Title: Worst Case Scenario
Summary: Catherine needs someone to lean on after learning of Warrick's news... Can the socially inept Gil help her?
Spoilers: Burden of Proof; Committed; Grave Danger; Bodies in Motion
Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Except all the errors, if there are any.
Author's Note: O-kay... I don't even know how to explain this one. It's in Grissom's point of view, and not a GSR story at all. I know, I know, what's wrong with me!? But I love the Gil/Cath friendship, and wanted to write a fic based on it. So here it is. And I wrote it - literally - in an hour yesterday, so if it sucks, I'm sorry. Really. Also, it isn't edited. Alex and Coffee Bean were just too busy, and I'm not patient enough to wait for them. Takes place after the first episode of season six ended, I guess... Read and enjoy, though. Hope you like it!
Worst Case Scenario
"Why, Gil?" she asked, plopping down in the chair across from me, my desk separating us.
"I don't know, Catherine," I answer, looking at her over the rims of my glasses. I shook my head slightly, waiting for her to reply.
"It's just… it seems so sudden, and out of nowhere, you know?"
I nodded then. It did seem sudden, to say the least. I hadn't even known he was dating someone. "You're right, Cath. Have you spoken to him about it?"
She scoffed, throwing her head back as she did so. "There isn't anything for me to talk to him about, Gil," she said sadly, and I felt the need to hug her. She just looked so sad. "It wouldn't make a difference anyway."
"Catherine," I say as I rise and walk around my desk to stand in front of her, "Why does this matter to you so much?"
"Because he's a friend?" she answered, looking up at me.
Her sad blue eyes betrayed the casual tone of her voice, and I realized that with this sudden marriage, Warrick Brown had hurt my best friend deeply. And I wasn't comfortable with that. Grasping her hand, I pulled her to her feet. "Come on," I said. "Let's go somewhere private where we can talk." She nodded, tears pooling silently as I led her from my office.
An hour later, Catherine and I sat on a picnic blanket on Lake Mead, both of us silently staring out at the blue water in the early morning sunlight. Sipping her lemonade, she turned to me and said, "Why would he just go off and get married like that, Gil? I know it's Vegas and all, but…"
For once, I knew what the answer to a personal problem was. And boy, was I surprised. But I was going to tell Catherine, because she deserved it. Scooting up behind her, I pulled her onto my lap, wrapping my arms around her waist in a friendly and comforting hold. She smiled, and leaned into me. "You remember when Nicky was kidnapped?" I asked her quietly, lacing my fingers with hers in her lap.
"Of course I do!" she answered, twisting to look at me. "I still have nightmares about it sometimes," she admitted in a small voice.
I nodded. "Me too." Her head whipped around quickly, her blonde hair slapping my face. Before she could get a word out however, I continued to speak. "You remember how agonizing it was for Nick's parents to watch him like that?"
"Of course."
"So think about it," I told her. "For Mr. and Mrs. Stokes, the worst case scenario in their lives was for one of their children to die."
"Yes…" she answered, not quite following.
"Now, if I were to ask you of your worst case scenario, who would it be?"
"Lindsey," she answered immediately, not taking even a second to think about her answer, as it should be.
"Exactly. And, if I were to ask you of… Sara's worst case scenario? Who would you say?"
"You," she said, and I blushed, happy she could not see my face.
Sara and I had already had this conversation. I knew I was hers and she was mine. Having a friend kidnapped and buried alive in the first few weeks of a new relationship was not something I wished on anybody, but this conversation wasn't about us. It was about Catherine and Warrick. I had to push out thoughts of my beautiful girlfriend for the time being, and stay focused on the blonde in my arms.
"Probably," I answered, ignoring the laugh I heard come from her lips as she mumbled, "Probably? Probably my ass."
"And, if I were to ask you of my worst case scenario, who would you say?"
"Your bugs would be my first guess," she said, letting her head drop onto my shoulder. "But for real, living people, I would have to say Sara."
"You'd be right," I said softly, dropping my chin onto the top of her head.
"What about Nick?"
"Nick?" she said, thinking. "I don't know. Probably his family, first and foremost."
"Yes," I replied. "And what about Greg?"
"Erm…" she said, not wanting to upset me, but I knew what she was thinking.
"It's okay to say Sara too," I said, laughing. "I think anyone being lost from the lab would trouble young Mr. Sanders anyway, though."
Catherine nodded her agreement. "You're right," she said.
"Now, did you notice something?" I asked gently, shifting slightly.
