"Don't hog the popcorn," Gil Grissom teased as he reached for the bowl that was resting half on his thigh and half on Catherine's.

"I'm not hogging the popcorn," Catherine retorted.

"Yes, you are," Gil said with a smile, continuing the tirade.

Cath just glared at him as she took a few pieces and popped them into her mouth.

Grissom grabbed the bowl to keep from spilling it and adjusted his seating position.

"Hey a little warning next time," came the aggravated response of his companion, who was jostled.

"Sorry", was mumbled.

Catherine waited impatiently, making sure that Gris was nestled just right. "Comfy?" she asked, annoyed.

"Yes, thank you." Grissom answered sweetly. He got a heavy 'humph' as his answer. The two were sitting against the head board of Gil's bed. "Last of the Mohicans" played on the T.V. They were passing time, quarreling good-naturedly, and watching the movie they could practically repeat line for line. What they were settling in for would start in thirty minutes or so. "Field of Dreams" was a favorite of both Gil and Catherine. They always enjoyed watching it together.

Gil popped a few kernels into his mouth with his right hand. His left arm was occupied; it was around Catherine, who was snuggled into his side. This was one of Grissom's favorite positions.

The two stayed quiet, watching the rest of the movie, and eating popcorn. Gris was decked out in a black t-shirt, black shorts, and no socks. Cath was dressed in a gray t-shirt with matching P.J. bottoms, feet in a pair of Grissom's white socks. Gris reached over to the night stand and grabbed the glass of milk that sat waiting to be drunk. He took a sip and swallowed. He held it in his hand for a second and then felt a hand take it from him.

As Catherine took a swig, she heard, "Hey." Finished with her drink, she flashed an innocent smile up at Grissom, fluttered her eyelashes and asked, "What?"

Taking the glass back, Gris said, "That's mine. You have your own."

"But it's on the other side and I can't reach it." Grissom gave her his patent I-don't-believe-that look and let the matter drop.

The very start of their awaited movie began, Catherine moved closer to Grissom. She was safe, comfortable, and in heaven next to this man. She sighed contently. Grissom was enjoying the moment as well.

There's a new wind blowin' like I've never known.
I'm breathin' deeper than I've ever done.
And it sure feels good to finally feel the way I do.

"Eddie has Lindsey tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, they're celebrating her birthday a day early."

"So you're free?" He asked tentatively.

Focus still on the movie, Cath answered, "Yeah."

"Would you like to do something?"

This definitely got Catherine's attention. She rose up to look Gris right in the eye. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yes, I am." Looking into her eyes, Gil found his nervousness suddenly evaporate.

Catherine smiled huge and said, "I would love to go out with you."

"Good, I'll pick you up at 3."

Settling back down against Grissom, Catherine wondered, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

This was not like Gil. "What do I wear?"

"Jeans... something very casual."

"Okay," with that it was back to the movie. Gil yawned as the credits began to roll. He looked down at this beautiful face that filled his night with brightness and his day with longing. A warmth flooded over Grissom. It was love. He could acknowledge that to himself now, but he still had to tell the amazing woman sleeping against him. Grissom every so gently moved out from behind Catherine and placed her on his bed. Catherine readjusted herself in sleep. Grissom grabbed a blanket and placed it over her. Just as he was about to leave his room, he turned back to gaze at the woman sleeping in his bed. She looked like an angel. Suddenly that horrible pick up line played in his head. "Did it hurt when you fell because you must be an angel" or something to that effect. Grissom hated that. But he swore Cath really must have been an angel placed on earth; her flaws were what allowed her to pass as human. He only hoped she'd been placed here for him.

Gil slept on his couch that day. Wonderful dreams of he and Catherine together placed a smile on his face as he slept.

Catherine fidgeted with the tulip in her hands. Grissom had given it to her when he'd picked her up. Red tulip; her favorite flower. She glanced over at Grissom as he drove them to their destination. 'He looks awfully cute' floated through her head. 'Calm down' Catherine scolded herself. This was Gil Grissom, a man she knew better than she knew herself; there was no reason to be nervous. As if sensing this new air of calm, Gris looked over and smiled that oh-so-sexy smile of his at Catherine. She sighed inside. Catherine watched as the neon lights still shone even at that time of day and wondered where they were going.

Her attention was brought back to the present when the Tahoe came to a stop. She smiled at the sight in front of her. Grissom had brought her to an old fashioned carnival. "Like it?" he asked shyly, hoping he hadn't made a fool of himself this early in the date.

"I love it." Catherine couldn't help but smile; leave it to Grissom to take her to a place that didn't radiate the glitz and glamour of this city. Someplace quiet, that they could relax and simply enjoy being together. It was a refreshing concept to be on a date and not worry that the only thing on the guy's mind was getting into her pants.

