Disclaimer: They're not mine.

Spoilers: None as far as I am aware

Rating: I've gone with T or PG-13 just to be safe. There's a use of the f-word about once and THAT'S ONCE TOO MANY! Swearing is overrated, kids.

Summary: GCR with a little WS. After an accident affects a team member, the team find themselves revisiting old memories.

Hey again, thanks to Megara1, D.M.A.S. and midnightexpress for the very lovely reviews. I won't delay this any longer, but please continue to read and review because it's great. Thanks. GCR moments will pick up soon, this is just the beginning. Enjoy! Love LJ xXx

- o -

Perpetuity. Chapter Three. The Who

- o -

Thank God for speed-dial, Catherine thought that night as she ran through them all. Jim Brass – speed dial three, was just about to head home to catch some sleep when he got the call. On speed dial four, Sara sleepily picked up their house phone beside their bed. She hurriedly got Lindsey up and the two of them bundled themselves into her Tahoe as fast as they could. Speed dial five was answered by Nick's machine so Catherine skipped to speed dial nine and rang the lab, rounding up Nick, Warrick and Greg all in one go.

The six of them arrived there before the doctors had even finished running precautionary tests on Gil and they found Catherine standing in the hall, watching anxiously through the window as the doctors carefully removed the tube that ran down Grissom's throat.

"Mom!" Lindsey yelled and ran to her, despite being woken up at midnight.

"Linds!" Catherine grinned with equal enthusiasm, smiling the first real smile she'd had in days. She swept the little girl up into her arms and they watched together through the glass until the doctor beckoned them in.

There was genuine tired surprise on Gil Grissom's face as the swarm of people rushed in to see him, almost as though he hadn't expected to be cared about this much. He looked almost amused when Catherine dashed in and, hands on either side of his face, kissed him.

"Gil, honey – I was so worried," Catherine beamed and kissed him again. Grissom laughed slightly.

"At this moment, this is probably a very stupid thing to say," he began hoarsely with a shy smile. "After all, it's not every day a beautiful woman kisses you without warning but – who are you?"

Catherine froze, the smile fading from her face for just a moment. She laughed nervously.

"You're kidding me, right?" she studied his expression closely. "You really don't know who I am?" Grissom looked at her with a hint of guilt.

"Should I?" he asked hesitantly.

Sara brings her hand unconsciously to her mouth, feeling Warrick's grip tighten on her other hand. Standing in front of them, Nick stares, disbelieving. Beside his bed, Catherine's legs give way again and she sits suddenly in the nearby chair.

"Someone get the doctor back again," Jim Brass broke the silence eventually. Greg nodded and sprinted out of the door.

-----------------------

Everything was happening so fast. He was in a hospital, he'd gathered that much. He reckoned he'd probably done something to his right leg and ribs because they hurt like a bitch. He sat up a bit but stopped when he felt a sudden pain in his right wrist and collar bone. Things weren't looking too good. There were two doctors standing by his bedside now, asking his questions and writing things down – blocking his view of the blonde lady who'd rushed in to greet him. She didn't look so pleased to see him anymore.

"Perhaps it's just a loss of social memory," one doctor murmured to the other and they called on the other strangers in the room to give them a hand. Things must be desperate, Grissom mused, if they're calling on these young people to help them out – they didn't look like trained doctors.

"Gil," one of them began. This was the one with the shaved head who seemed the most lucid out of all of them. He should count himself lucky, Gil supposed; he would certainly be a little suspicious of the spiky haired one if he tried anything. "Gil, what's a 419?"

He knew that one.

"Dead body found," Grissom responded immediately. The older guy in the corner stepped forwards suddenly. He looked like a cop – what was this about?

"A 422?" the older guy pressed.

"Sick or injured officer," Gil replied.

"What's my name?" a small blonde girl piped up, joining in. Cute kid but perhaps she didn't quite get the hang of the game, Gil thought.

"I have no idea, sweetie," he told her kindly. There was a sharp intake of breath from one of the doctors who muttered in a low whisper to the other one, heading out of the room to talk in private.

Gil turned to the blonde lady in the chair beside him with a smile, wondering what had happened to her affectionate greetings, thinking perhaps he shouldn't have opened his damned mouth.

"So, what's your name?" Gil spoke up. The lady smiled sadly back at him.

"Catherine," she answered quietly. She looked upset and her eyes were red-rimmed. Maybe now wasn't a good time for hitting on someone but, at any rate, she'd been pretty cheerful when she first came in, so Grissom took a deep breath and thought: what the hell?

"You're very beautiful," he told her earnestly. "Are you married?"

Catherine looked like she was thinking about the answer long and hard, the sad smile on her lips.

"Yes," she nodded finally, in a voice that grew quieter all the time. The older man in the corner looked at his feet as the spiky haired kid tensed his jaw nervously. The little girl watched in confusion.

"Oh," said Gil, disappointed. And then he asked, hopefully: "Happily married?"

Catherine laughed suddenly at his optimism and looked at her hands in her lap. There was a ring on her finger but, when she looked up again, there was melancholy in her eyes.

"Yes," she whispered her answer, offering up another smile that cracked and faltered. "We're - we're very happy."

Grissom looked at her, tempted to add that she didn't look very happy but that might be insensitive. Maybe her husband had just died or something – it wouldn't be polite. Then Catherine stood up and left the room. The young couple standing at the foot of his bed, a black guy and a brunette holding hands, exchanged uneasy glances as though Grissom's answers had been wrong. The shaved-headed guy who'd begun the questioning looked to the others before following the blonde woman out.

As far as days went, though Grissom himself couldn't recall any specifics, this was turning out to be one hell of a strange day.

- o -