Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, but if I did, Grissom would've left Vegas because Ecklie decided to fumigate the lab without telling him, effectively killing all his bugs XD (Thanks for the idea, scuby!)

A/N: I am so, so, SO sorry for such a long wait, I know most of you will probably have to go back and read the previous chapters (I know I had to) and I can't even really give you a good excuse other than my personal life is a mess right now and I've had a lot going on. I won't bore you with the details, as I'm sure I don't have many readers after such a long time, but I do apologize to anybody still reading. Anyway, this chapter takes place during/after "Weeping Willows".

It was odd, spending time with Catherine and being so close. I always did go after emotionally unavailable people, which was true enough with Catherine, considering she was the Catherine Willows—completely gorgeous and completely unattainable. Even if this wasn't true, however, I still wasn't used to being so close to anybody, to letting someone in. It made me uncomfortable, which was only made worse by the fact that I couldn't think of one reason not to trust her.

I rounded the corner to find the object of my musings staring at Grissom's retreating form with a look I couldn't quite describe on her face. I was fairly certain I knew what was wrong—everyone had been treating her like she was the suspect since they found out she kissed a suspect in a murder investigation. It turned out he was innocent, but that didn't change how they treated her. To be honest, I was pissed off at first, too.

"Everything alright?" I asked, knowing her answer already. She turned to me with a hurt look, which immediately changed to a cold one. Did she really think I blamed her, too?

"Just great, thanks." She snapped. I raised a brow, though I decided to just let it slide.

"Want to talk about it? I just closed a case, so—"

"Thanks, but I don't need you to tell me that I messed up, too." She cut me off.

"I'm trying to help, Cat! I don't blame you for wanting a bit of human contact once in a while. It's not your fault things turned out how they did." I said, trying to keep from sounding as angry as I felt at her for pushing me away.

She stared at me for a long moment before sighing, "Sorry."

I nodded. "Breakfast?"

She smiled slightly and nodded as well. I walked back to the locker room and grabbed my jacket before meeting Catherine at her car. She tossed me the keys and I got in the driver's side.

The drive to the diner was fairly silent, only talking about Lindsey, Greg's new apartment (he was throwing a party that Saturday that he expected us both to go to), movies that we wanted to see but knew we wouldn't, and just about anything else that had nothing to do with work.

"So what are you doing tomorrow?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Well, Grissom finally gave me the day off, but Linds is staying over at Ashley's house tonight and going with her to school tomorrow, so…I'm not sure." She shrugged.

"I'm going to Lake Mead tomorrow. Do you want to…come with me?" I offered, trying not to sound too anxious. She smiled slightly.

"I'd love to."

A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, it's probably the shortest chapter I will ever upload. I couldn't really get what I wanted to from my head to the paper, so this is, unfortunately, all I have for the time being. I have a few more episodes until I get back to Cath's reaction, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to put the "date" up or not. Tell me what you think and I promise to update soon ;)