There was three hours left in the graveyard shift of a Friday night in the vibrant and lively city of Las Vegas. The group of nighthawk criminalists was relaxing in the break room of the Crime Lab.
The crew had one of the slowest and simplest nights they had seen in months. All they had in their eight-hour shift was a robbery at a local confectionery store that they solved in record time. The robber was stupid enough to look up into the security camera before leaving with his wad of cash thinking that it was a blinking light hooked up to a nine-volt battery.
From then on everyone had been sitting in the break room minding their own business. Catherine was reading her fifth magazine of the evening. Grissom was working on his third “advanced” crossword puzzle, which Catherine still believed was genius level. Sara was trying to find something edible in the fridge or something that wasn’t one of her supervisors “experiments”. Warrick was practically passed out at the end of the table in la la land while Nick was trying to find something good to watch on the small TV that was limited to a few channels.
He saw that the teen show called “Save By the Bell” was on one of the five channels at 4 am. He saw that the kids went through the same situations he went through in high school with everyone in this room.
“Hey, do you guys remember when we were back in high school during senior year? What a few months huh?” Nick asked turning around in his chair to see that no one was paying any attention to the words coming out of his mouth.
“I give up! This fridge literally had no food in it, except for Grissom’s experiments. I would eat them if I were that desperate and if my boss wouldn’t suspend me,” Sara stated slamming the fridge door shut. A smile to creep across Catherine’s face as she threw her 5th magazine on the table with a flick of the wrist.
“Did you say something Nicky?” Catherine asked as she looked over at the TV seeing the show she used to love when she was young was plastered on the screen.
“Yeah, do you remember back when we were in 13th Grade?” Nick asked again now that at least one person was paying attention.
“Long time ago, but I do remember quite vividly that Catherine and I were head cheerleaders,” Sara said sitting down in one of the chairs getting comfortable.
“Oh yeah, the Vegas Lions, hear us roar! We won almost every game we ever played…before senior year, what happened to you guys?” Catherine replied and Nick gave a half smile.
“It was the homework I swear.” Nick said trying to defend himself.
“Yeah sure it was.” Sara said rolling her eyes.
“Didn’t you both have crushes on football players? Actually I believe one of them works here, in this very lab.” Warrick said lifting his head up off of the desk joining in on the interesting trip down memory lane.
“Don’t you even start Warrick,” Catherine said defending her friend who was turning beat red with embarrassment. “But mine was Jeff Peterson, the star quarter back, every women wanted a piece of him, even the teachers” Catherine said and smiled.
“Do you ever know what came of that kid? I mean I haven’t seen him since Graduation” Warrick asked wondering if he was a pro football player or anything, since he was that good.
“You know, now that I think of it, I swear I saw him flipping burgers at the Mc.Donald’s on the strip a few days ago.” Sara replied and Catherine laughed thinking that was probably true.
“He sure was cute but was a complete bonehead, must have been all that tackling out in the football field every game destroyed his brain cells” Catherine replied.
“He had brain cells? I remember one time in science, like in grade 10 he was like ‘what’s a pinecone?’ like who the hell doesn’t know what a pinecone is” Warrick said and everyone burst out laughing.
At that moment Grissom looked up from his crossword puzzle noticing everyone was actually laughing and talking about something interesting. It was something that Grissom never did want to talk about ever again, his high school days.
He was only at the same high school as the rest of his team for about a year, and through that one year he had done a lot of firsts. First time he really had any real friends, first time he saw a high school football game, first time he met a beautiful women, first time in a strip club and first time he had ever seen someone get so emotional and upset over a horrible experience.
“I see your back in the real world with us once again Grissom” Catherine smirked as Grissom gave her the evil eye.
“Hey Griss, do you remember any memorable moments from your one year at Horseshoe Valley?” Warrick asked smelling the sweet aroma of coffee brewing in the coffeepot on the counter next to him.
Grissom so badly wanted to say when he saw Catherine dressed up in her smart, short and cute cheerleading uniform. When he saw her the first time he saw her in the hallway picking up her books. Although he couldn’t admit that to everyone he would feel embarrassed, especially with Catherine’s beautiful blue eyes and batting eyelashes staring right at him waiting for his answer. He couldn’t admit his true feelings afraid that she would not have the same feelings towards him.
“Grissom?” Catherine questioned seeing that her boss was back in his own little world again.
“What um…no I-I don’t have any real memorable moments about high school. I mean everything I, did was very memorable” Grissom replied.
He glanced down at the table away from Catherine’s beautiful smile and back at his unfinished crossword puzzle sprawled out on the table.
“He’s lying” Greg said pouring himself a cup of coffee. Everyone turned their head towards the new voice in the stone silent room.
“What do you mean ‘he’s lying’?” Sara asked joining Greg at the counter to pour herself a fresh cup of Java.
“I mean that he’s not telling the truth, duh” Greg replied.
“I know what lying means genius, I meant what is he lying about” Sara said and playfully punched the lab rat in the shoulder.
“Ouch! That hurt” Greg whined as he rubbed his sore shoulder.
“A big football jock like you should be able to withstand a punch from a cheerleader” Catherine stated and stifled a laugh.
“Well before you come after me all I have to say is two words,” Greg said making his way towards the doorframe of the break room.
“And what two words would those be?” Warrick asked not being able to anticipate Greg’s next statement.
“Pink Flamingo’s” Greg stated and dashed out of the break room in seconds flat.
“Pink Flamingo’s…” Nick repeated and looked over to Catherine and Sara seeing them scrunches up look on their faces at those words. Then he darted his eyes towards Grissom and saw him bow his head in shame covering the redness that was creeping across his cheeks from embarrassment….
~*~ Ten Years Earlier ~*~
There was one school year left before the class of 1994 was going to have their end of the year graduation party from Horseshoe Valley High. The school was of course no different then any of the other high school’s in the USA, the rules were the same and the classes were the same. Even the groups of people were the same, varying from the jocks and popular kids to the nerds and punks.
Catherine and Sara left their Spanish class along with a number of other students at the sound of the bell ringing through out the bare hallways. Everyone was like zombies heading towards their lockers to retrieve their books for their last class of the week. In a matter of seconds the deserted hallways crowded with teenagers quickly getting their things in the five minuets they had in between classes.
Sara leaned in on her friend’s shoulder and whispered something in her ear causing her to burst out laughing. The two seventeen-year-old girls had been the best of friends ever since grade two at Olympic Queen elementary school. Both of them were tall, lean and fun ladies that were practically the same person, they even shared the same live achievement, becoming a criminologist.
Not very many people in Nevada knew what a Criminologist really was and that didn’t bother Sara or Catherine. The fewer amounts of people that were interested in becoming one, the more of a chance they had at getting a job at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Both of them had always wanted to pursue a career in science ever since they were ten years old, that was when their parents gave them their very own chemistry set. Of course they almost blew up Catherine’s kitchen, but some of the greatest scientists learn from their mistakes.
“Hey Sara, we have cheerleading practice after school right?” Catherine asked as she reached into her locker and grabbed her chemistry book.
“Yep. Do you think they we will actually win this game coming up this weekend? I mean we have only won three games this whole season” Sara replied as she took out her chemistry book as well slamming her locker door shut with her foot.
“I hope so, I mean we have always won except for this year. I think we need to have a little chat with our team before this Sunday” Catherine replied.
“I think you should so a little more talking and a little less smooching with Jeff, our start quarterback.” Sara said and Catherine playfully punched her in the arm.
