Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I had the dreaded writer's block, but now I am back in the zone :P Thanks to all who have reviewed.
Insaneontheinside- Sorry, I'll explain myself. Grissom's mom is deaf. My thinking was that as Naomi has spent so much time around her, she'd be as used to the way that they communicate as when she speaks to people so it would be as if Grissom's mom was talking to her. Sorry, I couldn't think of any other way to describe it.
Anyways, enjoy
There is someone watching me. I can feel the gaze of one or more on the mess that is my bed head. I open my eyes and hide under the canopy of my hair. This is not good. I slip my hand under my pillow in a subtle way that might be taken for someone shifting in their sleep. I can now hear breathing. Six people. Make that five, I can always tell the breathing of an old dog from that of people. I slide my hands back to somewhere where I can see them and take a deep breath. I sit up quickly in bed and point my gun at the freaked out faces of Nate, Ollie, Emily, Hank and the exhausted looking Uncle Gil and Sara.
"It's not my fault you're thirty." Nate says putting his hand on the gun. I lower it slowly.
"Sorry." I mumble. I've been super paranoid since Uncle Gil told me that I might get attention from the friends of Demetrius James and his supporters. I shove the gun into my bedside draw.
"Sorry, kinda killed it?" I say. Sara nods and smiles sardonically.
"Happy birthday!" Emily walks up to my bed and gives me a present. It's a picture frame, with a picture of me, Nate and Ollie on the beach.
"What happened to that bikini?" Nate asks Ollie when I show everyone.
"I gave it to the slut brigade." I say sticking out my tongue. I hated that bikini. They made me buy it. This was the day after Matt had been a dick for the hundredth time. They'd taken me to the beach to 'get you a man'. Instead, what they had got me was a jellyfish sting, sunburn and an ice cream. So it wasn't all negatives. I hug Emily.
"Thanks, it's beautiful." I love it. Truly. That was one of the few times I felt ridiculously happy. It was one of those moments I could have lived in. Sometimes, I've found you have these moments when they could have lasted forever, and you could have lived there, doing whatever, being eternally young forever. We look ridiculously happy in the picture. I'm stood in the middle of Nate and Ollie in the surf, and a massive wave has just hit the back of us. The picture was taken by a sweet old couple walking their dog that had crapped in front of us just after the picture was taken. I still remember the smell of the sea, and dog poop.
"Our turn!" Nate and Ollie thrust a parcel into my hands. It's a t-shirt. A printed t-shirt. Another picture of me, Nate and Ollie. It was a party a few weeks before I moved out. Their sat on a couple of chairs and I'm lying across them with a bottle of beer in my hand that I'm raising to the camera. And underneath there's the caption: Grissom's Bitches. I laugh so hard I almost cry. Sara smiles and nudges my Uncle when I show her the shirt.
"Hey, we should get one of those with a picture of you and Hodges. But we should shorten it to Grissom's Bitch." She giggles and my Uncle smirks, looking mildly amused. It's cute that they have this little in joke.
"My present." Uncle Gil drops a tiny brown paper bag into my lap. I pick it up and slide out the contents. My heart stops when I realise what it is. That box was sat in my Granma's house whenever I was there as a kid. I'd opened it one day, and had felt eternally guilty after Nana Grissom caught me. She wasn't mad. In fact it was the opposite; she wanted to tell me everything. I remember sitting at the table opposite her next to my Uncle Gil who was acting as a translator. I wasn't fluent in sign language at the age of six. It was my Granma's, Granma's and was my mom's, but mom had left it at Nana's house because she didn't want to lose it. One day, when I was all grown up it would be mine. I had waited for that day for years, even as a teenager I would look at the box longingly and Nana would sign to me that I'd get it one day.
I open the box and slip out the silver locket. I knew exactly what was engraved on the other side.
E,
I would not wish any companion in the world but you.
J
Apparently my Great-Grandfather was not only a sucker for being cheesy, but also Shakespeare. I pull the locket around my neck and do it up.
"Thank you." I crawl across my bed and hug my Uncle.
"I think you're all grown up now." He whispers in my ear and I laugh, tears in my eyes. I will now have to Skype Nana and thank her.
"Well, my present is going to look crap in comparison." Sara says. I pull away from my Uncle.
"Oh God, Sara, you didn't have to." I say. She shakes her hand around and I know that means that she felt like she did. A torch, like the police issue ones. The ones that they use at the lab. It's engraved. N Grissom.
"Just in case you end up down another alley." She says looking at her feet. I smile and hug her. She seems surprised, freezing the moment I touch her. She laughs nervously and hugs me back.
"Thank you, all of you." I say crawling back under the covers. "Now I need to sleep." I say.
"You do know that it's quarter to nine now don't you?" My Uncle laughs as I push everyone out of my room and run into the bathroom.
Nyssa's beaming as I walk into work.
"Your admirer's struck again." She says as she hands me my mail. I look up from the letter about car insurance.
"What?"
"You'll see." She smirks. "Just, hide them before Maddy gets here." She says. "Oh, and happy birthday." She pushes a small homemade cake across the table.
"Awww, Nys, thanks." I hug her over the table. I have had more than my quota of hugs today. I walk down the hall with my cake and my post when that smell hits me. Freesias. They're unmistakeable. I walk through the door of my office and see them, a bunch of flowers put into a vase by Nyssa. A load of Freesias. I open the card that is sat on the desk next to them.
