Catherine's POV

"You guys up for breakfast?" Nick asks us. He looks so innocent and I really feel bad knowing that I have to lie to him.

Warrick and Sara both instantly agree and I have to admit going out together sounds very tempting, but he chose the wrong morning.

"Sorry, I have to go home and take Lindsey to school," I tell Nick with an apologetic smile, then I glance over at Gil.

"Yeah, sorry, I have other plans too," he says. At least he's not lying. He knows that nobody dares to ask him what plans are they.

Nick shrugs and looks at Jim. Jim seems surprised, I guess we don't usually invite him to our team breakfasts, so he didn't see it coming.

"Well... I... An old friend of mine is in town and I promised to have breakfast with him, so a rain check?" His answer sounds shaky, I don't know if I would have believed him, but I guess Nick has no reason to doubt him, to doubt any of us.

"Okay then," he says, "see you guys tonight."

"Yeah, see you," say Warrick and Sara before fallowing Nick to the hallway.

About 30 minutes later I park my car in front of Al Robbins' house. Gil's and Jim's cars are already there.

Al lets me in and we walk into the dining room. I love going to Al's, his wife takes really good care of their house, there are plants and cute decorations everywhere. I like to amuse myself and think it's actually Al who has decorated the place ­ cutting bodies open at night, knitting and growing plants at day. It's easy to think that, because I rarely see his wife ­ she's never there when we have our meetings. It's one of the rules ­ no spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends at the meetings. Actually they can't even know we have our meetings. That's the second rule, well, actually it's the first as it's the most important one ­ nobody can know. I have no idea why, it's not like anything mysterious or forbidden takes place at our meetings, but that's the way it is. And to be honest I enjoy keeping it all a secret ­ it's our little secret society.

The doorbell rings again. Al goes to open the door and shortly returns with Jacqui by his side.

"Great, we're all here," says Jim and takes a seat at the table Al has set for us. I love the pink tablecloth, I'm sure Al was the one who picked it.

"Mmm, this looks nice," comments Jacqui, "It smells nice too."

"Thank you, I cooked everything myself," Al says with a proud smile. Even though it's morning and most people would be having oatmeal or an omelet, we're eating stake. I guess it's normal considering we work at night.

"You know, I bet no-one at the lab has any idea what a good cook you are," says Jim and takes another bite. He's clearly enjoying it.

"I guess most people don't want to associate a coroner with food, it would ruin their appetite," chuckles Al.

"I see your point," agrees Jim.

"Actually you're all good cooks," I tell them. They really are. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm the worst cook in the bunch. And I have a little girl to feed. "Well, maybe except you Jim," I add with a grin. I don't mean to be rude, but every time we had our meetings at his house he managed to burn the food. Now, when it's Jim's week, we usually just go to a restaurant.

"I guess I can't argue with the truth," Jim says and shrugs. "Maybe I could take a cooking course or something, I've been thinking about it, actually."

The third rule ­ what is said at our meetings can never be discussed anywhere else. Especially at work. I mean Nick and Warrick would die of laughter if they heard detective Jim Brass wants to take a cooking course. I, for one, have become pretty used to hearing things like that.

Our first meeting took place about 5 years ago. It was just me, Gil and Jim that time. We had gone out for dinner together, had some wine and started to discuss over some political problem. I can't remember what exactly it was, but we decided to continue our discussion the next week. Then we met at Gil's place, then at my place. It became like a tradition to us and we asked Al and Jacqui to join us. Since then we meet once in every two weeks, we take turns in hosting the meetings. At first we had a topic for each meeting ­ politics, books, education, sports, music ­ anything, but after two years we ran out of fresh topics. So one morning, I remember we were at Gil's that time, we just started talking about our lives, about what had happened during the previous week, how our families were doing and things like that. I have learned so much about those guys since then. I mean I know Jim has a cousin Brad who had a knee surgery last fall. I know Jacqui had a parrot named Doggy when she was five. I know Al used to play chess with his grandfather and never won. I know Gil's mother met his father when they were both taking a vacation in Europe. Things that nobody else knows and you have no idea how special it makes me feel.

There's another rule though ­ we can talk about everything except for work. No-one can mention the l-word. Lab, that is. Well, we do mention it sometimes, like Jim did today when talking about how no-one at the lab knows what a wonderful cook Al is, but we don't talk about our cases. These meetings offer us a chance to get away from all that. Some weeks I live for those meetings.

"Well, I might join you," I tell Jim, who's still talking about the cooking course. "I'm sure Lindsey would appreciate it and maybe my mum would stop nagging me about it."

"She's still giving you a hard time?" Gil asks me.

"Yeah, sometimes, although it has got better now that I'm on grave shift again. One of the things she keeps nagging me about is how I don't spend enough time with Linds and I'm pretty sick of it. I mean I know it's true, I don't need her telling me."

"I know how it is," says Al, "I too, have missed a lot when it comes to my kids. My youngest, for example, used to have nightmares a lot and I was never home to hold him and tell him everything is okay."

"Yeah," agrees Jacqui who also has two kids of her own and knows all about it. "I also know how it is with the nagging mother, or in my case, the nagging mother-in-law. Peter's mother can be really intimidating too, after 16 years I'm still scared of that woman. And she's not making it any easier on me either."

"Sounds like a fun lady," says Jim with that sarcasm of his that we all love.

"Speaking of ladies," Gil turns to Jim, "how's it going with Julie?"

Jim can't help but smile. I think he's also blushing a little. That doesn't happen often, I'm sure I'll be teasing him about it for weeks.

"Well, it's... it's going great," he tells us and his smile grows wider.

"That's great, Jim," I say with a grin of my own. I'm glad to see him happy, he sure deserves it. Julie is a woman he met a few months ago. They recently started dating and he's been like a different person ever since.

"I'm still getting to know her better. She's a very interesting person, she has so many different layers, you know?"

"Well, I can't wait to meet her," says Gil.

"Maybe I could take her to our next meeting?" Jim asks, but then starts to shake his head. "Oh right. No spouses, no girlfriends, no boyfriends."

"I'm sorry, but I really think we should stick to that rule," says Jacqui. "I mean I couldn't say half of the things I'm saying here if Peter was here. I don't mean I'm keeping secrets from him, it's just that sometimes I need to let out some steam and it's easier when he's not around."

"I know what you mean," agrees Al.

"No, you're right, I just forgot," says Jim. Then he raises his left eyebrow as he's thinking about something. "But... what if, and I'm just hypothetically speaking here, what if, for example, Gil and Catherine got together, would one of them have to stop coming to the meetings?"

Now it's my turn to raise my eyebrows. Gil and I getting together? What is he talking about?

"Hypothetically," Jim repeats as he notices the looks on mine and Gil's faces. Yet there's a glint of that very same sarcasm in his voice when he says that.

"I... uh... guess so," mutters Gil. I wonder if he's blushing, unfortunately I feel too embarrassed to look at him and make sure. I'm a real coward sometimes.

"Rules are rules," says Jacqui with a grin which she quickly hides.

I just try to focus on eating and pray for someone to change the subject. I don't have to wait long, because Al starts talking about his idea of buying a new car. I love that idea already.

Our meetings usually last for two or three hours, although sometimes we get carried away and stay even longer. Like I mentioned, we take turns hosting the meetings, so next time we'll be going at Jim's. I'm already looking forward to it. I love our little secret society.

tbc..