Summary: The gossip mill drags out the inevitable, and brings Catherine to realize her true feelings for Grissom. Catherine tries to deal with them while also handling her increasingly rebellious daughter.

Rating: K

Warnings: Purejoyyyyy (of course). Brass/Sofia and Greg/OC mentioned.

Reality Check

Catherine and Wendy had gone out to breakfast together at a small, local diner one morning after shift. They made small talk, gossiped about how ridiculous David Hodges was, the not-so-secret crush that Jim Brass had for Sofia Curtis, and Greg's new, mysterious phone-sex buddy.

"I mean, it was so gross. I walk into the locker room and he's on the phone with her!" Wendy said, sipping her iced tea out of her thermos.

Catherine laughed. "I bet you couldn't get out of there fast enough."

"You know who else has been bringing their relationships into the lab?" Wendy asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's unbelievable, Catherine. Grissom and Sara. He kissed her cheek right in his office!"

Catherine sighed. "Yeah, I know. That's all anyone's been talking about. Can we not go there? I'd like to keep my meal down."

"Well, the weird thing is that we all thought, if anyone, Grissom would be with you." Wendy went on. "I thought you guys were close and would wind up together."

"Yeah," Catherine said again, her voice so low that she could barely hear herself. Wendy scooped a forkful of salad to her mouth, not noticing Catherine talking to herself. "Me too."

Catherine drove straight home after breakfast with Wendy. Somehow, even after changing the subject of Sara and Grissom, she began to feel extremely depressed. She decided that once she got home she would take a hot shower and go to bed.

She was shocked, however, when she entered her house and her teenage daughter was sitting on the couch watching TV and flipping through a magazine.

"Lindsey, what are you doing home? You have school today." Catherine said, setting her things down in the kitchen.

"Oh, well, I wasn't feeling good. I thought I'd just stay here."

Catherine gave Lindsey a look.

"Okay, okay, I missed the bus." Lindsey added. "But you can take my temperature. I already did. I'm at 100 degrees."

At this point, Catherine was too tired to get into an argument. "Fine, but you're going to school tomorrow, Lindsey. I don't care if you have a 150 degree temperature and your arm is falling off. This is the second day this week you've missed school."

As she made her way up the stairs, Catherine couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt settle in her stomach. She knew that with teenage years came rebellion and overworked drama, but somehow Lindsey knew how to press the right buttons to make Catherine feel like a mediocre mother.

She immediately stopped halfway up the stairs. "Linds?" she called, hearing the TV being turned down a little.

"Yeah?"

Catherine smiled tiredly and looked down at her daughter. "I love you."

"I know…" Lindsey sighed. Catherine gave a satisfied nod and continued upstairs. "Mom?" Catherine stopped again. "I love you, too."