6?

After Rose had been settled in, Catherine set to work preparing for the party in the afternoon. She was chopping up some carrots which she hoped to disguise so her children might eat them, when she heard a familiar voice.

"I can now rewind and watch your butt all over again."

She turned around, lifting an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Gil held up the DVD Max had given him. "I can rewind and watch your butt over and over again."

Catherine's eyes almost popped out of her head. "Give me that DVD!"

Gil shook his head, hiding it behind his body. "No. You can't have it. It's mine."

"You better not show anyone else that DVD, Gil Grissom."

He smirked at her. "I was thinking of showing everyone at the party. I thought it would be great entertainment."

She narrowed her eyes. "If you do, I promise you that there will be no sex for the foreseeable future."

Gil paused. "How long exactly?"

"Indefinite."

Gil slowly brought the DVD back out into view again. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of entertainment without the movie."

Catherine smiled. "I knew you'd come around to my thinking, darling." She turned around to go back to her chopping, and smirked as she felt Gil's hands run over her butt. "That's very distracting."

"I thought this was a pretty good birthday present. It just keeps giving."

"Gilbert Grissom."

"We could go upstairs and play for a while before the guests come. Mom can watch the kids."

"Well, that's very generous of you to offer her for the job, and as much as I'd like to, I have a party to prepare for."

"Cath…"

She turned around in his arms, lifting an eyebrow. "Are you whining?"

"It's my birthday!"

Catherine chuckled before meeting his lips in a hot, wet kiss. "You are a menace, Gil."

"Thank you, dear."

"MOM!" Jamie raced into the room. "Max drew on eyebrows!"

"TATTLE-TALE!" Max cried, following his brother in.

Gil and Catherine turned around to look at their two youngest children. Jamie stood there just shaking his head at his younger brother. Max had taken a bright red texta and had haphazardly drawn on two eyebrows.

"What do you think?" Max asked. "Think I look handsome?"

"Probably not the way I would have described it, but okay," Gil replied.

"I think you looked better without eyebrows," Jamie offered.

"What on earth possessed you to draw eyebrows on yourself?" Catherine asked.

"I wanted to look handsome for Dad's birthday party," Max explained.

Catherine and Gil exchanged glances. Gil finally smiled at his son.

"It will be a birthday to remember."

--

The party began with Greg Sanders almost falling headlong into the pool as he chased the rest of the children around the backyard. He had proclaimed Max's eyebrows as cool, causing Claire to warn him that he better not even think about singing off his own eyebrows.

Catherine glanced at Nathan. "Aren't you ever worried that he could turn out like Greg?"

"Constantly," Claire replied, eyeing her son with trepidation.

Gil thought that perhaps a good way to calm Greg down would be to air Max's documentary. However, when he suggested this to Max, the little boy blanched.

"Uh, Dad, I don't think that's a good idea."

Gil and Catherine looked at him strangely.

"Why not?"

"Well, uh…there's a lot of kids here and…"

Catherine's eyes narrowed. "Max Grissom, what did you put on that video?"

"Um…er…" His face lit up in a broad smile. "You're pretty, Mommy!"

Before she could continue to interrogate him, Matt walked out, decked in his suit with a white napkin laid over his arm. Catherine wondered if all her children were going insane.

"Matt…what are you doing?"

The boy glared at his younger sister. "I'm Lizzie's slave. Two days for every day it takes me to pay back her loan."

They heard the ringing of a bell and turned to see Lizzie sitting on her chair, a small bell by her side and a Cheshire Cat grin on her face.

"Elizabeth Grissom, are you exploiting your brother as a slave?" Catherine took a double take. She never expected to have those words together in a sentence.

"Isn't that what brothers are for?"

Jamie piped up, "Can we have cake now?"

--

Max proudly helped his mother wheel out the tray with the cake on. The cake was chocolate, with the words "Happy 50th Gil" iced on top, as well as a miniature ladybug. Next to the main cake sat a miniature Bombe Alaska.

"Mommy said if I promised to wait to use the explosion part, I could make it for you!" Max cried.

"I appreciate that, Max," Gil smiled, ruffling his son's hair. He turned to Catherine. "You made this one?"

She shrugged. "I had a bit of help, but my cooking's certainly improved over the years, wouldn't you say?"

He nodded. "Absolutely. I never worry about food poisoning now."

Catherine punched him softly. "You're an ass."

"That's a lovely thing to say to your husband on his birthday!"

"Can I capture this on film?" Max asked.

"No!"

--

Late into the night, Gil groaned as he fell back flat on the bed. His wife grinned beside him, curling atop his body like a cat.

"You…" he got out between pants, "should be registered as a lethal weapon. You could give a man a heart attack!"

A smirk appeared on her lips. "I take it that you enjoyed."

"Sweetheart, I always enjoy sex with you but that…"

"Mmm," she smiled. "Books are wonderful things."

"You learnt that from a book?"

"Well, I threw a little of my own style and experience in, but the basics, yeah."

"I must buy you that book."

Catherine patted his chest. "You already did, hon."

"I did?" He rolled his eyes. "You're a shopaholic."

"Not true. The book was for both of us." She leant up and kissed his lips. "Have a good day?"

Gil grinned. "The best."

As her eyes began to droop, Catherine snuggled closer to her husband. "Happy Fiftieth Birthday, Gil Grissom."

When the soft, even sound of her breathing floated into his ears, Gil grinned. "Happy birthday to me!"

FINIS