She is standing in the middle of the room with her mouth slightly ajar, no words came out of her mouth; no sound is heard in the room but the gasp that she gave out when she opened the box. Catherine stood there in silence staring at the charm bracelet with a royal blue butterfly pendant.

“I have been in love with you for a long time, and I do believe that you already know that. But Catherine, I was so afraid of doing something, I was afraid that by wanting more might mean loosing everything. This bracelet, is what pushed me, it became my incentive to do something. It became a symbolism, a message. That what I feel is not wrong, because what I feel is true and that it is in fact meant to be.”

Catherine covers her mouth with her hand, while the other lightly traced the bracelet laid in the velvet box. Her gaze slowly shifts from the bracelet to the eyes of the man standing in front of her. Their eyes locks and the happenings of the previous months came flashing back to her.

~*~

Catherine woke up with a headache, a clogged nose and not to mention a high temperature. “Oh God.” She muttered under her breath. She glanced up at the clock, it’s 7:30pm, the party has started half an hour ago, Nancy has already picked Lindsey up that day, since Catherine’s won’t be home for the entire night.

She got out of bed, one foot stepping out of the bed after the other. When she finally succeeded on getting up, she walked woozily towards the bathroom, half way to down the hall and she couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s it. No partying for you tonight, Catherine Willows.” She told herself then headed back to yet another tiring journey back to bed.

Meanwhile at the masquerade ball …

He silently sat by the table with his team, or at least half of them. Warrick and Sara has already left for the dance floor, Jim headed to the bar a couple of minutes ago and has not yet returned, this leaves him to be stuck with Nick and Greg who were then busily chatting. Gil couldn’t have cared any less; his eyes are fixated by the door waiting for any sign of the strawberry blonde friend of his.

As he sat there waiting, his mind drifted off to the bracelet he holds in his pocket. How did he not see it? How come he didn’t realize it? After all this years the owner of the bracelet has always been the woman he has always loved all this years ­ his best friend, his confidant, his partner … Catherine. And what’s more shocking for him is that, when he learned of this truth, he was not at all surprised, he was actually relieved and glad. It was like all along at the back of his mind he has been hoping for the possibility.

Tonight is the night. He told himself, tonight he’s not only going to show her the bracelet, tonight, he’s going to declare his true feelings. No more reluctance, no more chickening out. For years he has chosen to keep his feelings hidden, he opted to be a friend than to be a lover though both know that what they have is more than friendship and is just purely indefinable.

Now he knows that what he feels is not at all wrong. To be in love with his closest friend isn’t something to be scared off, it isn’t something to be ashamed off. He has always thought that wanting more would mean the risk of loosing everything, but now he knows, things happen for a reason. And what he feels for her isn’t something to be kept secret forever. No. Not forever.

“Hey!” Warrick greeted as he and Sara returned back to their seats. He pulled up one chair for Sara before settling down himself. Greg raised an eyebrow at Warrick’s chivalrous actions towards Sara, not that Warrick was insolent, it’s just that his actions seem to have more to it than that.

A minute later the music slowed down and dinner was served. “I thought Cath said she’d be here?” Nick asked inquisitively

“Maybe she changed her mind.” Sara shrugged.

“Baby-sitter is probably late.” Warrick suggested.

Greg gasped, “Oh god, something might have happened to her!!” he dramatically exclaimed, one hand covering his open mouth while the other laid on his chest by his heart.

“That’s not funny Greg!” Gil snapped. The other four occupants of the table shifted their gazes from Greg to Gil, a hint of fear evident in their eyes. Gil has barely said a word from the start of the evening and now he’s snapping at Greg. Gil threw the napkin to the table and stood up, “Where are you going?” Jim asked, being the only one who has the courage to speak.

“I’m gonna go check on Catherine” he said then left.

“I’m sorry.” Greg’s squeaky voice muttered.

Gil rummaged in his car for his phone, tonight was a special night and this is why he left his phone and pager in the car, now he regrets even doing so. When he turned on his phone he immediately dialed the all-familiar number.

Catherine’s cell phone was off and so he decided to just leave her a message and then proceeded on contacting her home. After five rings and still no answer, Gil drove his car going beyond the speed limit. On the ninth ring, his forehead and hands has all began to be sweaty, Greg’s words rang over and over on his head, on the tenth ring, the phone was finally answered and he finally remembered how it is to breath.

“Hello.” Catherine groggily and irritatedly answered, cursing to herself why she forgot to buy batteries for her answering machine.

“Catherine! Oh god. Thank goodness you’re alright!!”

3 days later …

Catherine sashayed through the halls of the Las Vegas crime lab feeling better than ever. She wore a grin on her face remembering how Gil took care of her and stayed for the night to be with her. Today is a holiday and knowing her friend, he is probably the only one who willing fully went to work and she has decided to join him and keep him company.

