Disclaimer: CSI Vegas ain't mine but this knew characters I placed here are Spoilers: none Feedback: -- I would love that! A/N: sorry if it took so long!! Thanks to Emily for beta – from graveshiftcsi yahoo group. Anyways, I hope you guys would like this! And tell me what you think okay? Chapter 5 Their gazes locked. There was hurt and anger in both their eyes, but most of all there was guilt. Feeling the suffocating tension between the two, Jonathan broke the silence. "You could both start with 'nice to see you'," Jonathan said, trying to lighten it up. "Er- -" Catherine stammered, trying to smile. "Uh- -" Grissom replied, not knowing at all what to say. "It's nice to see you, Grissom," she finally managed, after several agonizing seconds of silence. "You too," said Grissom, and Catherine finally broke their gaze as she turned to Jonathan. "Uh, Jonathan, could I talk to you for a second?" "Sure." Jonathan led her out of the office. As soon as they got out, Catherine erupted. "What the hell are you doing?!" Catherine burst out, trying to lower her voice and not succeeding at all. "Catherine, you have to be professional. We all have to be, to be able to solve this case." "Yeah, well you should have also been a friend and at least warned me that he was gonna be here!" "If I did you wouldn't have shown up. Well, either that or you would have shown up with a shot gun with two bullets... one for me and one for him." "Okay... it's really hard to be mad when you're actually starting to make sense," she sighed. "Does that mean you'll spare me with my life?" Catherine just glared at him. "Hey what are you looking at?" Harry asked from behind Alice "She isn't going to kill him, is she?" asked Alice, watching Catherine and Jonathan from her vantage point. "Well she does owe him a lot. I mean, he helped her out when she was at a low point. But then again, it is her who made things possible for herself. You know, to start from the beginning and become this successful. But knowing Catherine she would still look at it like she owes it to Jonathan. It's just who she is," said Harry. "Yeah, but he owes her too. If it weren't for Catherine, Jonathan and Charlotte wouldn't be engaged. He'd probably still be watching at her from a far," said Alice. "Well, we have a lot of catching up to do... what do you say we all continue this in the break room? I'm sure you guys are hungry. I already asked someone to take out food," said Jonathan as he led them to the break room. As they walked, Grissom couldn't keep is eyes off Catherine. She looked even more beautiful than he could remember. "Gris, you okay?" Sara asked worriedly, breaking Grissom out of his reverie. "Oh, uh. Yea, I'm fine" Grissom replied and smiled lightly to convince Sara. Sara just nodded and followed everybody else as they entered the break room. In the break room, Catherine sat between Nick and Sara while Warrick sat right in front of her. "So Cath, how are you?" asked Warrick "I'm doing great, Warrick... are you feeling better?" "Huh?" "You had a pretty bad cold last week" "How did you know?" Catherine chuckled. Warrick gave her a confused look. "Well, my sister has a three way on her phone and every week I call her then she calls on the lab then I put my line on mute so you guys couldn't hear my breathing," Catherine admitted. "I told you she was checking on us!" laughed Nick. "Hey Baby!" said a voice from the doorway. "Catherine! What are you doing here?" "Ask your 'baby'," Catherine said, smiling at Charlotte. "Jonathan? Jonathan. We practically begged her to rest! Why did you make her go back to work? She hasn't had a proper rest all week!" "Well, Charlotte, we have a case and we really need her here." "You have a lot of good CSI's. You should have at least let her rest tonight." "We really need her," he shot back. "But she really needs a break!" Alice retorted. "Why is it that you two always take her side?" Catherine chuckled. "And as to what I know, when your boyfriend- -" he said, looking at Charlotte, "- -or your brother- -" he glanced at Alice, "- -is having an argument with his best friend, you are supposed to take your boyfriend or brother's side!" "Not if the best friend is Catherine!" said Charlotte. Jonathan looked at Catherine as she stuck her tongue out. Alice and Charlotte burst into laughter. "Well, see you later, I have to get some rest," said Charlotte as she left the room. "Why is it that they always gang up on me?" Jonathan asked to no one in particular. Grissom watched the whole scene quietly. There, right in front of him, was Catherine's new life. A life where she had moved on. A life where she's happy. A life where he played no part. "Okay guys, let's start working, and don't stuff yourselves too much; I'm going to treat you guys to breakfast and lunch... and probably dinner too," said Catherine. "Oh yeah!" Nick and Warrick cheered. "Mr. Stokes, Mr. Brown and Ms. Sidle, you'll be filling George and Michelle in on what you guys got back in Vegas, and they'll be showing you what we've got here so far. Catherine, Mr. Grissom, we'll proceed to the latest crime scene." "Exactly how many crime scenes do we have?" asked Catherine as they made their way towards the parking lot with Jonathan between her and Grissom. "Well... we have three here." "We also