Catherine exuded happiness in her blue jeans, soft pink shirt, and jean jacket that Grissom had given her for Christmas one year. Her eyes danced with joy. Gil enjoyed seeing her this way. He smiled as he noticed the man selling tickets look Catherine up and down. Gris was certain the man gave an appreciative low whistle in his head. Normally such a display would have irked Grissom, but not this time. This time, Gil thought, 'look all you want, she's with me.'

The couple began their journey down the east side. Games of various skill vied for their attention; it was the throwing game that grabbed Gil's. He stepped up to the man and laid down six dollars, and got three softballs in return. Catherine stood back and watched him. Gris threw the first ball and hit the three stacked bottles down easily. The second time, he just clipped the very top one; enough to cause it to wobble but remain standing.

"Not bad, partner, try again", the game-man encouraged.

Grissom pulled back and threw, again a miss. Catherine stepped up to him and laid an encouraging hand on his arm. She thought he was going to call it quits. Nope. Grissom pulled out six more dollars and said,

"Three more balls, please." The man gladly took his money. Three more tries, none successful. More money was handed over in exchange for softballs.

Finally after thirty dollars worth of throws, the game-man asked Gris, "Which teddy bear do you want?"

Gil put his left arm around Cath and said, "It's her choice."

"The black one." A cute black bear with a red bow was handed over. He nearly threw out his shoulder, but Grissom won her that teddy bear.

I'm lettin' go of all my lonely yesterdays.
I've forgivin' myself for the mistakes I've made.

"Now what would you like to do?" Grissom asked.

Catherine had her eye on the Ferris Wheel. "How about that?" She indicated with the hand that held her bear.

"Sounds good to me," Gil squeezed her hand in affection.

Locked into the compartment, Catherine looped her arm through Gil's and rested her head on his shoulder. She could smell the Stetson Sierra that Gris always wore when he was off duty. The cologne automatically triggered a feeling of comfort because it reminded her of the sensational man next to her.

As they slowly climbed to the top, Catherine gazed out at the wonders of Las Vegas.

"What are you thinking?" Grissom's warm breathe tickled her hair.

"How much I'm enjoying myself."

"Me too." Catherine looked over at Gil. "How did you get that scar?" She traced the line along the edge of his jaw an inch. "Did an experiment blow up?" the curiosity honest in her voice.

"Actually it was a fight."

Catherine turned to look at Gris so fast it was if he had sprouted antennas. "A fight," she asked for clarification.

"It was in a bar and I tried to stop it before it began. To show gratitude one of the guy's grabbed a beer bottle, broke it, and sliced. Luckily I moved enough that no serious damage was done."

"When did this happen?"

"Uh, when I was in college as an undergrad." Gris wasn't that open to the question.

Too soon the ride was over. As they strolled away from the ride, hands were sought once again. Catherine felt the sun rising within her from the brilliance the contact with Gil was producing. The two were walking in the late afternoon sun, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells. They were in no hurry, had not a care in the world.

Gil glanced at his watch and was startled to find that it was time to go. "We better get going if we want to keep our reservations."

"Oh, okay." He and Catherine meandered their way back to the Tahoe. Once inside, Cath had to ask, "Where are we going?" She brought out the big guns; the sweetest smile she possessed to persuade an answer out of Gil.

He nearly gave in. The smile left him weak in the knees even though he was sitting down. Gris returned a smile of his own, "I can't, and it's a secret."

They started making their way towards Gil's house. He cut his eyes to Cath a bit hesitantly. "I have to pick up something real quick, do you mind?"

"Of course not." As Grissom was inside the townhouse, Cath wondered for the tenth time where they were going. Not that she was complaining, because it was a fabulous date. Anytime with Gil was great, but her stomach kept reminding her that the last meal had been when she'd gotten off of work that morning. Before she could come up with a likely place for their destination, the back door of the Tahoe closed. So caught up in her thoughts, Catherine hadn't noticed Grissom's return.

Climbing back behind the wheel, Gil flashed that smile and inquired, "Are you ready?"

"Ready and willing," Cath fired back. Before she could correct herself, Gris already had the SUV back on the road. Catherine scolded herself for her reply; she actually had a double meaning to it. That smile of Gil's always steered her mind to the gutter.

For Catherine's sake, she'd been able to keep her mouth shut until they pulled up in front of one of the universities. She looked questioningly at Gris, but didn't voice the question. She knew the answer she'd get. Gil just winked at her. Silence reigned over them as the 'package' was retrieved and Grissom led Cath through the campus.

"Department of Astronomy, Science... ." And other various fields that dealt with the sky and its contents were on the sign outside the building the pair came to. Catherine finally spoke, "Uh, Gil its dark, how are we going to get in?"

