DISCLAIMER: Don't Own It, No Money Made... Just for fun & enjoyment.
RATING: M for Mature. For language and mature situations in later chapters.
A/N: I've had a few comments from people wanting to know when Sara and Stephanie were going to meet... Well, they don't actually meet in this chapter either... So, stay tuned.
And yes, I am that evil, you can ask my betas. ;)
REVIEWS: Thanks to all who have reviewed.
Chapter 11
The last day of her first week and her car simply would not start. She had known the old girl was getting up there, but it had never failed her in all their years together. Sure, the car was starting to show some wear and tear; it was older than she was after all, had seen more miles than any ten cars, and was never what anyone would have called good looking. But that car had been a part of her family, and it was practically her older sister. That day, however, her sister was sitting lifeless in front of their townhome, and Stephanie still had to get to work.
She had been growing frustrated at work and she was not used to that feeling, so every little thing that had gone wrong that week was starting to wear her down. The car was just the last straw. She should have known, because she had just driven a thirty three year old VW Thing the nearly three hundred miles from L.A. to Las Vegas, stuffed to the gills with everything she owned and pulling a U-Haul trailer. But unfortunately, all of that did not matter at the moment, what mattered was that someone answered their phone so that she was able get a ride to work, and for the third time in a row Thomas' cell had gone straight to voicemail, so she then started fumbling through numbers trying to find the surgical service's number so she could have him paged.
She nearly jumped on the phone when it suddenly starting ringing, "Hello?... Thomas, thank god. You got my message?... No, it's not flooded, because it won't even turn over, and the battery isn't dead either… Of course I know the difference… Thomas, there is nothing I can do with the car, and certainly not an hour before I have to be to work… No, I know you're just trying to be rational… I'm not in the mood to be rational… How long do you figure it would take me on the bike?... No, I know I don't know the trails around here at all, but I was just going to take the same way I drive… I don't know what the neighborhood is like, I only drive through it… Okay, okay, so I'll take a cab… No, I was gonna hit the ATM on my way to work… Don't you have any in the-… Well, I guess I could call him… Are you sure you can't get away?... No, I understand… Let me try him and see if he hasn't left yet… Okay, love you too… Bye."
She hung up the phone and took a deep breath, blowing it out quickly before she looked down at the phone again. She hung up the receiver and pulled her cell phone from her pocket, dialing the number with great reluctance, she punched the last key. She let out another deep breath as the phone started ringing. When the answering machine picked up the last of her hope started to fade. She waited until the greeting ended and decided to leave a message anyway, "Hey Uncle Gil, I was just calling to see if you hadn't left yet. I was having some trouble, and was hoping to catch you before I-."
She was surprised when the line clicked and she could hear him clearing his throat, "Oh man, you have no idea how glad I am you're still at home." Her relief at hearing his voice was unbelievable. "Yeah, I am in desperate need of a ride to work today… Yeah, my car is toast. I think the drive from L.A. may have been its last hurrah… I can be ready whenever you are… Yeah, fifteen minutes is totally doable. Thanks a million… See you outside."
She quickly put everything back into her backpack, and went back into the kitchen to make another breakfast bagel to give to her savior. She grabbed another hard-boiled egg, sliced it and placed it between the halves of the toasted bagel along with the ham and cheese slices. Once she had the sandwich assembled she carefully wrapped it up in plastic, Stephanie put it alongside hers inside the lunch box. When she was putting everything else away she reached back into the fridge to retrieve another orange juice to go with the sandwich.
She looked down at her watch and realized she had better get out the door to wait for her ride. She had literally just closed the door behind her when the black Denali pulled up in their driveway behind the guilty vehicle. Gil was already out of the car when she turned around, "Well, no wonder you're having car trouble, Stephie… I'm surprised that beast is still on all four wheels!" He was shaking his head at the humor of the whole thing.
"Hey, you're talking about family, ya know," she was trying to downplay her desperation, because she had not wanted to explain everything to him. The problem was, she was truly on the brink. A new job with a lot more pressure and responsibility, worrying about doing a good job before people found out who she was, living with Thomas full-time again, the wedding plans that were painfully overdue and now the car; it was a lot more than she ever thought it would be and it was starting to be too much. As he got closer to her she started to feel the weight of it all more and more. When he opened up his arms to gesture at the car she had finally lost all control and sunk into his embrace.
Gil was standing there in total shock, but for some reason his instincts had kicked in, and he just held her close and stroked her back. When the sobs started he tried to talk to her, "Hey now… What's all this about?" She just continued to sob and he reached over to the parked car, opened the door and moved her around to get her to sit down before her legs gave way. He took the handkerchief out of his pocket, crouched down in front of her and wiped away her tears before he handed it to her. "Okay, now let's try this again… What has you so worked up, Princess?"
