Gil leant in the doorway of his bedroom, watching Catherine brush her hair.
She saw his reflection in the mirror, and turned. "Gil?"
"Hey," he smiled, walking over to her. "You look stunning."
Catherine looked up at him. "Are you trying to make me feel better?"
"Is it working?"
Catherine stood up and walked into his arms, sighing in contentment as he hugged her close to him. "A little."
"You don't have to be nervous, Catherine," he promised her. "You've been in court before."
"I've never had my kid on the line."
"Cath, what you say today…it's not going to make or break what's going on. We both know that the judge is going to take in everything."
"That still doesn't make me feel much better."
"Should I go back to flattery and compliments?"
She sighed and pulled away. "No. I'm fine."
Gil put a hand on her arm. "It's going to be alright, Catherine. I promise."
"Catherine Grissom. I work at the Crime lab of Las Vegas."
Lindsey stood up. "Mrs Grissom, how old was Matthew when you first met him?"
"He was five."
"Can you tell us about the night you met him?"
"I was working at the lab with Gil."
"Gil?"
"Gil Grissom. My husband."
Lindsey nodded and gestured for her to continue.
Catherine took a deep breath. "I was talking to my husband, with Lindsey and Lizzie, when Sara walked into the room."
"Sara Sidle?"
Catherine nodded. "We hadn't seen her in five years, or heard what had happened, so it was a surprise to see her again. She had Matthew with her then."
"Did you know Matthew was Dr Grissom's son?"
"No. I didn't find that out until Sara told me."
"What about Dr Grissom? Did he know?"
"No. Not until Sara told him."
"Moving forward, could you tell us about the night that you went to rescue Matt."
"Objection your honor, there was no rescuing involved," Andrews said, jumping up.
"I'll rephrase. Could you tell us about the night that you went to retrieve Matthew?"
"I was at home with Lindsey and Lizzie. Gil was at a conference. Matthew phoned me, asking if he could borrow ten dollars to pay the pizza man. He said that he'd run out of money and Sara hadn't come home from the night before."
"What did you do?"
"I asked Lindsey to watch her little sister and I went to the hotel that Sara had been staying at with him."
"What did you find when you got there?"
"The pizza delivery man was standing outside the closed door. I paid him and asked Matthew to let me in. When I went inside, I could see he'd been trying to wash up, because the floor was wet. His clothes were stacked up in a pile on the floor, because Sara had told him he couldn't leave the room and so he couldn't do his laundry."
"What did you do?"
"I told him to pack up his things and that I'd take him home."
"Did you try and get in contact with Ms Sidle?"
"Yes. The first thing we did was ring Detective Brass to report her missing. She hadn't left any forwarding address or number. Detective Brass called back that night, telling us that she was at her home. She had told Detective Brass that she had told me she was leaving.""Had she?"
Catherine glared over at Sara. "No."
"What happened next?"
"Gil rang Sara. The first time it was just an argument. The second time she said she'd call Matthew."
"Did she?"
"No."
"Let's talk about Matthew, Mrs Grissom. Is it true that he saved your life?"
Catherine nodded. "And Jamie's."
"How?"
"I went into premature labour one evening. Gil was at work and I only had Lizzie and Matthew with me. He called 911."
"With Matthew's quick thinking, you got to the hospital in time?"
"Yes. They stopped the labour." Catherine smiled. "He's a very special little boy."
"From the times that you observed Ms Sidle with Matthew, did you get the impression that she was a good mother?"
Catherine only glanced at Sara before replying. "No."
"What gave you that impression?"
"She emotionally abused that little boy. She was always overprotective of him." Catherine glared at the Sara. "And she used him as her pawn in her little game."
"What little game was this?"
"She wanted my husband."
"Objection!"
"No further questions."
Catherine's eyes locked onto Sara's as Andrews stood up.
"Mrs Grissom, do you like Ms Sidle?"
"No.""Isn't it true that you found out about Matthew's paternity before your husband did?"
"Yes."
"Is it true that you didn't tell him?"
Catherine sighed. "Yes."
"Why not?"
"I didn't feel it was my place."
"Didn't feel it was your place?" Andrews almost laughed. "Mrs Grissom, you find out your husband has fathered a child with another woman and you didn't think it was your place to tell him?"
"That's correct."
"Were you angry when you found out?"
"No."
