Work Text:
Flowers
by kyrdwyn
The first thing she noticed when she walked into his office was the glass sitting on his desk. It wouldn't have been that unusual, except for the wildflowers that were resting in the water it held.
"Gil?"
He looked up from his paperwork. "Yes, Catherine?"
"What's with the flowers?" she asked, coming forward to examine them.
"They're a good luck charm."
She looked up at him, eyebrows raised skeptically. "A good luck charm?"
"Yes. They're supposed to help me solve my cases. Or so I'm told," he said, getting up and heading for the tiny refrigerator he kept in his office.
Catherine put a hand to her forehead. "You've got a good luck charm to help you with your cases? Since when did superstition enter into your logical world? And what the heck are you doing?" she asked as she watched him pour Seven Up into the glass.
"The carbonation in the soda helps keep the flowers alive longer. Keeps the water from getting too stale."
"You really believe they'll help you solve your cases?" She was really worried about him now. His bugs were one thing, superstition was another.
"I didn't say that. The person who gave them to me believes they will."
"Who gave them to you?"
"My neighbor."
Another raised eyebrow. "Your neighbor believes that a bunch of wildflowers will bring you good luck in solving your cases?"
Grissom nodded as he put the soda back into the fridge.
"Is that all she believes in?" Catherine asked with trepidation, visions of other strange rituals going through her head.
"She believes she's going to marry me."
It was said so calmly that it took several seconds for the meaning of the words to sink in. Catherine held up both hands to ward off the confusion. "Wait a second - your neighbor believes she's going to marry you?"
Grissom nodded as he picked up the assignment slips for the evening.
"How do you know this?"
"She tells me every time I see her. Including when she gave me the flowers." Grissom had a slight smile on his face, like he enjoyed having a woman tell him she wanted to marry him.
"Gil?are you sure this woman is, ah, completely there?"
He frowned at her over the papers. "She is perfectly sane, Catherine. And very intelligent."
Catherine frowned back. "Gil - Ted Bundy seemed perfectly sane, and he was intelligent."
Gil shot Catherine a dirty look. "Trust me, Catherine, my neighbor is not a female Ted Bundy." He walked out of his office, leaving Catherine to trail behind him, worried.
* * * * *
The flowers must have worked, because they solved the two open cases from the previous night with strokes of good fortune. By the end of the shift, Grissom was smiling amusedly at Catherine as he refilled the Seven Up in the glass.
"It wasn't the flowers, Grissom. It was a stupid criminal and a guilty conscience that cleared those two."
Grissom raised an eyebrow, but said nothing to contradict her. "I need to stop by my house to pick up something before we meet the rest of the shift for breakfast. Care to join me?"
Curious about this marriage-minded neighbor of Grissom's, she agreed.
Most of the houses on Grissom's street looked alike. There was a small girl playing with some dolls in the yard next to his. It was early, but Catherine figured she had been sent outside to play rather than watch television.
As soon as Grissom got out of the Tahoe, the little girl looked up and dropped her dolls in favor of running over to his yard.
"Mr. Grissom! Did the flowers help?" she asked breathlessly.
Catherine shot Grissom a dirty look as he smiled down at the girl. "They sure did, Maggie. Thank you very much."
Maggie looked over at Catherine and grinned. "I told him that the flowers would help."
Catherine smiled down at the girl, still mad at Grissom inwardly.
"I'm going to marry Mr. Grissom and help him solve his cases," Maggie announced with the dignity of a young girl.
"I'm sure you'll do a great job helping him with his cases," Catherine said diplomatically.
Grissom had disappeared into his house and come back out. "Ms. Willows and I need to be leaving now, Maggie. Thank you again for the flowers." He leaned down and kissed the child's hand, causing her to giggle. She waved goodbye to them as they pulled out of the driveway, returning to her dolls.
Catherine waited until they were back on the main road. "You didn't tell me your neighbor was six years old."
"You didn't ask."
Catherine shook her head. "That's why you kept the flowers on your desk, isn't it?"
"Of course. I wouldn't want to hurt Maggie's feelings."
Catherine shook her head. Grissom was odd, but sweet in his own way. She smiled at him. "Gil, you are one of a kind."
He looked at her, startled. Catherine refused to explain. If he could keep his secrets, so could she.
END