Summary: Sequel to 'Victims of Gossip.' News travels faster than the speed of light at the Las Vegas Crime Lab.
Rating: PG-13
Notes: I was pleasantly surprised by the number of reviews I got asking for a sequel. I hadn't planned on it, but since you asked nicely...
Feedback: Would be the best birthday present ever! Well, not really, but close! :D
Disclaimer: Not mine, and I'm pretty sure that that will never change. :(
Dedication: This is my present to myself. Happy Birthday, Me!
-Gossip Bunnies-
*~ten minutes after Grissom and Catherine left Nick in the hallway~*
"Yo, Nick. You think...Woah, what'd you do?"
"Well, you see..."
"Hey, Warrick. Nick! Buddy, what happened to your head?"
Warrick just smiled and shook his head, as he waited for Nick to get into the story again.
"I hit it on the janitors closet door."
Greg laughed.
"Got to look out for those leaping doors!"
"Well, it wasn't exactly my fault. I had a little help..."
"Greg, come on. I just want the results. I don't care what happened to Nick."
"Oh, you will when I tell you, Sara."
"Fine! But I still don't see why it's relevant."
"It's relevant because I say so! Okay, so Nick was walking down the hall..."
"Hey, Archie. You got it ready for me yet?"
"Not quite...give me a few more minutes."
"Hey Sara?"
"Yeah?"
"What happened to Nick? His head wasn't looking too good when I saw him earlier."
"Gossip shouldn't be spread during work hours."
"I only asked what happened to his head. Why, was there something interesting in the story?"
"Okay, well, I can't be exactly sure about the details, but Greg said that Nick told him..."
"Bobby, do I look like I'm the kind of person that's into gossip? And why do you want to know, anyway?"
"I have my reasons. And you've got the look of someone that knows something. So spill."
"Fine. Sara told me that she heard from Greg..."
*~two hours later~*
"Hey, Jacqui. Get a match yet?"
"Not quite. So...those rumors true?"
Catherine raised an eyebrow.
"What rumors?"
"Well, you know...the rumors."
"Still not getting you. Care to explain?"
"I guess. Well, Lynn - you know, the new girl in trace - anyway, she told me that she heard from Sophia, who heard from Hodges..."
Gil looked up as the door to his office slammed shut.
Catherine stood with her back leaning against it. Her shoulders were shaking, and Gil thought she was crying at first, then realized that she wasn't crying, but laughing.
"What's so funny, Catherine?"
"You know how I told you that we'd be all over the lab in-"She paused for a breath, still recovering from her laughter."...less than a day?"
"Yes. So?"
"Well, I was obviously underestimating the speed of the mouths in this lab. You wouldn't believe what I heard, and for that matter, who all actually spread it! I swear, Gil, we work with a bunch of gossip bunnies!"
"Gossip bunnies?" He asked with an expression that could only be defined as a 'Grissom' look.
"What? I liked my expression, thank you very much."
"So I take it we're out?"
She let out a hesitant laugh.
"Well, sort of."
"What do you mean?" He didn't like the sound of that.
"Well, rumor has it that, well, Nicky didn't exactly get that bruise on the outside of the janitor's closet door, if you catch my drift."
"What do you..." Gil's eyes widened with comprehension. "Are you serious?"
"That would be what Jacqui told me she heard."
"Oh my God."
"I know. I mean, I thought that they would come up with some juicy stuff, but that's just..."
She let out another small laugh, and shook her head at the absurdity of it all.
"I still don't see why you think this is so amusing."
"But it is! I mean, I can't even imagine how they come up with this stuff!"
"I guess it is pretty ironic."
She nodded.
"So...are we going to tell them now, or are we still going to just wait for them to notice the ring?"
"I don't know; what do you think?"
"We should probably just come right out and tell them; prevent more rumors from being spread and this one from circulating any further."
"I don't know. I mean, how are we going to do that? Are we just going to go around and tell random people that we're engaged, or are we going to make a huge meeting out of it? Although, since I will be wearing my ring on a chain around my neck, it won't take that long to get noticed. We could probably just do that. Or we could just get caught in another...compromising position. Without Nicky nearby this time!" She added with a cheeky grin. "That would be the most fun."
"Those are some interesting ideas. But may I remind you that you wouldn't even be wearing your ring if you didn't play dirty." He teased.
"Ahh, touché! But I won, though, didn't I, Mr. Grissom?"
"That would be beside the point. It doesn't change the fact that you cheated."
They had been slowly moving closer to each other during the entire encounter, and were now standing only a couple paces apart.
"Oh, I did, did I?"
She scooted a little closer.
"Yes, you did."
"I don't think so. I was simply playing by my own rules."
"I'm scared to know what those might be."
"That's okay, because you'll never know what they are. That's why they're my rules, not yours."
"True."
'And Gil?"
"Yes?"
"Trust me." She purred in a sultry voice, leaning in until they were but a hair's breadth apart.
"If I had been using no rules, you would have known it."
Gil was left speechless as she turned with a flip of her hair, a satisfied smirk, and walked out the door.
"So what did we decide to do?" He hollered after her.
Her head poked back into his office.
"Follow me and see."
And then she was gone...
With him trailing right behind her.
~fin