Title: Deepest Fears

Author: Angie

Email: [email protected]

Disclaimers: CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful actors who portray them.

Author's Notes: I had originally intended to post this for Valentine's Day, but I wasn't done. And then I was going to post it on February 21 for William Petersen's Birthday. But then I made the huge mistake of going back and reading the story. So now after re-wording a few things, I'm finally ready to post. This story hasn't been beta'ed so all mistakes are my own. Thanks to everyone over at graveshiftCSI, you know I never would have started writing if it wasn't for the list.

Spoilers: some minor things from the first season, specifically "Strip Strangler"

Distribution: The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, ShipperWorldCSI… all others please ask.

* * *

'Who the hell could be at the door?' Catherine thought to herself at the sound of the knock at the door. After spending a harrowing night at work, and the hours of paperwork that followed, the only thing she was looking forward to was getting a couple of hours of sleep before Lindsey came home from school. She had just started the load of laundry that was necessary if she was going to return to work that evening, when the knock at the door interrupted her train of thought. Deciding against returning to her bedroom for the terrycloth robe that hung on her door, she headed for the door in just her nightgown.

"Just a minute!" She replied to the incessant sound of knocking again. Reaching the door she looked through the window and saw Grissom standing there, with a look of despair on his face.

"Grissom?" Catherine held the door open, allowing entry for her friend. "What's wrong?"

"Catherine, I just wanted to…" He paused at the site of her. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were… that you would be…"

"It's all right, Grissom." She took hold of his hand and led him into the living room. Urging him to sit on the couch, she waited until he was seated and then took her place next to him. "I know you wouldn't have come over here without a reason, so tell me what's wrong."

"I just can't get last night out of my head. What happened last night. I don't know what I would have done if… if we hadn't gotten there in time."

"But you did get there in time Gil. That's what counts." Catherine was trying to assure him, but she knew he was still upset over the outcome of the evenings' events.

Gil turned to look away from Catherine, he wasn't really focusing on anything in particular, he just knew he couldn't look into her eyes, not now. "You know, other then the firing range, I've never fired my weapon before…. I was never directly responsible for taking someone's life. How did you handle it?"

"I know I did the right thing Gil. Even if I think back on that day, if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. I did what I had to do to save your life Gil, and I don't doubt my decision at all." Suddenly a thought came to Catherine's mind. "Are you doubting …"

"No! Don't you dare think that for a minute. I could never doubt saving you Cath, you are worth more to me then anything, don't doubt that. I am just trying to come to terms with the fact that I killed a man. I actually looked a man in the face and choose to pull the trigger."

"Come here." Catherine said pulling Gil into her embrace.

Gil willingly went to her and they sat on the couch and held each other while they thought about what might have happened that evening.

~*~*~*~*

The night had started as routinely as any other night. Gil, Catherine and Warrick were working a multiple homicide at a sleazy motel off the strip. They were just finishing their collection when their luck changed.

"Hey guys, I'm almost done processing over here." Catherine said as she turned to look at the other men in the room. "I'm going to run some of this evidence out to the Tahoe. I'll wait outside for the two of you. You're almost done, right?"

After receiving affirmatives from the two she brought her case out to the Tahoe, leaving the back open, and then came back for one of the boxes of evidence they had gathered. Placing the box in the back of the Tahoe, she jumped at the sound of the voice behind her.

"What's going on here?"

Turning around, she saw a man standing right behind her, who had what appeared to be a large amount of blood on his clothing.

She tried backing up a little, but found herself trapped between the vehicle and the man standing before her.

"I'm sorry sir, you really shouldn't be here. This is a crime scene." Catherine said hoping that the man would back away just a little.

"What happened in there?" The stranger questioned moving closer still.

"I can't comment on that. Let me call…," she started reaching for her phone and didn't get any farther. She felt a pair of strong hands grasp her arms and pull her into his hold, with her back firmly pressed against his chest. Before she had a chance to think, she felt the crook of his arm firmly gripping her throat and the barrel of a gun pressed against her temple.

"Don't you dare say a word. One sound out of you and you're dead." He whispered in her ear.

Catherine's hands instinctively moved to her captors arm, trying in vain to loosen the grip on her throat. As desperately as she tried, she couldn't think of a way to get out of her current situation.

