Spoilers: Season 12, Crime after Crime.
Summary: Catherine decides she owes Vartann one after him helping her with her case.
Note: Just a little something I thought of after seeing Crime after Crime on my tv screen. Hope you like it! x.
Kiss & Make Up.
Lou sat on his couch after coming home early that morning. He knew he'd been a huge help in solving the case Catherine had been working on, but it had however bothered him that he'd gave her the information he did, regardless of how helpful it had been in the end. It bothered him because the only reason he'd said what he did had been because of the simple fact that it had been Catherine asking him. Their relationship had been everything but an actual relationship, yet she was still able to put a spell on him in any kind of way. With a sigh, Lou rubbed his hand over his face. He knew Catherine would be on his mind the entire morning. He knew he'd dream about her if he would go to sleep. Usually, thinking about Catherine made him wonder about where exactly their relationship went wrong. For sure, love was there. So were passion and lust. He cared about her like he'd never cared about a woman before in his life. Somewhere in the middle it went wrong and Lou still wished he could take back time and change some of the things he did, knowing Catherine would do too. With a sigh, he turned on his television and settled on his couch. Sleeping wasn't gonna happen any time soon anyway.
Catherine's heels clicked on the parking lot in front of Lou's house. It was so familiar, yet felt so uncomfortable. It had been a while since she'd been in Lou's apartment and she was nervous about being there at that moment. The place was filled of memories of the two of them together when they were all happy together and it made her sad to know she was now there while she wasn't in a relationship with Lou. It was taking a lot of courage for Catherine to go up to Lou's place and visit him, and she was scared of his response. She felt like she owed him an honest thanks though. Without Lou's help she would've never been able to find Richardson. She knew it probably was hard for Lou to do what he did; Richardson was for him perhaps what Sam was for her.
Without thinking about anything any longer, Catherine rang Lou's doorbell instead of using his key that was still in her bag. It felt too inappropriate. When Lou heard his bell, he wondered who would be in front of his door at six in the morning. His instinct told him the only person it could be was Catherine, but his head said that was kind of a weird idea since it'd been months since she'd been there. That's why it was even more surprising when he found the strawberry blonde in front of his door. Her face showed him she was nervous, yet her smile told him she was also happy to see him. "Cath! Hey. That's a surprise…" "Yeah, I know.. Can I come in?" "Yes, of course." He let her pass him before closing his front door. As if it was normal, Catherine made her way to his living room and took of her leather jacket before sitting on one of the chairs.
"You'd like something to drink?" Catherine smiled at the sight of Lou's sleeping appearance ad thought his sweatpants and t-shirt were adorable. "No, I'm okay. I didn't wake you up, did I?" "No, no, not at all…I was watching television." After saying that, he turned it off and sat down on the couch before talking. "So… What's up?"
"Well, I… I really just wanted to thank you for giving me some more on Richardson. Without you… Everything would've ended if you hadn't told me with you did. I didn't thank you enough for that. I know I shouldn't make work personal but.. You just deserved more of a thank you than I gave you earlier on."
Lou couldn't help but think how adorable the woman next to him looked. She was almost shy, a side of Catherine he'd barely seen. Without really thinking about it he put his hand over Catherine's, which was on the edge of the couch he was sitting on, before he said: "Well I appreciate that. You were the only one I would've told it to." "I know that…" Catherine's word s were barely a whisper but Lou heard them. He then got aware of their hands touching and slowly removed his hand, not sure of what to do.
Catherine on the other hand felt slightly uncomfortable. His presence still had an influence on her, more than she wanted. She sensed however that she had that same effect on him, and she wasn't sure what to do. "I… I also realized I still have something that's yours…" Lou wasn't quite sure what Catherine was talked about, but when he saw the metal shine in her hand, he realized that indeed she never gave him back his spare key. Thing was that he never actually wanted her to give him back that key. She was about to hand it to him when he stood up from the couch and said: "Wait, Cath.. I don't want to have it back."
Her facial expression was one that basically read completely clueless as to what Lou had just been saying. "Well… Why not? You and I… We're nothing. Not anymore.." . "You really mean that?"
Lou's question completely caught Catherine off guard and she stood up, trying to face Lou as she said: "Wait… What? If I really mean what?" "Cath, don't play stupid. You say we're nothing. Yet you're here thanking me. Why would you do that if we're nothing? You're here because you're caring too much about us to not do that. You drive me insane, Catherine. When I'm on a case with you I wish you'd just walk up to me and whisper something to me that's meant for me only. I.. I want you to be here after work, eat with me, watch television with me.. Sleep in the same bed as me. I miss every single thing about you and it drives me nuts seeing you so often knowing I'm not able to do any of that."
Frustration was seen all over Lou's face and it almost made Catherine cry. She sat down on Lou's couch again, biting her lip to hold back the tears. She tried not to look at him but she could tell he was on his way to the couch as well. He gently took her face in his hands as he moved her to face him. "Tell me how you feel, Catherine." "I… Lou.. How do you imagine us to be? I want to do everything you just said as well but I just can't help… These things scare me. I get upset if I feel like I have to share everything. Like I can't have any personal space. Everything that made us go wrong went wrong because of me. I can't promise you I can do any better, that's just who I am."
"I love you, Catherine. And yes, I may have some issues with those things.. But I've learned from what happened. I love you more then I hate you not sharing everything. Please… Just… Keep that key. Stay here, with me."
Catherine knew she would never be able to say no. She loved Lou. She wanted to be with him more than anything. "I… I love you. I never stopped loving you."
His lips landed on hers before both even realized. They both knew their relationship wasn't going to be fixed with simply kissing and making up. But the kissing part most definitely was a start of making things up again.