I published a fic very similar to this about three months ago. That was at a point when I was trying be good and stay with the scripted couples (AKA GSR). About a week or two later I went, "Catherine is a much better match for Grissom and I have been a dedicated GCR fan ever since. I finally got so bugged that I had a GSR fic that I had to rewrite it.

Spoilers: none

Disclaimer: It is not mine

Dedication: To all of the GCR fans out there.

"So, Catherine," Grissom asked as they walked across the driveway towards the suspects house, "are you doing anything tonight?"

"Yes, I am having diner with Lindsey because this case is pretty much rapped up, and I haven't seen her all week," Catherine glanced at Grissom hoping that he would not point out the amount of paperwork she had left to do.

He opened his mouth to speak, but never had a chance. Three gunshots rang out across the driveway. The suspect they had been going to collect evidence from had fired at them from the door of his house. Almost simultaneously Catherine felt a stabbing pain in her wrist, a bullet whizzed past her ears, and Grissom fell to the ground. Without even thinking, she took out her gun and fired at the shooter. A scream of pain and a dull thud told her that she had made her mark.

She looked down at her wrist and noticed that she was bleeding on to the pavement, but she also more blood on the ground around her. It was Grissom's blood. She knelt down beside him, no longer aware of the pain shooting through her wrist. The bullet had lodged in his chest just a little way away from his heart. Quickly she took off her jacket and pressed to Grissom's chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but his breathing was already uneven.

"Come on, Gil. Hang in there," Catherine begged as she pulled out her cell phone with one hand and dialed 911. "Yes, hello, this is CSI Willows. We have a man down at 1995 Beckett dr. CSI Grissom also with the Crime Lab." She paused for a minute as the operator talked. "Good," she said as she closed her phone and turned back to Grissom whom, she realized, was barely breathing. "No, Gil. You have to stay with me. Can you hear me?"

"Catherine," he whispered struggling to open his eyes as he looked up at her, "I love you."

"Gil…" Catherine started but Grissom interrupted her in a hoarse voice.

"I love you," he repeated as firmly as he could given the situation.

Catherine knew that he had accepted what she had not: there was little chance of him surviving. "I love you, too," she whispered.

"Catherine," his voice drifted off as he said her name, and his chest rose one last time then he lay still.

"Gil, stay with me. Don't die." Catherine knew it was useless, but she said it anyway. She minutes later she heard the ambulance pull up and two paramedics came over to where she knelt.

The first helped her up and guided her to the ambulance, while the second bent over Grissom. "He's gone," the second paramedic called across the driveway. Catherine heard the words, but didn't want to believe they were true. They couldn't be true. Grissom couldn't be gone.

"Ma'am," the first paramedic started.

"Catherine," Catherine corrected automatically.

"Catherine," the paramedic started again. "I have bandaged up you wrist, and it looks like there will be minimal if any damage. I don't see any reason for you come to the hospital unless you would like to."

Catherine nodded, "Don't touch the bodies," told them a little more sharply than she had intended. "This is an active crime scene," she explained sadly. She walked a little away from the paramedic and took out her cell phone to call it in. The day team would have to take this case, because her team was just too involved.

Within a few minute the day shift people had arrived, and two of them walked up to her. They took her statement then one of them left to go help the others with the bodies. The second waited for a moment. "Catharine, we believe your story and evidence should confirm it, but you understand that we need to double check," the woman explained to her. "You can go if you want."

"Thanks," Catherine murmured as she got into the car and drove away restraining the tears that were threatening to fall. It was days like this that made her wonder why she had this job. Why had it been Grissom? Why not her? She sighed as she pulled into her stop in the crime lab parking lot. This was not going to be easy.

She did not have to say anything as she walked into the building. Greg, Nick, Warwick, Doc Robbins, and Sara all just followed her down the hall as she walked towards the meeting room. Once they were all inside the room she turned to face them and Sara gasped.

"What happened, Catherine?" Nick asked worriedly as he took in her appearance. She was still covered in blood, her wrist was bandaged, and her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"The suspect shot at us when we went to pick him up. I got hit in the wrist, and Grissom got hit in the chest." Catherine spoke to all of them, but she could not bring any of their eyes.

"Is Grissom…" Sara started in barely more than a whisper.

"He's dead," Catherine said only slightly louder than Sara. No one said anything no one moved. Then Sara turned and left the room.

Catherine hesitated for a moment. The part of her that thought of the team as a family wanted to follow Sara and tell her everything would be okay. The other part of her, the part that had long loved Grissom, and the part that had always seen Sara as competition, wanted to walk away and not care. Catharine shook her head. It was impossible for her not care. Sara was her friend and right now they needed to be strong for each other, so Catharine hurried after Sara.

