A/N: Here's a new one with Catherine visiting the Grissom's (post Costa Rica) in their new life. Enjoy!!
Catherine Visits Gil and Sara: Chapter 1
Catherine Willows stepped out of her rental car into bright sunlight, a clear, cloudless sky, and total quietness—quiet to her ears accustomed to the constant barrage of city sounds. Of course, complete silence is a rare event. She heard the ping and pop of the engine cooling and her feet as she moved across gravel. She brushed unseen dust from her dark pants and stood still for a few minutes.
Middle of nowhere, she called this place on her first visit—had it really been a year? She counted on fingers discovering her last visit had occurred almost thirteen months ago. Time had at once flown by and stood still. So many things were the same, so much had changed.
The absolute silence surrounded her again as she surveyed the place. The house, with its broad, long porch was as quiet as the outside. She realized there were sounds, a low hum coming from a patchwork of colors near the porch; flowers hugged the porch and climbed trellises and railings as bees hovered and disappeared in hollows of red, yellow, pink, and purple blooms. Her eyes followed the tiny flying insects across the grass to white boxes arrange in tidy rows. Neat rows of beehives; a project, she thought as she smiled. Beyond the white boxes more flowers grew in a riot of bright colors.
A cat sat in the shade of the open garage and watched as Catherine turned in a slow circle. An almost complete building sat well away from the house at the edge of some kind of grassy field. The workroom she had heard about—Gil saying it was a place for his hobbies; Sara emailing that he needed a place for storage.
Two cars were in the garage and she was certain there was no missing vehicle, so wherever the two had gone, they were on foot or had been picked up. She turned back to the cat that stayed in his spot watching the visitor.
"I guess I wait." Catherine said to the cat.
The porch stretched along the front of the house, shaded by the roof and flowering vines, inviting her out of the sun. She heard nothing to indicate anyone was around; just the cat, who followed her to the porch.
The Grissom's—Sara and Gil—knew she was coming. She had called as soon as she left the conference center and set the GPS to their address which caused her to be even more puzzled by their absence. She pressed the door bell—shaped like a small lizard, she noticed, hearing the chime echo inside the house. She pulled out her phone and punched a number. Within seconds, she heard the ring of the phone inside the house. Turning, she saw the porch swing.
Minutes passed as Catherine waited, not at all sure what to do next. Her current life did not have long moments of idleness or solitude and certainly few times to sit in a swing. She wasn't leaving; they were expecting her. The droning buzz of hundreds of bees, the cool breeze blowing through the porch relaxed her body and mind; her eyes closed until a different noise, one of voices, caught her ears. She looked in the direction of the sounds, muted words, and laughter. A hat, she recognized the hat and laughed as two figures and a dog moved into her sight.
Like a scene in a movie, the two walkers slowly became distinct adults, one wearing an old hat and baggy pants with a bulky bag across his shoulders. The woman—she knew that slim figure as well as she knew the man underneath the hat—had thrown her head back in a laugh. Catherine stood and watched the couple as their hands touched in an intimate gesture of familiarity and, unknowing they were being watched, his hand slid to the woman's backside with a stroke of cherished affection. Not for the first time, she wondered how long these two had shared a secret life.