She sniffled one last time before she started, "I'm sorry, Uncle Gil… I really didn't want to come unglued like this."
He wiped a stray tear from her cheek and then tucked a finger under her chin to lift it up so that they could look eye to eye. "Some times, we just need to let it all out." The wisdom of his words struck him as ironic, since he was probably the single most guilty party for holding everything inside. When she nodded her head in agreement he thought to himself that she was so much smarter and wiser than he ever was. "So, you want to tell me what brought all of this on?"
"I don't want to make you late or anything, so how about we do this in the car on the way in?" She had begun getting her composure back and he nodded his head as he slowly stood up from his crouched position. He then held out his hand to help her to her feet.
Once they were safely in the Denali, and on their way down the street, he stole a brief look over at her, and she let go of a deep breath. "Yeah, the story, huh?" When he tipped his head forward she chuckled, "Okay, well… It's not really been the week I was hoping for, I guess. And I was really trying to handle everything and not make a big deal of anything, but with everything happening so fast and all, the pressure just got to be really bad, and then the car dying was the last thing I needed today." She looked out the window as she continued, "I guess this is what happens when everything you ever wished for happens… All in the same week."
Gil cocked an eyebrow at her last statement, "Everything you wished for?"
"Are you kidding? Of course! I'm running my own autopsy room, I'm sharing a home with the love of my life, planning a wedding, and working alongside one of my childhood heroes… Not to mention putting the finishing touches on my first professional solo research paper for publication."
"Wait, you're being published? Why didn't you tell me?" Only Gil would key on what most would have been considered the lesser of all evils.
"Sorry, I wanted to wait until I got the final word before I told you… Just in case they laughed when I presented the final product." Gil had to laugh at her humility, because it reminded him so much of her mother.
"Only you, Steph… Only you." He shook his head as he laughed, and then it dawned on him that she had said planning a wedding. "What wedding?"
"Huh?"
"You said, 'planning a wedding.' Whose wedding?" Gil was serious, and even though he was fairly certain whose wedding it was, he had to hear it from her before he could believe it.
"Whose do you think, Uncle Gil? Thomas and I both agreed that we would wait until we could be together before we started worrying about the actual wedding. And this morning we agreed that was now, so we called Mom and started making plans… I just had no idea how big a deal that was until we actually started talking about the plans. I'm really surprised anyone ever goes through with this stuff, Uncle Gil… I mean really, who needs those headaches?"
She was talking at a mile and half a minute, and it gave Gil a warm feeling as he laughed. "I think that's one of the many draws of the Vegas wedding chapels."
"Not with MY mother!" They both laughed that time. "And with work being so much more than I ever imagined it would be, and the wedding stuff still fresh in my mind, and Thomas having to leave early today, and then the car, which by the way is still the coolest car ever made, so you better take everything you said back, or I'm telling Mom." She finally took a breath when she saw the informational sign telling them they were nearing the municipal center. "Wow… That actually feels a lot better… I hate it when Mom is right ALL the time."
Gil was confused by her final remark, "What was she right about this time?"
Stephanie just looked at him with surprise, "Oh please! Tell me you don't remember her always saying, 'If you don't talk about it, then how are you ever going to solve the problem?'"
They were both laughing again when they pulled in to the parking lot, "I remember now… And that reminds me about something else she used to say." Stephanie looked him in the eye to hear what he had to say, "She used to tell me that I needed to stop now and then and take a good look around at what I had, or one day it would all be gone and I wouldn't even remember what had been there in the first place."
The faraway look in his eyes nearly made Stephanie want to cry again, but instead, she chose to do the one thing Gil was not anticipating: she leaned over in the car, kissed him on the cheek and said, "I love you, Uncle Gil."
He blushed at her gesture, and gave her one of his crooked smiles. With one last deep breath, she opened the door to the Denali and hopped out with her backpack and lunch box in hand. Suddenly, she slapped her forehead and started rifling through her lunch box, "I almost forgot!" She pulled out a small paper bag and handed it to him proudly. "I made you breakfast. Toasted bagel with hard-boiled egg (minus the yolk, of course), a thick slice of lean honey ham and a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. And of course some O.J. and if you want to have the sandwich warm, all you have to do is pop it in the microwave for fifteen seconds." The beaming smile she gave him as she described the well-balanced breakfast she had made for him before his arrival today was even better than the food she was describing.
Taking the paper bag from her outstretched hand, he bowed his head and said without any thought to anyone within earshot, "Thank you, Princess. Probably the best meal I've had in a week." She smiled again and waved goodbye as she practically skipped into the building while he watched from behind the wheel of the SUV.