Sara walked into Grissom's office and sank down on the floor. When Catherine caught up to her, Sara was leaning against the wall hugging her knees to her chest with her head in her hands. It reminded Catherine of the way Lindsey had looked after Eddie had been murdered.

Catherine walked over and sat on the floor next to Sara. For a while the room was silent, then Catherine spoke, "I'm sorry Sara."

Sara looked up at Catherine to upset to be surprised, "I don't blame you."

"I do," Catherine replied sadly.

There was another silence then Sara asked the question that had been hanging in the air. "What happen, Catherine?"

"We were walking up the driveway towards the house," Catherine started, "and he was asking me what I was doing tonight. Then the shooter came out and surprised us. One bullet hit my wrist, a second missed my head by about half and inch, and the third hit Grissom. I returned fire then knelt down to help Grissom. He was barely breathing, and I tried to stop the bleeding, but he was gone by the time the paramedics came." Catherine's voice broke on the last sentence, and a few more tear rolled down her cheeks.

After a brief pause Sara asked, "Do you think he loved me?"

"Yes," Catherine replied. It was a lie, a down right lie. If what Grissom had said was true, she was the one he had loved not Sara, but right now that didn't matter.

Sara took comfort from her friend's word. She wished that she had told Grissom that she loved him. If she had they could have had day, weeks, or maybe even years together. Now, that was all shattered in to a million pieces.

"It is hard think we will never see him again," Catherine remarked quietly looking around the office. Grissom's office was full of books and paperwork. Paperwork that he had wanted Catherine to do for him. Everything was so familiar and yet so strange.

"Everyday that something like this happens, it makes you wonder why." Catherine looked at Sara as the latter spoke. "I mean why was it Grissom not you?" Sara asked then, realizing what she had said, added, "Sorry, Catherine I did not mean it that way."

"I know, and I don't know why it was him and not me." They were the same questions that Catherine had asked herself on the drive there. They were painful, unanswerable, and could all be summed up in one simple word: why?

--- --- ---

After a while Sara got up and walked out of the office, because she was unable to stand the memories any longer. Catharine stood up too, but she made no move to follow Sara. Suddenly, Nick entered the room. He must have been lurking outside for most of her conversation with Sara.

"Cath," he said gently alerting her to his presence. She turned to face him, and he could see the tears that were glistening in her eyes. "He love you," Nick told her.

"I know," Catherine replied with a weak smile, "that was the last thing he said to me." Then she lost the control she had managed to hold for the past hour and a half. The tears began to spill down her cheeks. Without thinking Nick walked forward and put his arms around her. She returned the gesture, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Why him?" Catharine asked Nick after a while.

"I don't know, Cath," he told her holding her closer, "I wish I did but I don't."

Lindsey sat in the kitchen playing idly with her food. Her mother should have been home an hour ago. She had promised to be there for dinner, which Lindsey had made specially for her, but she was not there. Her mother was almost never there. It had a lot to do with her job, and Lindsey knew that everything her mother did was to make things better for both of them. That did not stop Lindsey from being mad at her mother for being late on what was supposed to be a special night.

Lindsey heard the door open and close, but did not turn around immediately. "It took you long enou--," Lindsey started but stopped dead as she turned to face her mother. "Oh my God. Mom what happened?" Catherine had been a CSI for as long as Lindsey could remember, but never had her mother come home covered in blood as she was now. Catherine dropped her bag on the floor next to the door and took the seat next to Lindsey at the counter running her fingers through her hair as she did so. "Mom," Lindsey asked again, "what happened?"

Catherine looked at her daughter. The over protective mother half of her wanted not to tell Lindsey what had happen, but the other half of her argued that it was only fair. She was late for something she had promised to be there for, and Lindsey was fond of Grissom. "Uncle Gil and I were picking up a suspect and he fired at us. He got me in the wrist, and he killed Uncle Gil."

"Oh mom…" Lindsey started. She knew her mother had worked with Grissom for over fifteen years, and they were very close. She had known Grissom for as long as she could remember. She wanted to say something comforting, but she could not think of what to say. So instead she reached over and put her arms around her mother.

Catherine was a little surprised, but appreciated the simple gesture. She pulled her daughter a little closer, and Lindsey rested her head on Catherine's shoulder. "Thank you, " Catherine whispered.

I defiantly like this one better than the original. I fix some errors in the middle that were pointed out to me by a reviewer. Please Review.