In Another Light

(A/N I use a male pronoun for Grell at first because I wanted to add emphases on how William saw her at first. You'll realize why I used this sort of artistic technique and how I transition from a male pronoun to a female one. I think you're going to love it)

"Good morning Mr. Spears," A tall young reaper stood in William's office with Grell's ledger in his hands. "My name is Arthur Lockhart, I'm from the Nottingham Division. I was sent to take over for Mr. Grell Sutcliff while he was on vacation?" he greeted with a professional smile. Of course looking back down at the ledger to remember the name of the reaper he was going to temporarily replace.

"Ah yes, thank you Mr. Lockhart for answering my request. I'd say you'll have a nice month here, but we here in the London Division are awfully shorthanded, so you might be under quite a bit of pressure," William said removing his glasses and giving them a wipe with his cleaning cloth.

"It's nothing I can't handle, sir," Arthur nodded at him. "Can't say conditions are much better in Nottingham," the young man might as well have been another William. The only difference was that his hair was a lighter brown and obviously had only been a reaper for two years.

William sighed. "Yes, we're feeling the pressure. Anyway, get to work. Grell had some early reaping today, so get to them," the stoic supervisor said handing Arthur his schedule.

"Absolutely sir," Arthur nodded, turned and left.

William's brow quirked when he saw how prompt the young man was willing to be. "Hmph. Maybe I should ask if he wants to trade places with that insufferable red head..." he gave a small chuckle to himself.

Ah vacation time. Reapers had to put in for them in advance. And the more years you were a reaper, the longer vacation would be. Of course the maximum was a month. So given that William and Grell had worked well over 100 years, they had month long vacations. Being a supervisor though, William had to start calling and contacting neighboring divisions for temp reapers. Nottingham apparently had gained a surplus in new reapers, so he figured that would be his first contact. Though, it's not real wise to have a rookie only two years in take the place of a reaper who's been in 100 years. William could only hope this would work out well.

Grell was on vacation. Which made William at ease that he wouldn't suffer the flaming reaper's flirtatious advances every time he saw him in the office. In essence, William would be feeling like he was on vacation himself. Or so he thought.

It's been two weeks since Grell has been gone. William had actually been feeling a bit irritable lately, but he couldn't pin point why. Arthur hadn't been messing up, beside the occasional misspelling of names. But nothing too concerning. Eric, Alan, and Ronald were keeping up nicely as well. So why was he so darn uneasy?

The raven reaper was actually glad to clock out that day. He managed to get off in the early afternoon which was actually a nice treat. But William still couldn't shake his irritability. He even decided to naturally walk home as opposed to using his reaper speed to see if it would relax him a bit.

He took deep breaths of fresh air and allowed himself to enjoy the scenery. The reaper realm wasn't always dim, black and mundane. There were luscious gardens, artistic fountains and statues, and shops run by reapers that didn't work in the dispatch. These reapers (called the artisan class)were born from marriages within the reaper realm and had children. It created a nice balance from those who were actually punished and must work the collections and those who didn't have to suffer the punishment thanks to being born a reaper.

William was starting to feel a bit better, but not quite. He then passed a lovely building while walking down the sidewalk. He backed up and found it was a quaint little bookstore. William, being a bit of a bookworm himself, couldn't resist entering. It had shelves and shelves of books bathed in a golden hue of light. It also smelled of chocolate and coffee. Maybe due to the small coffee bar at the other corner of the shop. He actually felt he could spend quite a bit of time here. Maybe this could finally relax him.

He purchased a mocha latte and strolled through the shelves looking for a new adventure. "Maybe that's why I'm so uneasy, I haven't read a book in ages..." he said to himself. The uptight reaper kept looking through the books but not finding a book that spoke to him.

When he reached the last shelf, he noticed a dainty red-haired woman struggling to reach a book on the top shelf. She wore a red hued outfit which actually looked very professional. A feminine blazer with a skirt that stopped just below the knee. Her hair was in an updo and William couldn't help that she looked so cute trying to go to her tip toes in the red high heels she wore. He couldn't really see her facial features from his angle, but William already felt taken by her. So he fixed his tie, dusted his suit and approached her. "Excuse me, Miss. Might I be of some assistance?" he charmed.

The woman looked to him and automatically gasped...rather too excitedly. "My! Will you're such a gentleman!"

"Wait...was that...GRELL'S voice?" William thought and did a double take as he realized it was Grell he was speaking to. "S...Sutcliff?"

"DEADLY efficient reaper that's me!" he did his signature pose.

William's heart should've been crushed by the disappointment of who he thought was a beautiful, charming woman...but oddly, he wasn't. He had completely forgotten that Grell loved to dress like this. For what reason he'd never figure out. One thing he did know, was that...he looked so...beautiful. His make-up was brighter yet not overbearing. Plump red lips, cheeks dusted pink, and eyes lined in a chic black. Something he wasn't allowed to wear on the job, so William never saw how beautiful this man could really be.

