A/N: Wow, December has just been super busy! Am I the only one run off my feet? Anyway, I hope you're still hanging in there. I'll try to wrap it up in the next few chapters. You guys are amazing. Thank you for reading! Please review if you're still interested.

Lindsey's vehement reaction to his latest approach left Grissom in a state of confusion. His feelings contradicted each other; he wanted nothing more than to see Catherine, to be with her, but at the same time he acknowledged Lindsey's observation that he was no good for her anymore.

He had broken her according to Lindsey. The thought alone was enough to bring on a migraine. This was the exact reason he had never made any advances toward Catherine. They were partners, co-workers, friends. Good friends. Best friends. There was too much at stake. Still, now he had jeopardized it all in a reckless gamble that had not paid off. And he couldn't tell who was worst off, Catherine or himself. Or Lindsey. He hated how far things had gone before they came to a stop. He never meant to hurt the Willows women. God knew they were important to him.

It was never his intention to hurt Catherine by letting her go, but anything else wouldn't have been fair on her. He had forced her into all of it, trapped her. He couldn't let her marry him on false pretences. She hadn't even sounded surprised when learning that he'd left her house for good. He would have stayed forever if only she asked, but she hadn't, and that was evidence enough that he had done the right thing. Even if it broke them both. Why did it break Catherine, though? That was the one thing he could not wrap his logical mind around. Really, he had expected her to be relieved. It would have been easier that way. Now he couldn't stop worrying about what 'broken' entailed, and how he could fix it.

-x-

"Mom! Dinner!" Lindsey hollered upstairs. It was Catherine's day off, and lately those were the days she was most miserable. Too few distractions.

She descended the stairs, a smile on her face that fooled no one, least of all her daughter.

"Thank you, honey," she said and hugged her tight as she passed her. Lindsey shuddered when out of her mother's arm. She wasn't taking care of herself, skipped meals without even thinking about it, worked herself exhausted. Lindsey hated monitoring her meals, but found herself increasingly worried. "Mom?"

Catherine looked up with a small smile.

"What, babe?"

"Do you… Do you miss Grissom?"

Lindsey took her so much by surprise that she did not have time to conceal her reaction to hearing his name. Dammit, why did a name have so much power over her? She visibly lost her composure, and her eyes watered.

"Mom, I'm sorry…" Lindsey began, but came to a stop when her mother started to cry. Catherine lifted a hand in signal to her daughter to wait, as she regained her poise.

"Lindsey…" There were so many things she could say. How she had tried to keep her emotional distance; how she had trusted Gil with her whole being; how the one person she relied on most in life had abandoned her. She wanted to tell Lindsey never to trust a guy, because if Gil couldn't be trusted, no man could. But she couldn't, because she would do it all again in a heartbeat. Oh, she had tried to forget, but how could she when she didn't truly want to? "Yes. I miss him so much." She knew Lindsey couldn't handle this, shouldn't handle it, but she deserved the truth at least.

"I might have…" Lindsey started, paler than before. "I might have messed up." Big time, she thought.