Disclaimers: Not mine

Spoilers: Inside The Box

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THE PERFECT FAMILY

(Chapter 9)

"Your mother seems like a very nice lady."

Catherine rolled her eyes as she put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. "You think everybody in my family's nice. I get it, Grissom."

Grissom was taken aback by her hostility but recovered quickly. "Well, I don't think everybody in your family's nice."

She looked at him with a glare when she realized he meant her. "Shut up, Gil, I'm not in the mood for your unique sense of humour."

"It seems like you're not in the mood for anything, really."

"If you're just going to stand there and psychoanalyze me, then I suggest you save your breath and get outta here before I hurt you."

"Threats of violence. And here I thought a vacation would do you well."

Again, his comment was met with a glare.

"I take it the talk with your mother before dinner didn't go well."

"And whose stupid idea was it?"

"Do you want me to leave?" He asked genuinely.

She threw the dish towel onto the counter and bowed her head, closing her eyes in exhaustion. "No, I'm sorry. You're not the one I'm angry at. I'm sorry." She repeated her apology with a sigh.

"No, I should be the one apologizing. I have no right to give anybody any sort of advice when it comes to human relationships. I don't know your mother and I don't know the exact history you two share. I really have no qualification to help you." He paused. When she said nothing, he continued, "But I just don't want you to regret it when you have no other chance to work things out with her."

"You never know what you got 'til you lose it, right?"

"There's a reason that's a popular cliché."

"I don't want to be angry at my mother, Grissom. I just can't help it. Everytime I see her, everytime she says something, I'm reminded of how she left me out in the cold and of how she lied to me all these years about my father. She's never tried to be a mother to me and I guess I just don't want to give her a chance to be one to me in the future."

"No one can change the way you feel except you. You can't stop being angry until you're willing to stop being angry."

"But how? How do I talk to the woman who has denied me of any sort of family life for the past 20 years? Teach me, Gil, cuz I don't know what to do."

*To be continued*