As promised, this time there are no sunflowers.
Happy Birthday
G.
I smile and put the flowers on the top of my file cabinet and have just sat down when Pete walks in.
"Nice flowers." He says. "But they are not as good as my present." He pulls a plastic Spiderman figure from out of his bag and puts it on the table. "This way, you've always got me looking over you." He winks.
"Wow that is not stalkerish." I say. He laughs.
"Yeah well. Happy birthday Grissom." He yells as he leaves the room. I smile and load my laptop. Before I even have time to do any work, Maddy bounces in.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" She puts a present down on my desk. I open it.
"A cocktail glass?" I ask. She nods.
"Yup, that is a hint that tonight you need to gather your home-boys and girls and head out!" She's more excited than I am.
"Maddy, this is my thirtieth." I say. She nods.
"Yeah, you're not a spinster yet!" She walks out of the room then spins and knocks on the side of it. "Text people. Nico's, half seven. Dress code, whatever." Before I have a chance to argue she wanders off down the hall. "Wear a dress Grissom!" And she's gone. I text people.
To: Nate, Ollie, Em, Uncle Gil, Sara, Greg, Maddy, Pete, Marty, Nyssa
Message: So, I'm 30 now people. I know that some of you will have to work tonight but if not Nico's, 7:30. N xxx
When it's finished I look up to see Marty stood in the door.
"Happy birthday!" He says and hands over an envelope. I open it and my eyes almost burst open with the size of the check on the inside. He puts a finger on his lips.
"Birthday bonus." He smiles.
"Thank you." I say, not for the first time today. Finally when everyone has come into my office, I have some time to work.
I get to Nico's with Maddy at half seven. As we walk through the bar she waves at the people working there and a couple of the regulars.
"How do you know everyone here?" I ask. She smiles.
"Worked here a while ago. Nico!" She runs to the bar and hugs the guy on the other side. They chat for a bit, and then she buys two beers. As I turn back to the rest of the room I see Greg walking through the door.
"Greg! Over here!" I wave at him and he comes towards me and Maddy.
"Hey, happy birthday." He says. I hug him and then pull away from him when a thought enters my head.
"Don't you have work?" I ask. He nods.
"Yeah, in half an hour, so I'm on cola." He says. I feel touched that he would bother to come out for half an hour.
"Pete!" Maddy spies Spiderman on the way through the door and runs off towards him. I turn back to Greg after waving to Pete.
"Thanks for the freesias." I say. "They're beautiful."
"Yeah well, I don't know what else to get you." He says.
"GRISSOM!" Nate and Ollie coming storming across the bar and simultaneously attack hug me.
"Hey guys." They get off of me and spot Greg.
"Who is this?" Ollie asks with a voice full of suggestion.
"Oh, this is Greg. Greg, meet Nate and Ollie." I say. He shakes their hands and while Ollie's drilling him on whether or not we're dating Nate turns to me.
"So, for Saturday, we were thinking that mom will stay with me, and you and Ollie will go over to yours so that you lot can get ready together." He looks so excited. I feel overwhelming hope for both him and Ollie.
"Yeah sounds good."
"What does?" Ollie and Greg are now back in the conversation and Greg's looking at me confused.
"Oh, actually I was going to ask you." I say. Ollie raises his eyebrow and pulls Nate away to make friends with Maddy and Pete. "They're getting married at one of the chapels. You know the Elvis ones. I need a plus one, and I thought you could come, because I'm not taking Maddy. Or Pete. Or my uncle." I take a sip of my drink and Greg nods.
"Yeah, sounds good. What time should I come get you?" He asks.
"Well the ceremony starts at half two so you should get her at half one." Ollie pokes his head into the conversation. "And you'll need to wear a suit." He says grinning as he picks up another beer.
"The suits not a problem." I say to Ollie and his eyebrows go up so high, I think for a moment that they might get lost in his hairline. "I mean he owns a suit." I say rolling my eyes. Ollie grins and wanders back over to the group of people that has now formed. I lean against the bar and watch them, the group of friends that I now have in Vegas.
"Do you ever miss people that you move away from?" Greg's now leaning next to me and is watching as Maddy plays pool with Emily.
"Every day. Well most of them." I think about all of them. Even the bastards. The ones who made my life in a certain place hell. But mostly, I like to push them to the back of my mind. I wonder if I will miss these people, the Vegas gang, when I leave next time.
"Why don't you just stop?" Greg asks. I look at him quizzically.
"Stop what?" I ask.
"Stop leaving, that way, you meet less people and miss less people." He stares dead ahead where Maddy has now finished her game of pool and is now making out with Pete.
"I find it hard to stop leaving. If I leave, all of the stuff that could hurt me gets further and further away, and I'm less likely to get hurt." I don't know why I'm telling him this. Maybe because I trust him, or because I'm drinking, or because I am now thirty and should be mature.
"Nothing will hurt you." He seems certain. I laugh.
"How do you know?" I ask.
"Because you have your Uncle, and Nate and Ollie love you, and... You've got me." He takes a drink out of his glass of cola and then puts it on the table. I turn to look at him. He turns and looks at me and then grins. "Well I still owe you for not leaving me in that alley." He says. I laugh and order the second in a long line of drinks.