A/N. Okies, here's the next chapter. I had it done already, and I have the next one done, too. Maybe if you review I'll be persuaded to post quickly... -hintwinknudge- Lol, I love being able to hold fic above readers' heads and say, "Jump, my minions, jump!"

My appologies, my glucose level is sky-high. This is what happens when you give a cat a cookie. Or six. XD Stephanie, thanks so much for your review... just wanted to let you know that yes, what you requested will be happening, but it was already planned. :D I just couldn't bear to leave them like that!

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But, as was inevitable, time had started to wear them down. Tongues slipped, saying things to each other or about each other that just friends and co-workers wouldn't. They were dancing on a tight-rope, and each knew subconsciously that one day they would fall and what they had would shatter. They were a ticking time-bomb… and if Grissom had learned anything, it was that time had a way of speeding up when dreadful events were looming.

Their easy quiet now turned every so often to discomfort. They were on edge. The hair on the back of his neck prickled in anticipation of what he knew was sure to come. Denial worked for them, but only to a certain extent. They would kiss and hold each other close and make love and pretend that everything was fine, but it wasn't, and they knew it wasn't.

One day Grissom left Catherine in bed to sleep while he slipped away to start work early. When two hours after the start of shift she still hadn't arrived, he knew that something was wrong. He drove home, his mind reeling with unspoken worries. When he got to his condo, he found her sitting on the couch, her head in her hands.

He sat silently beside her for a moment before asking softly, "Cath? What's wrong?"

Her hands shook as she brushed the hair from her face, and he could tell that she'd been crying. He reached out and put a hand on her knee. "Catherine?"

Her voice trembled. "I had… I had the most terrible dream. You were in the, the ocean, and drowning. And you were c-calling my name and reaching out t-to me, but I couldn't... I just couldn't save you, and you were gone." She began to sob quietly. He reached out to hold her, and she pulled away.

"I needed you, Gil, and you weren't there. I woke up alone." Her voice cracked on the last word, as if it were a phrase she'd spent far too long associating herself with.

"Cath, I-"

She cut him off. "You said you'd always be there. Where were you when I needed you?"

He was silent. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to find the words to soothe her, to tell her that everything would be okay, that he hadn't meant to leave her alone, had never meant to… but he had.

She stood silently, and left the room, pausing on the threshold. "I won't, can't be alone anymore." There was a beat of silence, and a terribly fierce ache in her eyes as she gave up what she had just found such a short while ago, something that she thought she would never have. "Goodbye, Gil." She walked through the door in a rush of cold night air and starlight.

And as always with matters with the heart, he found the right words too late.