"That's a little hard to believe, Mrs Grissom. Did you suspect your husband had been cheating on you?"
"No!"
"So you weren't angry at anybody?" Andrews pointed to Sara. "What about Ms Sidle?"
"I thought she should have told Gil sooner."
"Right. Didn't you threaten Ms Sidle?"
Catherine arched an eyebrow. "Did she tell you that?"
"Didn't you say, and I quote 'Stay away from my husband'?"
"Yes."
"But you didn't threaten her?"
Catherine felt exhausted all of a sudden. "No."
"Right. We'll forgo asking your definition of a threat. Mrs Grissom, do you consider yourself a good mother?""Yes."
"When you told us the details of the night Ms Sidle returned, didn't you forget to mention that your 12 year old daughter, Lindsey, took her 2 year old sister, hopped in a cab and came to CSI Headquarters?"
"I didn't think it was relevant."
"Or you just didn't want to make it look like you were a bad mother."
"Objection!"
"Withdrawn. Mrs. Grissom, your son Max, was he an accident?"
"Objection!"
"Overruled."
"No, he wasn't."
Andrews made his way closer to the stand. "Was he planned?"
Catherine glanced at Gil. "No."
"Mrs. Grissom, he was either one or the other."
"He was a surprise," Catherine said slowly, glad that Max wasn't in the court room.
"How very touching. Mrs. Grissom, how often do you and your husband have sex?"
Catherine's eyebrows shot up as Lindsey called out objection.
"I just want to gauge responsibility," Andrews said.
"Be very careful Mr Andrews," the judge told him.
"Yes, your honor." Andrews turned back to Catherine. "Do you need me to repeat the question?"
"No," Catherine said through gritted teeth. She looked at her husband, who looked like he wanted to kill Andrews.
"Mrs. Grissom?"
"Often enough."
"Very politic. So, you take a lot of trips away?"
Catherine narrowed her eyes. "Huh?"
"Let me rephrase. Do you have sex while your children are in the house?"
"Yes," Catherine answered very carefully.
"How?"
Catherine's eyebrows shot up to her hairline.
"Objection!"
"Mr Andrews…" the judge warned.
"Sorry your honor, let me rephrase. I presume doors are closed and locked during said sessions?"
Catherine felt sick. "Yes."
"What happens if one of your children needs you?"
"What?"
"Say the kitchens on fire?"
"We have smoke alarms."
"You don't take this seriously, Mrs. Grissom?"
"Not your line of questioning, no."
"Mrs. Grissom, I'll repeat my earlier question. What would you do if one of your children needed you during said session?"
"They know they can come to the door."
"So another ten minutes and we'll be done?"
"Your Honor!"
"Mr. Andrews, you're out of line. Change the line of questioning or finish with the witness."
"Yes, your honor." Andrews turned back to Catherine. "What was your profession before becoming a CSI?"
Catherine sighed. She had been waiting for this one. "I was an exotic dancer."
"In layman's terms?"
"That is layman's terms."
"Wouldn't the layman's terms be 'stripper', Mrs Grissom?"
"There are many different terms for it."
Mr. Andrews glanced at Grissom, then at Sara and then back at Catherine. Finally, he dropped the bombshell. "Mrs. Grissom, is it true that Sam Braun is paying your legal fees?"
Catherine froze. She glanced at Gil, who was looking at her curiously. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.
"Could you please answer yes or no, Mrs. Grissom." Andrews smiled sweetly. "For the court recorder."
"Yes."
Gil's eyes widened and then turned hard. Catherine felt even worse. She hated that look.
"No further questions," Andrews said, turning back to Sara with a triumphant look.
"Gil…"
Gil put his hand up. "Don't, Catherine. Just don't."
"Gil…don't walk away from me."
He whirled around, facing her. "What? What is it that is so important to tell me? Obviously the fact that Sam Braun is paying for the legal fees wasn't."
"You're taking this the wrong way."
"I'm sorry, there's a right way to take this?"
Catherine started to get heated. She was tired and angry. "If you weren't so goddamn stubborn you would see that it makes sense!"
"I don't want to talk about this now," Gil told her. "Let's just go home. The kids will be back from school soon."
Catherine let out an exasperated noise. "It's just like you, Grissom! Push something away so you don't have to talk about it."
"Don't push me, Catherine."
With a frown, Catherine slammed the door of the car behind her. "Fine! Let's go home then!"