CSI Catherine Willows stood in front of the full length mirror and sighed. Her hands smoothed down the soft satin of her dress as she turned this way and that. Her hair was softly curled and it had white gardenias intricately entwined into it. A flash of the 2 carat diamond ring sitting snugly on her left ring finger flashed under the brilliant room lights, causing her to finally pause in her nervous actions and look down. A soft smile graced her lips and she felt her eyes well up at the amount of love she felt for her fiancee. Granted, he was a stubborn and sometimes socially inept fiancee but he was all hers. She remembered when it all had begun, as her eyes drifted to look out the window at the crystal blue sky that reminded her so much of her love's eyes.

**** FLASHBACK****

"Gil, you have a second?" Catherine asked, opening his office door at the same time she started speaking.

CSI Gil Grissom jumped a mile in his chair and whipped off his glasses. "Geez, Catherine Ever heard of knocking?"

"Gil, I haven't knocked on your office door the entire time we have worked together, what the hell makes you think I'm gonna start now? In fact, come to think of it, I don't remember even knocking on your apartment door either. Yet, you always seemed to know it was me, meeting me in the hallway with a beer or a bag of those chips I like before I ever even said hello."

Gil just rolled his eyes and with a longing sigh closed the medical journal he had been reading and placed it on the side of his desk. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he closed his eyes and leaned his elbow on the desk. "Cath, is there something you needed?"

Silence caused him to open his eyes and look at the strawberry blonde in front of him. Her arms were crossed and a soft smirk was on her face as she slowly let her eyes travel over him and back to his face. Gil's eye widened and he thrust his head at her slightly.

"Catherine "

"What?" Catherine sighed herself and ungracefully plopped herself into the chair across from his desk. "That's a loaded question, Gil. I NEED a lot of things. Better pay, a mother who doesn't nag me to death, a daughter who speaks to me in something less than a sarcastic tone..."

"Hmm, wonder where she gets that from." Gil muttered, earning him a glare from Catherine. At his soft teasing smile, she sighed and smiled back, before a frown replaced it again.

"What I need the most, however, is a man who doesn't turn out to be a cheater, liar, or a susp..." Catherine trailed off, her blue eyes flicking towards Gil, whose face hardened slightly. The Adam Novack disaster, as she liked to call it, had mostly blown over. Especially after what happened to Nick and Ecklie putting the team back together due to public outcry. Still, she wasn't stupid enough to bring it up in direct conversation.

Quickly moving the conversation along she said, "Anyway, I think all the good men are either gay, married, or eunuchs."

Gil coughed and hastily wiped his already clean glasses, his head ducked down to hide the smile that her comment caused. Catherine's eyes lit up at his smile, one of her own immediately spreading across her face. That smile of his was irresistible. Every time he smiled, she couldn't help but find herself smiling too. Sometimes she found herself cracking a stupid joke or a sarcastic comment just to get his lips to quirk up.

"Well, I can tell you that there is at least one mane that I know of that doesn't fit that list of yours and would heroically lose a limb to be with you." Gil said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms behind his head.

"Oh, really? Enlighten me, oh wise Bugman." Catherine smirked, a tiny thrill going up her spine as his lips twitched into a smile a second time at the nickname. At the challenge of his statement, though, he blushed a slight red color before nodding.

"Ok...Nick..."

"Uh, sweet but a little too cowboy-ish for me."

"Greg..."

"Oh, good God no He's a adorable, mind you, but two things. One, I am old enough to be his mother and two, I'd kill him after like...5 minutes."

Gil's chuckle echoed in the room and then he sobered. His eyes didn't quite meet hers and his voice dropped to a softer, more unsure tone. "Warrick..."

Catherine watched him closely and sighed. "Gil, whatever you heard about me and Warrick...it wasn't true. We're just good friends. He's someone I can talk to."

"You used to talk to me." Gil said, almost so soft that she didn't hear him. Her eyes grew troubled and she frowned.

"I know." She said, as softly as he had. She mentally shook herself and then smiled at him. "So who's next?"

