The Present

by Goshstorywriter

The story of why, how and when Josh gave Grace a four-leaf clover necklace for her birthday. Some sections are from the t.v.script but most is fiction. There are two endings, the sad ending as seen on t.v. and a happier alternative ending.

The Present – when Josh gives Grace a four leaf clover necklace for her birthday in episode 4

Some sections of the story are what we saw on t.v., and follow the script which is not written by me, other sections are what I imagine may have happened before, during and after.

There are two endings, a sad ending which is what we saw on t.v. and an alternative happy ending which is what some of us think should have happened !

The HOW of it; how Josh found out her birthday.............

After work one day in the rec. room, Grace and Josh are sharing a beer, as they often do after their shift. Grace likes to think it's a mates thing, he respects her, like one of the boys. Josh thinks that she's gorgeous and he'd do anything to prolong the number of minutes per day that he gets to see that smile, to tease her..... He could be at the pub playing pool with some of his mates, but that would be a wasted opportunity...

Grace's handbag is on the table, she's ready to go home.
Lawson comes in; "Grace, come here a minute....", he has some form for her to finish off. She goes out of the room with him, leaves her bag with Josh, says; "keep an eye on my bag will you ?"

He says; "yeah, no worries".
She's gone, no-one else is around. The bag is on the table, partly open. He leans over, can he see a wallet ? There is an incredible amount of stuff in there... He looks over his shoulder again, then puts his hand in, gets her wallet, he's very nervous now, he doesn't usually forage through girls' bags ( too much rubbish ) but he's desperate to find out when her birthday is.
He opens it, looking for her drivers licence. Got it. Birthdate ? He's not surprised that is her star sign, he takes notice of these things ( personality traits, he actually believes in this stuff ). He puts it back, makes a mental note, her birthday is only a month away....

Grace comes back and smiles at him. "forms, paperwork...." she sighs,
"yeah" he agrees, "Lawson likes stuff like that, gives him something to do..."
She chuckles, "come on Josh, that's not what you really think of Lawson".
He raises his eyebrows at her. He was just making pleasant chatter to calm himself, to prolong her departure.

She smiles at him, finishes her beer, "well" she says "gotta go home, cook dinner for the hubby". He grimaces noticeably at that last comment. She notices that, she did it deliberately to see his response... Things have been a bit tense since they held hands briefly in the elevator, she's not sure what his intentions are. "Bye then" he says, "think I'll go meet the boys for a game of pool"
"Bye then, have fun" she says and walks off.

Later; The WHY of it, WHY he bought the present, HOW he bought it and WHEN he bought it.

Josh is off duty, shopping, he hates shopping but he needs some new shoes. He's walking along the mall, the sales are on, he walks past a jewellery shop, 50% off, the signs say. He stops for a moment and thinks.

When he looked in Grace's bag, he'd been investigating her star sign, he believes in that stuff - well sort of, when it suits him - their signs are a good match, or so that book said. It's his ex's book, one of the pieces of rubbish she left behind. It's not long until Grace's birthday now, a little idea has been floating around his head for a few days now. He'll just go inside and browse, have a quick look around.

The shop assistants are very friendly, all superficial smiles. He's nervous, there's a couple looking at engagement rings - frightening stuff !

Should he really do this ?
What will she think ?
What does she like ?
He should have paid attention, does she wear gold or silver ?
He can't remember, she doesn't wear much jewellery.
He doesn't think that she'd like anything too flashy.

There is a cabinet with necklaces, a safer choice than a ring perhaps.
He has a look, there is one that stands out to him, a four leaf clover, he likes the symbolism. It's not too romantic, it's the kind of present a friend might give, it's unusual. He likes it, yep, he'll get that one.

He nods at the smiling assistant, says; "Ummm, I'll take one of those thanks...." pointing.
She comes over smiling. Hurry up, he thinks to himself. He looks over his shoulder at the laughing couple.
The smiling assistant asks: " Is it a present ?...... for a girl ?"
Josh reluctantly replies; " Umm, yes, yes it is "
Assistant; " I'll wrap it then, shall I ?"
Josh; "sure......wrap it in blue, not pink " ( he's not sure why but he doesn't want it to look too girly ).
She wraps it. He pays and gets out of there as fast as he can. He finds the nearest pub and has a cold beer to sooth his nerves. It's done, it's in his pocket.

At home he holds it. The little box in the palm of his hand. It looks like an engagement ring box for gods sake ! Oh, this is a bit worrying. Maybe this was a dumb idea, who else could he give it to ?

