Okay here's chapter 18.
POV: Sara's.
Disclaimers: All known characters belongs to the bosses at CBS. I still owe Gareth though.
Chp. 18.
By the time the clock shows almost 5:00 pm, all three of us are up, and Gar's on the phone with Jacqui, informing her of where she can pick him up. We had a small discussion whether to invite her over for dinner, before her and Gar heads out, but in the end we decided not to.
One thing was the fact of her learning about the big secret, which undoubtedly would have her stumped. The other thing would be having her eating dinner here right after. Sure she's a tough one, but we gather it'll be better, that she wouldn't be subjected to this wining and dining, with her boss, after learning our big secret. We'll let her get used to the thought of her boss and me, her friend, being together before we start to extend dinner invitations.
We also agreed to move his things to my place tomorrow. That way he'll have this base we discussed earlier this morning, and we have to make plans for his team visiting in a couple of days. His second in command called him a little earlier, to inform him about when they'd be coming. He has cleared it with his boss, so he'll be getting two more weeks off. That way he'll have time to find a place for his stuff, he has in a storage room in San Francisco, and has it moved here to Vegas. He'll just need a small place, like mine, so he'll be able to have his base here when ever he's off for a few days between jobs. When he's away, he will have me to watch it, so he can safely leave it behind.
"Jacqui comes over at 6:30 pm." He informs Gil and me, as we prepare a small dinner.
"That sounds good." I say. "That should leave us with enough time to eat, and you to get ready."
"Can I talk to you before we eat?" He asks me a bit seriously.
"Sure." I answer a bit puzzled. "What's up?"
"It's about our past and telling her about it." He starts and I nod as I see Gil listening in on this. "I want to tell her sometime, but obviously not without your consent of course"
"I know she needs to know sometime." I agree. "I'm glad you won't say anything before you have prepared me about it. Let me know when you want to tell her okay."
"I will." He says and gives me a hug of which I return, and then we get dinner done.
Once 6:30 nears, we have finished dinner, cleared the table and Gar's ready to go out. It's also sufficient to say, that we're all very nervous about Jacqui's reaction, so once the doorbell goes, I'm almost jumping out of my own skin. As agreed I go to answer the door, not Gil, because the last thing she need is to become nervous right away. When I swing the door open, she's standing there on the doorstep, leaning slightly to the left, without a doubt reading the name plate next to the door frame. She already looks nervous and seems a bit uneasy as she sees it's me standing in the open doorway, and a bit startled to see me here, she straightened up.
"Hi Jacqui." I say calmly.
"Hi to you too Sara." She greets back and points at the name plate to the side. "Unless I'm totally wrong here, but I'm pretty sure that that name plate says that Gil Grissom lives here." When I nod in affirmation her uneasiness gets more visible. But that is soon replaced by a confused expression. "And I'm pretty sure I was to pick up Gareth, but never imagined that this place was here. So that begs the question: What are you and Gareth doing at our boss place?"
"Just come inside and we'll explain why to you." I say as I usher her inside as Gareth comes over from the couch, where he and Gil's been waiting.
"I bet you wonder why your here inside the home of your boss?" He asks her and she nods her head as she spots Gil, who makes his path to us.
"We have something to tell you that you deserve to know about, especially now you're such a good friend of my brother." I say as Gil reaches us.
"Hello Jacqui." He greets. "Don't be nervous about being here."
"I'm not. Nervous that is." She begins. "I mean I was, but now I'm more curious as to know, why I'm even picking Gareth up here.
We all wander back to sit on the couch. Jacqui sits down a little hesitant, while she looks around in the open space. Her face takes on an expression, which seems to be a mix between awe and curiosity. Awe obviously because she's at her boss place, and curiosity because she wants to know why she's even there. No one really starts anything.
"So what's this thing?" Jacqui wants to know. I look at Gil and his eyes tells me to just lay it out as it it.
"It's a huge thing, or more a huge secret, that we've been keeping for about a month." I begin. "It's so huge that Ecklie would blow if he ever finds about it, and can cause some nasty stuff to happen." I do need to say that, before I continue.
"Okay." Jacqui says. "You do know that I'd never say anything to that, pardon me here Grissom, 'bastard' right?"
