Chapter 13

Preparations

August 26th, 2004

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The day dawned bright and clear as Catherine rolled over in her makeshift bed on Sara's couch. This was her wedding day. In a few hours, she was going to marry Gil Grissom, the man she loved with all her heart. She took the moments of silence to reflect, like she did every day before she got out of bed.

It had been months of healing not only physically for her, but emotionally and mentally as well. The things that she had seen in her life were sick and twisted and, if she hadn't seen them with her own eyes, probably unbelievable. The case with Amanda Bell had bonded the team closer than ever before, all of them feeding off of each other during cases, more so than before. The last brutal case, with a little girl and a ruined wedding, still gave Catherine the chills and partially made her dread what today was.

The bright side of all of this? The team had been there for each other. Whenever someone understood that Catherine was pulling away – usually Sara who had helped Catherine plan most of the wedding – it was just a matter of sitting down with her and walking her through how much Grissom loved her and how there wouldn't be any one waiting to kill her at her wedding.

Catherine was just excited to get it all over with so she could be married already!

Lindsey came bounding into the room minutes later from Bekki's bedroom that in any other apartment would have been an office. Nick and Sara had agreed that until things became more permanent, Bekki would stay with her. This made things easier for Catherine and Lindsey as well as Sara, Bekki and Nick. The grin on her little girl's face sent all of her wedding day death fears scattering out of her mind.

"Mommy! You're getting married today!" she exclaimed happily, coming to sit at Catherine's stomach. Catherine affectionately ruffled Lindsey's hair.

"That I am sweetheart. Now, what do you say we go wake up Sara so we can get going, huh?" Lindsey scampered off and Catherine pulled off her covers. Lindsey came out moments later dragging a groggy Sara in her wake. It took Catherine a moment to register what exactly her daughter was humming under her breath.

-

Here comes the bride…

-

Grissom was in his room at the church, watching the clock tick past the large numbers.

"Gil Grissom! This isn't going to help one bit!" He smiled as his mother entered the room and turned to embrace her.

"Sorry mother," he signed in reply, pulling away after a few moments. She gave him an affectionate smile.

"She'll be up there Gil, all dressed in white. Remind me again why you didn't do earlier?" Grissom smiled and regaled his mother with some of the reasons behind his mistake.

"But, I let her get away once, I wasn't willing to do it again." His mother smiled at him, her eyes having turned misty. It was going to be a beautiful day.

(AN: I don't actually know if Grissom's mother was born deaf or not. If she wasn't I'm assuming she can talk, though not necessarily read lips. Nor to I remember if she's alive or not. If she's not and I missed the memo, someone please tell me?)

I know its short but… this is where I felt like ending it. The next chapter for sure will be the wedding with beautiful vows and a reception. After that… I'M DONE! Maybe if I get enough reviews I'll start a third one but there are a couple stories that need to be finished.

Kavi Leighanna