She felt herself being pulled back, away from the Tahoe, and her mind started working in overdrive. She knew the one thing she couldn't let happen was to have the man get her away from the motel. Removing her hands from the arm that held her, she quickly moved them towards the mans face hoping to claw herself out of his grasps.

"Bitch!" the assailant screamed.

At the sound of the gun's hammer being pulled back, she quickly lowered her hands away from his face.

*~*~*~*~*

"Bitch!"

"What was that?" Grissom turned to Warrick to make sure he heard the same thing.

"Sounded like a man to me. Not very far away either…"

"Catherine…" The two men started at once, neither liking what their minds were thinking. Pulling their guns they both ran out of the motel room and stopped at the site before them.

"Catherine!" Grissom yelled instinctively, not stopping to think that he could be making the situation worse.

The man spun around to see who was yelling at them, turning so fast Catherine's feet flew out from under her.

The tears immediately sprang to her eyes, as she struggled to get her feet back on the ground and alleviate some of the pressure on her neck. Once she got her feet back on the ground she moved her hands back to the arm around her neck, she could tell he was gripping tighter on her neck now, and the combination of lack of oxygen and sheer terror, was making it harder to think clearly.

Looking in front of her she saw Grissom and Warrick standing outside the motel room with their guns drawn.

"Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my room?" The man yelled at Grissom and Warrick.

"Why don't you let her go and we can talk about this?" Warrick yelled back when he realized that Grissom wasn't going to say anything.

With his concentration brought back to the woman in his arms he shifted his grip on her and effectively lifted her completely off the ground. "You answer my question first, and maybe I'll think about letting this lovely lady go."

Looking back over at Grissom and not seeing any sign of movement Warrick decided to answer the man's question. "We're Crime Scene Investigators, and we are just doing our jobs here. Maybe you can tell us what happened in there?"

"Is she dead?"

"Is who dead?" Warrick was stalling now. He wasn't sure what answer the man was looking for and he did not want to be the person to upset him anymore then he was. He moved his glance away from the mans and looked at Catherine. Her legs were still flailing, trying to get a foot hold on anything, but the movements weren't coming as strong or as frequently as they were earlier. Her grip didn't seem to be as strong either, and he knew they didn't have very long until the lack of air caused her to lose consciousness.

Grissom knew he should be saying something, but all he could focus on was the woman before him. He had never seen the intense fear that was in her eyes now, even after all of the time she came to him after suffering from the wrath of Eddie. He was slowly watching her lose the fight in her.

"Who is it, exactly, that you are looking for?" Grissom asked the man, seeing the fear in Catherine's eyes and watching the fight leave her was enough to finally snap him out of his thoughts.

"The bitch was cheating on me. She didn't think I was smart enough to follow her or to notice that other man's cologne on her. I'm not stupid!" The man turned his focus onto Grissom and was slowly letting his grip on Catherine loosen.

With the grip loosened around her neck, Catherine was able to get some much needed air into her lungs. Finally getting a foot hold on the ground, her mind was able to focus on more then just the fear of impending death. Noticing that they were trying to keep her assailant talking, Catherine tried to think of a way to get herself out of her current situation. Catherine removed her hands from the arm around her neck and prayed that Grissom and Warrick were ready for what she was about to do.

Ignoring the ranting of the man in front of them, Grissom and Warrick were both drawn into the look on Catherine's face. They knew she had something planned and could only watch and hope for the best. They both steadied the grips on their guns and prepared themselves for whatever Catherine had planned.

Catherine quickly thrust her elbows into the side of the man with all of the strength she could gather. She dropped to her knees as soon as the arm holding her upright was removed from her neck.

"Don't move!" Warrick shouted to the man once Catherine was out of the way.

All of his anger focused on the woman on the ground before him, "You fucking bitch. I told you I would kill you!" Leaning over he turned his gun to the woman. The sound of the gun going off a surprise to his ears, and the pain that tore through his chest shocked him as he fell forward to the ground.

"Catherine!"

Grissom and Warrick both ran forward when they saw the assailant fall forward landing in a heap on top of Catherine. Reaching the pair at the same time, they moved the unknown man off of Catherine. Warrick checked for a pulse on the man, shaking his head he made eye contact with his two friends.

"He's gone." He said as he holstered his weapon.

