A/N-Again thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate them. :) I know it seemed a bit fast to some people, but they have known each other a long time and with all that has happened to them, I think of them getting together in the amount of time they did realistic.
Greg lay on his side staring at Catherine. His back hurt him some but he did not care. He was too happy and enamored with Catherine, who slept next to him, to care. He could not believe that she had wanted to be with him after all this time. He really never thought it would happen. Now there she was in bed with him, looking beautiful.
She woke up and looked over and saw him staring at her with affection in his eyes. "Hey sleepyhead," he said to her. She turned on her side to face him. She reached over and ran her hand through his short, wavy hair.
"Didn't you sleep any?"
He was still smiling at her but his eyes told her something else. "Yeah, I slept some."
She eyed him carefully and then figured it out. "So when was the last time you took your pain medication?"
Greg sighed. "I'm fine."
Catherine sat up on her elbow. "Now you don't have to keep lying to me about it. You could not sleep because you have not taken your pain medication since when? Since before we got home hours ago?"
She was right, there was no use lying to her. "Okay, I am in some pain but it really is not that bad. I've been in much worse."
Catherine frowned at him. "Men! You are all the same. So stubborn." She got out of bed and grabbed her shorts and tank top off the floor and put them on. "I'm going to bring you some water so you can take your pills."
As she left the room, he sat up against the pillows on the bed. He groaned a bit as the pain in his lower back flared up. He leaned over and grabbed his pill bottle to get some pills.
Catherine came back a minute later. She thrust the bottle in his face. "Here! Drink up."
He rolled his eyes and drank down the pills. "There, are you satisfied now," he asked as he put the water bottle down on the nightstand.
"Not quite." She smiled at him then crawled over on the bed to him and kissed him.
"I like this," he whispered to her as she kissed his neck. She held his handsome face in her hands, gazing into his beautiful brown eyes.
"Surprisingly enough so do I."
He hated to do it, but he had to ask about something on his mind. "What about work? Are we going to keep this quiet or what?"
Catherine cringed and sat back. "Way to kill a mood, Greg!" He shrugged his shoulders in apology.
"Well, I guess we will keep it quiet for awhile. It will be easy until you go back to work, which is probably soon."
Greg nodded. "Yeah but I will be on desk duty for awhile, so we probably still will not see each other too much on the job."
"But off the job," she asked with a questioning grin.
"That's up to you. You still have Lindsay around and your mother here. Luckily neither is home yet today."
Catherine looked at the clock on the nightstand. "Yeah speaking of, I better go take a shower and get dressed before they come home." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Why don't you try to get some sleep while I get ready for their return home. Then we can talk some more later before I go to work."
"Okay, I will try." He settled back into his bed and managed to fall asleep shortly after.
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Catherine drove into work feeling the happiest she had in sometime. She never thought that being with Greg Sanders would make her that happy. It was actually invigorating being with a younger man. He made her feel very womanly, more so than any man she had ever been with.
When she walked into the office, Grissom asked to see her right away. She wondered what it was going to be about.
After putting her stuff in the locker room, she went to Grissom's office. "What's up, Grissom," she asked as she sat down in a chair.
"I wanted to ask you how Greg was doing? Do you think he might be interested in coming back to work soon?"
"He's doing well and yes, I think he would love to come back to work. We were just talking about it last night."
"Well, I was thinking because I know he is not ready for field work yet, but Wendy is taking vacation next week, maybe he could fill in for her?"
"Back in the DNA Lab for awhile? I am sure he would not mind. I'll ask him about it later today."
"Good, then just have him call me when he has an answer."
Catherine knew Greg would probably jump at the chance to get back to work. She knew he was sick of sitting around the house all day.
When Catherine got home late from her shift the next morning, the house was empty. She knew Lindsay was already off to school and Lily had probably taken Greg to his physical therapy session. She took advantage of the alone time to get some sleep.
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Carol Turner, Greg's therapist, gave him the okay to be on his own again finally. He was not in much pain anymore overall and he was able to move his shoulder and walk around much better than he had a couple weeks ago when she first saw him.
He also saw Dr. Maddox who told him he would not need to keep bandages on his back anymore. They were healed enough not to need covering anymore.
Greg asked Lily to drop him off at his place so he could get his own car to drive himself around again. She knew this meant he would probably be moving out of their home soon. She wondered how Catherine would take the news, knowing Greg and her daughter had grown very close to each other over the past couple of weeks.
Greg felt weird being in his apartment. He had not been in there for a few weeks. It looked dusty and unkempt. He walked into his bedroom to grab his car keys off the dresser. He looked at his bed and wondered if Catherine would ever come over to his place to spend the night. A grin curved on his lips as he thought about the day before.
He knew he could not stay at her place forever though, so he would have to break the news to her today that he was going to move back into his place. He drove back to Catherine's house, feeling relieved to be behind the wheel again. His life was getting back on track, slowly.
He used the key Catherine gave him to enter her home. Lily had told him she was going to run errands, so she was not home yet, only Catherine was. He just wanted to see her for a moment. He peeked in her bedroom door and saw her all covered up in bed, sleeping. He stared at her for a while, a smile on his face.
He was closing the door when she said his name. He turned and saw her looking at him. "Sorry, I did not mean to wake you."
"You didn't. Come here," she said and patted the bed next to her.
He closed the door behind him and came over to sit down on her bed. "How did your therapy session go today," she asked him first.
"Good, really good actually. I, uh, I got the okay from my doctor to be on my own again, if I want. Dr. Maddox said I no longer need to keep bandages on my back either. They are healing well enough now. And my therapist says I am getting around well enough too. I actually had Lily drop me off at my place to get my car."
Catherine frowned at him. "So you are planning on moving back into your own place then? When?"
He could see the disappointment on her face. "Tomorrow, maybe," he shrugged his shoulders, not having really thought about when yet.
"I see… Well I have some news for you too. Grissom asked me to ask you if you wanted to come back to work next week and help out in DNA while Wendy is on vacation."
Greg's eyes lit up. "Yeah, really? That would be great for now."
"Well, if you want to do it, call Grissom and let him know. In the meantime, is my mother home yet?" A glint was in her eyes.
"No, she said she had errands to run this afternoon. Did you have something in mind?" He flashed a mischievous grin.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him down to her.
As Greg sat on the side of the bed, pulling his pants back on, Catherine looked at his back, which now had no bandages covering his scars. She lightly placed her hand on his back, but he still jumped a bit at the touch.
"Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you. I just was thinking how they do not look that bad anymore," she told him.
He turned around and looked at her. "It's okay. It did not hurt. My back just is very sensitive now to touch, but it's nice to know I don't look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame anymore," he joked.
She frowned at him. "It was never that bad, Greg."
"Hmmm, so says the woman who wants me to keep her bed warm," he smirked.
"You know, I can keep your bed warm too, once in a while now that you plan on moving out."
He seemed kind of surprised. "Are you saying you want a key to my place?"
She shrugged. "Why not? You got a key to my place already. You are free to come and go here, as you like. I know Lindsay and my mother will not care. If we want to keep this secret for awhile, your place will have to be used too, you know."
"Why is that old song 'Secret Lovers' playing through my head right now," he chuckled.
Catherine smirked at him. "Well, I have to go get Lindsay from school and run to the store with her as I promised, so I'll be back a bit later on. Call Grissom and let him know your plans."
"I got a better idea, I will drop by tonight and say hi to everyone and tell Grissom then."
"That would be nice. I know the others miss seeing your face around the lab."