Both of them dropped their books on the floor causing their notes to scatter all over the dirty floor that many groups of people were heading in both directions stepping on their sheets of paper. They were not covered in mud shoeprints over their homework that they were supposed to hand in today.
“Good one Cat” Sara huffed and bent down on the floor to pick up her binder and textbook.
“What are you complaining about? I dropped my books as well.” Catherine stated as she squatted down to pick up her books as well.
“Here let me help you,” a male voice stated as he picked up Catherine’s chemistry book off of the floor.
“Thanks…” Catherine said standing up and seeing the boys face.
“No problem, my names Gil Grissom and yours are?” Gil said smiling.
Catherine went speechless seeing his piercing blue eyes and baby face complexion staring at her. She turned her head towards Sara to see her smiling and trying to hold back a laugh.
“I’m Sara and this is my best friend Catherine, we’re heading towards our chemistry class. Where are you heading?” Sara asked seeing that he was in a dreamy mode too.
Gil had never laid eyes on such a beautiful lady as Catherine before in his life. He loved her long flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She had the smile of an angel and the body of a goddess. Catherine was like one of the ladies he had dreamed about meeting, one of the ladies that he was afraid that if he met them he would be at a loss of words.
“I’m, oh I’m,” Gil stuttered as he pulled out his schedule that was crumpled up into a ball in his jeans pocket. “My next class, is ah, is Biology” he finally spat out as the schedule was shaking in his trembling hands. He could feel the warm paper begin to cling to his perpetrating hands but was trying not to notice. Gil gave them a smug smile trying his hardest to cover the obvious nervousness that was showing.
“Cool, Bio is one of our favourite classes right Cath?” Sara stated giving her a small nudge in the shoulder to grab her attention.
“Huh, oh yeah Bio is one of my favourite classes, except we have it in the morning” Catherine whispered and then heard the bell’s ring vibrate though the hallway. Those five minuets had felt like an eternity when she laid eyes on Gil, but now she knew that they were late for class.
“Shit! That was the bell, now were going to be late” Sara said and pulled on Catherine’s arm to point her towards the chemistry room.
“Bye Gil, I hope to see you at the football game this weekend!” Catherine called down the hallway, as she never let her eyes roam away from his until the two of them turned the corner and were out of each other’s site.
Gil smiled to himself and whispered “I wouldn’t miss it for the world” and walked briskly down the hallway frantically searching for his Biology room.
~*~ Ten Years Later ~*~
“Oh my goodness I cannot believe that Greg just brought that up! He knew how much Catherine has been trying to cut that part out of her life. I should hunt him down and cause cruel and unusual punishment to him” Sara said banging her balled up fist on the counter top issuing a large bang reverberated through out the room.
“Don’t do that, Greg might actually enjoy it” Catherine retorted as she picked up and apple from the weave basket in the middle of the table. She began to toss it back and forth between her left and right hand deep in concentration about what sort of evil revenge she wanted to do to Greg for payback.
Grissom could see that Catherine was bottling up all of her anger inside of her at Sanders last remark. She was like a shaken bottle of champagne; if you shake her too much she’ll pop.
Greg knew that bringing that up would make Catherine upset, and he had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he brought it up on purpose, yet Grissom didn’t know why. It was probably to refresh his memory of seeing her and Sara shaking their ass to the beat of music.
“Cath? What are you thinking about?” Nick asked a little concerned about what his distraught co-worker was conjuring up in her mind.
In the spur of the moment Catherine chucked the apple at the glass door with so much force that it splattered into applesauce and cracked the pain of glass causing a bulls-eye pattern. Everyone jumped at the sound of apple and the people in the adjoining labs turned to stare at the pissed off criminalist in the break room.
Catherine looked away from the apple juice slowly sliding down the pain of broken glass at the lab rats that were all wide eyed and looked to be frozen in time. Catherine gave them all the evil eye and it instantaneously looked away and got back to work as if they stared into the eyes of Medusa.
“Cath is all of your anger released?” Sara asked approaching her frail and distraught friend was mindlessly staring at the squished apple.
Sara cautiously took baby steps towards Catherine seeing her whipping away the tears running down her cheeks. Catherine couldn’t believe that she was actually being this emotional over someone saying “Pink Flamingo’s”. Maybe because Eddie was now deceased having the memory of working for him in her head is triggered when someone says those ‘magic words’. All the horrible memories he had left burned into her skull became vivid when someone brings up her past, with the exception of her daughter Lindsey.
Catherine bolted out of her chair as Sara jumped backwards out of her friend’s way scared that she would become a casualty in Catherine’s rampage. She swung open the glass-door to the break room and stomped down the hallway towards the women’s washroom. Sara turned away from Catherine heading down the hallway back towards the men seeing the stunned look on their faces unsure of what to say.
“I’ll-I’ll go check on her, you guys can have fun cleaning up the apple sauce and call maintenance to get that window replaced” Sara said and left the break room sprinting down the hallway towards the woman’s washroom.
Grissom turned and looked at Nick and Warrick and shifted his eyes to the mess on the broken glass with the apple smear dribbling down. Nick and Warrick knew what their boss was implying and shook their heads no. Grissom wouldn’t listen to them and threw each of them a towel and pointed once again towards the mess.
“Man Griss, why do we have to clean it up? You should make Sanders do it! He was the one who started all of this” Nick moaned getting down on his hands and knees to be eye level with the apple mush.
“I agree, but do you see that little idiot around here anywhere because I sure the hell don’t” Grissom explained furious about the irrational actions Greg had done.
“Griss, no offence but you really have to tell Cath that you love her. I mean getting mad at us about the apple fiasco is not going to get you and her any closer than being really good friends” Warrick suggested as he whipped up some of the apple making it even worse.
“Griss?” Warrick asked after a few moments of silence. He turned around and saw that Grissom was gone and probably didn’t even hear a word he had just said.
Catherine burst through the swing door of the women’s bathroom and slammed a stall door shut behind her causing the lock to fall off and the door squeak on it’s un-oiled hinges. Sara was right on Catherine’s heels calling after her but Sara had a feeling that she was blocking out any body’s voice at the moment. Sara slowly pushed open the swing door and could hear loud sobbing coming from inside the middle stall.
“Cath?” Sara asked approaching the semi closed stall door seeing her friend kneeling on the ground hunched over the toilet bowl looking like she was about to vomit.
The sound of the high pitched squeaking sound on the hinges caused Sara to cringe and Catherine to look up to see who was there. Sara could see that the sobbing and tear steaks running down her cheeks caused her eyes to be red, puffy and blotchy from whipping away her tears with the rough toilet paper.
“I cannot believe I had just done that,” Catherine sobbed.
“The apple? Or getting upset?” Sara asked sitting down on the tile floor beside Catherine putting an arm around her upset friend.
Sara pushed a lock of damp blonde hair that was stuck to her friend forehead with sweat because it was so warm and stuffy in the woman’s bathroom. Catherine gave her a weak smile seeing that she was just trying to comfort her during this rough time.
“I meant getting upset. I’ve worked cases at Strip Club’s at least 100 times and I have never gotten emotional like this” Catherine explained stating the facts that Sara had already known.
“It’s okay Kitty” Sara said calling her best friend by her nickname. She hadn’t called her, her nickname since high school. “I understand why you got upset. Maybe Greg just forgot about why it pissed you off and blurted it out.” Sara replied giving her a well-deserved hug.
“No Sarbear! He said it on purpose and I’m going to find out why, along with paying him back some how…” Catherine replied as she whispered her genius plan in her best friend’s ear.
