Disclaimers: Not mine

Spoilers: Lady Heather's Box, Inside The Box

+++++

A MOMENT IN LIFE

(Chapter 6)

"Mom? You look really pretty today." Lindsey grinned proudly as she finished her ice cream.

"Only today, huh?" Catherine raised an eyebrow.

Mother and daughter shared a laugh as Grissom watched in amusement. He and his mother had been close but they had never quite mastered the art of 'joking around' like Catherine and Lindsey apparently had.

"What?" Catherine asked suspiciously, noticing the smirk on his face.

"Nothing." He answered innocently but his grin grew. "So you had enough ice cream yet, Lindsey?"

"Yeah, I'm really full." Lindsey answered with a yawn.

"Ok, I think it's time to head home. It's way past your bedtime, honey." Catherine said, checking her watch.

After grabbing the check, something he had insisted on doing, Grissom went outside where Catherine and Lindsey were already waiting in his car. Catherine gestured behind them as he got into the car. Checking the rearview mirror, he found Lindsey fast asleep in the backseat.


"Well that didn't take long."

"That was the first time in a very long time she's actually fallen asleep without so much as a fuss."

He glanced at her briefly before returning his attention to the road, "She misses Eddie." He stated the obvious, then decided to ask her something he had wanted to know for a while now, "Do you?"


There was a long pause before she answered, "As Lindsey's father, yes. As anything else, no."

Sensing Catherine didn't want to discuss this any further, he stayed silent until he pulled into the driveway. When Catherine went to wake Lindsey, he stopped her, "No, don't wake her." Getting out of the car, he opened the back door and in one swoop, picked Lindsey up in his arms.

Catherine turned off the car and locked the doors before opening the front door of the house for Grissom. As he carried Lindsey upstairs into her room, Catherine stayed in the foyer. When he emerged a moment later, she was still standing silently by the front door.

"Catherine?" Grissom came down the stairs with a worried expression on his face.

"Ok, that's it, sit down." She pointed demandingly at the living room.


Not sure what was wrong, he obeyed and didn't speak until they were both seated, "What's wrong?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything you've done today! Dragging yourself away from the lab to be here, the dinner, the ice cream, carrying Lindsey to her room..." She sighed, "What's wrong?"

"Suspicion. Every CSI's gotta have it." He said half-jokingly.

"I'm serious."

"Does something have to be wrong for me to want to treat you and Lindsey to a nice evening?"

"No..." She answered cautiously, "But I know something's wrong."

"Woman's instinct?"

"Something like that."

"Nothing's wrong, Catherine. I simply wanted to do something to say 'thank you' for everything you've done for me. I couldn't have pulled through these past 2 weeks if it wasn't for you."


"I didn't even do anything. Plus, I told you that you didn't have to do anything special. Friends are supposed to be there for friends."

"Well maybe I don't want to see it that way."

"What?"

Before he could answer, the phone rang. Catherine lingered a moment longer in her seat but when the ringing continued, she grudgingly got up to get it.

"This better be good..." She muttered with a shake of her head.

*To Be Continued*