Note: Hiiiii, guys! The chapter you've all been waiting for... ;-). First of all, I'd really want to thank all those sweet, loyal reviewers who've reviewed my story so far. I appreciate it so much and I really want to thank you guys for it, it means so much to me! Second, I really hope that this chapter lives up to all your expectations since I know many of you have been waiting for this chapter... I really hope you enjoy it! xx.

13. Weeping Willows.

Catherine was exhausted. Mentally. She'd been busy avoiding Lou for almost two weeks now. And so far, she'd done a great job. Catherine had hoped she would feel better after a couple of weeks. That she would've forget the call and Lou. It had been false hope though; not seeing Lou made her feel terrible. They hadn't talked to each other ever since she'd told him she needed more time. Catherine wasn't sure what she wanted. She did know that she wished she could think about something but Lou for a little longer that ten minutes, something she hadn't succeeded in so far. Catherine needed to get her mind off of the man. And when she saw her two favourite guys walking in front of her in the hallway, she thought of the perfect way to do so. Catherine speeded up a little bit until she was able to put an arm around both Nick and Warrick before she said: "Hey guys. I could really use a drink. You want to join me? I'm buying."

She hopefully looked into Warrick's eyes as he said: "I'd love a drink, but we made plans though."

Catherine couldn't hide her disappointment as she said: "You did?"

"Tomorrow."

Nick agreed on that as he said: "Rain check."

Catherine dropped her arms off of the boys their shoulders as she said: "All right," wondering what she should do now.

Highball was filled with people, and Catherine was one of them. She was sitting at the bar, talking with a man called Adam Novak. The first thing that had flashed through her mind when he'd said his first words to her, was that he reminded her of Eddie. A slime. Small talk, complimenting her... Yet Eddie had always been able to have some kind of spell on her though, even after their divorce. And that spell was exactly the same kind of spell Adam had on her. He was charming. He made her feel pretty. And she could tell he was flirting with her. She flirted back.

Catherine knew it wasn't Adam she wanted to flirt with her. He wasn't the man she wanted to flirt with. But it felt so nice to not think, to just make herself feel pretty. To make her feel wnated. The time to feel pretty had to end though; she had to get home. Besides, Catherine didn't want to do something stupid just to keep feeling good about herself. No matter how much she'd enjoyed the flirting with Adam, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was whishing it was Lou sitting in front of her. She finished her drink before she said: "Thanks. I needed this."

"If you're blowing me off, no worries." Catherine looked at Adam while he said those words as he opened a matchbook to write down his number in it. He held it in front of her before he said: "But if you're not… Give me a call."

Catherine couldn't reject the card he held in front of her. She put the card in her bag and wanted to leave, but Adam stopped her. "Wait a second. Let me walk you to your car."Catherine knew she should tell him it was okay. That he should stay and have a good night. She let him walk her though.

Their arms brushed while the two left Highball, and Catherine wasn't sure why she had the sudden urge to just walk away. She didn't want to do things she would regret. Things she would do just because she was in pain over a man she truly loved. Things she would do to forget that pain.

The two reached Catherine's car without a word, and Catherine knew now was the time to simply be wise and get into her car. She made the mistake of looking into Adam's eyes though. Apparently, that was his clue of crashing his lips on hers. Catherine didn't complain at first. His lips against her made her feel good. As their tongues started duelling though, she suddenly felt as if she was being brought back to earth. Lou flashed through her mind the moment she met Adam's tongue. She didn't want Adam, she wanted Lou. She loved Lou. At that moment, she pushed Adam away, while she said: "I… I can't do this tonight. I'll call you."

Catherine opened the door of her car, wanting to get away as fast as possible. Adam wasn't pleased with her action though. His eyes looked like fire as he violently closed the door on Catherine and lisped: "What the hell is your problem?"

