Catherine woke to find Gil's note on the bed table. Reading it, she smiled.

Catherine,

First…God, you look so beautiful while sleeping. I'll share with you later the things I wanted to crawl into bed and do; sleep was not one of them. But you need your rest.

Next... I checked on Lindsey. She's very beautiful when she sleeps too and I'll shoot any guy who has the thoughts about her that I've been having about her mother.

Finally…I'm going to take Lily home. She is exhausted. Then I'll run by my place for a shower; I think I'm starting to smell. I promise to be back in time to take you down to see Lindsey.

Gil

Catherine was amused by Gil's response to having a beautiful daughter. She hoped Lindsey would accept the fact that Gil was her father. She thought of her own troubled relationship with Sam. Hopefully things would be smoother between Gil and Lindsey.

Just then her door opened and Warrick walked in. "Hey…up for some company?" he asked.

"Hey you…yeah, come on in."

"So how ya doing?"

"I've been better. But it's not me that I'm worried about. Lindsey is still pretty serious."

"Yeah…I tried to go see her but they wouldn't let me in."

"Yeah….family only in ICU," she smiled. "But thanks for trying."

Warrick was wondering how Grissom could get in if only family was allowed. But then, Grissom had a way of making things happen. "So when are they going to let you out of here?"

"Well, I was going home this morning but then I was up all night with Lindsey so the doctor wanted me to stay a little longer. But even after they release me, I'll still be here, with Lindsey. They don't think she'll need a transplant but she's not out of the woods yet."

"Wow, I didn't realize…a transplant?"

"That's what they thought at first. Even had a donor lined up, but thankfully things are looking better for her kidneys."

"A donor…that fast? That's amazing."

"Yeah…really amazing." She wasn't ready to let the truth out about Gil being Lindsey's father so she hoped to change the subject. But yeah, the whole sequence of events was amazing. "So what's happening at work? Any interesting cases?"

"Not really. Swing is helping us out. Ecklie is furious with Griss for taking this time off. Apparently he just told Ecklie that he was taking the time to be here for you, especially since Lindsey got hurt and if Ecklie didn't like it, he knew what he could do with it. I don't know, I think the whole thing with Sara….it has really changed Grissom. We all get the feeling he could walk away from the job tomorrow and never look back."

"He could," said Gil from the doorway.

Warrick turned to see his mentor standing there, taking in the scene. "Oh, hey Griss…didn't hear you come in."

"Yeah…" he said as he walked into the room, his eyes going to Catherine, checking to be sure she was okay. Looking back at Warrick, he continued. "Look, I don't know what is going to happen with Ecklie. I don't care. If there's still a job for me after Catherine and Lindsey are well, then I'll go back. But I'm not losing any more people that I care about because my head is in a case."

Warrick studied his boss carefully. There was much more going on here than he realized….more to his feelings about Catherine. He glanced at Catherine and saw her expression. Yeah…a lot more going on. "Well, I just wanted to stop by and check on you," he said to her. "I've got to get going. I'll stop by again later."

"Thanks Warrick," she smiled at him. He leaned over and pecked her on the cheek before leaving. He and Gil nodded as the younger man walked past him.

Gil stood still, gazing at her. His features softened as the seconds ticked by. Catherine looked back quietly, basking in it. She could see him slowly opening up to her, showing more and more of his feelings for her. No words were spoken but so much was being communicated between them. Finally, she broke the silence. "I got your note," she said in a teasing tone.

He tilted his head, a grin slowly growing on his mouth, his eyes dancing. "Good," he said softly.

"You'd really shoot them?"

He moved closer to her; his eyes never leaving hers. "Absolutely."

"Your thoughts were that bad, eh?"

"Define bad?" His eyes were twinkling.

"Carnal….erotic…."

"Impure, licentious, salacious…." He continued her definition for her.

"So you can have those thoughts about me…but any guy that thinks that about Lindsey…"

"Dies." He said matter of factly. "I think once you threatened to put her in a chastity belt. I'm beginning to understand."

