Goggled

Disclaimer: Mine no! CBS, Anthony Zuiker et al Yes! Pity :o(
Spoilers: Strip Strangler and LHB
Dedication: To Jac for picking up the slack once again when Aby was too ill to do so And to Vividlyblue1 for giving me back my inspiration
Author's Note: This is a follow up to Strip Strangler but it's set about two years later.The premise being what if Syd Goggle had a friend who had taught Him everything he knew? This is my Challenge Alphabet fic for the Letter R for Revenge.


Chapter 8

Later that day Catherine and Gil turned up at Nancy's and took Lindsey with them to spend the day deciding what to do about Gil's bedroom. Catherine had suggested redecorating and buying new furniture, but Lindsey liked his furniture she thought it was exactly like him. This was a statement that puzzled both adults but Grissom wasn't willing to hear the explanation, in case it wasn't a positive association, so Catherine let the topic drop.

Grissom wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do and realising this Catherine had no intention of pushing him one way or the other. They both knew he needed to take back complete control of his life, even in something as simple as this.

"Well, Gil?" she asked turning from the department store window and looking at him, "what's it to be?"

He gazed at her, for a moment lost in the depths of her blue eyes and revelling in the fact she had stayed with him through all of this. A hand shaking his arm brought his attention down to Lindsay.

"Well, uncle Gil?" the young girl said in exasperation, "have you made up your mind?" Much as she loved being with both of them she was getting pretty bored walking from store to store and not buying anything.

Grissom smiled, "I think I'll just freshen up the paper and paint and leave the furniture where your mom put it," he told them, "and I know exactly what I want, so let's go get it and then head to Dairy Queen."

That was a suggestion Lindsey could really get right behind.
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Decorating the bedroom with Lindsey and Catherine's help, between working the graveyard shift and seeing his counsellor seemed to be the final step in Grissom getting his life back on track.

Though no one commented they had all been really worried for the blue-eyed man, thinking that maybe this time there was no way back. His team members however realised that their support and Catherine being by his side could do wonders and Gil Grissom was the living proof of it.

Things slowly but surely settled back to what they were used to. Gil no longer worried about carrying his firearm to crime scenes, he wasn't scared anymore that someone would startle him and he'd used it unintentionally, which was the reason behind his previous reluctance. He also started working cases as normal, even falling back into his old habit of not always waiting for the scene to be cleared, though that was something none of them let him away with and he started being more careful.
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It was coming up on a year since Grissom had been attacked and the other members of his shift wondered if it would have any adverse effect on him. Cath was concerned as well but tried hard not to show it. She didn't want to have a detrimental affect on him.

"I'm fine," he assured her on the day in question, "really I am," he'd noticed her anxiety no matter what she'd done to disguise it but then he could always see through her, just as she could read him.

"But..." she added leaving the sentence open for him to finish.

He gave her a rueful smile, pouting his lips and raising one eyebrow before he answered, "but I'm going to stay at my place tonight... alone."

Catherine understood his need to do this. To prove to himself if no one else that he could stay in his own home, unafraid. "Fine," she said, "but call me just before you go to sleep."

And he had. He replaced the handset on the receiver, finished his drink and settled down for the day.

The bed moving behind him was his only warning, but this time instead of turning to confront his attacker, he dived off of the bed. He heard something whistle through the air and strike the pillow where his head had been moments before.

As he ran past the phone he was able to grab the handset and press the redial button before it was dashed from his hand. He dodged to his right and felt the man hit the wall to his left.

Getting his first good look at his assailant Grissom realised that Nick had been right. The guy was taller, heavier, out reached him and looked a good deal stronger.

Continually calling out his need for help, that his attacker had returned, Grissom struggled to keep the distance between himself and the other man but it was only a matter of time till the bigger man caught him.

Even when he felt him grab hold of him, Grissom refused to give up. Using his knowledge of anatomy he kicked and punched for all he was worth, trying to keep his assailant off balance and buy himself the time it would take for assistance to arrive. He refused to let himself believe that Cath hadn't heard him.

All too soon, from Grissom's point of view, he found himself face down, pinned to the bed with the man's full weight on top of him. Even then he refused to stop struggling, stop fighting.

"Did you really think this was a one night stand?" the man whispered in his ear after hitting Gil hard on the head with something, "this is a yearly event and there is nothing you can do to stop it." He cackled as Grissom saw the knife out of the corner of his eye.

'No!' his mind screamed as the word was ripped from his throat. He couldn't go through all that again. It had taken everything he had to survive the last time. There was nothing left.

The man grabbed Gil's hair pulling his head up and exposing his throat...

Suddenly the bedroom door burst open and two sets of hands dragged the man off of him. Not looking to see who his saviours were, Grissom dived into a corner, knees clamped to his chest, arms wrapped around them, head resting on them and rocking back and forth.

He sensed more than saw someone standing in front of him and cringed further back into the corner. He didn't want to look, didn't want to see, too ashamed to show how frightened he really was.

"Gil, you're all right," Catherine assured him, her voice full of tears and emotion. "Nick and Warrick have him and Brass and his men have just arrived, you're safe."

Much as her voice comforted him, he still felt ashamed. He had needed rescuing again, needed someone to come and save him. Why couldn't he have dealt with this himself?

Reluctantly he looked up at her through eyelashes glistening with tears and watched as Catherine knelt down beside him. She was shocked to be able to see his thoughts and emotions so clearly spelt out in his eyes.

"Gil, you did it," she told him clasping her hands on his knees and trying not to react to his initial need to retreat. But he fought it and stayed where he was listening to what she had to say, trying to believe it. "You fought him off, regardless of how much advantage he had, you held him back, you didn't let him do what he wanted to do. Nick and Warrick are just doing clear up."

The doubt was still there, still evident in his eyes, his facial expression, his lack of movement. "You kept him busy until we could get here. You did it and then we came to help, that's what family does."

Her choice of words was just what he needed to hear. Family, yes that was what they were a family. They looked out for one another all the time, so why should this time be any different?

"How did they know?" he asked, surprised at how soft and normal his voice sounded despite how he was feeling.

Catherine smiled at his curiosity, "Brass knew they lived quite close to you and they could get here faster," she explained, continuing before he could interrupt, "I called Brass on my cell when I realised what you were shouting and then jumped in my car to get here as fast as I could."

Suddenly he slumped side ways and she grabbed him, pulling him into her embrace. "It's okay, Gil, it's finished," she kissed the top of his head, "we put everything back together last time and you can do it again, we're all right here with you," and she felt him relax.

She was right, as always, he thought allowing himself a little smile. God he was so glad she was here, glad his team had come through for him again and extremely grateful that he was a member of the graveyard shift in Las Vegas Criminalistics.