Disclaimer: I have no claim to CSI . . . sad but true.


Chapter 2

Gil, Please Be My Date

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Catherine blew the bangs off her face and leaned over to get a closer look at the blood-spattered clothing with a magnifying glass. She was in the layout room reviewing the evidence from the double DB case that she and Gil were working out in Summerlin. There was a strange anomaly in the spatter pattern. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before so she had no clue what made it.

But her mind was only half on work. The other half was on her personal life.

Normally when her thoughts scattered like they were doing today, it was because she was worried about Lindsey or her mother or one of her friends or coworkers. However, that wasn't the case today. Today, her worries were a little more self-centered than that. The LVPD/Clark County Law Enforcement Christmas party was a little over a week away and she still didn't have a date. How was she was supposed to have a personal life when constantly pulling double shifts all the while trying to single-handedly raise a normal, well-adjusted teenage girl in this crazy city? She couldn't even remember the last time she had a full eight hours of sleep much less time to go out on a date.

She continued processing while mentally reviewing the pathetically short list of men she had dated in the past couple years wondering if she could wrangle one of them into going with her. She could go stag. Sara often went to work functions alone but Catherine couldn't imagine herself doing that. It just seemed to scream 'pathetic', like everyone would pity her because she was dateless. Being dateless didn't seem to bother Sara and she wondered how the younger woman did it. The few times she had seen Sara with a date, it was like she was more uncomfortable with one than without one. Not her. She liked having a man on her arm. She liked stepping into a room knowing she had the catch of the night. She liked getting the envious looks from the other women and the jealousy radiating off the men as they wished she was hanging on their arms. She would never admit it in a million years but Sara had hit a little too close to the truth during the Melton case. Men and her sexuality had always been her downfall. Eddie had been a prime example of that. He had been bad news from the start but she just had to listen to her hormones and not her brain.

So it was as she stood there, contemplating the pathetic state of her love life, or lack thereof, and processing evidence, that Grissom stepped into the room.

"Find anything probative on our two DB's clothing?" Grissom questioned her.

"Nothing definitive. But I did find an unusual void in the blood splatter on the husband's shirt and pants. Take a look at this."

Grissom came around the layout table to stand beside her as she pointed to the void on the lower front half of the T-shirt she was processing.

"It's kind of hard to pick up on," Catherine continued, "but if you look close, there's a cluster of small circular voids on the bottom half of the shirt up to the point where it was tucked in. I found the same thing on the top third of the husband's jeans." She pointed out some of the voids. "This one only measures about a quarter inch across. That one about the same. None of them are larger than a half inch. I probably would've missed it if the blood splatter hadn't been so concentrated right there."

"Hmm," Grissom murmured as a look of concentration came over his face. He grabbed the magnifying glass out of Catherine's hands, bent down and studied the pattern. He always did love a good puzzle and this case was proving to be one.

Catherine turned sideways facing Grissom. She rested one fist on her hip and braced her other hand against the edge of the layout table. She bet Grissom didn't worry about things like getting dates for Christmas parties. Heck, she couldn't remember the last time he had been to one of the Christmas parties. Probably was that time when she was dating Eddie before they were married and he couldn't make it to the party because of some gig. She had coerced Grissom into taking her so she didn't have to go alone. Hmm, maybe that was the solution to her problem.

"Say, Gil, what are you doing a week from Saturday?"

"Why?" he replied offhandedly. There was something vaguely familiar about the random pattern of round voids. It was like he had seen it somewhere else before.

Catherine was delighted at Grissom's distracted response. He was so into his work that he would probably agree to take her to the party without realizing it. And she knew him well. Once he agreed to something, his integrity and gentlemanly manners would not allow him to back out.

"Well, I was thinking that since I don't have a date for the annual Christmas party and you don't have a date that maybe we could go together."

He straightened up and cocked his right eyebrow as he stared straight ahead. Pure shock had coursed through him at Catherine's words. He had never expected this turn of events. How was he going to get out of this one without spoiling his and Sara's surprise? He knew Catherine. If he just said no, she would complain that he needed to get a life. But the other alternative – telling her he already had a date – would be even worse. She would hound him until she found out who it was. He went with the lesser of the two evils.

"Uh, no, thank you." He went back to studying the blood splatter hoping, but not too optimistically, that that would be the end of it. She didn't disappoint him.

"Come on, Gil. You have to get out some. Live life. When's the last time you even went to the Christmas party? No, wait, let me guess. It was that time that we went together before Eddie and I were married, wasn't it?"

Grissom just shrugged his shoulders and continued working. He knew that not responding was usually the best way of handling Catherine when she was like this. Eventually she'd get so frustrated that she would just give up.

"You know, it's night shift's turn in the three-year rotation to have every one off that night. So the entire team's going to be there. Nick, Warrick, Greg, Jim, Al. All the lab rats." She paused for dramatic effect knowing that her next words were bound to get Grissom's attention. "I bet even Sara will be there this year. You know, she hasn't been spending as much time at work lately. You should know that. You approve her timesheets. You know, I think even she's starting to get a life. I've heard her beg off several times from hanging out with the boys because she already has other plans. That used to never be."

Catherine was not disappointed. As soon as she started talking about Sara, Grissom froze then lifted his head and stared straight forward. She bent forward trying to get a better look at Grissom's expression but he quickly ducked his head.

