Chapter 72

All I Ask

Gil had stared at every room in the house for the longest time. Taking in every piece of furniture with his eyes one last time before sliding outside and admiring the view.

"Going to miss the place?" his uncle Herb asked, he and Gil were standing on the front path together admiring the house in all it's splendor, the yellow walls needed a paint and a panel of glass on the bay window needed replacing – it had a hairline crack stretching from one corner of the pain to the other. Apart from these things, Gil knew the house would have no problem on the property market.

"I guess," Gil said, "wherever you live is your temple if you treat it like one," he faintly smiled, "I haven't lived here in so long that my temple is now in Vegas rather than here."

Herb nodded, "I understand," he folded his arms comfortably over his pot belly, admiring the view, "so…does Sara live with you in your temple?" he asked slyly.

"No, it's too soon to be making steps like living together," Gil answered.

"Ohhh," Herb nodded, "I can see your point there. You've never lived with a woman before, have you?"

"Apart from my mother, no," Gil answered, he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He turned to look at his uncle, and smirked at the combed hair over the shiny bald patch of scalp. Every time Gil saw the man he wanted to take scissors to it, and tell him that the comb-over wasn't hiding anything, but he never brought the subject up.

"Nightmarish," Herb admitted, "always stealing your razors, leaving little feminine things all over the house, things with frills…flowers, things like that."

"Sara isn't into frills and flowers," Gil answered.

"What is she into?"

"I'm still in the process of finding out," Gil admitted.

"By the way you are around each other, I thought maybe you knew each other inside and out…you guys give that impression…having been in love forever."

"Me and Sara have been dating two months," he answered, "it's been a long two months."

"Two months and you already love her," Herb mused.

"I've loved her for five years," Gil admitted, "maybe longer…I'm not sure…" he shrugged, "since the moment I met her there was always the attraction, but when she came to my team it started to escalate."

"I can tell by the way she looks at you that she adores you," Herb admitted, "you're lucky. She's young, she's smart…she's confident – or at least she seemed that way when I heard her talking to your cousin Marlene…"

Gil chuckled softly at this, "yeah…she's brutally honest, she'll always tell you what she thinks."

"So…you love her, but…is she the one?" he asked.

Gil made a face, he wasn't sure how to answer that.

"I mean…do you see yourself settling down with her…?"

Gil had to pause and think about this. It had been a question he'd asked himself a lot, and he'd avoided mostly giving himself an answer. But this was his uncle asking, he couldn't ignore the question.

"I think…in time…possibly," Gil confessed, "I don't see a future – I can't visualize what things will be like in two months – four months – six months time, but I…definitely know there's a future there somewhere…"

"Ah," Herb nodded.

"I'm always open to try new things," Gil said, "I invited her to stay at my house for an entire week – something I have never done with any woman I've ever dated," he admitted.

"Living with her for a week would give you an insight into what things would be like to live together permanently," Herb offered.

"Yeah, I know," Gil admitted, "thing is…I had to leave Sara behind when I came here to take care of the funeral…so I never got to observe how living with her might be."

Herb gave a nod, understanding, he kept his eyes on the house.

Gil stared back towards the house, admiring the dormers, the way the large oak tree outside had it's branches brush against the roof. "Funny thing is…leaving her in my house while I wasn't there taught me a lot."

"Oh?"

"I…normally would be worried…about what she might be doing in my place, what she might be looking for…" he explained, "not that I have anything to hide particularly that might be found in my house," he added. "But the fact is…this week – even though you could say I've been distracted – I haven't been worrying about her being in my house at all…"

"Trust. Essential to a relationship with anyone," Herb assured, "if you trust her like that, then things could go quite far."

Gil gave a slight nod, agreeing.

"Truth is, I hope Sara is the one. I met her once and saw right away you were right for each other. You know when you're doing a jigsaw puzzle and you've been struggling for ages to find the right blasted piece to fit in a section…then you find it and you push it in, and it fits perfectly. The picture is complete. That's what I saw when I saw you and her standing together…it was like…seeing a puzzle completed."

Gil gave a soft laugh, "I…used a similar metaphor when telling her I loved her once," he admitted.

"Would you marry her?"

Gil fell silent for several moments, he had to ask himself this, although once or twice he had asked himself the same thing. Again, he knew he couldn't ignore his uncle, although he'd never given himself a straight answer, "Marriage is…such a massive step. We're two months into a relationship, still trying to work out the kinks."

"Even long after marriage you'd spend the relationship working out the kinks, Gil."

Gil blinked, "I guess you're right."

Would I marry her? He thought. Would I ever…No…come on, it's two months. Too soon to be thinking about wedding cakes and bridal showers…

"When I fell in love with your aunt Meredith, I had the same kind of doubts you do – to the point where I was also questioning if it was love," Herb confessed, "and then my father passed on a wise piece of info to me," Herb clamped his hand on Gil's shoulder, "he said to me…imagine your world without her, imagine that the worst thing you could imagine would happen to her, that something would take you from your arms. Is your first thought to find someone else? Or is your first thought that life without her is not life anymore…"

Gil felt a sudden ache in his chest at the thought of something happening to Sara. Her drinking had been enough to scare him, but Herb's words pierced his very soul.

