Disclaimer: I don't own.

A/N: Hope this satisfies those of you begging for another update. :) Sorry to New Beginnings readers... new stories almost always beat older ones when I'm deciding which to update. ...I just get so excited!

Let me know what you think!

Chapter Fourteen:

We were walking from Dr. Grissom's car back to the lecture hall when the subject we'd abandoned in favor of eating while I questioned him on the finer aspects of timeline regression from his last lecture came up again. Well, okay… I brought it up again.

"So… you said I'd have to do better than brunch to find out about your first time… What would it take, exactly?"

He smirked, and it was with effort that I disregarded the fluttering in my chest. I just… I had to keep reminding myself that no matter how our relationship had started, we were just going to be friends, now. "Well… maybe dinner and… your story? …Though, I s'pose you'll be eating with Jace tonight…?"

I nodded. "He said he's going to try to be home more… I kinda got upset the other day about him working so much."

A pained look crossed his face but in an instant it was gone and he was clearing his throat. "So… romantic dinner planned then? …He going to cook for you?"

I tilted my head. It didn't seem like he meant anything by the comment, but I was used to his snide remarks about Jace. I wrote it off—there was nothing in his tone to suggest he was being that way now. "I hope not." At his quirked eyebrow, I laughed. "He's not so good in the kitchen. I mean… he tries. He really does. But…" I chuckled and he smiled softly.

"But?" He prompted.

I shook my head. "He burns Hamburger Helper. …Any romantic meal is made by me."

He glanced at me and smiled softly, watching the cement beneath our feet as we walked. "…Well, maybe… on the next night he's working… If I'm still in town… we can grab something to eat." It was Monday… I was getting married on Saturday. There were four free nights left before the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, and chances were Jace would work at least one of them.

"That would be fun." I said, smiling over at him as we moved back into the lecture hall. He smiled too, moving up to the podium as I took a seat, awaiting his next lecture. When he was finished, I waved briefly as I moved out, thinking that I should see someone else speak at least once during the conference, though I missed him almost as soon as I left.

I didn't see him after that, but hurried home to Jace, thinking that although the dinner we'd planned had just been dinner, not a 'romantic' dinner, that it would be rather nice to make it romantic. I went about making a homemade sauce and cooking pasta, and by the time he'd woken up and gotten out of the shower—which caused me to look at him for signs of being… gratified—I was setting out plates and opening a bottle of wine. He'd promised that he wouldn't be working tonight, so it wouldn't be a problem.

…And a little wine might be just the thing to get me to stop thinking so much and just let the romance of the moment lead where it could.

His hands snaked around my hips, his mouth moving along my neck and sending shivers down my spine. "…How were your lectures today?"

I smiled, leaning back against him. "Good. Did you know that different temperature conditions can affect the insect timeline regression by up to a—"

"Honey… I was asking to be nice. …Honestly, the thought of bugs on bodies really makes me feel kind of nauseous…" I frowned and he did too. "I'm sorry, honey. I care… I just… was hoping you'd tell me how you enjoyed it without the appetite-spoiling details."

I chuckled, despite not necessarily finding his comment all that amusing. "…I used to hate hearing about your cars, until you taught me how to take one apart… Maybe you could learn to find my work interesting too…"

He rolled his eyes, kissing my cheek and moving away from me to pour the wine into the two glasses set out. "You didn't have me teach you because you were trying to become involved in my interests—you needed to know how to do it for your job."

I frowned. Oh yeah. Somehow I had forgotten that detail. He grinned and passed me a wine glass. "Really. I want to hear about your day. How is… what's-his-face? That Dr. Griswold you were so excited to hear speak? Is he living up to his reputation?"

"Grissom," I corrected, smiling. I couldn't help but smile when I thought of him. "Yeah, actually… I've been stopped after lectures, when I have time, to ask further questions… I gave him my email and phone number. He says he knows people in most of the major crime labs in the country. I figure if you're the one who gets offered a job first, a recommendation from the famous Dr. Grissom could get me a job at the lab in that city pretty easily…"

He raised his eyebrows, grinning. "That's great! …He seems like a pretty nice guy, then." His voice seemed speculative. Non-committal in what emotion it was expressing… like it was waiting on a cue.

