Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot!
AN: I know those asked for a sequel were looking for more of a what-happened-the-next-day thing, but I found this to be a much more appealing idea to write. Thanks to lisa02 for the title!
He was blonde and small, compared to most guys, but he was definitely very good looking. Catherine peeked through her curtains again as she watched her new neighbor lift yet another box off the back of a shiny black pickup truck. There was a shiny silver car beside the pickup and this man kept up a constant chatter with someone whom Catherine presumed to be a friend helping him move in, but she never caught a glimpse of this other person. From the chatter of this blonde that drifted in through her open window, she had deduced that this man had just moved in from Texas but had originally come from Las Vegas. She wondered if he was glad to be moving back here to his home state or if he had come out of some necessity.
It was evening, and Catherine would have to leave for work soon, but she decided that she wanted to meet this man before she left. He looked energetic, and strong too, from the looks of some of those boxes he was carrying. She might even attempt to procure a date while she welcomed him to the neighborhood. He was certainly nice enough to look at, blonde hair falling in to his brown eyes and porcelain skin that seemed to have repelled the Texan sun. Either he didn't spend much time outside or he was just naturally resistant to a tan. She would find out, Catherine told herself, in only moments.
Grabbing her purse and slipping on her nice new black pumps – even though her boss kept telling her to get more work appropriate shoes – Catherine glanced one more time in the mirror to check that she was still as desirable as ever. Then, locking the door behind her, she stepped out in to the gathering darkness and stepped across her tiny bit of lawn. Just as she reached the black truck, the blonde man stepped out of his house and spotted her standing there. Right away his face broke out into the most brilliant smile she had ever been on the receiving end of. It was like the sun rising again just for her, and she found herself a little stunned as she tried to smile back.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" he asked. His voice was even nicer when it wasn't heard through a window – smooth like honey and perpetually cheerful. With an effort, Catherine shook off her reverie and lowered her most potent smile at him, hoping it would have the same effect on him that it always had on men.
"Hi, I'm Catherine, I live next door," she told him. His smile grew, if possible, even bigger, and he reached out to enthusiastically shake her outstretched hand. She noticed that he had a firm grip and his palms were rough. It made her shiver, until she noticed that he wasn't reacting in any way to her flirtations. Usually just by her smile most men would stutter and blush, but this man was just grinning like he was happy to meet her.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Greg," he divulged. A little confused at his refusal to react, Catherine decided to press on anyway. His name really suited him, she realized once his words sunk in. He definitely looked like a Greg.
"Where are you from, Greg?" she asked, tilting her head and looking up at him from beneath her lashes, hoping maybe he would get the point now. She would die before admitting she'd been listening through the window.
"Here, actually. I grew up in Las Vegas but I've spent the last few years on a ranch in Texas." He looked wistful for a moment, and Catherine took that time to contain her violent shivering. A ranch boy from Texas? No wonder he was lifting all those boxes like they were nothing! Unbelievably excited by the possibilities this man could offer, she took a tiny step closer, tossing her long, loose hair behind her shoulder.
"Did you miss home? Is that why you came back?" she asked, actually curious about it. His eyes suddenly became very soft and his thousand-watt smile grew to a million, knocking the breath completely from her chest. He shook his head.
"No, actually my husband got offered a job here, so I followed him." He didn't seem to notice that Catherine's blood had just run cold in her veins and that her brain was stuck on that one word: husband. This gorgeous man, this ranch hand man, was gay! Unable to believe her horrid luck, Catherine gave an unsteady noise of understanding.
"Oh, that's wonderful, um, I have to get going to, um, work…I'll see you…around." She offered a vague smile before turning on her heel and fleeing back across the strip of lawn that separated their properties. She ran a hand through her hair as she slid in to her red car and took a few deep breaths before turning the key. The engine leapt to life and she rumbled out on to the road. Of all the luck! She had really been interested, for the first time in a long time, and he just had to turn out to be interested in men. She shook her head as she threw the car in to gear.
As she drove past his house, Catherine couldn't resist one last glance at Greg. The one she had assumed to be just a helpful friend was outside now, but she couldn't see what he looked like. He was locked to Greg by the lips, and his features were blocked from Catherine's view by his husband's head. What she could tell was that he was slightly taller, much better built, and a brunette. She wrenched her eyes away and kept driving, disappointment a bitter taste in her mouth.
A few days later, despite how often she checked through her curtains, she still had yet to catch a glimpse of Greg's husband. The closest she had come was to watch the back of his head as he went in his front door just as she was driving past. It frustrated her to no end. She felt a burning need to know what her competition looked like. He had to be gorgeous, she decided, to be able to catch and hold the attention of someone like Greg. That frustrated her too. She hadn't seen Greg again either, though both cars stayed in the driveway, so she hadn't had another chance to make conversation again. She didn't even know his last name. She wondered if his surname fit him as well as his first.
That night at work, even her coworkers noticed how distracted she was as she walked in with an expression on her face that verged on being vacant. She made her way to the break room of the crime lab and sat down, dropping her head in her hands. Her fellow CSIs sat around her, trying to cheer her up and figure out what was wrong. Warrick and Sara were native Las Vegas residents, and as they made their attempts she wondered if one of them had ever lived anywhere but here. Her boss, Gil Grissom, was the only one of their team that had come from another state. He hailed from San Gabriel, California, but had followed his love of science here and found his niche.
