Title: Sticks and Stones
Disclaimer: These guys don't belong to me. If they did, things would most certainly be different.
Author's Note: I don't know where this came from, I just wrote it. It takes place somewhere between Weeping Willows and Grave Danger. It would probably help to assume that several weeks elapsed between episodes.
Spoiler(s): Weeping Willows
"She called me a sanctimonious prick!" Gil Grissom loudly proclaimed. It still stung; no matter how much beer he drank. "Do you think I'm a sanctimonious prick?"
"Uh, am I supposed to answer that honestly?" Jim Brass inquired. He peered around the dark bar to make sure no one was overly interested in their conversation.
"Yes!"
"Well……..maybe. I mean, sometimes you come across that way."
"I am NOT! I'm just busy, is all."
"Okay, tell me how all this got started." Brass rubbed his forehead, not believing he was sitting here with a thoroughly intoxicated Gil Grissom having this conversation.
"Well, you know, we questioned Adam Novak about those murders."
"Yeah. He's an asshole."
"You got that right! So smug………I can't stand him!"
"So what does Adam Novak have to do with Catherine?" Grissom squinted at the Miller High Life sign trying to remember.
"Catherine went out for a drink that night and guess who she had a drink with!"
"Adam Novak."
"Right. That weasel. Anyway, she neglected to tell me that. I mean, she should've pulled herself off the case immediately. But, does she? Nope! That pissed me off and I wasn't too nice about it when she started turning on the charm later." Grissom gulped the last of his beer and signaled the bartender for another round.
"So you were pissy with her."
"Pissy? That's something you would say about a woman. You know, I happen to be a MAN!"
"Well, I'm glad we got that resolved. Otherwise, it might be difficult to explain the facial fuzz."
"You are not taking me seriously."
"Okay, so you were 'short' with Catherine when she tried to make up."
"That's more like it." Somewhat mollified, Grissom threw down the shot of scotch Brass hadn't touched before continuing his story. "Then, last night, Sara didn't have anything to do and Nick was swamped so she volunteered to help him. She stopped by my office to let me know and I told her 'if swing is swamped then their supervisor needs to ask for help' so she told Nick she couldn't help him unless his boss asked. Catherine never asked so I figured they weren't really that busy. To make a long story short…….."
"That would be a relief." Brass sarcastically interjected.
"Ecklie came in early." Grissom resumed his tale as though Brass had never said a word. "He calls me and Catherine into his office. She was still there, cleaning up the experiment Nick had sat up."
"You can't fault her for working hard."
"Yeah, well………..Ecklie wanted to know why I sent Sara home early when all three members of Swing have worked multiple doubles this week. So Cath pipes up and says she didn't realize that and when Nick told her she had to ask me for Sara's help, she assumed we were shorthanded or we'd be out on a case soon. She was finished with her paperwork, and tonight's her night off so she helped him."
"What was wrong with that?"
"She lied! She knew damn well I wanted her to come ask!"
"Being pissy again!" Brass thought but said. "She covered your ass with Ecklie and that made you angry."
"You're damn right!"
"Why?"
"I didn't ask her to do that. I make my own decisions and I don't need someone to lie for me."
"Exactly when did she call you a sanctimonious prick?"
"Right after that. We went outside Ecklie's office after a little pep talk about teamwork. Funny, I can't recall he was ever interested in 'teamwork' before. I told her 'I can't believe how easily a lie comes out of your mouth.' And she says 'And, I can't believe what a sanctimonious prick you've become.' Then she stomped off."
"Hey!" Brass caught the bartender's attention after the new round was placed in front of them. "Could you call a couple of Taxi's? One for me and one for my friend, here."
"No problem." The bartender wandered off.
"Gil, I can see precisely why you never made it down the aisle."
"What does getting married have to do with it? Besides, I'm too busy to be married."
"Only because you want to be." Grissom glared at him for a moment then returned to nursing his beer. Brass thought about the situation for a bit, then observed. "You know, I think you're feeling a little guilty about this and you want things to be they way they used to be."
"They'll never be like that again, not with the team split up."
"What's done is done. You know, it could work out better for everybody in the long run."
"I miss them. I miss seeing them everyday and …………I mean, I don't even know what's going on in their lives anymore."
"Ah." Brass thought. "Here's the crux of the problem." In a way, he could understand Grissom's feelings. It wasn't unlike a divorce, except there was no court appearances and no papers to sign to make it all clear that a family had been split up. The more he thought about it, the more apt the comparison seemed.
