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Catherine Willows appreciates beauty of all types. She takes her daughter to art galleries to see and admire the beauty of each piece of art. She studies fashion and delights in the intricate loveliness of each unique article of clothing.
This appreciation of beauty extends to people too, of course. She admires the handsome artists and the seductive splendor of the models showing off the latest fashion. In fact, she admits privately, she probably appreciates beautiful people more than any tangible beautiful object.
Catherine can (and does) appreciate beauty of all types, and that is why she’s not too concerned when she first notices Wendy Simms. After all, the girl is beautiful, with an almost exotic look to her, black hair that shimmers when the crime lab’s lights strike it, and a lovely smile that lights up her intense dark eyes. Who wouldn’t appreciate Wendy’s obvious attractiveness? Only someone who was blind (and surely a gay man would at least acknowledge that she was beautiful).
Yes, Catherine didn’t worry too much when she first noticed Wendy’s beauty. After all, she’s taken note of the attractive features of everyone in the lab -- Grissom’s intensely blue eyes, Nick’s earnest, heartwarming smile, Sara’s pretty figure, Greg’s quirky, endearing grin, Warrick’s…well, everything about Warrick, just to name a few -- so it isn’t unusual for her to notice Wendy’s beauty.
It is only when she starts being unable to look away that she gets the feeling that something is amiss, and once Catherine realizes she’s begun to openly stare at Wendy when the other woman isn’t paying attention, she recognizes that she’s got a problem, a big problem.
True, Catherine appreciates beauty, but there is a difference between appreciating beauty and being ensnared by it, and Catherine has a feeling that Wendy’s attractiveness is the latter. She finds herself watching the DNA tech, studying each gesture the younger woman makes, making excuses to speak to her directly when she needs DNA analysis for a crime, thinking about her at random moments, like at home or at a scene.
She is staring through the windows of the DNA lab, in fact, when a quiet voice, laden with sardonic amusement and dripping with irony, drawls behind her, "It's hard to look and not touch, isn't it?"
Catherine barely manages to keep from jumping out of her skin, and assumes a neutral expression as she turns and just looks at David Hodges, who is wearing an amused smirk. It takes her a moment to realize why she is both startled and annoyed and experiencing a sense of déjà vu. Hadn’t she said those very same words when she’d caught him staring almost wistfully at Mia Dickerson?
"Excuse me?" she says, and raises an eyebrow.
Hodges’ damnable smirk doesn’t diminish, and in fact it widens. "I asked if it’s hard to look and not touch." He nods towards the DNA lab, where Wendy is thankfully oblivious and hunched over a microscope. Her hair has fallen into her face, so Catherine can’t quite make out her expression and --
Damn, she really needs to stop staring. Catherine frowns when Hodges looks almost victorious, and offers him only, "I don’t know what you mean."
He shoots her a vaguely irritated look, as though he didn’t expect her to be this stubborn, and then smoothes his face into another smirk, this one full of sardonic amusement. "Oh, I see. It’s just that the poor kid has been working her tail off, is it? I completely understand. DNA still continues to surprise me and get the glory even now. She obviously needs a break."
Again she gets a feeling of déjà vu, and knows that Hodges is mocking her. "Actually, I was just about to go in and ask if she was done with the results for the Robinson case," she says, and her answer comes out more defensive and less nonchalant than she would have liked.
Hodges just shakes his head pityingly, and tucks his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "Of course you were," he says, and Catherine is thankful when he turns to head back to the trace lab.
That thankfulness lasts for all of two seconds, because after that span of time, Hodges pauses, and calls over his shoulder without looking back, "It’s funny. I was just asking Wendy if it was hard to look and not touch yesterday. She was just as closemouthed as you."
Catherine stares at his back as he fairly saunters back into the trace lab, and is all-too aware that she is probably gaping and that her eyes are as wide as saucers, because Sara is shooting her a slightly concerned look from where she’s standing halfway down the hall, and Catherine cannot quite force herself to do anything but stare. She just gawks for another long moment before she shuts her mouth with a snap. This was one of Hodges’ nastier jokes, because he couldn’t possibly have meant what she thought he had.
She turns back towards the DNA lab (she really does need the results for the Robinson case) just in time to see intense dark eyes that had been focused on her flicker hurriedly back to the microscope and a sheen of shimmering black shield Wendy’s expression once more, but not before Catherine’s seen a look of almost embarrassment on it.
Or maybe that hadn’t been wishful thinking, what Catherine had read into Hodges’ comments. Catherine pauses, taking a moment to appreciate the profile of the dark-haired woman huddled over a microscope before she shrugs to herself. A small, vaguely ironic smile creeping onto her lips, she mutters, "It is hard to look and not touch, Hodges." Really, she should’ve known those words would come back to bite her in the ass.
Then Catherine takes a deep breath and assumes a nonchalant expression and pushes open the door to the DNA lab, stepping inside and smiling at the beautiful woman in front of her.