Chapter 10

It was almost twilight when the two friends returned to the Grissom home. Having had a great time together as Grissom showed Catherine many of his boyhood hangouts, and also given her a lot more insight into her best friend and what he had been like growing up. "You ready?" He said as they began walking back to the house, both bracing themselves for what they assumed was about to come. Catherine merely shrugged in response, but to their surprise his mother was not up waiting for them, despite the early hour there was simply a note on the table announcing she had decided to retire early and would see them in the morning.

"So what would you like to do now?" He questioned when he realized they had the evening to themselves.

"Are you sure we shouldn't check on her?" Catherine looked a little worried.

"Nah, she does this from time to time, goes and hides to deal with her feelings." Gil acted very used to the whole routine.

"A lot like her son." Catherine observed.

"Hey, I'm getting better." He defended himself.

"Yes you are," she agreed, still enjoying the new side of him she was seeing. "I know what I'd like to do," she suddenly had a thought. "I'd like to look through some of your picture albums." She was excited at the idea.

"Ok, want me to bring them down here, or…." He paused looking at her questioningly.

"I thought it was pretty nice in your room." She said almost shyly as her words caused his pulse to quicken slightly as they headed up the stairs to his room. She knew she was taking a chance but this trip was bringing up a lot of feelings she had tried to repress over the years for her best friend. Learning even more about him the way she was and understanding him better was only causing her feelings to deepen. She felt an inward twinge that soon this would all be over and they'd be back in their usual roles, immersed in the blood and gore of Las Vegas and ignoring any feelings that may exist between them beyond friendship. She had often suspected he might feel more for her also, but like his mother he wasn't very open with his feelings.

Unaware of her internal turmoil, Grissom pulled his picture albums out and stacked them by his bed before they assumed their position from earlier that morning. Pulling out the first book he began a narrative of who the people were from an album apparently composed largely of pictures from the gallery his mother used to own.

After the second album full of him at the art gallery with his mother, Catherine couldn't resist asking. "Do you have any that aren't at located at the gallery."

"Umm sure, there is one" he reached over and dug through before pulling out a small red album. He hesitated a moment before he opened it, the first page showing a picture of his mother and father holding a baby.

Catherine realized immediately from that first picture, and the worn pages of the album that this was something deeply personal for him. "If you don't feel comfortable sharing this," she began.

"No, it's ok." He swallowed as he said it. "I'm working on being more open remember. It's just you're the first person I've shared this with."

"Thank you," she said sincerely as she pulled a little closer to him as they began looking at the album.

"My mother, father and me," he identified the first few pictures. "There's my father when he was younger, and here he is when he was in college," the emotion apparent in his voice. "You know, Lindsey never did quite get over my divorce from Eddie." She said, trying to find a safe way to acknowledge what she could see as some lingering pain over his parents divorce.

"Yeah, I don't remember him very well, but I remember him laughing a lot, taking me to the playground before he disappeared." Gil reminisced with a smile.

"You have his eyes, and the same boyish look" Catherine observed as she studied the picture of his father and seeing how his son resembled him. She saw Gil grin out of the corner of her eye at her statement.

She thoroughly enjoyed seeing the pictures as they progressed, watching the changes from infant to blond haired toddler then a dark haired youngster and into his teenage years as evidenced by the lanky awkward photo's near the end of the album. She also noticed how his looks got progessively more sober as he aged.

He reverently closed it after they reached the end and laid it on the floor. "I used to think I'd show this to Dad the next time I saw him, to show him the years he had missed." Gils voice was emotional as he spoke," but he never came back."

"Have you ever looked for him?" Catherine asked surprised that his father had apparently never come back to see him.

"I did once, after college, I was trying to work through some of the bitterness." Gil admitted, but I couldn't find him. He's always somewhere in China, no phone numbers, addresses or anything and my letters would come back unopened when I tried replying to the birthday cards.

"Does he still send cards?"

"Nah, they stopped after I turned 21. Guess he figured I didn't care anymore." Gil said sadly as he began absentmindedly stroking her arm that was lying across his stomach. Inwardly mulling over how good it felt to open up and be able to share this part of himself with his best friend. He wished she could see him as more than a friend, but knew that was probably not really an option. So contented himself with enjoying her company and the physical closeness that came with their current pretense of being engaged.