Disclaimers: Not mine.

Spoilers: Very little of Inside The Box

+++++

UNINTENTIONAL

(Chapter 7 – July 25, 2003, 1:00 AM)

"What?" Catherine tried to sound annoyed but the big grin on her face gave her away.

"Nothing." Grissom shook his head innocently, immediately dropping his gaze back down to the case files on his desk.

"Right..." She answered, obviously unconvinced. Ever since that night Grissom had stayed over to keep her company, she had sensed that he had something to say to her. The feeling was only made more concrete by the fireworks show he had prepared for her for Independence Day. She had waited for him to tell her on her own but she knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. So taking this opportunity, she decided to go for it, "I know I'm more interesting to look at than your paperwork but really, Gil."

"I wasn't looking at you." He answered a little too quickly.

"Gee, thanks." She narrowed her eyes at him and pretended to be insulted.

"That's not what I meant!"

"I was just kidding, Grissom." She chuckled but stopped promptly when she realized having fun on his part wasn't the point of this conversation. "So?"

"So what?"

"Are you going to tell me why you've been looking at me for the past hour?"

"I haven't been."

"Fine. Correction, are you going to tell me why you've been subtly *peeking* at me for the past hour?"

He pursed his lips and gave her a look before shaking his head, "It's nothing."

"If it's nothing, then why can't you just tell me?"

"Do I have to define what 'nothing' means?" He asked mockingly with a raised eyebrow.

"Gil..."

"It's really nothing, Cath."

"Then just say whatever's on your mind! Whatever's *been* on your mind for the past month!"

He looked at her, as if considering her suggestion but then shook his head again and repeated, "It's nothing."

"And here I thought we were actually making progress." She answered with a sigh. He looked at her but said nothing so she continued, "I thought I had finally gotten through to you. That you had finally seen the light and decided to actually open up to me. I guess I was wrong."

"I said I wanted to be a better friend. I meant it."

"Then show me."

"Why don't you trust me enough to decide what I should and shouldn't say?"

"Oh, don't push the blame on me! You know how much I trust you. I just wonder sometimes how much you trust *me*."

"You know I trust you."

"Is that why you keep hiding things from me?"

"Knowledge is power but ignorance can be bliss, Catherine."

She took a deep breath, leveling off her anger, knowing it wouldn't do either of them any good for her to get anymore frustrated by the situation. "Can you just promise me that this doesn't have anything to do with your health? I don't exactly enjoy hearing about impromptu surgeries and whatnot."

He had never even considered the possibility that Catherine would suspect this had something to do with his hearing. But now that she had mentioned it, he realized why she would think it and it only added more to his guilt. "I promise."

Though, for once, he was actually telling the truth, it didn't make him feel any better. This was only one truth out of a pack of lies that had sprung from one incident. There was no turning back now and if she ever found out what he had been hiding from him, he wasn't sure what would happen.

*To Be Continued*