~*~ Ten Years Earlier ~*~
“Class, I would like you to meet our new student from Chicago, his name is Gil Grissom. Please make him feel comfortable and welcome to Grade thirteen biology.” The biology teacher exclaimed and directed Grissom towards the empty seat at the back of the class.
The back table had three guys that he had never seen around school at all today. He was a little skeptical to be sitting with them not sure of how they would react with new blood at their table. Gil noticed that they were all wearing jerseys from the football team and then knew that they were jocks. The thought of football made Gil’s hear jump a beat at the memory of Catherine.
“Hey new kid,” one of the guys said as Gil took a seat on one of the uncomfortable stools.
“Hell-hello” Gil whispered giving the three men a nervous smile.
“I’m Nick Stokes and this is Warrick Brown” he replied and pointed towards the tall black guy that had just spoke to him a few seconds ago. “And this is Greg Sanders” and he pointed towards the other jock that was sitting beside him.
“Nice to meet yawl” Gil said starting to relax seeing that these men are not going to make fun of him or not going to make him do some stupid little prank.
“We want you to be in our group of friends, you’re going to need people like you to get you all the beautiful women, and into the hottest parties.” Greg proposed seeing Gil’s eyes light up at him saying ‘beautiful women’.
“To start you should go to the football game that’s happening this weekend. You can sit in the stands and watch our star cheerleaders Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle. You could also watch the game, but the girls are probable more exciting” Nick said and saw the blush appear on Grissom’s face.
“Your turning all red on us Gil, what’s up?” Warrick pressured with a smile, having a hunch that it had something to do with Catherine and Sara.
“N-nothing” Gil stuttered as he tried not to picture Catherine in a mini skirt jumping around with pompoms screaming with her beautiful songbird voice.
“You like one of the cheerleaders don’t you?” Greg pried.
Grissom went speechless and tilted her head down towards his biology book that was open on genetics to make it look like he was trying to follow the lesson while hiding his embarrassment. He had never shown feelings for another person so this was a totally new experience for him, and he was scared of what to do next afraid that he could screw it up.
When he locked eyes with Catherine in the hallway a few hours ago he knew that a spark had appeared between the two of them, like it was meant to be. Of course he had met many women before that had found him attractive but he didn’t feel that connection between them when he looked into their eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t get dates; it’s just that he was waiting for the right one.
“You do! Which one?” Nick asked desperately wanting to know which bachlorette.
“Is it Sara? Because you know I love Sara, and she loves me,” Greg stated becoming territorial.
“How can she love you, if she doesn’t even know you like her” Warrick questioned while Nick and Grissom couldn’t help but muffle a laugh.
“Is it Catherine?”
Grissom wasn’t sure if he should say anything to them since they’re on the football team, they could tell her that he has a puppy dog crush on her. That would blow his chances of ever getting close to her and he would probably be laughed out of Las Vegas. On the other hand the three of them did say that they were his friends Gil, had never really had any friends in his life except for his insects but he had read in a book that your true friends don’t tell other people their secrets.
“Yes…its Catherine” Grissom confessed as the guys went speechless.
“Dude, it’s your first day at this school and you’ve already met one of the hottest girls for miles, awesome!” Warrick stated and patted his new friend lightly on the back. “I mean she’s hotter than the desert”
“How did you meet her anyway?” Greg asked wondering how someone could be that lucky, even in Las Vegas.
“Well, I helped pick up her books that she dropped on the floor, that’s all”
“You just happened to run into her in the middle of the hallway on your first day here? Dude not even people that gamble in the casino’s here don’t get that good of odds”
“Excuse me gentlemen” the Biology teacher said seeing that the four men in the back of the room having their own conversation that must have been more interesting than the lecture their teacher was giving them on cell division.
All four of the men looked towards the front of the class and could see the anger look plastered on their teachers face as the rest of the class was staring at them disappointed in them for interrupting the class. All of them whispered ‘sorry’ and bowed their heads in embarrassment looking down at their open textbooks sitting in front of them. The Biology teacher could see that they were now going to pay attention and resumed his lecture about Meiosis.
The final bell of the day rang through out the whole high school and Sara and Catherine began their ten-minute walk to Sara’s house to get ready for the football game that was starting in a few hours. They walked through the front door seeing that Sara’s mother wasn’t home from work yet and headed up stairs into her room to change into their uniforms.
Catherine plopped herself down on Sara’s bed and flipped through a magazine while Sara grabbed her cheerleaders uniform from behind her door and headed into the adjoining bathroom to get changed. She was done the magazine in less than five minutes and didn’t see any more lying around.
She got up off of the bed at seeing the CD rack in the far left-hand corner. She knelt down on the carpet and tilted her head to the side so she could read the titles of the CD’s to see if there were any that she liked. Sara had an assortment of CD’s ranging from country to hip- hop.
“Hey Sarbear!” Catherine called to her best friend who was still in the adjoining bathroom.
“Yeah Kitty?” Sara’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door.
Sara was trying to concentrate on not falling over breaking a hip trying to put on her pantyhose. She would have sat down and put them on normally but she was in a rush to get ready and wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Do you have a ‘No Doubt’ CD in your pile of CD’s over here on your rack”
“Um, I think so” Sara replied. She lost her balance on her foot and fell on the floor with a thud.
Catherine heard the thud vibrate through the floorboards as she sprinted to her feet to see if her friend was in any serious pain. She swung open the door and stood in the doorway in silence seeing Sara on the cold tile floor laughing at her actions. Catherine then joined in on the laughing and walked into the small bathroom to help her friend back up on her feet.
“Would you mind making yourself useful and helping me up off the floor.” Sara snapped extending her arm out for Catherine to grab a hold of.
Catherine clasped her hand around Sara’s trying with all her strength to pull her up to her feet. She forgot that she was still wearing her socks and was sliding on the sleek tile floor. Catherine could feel her feet buckling under her and she let go of Sara’s hand letting out a small yelp.
She squinted her eye’s shut anticipating the excruciating pain that was going to shoot through her body from her butt as it hit the tile floor. Catherine opened up her eyes at the sound of Sara’s laughter. She gave her friend an evil glare but she wasn’t able to keep a straight face for long before she began to burst out laughing at what happened.
Both girls sat their for a good few minuets having a good laugh at the predicament they had gotten themselves into in the middle of a bathroom. They both locked eyes for a second and knew that they were both thinking the same thing; if Sara’s mother walked in on this, she would defiantly think that they were doing something inappropriate together.
Sara reached up and felt the rough texture of the towel bar that was within arms reach. She wrapped her hand around it praying that it would be able to hold her weight as she pushed off the floor with her feet. Her feet began to flare out from under her making it look like she was just learning how to figure skate on the tile floor because of her slippery pantyhose. As soon as she was able to get her feet firmly in one position she began to pull herself up using her leg muscles until she was finally standing up straight once again. Sara lightly flattened out her skirt to make sure that it wasn’t riding up at the back and let out a big sigh as if she has just completed a marathon.
Since Catherine was seated in the middle of the doorframe she grabbed onto the sides to the frame stretching her arms as far as they could go and pushed herself up to her feet. Her fingernails were digging into the wood making a loud etching sound on the wood that caused Sara to cover her ears since it sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Finally after a few slips because of her damn pantyhose Catherine was back on her own two feet fluffing up her skirt and trying to straighten out the wrinkles in her top of her cheerleading uniform. The last thing she needed was to walk into the biggest game of the season with practically the whole school their watching her and Sara more than the game looking like a bum.
