Title: 15 Seconds
Author: Angie
Summary: "15 seconds. You're in, you're out, we make a DNA match and it's over, okay."
Disclaimers: Fortunately, CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them. If they did belong to me, I'm sure no one would have ever heard of them.
Author's Notes: This is my submission for the June challenge... if your looking for smut, it's not here. This is just a little scene addition for "Cool Change", and I do mean little, this is the shortest piece I've done, but I didn't want to drag it out. This is unbetaed, all mistakes are my own, hopefully they are few and far between.
Rating: CSI-1
Spoilers: Cool Change
Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage
'Fifteen seconds.' Gil watched the door close behind her before glancing down at his watch. Sighing, he leaned against the wall, waiting. The seconds ticked away as he waited for her to exit the room. He watched the second hand pass the mark, turning towards the door he anticipated her exit.
'Thirty seconds.' He was still alone in the hallway. Pushing off the wall, he took a step towards the door. He raised his hand towards the door before putting it back down again and looking at his watch. 'Fifteen more seconds.' Gil took a step back, silently counting. Upon reaching fifteen again, he stepped forward slightly pushing the door. The door eased open revealing a slightly shaken Catherine.
"You alright?"
She nodded, looking up at Gil and blinking the sadness from her eyes.
He pushed the door further, allowing her exit from the room. As she moved to walk past him, he wrapped his free arm around her, pulling Catherine into his embrace. He guided them against the wall and brought his hand to her shoulder, squeezing slightly. "I was getting worried."
"Why?" Catherine asked, her free arm wrapping around his back while the hand holding her kit hung limply at her side.
"That was considerably more then fifteen seconds. Did you find anything?"
She nodded. "Hopefully it's enough."
"I'm sure it is." Reluctantly, he let her go, keeping his hand on her elbow as he guided her down the hall.
"Gil?"
"Shh… don't say anything just yet." He kept his hand on her, stopping in DNA to drop off the evidence she had just collected from Holly before going to his office.
Catherine shut the door behind them, turning to watch Gil.
"It wasn't your fault, you know."
"I'm the one that…"
"And I'm the one that assigned her the case." Gil interrupted. "Catherine, we can't blame ourselves for what someone else did."
"But…"
"No buts. I know you feel guilty but it wasn't our fault. We both did what we thought was best. All you were trying to do was convince her to give the job a chance." Gil reached out and grasped her hand, pulling her away from the door. "Sit." He directed, guiding her to the chair in front of his desk while he took the seat next to her.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
Catherine glanced at their still conjoined hands before looking up at him. "Not feel guilty. If I hadn't told her to give the job a chance, she'd still be alive."
"I never said I didn't feel guilty. If I had assigned her to your case, or kept her working on the case with me she'd still be alive too. But I did what I thought was best. I'd probably still make the same decision if we turned back time. And you would too. We weren't wrong Catherine. Neither of us is at fault."
"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" She tightened her hold on his hand, waiting for him to turn her direction. Not getting a response, she moved her other hand to his cheek, guiding him to look her direction. "Maybe it isn't such a bad thing to feel guilty."
"Catherine…"
"Just hear me out. We get our feeling's out. Instead of pushing them aside and letting your feelings fester. You know… even if one of us had been there with Holly, that's not saying the same thing wouldn't have happened."
"Only we could have had two bodies."
They both remained silent, thinking about what could have happened. Catherine gave his hand another squeeze, before pulling her hand from his grip and getting up. Moving to the other side of the desk, she bent over, pulling open the bottom drawer. She appeared seconds later with a bottle and two glasses. "We still on the clock?"
Gil glanced at his watch, shaking his head. "I won't tell if you don't."
Catherine nodded, putting the two glasses on the desktop and pouring a generous shot into each of them. Screwing the lid on the bottle, she put the bottle back in it's hiding place before handing one of the glasses to Gil.
"To Holly?"
"To Holly." Catherine agreed. Raising her glass with Gil, she took the shot, grimacing as the liquid burned it's way down her throat. "Remind me to get you some better alcohol."
Gil stood up, taking Catherine glass with his to the sink in the corner, rinsing away the evidence. "Considering the only time we do this is when we have a really bad case, I think the alcohol choice is fine. We need something strong for this type of thing." He turned back to Catherine, watching as she walked over to him.
"Thanks."
"What for?"
Catherine stepped closer, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest. "Everything. Checking on me, waiting for me, knowing I'd need you."
"That's what friends are for."
finis