"Anyway, since you offered to help, I'm trying to get that book called 'The Dragon Stole My Heart'. If you could get it for me please?" the red reaper asked as daintily as he could.

Will snapped out of his musings and pulled the requested book down for him. "W...why are you wearing that?" was all he could manage to ask him as the raven reaper handed him the book.

"Ah! This is the latest from Hopkin's Tailors! It's a two-piece suit that hugs my form beautifully don't you think?" he did a turnabout to show him. Completely avoiding the real reason why William might've asked.

"O...of course," William agreed feeling very awkward now that this was actually his own employee. "Weren't you on vacation?" he managed again.

"Well I am on vacation!" he beamed. "I've been spending it here at the bookstore and at the dress shops of course. You don't always have to travel abroad to enjoy, do you? Besides, I get to not only travel to different lands, but to different times and dimensions with a vacation of books!"

William was taken back. He never really heard Grell speak like that before. Then again...he only ever spoke to him on a business basis. The red reaper always spoke with passion when talking about reaps and he usually tuned her out because that just wasn't something he got off on like Grell did. But when he talked of something Will took an interest in, he couldn't deny it, it was beautiful.

And he actually couldn't believe he was actually going to ask this... "Grell, can I get you a coffee?"

Now it was Grell's turn to be taken back. "For me, really?" he blushed with a red finger tipped hand on his chest. "Oh I'd love one, darling! Thank you!" his voice had a lovelier feminine tone than usual.

William awkwardly walked to the coffee bar with Grell and bought him the coffee of his choice, while getting a small refill of his own.

William couldn't stop gazing at the man...no...woman beside him. He just couldn't see Grell a man dressed like this. SHE was so beautiful and lovely. And they talked more as they shared their coffees about the books they enjoyed. Grell loved darker dramas, beautiful fantasies, and every once in a while a comedy that balanced everything out. And who could forget her ultimate love of romance novels? She took him through the many adventures she's been on with books and William just couldn't break the trance she was putting him in. William then got to speak of his favorite genres of historical/time period dramas, an equal love in romance, and the occasional non-fiction to keep him grounded and intelligent. To which Grell really just swooned as he explained.

They really connected on books and literature. Grell was so much more pleasant outside of work. He never realized that before. And Grell WASN'T making flamboyant advances due to his distracting her by talking of books. Something that they both took a passion in obviously.

Before long, the store had to close and they had to leave. William had such a wonderful time. He couldn't deny it. No longer was he irritable or on edge. He couldn't deny that his soul felt at ease for once.

"Say..." said the voice that came out with him. "You know, I never knew you were such a bookworm like me! Maybe...we can meet up here again soon?" Grell asked not facing him. She always asked him out with a firm 'no' as an answer. So she couldn't stand it if he said no this time. Not after they had such a good time just in the bookshop.

William felt his brow quirk. Grell was asking him out again. But this time...he really wanted to relive what happened today. They were in that bookstore just talking for hours over coffee (which had to be switched to decaf so they could sleep tonight). Without facing her as well, "I...I'll try to get off work early like I did today..."

"Really?!" Grell said over ecstatically and of course couldn't help throwing herself at him in an embrace. "Oh William I"m so happy!"

"G...Grell...p..please I can't breathe. Get off me!" William said trying to keep his balance. He didn't mean to snap...it was just a natural reaction to her when she did that.

"Ah! I'm sorry, it's just I had a really good time, and I get too excited...I know. I'll work on it. But I'm so happy. I want another...meeting like this," she kept from saying 'date' so she didn't push him away or make him uncomfortable. But the red reaper did love William. Ever since their graduation. She couldn't believe she had such a good time and so did he. The red reaper could barely believe that she managed to finally catch common ground with the one person she chased for over 100 years. Her heart was truly touched.

"I...I want one too, Grell..." for once he wasn't calling her 'Sutcliff' or 'that red thing'. And for some reason it felt great to actually say her name and respect her.

"Alright dear! It's settled! Let's meet here tomorrow! I know you might work late, so I'll come about maybe 4pm?" she asked. The red reaper knew that he had to take on overtime especially if he couldn't find a temp reaper to take her place. Which she didn't know he really did find one.

"Ah yes. I can do that," William replied to her. To which she almost lunged at him again but he could tell that she worked hard to fully restrain herself.

"Wonderful! I'll see you tomorrow, my darling!" Grell said as she turned to leave a night she actually wished wouldn't end. And of course hoped more would come of it.

That night William had gone home and prepared his lonely dinner as always. Already thinking of the books he'd like to discuss with Grell. He ate his tv dinner wondering what book really took him just so he could show Grell the next day. It had been a while since he's been this excited. And...with his most troublesome coworker.