A/N: Yay! Another chapter! Keep the reviews coming!

III. A Man's Best Friend

"Never doubt; never look back. That's how I live my life." –Catherine Willows

"If a man's best friend is supposedly a dog;" Grissom mused as he twirled a pen between calloused fingers. "What's a woman's best friend? A cat?"

Catherine gave him an odd look. "Since when do you care" was on the tip of her tongue, but she bit down on it and changed her answer. "Diamonds," she stated simply, and then, "Why do you ask?"

Grissom frowned, brows furrowed in an expression of concentration. "That's what they say," he conceded, a wave of his hand supplying a definition of 'they', "but that's not what every woman wants, don't you think? Jewels were the last thing my mother wanted from my father." He shrugged, seemingly not hearing her last question.

"Okayyy… but why do you ask?" she repeated, studying him thoughtfully.

He pursed his lips. "I don't know."

"Gil, when was the last time you slept? I'm getting you coffee."

A scowl appeared on his face. "I'm fine. Sheesh."

It was all Catherine could do to hold back the bubble of laughter that rose up in her throat, and she clamped down on her tongue and swallowed hard. "Sheesh?"

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Grissom growled at her, and she burst out laughing. "And what the hell is so funny?"

Catherine flopped on her back on the couch by his desk, thankful that she wasn't wearing a skirt, and drew in a lungful of air. "You're so weird." She rolled her eyes back and caught his gaze out of the corner of his eye, tilting her chin up to see him more clearly.

"You sound like a thirteen year old girl complaining about a boy that likes her," he quipped with a smirk.

"Yeah," she shot back, grinning. "You would know."

"I resent that!"

She laughed again. "I'm sure you do, Gil, I'm sure you do." A quick puff of air aimed at her forehead blew her bangs out of her clear blue eyes, and when she looked at her watch she sat up. "Shift's almost over. You're not staying overtime again, are you?"

"What's stopping me?"

Catherine sighed. "Me."

"What a surprise."

"Misanthropist."

Grissom rolled his eyes. "That's mature."

"Oh, so we're talking mature now, huh?" Catherine grinned. "Somebody took too many cranky pills today, I think," she observed slyly.

"Alright, alright, I get it," he interrupted. "I'll go home and sleep, mother."

She smirked and stood up. "That's my good boy. See ya tomorrow, Gil." And with those parting words, she sailed out the door, barely missing the pillow he tossed at her on the way.

It hit the closed door with a thump.

GC

"Lindsay, can you get that?" Catherine yelled to her daughter, shoving a tray of cookies in the over and yanking glasses and plates out of the cupboard. Hurriedly, she pulled a frying pan off an element on the stove and placed it on a hot pad on the table. "And breakfast is ready," she added.

"Hello? Oh, hi Uncle Gil. She's making breakfast and chocolate chip cookies. Umm, yup, I think so. Hold on. Bye." Lindsay dumped her backpack by the front door and ran to the kitchen. "Mom, it's for you. It's Gil."

Catherine balanced the phone on her shoulder and lifted it to her ear, watching the blonde twelve year old help herself to some bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns that were on the table. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Why are you making cookies at seven in the morning?" he countered, letting her hear the humor in his tone.

"Because then I can get them done for Lindsay by the time she gets home, and I can sleep for the rest of the day. Now answer the question," she demanded. "And if you say 'I'm not tired,' I'll shoot you through the phone, I swear to god. And can you make it quick? I gotta drive her to school yet."

Grissom chuckled. "Never mind. I'll call you later."

"Thank you!" Catherine exclaimed in relief, and uttered a quick goodbye, pressing the power button on the cordless and tossing it on the couch. "How's breakfast?"

"Great. Thanks, Mom." Lindsay answered with a smile, finishing her glass of orange juice. "I'll be ready to go in twenty minutes. Is that okay?"

"Perfect. Can you clean up your dishes, please?"

"Aww, fine." Lindsay dumped her glass, fork, and plate in the sink and headed for the bathroom, and Catherine chewed on a slice of bacon.

"Guess I should get dressed," she muttered.

GC

Catherine was woken up two and a half hours later by the sound of the phone ringing. "Mmph."

"I'm sorry, I don't speak elephant" came an amused tone on the other end of the phone line. "You were asleep, weren't you?"

Catherine squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. "How'd you ever guess?"

"Get your cookies done?"

"Did you call for a reason? Cause if you didn't, I'm about two seconds away from hanging the phone up and killing you later at work. It took me forever to relax and fall asleep."

"I guess 'oops' doesn't cover it, then."

"Nope."

"Sorry?"

"Try again."

Grissom was silent for a while. "Diamonds?"

"Gil…"

"I figured it out, you know," he informed gleefully.

"And what's that?" Catherine muttered, quite eager to get off the phone.

"A woman's best friend is a mirror."

Catherine opened her eyes. "Are you insane? The perfect woman's mirror, maybe. Not even then. Number one- you're making the female species sound like evil bitches, and number two- they're technically our worst enemies. Way to go. Now are you done?"

Grissom heaved a dramatic sigh, earning a tiny laugh. "For you, I can be."

"You called me for me."

"Now who's being difficult?"

"Hanging up now…"

"Alright, I get it. Bye."