At least he has a few weeks to think about it. He puts it on his bedside table next to the alarm clock. He can see it every morning. When he's at work with her he thinks about it. How can he give it to her ? He runs through scenarios in his head.....

The How and When of the giving......

It's Grace's birthday.
Today's the day, he's decided how and when he's going to give it to her. They're in the change-room together, getting ready to go out on their shift. He reaches into his pocket, he's got a little speech ready, something simple...and then Stella walks in. She's blabbing on about something that happened on her shift. He wishes she'd just shut up. He knows that Grace isn't interested in hearing the story, he can see the pained expression on Grace's face.

Then the opportunity has passed, they have to go out on their shift. It's still in his pocket.
Grace wonders why Josh is acting strangely. She is driving. Usually Josh prefers to drive, he likes to keep busy, he gets bored staring out the window, but today Grace insisted. She tends to get her way.

The gift is burning a hole in his pocket, he's gotta give it to her, it's driving him crazy, so he just shoves it at her while she is driving. He doesn't even say anything because he can't think of anything appropriate to say now. His prepared speech - something about being good mates - seems ridiculous now. He realises that it's an odd time to give a present but it's an impulse.

Grace is in the middle of driving and laughs, says; "how did you know ?"
Josh makes something up on the spot; "I looked up your file"
Grace thinks no way; "no you didn't " ( she finds this amusing, so she smiles, but it's also disturbing, maybe he really did do some detective work.....) There's a pause whilst she thinks about this.
Grace replies; "thankyou" ( because she's a polite girl ).
Josh; "no worries"

The gift is sitting next to the gear box whilst she drives, she hasn't opened it. The radio call comes over, she picks up the gift and he watches her do this as he answers the radio;
Josh replies on the radio; "tango 2, we're two minutes away".

He's not sure what to think of her reaction, she didn't reject it, but she didn't seem too excited either. He thinks of other scenarios, they might have been alone, she might have gushed with delight, he might have taken it out of her hands and put it around her neck, his fingers brushing the strands of hair across her neck......then he would have kissed her. If only.....

Instead it's now burning a hole in her pocket and will stay there whilst the drama of the day unfolds.

Later on whilst Josh is held hostage and Grace is back at the base.

Grace is back at base after her injury ( she was hit in the face ) and Josh is hostage somewhere. Grace goes to the change-room, puts on some makeup, trying to cover up the bruising. She finds flowers from Connor in her locker, her favourite flowers, he's a sweetie, and a silly card too. She sits there a minute looking at it, its predictable, exactly the same as last year.... on the other hand.... She reaches into her uniform and pulls out Josh's gift. She regrets that she didn't get a chance to open it in the car, but then she wasn't sure how to react to this unexpected gift. She carefully opens the box and looks at it, a four leaf clover necklace...she smiles a little and shakes her head, thinking to herself; why did he go to all that trouble ? What does it mean ? Is he a friend or a lover ?

Leon comes in and sees her presents. He says; "aahh, what have you got here ? come on give us a squiz, come on...." She shows him, he says; " a trinket, and flowers ? who gave you all this ? "
Grace immediately replies; "Connor " ( there you go, it was so easy, now everyone will think it was Connor who gave it to me ) Leon investigates; "what ? wedding anniversary ?" Grace is going to have to tell him now; "its my birthday". He is surprised; "well you should have told us you goose, what, and you didn't tell anyone ? Not even Josh ?" Leon immediately regrets this, he realises he's made a mistake. Grace is suddenly suspicious; "why would I tell Josh ?"

Later

Grace has been with Leon in the control room watching Josh being rescued on the screens. She was very excited and relieved to see him alive. She goes back to the change-room to get her stuff because Connor is on his way. The flowers and Josh's gift are still on the bench where she left them when Leon came in . She looks at them a moment, then picks up the flowers and puts the gift in Josh's locker. At the moment she feels guilty and confused and doesn't want to try and explain it to Connor. She rationalises that Josh needs the good luck charm more than she does today. She walks out of the base with Connor and goes to dinner for her birthday.

Not long after she leaves, Josh returns to base.

He's only just missed Grace and Connor. Leon was surprised that Grace didn't hang around to see Josh, given that she had been so anxious about him. He gets the impression that she's avoiding Josh but he doesn't dare say anything after his earlier bungle for which Grace told him off.

