Grace Van Pelt sipped the wine out of the plastic cup slowly. It tasted all right but not nearly as good as Rigsby's kiss. Oh, maybe she should start calling him Wayne. She smiled down into her cup. She could just picture the goofy look on his face when she called him Wayne for the first time. Wayne. Wayne. Ok she could do that. She looked around the table, Rig..Wayne was talking to Lisbon and Jane was whispering something to Cho. It was probably about my plans for Wayne. Jane would know what they were just by looking at my face as we came back into the room. He always knew. And he already knew Wayne was in love with her. OK, she had eaten 2 pieces of pizza and drank her wine. Everyone else was talking amongst themselves so there was no reason why she could not leave now. "Well, goodnight, I'll see you in the morning."
"Wow look at the time. Why don't we all clean up and walk down together?" WHAT did Jane just say? Grace could not believe her ears. Jane of all people! He was always trying to push them together and now when they had a chance he was spoiling it. As she turned back toward the table everyone was grabbing plates, cups and pizza boxes and heading toward the break room. She picked up the drinks that Wayne had brought in earlier and followed. Once the clean up was complete 4 agents and 1 consultant gathered up their personal effects and headed to the parking lot.
Lisbon as a unit leader had her own parking space right up front. Both Cho and Jane were parked to the left and Rigsby and Van Pelt had parked next to each other to the right of the entrance. Once everyone had said their good nights Wayne and Grace broke from the group and headed toward their vehicles. Cho, Lisbon and Jane were still standing in front of the building talking. It was as if they were waiting to see if they would leave together. As they approached Grace's vehicle and there was still no sign that the others were leaving Wayne spoke up "Meet me at the Diner." He then continued to his vehicle and got in.
Grace pulled into the parking lot of the SacraMetro Diner and parked her vehicle next to Wayne's. He was already standing near the front of the vehicle leaning back against the hood with his legs stretched out in front of him. His chin was down resting on his chest as if he was afraid to look in her direction. She approached him wondering if the moment was lost and Wayne had retreated back into the shy, awkward giant afraid to tell her how he felt. Just as she stood in front of him, he raised his head and suggested they go inside and talk.
"Wayne you just practically inhaled an entire pizza. You can't possibly be hungry." She was right, the look on his face as she called him by his given name was both goofy and endearing at the same time.
"Well how about dessert?" he asked as he stood up straight and held out his hand to her. She took it and accompanied him into the diner.
They were seated across from each other in a booth and other than placing his order with the waitress Wayne had said not a word. Grace was getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Could she have been wrong about how he felt? Could everyone have been wrong? She was so sure that he was different. He wanted to be with her. Everyone had told her so. She could see it in his eyes. Feel it when he was close to her, in his kiss. She finally gave in to what she felt, practically dragged him into a vacant office and she all but threw herself at him. Not that he seemed to mind. Just the opposite. So why the silent treatment now?
"Wayne, I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have forced myself on you…."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" he asked quizzically "You can't honestly believe that I didn't want what happened earlier to happen can you? Or are you sorry it happened?"
The waitress picked that moment to return with their order. Once she had left the table more silence. Wayne looked like he had been punched in the stomach and all he could do was pick at his pie.
"I'm not sorry it happened. Just the opposite. But I am confused. Why are you so withdrawn?"
"Look Grace, what did you expect was going to happen when you asked me to meet you at your car?"
"I guess we would decide whose place to go back to. We would of course have to go in 2 vehicles since we couldn't risk leaving one in the parking lot, and then we would.."
"Hook up?" he interrupted
'I uh..um.. guess that is the vernacular used now so yeah."
Wayne grinned at her stammering and reached over and took one of her hands which had been slowly shredding her napkin "Grace I do not want to hook up with you." He watched as her face clouded over and she seemed to close herself off from him so he quickly added "I want to be with you." He watched as her eyes lifted from the spot on the table she had been studying and looked directly into his eyes. Then he continued "I know it sounds crazy, sometimes I can't believe it myself but I see a future for us Grace. Hook up sounds so temporary and without feeling. I want to date you. Get to know more about you, and have you learn more about me. Then when the time is right, for both of us, I want our first time to be slow and romantic. Not rushed and hurried at the end of a long day so we can both get enough sleep before work in the morning. Can you wait?"
As he spoke Grace could feel the heaviness that had set in dissipate. Before he finished there were tears rolling down her cheeks. No one had ever said anything so romantic to her before. Wayne Rigsby was one big contradiction. A gentle giant. All she could do was nod her head.
Wayne grinned across the table at her as he squeezed her hand. "So Grace how about we go out for cheeseburger Friday night. With onion rings of course."