Soap Opera Chapter 2
Characters aren't mine. Never made any money from them.
Here's chapter 2. A crazy conversation on the Sandles group reminded me of the charms of second-season Greg, so very young and sweet, so this entire saga is really the fault of my friends and cronies over there. Always blame others, that's the key.
"Catherine!" Greg's features brightened into a full-blown grin. "What do you have for me?"
Catherine smiled at his puppyish exuberance. It was impossible to not love Greg. "Only a visit this time. Grissom has me doing paperwork."
"Ah. Joy."
"Yeah. But at least maybe I'll get off on time for once." She paused. "So, Greg, you seeing anyone right now?"
"No. No, I'm, ah, unattached at the moment. Why? You interested?" He gave her an exaggerated leer.
"No, just curious."
"There IS this one woman I'm interested in..."
"Oh?" Catherine smiled. He'd taken the bait, just like she'd known he would. Now she just had to reel him in.
"Yeah. You, um, you know her." He paused, and glanced nervously at her. He was afraid she'd laugh. "It's Sara. Sara Sidle."
"Mmm-hmmm." Catherine paused thoughtfully. "Have you asked her out yet?"
He glanced over with a smile. "No. Do you think she'd go out with me?" His expression was hopeful.
Catherine smiled. "If you play your cards right, without a doubt..."
"Catherine!" Gil Grissom's eyes brightened as she entered his office.
"Hello, Gil. I need advice. I was hoping to talk to you about something."
"You know you can always talk to me. What's on your mind?"
"There's this woman on days, and she's got it bad for one of the lab guys. He knows it, isn't interested, but doesn't want to hurt her feelings. Problem is, it's gotten ridiculous. It's causing problems with their work, she's making a complete fool of herself, that sort of thing."
"Poor guy."
"Yeah, well. He isn't interested, but he keeps encouraging her here and there - maybe not deliberately, maybe because it bothers him to see her so sad, who knows; the point is, these little nuggets are giving her enough false hope she's not likely to ever give up. What should he do?"
"He should be man enough to tell her the truth as strongly as he has to, then make a point of keeping his distance. It's ultimately hurting her worse to keep feeding her hopes. If he lets her know where she stands, then maybe she can go on to find someone who does care for her."
Catherine smiled sadly. "I agree. I lied about the dayshift part, Gil. You're the man, and we both know what you have to do."
Grissom sighed. "Yeah. We do. I've been hoping she'd lose interest, but it isn't happening."
"Nope, and until you bite the bullet and let her know in no uncertain terms you don't want to be with her, you don't feel that way about her, and you're never going to feel that way about her she's not going to lose interest."
He sighed. "Ill do it today, as soon as shift is over."
Catherine nodded and patted his arm. "Good idea. And Gil? You're doing the right thing."
"Mmmm. Hey, Catherine?"
"Yeah, Gil?"
"Would you like to have dinner with me? You and Lindsey, of course."
She smiled back at him. "I'd like that, Gil. I really would."
Later, Sara and Catherine sat in the breakroom eating. "This veggie and cheese sandwich is actually decent," mused Sara, inspecting her sandwich. "Their food has gotten better."
"Which is good. It NEEDED to get better."
"Yeah."
"Greg was nice to do the supper run tonight." Catherine took a bite of her pickle "He's a real sweetheart."
Sara nodded. "Yeah, he is nice. Crazy hair, but it looks good on him."
"Yeah. He carries off a style nobody else could. Brilliant mind, too. You know he has an IQ of 173? Graduated from college at 20, been a tech six years now."
"Greg's 26?" Sara looked surprised. "I thought 22, 23."
"Nope. He's 26."
"Wow." She took another bite of her sandwich. "I'm only six years older than he is." Her brows furrowed in thought. Mission accomplished.
Nick was sitting on the hood of his Denali when Catherine left at the building. "So, Mama. What have you been up to?"
She smiled sharkishly. "All kinds of things, Nicky my boy. All kinds of things."
"As in..."
"As in, you have to till the soil before you plant. Things are looking up, though. They are definitely looking up."