Thanks to Lauri for helping me out on where to go next!
"Gil?" Catherine asked, entering his office. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
He looked up and smiled. "Absolutely."
She sat down on the couch
and looked at him. "If
I was to go away for awhile, would you be able to watch Lindsey?"
He frowned slightly. "Cath, what's the matter?"
"I want to take Katie away for a while. Just her and me."
Gil sat back in his chair and looked at her curiously. "Why? Is something the matter?"
Catherine sighed. "I need to deal with this, Gil. With what I did. I just need to explain to her, to spend time with her." She stood up and began pacing. "I don't even know who my daughter is." She glanced at him. "I know that you need time with her as well, and I know that you need to get to know her. And I understand this is probably selfish of me, but it's something I need to do."
He stood up and walked over to her, pulling her into his arms. "It's not selfish. It's natural." Gil urged her to sit on the couch. "I needed to talk to you about something too."
She looked at him expectantly.
"Cath…I love you. I love you so very much and I have for a very long time. And I love the fact that we made Katie together, and how perfect she is. And I love Lindsey, and how perfect she is." He caressed her cheek. "I want to make our situation more permanent. I want to marry you."
She was silent for a moment, and he wondered if he was moving too fast.
"Cath…"
She put a finger on his lips. "I want to marry you. I really do." Her hand fell away. "But I need to deal with Katie first, okay?"
"You're not scared of me, are you?" He couldn't handle it if she was scared of him. He loved her too much.
"No," she assured him firmly. "But everything seems to be piling on top of each other. And right now, no matter how much I love you and wanted to marry you, I need to deal with Katie first. Okay?"
He nodded and took a box
from his pocket. "Would
you…would you just hold onto it for me? Until you're ready to wear it?"
She opened the box and smiled through a light sheen of tears at the diamond ring nestled inside. Catherine closed the box and looked back up at him. "Okay."
************************************************************************
Katie rested her feet on the dashboard. "And the reason you're not wearing it, is?"
"I probably shouldn't have told you," Catherine said, glancing over. "And take your feet off the dashboard."
Katie rolled her eyes. "I
mean, if a guy wanted
me to marry him, and adored me that much, I'd say yes."
"It's complicated."
"That's becoming
painfully obvious."
Catherine shot her a look. Katie glanced at her and shrugged.
************************************************************************
"We're fine," Catherine
smiled into the
phone. "Katie's in the shower, and we're ordering dinner in a moment.
No,
the traffic was fine." She leant back onto the pillow. "I love you
too."
Katie walked into the room, towelling her hair and rolled her eyes at the exchange.
"Our daughter just rolled
her eyes at us,"
Catherine said. She chuckled. "No, I'm not telling her that. She's too
young."
"Oh geez," Katie groaned, flopping onto the bed.
Catherine handed over the
phone. "Here, talk to
your father."
"Hi, Dad," Katie said,
settling onto the bed. "No, you're just
being gross. Yes, I know I'm eighteen but just because I'm a legal
adult,
doesn't mean it's not gross when you think about your parents
doing…stuff." She wrinkled her nose.
"That's it, I'm putting you back
onto mom now."
Catherine chuckled and took back the phone. "You scarred our daughter." Her face softened and she smiled. "Okay. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you too. Bye."
Catherine hung up the phone and rolled to face her daughter. "We're not gross."
Katie rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you
reckon." She folded her arms. "What's this trip about? You've
been…weird ever since we left home."
"Weird?"
Katie gave her a look that Catherine recognised as pure Grissom.
Catherine smiled and brushed a look of hair from her daughter's face. "You're a smart girl." She sighed. "I do want to talk to you about something. But it can wait."
Katie put a hand on her
mother's arm. "No it
can't. It's gonna bug me all weekend." She smiled sweetly. "Do you
want to be responsible for that?"
Catherine narrowed her eyes. "Fine. We'll talk now."
Katie smiled and handed her to the room service menu. "I think we're going to need food."
************************************************************************
"So," Lindsey said, staring at Grissom.
"So," he replied, staring back at her.
"We should probably get some dinner," Lindsey suggested.
"Good idea," Gil nodded, and went and looked at the fridge. "What do you feel like?"
Lindsey grinned. "Can we have pizza?"
Gil looked at the little
girl, whose bright smile
reminded him so much of the woman he missed. "That's a good idea."
************************************************************************
Part 12