Gil Grissom was tired. He glanced at his watch as he headed for his car and saw that it was a little past 7 in the morning. He was just getting off of a double that started almost 14 hours ago. It was a disturbing case involving domestic abuse and a brutal murder of a young child.

Once inside his car, he reached into his jacket pocket for his cell phone and hit the number 1 keypad then talk. As soon as his phone recognized the speed dial command, he placed it to his ear. After several rings, a woman picked up.

"Good morning stranger, how was work?" Catherine Willows answered after Gil's name flashed on her cell phone.

"It was fine. I'm on my way home and I wanted to call… to hear your voice."

Catherine frowned and began to worry. She could hear the tiredness in his voice not to mention he seemed upset. "Well I have someone here with me who's very interested in talking to you- hold on." Catherine handed the phone to her daughter.

"Hi Uncle Grissom!" The 12 year old girl exclaimed. "Aren't you glad its Friday? So what are we going to do this weekend? You, me and mom should go to the bug museum again, that'll freak mom out. Doesn't that sound like fun? I miss you I haven't seen you all week."

Gil's mood lightened even more upon hearing the excited speech of Lindsey Willows. "Whoa, slow down there honey. I miss you too. I'd love to take you and your mom to the museum, it's a date."

"Okay, here's mom again, I gotta go `cause we just pulled up to my school. Bye Uncle Gil! I love you." Lindsey handed the phone back to her mother.

"Gil, I'll call you back. I'm going to walk her into school."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye babe."

Gil snapped his phone shut. He wanted to ask her to come over after she dropped off Lindsey but didn't want to sound needy. It had been trying for them very since she got promoted. Different hours meant they barely saw each other at and away from work. The majority of their times spent together now were on weekends. He rubbed his eyes, placed his sunglasses back on then proceeded to drive home.

Upon entering his apartment, he threw his keys on the dinning room table as he made his way to the shower. He was upset that Catherine hadn't called him back yet but he figured she probably got caught up at Lindsey's school. Gil got undressed and stepped into the shower.

Feeling a little better after his shower, Gil wrapped a towel around his waist then walked wearily into his bedroom. As he was rubbing excess water out of his hair he stopped when he saw a body in his bed. She was lying on her front facing away from him, with her reddish blonde hair fanning the pillow. Only the top sheet was covering her body. Gil smiled to himself as he approached the bed.

Catherine opened her eyes when she felt his presence. She got up and turned around to find him standing there in a towel, resembling a wet puppy. "Come here," she commanded, lifting up the sheet for him.

Gil gladly obliged, dropping his towel and slipping into bed. Catherine made her way into his arms as he enveloped her.

"This is just what I needed." He confessed.

"Tough case?" she asked.

"The things that men do to women, I'll never understand it." He replied, kissing the top of her head and rubbing her bare back. "Missed you."

"I've missed you too. You do realize we're both naked right now, and if it weren't for the fact that we've both just got off of working doubles, we'd be making up for lost times." She teased.

"You worked a double too?"

"I didn't get home until 6 this morning. I came by your office but you were still out in the field."

"This can't go on, Cath, I need to see my girlfriend once a day, not once a week."

Catherine smiled as she lifted her head to meet his eyes. "That's the first time I've ever heard you refer to me as your girlfriend, or anyone for that matter as your girlfriend."

Gil blushed, "Would you rather lover? Or woman-friend? Though that kind of gives the implication that you're like a one night stand-"

"Shhhh- there you go again, ruining the moment with your over thinking." She said placing a finger on his lips. "Girlfriend is fine. As for figuring out how to see each other more then once a week, we'll figure it out when we wake up. Right now, all I want to do is curl up with my boyfriend and take a nap." She gave him a long deep bruising kiss before falling back to nuzzling his neck.

He waited until he could hear and feel her breathing even out, indicating that she had fallen asleep. He kissed her once more on the top of her head whispered, "I love you."

Seconds later he too began to drift off to sleep, but not before he heard her whisper back, "I love you too…boyfriend."

end-