Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot idea for this fic. All Other Characters names, information and whatnot are products of my imagination. There's no truth behind any of these fictionalized people.
Summary: What is really brewing between Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows? Is is love? Is it friendship? Could there be more to Catherine and Grissom's relationship than what was seen on the surface?
Author's Notes: This is my first CSI fic and so please be nice. I just recently got hooked on the series and...well, I can't help but feel some underlying tension between the Night Shift's supervisor and his right-hand person and closet confidant. Please read & review. I'd like to hear some feedbacks from you. I so very much love to explore the possibilities of a GC pairing. ::smiles::
IV. Something's In the Air...
Sara plopped herself down in the break room's sofa, exhausted and obviously peeved at something. Nick looked up from the sandwich he was eating and raised an eyebrow at the other CSI's obvious annoyance. He knew Sara wasn't a people person, and being handed an assignment to work on by herself was sure eating the brunette alive.
"Nobody cooperating, Sara?" inquired Nick.
Sara lifted her gaze from the file folder in her hand that she had been glaring at since gathering all evidence the last couple of shifts she had. Her face softened when she saw the Texan's smiling face and relaxed her shoulders a bit. She knew everyone in the team was aware of how passionate she could be when it came to a case, or how peeved she could get when having to practice her people skills.
"It's part of the job, Nicky boy, it's part of the job," she informed him tersely.
Nick barked out a laugh and shook his nearly shaved head. "Hey, all you gotta do is be charming and less forthright with the suspects or witnesses," he advised.
"So, what? All I have to do is flash them a cheeky, dimpled smile, chuckle a bit at some obviously lame joke, and bat my eyes at the males?"
"That wouldn't hurt, actually," he agreed with her.
"What? You're serious?" Sara's eyes nearly bugged out when Nick agreed to her sarcastic remark. "God, what did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?" She cast a pleading look up at the ceiling and waited for some sort of sign to be revealed to her.
Nick followed her gaze up then slowly backtracked it down and stared at his co-worker. "You're not being mistreated, Sara. You're just living life."
Sara's forehead creased into a frown and dropped her gaze from the ceiling to the man seated across the room from her. "Since when did you become Grissom?" she asked smugly.
Nick looked lost her comment. Him became Grissom? Since when? Since he started philosophizing almost everything that came out of his mouth?
"I don't know what you're talking about, Sara," he fibbed and finished off his sandwich.
Sara was about to say something to him when the break room door opened and Warrick entered followed by Greg. Both looked deep in conversation regarding the case they're working on.
"It's not an accidental hit and run, Warrick. It's intentional," Greg insisted, crossing the room to grab the coffee pot and pour him a cup.
"OK, I am with you on the intentional part, but now the big question is who would want to run over the guy intentionally?"
"That's what we have to delve in to," Greg replied. "Want a cup?" he belatedly inquired after he put the coffee pot back into the heating pad.
"No, thanks," Warrick shook his head and grabbed one of the chairs from the table. Sitting astride it, he set the file folder on the table and stared at the closed folder. "Did anybody else come forward to identify our vic?" he asked his partner.
"Joseph Martin. A construction worker. Came from a well-to-do family but chose to live a 'simple life' by doing manual labour to pave his way," Greg grabbed a chair beside Nick and sat down himself. "I looked into our vic's background after I went through his personal effects. A wallet was found with his driver's license and a wad of cash."
"Nice work, Greggo," Nick grinned and patted the newbie CSI in the back.
"Yeah, I know, I'm cool," the youngest member grinned cheekily.
"But don't let it get way in over your head," mumbled Warrick, his dark gaze focused on the closed file folder on the table.
"Don't worry, I won't," chuckled Greg before he turned his attention to the Texan seated beside him. "So Nick, how's your case going? Found a concrete motive to nail Slick Rick's widow yet?"
"Ah, that case," Nick crumpled the wax paper his sandwich came in. "We're still hitting a dead-end. Mrs. Sabato's reasons are...just out there sometimes we can't even make ends of it. She was obviously traumatized by the event, and yet...why did she commit it in the first place?"
"Because she was drugged, that's why," came Catherine's voice from the break room's doorway.
Four sets of eyes turned to the woman at the doorway, all waiting anxiously for her to continue with her findings.
"I say hypnotized, Catherine," came Grissom's voice over the woman's shoulder. "Excuse me," he slid into the break room and joined the others.
"Hypnotized. Drugged. What's the difference?" Catherine pushed away from the doorway and entered the room. "The point is, someone wanted to frame Amelia Sabato for the murder of her husband."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You two processed these information already without letting me know?" Nick looked disappointed that he was left out.
"Sorry, Nick," the two most senior CSIs replied absentmindedly. They were far in to the discussion of the real reason behind Amelia Sabato's involvement in her late husband's murder case to care that the rest of the team were there watching them duke it out with each other.
The other four watched in fascination as Grissom and Catherine tried to outdo one another. They were both very passionate about their work, and both had excellent work ethics, and yet they differ in so many levels it was amazing how they got along to begin with. Nick cleaned closer and whispered to Greg, "Take notes, Greggo. Those two are pros and eventually they'll come to the same conclusion."
"But they're taking two different stands on this," Greg pointed out.
"Oh, just watch and listen, Greggo. Those two will come to an impasse eventually, and before you know it, they've pieced together a very plausible reason behind Slick Rick's widow's actions," Warrick assured the doubting newbie. And he was right.
Two minutes later, Grissom and Catherine came to a conclusion.
