Title: Wishes

Author: Angie

Email: hill@grics.net

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.

Author's Notes: I can't believe it took me so long to finish this fic... yep it's finished. Believe it or not I have been working on this off and on since March, the fic just wasn't liking me. Many thanks to Suzanne for the excellent beta, this definitely needed it.

Spoilers: nothing really

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, www.graveshiftcsi.com ... all others please ask.

*~*~*~*~*

Nick pulled to a stop at the stop sign and nervously adjusted the rearview mirror again. The tension between Gil and Catherine was palpable and escalating as the time passed. He took in a quick breath as he caught Catherine's reflection in the mirror, or more accurately her legs. She had just re-crossed her legs and was currently adjusting the black dress.

"You okay, Nick?"

"What?!" Nick jumped at the sound of his name coming from the back seat and blushed as he realized Catherine had caught him staring at her.

"Thanks."

"Thanks? For what?"

"Checking me out. It's nice to know that someone appreciates me. Maybe the two of us should go out to dinner sometime. We can go for your birthday. Do you have plans for tomorrow evening?" Catherine knew she shouldn't be using Nick like this, but she couldn't help herself.

Gil cringed as he heard Catherine ask Nick out. The hurt in her voice was obvious, and he hated the fact that he was the one that had caused the pain. He tried not to look in Nick's direction as he anxiously awaited his answer to Catherine's question.

'I can't believe she just asked me out, right in front of Grissom," Nick couldn't believe his luck. He knew every man at the lab, hell every man in the police force, would jump at the chance to have Catherine ask them on a date. But Nick realized what Catherine was doing, and he did not want to get into the middle of her fight with Gris. No matter what he answered he was going to suffer the consequences. Would it be better to have Gris mad at him for accepting her offer or Catherine mad at him for turning her down?

Catherine couldn't take the silence anymore and ended the misery for everyone in the vehicle. "Don't answer that Nick. It wasn't fair of me to put you on the spot like that. It must be the alcohol talking, I'm sure Brass told you I was too inebriated to work on a case right now."

The bitterness in Catherine's voice effectively silenced everyone for the rest of the trip.

Pulling up to the lab, Nick stopped the car and watched as Catherine quickly slid from the back seat and purposely strode into their workplace.

After watching her walk into the building, Nick shifted his focus back to Grissom. "I don't know what you said to her, but I'm glad I'm not in your shoes. You'd better apologize to her…and soon."

Knowing Nick was right, Gil didn't say anything in response. He wordlessly exited the vehicle and followed Catherine into the building. He entered the building just in time to see Catherine storm into the break room. After pausing in thought for a few minutes, Gil pivoted to his left and made his way to his office.

*****

Warrick, Nick and Sara made their way through the lab, bringing back the evidence they had collected from their crime scene. Warrick stopped as he saw Catherine through the break room window, heading towards the coffee pot. "Guys, I'll catch up in a minute, all right?" Warrick said as he handed the bag he was holding to Nick and headed into the break room.

Warrick walked into the room and slid into a chair, still undetected by Catherine. He watched her pour a cup of coffee and add a generous amount of sweetener to it before taking a sip.

"How are you feeling?"

Catherine jumped at the sound of Warrick's voice before turning around and glaring at him. "Don't you know it isn't polite to sneak up on people? Especially when they have a steaming beverage in their hands."

"You didn't answer my question," Warrick pointed out.

Catherine sighed and walked across the room to join him at the table. Sitting down she sighed once more before looking at Warrick. "I'm fine. Just wondering why I bother sometimes… I had a feeling something like this would happen."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Warrick asked. "You know you can always talk to me, right?"

"I know, Warrick. You're a wonderful friend. I just, I'm not sure what to do now. I can't believe I tried to drag Nick into it. I can't imagine what he must think of me now."

"Don't worry about him. He's fine. Besides you got him out of answering…" Warrick trailed off as he saw the look on Catherine's face.

