Chapter Four

If you caught a glimpse of Anthony Butler, you would never have pictured him attending a wedding, much less managing one. He stood at a towering 6'5 and had a gym-toned body to match. Military cut blonde hair and a stylized goatee beard, complete with his gun-metal eyes and thin lips gave him the appearance of a professional bouncer. Added to that, he almost always wore a leather trench coat, completing the image.

But as soon as he caught sight of Catherine and Sara walking towards him, his face creased into the gentlest of smiles.

"Miz Willows and Miz Say-dle." He greeted with a heavy but incomprehensible accent. "You are ready, I see."

"We are always on time, Tony." Catherine tiptoed to give the man a small kiss.

"That is very true." He grinned. Tony snapped his fingers and almost instantly, two young boys appeared by his side. They looked like goats in front of a majestic bear.

"Ralph and Henry." Tony addressed them. "I want each one of you to act as the father and lead the ladies to the stage."

Sara stared amusingly at her "father". He seemed barely in his twenties. The freckles of his teens still dotted his nose.

"Are our best men and maids of honor by the stage?" Catherine tried to peer into the distance.

"They are waiting eagerly." Tony smiled. Like magic, a small book appeared in his hands. "I will act the presiding minister."

Sara looked down at the white, starched skirt which was supposed to be the rehearsal makeshift for the real wedding dress. She was already feeling extremely uncomfortable. Judging by the way Catherine was shifting restlessly, she wasn't having a very good time in it either.

"You know, I'm re-considering the entire elopement plan." Catherine whispered into her ear.

"I know." Sara croaked. "If the rehearsal is already killing me, I can't imagine what will happen on the real day."

"Breathe, girls." Tony's eyes twinkled as if he knew exactly what they were whispering about.

Accompanied by their aide, the women walked to the opposite ends of the massive hall. Wendy and Stacey were waiting for Sara and Catherine respectively.

Halfway across, Catherine turned and gulped. She had flown to Toronto, Canada the previous week to see for herself the church in which they were marrying. The sheer size of the place, coupled with the beautiful paintings had stolen her breath away. Marrying in a chapel like that had always been her dream. She had long given up that dream when she and Eddie had married in one of Vegas' seedy get-wedded-quick venues.

Here was a chance to relive that dream. They had been fortunate to get a marriage license in Canada and have a Metropolitan Community chapel and a minister willing to solemnize their nuptial. Catherine stumbled on the thick carpet and the carrot-haired boy beside her held out a hand.

"You okay?" He asked.

She nodded. He looked even more scared than her.

They reached towards their bridesmaids who subtly moved behind the "bride" and her "father". They now turned and walked down from the two ends of the aisles. Catherine could vaguely make out Sara across the vast room. The chapel they had chosen was even bigger than this and on that day would be filled with men and women come to witness their union. Catherine shivered with excitement.

The stage now loomed nearer and she could see Tony's bulky figure in the center. Nick and Nancy stood erectly by her side. Greg stood on the other side. Beside him was Lindsay. She felt her adrenaline levels spike.

Grissom was already by the podium. His passive expression was betrayed by the wink he threw the brides' way.

They once again turned and were now walking towards the center from the sides. As they approached each other, Sara and Catherine locked their gazes. A smile hovered on their lips. Catherine saw Sara silently mouth the words, "Love you" and flushed warmly. She replied "Love you" in the same way. Grinning, they turned to face their "minister". Sara and Catherine handed the rolled papers, supposed to stand for flowers, to their bridesmaids.

Tony breezed through the script and then the necessary I-dos. Then came the moment for exchanging the rings. Two tiny figures walked up through the center of the aisles. Sara couldn't help giving a small thumbs-up sign at the fair-haired girl. Brenda Collins was positively beaming. Beside her, Jeremy had his nose in the air, trying to assume a sophisticated gait. They both held a book in their hands.

"Aren't they just cute?" Catherine softly murmured.

"I saw Jeremy hitting on Brenda earlier." Sara whispered.

Catherine's eyes widened. "What?"

"Our ring holders might just have a thing for each other."

"Ahem, ladies?" Tony coughed to get their attention. They immediately turned back towards him.

"You are not supposed to be talking during the ceremony." He admonished.

"Why not?" Sara protested. "Talking makes me… uh, less nervous."

