TImeline: It's been a month since Catherine broke up with Chase. Gil still no longer works for the crime lab. Since his departure, Catherine and her team were moved up to day shift, and Sofia took over nights.

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Early Sunday morning found Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows on the couch doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. Gil was sitting up right on the couch, feet crossed on the ottoman. Catherine's head was on his lap, supported by a pillow. Pencil in her mouth, crossword held above her head, she was stuck.

Gil stopped reading this Forensics Journal and looked down at his girlfriend. He smirked when he saw her brows furrow, concentratingintently. Leaning down and tilting his head to look at the crossword he offered some help. "49 across."

"Shh! No Gil. The rule is I get first crack at it before you get your hands on it and solve it in like 10 minutes."

He smiled and kissed the top of her forehead.

10 minutes went by before Catherine threw the offending crossword down in anger. "That's it, we're officially canceling our subscription to the Times."

She sat up and began to kiss him.

"Hey, just because you're done doesn't mean I'm done too." He said in between her kisses.

"You'd rather read about loops and whirls than make out with me?" She replied, referring to the fingerprint article he was reading. "Something tells me someone is itching to go back to work."

"No I don't want to go back Catherine."

"Honey, I've loved that we've been spending so much time together every since you quit. And you deserve the respite from the daily grind of a 40 hell 60 hour work week but don't you think you're going to get bored?"

"I don't want to go back Catherine. I gave that job a solid 25 years of my life. I've done all I could. You and I both know I'm too politically inept to advance any further nor would I want a higher position. I'm done with that part of my life. I ready to start a new phase of my life."

"And what does this entail Dr. Grissom?"

Gil took a moment to compose his thoughts. He had given this quiet some thought the past month. He shifted the both of them so that she was now straddling his lap. Gil locked his hands on the small of her back. "For starters, I know we've only been dating for a month, but I want you and Lindsey to move in with me. Not in my apartment of course, it's too small. But a new place that we can call our own." He searched her face for any kind of reaction.

Catherine thought about his just proposed. With anyone else she would have ran for the hills if they had asked her to move in after just one month. But this was Gil Grissom. The man had been in her life for the past 20 years. He was the only constant and positive male figure in her daughter's life. He was the only man she'd ever truly loved. Reading Gil's worried expression, she knew she'd taken too long to respond. She gave him a soft smile, effectively erasing his fears. "I guess that would make sense since you're here all the time now. I'm sure Lindsey would love it, she hates it when you leave to go back to your place, and so do I."

Relieved, Gil continued. "You're right, it has been relaxing not working for the past month but I would probably go stir crazy if it continued. When you're at work and Lindsey is at school, I have no one to talk to. I think my spiders are sick of me whining to them."

Catherine shuddered over the thought of his spiders. "They have to move with us too don't they?"

Gil chuckled. "Yes, they do. They're apart of our family." Gil liked the way that last word rolled off his tongue so easily.

"You know, when we move in together, I'm going to be the first thing that you see in the morning, and the last thing you see at night, everyday"

"There are worse things in life."

Catherine playfully smacked him on his chest. "You're so romantic Grissom."

Gil decided to mess with her even more. "Hey, have you seen what you look like in the morning?"

Catherine's moth dropped open. "Wow, someone's not getting any EVER again."

Gil started to tickle her, knowing exactly where her weak spots were. "I was going to say, you look stunning first thing in the morning."

"Gil.Quit.It!" Catherine yelped as she tried to squirm away from him. "Okay.Mercy."

Gil stopped tormenting her and continued telling her his plans. "As I was saying, to prevent me from going crazy with boredom, I set up an interview with the Dean of the Science department at UNLV on Monday."

He saw her eyes lit up with excitement.

"You're going to teach? That's great Gil."

"Don't get too excited. I'm only going to take on one class a semester. Apparently forensics is exploding as a major because of some television show. Strange I know, I couldn't believe it either when I heard it. Plus, I've been asked to give lectures at a couple of seminars around the country."

It was Catherine's turn to tease him. "You mean people want to pay to listen to you go on about bugs?"

He gave her a look, his fingers moving furtively along her sides. Catherine felt another tickle attack coming on. She screamed. "Gil I was just kidding! No please. I take it back."

A groggy Lindsey Willows stumbled into the living room, shaking her head at Gil and Catherine.

"I'm sorry honey, did we wake you?"

Lindsey yawned, stretching her arms above her head. "No, I love waking up at 8 in the morning on a Sunday. Jeez you guys, haven't you ever heard of sleeping in?" She walked towards them, plopping down on the couch between Gil and Catherine. She laid her head down on her mother's lap and swung her legs on top of Gil's lap. "So, what are we doing today? Wanna go to the mall and buy me stuff?"

Gil was flipping through the paper trying to find the real estate section. "How about we go house shopping?"

Lindsey shot up. Looking back and forth between Gil and her Mom, her excitement grew in the form of a huge smile. "Are you serious? You guys are moving in together? `Bout damn time! I'm going to change." The teenager sprinted to her room.

Catherine and Gil both looked at one another.

"I think she's okay with it." Gil said.

"Nothing gets by you Dr. Grissom." Catherine crawled onto his lap. Hands slipping into his hair she kissed him. "We're really doing this."

-tbc-