Lindsey looked between her mother and Gil as she sat at the table, eating with them. Gil looked tired and her mother looked angry.
"Is everything okay?" she asked tentatively.
Catherine was silent and Gil smiled calmly at Lindsey.
"Everything's fine, Linds. We're just tired, that's all."
Lindsey snorted. "No big surprise. I'm going to need new batteries for my Walkman soon."
Catherine widened her eyes in surprise and Gil nearly choked on his dinner.
Lindsey rolled
her eyes. "Come on, guys. I'm in third grade! Everyone knows about sex."
Catherine raised an eyebrow and sat back in her chair. "Really?"
Lindsey realised that perhaps this was a bad moment to bring it up what she learnt in the school playground. "Ah, great dinner, mum. Gotta go. Heaps of homework." With that she disappeared from the room and they heard the distant slam of her bedroom door.
"And then there were two," Gil said, standing up and gathering plates. 'Wash or dry?"
"Whatever," Catherine replied, blowing out the candles and following him into the kitchen.
"Catherine, we should talk about this."
"Talk about what?" she asked, putting the leftovers in a container.
"What happened at work yesterday."
"It's our day off. Let's not talk about work."
Gil took her hand. "I think we need to."
She turned to face him. "Why?"
"Cath…"
"I know you almost as well as I know myself, Gil. There are no secrets between us, remember? I know how long you've wanted to get me off rape cases and cases involving children. So you've succeeded in one avenue."
"This isn't about you, Cath."
She frowned. "Really?"
"No one asked you to baby-sit Caroline."
"Don't throw this
back on me," she warned him. "You were out of line. If it had been Sara
or
Nick, or anyone else, you would have talked to Caroline before shutting
her out
of rape cases. But with me, you just went ahead and did it."
Gil sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you. I love you and I hate you having to do cases like these. But this was not about you. If Sara, or Nick or anyone else had been with Caroline, I would still have done it."
She folded her arms in front of her. "Gil…I want you to talk to me about stuff like this. What bothers you."
He put his hands on her arms. "I know. I'm sorry."
"I don't like being mad at you."
"I don't like you
being mad at me either. Hell hath no fury like Catherine Willows when
she's
cranky."
She cracked a slight smile and heaved herself up onto the counter. "C'mere," she beckoned.
He walked between her legs and hugged her, breathing in the smell of her flowery shampoo. "I love you so much, you know that right?"
Catherine looked at him. "I know. I love you back." She urged his head down and their lips met in a long, deep kiss.
***********************************************************************
Sara knelt down beside the dead body and Nick knelt beside her.
"Nothing more romantic than being together at a crime scene, is there?" he asked.
Sara looked at him and chuckled. "You're a sick man, Nick."
He grinned. "I'm being good. Let's process and get this shift over and done with."
Sara raised an eyebrow. "Have something planned, do we?"
"Let's just say it doesn't involve us with a dead body."
"Glad to hear it. Does it involve a hot bubble bath?"
"That fits two? Absolutely."
"Evidence, Nick."
"Bubbles, Sara."
************************************************************************
"Tell them."
"No."
"Caroline…"
"I said no, okay Sam? It's not important." Caroline got into bed and picked up a book on blood spatter.
Sam got into bed beside her and frowned, signing furiously at her.
"I may not be watching you but I know you're swearing in ASL," she signed back.
He signed back at her and she frowned.
"Hey! It happened to me! Not you, not anyone else. Me! And I don't need you or anyone else pitying me."
He turned and forced her to look at him. "It happened to both of us." With that he turned out the light and went to sleep.
************************************************************************
Sara watched Catherine and Gil carefully, noticing that their previously foul moods seemed to have disappeared.
However whatever raincloud had been hovering over them seemed to have drifted over to Caroline, who looked upset about something.
"Alright, Sara, Warrick, I want you to take the case downtown. Sara, you should see the victim. She's at the hospital." He shuffled through his notes. "Ah, Caroline, Catherine, a burglary at the Monaco and Nick, we have a suspected arson."
There was silence for a moment, as Caroline and Catherine looked at Gil.
"A burglary?" Caroline asked, first to break the silence. She noticed Sara, Catherine and Gil looking uncomfortable and she folded her arms. "Have I missed a memo?"
Nick, Warrick and Sara decided to leave the room. Gil looked at Catherine and Caroline.
"How about we go into my office?"
*****************************************************************
"What's going on?" Caroline asked, sitting on the offered seat and facing Gil. Catherine sat on the counter behind him.
Catherine nodded to Gil, who sighed.
"We saw your records."
Caroline's face darkened. "What?"
"We know about what happened in New York," Gil said.
Caroline was silent for a moment, digesting the information just received. "So you decide just to jump in and take me off cases? Without asking me first?"
"You're emotionally involved in every rape case you take. You were a victim," Gil said calmly.
"I know I was a victim," she cried. "Believe me, I know. And you have no right to dictate how I do my job. How do you know that my experience doesn't help me in my cases?"
"How do I know that it does?" Gil shot back.
Caroline sighed and got up. "We better get out on the field."
"I'll catch you
up," Catherine said, watching her leave. She got down from the counter
and
changed her spot to sitting on Gil's desk. "That went well."
Gil rubbed his face
with his hands. "I didn't handle that well."
She took one of his hands in her own. "We both knew she'd be angry. Besides, you managed to calm me down."
Gil smiled
slightly. "With you I had an advantage."
Catherine smiled back. "Believe me, if I had been really angry at you, you'd have known about it. I was just a little…"
"Upset? Ticked off? Angry?"
"I love you. But I don't need you to protect me."
Gil kissed her hands. "I know. And I'm sorry. But I just…you're a great CSI. The best I know. But god, Catherine, I hate knowing you seeing all that pain. I want life for you to be perfect."
She bent down so she was eye to eye with him. "It is. I have you, Lindsey and I get to solve puzzles every night. It is."
He leant up and kissed her gently. "You better go work your crime scene."
She nodded and slipped down from the table. "Remember what I said, Gil. Never doubt, never look back." She kissed him on the cheek. "Love you hon."
*******************************************************************Part 4
