Nick made his way down the corridors of CSI, toward the viewing room where he knew he would find Sara or Warrick. He and Greg had just found new information on their most recent... and for that matter, strange... case. He knew going to Grissom and Catherine with the information was out of the question; they were in an interrogation--the same interrogation that Sara and Warrick were most likely glued to.

He nodded at Brass as he emerged from the interrogation room, and turned his head for a moment to watch him haul their suspect down the halls. He then shook his head and twisted the knob for the viewing room. The first thing he heard upon entering was Grissom's voice, over the speaker system in the viewing room. "Catherine, I have a confession of my own to make..."

"Uh-oh," he chuckled. "Did Grissom kill somebody?"

"Sshh!" Sara hissed as she waved frantically at him, her eyes cemented to what was happening on the other side of the glass.

"Tough crowd," he muttered, and glanced over his shoulder. "Where's Warrick?"

"Uh, out getting some results back from trace, I think," she replied absent-mindedly, still not turning to look at him.

He nodded in response and stepped up beside the lanky brunette, his eyes following where hers were centered on Grissom and Catherine. He leaned close to her ear. "Do they know you're here, eavesdropping?"

She shook her head, and he nodded again, turning his eyes back to the glass... the action on the other side almost becoming a movie.

**

Catherine turns her head as her cell phone rings, grabbing it out of the clip attached to her belt. Upon scanning the viewing screen, a smirk spreads across her glossy lips, and she flips it open before turning on her heel, away from Grissom. "Willows..."

A girlish giggle escapes as she listens to the voice on the other end, and her voice drops low. "I told you to hold that thought until later..." she breathes in a seductive manner.

This tone gains Grissom's attention, and he cocks his head slightly as his brows furrow... his fists slowly clenching. A tenseness forms in his jaw as he continues to listen to the conversation, his cheeks tinging pink. Anger? Jealousy?

When she ends the call and hangs up her phone, everything is revealed in one rushed, desperate exhalation. "Catherine, I'm in love with you."

This confession causes the strawberry blond to freeze, her spine straightening in a snap. She spins to face him, her long golden locks fanning out around her as anger flashes in her azure eyes. "What?!"

**

Nick's head turned as he heard Sara suck in a breath, and he studied her face. She looked crestfallen at hearing this confession... just staring through the glass. No shock or astonishment registered on her face... just a profound sadness.

Nick's eyebrows remained raised since hearing the confession... taken aback by its abruptness, but not at all surprised. Over the years working at the crime lab he'd become accustomed to Grissom and Catherine's relationship... the sexual undertones in seemingly innocent phrases and sentences; the simple flirts and prolonged glances sending enough sexual tension flying through the air to knock somebody out. It had just become part of his everyday life, watching these two people become so good at covering how they were really feeling.

Catherine's response however, DID surprise him. She seemed almost angry with him... and why? He turned his eyes back to the glass, and back to the slowly escalating fight on the other side.

**

"What do you MEAN, you're in love with me?!" And the anger hasn't left her voice.

He just shrugs, unable to comprehend, like the rest of them, where her ire is coming from. "I mean I'm in love with you. Was there a word in there that made it confusing?"

She closes her eyes and holds up a hand, shaking her head slightly. "That whole THING made it confusing," she snaps. "Just when... I mean, how... er--why?"

"Why?" He chuckles at the absurd question, and shakes his head as he shrugs once more. "I don't know, Catherine, why does the earth revolve around the sun? It just does."

She steps toward him swiftly, her menacing gaze slicing through him. "Don't try to be cute, here, Gil! You have SOME NERVE telling me this!" She throws her arms up, gesturing at their current location. "Especially now! Here!"

His voice remains calm, placating. "I'll admit, it's not the ideal place--"

But his tone has an adverse effect on Catherine. Her voice continues to raise. "It's not the ideal TIME, Gil! You know that!"

"Why?" His normally calm gaze suddenly turns intense... her own anger causing his to slowly climb. "Because you're currently pissing your free-time away with some jerk-off?!"

"Hey!" With one swift turn, she rounds on him, her finger raised in his face. "You don't even know him, okay? Don't you DARE pass judgement on him! Just leave him outta this!"

**

Nick shifted slightly on his feet, starting to look a little uncomfortable. He leaned toward Sara. "Should... we be listening to this?"

