Here's the final chappy, people! Hope you like it!

By the time Grissom got home, ate breakfast, and climbed into bed, he'd already lost one precious hour of sleep. His head was numb before it hit the pillow. He fell into an exhausted sleep within the minute, lost to the horrors of what had happened that day. He spent the night tossing and turning, reliving what had happened that night. The look on Catherine's face when he'd practically ruined her life. Nothing could wash away the images.

He heard the ringing long before he woke up. His eyes somehow managed to open and he sleepily hit the alarm clock. He could see the sun setting through the window. He knew he would have to get up eventually and go to work, but at the moment he felt as though he'd worked a triple. He closed his eyes.

The alarm went off again.

His eyes snapped open. He slapped the clock again, turning it off permanently. He wrestled off the sheets and slid to the floor. He quickly freshened up, had dinner, and headed out to his car. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he felt the evening air cool his clammy skin. He glanced around before hopping into his car, knowing full well that the underworld of Las Vegas was undoubtedly stirring. He drove for the lab oblivious of the night crawlers making their appearance.

Once he arrived at work, he avoided Ecklie, for the simple reason that he didn't trust himself in his presence. If he'd been frustrated with him before, the sight of him walking down the hallway toward him made him seethe now.

"Gil, I need to talk to you."

"Not now, Conrad."

To Grissom's surprise, Ecklie grabbed his arm and steered him away from the curious lab rats, squeezing with enough force to hurt him. They ended up in Ecklie's office. Grissom waited for the door to shut before he chose to speak.

"Let go," he snapped.

Ecklie released his arm and glanced over his shoulder, smiling. "Please, Gil, take a seat. Take a breath."

Grissom didn't like the tone of his voice. Easy, man. Your life is in this guy's hands.

Why wasn't I told?" he demanded.

Ecklie spread his hands. "You obviously were."

Grissom glared at him.

"Please, I know this is hard, but you have to try to look at the situation objectively. You and Catherine have been fighting everyday for over a month. And frankly, it was getting out of hand. The lab could do without you two squabbling like children."

"So you fired her?"

"I did not fire her; I suspended her."

They locked stares.

Grissom closed his eyes and drew a careful breath.

"Look, I'm sorry, really I am." Ecklie continued. "I can only imagine what she must be going through right now. And I can't think of anyone who is more qualified to be a CSI, but the equation changed when you two turned on each other."

Grissom opened his eyes. "Catherine is more than qualified. She is an excellent CSI. And a valuable member of my team. No one deals with difficult cases like she does. She is one of the best criminalists here. You need her." I need her.

He said it with a strong voice, but only because he'd long ago learned to stuff emotion. For the most part. The job did that. The better part of him wanted to scream at Ecklie and tell him where he could put his objectiveness.

Ecklie hesitated. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"You two are becoming a liability to my lab, and if you think I'm just going to stand by and let you, you're naïve."

Grissom felt his face flush with anger."Is there something in the air here that messes with your hearing? What part of 'you need her' didn't penetrate that thick skull of yours?"

Ecklie scowled at him. "Gil, you are bordering on insubordination."

Grissom smiled. "You won't fire me. You can't. You need me, just like you need Catherine." He arched an eyebrow, noticing the strange look on Ecklie's face. "And you know it…don't you?"

"Okay, Gil, you win." Ecklie's eyes narrowed for a brief second, then he smiled again. "We're not through with this."

"Sure we are." He walked away. "And don't ever touch me again."

If not for the fact that half the lab was watching, Grissom might have taken the man's tie and shoved it down his throat. It took him thirty seconds to put the man out of his mind. He had more important things to think about than an overzealous jerk.

His mind set, he took a break from work and decided to head to Catherine's place to let her know that she had her job back. He also wanted to apologize to her for everything. For his behavior the night before. She deserved one. For real this time. No interruptions.

Halfway there, Grissom saw a vaguely familiar car with its flashers on. As he passed by, he noticed a person working under the hood. He turned around and pulled up next to the car.

Getting out of his own car, he walked up and asked, "Do you need help?"

The person slowly turned. It was Catherine.

Grissom swallowed hard as he walked closer to the car. "What seems to be the problem?"

The strawberry-blonde CSI stood there, amazed, then told her old friend what her car had done. Though Grissom wasn't exactly mechanically inclined, he was more so than her. They worked together for over an hour, not really saying much.

With the car finally running, Catherine thanked him. "Well, see you around."

"Wait!" Catherine felt his fingers gently wrap around her wrist.

She turned to face him, confused.

"Cath, I— there's something—what I mean to say is—I need to—no, I want to tell you…"

Catherine arched an eyebrow, amused by his sudden case of the stutters.

He took a deep breath. "I—I'm sorry. For everything. For all those stupid things I said to you yesterday. I didn't mean any of it."

"You sounded pretty convincing to me."

"I've made a lot of mistakes, lately. Mistakes that have hurt others. Worst of all they've hurt you. You are the last person I wanted to hurt. I've been treating you like crap when all you've done is be my friend. You didn't deserve what I did to you. It was wrong and…I hope you can forgive me."

"Oh, Gil…" Catherine said softly, pulling him into her arms and hugging him tight. "I forgave you a long time ago."

His eyes widened, taken by surprise. She'd forgiven him before he'd even asked!

"Besides," she continued, pulling away from him. "We've been put through worse stuff than that. I mean, it was only last year when Ecklie split up our team and poor Nicky got buried alive."

Grissom nodded. "Yeah, those things were pretty bad. But you know what was worse?" He looked at her with a sparkle in his eye. "Spending all that time away from you."

She smiled, her eyes welling with tears. "I don't know what to say…"

He was opening his mouth to answer when his cell phone began to beep. He pulled it off his belt and stared at the tiny screen, frowning.

"Duty calls. I'm so behind with all my work; I don't know where to start."

"You need me." That sounded a bit forward. "I mean you need someone like me. There are a lot of things…"

Grissom suddenly leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "No, I don't need someone like you," he said. "I need you."

He pulled back, then looked away and blushed.

She couldn't help herself anymore. She stepped forward and kissed him very lightly on his cheek.

"And I need you, Gil. I need you too."

The next day…

When Catherine walked into her office that evening, she found something on her desk that didn't belong. A flower. She smiled, picking it up and inhaling it's wonderful scent. I wonder where this came from. A smile still on her face, she headed toward the office of the only person she could think of that might leave something like that for her.

"Was this your idea?" she asked, holding the flower up for Grissom to see.

He arched an eyebrow then held up an identical one. "I thought you…"

She shook her head. "Then who…?"

"They're from me." They both looked toward the doorway and found Sara standing there, smiling nervously.

A smile spread across their faces as they glanced back down at their gifts, understanding dawning on them.

Yellow roses.

A sign of friendship.

So, this is the end. What did you think? I know it was kind of short, but it was never meant to be long.

Keep a look out for a new story that I will post soon! It'll be longer and have suspense and mystery in true CSI style… See ya next time!