The Antics of Lindsey Willows

Chapter 10

Lindsey Willows and Alexis Sidle were lying on the couch with their feet up in the air. The adults were at work and the kids were starved of entertainment. Lindsey grabbed a bottle of bubbles from the coffee table and tried to blow them. She managed to get a few out, but most of the soap just dripped onto her face.

"So, it worked, huh? Everything you wanted to happen did," Lindsey said and sighed.

"Oh yeah. It was so cool. I mean, look at me. I'm sixteen years old and my parents are together. At first I just wanted to get to know who my father was, but now I've got both of them. It's the best feeling in the world," Lexi gushed.

"You're lucky. You pull one stunt and everything works out. Me, I'm practically at my wit's end and I've got nothing to show for it."

"I don't want to be Lexi the Gossip Wagon, but that's not entirely true." She smiled at her younger friend.

Lindsey rolled off the couch. "What do you mean?"

She grinned brighter. "Well, you know how my dad and Warrick are friends? According to him, Warrick is filing for divorce."

Lindsey's face fell slightly. "Wait, that's not because of something I did, is it? I know that's kind of what I wanted, but he must feel bad and that wasn't my goal."

"Dad said his wife cheated on him so he got out."

The young girl breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I'm glad it's not my fault." She smiled a little. "Hey, this makes my job easier, doesn't it?"

Warrick sat around the table waiting for his assignment, stealing glances at Catherine whenever he could. He had been unable to get the pictures of her and their earlier conversation about his divorce out of his head. He hoped to be paired with her so they could talk, but he could tell she was avoiding him.

Grissom walked in carrying an experiment that he placed in the fridge. Sara cringed at the smell of it. Nick shook his head and Catherine rolled her eyes. Grissom looked back at their faces, but seemed to notice nothing out of the ordinary.

"Okay, gang," he said, "we've got a busy night tonight. Catherine, you've got a murder at the Tangiers. You're solo. Warrick and Greg, B&E off Industrial. Sara, Nick, you're with me and the fridge." Sara cringed again and Nick chuckled.

Warrick stood up. This was the second straight week without working with Catherine. She must've said something to Grissom, he thought. He followed Greg out the door.

Catherine drove in silence to her scene. She worked the same way, but found herself getting distracted every so often. It got to be so bad that she excused herself and stepped outside for a breather.

This is crazy, she thought. Grissom's going to think something's up other than my desire to work solo eventually. I don't know what I'd tell him. Heck, I don't know what I'd tell anyone if they asked me. I'm going to have to suck it up and deal with this little mess I've made. She looked back to her crime scene. I'll deal with it right after I finish this case.

Greg sashayed out of the break room the next night leaving behind a somewhat stunned Nick and Sara. He saw Catherine down the hall and took a step back. He needed to talk to her and fast. He took one bite of the apple and threw it in a trash can.

"Catherine!" he called and the woman paused and turned around, a stack of results in her hands.

"What do you need, Greg? I'm kind of busy here."

"It's a funny story, really. See, I've figured out that Nick and Sara are seeing each other. They didn't tell anyone so I confronted them about it. And I may have made a comment about you."

She raised her eyebrows. "May have?"

He pursed his lips. "Okay, I definitely made one, but it was just part of my show." He looked around and saw Sara standing in the door of the break room, staring his direction.

Catherine put all of her results in one hand and placed the other on her hip. "What exactly did you say, Greg?"

"Oh, just that I was so sad because I thought Sara loved me and that I'd have to go back to sleeping with you." He closed his eyes and waited for her to explode.

"Have to?"

"Hey, it's not a bad thing," he said opening his eyes and winking at her.

Catherine laughed heartily and walked off to continue her case.

She wrapped it up at the end of another double. It was a classic case of spouse killing cheating spouse. She was glad to be finished, but also a little nervous. She remembered her earlier promise to herself to talk to Warrick. Luckily he was nowhere to be found. She headed into the locker room to grab her things and saw Nick give Sara a kiss.

"Aww, you two look really nice together," she said.

They spun around to look at their colleague. "Thanks Cath. We didn't really want it out this soon, but Alexis and Greg had other plans," Sara mentioned.

"I figured he had an accomplice in all this. Well, congratulations guys. I've got to get home to my kid. She's been especially good lately and I think she wants something," said Catherine.

"Bye, Cath," Nick said.

"Yeah, see you later," said Sara.

"Bye, guys," Catherine responded and went out the door.

As she pulled out of the lab parking lot she noticed Warrick's Denali rolling in. She tossed him a quick wave and he returned it. She turned the corner and proceeded down the road to her house.

Catherine wheeled the car into her driveway and gazed around her home. The grass had been neatly mowed and the porch furniture was dusted. Something was definitely up. If she knew her kid, she knew that Lindsey never did extra housework unless she wanted something in return. Catherine grabbed the mail from the mailbox and made her way into an extra-clean house.

A/N: I believe this was mostly just a filler chapter. You know the drill.