“SARA! CATHERINE! TIME FOR SUPPER!” Sara’s mother called from down in the dinning room and both girls let out a little giggle. Nothing like perfect timing.
After there supper that was chicken and rice for everyone except Sara who just had rice and vegetables Sara’s mother dropped both of them off at the deserted Horseshoe Valley High to meet up with the rest of the senior squad and football team. They always went a half an hour early because they cheerleaders would have their warm-up and the football team had a pep talk from their coach about what plays were going to happen in the game.
The school always had an eerie feeling to it when you went in it after hours. There were no students filling up the hallways and no teachers around to yell at the students for them being in the halls without a pass or for them being late to class. Although usually when Sara and Catherine got to the school the cheerleaders was either waiting in the front foyer or in the cheerleading office, this time they were nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe they’re already out on the field warming up?” Sara suggested and Catherine shrugged her shoulders.
“That would be the only other logical place, unless we’re really early, but I highly doubt that” Catherine replied and Sara laughed knowing that was true.
Both girls headed down another hallway that led outside to the football field. All of a sudden the bright overhead lights flicked off and everything went pitch black. Sara and Catherine stopped searching for each other’s hands in the darkness to make sure that they were not alone.
“Sara?” Catherine whispered putting her hands out in front of her and moving them around
“Ouch!” Sara yelled as Catherine’s hand hit her in the head and Catherine screamed at another voice filling the silence. Then Sara joined in on the screaming as both echoed down the hallway.
“Sorry,” Catherine said after they both stopped screaming and giggled at how scared they were.
Just then a very loud beeping sound came from the ceiling and both girls knew it was from the PA system. Every-time they hear those 3 beeps it means that someone is going to announce something. Loud and evil toned laughing erupted through the empty, dark hallways booming over the two girl’s heads causing them to shudder and shiver. They clasped their cold sweaty hands around each other’s pulling their shaking bodies closer together.
The laughing continued and both girls jumped at the sound of crashing coming from down the hallway and slowly making their way towards Sara and Catherine. Something was banging and knocking against the metal locker doors getting louder and louder. Both Catherine and Sara wanted to run for cover or try to run for safety but they were too scared to move, instead they stayed in the middle of the hallway huddling each other sobbing, and praying for it to end.
The lights suddenly flickered on and the banging seized and the laughing dissipated. The bright lights caused the Catherine and Sara to squint their eyes and blinded them momentarily. When they opened their eyes and their leg muscles began to relax they saw the whole cheerleading squad and the senior football team standing around them in a semi-circle giggling. Sara and Catherine both wanted to beat up every one of them for playing the very cruel and sick joke on the two of them. They shifted their glance around the circle seeing some people holding baseball bats that they used to bash against the metal lockers and the other ones were just laughing so hard that they were about to keel over.
Catherine and Sara felt so embarrassed that let go of each other and took a couple of steps back from each other seeing that they were probably laughing at them holding on to each other for dear life. They brought their hands to their faces and covered the redness that was all over their face from embarrassment.
“Very funny guys!” Sara screamed into the crowd as she tried her hardest not to burst out crying.
“Actually it was,” a mans voice could be heard from near the back of the crowd.
The group of people slowly moved to two opposite sides of the hallway allowing him to walk through towards the two girls. Catherine looked up from her hands and saw that it was her boyfriend, Jeff. She knew right away that he was the one behind it and it was his turn to get his comeuppance. Catherine showed him the middle finger as the laughing stopped seeing that she was pissed off now, and you didn’t want to get Catherine pissed off.
“Hey sugar lips,” Jeff said soothingly leaning in on Catherine’s face to give her a kiss.
Instead Catherine took a step back and slapped Jeff hard across the face. The crowd let out a loud “ooh” and took a couple steps back wondering if she was going to do anything worse. Sara even winced at that seeing the power she put into the slap and knew that he had gone way to far this time.
“Bitch,” Jeff muttered under his breath, but everyone could still hear it echo in the silent hallway.
Catherine despised that word and she hated it even more when someone that she cared about called her that. There was no way this time she was going to forgive him and come running back to him. He had too many chances with her and she wasn’t in the mood to be someone’s little lap dog, and especially someone who is an asshole. She kicked him as hard as she could with her running shoes in the groin seeing everyone’s painful reaction to that as Jeff screamed. He dropped to his knees as he tried his best to salvage what was left of his manhood. He glanced up from the dirty tile floor and saw the evil glare in Catherine’s eyes, knowing that she had enjoyed that.
“You can kiss your girlfriend good-bye, actually don’t even think about taking that literally or,” Catherine squatted down on the floor to be eye level with her ex-boyfriend. “I’ll cut your balls off with my car keys, are we clear?” Catherine whispered and Jeff nodded his head in approval.
Catherine gave him one last kick in the stomach as he keeled over into the fetal position as she and Sara both stepped over his trembling body. Sara tried not to laugh at the star quarterback of the football team being beaten by his girlfriend who was a cheerleader. Both of them pushed past the crowd of onlookers that where still silent and walked down the hallway out towards the football field to warm up for the game. Sara glanced over at Catherine seeing the evil smirk on her face as she listened to the crude things Jeff was screaming behind them, ignoring them.
“And they say we’re the cry babies,” Catherine retorted and stifled a laugh as Sara joined.
~*~ Ten Years Later ~*~
Catherine splashed some water in her face, as the cool liquid felt good on her flushed face. The lab was always hot a stuffy, and this was just the cure to stop the heat-flashes. Sara grabbed a paper towel out of the dispenser and handed it to Catherine. She smiled and used the rough paper to wipe the dripping water from her face.
“Thanks,” Catherine said as she patted her cheeks and forehead. She was careful not to mess up her make-up that takes her an hour to apply every morning.
“Ready to get back at slime ball Sanders?” Sara asked with a snicker.
“You know, I really have no idea why you were so interested in him back in high school.”
“Because back then he wasn’t like the Greg we know and sort of love today.”
Both girls laughed and walked out of the bathroom, Catherine wrapping her arm around Sara’s shoulder and bringing her in closer. The two of them had been friends forever, and were always close. They hoped to keep that special bond they possessed for as long as possible. Both women reached for the door handle at once and swung open the door. Huge smiles were on their faces, and giggles were escaping their lips. However, when they saw Grissom standing there, about to collide with him on the way down the hallway their smiles faded.
Grissom on the other hand had a confused look on his face and a blush creeping across his cheeks. He knew the girls were wondering why he was down near the woman’s washroom and not the men’s. Either he was a little confused on what gender he was, or he was coming to check up on Catherine. They would believe the second one before the first. It was quite obvious to the whole team, but especially Sara that Gil liked Catherine as more than a good friend. Sara also knew that Catherine had the same feeling towards Gil, but either of them were too scared to tell one another.
“Hey Grissom,” Sara said. She noticed he was glancing down at the floor. Red with embarrassment.
“Hey,” he said still not looking up from the green tile floor.
Sara had the feeling he was not comfortable saying what he wanted to with Sara around. He wanted to talk to Catherine in private, yet she didn’t really know the difference. He must know by now that Catherine and Sara talk about everything after shift over a few beers down at Bar 911. Sara shifted her glance from Grissom back to Catherine. She was in just as much of a daze as Gil. She always had trouble speaking around Grissom, ever since she started getting these feelings for Gil that were more than friendship. Now it was hard for either of them to have a conversation with one another. This whole situation was getting worse, not better.