"I'm curious about these thoughts of yours; can't wait to find out about them."

Looking around the room, he smiled subtly. "Well….this isn't exactly the place…." His eyes came back around to her and she saw it in his expression; hunger and craving mixed with love, a potent combination in any woman's view. But for Catherine, seeing it in Gil's face, it was unbelievably compelling, especially when she looked into his eyes and also saw certainty.

Their eyes remained locked together, so many emotions transversing the space between them. Catherine thought about couples that had been married for years and could read each other in a simple look; this moment was like that. They did after all have almost twenty years of friendship and….more. But this was on a new level, like those long married couples no words were needed; the meaning of his look was very clear. She hoped he was feeling similarly.

He stood very still as their eyes remained locked, afraid to move. If he moved, the moment might be lost. He saw so many things in her eyes, love, desire…his future. Loving Sara had opened him to emotions that he had held in check for so long, placing them in little compartments deep inside him. She had slowly unlocked some of them, one by one. But standing here, seeing the look in Catherine's eyes, all of those feelings were spilling out of their pigeonholes, filling his heart and his soul. What he felt was the culmination of years of loving her, wanting her, and denial.

They were very different in just about every way possible; she was an extrovert while he was introverted to the extreme, she embraced life facing it head on while he so often hid from it, his head deep in bugs or books, her intelligence was intuitive with her often acting on a hunch while his was deductive, needing hard facts and evidence. She was his counter balance, keeping him in touch with the real world. Sara had been content to cocoon with him in his bubble. Catherine would challenge him to step outside of his comfort zone; he knew that from experience. Life in the bubble was lonely and for years he had been okay with that. But the genie was out of the bottle and he ached for human contact, especially with one particular human. He realized that he had moved through life incomplete; Catherine completed him, making him whole. All of these thoughts rushed through him as he stood there, gazing at her. He didn't speak; he had no words to express all that he felt. To say "I love you" seemed too small.

Their moment was interrupted by her doctor. He walked into the room oblivious to what was passing between them. Catherine tried to hold Gil's gaze, but his eyes shifted away as he recognized the intrusion. The doctor began his examination of her, checking her head where she'd been hit and then moving on to check her eyes. Gil had glanced away but he couldn't keep his eyes off of her for long. He listened to all the doctor said, but he looked at her.

Finished with his examination, the doctor said he was going to arrange for her release. "And I don't expect to find you in the ICU every time I walk through there. Go home and rest. Then come back and check on her. Gil here can keep an eye on her until you are stronger."

As he walked past Gil, he indicated that Gil should follow him into the hall. Once both men stood outside, the doctor spoke. "You need rest too, but I'm serious…I do not want her spending all of her time here. Lindsey is stable. Things are still very serious for her but the drugs are keeping her under most of the time anyway. Catherine can't do anything for her daughter right now. She needs to get over this concussion and get stronger so she can help Lindsey when the time comes. The child has a long road ahead and it will be difficult for everyone who loves her."

Gil looked at the man, wondering why this conversation was taking place in the hallway. "Look Doc, you haven't said anything to me that you couldn't say to Catherine."

"She seems like the over reactive type to me…" he shrugged.

Gil smiled, "Radioactive maybe, but she actually handles this stuff better than I do. She'll go off momentarily and then collect her thoughts and deal with ….whatever. She's a straight shooter, Doc, and she expects the same thing back."

"Okay, then….I'll keep that in mind." They shook hands and Gil walked back into the room.

"What was that," Catherine snipped.

Gil tilted his head and looked at her intently. "He's scared."

"What?"

"You frighten him; he's intimidated….like most men are when they look at you." His eyes had taken on a look she loved; the one where he was trying to keep a straight face but she could tell he was teasing.

"There's only one man that I care to intimidate…" she teased back.

"Really? Well, if you mean me, it's working." A smile broke across his face as he leaned over to kiss her. "Now, let's go see Lindsey and then get you out of here."

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