have three back in Vegas." "But they're all killed in a different way, so how do we know we're on the same case?" "By the clues the killer left." "What clues?" "Numbers –– The killer leaves a number beside the victim, 1,2,3,4,5,6... but up until now we haven't seen the connection between the six women." "According to this, three of them were strippers, two were hookers and the last one has a family now," said Catherine, still glued to the case file she was holding. Since she was still engrossed in the file she was reading, she didn't notice that Grissom and Jonathan stopped walking. She accidentally bumped right into Grissom. "Ow! Sorry!" Grissom turned around, and their gazes met once again. "Hey guys! Come on, let's get moving!" Jonathan called from the driver's seat. "Oh yeah –– um, Grissom, you can take the front seat," she said as she hurriedly went for the back seat of the car. "Oh... um, Mr. Grissom, is it okay if you join Catherine in the back? The front seat is kinda filled with the case files and kits," said Jonathan as he peered through the window. Catherine, upon hearing that, kicked Jonathan's seat from behind. "Well it's true!" said Jonathan in a low voice, looking at Catherine. Grissom took his seat. The drive was quiet. Catherine had managed to stay as far away from Grissom as possible, and Grissom did the same thing - they couldn't possibly have gotten any closer to their respectful doors. Oh God, how can this be happening? Why am I feeling this guilty? It's his fault that I left and it's like it hasn't even affected him... but why do I feel like this? I can't even dare to look at him. I swear to God the next time I stare into his eyes, I'll break down. Oh God, Catherine! Get a hold of yourself! You've moved past this, remember? You have moved on! You have a great new life now. You're doing great in your job, your daughter couldn't be any better, you have friends here who love you, and your old team still loves you - yeah right, well everybody loves you, every body but him. Damn him! I hate him, I hate him, I hate him! Just as when I thought I was okay he has to come back and... wow he's already getting into my nerves. How could he do that? Oh yeah, it's Grissom. Oh man, I hate that name. Why do I even think of that name, why do I even waste time thinking about him? "Jonathan, aren't we there yet?" "Patience, Catherine." Okay... I'm here right now a few inches from Catherine. The woman who has captured my heart the woman who broke down the walls I have built around myself... the woman who broke my heart. Maybe God gave this chance for me to have closure, to sort things out. But I can't even look at her. Back in Vegas, I have come to let myself believe that I have moved on... but now, seeing her again, my heart aches. She left me, just like that, and here she is all happy while I struggle. I can't believe I almost gave up on my life when she left... while she's here all happy. I don't even know why she left in the first place. Wait a minute, I know, I just don't want to accept the fact. It's about that night. "We're here," Jonathan announced. "So what do you guys want for break fast? Or do you guys want to have your rest first?" Catherine asked. "Rest? Who said anything about going to rest? We have one year to catch up on!" said Warrick. "OK then, where do you want to eat? A diner, a restaurant or my place?" "Your place!" said Sara and Nick in unison. "Okay fine, let's go!" Catherine headed out as the three followed her. "How about you, Mr. Grissom" asked Jonathan. "I'm heading back to the hotel. I really need to catch up on some sleep." "Hey Greggo!" Nick greeted as they found Greg sitting on the couch in his pajamas. "Well hello there!" "Mom!" Lindsey came running from the stairs. "Uncle Warrick, Uncle Nick, Aunt Sara!" Lindsey jumped with joy as she saw them and gave each of them a hug. "How have you been Linds?" "I'm okay, where's uncle Gil?" "Um –– uh- " The three stammered and looked at each, other not knowing what to say. "He's in his hotel having a rest sweetie" Catherine replied "I want to see him." "He's busy." "Well just tell him I want to see him and that I miss him. I'm sure he misses me too" "Okay I'll tell him, now go and get dressed, or you'll be late for school." "Okay, mommy!" Catherine made eggs, toast and pancakes for all of them. They spent the whole time catching up. Catherine learned about Nick courting Sara, Warrick having a new girlfriend and Greg's realization that he is happier in the lab. Catherine told them about the guys she's dated, but nothing really serious came out to any of it. They shared jokes, they laughed the whole time and just the feeling of being together again made them happy. Though none of them spoke about it, everyone was also feeling that something is missing. Their dad, Grissom. Catherine herself was thinking about him too. There she was with 'their kids' and he was off in is hotel room by himself. "Catherine why did you leave?" Sara asked in a serious tone. The room fell silent, the four of them waiting for the answer. "I needed to have a new life." "What was wrong with your life back then?" asked Greg "Things were all great back then. It was all great until... let's just say that I needed to get away from him. I needed to get away from Grissom." = TBC =