Disclaimer: "I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams." Jonas Salk. I used to have nightmares that none of this belonged to me, but now it is not a nightmare, but a dream, because this is all really hard to take care of! AAAHHHH!!!!
Explanation: Okay, thanks again for reading. This is ending up to be a whole lot longer than I originally anticipated. Thoughts just keep jumping in my head, though. And I am known to be a little long-winded. Hope nobody is bore with this whole thing! Anyway! My reason for this interruption is to explain the whole sign language thing. //Anything that you see typed like this is either signed or signed and spoken.// I'm going with the whole idea that Mrs. Grissom can speak, just not clearly.
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19
As they pulled into his mother's driveway, he looked over to see an almost panicked look on her face. "Sara, are you okay?"
"Fine. I'm fine."
Fine. He'd learned that 'fine' was her favorite word when she was lying about how she felt and when she didn't make a move to get out of the car when he opened her door, he knew she was anything but fine. He knelt on the ground beside her and took her hands in his on her lap, "Sara, can you hear me?" He knew she was off in her own world; the look gave her away every time. But after a slight nod of her head, "Sara, there's nothing to be scared of. I know that family is…an issue for you, but you're not in this alone. I'll be right beside you every step of the way. And any time you want to leave, we will."
Without looking at him, "You'd do that for me?"
His hand moved to her face and turned it towards his, "Of course I would, Hun. I love you. This is not meant to hurt you or scare you. I just want you to meet my mother and I only see her once or twice a year."
After a deep breath, "Okay. Let's do this."
With a quick kiss, she got out of the car and they carried their bags to the door, which he opened with his own key. From their conversations the past week, she'd found out that his mother was deaf. He was fluent in sign language and both he and his mother could read lips very well. He'd told her to speak slowly and clearly, always look at her when she spoke and never over exaggerate or it would piss her off. She had been scared a little about being able to understand Mrs. Grissom, but he'd told her not to worry. Evidently she sounded out some words while she signed, but above and beyond that, he would translate.
Once inside, they set their bags by the stairs then found his mother on the back porch. //Hi, Mom.//
She stood and hugged her son then//Gil, sweetie. I missed you.//
//I missed you, too. Happy Birthday.//
As she watched the interaction between mother and son, Sara realized that this was the most affectionate she'd ever seen him with another human being. It touched her to know that a family could really be a good thing.
When the conversation turned to her, though, her nerves set in. //So, this must be Sara.//
Sara reached out to shake hands but was shocked when his mother ignored it to step into a hug. Once she backed up, "Hello, Mrs. Grissom. It's very nice to meet you. Your son has wonderful things to say about you."
//Please, call me Anna. So, you must be very special. I've never been privileged enough to meet a girlfriend before.//
//Mother!//
//Hush, Gil. You know it's true.// Then back to Sara//In fact, Sara, you're the only woman he's ever mentioned at all besides that girl in college. I don't think I even knew her name, though.//
She was speechless, and was glad when Grissom carried on the conversation//Okay, I think we've had enough of embarrassing both Sara and me. How about we move on to another conversation?//
//Why should you be embarrassed? If I'd said you had a new girlfriend every week, then you should be embarrassed. There's nothing wrong with searching until you find the perfect match. I'd be honored if after fifty years I were only the second serious woman in a man's life.//
//Enough, Mother. Besides, she's not the second she's the first. She's the same girl as the one from college.//
"What?"
//What?//
"You told your mother about me in college?"
//Of course I did.//
After a short silence, with a huge smile//So, would you kids like to unpack before dinner?//
Once upstairs, they were given the choice of separate rooms, which Grissom quickly declined. With a pleased look on her face, Anna showed them into the guest room and left them to get ready for dinner. "Wow. She must really like you."
"I can't believe you talked about me in college."
Ignoring her, "Because I usually sleep in my old bedroom. I've never slept in this room."
"And I can't believe we're going to sleep in the same room in your mother's house!"
"We even have our own bathroom."
"Are you even listening to me?"
He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, "Trying not to."
"Well you'd better, Mister!"
"Okay. One, I'm a grown man and I am not going to sleep in separate bedrooms just because we're not married. I just want to sleep next to you in blissful dreamland. I've missed you these last couple weeks. And two, yes, I talked to my mother about you in college. I also talked to Jim about you. But no one ever knew your name until recently. Why does that matter?"
"It matters because…well…because it does."
"That's not a reason."
She rested her head on his chest before continuing, "I guess because I didn't realize that I was…special to you back then."
"Well, now you know. You've always been special to me, Sara. I've just been too stupid to make the right decisions."
She buried her face in his neck, "I love you so much."
"I love you, too, Dear. Now, we'd better get ready for dinner. My mother hates to be late. Oh, you're doing a great job with the whole communication thing. I know you were afraid about that."
"It's a lot easier than I expected."
"It might be a little harder in the restaurant because of the noise, but if you don't understand, just look at me and I'll tell you what she said."
"Got it. Now let me go. I don't want to piss Anna off on the first night here." They both chuckled and reluctantly let each other go.
Her nerves were calming as his were rising. So far, things were going as planned. He just had to hope that his dreams would come true and not his nightmares.