A/N-The first part isn't the dance...it's getting ready for the dance and all that. This part is pretty much a late Halloween thing because it's a Halloween dance!

First Dance

Warrick glared down at Catherine, trying to be intimidating. Right, like that would happen. "Catherine. No." He looked her in the eyes and tried to relay his seriousness.

Catherine looked down at her watch impatiently. "Yes, Warrick. Please...the dance is tonight and she doesn't even have anything to wear!"

Warrick shrugged it off. "It's a costume party, Cath. Borrow a lab coat, pop some lenses out of some glasses, and poof: insta-doctor."

Catherine gave him a look that clearly said yeah right. "There's a guy Lindsey likes...she wants to be a fairy or an angel...or a princess. Don't ask. Mom bought her a cute little mini-me outfit, but she refused."

"What's wrong with being you?" Warrick asked, hoping to steer her off course and slip out while she was distracted.

Catherine shrugged. "To conservative."

Warrick's eyes automatically went to the cleavage that her blouse showed and she rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I didn't say anything!" Warrick laughed.

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Anyway. I have to cover for Gris at some conference. Ecklie stressed how important it was to make a good impression. It's pretty dressy so I'll be able to go from there straight to the dance. I'm one of the chaperones and I need you do that 'til I get there."

Warrick sighed. "What's in it for me?" he demanded.

Catherine smiled innocently. "The company of my lovely daughter and of course I'll be coming to the dance later and then..." she winked, "...you can hand her over to me!"

That startled a laugh out of Warrick. Catherine was such a vixen! He knew he would live to regret it but..."Okay, okay, I'll do it."

Catherine straightened up. "Great. Here's my credit card. Pick her up, feed her, take her to the mall. Don't let her talk you into anything too expensive or revealing. Take her home, help her curl her hair, and do not let her wear too much makeup. The dance starts at six. Be sure to bring a stick to beat the boys off. School's out in ten minutes." She left before he could realize what he had gotten himself into.

"You want me to help her curl her hair?" Warrick asked the now empty room.

The School

Lindsey stared at Warrick. "You're kidding, right?" she asked fearfully.

Warrick shook his head solemnly. "Nope. I'm here to take you to get a costume and then to the dance."

The teen groaned and climbed into the Denali. "Why me?" she asked no one in particular.

"I've been asking myself the same question," Warrick informed her as he put the vehicle in gear.

They rode in relative silence until Warrick finally broke it. "What do you want to eat?" he asked.

"Chicken," she said almost before he could get the question out. Warrick raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

They feasted on chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn. There was a minor mishap when Warrick spilled hot gravy in his lap while he was driving, but they made it to the mall in one piece.

Then Warrick had to stop and check out some tools...which threw Lindsey off a little until she saw that he wasn't really checking out tools but the hot blonde that was looking at grills. "How about I go on to the costumes and you can stay here with your...tools."

Warrick reluctantly pulled himself away from the "tools". "Naw, I'll come with."

Lindsey huffed and glared at everyone they passed. It looked perfectly normal to everyone: a typical teenage girl angry at her dad for something or another. All the clothing shops had plenty of costumes and they stopped at everyone. There were always some that Lindsey would stop and squeal over, but Warrick would have to deny her because of the shortness of the skirts or the neck-line of the tops. She would give him evil glares when he jokingly suggested other costumes...until they came to one they both agreed on.

"How 'bout this one, Linds?" Warrick asked, holding it up for her inspection.

She didn't look up from the rack of clothes she was looking through. "I'm not going to be a nun, 'Rick," she informed him.

"Lindsey, just look at it," Warrick ordered.

She looked up and gasped. "It's perfect!" she squealed.

Warrick checked out the price and winced. "Alright, let's go pay for it." He didn't use Catherine's credit card but his own.

"Can I get some shoes and some earrings too?" Lindsey asked excitedly. For the past hour, she had been nothing but grumbles and glares, but now she was all bubbly and excited.

"Sure. Why not?" He would use Cath's card for that.

Catherine's House

"Son of a--" Warrick stuck his finger in his mouth for the tenth time that evening. It was already six and he was using hot rollers to curl Lindsey's hair. He kept sticking his finger in the hot part where the metal heated up to melt the wax inside and would shout in pain before continuing with what he was doing.

Lindsey ignored him and continued putting the lip gloss on. She was wearing light pink eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, and lip gloss. Warrick wasn't sure what she was and wasn't allowed to wear so he just decided to trust her. "Are you done yet?" she asked impatiently. She had rolled the front part of her hair and left Warrick to do the back. He couldn't mess it up too bad...it was simple.

"Almost--there! Done at last," he said smugly.

Lindsey rolled her eyes. "Right. Well spray it with the glitter and hair spray." Warrick did so obediently, trying not to cough.

Lindsey stood up. "Thanks. I'm going to put on my costume now."

Warrick watched her as she walked out of her mother's room. He plopped down on Catherine's bed and thought about his day. It wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be, but that wasn't really saying much. Maybe his past experiences--well experience as in singular had made him a little afraid of being around Lindsey. The period thing was not something he wanted to repeat!

"Warrick, can you zip this?" Lindsey asked.

Warrick blinked and realized Lindsey was standing with her back to him. He sat up and zipped the dress so that no skin or bra was showing. It hit him how easily he did that without embarassment or anything. He shook it off and watched as Lindsey put her new small silver hoops in her ears. "Do you think I could convince mom to let me get my ears pierced again?" she asked, studying herself critically in the mirror. "Help me put the wings on."