None of the CSI's had noticed the sound of the sirens getting closer while they were locked in their stalemate and they didn't notice the arrival until they heard O'Reilly and Brass speak.

"What happened?" Brass asked, after quickly assessing the scene and assuring that his friends were all relatively okay. They all seemed a bit jumpy and out of it, but they didn't appear to be in pain.

"We were basically done here. So I left the scene to put my kit up and start bringing the evidence to the Tahoe." Catherine softly choked out, the pressure that had been applied to her throat making it difficult to talk. She finished telling what she could remember to the officers, with Gil and Warrick filling in their point of views from time to time. As she was telling her story Gil and Warrick started gathering the evidence that was on her, including the blood from the man.

"Do we have any idea who he is?" O'Reilly asked.

"He never gave a name, but he did confess to killing the couple inside." Warrick answered for the officer.

"Who pulled the trigger?" Brass asked the two men.

Not able to actually voice the words, Gil just handed his gun to Brass, ignoring the look of shock on their faces. It was no secret that he abhorred the weapon and hated having to carry it. But times like this made him thankful for the rule he had never managed to find a way around.

"Catherine, we have to get you to the hospital."

"I'm fine Jim. The blood isn't mine," she replied to his unasked question.

"I still want you checked out and before we head back to headquarters and start on the paperwork."

Knowing she wasn't going to win the argument, she just nodded her head and let the men help her up from her spot on the ground.

Seeing the ambulance pull up Catherine began protesting again. "I do not need to be taken in an ambulance. I'll go to the hospital to make you happy, Jim. But there is no way I'm going in an ambulance. One of the guys can take me, you can take me, O'Reilly can take me, but I will not go in that ambulance."

Brass beckoned O'Reilly over to take Catherine to the hospital, knowing when to stop pushing and happy that he had at least managed to get her to agree to go to the hospital . He would have liked to have sent Grissom or Warrick with her, but he needed them for questioning.

Once Catherine had been taken to the hospital, the men quickly got the scene under control and headed back to the lab so Brass could begin his questioning.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Pulling back from Catherine's embrace he took the opportunity to look over her carefully. Physically she looked all right, except for a nasty looking bruise around her neck.

"How are you? I never got a chance to talk to you once you got back to the lab."

"I'm fine, just like I told you I was." She stopped when she felt Gil's hand caress the markings on her throat. Diverting her gaze she cleared her throat before continuing. "The doctor said other then the bruising and tenderness I'm fine. It should clear up in a few days and I'll be good as new. Are you going to be all right?"

He didn't answer for a minute. And the silence was enough of an answer for Catherine.

"Gil, you did the right thing. I promise it will get better, the feelings will lesson."

"I thought you said…"

"Just because I said that doesn't mean I believed it. Trust me, I looked back on that moment for months. And every time I came to the same conclusion, I would do it exactly the same. Neither of those men were going to stop until they killed us. Gil, we both took the only option we had."

Standing up Catherine held out her hand for Gil to take. At his questioning look she continued. "I don't know about you but I'm exhausted, and Lindsey is going to be back from school in…" she paused as she

turned to look at the clock, "three and a half hours. I have to get some sleep before she gets home and I'm

not going to do it on this couch."

Gil reached for Catherine's hand and allowed her to help him up from the couch. He then released her hand and turned to head out of the house and return home.

"Where are you going?"

The sound of Catherine's voice stopped him in his tracks. Turning around he kept silent when he saw the look in her eyes.

"Your staying here Gil. And not in the guest room. You don't need to be alone right now… maybe neither of us need to be alone right now. Come to bed with me?" She softly begged.

He was never able to turn her down, especially not when she asked him in that tone of voice. And he found that he really didn't want to turn her down. They needed each other, now more then ever.

He followed Catherine down the hallway towards her bedroom, but paused when he reached the doorway. "Catherine, I don't have anything…"

"It's all right Gil." She assured him. "You left some of your things here when your place was being painted. If you go to the guest room there should be some clothes in there for you."

The two smiled at each other as they parted ways at the bedroom door. Catherine watched Gil make his way down the hall to the guest room, before turning and heading into her room. Going to the closet she searched inside for another pillow. "Damn… where did Lindsey put that pillow." Catherine turned to yell down the hallway. "Gil? Can you grab the pillow off the bed when your done in there?" Not waiting for a reply she turned back to the bed and pulled the covers down. She was just climbing into the bed when she saw Gil appear in the doorway, pillow in hand.