After that night when he took care of her, she felt like their relationship is turning into something more. She has always wanted something more with him but she thought that by doing so might just scare him away, plus they are good friends. And good friends are hard to find, she didn’t want to risk loosing what they have. But that night, three days ago, something happened. Something changed. All of a sudden, he became more affectionate. All of a sudden, his distant self changed, it is as if he has finally let go. When he entered her house that night, he held no barriers, no walls. And she wondered, what really happened.

She found his office door closed which is very rare; she opened it and sneaked in. “Gil?” she called. She walked in and found a little note on the table left for her.

Cath.

Meet me in my house as soon as you get this.

Love, G.

~*~

Catherine feels fresh hot tears starting to fall from her eyes. “You’re ruining my make up!” she murmurs, her tears starts falling whilst she tries to stop them and smile. She then lets her fingers run over the bracelet; Gil uses his thumb to wipe her tears away, “You are the love of my life Catherine.” He murmurs as she continues ogling the piece of jewelry. “May I?” he asks.

He takes the bracelet out of the box then places it on Catherine’s wrist as he locks the bracelet, he glances up at her, their eyes meets and the memory of the night he came clean with his true feelings for her came back to his mind.

~*~

Catherine knocked on Gil’s front door, but there’s no answer, after two more knocks she then hears some kind of music from the inside. Catherine became more skeptical. When she tried to open the door, she was surprise that it was in fact already unlocked. Entering the house, she found herself surrounded with scented candles all around, there were rose petals on the floor.

“Nice of you to join us.” Catherine saw Gil standing in front of her in full Zoro costume.

“What’s happening?”

“Well, since you weren’t able to go to the party, I decided to take the ball to you.”

‘SURPRISE!!’ The whole team was there in their costumes.

~*~

“You are everything to me. You are my lover, my friend, my partner, my ally. There are even times when you are my enemy but that’s what makes our relationship wonderful. We fight, but we make up. We have our own differences but despite all this we have this one thing that we share in common that is too strong to break. And that is that we love each other. When I was a kid I have fantasies, dreams about my prince. My knight in shining armor, as I grew older those fantasies I soon learned are impossible to happen because that’s not what real life is about. And then you came along and you proved me wrong. You made all my dreams come true. There have been times when I look back that I want to hit you for taking so long, I was thinking about how those years were put to waste but now I realized, those years have become the foundation of what we have. If I were to turn back time I wouldn’t dare change a thing, and even if I have to wait a thousand years I would wait. Because Gil, YOU are worth it all.”

~*~

A few hours later the team left Grissom’s place one by one. Doc Al and his wife left first, followed by Sara and Warrick who since three days ago couldn’t be separated, and then followed by Nick, Greg, Jacqui and David.

“I can’t believe this! Thanks a lot Gil.” She said with a smile. She then headed to the kitchen and started picking up the left over food, “Hey, hey, what are you doing?”

“I’m helping you clean-up.” she said dryly.

He took her hand and led her back to the living room turned dance floor. He kissed her hand and then pressed play. A familiar tune played.

The song is the same song that she and the mystery guy whom she gave her bracelet too first danced to. She was fully aware that she has shared Gil this story but she also knows that she didn’t mention the song played.

“May I have this dance?”

She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, while his hand went around her waist and they started swaying to the rhythm of the music. Catherine laid her head on his chest; she closed her eyes savoring the moment of affection and romance. They have had many moments like this before, but all of them ended before it could have even really started. “Why are you doing this?” she asked. She doesn’t want to play around anymore. She glanced up at him, he grinned down at her, “Don’t you like it?”

“Where are you going with this?”

He said nothing; instead he brushed his lips lightly on hers. The kiss was gentle, yet the electric effect that it has is undeniable. Catherine was surprised with Gil’s bold actions, yet she found herself wanting more but then she feared that this is just a one-day kind of thing. Just like all the moments that they shared, all those intimate moments that they have and after a few minutes he becomes his cold distant self and trashes those moments away. “Gil. If you go any further, you’re going to hurt me.”

His forehead creased in confusion. She sighed then explained herself, “Every time something like this happens. Every time we go through this moments that we dare to start crossing that line. You, you always seem to have a way to retreat. We go one stop forward and five steps back. I can’t do that anymore.”

“Tell me what you want.”

“I want to know. Where do I stand in your life?”

He smiled at her, he leaned closer to her ear and whispered, “At the center.”

~*~

“With the power invested in me by the state of Nevada. I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

The people stood up and gave the couple a round of applause, while others wiped their tears away.

“Mr. Grissom.”

“Yes, Mrs. Grissom?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For making me believe in destiny again.”

=END=