Part Two
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or CSI. I do however own my imagination, my Muse, my insanity, my fangirliness and my dreams.
A/N:- If you don't like OOC fluff then I guarantee you're not going to like this.
"Hey Catherine, I think I found something."
Catherine turned around and walked over to where Warwick was kneeling on the ground. She shone her torch on what he was pointing at and examined it.
"Bag it." She told him. "You finished with the perimeter yet?" she called over to Nick.
"Yup. Got a few footprints and cigarette butts." Nick said. "Looks like our guy's definitely not the smartest criminal out there."
"Either that or the guy to who those belong to is perfectly innocent." Catherine mused. "I've just finished the secondary walk through so I think we're done here."
"Great, let's get back to the lab." Warwick said loading the Denali with the evidence
"You know, I don't get it." Nick said as the three of them drove back to the lab. "Why would a woman kill her husband, a man that she supposedly loved, just because she thought he was having an affair?"
"Don't underestimate the power of jealousy as a motive." Catherine said, pulling into the LVPD car park.
"Well, you didn't kill Eddie." Nick pointed out.
"I had a daughter in the house." Catherine stated, popping the trunk and supervising as the guys unloaded the evidence.
"Hey Catherine!" called the familiar voice of Greg Sanders as he walked up to them.
"Hey Greg. You just started shift?" Catherine asked. He was smirking which usually meant trouble was following.
"Catherine, you would tell me if you were cheating on me right?" he said, leaning up against the side of the car getting as close to Catherine as he dared. Nick and Warwick chuckled.
"I wasn't aware that we were dating but sure thing Greg." Catherine replied, offhandedly, convinced that this was Greg's roundabout way of saying that he had some interesting evidence pertaining to the case or something.
"Because I have the distinct feel that there's another guy in your life that you're not telling us about."
Catherine looked up at him just a little too quickly and Nick and Warwick looked at her curiously. "I'm not even going to ask how you came to that conclusion – not that it's any of your business anyway." She said, grabbing a bag as the four of them headed into the lab.
As they walked into reception they were met there by Sara who was looking at Catherine with the same grin that Greg had on his face.
"Okay, what's going on?" Catherine demanded.
"Catherine, I just want to say that I'm so jealous. I think you're dating the sweetest guy on this earth." Sara told her.
"Hey!" Nick said quietly insulted, nudging her.
Sara smiled up at him but then looked back at Catherine. "You should really take a look at your office."
"Because some lucky guy is definitely going to get some amazing sex tonight." Greg added. Catherine shot him a look mixed with curiosity and disgust as she hurried down the corridor to her office, the others following her like sheep.
"Oh my God." She said quietly as she opened the door.
"Wow some guy must be really head-over-heels to do something like this for you Cath." Warwick said as everyone looked around in wonder.
"Oh my God." Catherine said again, trying to process the scene, making sure it would be etched in her memory forever.
The floor, her desk, the bookshelves, the window sills – everything - was covered in rose petals and on her desk was the biggest flower arrangement she had ever scene outside of a botanical garden. Her whole office was glowing, a mixture of reds, pinks and yellows and the sweet smell was overwhelming. She was actually speechless. Never in a million years did she think anyone could love her this much to do this for her ……
"I'm here to arrest you for raiding a flower shop Ms Willows." Catherine turned to see Brass had joined the growing crowd at her doorway. "Any idea who might have done this?" Jim asked with a grin.
"I-" Catherine started but that was all she could manage. She gingerly made her way to her desk, trying not to squash as many petals as she could, and read the gift card attached to the flowers. 'Catherine, go to the break room' was all it said.
"Who's it from?" Greg demanded.
"Cath, are we ever going to find out?" Warwick questioned.
Catherine silently pushed past them and headed towards the break room, hardly aware that she had a silly grin plastered to her face. He never failed to surprise her ….. just as she thought she finally knew him he continued to pull another trick out of his sleeve to leave her feeling giddy and more in love with him than she ever thought was possible.
"About time!" Lindsey said, jumping up as soon as Catherine entered the break room.
Catherine looked at her confused. "Lindsey, what are you doing here?"
