A/N: Hey y'all! Back for more I see! I guess you must really be enjoying
it! YAY! Trying to contain my excitement. Well brace yourselves, this is
gonna be a long painful one. Oh dear, it seems that I have scared away my
sanity. Well, you guys read, I'll go find it. Enjoy! HERE SANITY! COME ON
NOW I NEED YOU OR THEY'LL FIND OUT I'M CRAZY! LOL
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sara brought Catherine home after she had calmed down. They pulled into the driveway and Sara broke the silence.
"Hey, it's going to be okay Catherine. I promise." She said hugging her friend.
"Thank you Sara. I don't know what I would do without you."
"You'd probably have some other friend that is good with kids and other people except for their friends, and you would have nobody to talk 'girl talk' to at work." She said smiling. Catherine looked at her and smiled. Something she hadn't done in hours.
"Well, on that note, I should probably go before I get upset again."
"Okay. I'll come with you to get Lindsey." Sara said as they climbed out and walked through the front door.
As Catherine opened the front door, she heard Lindsey playing her Shania Twain Up! album she had gotten for her birthday. She smelled steak and vegetables. Grissom was preparing dinner. She knew he wasn't done yet, because she could hear the skillet sizzling. She heard the thumping of Lindsey running down the hall to greet her.
"Hi Mommy! Hi Sara!"
"Hi sweetie." Catherine said picking her up and holding her tight. "Oh, I missed you today. How was school?"
"It was great! We had a party since everyone was too excited to pay attention."
"So Lindsey, are you excited about spring break?" Sara asked as Lindsey went to give her a hug.
"Yeah! I'm excited because I get to go home with you tonight too!" She said smiling.
"Oh hey I got an idea! If it's alright with your mom, maybe you can spent the night." Sara said looking in Catherine's direction.
"Oh mommy can I can I please please please!" Lindsey begged as Catherine snapped out of her little world.
"What sweetie?"
"Can I spent the night at Sara's house?"
"Um, sure it's fine with me."
"Yay! Thank you mommy!"
"Okay kiddo, go get your PJ's and sleeping bag together. I'll tell uncle Nick to find our sleeping bags and we can all camp out in the livingroom okay?"
"Cool! I'll be right back." She said running back down the hall to her room.
"Catherine? Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thank you so much Sara for taking Lindsey."
"It's no problem. We love having her over. She and Nick always have tons of fun when they're together."
"Tell Nick I said thank you and good luck."
"Will do Catherine."
"Okay Sara I'm ready!"
"Okay, go say good bye to uncle Grissom."
"I heard my name." Grissom said wiping his hands on a dish towel as he walked toward them. "Hello Catherine, Sara how was your shopping trip?"
"Oh it was good. I needed to get a few things for Nick, and Catherine bought a few things for the office."
"Oh okay. Hey Linds are you going camping?"
"Mommy said I could spend the night with Nick and Sara. And I was about to say good bye to you."
"Okay then, bye Lindsey. I'll see you next week Sara."
"Are you on vacation?"
"Yeah, it starts tomorrow."
"Okay, have a good one."
"You too. Tell Nick I said hi."
"Okay bye guys. Enjoy your dinner."
"Bye mommy, bye uncle Grissom." Lindsey said following Sara outside.
"Bye sweetie. Have a good time." Catherine held her breath as they backed out of the driveway. 'This is it. The rest of your life is riding on what happens tonight.' She thought as she walked back inside. She walked into the dining room and saw the table done up like in an expensive restaurant. There were candles and flowers and table linens with matching cloth napkins.
"Have a seat Catherine." Grissom said bringing in their plates.
"Wow, Gil this is beautiful." Catherine said as she revealed her beautiful smile. Grissom loved her smile. it could make him feel better about anything. Including what he had to tell her tonight. He sat down and they ate in awkward silence. Neither of them spoke. Finally once Grissom had cleared their plates, he broke the silence.
"Catherine are you okay? You have been acting strange all day. As a matter of fact, you and Sara have both been acting pretty strange today. What is going on?"
"Nothing. I have no idea what is wrong with Sara and I'm fine. I was just a little tired today."
"Okay. Are you sure that's it?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Anyway, you and Lindsey have the same week off for vacation, are you going to do anything special?"
"Actually, I need to talk to you about something. I need to take over shift."
"Well, I already knew that, I was going to anyway." Catherine said getting confused.
"I know. I have to fly out to California for a few days."
"You usually go to California for every other vacation, why? Is this different?" Catherine asked, afraid that the truth was going to come out any second.
"It is different because there is a family emergency I need to deal with."
"What happened? Is someone hurt?"
"Yes, but before I tell you, I need to explain a few things to you first."
"Gil, you know you can tell me anything." 'Oh god, here it comes.' She thought holding back the tears, not certain of what he was going to say.
