Chapter Two: Determination
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Grace Van Pelt had plans. She had made it this far (and it was far in so many ways) from her small town. Now she was in a big city. An agent bringing about justice.
Just the thought made her smile.
And she couldn't wait to keep pushing the envelope.
She wanted to show her boss how capable she was. To prove that she deserved to be on the team of Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon. Van Pelt had been both excited and wary when she had learned that her supervisor was to be a woman. She had known then that it could go a few different ways.
Her boss could have been a butch, hard-ass agent with a skewed perspective who tried to hide everything womanly about herself.
She could have been a coquettish woman who slept her way up the law enforcement ladder.
Van Pelt thanked God almost everyday that her boss had been Lisbon. Tough, no-nonsense, and by the book, but also nurturing, just, non-biased. Not afraid of her femininity, but not flaunting it. Hard-working.
Lisbon deserved her own unit. And Van Pelt lost no time in setting the senior agent up as her own role model. Someone to look to as an example of what she could be.
She wanted to prove that she was useful to the team, to the Bureau, specifically to Lisbon's team.
Someday, she wanted to make her own space as the head of a unit.
But she also had other aspirations. Ones that fell outside of work. Ones that could only be described as personal.
Mainly: Wayne Rigsby.
Jane had been right. Rigsby was an excellent lover. Not too demanding. Attentive.
But Van Pelt was determined to push past her own problems, to learn how to trust, how to love. Because she knew the large, caring man loved her. And, even though it scared her at first, she now reveled in it. Found it a comfort to know that he'd be there for her.
She was determined to make their relationship work. And to make it work with their careers. If they could just hold off a little longer. Surely there would be some kind of avenue. A promotion? A transfer?
And, really, she didn't mind transferring. But she wasn't ready yet. She still had a lot more to learn from the team. Cho, Rigsby, Jane, Lisbon.
She had a feeling that no one in the Bureau quite had the mix Lisbon did. And she wanted to benefit from that mix for as long as possible.
Van Pelt had plans.
And she was determined to make them reality.
