"View from a Cage: Grissom's Tarantula Tells All"

Hello. My name is...well, tarantulas don't really have names. Grissom calls me by the name of some woman in a play written by some guy called Shakespeare, but that's really not important. I'm standing here in a plastic container on his desk, not able to go anywhere, so I tend to watch Grissom and the other people around the lab. Right now, Grissom is sitting in his chair, not paying any attention to me at all. In fact, I should test that. I'll do a dance and see if he notices. Here I go. Nope, he didn't notice me. He's too busy looking over his notes from some scene.

For such an observant man, he can miss the most obvious things. That's bad for me, but it can be worse for the people around him. That lady Sara, I think it's driven her almost crazy. The only time he seems to notice her is when she acts out or is having too much fun with Greg. He doesn't seem to like seeing them together for some reason, even though he doesn't appear to love Sara the way she loves him. Maybe he just wants to keep the option open and considers the younger male to be a threat. Greg is certainly closer to Sara's age, though a little bit younger than her. That's usually preferred in any species. Though, I don't think Sara is the type to want to mate and have offspring, so it may not be an issue for her. For all I know, she may not even like Greg like that, but they have been getting along well. Either way, I don't think that Grissom should be halfway saying "no" to someone with such obvious mental problems. He needs to either tell her that it's never ever ever going to happen so clearly that it breaks her heart, but frees her in the long run, or decide to have some kind of relationship with her. Erring on the side of caution is erring indeed, in this case.

Also, when he takes me home at night, I've heard him murmur the name "Lady Heather" in his sleep from time to time. I get the feeling that she's "the one that got away," if you know what I mean. I never met her, but I'd be almost willing to bet that Grissom did something insensitive. As good as he is with me, he doesn't do too well with his own species.

In fact, Grissom seems to be especially bad with human females. He did pretty well talking to that Sofia lady, but she's about it. She left because of some human political mess within the lab. That's too bad, because I liked her. She let me crawl up her arm one time. It was so nice to have company and have her pay attention to me. I know that Grissom loves me, but it's like everyone else just tolerates me. I'm kind of like Hodges that way, only not as annoying. Anyway, I digress.

He used to do well talking to Catherine. But, now, they just can't communicate anymore. As smart as they both are, and as good as they both are at figuring things out, they just don't try to understand each other's perspective. I doubt that they could relate to each other if they tried, though. They used to take care of each other. They used to connect as brother and sister in forensics, but where the science ended, so did the commonalities. He's devoted to the pure exploration of the truth and she finds the deepest truth in the human experience. He's logic personified, and she's emotion personified. Though, she does seem to be able to bring out emotion in him. She really appears to be good at that with everyone. Unfortunately, where Grissom's been concerned lately, the emotion she brings out is irritation.

Grissom can't bear the thought of anything happening to "compromise the integrity" of his precious lab. Catherine keeps reminding him that the "lab" is nothing but a bunch of beakers, hot plates, and computers without the people. She gets right up in his face when she says it too. This seems to happen whenever he uses an angry tone of voice with her. The other day, she claimed that he had once said, "Without the people, there is no lab," or something like that. I don't remember exactly what she quoted him as saying. I'd imagine that he probably did say that, though. I know that he believes it, but I think he's only inclined to remember when the people view their job in the same way that he does.

The other thing that could be causing the friction between Grissom and Catherine is the fact that she has custody of his offspring. His sons Nick and Warrick are now under her supervision. At least, I think they're his sons. He certainly acts like they are, and they still come to him for advice. I'm not sure why Catherine has them, because Nick and Warrick are both adults. I know that she isn't their mother. Warrick has to look like one of his parents, and he certainly doesn't look like Grissom, except for his height and maybe his eyes. So, his mother must be slender and dark-skinned with a nose and mouth like Warrick's. Besides that, Catherine's not old enough to be their mother. Even though she's the closest to Grissom's age, she's still several years younger than him. I never could understand human tribings, but that's not important.

My point is that Grissom is very protective of his sons, and he doesn't seem to think that Catherine is doing a good job with them. He doesn't agree with her morals, or what he considers to be a lack there of. It's like he wants her to live exactly like he does, devoted and detached.

Catherine on the other hand is always on the defensive. She decided that Grissom wasn't going to approve of her and was going to keep trying to step in, even before it actually happened. It's almost like she was paranoid. Of course, she had a right to be, as differently as she and Grissom see things. Sometimes she jumps on him before he's actually interfered. Other times he jumps on her, not because whatever she did was wrong, but because it's not what he would have done. I just don't get it.

I don't like Catherine, anyway. As hard as she tries to get Grissom out into civilization, she's always trying to keep me out of it. Every time she comes in here, she keeps checking to make sure that the lid above me is on good and tight.

I'll never understand humans. But, I get the feeling that Grissom won't either, at least not the emotional ones. He and I have a lot in common. This plastic container that I'm in right now is just like the office it's sitting in. Grissom and I can both see what's going on around us without ever really being a part of it. Sadly, if he doesn't let himself out soon, I may be the only female left in his life. But, unlike me, he doesn't seem to mind the view from a cage.

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