Sara was the only one who ever called Catherine 'Cat'. Kitty cat had been her stripping name and Sara knew it. She spoke under the guise of a nickname but she hissed it as an insult. Catherine had given up long ago trying to figure out what she'd done to make Sara so angry. Sara always thought she was better than everyone else anyway. The boys all called her 'Cath' and it was a shortening she didn't mind. Grissom called her 'Catherine' always – the compliment was in the precision. She never called him Gilbert.
Catherine was an expert on getting her heart broken. Her cheating ex-husband was dead, after all, and she had to say goodbye to him on a metal table with Doc Robbins watching over her shoulder. At work the next morning, she could tell that what she and Grissom had was no longer a secret. She could tell by looking at Sara's face.
In the beginning, when she and Sara were still friends, Catherine had thought that Sara was an expert in heartbreak as well – she'd seen the younger CSI watch Grissom – but when things ended badly with Hank, Sara looked raw and new. Catherine had taken her for beer, two each, and then Catherine felt that she had fulfilled her obligation of empathy and womanhood. Thinking back she realized that that was the beginning of the end for her and Sara. The two of them had gone into Grissom's office with beer on their breath (off the clock) and they could both see Catherine's name in Grissom eyes. Catherine Willows. She gave him a smile and Sara had left without saying anything.
Now, that look was back in Grissom's eye and Sara could see it. Nick had told her in the locker room while she was putting her bag in her locking and clipping her credentials onto her belt loop.
"There's something you should know," he'd said and told her what Warrick had told him.
"You sure?" Sara asked.
"I saw 'em right when I got here." he said. Nick had seen Catherine leaning over the lit table in the layout room. Grissom had come in and pushed her hair aside, kissed the back of her neck. Nick had seen his father kiss his mother that way and it wasn't the way one kissed a fling.
"Well, it doesn't have anything to do with me," Sara said defensively.
"Okay," Nick said. Sara left the locker room, and the banging of her locker rang in Nick's ears. But Sara was rattled. She'd come to terms with the fact that Grissom would never want her in the way that she wanted him, but she was unprepared for him to be with someone else. And for that someone else to be Catherine? Sara could only hear a low buzzing in her ears as she stalked toward Grissom's office. The door was open and he was sitting at his desk, tapping on his laptop.
"Hi Sara," he said, when she came in. "What's up?"
Sara realized then she had nothing to say. She cocked her head and mentally gave up.
"Just ready to start the day," she said, quietly.
"I'll be there in a minute," he assured her. She turned around and closed her eyes tight. It was right there, written across his face in neon bright enough for any casino on the strip. Catherine Willows.
oooo
Grissom started packing up his townhouse long before he and Catherine ever spoke about truly building a life together. He had a crawl space instead of an attic but it was big enough to store his junk and so he started clearing it out, packing the stuff up in brown boxes taped shut with clear tap and labeled with big, black markers that stank when the cap was off. Most nights he slept at Catherine's and slowly his clothes and shoes and toothbrush made their way over. Seven months after Catherine's abduction, Grissom put his town house on the market.
One year after the abduction, Catherine put her house on the market too and early on a Saturday morning, Grissom, Catherine, and Lindsey drove out to Henderson to look at some houses to buy. Grissom wanted two floors and Catherine wanted a yard and Lindsey wanted a pool. None of them wanted to live in Las Vegas – a thirty minute commute was a small price to pay to live in a suburb away from the bright, trashy lights of the strip.
Lindsey would be fourteen soon and in the fall she would start high school – not a bad time to change schools and Catherine wouldn't miss paying tuition for private school. They looked at three houses and Catherine hated the first one and the third one but they all liked the second one, right on the edge of town. It was two-stories on a quiet cul-de-sac with a big tree in the yard and a peanut shaped pool in the back surrounded by a tall, wooden fence. Inside, there were dark hardwood floors and tile, not linoleum, in the kitchen. There was a washer and a dryer and the master bedroom upstairs while there was a room for Lindsey downstairs. Upstairs was a third bedroom for a guest room or office or maybe where Grissom's bugs would live.