Sara leaned in on Catherine’s ear and whispered something. Catherine did not change her expression one bit; not even a movement was made from her rigid body. Sara then left the two alone looking back once before she turned the corner. Still nothing had happened. They looked like manikins in a department store. She shook her head and headed back towards the break room. Maybe she could engage herself in an interesting conversation with Nick and Warrick, maybe even make a, proposition...
As soon as Sara turned the corner Gil looked up from the tile floor. His eyes met Catherine’s and she could see the sorrow in them from Greg’s comment a good hour before. He then noticed her smile; it was almost like a smirk. Gil thought that Catherine was probably enjoying his little embarrassment scene a little too much. It was probably more of amazement that he was actually able to express emotions at work towards something, other than his bugs. It was quite remarkable.
“Are you okay? You looked very upset when you stomped out of the break room?” Gil finally said. His tense muscles were finally beginning to relax.
“I’m fine, Greg just brought back some tough memories.” Catherine stated. Her lips were the only part of her body that was moving. The swing door to the bathroom was still moving ever so slightly. She was mesmerized by his schoolboy charm.
“Oh, I can see why…I mean,” Gil stopped; she did not want to go back down that road.
“Why are you standing here anyway? The guys washroom is down the other hallway.”
“I-I was,”
“Spit it out Grissom,” Catherine replied beginning to get impatient. Her range of emotions had changed drastically over the past twenty seconds.
“I um, I,” Grissom mumbled. He was at a loss of words.
Catherine sighed. She knew that he would never spit it out. She would be here for years before he actually got up the courage to make a complete sentence around her anymore. However, she shouldn’t talk. Recently she had been acting the same way, “Whatever,” she said and walked past him. The first few steps she took were awkward, but then she got passed him and headed to the break room.
Grissom let out a huge sigh. He felt like punching himself in the face. Why couldn’t he just tell her that he was there to see if she was all right? Why was it so hard from him to express his true feelings towards her? They used to the best of friends, and could share anything with one another. Now it is awkward between the two of them, each of them getting tongue-tied and at a loss of words. It takes them forever to complete an actual conversation. Why was it so hard for him to admit his true feelings to the woman he shared his deepest secrets with?
“Excuse me?” a lady snapped from behind Grissom. It scared it so much that he jumped.
Grissom at first thought that it was Catherine, and she had come back for some strange reason. However, he was wrong. It was one of the lab technicians, wanting to use the woman’s the bathroom. Her long blonde hair and blue eyes resembled Catherine to a tee, and she could have passed as an older version of Lindsey. He moved to the sidewall and let the woman pass. He examined her walk as the sound of her heels on the tile reminded him of Catherine; even the scent of the perfume the woman wore was matching to Catherine’s. He had made up his mind. He was going to tell Catherine the feelings he had for her. Although to do this daring feat he would need some wisdom from of her youngest and best friends. Sara Sidle.
~*~ Ten Years Earlier ~*~
Sara and Catherine were sitting on the cold, metal, bleachers out on the football field. The two of them were seated with the rest of the cheerleading squad, watching the senior football team do their usual warm up. The girls were paying little to know attention to the scowls and dirty looks that Catherine and Jeff kept exchanging with each other. It was something common for the two lovebirds to be fighting, and in the end everyone knew they were going to kiss and make up.
Sara rolled her eyes at Catherine’s childish gestures and took a look up behind them to see if any other girls had come to join in the speciation. What she saw surprised her. Gil Grissom was sitting up at the very top, his head buried in a book and his mind deep in concentration. Sara wondered why he had chosen the bleachers as a place to read. Sara turned around seeing that all the girls, besides Catherine were talking about how great the guys would look without their jersey’s on. Sara gave Catherine a slight nudge in the shoulder, whisking her out of the dreamland she was cooped up in.
Catherine turned to her best friend, taking her eyes away from the men down on the field doing pushups and singing the chants to get their spirits up. Sara pointed with her finger to the bleacher up at the very top. Catherine followed Sara’s finger and came face to face with Grissom. Catherine quickly turned away, as if Gil would be able to see her through the pages in his insect book. Catherine didn’t want to admit it, but she did have a small puppy dog crush on the ‘new kid’. It was awkward since this was the second time she had came in contact with him, however both were by accident and both were in the same day. It had to mean something.
“Go up there and talk to him,” Sara whispered nudging Catherine again.
“Okay, okay if it will get you to stop nudging me.” Catherine replied and stood up. “I’ll be right back girls,” Catherine addressed the group as she brushed the creases out of her mini skirt.
Catherine turned and walked up the bleachers, holding down the ends of her skirt with her hands as the breeze became stronger with every step she took. The last thing she wanted to do was to show Gil her pink underwear. Her eyes never left his face; she could see the concentration in his eyes as he was studying the pictures and words in his book. When she finally made it up to his bleacher, being at the very top of the stand she took a seat beside him. If she were any closer she would have sat on his lap. Catherine was a bit surprised that Gil did not acknowledge her presence, or even look up from his book for a few moments to give her a smile she was dying for.
She glanced back down at the bottom of the stand, looking at the cheerleaders who had abandoned their conversation about the hottest football player and were entranced on Catherine. They found the soap opera between Gil and Catherine more enjoyable, and better for gossip than the jocks. They looked like robots, there blonde hair back in ponytails and blue green eyes staring, patiently waiting to watch some drama.
“Hey Gil,” Catherine said turning her eyes away from her Barbie friends. She hoped that Gil would notice her.
Gil realized that Catherine was sitting beside him, which was why he was staring blankly at the picture of the maggot on the page. He could smell the scent of her perfume for she was so close; that he could touch her if he wanted to. He did want to, he was just too scared. Catherine was like a Greek goddess. If you touched her, you were afraid you would be cursed, or destroy her beauty that everyone enjoyed. Gil didn’t want to look over at her, he knew he would be at a loss of words, and this time in a public place, with her friends and the jocks in ear shot. He would be the laugh stock of Vegas.
“What’s that book your reading?” Catherine asked seeing if he would actually respond.
Gil wanted badly to reply but he knew he would just clam up and begin to stutter. He could still smell the sweet scent of her perfume and he loved it. Just as much as he loved her. In the corner of his eye he could see Catherine’s smile. His eyes were trying to stay trained on the development process of maggots, but failing horribly. Catching that grin, showing the beauty of her red lips that were coated in lipstick made Gil’s heart skip and beat and fall love struck. A tingling sensation was surging through his body, making him feel numb all over.
Gil wanted to plant a kiss on her lips and have an actual civil conversation with her, without wetting his pants. He had never talked to a girl before in his entire life, afraid that he would bore her and then she would eventually loose interest in him. That his bug collections, maggot farms and flew circus would gross her out more than intrigue her mind. Gil had always been what people consider a ‘loner’ and placing his shyness in books and bugs.
All through his childhood he had stayed close to his mother, who was deaf and was not a people person. When he turned fifteen he got his first job at the county morgue and would rather be with the dead than the living. Gil would attend boxing matches to study blood spatter from the blows the fighters would take in the ring. He would play poker with his mother and her friends to study human behaviour.
Catherine was beginning to get fed up with waiting for Gil to answer her. She felt like she was talking to a brick wall. Catherine had a feeling that he was just shy and didn’t want to say anything embarrassing. She understood, but he was making her look like an idiot. Although her friends would understand, so she hoped.
