Catherine arrived at the lab a few minutes early. She wanted to see Gil, talk to him before the night began. As usual, he was in his office, preparing for the shift. She casually walked in and sat in the chair across from him. He was deep in concentration and didn't seem to notice her.

He knew she was there; however, he wasn't sure how to respond to her presence. Every nerve in his body was alive, tingling in response to her nearness. He knew what he wanted but departmental regulations frowned on such behavior. Mature men weren't supposed to act like hormone crazed teenagers, but right now that was what he felt like. He was afraid that if he looked up, he'd be across the desk and on her in a flash. He found that now he had opened his heart to her, he had lost all self control where she was concerned.

She sat watching him. She loved the way he furrowed his brow when concentrating. When he pursed his lips, like he was doing now, she always had to fight the impulse to kiss him. And his hair, oh how she wanted to run her fingers through his hair, entangling her fingers in his curls. When they had first met his hair was a sandy brown with hints of the gray that was coming. Now, gray was mixed in all over his head with it overtaking his temples and the curls above his forehead. Yet somehow he managed to retain his boyish good looks. She marveled at his ability to do that so effortlessly. Her appearance took hours out of her week.

He felt her watching him. He would have to look up eventually. Struggling to maintain his self control, his eyes slowly made their way over the file he was reading and sought hers. A grin spread across his face as he observed the expression on her face. She was having as much difficulty with her self control as he was. He slid his glasses off and carefully set them on the desk in front of him. They sat, eyes locked, in a comfortable but electrically charged silence, content with the moment.

The magic lasted until Greg Sanders came bouncing into the room, "Hey Gris, did you hear…." Gil slowly looked from Catherine to the youngest CSI and wished he would go away.

Greg recognized immediately that he had interrupted something. Embarrassed, he started to back out but saw Grissom eyeing him, so he stood glued to his spot. "Ah, did you hear about the murder over at the Lucky Sevens?"

"No Greg, I haven't checked the call ins yet."

"Oh…well, there was a murder…."

"Yeah, at the Lucky Sevens….I get that Greg," Gil said in frustration.

"Yeah," he said excitedly, "one of the dancers shot the owner."

Catherine snickered at his news. Both men looked at her, surprised by her response. "Sorry," she said. "But every dancer wants to kill the owner at some point." She tried to compose herself but her amusement still shone in her eyes.

Grissom looked at Catherine. "This one is yours…take Greg since he's so excited about it."

Catherine looked at him quizzically. Turning to Greg she instructed him, "meet me out front in ten minutes." Greg nodded and left.

Gil's eyebrow shot up as she turned back to him, consternation on her face. "What?" he asked.

"You're sending Greg out with me? We can't work this one together?" she looked disappointed.

Deadpan, Gil answered. "I have a problem with my hands…."

"Your hands?" Her expression said that she knew there was more to the story.

"Yeah, I'm having a very difficult time keeping them off of you. If I go to a scene with you….well, there will be all that time in the car….and then you'll probably bend over the body. Not to mention …..just being around you all that time…..For the sake of professionalism, I think I'll stay here."

"Chicken," she smirked at him before giving her tush an extra wiggle on her way out of his office. Gil watched her walk away, glad that his desk hid his response, a smile working its way across his lips. He sighed as he turned his attention back to the file in front of him.

Catherine and Greg arrived at the Lucky Sevens and were greeted by Sam Vega. He gave them a run down of what he knew. "One of the dancers, Gina Torello, got into an argument with the manager, Kip Bowman. He ended it by slapping her. She left his office, went to her locker and came back with a gun. He started yelling at her again and she fired at him."

"Seems pretty clear cut, Sam. Why are we here?" asked Catherine.

"Witnesses say they heard two shots fired. There is only one round missing from the chamber of her twenty two and she swears she fired only once."

The two CSIs got to work as Detective Vega continued interviewing more potential witnesses. David Phillips arrived to examine the body. Catherine stayed with him while Greg began to examine the room. As he made his way to the back wall, he zeroed in on a hole in the wall. After taking some pictures, he carefully extracted a slug from the cavity. Holding it in his hand, he walked over to Catherine in time to hear David explaining that the wound looked like it had been caused by a larger caliber than a twenty two. Greg took the opportunity to show Catherine his find. "I have what appears to be a twenty two slug that I took from the wall over there," he said pointing. "If the vic was here and the shooter was by the door, the location would be consistent with the suspect firing at and missing the victim."

"So where did the fatal shot come from?" Catherine asked. David offered that the wound was slightly left of center in the victim's chest and had entered at an angle, indicating that the shooter was firing from Bowman's left. His work at the scene finished, David loaded the body to take it back to the morgue.

Catherine and Greg concentrated their search in the side of the room where the shooter most likely stood looking for any clues that might help them in the investigation. Then Greg went outside and walked around the building, looking for evidence. Vega was still in the bar area of the club, leaving Catherine in the office alone. She heard a sound behind her and turned to see what it was when something hit her on the head, knocking her out.

The attacker tripped over a chair as he tried to make his way out of the room. Vega heard the commotion and came in with a uniformed cop right behind him. The attacker lunged in his direction and pushed Vega aside, knocking him to the floor. It was the uniform's nightstick that stopped the attacker. The uniform rammed it into the guy's gut and then swept his knees sending him to the floor in a heap. By then Vega had recovered and both officers subdued the guy and cuffed him. Turning to see Catherine unconscious on the floor, Vega immediately called for the EMTs. Dispatch notified the lab that one of their investigators was down and Grissom was on the phone with Vega before the ambulance arrived for Catherine. Sam explained what had happened and Grissom told Vega that he would meet Catherine at the hospital. They hung up and he called Greg, who had also just found out what happened. Greg assured him that he could stay and keep working the investigation. "Okay," said Grissom. "But I'm sending the new girl over to help…"

He found Ronnie in the break room and told her to head over. Then he headed to his car and sped out of the parking lot towards the hospital.

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I do appreciate all the kind reviews and comments. So how far do I take this? Still interested?