"Please?" Catherine said, standing in the empty living room with the realtor.
"Please?" Lindsey echoed.
"It isn't solely my decision," Grissom said. Catherine smiled and kissed his cheek.
"That means yes," she told her daughter.
Catherine's house sold quickly once it was placed on the market. A newlywed couple bought it. Grissom sold his townhouse to a bachelor not much younger than himself. With both sold, they could afford the new house without too much of a headache.
Catherine got Nick and Warrick to help them move. They came over early to help load boxes and appliances into the U-Haul and pack up the back of Catherine's Denali and Grissom's Tahoe. Lindsey skipped around underfoot and in the way, her braids trailing along behind her. It was the beginning of summer and she was in shorts and a halter-top; her bare feet, black on the bottom.
"We used to talk about how pretty Lindsey was going to be when she grew up," Nick said, watching Lindsey collapse on the driveway under the weight of her suitcase. Grissom rushed over to help her.
"Yeah?" Warrick said. "So?"
"Well, I think she's there." Nick said, "She looks more like Catherine every day."
"Can you believe she's starting high school already?" Warrick asked.
"We're old." he said.
"Speak for yourself, man." Warrick laughed.
"Hey, when are you and Tina gonna start the baby makin'?" Nick asked.
"Aw, man, don't start." Warrick said, pulling down the back of the U-Haul with a bang. "Hey Griss, ready to take a load?"
"Yeah," called Grissom. "Let's go."
The two SUVs and U-Haul caravanned the thirty minute drive to the new house in Henderson. Catherine, always the speed demon, got there first and had the house unlocked and the windows open to air it out when the men arrived. They moved in the big stuff first – refrigerator, couches, tables – and Catherine directed where she wanted everything to go. Lindsey's bed fit down the hall into her bedroom but Grissom's California King Mattress wouldn't fit up the stairs. Nick finally came up with the idea of using rope and pulleys to hoist up the mattress and box spring over the balcony into the bedroom. Catherine made sandwiches and got beer for lunch and they all went out for dinner when the sun set as thanks for Warrick and Nick's help.
After that, Grissom made one more run to the old house while Catherine made up Lindsey's bed so the exhausted girl could get some sleep. By the time Grissom came back, Lindsey was tucked in and Catherine had fallen asleep on the sofa. She woke up when Grissom came in, his arms full of boxes of miscellaneous items – things forgotten and tossed in at the last moment.
"Welcome home," Catherine said, making them both smile.
"I'm beat," he said.
"I made the bed," she said. "I unpacked some of the kitchen stuff but then I sat down…"
"Nothing is quite so horrible as moving," Grissom agreed, flopping down beside her. "I could stand a shower."
"Yeah," she said, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. "Me too."
"Catherine?" he asked. "Do you ever think about getting married again?"
Her eyes opened. He'd asked her this same question once before and she'd shut him out – her answer had been bitter at best. Now, she reconsidered.
"Maybe, if the right man asks." she said.
"You know, we just bought a house together," Grissom said. "And very shortly we are going to take a shower together."
"Yes," she said. "Both true."
"And I think the last year has been a good one."
"I agree," she said.
"And you know I love you." he pressed.
"Yeah babe, you tell me everyday. I love you, too." she said.
"So, bearing all that in mind," he paused to fish into his pocket. His hand came out clenched in a fist.
"Oh my god," she said. "You're proposing right now?"
"Catherine, I really hope I'm the right man." he said, opening his hand to reveal a modest diamond engagement ring. She rolled her eyes and took the ring, slipping it deftly onto her ring finger.
"Of course," she said. "This is beautiful, thank you."
"I'll be so good to you," he promised.
"You already are," she assured him. "Come on, let's go get clean before we get dirty again."
He smiled and followed her down the hall. Before she could enter the bedroom, he grabbed her from behind and draped her over his shoulder.
"Gil!" she yelped. "What the hell?"
