He watched her as she smiled, the smile growing to a full blown laugh, her head thrown back, the strawberry blonde tresses flowing behind her as she was spun on the dance floor. He should have been happy to see her so carefree, for the first time in a long enough laughing, enjoying herself, but instead a seed was growing in the pit of his stomach, worming around deep inside him.

They moved closer to where he was sat, her lyrical laughter drowning out the music that accompanied them. He clenched his fists and set his jaw, suddenly finding the remnants of the drink before him of great interest.

How could she do this to him? With him of all people?

Gil wanted to leave, disappear, and hide himself away so he could wallow in his despair, but there was no opportunity for that. The speeches had only just been made; the glasses had only just been raised in the wish of a successful future. There would be no escape for a while.

He was aware of the eyes of his colleagues on him. He hated that. Without looking he knew their faces would be full of pity, sympathy, what right did they have to judge him, judge her?

There she was again, her grasp on him was complete. Even now when it appeared as if she was lost to him, he still clung on to the faint belief that she was still his, despite the evidence the proceedings before him offered. Her obvious happiness in the arms of another. He could not make her laugh like that. He could not make her feel like that. Maybe she belonged with Eddie after all.

He'd believed her, trusted in her words as she'd told him of the separation. That's what confused him, how could she tell him she was leaving Eddie, yet invite him to the mayor's annual ball?

She'd made a fool of him, a laughing stock, the evidence was clear, how could he have trusted in her words?

He glanced up at them again, noting the way that Eddie pulled her that inch too close to him, his whole body warning those watching to stay away, she belonged to him. And what of Catherine, there was no sign of distress, distaste, disgust. Instead she appeared to be happy, ecstatic even.

He sat at the table for another half an hour. His head averted from the prying eyes of others. His right hand occasionally twisting the glass of scotch he nursed. Every few minutes his eyes sought them out, prolonging his torture. The pain each image caused him proving that this was not a nightmare, but some nauseating reality he was bearing witness to.

When the pain became too much for him to tolerate, he stood, seeking out the mayor, he made a lame excuse about the lab being undermanned and needing his support, then without glancing backwards he left the celebration, seeking out a reality he felt confident and comfortable in.

He successfully avoided her for five days after the ball, they were both rostered off on different days, and then he was called to give evidence for a case. Despite this the hallways of the lab were charged with tension, in anticipation of their inevitable meeting.

Wednesday nights were the usual shift for Gil to take command, as Brass would be rostered off. As he woke on Wednesday afternoon, the gnawing worm in his stomach returned, he could avoid her no longer, he had to face her today.

He waited until the last moment, before approaching the break room. On entering it he only saw Nick and Warrick, no Catherine. He checked his watch; the shift had started ten minutes earlier. Sighing he asked, "Where's Catherine?"

Both men looked puzzled, then Nick shrugged his shoulders. "I've not seen her, or heard from her. Have you Warrick?"

"No." He replied.

Gil checked his watch again, in the vain hope that his first reading of it had been wrong. On realizing it wasn't, he shuffled the papers in his hand. "Looks like we have a quiet night anyway. Nick you have a reported prowler out in Henderson. Warrick domestic dispute at the Mirage, Detective Vega is there already."

The assignments given, neither Nick nor Warrick wanted to remain in the room with Gil. They quickly stood and made their way to the locker room, where they found Catherine quickly shutting her locker door.

"Hey Cath." Nick smiled.

"Hi guys, sorry, running late. I need to find Grissom. Is he mad?"

Warrick cast her a sympathetic look. "That's one word for it."

Catherine's shoulders slumped and her smile disappeared. "Ok I'll see you later?" She pulled open the door and walked the short distance to Gil's office.

He didn't look up as she knocked. Instead he waited until she was sat in front of his desk before speaking. "Catherine, nice of you to join us, eventually."

"Yes, ehmm Gil…I needed…."

"What? Domestic bliss is so good you can't leave now. You are willing to sacrifice your job, your career?"

"It was an emergency." She pleaded.

"What? What was so important that you couldn't call, couldn't advise us you were going to be late."

"Eddie…"

"I might of known. So what did your husband need? Hmm? You to keep him company in bed? Is that it? Or did he need you to call one of his music protégées to keep him company, warm his bed while you are earning the money to feed his numerous habits?"