He was greeted by silence in return, then the sound of someone new entering the room. "Hey," Warrick called, nodding in Nick's direction.

As Sara began to shush him, Nick beckoned him over with a jerk of his head. "Grissom and Catherine are having it out."

"Again?!" was Warrick's incredulous exclamation. "Didn't they just do that a few weeks ago?"

Nick shrugged. "Guess it was time for another round."

"What's the topic this time? Sam Braun again?"

Nick shook his head, glimpsing quick at Sara, who still hadn't dared to take her eyes off the action in the other room. "Grissom told Catherine he was in love with her, and she flipped out."

"Whoa... then I gotta see this," he sighed, and hopped up on the table against the wall... all three simultaneously turning their eyes to the movie playing on the other side of the glass.

**

"Gil, this is about YOU and ME!"

"You're right... this IS about you and me." He bravely steps up to her, reaching for her hands. "And about this thing that's been between us for almost twenty years."

She drops his hands forcefully, making a face at him. "Oh don't start with that Lifetime-movie bullshit, Gil! This isn't a frickin' fairytale!"

He shakes his head, hurt and confusion seeping into his tone. "Cath, why are you getting so upset about this?"

"WHY?!" This question only seems to have succeeded in angering her more... her voice back to its shrill pitch. "WHY! Because you dropped this BOMB in my lap, Gil! WHILE I'm seeing somebody! And you did this in the middle of the INTERROGATION ROOM!"

He temples his hands together, his eyes desperately pleading with her. "Cath, I know I could've done this a hundred times better, in a hundred different ways, but please... can't we talk about this rationally?"

"No! Because THIS..." She gestures between them emphatically, "Is not rational! There's no way to talk about this rationally! You've kept this from me for God-knows-how-long..." She shakes her head and turns on her heel, walking alongside the table as she glides her fingertips over the surface. "You sat idly by and watched me get married... watched me have a baby! You watched me get beaten and cheated on and still you said NOTHING!" She huffs. "So you tell me just how the HELL we are supposed to talk about this little situation rationally."

He just shrugs lethargically, starting to give up. His voice comes out low, and soft. "I don't know," he sighs, and watches through lowered lashes as she paces around the room.

She stops in front of the table and reaches for her water glass, anger still ruminating in her piercing blue eyes. She takes a sip of the liquid, throwing her head back as she groans. "God Gil, I am SO... ANGRY!"

He eyes her warily, watching her knuckles turn white as she tightly grips the glass. "So I've noticed..."

It's this comment that causes her to snap, and with a mixture of a growl and a scream escaping her lips, she hurls her water glass straight for his head. He ducks out of the way just in time, and turns to watch it shatter against the wall.

**

Nick, Sara, and Warrick all jumped simultaneously, shocked by Catherine's outburst. "Jesus," Sara breathed. "Shouldn't we do something?"

"Yeah," Nick chuckled. "Never tell Catherine you're in love with her."

Greg Sanders suddenly poked his head in. "What the hell was that noise? I heard it all the way from DNA!"

Nick, his hands planted on his hips as he watched Grissom and Catherine, turned over his shoulder to face the young lab rat-slash-CSI wannabe. "Catherine just chucked a glass at Grissom's head."

"Sweet!" he exclaimed, a silly grin on his boyish face.

"Seriously guys, is there anything we can do?" Sara asked again, glancing to each of the three guys.

Greg jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I could go make popcorn."

They all gave him a look, and as he glanced at each of them, he shrugged, his tone innocent. "What?"

They rolled their eyes at him and he scampered off toward the breakroom, set on making his popcorn... while they all turned back to the glass.

**

Grissom turns over his shoulder to assess the damage made against the wall. He throws his arms up in the air, her stunt causing his anger to bubble up once more. "Oh that's great, Catherine..." he mutters. His blue eyes flash iridescent for a moment. "Just trash the interrogation room! THAT will make you feel better."

She rounds on him again, the sheer fury in her eyes arousing him and terrifying him at the same time. "Don't PATRONIZE me, Gil!" After spinning on her heel once more, she takes a few steps before rethinking those actions, striding quickly over to him again. "Where do you even get the NERVE to tell me you're in love with me?!" she snaps.

