Catherine did actually know where Grissom was. He'd been in the garage when she'd gone there to the print the get away car's steering wheel. He hadn't been doing that but he had been reading the case notes. He claimed that it was too noisy in the lab, that he didn't want to be disturbed. Whereas Grissom seemed more interested in how most of the time, Catherine was always one for why. There was little fun in putting the edge on a jigsaw if you didn't get to see what the whole picture looked like.
Grissom was putting together the file on their burglary when Catherine got back to the garage.
"You can't just run away," she said.
Grissom raised his head slowly and looked at her balefully.
"Run away from what?" he asked his voice at odds with his expression.
"Anything," Catherine said, shrugging, "Nick, Sara, yourself…"
"I'm not running away," Grissom told her.
"You can't hide either."
"I'm not hiding," Grissom said, trying to sound as sure.
"Then apologise to Sara. Explain the situation to Nick and admit to yourself what's going on."
"What's going on?" Grissom asked. He began to feel he'd missed something. Like he had that time Sara had asked him if he'd wanted to sleep with her. He didn't like the feeling.
Catherine saw his vulnerability but decided to give her friend one chance at least.
"Admit that you screwed up. Acknowledge that you were jealous that Sara had trusted Nick and not you. Apologise to Sara for seeming not to care that she was upset by this rape case. I know that you do care. You probably thought it was easier not to ask her about it. She might have appreciated your understanding more if it hadn't seemed that you had trivialised it."
"I did—" Grissom started to protest.
"You asked her about Nick, didn't you?"
"I did want to know what was wrong."
"What did she say?" Catherine demanded.
"That she could have slept with one in the building but me, Brass and Mobley and that the only person who would have had a problem that list is Eckley." Grissom was glad for the fact that, with his lamp behind him, Catherine couldn't see his expression.
"Apologise to her. Explain that you do care, it's just hard to show it. She'll laugh and says she knows, Gil. Apologise to Nick for ripping into him. Explain that you were concerned for Sara and how that case was effecting her and you just wanted to know everything so you could help. He'll tell her that, and it will all be all right."
"She should know that she can trust me, Cath, I've known her longer than she's known you or Nick."
"You're her friend, Grissom. She cares what you think. She's not going to tell you anything she thinks is going to let you think less of her."
"And Nick?" Grissom asked, whining less than he was before.
Catherine sighed, "You really don't this bit of life, Grissom. I've seen it all. Brothers always know more about their sister than anyone else does."
She didn't wait for his answer but left again to do what she was going to do before she'd bumped into Nick and Warrick.
Grissom followed her out looking for Nick. Nick wasn't exactly trying to keep out of Grissom's way. If he were he would have disappeared. As it was Grissom cornered him in the break room.
"Nick, is Sara okay?"
"She's mightily pissed at you," Nick said matter-of-factly.
He poured himself some coffee and sat down. Grissom didn't move from the doorway.
"I figured that, but otherwise? I know the case was difficult for her…"
"More than either of us know, Gil," Nick told him.
Nick was not blind to the fact that this was Grissom making a concerted effort to make up for his behaviour. The guy deserved a bit of support.
"I just wanted to say, well, you're looking out for her, and that's good. I just wanted to know what was going, see if I could do anything. Let me know if I can help."
"Will do, boss," Nick answered as he would any request.
"How's the case going?" Grissom asked, trying to move conversation on.
"There was a case in San Francisco in '95. They had a possible suspect, but not enough for a warrant. There's enough to match the cases, but we don't have a name."
"Call Sara," Grissom said, "She was working there then, if she doesn't know she'll who does."
"Thanks," Nick nodded.
He took a sip of coffee thoughtfully. He wanted to say something to Grissom, to show he understood. He started before he realised that Grissom had disappeared again.