"Carrying you over the threshold," he grunted. He was tired and sore and though Catherine was small, she was not weightless. He let her down on the other side of the door.
"You're insane," she said, but she was laughing. They showered in the master bathroom, something they found a luxury after the three of them sharing one bathroom in Catherine's small house. Now Lindsey could have her own bathroom and would never walk in on something inappropriate for her thirteen years. After their shower, they christened the new house the best way they knew how and slept well through the night.
It took Lindsey all of five seconds to notice the ring on her mother's finger. She glanced up from her bowl of Honey Nut Cheerio's wearily and muttered, "About damn time."
"LINDSEY!" her mother said, aghast. "Language!"
"Sorry," she muttered, but she wasn't. Grissom generally slept through Lindsey's send off to school but this time he got up and kissed the top of Lindsey's blonde head.
"Hi, Gil," she said.
"Hi beauty queen," he said. "Are you happy for us?"
"Tell him what you said," Catherine ordered.
"Mom," Lindsey whined.
"Tell him," she repeated.
"I said, 'About damn time'." Lindsey repeated; shy in front of Grissom and his quiet judgment. But he surprised them all when he laughed.
"Indeed," he said. "Is there any orange juice?"
oooo
Maybe there had been a time that Grissom had loved Sara and Catherine at the same time. Sara had once been so desperate for him and on good days, when he thought of Sara, he saw her sitting on the curb on the day of the explosion holding her hand, looking shocked. He'd come over and crouched in front of her and taken her hand maybe right then he had loved her. He had been in love with her pain and even he knew that was no way to start a relationship.
It was Catherine who had gone with him to the hospital later that month, not Sara. Catherine who had watched him for weeks before she finally asked, "Can you hear me?" Catherine who had watched him walk down that hallway with the nurse rolling the empty wheelchair beside him and Catherine who had been there when he woke up, both ears aching and filled with gauze.
oooo
They had decided to simply not tell Ecklie about the marriage, hoping to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. He was already most unhappy with their romantic relationship and they both knew marriage wouldn't bode well. It had yet to affect the quality of their work but Ecklie liked to stir up trouble and the pot of Grissom and Catherine was set to boil.
Catherine wore her ring and asked the team not to say anything – they all readily agreed, even Sara who had surprised everyone by getting herself a girlfriend, a beautiful Spanish woman named Cecelia. Her accent only added to her exotic beauty and everyone who met her fell a little bit in love with her. Sara was still terse with Catherine but the bitterness of Grissom had blown over long ago.
Grissom offered to give Catherine a proper wedding but it wasn't what Catherine wanted.
"This is Vegas, honey," she said. "Let's do it Vegas style."
"No," Grissom said, startling her.
"Excuse me?"
"You married Eddie in a Vegas chapel and we aren't starting this marriage the same way. I want – that is to say, I would prefer getting married in a church. It doesn't have to be big and I know we aren't particularly religious, but it would mean something to me. My friend Jeff is a protestant minister and he offered to marry us." Catherine stared at him, always surprised that after so many years he could still manage to throw her for a loop.
"All right," she said because how could she deny him what would make him happy? "Not too big."
"No," he promised. "On that we agree."
Neither was sure what the rush was, but they wanted to be married by the end of the summer. It just felt like waiting longer was wasting time and they'd wasted fifteen years already. They decided on late August – before Lindsey started school but not much before. They wouldn't take a honeymoon – they'd just bought a house after all, but neither minded. They invited family (Catherine's mother and sister's family and Grissom's cousin and aunt), but neither really had much family left. Catherine debated not inviting Sam Braun but in the end she did. They invited their lab friends, Brass and Sofia, but not Ecklie. He would be offended when he found out but the mutual dislike was obvious and Grissom, after all, had never been a good politician.
Catherine felt like she wasn't able to wear white.
"I'm an ex-stripper, ex-wife, and single mom, what right do I have to wear a pretty white dress?" she asked.