Catherine glared at him; she had no idea what caused such a venomous attack. Her day had started so badly, Lindsey had picked up a stomach bug and had spent the better part of the day projectile vomiting. Eddie was supposed to have had her that evening, but hearing his daughter was sick, he'd suddenly made a lame excuse about leaving town promoting a new band. She was left with two choices, Nancy or her mother. Nancy had been reluctant to have Lindsey as Jeremy showed no signs of having the bug and she didn't want to expose him unnecessarily. It had then taken Catherine three hours, when she could have been sleeping, to track down her mother and another hour to persuade her to baby-sit. She'd had to sit demurely through the lecture about taking the responsibilities of motherhood seriously and not running off and leaving sick children. Gil's verbal attack was the finale. She could feel her face burning, the tears welling behind her eyes, but she was determined not to cry, not to give him the satisfaction.

"I'm sorry Mr Grissom. It won't happen again. You can dock me an hour's pay, or I can work over for an hour at the end of the shift, whichever you prefer. Now if you could give me my assignment for the night I will get started."

He thrust a piece of paper towards her, without one word. Silently she took it, then stood, leaving him alone.

The silence lasted between them for the rest of the shift. The next few days, then weeks saw the tension in the lab grow, neither Catherine nor Gil sought out each other's company, barely a word passed between them, and when it did it was purely related to evidence. No idle chatter, playful banter, or concern for well being. It was as if neither of them acknowledged the other's existence.

Well, that was the impression Gil fought hard to maintain. However, he could not let her go so easily, could not cast her aside after being on the brink of finally having her as his own. He resented Eddie, the power the man had over her. So he played a careful game of appearing to ignore her participation in the team, yet heightened his sense to any clue as to how her life with Eddie was progressing.

There was an abundance of evidence, each little clue, and each particle working to shatter his heart further. Yet he was drawn to continue in this pursuit, after all he loved her and was not ready to abandon her despite the fact that she was taken. There were hurried phone calls that ended abruptly the moment he entered a room. Locker room confessionals with Nick and Warrick that hastily ceased as he opened the door. Her eyes looked tired, her hair had lost some of its lustre, her clothes now hung slightly from her frame as her weight decreased. He was concerned, but pride prevented him from discussing this turn of events.

Somewhere amongst those weeks of silences the team's allegiances changed. The looks of sympathy and pity, he'd not sought yet received after the ball, were transferred to Catherine. The looks they now gave him were filled with incomprehension, he knew why, he knew they expected him to break that silence, but still he couldn't, didn't they realize it was all of her making?

The impasse was broken partly through the intervention of Jim Brass. The supervisor had not been immune to the effect the silent argument between two of his senior CSI's was having on the team overall. He'd initially given them space, not pairing the two of them together, reasoning that they needed space. But after a month and neither one of them making a move towards breaking the silence, he'd had enough and decided to pair them together. They'd at least have to be civil to one another to solve the case and from civility, hopefully, would bloom some last vestige of their friendship.

He'd sent Warrick and Nick out early so that the proposal of Catherine and Gil working together was met with some degree of privacy for the pair. He was concerned for them, unsure of how they'd react, but resolute in his belief that this course of action was the best way forward for the two of them. He wanted to provide them some seclusion in case either of them reacted in a way that they would regret.

It was with a certain amount of trepidation that both Catherine and Gil started their journey to Summerlin. The murder and house invasion would require a team effort from both of them in order for the evidence to be collected and processed pertinently. They worked the scene in a similar degree of silence with which they'd conducted themselves over the past few weeks.

Gil was aware of Catherine receiving several phone calls throughout the night, but was unable to detect the truth of her hushed conversations. The calls only served to cause his anger to resurface. Couldn't she keep her personal life within the boundaries of her free time?

He managed to keep a reign on his anger. He'd cast her disapproving looks and revel as she squirmed visibly under his glare. The mood was not enhanced by the amount of evidence that needed to be collected. With just the two CSI's assigned, the rosy fingers of dawn soon cast long shadows over their work area.

The coming of dawn was also met with yet another phone call for Catherine and a hushed conversation. At Gil's audible sigh, the call was abruptly ended.

They arrived back at the lab a couple of hours later and were stowing the evidence, when Catherine's cell phone once more rang. She answered it, and forgetting that Gil was still in the room with her, momentarily, angrily hissed, "Eddie, not now…"

Before she could utter another word her cell phone was snatched from her hands, and Gil's angry voice filled the room. "Eddie, Catherine is working. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to meet your demands after her shift is finished. Until then do not call her again, understand?" Without waiting for Eddie's agreement to his demands, he closed the phone, casting it to the table beside him. A small part of him delighted in the thud it made as it hit the table, then the slight screech as the metal back skidded across the laminated tabletop.

