After work they left together to eat something in a little diner. Quiet enough, so they didn't have to be careful. They didn't want the whole lab to know they were dating before they could get used to it themselves. Although she wouldn't admit it to anyone, Catherine knows exactly what it is because she has felt it for years. The moments of tension between them, the looks, the smiles, her desire to touch him, kiss him… Just be with him is enough.
She can't believe they're sitting here like this. Both aware of what might come.
"Catherine, should we be doing this? I mean, you being my supervisor and all." Warrick asks.
"Well," she tries to look serious, "if it doesn't interfere with our work, there should be no problem."
But she isn't so confident about it herself. She had a busy life already, but now she has to fit in a boyfriend as well. How will she manage?
"Are you sure? You look worried." He says.
"I'm just wondering if I have time for a relationship. I hardly sleep, the babysitter sees my daughter more often than I do and I'm a supervisor. This is more work than I used to do, you know? But don't get me wrong, I'm certain of what we're doing. This is what I want."
"And if you want, we can take it slow, okay?"
Damn, he's sweet.
She sees him looking at her plate, she'd hardly touched it. She blushes; she was too busy looking at him.
"Aren't you hungry?" He asks.
She shakes her head.
"Okay, I'll take you home."
…
Catherine parks her car. She's in a rush because she's really late. Lindsey got sick that night and they had to go to the hospital. Fortunately, it was nothing serious, but it took a while. She dropped Lindsey at her sister's and feels really guilty about that. Her child is sick but she has to work. It's not fair.
She gets inside but she can't find Warrick or Nick. When she checks with the desk she hears that they're at a crime scene. She walks back to her car.
The murder took place in the garden of a really big house. Obviously people with money. When she sees Warrick and Nick looking for evidence in the garden and swimming pool she shouts to them:
"I'm sorry I'm late."
"No big deal, Catherine," Nick says, when she gets closer to them. "But next time, call okay?"
"Totally slipped my mind, but next time I will."
She helps them finding evidence, but after a while Warrick calls her. "Catherine, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure." She walks to him.
Warrick makes sure Nick can't hear him.
"Didn't you just go through these garbage cans?"
"Yeah, I did. Why?"
"I just found a fingerprint beneath the handle and a T-shirt covered with blood spatters in this can. Since the vic was stabbed, there must have came blood spatters on the killer and his clothes. Don't you think it's likely that this could be the killer's shirt?"
She looks at him as if she didn't understand what he was saying.
"Cat…"
"I can't believe I've missed that!" She stammers.
"It's not that big of a deal, we got it now, right?" Warrick realizes he shouldn't have said anything. He should have act like he didn't know she searched there already. She can't handle mistakes of her own. She thinks she can't afford to screw up.
"Right." She says.
…
When they're back at the lab they process the evidence they just found. They have two witnesses who discovered the body. Because there was a hair found on the victim's clothes that wasn't his color, Catherine had to take DNA of both witnesses. Like Grissom always says: 'First witness, first suspect.'
She wants to bring the two cotton swabs with DNA to Mia, so she can compare it to the DNA of the hair she collected. But then she notices that the little brown evidence bag where she put the hair in, is empty. "Oh my god." She shouts.
Warrick comes in. "What's up?"
"The hair I collected from the vic's clothes?"
"Yeah…" He says.
"Well, I didn't collect it, it's not in the bag."
"What?"
"I know!" She says.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to the morgue. Maybe our vic has his clothes still on." Warrick says.
They hurry to the morgue. Dr. Al Robbins looks up.
"Doc, did you finish our new victim already?" Catherine asks him desperately.
"Yes, I'm just closing him, why?" When Doc Robbins says that, Catherine sees their victim lying on the table in front of him… naked.
"Where are his clothes?" Warrick asks.
"In that bag over there. You can have it, I'm done with it."
"Thanks doc." She sighs.
As she and Warrick leave the morgue he says: "I wouldn't count on finding that hair. And if you will, you probably can't use it anymore."
"I know," she says.
When they're back at the lab, she pulls the clothes out of the bag. She looks at them carefully, a little at a time. After a while, she still hasn't found the hair. Warrick is still standing next to her.
"I messed up." She says and turns to Warrick. "I…" She starts to cry.
"Shh, it's okay." He puts an arm around her shoulders.
"I have to document this, you know? I lost evidence. I don't know what to say." Catherine sobs.
"Catherine, everybody makes mistakes."
"Yeah, but I shouldn't."
"Why, cause you're a supervisor? Don't be so hard on yourself." He says.
"It's just too much for me." She whispers. "I can't take it anymore."
He hugs her, and she turns in. She feels very safe in his arms.
"You know, Lindsey is with my sister tonight and she's gonna bring her to school. Wanna go to my place after shift?" She asks when she calmed down a little bit.
"You're sure about that?" He says, not wanting her
to do something she might regret later.
She nods.
"And what do you have in mind, holding a slumber party?"
She smiles to him, but still with teary eyes. "Maybe."
"Is that a promise?" He kisses her on her head.
She raises an eyebrow. "Maybe."
…
TBC