Chapter 80

Double Date

Gil was the first to arrive at the bar they'd all agreed to meet at. He'd come separately – without Sara. That hadn't been the plan of course, he'd called before he'd been ready to leave advising her he'd pick her up on the way. Sara hadn't been ready yet – some crisis with her laundry – and it had been her idea to meet at the bar.

He'd half finished his beer when Catherine arrived looking almost conservative in a black pant suit save for the satin lapels which did nothing else but draw attention to her cleavage.

Gil took a swig of his beer, he didn't stand to greet her, Catherine didn't need that kind of chivalry.

"He's not here yet," Catherine said looking at Gil suspiciously.

"He will be," Gil responded.

"Where's Sara?" Catherine queried.

"Having some laundry crisis, apparently," Gil chuckled, "she'll be here soon enough…"

Catherine ordered a drink, and she stood looking around anxiously, she sat on the bar stool with her back straight, she seemed uncomfortable, not at all like herself.

"Cath…relax."

"I'm sorry, I don't know WHO is going to show up, here, I keep picturing someone like Ecklie or Hodges coming through that door any minute now…you know, one of those nightmare meets reality situations."

Gil smirked, "turn your back to the door, loosen up, and just be yourself. If he comes through that door and sees you looking anxious, he's going to know right away that this is a set up…he'd simply turn and leave without you ever knowing who he is."

"I'd be less anxious if you'd just tell me who the hell it is instead of all this secrecy crap," Catherine uttered under her breath.

Gil could do nothing but maintain that smirk of his and face the bar, "It's not like you to be nervous."

"I know," Catherine responded with a sigh. "Like I said…I don't know who's coming through that door…" she replied.

"You'll be…surprised…that's all I'm saying," Gil sipped his beer.

"Hey."

Catherine and Gil both turned to see Sara approaching. Clad in black pants and a purple top that gave off the tiniest shimmer when she moved, she looked more than incredible. Her hair was pinned back, drawing attention to her slender neck.

Gil stood immediately, "you're late," he teased.

"I couldn't find my top," Sara made a face, "then I had to wash it and dry it…whole disaster…"

Gil kissed her forehead to greet her, he might have kissed her lips had he not been aware of the way Catherine was sitting staring at them both.

Gil gave her his seat at the bar, it being the only available one now that he'd stood – the others already taken. He stood for some moments reflecting on what he should ask her she wanted from the bar. One thing he hadn't thought of when setting this up was that Sara had been keeping away from all alcohol at his request. Now, that seemed almost unavoidable without bringing the situation up in front of Catherine.

"Sara…what would you like from the bar?" Gil asked, clearing his throat.

Sara paused, she looked at him with the same kind of concern in her eyes that he was feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Can I just have a coke? I'm driving," she finally replied.

"Okay," he replied, feeling much relief, he ordered another round of drinks, since Catherine had already finished hers and he was most of the way through finishing his.

"So, Cath, you nervous?" Sara asked, she sipped on her coke. She took the slice of lemon out and sucked on it, keeping her eyes on her colleague.

"What do you think?" Catherine asked in an obvious way with a roll of her eyes.

Gil took that moment to stare at Sara, feeling that strange temptation to kiss that slender throat of hers right then. It had been a while since they'd been intimate, and he'd never quite managed to forget about it either.

Sara glanced towards Gil, "you're staring."

"Sorry. You look nice."

"Just nice?" Sara raised an eyebrow, but she gave a smile that told him she was teasing.

"Spectacular. You always look spectacular."

"Get a room," Catherine made a face.

Gil laughed softly, he stood by Sara, sliding his arm around her and resting it on her hip, "jealous is an awful thing, Catherine," he grinned.

Catherine gave a nonchalant shrug, "well, secret admirer man is late…" she pointed to her watch.

"He'll be here," Gil assured, still staring at Sara. The thin strap of her purple top moved as Sara raised the glass to her lips, and he saw a shimmer of purple on a strap beneath.

It's that purple satin bra, Gil thought. Did she have to wear that tonight? How am I going to get through the evening knowing that's what she has on underneath that top?

"Gil," Sara said after a moment.

"Hmm?"

"You're staring again."

"Sorry, I can't help it."

Catherine tapped her fingers on the bar top impatiently.

"Sorry I'm late, I was caught in an interview at work," came a familiar voice at their backs.

Gil watched Catherine's reaction when he heard Warrick Brown's voice. Catherine had just raised her drink to her lips and nearly sputtered. Somehow she managed to play it off coolly, she didn't dare turn, but Gil could see her eyes were wide.

