Author's Note: Sorry it took so long. My parents bought me a baby grand piano this weekend! So we had a lot of cleaning up to do where the old piano was. I'll try to update quicker this week… depends when the piano gets here xD

Gil ran to the front door from the in the kitchen as the lights flickered.

"Doorbell, Gil." His mother called from the kitchen sink. He didn't bother telling her that he wasn't deaf too. He unlocked the door and swung it open, revealing Catherine with her sleeping bag and a small backpack with a stuffed dog sticking out of it.

"Hey, Cath." He said, smiling. She blushed a little at the nickname only he called her.

"Hey, Gil." She grinned. He opened the door all the way.

"Come on in." She stepped inside and set her belongings next to the stairs. "Want to meet my mom?"

"Yeah!" Catherine followed Gil into the kitchen. His mother was drying her hands on a plaid kitchen towel.

"Mom, this is Catherine." Gil said and signed. His mother smiled at Catherine.

"Hi, Mrs. Grissom!" Catherine said and signed, proud that she knew a little sign language.

"Hello, Catherine." Mrs. Grissom said with a slight speech impediment. "Why don't you have Gil give you the full tour."

"Uh… sure." Gil said. "Let's go."

…

"Wow, your house is nice!" Catherine said as she wandered down the second floor hallway, barefoot. "Your carpet is squishy." He gave her a strange look and she grinned at him.

"Here's my room." Gil said, pushing open a white door. Catherine followed him into the blue-painted room.

"Wow! Look at all this stuff!" Catherine exclaimed, looking at the tall bookshelf filled with sci-fi books, mostly written by Isaac Asimov. She ran her fingers over the books on the row beneath, all about bugs, most with words in the titles that she didn't understand. Catherine turned to the desk next to the bookshelf, piled high with more books.

"Like to read much?" Catherine asked sarcastically. She then noticed the clear glass cage on the corner of the desk. She climbed up onto the desk chair and peered into the cage.

"Is it… alive?"

"Yes. It's the African Red Baboon tarantula. The most feared of all arachnids, but basically harmless." Gil said and she turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "His name is George."

"You named it?"

"Him. I named him George, yes. He's a pet!"

"Riiiiiight." Catherine looked at him and he grinned. She shook her head and laughed. She walked over to the other wall and looked into a cage holding a chameleon.

"And what's his name?"

"George." She gave him a blank look and blinked. "Ok, his name is Shakespeare." She laughed and turned back to the wall, studying various posters hanging around.

"So, I'm guessing you like bugs, too?" She asked and he laughed.

"Yeah." She walked over to his bed and flopped onto it next to him.

"So… do you wanna set up our sleeping bags?"

"Yeah. Let's go." They exited Gil's room and ran down the steps, Catherine picking up her bags as they went by the front door. The two ran into the living room where Gil had thrown his sleeping bag and two pillows earlier.

"Hi, mom. We were going to set up our sleeping bags in my room." Gil signed.

"Ok. Do you need help?"

"Nah." Gil shook his head. Gil grabbed his sleeping bag and pillows from the corner and he and Catherine ran upstairs. They threw the sleeping bags in the middle of the room and sat on top of them, facing each other.

"Your mom seems real nice." Catherine said. "Really… mom-ish."

"Mom-ish?" Gil asked and smiled. Catherine smiled back, almost wistfully.

"Yeah… my mom was like that in Montana. But now Sam got her a new job and she's never home." Catherine's smile disappeared.

"Sam?"

"Yeah. He's the one that convinced my mom to move here… not that I mind him. He's like a father, really." Catherine looked away.

"What's your dad like…?" Gil asked cautiously. Catherine looked back to him.

"I… don't know my dad. My mom said he left a long time ago." She sniffed a little. "But it doesn't matter. I've got mom and Nancy and Sam… and you."

"Oh." The room grew silent. Suddenly, Catherine spoke up.

"I just… I just wish I had a dad to take care of me!" She almost shouted as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Me, too." He said quietly. It suddenly dawned on her.

"Where's your dad?"

"He died of a heart attack a few months ago." He kept his voice even, but felt his vision became blurry.

"Oh… I'm so sorry." Catherine pulled him into a hug and they cried together…

Author's note: Wasn't that so randomly sad? lol. Since I'm not quite sure when/how Gil's dad died (I heard he was young and his dad had a heart attack on a hot day or something) you'll have to bear with me…. For chapter 5, I'm skipping all the way to 8th grade, so be prepared! They're not so innocent anymore :D