"He told you? Please tell me there wasn't anyone else…"

"You're fine," he interrupted. "It was just the two of us, and no one else was anywhere near us. He just wanted to know if I had any idea what happened, or why you were dressed… I believe he said 'amazingly hot.'"

Catherine couldn't help the blush that rose to her cheeks. "He did not say that. I was an,…well, I was an ass to him. I purposely used him to make Gil jealous, and it didn't work anyway. Maybe I am too drunk to be working tonight? Do you think anyone will notice if I just sneak out of here?"

"The way you're dressed, every male in this building will notice if you leave."

"What?"

"Have you looked out the window? I don't think I've ever seen so much foot traffic in that hallway. Bobby has walked by three times in the last five minutes, and he is not the only one. Greg and Archie have made so many trips past here I'm amazed they haven't literally run into each other. Let me guess, when you first came in here you were pacing, weren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"You have looked in the mirror tonight, right? Don't answer that. You wore that dress for a reason, and you really do look 'amazingly hot.' If you had stumbled while you were pacing, you would have had six guys in here to catch you before you had a chance to get to the floor." Warrick reached across the table to grab Catherine's hand. "Listen to me on this one, Cath. Sure you may look great, but that isn't what we all love about you. You are an amazing person, and don't you think for one minute that Gris doesn't know how great you are. He hasn't come out of his office since Nick drove the two of you back here, and from what I've heard, he hasn't been at all pleasant to anyone that's attempted to talk to him." Warrick stood and turned to leave the room, but he only got three steps before the sound of Catherine's voice made him stop.

"Warrick?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"You don't need to thank me, just go talk to Gris. Let him apologize. You know he wants to, so don't shut him out." Warrick left the room, leaving Catherine to think about their conversation.

*~*~*~*~*

Looking up at the sound of the door opening, Gil watched as Warrick and Nick entered his office and shut the door behind them, before making their way across the room to his desk. He shifted his focus from the paperwork that he had spent the last few hours doing and slowly took off his glasses before speaking. "When did you get back from the scene?"

"Just got back and dropped off the evidence. So, Grissom… want to tell us the story about tonight?" Nick asked his boss, coming directly to the point.

"What story?" Gil asked the two younger CSI's, hoping they would drop the subject. Seeing the smirks on their faces he continued, "There's nothing to tell. It was just dinner."

"Grissom, no woman dresses like that for just dinner. Open your eyes." Nick said incredulously.

"He's right. Come on Gris… it's obvious she wants you." Warrick chimed in.

"No… it was just dinner… for my birthday. Lindsey's with Eddie for a while and Cath didn't want to be alone…" Gil explained, feeling uneasy about the entire conversation.

Warrick could not understand how a man that was obviously extremely intelligent could be so misinformed when it came to matters of the opposite sex. "That may have been her excuse to get you to go, Grissom, but that doesn't change the fact that she wants you. She asked me over a month ago to take shift tonight."

"What! She's had this planned for a month?!" The shock in Gil's voice was obvious to the two younger CSI's.

Nick could tell they were starting to get through to Gris, and with a little more probing, maybe they could actually succeed in getting Gris to admit his feelings. "Probably longer than that. I bet that dress is new too."

"She said it was something she just picked up." Gil feebly replied.

This caused Warrick and Nick to chuckle. "Grissom she didn't just 'pick it up.' I bet she's been looking for that dress for two months. And then she had to get new shoes and a new purse to match."

"Probably had a manicure and pedicure too." Nick chimed in.

Before Grissom had a chance to respond, the subject of their conversation knocked on the office door.

"Hey guys, am I interrupting anything?" Catherine asked.

The men all turned to the door at the sound of Catherine's voice. She had put on her lab jacket at some point after her earlier talk with Warrick.

"Nope not at all. We were just leaving weren't we, Nick?" Warrick responded.