"God, help me." Grissom mumbled under his breath.
"Gil? Just tell me. What is it?"
"Okay, as you know I used to live in California."
"Yeah, I mean you have never told me too much about it or anything, but I know it."
"Well, I haven't told anyone about my life in California. Not even Sara, and I worked with her when I lived there. But I had a totally different life back then. I was married, I had a great life. It hurts so much to remember this." He said as he tried to hide the pain. Catherine was confused at what he was trying to tell her, but she wanted so much to comfort him.
"Go on Gil, tell me."
"I don't know where to start."
"Start at the beginning it is the easiest place to start."
"Twenty years ago, I met an amazing woman. She worked with me and we dated for a year before we were married."
"What was her name?"
"Nicole. She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. We were married for three years when she became pregnant."
"Wait, are you telling me you have a child?" Catherine said unsure of what she felt.
"Yes. We had a little girl. Alexandra Nicole Grissom." He said staring at the floor.
"Why didn't you tell me about this? Don't you think I had the right to know?" 'Alexandra is his daughter?' Catherine thought becoming furious.
"It was just too painful to talk about them."
"Tell me what happened. How did you end up here in Vegas and single?"
"When Alex was two, Nicole was in a car accident. She was killed. I became shut in and depressed. I stopped going into work. I didn't eat. I took care of Alex, but not myself."
"But what happened to her? Why isn't she here with you?"
"Nicole's mother never liked me. When Nicole died, her mother waited until I was at my lowest point to send Child Services. They took Alex away from me. She was ordered to live with her grandmother. My whole family, my whole world was taken away from me with in a matter of weeks. She wanted to come with me. 'Til this day I don't know why I left. I used to regret it, but after I met you, I knew I would be able to find happiness, and I don't ever want to lose that Catherine. I'm so sorry I never told you." He said as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I have something to tell you too. Sara and I were talking outside your office today and we heard you talking you Alex. I thought you were cheating on me. I had no idea. I should've known better. I'm sorry."
"Catherine you have every right to be angry. And I don't blame you for drawing that conclusion."
"What happened? Whatever the emergency is, it sounded urgent."
"Yes it is. And things will only get more complicated. Alex's grandmother died in the hospital after having a heart attack this afternoon. She was so scared." he said as his voice saddened even more.
"What is going to happen?"
"She is now in the state's care until I get there. I am all she has left."
"Does she know about me and Lindsey?"
"Yeah, she knows about everyone. I visit her when I go to California for vacation."
"I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe you told her all about us, but we know nothing of her. I just don't see why you didn't tell me this!"
"Catherine I wanted to wait until the time was right."
"Gil there is no right time to find out that your fiancee' has a child that lives in another state that nobody knows about! I mean come on what were you going to do, wait until the wedding?"
"Catherine please..."
"Please what? You said it yourself, I have every right to be angry."
"I know that Catherine, I was just hoping that you would understand."
"I do understand, more than you now, but you still should have told me this." Catherine said as she started to cry.
"Catherine please, you know how much I care about you and Lindsey. But there is no hiding from this. If you give it a chance, I promise we can get through this." Grissom said as Catherine turned away and stayed silent. " You can stay mad at me as long as you want, but it will never change how I feel about you Catherine. I need to pack. My flight leaves in an hour." He said walking slowly to their bedroom to pack some things. He was finished in ten minutes. he walked out from the hallway and saw Catherine in the same position he had left her. "I'm so sorry Catherine. You can't even begin to understand how I feel. I want you to remember how much I love you. I'll be back in a few days. " He said leaving her there alone.
"I love you too." She said softly, almost to herself as she heard his Tahoe back out of the driveway.
She went to her bedroom, their bedroom and laid in bed. She turned to his side and put her head on his pillow. She could smell him. She took in a deep breath of the smell and began to cry. She hated him. But she still loved him. It hurt that they had fought before he left. It hurt just as bad that he didn't tell her he had had another wife, another family before her. She wasn't surprised, just angry he said nothing. She tried to sleep, but failed. She was kept awake thinking about how Alex was going to change their lives. She was thinking about how good it felt to be in the arms of the man she loved. She felt safe with him, she didn't want to lose that feeling, not for the world. She knew it would be hard, but she knew she would have to adjust. But her stubbornness was dangerous in these situations. So dangerous, she was almost unsure of how she felt. So dangerous, that it had caused her to make the wrong decision more than once. She was afraid of than happening again. But deep down inside she knew they would get through it. How or when, she didn't know. But she just knew it would happen.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: So? Well, I warned you it was going to be long. Was it too much? It was too much wasn't it? Don't worry, I don't think the next one will be as long. I'm pretty sure. I hoped everyone enjoyed it. Let me know if I should write more, or if I should stop boring you with my long heartfelt chapters of secrets and lies. ::sigh:: well, I guess now it is my turn to face the truth, please review and tell me what you think.