"He said if I couldn't imagine getting through another day without her, that it was definitely love. If it's definitely love, I wouldn't dally. Because god knows how much longer it would be before it would slip through my hands like sand."

"Sounds like Grandpa thought love could be put in a bottle to stop the sand from running away," Gil mused.

There was a comfortable silence, and Gil spent the next few moments thinking about his Uncle's words.

"Well…suitcases in the back of the truck," he gestured to his truck parked in the driveway, "is Sara meeting you at the airport?"

"I called her this morning at the hotel to ask her to meet me there, yeah," Gil answered.

"Well, if you're finished gawking at the house for the last time, then we should get going…you don't want to miss your plane."

"I have plenty of time," Gil admitted, "but…I need to stop by somewhere before I get there…"

"You okay?"

Gil blinked himself out of his reverie and turned to Sara who was sitting at his side in the plane. He'd been staring out of the window for some time now, lost in thought and memories of his life in Santa Monica. It felt like he were leaving a part of himself behind and he found himself wondering if he would ever feel the same again.

"Yes, I'm fine," he nodded, "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep very well last night…"

"Not comfortable on the couch?" Sara asked.

Gil was amused how she'd known he'd slept on the couch even without asking. "How did you know I slept on the couch?"

"I figured you wouldn't have slept in your mom's bed," she admitted, "and I wasn't sure if you'd want to sleep in the room you spent your childhood in, might be a bit too…overwhelming."

Gil smirked, "maybe you know me better than I thought you did," he patted her hand, "I have something for you."

"Oh?" Sara asked with a curious smirk.
"I…know this isn't the best place to give you this," he admitted, he slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a small box, "I thought about waiting…until things were right, but after what you did for me yesterday, the way you came to see me when you were worried for me, the way…you held me when I was breaking down…I think you deserve this."

Sara raised an eyebrow and took the small velvet box from him, "what is it?" she asked, "it's obvious this isn't a proposal of marriage…" she gave a soft laugh, and then she opened the box, and fell silent, "oh…"

"Uh…yeah, it is. Sorry, I'm, uh…so not good at these things…I knew I should have waited until we got back in Vegas."

Sara was staring at the diamond ring in a daze, and she couldn't speak for several minutes. Gil observed her. Her hand was shaking, he took her shaking hand – still holding the open ring box – within both of his.

"Sara…I'm asking you to marry me…" Gil swallowed nervously.

He already knew what her answer was going to be before she spoke, and his heart began to sink in his chest, "Gil…this is…uh…sweet, but…" she began, and she raised her eyes to him.
"But you can't accept," he dropped her hands, feeling very dejected and suddenly humiliated. He'd just very badly proposed, and now he was being very badly turned down.

Sara looked back to the ring, "it just seems…I don't know, after everything your family were saying…that you might be feeling guilty into wanting to get married…" she explained.

Gil fell silent, "oh."

"And we have been dating for two months…it's hardly a long term relationship, is it?" she pointed out.

"Okay. I get it, you don't want to marry me…"

"Gil, it isn't about that…" Sara trailed off, looking hurt. "This…isn't like you," she gestured to the ring. "This isn't you asking me, this is your family," she handed the box back to him.

"Fine," he took the ring box and slipped it back into his pocket. "Lets just drop it."

"You're upset."

"No," he lied, "I'm just fine. Just…fine."

"Gil, if I accepted, it wouldn't be fair to either of us right now…"

"Fine, I get it," he said, "just drop it. That's all I ask."

OOC crisis there I think, yeah, but Gil is going through a hard time so I think it can be overlooked lol.

Thanks to the following people for reviewing with their kind words and encouragement, this chapter might have never been written without so much genuine affection for the story and my writing - something I don't fully understand but I appreciate and adore nonetheless.

bear72724, CSICubsFan, oneillite, Chabi, kristy87, CookieK2, PhDelicious, csishewolf, honestly, saskia2, Sharon777, Lagaz, jtbwriter, Hope, Annalisa, svcmc, Sweetpup, Wishing on the Moon, Mystical Panther, Aidrianna, gsr fan817, elisacollette, Gossamerwings7, csibugman, CrysWimmer, lilegyptiangoddess, sarah makinson, and vsky - I think that's everyone...

So many of you out there have said such wonderful things that I wish I could recount them all on here, but the notes at the end of the chapter would be substancially longer than the chapter itself, lol.

Thanks to the following people for taking the time out of theirbusy livesto email me (your words mean more to me than you'll know):

Pippa135, Suzie Hill, Cherubino, and Wishing on the moon. Your words have put my troubled mind to rest ever so much. I'm always touched when people take the time to email me just to ease my worried mind over the things I've been worrying about as of late with this story.

Thanks to Kristy87 for still being there after 70 chapters still wanting to know spoilers, lol. Makes me feel famous somewhat, lol.

SS (Ash).