Thanks for reading so far and all your reviews/favourites. :) I'm really trying to get back into the habit of updating twice a week for you guys, so hopefully chapter 13 will be up at the weekend, but in the meantime...

Chapter Twelve

I watched as she studied the papers we collected from the floor of the cupboard, also known as our crime scene. We were trying to make a connection to the items that had been left on the shelves and what, if anything, had been removed. I was stood next to her in one of the larger evidence rooms of the lab, my hands in my jeans' pockets as I watched her work. I wanted to slip my hands around her waist and place kisses on the bare skin of her neck; I wanted to take her home and run her a bath and make her dinner and just... be with her.

Catherine was focused on the case in front of us, playing with the idea that someone had broken in to the house to get something in particular, and unexpectedly found the owner of the house, Timothy Markson, there as well - we were still yet to find him and with no DNA comparison our blood sample from the splatter on the wall was pretty useless.

Her blue eyes scanned through the papers, "I can't make a connection out of these. Some of them are gas receipts, some of them are invoices for building work..." she sighed, frustrated.

"I'm sure we'll come up with something." I assured her, although we both knew there was no way I could confidently say we would solve this.

She looked up at me, her gaze so intense it made my mind flicker with memories of her between my legs just an hour ago. I felt Catherine slide her fingers under the back of her shirt, teasing the bare skin of the base of my back with her fingers.

"I can't get enough of you." She told me quietly.

I smiled at her, noticing that her hair was still a little messy from being in bed, I liked it. I was about to reply as Nick entered the room.

Catherine's hand snapped back to her side, and I saw Nick's eyes notice the movement, but he didn't say anything of it. "So get this," he placed his case file on the table, "your house owner, Tim Markson, is our dead casino guy."

"What?" Catherine slid the file around to face her.

"We already matched the DNA from the blood you found at the house to him - he had a gun shot wound to the stomach, but that wasn't what killed him." Nick explained.

"Well he obviously didn't bleed out at the scene, there wasn't enough blood." I replied, confused as to how our two cases had collided.

"He died from blunt force trauma to the skull, around 20 minutes after the neighbor called the burglary in." Nick placed his palms down on the table, leaning over slightly to see what evidence we had collected from the house.

"That's a pretty quick turn around, even if the scenes are close together." Catherine pointed out.

"This was impulsive. Whoever broke in didn't expect to be caught, but when he was, he shot Tom Markson and took him with him. Why not just leave him in the house?" I tried to make sense of the information Nick had given us.

"Maybe the killer was trying to clean up? Leave no trace?" Nick suggested.

"Do you have any suspects? I have some partials from the door handle at the house, but I haven't had a chance to run them yet." I asked.

"How long were you both at the scene? Have you not had a chance to do any of the processing yet?" Nick frowned.

"We got a coffee on the way back here." Catherine's tone was sharp and it closed down Nick's questioning pretty quick.

"The vic was murdered outside the casino, around the back, just out of sight of a camera. Doc's just prepping the body, so that might show up something for us to get a lead on." Nick's change of subject was a welcome one.

"I'm going to have a look at these partials and see if I can get a hit from IAFIS." I made my way out of the room, thankful that Catherine had stopped Nick's questions, but concerned that our lengthy absence from the lab had been noticed.

Hours passed and the whole team seemed to be going nowhere with the case. I was thankful when the clock hit 8am and Catherine and I decided it was time to call it a day. Grissom and Nick had decided to stay back to try and make some progress with the evidence they had.

I slipped my green cotton jacket over my shoulders and closed up my locker. It had only been a few hours since Catherine and I had been together in my bed, but I already longed for her touch, the idea of going back to my empty apartment seemed a strange concept, despite the fact I had done it every day for three years.

"What are you doing tomorrow night before work?" Catherine asked, having closed up her locker on the opposite side of the room, she now leant her shoulder on the locker next to mine, facing me.

"Nothing." I replied.

"Mind if I come around for an hour before shift?"

I grinned at her, "Of course you can."

"I'm sorry it doesn't make up for me having to run off this morning, I have to take Lindsey to school."

"You're a mother, Catherine, I understand you have to do these things, you don't have to apologise."

She seemed relieved at my words. "I'd really like to kiss you right now." She replied, her voice a little quieter in case anyone in the corridor overhead.

"I wish you would."

She placed a kiss on her fingers and placed her fingers against my cheek tenderly. "I'll see you tomorrow." she promised.

I smiled at her and she left the locker room. I leaned up against the metal lockers, closing my eyes with a contented sigh. I felt like all my Christmasses had come at once: the woman I had spent so long yearning for, that I thought I had lost in the desert, was in fact in love with me, and God knows I was in love with her.

I opened my eyes after a couple of seconds, knowing that I really needed to get home and sleep. Raising my head back from the locker I noticed Nick stood in the corridor looking in at me and I knew, despite no words being passed between us, that he knew exactly what was going on.