Chapter 36: Faith's New Start

3 years later

The door opened to the three bedroom apartment that was empty a few hours earlier, Faith walks in, then her boyfriend of almost four years was right behind her. She walked fully in the room and puts her purse on the kitchen counter, when she heard the door shut and he asked. "Want a water?"

"Please." She walks over to the couch while he goes and gets the drinks.

After he had the water bottles, he walks over to the couch hands it to her and saw that she still had a smile on her face, he sits down and replied. "You look happy."

"I am, it was nice seeing everybody especial the older kids."

They had just came back from Hope's three-year old birthday party at Jeremy and Destiny's house and all the kids were there.
Eric who was 28 now had brought his beautiful, average sized, blond-haired, blue-eyed Girlfriend of 3 years, he had moved to Vegas about five years after getting his masters and now he was working for a good lawyer firm.

John Jr. who was 20 now had taken a weekend away from UCLA to spend it with his family.

Mark was Fifteen and exceeding well in high school and is even getting some eyes from the female population.

Elizabeth is 13 and she will be finishing the 8th grade in four months, she is a little nervous but her brother Mark told her that if anybody ever messed with her then he would mess with their face and she was a little excited after that, he had always protected her

Then last but not least Faith and Jeremy's daughter Grace was there, which was the main person she was excited to see, she was also 20, she had been living in New York in acting school, she got the love for arts and drama from her mother and that was something Faith was proud about, but she still missed her only daughter when she was away.

Derek nodded and asked. "And seeing them didn't bother you?"

Even though she had made peace with every thing a while ago and were slowly getting things back on track, she still would get a little tense sometimes, but Derek thinks they made a major breakthrough since she was tense free all afternoon.

Faith looks at him and said. "At first it had been weird seeing my sister happily married to the man who I had loved for 30 years, but it's getting easier day by day and I think after today we are going to be just fine."

"I am glad."

"Me too and it's about time, I just had to get use to the fact that the moment I stepped on that plane things were set in motion and it was powerless to stop it, but then again things progressed and I ended up here." She puts a hand on his cheek and said. "With you and I couldn't be happier."

He smiles, takes her hand and kissed it, then said. "Me too." She smiles, then lays her head on his shoulder, he kisses her head and they sat there in silence then after a few minutes he speaks again. " What happened when you returned to your life?"
He tensed a little after asking that question because he didn't like to think of that time, he may have only been 12 but he was still devastated when he thought she was dead, even though she only saw him probably as a pest, and didn't see him like he saw her, he still cared for her and her family.

She tensed a little too and asked. "You know what happened."

He shakes his head, moves his finger to her chin to move her head up so she is looking at him and he said. "I know what I was told, or heard though the family grapevine and the end result, but I don't know how you felt or your story of it."

He had never brought up this conversation before because he didn't want make her feel bad but he thought it was time since she felt good about today and he wanted to know.

She swallowed and said. "Why do you want to know?"

He gives her a small smile and said. "Because I want to know everything about you, the good and the bad."

She nods in understanding but as she was looking down she said. "There is some ugly in there too."

He puts his hand on her cheek and replied. "Then I want to know that too." She looks back into his blue eyes and they were telling her the truth but before she spoke he talked again to reassure her. "I love you no matter what, it's ok."

She smiles at those words and when he showed a little smile back she knew she was going to be ok, so she nodded and said. "Alright." she lays her head back on his shoulder, he wraps his arm around her to hold and protect her, she took a breath and started. "When I returned to my life and found out Jeremy and Destiny were a couple I really flipped out, I felt like I had lost the only man who I was ever going to be with and my Sister, my best friend had him and I wasn't there to fight for him or have a say in the matter."

She stopped to take a drink of water then after she swallowed it, she started again. "And when I found out they were engaged they expected me to put on a happy face, wish them good luck and send them on their way like he never meant anything to me, and so to please them I did just that but I knew he still loved me he just couldn't get out of that commitment he made to her, he was that honorable.

