Previously:

"We just got the phone call for you, sir. Everything is ready now."

"Thank you," Grissom responded. He stood up and, for a second time that night, held his hand out to Catherine. She took it, and, as Grissom pulled her up out of her seat, she asked,

"What's ready, Gil? What are you doing?"

Grissom ignored Catherine's question and he led her out of the café, hand still clutching hers.

May 16th – 4:50pm
Grissom's SUV

Catherine had decided to cease her questioning as Grissom was giving her nothing. The drive was a long and uncomfortably hot one. The breeze from the two open windows was helping but it was loud, as Grissom's uncharacteristic fast driving was causing a strong rush to their ears.

Catherine, usually priding herself on her suppositions, had absolutely no idea where she and Grissom were headed. After a while she began to feel rather sleepy, after all it was the early morning for a nightshift worker. Her eyes drooped and her head lolled to her side, unknowing of her whereabouts or her destination.

5:45pm

"Catherine?"

Catherine heard the voice at a distance, slowly opened her eyes and followed the direction of the voice with them.

"What time is it?"

"Five forty five," came the reply. "You ok?"

"Mmm, just dozed off apparently."

"Well, we're here. Out you get."

Grissom's voice was coming from outside her window. He pulled the door open for her this time, and Catherine climbed out gracefully.

"Where are we, Gil?"

In answer to Catherine's question, Grissom moved aside in order for Catherine to get a better view of where they were.

"'Rainy Sky Inn'." Catherine read the blue lights that were flashing her way. "Never heard of it," she continued.

"Good," Grissom said, and made his way back to the car.

"Wha-," Catherine started. "Grissom," she called at his back. He turned to face her. "Where are you going?"

"To park the car round the back. You go ahead, I'll join you in a minute."

Catherine stood with a stunned look in her eyes as Grissom got into the SUV and drove round to the back of the building. She looked back at the sign. 'Rainy Sky Inn'. Rather ironic, she thought, considering it seemed as though they were somewhere in the middle desert. She looked around taking in the little details of her surroundings. The entrance door was beautifully framed with tiny lights and wrapped around them was some kind of realistic-looking plastic spiralling plant. Even though it was still light outside, the light emanating from the windows made the Inn look very welcoming.

Catherine took a few steps towards the door, eventually and due to her characteristic curiosity, deciding to follow Grissom's orders and enter the Inn. What she saw was a stunning sight. Looking around Catherine felt the restaurant had a very outside feel to it. There were great pillars looming up and separating the tables from a large bare floor to the right of the very large room, with more plants, real this time, climbing up them to the top of a very high ceiling. Candles had been placed on every table and, even though it was light outside, the inside felt like it was nighttime. A path, made by the restaurant tables either side of her, led to the large bare floor where a band was setting up. She reached the end of the 'path' and saw a solitary tall desk. She smiled in a slightly confused way as she saw a second plaque, similar to the one she had seen in the cafe, temporarily attatched in some way to the front of the desk. This one said, "I would not wish any companion in the world but you."

"Hmm," Catherine muttered to herself, now with a hint of suspision filling her veins and expressions, "I'm betting... Shakespeare."

Catherine stared at the plaque for a while. She had never known that Grissom was capable of doing anything like this for anyone. A warm and tender feeling surged through her body, and a secret hope, that this night was not their last, leaked its way into her thoughts.

She had waited a while for someone to seat her, but then instead, she saw a sudden small light shining on the side of the desk just above the plaque; a white light in the shape of an arrow. She stared at it and looked around for the person with, what she assumed had to be a torch. The edges of the arrow were defined so they had to be close by. She saw a couple engrossed in their food on the table nearest her. Close to them was another couple who were being served by a young blonde woman. There was a single man staring out of the window and five girlfriends giggling loudly. Catherine could not see where the light could be coming from.

Looking back to the arrow, she saw that it had begun to flash on and off. Sensing the impatience of the owner of the torch, and noticing the complete disregard of the other people in the restaurant, Catherine followed the arrow's direction. As she moved the arrow also moved, this time to the floor in front of her. Still occasionally looking around to find the culprit, Catherine continued to follow the arrow as it kept on moving a few metres ahead of her, guiding her to her unknown destination, disappearing then reappearing every now and then.

After a few minutes, Catherine had been led to her left around the pillers and therefore around the large bare floor, through a path between them and the tables in the restaurant, where the occasional waiter or waitress was serving their customers, to the opposite side of the room. As Catherine looked down she saw the arrow become stationary, pointing in the direction of a table and flicker off. Catherine's eyes looked up from the floor to the table. The table was next to the bare floor and had other empty tables surrounding it. There was a single rose resting upon it.

