A/N: And so...The plot thickens. ;)
*Riiiiiiiing Riiiiiiiiing* Grell huffed at being awoken and reached out blindly, finally grabbing his phone off the bedside table and answered.
"What?" Grell said in a not-too-happy tone.
"Grell? Where are you? I've asked around and no one saw you come home. We were supposed to meet this morning, remember?" William tried to sound professional, but he was worried where Grell was.
Grell snickered. "I stayed at the Undertaker's. I couldn't even get up yesterday since that idiot demon punched me clean unconscious. What time is it anyways?"
Will glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall in his office. "It's around 10:30 a.m. Why? Haven't you gotten out of bed yet?"
Grell laughed and sighed; happy he actually got to sleep in for once. "Nope. To be honest, my phone woke me up."
"Hmph, well can you please get up and come to the office. You talked to the Undertaker, right?"
Grell thought back to the evening before and realized what had happened. Oh shit..he thought. "No, I didn't get a chance. I woke up and went right back to sleep. I'm really sorry. I will get up and go talk to him now-"
William cut Grell off. "Don't worry about it. Just get down here immediately and I will tell you myself."
And with that, William hung up. Grell pulled the phone away from his face, grunted. He was not only pissed because he had been awakened, but also because of William's foul mood.
Grell spoke out loud to himself. "Who the hell do you think you are, William? I could have bloody well died and you call me being rude? Psh." Grell shook his head.
Suddenly something moved underneath Grell and he realized that he was still lying on the Undertaker. He sat up quickly so the old reaper could move.
"I'm sorry if I woke you up, Undertaker. William called and wants me at the office, as soon as possible." Grell said with a hint of sadness in his voice. He honestly didn't want to leave, but it seemed he had no choice.
The Undertaker looked at Grell and smiled. "No worries, deary. It's fine." He sat up and caressed Grell's cheek. "Just make me one promise."
Grell leaned into the man's touch. "Sure. What?"
"Promise me you will come visit me more often? You're so entertaining and I would love to have you around." The Undertaker smiled and showed Grell his eyes, letting him know he was serious.
Grell threw his arms around the old reaper and pulled him close. "I promise I will come visit you as much as I can, but it will have to be after work. So I hope you don't mind staying up late!" He giggled and pulled back to see the Undertaker's face.
A smiled a mile long showed and giggles escaped the reaper's lips. "I do not mind at all, m'dear. Just come on in whenever you please; I'll be here." And with that, the Undertaker pulled Grell close and kissed him.
Grell smiled into the kiss, but couldn't fully enjoy it. His mind was starting to weigh heavy. He knew William had confessed his love to him, but he hadn't done anything else than that. They hadn't gone on dates or anything. Hell! William hadn't even mentioned them being officially together. So if we weren't officially together, this couldn't be counted as cheating… Grell thought.
Finally the Undertaker pulled back and looked at Grell. He could see a looming glint in his eyes, but didn't say anything. Instead, the Undertaker crawled out of bed, helped Grell get up in case his head was still causing him problems, and got him ready to leave. He crossed the room and grabbed Grell's scythe, leading him through the shop and to the front door.
"If I were you, you may want to change clothes before going to see Mr. Spears." The Undertaker joked as he handed Grell his scythe.
Grell looked down and sighed. "Dammit. Well he's going to have a wait a bit longer then, isn't he?"
The old reaper laughed. "Yes, he will indeed."
Grell hugged the Undertaker once more and was about to go out the door, but was stopped when a hand grabbed his wrist. He turned and was met with a pair of lips. He was a bit surprised, but relaxed under the touch.
"A kiss for good luck, deary. Please be careful on your way back." And with that the Undertaker released him and Grell went on his way back to the Shinigami realm.
After running back to his apartment for a quick shower and a change of clothes, Grell was on his way to the office. He looked at his watch and cursed. It was already 11:45 a.m. and he knew William would not be pleased.
Grell arrived at the office and quickly made his way to Will's office, not bothering to knock. He walked in to find William sitting at his desk working, like usual. Grell crossed the room and took at seat, waiting for William to address him.
William sighed and looked at the time. "I'm glad you finally decided to show up. What took you so long?"
"I had to go home and change clothes. I did have an eventful day yesterday." Grell shifted uncomfortably, knowing he was in trouble.
William gave Grell a look over, seeing that a huge bruise covered one side of his face. It was covered up very well with makeup, but Will could tell it was there. He leaned over his desk and pushed Grell's hair out of the way, looking at the bruise closely.
Grell realized what Will was doing and sighed. "I didn't know I had that until I went home this morning. I'm hoping it will be gone soon."
William nodded and sat back. "It should be gone in a few days." William sighed, but decided to just continue on with the news and not waste time on lecturing Grell. "Anyways, we need to talk about the case. It seems we have some good news."
"Really?" Grell perked up. "What is it?"
Will opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a file. "It seems that the people in our Japanese and Chinese headquarters have found the beginning of a cure." William handed the file to Grell, who opened it and began to study the new information.
"That's great! So we don't need to worry anymore." Grell said a little happier.
William leaned back in his chair and sighed. "That was the case until about an hour ago. I also have bad news. The board just informed me that the disease is still spreading and that the cure is far from finished. Even worse, what we need to make the cure successful is extremely rare."
"So that means…?" Grell looked up at Will and hoped that what he was thinking was wrong.
William nodded and looked at Grell sadly. "That means only the most important reapers can be given the medicine. Also, a vaccine is being produced, but that is limited as well."
"How are they going to decide who is important enough or not? That doesn't seem quite fair to me." Grell tossed the file back on William's desk and put his head in his hands.
"From what I've heard they are choosing the reapers who have high-ranking positions and are very talented. And unless we can find a more abundant ingredient that will work in both the cure and the vaccine, we can't really help the others." A sigh escaped William's lips and he looked down at the ground, not wanting to think of losing his employees.
Tears were beginning to fill Grell's eyes. He couldn't even imagine his friends dying; it would be unbearable. Suddenly a question came to his mind and he raised his head. "Hey Will, how long do we have now? Till the disease reaches our headquarters."
William picked up a pen and tapped it on his desk quietly. "Since they are making some progress, they have succeeded in slowing down the disease a bit. Our time has been suspended. I'm guessing that if no further progress were to be made the disease would affect us around early December."
"So about a month and two or three weeks?" Grell questioned.
William nodded. "Give or take, yes. So we mid as well make it worthwhile, just in case. If nothing improves by the second week in November, I will have to inform everyone in the Dispatch of the disease." He stopped and whispered. "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that."
"Yeah." Grell nodded. "Yeah, I agree."
Silence prevailed for a few moments while the two reapers let everything sink in. Finally, Grell got up and rounded William's desk. Will looked at him questionably, but didn't object whenever Grell sat down and curled up in his lap. Pulling his arms around the red reaper, William realized just how much he loved him. He sighed, content with his current position and whispered in Grell's ear. "I love you. Till death do us part."