"I could have done a lot of things to try and get him back and the selfish part of me wanted to but something stopped me. I noticed that Destiny was acting a little different, she was more careful on what she did and what she drank and I had a very strong feeling that she was pregnant and that's when I knew why he was still with her, there could have been real feelings between them on his side, besides him being a father but at the time I didn't really pay attention to them that close as a couple, I was in turmoil."

She looked down at her hands, and he runs his hand up and down her arm to give her some comfort, she wiped a tear away from reliving this hard time of her life, then she took another breath, cleared her throat and said. "So the three weeks that led up to the wedding I kept my mouth to my elf and put on a happy face like everybody wanted. The night of the wedding it was confirmed that she was pregnant and I knew I couldn't do or say anything to come between them because that baby would know why his or her parents weren't together, so I wished her a heartfelt and sincere congratulations, but my heart was breaking in every way."

He kissed her head and asked if she wanted to continue, even though he wanted to know, he didn't want to force her. He even felt bad for even opening this door but she just nodded, looked at him and said. "I"m fine and yes I will continue. You wanted to know so I'll tell you." He looks at her concerned and she puts a hand on his cheek and said. "It's ok." he nods and she continues. "The day of the wedding was hard for me, I kept thinking of ways to wish him good luck and actually mean it and saying goodbye to any chance I had to getting him back. When I saw him before his wedding he looked so nervous, we started talking and got everything out in the open, saying we still loved each other, after a tender hug we said goodbye to the life that we almost had. I gave them a moment to themselves not knowing that my life was going to take another turn and a turn that was the most welcome turn in my life, at the time."

She smiled at that, he just nods feeling a little sad, he knows this was even before he was speck in her vision but thinking of her with another man hit a wrong nerve, not that he didn't like her finding happiness, he just didn't like to think of other men in her life before him.

She took an other drink of water and continued. "I never knew what was said between them because it wasn't my place to ask but I never questioned it, I felt like my whole world just got brighter and I was surprised she let him go. Honestly if the situation would have been reversed then I don't think I could have let him go so willingly and at that moment I was so honored to be related to somebody that selfless who would do anything to make other people happy and I was the whole day, I don't think that smile had left my mouth."

He nods again and replied. "it didn't." He remembered that day, he was just as surprised as everybody else and of course he was just a teenager at the time so he couldn't have done anything even if she didn't marry him. She looks over at him with sympathy, knowing talking about Jeremy was hurting him a little, but he just smiles and said. "I understand he was yours for a very long time and I was still a teenager It's not like I could have done anything." She nods, stands up, puts her water bottle on the coaster on the table and walks up to the window then he speaks again. "So what happened? Why did the smile come off?"

While still looking out the window, she smiled sadly and said. "Well we did have smiles on our faces for 16 years of our marriage, of course not everything was picture perfect just like any marriage, well I guess ours weren't like others our situation was a little more unique since he had a son with my sister, but overall we were happy for sixteen years."

She sighed, he walks up to her, puts his hands on her shoulders and after a few minutes of her feeling him around her she began again. "We were all sitting at the dinner table one night with Destiny, Eric and John Jr. And I looked up from my dinner plate and I saw it, I saw the way he was looking at her and it wasn't the same look he gave her in the past, this look had more depth and feeling to it and that's when I knew I had lost him. He didn't say anything with words but I knew, he tried to love me like he did before but it was different and when Destiny met Kevin it got worse, being married to one women while you're in love with another was very hard on us, we never talked about it and let work and taking care of Grace took priority and our marriage was suffering but I was so selfish or maybe it was because I didn't want to be alone I let it happen without talking to him." She looks down, he kisses the back of her head giving her some comfort knowing what was coming up.

She took a shuddering breath and spoke with her voice wavering. "And when My mother died a part of me died too, I was so lost and numb. I had just lost my mother and I was losing my husband slowly and so I did the only thing that made me feel something, that Adrenalin rush of something forbidden, an affair, not only that but with my sister's husband I know it was wrong but I wanted to feel something so I let that continue."