Still alone, Catherine smiled to herself once again, took a step towards the table and, without sitting, she picked up the rose and held it to her nose to take in its sweet scent. Grissom still had not appeared so Catherine decided to sit and wait for him. Assuming that he had organised this, and that he was the one with the torch, he would know where she would be. However, just before sitting in the chair that faced the entrance door, the arrow appeared once again, this time on the table and was pointing in the direction behind her. Catherine looked up in the same direction and saw a man standing in a crisp tuxedo. Keeping hold of the rose, Catherine followed the arrow to the man. When she was no more than 3 metres away from him, he said, smiling to her,

"May I take your coat, Ms. Willows."

Smiling curiously back to him, her eyes dancing in the candlelight radiating off all of the tables, she gave the man her coat.

"Thank you," she said, and the man walked away through a door with her coat. Catherine saw as the man opened the door, dozens of pegs, some with coats hanging loosely off them, most without. Not knowing what to do next, Catherine turned back around to face the entrance door on the other side of the room. She saw that the restaurant had filled up slightly more now and a few of the unoccupied tables near to the table where she had previously been led, now had several people settling down in the chairs.

Catherine heard the band begin to strike up a soft jazzy tune and she felt the music soar through her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed as she held the rose up to her face once again, not able to believe that Grissom would do all of this, would arrange so much and go to so much trouble, just for her. No one had ever made her feel so special and so wanted.

She opened her eyes leisurely and saw that the arrow had reappeared. She brought the rose down to her side and took a few steps forward towards the table; thinking that the arrow would stop there and disappear. It didn't. It simply stopped on the floor by the side of the table but stayed alight. Seeing a sheet of paper resting upon the table Catherine stepped towards it and read, 'Leave the rose and your bag here.' Whilst wondering how in the world Grissom had the chance to place that note on the table without her noticing, Catherine did as the note ordered and, trusting it, put her bag on the back of the chair and the rose back onto the table, suspision still lurking in her features.

The arrow began to move again, and once more Catherine started to look around for any sign of Grissom with a torch. A slight awkward smile still played upon her face as the arrow led her right into the centre of the bare floor and then vanished. After a few seconds had past, Catherine began to feel slightly ridiculous. She was alone in the middle of a large floor and people were beginning to look her way.

The band finished the tune they were playing, then began to play the start of a new one, and all the while Catherine kept her eyes on the entrance; she still had not seen Grissom enter. Steadily she began to recognise the music as the familiar tune hit her ears. She stood very still, her eyes widened slightly and she let out a quick, disbelieving laugh.

Feeling a gentle tap on her shoulder, Catherine spun slowly round and turned to face the figure behind her. The tune continued to play, although without the usual lyrics.

"May I have this dance?" Grissom asked her.

Catherine looked around, thinking about how unusual this was for Grissom to ask her to dance on a huge floor surrounded by nothing but the watching faces of the people who seemed miles away.

Smiling at Grissom, Catherine took hold of his hands and pulled him towards her. Feeling him snake his arms around her waist, Catherine leant her head against his chest as they swayed to the music. Catherine started humming to the tune of the music and, as she did so, heard Grissom sing the line, "dream a little dream of me."

She lifted her head off his chest in order to look at him and as she did so she whispered,

"Where have you been?"

"I told you, I was parking the car."

Catherine looked at him sceptically.

"Right," she said.

"Honestly... I was."

"Where did you come from?"

"The back entrance."

After a short pause of surprise and appreciation, Catherine then said,

"This is wonderful, Gil. Thank you so much."

"You deserve it, Catherine."

She rested her head back on Grissom's chest and the continued to sway gently to the tune. Catherine found it so heart warming that Grissom remembered the song, let alone got a wonderful jazz band to play it at his request.

"Catherine?"

"Yeh?" she answered.

"Did you know that this Inn is not in Vegas?"

Catherine looked up at Grissom quickly, surprise marked unmistakably in her expression. She did not know because of the fact that she slept for the most part of their journey. After a few moments she began to smile.

"You know what that means, don't you?" she said.

"I do," Grissom answered, and he leant down to lightly kiss her lips. He held the kiss for a few seconds as the song ended. It was such a tender kiss, that after Grissom pulled away Catherine felt as though she had been floating in the air.

"Hungry?" he asked.

"Well," Catherine replied, "it is breakfast time."

