Title - Girl Talk
Rating - G
Fandom - Mentalist
Summary - Teresa and Grace talk over beers and pizza after the events of
A/N - SPOILERs if you haven't seen S2 E18 - 'AINGAVITE BAA'
Teresa wasn't sure when she'd started to enjoy herself. Perhaps after she'd started on her third beer and Grace had placed down the pizza boxes with a satisfied grin.
"Shouldn't we feel guilty eating all of that, by ourselves?" Teresa asked looking at the now emtpy pizza boxes and fresh empty beer bottles starting to fill up Grace's coffee table.
Grace looked at the table and gave a shrug. "Why?"
"Well, aren't we supposed to be worried about our weight or something?" Teresa asked with a frown, because it was something other women seemed to do but she'd never given any thought to.
After a seconds silence Grace gave a peal of laughter and held her stomach with a grimace. "I'm sorry, it's just, your face," she laughed before sighing and thinking maybe she shouldn't have eaten that last slice. "I don't feel guilty, I enjoyed every last bite. Well maybe not the last few bites."
Teresa gave a smile and curled her feet under her on the couch. "Me neither."
"Wanna watch a movie?" Grace asked, reluctant to move but knowing to offer all the same.
"Maybe I should get going, I only stopped by to see if you were okay." Teresa said, noting it was getting late. She'd felt guilty when she'd left Grace in the CBI car park, still crying over the break up with Rigsby. The guilt hadn't gone away until she'd, albeit under her own self imposed duress, driven to Grace's to see if she'd stopped crying.
"Oh please, you've been drinking, can't let you leave now anyway. You can crash in the spare room later," Grace pointed out. "So movie?"
Teresa cast her eyes over to the shelf of DVDs near the TV, pursing her lips and screwing up her nose. So many romantic comedies. Grace saw the grimace and gave a bat of her hand dismissively.
"They aren't that bad," she pointed out.
Teresa didn't look convinced. "Yes, very realistic, all of them." She replied with a smile.
"No movie is realistic," Grace pointed out. "If you don't want to watch a movie, we don't have to."
"Okay," Teresa agreed, settling further back into the couch and sighing. She frowned in thought. "If we don't watch a movie, what do we do?"
Grace gave a shrug. "We can always talk."
"About what?"
"Not Wayne," they both said in reply to the question.
They both gave giggles at that. Teresa propped herself up on an elbow, head on her upturned hand as she looked over at Grace seriously. "Why'd you do it?"
Grace, leaning back fully on the couch, head back, stared up at the ceiling. "Didn't we just say, no talking about Wayne."
"We're not talking about Rigsby, we're talking about you," Teresa retorted.
Grace looked over at her sideways and gave a shrug. "He wanted the realtionship to work more than I did. It never felt comfortable you know, not really. All the going behind peoples backs, breaking the rules. I asked myself time and again what if we're found out, what would I really want from all of it? I love my job, I love the team, one of us would have to leave and I didn't want that. I wanted the team more than I wanted us. Him leaving isn't an option, I don't want that on my conscience and i knew if it came down to me breaking it off or leaving, I'd break it off."
"Not exactly going to be easy at work the next few days," Teresa pointed out.
"When are our jobs ever easy?" Grace asked. "We're grown ups, we'll deal with it. Right now though, I want another beer, if I can get up."
"Sounds like a plan," Teresa agreed.
Grace groaned pathetically as she stood up and headed into the kitchen for more beers. She returned with a pack in hand so she wouldn't have to get up again soon. Handing Teresa one, she collapsed back onto the sofa beside her.
"Well I know this may sound bad but I'm glad you've resolved the situation. I didn't want to lose either of you." Teresa said honestly, personally she'd have preferred it to have never have become a situation in the first place.
"Thanks," Grace said with a smile. "I think."
"It's true, like you said, we're a good team. I need my team. Plus we're still breaking you in without having to worry about breaking in another newbie."
"Newbie?" Grace looked alarmed at Teresa's use of the word.
"Rookie," Teresa added.
"Haven't I been with the team long enough not to be called a rookie?" Grace grimaced and took a long drink from her bottle.
"Nope, until we break a new kid in, you're it." Teresa shook her head and gave a small smile.
"Maybe I should have stayed with Wayne," Grace replied. "Could have rid myself of that term."
Teresa gave a snort and took a drink before shaking her head. "But where'd Ernie be without Burt?"
Grace, mid sup of her bottle choked a moment and spluttered at the reference. "God, do they know we still refer to them as that?"
"Nope and I intend on keeping it that way," Teresa replied laughing. "I do think Cho would be at a loss though, nobody to tease and make fun of."
"See, so what I did benefits the whole of the team," Grace said reclining back on the sofa.
"Well thank you for you're sacrifice," Teresa said looking over at Grace who looked a little sober than she had before. "Hey, don't start crying on me. Can't handle that again."
Grace looked up at her and put on a brave face, a small smile on her lips. "Yes boss."