"Yes, definitely less nervous." Catherine echoed.

Tony gave them a stern look.

"Right." Sara and Catherine muttered unanimously.

"So, this is the time when you cite your vows." Tony signaled towards Catherine. "You go first. And then exchange your rings."

"Okay." Catherine breathed. Sara had been right. This whole thing had a surreal feel to it.

"With the rings exchanged, the ceremony will commence."

"Hey, not yet. Don't the brides kiss each other?" Greg chirped in.

He was silenced by a sharp jab in his ribs.

"Ow, what was that for?" He looked at his tall, blonde companion.

"For being such a smartass." Stacy smirked.

"We might have to rehearse the kiss a little though." Sara gave Catherine a lopsided grin.

Catherine's brows lifted fractionally. "Remind me of that later."


There was still time for the graveyard shift to begin and the entire gang decided to huddle in for dinner. The small diner seemed to have been cramped as all of them settled in side-by-side tables. Only Grissom excused himself from joining, stating the reason that he had a previous appointment. Was he really needed elsewhere or was he merely uncomfortable being a part of such a large group, Catherine didn't know.

Ever since she and Sara had gotten together, her relationship with Grissom had deteriorated. It hadn't been due to a conscious ill will on either side. Gil Grissom was an impossible man to read and it was hard for her to determine whether he was truly okay with everything. She had asked him several times and he had given one of his cryptic replies, which could mean anything and at the same time nothing. Catherine valued Grissom as a person and she would hate to consider herself as someone who had snatched away the one person he had wanted to love.

However, after wading through the waters of guilty conscience, Catherine had finally walked out of it. If Grissom didn't want to talk about it, there was nothing she could do. Besides, Sara had chosen her and one cannot help who one falls in love with.

"So, you know this is horrendously unfair that both of you are diving straight back to work next week." Wendy shook Catherine out of her thoughts.

"Yeah man, you guys deserve to give each other a honeymoon." Nick tsk-tsked.

"Is Ecklie the problem?" Greg asked. "Coz, you know, I could talk to Sofia and she could talk to him."

"You could talk to Sofia?" Sara's gaze darted towards him. "That's really sweet, Greg. But since when did you and Sofia become so chummy?"

"Yeah, Greg, is there something we should know?" Nick wiggled his eyebrows.

"You know, coming to think of it, I remember catching Greg and Sofia by the corridors a couple of times. They looked real cozy." Wendy smirked into her strawberry shake.

"Is Sofia that blonde detective?" Nancy asked. When the others nodded, she continued. "That time when we were all marriage shopping, she was helping Greg put on his cuff links."

Everyone whistled and Greg turned beet red. "C'mon you guys, get your minds off the gutter. There is nothing between me and her. We are just friends."

"Just friends?" Stacy chortled. "Up until three months ago, even Catherine and Sara were claiming to be just friends. See, where that led to."

Catherine blushed while Sara concentrated extra hard on the lettuce in her sandwich.

"Alright, alright, we just had one date." Greg mumbled.

"One date!" Wendy almost choked on her drink. "Whoa! What is it, romance-in-the-lab season? Should I be worried?"

"I don't think there is a reason to be. As far as I see, only beautiful women seem to be involved." Nick dodged the spoon Wendy threw his way.

"Shut up!" She snapped and pretended not to notice when he winked at her.

"It wasn't even a date." Greg absently pushed the peas around the plate. "It was just a simple dinner. I mean, she didn't even call it a date… and it just happened. She said she wanted to get something to eat… and I said we should eat together…"

The diner was suddenly impregnated with silence. Sara looked at Catherine, sitting opposite her. The same thought had crossed all their minds. Greg was a person who would boyishly brag about a woman, even if all they had was just a tiny cup of coffee together. He was bumbling when talking about Sofia. That was definitely interesting.

"Well, she's a beautiful woman." Wendy finally broke the silence.

"Yeah." Sara nodded.

"Yeah." Everyone chimed in.

"Coming back to what we were originally talking about…" Stacy cleared her throat. "So, why aren't you two taking a honeymoon?"

The group once again lapsed into a playful conversation, delightfully teasing the soon-to-be couple. Unbeknownst to them, sitting in one of the long bar stools, they were being observed by a cold predator.


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