She puts her head in her hands, he turned her around and brings his arms around her and lets her cry, he runs his hand up and down her back. After a few minutes, she takes a breath, lays her ear by his heart and stated up again. "My reason for continuing with Kevin even after they found out was purely about not being alone and I knew with him around I wasn't, I had Grace of course but with my screwed up mind at the time it wasn't enough."

He squeezes her shoulder to let her know that he was still there, she took a minute to wipe her tears away and finished. "After all those months of being away from Jeremy I realized that I wasn't trying to keep him to myself because I didn't want to be alone, I truly loved him more than I did back in high school, I just lost sight of it and I wanted our life back. So I did the first smart move in over a year I broke up with Kevin and the first thing the next morning I was set to get my man back, there was just one little snag in my plan."

He puts his lips to her hair and whispered. "Destiny?"

"Yes I saw her that morning and I knew I lost whatever chance I had with him if I had any in the beginning, but I had to make one last attempt, I couldn't have this what if running around in my head. So I told him everything I felt about him and told him I would do anything to make this work like it did in the beginning and for a moment I thought he would agree and that maybe I was miss reading his new look for my sister or that the night before with her was nothing more than a short fling but I knew from the look he gave me after he said he couldn't, He was hers for sure. He reassured me that what we had wasn't a lie and I knew deep down it was true, what we had been special to me and I will always cherish it but he ended up with the right woman and I can say that very confidently."

She pulls back, puts her hand on his cheek and said. "After that day I got the help I needed, my dates were very limited so I could try being alone, I concentrated on work and getting my good relationship with my daughter, than six months after that, I officially said goodbye to my past when I watched two people I love get married and on that day I met the most gorgeous, funny, generous wonderful man there and loving every minute of it."

He smiles and replied. "Yeah and to think you could have figured that out a long time ago."

She nodded in agreement but then said. "Yes but don't I get points for figuring it out then?"

He puts his forehead on hers and said. "Yes."

She sighs, wraps her arms around him, he puts his chin on her head and whispered. "I love you Faith."

She sighed in relief and asked. "Even with everything I told you?" She remembered what he said before she told him everything but after telling him she was a little afraid he would walk out.

He pulls back, puts his hand back on her cheek, looks into her eyes and said. "Nothing you could ever tell me would make me stop loving you, telling me about your past and the mistakes you admitted only makes me love you more because it shows that you are human. You've made amends for everything that you did to everybody and I admire that, you faced your fear of being alone for a little while and now you don't have to be because I am not going anywhere."

Her face lights up, then she puts both hands on both sides of his cheeks and said. "I love you so much Derek."

He sees all the love in her eyes and he knew what he was about to do was the right thing, he smiles bigger, takes one of her hands and said. "Faith Grissom will you marry me?"

She gasped very surprised on this step and asked. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as the air I breath." She smiles at him for a few seconds, then looks down, he looks concerned and worried then said. "Faith what is it?"

She gets out of his arms, walks over to the couch and sits down, leaving a scared man standing there. She took a breath, looks at him and said. "If you marry me then there is a chance you won't be a father. Not only because of the age factor but because after Grace was born the doctor told me that having another child could be impossible." She didn't want to tell him like that but if marriage was on his mind she knew kids could be there too, so she wanted him to have all the facts before anything else happened.

Derek walks over to the couch, sits down on the coffee table, takes her hand and while looking into her eyes, he says. "Faith having kids with you would have been the greatest thing I could think of doing, but they're not the deciding factor. I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so if kids is out of the question I'll still do it and if you want more than just Grace then we can find other ways to do it, I am not going anywhere."

She lets a few tears go down her cheek, she didn't know how she got lucky with this man, he would do anything for her and she would do the same, so after she asked. "Are you sure then?" He nods with a smile, she smiles back and answered his question.
"Then Yes I'll marry you." He laughs, stands them back up and hugs her.

After a few minutes they pull back, he puts a hand back on her cheek and said. "I love you so much, Thank you."

She shakes her head, puts her hand on his cheek this time and said. "No thank you, you came into my life at the right time and I am keeping you for the rest of it and I love you too." They both smile again and leaned toward each other for their big romantic kiss both feeling very completed.

AN: Please review