"I'll drop Lindsey off at the end of the day," Catherine murmurs, pressing small kisses down Gil's collarbone. "Then we have the entire night all to ourselves."

Gil rolls over, kissing her deeply as his hands travel down her body. Catherine shivers under his touch.

"The entire night?" Gil asks.

"Mhm," she whispers, kissing him again. She pulled away for a minute. "But I do need you to do me a favour."

Gil's hands stop moving. "Yeesss," he says slowly.

"I need you to run some errands for me."

"What kind of errands?" he asks.

Catherine's hand slides down between their bodies. "Just the general kind."

"O.okay." Gil grabs her hand, kissing it. "But I need you to do something for me."

"Anything," comes the reply, as her kisses continue down his chest.

"Since you and Lindsey are going to be home, and I'm going to be out.I need you to feed the animals."

The kisses stop abruptly and Catherine's face appears in his line of vision. She's not happy.

"What?"

"They have to be fed, Catherine. And at that time, otherwise they get antsy." Gil pauses, and chuckles to himself. "Antsy. The spiders get antsy."

"Hey, Chuckles!" Catherine says, getting his attention. "I don't go down there, remember?"

"Cath." he cups her face. "It's Valentine's Day. You're sending me on errands of no description. I'm asking you, as a favor to me.please, will you feed them?"

"Gil."

"Catherine, would I ever ask you to put yourself in a position where you could get hurt?"

She pauses and looks down at him; the sincerity on his face. "Of course not. I know that."

His hand gently caresses her cheek. "Would you do this for me? For my Valentine's Day present?"

Catherine sighs. "If I didn't know you any better, I'd think you were in serious need of therapy."

"I love you, Catherine."

She bends down, kissing him gently. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

*******

Lindsey bursts into laughter. "He asked.he.." She can't control her giggles. "Sorry, mom, but."

Catherine looks at Gil, who smiles sheepishly.

"Why is me feeding the spiders so funny?"

"Because it's you," Lindsey answers helpfully.

Catherine ignores her. She turns to Gil. "I put the list in your wallet, okay?" She hugged him. "I love you."

"Lindsey..close your eyes," Gil warns her.

Lindsey rolls her eyes and makes her way out of the room. Gil gathers Catherine close to him, kissing her deeply.

Catherine moans, wrapping her arms around his neck, smiling as he caresses her hips.

When they pull apart, Gil cups her cheek. "I'll see you later?" Catherine grins. "You can count on it."

"And will you feed the animals?"

The grin falls. "Yes, Gil."

He chuckles and kisses her again. "See you tonight, Cath. I love you."

"I love you too," she tells him, watching him go.

*********

Gil glances at his list. "Pick up parcel at drug store." He frowns. "Better not be birth control, Catherine. That wasn't a funny trick last time." He makes his way into the store and goes up to the counter.

"Hello, Mr Grissom. I'll just get the parcel," the clerk says, disappearing.

"Grissom!"

Surely not here.

"Hey, Grissom!"

He turns around, coming face to face with Greg Sanders. "Hello, Greg."

"Hi, Grissom," Greg grins. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just running some errands. Catherine and Lindsey are having a girls day."

Greg nods. He smirks and holds up a box of condoms. "I'm getting some supplies myself."

Grissom blinks. He is saved from having to reply by a new clerk coming back. This one can't be much older than fifteen, and is new to Grissom. Obviously isn't new to Catherine though, by the next thing that comes out of his mouth.

"You must be Mr. Grissom." The clerk grins. "Looks like Ms. Willows won't be buying birth control for a while."

Greg slaps Grissom on the back. "Go, Grissom!" When he catches Grissom's look, he pauses. "Sir."

Grissom finds himself slightly confused. "I'm sorry.what's in the package?"

The clerk pulls out the box. "Home pregnancy test. So, either she won't need the birth control.or it didn't work for you guys." He pauses for a moment. "That happened once. Weird couple. They."

Greg catches Grissom's new look and turns to the clerk. "Hey dude. Shut up."

Grissom pays for the parcel. "I'll.see you tomorrow, Greg."

***********

Catherine makes her way down into the bug museum hesitantly, with Lindsey behind her.

"Their food is in the fridge," Lindsey offers. "It's labeled with their names."

"Of course it is," Catherine murmurs. She opensthe fridge, finding jars and containers of food with labels on them. She represses a shudder and then stops as she sees a piece of paper sticking out from underneath a jar. "Honestly, Gil. He'd lose his head if it wasn't screwed on."

Catherine glances at the paper. "Blood test results? What on earth."

"Mom!" Lindsey cries. "Antsy spiders!" She giggles. "Antsy.spiders."

Catherine rolls her eyes and starts getting out the food, placing the results in her back pocket.

******

"Grocery store," Gil says, going into the store with his list. He grabs a basket. "Lindsey's favourite ice-cream." He smiles. "That's easy. Cookies and cream." He placed a tub in his basket. He pauses, the decides to get some ice cream for Cath. "Double chocolate."

******

Catherine hesitantly approaches a spider named Errol. "Okay. If I feed you do you promise not to bite me?"

"Mom!" Lindsey says, groaning. "This type of spider isn't poisonous."

"That's a comfort," Catherine replies, getting Errol's container. She opens it and wrinkles her nose at the dead bugs in there. "Nice." Gently, she shakes some into the cage. "Bon appetit."

As she puts the lid back on the container, she glances at the piece of paper sticking next to the cage. She picks it up, discovering it's a list of people, including her, Lindsey, the CSI crew and Gil's mother. Shaking her head in confusion, she puts it back down.