“I-I guess I’ll talk to you later then.” Catherine started and got up off of the cold metal bleacher. She headed back down towards her group of friends that wee stifling their laughs.
Grissom knew that he had blown it big time. That may be his only chance to make up for it, and he better make it count. The last thing he wanted was for the love of his life to walk away and for them to never have a chance. He wished he could be more outgoing, he wished he would be more like Warrick or Nick. He lifted his head up from his bug diagram and called;
“Catherine!”
Catherine stopped in mid stride at the sound of Grissom’s sweet voice from behind her. She spun on her heel and placed both of her feet firmly on the metal bench. Maybe he wasn’t the coward she thought he was. Catherine couldn’t help the smile that came across her face; Gil talking to her was a dream come true. Maybe asking him out would not be such a shot in the dark.
“Yeah?” she answered, the smile still prominent across her face.
Now or never Grissom, he thought. “Good luck tonight!” he called and smiled to cover his nervousness. He had done it; he had spoken to Catherine Willows. Gil quickly ducked his head back into his book to hide his flushed cheeks.
“Thanks,” Catherine replied and turned back towards her friends sitting back down beside Sara. The smile never went away.
Meanwhile down on the football field the players were doing their usual laps around the field. Greg and Warrick were huffing and puffing, running at the same pace beside one another. Sweat had leached through their jerseys as the Vegas sun that beats down on the players for one more hour. The two men looked up at the stands to see Catherine sitting up there with Grissom, and Grissom seeming like he was not interested in her at all. Greg shook his head at his friends shyness around the ladies and Warrick couldn’t help but smile at the group of cheerleaders watching the scene like a group of vultures.
“Damn, we need to teach Gil a few things about being in the presence of a beautiful woman such as Catherine,” Warrick stated as they turned a corner in the field.
“That’s for sure!” Greg agreed and caught another glance of Sara sitting pretty in her cheerleading uniform. “Hey did you ever notice how sexy Sara looks in her cheerleading uniform?” Greg stated. He looked as if he were about to drool over her presence like a dog.
“You’ve never noticed that before Greg? I mean, I noticed and I’m not the one obsessed with her.” Warrick replied and Greg playfully punched his friend in the bicep.
“Shut up man,”
Both men kept watching the bleachers as they were heading towards the center of the field to meet up with some of their fellow teammates. Both of them watched as Catherine abandoned her failed attempts at talking with Grissom as she headed back towards her group of friends.
“I guess Cat gave up. I don’t blame her, I would have gave up five minutes ago.” Greg replied.
Warrick looked up at the bleachers again, and saw Catherine stopped midway down the bleachers. The two men stared up at the stands, wondering and waiting to see what would happen next. Greg and Warrick noticed that Gil had actually gotten enough courage to say something to Catherine. Both watched the smile appear on Catherine’s face and the blush on Gil. Total love connection had commenced.
“Damn, did you see that? I wonder what he said to her?” Greg asked. “I take it back, he defiantly does know how to seduce the ladies.”
Just then Greg felt a nudge in his back that almost made him fall face first into the grass and mud that was scattered around the football field. Greg turned to see who it was, and it was none other than Jeff. How could he have thought it was someone else.
“Come on Sanders! Stop gawkin’ and start running!” Jeff said and breezed on by laughing.
“Hey Jeff.” Warrick called, catching the mans attention. “How was it being beat up by Catherine?” Warrick asked and snickered. Jeff just gave him the evil eye.
“Are you still capable of having children?” Greg added stifling a laugh.
“Don’t start Brown!” Jeff replied and glared at Greg, “And you! Shut up before I make you!”
“Oh I’m shaking in my booties. I’m really terrified of a man who was beat up by a cheerleader; head cheerleader to be exact.”
“Hey! You want to go!” Jeff gave Greg a slight push in the shoulder as a crowd began to form around the three men. He was signaling for a fight.
“You just love the ground so much you’d kiss it twice in one day.” Warrick retorted and pushed Jeff back. The fight was on.
“That’s it Brown! You’re going down!” Jeff yelled and slugged Warrick across the face.
The chant fight, fight, fight…was herd throughout the formed crowd of footballers.
The two men circled around each other like two lions fighting in an arena ring. Each of them was anticipating the others move and wondered who would strike first. Warrick didn’t really want to fight Jeff, be he knew that if he refused, the embarrassment would have been ten times worse. He decided to encourage Jeff to take the first hit. Warrick felt like a matador and Jeff was the pissed off bull. Warrick braced himself, hunching his body forward and digging his heels into the dirt and mud. Jeff came running full force, hunched over and head down; resembling a football tackle.
Jeff’s head impacted Warrick’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of him for a brief moment. Warrick lost his footing and slammed down onto the ground. The thud of their bodies impacting mother earth was heard through out the crowd. Jeff, who was now on top of Warrick, used his right hook and slugged Warrick again in the mouth. Warrick’s bottom lip had split open and blood was beginning to dribble down his chin. However there was no way that Warrick was going to go down with out a fight. He saw Jeff winding up for another, and before that balled up fist hit his face for a second time, Warrick stopped it with a punch to the stomach.
Jeff toppled over and Warrick took advantage of that and pounced on his back, flattening Jeff down into the dirt and now he was on top. Jeff was on the bottom and about the get what the footballers call a ‘mud mask’. Jeff gritted his teeth, his face centimeters away from the foul smelling mud. There was no way that this fight was going to stop, unless someone broke the two men up.
None of the guys on the football team dared to interfere with a fight between two footballers. This was their entertainment. There was no coach around, none of the cheerleaders where paying any attention, and two of the star players were going at it. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to show whose the strongest, and to settle their uneasiness between one another once and for all. Everyone knew Warrick was jealous over Catherine dating Jeff; he had had a crush on her from the beginning of freshman year. This was the final showdown over the head cheerleader.
Meanwhile, the cheerleaders on the bleachers were discussing which routine they should open with for this evening’s game. Sara, who was only half paying attention to the girls talk about flips and twists could hear the familiar chant of fight, fight, fight…coming from the middle of the football field. She turned away from the group and looked out there seeing a huddle of guys watching two of their players rolling around in the field. Sara stood up, trying to catch a glimpse of who the two men where, and was not shocked to see that Jeff was one of them. He was always getting into fights, and this time he had picked one with Warrick. Sara could only imagine what happened between these two to set it off.
“Hey kitty.” Sara said calling Catherine by her nickname. Catherine looked up from the group of girls and smiled at Sara. “It appears that your boyfriend is fighting again.” Sara replied and Catherine sighed.
Catherine stood up, standing beside Sara, and watched as her boyfriend was getting what the jocks like to call a ‘mud mask’, his face was getting dunked in the dirty foul smelling mud. Catherine couldn’t help but smile at her boyfriend getting pay back for what he had done to her and Sara earlier on. She just wished she were the one giving him the ‘mud mask’ instead of Warrick. However, no matter how much she was enjoying her boyfriend getting made out to be a fool for the second time in a day, she did want to end the fight. The last thing she wanted was to hear from Jeff about how she did nothing but point and laugh. It would be non-stop badgering about her not getting off her ‘sorry ass’ to do something about it.
Both Sara and Catherine hopped down from the bottom bleacher and into the muddy, wet football field. The walked, trying to keep their uniform from getting full of mud over to the football players. The crowd of men noticed the two cheerleaders and separated, causing a hole for them to slip on through. The cheerleaders, especially the head cheerleader and her best friend, were treated like royalty. This was the only way to stop the two barbarians from wrestling in the mud.
