Friday, later in the shift
"You were running background checks?" Warrick was shocked. His supervisor had just admitted to him that he was checking out the men in Catherine's life.
"Always do."
"No wonder you aren't in a relationship." He shook his head. He knew his supervisor cared about Catherine but he'd never thought he would be this overprotective of her.
"It's not as if I can do anything about what I find out. She's her own person and is going to do whatever she wants."
"So why bother?"
"I just don't want her to end up with another Eddie."
"Or Chris."
"Or Adam."
They went back to processing the scene. Warrick was lifting shoe prints while Grissom did what Grissom does best --- observing the scene and piecing together what happened. They worked silently for several minutes.
"Accident my ass. He hit her." It slipped out before Grissom realized he'd said it out loud. He wasn't one to share his feelings with his co-workers but this had been weighing on his mind for a few months.
"What?"
"Catherine told me the cut on her face was an accident. She was covering for that piece of scum. It was Eddie all over again. She lied to me." The bitterness was evident in his voice.
"Now, Gris, why would she lie to you?"
"She was protecting that bastard." All Grissom could think about was what if Novac hadn't been a suspect and she had seen him again. All he could see were the times she had come to him after Eddie had hurt her.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely."
"She was telling you the truth." Warrick had had enough of Grissom's attitude on this subject.
"No, she wasn't."
"She was. She came over to see me after the case. She was pretty upset. Felt like she had let you down." Warrick remembered how upset Catherine was when he opened the door. She didn't say a word, just walked in and sat down. It had taken him a good half hour to get her to talk about what happened. He had been shocked to find out that it wasn't Novac who had upset her, but Grissom.
"She didn't let me down, she let herself down by allowing herself to be put back in that situation again." This was a lie and they both knew it.
"You had no right to speak to her that way. You made her feel like she was nothing more than a cheap slut for wanting what any normal person would want." Warrick's reaction when Catherine told him about her conversation with Grissom was to go and kick his ass. Even though his feelings for Catherine were not romantic he was still just as protective of her as Grissom was.
"I know. I was afraid. I wasn't thinking."
"Damn straight you weren't. She tried to talk to you about what happened and you wouldn't listen to her. Novac wasn't the one who made her feel ashamed of her behavior. You were."
Grissom was silent. It had never occurred to him that he could have been the one to hurt Catherine, but if what Warrick was saying was true then he did. It wasn't intentional. He just wanted to protect her.
"She asked me to do this because she's still angry with me."
"Sounds to me like she's letting you off easy." The two of them continued processing the scene.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Why don't you take her out yourself?"