"No…"
"None of our answers were Warrick," I said.
She gasped slightly, and turned her head to look up at me. "Why? Why didn't any of us say Warrick?" she asked, looking guilty.
"Because we've all got people in our lives who mean more to us than Warrick," I said, shaking my head as I did so. "And I know how horribly cruel that sounds, but it's true. I think, Catherine, that the reason Warrick decided to marry Tina was so he could be someone's worst case scenario."
"But, I – we –"
"Catherine, it's okay," I soothed, gently rocking us both back and forth. "Lindsey comes first for you before everything – even before yourself – and Warrick is completely aware of that. He would never try to come between you and your daughter. He cares about you too much to do that."
"So he decided just to leave me so he wouldn't have to deal with a family?"
"No, Catherine!" I say in shock, squeezing her in a hug. "That's not what he did at all."
"It sure feels like it," she mumbled angrily, pulling her fingers from mine and defiantly crossing her arms over her chest.
I pulled her arms down, taking her hands in mine again. "Cath, why does this mean so much to you?"
"Because I think…"
"Yes?" I prompt gently.
"I think I might love him."
This should come as a complete surprise to me, but it doesn't. I am eternally grateful to Sara and her eye for things like this, because if she hadn't pointed out to me the fact that my favourite CSI and my best friend had feelings for each other, I would be sitting here after that revelation, speechless. But, seeing as Sara told me about them, I can string words together and make coherent sentences to reply to Catherine. "Have you told him?"
"No."
"Catherine, I think if you tell him, it might make a difference."
"And how would it make a difference?" she asked angrily. "You think that just because I go up to him tomorrow and say that I might just possibly love him, he'll divorce Tina and take me into his arms and we'll ride away into the sunset?"
I run my hands along her sides, and stare out over her shoulder towards the lake. "You'll never know if you don't try, Cath," I whispered.
She doesn't look at me, for she too is staring at the water, and in a strangled whisper, she says, "How can you be sitting here telling me I should try when you're too afraid to do it yourself?"
I laugh then, and she turns her blue stare onto mine, confused. "I'm not afraid anymore, Catherine," I said, smiling. "Of course, neither one of us was married, and we haven't quite ridden off into the sunset yet, but give it some time, and I think we just might. I did take her into my arms, though…"
Her mouth dropped open in shock, and I pushed her off my lap to stand and gather up the blanket and garbage left behind by our meager picnic. I can feel her gaze burning a hole in my back, and slowly I turn around. "You didn't, did you?" she asked in a whisper.
"I did," I admit, "and so should you."
She bends down, helping me fold up the blanket and then throwing the garbage out as we silently head back to my Denali. Catherine followed me in a stunned silence. After I slammed the trunk shut, I found her leaning against the front of the car, an odd look on her face. "Did you really?" she asked.
I can't read the expression in her eyes anymore, because she's covered them up with her sunglasses, but I have a feeling that they're skeptical. "I know you probably don't believe me, Catherine," I say, but she stops my words with a hand over my mouth.
"Oh, I believe you, Gil. And I'm proud of you. But… I just think that whatever you did to get Sara to come to you won't work for me and… my situation with Warrick."
"You never know until you try," I repeat, taking her hand.
"I know, I know," she says, letting her head drop to hide her sudden tears and the catch in her voice from me. I've known her too long for her to get away with that, though. I finally pull her into a hug then, knowing that what she needs is to be in someone's supporting arms. Even though I am not her first choice, I'm perfectly okay with being her second or third, because I know that I am someone's first, and she's waiting for me at home. I squeeze Catherine tightly, whispering over and over again that things will be alright as she finally lets her tears fall. I know that Warrick will come to his senses eventually. I did about Sara, and he will too. When he does, he'll be not only one person's worst case scenario, but two, because he'll have two beautiful blondes loving him. They will finally have the support they need and the family they deserve when he joins them.
As sick as that sounds, Catherine knows it's true; I know it's true; Sara knows it's true; Warrick knows it's true; Nick knows it's true; we all know that it's reality, and when we're in this line of work, to be someone's worst case scenario is one of the best feelings in the world. It means you're truly loved by someone, and that, as I've learned through experience, is the most important thing.
-End-
Second Author's Note: I know, I know, it was weirdly out of character, and almost AU, but who cares? At least I know it's screwy. Some people don't and get all pissy when you tell them it's OOC and AU. Doesn't it count for something that I know? Tell me what you think, if I should write more like this one or just go back to my Sara/Griss fics. ;-)