"We do know, Jacqui." Gil says reassuringly to her. "I myself don't like him much. Never have, so just relax you're safe here." She nods.
"So to get to the matter at hand, and without sugar coating it also, the big secret is that about a month ago, Grissom and I got together." That bomb dropped us three, Gil, Gar and I, watch her closely for her reaction.
Her reaction comes promptly, as her face takes on an expression of shock, her jaw drops and her eyes widens in surprise. She looks at all three of us, one at a time, as the news seems to have been allowed the twirl inside her head, is now settling roots in there. Then she shakes her head before looking at her boss.
"Really?" She asks as if she needs for it be confirmed by him. "You two have been together a month roughly."
"Yes we have, Jacqui." He says.
"Wow." She exclaims.
"I know it might be a lot to handle." I say. "And believe me, we wouldn't have told you already, but given that you and my brother have become friends, we didn't want to hide it from you. So this morning after shift, we decided that you should be told today."
"It's a lot to take in, but once I have digested it fully, I should be okay." Jacqui says. "It isn't everyday, after all, that your friend and coworker, tells you that she's involved with you boss. Especially when you haven't even got any vide of attraction between the two."
"Well." Gil starts. "We been good at hiding it from each other, or as we've found out this past month, we thought we were hiding it from each other at least for years literally."
"It's complicated." I say since poor Jacqui looks confused by Gil's explanation. "Let's just say that we knew about the attraction, but we were both to stubborn and too scared to act upon it."
"We were both very talented in hiding it from both each other, and from the world around us." Gil continues. And that we were good at for almost 14 years."
"14 years!" Jacqui exclaims as she starts to waver her hand from Gil to me and then back again. "You two have known each other for 14 years?"
"Yes we have known each other for 14 years. Or more 13, since we only started to talk then. But we saw each other, for the first time, 14 years ago." I say. "14 years ago Gil was holding a lecture at Harvard where I went. Our meeting then only consisted of him asking a question and my answering said question. But even that brief, very brief, interaction carved our future in a stone, because the next year Gil returned for a new seminar, to which I attended, and we finally got to talk. Let's just say that neither of us had forgotten the other."
Jacqui had just been listening through it all. I noticed her eyes widen when I called her boss for Gil, then to turn normal just as quick again, apparently reminding herself about, the her boss do have a first name, and remembered that it's Gil, and it isn't Grissom.
"So now that's all that said." Gil begins. "When we're at the lab, you don't have to worry about me acting different towards Sara, now that we're romantically involved."
"I know you won't Grissom." Jacqui says. "You two wouldn't let that occur. I know you too good, to even doing that."
"You got that right." I say smiling.
"Because then the 'bastard' Ecklie would know in a flash." Jacqui says harshly, but then looks a bit alarmed. "About those who knows here, is it only me who know or does the guys also know? I bet they do since they're your friends."
"They do." Gil answers. "So far you're let into the tight knitted group of 6 to know, you'd be number 7, of those who know about us. These people are Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Greg, Al Robbins, and Jim Brass."
"That'll be the scattered team, thanks to Ecklie the bastard." Jacqui spats a bit angry. "Okay, I just needed to know, since I don't want to screw up, and let your giant secret slip to someone who really doesn't need to know." Jacqui says.
"We'll in turn let the gang know, that we'd told you, so they have nothing to worry about either." I say.
"Good." Jacqui says. "I'm happy for you two. I really am."
"Thank you for that." Gil says smiling.
"And I just want to say this, since I haven't said it before to any of you." She begins. "I'm so sorry about Ecklie splitting up your team. You all work to great together, so it's such a shame your not together anymore. That was why my comment earlier." She says in sincerity.
"Thanks Jacqui." I say. "We miss Cath, Nick, and Warrick so much."
"Ecklie splitting up the team is just his way of taunting me, now that he is fully able to taunt me." Gil says. "So thank you for your concern Jacqui."
After that is said, we settle for some lighter chatting, but at 7:30 pm Gar and Jacqui heads for the door, since some of Jacqui's friends will be meeting them somewhere. After goodbyes Gil and I have about three hours, before we have to report to the lab.
I had some troubles with this chapter, written it I got though, but I'm not that sure about it.
Drop me a note if you please...