Title: Social Adaptation
Fandom: CSI
Characters: Nightshift CSI's
Prompt: #65 – Passing
Word Count: 2,629
Rating: T (Some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.)
Summary: Times are changing and the barriers between classes are dismantled bit by bit.
Author's Notes: Part of the "Slave" Universe; follows "Slave"; WARN: Slash, MPreg
Disclaimer: I own nothing…
I was in the stables tending to the horses when Warrick told me the news. It was a time when all should have been rejoicing; instead it was a time of sorrow. The wife of Master Grissom's second son had gone into early labour the previous morning. She'd still been in labour last night, her husband waiting anxiously with their young son in another room. In the harsh Northern winds of early February a chill had settled over the Grissom family. In the small hours of the morning Kristy Grissom, formerly Hopkins, gave birth to a tiny baby girl but didn't live much longer after. And it was shortly after the passing of her mother that baby Holly – her mother had named her – followed.
I thought of Kristy's husband, left to bury his wife and second child, left to raise their four-year-old son, David, alone. (1) I showed no outward concern to the news but inside my heart wept for him. I knew, though, it would only be a matter of time that the younger son of Gil and Catherine Grissom found a nice young girl for his second wife and she gave him more children. All this I expected. What I didn't expect, however, was the events that would soon follow.
-o0o-
"You sent for us, Master Grissom?" Warrick asked as he and Greg came around the house to the bottom of the front stairs, some weeks after Kristy died.
"Yes," Gil said as he turned to the two slaves. "I'd like the two of you to help bring my son and grandson's things into the rooms they will now be occupying." He gestured to someone at the top of the small stair case. Greg gazed up to find someone he honestly hadn't laid eyes on in many years. "Alexx and Yelina will show you where to go." (2) He dismissed them and followed his son inside. A young boy came dashing up to him.
"Master Grissom, was there something you needed me for?" The eight-year-old asked.
"Yes Ryan, I would like you to help your- to help my son by helping care for my young grandson, David, here," Gil answered. "Your duties will now be those of a companion to young David." (3)
"Yes sir," Ryan nodded his understanding and turned to Nick, waiting for the man to give him something to do. Nick stared at the young boy, a look of recognition playing in his eyes.
"Ryan, why don't you take David and get him something to eat in the kitchen then ask Stella where his new room is and you two can play," Gil said, seeing his son at a loss for words. (4)
"Yes sir." Ryan did as told and took David's hand. David smiled and began telling Ryan a small variety of stories in his broken-English child talk.
"When did Ryan get here?" Nick asked his father as he followed the older man into the study.
"He was born here, Nick," Gil answered as he poured both himself and his son scotch. "Just over eight years ago."
"Oh," was all Nick could say for a moment. "He was born to a slave in this house?"
"Yes," Gil answered his son, studying him over his glass. "And it is my understanding that his Carrier was born under similar circumstances." Gil was uncertain how his son would take to the realization that he was about to have, but the elder Grissom felt that the realization was only for the best. He was keenly aware of the relations that occurred within his house, and despite what others thought he was also keenly aware of any emotions tied to those relations. He understood his younger son's regard for his young companion even before his son understood it himself. As Catherine, his wife, had reminded him one day all those years ago there was nothing wrong with pure emotion as long as it came from the heart. But he'd also understood that in this society, those in a position of privilege were also in a position of obligation. Gil knew that it would break not only his son's heart but the young slave's as well. It was none the less expected to be done. If his children wanted to be accepted in this world, they needed to abide by societal rules. Nick had done this. He was a respectable man who'd married a respectable woman and had a son with her. His role in society was finished. He'd done his duty. Now the only question Gil had was whether or not he'd be able to move on and finally live a life he wanted. He wanted his son to finally be truly happy.
"Carrier? His mother is a male slave?"
"Yes, a rather young one," Gil answered as his son downed his drink in on go. "He had just turned fifteen when he'd birthed the child. You're mother, being the strong and caring woman she is as well as the Lady of the house, fussed over him from the moment we'd been aware of the pregnancy until he'd learned how to care for his own child." He watched his son stand and move towards the window. Nick gazed out for a long while, watching as Warrick and Greg periodically exited and entered the house as they brought Nick and David's belongings to their rooms.
"What did you mean when you said Greg was born under similar circumstances?" Nick asked in a quiet voice. Gil didn't point out that he'd never mention the fact that the young Carrier had been Greg.
