Dead Ringer

Grillows One-shot response to a challenge set by Sunni. Set during the season 4 episode 'Dead Ringer' – The law enforcement desert relay race.

Xxx

Catherine was lay across the sofa, her eyes closed, a smile on her face as familiar hands, firm but gentle, gently massaged her aching lower legs and feet.

'I really am sorry' Grissom stated again, his fingers working to relieve some of the pain

'You've said it already, just forget it, you were doing your job, like always' Catherine replied, opening her eyes slowly to look at Grissom.

'But earlier…'

'Yeah, earlier I was pissed because I'd, we'd, the team had been training for months. Months Grissom!' Catherine reiterated. 'Do you know how hard it was for me, for everyone? I was just finding my stride, when you had to be all observant and go find a damned dead body in the desert.' Catherine paused, letting out a sigh. 'Doesn't matter though, our work is more important than some damn race, but next year, your running, I don't care how bad your knees are!'

'But…'

'Yeah yea, we've all heard it; you can't run because of some ancient injury that never healed correctly, so you make us suffer instead. 6 miles Gil, 6 bloody miles! Only Sara can do that without blinking.'

Grissom couldn't help but look a little sheepish at Catherine's words, massaging her feet all the while

'Anyways, your making up for ruining it now, this massage is super nice, and I could get used to it… are you sure we can only stay here for another hour before going back to work?'

'Yeah, like you said, we've got a man's death to investigate.'

'I'm sure we can make the most of the hour though…' Catherine said suggestively, leaning up on one of her elbows, looking longingly at Grissoms mouth, and then his chest.

Grissom just smirked, doing his best not to give into the bait Catherine had laid out.

'You know…' he started slowly, his eyes glancing briefly up to Catherine's, before focusing on the massage again 'This reminds me of our first kiss' a smile spread over his face.

Catherine looked at him, utterly confused.

'I don't see how… it's nothing like…' she started

'Yes, it is' Grissom moved his hand a little higher up Catherine's leg

'How? How does this remind you of our first kiss? Even though I was high on cocaine and drunk at the time, I know this is nothing, nothing like our first. How come I can remember that and you can't, Mr I-forget-nothing?'

'Well, that's because that was YOUR first kiss, not OUR first kiss'

Catherine frowned, now more confused than ever 'What do you mean?' she asked

'Well, back at the night in question that you're thinking of, you had finished your shift at the strip club, but had stayed to relax anyways. I came in to talk to you, and to give you my notes on the essay you'd done for night school. Someone in the club had coke; you took some, even though you were trying to get clean… I caught you, and then I watched over you until the high wore off a little. You were very… handsy… more so than usual. You kissed me…it was, intense, but it was you kissing me whilst under the influences… so, to me, that wasn't our first kiss' Grissom explained, his hand having now moved to rub soothing circles over the back of Catherine's hand, the other playing with her hair.

'Then what was?' Catherine whispered, embarrassed even now by the memory and the dark days of her dancing some 7 years ago.

'We were relaxing in my office after working a double in the desert. It was one of the few times I decided to have a drink at the office. You kept wincing, saying your foot had been hurting on and off all day… I offered to take a look. Turns out that a cactus spine had worked its way into your shoe somehow, and embedded in your foot. I dealt with it, and there was… this weird, magical tension. When I was finished, you leant over to kiss my cheek, to say thank you, but I turned my head, and our lips met… That was our first kiss'

'Oh…' Catherine blushed at the memory 'But that…'

'That was 3 years, 4 months, 2 days and about 13 hours ago… and we didn't kiss again until 2 years, 1 month, 11 days and 9 hours ago, because I'm an idiot. So in a way, I guess we are both wrong, as our first kiss knowing we wanted to be a couple, that we had feelings that ran deeply for one another, was after the case with the severed finger that you used to ruin Sara's date with Hank. I realised, after that, with you being effectively taken by Roy Logan, that I couldn't just have you as a friend anymore, that I wanted to see if we could make a go of anything… and I'm really glad we did.'

'Me too' Catherine smiled, leaning in to kiss Grissom. 'Me too' she mumbled against his lips.

Grissom's hand moved to wrap around the back of her head, pulling her in closer. With one simple kiss, they both knew they would be late getting back to work. Neither of them seemed to mind.