Just as she thought of him, Grissom walked in to the room – followed by an Adonis god! Catherine's eyes almost popped out of her head as she watched, almost in slow motion, the most gorgeous man she had even seen shift his feet nervously as he scanned all their faces. Greg completely left her mind in favor of this hunk. There was no other word for him.
His hair was a dark brown and cropped quite close to his head, and it perfectly matched his wide chocolate brown eyes. His chiseled jaw was square, strong, and perfect, and was the rest of him. His arms were thick with muscle and his chest was like a barrel. His hands looked like he could wrap them completely around her waist and lift her up with complete ease. Yet, from the way his eyes were shyly looking around, he looked gentle as a lamb. He was uncomfortable under all their stares, that much was obvious, and Catherine very much wanted to be the one to get him to 'loosen up'. Grissom's voice startled her out of her thoughts as he introduced this god.
"Guys this is Nick Stokes, our new CSI," Gil said. Catherine could have died on the spot.
"Nick Stokes?! Oh my god, it can't be you!" her outburst earned her the attention of everyone in the room, and the god fixed his still-wide eyes directly on her. They had a deep burning intensity that would have held her captivated had she not been in a state of sever shock. He furrowed his brows in a way that was somehow sinfully attractive as he tried to puzzle out how he might know her. The moment he figured it out was obvious as his eyebrows suddenly sought out his hairline.
"It can't be Catherine Willows?" he exclaimed, just as surprised as her. They stared at each other for long moments before suddenly he grinned and strode forward. "How have you been? It's been years!" he was saying as she found herself in a very strong pair of arms. Fighting back a swoon, she hugged him back. She also fought back the familiar burning of her cheeks that always happened when she thought of Nick Stokes.
"You're our new CSI? I can't believe it," she said to him. He just grinned.
"Yeah I've been out in Texas for the last few years, with my family and all, but when they offered me the job here I jumped on it!" As he smiled she couldn't help but notice how perfect his teeth were. Then she stilled.
"You were…you were where now?" she asked in a very small voice. Just then a small whirlwind came turning through the door in the form of a blonde, very attractive, and very unexpected Greg.
"Nicky! You've got to see the size of the lab they've given me! It's twice the size of the one in Austin! I - Hey Catherine, what are you doing here?" he never dropped the excited smile on his face as he suddenly noticed who Nick was standing with. Catherine looked down to see that their hands had instinctively entwined. So this was Greg's husband. Nick Stokes had come back to haunt her and he had brought along – her thought stopped dead in its tracks.
"Greg Sanders?!" she screamed. Greg blinked.
"Catherine…Willows?" he asked in a shaky voice. Catherine threw her hands up.
"This is just impossible!" she exclaimed. Then her eyes became very wide. "I can't believe you two are still together!" Nick and Greg looked at each other, and then they both began to laugh, long and loud and completely carefree. When they settled, Nick leaned over to press a gentle kiss to Greg's forehead.
"We got hitched right out of high school," he informed her, making her eyes pop again. "Greg's what got me interested in science. He's the whole reason I became a CSI." His eyes were warm and as he spoke they never left his husband's face. It was all too obvious that they were deep in love. No wonder Greg hadn't reacted to her flirting in any way. Oh dear god she had flirted with Greg Sanders! Life was ending! Then she frowned.
"Wait a minute. They've given you a lab? What exactly are you doing here, Greg?" she asked. The blonde grinned.
"I'm your new DNA tech," he announced. Catherine fought against the swooning faint she could feel coming on. This was too much! Too many shocks she had received in one day. She wasn't sure she would be able to handle it if they had anything else up their sleeves. A sudden announcement that they had also adopted a child and named it after her would likely send her to the funny house for the rest of her life.
"So, Cath, are you going to tell us how you know these guys?" Warrick's voice startled Catherine from behind and she looked over her shoulder at him. She looked back at the two gorgeous men in front of her and sighed. This could both work to her advantage and ruin her.
"We all went to high school together. Nick and I dated for a while until he…decided that Greg was a better match for him." She had put it as delicately as possible, but there was no disguising the fact that she had been dumped for a man. A boy. She expected the old anger to return and fill her up like it used to, but as she lowered her eyes, her sight snagged on Nick and Greg's hands. They were still entwined, holding tightly to each other, even after so many years together. It had been more than fifteen years since high school, and they were still so in love.
Catherine raised her eyes to their faces and, seeing the love there, she felt the anger dissipating, leaving behind only a great sadness. If only she had paid attention to what was within her grasp, she could have had that. Instead she had wasted it, thrown it away, and received in return a failed marriage with a man who now was after her bank account. With a heavy sigh, Catherine squared her shoulders and held her chin high in the air.
"Come on," she offered, "I'll show you guys around." If they were this happy, and she had helped them get there, the least she could do was be happy for them. Her time would come, she had to believe that.
As her two old childhood companions headed out ahead of her, Catherine couldn't help but suddenly notice the shirt that Greg was wearing. The red and black was faded, as was the number eight and the name 'Stokes' emblazed across his shoulder blades. It was Nick's high school football jersey. It fit him now.