Catherine saw a perfect replica of Eddie when Adam did that. Agressive when he didn't get his way. She tried to open the door again while she hissed: "Go to hell." She pulled on the door again, a little harder that time. Adam let go of the door at the same moment, causing it to hit Catherine hard in her cheekbone. A groan escaped from her mouth while her hand instinctively went up to her cheekbone. Adam leant in close and whispered: "You're not worth the trouble," before walking away from her.

A loud sigh escaped from Catherine's lips. She was glad the darkhaired man had left. She felt guilty though. On top of that, she was brought back to her past again. Catherine had hoped she'd passed the stage of covering up her bruises a long time ago. But now, she had to do that all over again.

Catherine's eyes widened as soon as she realised where her crime scene was. She was back on the same scene she'd been just a couple of hours ago; Highball. Being there with Lou next to her didn't make it any easier. Adam's presence flashed through her mind. What made it even harder was that Catherine knew Lou had noticed the cut on her cheek. It wasn't a pretty sight; make-up hadn't been able to cover it up at all. Catherine got out of her car after taking a deep breath, planning on getting as far away from Lou as possible. She tried to walk into the direction of the officer she saw near the entrance of Highball, but she was grabbed by her arm as soon as she stepped out of her car. Catherine knew it was Lou.

"What are you doing!" Catherine's hiss was going unnoticed by Lou as he twisted her so Catherine faced him before he said: "I… I just.. I was worried. I noticed your cheek." He lightly brushed over his own cheek while he said that. "I just wanted to make sure everything's okay."

Catherine's eyes softened as soon as he'd said that, and she wished –for the twentieth time that day,- that last night's events had never taken place. She prayed Lou would never find out about anything. She prayed they could go back to what they had been, without ever bringing up Adam. She stroke his hand lightly with her thumb, enjoying the brief contact they had, before she said: "You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine." She gave him an reassuring smile, what made him let go of her arm, breaking their contact.

Lou raised his eyebrow as he said: "You didn't get that cut on your cheek because you were fine though."

Catherine bit her lip. She didn't want to lie to hem. Telling him the truth sounded even worse at the moment. "I know... I just had an accident in the shower... I'm glad it was my cheek that got hurt, it was stupid. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Lou nodded and looked at Catherine for a couple of seconds before he wanted to walk on. She couldn't let go of him though. Catherine knew she had to do something. If she didn't, she knew it would take a little longer before she would talk to Lou again. She didn't want to stay that long without the man. That was why Catherine stopped him before he could walk away as she asked: "Lou?"

He turned around and when their eyes met, Catherine said: "Maybe….. Can I call you, when we're done with this… I think we have a lot to talk about and I would really like to do that..."

Lou smiled. He couldn't resist the woman in front of him. He had been upset with her for not talking to him or even seeing him for such a long time. Hearing those words made it all okay again though and he said: "I'd like that."

Catherine nodded and softly said: "Me too." Lou nodded at her before nudging his head into the other officer's direction, showing Catherine that it really was time for them to go to their scene.

"You want to know what happened next? Ask the redhead."

Adam's victorious eyes looked into Catherine's when he spoke those words, and Catherine immediately felt Grissom's and Vartann's eyes on her. She tried to connect her eyes with Lou's, but he looked away immediately as soon as their eyes had met. Catherine knew things were bad. Very, very bad.

Catherine left Conrad Ecklie's office with a loud sigh. Not only were her actions jeopardizing her already-not-so-good relationship with Lou, it was also affecting her credibility in her job. Lou was more important for her though; she needed to set things straight with him first. The job would be fine eventually. Yes, Gil would be upset with her for a while. But he'd always come around eventually. Lou was another story though. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to tell him. All she knew was that she needed to see him, to see if their issues could be solved after the new things he'd just heard. Catherine found Lou on his own in the locker room. His back was towards her, and Catherine took a deep breath before she found the courage to get in and clear her throat. Lou turned around immediately, but as soon as he saw Catherine, he turned around again, facing his locker instead. It stung Catherine; he couldn't even face her.