Warrick stood up and helped her put the fairy wings on. She was a fairy princess. Her long, flowing purple dress had little purple wings and a rhinestone tiara. All that needed to be done at the point would be to take the curlers out, respray her hair with hairspray and put on the tiara.

When six forty rolled around, they did exactly that. The end result was beautiful. In the bright lighting of the room, Lindsey's blonde hair glowed and sparkled and she looked more like a young lady than a little girl. Warrick shook his head. "Well come on then," he said.

Lindsey raised her eyebrows at him. "What are you going as?"

The School Auditorium

Warrick rolled his eyes when someone asked him what he was supposed to be for about the millionth time (okay about the fifth). "A crime scene investigator."

They would stare at him blankly before saying, "I don't get it." He was dresses in what he had gone shopping with Lindsey in...just normal every day wear.

"You're supposed to be chaperoning," an upset teacher said, "Those kids are over there kissing!"

Warrick looked over, saw it wasn't Lindsey, and shrugged. "It's a dance." A very awkward dance at that. All the kids just sort of stood around until this one group of kids started dancing. Then everyone joined in. Lindsey would dance with her friends or any guy that asked her, but Warrick did happen to notice her looking longingly at one boy in particular who wasn't dancing at all.

"Hey handsome."

"Hey Cath," Warrick said, silently taking in everything about the boy. He looked like a snot-nosed kid to Warrick, but that couldn't be what Lindsey saw in him so he continued to study the young boy. He was around Lindsey's age, blonde hair, brown eyes, braces, and he had a really big smile. He looked nice enough.

Catherine followed Warrick's line of sight. "That's Jake Samson...the crush." She decided if Warrick's stare got any more intense that the boy would burst into flames. "So Lindsey looks great...fairy princess. Very hot."

That brought Warrick out of his thoughts. "She's not--" his protest died in his throat when he saw Catherine's dress. It was low-cut and black but not too inapropriate to wear at a junior high dance. Her red hair was wavy and very sexy. "She's cute," Warrick said weakly.

Catherine smirked. "Mmmhmm. That's why she has all the guys' attention."

Warrick's eyes snapped back to the dance floor where Lindsey was slow dancing with a snot nosed kid that wasn't Jake Samson and that was trying to subtly move his hands to her butt. Warrick grabbed Catherine's hand and dragged her over to where Lindsey and the kid were dancing. "Hands on the hips and no lower," Warrick growled at the boy.

Wide eyed, the kid moved his hands back up and kept them there throughout the rest of the song. Catherine watched it all with a smile as she thought about how angry Lindsey would've been if it was her that had done that. She watched them even as Warrick pulled her into dance so that he could keep a closer eye on Lindsey without seeming too obvious. Lindsey had given Warrick a small smile when he had told the kid off.

Warrick figured out the exact moment the dance turned from one of convenience to something more. Catherine's head was resting on his chest and they were swaying a little through a couple more slow songs before something faster came on. They reluctantly pulled away.

"You're really great with Lindsey," Catherine said as they walked off the dance floor.

"She's a great kid," Warrick replied absently, trying to put a little distance between them.

She ignored his attempts and grabbed his hand. "I mean it, 'Rick. This means a lot to us both. That's why you're going to go out there and get a dance in with her."

Warrick snorted. "She would be too embarassed."

Catherine shook her head. "I've been here for a little while and I've seen some fathers out there dancing with their daughters!" As soon as she said it, she wished she could take it back.

Those beautiful eyes were staring at her, so sad yet so happy and filled with hope. "I'm not her dad, Cath."

Catherine looked away guiltily. It was breif, very breif, but she had actually managed to forget that for a split second. He had been there for so much that sometimes she forgot things like that. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I really didn't mean to--"

Warrick shook his head. "No need. I'm gonna go out there and get my dance though."

Catherine watched as her daughter and the guy she...what? Loved? Liked? yes, liked, danced. It was so sweet that she dug the camera she had conveniently forgot to put back in the lab out of her purse and snapped some great pictures.

By the time ten o'clock rolled around, the kids were winding down and they played the last slow song. Warrick was lightly dozing in a chair when Catherine suddenly grabbed his arm. He sat up and looked around frantically. "What?" he demanded when he saw no danger.

"Look," she said, pointing. Lindsey had finally got her dance with the padless football player. Catherine brought the camera back out.

"You do know you're not actually supposed to take that for your personal use, right?" Warrick asked amusedly.

"Shut up," Catherine growled jokingly as she sent him a mock-glare.

He laughed it off as they last few verses of the song came and went. "Finally," he said happily.

Lindsey bounded up with sparkling eyes. "Hey mom!" she greeted happily.

"Hey baby," Catherine said, kissing her on the forehead. "Ready to go?"

"Yep!"

Warrick watched them warmly. "I gotta get home. Here's your credit card Catherine and I bid you ladies goodnight." He to Lindsey and kissed her hand before turning to Catherine. She was watching him with something akin to trepidation and he had to laugh.

Lindsey watched the two closely. Her mom's eyes fluttered shut when Warrick reached over and kissed her on the cheek. "Goodnight," he whispered in her ear before pulling away.

Same as before, Lindsey blew him a kiss and he caught it and put it in his pocket before giving her one last grin. He left without any more talk or anything.

Catherine turned to her daughter. "Ready?" Lindsey nodded and they headed out.

Sometimes things worked out. Hopefully, this would be one of these cases.

END

A/N-This one was more fluff than anything. I hope I didn't get anyone too out of character! I don't really know how dances work. My first school dance was in seventh grade and it was like I explained it only a little more awkward. This year at school we celebrated Halloween the Friday before Halloween so that we could do fun stuff.