~Sweet Jorja
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sara brought Catherine home after she had calmed down. They pulled into the driveway and Sara broke the silence.
"Hey, it's going to be okay Catherine. I promise." She said hugging her friend.
"Thank you Sara. I don't know what I would do without you."
"You'd probably have some other friend that is good with kids and other people except for their friends, and you would have nobody to talk 'girl talk' to at work." She said smiling. Catherine looked at her and smiled. Something she hadn't done in hours.
"Well, on that note, I should probably go before I get upset again."
"Okay. I'll come with you to get Lindsey." Sara said as they climbed out and walked through the front door.
As Catherine opened the front door, she heard Lindsey playing her Shania Twain Up! album she had gotten for her birthday. She smelled steak and vegetables. Grissom was preparing dinner. She knew he wasn't done yet, because she could hear the skillet sizzling. She heard the thumping of Lindsey running down the hall to greet her.
"Hi Mommy! Hi Sara!"
"Hi sweetie." Catherine said picking her up and holding her tight. "Oh, I missed you today. How was school?"
"It was great! We had a party since everyone was too excited to pay attention."
"So Lindsey, are you excited about spring break?" Sara asked as Lindsey went to give her a hug.
"Yeah! I'm excited because I get to go home with you tonight too!" She said smiling.
"Oh hey I got an idea! If it's alright with your mom, maybe you can spent the night." Sara said looking in Catherine's direction.
"Oh mommy can I can I please please please!" Lindsey begged as Catherine snapped out of her little world.
"What sweetie?"
"Can I spent the night at Sara's house?"
"Um, sure it's fine with me."
"Yay! Thank you mommy!"
"Okay kiddo, go get your PJ's and sleeping bag together. I'll tell uncle Nick to find our sleeping bags and we can all camp out in the livingroom okay?"
"Cool! I'll be right back." She said running back down the hall to her room.
"Catherine? Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thank you so much Sara for taking Lindsey."
"It's no problem. We love having her over. She and Nick always have tons of fun when they're together."
"Tell Nick I said thank you and good luck."
"Will do Catherine."
"Okay Sara I'm ready!"
"Okay, go say good bye to uncle Grissom."
"I heard my name." Grissom said wiping his hands on a dish towel as he walked toward them. "Hello Catherine, Sara how was your shopping trip?"
"Oh it was good. I needed to get a few things for Nick, and Catherine bought a few things for the office."
"Oh okay. Hey Linds are you going camping?"
"Mommy said I could spend the night with Nick and Sara. And I was about to say good bye to you."
"Okay then, bye Lindsey. I'll see you next week Sara."
"Are you on vacation?"
"Yeah, it starts tomorrow."
"Okay, have a good one."
"You too. Tell Nick I said hi."
"Okay bye guys. Enjoy your dinner."
"Bye mommy, bye uncle Grissom." Lindsey said following Sara outside.
"Bye sweetie. Have a good time." Catherine held her breath as they backed out of the driveway. 'This is it. The rest of your life is riding on what happens tonight.' She thought as she walked back inside. She walked into the dining room and saw the table done up like in an expensive restaurant. There were candles and flowers and table linens with matching cloth napkins.
"Have a seat Catherine." Grissom said bringing in their plates.
"Wow, Gil this is beautiful." Catherine said as she revealed her beautiful smile. Grissom loved her smile. it could make him feel better about anything. Including what he had to tell her tonight. He sat down and they ate in awkward silence. Neither of them spoke. Finally once Grissom had cleared their plates, he broke the silence.
"Catherine are you okay? You have been acting strange all day. As a matter of fact, you and Sara have both been acting pretty strange today. What is going on?"
"Nothing. I have no idea what is wrong with Sara and I'm fine. I was just a little tired today."
"Okay. Are you sure that's it?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Anyway, you and Lindsey have the same week off for vacation, are you going to do anything special?"
"Actually, I need to talk to you about something. I need to take over shift."
"Well, I already knew that, I was going to anyway." Catherine said getting confused.
"I know. I have to fly out to California for a few days."
"You usually go to California for every other vacation, why? Is this different?" Catherine asked, afraid that the truth was going to come out any second.
"It is different because there is a family emergency I need to deal with."
"What happened? Is someone hurt?"
"Yes, but before I tell you, I need to explain a few things to you first."
"Gil, you know you can tell me anything." 'Oh god, here it comes.' She thought holding back the tears, not certain of what he was going to say.
"God, help me." Grissom mumbled under his breath.
"Gil? Just tell me. What is it?"
"Okay, as you know I used to live in California."
