Chapter 21: Not again
After three months, and still going strong, Destiny was enjoying every moment she got to spend with Kevin. They took their time developing a really good relationship, even though a part of her was still holding back.
He was also great with her boys, which at first she felt weird when it was the four of them doing something out of the house since there was that 8 year age separation between him and her oldest, but the boys didn't seem to mind and they liked him, especially because he liked to play or talk about sports with them. So, she was feeling better about it as the days went by.
Now it was just Destiny and Kevin out on his condo's balcony, where they were eating a quiet lunch.
She takes a bite of her salad and feels him staring at her, so when she looks at him, he smiles, making her ask after she swallows her bite of food. "What?"
He shook his head before replying. "Nothing, I was just thinking how wonderful these last three months have been."
She smiles back and nods while reaching out for his hand. "It really has."
He squeezes her hand. "But?"
She raises an eyebrow at that response. "What?"
"I can hear a 'but' in that sentence."
She releases his hand with a sigh. "But don't you want more from us?"
He didn't hesitate to stand up from his seat before he walked over to her side of the table, then he kneels down, places his hand on cheek so she would look at him, and once she was, he spoke with a smile. "I want what you want. If you are ready for more then I am all in. But if not, then we can wait, it's all up to you."
She pushes her seat back, gets up, and walks over to the balcony railing before speaking after she had stopped once she reached them. "I feel that I am." He stands up, walks up behind her, then wraps his arms around her waist, and kissed her head as she continued after a sigh. "I really feel I can trust you, but I do have to warn you, it has been awhile."
He nods in understanding and kissed her head again before whispering. "I'm glad you feel you can trust me. I'll do all that I can not to make you regret it. And like I said a few minutes ago, when you are ready, I am too." When she turns around in his arms, she cups his cheek as he continued with his eyes sparkling. "I'm glad we got to form this connection between us before anything happened. Getting to know you has been the best thing that has happened to me in a long time."
She smiled at him with her eyes sparkling in return, and after a few seconds of just looking at one another, they lean toward each other, but just as their lips were about to touch, the phone rang, making them both pull back with a sigh. Then he spoke. "It could be an emergency."
She nodded in understanding. "Take it."
He gives her a sympathy smile, kisses her on the forehead, then turned from her and walked over to the table to pick up his phone before answering it as he walked in the condo.
Once he was out of sight, she turned back around to look at the horizon, sighing in content, wondering where this was going from here.
Five minutes later she turned around just as he was walking back on the balcony with a dazed look on his face while he had his cell phone in his hand.
She then looks at him with concern as she asked. "What's wrong?"
He looks at her, then at the phone like it was an unidentified object as he replied. "It uh, it turns out I have a son in Florida."
She looked at him with shock before asking. "What!? How...I mean...Well..."
He cuts her off as he sits down in the chair. "From my High School sweetheart." He cleared his throat and shook his head. "I had no idea."
He looks down a second later, still not believing the news, and she looks back at the horizon with tears brewing, wondering what she did to the universe to get this kind of luck, then she shook her head and said. "You have to go to them."
Kevin looked up from his phone to look at her back. "Destiny, I'm not..."
She turns around to look at him again. "You will always wonder, and I won't be the one to stand in your way. So, go to them, be a father, and let us have a clean break now so we can heal faster."
Kevin stands up from his chair, and watches her look down, then once he stops in front of her, he places a finger to her chin to bring her face back up before wiping her tears away. "Can you really do that?"
She cups his cheek again while speaking brokenly. "We have no other choice, go Kevin." Then she leans towards him, kisses him on the cheek and moved away from him before running inside to grab her purse and jacket, leaving the condo as Kevin stood there looking at the empty balcony doorway.
After running all the way to her vehicle, she got in and wiped enough tears so she could drive once she got it started. Then she went to the one man who had never broken her heart, her father.
She didn't know how she made it to her parents house in one piece because her eyes were so blurry, but eventually she pulled into their driveway, sniffling. Then after wiping her eyes one more time she got out of the vehicle and ran to the front door, not even stopping to knock before opening it quickly.
Grissom had just left the dinning room and was walking in foyer, not expecting anybody to come through the door or in his arms that fast. But when he regained his senses he knew who was in his arms, so he wrapped his arms around his oldest daughter before asking in a concerned tone. "What's wrong?"
Instead of answering, she just shook her head and buried her head further in his chest and started to sob, so he just brings her closer to him.
A few seconds later Sara was at the top of the stairs and saw Grissom holding their sobbing daughter, so she asked in concern. "What's wrong?"
He looks to the left, shaking his head. "I don't know."
She walks down the stairs and over to her daughter before putting a hand on her shoulder while asking softly. "Honey what happened, is it the boys?"