"Don't worry about that." Grissom tugged gently on the hand that he'd been holding. Cath was still trying to piece things together.

"You know if you break and enter your team will catch you in a matter of hours."

"I know that," he smiled reassuringly at her. He finally stopped outside of the rear entrance that was for "Faculty Use Only." "A buddy of mine happens to be the Department Chair of the Astronomy Department and he owes me a favor and is paying it back now."

"Oh," was all that was stated as Gris opened the door for Catherine and led her through the three story building.

They reached the top floor in no time. Just as soon as Catherine stepped through the door she stopped suddenly. Grissom did everything he could to keep from running into her. Gil managed to step to the right of Cath and see the look on her face. It was a Kodak moment. Her mouth was opened in awe and her eyes scanned every inch of the glass ceiling. She looked with the wonder of a little girl gazing at all the presents Santa had left under the tree. Grissom's heart spilled over with love for her. He loved the playfulness and wonder of youth that Cath had managed to keep. That was one of the things that he admired and marveled about her. So many adults forget the innocence and joy of the little things in life that were obvious to children. Gil would be the first to admit he was one of those adults. But thanks to Catherine, his eyes had been reopened; for that simple act he was eternal grateful to her. Of course that was just one thing on a long list of teachings that Cath had given him, and all were equally important. But standing on that third floor just that instant, Grissom realized how much impact the gorgeous woman standing before him had on him.

I used to run in circles goin' nowhere fast.
I'd take one step forward, end up two steps back.
I couldn't walk a straight line even if I wanted to

Catherine finally allowed her eyes to run over the rest of the room. What greeted her eyes were a number of telescopes of various sizes, work stations, and tons of computers. She took a few steps forward, enough for Gris to close the door. "This is astonishing."

"It is, isn't it?" he agreed looking on the setup he'd seen a number of times before. Grissom moved several feet to one of the benches and sat down his load. While Catherine was still distracted, he set up.

Going over to one of the bigger telescopes, Gris beckoned Catherine. "Come here and look at this." Eagerly she was at his side in a flash. Grissom had looked through the telescope. "If you look straight ahead you'll see the stars that make up the bear." Catherine was stunned at the awesome power the stars had. It always seemed to put things into perspective looking up at the night sky. She was always reminded just how small she was and how grateful it was to have the special people in her life out of the billions of people on the planet. Catherine pulled back and looked into Gil's dark blue eyes. Those eyes. They spoke volumes when he didn't. She always found comfort getting lost in the depths and loved the sparkle that appeared when Grissom was laughing or hotly pursuing a case. That exact same sparkle shone bright in those wonderful eyes at that very moment. Feelings of love welled up inside of Catherine and spilled over as the tears came to her eyes about how truly awesome her love for him was and the man himself.

Catherine turned back quickly; she didn't want to explain the tears. "So, what is that bright star to the right?"

"Uh, that's Saturn, and just above Saturn is Orion's Belt. If you look to the bottom of Orion's Belt, off the last star you'll see the Crab." Grissom looked like he was a man in a canoe that was about to go over a waterfall. He was struggling for something, anything to come to his mind.

Catherine finally said, "You really know all this stuff?"

"No" The answer was defiantly not what she expected and her head jerking back to look at Gil confirmed that. He had an innocent smile on his face.

Catherine was chuckling at the stunt he pulled. "Do you even know where the thing we call the moon is?"

"Uh, you mean that thing made of cheese, yeah I think so." The two shared the laugh.

"Okay enough fooling around," Grissom stated, implying the whole thing was Catherine's fault. She just glared at him and swatted his shoulder playfully. "Are you ready to eat?"

Grissom didn't wait for an answer as he turned in the direction of the feast he had laid out for them. He had taken a heavy blanket and spread it across the floor, picnic style. Various containers of assorted food littered the dark blue "table cloth."

The two sat together as silence filled the room. They didn't realize how hungry they actually were. When dessert, which consisted of cheesecake, was being eaten, a conversation started up. "Wow, this is good," Catherine uttered after the first bite.

"Thank you."

"You made it?" Catherine inquired, a bit too stunned.

"Yes, I did. I can cook," Gil replied, hurt coming through in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean you couldn't cook, it's just so good... " Catherine stopped as soon as she realized just what had come out of her mouth.

Gil picked up where she left off. "... so good it's hard to believe I cooked it." His voice said he was truly hurt.

Catherine opened her mouth to set things right and make up for hurting this remarkable man, when she looked into his eyes and saw the laughter there. He was teasing her yet again. "Oh, you." Catherine threw her cloth napkin at him.