"Hmm?" Gil asked, his mind distracted now.

"You said that there was at least one guy who was for me. So far, you've named three and completely struck out. I want to know who's next. four guys." Catherine said then added in a teasing tone, "Ecklie?"

"Oh God no." Gil said, echoing her earlier words about Greg. "I am starting to think he fits into the eunuch category."

That cause Catherine to laugh and soon Gil joined in. They laughed loudly until it turned into silent laughs and then chuckles and finally a giggle here and there. Gil wiped his eyes and looked at Catherine who was doing the same.

"Hey, I just thought of something. What did you come in here for?" Gil asked and Catherine paused, her blue eyes twinkling as she shrugged.

"I don't remember." Catherine said, laughing again and Gil smiled, standing and holding out his hand to help her out of the chair.

"Then how bout we get out of here and go grab some of those apple pie pancakes you like so much at IHOP?"

"It's a date." Catherine said, leading the way to the door.

As Gil locked up his office , Catherine watched him patiently. He paused, taking the key out of the lock, but not turning around.

"Cath," he started and swallowed quickly. "That guy is me, you know."

A soft touch on his shoulder made him turn to face her and his breath caught at the look in her eyes. The soft touch moved up to his face as she very lightly trailed a finger down his cheek. It was so light that it could have ben mistaken for a butterfly's touch if it had been anyone other than Catherine touching him. As it were, an electric charge seemed to accompany her finger, firing from his cheek to the very tips of his toes.

"I know." She smiled at him with a million promises in her lips and as she turned to grab her things in the locker room it was all he could do not to look like a love struck puppy following it's owner.

****END FLASHBACK****

That was the night, that everything started to come together. They made plans for breakfast at least 2 times a week, the later ones involving Lindsey before she went to school. Catherine had been startled to see well her daughter had responded to Gil, but in hindsight she needn't have worried. He had started slow, not pressuring her to like him, letting the troubled teen come to him on her own terms. Two months into their growing relationship, Catherine noticed that not only was she smiling more, but so was her daughter along with her improving grades . Catherine knew that the positive influence of Gil in their lives was the cause. Not only had he made Catherine feel happy and wanted, but he had found a way to integrate time for her with Lindsey that wasn't rushed or forced. Catherine had found that she had been missing so much of her daughter growing up and had vowed to devote more time to her, deeming at least one Saturday a month as Mother-Daughter day. Lindsey, being the "cool" teenager that she went reluctantly at first, but soon was the one who was waking her mother up at 8am on a Saturday morning to spend time together.

Surprisingly it had taken almost 4 months for it to get around the lab that Catherine and Gil's relationship had changed, but when the news hit, it hit hard.

A giggle of happiness pulled Catherine's thoughts out of the past and made her turn her head towards the sound. Her eyes landed on her daughter, who was dressed in a soft pastel blue junior bridesmaid's dress with a white corset top with pastel blue flowers embroidered on it. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant French twist and she wore a strand of baby pearls, a wedding present to her from Gil. Her bouquet of small gardenias, that matched the ones in Catherine's hair perfectly, was raised above her head as she twirled in front of one of Catherine's bride's maids. The woman to whom Lindsey was showing off threw her head back and laughed, her own dress matching Lindsey's, only hers was strapless while Lindsey's dress had spaghetti straps to hold it up. Her dark brown hair was also pulled up into a French twist and her blue eyes laughed with her as she made Lindsey twirl again.

CSI Sara Sidle looked over at Catherine standing in front of the mirror and grinned, throwing her a wink before turning back to the teen who was vying for her attention. Catherine couldn't help but smile at the sight. Two years ago, if someone had said that Sara Sidle was going to be at her wedding to Gil Grissom, let alone a bridesmaid, Catherine would have called the psych ward so fast their head would spin. When their relationship came out the person that they had been on the defensive to wasn't just Ecklie. Oh no Their toughest challenge had come from the woman standing not ten feet away, playing with her daughter.

Catherine chuckled as she let the memories sweep over her once more. Back to that fateful day when her and Sara finally came to blows. Literally.

TBC