Destiny shook her head, taking a few breaths while pulling back from her father's chest to look at her mom, but she could hardly see her since it was blurry, so she wiped her eyes, then spoke as she was sniffling. "They are fine, it's not them."
Sara then cups her daughter's cheek. "Is it Kevin?"
She nodded, and gets back into her father's chest. "Why? Why does this always happen to me? Why do the men that I fall in love with always hurt me in the end."
Instead of the parents speaking, they hear another voice. "You love him?"
Destiny turned her head to the door after Grissom released her, and when Sara and Grissom looked towards the doorway too, they all saw Jeremy standing there, who had cleared his throat before speaking. "Sorry, but the door was wide open and I came to see if I..."
He trails off when he looked at Destiny again and saw that she had been crying, and Grissom was about to talk when Jeremy stepped in the house and walked over to Destiny, forgetting what he was about to say and what he heard her say about her feelings toward Kevin, then asked concerned. "What happened? Did he hurt you?"
Destiny looked in the concerned eyes of Jeremy, something she will never get tired of seeing, even if things were a little weird between them now. Then nodded her head before doing an unconscious thing, which was moving to his arms to hug him, hoping he wouldn't push her away.
Her heart fluttered a second later when he wraps his arms around her shoulders while he spoke in a comforting tone. "Everything is ok, I'm here." She then sighed, breathing in his scent as he walked them to the living room.
When it was just the parents, Grissom looked over at Sara. "I'll get some tea."
Sara nodded with a smile. "Thank you."
He smiles in return, then leans and kisses her cheek before turning and walking toward the kitchen.
Sara walked to the doorway of the living room and watches Jeremy pull Destiny away from his arms before he wiped a few tears away, which watching the way he was looking at her daughter made Sara know for sure on what he was feeling.
Now, she had a major conflict to deal with, but she will cross that bridge when they get there since her daughter needed her, and that's where she was going to be.
After shutting the front door, Sara walked in the living room and sat on one side of her daughter, and when Grissom came back with the tea, he took the other side while Jeremy moved to sit on the coffee table so he can at least put a comforting hand on her arm as Destiny told them what happened, reassuring them that it wasn't his fault, even though it still hurt. But no matter how much she reassured them, they were a little upset that Destiny's heart had once again gotten hurt.
Through the rest of the day they all comforted Destiny, even adding a few people in the mix, her sister, Grace and her two boys. Their evening also involved comedy movies with snacks, some healthy of course.
Once it was getting late, Faith and Grace said goodnight and left the house. Her boys, after getting reassurance from her that she was ok, left to go to their friends' house, leaving her with her parents and Jeremy.
After a few more hours of talking, Sara and Grissom called it a night after they kissed their daughter good night. Then when they were out of sight, Jeremy moved from the recliner to the couch so he could sit next to her.
She looks at him a second later. "You can go home now, it's getting late."
He shook his head. "No can do, I am to remain here until I know that you are really fine, Faith wanted me to." Then in his mind he thinks. 'And I don't really want to leave you.'
Destiny shakes her head too, then looks down. "That could take a bit of time."
He then gives her a little smile. "That's ok."
She looks at him with a small smile in return. "Thanks Jeremy, I know things between us have been a little weird lately, but I'm glad you are here."
He nods, cupping her cheek while speaking softly. "Always Destiny, you know that."
Tears were stinging in her eyes again as she scoots closer to him before she slowly lays her head on his shoulder, seeing if he would move. But when he didn't,
and her head landed on his shoulder, she felt like she was home again.
No one knew her feelings for this man was coming back stronger than ever, and that's why she had been holding back from Kevin. She really did fall in love with him, but not as much as she was still holding on to Jeremy, especially lately.
When Jeremy's arm came around her shoulders, she stopped a sigh of relief before it came out-loud, and just closed her eyes while feeling safe and protected.
They sat there in silence, and eventually Jeremy could feel her breathing deepening and knew she was asleep, so very softly, as to not wake her, he kissed her head and whispered. 'I love you so much Destiny. I think I made a huge mistake letting you go before we had a chance to really see how it could have been between us. Now I don't know what to do."
He mentally sighed and places his cheek on the top of her head before closing his eyes, not caring if he has a hurt neck in the morning. He also didn't notice Sara standing in the living room doorway, who had heard his confession, and had wiped a few tears away at the painful tone he was using and the pain that will eventually hit this family once again.
She quietly headed back upstairs a few seconds after making sure she had no outward signs of sadness because she wasn't ready to tell the father of her daughters that one of their hearts could get broken while the other one fixed by the same man again. But she did know one thing that she needed to do sooner rather than later, and that was to have a little one-on-one chat with Jeremy Williams.
AN: Thanks for Reading. Please review.