7:10pm

Grissom had even managed, on top of everything else he had done, to pay for the whole meal, something Catherine had secretly expected. It was more like an evening meal than breakfast, but neither seemed to mind. The day had gone swimmingly and everything Grissom had arranged; the torchlight he had asked several of the waiters and waitresses to carry out, the tune by the band, the waiter who placed the note on the table without being seen and the waiter who took Catherine's jacket, had gone exactly to plan. However, the hardest part was coming up; what would Catherine say later?

"The food was gorgeous, Gil," Catherine said, after having filled herself up with chicken and then cheesecake. "Where did you find this place?"

"It was recommended."

"Really? By who?" she inquired.

"By Brass."

"Brass?" Catherine repeated shocked. "Brass has been here? With who I wonder."

"I didn't ask."

Catherine knew Grissom's lack of curiosity, or rather lack of letting people know that he is curious, when it comes to his colleague's social lives. She saw his head nod to whom she assumed was a waiter just behind her. A man came over and said,

"Your coat, sir, ma'am."

"Oh, thank you," Catherine replied, and as the waiter walked away she said, "You really have these people trained, don't you. Who did you tell them I was?"

"I just told them, 'someone special'." Grissom smiled at Catherine. "Come on, Cath. Let's go."

7:45pm

The drive back to Vegas was a tense one. The situation had still not been openly resolved, and, no matter how breathtaking the day had been, a decision had to be made.

As Grissom pulled into Catherine's driveway, Catherine merely unbuckled her seat belt; she did not make any attempt to get out of the SUV. This was it. This was the moment he knew was inevitable on this night. They both sat in silence. Catherine noticed that her stomach had started to feel uncomfortably shaky. She spoke first. Her voice was not quite a whisper, but it was soft.

"Gil," she started, "getting involved with a colleague-"

"-won't work," Grissom finished.

Catherine nodded. An expression of sadness leaked through her features. She wouldn't cry; not now.

In order to avoid any type of eye contact with Grissom, Catherine opened the large door and slid out on to the concrete of her driveway. She heard Grissom do the same. Walking round to the front of the SUV, Catherine stopped and waited for him to come up to her.

Grissom came closer and saw that her breathing was heavy. He felt his own increase in pace as he stood in front of her. Bringing his hands up to her face Grissom stroked her cheeks with this thumbs as he wound his fingers round the sides of her neck.

"How can we walk away from this?" She asked him sincerely.

Grissom looked at her eyes. They were sparkling with moisture, but no tear had yet escaped. He replied, "Maybe we won't be walking away forever."

Catherine smiled at him. A small feeling of hope flowed through her veins. She looked back at him, and understood; 'nothing now' does not necessarily mean 'nothing ever'.

"I'll never forget tonight, Gil," Catherine whispered, as finally a tear flowed out of her grasp. "It was perfect."

Grissom had no answer to this. He could not say anything. He was plagued by the prospect of losing the one person he held sacred in his life. Wiping the tear from her cheek, he lifted Catherine's face to his and kissed her cheek gently. He lingered for a while, unwilling to pull away, and she could feel he wanted her through that simple delay. Why throw away the chance of being together, all because there was a small possibility their relationship wouldn't work in the work environment? She knew that she was only thinking like that because the thought of losing Grissom now was heartbreaking.

A thought came into Catherine's mind as Grissom pulled away. She had nothing to lose; she had to know what his reaction would be.Catherine put her hand to the back of Grissom's neck and smoothly pulled him her way. Their lips met softly at first, but then, in a sudden surge of passion through their veins the kiss became stronger. Grissom's hands wound round her body, whilst Catherine's slid up his back and through his hair. The kiss was full of hunger for the other and both were reluctant to part. Grissom surroundings, however unwelcome, came into his mind and he felt he had no choice but to pull away. Breathless, he looked at Catherine. There was a silence as both caught their breath.

"Catherine," Grissom said, cautiously, "we're in Vegas."

Catherine looked around in mock surprise and said, "You're right, we are. And you know what?" She looked back at him and said seriously and with sincerity, "I don't care."

There was a slight pause as they both looked at each other, then, slipping her hand into his, Catherine gave it a tender squeeze and made her way slowly to her front door.

The End

That's all folks. I purposefully left the end very slightly open (notice you didn't really get Grissom's reaction), so you can decide yourselves what you think will happen ;) I've had the best fun writing this – even though it's taken me over a year to complete! Let me know what you think about the chapter as it stands (and the story as a whole (without cliffhangers... hooray!) - favourite parts etc.) Thanks for reading. I hope you've enjoyed it. All the best. Cath