His office was a haven for the supervisor of the graveshift CSIs. Only here did he ever find true silence for moments in time while at work. He enjoyed the silence. It brought to him a little peace after a hectic night of cases.

He complained of the paperwork, but it did give him the excuse to hide away for awhile. Some people live for the silence of the night when their minds can be put to rest, and forget for the turmoil of the day. He was one of those people.

Those serving under him rarely understood his need for silence except for one. Speaking of the devil, he watched her walk by his office. For a moment, he thought she wouldn't stop in to say hi, but at the last moment he was rewarded.

She stopped and turned around, and looked into the doorway. Putting on her beautiful grin for him and him only, she did a little wave of hello before walking on past.

He ducked his head down, fighting the urge to chase after her just to have a moment to spend with her.

When it came to the important things to say his tongue always got tied up in a knot, and he never got it out.

Deciding he had enough of sitting behind his desk, he gets up and heads for home. He will see her tomorrow once again, and the words won't come out.

************************************

Ever since that day, Cath had caught Gil doing sign language with the head of the deaf school, she had vowed to learn the language that was a part of him.

She didn't like the silence as much as he did. She preferred to be able to have sound always around her. Even home alone, she liked turning the music on and dance a little to the music as she did her chores.

There was something beautiful about sign language that took learning it to find out why. You can't hide behind anything, and nothing can stop you from letting it out of your mouth, but at the same time it makes you think about what you want to say. She couldn't just blurt out the wrong words.

One day she was going to find the courage to go up to him and speak from her heart in his silent language, but she wanted to know the language and her heart first.

************************************

Neither would find the courage for five more years after that case. After years of many ups and downs in their relationship, it had finally come time to speak up.

Walking into Gil's office, Cath had finally decided it was time. Her heart could no longer stand the strain of holding back was taking on it. She needed this man with all of her heart and soul.

Her promotion had meant less time together, and she missed it. She had always an excuse when they were working together that she would always be seeing him so why would it matter. Now their time didn't always match up, and they were too busy working on cases to spend time together.

She no longer had excuses for her heart, and her hands were aching to tell her feelings.

His head was bent down over a case file, and his hair seemed to have grayed some more. His aftershave still lingered in the air of the room.

She didn't want to speak so she made sure to get his attention but shutting the door hard enough for him to hear it. When he looked up his eyes showed his surprise, and he opened his mouth to say something.

Quickly, she signed to him to be quiet. If she hadn't notice his surprise before it was now quite obvious. He signed for her to go on, and she did.

She started by circling her right hand over her heart meaning she was sorry then with grace she continued her long spiel of words she had for him to hear. In the end, there were tears in her eyes as she watched him take in every motion of her hand. When she was done, he sat back in his seat and rubbed his eyes.

The last words out of her hands were, "I love you, Gil." She didn't just sign the letters of his name, but used a nickname for him which most people wouldn't know to do. His heart was filled with wonder as he took in all she had to say, and was amazed how well she had come to know sign language. There were little mistakes, but he knew what she meant.

He had thought sign language would solve his problems of being tongue-tied, but it hadn't. His hands were frozen in place on top of his desk. Luckily his feet weren't glued to the floor. There was a sign that was universal in all languages. He still had plenty of questions he would like an answer to, but he shoved them away for later. He had something much more important to say.

Slowly walking up to her, and looking her up and down, making her blush a little. He gave her a tender smile before putting his hand slowly around her waist and kissing her like he would never wanted to stop. In all honesty, he didn't want to end it.

When they finally pulled apart, he got her attention and signed the words he needed to say to make the moment perfect. "I love you."

The End