The Confession Booth
Disclaimer: Don't own them just borrowing?
Rating: CSI 3
Spoilers: Slaves of Vegas
Author's Notes: A request from CathWillows as a thank you for the amazing trailer. The Evidence Never Lies will continue tomorrow.
Summary: Catherine decides to reveal her true feelings for Gil. Surprisingly enough she turns to Lady Heather for help.
The Confession Booth 1/1
Catherine knew Lady Heather fascinated him from the moment the mysterious woman opened the door to them. She herself was intrigued. When Lady Heather told her she would be a good dominatrix she took it as a compliment but knew it would never happen.
As much as she liked the rough, playful and passionate side of a sexual relationship she treasured the gentle, loving and intimate side of it even more. Most people wouldn't put their money on her feminine and vulnerable side if they had the pick between it and the sassiness and fierceness she often brought to the table. However, what she really missed was the closeness to another human being, someone to hold her when she laughed, cried, slept and when she wanted to make love.
She sighed and leaned back in the chair. She was seated in the break room trying to pull herself together, knowing a big stack of case files waited for her on her office desk. Suddenly Greg burst through the door.
"Hey Cath, have you seen Gris?" he asked with a smirk in his eyes while he waved a magazine in front of her. She quickly rose from the chair and snatched the magazine from his hand.
"He's out on a case. Just leave it here." Greg mumbled something and left the room.
Catherine opened the magazine to the page that was marked with a yellow post it. Her eyes widened when she saw it. Splashed across a full spread on in the magazine was the picture of a very sexy and smiling Lady Heather, who invited the reader to learn more about extreme success the dominion had had since the liquid latex case had been all over the news. But that wasn't the reason why Greg had been so excited. Catherine took a sip of the water bottle that sat on the table in front of her, but almost choked when she realized why Greg had been so excited; It was because of the man who was quoted as saying:
"A visit to Lady Heather is like a visit into your own sub conscience. You're are confronted with your own emotions and find the answers to your innermost questions about love, life and the sexual desires of the human being." – Gil Grissom Supervisor of the grave shift at the Crime Scene Investigation unit in LV.
She couldn't believe it. She read through the article, where Lady Heather talked about how she could make anyone realized their true feelings, even without it being part of the sexual activities in her dominion. Catherine slowly got up, the magazine tugged under her arm. When she reached her office she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.
---
Hours later Grissom arrived back at the lab. He went straight to Catherine's office but frowned when he found it dark and abandoned. He recognized the smell of her perfume still evident in the air. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. It went straight to her answering machine. He sighed. For so long he had been trying to tell her how he really felt but every time he lost his courage.
He walked to his own office and saw the red lamp on his phone blinking. He pressed the button.
"Mr. Grissom this is Lady Heather would it be possible to ask you for a favor? If so then come by to see me tonight around midnight." He replayed the message three times. This was however not the first time she had called in a favor but it was usually more defined that this message. Once he had helped her look for a missing girl and another time she needed a client check up after he bounced a big check. He knew it wasn't protocol but for years he played everything by the book, so in the last years he had decided to lay off a little.
---
Just after the midnight hour he pulled up in front of the dominion. He went to the door and rang the bell. The door opened and he greeted Lady Heather with a small smile as she stepped back and welcomed him in.
"So my lady, what can I do for you" he joked softly with her as she gave him one of her secret glances.
"I thought you'd be perfect for a new activity that we offer here." she watched him tense and quickly moved to put her hand reassuringly over his.
"It's not anything physical, relax doctor I know you. This is more like a game for minds that think alike," she told him before leading him into a room that had a confession-like dark wood booth sitting in the middle. The room was dimly lit and red loveseat sofa stood in the corner. He turned to eye her, confusion obvious in his look.