"Honestly? I don't know!" he yells, his ire matching hers. "Because Lord knows how many times I thought I was gonna go to my grave before telling you I loved you!"

"Don't try to win my sympathy, Gil..."

His eyes flash in anger. "Oh, I think we're WAY beyond that point NOW, Catherine!"

"So... what? So now I'm just supposed to say 'to hell with Chris' and fall into your arms? Is that supposed to magically produce a happy ending for us?! GOD, Gil!" she exclaims, "How did you think I was going to react to this?!"

"A lot better than you are now..."

"Gil, are you even aware of all the problems we would have to fix between us before we would even ATTEMPT to cross the line? I mean... everything that happened this past year ALONE would be enough to keep us in couples therapy for a good six months or so!" She shakes her head, rubbing her forehead... as if that will erase the lines of exasperation that wrinkles her flawless skin. She throws her arm up again, her other hand settling on her hip as she paces back and forth. "Let's not forget the whole thing with Eddie! The whole time he was cheating on me, Gil, you didn't say one word! Not ONE WORD!"

A frustrated sigh escapes his lips, and he stares at her incredulously, shaking his head. "You're STILL holding a grudge about that?!"

"We never even attempted to resolve it, Gil!" she shoots back angrily. "We just kept pushing it away, pretending like it didn't happen!" Her voice breaks with long-repressed, unshed tears. "We just kept pretending like everything was fine!"

**

At hearing Catherine start to cry, Warrick sighed, and moved to get up. "Guys, I really don't think we should be watching this anymo--"

"Sshh, SHH!" Nick and Sara simultaneously hissed at him, waving frantically for him to sit down.

He rolled his eyes, turning his attention to the door as Greg burst back into the viewing room, his eyes wide with excitement as he held out a bag of popcorn, a bag of chips, and beverages. "I live for this!" he exclaimed breathlessly, and set the goodies out on the table.

Warrick rolled his eyes once more, but snatched a bag of chips and a pop for himself. "For what? Spying on Grissom and Catherine?"

"Keeping up with the gossip!" he insisted, popping a few popcorn kernels into his mouth.

Nick glared facetiously at him while Sara leaned toward him, snatching the popcorn bag out of his hands, thus claiming it for herself and Nick. The pair shared a grin before both reached into the bag, each grabbing a handful of popcorn and shoving it in their mouth.

Nick turned to Sara, his mouth full of popcorn as he still tried to shove more inside, and nodded toward the two-way mirror. "It's like watching a movie," he mumbled, bits of popcorn flying in her direction.

She nodded her response and popped a few more kernels into her mouth while reaching up to pull some stray pieces of Nick's popcorn out of her hair... her eyes cemented to the glass the whole time. Warrick, still seated against the wall, nodded slowly in response to Nick's comment. "Yeah... except with a few less ethics." After watching the action in the other room for another short moment, Warrick shook his head and rose to his feet, heading for the door. "I still don't think it's right to be watching this. I'll see you guys later," he called, and left the room.

The other three turned over their shoulders only briefly to watch him go, before turning their attention back to their snacks, and their 'movie'...

**

Catherine is still crying, and Grissom moves to comfort her... only to have her push him away. He looks hurt, his hands slowly falling back to his sides. His voice comes out soft... quite a contrast to the screaming match that had been going on. "You're never gonna forgive me for that, are you?"

When he doesn't get a response, save for more crying, he tries again. "Catherine, I never meant to hurt you. You gotta believe me! If anything, I was trying to figure out a way to tell you and NOT hurt you!" He reaches for her, his forehead wrinkling in sadness. "You know I hate seeing you upset."

She pushes his hand away again, and takes a few steps away from him. "But keeping it from me hurt me even more than TELLING me would have, Gil!" she exclaims tearfully. "If you would've just been forthright with me, yeah... it would've hurt, but it wouldn't have created this... rift between us."

"Catherine, I'm sorry. Sweetheart, I am so, SO sorry, please believe me! If I could take it back... if I could go back in time and re-do that whole thing, I would in a heartbeat, and I would tell you right away!" He tries to reach for her again, and for the third time is pushed away. He stays in place this time as he watches her take another step away, and asks softly, "Is there any possible way I can make it up to you, so you'll forgive me?"

"Stop keeping secrets!" she whimpers, wiping frustratedly at her tears... as if angry for herself for showing such emotion in the middle of an interrogation room.