"The family he was serving prior to coming here, Keppler, had a particular slave they'd acquired when she was eight-years-old – the same age Greg was when he came here, the same age Greg's son is now," Gil began. "When she was a teenager, she'd entered into a physical relationship with Keppler's eldest son, Michael. After Michael left to further his schooling, the young woman gave birth to a son whom she named Greg. (5)
"The Kepplers are a proud family, as you are well aware. There are many things they'd consider an embarrassment to the family name. Having a slave-born grandson in their eyes was heresy. They treated him as any common slave, worse after his mother passed on from disease. They rid themselves of him when suspicion of his lineage began to arise."
"Did Michael ever know?"
"Men of our stature never know."
"It's not the way things work," Nick nodded sullenly.
"Times are changing, Nick," Gil said and Nick turned back to his father. "With Michael's generation even if he did know he wouldn't have been able to do anything without socially shaming his family. You and I both know that family honour is a quality the Keppler family holds in high esteem. But with your generation it's altered."
"Altered?" Nick looked at his father with partial disbelief and partial interest.
"Son, you've gone along with social norms. You married and now have a son of your own, an heir that no one can question," Gil went on. "You've gone through much hardship recently. You lost two people who were dear to you. It's tragic, I know it is. But your heart will mend. Not entirely, but it will. You've lived your life according to what society wants, you owe them nothing to maintain your standing among them."
"Father, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying you deserve to be happy. Truly happy. That young boy needs his father and Greg needs the one person that can mend his shattered heart," Gil explained. "Greg was hardly ever truly whole. He most likely was while his mother was alive, and I believe he was again, years ago, with you. I think the only reason he's been able to move past the heartache is that young boy."
"Why are you telling me this Father? Why are you so understanding of all this?"
"Because I know what it is to have loved and lost and found love again." Nick looked to his father with questioning eyes. "I met your mother once a long time ago and we fell in love. However, I was not the kind of man her father agreed with. She was married off to another man, Ed Willows. They had no children together and he died one day in the second year of their marriage, shot by a business rival.
"Around the same time your mother married him, I also entered into a marriage with a young woman named Teri Miller. (6) She was of a kind and gentle nature. Sadly, her fate was that of your dear departed wife, along with our firstborn son." Gil sighed at the memories. "I'm sorry we never told any of you."
"Why didn't you?" Nick asked softly.
"It happened long before any of you came along. We thought it best to leave the past where it is in order to move forward," Gil replied simply. "But the point is we found each other once more."
"Greg would never want me back, I betrayed him too deeply," Nick lamented.
"Nothing is as certain as it is in your mind."
-o0o-
"You requested me, Master Nicholas?" Greg asked as he entered the small living room of Nick's private chambers late that evening.
"Please Greg, you don't need to address me so formally," Nick said as he stood from the small sofa in front of the fireplace.
"My apologies sir, but I mustn't act above my station." Nick approached the young man.
"Your station doesn't matter with me."
"Doesn't it?" Greg responded with a heated glare. The pain he felt when Nick had abandoned him years ago bubbling to the surface. He walked away from Nick to gaze into the fire. "Forgive me for speaking so, but it sure as hell seems that way."
"You have every right to speak to me in that manner. I betrayed your trust when I left," Nick said as he stood close to Greg. "Even worse, I betrayed you heart and mine."
"What do you know of my heart?"
"I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I do wish for it. I want to play a positive role in our son's life." Greg spun around.
"How do you know about that? How do you know about him?" Greg demanded.
"I met him when I came in. Father made him a companion to David for the time being, he then filled me in on some things." Greg turned back to the fire.
"We are slaves, my son and I. We were born into servitude. Nothing can change that."
"I can change that," Nick countered gently.
"What you are suggesting is something no one of your social standing would dream of doing," Greg scoffed.
"I know it means nothing after all this time, but I've always dreamed of it."
"And yet you preferred to conform to the norms of your class."
"I'm afraid that even after I thought I'd grown up there was still so much more maturing I needed to do." Nick placed his hand on Greg's shoulder. "As I said before, I don't deserve your forgiveness. Even so I cannot deny any longer the feelings I hold close to my heart. The feelings I've kept guarded all these years."
"And what feelings are those, pray tell?"
"I love you more now that I did back then, and I loved you substantially."
