Disclaimer: I totally own the majority of the characters in this chapter:P Yay for me and my slight boost of originality.
Author's Note: I just wanna thank everyone who's read this so far. I'm really glad you're liking it and for the fact that you're putting up with my frantic schedule from the past month and for the upcoming couple weeks. Hope you like the chappie!
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"Mom, where's my volleyball jersey? I need it for the game today!" Clara Summerson groaned as she walked into the kitchen.
"It's in the laundry basket on your window sill. If you'd put your laundry away after school yesterday like I asked you to, you'd know that," Mary replied, pouring some orange juice into a mug and sitting down at the kitchen counter. Clara sighed, turning around and running back upstairs.
"Daddy, is it Christmas yet?" Michelle asked from the table where she was eating cereal. Kevin smiled, ruffling the girl's hair.
"No Michelle, that's still a couple weeks away. Why? Are you excited about Santa?" he questioned.
"No, I wanna see Uncle Greg and Miss Sara again," the four-year old answered.
"Hunny, you know that they haven't said they're coming for sure yet. Your Uncle Greg is supposed to – wait; there's an email from him. Just let me read it," Mary rambled, adjusting her reading glasses as she opened the message. "Well, it looks like they are coming. Good." She said.
"YAY!" Michelle squealed as she jumped up and started dancing around with her stuffed dog. Kevin smirked, rolling his eyes slightly as he sipped his coffee. Mary was intently reading the email, her eyes skimming the words before she clicked on the attachment. The minute her eyes focused on the sketch she nearly choked, spewing orange juice everywhere.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Clara inquired as she and Cody came into the room.
"Kev…oh my God….my brother wants Kate to…to make an…a…a you know what!" Mary panicked as she pointed at the screen of her lap top. Kevin raised an eyebrow before walking over and looking at the drawing. It was a ring.
Beside the picture there was a description basically stating that Greg wanted it to be white gold, a diamond in the shape of a heart at the centre and a circular ruby on each side. There was also an inscription for the inside which caused Mary to tear up.
"My baby brother's grown up," she whispered to Kevin, leaning her head on his chest. Kevin bent down, kissing the crown of her head.
"Yeah Mare, he really is. You should take this to Kate; it'll take her till the 21st to get this done. Oh yeah, you're to call Alanna. She called last night while you were teaching and asked if you'd give her a ring back. I think she's thinking of actually coming up for Christmas this year. I mean, it's her first year being married and I think she wants Mark to come see what it's like here with us. That and I know Kaliya has been bugging her to drive up here." Kevin said as he picked their youngest daughter up and placed her back on her chair.
"Oh, right, I'll call her from the car while I'm taking this to Kate," Mary responded, hitting the print button on open attachment.
"Mom! What are you talking about?" Clara urged, annoyed that her mother wasn't letting her into her mind.
"You'll find out soon enough Clara, just be patient. Cody, please eat your breakfast, I have to take you to school in a few minutes," Mary sighed, getting up to go get the paper from the printer in the office.
"Dad, c'mon, what's going on with Uncle Greg?" Clara pushed. Before Kevin could answer her the phone rang.
"Summerson house, Cody speaking," Cody said formally as he picked up the phone. "Hi Miss Sara! Um yeah, hang on a minute. MOM! Miss Sara's on the phone!" Before Cody could call a second time his mother was in the kitchen, gently taking the phone from him and walking out of the room.
"Hey Sara, what's up?" Mary asked, sitting down at the desk in her office.
"Nothing major Mary. I just thought that I would call you to see if you can come back on the flight with Greg and me," Sara said on the other end of the line.
"Well, my students and the other teachers come back at 11 pm on the 20th but I'm sure that I can manage to come back on the 21st with you two. I'll have to make sure that Clara can come home with a friend but everything should be fine. So, I hear you and my brother are living together. How's that going?"
"It's fantastic. I would have never thought that I could get along this well with someone all day every day but I do. I love him Mary, and I want to spend every day with him…but I'm kinda scared." Sara confessed.
"Scared? What for?" Mary asked, tapping a pencil on the desk.
"Well…I don't know if he…you know, wants to take our relationship further or not. I definitely do but I don't want to seem too eager. I think that's what's scared off the other people that I've been with…I'd get too clingy and showed that I wanted more but…they didn't. I've never lived with a guy before but still…I don't know how fast I should make things go. I want this to last Mary; forever if possible…I just don't want anything to happen. I usually screw things up."
"Oh Sara, Hunny, don't worry! Greg loves you more than anything! You're not going to scare him off. He's been in love with you since you moved to Vegas. Trust me. When I was giving birth to Michelle, he was the only one here because Kevin was working in Ottawa and the kids were with his parents in Fort Erie. Anyways, the entire time I was having her I was getting the brunt of how much he liked you and how you liked Grissom which was, in his direct words, 'Gross and icky'. So don't worry, I'm sure he wants the relationship to progress." Mary explained.
"Thanks Mary, that makes me feel a lot better. I just don't know if it's too soon for us to have sex or anything. I was thinking that maybe-"
"Ah! Sara, sorry Hun, but that's too much information. Greg is still my baby brother; I really don't want or need to know about his…um…sexual relationships," Mary stammered, her hazel eyes wide with fear.
"Oh, sorry, I just got carried away. Oh, crap, anyways I've gotta go, gotta get back to work. –Yes Catherine, they're processing right now- Thanks again. Talk to you later. Bye." Sara said, Catherine having walked into the room.
"No problem Sara. I'll see you on the 21st. Call again if you need anything else okay? Bye." Mary smiled, hanging up. She shook her head, picking up the paper that was in the printer tray.
"Mary, you've gotta get these kids to school and daycare. I've got to go to work," Kevin said, breezing into the office, giving his wife a quick kiss and then walking back out, having retrieved his briefcase from beside the desk. Mary shook her head, going to get the kids ready.
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"Mary! What a surprise! Come in, come in. Do you want some tea? I just out a pot on the stove," Kate said, smiling as she opened the door.
"Sure, that'd be great," Mary replied, walking into her best friend's house and following the dark haired woman into the kitchen.
"So, what brings you here this morning?" Kate asked, pouring the tea into two cups before setting them on the table and seating herself across from Mary.
"Well, Greg sent me this sketch and he was wondering if you could perhaps make this for when he's up here at Christmas," Mary explained, passing the paper athwart the table. Kate's eyes grew wide as she skimmed over the paper.
"This is a…a…" the black haired woman stuttered.
"I know. I was just as shocked as you were." Mary smiled.
"Is it for the woman he had up here at Thanksgiving?" Kate queried.
"Yes, her name, as you can guess, is Sara. He really loves her, and she loves him as well." Mary confirmed.
"So…when do you need this by?"
"The 21st, if possible."
"Alright, I'll start on it today when I go to work. Do you think that, you know, she'll like it and everything?"
"No doubt about it Kate, no doubt about it."
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A/N: Sorry about the chapter being short again but I've already got the next 4 planned out in my head and everything needs to be in specific places. Hopefully this being updated before it was initially said to be will have made you all happy.
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