"I have," he insists, "I told you about my surgery, didn't I?"

**

Nick and Sara glanced to each other with furrowed brows, Nick mouthing, "Surgery?"

Greg, having seen this exchange, smiled. "You guys didn't hear about that?"

When they shook their heads, he began to fill them in...

**

"And remember? Just a few weeks ago we PROMISED each other we wouldn't keep secrets from one another anymore!"

This comment seems to cause her anger to rise again, and she plants her hands on her hips, taking a confrontational stance as she narrows her eyes at him. "So where, in all of this newfound honesty, were you going to tell me about Lady Heather?"

"Lady Heather, how did you--"

"This lab MAY be filled with socially inept science geeks, Gil, but that doesn't mean gossip doesn't still circulate."

**

Again, Nick and Sara exchanged a puzzled glance, this time Sara being the one to mouth, "Lady Heather?"

Greg, once again witness to their confusion, rolled his eyes. "Geez, you guys didn't know about THAT, either?" He sighed, shaking his head. "Man..."

Nick chuckled, his arms folded across his chest. "What are you, the gossip fairy?"

Greg shot him a look. "I prefer 'Gossip QUEEN Extraordinaire.' Now shut up and listen..."

**

"Why didn't you tell me about that, Gil?" Her expression is now a mix of anger and sadness.

"Because there was nothing TO tell!" he insists. "Nothing happened!"

"NOTHING happened? You didn't sleep with her?"

He shakes his head adamantly, his unblinking stare conveying his honesty. "No, I didn't."

"You didn't kiss her then, either?"

A long pause follows her question... and he bites his lip, looking quite sheepish. "Well..."

Her mouth drops in shock, her hands finding their way back to her hips. "Oh my God... you KISSED her!"

"So?" he spits back childishly. "You don't own me!"

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, that's mature."

He watches as she walks toward him, his eyes wide... his ire filling the room. "What I meant was... you and I didn't have an obligation to one another, Catherine!"

"Yeah, well, we're never going to, either... excuse me."

When she moves to brush past him, he reaches out and grabs her elbow forcefully... not quite bruising, but causing slight pain. He spins her around to face him, his eyes boring into her. "We're not done..." he states sternly... matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I think we are," she states in the same tone, her eyes battling his. She jerks her arm out of his grasp, narrowing her eyes slightly as she heads for the door again. "You and I have nothing left to say to each other."

As she flings the door open, his hand slams it closed again. "Don't make ME out to be the bad guy, here, Catherine!"

She turns to face him, toe-to-toe with him... her ice blue eyes narrowing to two thin slats. "So just who are you supposed to be, then, Gil? The hero? The gallant knight-in-shining-armor who just..." She throws her arms up into the air, "Declares his love for the fair maiden and whisks her away from the only FULFILLING relationship she's had in months?!"

"FULFILLING?! You call flitting off to a hotel every night for a romp in the sack a FULFILLING relationship?!"

Her jaw drops again and she points at him accusingly. "How did you even--"

"Gossip circulates about you too, Cath." He glares at her.

**

"Hey..." Greg murmured, gaining Nick and Sara's attention. He nodded toward the glass. "You think Grissom gets turned on when Catherine's really pissed?"

Sara just shuddered at the thought while Nick looked pensive. After a moment, he shrugged. "Probably. If he does, then judging by Catherine's current state of anger, he's probably about to go off like a bottle rocket."

**

Catherine chuckles grimly, sneering at him as she shakes her head in amazement. "You are acting like SUCH a prick right now, Gil."

"Yeah? And you're acting like a bitch! We're perfect for each other!" he shoots back, the undertone of lust in his voice obvious.

They're now both glaring at each other fiercely, toe-to-toe...

**

"Whoa!" Greg exclaimed, bursting out laughing. He gestured to the glass. "Twenty bucks says Catherine decks him!"

Nick turned to smirk at his comment, while Sara just slowly shook her head, keeping her eyes cemented on what was happening in the other room... her voice coming out low, but certain. "Catherine would never hit him."

Greg chuckled at this and followed her gaze, studying the look on Catherine's face. He turned back to Sara, "You sure about that?"

Her tone came out unenthused... almost disappointed. "Yeah, I'm sure."

