Summary: Catherine invites Gil to her family Thanksgiving dinner, and feelings are unveiled. GC Oneshot

A/N: Just something I thought I'd post for the Thanksgiving holiday! Hope you all like it! R&R please. And any typos are mine. No beta. TT

CSICSICSICSI means change of time

Thanksgiving

By: CSI Battosai

Catherine Willows slammed her locker shut. She promised Lindsey she would be back by 6 AM. She was running late. It was already seven. Why had she accepted to organize Grissom's office? A person could get lost in there. She had gotten so caught up in trying to put everything in a place where Grissom would think to look, that she had lost track of time.

Looking up, she caught Gil Grissom looking at her. He quickly averted his eyes to his own locker, located a few down from hers. She decided to ignore it for the time being, but bring it up later to tease him about.

"Long shift?" he asked? Her response was hurried, as she needed to get home as soon as she could. "Yeah. And I'm running late! I told Lindsey I'd be home by six. We're going to start preparing our Thanksgiving feast at noon, but we always hang out before then."

He nodded. He never had company at his Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes he would spend it with his mother, but because of his job, he rarely got to anymore. Catherine noticed something in Grissom's eyes. She loved his eyes. It was like looking inside of him. His normal, emotionless self was given away to her by his eyes. Looking closer at his eyes, she could see something that looked like…longing?

Catherine knew Gil had no social life. In fact, everyone knew it. But no one knew it as much as Catherine Willows, his best friend. "Gil?" His eyes, which had been looking intently at the ground, to avoid Catherine's gaze, turned back to her. "Yes?" Catherine wasn't sure how to say it, so she said it straight and to the point. "Do you want to have dinner with me, Lindsey, and my mom tonight?"

Gil's face became one of shock. Catherine was inviting him to her family Thanksgiving dinner. He quickly regained his normal, cool composure and replied with an "I'd love to." She flashed him a quick smile. "Okay. Come by my place at six."

Both CSI's exited the building and headed toward their SUVs, which were in different directions. Catherine opened the door to her car and shut it. Turning on some rock music, she put the car in reverse. She then put the car in drive and was driving out of the parking lot, but first yelled "See you at six!" to Grissom.

Watching her go, his thoughts raced. Catherine was everything to him. He'd known that for a while, but he was shy when it came to girls. He'd only been on a handful of dates.

But tonight, he would blow her off her feet and finally confess to her. He would finally confess he loved Catherine Willows.

CSICSICSICSI

Catherine was covered in a dozen different kinds of foods and sauces when the doorbell rang. Six o'clock. He was always punctual, she chuckled to herself as she dragged her messy self, equipped with wooden spoon, to the door. Opening it, she saw Gil Grissom dresses in a black suit with red tie. She nodded in approval. "Hey, Gil. Thanks for coming," she said. "Sorry about, uh…" she looked down at herself.

He gave her a small smile. Her strawberry-blonde hair fell around her shoulders, and she was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a tank top that looked beautiful on her. "It's okay. I'm guessing dinner's going to be a bit late?" She opened the door wider for him to come in, which he did gladly, then closed the door behind him. "Yeah. Our oven decided it didn't want to work until about an hour and a half ago."

Catherine walked towards the kitchen with him following her. "But dinner should be ready in about half an hour. You can go into the living room and watch some TV if you want. Lindsey's in there too, reading, but she won't mind. In fact, she'll be happy to see you. My mom's taking a nap in her room, but the TV won't disturb her. She sleeps like a rock." Cath laughed a bit before checking on the turkey that was currently in the oven.

Looking around the kitchen, Grissom was surprised to see it wasn't nearly as messy as Catherine was. He inwardly smiled to himself. He was looking forward to seeing how well Catherine could cook.

He then walked into the living room, where he suddenly found himself being hugged to death by Lindsey. "Uncle Gil! I haven't seen you in a while! I've missed you! Mom says you're having dinner with us. I'm glad you came!" Grissom hugged her back. "I'm glad I came too. What're you reading?" She stopped hugging him and picked up the book. "The first Harry Potter book. I've already read it, but I decided to reread it."

Instead of watching TV, he spent his time playing cards with Lindsey, until Catherine announced dinner was ready. She had changed clothes into some sleek, black slacks that hugged her legs and a white dress short sleeved shirt. She wore a pair of heels, but they weren't ridiculously high. Gil started to stare, but remembered his manners and shut his mouth that he just realized was open. Catherine's mother entered the dining room where they were all standing and smiled at Grissom.

After sitting down, the feast began. There was turkey, green beans, pumpkin pie, and all sorts of things. And the best thing of all was that it tasted good. "Cath? I have to say your cooking is wonderful," he said happily. Catherine had a broad smile plastered on her face. "Thanks.' The rest of dinner was filled with happy conversation and good food.

After dinner, Catherine tucked Lindsey into bed and her mom went back to sleep. Catherine and Grissom were outside. The sky was clear and the stars shone brightly above them in the night sky. "Gil, thanks so much for coming to dinner tonight. Lindsey really loved having you over and …I did too," she said looking away slightly, a slight blush on her cheeks. He smiled at her, a rare thing for him. "And I'm glad I came. To be honest, I almost always spend Thanksgiving alone. But thanks to you, I had a great time this year."

A gust of wind suddenly came, causing Catherine's hair to flow in the wind. She looked breathtaking. "You look...beautiful tonight." Her eyes met his. "Excuse me?" He gathered all his courage into his confession. It was his make or break moment. "You do. You always do. And you're also smart, and funny, and I just love everything about you. I always have, but I've never been able to say it. I love you, Catherine."

She reached her arms around his back, hugging him. "I love you Gil. I always have. I never told you because I wasn't sure how you'd react, but I love you." He gently pushed away from her hug. When she gave him a questioning look, he bent his head down and gently kissed her. It lasted only a few moments, but it was filled with years of desire, longing, love, and passion. When they pulled away, the look in each other's eyes made them realize that they had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Fin

Well, how'd you like it? The ending was hard to write, so it didn't come out perfect, so I'm sorry about that. Other than that I think it's pretty good, and I hope you all liked it. Feel free to e-mail me with any comments, and reviews are always welcome!

CSI Battosai