As soon as we got back to the lab, I hightailed it down to the safety of my office. I needed a few minutes to catch my breath and take in everything that had happened in the last hour. Catherine and Sara were expecting me back upstairs to the lab to process the computers. I was so hoping that Greg would push his way into the case. Next to me, he was a genius when it came to computers. I just knew I was going to be sick. Before I had a chance to make up my mind, Catherine appeared in the doorway to my office.
�You okay?� she asked.
�Fine, why?�
�You seem nervous.�
�I�m fine, really, just tired, I didn�t sleep well last night.�
�Look Vic,� Catherine said softly as she put her thumb under my chin. �You may be able to fool some people around here, but you can�t fool me. I know a pro when I see one. It�s none of my business what happened in the past, but I need your help now. Please?�
I knew I could never deny Catherine anything. All she had to do was ask, and I would do it for my Catherine. Shit! When did Catherine become my Catherine? This wasn�t good, none of it.
�Sara and I have the computers ready for you to look at,� Catherine said quietly. �If you prefer, we�ll leave you alone, we won�t bother you.�
I felt my self-imposed wall starting to crumble. �Will you stay with me?� I asked shyly.
�Right by your side, honey.� Catherine said with a wide grin.
�Good now if only I can get my knees to work,� I laughed.
Catherine put her arm around my shoulder and walked me out of my office. Little did she know that contact made my knees even weaker.
Three hours later I had successfully figured out what the dearly departed Mr. Delaney had been downloading. He and his wife had been running a numbers racquet out of their home. It spanned across the entire United States. Catherine had turned this over to the Feds who had been more than eager to get their hands on it. This was big. Grissom entered the room where we had been working. He was grinning from ear to ear as he walked over to Catherine.
�Good job Catherine.�
�Sorry Gil, I can�t take credit for this.� She turned and looked at me. �Vic here figured it out all by herself. I was just here for moral support.�
�Huh?� Confused, Grissom turned around and looked at me. If I didn�t know better he looked at me as if seeing me for the very first time. �Vic?�
�Oh Grissom, sometimes you�re as dense as wood. You sent Victoria out on our call.�
�Oh right, well good job Victoria.�
�Um yeah, thanks.� I turned and faced Catherine. �If you don�t need me, I�m going down to my office.� Without waiting for a reply I quickly left to the sanctity of my office.
Once back in my office I felt the old me returning. I was able to focus, and get myself put together. Catherine had no idea how unnerved I was having her by my side while cracking those computer codes. I don�t know what she wears for a scent, but it just about drove me out of my mind.
I settled in for the remainder of my shift. Luckily for me, no one even came down. I was relieved to be left alone to do my work. Once I finished my work and sent my findings off to Nick Stokes I was ready to leave. Another shift done.
Gathering up my stuff, I headed out of the office to clock out. Just my luck, Catherine was standing by the time clock talking to Sara. I wanted in the worst way to head back to my office but I knew that Sara had seen me.
�Hey Vic,� she said with a huge grin on her face.
�Ladies,� I remarked.
�Hey Vic, thanks for your help earlier. You did a great job,� Sara remarked.
�No problem,� I said quietly. I just wanted out of work and away from Catherine. I could barely breathe.
�We�ll have to take you with us more often.�
�I don�t know about that Sara, I�m pretty happy down in my little corner of the world.�
Catherine turned and bore her baby blues into me. �So Vic,� she purred, �breakfast?�
�I should get going,� I hastily said.
�We�re holding you captive and won�t let you go until you�ve had breakfast with us. You�re one of us now Vic,� Sara laughed.
I couldn�t help but laugh too. In spite of everything I had heard about Sara Sidle, I really liked the young agent. �Okay, fine, but don�t expect this to be an everyday thing.�
�Not at all,� Sara laughed.
My crack about breakfast not being an everyday thing was so far off track. For the next week, after the end of every shift I went out to breakfast. Most days it was the team, Catherine, Sara, Greg, Warrick, Nick and sometimes Grissom. I actually found myself liking this eclectic group of people. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to develop a rapport with these people. But here I was sitting day in and day out with those folks. Pretty soon the camaraderie filtered down into my office, because I had a steady stream of people in and out of my office every shift. Sometimes it was to ask work related questions, other times, if it was a quiet shift Warrick or Nick would come down and chew the fat. In a short period of time I had gone from the office nobody to office novelty.
In one sense I was glad for all the comings and going of everyone because it gave me less time to think about Catherine. A good many nights I didn�t even see her, she�d be off on a case or in her office working.
Everything changed the night that Gil Grissom came to my office. He actually came downstairs and sought me out. Sara had asked me to research how easy it was for underage kids to buy liquor online. She�d come back from a fatal car accident where the teenage victims had purchased liquor on line. In a matter of 5 minutes I had purchased liquor on line and had it sent to a teenage plant the PD used for liquor store underage stings. As I was finishing up my report to Sara I was shocked to see Grissom entering my office. He sat down on the couch and just stared at me a moment.