So caught up in the reverie of watching his first pupil bound away, there was one thing he did not realize: that two spaces away someone else witnessed the whole scene unfold. Someone with soft, curly, brown hair and deep brown eyes; glassy with unshed tears.
The last day of her first week and her car simply would not start. She had known the old girl was getting up there, but it had never failed her in all their years together. Sure, the car was starting to show some wear and tear; it was older than she was after all, had seen more miles than any ten cars, and was never what anyone would have called good looking. But that car had been a part of her family, and it was practically her older sister. That day, however, her sister was sitting lifeless in front of their townhome, and Stephanie still had to get to work.
She had been growing frustrated at work and she was not used to that feeling, so every little thing that had gone wrong that week was starting to wear her down. The car was just the last straw. She should have known, because she had just driven a thirty three year old VW Thing the nearly three hundred miles from L.A. to Las Vegas, stuffed to the gills with everything she owned and pulling a U-Haul trailer. But unfortunately, all of that did not matter at the moment, what mattered was that someone answered their phone so that she was able get a ride to work, and for the third time in a row Thomas' cell had gone straight to voicemail, so she then started fumbling through numbers trying to find the surgical service's number so she could have him paged.
She nearly jumped on the phone when it suddenly starting ringing, "Hello?... Thomas, thank god. You got my message?... No, it's not flooded, because it won't even turn over, and the battery isn't dead either… Of course I know the difference… Thomas, there is nothing I can do with the car, and certainly not an hour before I have to be to work… No, I know you're just trying to be rational… I'm not in the mood to be rational… How long do you figure it would take me on the bike?... No, I know I don't know the trails around here at all, but I was just going to take the same way I drive… I don't know what the neighborhood is like, I only drive through it… Okay, okay, so I'll take a cab… No, I was gonna hit the ATM on my way to work… Don't you have any in the-… Well, I guess I could call him… Are you sure you can't get away?... No, I understand… Let me try him and see if he hasn't left yet… Okay, love you too… Bye."
She hung up the phone and took a deep breath, blowing it out quickly before she looked down at the phone again. She hung up the receiver and pulled her cell phone from her pocket, dialing the number with great reluctance, she punched the last key. She let out another deep breath as the phone started ringing. When the answering machine picked up the last of her hope started to fade. She waited until the greeting ended and decided to leave a message anyway, "Hey Uncle Gil, I was just calling to see if you hadn't left yet. I was having some trouble, and was hoping to catch you before I-."
She was surprised when the line clicked and she could hear him clearing his throat, "Oh man, you have no idea how glad I am you're still at home." Her relief at hearing his voice was unbelievable. "Yeah, I am in desperate need of a ride to work today… Yeah, my car is toast. I think the drive from L.A. may have been its last hurrah… I can be ready whenever you are… Yeah, fifteen minutes is totally doable. Thanks a million… See you outside."
She quickly put everything back into her backpack, and went back into the kitchen to make another breakfast bagel to give to her savior. She grabbed another hard-boiled egg, sliced it and placed it between the halves of the toasted bagel along with the ham and cheese slices. Once she had the sandwich assembled she carefully wrapped it up in plastic, Stephanie put it alongside hers inside the lunch box. When she was putting everything else away she reached back into the fridge to retrieve another orange juice to go with the sandwich.
She looked down at her watch and realized she had better get out the door to wait for her ride. She had literally just closed the door behind her when the black Denali pulled up in their driveway behind the guilty vehicle. Gil was already out of the car when she turned around, "Well, no wonder you're having car trouble, Stephie… I'm surprised that beast is still on all four wheels!" He was shaking his head at the humor of the whole thing.
"Hey, you're talking about family, ya know," she was trying to downplay her desperation, because she had not wanted to explain everything to him. The problem was, she was truly on the brink. A new job with a lot more pressure and responsibility, worrying about doing a good job before people found out who she was, living with Thomas full-time again, the wedding plans that were painfully overdue and now the car; it was a lot more than she ever thought it would be and it was starting to be too much. As he got closer to her she started to feel the weight of it all more and more. When he opened up his arms to gesture at the car she had finally lost all control and sunk into his embrace.
Gil was standing there in total shock, but for some reason his instincts had kicked in, and he just held her close and stroked her back. When the sobs started he tried to talk to her, "Hey now… What's all this about?" She just continued to sob and he reached over to the parked car, opened the door and moved her around to get her to sit down before her legs gave way. He took the handkerchief out of his pocket, crouched down in front of her and wiped away her tears before he handed it to her. "Okay, now let's try this again… What has you so worked up, Princess?"
She sniffled one last time before she started, "I'm sorry, Uncle Gil… I really didn't want to come unglued like this."
