Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I wish I did, but sadly, I don't.
Spoilers: Nada, zilch, zero.
Rating: K+ for some mild language.
Summary: Something's distracting Catherine and Grissom wants to know what or who it is.
I stormed into the lab, angry and ready to yell at everyone.
"Morning Catherine," Greg said pleasantly. "Shut up," I replied back, stomping to the back of the building. He looked confused and then went back to work.
"Hi Cath," Warrick said. "Don't talk to me."
I finally reached my destination: Grissom's office.
"Hey Cath, what's up?" Grissom said, looking up from his desk.
For a second, I couldn't breathe. Those 4 little words suddenly heated me up. But I returned my focus.
"What the hell, Grissom?" He looked like he had no idea what I was talking about.
"I woke up this morning to find a message on my phone, from a particular supervisor, telling me to rewrite my report on that rape/murder case in the desert. You know that report was clear, concise, and accurate."
"I didn't feel like you did a thorough job."
I looked at him with even more rage in my eyes, "What? You know I did a GREAT job. Ugh!"
"Catherine, calm down."
"No. I won't. I'm a damn good CSI, I've been doing this for 15 years. And I shouldn't get a call from my boss, telling me that I'm doing my job wrong."
Grissom took out my report and glanced over it. "Just looking at this, I can tell that they're about 5 mistakes."
"Give me that," I said, snatching it from his hands. I read it over and sure enough, there were a lot of mistakes.
"Oh my God…" I said, sitting down in the chair across from Grissom. I put my hand on my hand and took a deep breath. "I can't believe I wrote this….a trainee could write a better report than this."
"That's exactly why I asked you to rewrite it. You rewrite it, you move on to the next case. Life goes on."
"No, it doesn't. Oh my God, this is horrible. I should be fired for writing this."
"Stop it. You're not going to get fired. One bad report is forgivable," Grissom said, taking off his glasses, "Would you like to talk about what this is really about?"
Catherine flashed him a half smile, "You can always see right through me."
"Problems with Lindsey?"
"No, she's great. Doing great in school and everything. I've just been so distracted from everything lately."
"Well maybe you should get rid of whatever it is. What's distracting you, honey?"
I took a deep breath, "It's not really a what. It's more of a who."
Grissom looked sort of shocked. 'A who? Maybe Warrick? Or Nick?' Grissom thought, but he didn't let it show that he wanted to be the one who was distracting Ms. Willows.
"Well who is it, then?" he asked.
"Look, I'm sorry if this makes everything weird. I know it's frowned upon todatesomeone you work with, but I've kept this in long enough…" I began.
I could see the hope in Grissom's eyes. 'Please, don't be Nick or Greg or Warrick. Be me.'
"You've been distracting me, Grissom. I see you even standing next to another woman, and I snap. I just want nothing more than to tell you how I feel about you. So here it goes….Grissom, I love you."
"Cath-"
"No, let me finish. I know its inappropriate and it would probably never work out between us, but I've felt like this for a while, and it's high time I told you."
I stood up. Grissom was just quiet.
"I'll have this done by tomorrow," I said, walking out of his office.
I walked back to my office, 'I shouldn't have told him. He'll never look at me the same way again. Stupid me, stupid emotional me.'
"You okay, Cath?" a voice said. I looked over and it was Nick. My good, dependable Nick.
I smiled, "Yeah. I'm fine."
"Okay, but if you ever wanna talk, you know where to find me," he said, walking off.
"Nick!" I yelled after him, "Could you tell Warrick and Greg that I'm sorry for snapping at them?"
Nick winked, signaling he would.
I returned to my office, still beating myself up for making a complete fool of myself..
As I sat down at my computer, I noticed I had one new email.
I opened it.
Cath,
I love you. Ever since the very first day I saw you. And you have no reason to be jealous of those other women; you're the only one I really care about.
- Grissom
P.S. Don't worry about that report. I'll take care of it.
I smiled and then instinctively walked back to Grissom's office.
Once I got there, I just stood in the doorway.
"Hey Catherine, need anything?" he asked, looking up at me.
I smirked at him and said, "No, not anymore."
He smirked back at me, "I'm glad."
And with that, I returned back to my office.
But Nick had heard our conversation, "What was that about?"
"Oh, nothing," I said, smiling.
Nick smiled in a mischievous way, "Okay.."
I could tell he knew what was going on.
And for once, I didn't care.
Once I returned to my computer, I had another email.
Catherine,
Dinner with me tonight? 7 p.m., the Grille for some calamari?
- Grissom
P.S. You look really good today.
I laughed andslowly typed "Y-E-S."