"Catherine, you cheated me out of seeing you walk down the aisle once before," he pointed out. "And now that you're going to be walking toward me instead of away from me? Please, it doesn't have to be a traditional wedding dress but I must insist that you wear white."
"You're suddenly very opinionated about this wedding," she said.
"I never thought I would get one," he shrugged. "I want it to be right."
When the day came, nothing was really traditional with the wedding except for the church, and the bride and groom. Grissom and Catherine woke up together, gathered their things and drove with Lindsey to the small protestant church in downtown Henderson. Catherine had a simple white summer dress (the day was hot) and Lindsey served as the Maid of Honor in pale pink. Grissom had rented a tux and Catherine had insisted that he choose a best man. Nick and Warrick and Greg had all offered themselves up but Grissom finally asked Brass who was so pleased by it that the hard detective misted up and hugged Grissom tightly.
Catherine stood over Lindsey with a curling iron, fixing her daughter's hair. Lindsey watched her mother's face in the vanity mirror.
"Are you nervous?" Lindsey asked.
"A little," Catherine admitted.
"Why?"
"Marriage is… in my experience, a lot of hard work." Catherine said. "Last time it didn't go so well for your dad and I."
"Gil's really, really different from dad." Lindsey observed.
"I'm different now, too." Catherine said. She put down the curling iron. "All done,"
Lindsey inspected her new bouncing curls in the mirror and nodded her approval.
"You look really nice, Mom." Lindsey said. "You look happy,"
"Oh baby, I love you." she said, hugging Lindsey against her. Another inch or two and Lindsey would be just as tall as her mother – taller even.
"I love you, too." she said, her face muffled into her mother's neck. There was a knock on the door and Warrick's wife, Tina, stuck her head in.
"I'm supposed to tell you that it's time." the young woman said, shyly. She was still somewhat uncomfortable with Warrick's work friends. "Then men didn't want to interrupt."
"Thank you," Lindsey said. Tina turned to go.
"Wait! Tina? How does Gil look?" Catherine asked. Tina shrugged.
"Impatient, I guess." she said. "I'll tell them you're on your way."
Gil, in fact, did look impatient all the way down at the end of the aisle with Jeff standing in a white rove with a bible in his hands. Lindsey went first; walking robotically like her mother had shown her. She waved excitedly at Grissom and the crowed of about 25 chuckled. Catherine saw Lady Heather in the crowd, sitting alone behind the last pew that had been filled with people. She had some sort of strange connection with Grissom and he hadn't mentioned that he'd invited her but Catherine wasn't surprised to see her there. When the music changed, she started walking. Soon, she was married.
oooo
It didn't take long for Ecklie to notice the marriage. The paperwork for Catherine's new credentials had to be signed by him. He appeared in the doorway of her office waving the form Catherine filled out requesting a new badge, new CSI vest, and new name plate.
"Catherine Grissom?" he said, shrilly. She raised her left hand where the wedding ring fit snugly against the engagement ring. She didn't bother to look up. Ecklie groaned and walked away.
He went to Grissom's office next. Grissom wasn't there, so Ecklie wandered around the lab until he found Grissom in the layout room, in the midst of an experiment.
"Gil," Ecklie said, "We have a problem." Ecklie could see the bump of a ring under Grissom's latex glove.
"Do we?" asked Grissom, looking up.
"You married Catherine! I've been pretty accommodating with the two of you but a marriage is a conflict of interest for the lab."
"Nothing's changed," Grissom said, "Except for a piece of paper. All we did was make it legal.
"I don't make the rules," Ecklie said. "I'm going to have to transfer one of you."
"We'll contest your decision through the appropriate channels," Grissom said.
"Of course you will," Ecklie said and left Grissom to his experiments.
Catherine found her new husband a few minutes later.
"If he puts me back on swing shift, we'll never see each other." she said, sitting beside him dejectedly.
"I know," he said. "Maybe he'll move me instead of you."
"Yeah, right." she snorted. "Gil," she whined, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Crap!"
"Crap indeed." he said.