Gil, while writing a letter to Catherine, could hear the chanting as well. He looked up, watching as Sara and Catherine made their way out to the middle of the football field. He watched their graceful moves, and he watched as the footballers could sense them coming and parted, as if they were princesses. Gil had thought of Catherine as a princess, she was beautiful, elegant, and so kind. He just wished he could let her know that. Gil placed his book down on the bleacher, and watched to see the two girls break up the fight. Gil knew that if the guys had tried to harm either of those women he would be down there, ready to intervene.
Hey break it up you guys! Gil heard Catherine yell. He could see that she was attempting to pull the two guys apart, who were now back standing, and wrapped around one another.
Watch out! Gil then heard and this time it was Sara. His head searched, looking to see what was going to happen, he could tell something bad was going to happen. Gil couldn’t stand the wait, he stood up, leaving his book and note on the bleacher and headed down to the field. All he had on his mind was Catherine, and he hoped she was all right.
One of the cheerleaders waited until Gil was gone and went up to inspect the book he was reading. She saw that it was about bugs and gave a weird look, as if this guy was from outer space. She then caught a glimpse of a piece of paper that was sticking out the top. Slowly she slid it out and read some of it. A large smile appeared on her face, as she folded it up and stuck it in her skirt pocket. Quickly she hopped back down the bleachers, rejoining her group before Gil suspected anything.
Catherine was stuck in the middle of the two guys, trying to break them apart from one another. However, when Sara screamed, it was already too late. Jeff had missed Warrick and instead punched Catherine across the jaw. The force was so strong that it sent her plummeting to the ground, semi unconscious. Sara wanted to get in there and help her best friend but Greg was holding her back. She gave him the evil eye, but she knew he was just protecting her. He didn’t want her to get hurt as well.
Just as Gil approached the group of men he had to push and shove his way through to get to the front, he saw Catherine go down. He waited a few second, wondering if she was going to move, going to do anything. Gil looked over at Sara and could see the helplessness in her eyes. She was signaling for him to go and grab Catherine before she got anymore hurt. Gil ran over to the side, picking up Catherine’s light body in his arms, seeing that she was still a little dazed and moved her out of the action. At least she was safe; she wouldn’t be hurt anymore. Gil didn’t even realize what he had done; it was something so instinctive that he did not have time to think. He had just saved the woman he loved, he had touched her, he was holding her in his arms; she was with him. Warrick tackled Jeff down to the ground once more, and in the same area Catherine was no more than two seconds ago. Neither man stopped to see how Catherine was. Sara and Greg smiled, he had saved her, he had done something amazing for the woman he loved and probably not even realized it.
One of the more proper football players who saw Catherine get slugged across the face went to go and get the coach. The fight was all fun and games when it was just the two guys, but now that an innocent girl had been injured, it was time to stop. The coach and assistant coach came running from the opposite side of the field where the football office was located. They pushed there way through the group of men and each coach took one of the fighters, yanking them off one another. Blood was running down their faces and their jerseys that were clean at one point were now full of mud. The other players scattered away before they were in trouble for not breaking it up.
“Peterson! Brown! In my office NOW!” the coach yelled. Both men walked with the coaches towards the office.
The crowd that once occupied the football field had gone and now only Greg, Sara, Gil and Catherine where the only ones left on the field. Greg and Sara huddled over Grissom who had a moaning cheerleader in his arms. Both were covered in mud and the bruise on Catherine’s cheek was beginning to change colours and spread across her cheek. A bit of blood dribbled down her cheek from a split open lip and Gil wiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt.
Catherine slowly opened her eyes and could see a blurred version of Gil looking down at her with a smile on his face. She tried to smile back, but it hurt her mouth too much as she winced in pain. As crazy as it seems, Catherine could not fully blame Jeff for hitting her across the face. She should have known better than to interfere with a fight between two jocks. Usually, the people who get caught in the crossfire are the ones that end up getting hurt the most.
Gil was still amazed that he had actually saved Catherine, who was the prettiest and most popular girl in entire school. He had actually saved someone’s life, and to make it even better, it was the woman he loved. Gil had seen it done so many times in TV land, where everyday people become heroes and save the ones they care about. He just never thought that it could never happen to him. It was exactly like they did on TV…with no strings attached.
“Gil?” Catherine asked. She was still seeing blurred figures of people in front of her.
“Yes?” Gil asked mesmerized by the sound of her voice.
“Thanks…” she murmured. A slight blush was appearing on her face.
“No, no problem.” He stuttered and smiled again to cover his nervousness that had decided to kick in. Great timing he thought.
“WOW! Gil, amazing job man! You basically saved Catherine’s life!” Greg exclaimed, still having an arm around Sara’s waist. This was the only opportunity he had to ever touch his beautiful goddess and he was not about to let go.
Sara could see the Greg’s hands were still around her and that was when she realized that he had feelings for her, strong feelings. She herself did not want him to let go. Sara was afraid that he may really not have those sorts of feelings and that it was just a chance to be close to one of the cheerleaders. Plus, Catherine didn’t know about her having a crush on Greg and she was afraid she would laugh at her if she confessed it.
Sara elbowed Greg in the stomach causing him to let his hand fall from around her stomach. He instead moved his hands to his own stomach, looking like he was about double over. She hated seeing Catherine injured, but was glad that Gil came to the rescue before something serious happened. She would not have wanted to call her, of Catherine’s mother and tell her about Catherine being brought to Desert Palm hospital. Although, she did have a small feeling of being replaced. Sara knew that Greg only held her back to protect her, and she found that sweet and caring. However, it also pissed her off. If he hadn’t held her back she would have been able to save Catherine instead of Gil. Sara couldn’t believe it, she was actually jealous of Gil Grissom.
She was jealous of someone that she had just met that afternoon. Someone she had run into accidentally, and someone who was in love with her best friend. Sara didn’t even know him, and she was jealous. However, it was not jealousy for him, it was jealousy that the new kid had found Catherine attractive and not her. High school is a big competition on whose the prettiest or the smartest, and when a new kid comes into the mix, everyone tries to impress them. All Catherine had to do was smile and need help picking up books. The more Sara thought about it, she wasn’t jealous of Gil, she was jealous of her best friend.
“Kitty, are you okay?” Sara asked walking over to her friend who was still in Gil’s arms.
“Yeah, I think so,” Catherine replied and fidgeted in Gils arms. “I can’t believe Jeff hit me, that bastard.” Catherine replied causing a smile to appear on Sara’s face. “Umm Gil, you can put me down now.” Catherine stated and smiled at Sara who was trying not to laugh.
Gil shook his head bringing his mind back from his fantasy of him and Catherine married and enjoying a happy life together. He saw the smug smile on her face and then remembered that they were still standing in the middle of the muddy football field as the sun was setting and the air bringing a cool wind with it. Gil didn’t want to let her go, he didn’t want her smell, her presence to leave, but he had to. She wanted to go, and he would not force her to do anything she didn’t want to.
“Oh sorry,” Gil replied and tilted his arms so Catherine could gracefully stand up and out of Gils arms.
Catherine placed her mud-covered running shoe in the football field with her toes pointed like a princess. Just as she let go of Grissom for support Catherine could feel her legs crumble from under her. Grissom attempted to catch her fall but he wasn’t quick enough. She slipped in the slick mud and fell backwards and back into the mud. At least she wasn’t getting any dirtier than she already was. Everyone was silent, waiting to hear an ear piercing scream come from Catherine. However instead she started to giggle which then in turn became a full-blown laugh. Sara, Greg and Gil all stared at one another. It was as if Catherine had become an alternate identity. The three didn’t know what else to do besides join in on the laughing, which at first appeared to be forced, but then eventually, they all found the situation funny.