Didn't expect it to be Warrick, did you Cath? Gil thought with an amused smirk.

"You're not that late - I just got here too," Sara replied, her eyes flicked back and forth between Warrick and Cath.

"Well, it's getting pretty crowded at the bar, now," Gil pointed out, "shall we move to a table?"

"Yeah, I'll be right with you, let me get a beer," Warrick nodded.

Catherine left the bar with Gil and Sara, she seemed to be in some kind of shellshock, she looked over her shoulder at Warrick as they were taking seats at a table on the other side of the bar, way out of earshot of Warrick.

"So, Cath," Sara placed her drink down on the table and took her seat next to Gil, "surprised?"

"Is this…some kind of joke?" Catherine asked in a hush.

"Nope," Gil grinned.

"How could…he be…?" Catherine tried, seemingly unable to finish the sentence.

Gil took a sip of his beer before speaking, "you know that old saying…you never know what's right in front of you?" he asked.

Catherine gave a silent laugh of disbelief, "all this time it's been…?" she trailed off again, unable to finish.

"Catherine, pull yourself together, please, he's coming over," Gil advised.

Warrick took a seat at the table beside Catherine, putting his beer down on the table, "man, it's been a tough day."

It's probably going to get a whole lot tougher if Catherine doesn't snap out of the shock, Gil thought, he snuck a glance towards Sara again. He wanted to be able to concentrate on somehow getting Catherine and Warrick on the same wavelength, but it seemed impossible to concentrate on anything but that purple undergarment right at that particular moment.

Catherine said nothing, she just stared at Warrick as if she'd never seen him before. Gil kicked her under the table, regretting he had probably left a footprint on the leg of her black pants.

Catherine winced, perhaps his kick had been a little harder than he'd intended, "how come you were on the day shift?" she asked, looking away from him again, trying to remain as casual as possible, but seemingly finding it hard.

"Gambling case that they needed my help on," Warrick shrugged, "when in doubt, ask the master I guess," he sipped on his beer, his green eyes caught Gil's in a suspicious stare.

Gil couldn't help but feel smug, but he maintained a straight face nonetheless.

After a few more drinks, the strange awkwardness at the table began to slowly ease itself away, and they were soon talking like the old friends they were, sharing laughter and memories.

Despite all this, Gil could see that Catherine was still struggling to cope with the fact that all this time, Warrick had been the one behind the roses, the notes, the diamond earrings. As unabashed as Warrick usually was with women, he seemed to have a certain shyness now around Catherine that Gil had never noticed before.

Even though Gil was admittedly having a good time, and the pleasant swimming in his head was rather enjoyable, he still wanted to leave. Thoughts of getting Sara alone had been playing in his mind since the moment she'd arrived, and he was growing more and more frustrated with waiting out Warrick to make an attempt to tell Catherine about what he'd been doing.

Sara got up to use the ladies room, and after a moment, Gil considered that maybe the problem with Warrick telling Catherine about his secret admirer game might be that he and Sara had been present.

"Excuse me," Gil stood, without giving an explanation he headed off to the small side hallway that led to two small public bathrooms. He stood outside the ladies room for a few moments waiting for Sara.

Sara finally came out, surprised to see him standing there, "you following me?"

"You know it," Gil smirked, "this night is driving me crazy. I figured by now Warrick would have said something to Cath, but he's good at playing innocent."

"Wonder where he gets that from," Sara teased.

"Sara…" Gil began, for some reason he looked around cautiously, "do…you, uh…want to, uh, come back to my place?"

"Is that a proposition?" Sara asked casually, she leaned against the wall.

"God, yes," he uttered, staring at her longingly.

"Wait…aren't you forgetting something?"

"Hmmm?"

"What about Cath and Warrick?"

Gil moved to the end of the hallway to stare over at the table where Catherine and Warrick were sitting talking, "I'm hoping they'll resolve things themselves."

"What excuse would we give that we're leaving?" Sara asked.

"We don't give one, we just leave…"

"Cath will go crazy…" Sara reminded.

"I think as long as we're here, Warrick isn't going to make any moves with Catherine. If we leave, we're probably increasing her chances…"Gil smirked, "anyway, right now…I have other things on my mind…" he took her hand, "come on, lets get out of here while no one is looking."

Probably not as good a chapter as anyone had hoped but at this point my head is killing me and i just couldn't find a way to make teh chapter better (still at least it's up now).

Thanks to everyone for their kind reviews, my head is killing me so I'm not going to try and name yoiu all right now but I'll try and get you all into 82.

Thanks for reading and reviewing :)

Ash