"Come on in," Cath said motioning to the spot next to her. "Do you mind the right side? I'm not picky which side of the bed I sleep on but I know some people are." She finished lamely. She wasn't entirely sure about the situation and knew she was rambling, but she couldn't help it.

"Cath, why don't I just…."

"No!" The volume of her words startled both of them. In a softer voice she added, "maybe I need this more then you do."

She didn't need to say anything else. Gil heard not just the words, but the pain behind them and he knew that he couldn't be anywhere else at this time. Making his way to the bed, he climbed in and settled himself on the right side. "Come here."

Catherine reached over to turn out the lights and then settled herself against Gil, both of them clinging to the lifelines they had placed in the other.

*~*~*~*~*

"Mommy?"

Catherine woke at the sound in her ears and the feel of someone shaking her. Opening her eyes she saw her daughter kneeling on the bed in front of her.

"Hi baby!" She whispered, trying not to wake the man sleeping beside her. "Be quiet honey, we don't want to wake Gil."

"Why's Uncle Gil here? Are they painting his apartment again?" Lindsey whispered to her mother.

"No baby, we just had a really bad night at work and Uncle Gil was having a hard time getting to sleep."

"Mom you still look really tired. Why don't you sleep a little longer and I'll watch a movie until you wake up?" The girl said with the brutal honesty that could only be said by a child.

"Lindsey…"

"It's okay Mom, I'll be fine. I locked the door, just like you always tell me. And I can do my homework until you get up and Uncle Gil can help me with my science homework while you make supper for us. And you'll be right here if I need anything." Lindsey couldn't help the excitement that was building in her voice. She knew her mom and Uncle Gil loved each other and she couldn't contain the excitement.

"Okay you win. Just be quiet okay sweetie."

"I will Mommy." Lindsey said giving her mom a quick kiss before jumping off the bed. Running around the bed she carefully climbed onto the other side next to Gil and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before whispering, "Don't worry Uncle Gil, Mommy always knows how to make my bad dreams go away too." Just as quickly she hopped off the bed and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Catherine was in silence as the tears streamed down her face after watching her daughter.

"That is a great little girl you've raised Cath." Gil murmured beside her.

Turning back to face him, she wrapped her arms around his body. "I almost lost…"

"Shh… don't say it Cath. I wouldn't have let that happen." Gil said as he tightened his hold on her. "Let's just try and get a bit more sleep, as Lindsey suggested."

They both closed their eyes and tried to put most of the events of the last twenty-four hours out of their minds.

*~*~*~*~*

Gil opened his eyes as he turned over and looked at the clock next to Catherine. Sighing to himself, he shook Catherine to wake her.

"Cath… wake up, Cath. It's 5 o'clock. We need to get up now." He softly whispered in her ear.

Catherine slowly opened her eyes and found herself looking into Gil's eyes. "Hi."

A slight smile came to his face with the sound of her voice. He never knew such a simple word could cause the emotions he was having. "Hello. It's been pretty quiet out there. Is Lindsey always this quiet when you're sleeping?"

"Never. And I'm not entirely sure I want to see what she's been up to." Catherine replied, rolling away from Gil, intent on getting out of bed and seeing what her daughter has been doing.

"Why don't you let me go check on her? And I can start the coffee. I have a feeling we may be needing a few cups tonight." He got up and planned on leaving the room but stopped at the sound of Catherine's voice.

"Wait. Trust me on this Gil, you do not want to go out there first. We'll go out together." As Catherine walked past Gil, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room with her.

Making their way to the living room, they both subconsciously began tiptoeing their way down the hall. Neither wanted to disturb the little girl before they could see what she had been doing. Peeking around the corner they were shocked by the site that greeted them.

There was Lindsey, sitting on the floor quietly doing her homework, just as she said she would.

Straightening up Catherine walked around the corner to greet her daughter. "Good morning Lindsey, how are you sweetheart?"

"Hi Mom! Did you sleep good? You look a lot better now. Hi Uncle Grissom. Will you help me with my science homework. My teacher started talking about spiders today and she doesn't explain things very well.

I know you can explain it to me a lot better then she does. What's an arach… an arach…" Lindsey stopped talking as she tried to remember the word that her teacher had said.

