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Sighing heavily, Catherine turned to face him once again. "Why didn't you keep in touch?"

Glancing down to his lap, where his hand still held hers, he said softly, "Because keeping in touch would have only made me miss you more."

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Catherine cleared her throat, and she spoke carefully. "You know, I missed you a hell of a lot too, Grissom. But I would've kept in touch!" she added teasingly.

Grissom laughed at this, before seriously adding, "I'm sorry Cath."

"Gil….it's alright."

"But still, I should-" Catherine cut him off.

"So what have you been up to? Anything new in the last 20 years?" she asked, raising one eyebrow as only she could.

"Oh no", Gil replied, "You first. Tell me about your life."

Chuckling, Catherine asked, "Well what do you want to know?"

Gil looked deep into Catherine's eyes. "Everything."

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Settling back into her seat, Catherine squeezed Gil's hand gently before letting go. "Well, you already know I took over as night shift supervisor when you…when you left."

Grissom nodded his head in reply. Her hair wasn't strawberry blond anymore. It was lighter and blonder, but it was still past her shoulders. It was still beautiful.

Catherine continued, "I stayed night shift supervisor for eight years."

"Eight years? That's it?" Grissom questioned.

"Well, yeah. I wasn't getting any younger, and the night life was beginning to wear me out," Catherine replied with a wink. "So Nick took my position, and I became day shift supervisor."

"Nick Stokes?" Grissom asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Cath said, "He really became one heck of a CSI. Anyhow, I moved to days. Stayed in that position for five years."

"And then?"

"Then….I quit."

Eyebrows raised in surprise, Grissom replied, "I see. And what do you do now?"

Smirking, Catherine said, "What makes you think I do anything now?"

"Because I know you."

Catherine studied Gil's face for a minute. He looks much older; his hair is completely gray. And look at those lines around his eyes…but my gosh. He is still incredibly handsome. "You're right Gil. I went back to school to get the necessary degrees, and now I teach a Criminology course at the University of Nevada."

"You're kidding."

Catherine laughed and smiled. "Nope. Honest. I'm a college professor, and I love every minute of it."

This time it was Grissom's turn to smile. "You've come a long way Cath. Stripper-"

Catherine interrupted. "For Pete's sake Gil, I was an exotic dancer!"

Throwing up his hands in surrender, Gil continued. "Exotic Dancer; CSI who rose through the ranks; supervisor of an entire lab; now you are Professor Willows." Placing his hand on her knee, he told her, "I'm proud of you."

Not wanting to get teary eyed again, Catherine lightheartedly said, "You should be! You know I worked my ass off to get where I am."

"And what a fine ass that is."

Catherine felt her face redden at his words. She had forgotten how their playful banter often concealed innuendo, but apparently he hadn't. She looked down where his hand still rested on her knee. "Gee, thanks Gil," she managed to say.

Grissom chuckled at her obvious embarrassment before suddenly remembering to ask about the most important aspect of Catherine's life. "What about Lindsay?"

Cath looked up abruptly, "What about her?"

Pursing his lips, Gil looked pointedly at the woman next to him.

"Oh!" Catherine realized what he meant. "Oh."

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