**

Catherine is shaking her head at Grissom's last comment, a quiver now detectable in her tone... pain almost seeping through her words. "I hate you, Gil..."

He shrugs, his heart breaking at knowing that this would be the end of their friendship... yet he can't stop himself from saying sadly, "Then I guess the feeling's mutual."

**

Three collective intakes of breath sounded from the other side of the glass, all of them shell-shocked by the falling-out they were witnessing...

**

Tears are now filling Catherine's eyes, though they still retain their ice-filled gaze... any emotion she'd once held for him gone. "Get out of my way," she whispers.

He steps aside and holds the door open for her, his gaze centered on the tile floor. He feels a whoosh of ice-cold air as she brushes past him, and he looks up at the empty doorway before closing the door, leaning his forehead on it... his jaw clenching.

**

Sara slowly gulped, her heart breaking at the situation... and for the normally-emotionless Grissom. She reached her hands out slightly on either side of her, tapping both Greg and Nick on their stomachs with her knuckles. "Guys, maybe we should go," she whispered, then sucked in a breath as Grissom started to move again.

**

He grabs his glass of water off the table and downs it with his head tipped back, keeping his head tipped skyward as he brings the glass down to his side, squeezing it so tight he's sure he can crush it. He slowly glances down to it, his jaw clenching tightly as his chest begins to heave... and he's unsure if whether it's out of anger, or guilt... or both. After a moment, his eyes ice over, and he chucks his glass at the mirror.

**

Nick and Greg flinched as it shattered against the double-paned glass, and Sara jumped back... Nick catching her as she stumbled into him, clutching her heart. His hands settled on her stomach as he leaned forward to watch her face, grinning at the sight of her hand over her heart. With a chuckle, he leaned into her, his nose brushing her ear. "You okay?"

Sara nodded emphatically, his hands brushing the skin showing just above the waistband of her jeans as she stepped away from him. "I'm fine... it just scared me." With one last glance toward her supervisor in the other room, she headed for the door, letting her words out in a breath, "Let's go."

Nick and Greg exchanged a glance, Greg arching his eyebrow conspicuously as he glanced from Nick, to the door where Sara had just been... almost questioningly. Nick just shrugged, raised his own eyebrow, and exited the viewing room... Greg following behind after cleaning up their snacks.

**

Grissom cursed under his breath as he extracted a piece of glass from his palm... a piece from the water glass he'd smashed against the mirror. He inwardly reprimanded himself for using his bare hands to clean up, but then again... it didn't matter. Not much did, now. He closed his eyes as he relived the past half hour of his life... the *worst* half hour of his life. With just six simple words, he'd put an abrupt end to a friendship that had lasted nearly twenty years. "Then I guess the feeling's mutual," he whispered to himself, and chuckled grimly, shaking his head, his eyes still closed.

He balled his hands into fists, crumpling the bloody piece of tissue in one while his jaw clenched... his entire body shaking in anger and sadness. He flung all his used, bloody tissues into the garbage can and took one last look at his lacerated palm before taking a deep breath and exiting the bathroom.

As he moved down the corridor to his office, he caught several questioning stares from interns, lab techs, and some of the nightshift CSIs. Everybody knew... he was sure of it. How could they not? How could they not have heard the screaming coming from the interrogation room? He met their eyes briefly before averting his gaze back to the floor. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the fact that Catherine hated him.

And what was worse, he agreed with her. He hated himself. How could he have been such an idiot as to confess his love for her while she was with another man? That had to be the dumbest, most uneducated, uncalculated move he'd ever made. But then again... everything about his relationship with Catherine was uncalculated. He didn't plan on her diving into his life and turning his world upside down. He hadn't planned on falling in love with her. He hadn't planned on telling her in that way... and when he had thought about telling her, he certainly didn't plan on getting shot down.

Upon reaching the door to his office, he reached into his pocket and fumbled for the key, hastily unlocking it and stepping inside, slamming the door once he was inside... not bothering to turn on the lights. It was there, in the confines of his office... that he let his vulnerability surface. He leaned his forehead on the door, banging his fist against it as he squinted his eyes shut, willing himself to keep his tears at bay.

He drew in a quivering breath as he sniffled, wiping at the few rogue tears that had managed to escape his tightly closed lids before he spun around. When he did, his heart jumped into his throat, and the file he'd held in one hand dropped to the floor.