"Arachnid. It's just another word for spider, Lindsey. I'll be glad to help you, just let me get a cup of coffee first, okay?"

The two adults left the room and turned to go into the kitchen. Walking through the doorway, they stopped at the site in front of them. The kitchen had been thoroughly decorated for Valentine's day, the child's reminder for the holiday conveniently forgotten by the two single adults.

"I told you she was up to something." Catherine said as she walked into the kitchen and headed to the coffee maker.

Gil stood in shock as he looked around the room. Lindsey had obviously heard them wake up and had just set down before they peeked into the living room. There were red and pink candles displayed around the kitchen. The table had been set for a romantic dinner for two, and there were various heart shaped pieces of colored construction paper conveniently placed around the room, all within Lindsey's reach. Walking over to the table Gil saw the place cards that had been set at the table. One read "Catherine" and the other "Gil."

"Looks like she was busy." Gil said with a slight blush on his face. It was obvious, even to him, what Lindsey was wanting to happen. What he wasn't sure of, was if her feelings were because of the events of that afternoon or if she had been feeling this way for a while. "Catherine…"

"It's okay Gil. I'll talk to her about…"

"No. That's okay, let me talk to her."

"What?" Catherine was shocked by this very un-Gil like gesture.

"I'll talk to her. I promise I won't say anything I shouldn't say. Besides I'm supposed to help her with her homework while you cook us dinner. Isn't that the way families work?" The smile on his face grew a little bigger as he walked over to the still shocked Catherine and waited for the coffee to finish.

Taking his coffee, Gil left the room with a smile still on his face. Leaving the stunned Catherine in the kitchen to start with the dinner preparations.

*~*~*~*~*

Upon returning to the living room, Gil found Lindsey had now moved to the couch with her homework displayed on the coffee table.

"So, what exactly is it you are needing me to help you with, Lindsey?" Gil said as he sat down on the couch and placed his coffee on the table in front of him.

"I finished it while you were talking to Mommy. Do you want to look it over for me?"

Gil eyed the girl suspiciously, knowing that she had something on her mind. He decided to play along for the time being. Taking the homework from her, he quickly read her work and determined two things. First that she had correctly done the work, and second that there was no way that she did all of this while he was in the kitchen with Catherine. "This looks very good Lindsey. Is this all the homework you have, or did you want to talk about something?"

"Uncle Grissom, what happened to Mommy? Is she going to be all right?"

The question shouldn't have surprised him. She was a smart kid, it was inevitable that she would see the bruise on Catherine's neck and know it wasn't because she walked into anything while at work.

"She is going to be just fine Lindsey. You don't have anything to worry about."

"But what happened? She hasn't been clumsy lately, and I know that Daddy hasn't been around."

Gil's heart plummeted at Lindsey's statement. He had hoped that Lindsey was too young and innocent at the time to realize what the cause of Catherine's bruises had been, or notice that the bruises didn't appear once her parents had divorced. Patting his leg, he waited for Lindsey to climb onto his lap.

"It was just a little incident at work, but your mother is perfectly fine. It's just a bruise, nothing else." Gil tried to assure her, without saying to much. "Do you want to talk to me about anything?"

"Are you going to take care of Mommy?"

"I always do my best to take care of her Lindsey, but sometimes things happen that are beyond my control."

"Is the man going to hurt Mommy again?"

"He can't hurt her again, honey. I made sure of that." Gil said softly, he knew that if he was given the opportunity he would do the same thing again but it was still a hard thing to come to grip with.

"I have another question Uncle Gil?" Lindsey said as she looked up into his eyes and waited for his okay before continuing.

"You can ask me anything you want Lindsey, you know that."

"When you and Mom get married can I be the maid of honor. I'm to big to be the flower girl but I want to be in the wedding. And then you can go to Hawaii for you honeymoon. Mom told me that daddy didn't take her anywhere for her honeymoon, and you know she loves the beach. Wouldn't Hawaii be the most romantic place to go. And then you can move here with me and Mom and she can be happy again. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?" Lindsey stopped talking almost as fast as she had started.

Gil was still trying to figure out how she changed moods so fast when he heard the words married and honeymoon. He was still trying to figure out where Lindsey was getting her ideas when he realized she had stopped talking and was looking at him expectantly. "What makes you think that we are going to get married Lindsey?" He asked the question hoping it would give him some time to come up with a question to what ever thoughts she told him.