I shrugged absently, focusing on draining the pasta. "He is, I guess. I mean, I hardly know the man, but he seemed… helpful. He could give me someone to talk 'bugs and bodies' with." I teased, and his face relaxed. He took a drink of wine.

"Well good. It'll spare me some of the nausea. …Will he be in town on Saturday?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I guess I have no idea. The conference is over on Friday… lots of people leave on Thursday because there isn't much to do on the last day… Why?"

He shrugged, stealing a black olive from the salad I'd made earlier and popping it into his mouth. "No reason… just thought, you know, if he's helping us so much with your career, it couldn't hurt to invite him to the wedding. …Especially if you think you're going to maintain some kind of acquaintance with him. …I mean, right? Isn't that… polite?"

I worked to maintain the indifferent expression. "…I guess I don't know, exactly, what the proper etiquette for inviting near-strangers who have offered you help you professionally to your wedding… I doubt we'd even have room, anyway. The guest list was pretty full…"

"My second-cousin Margaret and her husband cancelled last week, remember? His mother's in the hospital… Anyway, we've got two spare seats… meals… Why not? I mean, it couldn't hurt, could it? …Tell him to bring a date."

He took another olive and moved into the dining room again to refill his wine glass. I frowned into the pasta and followed behind him, wondering what I'd gotten myself in to.

Dinner was good, and Jace was amazing… he put in a CD he'd made me when we first started dating, of old love songs—Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers and Elvis singing Can't Help Falling In Love With You… among others. He pulled the plates I'd been taking to the kitchen to clean out of my hands, replaced them on the table, and pulled me into the living room and into his arms.

I smiled softly, kissing him and holding him tightly, swaying with him and letting him guide us slowly in a circle, his lips dipping to my neck and my shoulder and my cheeks every few seconds, as if he just couldn't keep them away for longer than that. I tilted my head up and his kiss was burning—devouring—sending a deep, liquid kind of longing slipping through me, shoulders to chest to lower abdomen and straight down to my toes. I moaned softly into him and he stopped turning us, guiding us instead back towards the bedroom.

I walked backwards, wrapped up in his kiss and thinking, thankfully, only of him. I could already feel my body reacting to him, promising that this time around would be a lot more satisfying… when his pocket vibrated. I ignored it, expecting him to do the same, slipping my hands from around his neck to start tugging on his shirt.

He, apparently, viewed me moving my hands as me separating from him so he could answer his damned phone. And he did.

"Hello?"

I frowned, taking another step back and trying desperately not to let myself over think this again.

"No, I told you I couldn't work tonight…"

It was Al. I sighed. I was irritated, but he had told him no, and that was what mattered.

"…No, not even if you pay me double."

That was the man I'd fallen in love with. The man who didn't put anything above me…

"…You would honestly do that?"

Wait. …This seemed wrong. His face looked wrong. He was wavering. I stepped forward, putting myself back in close proximity, trying to remind him why he was telling Al no.

"I… I can't…"

I sighed in relief.

"No, I… I know they're your most important customers, Al, but…"

I frowned. Jace looked… troubled now. Not wavering under pressure, but like he felt guilty. …Al had come to be a good friend of his, and he had gone out of his way to make sure Jace could keep working there in an unconventional capacity when writing his Thesis had made it almost impossible. …If it was that important…

"Honey?" He glanced at me, still frowning. I did my best to smile like it didn't matter. "Go ahead. Al needs you."

The frown deepened. He mouthed, "Are you sure?" and I nodded.

He moved into the bedroom alone, telling Al he'd be in in a half hour, already pulling out his grease-stained work jeans. I sighed, moving to clean up the dishes, making a point to keep some semblance of a smile on my face. I had told him to go and I had no right, now, to make him feel guilty for listening.