“Here let me help you,” Sara and Gil said in unison.
Both of them glanced at one another and smiled sweetly. They were each hiding the jealousy that was looming inside their brains, and trying not to show it in their expressions. Catherine noticed the tension, and before she had two people fighting over her she smiled and held up both her hands.
“Why don’t you both help me.” Catherine replied. Her fingers were dripping in mud.
Sara grabbed a hand but Gil hesitated. He didn’t know why, but he did, even though no more than ten minutes ago she was stretched out in his arms. Catherine was beginning to get impatient and swung her other hand in Sara’s direction. Sara clasped that one as well and took a few steps backwards, pulling with all her might as Catherine was finally out of the mud and back on her feet. By now her legs were no longer wobbly.
“Thanks again Gil, you really are a life saver.” Catherine stated seeing Gil was still trapped in his own little world.
There was still no response from Grissom, as Sara and Catherine exchanged glances. The two girls then turned and began their trek back to the school, it seemed that tonight’s cheerleading squad would have to go without captain and co-captain. The whole football field was covered in mud, and the two girls held on to each others arms too make sure they would not slip and land in the dirt again. The first thing on their list was a shower.
Grissom snapped out of his la-la land phase and saw that Sara and Catherine were already walking away and heading back to the school. Everything had gone great, up until that moment. He blew it, Catherine probably thinks he’s some mutant freak who just goes around and saves women but won’t talk to them. Greg could see the frustration in his new friends face. He walked over to Gil placing and arm around his shoulder and giving it a slight pat. Both of the guys followed behind the girls, watching as they disappeared into the school.
“Well, at least Catherine knows you’re head over heels for her. Sara has no idea that I’ve had the biggest crush on her for the past four years.” Greg replied and Gil smiled.
Hearing Greg say something stupid made him feel better for his own stupidity. Gil needed to get advice from someone on how to act around the ladies. He needed someone to show him how he could win the heart of Catherine Willows.
“Hey Greg,” Gil said speaking for the first time in a few moments. “Do you think you guys could help me talk to Catherine, maybe even catch a date with her?” he asked, a blush reddening his cheeks.
“Of course!” Greg replied slapping Gil on the back. “That’s what friends are for.”
Gil smiled. He was now made real friends, besides his bugs. He would do everything in his power to gain the love and heart of Catherine. Anything.
~*~ Ten Years Later ~*~
In the break room, Nick, Warrick, Sara and Catherine were all staring at the wall-mounted clock waiting for shift to end. It had been one of the most boring, easy and emotional shifts that they had experienced in a long time. The last time the shift had gone through so much turmoil was with the unexpected and unfortunate death of Holly Gribbs. Nick and Warrick were staring at their coffee, swirling their stir sticks in the black liquid. Catherine and Sara were playing a productive game of tic-tac-toe and thinking up plans for the up coming weekend. Both of them had Saturday night off.
Grissom then walked into the break room. Everyone’s head turned in the direction of the door in unison like they were blood thirsty zombies from a horror movie and Gil was their fresh meat. When the small group realized that it was only their boss and not someone famous like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie they all frowned. In disappointment the group resumed their original activities.
“What a very happy, excited bunch we want here.” Gil stated in the eerie silent room.
Gil took a seat beside Catherine at the small table in the break room and could see that she was about to loose at the match of tic-tac-toes. Catherine did not acknowledge her bosses presence and Gil could sense it. It was like the bleacher episode but reversed.
“Sorry Griss. We’re just waiting for this very laborious shift to end.” Nick replied not looking up form his coffee.
“Since there are only two minutes left I think it is safe to say shift is over.”
As soon as Gil announced that everyone got up as if they were robots and that was their movement command. Nick and Warrick headed towards the door like a group of rampaging elephants as the girls shook their heads at the boy’s childish behaviour and got up as well. Catherine walked by Gil, her shoulder brushed his, as Gil reached out and grabbed Catherine’s arm. It was a bold and instinctive move, but it would be the only way for them to grab her attention. Catherine shifted her glance to her boss; the look of shock was registered on her face. Never had Grissom reached out and grabbed her arm like that. Sara stared in awe as well. He was never able to do that in high school yet now he has become some super guy. Catherine gave a sweet smile wondering if she was getting in trouble for what happened earlier with the apple.
“Catherine can I speak to you in my office.” Grissom asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Catherine replied as Grissom got up and followed her boss down the corridor.
Sara followed the couple out of the break room and watched as they went down the hall, still not realizing that they were now holding hands. That was something she had never seen before, that much physical contact had not happened between the two of them at work for a long time.
Greg was in the hallway and could see Sara staring at Catherine and Grissom. He still had his crush on Sara, and still had not worked up the courage to ask her out. He thought he had missed his chance when she was working as a CSI in San Francisco instead of Las Vegas. The distance between them was too great, and she probably would forget all about high school. However, when she was transferred over to work the Holly Gribbs case, and then realized her best friend from high school was working at the same police department she had decided to stay. It was Greg’s dream come true. He just needed to work up enough courage to actually ask Sara out.
“Whoa mama,” Sara blurted out as the two turned the corner, still holding hands.
Greg came up and stood beside Sara, a smug smile on his face. “Want to follow?” he asked. Sara jumped at Greg’s presence and all the anger she had for him at disappeared for that moment. All she could do was nod her head in agreement, and the two of them were off to Grissom’s office.
Grissom opened up the door to his office and turned on the lights. He looked down at his hand and could see that he was holding Catherine’s hand. He had not realized he was doing such a thing until now. Quickly, Grissom pulled away, and Catherine’s smile faded as a hurt look appeared in her eyes. She tried to hide it fast, not wanting to make her feelings for him to evident. Grissom held the door open as Catherine walked in first, taking a seat on the couch. Grissom closed the door behind him as the blinds jingled and went to join Catherine on the couch.
Rows upon rows of metal shelves filled with jars of dead animals filled the cramped office. At the end of the shelves was a desk piled with papers and files. Behind that, bolted into the wall, was a corkboard that had evidence bags with guns and swabs from older cases. On the left hand wall there were glass cases filled with butterflies and spiders that Grissom considered his best friends. His ant farms and racing roaches were scurrying and scratching along the sides of their glass containers wanting to escape.
Mounted on the right hand wall was a big fish corkboard that housed the cold cases and the felons that Grissom called the ones that got away. People like Tammy Felton and Paul Melander used to be on that list until both of them had shown up dead. Those two were the ones that got under Grissom’s skin the most. Having someone who could potently be smarter than himself would drive Grissom insane.
Grissom’s office didn’t really look like any other supervisors office that was scattered among the rest of the Crime Lab; but then again, how many of them were entomologists? He enjoyed his privacy and was pretty much an outsider for his whole life. It was in high school when he met Nick, Warrick and Greg he had began to come out of his shell a little more. He had always added a little spice to the Las Vegas Crime Lab in his own way. Gil had also moved the Las Vegas Crime Lab from the number sixth spot in the country to the number two spot.
Catherine shifted her weight on the couch, trying to make herself comfortable. Every time she walked into this office she would have an eerie feeling, as if she were walking on to another planet. Grissom patiently waited for Catherine to get comfortable. He stared at the beautiful woman beside him and could not believe that her looks had not changed much over the years.