"Well you love her and she loves you." She said with the indignant tone that only a child can use. "And you make each other happy. Why wouldn't you get married?"

"There's more to marrying someone then just that."

"Like what?" Lindsey questioned.

He had been hoping she wouldn't ask that question. He was finding it impossible to argue with her logic, especially when he knew that Lindsey's fantasy was also his own. He couldn't think of anything that could make him any happier then becoming a permanent part of Catherine and Lindsey's life.

"Why don't we see what your mother is making for supper?" Gil said as he lifted Lindsey off of his lap, ignoring her question for the time being.

"I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while you were sleeping, so I'm not really hungry. I'm just going to go upstairs and play." Lindsey quickly said and then ran up the stairs before Gil had a chance to say anything.

Shaking his head, Gil thought about the conversation he had with the girl and then went to see what her mother was doing.

*~*~*~*~*

Entering the kitchen, Gil stayed quiet as he watched Catherine glide around the room busily preparing supper. He couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face as he watched her. He couldn't keep his conversation with Lindsey from replaying in his mind as he stood and watched Catherine.

"Looks like it's just the two of us." Gil said and smiled even more as Catherine jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Gil!" Catherine jumped and turned around to see Gil standing at the kitchen entrance with a huge smile on his face. "I hate it when you sneak up on me like that. And what are you smiling at."

"Sorry," he said with a sly grin, not really meaning it at all. He enjoyed shocking Catherine, and sneaking up on her was one of the few things that always shocked her. And he had to admit that her reaction was his main attraction to her shock. "Lindsey isn't going to eat with us, said she already had a sandwich and ran upstairs before I could stop her."

"What did you two talk about in there?" Catherine asked as she continued cooking.

"She was just a little worried about that bruise on your neck. I told her you were fine and that everything would be okay." He told her, not wanting to mention the rest of their conversation.

"Will it Gil? Are you sure you're all right with everything that happened last night?" She knew he wouldn't talk about it much, but she needed to be sure that he was okay.

"I'll be fine Catherine." He quickly continued at the sign of the frown on her face. "This isn't something I'm just going to get over in 24 hours Cath, but I do know I did the right thing. I told Lindsey I would take care of you, and I will. I wont regret what I did, but I'm not going to forget it either."

"You told Lindsey you'd take care of me?" Catherine questioned, ignoring the rest of his statement for the moment.

"I know that you don't…"

"Gil," she interrupted him before he could go any farther. She took two steps towards him, not believing what she was doing. Reaching up she gently put her arms around his neck and pulled his face down to hers. She looked deeply into his eyes, making sure she wasn't completely off-base, before closing her own eyes and gently placing her lips on his. Their bodies moved together instinctively as they deepened the kiss.

Pulling back slightly, Catherine opened her eyes and found herself gazing into a pair of equally blue eyes. Catherine smiled when she noticed the grin on Gil's face, their bodies still firmly pressed against each other. Neither knew what to say and they both seemed content to stand in silence for a few minutes as they each tried to catch their breath.

They both took a step back as they began to realize where exactly they were, and more importantly the fact that they were not alone in the house.

"Thank you," Catherine said simply as she turned back to the stove to finish the simple meal she had made. Even though she had always said that she could take care of herself and never wanted help, she had to admit that it was great knowing that someone wanted to take care of you.

"I hope you don't mind macaroni and cheese. It's Lindsey's favorite and I thought she was going to be joining us, but I guess I should have known better." Catherine brought the serving dish to the table along with the green beans she had also prepared. "What can I get you to drink?" Catherine asked as she turned back to the refrigerator.

"I'll have whatever your having."

Catherine returned to the table with two glasses of iced tea, and was sitting down as Gil began dishing out their meal. It was a simple gesture, but it still filled Catherine with happiness.

After serving their meals, Gil took his seat next to Catherine and reached out for her hand as the two began to eat. Both content with the silence as they thought about the events of the last 24 hours and the future that lie ahead.

*~*~*~*~*

Lindsey watched with a big smile on her face. She knew they were going to get married one day, and if she kept nudging them in the right direction, it might be sooner then they thought. This was the best Valentine's Day she had ever spent, and couldn't help but think that it would be for years to come.