"Then how could you stand to hurt me as you did?" Greg cried as shoved Nick's hand aside and looked into the older man's eyes. "How could you abandon my heart so swiftly and live each day with what you'd done?" Tears streamed freely from his eyes. "How could you?" he demanded as he shoved his old lover. "How?" Greg cried as he began to pound his fists on Nick's chest. As his sorrow deepened his strikes weakened until he collapsed, sobbing, into Nick's arms. The two sank to the floor.
"Shh, it'll be alright, Greg. I promise," Nick soothed as he held his true love close to him. Eventually, the sorrow subsided and only the unshielded emotions they'd held onto for so long were left raging. For the moment they thrust aside any reservations they'd harboured and gave into the passion they'd been yearning for. Fumbling with clothing, they tumbled into the bed they didn't realized they'd moved to and explored each other as they'd done years before. They rediscovered each other and finally felt whole.
-o0o-
One by one, Gil and Catherine Grissom sat down each of their other six children and explained to them the secrets of their past. With Greg's permission, they also related the tragic history of his life. After learning of his lineage, Sara sought Greg out. Upon finding him tending to the horses with Warrick she thrust her arms around his neck. "Greg, please tell me I can tell Hank about you and my brother? Please?"
"Why would you want to? He's a Keppler."
"Because he's trying to marry me and I do not love him," she explained. "I despise him. Please allow me to tell him?"
"Of course Miss Sara."
"Oh, Greg you don't need to call me that," Sara smiled. "I don't want you to."
"My apologies Miss Sara," Greg grinned. He noticed that, as she exited the stables, she and Warrick shared an intimate gaze. He smiled and went back to work.
- o0o-
After so many years of conforming, nearly the entire Grissom family sent the social world in a bit of an upheaval. It began, of course, with an announcement that Nicholas Grissom was engaged to wed a Carrier who was pregnant his third child – and that same Carrier was not only the bearer of his first child but was also a former slave of his own house. This news severed all ties between the Grissom family and the Keppler family, despite the fact that the connection between the Kepplers and Greg was unknown by outsiders. The two were married three months after the birth of what turned out to be twin boys – named Mac and Danny. (7)
Soon after came the even more shocking news that the second youngest daughter of Gil and Catherine Grissom, Sara, was engaged to wed another of the family's former slaves –Warrick. Seeing as slaves were stripped of their family name and Warrick had already been a slave when he'd entered the Grissom household, Gil requested one thing of the man: that the groom take on the bride's surname as opposed to the other way around. Warrick was so honoured by the request that he complied whole heartedly.
Their eldest daughter, Heather Kessler, had a young daughter named Zoë with her now departed husband. (8) Refusing to remarry, she chose to set up a business of her own. However, there were few occupations for women and none were exactly what one would expect of a woman of her standing. Needless to say, the domain of Lady Heather quickly became the interest of many husbands and the disdain of many wives.
Sophia Curtis (formerly Grissom), her brother Bobby Grissom, his wife Calleigh (9), and their uncle Captain Jim Brass of the local police department, banded together to start up a school designated for the education of youth from the slave class. Costs were covered by the Grissom family and many anonymous donations from others who were not so brave to stand against societal values. Mandy, the middle Grissom child, and Wendy, the youngest, also took on roles as teachers in the school.
From the sidelines, Catherine and Gil watched contently as their children took it upon themselves to change the world, offering their help and support whenever the need arose.
- 30 -
THE END
Footnotes:
(1) Think David Phillips the coroner's assistant on CSI: Las Vegas not David Hodges.
(2) Alexx and Yelina are characters on CSI: Miami. Alexx Woods is the coroner and I think Yelina Salas is a cop(detective?) and I think she was married to Horatio's brother.
(3) Ryan Wolfe – a character on CSI: Miami.
(4) Stella – a character on CSI: New York.
(5) Michael Keppler – was on CSI: Las Vegas when Grissom was on his sabbatical. I think he was a temporary supervisor or something.
(6) Teri Miller – a character on CSI: Las Vegas. She reconstructs faces from partial imprints. Not sure if she does it from skulls as well.
(7) Mac and Danny – Mac Taylor and Danny Messer are characters on CSI: New York.
(8) Heather Kessler – Lady Heather from CSI: Las Vegas; Zoë, I think, is her daughter in the show.
(9) Calleigh Duquense – a character on CSI: Miami.
A/N: I honestly did really want to write this. I wanted to end the story "Slave" to end as it did, without a happy ending. However, I got this idea and just ran with it for the hell of it.
released: December 10, 2007
updated: July 27, 2010