Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

26. Worth

(A/N: Season 1 Episode 6 - "Worth")

Vincent spent the entire night and most of the early morning trying to figure out what was wrong. He retraced his steps in his mind, things he passed by. It made no sense.

He was on his third blood pressure test, completely zoned out of anything but his own heartbeat.
"Vincent? What are you doing?" Catherine's voice broke in like a far off memory.
That's when he sensed someone for the first time and he jumped to his feet, taking the stethoscope out of his ears. His wide, panicked eyes only focus enough to realize it was her and not someone attacking him and he sighs in relief. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she apologises.

"Uh, it's okay, I forgot to turn the security system on. Again," he huffs, and takes the velcro strap from his inner arm. "What's goin' on?" he asks.

She lifts her arms. "Nothing, I just - " she clears her throat. She doesn't know how to broach the subject of dinner. "Wanted to make sure that uhm - " She points instead at the blood pressure meter. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't feeling so great."

"So, is that why you didn't show up for dinner last night?"

"Uh, yeah."

She rolls her eyes. "Because I kind of thought that you stood me up?" she questions.

He shakes his head. "No, I just...I should have told you that I wasn't gonna make it," he turns and starts walking to his bed.

She had been thinking a little bit about why he might have stood her up. "Look, I, uhm, I found that present you left me on the windowsill," she says, following him. As she's told him before. "Which, was so sweet, thank you," she smiles. He just looks at her, dry swallowing. "And I realized that you must have left it during my birthday party, which involved many margeritas and uh, I wondered if maybe, when you left it, you saw me and Ev - "

"You don't have to give me an explanation," he says curtly.

She realizes her fears were true. He saw. Evan and her kissing. And that must be why he really didn't show...
"So you did see it? Because Vincent," she shook her head, not wanting him to think she was some kind of man hopper. "It was just a stupid drunk - "

"You can kiss whoever you want," he assures her with a knowing smile.

She stares at him a second and then shakes it off. "No, yeah, I know that. It's not like we're - "

"No," he nods, laughing awkwardly. "No, it's not. So..." He inclines his head for her to go ahead, his smile faltering. She appreciates his honesty, even if it did make her feel horrible. "I'm sorry about dinner."

"No, it's no big deal," she assures him. Now that it was settled, she could go ahead and stop worrying. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah," he nods that he is. Even though he isn't. He's upset she kissed that guy. That he missed dinner. And that he was probably messing his chances up with her big time.

"Okay." They looks at each other and she smiles. "Feel better," she says before she turns and walks off.

*************

Cat wasn't exactly a happy camper when she got to work. She dove right into case files, slamming cabinet doors and glaring at nothing.

Tess eyes her the whole time, waiting for the right moment, which she soon realized she would have to make if she wanted to find out what was wrong. "Who's the guy?"

"What?" Cat asks, before she looks up from slamming down files.

"You only file when there's something wrong with a guy."