"Lou… Please? Can you.. Can you look at me? We should talk…"

Lou wasn't sure he wanted to. He had tried to avoid Catherine after his interrogation with Adam. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to her. What was left to say? They'd been fighting, Catherine needed some time.. And then she'd hooked-up with another guy. Who'd probably given her the cut on her cheek as well. He wanted to take care of Catherine. But he was hurt. And he didn't know if he wanted to talk to Catherine right now. He could feel she was still standing behind him though, not planning on moving away before he'd turned around.

Lou seemed to take hours to turn around again, and when he finally had, Catherine could tell he felt miserable. He looked miserable too. Catherine closed the door of the locker room with her foot before she walked a little closer to Lou and said: "I guess I need to explain some stuff."

Lou shrugged and stated: "Why? We weren't really together, you don't have to explain a thing."

The bitterness in his voice wasn't unnoticed by Catherine and she replied: "Lou, that's not true. Just… Just hear me out, okay? Please.."

Lou simply nodded, not sure if he really want to hear what Catherine had to say. She immediately started talking though, probably aware of the fact that he didn't feel like listening at all. "I know we haven't really talked for quite some time now. I needed some time to think after you'd read everything about me that I really wanted to tell you myself when I was ready for it. Two weeks ago, I had a talk with Warrick, and he'd noticed that I wasn't as happy as I used to be. I then pretty much realised that, even though I didn't like what you had done, I still loved you. And that I still wanted to be with you."

Catherine wanted to continue, but Lou interrupted her as he said: "Well, then why didn't you tell me that?"

"I was getting there. I searched after shift that night, and I found you in the locker room, talking on your phone. I could hear it was a woman's voice on the other end of the line, and.. Well, I don't know, I just thought you were talking to someone… I don't know, someone you were seeing beside me. I was really upset and I don't even know why I doubted you… I didn't dare going back to you again... And then, when I went out this week.. I was thinking about you. I know it sounds lame, but I was. I missed you, I wanted to be with you.. But that Adam guy made me feel so good about myself. It sounds lame, I know… But it's the truth. Nothing really happened in that bar, and when I wanted to leave, he insisted on walking me to me car. I guess that should've been my cue to let him go and leave him behind, but I let him. And then he kissed me. I kissed him back at first, but the first thing that flashed through my mind when I did was you. And then I immediately stopped. Adam wasn't to happy about that." Catherine pointed to the cut on her cheek, and took a deep breath before she continued.

"I now I should've told you about it the minute you asked me about that on the crime scene, but.. I guess I was embarrassed. I'm sorry, Lou. I really am. You're the only man I truly love and want to be with, and I know I made a stupid mistake. I… I just hope you can forgive me."

Lou looked into Catherine's pretty though sad blue eyes, and without thinking, his hand carefully touched the cut on her cheek. His thumb gently stroke the cut and Catherine closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the moment of contact they had even to it hurt to feel his hands in contact with the cut. Lou wanted to tell Catherine everything would be fine. He wanted to explain to her that he'd been talking to his ex-wife on the phone that time she wanted to talk to him. But both didn't seem to trust the other. Both seemed to have such a big history that the other didn't know about. Lou knew he was going to break Catherine's heart. He knew he was going to break his own as well. He couldn't continue loving Catherine without getting hurt. And neither could she continue loving him without him hurting her. That's why he softly whispered: "Cath.. I… Love isn't always enough."

Catherine's blue eyes were getting bigger as she said: "What do you mean?"

Lou took a deep breath before he said: "I mean… Lovee isn't always able to fix problems. Sometimes you need more than just love. And.. I think love isn't enough to fix our problems at this point."

Note: Liked it? I really hope you did, please let me know! Next update will take a while since I'm off to Spain for a couple of weeks, enjoying my vacation! I hope you can all wait for the next chapter, I know I kinda made this one a cliffhanger... Thanks for reading and I'll update asap! xx.