"Amelia Sabato was drugged by whomever wanted Slick Rick dead in order to take her to a hypnotist!" exclaimed Catherine, her eyes wide from suppressed glee.
Grissom's upper lip twitched to a satisfied smirk and inclined his head in agreement. It was a logical explanation to both their theories.
"Now all we have to do is prove our theories, Catherine, and we're on our way to finding our killer," Grissom answered calmly.
"Actually I got you both beat on that one," Nick raised his hand and pushed himself off his seat. "DNA results came back from Amelia Sabato's blood sample, and Flunitrazepam was found in her system," he handed Grissom a folder with his report.
"So she wasn't hypnotized at all," Catherine replied smugly and read Nick's report from over Grissom's shoulder, which she knew irritated her supervisor, but she didn't give a damn.
Grissom made a face and was about to say something smart back at Catherine when something caught his attention, and it wasn't something on the report Nick filed for him to look at. It was...her scent. Odd that he suddenly became very much aware of Catherine's scent when he had been around the woman for 20 years. Since his unexpected breakfast date with her yesterday, Grissom found himself becoming more and more aware of the woman who had been by his side for all these years.
"You used a different shampoo," he commented although his eyes never left the folder.
Catherine cocked an eyebrow and glanced sideways at him, an impressed grin plastered on her face. "You noticed?"
"Of course I noticed," he replied matter-of-factly, giving her the impression that he'd always known the scent of her shampoo and conditioner.
Catherine chuckled and shook her head. She returned her gaze back on the file in his hands and started reading the rest of Nick's report. "After all these years, Gil, and you still manage to surprise me," she murmured.
"I'm glad that I still have that effect on you," he murmured back, stealing a quick glance at her peering over his shoulder.
"Good. That means you still haven't lost your touch with women," she tore her gaze from the file she was supposedly reading and smiled at her superior. "A tad bit rusty, but with a little more work you're good to go and ready to be set back in the dating field," she teased.
Goodness, was she flirting with Grissom? Does this conversation of theirs right now considered flirtation? She'd flirted with guys before, usually men she was investigating, and she sure as heck knew when she was flirting and when she wasn't. An uneasy, butterfly-in-the-stomach feeling often hinted her that she was attracted to the guy or that she was indeed flirting with him, but with Grissom...she'd been around the man for 20 years and she had to admit, she had an easy camaraderie with him, but never to the point of flirtation like what was happening right now.
"Well, that remains to be seem," Grissom grinned back and closed the file folder in his hands. His gaze remained locked with Catherine's for a few seconds too long before he addressed the rest of the team gathered in the break room. His eyes roamed around the room and settled on Greg first. Putting on his working hat he quizzed the newbie CSI on the case he was handling with Warrick and gave the two his two-cents on how they should approach it. "Make a list of past, present and recently ex-girlfriends of the victim. Find if there's any motive for them to stage a supposedly accident," he advised.
"Okay, we'll be looking through Joseph Martin's little black book and see what we'll find," Warrick assured him.
"Good," Grissom nodded then turned his attention to the sofa where Sara sat. "And what's the status on your assignment?"
Sara rolled her eyes skyward and let out an annoyed sigh. "You were right about those damn bureaucratic crap they've been throwing about. I couldn't get a single lead out of any of them," she complained.
"Just be charming, Sara, you'll eventually get someone to help you out," winked Catherine.
Sara's jaw nearly dropped on the floor at Catherine's advise. She cast a dumfounded look at Nick who looked mighty smug at the moment. Her couldn't help but feel self-righteous at the moment for being right about his advise.
"Fine, then I guess I'll have to take a few lessons in charm and etiquette," she grumbled sourly.
"Don't worry, Sara, you'll be fine," cheered Greg.
"Easy for you to say," she muttered.
"Hey, you're people skills' been improving, Sara. You just need to harness it a bit more," Warrick advised.
"My lack of finesse and people skills is my downfall in this job." She rolled her eyes skyward once again and pushed herself off the sofa, "Well, I have a meeting with the coroner to find out exactly what the cause of death was to my John Doe."
"John Doe?" echoed Grissom, "You still haven't ID'd the vic?"
"It was kinda hard to ID pruned fingers. But we ran through his dental records in the system and hopefully I hit jackpot."
"Good luck," Nick, Warrick and Greg said in unison.
"Well, now that we're all up to date, Nick?" Catherine turned to look at the handsome Texan, "Care to join Grissom and myself? We're going to hunt ourselves a killer behind the drugging of Amelia Sabato."
"OK, I'll be right out," he nodded.
"We'll be in car," Grissom answered as he held the door open for Catherine.
As soon as the two senior CSIs were out of the room he turned to look at the other three members left in the break room.
"Was it just me or was Catherine and Grissom flirting?"
"Phew, and I thought I was the only one who noticed that," Warrick let out a low whistle and shook his head.
"I know those two got along great, and I've seen them together lots of times, but what I just saw earlier between them...man, that's the first time I felt goosebumps on my arms!" Sara rubbed her arms to prove her point.
"So...do you think Grissom and Catherine are...together?"
Three pairs of eyes turned to the youngest team member, each of their eyebrows raised and made Greg feel like a complete heel for even suggesting that. But he couldn't help but state the obvious, whether what he thought was obvious was indeed obvious or not.
TBC
A/N: Well, here's the 4th chapter. What do you guys think?
Thank You's: jtweet, Stephanie, D.M.A.S., & mrs.grissom -- your comments/reviews are all appreciated. Thanks & enjoy this chapter.