Chapter 5

Greg opened the door to his apartment, expecting Alex to greet him, but she didn't. He knew she was home; there was a light on in the kitchen. Plus, she didn't have as far to go as he did in taking his dad back to his hotel.

He started to walk back towards the bedroom, thinking maybe she was lying down. But as he walked past the living room, he saw her, still in her dress, sitting on the couch with her feet under her. He called out to her lightly, her motionlessness making him think she was asleep. She didn't stir at the sound of her name.

He walked over towards her and, as he got closer, he saw the earphones that caused her to be deaf to his calls. He sat down on the coffee table across from where she sat on the couch. She still didn't hear him. He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. As he did so, he could see the trails of her tears on her cheeks.

Alex opened her eyes. She smiled slightly when she saw him. "Hey." She removed her headphones.

"Hey," he replied, returning Alex's weak smile. "Why the tears?" He touched her cheek.

Her bottom lip started to quiver and tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. "I…I just didn't want to disappoint you again. I wanted to tell you, but after…after…I'm so sorry I didn't tell you—"

"Wait, waitwaitwait," Greg stopped her, wiping the tears from her eyes. He moved so that he was sitting next to her on the couch and took both her hands in his. "I already knew."

Her eyes got wide and her jaw dropped. "Did…did you do a background check on me too?"

"Too?" Greg questioned.

Alex raised an eyebrow as if to say 'You know.'

"Ahhhh," Greg responded. Grissom. He shook his head."Actually, Sara told me after she found out about the incident." 'Incident' was their code word for Alex's affair. Neither of them liked that word, and so they agreed upon 'incident.' "She was talking to me about the incident and said 'What did you expect from someone like her?' And so I asked what she meant and she told me about your past."

Alex rolled her eyes. "That woman hates me."

"How did she find out?" Greg inquired.

Alex let out a sigh. Sara hadn't kept Alex's secret so Alex no longer felt obligated to keep Sara's. "Remember when I was in the coma and Sara went to California?"

Greg nodded.

"Well, she didn't go to California," Alex continued. "She went to my hometown to dig up dirt on me. And she found it. Remember when Nick and Warrick found her at my place?"

Greg again nodded, the rest of the story starting to dawn on him.

"She came to confront me with her findings, and boy was she, um, spirited." Alex laughed a little at her own pun. "So, she passed out on my couch and then she was passed along."

"Gotcha," Greg replied.

"So, you're not mad?" Alex asked the question that had been burning on her tongue since dinner.

"I was a little disappointed it took you so long to tell me, but no, I'm not mad," he patted her knee. He got a mischievous glint in his eye. "I mean, it's kind of exciting thinking about you locked up, with all those other girls." He let out a laugh.

Alex moved so that she was straddling his lap, facing him. "So you like bad girls?" She said with her own mischievous glint.

He bit his lower lip and nodded.

She yanked on his tie, pulling his lips to hers and forcefully kissed him. "I know you have to work tonight, but do you have some time for me to show you just how bad a girl I can be?"

"Yes ma'am!"

She slid off his lap, not letting go of his tie. He had no choice but to stand as well. Then she led him to their bedroom.

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Greg and Alex lay intertwined on their bed, their chests still heaving from their passion. Greg could feel Alex's hot breath on his bare skin as she lay with her head on his chest. He had one arm wrapped around her and with the other he stroked her hair.

Greg looked down at her and said, "I love you."

At the sound of his words, he could feel the slight shaking of her body; a sign he knew meant she was sobbing.

"Are you ok?" he asked, worried that tears were her response.

She looked up at him and smiled through her tears. "Yeah, I'm alright. I love you too." She let out a shaky sigh and then continued, "I love you so much. And tonight, when I found out about our interwoven pasts, that I've met your mom and my mom's met you and we've met…it just made me realize how special our relationship is and how stupid I am for almost ruining it."

He gave her a tight squeeze. "I was thinking the same thing earlier. It really means a lot to me that you've met my mom."

"I just can't believe," she said as she scooted up the bed so that her head was next to his. "I can't believe we found each other, again. It's almost like our moms were trying to get us together."

Greg couldn't have agreed more. He looked deep into her eyes, and then kissed her. When they pulled apart he smiled. It was the smile that always melted her heart.

As he moved back, he noticed the clock. "Shit! I'm going to be late!" He jumped out of bed.

Alex turned over and looked at the clock. "Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to distract you for so long."

"It's alright. It was a nice distraction," he called from the bathroom, where he started to run a shower.

Very nice, Alex thought, trying to remember the last time they'd actually made love. To the best of her recollection, it'd been before she lost the baby.

"So your dad still wants me to call him tonight?" Alex called back to Greg.

"Yeah, he said after some rest he'd be ready to go," Greg responded from inside the shower.

Alex smiled to herself. She was looking forward to asking Ed some more questions about her grandparents and mother. He was probably going to be sick of her by the end of the night.

"Ok," she yelled back to him. "I'll give him a call."

She slipped out of bed and into her robe. She'd wait till Greg was out of the shower to freshen up and get dressed. Until then, she decided, she'd solidify the plans with Ed so she'd know what she needed to wear.