"Yeah, I mean you have never told me too much about it or anything, but I know it."
"Well, I haven't told anyone about my life in California. Not even Sara, and I worked with her when I lived there. But I had a totally different life back then. I was married, I had a great life. It hurts so much to remember this." He said as he tried to hide the pain. Catherine was confused at what he was trying to tell her, but she wanted so much to comfort him.
"Go on Gil, tell me."
"I don't know where to start."
"Start at the beginning it is the easiest place to start."
"Twenty years ago, I met an amazing woman. She worked with me and we dated for a year before we were married."
"What was her name?"
"Nicole. She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. We were married for three years when she became pregnant."
"Wait, are you telling me you have a child?" Catherine said unsure of what she felt.
"Yes. We had a little girl. Alexandra Nicole Grissom." He said staring at the floor.
"Why didn't you tell me about this? Don't you think I had the right to know?" 'Alexandra is his daughter?' Catherine thought becoming furious.
"It was just too painful to talk about them."
"Tell me what happened. How did you end up here in Vegas and single?"
"When Alex was two, Nicole was in a car accident. She was killed. I became shut in and depressed. I stopped going into work. I didn't eat. I took care of Alex, but not myself."
"But what happened to her? Why isn't she here with you?"
"Nicole's mother never liked me. When Nicole died, her mother waited until I was at my lowest point to send Child Services. They took Alex away from me. She was ordered to live with her grandmother. My whole family, my whole world was taken away from me with in a matter of weeks. She wanted to come with me. 'Til this day I don't know why I left. I used to regret it, but after I met you, I knew I would be able to find happiness, and I don't ever want to lose that Catherine. I'm so sorry I never told you." He said as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I have something to tell you too. Sara and I were talking outside your office today and we heard you talking you Alex. I thought you were cheating on me. I had no idea. I should've known better. I'm sorry."
"Catherine you have every right to be angry. And I don't blame you for drawing that conclusion."
"What happened? Whatever the emergency is, it sounded urgent."
"Yes it is. And things will only get more complicated. Alex's grandmother died in the hospital after having a heart attack this afternoon. She was so scared." he said as his voice saddened even more.
"What is going to happen?"
"She is now in the state's care until I get there. I am all she has left."
"Does she know about me and Lindsey?"
"Yeah, she knows about everyone. I visit her when I go to California for vacation."
"I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe you told her all about us, but we know nothing of her. I just don't see why you didn't tell me this!"
"Catherine I wanted to wait until the time was right."
"Gil there is no right time to find out that your fiancee' has a child that lives in another state that nobody knows about! I mean come on what were you going to do, wait until the wedding?"
"Catherine please..."
"Please what? You said it yourself, I have every right to be angry."
"I know that Catherine, I was just hoping that you would understand."
"I do understand, more than you now, but you still should have told me this." Catherine said as she started to cry.
"Catherine please, you know how much I care about you and Lindsey. But there is no hiding from this. If you give it a chance, I promise we can get through this." Grissom said as Catherine turned away and stayed silent. " You can stay mad at me as long as you want, but it will never change how I feel about you Catherine. I need to pack. My flight leaves in an hour." He said walking slowly to their bedroom to pack some things. He was finished in ten minutes. he walked out from the hallway and saw Catherine in the same position he had left her. "I'm so sorry Catherine. You can't even begin to understand how I feel. I want you to remember how much I love you. I'll be back in a few days. " He said leaving her there alone.
"I love you too." She said softly, almost to herself as she heard his Tahoe back out of the driveway.
She went to her bedroom, their bedroom and laid in bed. She turned to his side and put her head on his pillow. She could smell him. She took in a deep breath of the smell and began to cry. She hated him. But she still loved him. It hurt that they had fought before he left. It hurt just as bad that he didn't tell her he had had another wife, another family before her. She wasn't surprised, just angry he said nothing. She tried to sleep, but failed. She was kept awake thinking about how Alex was going to change their lives. She was thinking about how good it felt to be in the arms of the man she loved. She felt safe with him, she didn't want to lose that feeling, not for the world. She knew it would be hard, but she knew she would have to adjust. But her stubbornness was dangerous in these situations. So dangerous, she was almost unsure of how she felt. So dangerous, that it had caused her to make the wrong decision more than once. She was afraid of than happening again. But deep down inside she knew they would get through it. How or when, she didn't know. But she just knew it would happen.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: So? Well, I warned you it was going to be long. Was it too much? It was too much wasn't it? Don't worry, I don't think the next one will be as long. I'm pretty sure. I hoped everyone enjoyed it. Let me know if I should write more, or if I should stop boring you with my long heartfelt chapters of secrets and lies. ::sigh:: well, I guess now it is my turn to face the truth, please review and tell me what you think.
~Sweet Jorja
