repulsive individual and you're going to get your just punishments. You know that don't you?"

"Oh what is all that bullshit? You can't honestly stand there and tell me you still believe in the justice system? You of all people should know that justice is selective." He paused to chuckle, "The only thing I'm going to get is exactly what I want."

Grissom glared at him. Ecklie continued, "Catherine, I have to say, consensual or not she's a delight. She's perfect." Grissom continued to glare at him, "I'm really killing two birds with one stone. Because the more I break Catherine, the more I break *you*."

"You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to break every bone in your body." Grissom snarled. "Nothing would give me more pleasure than to beat you until you cried for mercy."

"Funny… mercy… I think you ought to ask *Catherine* about mercy. She can tell you a little bit about what it's like to cry for mercy,"

Grissom lunged at Ecklie. His hand balled into a tight fist it impacted with Ecklie's nose at an alarming speed and Ecklie was knocked backwards. He stumbled and fell on his ass. Shocked, embarrassed and enraged he looked up at Grissom, he took in a breath. He wiped at his bloodied nose before jumping up. "You're going to regret that you fucking lab rat!"

Ecklie hit Grissom hard in the stomach. Grissom had a moment to catch his breath before gritting his teeth and punching Ecklie in the jaw. His fist collided with Ecklie's jaw four times before Grissom realized they were on the floor and he was beating Ecklie. Ecklie's cries of pain reached his ears but didn't register.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Brass rushing over to the fight. He could feel Brass's hands grab him by the shoulders and yank him up, "What are you crazy?" He cried.

Seething with rage and short of breath Grissom wiped his hands on his shirt. His knuckles were raw and his hands shook as he stared down at Ecklie.

He was too afraid to move. He was in so much pain, he wanted to speak but felt that opening his jaw would only further his problems.

"Never underestimate a lab rat, Conrad." Grissom warned. "Did you get it all Jim?"

"Yeah, I heard the whole thing." Brass walked over to Ecklie and pulled him to his feet with a rough hand on his arm. "You're under arrest, Conrad."

"But," he stuttered with increasing agony.

"Never underestimate the justice system." Grissom chuckled despite himself, "Lady Justice is a real hard pill to swallow. Don't fuck with her."

Grissom walked through Catherine's open office door. Looking up from her computer she caught site of him. She jumped up, "Grissom!" She cried with concern. She looked him over, taking in the site of his raw knuckles, black eye and the blood on his shirt.

"It’s ok."

"What is?"

He smiled and shook his head, "Everything." He saw her confused expression.

"Ecklie did this to you."

"You should see how he turned out." Grissom couldn't hold back his satisfied smile.

"So it' all over?"

"Yeah, Brass arrested him."

"Oh God, Brass knows?"

"It's not your fault, nor is it anything to be ashamed of. Ecklie's going to go to jail."

"Do you believe that?"

"Of course I do,"

Catherine's gentle fingers touched his eye gently. "Does it hurt?"

"No," he shook his head, "Not really."

"I have skin colored make-up, I could clean clean that up for you."

"No, I don't want to hide it. This is what I have to show that I fought for you. It's a reminder of how much I love you."

She smiled, "You know, a kiss would do."