He wiped a stray tear from her cheek and then tucked a finger under her chin to lift it up so that they could look eye to eye. "Some times, we just need to let it all out." The wisdom of his words struck him as ironic, since he was probably the single most guilty party for holding everything inside. When she nodded her head in agreement he thought to himself that she was so much smarter and wiser than he ever was. "So, you want to tell me what brought all of this on?"
"I don't want to make you late or anything, so how about we do this in the car on the way in?" She had begun getting her composure back and he nodded his head as he slowly stood up from his crouched position. He then held out his hand to help her to her feet.
Once they were safely in the Denali, and on their way down the street, he stole a brief look over at her, and she let go of a deep breath. "Yeah, the story, huh?" When he tipped his head forward she chuckled, "Okay, well… It's not really been the week I was hoping for, I guess. And I was really trying to handle everything and not make a big deal of anything, but with everything happening so fast and all, the pressure just got to be really bad, and then the car dying was the last thing I needed today." She looked out the window as she continued, "I guess this is what happens when everything you ever wished for happens… All in the same week."
Gil cocked an eyebrow at her last statement, "Everything you wished for?"
"Are you kidding? Of course! I'm running my own autopsy room, I'm sharing a home with the love of my life, planning a wedding, and working alongside one of my childhood heroes… Not to mention putting the finishing touches on my first professional solo research paper for publication."
"Wait, you're being published? Why didn't you tell me?" Only Gil would key on what most would have been considered the lesser of all evils.
"Sorry, I wanted to wait until I got the final word before I told you… Just in case they laughed when I presented the final product." Gil had to laugh at her humility, because it reminded him so much of her mother.
"Only you, Steph… Only you." He shook his head as he laughed, and then it dawned on him that she had said planning a wedding. "What wedding?"
"Huh?"
"You said, 'planning a wedding.' Whose wedding?" Gil was serious, and even though he was fairly certain whose wedding it was, he had to hear it from her before he could believe it.
"Whose do you think, Uncle Gil? Thomas and I both agreed that we would wait until we could be together before we started worrying about the actual wedding. And this morning we agreed that was now, so we called Mom and started making plans… I just had no idea how big a deal that was until we actually started talking about the plans. I'm really surprised anyone ever goes through with this stuff, Uncle Gil… I mean really, who needs those headaches?"
She was talking at a mile and half a minute, and it gave Gil a warm feeling as he laughed. "I think that's one of the many draws of the Vegas wedding chapels."
"Not with MY mother!" They both laughed that time. "And with work being so much more than I ever imagined it would be, and the wedding stuff still fresh in my mind, and Thomas having to leave early today, and then the car, which by the way is still the coolest car ever made, so you better take everything you said back, or I'm telling Mom." She finally took a breath when she saw the informational sign telling them they were nearing the municipal center. "Wow… That actually feels a lot better… I hate it when Mom is right ALL the time."
Gil was confused by her final remark, "What was she right about this time?"
Stephanie just looked at him with surprise, "Oh please! Tell me you don't remember her always saying, 'If you don't talk about it, then how are you ever going to solve the problem?'"
They were both laughing again when they pulled in to the parking lot, "I remember now… And that reminds me about something else she used to say." Stephanie looked him in the eye to hear what he had to say, "She used to tell me that I needed to stop now and then and take a good look around at what I had, or one day it would all be gone and I wouldn't even remember what had been there in the first place."
The faraway look in his eyes nearly made Stephanie want to cry again, but instead, she chose to do the one thing Gil was not anticipating: she leaned over in the car, kissed him on the cheek and said, "I love you, Uncle Gil."
He blushed at her gesture, and gave her one of his crooked smiles. With one last deep breath, she opened the door to the Denali and hopped out with her backpack and lunch box in hand. Suddenly, she slapped her forehead and started rifling through her lunch box, "I almost forgot!" She pulled out a small paper bag and handed it to him proudly. "I made you breakfast. Toasted bagel with hard-boiled egg (minus the yolk, of course), a thick slice of lean honey ham and a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. And of course some O.J. and if you want to have the sandwich warm, all you have to do is pop it in the microwave for fifteen seconds." The beaming smile she gave him as she described the well-balanced breakfast she had made for him before his arrival today was even better than the food she was describing.
Taking the paper bag from her outstretched hand, he bowed his head and said without any thought to anyone within earshot, "Thank you, Princess. Probably the best meal I've had in a week." She smiled again and waved goodbye as she practically skipped into the building while he watched from behind the wheel of the SUV.
So caught up in the reverie of watching his first pupil bound away, there was one thing he did not realize: that two spaces away someone else witnessed the whole scene unfold. Someone with soft, curly, brown hair and deep brown eyes; glassy with unshed tears.
