You Owe Me
Gil Grissom slowed the Denali to a stop in its designated spot at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. As he made his way out of the vehicle, he grabbed his kit and walked into the building. The first place he went to was the evidence lab and put all the materials he had gathered in the city of Jackpot into the correct storage facilities. After having been away from home for the past couple of days, being in his own lab was a relief.
After finishing with the bureaucratic part of his job, Gil made his way to his office. He hoped against hope that Catherine had at least done some of the case evaluations for him. He was not disappointed with what he found. She had once again outdone herself and he did not find even one report to read on his desk, just a folder with a few observations she had felt he needed to pay attention to. Upon closer inspection, he found that she had left a personal note together with the standard issued report paper.
"The next time you leave town, there had better be a seat next to you in that car because I will not get sucked into doing these things again. I will not have Ecklie hounding me anymore than he already does, especially for work that isn't even my own.
You better believe this is coming out of you paycheck, and that is JUSTthe beginning.
You owe me BIG, mister."
He chuckled slightly when he noted that she had added, most likely as an afterthought, "Love, Catherine".
Deciding not to press his luck, and afraid of what he might find in his office should he stay there for too long, he went home in a hurry. An angry Catherine he could handle, but an annoyed one always came up with revenges that were far worse. Clear headed thinking never worked in his favor when he found himself at the business end of her creative paybacks.
He pulled into the driveway of his home and took his time getting out of the car. He needed to enjoy being in his own turf. As he made his way into his kitchen, he was surprised to find Catherine sitting on one of the stools around the island, waiting for him with a screwdriver in her hands.
"So, you finally found your way home, I see. What took you so long?" She quipped.
Smiling he answered, "Sorry, you do remember I brought evidence back with me, don't you? I had to put it away and check my office for any damage."
Understanding where he was going with this, she decided to play along. "Well, you must have some team if you can't even trust them to keep you bugs safe and sound."
"It wasn't the whole team I was worried about, just a certain redhead that may or may not have been irritated enough with me to make some drastic changes to my oasis." As he spoke he gracefully made his way towards her.
Her smile only grew wider. He was waiting in anticipation for any trick she would play on him. Too bad he didn't know that she had been too caught up with Sam Braun and his absurd way of trying to take care of her that she had not even thought of anything. Oh well, he could suffer in the wait for something that would never come. It was his fault anyways. Had he done the paperwork when he was supposed to, he wouldn't be in the position he was right now; bargaining for a peace treaty.
"If you think for one moment that your charms will work on me Mr. Grissom, you have another thing coming." But even as she said that, her arms slipped around his neck allowing him to circle her waist.
"Well Mrs. Grissom, I think they are working already."
He gently kissed her lips and continued. "I missed you out there. I think you would have loved to have gone to that little town. Everyone was so inviting."
The last comment was drenched in sarcasm causing a small laugh to erupt from Catherine.
"Oh yeah, sounds wonderful; why don't we go there during the next holiday?" Her comment came out so sounding so sincere that if Gil had not already seen the mischief in her eyes he would have believed her. As it was, he just kissed her again and pulled her with him to the living room.
Once they were seated comfortably he told her of the people he had met in more detail than he had on the phone.
"Every single person knew I was married the second you called the first time."
She looked up at him from her position of half lying/half sitting on his lap, "Really? That fast? Why didn't you tell them you were just talking to a coworker and not your wife?"
"Actually, I was in a bit of shock. Besides the fact that I probably had a stupid grin on my face when I talked to you, we are generally not made that quickly. I decided to bask in those moments when people told me my wife was calling me these last couple of days."
"Yes, well, I guess we really are going to have to go back there. I have to meet these people that managed to discover us while our own team has yet to do so." She settled against him again.
They sat together in the same way, just enjoying each others company. After about twenty minutes Gil decided to break the silence, "Anything interesting happen while I was away?"
His wife became still for a moment and then began breathing again. When she spoke her words sped up with each syllable. "Nothing much. You know the usual, a body was found in a dumpster just off the strip, SamBraungaveme$250,000.00, attempted robbery and rape in an alley way." She shrugged her shoulders as if she hadn't said anything out of the ordinary.
"What did you do with it Cath?"
She knew that playing dumb would not work in this situation, so she decided that the whole truth was the best option. "I went to give it back to him but he wouldn't take it under any circumstances. So I kept it with me and hid it in one of my drawers. I almost tore it up but I couldn't. It is a lot of money and we could really use it. I was going to tell you about it; I would never just use it and not tell you, but I wanted to think about what him giving this to me meant."
"It's your money Cath; you can do with it as you please."
She was hurt by this comment, "Don't you dare say that Gilbert Grissom, don't you dare. The day we said our vows we entered into an agreement that whatever was mine was yours and vice versa. The only thing excluded in that agreement was your bugs because I will not live with those things near me. This money is ours Gil, and whatever is decided to be done with the money will be decided by the both of us, not just me." She had stood up and was telling him off at this point.
How could he think she would want to keep this to herself? The only reason she had kept the check in the first place had been because she had been thinking of her family and how this could help them.
Gil stood and wrapped his arms lovingly around his wife. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Yes, the money would make our lives immensely easier, but we are just fine the way we are. If you want to keep it, then keep it for yourself. Don't do it out of some misguided attempt to make out lives 'easier', because I happen to like it just the way it is."
Catherine leaned into her husband and agreed with him. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I'm always right."
She laughed and said, "Don't push it."
And he did not. "Lets go upstairs, destroy that check, and then I can show you how much I really missed you while I was away. How does that sound?"
"I like the way you think Mr. Grissom. Besides, you have yet to pay me back for making me do all those evaluations by myself."
Once again she reminded him that she did not easily forget. 'That is just half the fun,' he decided as he followed her up the stairs to their bedroom. Talking was soon forgotten as they marked their room in their lovemaking, thankful that Lindsay was not home to witness her parents going at it like rabbits.
And the check, well there was always tomorrow for that.