"Don't leave on my account. I just wanted to let you know AFIS just got a hit. Sara and I have some stuff down in the layout room if you want to join us." Catherine walked out of the room and continued on her way to the layout room.

The three men were all stunned into silence as Catherine left the room. When she was facing them, it was somewhat obvious what she was wearing, but from behind, her bare legs were covered by nothing but the lab jacket and to anyone seeing her from behind, it appeared as if she was wearing nothing else.

"She is not getting out of this building alone tonight. Gris, if you don't make your move on her, someone else will. Do you really want to take that chance?" Warrick asked before walking out of the room, with Nick right behind him.

*~*~*~*~*

Gil watched Nick and Warrick leave his office, his mind still thinking about Catherine. Making his decision, he stood and followed the others out of his office. He quickly walked down the hall, passing the two men, his sites set on Catherine. He caught up with Catherine just as she was passing the locker room and took a hold of her hand, causing her to stop.

"Can I talk to you, please?"

Catherine sighed as she heard the desperation in Gil's voice and nodded her head in agreement.

Gil kept her hand in his grasp and turned to Nick and Warrick, "We'll catch up to you in a few minutes." He turned again, leading Catherine into the break room. Both missed the triumphant looks on the other two CSI's faces.

*~*~*~*~*

Catherine sat on the bench in front of Gil, waiting for him to say anything. The silence continued for several minutes before Catherine decided to say something. "Did you have…"

"I'm sorry," he interrupted. "I just screwed up the entire night. It was going great, I really was having a wonderful time… but then we were interrupted and something just clicked. I love working with you."

"Gil…"

"No, let me finish. Just, if I say something stupid again, if I hurt you… uh… slap me, that will get me to stop. I love working with you. I mean, you always seem to know what I'm thinking, anticipating my moves before I can even finish thinking. We work so well together, and I don't want that to stop." Gil paused for a few moments, before continuing at a much softer level. "I guess I thought if I convinced everyone, including you, that it was just dinner then everything would stay the same."

"Is that what you want?" Catherine asked. She watched him as she waited for an answer, his head dropping to watch the floor. She reached across the small space separating them and placed her hand on his knee, "Do you want everything to remain the same?" She waited for Gil to answer. Minutes later, it was obvious that the silence was going to be her answer. She stood up and got a few steps away before Gil finally spoke.


"When did you ask Warrick to take lead tonight?"

"What?" Catherine, turned around to face Gil again, wanting to be sure she heard him correctly.

"I believe the answer to that is a month ago. Were you shopping for that dress for a month? And what about matching shoes and purse? You didn't have black shoes before you bought that dress?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Warrick and Nick, when they were in my office… they said that…"

"And you believed them?"

"Should I? They said that you had been planning this for a while. Why did you wait until the last minute to ask me out? Why didn't you ask once Warrick agreed to work the shift? Do you know how great you look?"

Catherine stood in shock for a few moments, interpreting everything Gil had just said. "Which do you want me to answer first?" She walked the few steps back to Gil, stopping when he stood from the bench, directly in front of her.

"You don't have to answer any of them. I do want more than 'just dinner,' I always have. I've just been scared about what might happen, scared I'll say or do something to push you out of my life, scared that I…"

Catherine quickly closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against Gil's. Taking another step forward, she felt their bodies make contact and she wrapped her arms around him pulling him closer. A few breathless minutes later, she pulled her head back gasping for air. "That is how I wanted to kiss you earlier. Don't you think I'm scared too, Gil? Look at my track record. I'm not exactly batting a thousand. I'm scared of being hurt, but I'm willing to take a chance with you. Maybe we can be scared together."

Gil pulled her into a deeper embrace. "You know… this is twenty years of birthday wishes coming true?" He looked down and saw the question in her eyes. "You… in my arms. I've blown out a lot of candles with that wish."

Catherine leaned in for another kiss. "Maybe I can help you make some of your other wishes come true, too."