One – Catherine's turn

Catherine's earrings jangled as she moved her head around, looking in the mirror. She wanted to ask Grissom out, plain and simple. If she was going to do it she was going to be totally honest about it with herself, otherwise it might be a disaster.

She laughed to herself. Getting ready to ask him to dinner was hard enough, let alone actually getting ready for the dinner, providing he said yes. The earrings had to be perfect with the outfit, the hair pulled back just the right way to accent her face and clothing. Everything had to be great, and he hadn't even said yes to dinner. She hadn't even asked.

She climbed into her car and made sure she looked all right in the rearview mirror. Breathing a sigh of relief that she hadn't forgotten her keys because of the rush to find her earrings (they'd been on the dinner table for some reason), she started the car and carefully backed out of the driveway.

Traffic wasn't too bad, and she got to Grissom's home faster than usual. She pulled in front of his house and parked her car. After checking her hair and makeup one last time, she stepped out of the car and walked up to his doorstep confidently.

She knocked on the door once, a quick rap that she was sure he would hear. After a couple minutes when he hadn't come, she looked to make sure his car was there. Yes, it was there, and the living room light was on. She knocked again, louder this time. Finally he came to the door, but peered out through a crack.

"Hi, Catherine…what do you need?"

"Gil, I'd like to know if you want to go to dinner Thursday evening."

"As…?"

"As a date." She smiled at him.

"Catherine…I'm sorry." Grissom wasn't that great with telling people things, especially the truth as far as socializing went. "I've got…a date right now. I appreciate it…"

Catherine was surprised. Grissom was going out? Then of course, she was disappointed.

"Have fun, Gil." She had to be polite, disappointed as she may be.

He looked behind him into his house. "I will. I'll see you at work…you want to get lunch tomorrow?" He said this all very casually and in a rush, it seemed.

"That's alright, I've got things to do." Tomorrow was her day off; she thought he knew. Oh well… "Enjoy yourself tonight, Gil."

"Bye, Catherine."

"Bye." She turned around just as he shut the door quietly, and wondered all the way home who he was going out with.