"Come on." Lindsey said, grabbing her mother's hand and tugging her towards the door.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
"What are you doing? I'm still on the clock, I've got to work …"
Lindsey did not appear to be listening though and instead broke into a jog dragging her mother across the car park and down the street.
"Lindsey, please tell me what's going on!" Catherine pleaded, out of breath as they stopped by the entrance to a park.
"Go in and carry on walking in a straight line." Lindsey instructed.
"What?" Catherine exclaimed, bemused. She saw the others heading their way as their curiosity got the better of them.
"Just do it." Lindsey said, folding her arms and giving her an annoyed look.
She looked remarkably like Catherine herself and after giving her daughter another questioning look, Catherine opened the gate and started walking.
She couldn't have been walking more than a minute when she saw it – a single flame flickering in the moonlight coming from a candle. As she got closer she saw it was situated in the centre of a blanket laid out for a three course meal.
"Hey beautiful." Came a voice from behind her as an arm wrapped around her stomach.
"You are amazing." She said emphasising the words and turning round to face him. "What's the occasion?" she asked smoothing her hands over Gil's black suit. It was unusual to see him dressed up like this when he didn't have a court date or official function to go to.
"Well, I thought after working hard at the crime scene you could do with something to eat." Gil said, walking over to the blanket and removing lids off of plates of food.
"That still doesn't explain what we're doing in the middle of the park in the pitch black in the middle of shift and why someone exchanged my office for a florist's." Catherine said watching Gil sit down and take a bit of chicken and pop it into his mouth.
"Sit and relax." He instructed. "So the flowers …. Too over the top?" he asked, looking at her closely trying to gauge a reaction.
Catherine shook her head. "It's honestly the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me Gil …. Though I think it might have made the others slightly suspicious." She laughed, leaning over to kiss Gil softly.
Gil grinned. The whole romantic gestures … he had never had the need to any of it before he and Catherine had started dating and he was unsure about how she would take it. Thankfully she had liked it. "Have something to eat." He said nudging the food towards her.
She looked at him hard. "You're not going to tell me what this is all about are you?" she asked, picking up a fork.
Gil shrugged. "I just thought I would be spontaneous and surprise you with this as a kind of 'well done for doing such a great job as supervisor' thing."
Catherine hid a smile. "I don't believe it. What is this really for?"
Gil looked at her, the candlelight flickering over her face, she was radiant and looked like an angel. "Why don't you stop asking the questions and let me ask one." He said.
Catherine put down her cutlery and wiped her hands on her napkin. "Okay." She said curiously.
Gil moved towards her and reached into his pocket going down on one knee. "Catherine, will you marry me?" he said opening up the little black box.
Catherine looked at him, her breath catching slightly in her throat. Sure they had talked about marriage, they had talked about their life together but she was still surprised. Surprised that Gil was so romantic, surprised that he didn't mind this being so public and surprised that she hadn't put two and two together from the moment she saw her office. "Yes, do you even need to ask?" she said, crying with happiness as Gil slipped the ring on her finger and she leant forward into his embrace.
"I love you so much." Gil said, his voice muffled in her hair.
"I love you too." She said pulling away and pressing her lips against his.
Sara, Nick, Jim, Warrick and Greg looked on, their mouths gaping.
"Catherine and Grissom … who would've thought." Warrick muttered, stunned.
"You know, it does explain a lot of things." Sara said looking thoughtful. "I mean notice how they didn't take the shift change and team break-up as badly as we did."
"And the fact that even though they work different shifts, they always seem to be in the lab at the same time." Nick added.
"You know I walked in on them once." Brass said.
"And you didn't tell us!" Greg exclaimed.
"I was sworn to ultimate secrecy on pain of death." Brass explained. "I don't think I've ever seen Grissom so flustered though."
"How long has this been going on Lindsey?" Greg asked the little girl.
"They've been officially dating for about ten months now but whenever people ask, they always say it's been going on for twenty years."
"I think we're being watched." Gil whispered softly.
"Well, we better put on a good show then." Catherine said mischievously, pushing him back down onto the blanket and climbing on top of him and kissing him deeply.
A/N:- The end! My next project will be up soon. I had great fun writing it! Hehe.