They were awkwardly discussing the case when Warrick made the first move. "Hey Catherine?"

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Can we talk? About this?" he asked as he held up his left hand to show off the gold band on his ring finger.

"Sure." She answered uncertainly.

"You know what happened to Nick?" He began. "It just got me thinking. Life is so short, ya know? It's almost... it's almost shorter then we want to ever believe."

"Live for the day." She replied.

"Exactly. So, I uh, I went ahead and asked this young lady I've been seeing, Tina, to marry me."

"Well you know that I'm happy for you." She said, questioning herself more then Warrick.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it also feels like you're not so happy for me." He said in response to her actions towards him.

"Warrick." She began and then chuckled as she blushed. "You know the thing that makes a fantasy great in the possibilty that it might come true... And when you loose that possibility it just kinda... sucks." She said and smiled sadly at him. He pondered her words as he stared her in the eyes. They were broken out of their trance by the ringing of Warrick's cell phone.

"I've gotta take this..." he said almost somberly as he looked at the number.

"The wife?" she asked. He nodded slowly and flipped his phone open.

"Hey honey." He said, looked back at Catherine once more, then walked from the room with his cell phone to his ear. Catherine sighed deeply and looked down at the evidence on the table, but obviously wasn't focusing on it. Grissom had been leaning against the door outside in the hallway listening to their conversation and now he stood in shock. He was amazed Warrick didn't notice him when he walked by but now Grissom composed himself and walked back down the hallway to his office.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Catherine knocked on Grissom's door and didn't wait for permission before she entered. She walked in and slapped the case file on his desk. "Homeless guy killed her cause she tried to get some money to get her car out of a parking lot. Thank you, good night. I'm going home and sleeping." She said quickly and headed for the door.

"Catherine, have a seat." he said, putting down the pen he was using on paperwork and removing his glasses. She turned around.

"Gil, please, not now. I just want to go home. I'd like to take Lindsey to school and I'd like to get some sleep, okay?"

"No. I want to talk to you about something."

"And it can't wait?" She said impatiently. He gave her a look and she slumped down in the chair across from him.

"What's going on between you and Warrick?" He said, getting straight to the point.

"What?" Catherine said, confused.

"I heard your conversation earlier. Now, what's going on?"

"You were spying on us?" she said with a look of disgust.

"Catherine, I'm your boss. If you and Warrick have something going on I suggest you get it out in the open." She shook her head and stared at him in amazement. Then she got up out of her chair and walked out of the office, but first gave him a cold glare and slammed the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Catherine heard a loud knocking at her door. She looked over at her digital clock next to her bed before she got up and threw a robe on. She felt her way through the dark hallway and headed for the front door where the knocking continued. "I'm coming!" she yelled and answered the door. She opened the door and was suprised at first but then let out a groan at who was standing there. "Gil, what do you want?"

"I came to apologize."

"And lecture me some more about my so-called relationship with Warrick?" She said as she let him passed and shut the door.

"No... to talk to you, to be your friend. I know I shouldn't have been listening, but, by what I heard, you sounded pretty disappointed..." Catherine didn't answer and kept her eyes on the ground and her arms crossed. "I was interrogating you when I should have been listening to you, because I care... I just want you to know that." Catherine opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the knocking at the door. She walked over and opened it, suprised to see Warrick there.

"Warrick." She said, a bit shocked.

"Hey, Cath. I was wondering if we could..." his words trailed off as he saw Grissom standing in her house a few feet away. "...talk." He finished. "Uh, I don't want to be interrupting anything. I could just talk to you at work."

"No, Warrick, wait. You aren't interrupting anything." She turned back to Grissom. "Give us a couple of minutes." she said and shut the door as she walked out onto her front porch with Warrick and shut the door. "Everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to finish our talk. I'm sorry I, uh, ran out on you at the lab."

"Warrick it's fine." she replied.

"No, Catherine, it doesn't feel fine. It feels like there's this huge weight on my shoulders ever since you found out I was married."

"It was a fantasy Warrick. That's what I said."

"Right... it was a fantasy. And..."

"And what you and Tina have is real." She said, sounding disappointed.

"Exactly." He said, agreeing with her choice of words. "But you're right Catherine. When a fantasy doesn't come true, it sucks. It sucks so bad." He chuckled nervously before continuing. "But in the end that's all it really is... It's just a fantasy." He said sadly. Catherine smiled a watery smile then leaned up to give him a soft kiss on the lips. She pulled back and smiled at him.

"Go home. Go be with your wife."

"Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly. "Are we okay?" She nodded.

"We're okay. Trust me." She said and rubbed his arm reassuringly. He smiled back at her and walked down the pathway to her house, turning and giving her one last glance before he got into his car and drove off. Catherine watched him drive off and just continued to watch the road for a few moments before turning and going back into her home. Grissom stood up when she entered the house from where he was seated on the couch. There was an awkward silence as they both just stood there before Grissom broke the silence.

"So, what did he want?" he asked quietly. She let out a small sigh.

"We were just establishing the line between reality and fantasy." she said sadly. She looked up at him and saw him intensely staring at her. She shuffled across the room very slowly then stopped as their bodies touched. She leaned up very slowly and gently kissed him.

"What was that?" Gil whispered as she pulled back.

"That... was real." She smiled at him. He smiled back as he placed his hand on the small of her back and they leaned in to kiss again.

THE END