Chapter Eight

From the bottom of my heart
Off the coast of Carolina
After one or two false starts
I believe we found our stride
And the walls that won't come down
We can decorate or climb or find some way to get around
Cause I'm still on your side
From the bottom of my heart

The next weeks continued on in the morgue as if nothing had happened. None of the staff had any inkling that Garrett and Lynn had fought, much less made up. No one that is, but Nigel. Garrett had pulled him aside and asked him to find any reports on the death of Lynn's daughter. The ME's eyes had widened and Nigel had swallowed hard, but soon returned with a file folder full of information. Garrett read it piece by piece as he tried to understand her – the woman who was invading his thoughts and sleep at night. He worried about her....by herself, with her memories. On the surface, she seemed to be fine...joking with the other staff, performing her job nearly flawlessly. But on occasion, Garrett would catch her staring off into space and he knew she was remembering...weighing the past. Maybe even contemplating going back home. He finally got up the nerve to call Mark and tell him what had happened. Mark had sighed and told Garrett that while he remembered very little about the accident, he did remember his sister and his parents' reaction to her death. "Things were never the same again," he said. "There was this Lauren-shaped hole in all our lives that couldn't be filled. Dad tried to fill it with other women. Mom tried to fill it with me and work. But that didn't fix the problem. It still hasn't. I think until Mom can finally admit to herself that the accident was just that – an accident – she'll never really be healed. She'll always blame herself."

So Garrett worried about her. Sometimes the dark circles under her eyes told of her sleeplessness. The dedication to her job told of her desperation to try to right some wrongs. He found himself becoming very protective of her, monitoring the calls that would put her out in the field. Jordan had noticed that and asked him why. "She's just been through a lot lately, Jo. I'd do the same for you."

"I know you would. And I know how I'd react. I'd bite your head off. And Lynn will, too. Just as soon as it hits her what you're doing."

"You're not going to tell her, are you?"

"No. But she's going to catch on soon enough. The lady is many things. Stupid is not one of them."

Garrett was just about to answer her when his cell phone rang. "Macy," he barked into the receiver. "Yeah. Where? How deep is it? Do you know how many? Isn't there anyone else....I see." He flipped his phone shut and ground his teeth.

"What's up?' Jordan asked.

"They need Lynn for another retrieval. A van went off the embankment near Logan."

"Any survivors?"

"None that they are aware of." Garrett walked down the hall to Lynn's office. She was busy on the computer, comparing DNA evidence on a case she and Nigel were working on. "What's going on, boss?" she asked without looking up from her computer.

Garrett smiled. "How'd you know it was me?"

Lynn returned his smile. "I just know...what's up?"

He came in and sat down in front of her desk. "Van off the embankment at Logan. It's in the inlet. Feel like diving?"

"Would it matter if I didn't?"

His reply startled Lynn. "Yes, it would. I wouldn't make you do it. I'd come up with some kind of excuse.."

"Garrett, I'm a big girl. I can do this. It's okay. I know I'm going to put this part of my career behind me someday. Today is just not it. You coming with me or staying here?" She rose from her chair to go change.

"I'm coming with you. Meet you at the SUV."

It was a relatively short dive. There were four retrievals that Lynn handled with her usual finesse and skill. Garrett watched from embankment, his heart in his throat as she maneuvered through poor visibility and tight spaces. He was counting the days until she could put this part of her career behind her, too. When she was finished and the last body was brought up in the basket, she climbed up the embankment and changed in the van back into her sweats. Garrett drove her back to the morgue. She was about to go inside to shower when he stopped her.

"Why don't you come over to my place and have dinner. I'll cook. You can shower and change there."

"But my clothes are back in the locker room."

"I'm sure I have something you can put on. What do you say?"

Lynn thought for a minute. They had had no time alone in weeks, and she still felt a little awkward around Garrett after the bus incident. It would be nice to have him to herself.... "Okay, you're on. I hope you can cook."

Garrett grinned. "And I hope you like Italian."

Back at Garrett's, Lynn showered and changed into a pair of Garret's sweats and a shirt. She was sure she looked like a wreck. She put on what makeup she had in her purse and combed out her shoulder-length hair. Jordan had talked her into letting it grow out from its normal short bob. She pulled it back loosely with clip, and came back down stairs. "Smells good," she said to Garrett, entering the kitchen.

"Well, it's nothing fancy. Just spaghetti and salad."

"That sounds wonderful."

"And you look....." Garrett paused at the sight of her in his pants and shirt.

"Awful?" suggested Lynn.

"Cute. Very cute."

Lynn chuckled at him as she got down the plates and glasses. They ate dinner in companionable silence. Afterwards, Lynn stacked the dishwasher as Garrett put up the leftovers. "Want to watch a movie?" he asked. She nodded. They went back into his living room and he found an old Gary Grant movie they wanted to watch. He stretched out on the couch and pulled her on top of him. For a moment, Lynn was hesitant. They had never been this close. He loosely wrapped his arms around her and began to rub her back. "Relax," he said. "I don't bite...at least very hard."