********

"Spider food?" Gil chuckles. "Catherine.after today, you're never going to want to ask me for spider food again."

He goes into the pet store.

"Dr Grissom," smiles the attendant. "Good to see you again."

"Hi, Billy," Gil smiles. "Just picking up some spider supplies."

Billy nods. "They're in a box out the back. I'll bring them through."

********

Catherine pauses by the butterfly display. She's always liked butterflies, and Gil's collection is particularly beautiful. Her eyes roam over the different butterflies, all carefully catalogued with Gil's careful handwriting. She arches an eyebrow as she sees more paper sticking out from beside the case.

"I wonder what that is?" Lindsey asks, making a big show of it.

Catherine glances at her. "Something tells me you already know."

"Me?" Lindsey smirks. "Now why would I have anything to do with it?" Catherine rolls her eyes and picks up the piece of paper. She unfolds it to reveal a marriage certificate. Her name and Gil's have been filled in. All that awaits are the signatures of them, their witnesses and the person who oversees their wedding.

"Linds.what's going on?"

Lindsey shrugs. "Let's go get the tarantula food!"

*******

Gil stops in front of a lingerie store, subtly named "Passions Pampered." The last thing on Catherine's list was 'something for us.I'm sure you know what I mean'.

Luckily he knows enough about Cath to know what she meant. He takes a deep breath and walks into the store.

A woman walks up to him, a smile on her face. "Hello. Can I help you?"

"I'm.well, I'm looking for some things for my girlfriend," Gil admits. "I know some of the things to get, but I want to get her something special as well."

"For Valentine's Day?"

"For just being her," Gil replies. He looks around at the array of lingerie. "I think I'll just take a look around. When I see it, I'll know."

The woman smiles. "No problem. Call me if you need any help>'

Gil glances around the shop and first makes his way to the back of the store, selecting out some underwear. He remembers Catherine mentioning she needed to grab some more underwear. He knows what she likes, and this will save her a trip.

His eyes travel along the various racks of different items. Something for everyone is here; yet he still can't see anything that he could ever see Catherine in.

And then he sees it.

It's just above knee-length and it's a dark forest green. He knows the sight of her in that, against her beautiful red hair and her milky white skin will drive him wild. It's satin, and he knows that she likes the feel of satin against her skin.

"Find something you like?" the saleswoman asks.

Gil nods and points to the chemise. "That one."

The woman smiles. "You have good taste."

"I'm in love with a beautiful woman," Gil murmurs to himself.

**********

"Mom."

"I can't, Lindsey. It's..it's big and hairy and it looks vicious."

"It's a tarantula, mom. And it's not it. His name is Oscar."

"After Oscar the Grouch?"

"No! Oscar Wilde."

"I'm sure he'd be flattered."

Lindsey rolls her eyes. "Mom.feed the tarantula."

Taking a deep breath, Catherine opens the container, and lifts out the small mouse by the tail. "This is not good," she murmurs, quickly dropping it into the cage and jumping back.

Just before she goes to wash her hands, she notices a box with a little note that has her name on it. Catherine arches an eyebrow, and after washing her hands thoroughly, she turns back to the box.

A huge grin comes over Lindsey's face as she watches her mother pick up the box.

Catherine opens the box, her eyes widened. "Linds."

"What's in there?" Lindsey asks innocently.

Catherine is still staring at the diamond ring that sits nestled in the box. "God."

"Like it?" comes Gil's soft voice from the doorway.

Lindsey discreetly disappears out of the door, leaving the two adults alone.

"Gil."

Gil slowly walks down the stairs, coming to stand in front of her, his hands cupping her face. "I love you, Catherine. More than anything in the world. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, loving you, raising Lindsey, sharing everything together." He smiled at her. "Marry me."

A solitary tear slips down Catherine's face. "Yes." She wraps her arms around his neck. "God, yes."

Their lips meet in a soft kiss, that deepens quickly, as Gil's arms go around her waist, tugging her closer to him.

They pull apart, and Gil slips the ring onto her finger. They both stare at it for a minute, before kissing again and hugging.

"That's why you wanted me to feed the spiders?" Catherine whispers.

He smiles at her. "I know that if I was ever unable to do it, and if Lindsey wasn't here, you'd do it. Why?"

She smiles back at him, caressing his cheek. "Because I love you, and I know how much your bugs mean to you."

"And that is why I went shopping for you. Because I love you, and I know how much you wanted those things." He looks down at her. "Although we do need to talk about the visit to the drug store."

A brilliant smile breaks across Catherine's face. "You know what's in the package?"

Gil nods. "Does it mean what I think it means?"

Catherine takes his hand and rests it on her abdomen. "I think I'm pregnant."

Gil smiles broadly, kissing her lips gently. "This is amazing. And wonderful." He hugged her to him.

Catherine rests against him for a moment. "Did you go to the other store?"

Gil smirks, his hands resting on her hips. "Yes. I remembered you needed some new underwear, so I picked that up for you. And I found something else that when I saw it, it just said you."

"Show me?"

Gil nods and takes her hand, leading her upstairs into their bedroom. His purchases for the day, bar the icecream and spider food are sitting on the bed. Catherine glances at him for a moment, before opening the package that contains the green chemise.

"Gil."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it." Catherine looks up at him and grins. "I'll be right back." She takes the drug store package and her chemise and disappears into the bathroom. Before she leaves, she smiles at him. "Don't forget to take Lindsey to her friends."

Gil nods. "I'll do that right now. See you soon?"

Catherine nods. "Very soon."

********

TBC