Chapter Twenty Six:
He glanced up when he heard the tap on the door.
"I see you didn't waste any time correcting your mistake," said Ecklie with a smile.
"Mistake?" asked Grissom.
"Gil, come on. You don't have to hide anything from me. I should have known you were just stringing her along until you could get a quick divorce."
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"This."
Ecklie handed him a printout.
Grissom stared at it.
"There's some mistake."
Ecklie smiled. "Of course."
"I didn't file for divorce…neither did Sara."
"Are you sure about that? One of you did. You're divorced. It's official."
He said nothing more as Ecklie strolled out of the office.
He grabbed his phone and then flipped through his rolodex. He sat there dumbfounded as the clerk tried to explain to him what had happened.
"Sir, we apologize for any inconvenience. The last clerk had a drinking problem."
It almost made Grissom chuckle.
My life should be a testimony for why you shouldn't drink…
"Once you called and checked on the divorce petition we dig some digging and found a stack of petitions that had never been filed. Since you called we assumed you wanted to proceed so we filed it. Mrs. Grissom did not contest the divorce so it's official. You're now divorced."
He swallowed hard.
This can't be happening…
We're divorced….
I'm divorced….
She's not mine anymore…
She'll never come back now…
"You have to fix this!" he yelled at the clerk.
"But sir we were only doing what you requested. You…"
"I want my marriage back. I want my wife back! Fix this!" he yelled.
"I'm sorry there's nothing we can do but you're in Vegas. Just hop down to the clerk's office and get remarried."
"Hello? Hello Mr. Grissom?"
He sat there numb. He wasn't sure how long he sat there.
Catherine stepped inside and closed the door.
"Gil?"
"I'm divorced," he said hoping that by saying it aloud, he would soon wake up from the nightmare.
"You're what?"
"I'm divorced."
"How did that happen?"
"I filed the paperwork and now I'm divorced."
"Why the hell did you do that for?" she yelled.
"I thought she would be better off without me."
"Since when? You two have been playing house all these months and you just decide you're not the man for her and get a divorce. Was that the reason for the sudden disappearance and the drinking binge?"
"I filed the paperwork years ago."
Catherine sat down.
"I'm confused."
"So am I."
He started from the beginning and she sat there on the edge of her seat as she listened to every word too afraid to ask any questions for fear he would suddenly realized he was sharing his personal life with her…and not Brass. It was always Brass who found out the tidbits and later shared them with her when he felt it was necessary. When he finished, she sat there staring at him.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" she asked.
"Get remarried."
"Go do it."
"She won't."
"Why not?"
"She doesn't trust me anymore."
"Can you blame her?"
"No."
"Look, I know you have a lot on you right now but there was a reason I came in here. It's Sara."
"Sara? Is there something wrong? Is she okay?"
"She called in sick. I thought you should know. I heard the latest rumors about the other woman, the sex problem…didn't hear about the divorce angle."
"There isn't another woman, I have no clue about the sex thing…okay I do but it was about the pregnancy…"
"Sara's pregnant?"
"She wanted to be…we wanted to be but nothing was happening. Brass said that it might be best if we stopped trying…let it happen naturally rather than trying to…"
"He's right. I tried for a year and then gave up. Lindsey came the next month. It's some mental thing. You know you want something so bad your body refuses to give it to you…stress I supposed. This job wreaks of stress."
He was silent for a moment.
"The dessert discussion makes a bit more sense, I think," she said with a slight grin.
He did not share the humor in it.
His life was imploding.
He rubbed his temples as he sat there and wondered how she would react to this new development.
First I lie…
Get caught in the lie…
She leaves me…
I make a fool of myself getting drunk…
Now we're divorced…
I can see her running back to me…
She probably wished none of this had ever happened.
Hell, I wished none of this had happened.
I wished I had just got up the nerve to go to dinner with her, spend time with her, to ….
People used to court….
They call it dating now…
I never even did that…with her….
I should have…
Taking her to movies, to dinners, for long walks….
Making her feel special…
Sending her those damn wildflowers instead of Dan the man…
I should have done that…
I should have done all of those things…
Maybe the divorce is a good thing…
Maybe we could do it right this time…
Maybe I could make it special for her this time…
Then I could propose….
Then we could get married with our friends present…
Honeymoon….
Two weeks with no stress of this place…
She might get pregnant then….
He suddenly no longer felt bad.
It would work.
He just needed to grovel.
He just needed to explain all of this.
He just needed to get her to trust him again.
His plan seemed sound.
He would go to the apartment and explain the divorce.
He would explain how it was good.
He would explain how it wasn't the end.
He would explain the Heather thing again.
He would grovel.
He could grovel.
He would do anything if it meant she would come home.
He rethought that.
Perhaps it was best if she stayed in her apartment.
He could court her properly.
He could show her, he missed more than just dessert.
He did miss dessert.
He missed her smile the most.
He missed her body up next to his, how she breathed while she slept, how her body molded perfectly to his and how he knew he would not be able to sleep in that bed without her.
He would order a new couch.
He wasn't aware that he was already there in front of her apartment and wondered how long he had sat there letting everything run through his brain.
He was prepared.
He wasn't prepared.
He tapped on the door but she refused to answer it.
He flipped open his phone and dialed her phone but it rolled over to voicemail. When he was about to give up, she slowly opened the door.
"Honey, you don't look good," he said quickly stepping inside before she changed her mind and ordered him out.
"What do you want?" she asked trying to hide the trembling in her voice.
"Catherine said you called in sick. I was worried," he said as he slowly took a step towards her.
"I just need to take another day," she said walking past him and sitting down on the couch as she felt the energy slowly leave her body.
Hank sat with his head in her lap.
Lucky dog…
"You okay?" he asked. "You look pale."
"I'm just tired," she said leaning back and closing her eyes.
"Have you eaten anything?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"I'll fix you something," he said as he headed towards the kitchen.
"I'll fix something later," she said as she clutched the edge of the couch praying the nausea would go away.
"Sara…I need to talk with you…it can't wait," he said.
"I'm not up to talking right now," she said as she took a deep breath.
He breathed in deeply.
"Sara, we're divorced."
She stared up at him.
"We're what?"
He sat down across from her.
"They found the paperwork…after all these years and they processed it. You would think the paperwork would have expired after ninety days but not in California."
"We're divorced," she whispered.
"Yes, we are."
There was a moment of silence.
"Look, maybe this is for the best…maybe it's what we need…we could…"
"Good. We're divorced," she said simply.
It was not how he intended the conversation to end.
He was prepared to ask her to marry him.
He was prepared to propose on bended knee.
He was prepared to marry her in front of their friends.
He was prepared for just about anything except that.
"Glad we both agree," he said as he quickly got up and left.
She waited until she was certain that he was gone before she burst into tears. The nausea returned and she found herself rushing to the bathroom.
He waited until he was certain that he was safely in his vehicle before he struggled with the first ragged breath.
It had hurt.
It had hurt just as he imagined it would if he ever lost her.
Note from author:
If you quickly give the reviews, we can move on to another chapter. Take care, Penny