�Can I help you sir?�
He shook his head no. �Just came to see what the attraction is.�
Confused, I merely asked, �Sir?�
�I came to see why my people are spending so much time down here.�
I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. �I don�t know sir. They just all of a sudden appeared.�
�I was reading your files today. Quite an impressive background. Don�t you think you�re a little underutilized working down here?�
My stomach lurched; I knew exactly where Grissom was going with this conversation. He had found out I had been in the field and because they were understaffed he was going to pull me back into the field. No more hiding away from the world.
�I�m assigning you to work with Willows.�
�What?� I gasped.
�Next shift report to Willows, she�ll be your direct supervisor.�
�Yes sir.�
With that, Grissom was gone, and I was left alone with my thoughts. I don�t know which I was more afraid of, working directly with Catherine or going back into the field. Without hesitation I knew it was working directly with Catherine.
Needless to say when there wasn�t any sleep in my future before my next shift. I had begged out of breakfast with the gang and gone right home. I paced the floor all day until it was time to get ready for my shift. I had pulled my apartment to pieces trying to find my CSI jacket. It was no-where to be found. That was actually the least of my worries.
I was a bundle of nerves at the start of my shift. Once I clocked in I headed to Catherine�s office. I found her at her desk talking on the phone. She was deep in conversation but motioned for me to come in and sit. It wasn�t long before she hung up the phone.
�Welcome Vic.�
I let out a sigh; that was all I could muster.
�Hey Vic, it�s going to be okay, I�ll be right by your side.�
I wanted to say to Catherine that was the problem, she was going to be too close for comfort. But looking into her eyes, I suddenly felt that everything was going to be okay. I mean after all, I did know what I was doing, I practically wrote the textbook.
�Catherine, without sounding cocky, I am comfortable around a crime scene, maybe a little out of practice, but I do know what I�m doing. I�ve kept up with all the latest procedures.�
She smiled, a warm all over smile. �Now that�s what I want to hear, confidence.� She bent down and picked something off the floor. Before I realized, she was tossing a jacket my way. �Thought you could use a new jacket.�
�Thanks.�
We spent the first two hours of my shift going over policies and procedures. It didn�t seem like too much had changed. The only thing I had to do was get re-certified to carry a piece. That was the part of the job I hated, carrying a gun. But in this day and age it was a must. It took me all of an hour to get re-certified. Luckily for me, I had been a crack shot, although thankfully I had never shot anyone.
Our first call came in around 3am. Pedestrian hit by a charter bus. We arrived at the strip and were met by Jim Brass. For a cop he was actually a pretty nice guy. I had worked with him off and on through the years.
�What have we got Jim?� Catherine asked.
�Charter bus was headed down the street, this guy just walks into the middle of the street.�
�Where is he?� I ask.
�Under the bus,� Brass said casually.
I smiled at Catherine and shook my head. �Welcome back Ames!�
Catherine laughed out loud. �Come on Vic.� She picked up her kit and pulled me by the arm.
I was glad Catherine had given me the jacket, my nerves were making me cold and a little shaky. But I knew I needed to pull myself together, because I had a job to do, and I needed to push aside all personal feelings in order to get the scene processed. If it was anything like the old days PD would want the scene processed as quickly as possible so they could get the street opened up again to traffic.
This time I remembered my gloves. Catherine already had hers on before I had my thumb in the first one. Thank goodness I had a strong stomach because this one was particularly nasty. Our poor vic was still under the bus, well what was left of him was still under the bus.
�You okay Vic?�
�Never better,� I answered.
�Good. Sorry, this is a bad one.�
�It�s okay Catherine, I�ve seen worse, believe me.�
�I�m guessing if I could get you to open up, you�d have some stories for me.�
�Yeah something like that,� I answered. �Hey what�s that?� I asked, pointing to a piece of paper sticking out the vic�s shirt pocket.
�Go ahead, you found it,� Catherine motioned me.
I carefully pulled the rolled piece of white paper out of the vic�s pocket. Slowly I opened it, careful not to let the fresh blood run. I sighed as I read what was on the paper. In neat printing it was a suicide note. Seems the poor bastard had lost his job and wife within a day. Couldn�t take it anymore so he decided to end it. Not one of our more exciting cases, but at least it eased me into getting back in the field.
As Catherine reached for an evidence bag to put the note in, her arm touched my hand. It was at that moment that I realized my attraction to Catherine wasn�t one sided. We both felt the jolt course through our bodies when we touched. Who would have thought that Catherine Willows would be attracted to me, but I could see it in her eyes and the way she shivered when we touched. This certainly put a spin on everything.
