Notes: Yay, I am so happy to be back! Due to unfortunate circumstances, I was not able to read, review, or post for almost a month. ( But I'm back and (hopefully) better than ever!

This is the final chapter. Hope it was worth the wait!

Dedication: To LynnFox, crimsonhearted, lemonjelly, lena, The Notorious Cat, DrusillaBraun, coolcatz, CSI Battosai, benetrice, janisha, countrymusicncsigirl, belgianbabe2974, anne, da-DnA-dude, Stephanie, JD, Haley104, and Stephanie. Thank you all SO much for reviewing!

Disclaimer: If you think that I magically acquired the rights to Gil and Cath since the last chapter, you are optimistically crazy. They're still not mine.

--JD Chapter Eight: Shut up and kiss me--

Gil and I had arrived safely back in Las Vegas a little over an hour ago. At the moment, we were in the Denali, and Gil was driving, as had become his habit over the course of our trip.

The silence inside our vehicle was slightly strained. Barely enough to be noticeable; in fact, if you tried, you could quite easily ignore it. But it was there. And it had been there ever since that night in Gil's hotel room. Not a word had been spoken of it; the next day, we had acted just as we had the entire trip. But I could tell he was avoiding it; he hadn't just forgotten. I didn't know if he thought he had taken advantage of me, or what. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. And if I hadn't have wanted that to happen, he definitely would have known it. I had done everything other than asking him straight out. A couple of the hints I had given him since then that were about the equivilent of Sara and that flirty receptionist combined. I swear, for being a genius, that man really isn't too bright when it comes to women. Well, I don't really care that he's oblivious to other women, but when it's me, it is quite aggrivating.

Even our stewardess on the plane was overly solicious. Of course, that may be due to the slight fact that because I am in love with him, I am instantly wary of every female that comes near him, and she was just doing her job.

I suppose that's a possibility. I thought wryly as I smiled at myself.

"What's that smile for?" I was startled out of my thoughts by his query.

"Oh, nothing. Just reflecting on things."

"What things?"

"Just things. Why are you so interested?" I asked with a smile.

He had been stopped at a stop sign, but now started driving again, forcing his gaze away from me, and back to the road.

He waited a few seconds, then answered.

"No reason; just making conversation."

Okay, this had to stop. And I couldn't resist saying the first thing that popped into my head.

"Oh, well in that case, I was envisioning you naked."

"What!"

The Denali suddenly swerved, causing an blare of the horn from behind us. Half a second later, we were back safely on the road.

He glanced over at me, and the laughter I had been trying to hold back suddenly sprang to life.

"You should have...seen your...face!"

"You shocked me." He hesitated. "Were you really?"

I could tell that he was still unsure about asking the question, and inwardly, I grinned at his shyness when I was so obviously flirting with him. Although somehow, I knew he would respond like that. I loved it when he did. It reminded me how unlike a lot of other guys he was. Of course, I already knew that, but still...

I suddenly realized that I was keeping him in suspence by my silence.

"No."

I could almost laugh at the disappointment that flashed across his face for an instant before it was replaced with that indifferent mask.

"Not that it would have been a bad thing to imagine, though." I added with a cheeky grin.

Inwardly, I was yelling at him: Come on, Gil! If you don't respond to this, I swear...

"Catherine, why are you flirting with me?"

Yes! This was a start...

"Why do women usually flirt with men?"

"Why do I get the feeling that this is a trick question?"

"It isn't. Just answer me."

"All right...usually women flirt with men because they like them."

"And...?" I prompted.

"Because they want the other member to do something about it."

"Brilliant deduction, Gil. So, now for the original question: Why was I flirting with you?"

"I believe that was your question to answer."

"So? You seem to have figured out the answer to the other question easily enough. Why not answer this one?"

I watched as he pondered that for several seconds.

"So? Why was I flirting with you?" I pushed, knowing he had to crack eventually.

Suddenly, the tires screeched as we turned into a vacant parking lot, and the horn of the truck behind us blared once again, the driver shouting at us as he whizzed by.

"What the hell are you doing; trying to get us killed!" I yelled at him.

"Answering your question. You were flirting with me because you wanted me to do this."

And "this" was his lips crashing down on mine, devouring them as if he were a drowning man and I was his air.

Not that I objected, of course.

I savored the incredible sensations radiating throughout my body for a few minutes, then pulled away for a moment.

Grinning up at him, I spoke.

"It's about time you caught on."

His face held an answering grin.

"Catherine, my dear, no man on earth could misread those signs."

"That was the point."

"So I noticed." He paused. "Catherine?"

"Yes?"

Some of the humor had gone from his voice, and I knew that what he said next was going to have a major impact on me.

"What would you say if I told you that I loved you?"

Wow. If that wasn't major impact, I didn't know what was.

I smiled, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'd say that's a damn good thing, Mr. Grissom. Because I happen to love you too."

His face lit up in a thousand-watt grin, and he dropped a quick kiss on my lips.

"Good. And Cath, I'm sorry about not bringing up the other night. I wasn't sure if you had had really wanted it the way I did, and I didn't know if I had just taken advantage of you while you were tired..."

Aha! So I had been right. Men could be so blind! He continued rambling, but I interrupted.

"Gil?"

He stopped.

"Shut up and kiss me."

"As usual, your wish is my command."

His mouth descended on mine in a breath-taking kiss. Without removing my mouth from his, I spoke in a somewhat muffled voice.

"You know, I think you're catching on rather quickly."

"I try."

And then there was no talking for a long time.

THE END