On the morning after Eddie died, Catherine could hear Lindsay's cries from her bedroom after she finished her shower.

"Lindsay, honey?" Catherine asked her gently

Lindsay looked up from her place on her pink bed and stared at her mother.

"Lindsay, it's okay to cry. I promise I will get you through this baby. It's gonna be okay." Catherine whispered to her daughter as she held her.

"No it isn't gonna be okay. Daddy is dead and he's never coming back. It's all my fault. I couldn't save him."

"No baby, it's not your fault. You were trapped in the car honey, it's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" Lindsay wailed.

"Lindsay no baby. Come here."

"Mommy, I miss him."

"I know you do, and I miss him too."

Later that day Catherine had managed to get herself presentable, Eddies parents were coming over to make funeral plans. She wore jeans and a green sweater. Lindsay had gotten dressed as well and was coloring in her coloring book right now. She had locked herself in her bedroom, and wouldn't even come out for Catherine.

The doorbell rang. She was surprised to see her sister at the door. "What are you doing her?"

"I wanted to see if you needed any help. Sam is coming too. We all want to be there for you Cath." Lizzy told her. "How's Lindsay?"

"She's having a hard time, she's blaming herself, she thinks she could have saved him. Lizzy, I just don't know how to help her." Catherine cried to her sister

"It's okay Cath. I'm sure she'll come around. I'll go talk to her for a while." Lizzy offered as she set the lunch she brought in the kitchen.

As Lizzy went upstairs the doorbell rang again, and Sam Braun was standing there. She let him in and told him what happened. "Anything you need, mugs, you just let me know."

Catherine knocked on her daughter's bedroom door. "Lindsay, do you want to come downstairs and have some lunch? Aunt Lizzy brought over some sandwiches and soup."

"I'm not hungry." Lindsay said quietly.

"Okay, well, if you get hungry, you can come down later and eat okay baby?"

"Okay."

Catherine left the room. Lindsay needed her space, she hadn't heard her cry in a while and took that as a good sign. She would just keep reminding Lindsay that she was there for her when she was ready to talk. Lindsay would come around, just like Lizzy had said. She hoped.

Once again Catherine's door bell rang as her sister was nagging her about not eating enough, and she argued that she wasn't hungry.

Answering the door, Catherine found four people standing at her door. Jim Brass, Warrick Brown, Gil Grissom and Judy Grissom, Gil's mom.

"Hey guys, come in." Catherine tried to smile.

"How are you holding up?" asked Warrick

"I'm okay, I guess. I'm trying."

"How's Lindsay?" Warrick asked on behalf of everyone

"She's, having a really hard time. She, uh...she blames herself for not being able to help him. She won't come out of her room, she...I'm so worried about her, I-" Catherine chocked out between her tears.

Poor thing, her heart was breaking for her daughter and for Eddie.

"Cath, it's okay." Gil whispered to her pulling her into his arms, suprising everyone but his mother. Judy knew just how much his son loved Catherine. She did too, Cat was like a daughter to her. Gil stood holding Catherine, stroking her hair and kissing her head occasionally until she had stopped crying.

"Gil, you have no idea how much I appreciate you being here."

"I will be here as long as you need me, I promise. Have I ever broken a promise to you?"

"No." she smiled at him. "Gil, could you go talk to Lindsay?"

"Cath, I won't force her to come down here."

"I know, I just mean go say hello to her. Maybe cheer her up a little? Please, you know how much she loves you."

"Sure. Did you eat anything today?"

"I had some lunch...Lizzy brought it over."

"Cath, is there anything you need us to do, call a florist or whatever?"

"No, I called the funeral home already. I'm waiting for his parents, they want to make most of the arrangements. Doc said that his body was okay to have an open casket, that's what they want, so. They just asked me to call everyone, and I did that last night, so now I'm just waiting, Gil, please, just go check on Linds."

Gil climbed the stairs to Lindsay's room and knocked on her door. "Lindsay, it's Uncle Gil, can I come in?"

"Yes."

Gil opened her door and found the little girl curled up on her bed, her lights out. "Hey kiddo, why are you in bed, do you not feel good?"

"No, I'm just tired. We didn't sleep good last night."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head no. "Did mommy send you up here?"

"No. After I said hello to your mom, I wanted to come say hi to you too. And I wanted to check on you. Mom said that you were very sad. She's sad too Lindsay. And she is worried because you won't talk to her. Your mom loves you very much Lindsay, you know that right?"

"I love her too, and I love you Uncle Gil. Do you love my mom?"

"Very much Lindsay. And you know I love you very much too, and I will always b here for you."

"Will you hold mom when she cries, I tried to last night, but..."

"Yes I will, Lindsay."

"Okay, good."

"Lindsay would you like to come downstairs and eat something?"

"No thanks Uncle Gil, maybe later."

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

"Do you think daddy is in heaven?"

"Of course, he's in heaven, where the bad people can't hurt him anymore. Lindsay, how come you are asking me all this, not your mom?"

"Cause I don't want to make her sadder than se already is. I miss my daddy, and so does she. She needs me to be strong. She is strong all the time for me and I need to be strong for her."

"Lindsay, how about you leave being strong to me?"

"Why?"

"Just, because, can you just do it for me?"

"I guess."

"Well, I'm gonna go check on your mom, unless you want to talk some more."

"No, I think I'm okay for now. Thanks uncle Gil."

"You're welcome." He said, kissing her cheek as she hugged him. "Want me to tuck you in?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be in to see you later. You get some sleep baby girl." Gil told her after he tucked her in. He surprised himself by calling her by her nickname baby girl. Only Catherine called her that.

"Gil, how is she? What is she doing up there?" Catherine asked frantically

"She's okay Cath. She was trying to take a nap. I could tell she'd been crying though. I talked to her about heaven. Cath, she uh, asked if I loved you."

"And, what did you tell her."

"I told her yes. It wasn't a lie." He whispered, inching closer to her, tears forming in her eyes. "She also asked if I would hold you when you cry because she isn't too good at it."

Catherine began to cry. "Gil, I..."

"Shhh. It's okay. She's okay. I explained to her that it's not her fault and she seemed to accept that."

"Oh, thank god. I was so worried."

"Catherine, Lindsay is so amazing, so grown up. She told me that she was going to be strong for you, even though she's sad because you always do it for her."

"Oh, god. Lindsay. No Gil, I'm supposed to be strong for her. I'm her mother, she just lost her dad, and here she is worrying about me."

"Cath, don't, maybe this is her way of grieving, we have to let her be. Right now she is taking a nap. You should too."

"No! I can't I, I need to go to the florist with Eddie's parents, I need to help Lindsay, I need to tell you I love you too, Gil, I'm so... Eddie was a jerk sometimes, but he didn't deserve to die, Lindsay didn't deserve to lose her father."

"Cath, Catherine. I know, I know. I promise it will be okay, I will get you through this. Just like I told Lindsay, I love you both and I told her not to worry about being strong, I said I would be strong for the both of you. And I will." He whispered as she sobbed into his shirt.

The others watched sadly and prayed that they would find a way to get through the next few days.