"Gil, this isn't going to go away and pretty soon you two will hurt one another to the point that your friendship will be lost. Maybe, that's what Ecklie wanted to accomplish by splitting you up. Only you can stop that and to stop it, you have to COM-MU-NI-CATE. My advice is, talk to her and if you have to apologize to do that, then start practicing 'I'm sorry' right now. You need to get off your high-horse and realize you're losing an important relationship in your life."
"Taxi's are out front." The bartender told him.
"What do we owe you?"
"Let's see, seven beers each and six shots of scotch………one-twelve even."
"Christ!"
"Thirty year old Glenfiddich isn't cheap."
"No shit!"
"You pick up the rest and the tip." Grissom pulled a crisp hundred-dollar bill out of his wallet and laid it on the bar.
"Where'd you get the hundreds?" Brass inquired after observing more of the same denomination in his wallet.
"Poker at Sam Braun's casino, I fleeced a couple of whales there the other night."
"Do you do that just to annoy him?"
"Yes, and I annoyed him enough that he personally came down and asked me to leave."
"Who were you playing?"
"A couple of entertainment types, Johnny something or other and Brad what's his name, I can't remember. I don't keep up with who's who."
"I bet you remember the look on Sam Braun's face."
"Oh yeah, it was that nice fuchsia shade that he wears so well."
"You need to be careful around him, he doesn't exactly like you."
"Sam won't do anything to me, it might upset Catherine."
"Well, there's another reason to make up. So, you gonna talk to her?"
"Maybe."
Brass settled the tab and made his way out certain everything would be okay by the evening. Little did he know……….
"Grissom, it's nearly noon! What are you doing here?" Catherine Willows exclaimed after she answered the pounding on her front door.
"Actually, it's eleven fifteen and I decided we need to talk." He corrected and pushed his way in the front door.
"Whew! Have you been drinking or did you find a new species of bug at the bottom of a beer vat and jump in after it?"
"What was the second part again?" He asked with a perplexed frown worrying his features.
"You're drunk." She replied with a sigh. "Has it occurred to you, that I might have plans for the evening?"
"What? You gonna go kiss some second rate lawyer in the parking lot of a bar?"
"Whatever!" She huffed and made her way up the stairs. That was the second time today he heard her utter that word. It was worse than a curse in his opinion. After standing undecided for a moment, he followed her up the stairs and shoved her bedroom door open. She had already climbed back into bed.
"I thought we were gonna talk."
"You are drunk and I am tired."
"So?"
"Look, either lie down and go to sleep or get the hell out of my bedroom!" She flopped on her side, facing away from him, scrunched her pillow up under her head and pulled the sheet up over it.
"Okay." He agreed complacently. She heard him move about the room but ignored it until the covers lifted behind her and he crawled into her bed.
"Grissom!"
"What?"
"What are you doing?"
"You said 'lie down or get out'. I picked lying down 'cause the room is sorta spinning."
"You're in nothing but your boxers."
"Well, you didn't think I was gonna sleep in all my clothes, did you?"
"Fine." She turned her back to him. All was still for a few minutes then he wrapped an arm around her waist and pushed his knee between hers.
"What are you doing?"
"The ceiling fan was making me seasick. Gotta hang on to something." He muttered in her ear. She pulled her pillow closer and tried to ignore him. He began stroking her hair.
"Now what?"
"Your hair was getting in my mouth, I was just moving it out of the way."
"Right." After a couple of minutes, she felt his warm mouth suctioning the point where her neck and shoulder met.
"Don't tell me my shoulder was in your mouth."
"No, but I like how it tastes." He whispered. He pushed her hair aside and licked up the back of her neck. She flipped over to find a silly grin plastered on his face.
"Have I annoyed you enough to talk to me?" He asked innocently.
"What are you up to?" She asked, sitting up. Her breasts were heaving and the clingy satin material of her gown emphasized her movements. Grissom was mesmerized. "Hey, eyes front and center, Mister!"
"Actually, I believe they are."
"On my face!" He had trouble tearing his gaze away, certain that with a little more exasperation her left nipple would pop right out of her top.
"So?"
"I was trying to get your attention."
"I think you've got it."
"I miss you." The unabashed honesty in his eyes made her pause.
"Why?" She asked softly, all the uncertainty and doubt she'd been living with the past couple of months coming to the surface.
"I just do." She turned slightly to sit up, hugged her knees to her chest and stared across the room. He took it as sign, eased up on an elbow and cupped her cheek with his hand, turning her head toward him. "I miss knowing what's going on in your life. I miss your smile lighting up the room. I miss how you know when I feel bad and you make it better. I guess………..mostly, I miss your ……….. attention."
"I didn't think you wanted it."
TBC