OK, second chapter. This may or may not be the last. If you like, review and tell me what you would want to see the story go.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
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Grace Van Pelt stood in line at the security checkpoint at the CBI building. As she waited for the guard to finish checking the bag of the person before her, her mind flit back to last night. She had had a lovely evening with Rigsby. In true Rigsby style, they had gone to a football game, but Grace had never been one for fancy restaurants; a small-town girl herself, these expensive city restaurants intimidated her. In any case, it gave her joy to be with someone who was so obviously thrilled to be spending time with her. She loved the fact that the very masculine Rigsby put away his manly game-playing when it came to their relationship: she had come home from their date to a rather shy answering machine message from Rigsby, saying what a good time he'd had and that he hoped they could do it again sometime. A nice change from the boys she had been out with before, who would call three days later on the dot, so as not to seem too eager.
After she made it through the check-point, Grace went up the lift and proceeded to make her way to the bull-pen. She smiled slightly when she saw Rigsby behind a stack of paperwork, staring absently into space. He suddenly jolted, and caught her staring at him. He directed a beatific grin towards her and then quickly looked away towards the couch and blushed. Grace rolled her eyes slightly when she saw Jane looking between the two of them with a Patrick Jane smile on his face and give Wayne a thumbs-up before laughing and reclining back on his couch.
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It was five weeks later, and Wayne Rigsby and Grace Van Pelt had been on dates about three times a week for all of them. What had begun as meeting at ballgames or for a casual lunch had quickly changed into romantic strolls down the beach and evenings in to watch movies (rom-coms when Grace chose, action-packed thrillers when Rigsby chose). They had shared their first kiss about one week in, and shared numerous more in the following weeks. It had occurred to Wayne that they were being less cautious than they should be; they had begun kissing in public, and some of their date locations could not easily be passed off as "just a friend thing" if anyone from the CBI were to see them. What were the chances, though? Out of all of Sacramento, the number of people who worked at CBI was small, and the people who would actually recognise Grace and Rigsby were even fewer. Thinking about Van Pelt, Rigsby decided to put his fear out of his mind, to be dealt with another time, as he grinned to himself in anticipation of meeting Grace to see a new movie.
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Virgil Minelli's face was blanked when a confused Teresa Lisbon and a nervous Rigsby and Van Pelt entered the room. He motioned for them to sit down while he shuffled some papers on his desk. The three visitors sat in silence until Lisbon decided to comment.
"Sir? May I ask what this is about? Only we think we might have a new lead on Menezes case, so..."
"Agent Lisbon, did you know that these two were in a relationship?" said Minelli.
"Wha..? Rigsby and Van Pelt?" Teresa's voice kept a steady sound of surprise, but she shot the mortified pair a suspicious glare as Minelli's back was turned.
"Sir, I don't know who told you, but..." Rigsby began to nervously say, but Lisbon cut him off with a professional tone.
"What Rigsby means to say is, how did this rumor come about?"
"It's not a rumor, Agent Lisbon. One of the guys who cleans for the building reported that he saw these two," Minelli waved his hand between Van Pelt and Rigsby, "were kissing in the lobby of the movie theater downtown on Tuesday night at about 9pm. What I want to know is what do you think I should do about this?" He directed his last question to Rigsby and Van Pelt, who were sitting stick-straight on the couch. Grace opened her mouth to say something when Lisbon suddenly interjected.
" That's impossible, Sir. This cleaner couldn't have seen them Tuesday night."
Minelli stared at Lisbon, who looked into his eyes unflinchingly. "Want to explain why that is, Agent Lisbon?"
"I put them on stakeout all Tuesday night. I was in contact with them throughout. They were working from 7 until 10pm. They couldn't possibly have been at this movie theatre."
"Is that so?" Minelli asked, scratching his head slightly. He looked disconcerted for a moment, then crossed the room to the door as if to open it, but stopped his hand on the door handle."
"Agent Lisbon, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm going to trust you to do what's necessary for the good of this team. Is that clear?"
"Sir, like I said, I have no reason to believe that there is anything untoward going on between any of my agents. If I were to see Agent Rigsby or Agent Van Pelt in any behaviour which makes me believe otherwise, I will deal with it," she said self-assuredly.
"Very well," said Minelli, yanking the door open abruptly. "You have work to do. Go do it."
The three mutely went down the corridor towards the bullpen, and Lisbon motioned the other two to follow her to her office. Once she closed the door, both Rigsby and Van Pelt started gushing gratefully until she raised her hand to stop them.
"Look," she said sternly. "We all know that something is going on between you two. But you have *got* to be careful. I won't lie for you again. You hear me?" Grace and Wayne looked at each other and nodded. Lisbon got some paperwork out and started writing rather viciously, which they both took as their cue to leave.