Lynn smiled up at him. "Bark worse than your bite, huh? I'll remember that." But Garrett simply pulled her back close to him and continued to rub her back. Despite her best efforts, Lynn found herself relaxing to the point she was falling asleep. "I need to go," she told him. "I'm going to fall asleep and not make it."

"And what's so bad about that?" he questioned.

Lynn looked back up at him. He was serious. "Sleep here. Go home tomorrow. You're tired." And to his delight, she snuggled back down on him and did just that. She had missed him and it wasn't until lately she had realized just how much. Soon, her even breathing told him she had done as he suggested. Garrett flicked off the television with the remote and pulled the afghan off the back of the couch. Covering them up with it, he settled down to sleep with Lynn still on top of him. While a bed would be infinitely more comfortable, he knew if he suggested that, she would bolt for home. Let her trust him here with this. They'd work there way up from here.

The next morning Lynn woke up late, finding herself alone on the couch. She panicked for a moment, not realizing where she was at, but then remembered. She looked around for Garrett, but after checking her watch, she realized he was already at work. She was going to have to hustle to make it on time. Pushing herself up off the couch, she made her way to the door when she noticed a note on her purse. "Take the day off. I'll see you later. Garrett." Thankfully, she smiled. She wondered when later would be.

The next morning she arrived at work a little early. "Good to see you back," Jordan said. "Garrett told us you were feeing a little under the weather."

Lynn hated to lie, but it was better right now that no one knew that she spent the night at Garrett's. "Yeah," she relied, "But I'm all better today."

Jordan nodded as she headed off to autopsy. "Good. And there's something on your desk for you."

Lynn went into her office to check it out. She assumed it was the reports she was waiting for on the victims in the van at Logan. Instead, there was a yellow rose on her keyboard. She picked it up and smelled it. Yellow roses. Her favorite. Only Mark knew she like them best...but Mark was up to his armpits in exams at school. He wouldn't have sent her a flower for no reason. Still mulling it over, she found a glass and filled it half full of water and set the flower in it.

She went back to work and steadily plowed through the mountains and myriads of paperwork that accompanied each dive. Around noon, she decided to break for lunch. She needed to get out for a while and run some errands. She went downstairs and walked to her Mustang. Opening the door, she found another yellow rose. Now thoroughly puzzled, she picked it up. No note. No nothing. When she returned from running her errands, she added that rose to the one already in the glass.

And so it continued for several days. She'd find a rose here, in her locker. A rose there, another on her desk. In her purse. Finally, she had had enough. What was he up to? She walked to his office and knocked. "Come in," he said.

"Okay, give it up Macy. What's with the roses?"

Garrett shut his door and walked over to her. For once, he was taller than the woman. He looked down into her eyes. "Roses?" he teased.

"Don't roses me," she began. "I know you sent them, but why? And why yellow?"

"Well, someone very close to you told me that yellow roses were your favorite flower."

"Mark...that little..."

"That young man who cares very much about his mother. He also told me something else about you."

"What?"

"That you don't take hints easily. And if I need you to know something, I have to show you directly. "

Lynn nodded. "I don't. I really..."

She got no further. Garrett pulled her into his arms and kissed her....until she was breathless and clinging to him. "So what does that tell you Dr. Howerton?" he asked when he was finished.

"Garrett....please...I don't think..."

"Don't. Think, that is. Just listen for a moment. Ever since you've come here Lynn, you've fascinated me. You're attitude, your knowledge, just the person you are. It all fascinated me. Unfortunately, it came with a price, too. Worrying about you...when you dove. Would you get caught? Would you be okay? And then finally, I realized the other night, it was all worth it. I'd much rather go through my life with you than without you. As a matter of fact, I don't want to think about you not being here. The other night when I held you all night on the couch, I realized something..."

Lynn didn't want him to stop. Her heart was too full and he was feeling the same things she was about him. "What?" she whispered, not pulling away from him...instead tightening her hold around his neck.

"I love you, Lynn. And I know you can't answer me back just yet on that one. Mark told me that you need to be told directly what was going on....hints, innuendos, don't work too well with you. So I'm telling you now...you've been put on notice. I love you."

Lynn shook her head and pulled him closer to her. "Garret....I don't know what to say. I know I care about you more deeply than anyone I've meet in a long time. I'm not sure I know what love is anymore. But I know I'd like to try...with you. Is that good enough?" she asked, pulling away to look him in the eyes.

He pulled her close again and rested his chin on her head. "It's more than enough, Lynn. Anything else, we can get around, climb over, or whatever. What matters is that we've got each other – after any mistakes we've both made, we now have each other."

"And you love me..."

He pulled away and smiled down at her. "From the bottom of my heart."