Paperwork could never hold his attention for long. He had managed to write the beginning of a report on a case from last night, then his mind wandered. To her. It always wandered to her.

He couldn't blame it, really. She was just so worth thinking about. The last three months had been the happiest of his life. He had never imagined he would be this happy. He had always known it possible. He had always known he could be this happy if he were with Catherine, but he had always thought it would never happen. And then it did. And now he smiled as he thought about her. Like he had smiled as he walked the corridors of the lab. Like he had smiled as he entered his office. Like he had smiled as he wrote his report. Like he had smiled twenty-four hours a day, every day, for the last three months.

Except for during the last two days. Catherine had gone to a conference, and he had missed her. He was unprepared for the emptiness he would feel. She had been away before, and he had missed her, but this time it was different. He felt as if part of him was missing. But, after the initial shock of the intensity of his feelings, he had managed to smile again. He knew where she was. He knew she was coming back. And she was coming back to him.

"Hey!" a familiar voice called from the doorway.

His smile widening at the mere sound of her soft, gentle voice, he looked up from the report he was once again trying to write, to see her leaning against the doorframe. If possible, she looked more beautiful. Perhaps her absence had made his heart grow fonder of her beauty, he wondered.

After a few seconds of silence, as he absorbed the vision standing before him, the smile slowly fell from his face, becoming a frown as he realised she didn't look happy.

"Catherine? What's wrong? What's happened?" He now stood in front of her, concern having drawn him closer.

She backed away from him. "This isn't working," she began.

"What?"

She continued talking as if she hadn't heard him. "Us. It is not working. It's over, Gil."

While his heart instantly broke at the words, his mind refused to believe that she meant it. He refused to believe that she had said it.

"Catherine," he said, reaching out his hand to her arm.

She avoided the contact. "It was never going to last. We're too different. I'm taking some time off. It'll give us both time to get things back to the way they were. Don't bother trying to contact me. I'll be unreachable."

Pain flared inside him as she turned to leave. He lunged forward and grabbed her arm, spinning her round to face him. "Catherine, what's happened? Why are you doing this? I love you, you know I do. And our differences are what makes us work. They always have been. We compliment each other. The yin and the yang."

She didn't respond. He looked into her eyes, hoping to see an indication that she didn't mean what she had said. Nothing. She looked at him blankly. As he held her he felt that she was shaking. Her lips were trembling, but her eyes were cold, keeping her distant and shut off.

"Cath, please," he pleaded, the tears falling down his cheeks being the result of fear, confusion, hurt and love.

"It is not working. It's over, Gil," she repeated, in the same unemotional tone she had used earlier, but this time he could hear her voice cracking as she spoke, no matter how hard she was trying to hide it.

"You don't mean it. What's going on?" he almost yelled, his emotions manifesting in anger.

She removed her arm from his grip, calmly, took a deep breath and recited "It is not working. It's over, Gil," one more time before turning and running from the room.

~ Not a dry eye in the house
After love's curtain comes down
Listen and you'll hear the sound
Hear the sound of a heart breaking ~

As she turned he felt sure her wall had fallen. There was sadness in her eyes. He ran into the corridor to follow, but she wasn't there. He flew through every door, screaming `where is she?' to the inhabitants of every room. But she wasn't there. As he sprinted towards the parking lot he ran straight into Warrick coming in the opposite direction. The collision resulted in both of them being thrown to the ground. Grissom scrambled to get up, his heart thumping in his chest, his determination pulling at his body to move faster. But he couldn't, his ankle was twisted and refusing to co-operate. He cursed at it. Climbing to his other leg and dragging himself towards the door.

Warrick watched, horrified by what he saw before him. "Gris?"

"Catherine," Grissom muttered through the pain, "I have to get to Catherine!"

His voice was scratching in his throat, tears were tumbling down his face and his body was shaking with every sob. Warrick moved to him and took hold of his shoulders, "Gris, I just saw her leave. What's -"

"I have to follow her, Warrick. Let go of me!"

"Gris! She's gone! Stop!" Warrick shouted to get through to him. He wanted to offer to follow her in Grissom's place, but Catherine had seemed fine when he had seen her outside and he had never seen his boss in this state. He didn't think it would be safe to leave him.

He fought against Warrick a while longer, not making any progress, then collapsed against the wall, dropping his head into his hands, biting at the air around him to try to suppress his cries.

Warrick glared at the onlookers that had gathered, and they quickly dispersed, then he crouched in front of the broken man, a man whose feelings normally remained well-hidden, who now cried openly in the corridor.

"Gris? What happened? Is Cath okay?" he asked, concerned, expecting he probably wouldn't get an answer.

"She's left. She said it wasn't working.... I have to see her, Warrick," Grissom replied, vulnerably, looking up at Warrick with eyes tired and aged by the emotions passing through them.

"First you have to see a doctor. That ankle's pretty messed up," the younger CSI responded, trying not to show his surprise at what he had just been told. Catherine and Grissom had seemed more in love than any other two people he had ever seen. They had both been smiling non-stop for the last three months, and the chemistry had been there long before they had become an official couple. He wondered what had happened, but didn't have time to think about it. He had to get Grissom to a doctor, and get someone to go check on Catherine.

He helped his friend to his feet and took him back to his office. Privacy was the other thing that Grissom needed right now. He knew the scene by the door was going to be all round the lab by now, and the last thing his boss could deal with was whispering and sniggering.

Resting Grissom on the sofa, he took out his cell phone. "Stay there!" he instructed Grissom, "We'll getting everything sorted out, I promise. But your ankle is our priority." Warrick walked into the hall to make the necessary phone calls, keeping one eye on Grissom throughout, making sure he wasn't trying to bolt. Not that he would get very far if he did.

Grissom nodded. He had started to calm down as the shock was wearing off. His mind ran over what she had said, what he had done, how he had reacted. He cringed as he felt the full intensity of the pain in his ankle for the first time, no longer numbed by his resolve to get to Catherine. He still couldn't believe she had left him. Just like that, but he didn't have any tears left to cry. His eyes were dry and sore, and his heart in millions of pieces, unable to sustain his body through another crying session. His mind cried, but his body couldn't, it wouldn't survive.