It was a breezy spring day. The sky was blue, and the air was pleasantly warm. With her hair blowing in the wind, and the waves below crashing into the pier, she stood against the railing. As she stood there, she felt footsteps falling on the boards behind her. Without turning around, she knew who it was. Everyone else was absorbed in the celebrations back at the clubhouse.

"You've been avoiding me." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes" was his simple reply.

"Care to tell me why?" She continued to stare at the waves, as he leaned agains the rail next to her.

"No."

"So, you avoid me, and you only give one word answers." She waited for a response, but all she got was silence. "Why are you here then?"

"I enjoy your company?" He gave a questioning grin.

"If you enjoyed my company, you wouldn't have been avoiding me. Try again." She turned and looked at him.

Grissom sucked in his breath. Catherine Willows never ceased to amaze him. She looked stunning. She had donned a cream colored sleeveless dress, with a matching jacket for the wedding. Even looking at her now, he still couldn't believe that she had gone to this event. Terri wasn't her friend, and even though the whole lab had been invited, she was only one of three others that had shown up. It meant a lot to Gil, even if he couldn't tell her.

He wasn't sure what to tell her. If truth were told, weddings made him nervous. And it didn't help that the woman he'd secretly loved for God knows how long was there, and she looked as beautiful as ever. He was afraid he might do something stupid. But he didn't want to stay away either. Gil Grissom was a torn man.

As he stood there with his thoughts, he became aware that she was still standing there waiting for an answer.

"Catherine, I can't give you an answer right now."

"Why" She asked.

"I just can't. Can you accept that? For now, at least?"

"Do I have a choice? I thought we were getting past all this, Gil. What has changed, and made you bottle everything back up?"

"Cath, can I talk to you? I mean, a real conversation between friends, without passing any judgements?"

"You know you can." She stated, giving him her full attention. "What's up?"

"What's happened to me? I used to be an ok guy, I guess. I had friends, even went out now and then. You and I were close, had a good friendship, worked well together. Now, it seems like everything is falling apart. I work 27 hours a day, it seems. I'm always out of the loop, and no one wants to talk to me. Am I an unapproachable kind of guy?"

"Gee, you don't waste any time getting into the deep stuff, do you?" Catherine sighed, and sat down on the bench lining the pier. She looked up at Grissom. "You want an honest answer? You've got your head buried in either a microscope or a book. You don't take time to ask anyone how they are. No one talks to you because you don't talk to them."

"You talk to me."

"Gil, let me explain something to you. We've been friends for what now, 15 years? You aren't the same person you were then. But neither am I. We've grown, and changed. And I've been there every step of the way with you. You know when I'm in a mood. You know pretty much everything about me. And likewise, I know a lot about you. Things I can tell, others may not, simply because they haven't known you as long as I have. You can't just assume that if you come off *normal* to you, and I use that term loosely," She grinned, "that you come off normal to everyone else. It may seem rude, or standoffish to others, while to me, I can tell you've had a bad day. Do you see where I'm at with this?"

"You don't think I'm normal?"

She chuckled. "Does the thought of commitment scare you, Gil?"

He gave her a dirty look.

"I don't mean in the marriage sense. I mean in a sense of friendship, loyalty. Are you afraid to trust people with things other than work?"

"I trust you."

"I guess I should be flattered." She said, brushing a piece of strawberry-blonde hair out of her face. Catherine gave him a fleeting look. He was still staring out at the ocean.

"You should, Catherine."

When she glanced up at him, there was a look in his eyes she had never seen before: Passion. It startled her. Of all the things she might have expected to see in his eyes, it certainly wasn't that. She remained silent for a long time.

"Gil, are you..." She paused. "Are you only this way with me?"

"What way is that?" Grissom realized he was treading on dangerously thin ice. He had never intended for the conversation to take this path.

"You know, honest. Truthful. I don't think I've ever seen you this way before. Not this completely absorbed in it, at least."

He raised an eyebrow. Grissome had never really thought about it before. Nevertheless, now that he had, he recognized that she was right. He sat down beside her. She was leaning her head against the rail, with her eyes closed. Her hands rested in her lap, while she waited patiently for him to work through his thoughts.

"Look at me please, Cath." Grissom reached over and enclosed her small hands in his large ones. At this, her head shot up, and her eyes snapped open. This man beside her was continuing to surprise her today. He had her full attention now. She stared into his blue eyes, and got lost in them. "Do you want to know why I was avoiding you today?" he asked, though he already knew her answer.

She swallowed nervously, and nodded in acknowledgement.

"I was afraid that if I was around you today, I might do this." And he leaned over and kissed her.

When he pulled away, she sat there in stunned silence. How could this man, who couldn't string a coherent sentence together, just up and kiss her? And in public? Holy cow. This man never ceased to amaze her. 'Well, never doubt, never look back' she thought. And with that, she leaned in and kissed him back.

It was a kiss full of passion, and love, one that had been waiting for release for years. When they finally broke apart, they leaned their foreheads together, each trying to catch their breath. Gil was the first to recover.

"I love you, you know."

"I love you too." She grinned. "So, what brought all this on?"

"Weddings" was his simple reply.

The End