He was trying hard to hide his smirk. He knew Catherine was just trying to get a rise out of him. And it worked although not for the reason Catherine thought it did. Every time Catherine would start talking about Sara in front of him, he was sure they were busted. That somehow she had found out about their relationship.

Meanwhile, Catherine kept studying Grissom. She just didn't get the man. How could someone live that closed off from other people? Sure, he had dated some in the past but never seriously. And if some woman did start getting a little too close, he'd run in the opposite direction. As for Sara, well, that was a whole different ballgame. She knew that time he came back from that conference in San Francisco eight years ago and started talking about this Sara Sidle chic, that that girl was different. She thought he had maybe finally met his match and she thought for sure her suspicions were confirmed when he asked her to come to Vegas for an internal investigation and then asked her to stay on as a permanent team member. She was sure she would be hearing wedding bells in a year or two. Instead, all she had seen over the last several years was a fine bout of fencing. When one would thrust, the other would parry. If Sara had a boyfriend, Grissom would get jealous and start pulling Sara in for extra shifts or if she got to close to him, he'd give her the worst cases like decomps and dumpster dives. If Grissom had a date or ignored her, Sara would walk around in a foul mood and take her frustrations out on anyone who happened to get in her way. The tension between the two was enough to ignite the lab. Everyone had realized that lately though, the tension between the two had eased up quite a bit. But they also knew it wouldn't last. They were just waiting for that one glance, that one gesture, that one wrong step when it would all blow up again and the tension would be back worse than ever. It was all just part of the strange affair that was the Grissom-Sara relationship.

Grissom could feel Catherine burning a hole in the back of his head with her laser gaze. Now he knew what his bugs felt like when he studied them under his microscope. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to get Catherine's attention off his love life and back onto the work before she got any nosier. He turned an irritated gaze upon her and gestured to the clothes with the magnifying glass. "Shall we get back to work?"

Then, staring at Grissom, Catherine was rather surprised. This was something she should've noticed at least a week or two ago already. Sure, they had been working a lot of hours lately and she was exhausted. Also, today's new case was the first case they had worked together in probably a couple weeks. Still, she shouldn't have missed the return of his sexy beard. He really did look much handsomer with it.

"Yes?" he growled as Catherine continued to stare at him.

"When did you start growing the beard back?"

"A couple weeks ago."

"Boy, I must be tired if I missed that one. Well, I like it. Gives you a certain mysterious quality."

He rolled his eyes. She was bound and determined to try his patience today it seemed.

"So why'd you start growing it back? Thought you said when you shaved it off the last time that it was too much upkeep."

Grissom gave a frustrated sigh and turned back to his work. He didn't understand what the big deal was. Sure, he liked his beard. But the way Sara first carried on and now the way Catherine was carrying on, you would think his beard somehow defined who he was.

Catherine playfully shoved Grissom in the shoulder. "Come on. Share. Why grow it back now?"

She was like a damn pit bull. When she sunk her teeth into something, she wouldn't let go until she was satisfied. Fine, he'd give her the truth. She how she deals with that one. "The girlfriend likes it," he replied nonchalantly.

"What?" Catherine shrieked. Then, not getting any response out of Grissom, she figured he was just pulling her leg. "Yeah, whatever," she scoffed. "What girlfriend? You haven't lifted your head out of the microscope in what? Two years? Three years? Girlfriend. Very funny, Gil."

Grissom was getting fed up with Catherine. "Can we just back to work?" he bit out.

"Sorry," Catherine said but not very sincerely. Turning back to the clothes spread before them, she turned her attention back to work. "I'm only about half done processing these clothes so it could be another couple hours." Waving her hand at the rest of the bagged evidence, she continued. "There's all this other evidence to process as well. After that, I've got to try and figure out what caused those unusual voids. Did you see anything at the crime scene that could've caused it?"

"No, I didn't. I only processed the den where our two victims were found and the husband's office which was right off the den. I didn't do a walk-through of the house since you had already done that by the time I arrived. But there is something about the void pattern . . . " He trailed off deep in thought. There was just something eerily familiar about it like he had seen it before. He seemed to recall working another case where there was a similar pattern. The only difference was that the void pattern in that case was in paint, not blood. The case was tickling the back of his brain but he couldn't quite get a grasp on the details. However, he was fairly certainly that it was a recent case like within the last few months. Maybe if he would look back through the case files for the last two or three months maybe he'd recall the details.

Catherine could tell that he was deep in thought and possibly on the verge of a revelation. When he suddenly started heading for the door without another word, she knew he was definitely onto something. Well, she knew that behavior pattern well. He wasn't going to share until he had put all the pieces together.

Just as Grissom reached the door, Catherine remembered that he had never answered her about whether he was going to be her date to the Christmas party or not. "Hey, you never answered me! Are you going to take me to the Christmas party or not?"

"Sorry, can't," he apologized offhandedly as he shrugged his shoulders. "Don't think the girlfriend would like that. I already promised to take her."

Then he turned and walked away leaving Catherine with her mouth hanging open. He was serious. He really had a girlfriend. She thought he had only been kidding. But he really did have a girlfriend! And he was bringing her to the Christmas party! Oh, she definitely had to go. Stag or not, she was going. This was one Christmas party she was not going to miss. She had to meet the woman who finally got the enigmatic Gil Grissom to lift his head out of the microscope!


TBC

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