Gris just laughed. "You got yourself into the mess. I couldn't resist." Catherine was looking a bit ticked at him with that scowl on her face. "Here." Gil presented a bite of cheesecake in front of her. Catherine was so surprised at the action that she forgot her faked irritation and took the piece. With the desired effect, Gil went back to his cake. Catherine remained silent and ate. Gris couldn't help the small smile that played on the corners of his mouth. It was Catherine that usually left him surprised, not the other way around.

The meal was complete, dishes placed back in the picnic basket, and stomachs full. Things were good. Catherine was relaxing when Grissom got up and walked to the one work station closest to them. He switched on a radio; Catherine hadn't even seen it. As the strains of a slow song spilled out of the speakers, Gil stood in front of Cath, hand extended. "May I have this dance?"

Placing her hand in his, allowing him to help her up, Catherine replied, "It would be my pleasure."

Grissom placed his left arm around Catherine and tucked their joined hands to his chest.

It was no accident me finding you.
Someone had a hand in it.
Long before we ever knew.
Now I just can't believe you're in my life.
Heaven's smilin' down on me
As I look at you tonight.

Catherine recognized that Gris was leading them in an honest to goodness two-step. Gil could dance, but this type was out of character for him; Catherine smiled as she looked up into those blue eyes that caused her to sigh. Sometimes he did the littlest thing that surprised the heck out of her and she wouldn't have traded it for all the diamonds in the world.

I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars.
He sure knew what he was doin'
When he joined these two hearts
I hold everything
When I hold you in my arms
I've got all I'll ever need
Thanks to the keeper of the stars

The soft country ballad washed over them and created a world that consisted of just those two. Gil reveled in the closeness of Cath. It was just pure happiness when she was near him. He looked at her for the twelve millionth time and wondered what he'd ever done to have her placed in his life.

Soft moonlight on your face
Oh how you shine
It takes my breath away
Just to look into your eyes
I know I don't deserve a treasure like you
There really are no words
To show my gratitude

Smiling down, the celestial being knew that the two had literally been a match made in heaven. Love is a precious thing and the two soul mates dancing down there had it right. They just needed a little time, but eventually they would begin listening to the true rhyme their hearts were telling them.

It was no accident me finding you.
Someone had a hand in it
Long before we ever knew

The lyrics ended but as the music played, the couple continued to sway. That is until bad luck, poor timing, or whatever you wish to label it came into play. Gil felt his pager vibrating in his left pocket of his black slacks. "Is that your pager, or are you just extremely happy to see me?" Cath quipped.

Gris smiled. He released Cath and reached in to retrieve the annoying contraption. The urge to throw it against the wall and return back to his magic spell that had been woven crossed Gil's mind. But when he saw it was from Brass he knew it had to be serious.

"Oooh, Brass. I wonder what's up." Catherine voiced as she looked at Gil's pager.

"I don't know, but better go find out." Grissom and Cath began to gather everything up quickly. Just before they stepped out the door, Gris looked back with a look of longing.

As they made their way out of the building Catherine stopped the torment raging through her date. "No, Gil Grissom, I am not going to let you beat yourself up." Gil didn't say a word. The Tahoe interior remained filled with silence as Grissom sped through the streets of Vegas. The police siren warning people to steer clear. The address to the crime scene was on the same end of town as Catherine's house. There was no point in having Catherine take a cab when within ten minutes of leaving the university Grissom was pulling up in front of the structure Cath called home.

Sometimes it's hard for me to understand.
But you're teaching me to be a better man
I don't want to take this life for granted like I used to do

The two exited the vehicle and walked up to the step. Gil suddenly seemed fascinated with his shoes. He shook his head and looked up at Catherine with a look of regret on his handsome features. "Ah, Cath I'm sorry."

Catherine placed a finger softly to his lips preventing him from continuing any further. "Gil, I had a magnificent time. It was the best date I've ever been on. It's the quality that matters not quantity." She softly said voice full of love.

Gil gazed at Catherine for a moment; they each saw the love in the other's eyes. "You're amazing," Grissom's voice was filled with wonderment.

"I know," Catherine said brightly. This brought a chuckle from Gris. "You're not so bad yourself," Catherine continued seriously. They leaned in as lips softly touched. Grissom deepened the kiss. The vibrating in his left pocket once again broke the spell.

Pulling apart, Gil retrieved the pager and muttered angrily, "I'm going to see how well this thing can take a bullet."

Cath smiled. "You better go. Thank you for a great time. We need to do it again." She finished with a wink.

"That is a promise. Bye." With that Grissom hot footed it to his SUV and sped away. He didn't know what grisly crime awaited him, but he knew what kind of breathtaking woman he had as he glanced up at the stars and said a silent, "thank you."