Chapter 11

Office Ink

"Oh my god…you're in early doing paperwork. Something is definitely up with you," Catherine Willows stated as she stepped into Gil Grissom's office that next evening. Gil was stationed behind his desk having gotten through almost all of yesterdays paperwork already.

"I came in early to get rid of it. I'm sick of it piling up on my desk. Paperwork in this place is like weeds in a flowerbed - you leave it there and over time it starts to multiply and overgrow until it's taking over the entire garden," he uttered.

"Oh come on, you expect me to believe that you've simply just snapped under the pressure of overload on reports and inventory requests?" Catherine raised an eyebrow. She closed the door, "this isn't anything to do with the so-called 'entomology lesson' last night, is it?" she queried, she raised an eyebrow, looking down her nose at him.

"Not at all," he lied. Of course, he trusted her enough to answer, but he just loved that suspicious expression on her face so much he wanted to play it stupid as long as he could. He rarely had any fun these days at all, it would be fun letting Catherine work things out for herself.

"Well, something is up, that's for sure," Catherine admitted, "you and Sara haven't said a word to each other for weeks unless it's case related, you get uncomfortable around each other, and then last night suddenly there she is in your apartment sipping on wine – the whole place smells like bleach and there you were making her dinner," Catherine pointed out.

"Something me and you do every so often," he reminded, he put his pen down, "is there a reason you're in early, Catherine?" he asked.

"Not really," Catherine dropped into the seat opposite him, "you don't break out the bleach for me," she put her feet up on his desk casually, "so…what was last night all about, really."

"Entomology. Speak with Sara, I'm sure she'll have some useful information about butterflies for you."

"Right," Catherine nodded, but he could see the expression of disbelief painted plainly on her face. "You never invite anyone to your apartment unless its work related."

Gil picked up a mug of coffee that had been situated to his right, he took a sip and winced, "ugh, nothing worse than cold coffee," he muttered. "Makes me wonder what the big deal with those stupid frozen cappuccinos is," he put the mug down in disgust.

"You're changing the subject," Catherine noted.

"I've invited you to my apartment," he pointed out indifferently.

"Not anyone else."

"Jealous, are we?" he smirked, he picked up a cardboard folder from his desk and opened it, he picked up his pen and set back to work.

"Why would I be jealous? You and I aren't involved, and besides, I have a secret admirer," Catherine smirked.

"Oh?" Gil took off his glasses and stared at her. "Do tell."

"I'll tell you about it when you tell me about what's going on," Catherine offered.

"Nice tactic, give a little info and get a lot more back. Well…sorry, there's not much more here than an entomology lesson and some dinner.

"I don't believe you," Catherine stated firmly. "Has to mean something."

"Why does it have to mean something?" he asked, he put his glasses back on, shaking his head at her.

"Because this is Sara. You have a soft spot for her, you always have," Catherine answered quite matter-of-factly.

"I wouldn't call it a soft spot," Gil responded, shaking his head still, he signed his name off on a piece of paper absently, he tried to pretend to remain focused, but he just wanted to laugh at the fight Catherine was putting up to find out more information about the night before.

"Actually, it's more like a burning passion," Catherine said, "unrequited love, perhaps."

Not quite, he thought mischievously.

"WHY are you smirking like that?" Catherine asked suddenly, she sat up straight, taking her feet off of the desk. "My god, who are you and WHAT have you done with Gil Grissom?" she blinked, mouth hanging open, "you're like a different person today."

I feel like a different person too, he realised. Who'd have ever thought that starting a relationship with Sara would lift my spirits as much as it has today?

"I just had a really good sleep last night," he lied.

"And did you happen to wake up with someone next to you?" Catherine gave a devilish grin.

Gil decided to respond in a way that he usually wouldn't, "if I had actually woke up with someone next to me, I probably would have called in sick."

This is fun, look at her, she's getting frustrated that she's not finding anything out. This must be killing her, she loves to be on top of every little thing.

Catherine smirked, "this whole happy little mood you have going here is just too good to be true," she said, "what did happen last night?"

"We ate pasta, we sipped wine, we talked about bugs. What more could happen?" he asked, he stood up, "if you'll excuse me, I have to hand in these reports."

Catherine stood up too, "I'll find out, Gil," she promised, "I'll know by the look on Sara's face if anything else other than a boring entomology lesson happened last night."

Gil stopped at the door, pausing for thought, then he spoke, "by secret admirer, do you mean whoever sent you the Valentine?"

"Yes," Catherine answered, "I thought it was a joke at first, but then I got roses when I got home – same phony handwriting on the card, and someone left me a love note at the reception...all it said was 'still guessing'?"

"Knows where you work AND where you live, either this is someone very close to you already or…you have a stalker," Gil said seriously.

"It's not you, is it? Playing a joke on me or something?" Catherine asked concernedly.

"Come on. I have a weird sense of humour but not that weird. Besides, you know I couldn't disguise my handwriting if I tried," Gil rolled his eyes, "And…can you really see me going into some store and picking out a 'sex kitten' Valentine?"

"I guess not," Catherine mused, she had the expression on her face that told Gil she was trying to picture it in her mind of how that scene would look. "I did fingerprint the card, you know and all I ended up with was a lot of smudged partials from everyone in the store it was originally from," she replied, "it'd be hard to pinpoint who actually sent it."

"Catherine, be careful…you know, as romantic as it probably seems, you could be in for trouble if you have a secret admirer…need I remind you of how out of hand these things get?"

"I will be careful," Catherine assured, "in the meantime," she stepped over, and placed her hand on the door handle, she looked straight at him, "I want to tell you the same thing."

"To be careful?" he asked in surprise.

"Dipping the pen in the office ink, Gil…things can get messy."

"I wouldn't worry about me, Cath. My pens don't leak."