"Oh, excuse me" muttered Catherine Willows as she stepped over a nice tall man with a beard before jumping all the steps at the entrance of the CSI headquarters. She was almost twenty minutes late for her shift after her week vacation and she hated it.

As she collapsed in a very un-lady like way on Grissom's couch, a happy sigh escaped from her lips. She was late, but he was later!

By the time her demanding supervisor entered his office, she had her eyes closed and her head leant back. Huge satisfaction smile on her lips.

Grissom felt an urging need to kiss her, but he suppressed it. He was good at suppressing urging needs when they came to Catherine. He was well trained. After all, he thought, I have been doing it for almost 18 years. So, instead of following his instincts he decided to take some other advantage of the situation.

"You're late"

Catherine jumped on the sofa with a little cry. But before noticing, she was already retorting.

"I'm sure not! What the hell is that on your face?!" She didn't mean to say that out loud, or at least, not that loud, but she couldn't help it.

Grissom frowned a bit.

"Yes you are. And It's called beard. All men have one, Cath"

Catherine stood up ad crossed her arms on her chest.

"I'm sure I wasn't. And I'm not stupid. What's that doing there?"

Grissom walked behind his desk to get the files containing the case they were sharing and answered without even looking at her.

"I'm positive you were late. Never thought you were. Where else would you want it to grow on?"

Catherine walked a few steps closer to his desk and grabbed the file he was looking for without even asking.

"I was already here when you arrived, so you wouldn't know. Thank you. Though I can think of funny places to see it grow at, we both know that wasn't what I asked"

He took the folder from her hand and smiled back at her.

"Thank you. I was the one you smashed while running here. And..."

He was finding it hard to concentrate on what they were talking about. He always had trouble when she looked at him and smiled at the same time, but after a few doubtful seconds, he continued.

"I spent my week off looking for bugs"

This time, it was Catherine's time to get lost in his eyes, and she forgot about their dialogue thread.

"You look good. Once one gets used to it."

Grissom's smile grew wider and she felt her heart jump like crazy in her chest. She almost followed it's rhythm with her hips, but she resisted, that's when she registered the last thing he had said.

"What do bugs have to do in all this?"

Grissom walked around his desk holding the file and indicated her to go to the door. She walked by him and he placed his hand at her lower back, guiding her while he spoke.

"You don't have time or energies to shave when you're in the middle of the dessert. I'm glad you like it. I was planning to shave it off after tonight's shift though."

Catherine turned to look at him and felt heat rise inside her body when she noticed how close they were. Her face was inches away from his. The feel of his hand on her back was one of her favourite feelings, but having him touching her while being so close was almost unbearable. She tried not to show, but she was sure she was now blushing lightly.

"I think you should keep the beard. It really looks good."

She had stopped walking and he was grabbing the door handle but still he hadn't opened it. She felt like he was holding her and that made her mind and tongue slip. She didn't know why but she kept on talking.

"Beards are so masculine. I like beards. They're sexy. You look sexy"

She was positive she was deep red now but watching him blush too made her feel better. He swallowed before speaking.

"Er, thank you. I think you're sexy too."

She knew this was it. She had to do something about all the tension. She just couldn't take it anymore, but she also knew he was at her mercy now, and she hadn't any intentions to be merciful.

"I don't have a beard, Grissom."

His hand let go the door handle and found a better place to rest by joining his right hand on her back. He was amazed at how easy holding her was and how good that felt.

"I know you don't. That's why you're sexy."

And he followed that phrase with a wink. Catherine's heart stopped beating and her lungs stopped breathing. All her mind was processing were "Both hands on your back. Both hands on your back" So she just smiled while her heart resumed its beating, at 200 PPM, and her breathing habit was restored. Once her life was no longer in danger, she found something to say.

"There's just one little thing that bothers me about beards"

Grissom felt her hands slid up his torso to his shoulders, where they squeezed a little before going to his neck. His heart jumped and increased it's speed a 135%. Then he felt her hands play with the hair on his neck. His heart's speed jumped up another 43%. By the time he was finally able to speak, his heart was beating so fast he was sure the blood inside his body was having the ride of it's life.

"And what's that?"

She leaned closer, so close, that she didn't even bother to speak, she just whispered,

"Kissing becomes itchy"

The air around them would be filled with electricity if they had left enough space between their bodies to be filled with air, but they were wrapped up in each other arms, legs entwined, bodies firmly pressed to each others and they even had their faces too close for air to bother to try passing between them. Specially when he leaned even closer to whisper back.

"You can't tell if you don't try it"

Their first kiss was sublime. That's what Catherine will think years later. It was just sublime. Lips brushed lips shyly before tongues met. Than passion took over and shyness was soon forgotten. They were too busy savouring each other to care for the lack of oxygen so when their lungs screamed for air, they just opened their mouths a bit and inhaled, but never parting their lips. After what I counted to be five minutes and forty eight seconds, they stopped kissing. He was the first one to speak.

"Was it itchy?"

Catherine smiled and licked his lips seductively.

"No"

Grissom smiled and kissed her again, but they didn't recreate that much in that next kiss. It was only two minutes twenty seven seconds long.

"So I guess the beard stays"

Catherine smiled again, well, truth is she never stopped smiling in the first place, and her smile turned into a sexy smile in a second. Grissom was astonished by her.

"At least till I can try it on other more sensitive parts of my body"

That was my master's undoing. He was never the same after he came back from that shift with her. He was always caring while feeding me but after that shift I could tell I was no longer his passion. His "girl". Guess it's silly for a tarantula to have love hopes for a human but, hey! I was lonely!

They fixed that too. Catherine never liked me much but she was the one to suggest I needed a partner. The truth is, watching all their loving and heated encounters on his office was making me sick withenvy. So a few weeks later I got my own mate. We had fun and he was sweet. He really was. I ate him after one of our own "heated encounters". Guess that's what comes with being a black widow.

:: The end ::