"Mr. Grissom do you trust me?" she asked him, she saw him ponder for a moment and then he nodded lightly at her. She signaled for him to go into the left side of the confession booth. He went inside and sat down and pulled the thick, plush dark red velour curtain in front of him from left to right so he was covered in immediate darkness. Then he heard her walk to the door, it closed and footsteps across the floor came towards him and went into the right side of the box.
For a couple of minutes all he could hear was the steady breathing from the other side of the thinly layered separating wall. A thin rectangular square covered with a thin black piece of lace gave the person on each side a sense of the other.
He felt a pang of nervousness hit him. Lady Heather had never really revealed what exactly would take place in the confession booth. Suddenly he heard her voice; he was confused it sounded like it came from small speakers in his side and not from the other side of the wall.
"Mr. Grissom have you ever really loved someone?"
He began to speak but she shushed him gently.
"There are two possible answers. Yes or no."
He took a deep breath and was about to say what he'd usually reply if anyone ever asked him, but then realized she'd already busted him with his long silence.
"Yes" he said quietly and suddenly felt glad he was surrounded by darkness.
"Have you told her?" his reply came faster this time.
"No"
"Does she know?"
"Yes... no... I mean..."
"Remember the rules Mr. Grissom," he cursed himself inwardly. This was not something he could answer using just a single word. The object of his love surely had to know he cared, even loved her. On the other hand he never felt like she knew that he was also in love with her. He struggled to find the right answer.
After a while he heard her say:
"I'll take that as a no?"
"Yes" he said feeling his courage dimmer.
"Have you loved her for long"
His answer came immediately:
"Yes"
"Do I know her" the words hit him full force. He might have been in the dark for now but eventually he'd have to face the dominatrix again and he hated the fact that she'd have the upper hand then.
"No" he said trying to sound convincing.
"Are you lying?"
"Yes" he knew he sounded like a confused teenage boy with his first crush. He knew he had given it all away now but tried to play it cool.
" Is she seeing anyone at the moment?"
He thought about it for a second, he was never really sure if the woman he dreamed of every night and fantasized about all day long was dating anyone. He use to think he knew everything about her but then recently she had surprised him and hooked up with a random man at a bar, when he saw her the next time the raw emotional look she gave him and the angry red rash on her cheek reminded him of so many other nights, where he had held her crying form in his arms wishing she leave her then husband to be with him.
"No"
" Would it be so bad to ask her out then, you obviously feel very strongly about her?"
Like he didn't think about asking her that every night, when he watched her eyes lock with his and a smile melt his heart just before she went home.
"I guess not," he answered without realizing he broke the rules, and it was ignored.
"Do you think she'd reject you?"
"Yes"
" Did you ever suspect her of having the same feelings as you?"
He smiled in the dark. He had wished, hoped and let himself believe that so many times. There was the time he helped her refurnish her living room and she fell asleep on his shoulder when they relaxed on the couch afterwards, there was the time he'd picked up her wonderful daughter after dance practice when she had an emergency dentist appointment and the time just a couple of days ago when she had let herself be pulled into his embrace after a particularly hard case.
"Yes" he said hesitantly.
" Mr. Grissom do you love her?"
"Yes" he answered without hesitation and out loud as if it had never dared admit it until now. Just as the word slipped out he heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the wall. It sounded like someone was trying not to cry. Then everything went silent.
He sat completely still for a minute. A minute more passed by. Eventually he became a little anxious and was just about to get up and leave when he heard a nervous and shaky voice almost whisper, this time coming from right next to him on the other side of the thin wall.
"Is it me?"
He smiled feeling his entire body come alive, warmth spreading rapidly from his heart to the rest of the body. He got up, ripped the curtain away and went to the other side of the booth. He pulled aside the curtain and pulled the woman in there into her arms his lips colliding with hers first frantically but then it slowed down and his one hand stroked her cheek while the other went into her soft red curls.
They pulled apart and he looked into her beautiful blue eyes, her tearstained face the most beautiful he had ever seen. Then he whispered:
"Does she love him too?"
Her short one syllable answer had barely left her mouth before his lips were back on hers.