Natural Progressions

Disclaimer: Mine no! CBS, Anthony Zuiker et al Yes! Pity :o( "That Don't Impress Me Much" belongs to Shania Twain.
Author's Note: Blame Billy, Marg and Shania for these little pieces. They keep Acting these out in my head!
Dedication: To Aby as always and you certainly know why girl! To VividlyBlue for Reading all my crap no matter how bad or sick! LOL


Chapter 12: That Don't Impress Me Much

Grissom sat in his office staring down at the pile of paperwork in front of him. Forms and reports, God how he hated them but tonight they'd been very useful to him.

He'd handed out the assignments as usual, sending Warrick and Sara on a missing persons, Nick and Catherine to a convenience store robbery. He'd known just by the looks on their faces that they'd expected him to join Nick and Catherine. The two 'lovebirds', as Jim Brass and Al Robbins had taken to referring to the blue-eyed night shift supervisor and his strawberry blonde partner, had been working a lot of cases together lately and he'd intended to do so tonight. As he was finishing up, though, he'd heard the familiar rushing noise begin in his ears, then their voices had started to become distorted and disjointed. He'd only just made it to his office and closed the door when there'd been a loud pop and then nothing.

Grissom grimaced; his hearing failing like this still scared the hell out of him. He hadn't managed to get a handle on it, even now, and until he knew how he felt and what he was going to do he wasn't telling his team. He was relieved he'd told Catherine, though, even if it had taken a lot of bitching, moaning and pushing on her part to get him to admit there was a problem and then tell her what the problem was.

Six months later she had supported him in his decision to go for the surgery and had even came up with a plausible excuse for his absence. Then he'd taken that damn ear and sinus infection that had taken months to get rid of and he'd had to postpone the operation. He still hadn't found the time to reschedule it no matter how often Catherine nagged at him to do so.

They hadn't even told Lindsey yet. If truth be told he was worried about how she would react. Before his relationship with Catherine had began it didn't matter too much to him how the young girl felt, but now it was different, she was almost family to him and he couldn't cope if she started to treat him differently. Also the thought of someday never hearing Catherine's sultry tones or Lindsey's infectious giggle broke his heart.

A vibration on his hip told him his cell phone was ringing again, he looked to see who it was—Catherine. This was the third time she'd called tonight and she would realise what his lack of response meant but there was nothing either of them could do about it now.

He sat back in his chair thinking of his fiery, flirtatious, flamboyant lover and chuckled. She was a contradiction in terms to him and that meant he could never completely analyse or understand her, and she loved that because it meant she still had the ability to surprise him. That she loved him as she did was the biggest surprise of all. He thought of some of the guys she'd dated in just this last year.

First there had been Jerry. An extremely intelligent and well-educated man, he'd been a scientist like them. The fact that Catherine had been attracted to the man in the first place had given Gil a glimmer of hope, but after four dates she had dropped him like a stone telling Grissom that his loud-mouthed Billy Bass had more sex appeal than Jerry!

I've known a few guys who thought they were pretty smart
But you've got being right down to an art
You think you're a genius -you drive me up the wall
You're a regular original know it all

Grissom's hopes had nosed dived at that.

He'd all the charisma of a toad stool!" Catherine had exclaimed pacing back and forth in Gil's office after another boring date. "Do you know he didn't even try to kiss me, once?" she asked him, not waiting for an answer, "He just kept yammering on about his theories and how they were going to change the way we looked at things."

Gil had been supportive and understanding as usual, the true friend she had needed to lean on, and buried his feelings for her even deeper.

Then there had been Mr Smarm, Samuel S Sheridan. Now there was a man truly in love with himself. Grissom had never known what Catherine had seen in the guy. He couldn't walk past a reflective surface without stopping to check his appearance! On top of that he didn't seem to notice or care about the stunning blonde he had on his arm.

I've never knew a guy who carried a mirror in his pocket
An a comb up his sleeve -just in case
And all that extra hold gel in your hair oughta lock it
'Cause heaven forbid it should fall outta place

The most recent one before their relationship had begun had been the racing driver, Alex. He knew Catherine had been attracted by the high speeds and danger. There had been some nights she'd came on shift high and buzzing because of some antic or other Alex had taken her through in his supped up car.

The romance hadn't lasted long though. Privately Catherine started to tell Gil that the guy was paying way more attention to his wheels than her. Grissom had had to avert his face to hide his incredulity at the guy's stupidity. He hadn't understood how any of these guys could have let a prize like Catherine slip through their fingers.

You're one of those guys who likes to shine his machine
You make me take off my shoes before you let me get in
I can't believe you kiss your car goodnight
C'mon baby tell me -you must be jokin', right!

Now, however, Grissom was glad they had. He would always endeavour never to make the mistakes they had. He knew he could have a one track mind when working on a case, but he did his damndest to always find time to pay attention to Catherine. This was one prize he wasn't going to take for granted, not after waiting all these years.

He opened his eyes and jumped as he found the object of his affections standing on the other side of his desk leaning in toward him. There was concern written all over her face, and he knew without a doubt that she'd been talking to him and he hadn't heard a word. 'Damn,' he thought, 'I'd hoped it would be back before any of them returned.'

Studying her lips carefully he saw her ask, "Gil, what's wrong?" she rounded the desk and took his face in her hands, "Has your hearing gone again?"

His face coloured and he tried to look away, this was the kind of conversation he dreaded, and at time like this it was unavoidable. Standing with his back to her, he took a deep breath trying to sort his thoughts into some sort of intelligible order. He turned to face her admitting, "It's happening more frequently now."

He'd told her last year all about his mother losing her hearing when he was about six and how it was genetic. At that time they'd given him a year before he would be completely deaf, and for a while it had seemed as though even that estimate might be too generous, but here he was nearly two years down the line and he could still hear reasonably well. At least most of the time he could and it let him get by in his job, but for how much longer?

Looking down at their hands clasped together, he was scared when this happened and he didn't like anyone to see that side of him, not even Catherine.

She'd been really angry with him at first, a reaction he should have expected but still surprised him with her vehemence. When she'd asked him why he hadn't told her sooner, he really didn't have a good answer for her. It was just he was used to dealing with problems on his own, the thought of burdening someone else with it revolted him.

That had annoyed her even more. They had been friends for years and yet he hadn't felt he could rely on her when he really needed to. That didn't say a lot for their friendship. It had taken a great deal of effort on his part to restore her faith in him, but she had never turned her back on him despite that.

Straightening to his full height he took a close look at his lover standing before him. The determined _expression on her face shouldn't have surprised him, but it did. He would never understand what it was she saw in him, and why she would want to stick herself with someone who might only ever be able to communicate with her through sign language, something she had gone out of her way to learn.

"Maybe it's time to seriously considered the surgery again," she said to him. "It's not going to get any better delaying it. Let's just sit and talk about this for a while," she said to him and locked the door as they made there way to the sofa.

'Yes,' she thought to herself, 'Gil Grissom had the full package. Brains, looks, moves and touch.' What more could she want?