"What the hell…"

"You are at work Catherine." He spat. "I'm sure your romantic liaisons can wait until you are not on duty."

"How dare you!" She yelled, barely able to control her hand and stop it from rising to slap him. "Who do you think you are to judge me? Do you even know what's been going on in my life in the past month? You obviously don't care enough to ask. What happened to you, how did you become such a sanctimonious idiot?"

He turned to face her, his eyes duelling with hers, refusing to submit to defeat. "I know all right. I know you are back with Eddie, letting him control your life once more. I know you are willing to throw away a promising career for him. I know I…." He paused his right hand going up to run through his hair. He sighed, "Never mind."

"Don't never mind me." The fire he'd ignited still blazed in her eyes. "You are so wrong, do you know that, so, so wrong. You've put me through hell for the past month for a series of false suppositions. You know nothing about me, my life."

He reached out for her, but was shocked when she shrank away from him, a flash of fear appearing across her eyes. He'd done this, made her afraid. He dropped his shoulders in defeat, his voice becoming instantly gentle; he needed to win back her trust. "Then tell me."

She looked up at him, a quizzically. There was no snideness or anger in his request. What harm could it do, she'd lost so much already, and there was little more to lose. "Okay, but not here, can we go somewhere more private, I don't want…"

He took her hand, relieved when she did not shrink away this time, and led her to his office, closing the door behind them, and closing the blinds to afford them the privacy she desired.

She sunk to a chair before his desk, waiting for him to sit. There were a couple of moments of silence, now she was here, the reality of what had happened in such a short time seemed to overwhelm her. She took a deep breath before starting.

"This…this, Eddie thing, is not what you think…"

"What is it then?"

She ran her fingers through her hair, briefly closing her eyes to collect her thoughts, before continuing. "Eddie and I, we've separated officially. We're trying to work out a settlement and custody. I told you I wasn't going back to him and I haven't. I haven't slept with him, he's only been at the house to see Lindsey."

"But the ball? You can't deny the two of you created a scene there."

She smiled sadly. "Yes, I guess that's true."

"Why did you go with him?"

"It was Eddie, Gil. The invite was for both of us and he insisted on going. To spite you no doubt, he knew we'd become closer." She paused, playing absently with the hem of her blouse. "He arrived at my house, dressed to the nines and sober. God, do you realize how long it's been since I've been out with him sober? He was charming, reminded me of the man I fell in love with. I couldn't turn him away. He said it would be a last night for us, a way to end on a note of happiness rather than bitterness and regret."

Gil shifted slightly in his chair. "Was it?"

She smiled. "Yes. He made me laugh like he used to. It was a good night, a happy memory, something I needed. Eddie and I may be separated in law, but we'll always be connected with Lindsey, I need to have something good to hold on to for her sake."

"The phone calls?"

She sighed, shook her head, biting her lip. Silence enveloped the room once more as Catherine fought to regain control. "Whoever said divorce was easy lied. He wants everything Gil; the house, Lindsey, financial support. I don't…." She let out a small sob, her shoulders started to shake as she crumbled, unable to keep the hurt contained within any longer.

All of the anger, the hurt, and the jealousy suddenly vanished from Gil at the sight of her so broken before him. He silently chastised his childish stubbornness for adding to her torment. He stood, moving around his desk to where she was sitting, he pulled her into his arms wanting to take some of the hurt from her.

After several minutes, her sobs started to calm to intermittent sniffles. Once she was felt secure in her emotions, she looked across at him. "I'm sorry. I should have apologized, come to you sooner, I just didn't know how."

He stroked her hair, and then held her head steady, so he could capture her eyes with his. "I should apologize Catherine. My behaviour has been unforgivable. I pushed you away when you needed me most. I'm sorry."

She smiled a little weakly. "You are here now, that's what's important."

He returned her smile. "I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, you are too important to me. I care about you, love you. I know you are not ready for love yet, but I'm here, waiting for you when you are. In the meantime I'll stand by you, help you in any way I can with Eddie."

Catherine leant her head against his shoulder, revelling in the soothing stokes of his hands on her back. Whispering so softly she was sure he wouldn't hear, "I love you Gil, always have, I always will."

Gil smile grew broader as he continued to stroke her hair, secure in the knowledge, she was indeed his love and in time they'd share that with the world.

The End