Catherine sat staring intensely at him from his couch... the moonlight filtering in through the blinds silhouetting her face. A shimmer emanated from the corner of both of her eyes under the moonlight, and two tears began making their way down her cheeks. She sat unmoving with her head lowered slightly, her arms folded across her chest, one leg crossed femininely over the other as she continued to stare at him through her lashes. Her voice, a shaky whisper, broke the deafening silence between them. "I hate you, Gil."

He nodded solemnly, never tearing his eyes from hers. "We've already established that, Catherine." He paused, studying her, his eyes taking in the serene beauty she emanated in that moment, under the moonlight... despite the roaring tension between them. "What are you doing here?"

She pressed her palms into the plush leather of his sofa, pushing herself up, strolling up to him in a way she so often displayed when she was challenging him... or incredibly irate. He felt himself back up a step, unsure of what she would do to him. "I'm here to tell you that I hate you," she murmured again, shakily. Though no more tears glistened on her cheeks, their presence was still evident in her tone.

She narrowed her eyes as she continued to slowly saunter toward him. "I hate you for telling me you loved me... I hate you for never telling me Eddie was cheating on me..."

As she continued to advance toward him, he kept taking steps back... her ire both frightening and arousing at the same time. She continued her tirade. "I hate you for never having the guts to admit your feelings until I was seeing somebody. I hate you for loving my daughter... and I hate you for loving me."

She now had him backed against the door, their auras mingling as she stood just two dangerous inches away, her eyes scalding his skin. "But most of all..." she murmured in a low voice, her tone dark like tinted glass. "I hate you... for making it impossible for me to live without you."

Then, having finished her words in a breath, she grabbed his shirt by the handful and yanked him toward her, crashing his lips onto hers. He resisted only for a moment before returning her kisses with fervor... his hands reaching to tangle in her strawberry blond locks. He attacked her lips savagely, the momentum causing her to step back... and he followed.

Their hands tore at the other's clothing, the tension and pent-up passion too much incite savoring the moment... and before long they were both naked, grasping at the other's body with need... with a burning desire to be as one.

Grissom guided her back onto the couch, his lips leaving hers only so he could position himself at her opening... then his lips crashed to hers once again as he slid inside her with one gentle but ardent thrust.

Catherine cried out, both at the sensation of him inside her and the animalistic way with which he took her... and bucked her hips against his. Her hands grasped the small of his back, her fingernails scraping across the taut skin... causing him to moan in response and drive into her harder.

She growled in agreement to the new pace he'd set, and arched her hips off the couch, wanting him deeper... wanting to be completely his. The conclusion came quickly, on both sides... their argument mingled with the nineteen-years-worth of pent-up tension crashing down around them as they climaxed simultaneously, their names and various other grunts and shouts escaping their lips before they sunk together against the couch.

Catherine's chest heaved against his... each one battling for the next intake of much-needed oxygen while they still laid twined together... the sweat of their bodies glistening in the moonlight. Grissom sighed, dipping his head to kiss Catherine's neck while she ran her fingertips up and down his sides, gently tickling. She smiled, and when he sensed this, he chuckled, his breath buzzing against her neck. "If this is how you treat guys you hate," he murmured, "I'd be quite interested to know how you treat guys you love." He smirked and laid his head on her chest.

She laughed, his head bobbing in time with the spasms of her chest, and she threaded her fingers through his salt and pepper curls. After her laughter had faded and a moment of silence settled over them, she traced her hands down his face, grasping his chin to draw it upward... willing him to meet her eyes. Her own danced with an afterglow of the pleasure she'd just experienced, along with an emotion he was so sure he'd never see in her eyes. She shook her head slightly, her tone soft as a tiny smile made its way across her lips. "I don't hate you, Gil, I hope you know that," she murmured. She drew him to her, caressing his lips lovingly with her own. "I could never hate you."

"I know," he sighed, an uncharacteristic, dreamy smile on his face. "And I hope you know that I could never hate you, either."

She grinned, fingertips tracing his jawline. "I know."

He kissed her again. "I think, how we feel about each other is exactly the opposite of hate."

"I completely agree," she whispered, and pulled him into her arms to steal a few more precious moments with him.

~FINIS~