Disclaimer - see chapter one

Chapter Nine - The Meeting

"Hey! Nice suit." Catherine noticed, and she was intrigued.

Grissom shrugged his shoulders, "I knew you were coming back today."

They both smiled, as did Horatio. 'No sexual tension! Right!'

"This is Horatio Caine, head of the Miami Crime Unit."

Grissom stood to shake Horatio's hand.

"Mr Grissom, I've heard a lot about you."

"I'm sure she left out the good parts."

"I aim to please." As she had anticipated, she was nervous. She couldn't relax, she couldn't be herself, she was conscious of her every move. She was acting, trying to recreate their past, but it wasn't working.

Perhaps distance wasn't a good idea. Maybe if she had stayed they could have more easily ignored her outburst. Leaving gave it greater importance, greater significance. It indicated imbalance and uncertainty within their relationship. She knew he didn't think as she had said. He hadn't said it. She was upset at words she had given to him, not heard from him. But to say that now would be pointless. He wouldn't believe her, and she couldn't explain to him what it was really about. She was angry with him, and she had needed a way to vent that, the truth was not an option, so she found an alternative, and now he was further from her than he had been before.

"So, you not a party person?" Horatio asked, already knowing the answer, but needing a starting point for a conversation.

"Not particularly. They hold these things as close to me as possible in the hope that I'll join them. I don't. They'll probably be in here next year."

"Ah, they've made you into some sort of paternal figure?"

Grissom nodded. "It's sad. So sad." As he spoke he looked directly at Catherine, she just looked back, not portraying any particular emotion.

"They've built a little family around you. I know what that's like."

"Yeah. It's a sad, sad situation."

Catherine frowned. She understood what he was doing, but she didn't understand why. And it wasn't a Grissom-like thing to do. It was more like the Christmas Eve Grissom. The Grissom who kissed her cheek. The Grissom whose eyes she had met the day before she left for Miami. The one that had stirred those feelings inside her. Feelings she hadn't allowed herself to feel for years. She smiled inwardly, but her confusion increased, what was he doing?

She watched as the two men talked. They seemed to easily find topics to discuss: crime scenes; technology; bugs. She left them to it. Grissom rarely spoke to anyone outside of the lab. This would be good for him.

*****

It was rare for Grissom to talk to anyone from outside the lab, but he was determined that he wouldn't be himself around Horatio Caine. He wanted to know how close he and Catherine were. He couldn't ask her, so he would talk to him. See what he could sense from their conversations. What information he could get out of him.

Unfortunately, either Caine could tell what Grissom was doing, or he was as closed as Grissom normally was. His investigation yielded no results.

"Well, it's nice to have met you. But I should probably go and find Catherine."

"Sure."

Both men stood and Horatio turned to leave. Reaching the door he stopped. "You're lucky to have her, you know. She's an excellent CSI. And an amazing woman."

"I know," Grissom responded sincerely, "and I won't let her go without a fight."

His tone was not threatening, just honest. Horatio could see that. He understood the words were spoken in affection and were not intended to be confrontational.

"Good. Because she doesn't want to go."

And with that, he left Grissom with a frown on his face. He returned to his desk and picked up the, still sealed, envelope that Catherine had handed him days earlier.

TBC..