Josh looks fairly battered and emotional. He asks Leon where Grace is, he'd like to see her, but she's gone home already. In the change-room Josh and the others are getting dressed, Lawson offers Josh a drink but Josh has just noticed the gift box on the shelf in his locker so he declines. Josh needs a moment to work out what it's doing in his locker. Last time he saw it, Grace was putting it in her pocket, and all day whilst he has been held hostage, he has imagined that that is where it is. Maybe she might even be wearing it. But this doesn't look good.

Josh is wearing his scruffy denim jacket, the one that Stella and Grace have been hassling him about. Lawson leaves and Josh is alone, he picks up the gift box, looks at it, sighs sadly, moves it over in his hand. He sits down with his shoulders hunched over and opens it. The necklace is still there, he knew it, this has been a crap day. He abruptly flips it shut.

At that moment a blonde girl walks past in the corridor and out of reflex he looks up, but it's not Grace. He looks back down at the ground. He wishes she was here, he'd like to be sharing a drink with her now. He can't understand why she would refuse his gift after she accepted the hand-holding. This is going to be more difficult than her thought, but he can't give up now, he's already in too deep.

END of the sad story based on what we saw on t.v. Following is the alternative positive version !

Alternative positive ending to the Present Story !

When Grace is putting on her makeup, she takes out the gift from Josh, turns it over in her palm. She looks nervously over her shoulder but no-one is there. How silly, she thinks, no-one would know anyway, there's no card, no indication that it is from Josh, only he and I know that. It's very discrete.... She opens it carefully, and smiles at the simple but meaningful gesture. She takes it out of the box and puts it on. She looks at herself in the mirror, then goes to the control room to watch the unfolding hostage situation with Leon. She repeatedly fiddles with the necklace whilst she is there.
Leon notices and comments; "is that new ?"
Grace; "yeah I saw it the other day and thought I'd buy myself a good luck charm !"
Leon laughs, then mutters seriously; "you should've got one for Josh too"
Grace is taken aback, then realises that Leon doesn't have a clue, so she calms down and smiles to herself.

Later, after Josh has been rescued

Grace gets a phone call from Connor, he's running late, he's been held up at work and then the traffic is bad. He is very apologetic because it's her birthday.
Grace is OK with it ; "I'll have a beer with the guys here first, don't worry about me, get here when you can"
Josh arrives back at base, looking bruised and emotional. Grace is there to meet him. He walks into the rec. room, he looks sad and beaten but he manages a smile when he sees her there. She's sitting at the table with a beer in her hand. No-one else is around.
Josh approaches her; " I thought you were going out to dinner with Connor"
Grace; " I am, he's late and ..... I wanted to see you get back safe anyway, so I hung around"
She smiles at him, stands up, comes over and hugs him affectionately whilst asking; "you're OK ? "
Josh; " yeah, yeah" he manages, almost crying, overwhelmed at her gesture.
He holds on to her tightly, then lets go, remembering that they're not a couple, they haven't even kissed, and he hasn't told her how he feels... although surely she must realise by now. Grace doesn't reject his tight embrace, she is completely absorbed by it, she can feel the strength of his arms and the intensity of his emotions, she can't believe how close they are.
They separate and he notices that she is wearing his necklace. He reaches out and touches it, his hand lightly brushes against her neck sending a shiver down her spine. She's embarrassed and she blushes. Grace is torn between a sense of loyalty to her husband and her strong feelings for Josh. She feels completely different about each of them, Connor is devoted and loyal but he is more of a friend than a lover and she is starting to admit to herself that she can't resist Josh.
Grace stammers; " I told Leon I bought it for myself"
Josh chuckles; "smart thinking"
He's nearly going to kiss her, but then Lawson and Dom and Stella all walk in. They sit down with Josh and Grace and have a beer together. Josh only has eyes for Grace. Connor arrives and everyone is friendly. They wish Grace happy birthday and she leaves with Connor, the new necklace hidden under her shirt, but still there.

Later

Josh gets ready to go home. He's in the change-room, he opens his locker, pulls out his new black jacket. The girls had been hassling him about his old denim number, he was pretty attached to it and could have worn it until the holes came through, but Grace had suggested he'd look good in a black jacket. She still hasn't seen him in it. He's looking forward to that, maybe tomorrow.

THE END

NOTE
Even though she goes home with Connor, the seed has been sown and Josh is making his way into her heart. She'll be thinking of Josh when she's at dinner with Connor and now Josh knows that he can win her over, its just a matter of time.....