It is very obvious that I am a PureJoy shipper. I said it in my profile and the characters listed for this story are Gil and Catherine. If you are a GSR shipper, please don't use the review button to bash PureJoy or this writer. Two reviewers, who chose not to identify themselves so that I could respond through e-mail, used reviews as their platform. I have nothing against GSR shippers, generally, but since these two...one in particular was so mean, I will enter the fray in later chapters. So if you are a Sara hater, you'll love it. For all those wonderful Grillows shippers who are reading this story, thank you for your very kind comments. And I hope you will continue to read:-)

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As promised, Lily came back with Lindsey. The teen was visibly upset about her mother and went immediately to her bedside. Gil relinquished his chair to let her sit close to Catherine. He eased his way to the back of the room and once again drank in the sight of the mother and daughter; or in this instance, three generations.

As he watched the trio, he was again struck by the similarities between Catherine and Lily. And there were many similarities between Catherine and Lindsey. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightening, he was struck by the thought that Lindsey also reminded him of another woman in his life. Lily had said something amusing and Lindsey sat laughing; Gil Grissom could almost hear the sound of his mother's laughter. His brow furrowed and his lips pursed in extreme concentration as his eyes focused on something or someone far away. Could it be? He wondered. Bringing his thoughts back into the room, he focused on the child that he had always wished was his.

After Lily and Lindsey left, Catherine looked at Gil and asked, "are you all right? You seemed….distracted while they were here."

Settling back into the chair, Gil once again took her hand in his. "I'm fine; just have a puzzle that I'm thinking through."

Studying his face, Catherine thought she saw something different in his countenance. Something had changed. If anything, he seemed more tender….almost worshipful in his demeanor. Shaking her head, she thought she must be imagining things. Tired after her visitors, she settled back into her pillow and dozed.

Catherine had been correct in her assessment. As Gil sat watching her, his heart was swelling. Was it possible? Could she have given birth to ….his child? Was he a father all of these years and neither of them suspected? This woman that he had quietly adored for so many she have wondered? After all, they did have that one night and she had announced her pregnancy just a couple of months later. No, he thought. She never would have stayed with Eddie unless she thought it was his baby. Thinking of Eddie made Gil angry. The SOB had beaten Catherine, his Catherine, several times. And he had been a lousy father. Lindsey deserved a better father. Remorse set in as Gil realized that he should have been that better father. And then he began to wonder what he should do ….after all, he was just guessing based on his observations. Maybe he was reading what he wanted to into the child. After all, what are the odds…..

Gil dozed off with all of these thoughts spinning in his head. Consequently, his sleep was not restful at all. To make matters worse, the nightmare returned; except this time it was Lindsey who was just beyond his reach….

Waking after he nearly fell out of the chair, he looked around the room, confused. Then he remembered where he was….and why he was there. Looking at Catherine, he saw that she was still sleeping. Reassuring himself that she was okay, he began to study her face again. He loved the lines of her face, the shape of her eyes, her little nose, and the strength of her jaw. He knew she worked at her good looks….at fighting off the aging process. But he thought that even in thirty years, she would still be a very beautiful woman to anyone who cared to look. For him her beauty was not only in her appearance, it radiated from within. It was that beauty that he found the most interesting.

As his mind wandered, he thought of Sara. She seemed very distant now. He had loved her; part of him still did. She had shown him how to open up and let his feelings out and he was grateful to her for that. But Catherine, in one way or another, had been a part of him for almost twenty years. And after today, he knew that if there was one person he couldn't live without, it was her.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a soft knock on the door. Peeking around the door, Greg asked if he could come in.

"Yeah Greg. She's sleeping but come in."

"How's she doing?" Greg looked nervous and worried.

"Okay. She has a concussion but the doc thinks she'll be fine in a few days. She should get to go home in the morning."

"I feel terrible about what happened. I went outside to check the parking lot and around the building…."

"Greg, you thought the room was clear. I know you wouldn't have left her otherwise. She knows it too." Gil was trying to console the young CSI.

"Yeah, but…if only I had stayed with her."

The sadness in Greg's eyes concerned Gil. "Greg, stop it. You can't blame yourself. It's part of the job. Let's just be grateful that the outcome wasn't worse. Who was the guy, anyway?"

The question had the desired effect. Greg seemed to be coming out of it. "His name is Melvin Snyder. Turned out, he was the second shooter and the one that actually killed the owner. There is a secret room behind the walls of the office there. Snyder was hiding there and when Gina came in and shot Bowman, he saw his opportunity. He opened the door just a little and fired. Then he hid in the room, hoping to get away later. He didn't realize that Catherine was still in the office when he tried to sneak out and so he hit her on the head to try to get away. Vega has him locked up."

"Good," said Gil. Looking at Catherine, who was still sleeping, anger boiled inside him. There wasn't a jail bad enough to lock the bastard in as far as Gil was concerned. Greg was watching his mentor closely. Something had changed. Grissom was different….acting differently towards Catherine. It confused him.

Greg stayed awhile longer but Catherine never woke up, so he left. Gil continued to sit by her bed, dozing. He was awakened by his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. Answering it, he was surprised by an upset Lily. "Gil," she began, "the police were here. Lindsey went to her friend's house and the girls snuck out and went riding in Jennifer's car. They were in an accident." Lily was in tears and the gravity of the situation was hitting Gil.

"Are…is she okay?" He was filled with fear as he asked.

"She was taken to that hospital. She should be in the emergency room by now. One of the officers has offered to drive me there, but would you go dwn and see about her?"

"Of course. I'll see you when you get here." Gil hung up and quickly scribbled a note in case Catherine woke up. He decided to see how Lindsey was before upsetting her mother with the news.

Down in the ER, he was able to locate her almost immediately. Her friend Jennifer was also there. Both girls were in bad shape. Gil's heart constricted as the doctor gave him a run down of the girl's condition. Luckily it was the same doctor that had taken care of Catherine, so he knew why Catherine wasn't there. Having seen the relationship between Gil and Catherine, the doctor was more informative than he otherwise might have been.

"She's suffered a blow to the head and has a broken leg. But my greatest concern is the trauma to her abdomen…more specifically, her kidneys. Apparently she wasn't wearing her seatbelt and got tossed around inside the car, incurring several blows to the area. Preliminary exams and e-rays show quite a bit of trauma. Right now we are trying to get the internal bleeding under control. We're giving her blood to replace what she has lost."

Gil listened intently, studying the man's face for clues about what he wasn't saying. "Just how bad is it, Doc? Life threatening?"

Gil had asked the question that the doctor wasn't ready to answer. "It's too early to say…but possibly. And even if we get her stabilized quickly, the damage to her kidneys…"

"You're saying she might actually lose her kidneys?" Nausea was rising in his gut as he thought about that scenario.

"Again, it's too early to say for sure, but judging by the preliminary exam, I think it is a possibility."

Closing his eyes, fighting down the nausea, Gil tried to think. "If her kidneys fail… What about a transplant?"

"That would be a possibility, depending of course on finding a suitable donor."

"I could do it," Gil offered.

"But…we have no idea if you would even be a match." The doctor looked surprised.

"Do the tests….do it now, just in case." Gil was insistent.

"Well…is there any reason that you think you'd be a match?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," answered Gil succinctly.

Brows furrowing, the doctor studied Gil. He knew there w as more to the story but he didn't have time to dg it out of the man. So he instructed a nurse to take care of having Gil tested as a possible donor and he returned to his patients.