Same Time Next Week

Rating: totally G... It's all very innocent :-)
Genre: I think it's fluffy fluff :-)
Disclaimer: Not mine? What? I thought they were! Darn it! Well, I'll just borrow them for a sec...
A/N: I have fourteen plus fics in my head that I need to write, and this wasn't one of them! But I managed to write this, so there's hope for the rest of them :-) I really will try!
Dedication: For Megan, Mackenzie and Angie - chatting about fic, inspired me to write fic. Thank you. (Also, I look forward to reading your fics in the near future (or so!) ;-) )
Here you go:

Their breakfasts often went like this. They would eat and talk, then would sit in companionable silence for a while whilst he read the paper and she tried to finish his latest crossword puzzle. They would share this meal at least once a week, providing their work schedule allowed for it. It was a rountine they had fallen into a few months ago. How, they couldn't quite remember, but they were both glad that they did.

"Cath?" Grissom asked, looking thoughtfully at his friend, sitting opposite him in the quiet diner, concentrating on the puzzle in front of her.

"Yeah?" she responded, not looking up at him.

"Do you know what day it is?"

"Tuesday."

When there was no more from Grissom, Catherine slowly looked up. She found him looking at her, wearing his `unamused' face.

"You know what I mean," he said, seriously.

"Yes I do," she smiled.

"Twenty years," he said, a proud glaze falling over his eyes.

"Long time," she offered.

"Yeah," Grissom sighed, his eyes catching hers.

For seconds they just held the other's gaze, hearts beating rapidly and loudly in their chests, limbs aching to reach for the other ­ a moment that was familiar, and well-practiced over the twenty years they'd known each other.

Following the well-rehearsed script, Catherine eventually smiled and looked back down to her crossword.

A silence once again descended on the room, as Grissom also returned to his task.

Minutes later, he spoke again.

"Cath?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know there's a pool on how long it would take us to finally admit that we love each other?"

"Tuesday."

Grissom frowned. "No, Cath, we're not replaying the earlier conversation. This is a new one," he smirked.

She looked up at him, rolling her eyes. "I have next Tuesday."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Twenty-years and seven days."

"Oh," he said, quietly surprised. "I didn't enter."

"Oh," Catherine nodded. "I just thought it would be a bit of harmless fun," she shrugged.

"Oh."

They both nodded, fell into one of their moments, then returned to their respective activities.

For a few minutes, until:

"Cath?"

"Yeah?"

"Same time next week?"

"Tuesday?"

"Tuesday."

Smiling to herself, and noticing in her peripheral vision that he was doing the same, she said, "It's a date."

THE END