Fic: Broken Road (2/2) (Mentalist Big Bang fic, Cho/Van Pelt)
For notes and disclaimers, see Part One
V - Nothing Standing In My Way
Things hadn’t much changed in the tiny Iowa town since the last time that Cho had driven down the main street almost four years before. The rental car still attracted curious stares, though this time they turned to waves when people recognised Grace in the passenger seat. Nothing had changed in Cho’s emotions either; he was as nervous now as he had been then, albeit for a very different reason.
The reason being, of course, that things that had changed vastly for him and Grace.
As if she was aware of his thoughts - and she probably was, adept as she was at reading his silences - Grace reached over and put her hand over his. “It’s going to be fine.”
He lifted an eyebrow but didn’t take his eyes off the road. “You mean I shouldn’t be worried about your dad coming after me with a shotgun?”
“Nah.” There was a tinge of amusement in Grace’s tone. “I made Mom promise to hide the ammunition.”
At that, he did look at her, saw her looking straight ahead with her lips curled up in a smile. The sight made him smile too, made him relax slightly, because ever since things had changed between him and Grace, that’s what her smile did to him.
It worked until they pulled into her parents’ driveway, Grace hopping out to open the gate, Allie hopping up and down with excitement in her car seat. When Grace got back in, he made to put the car into drive, but her hand closed over his again, stopping him. “Kimball, I mean it... it’s going to be fine.” She leaned over then, pressed her lips to his briefly before patting his hand. “Let’s go.”
Unlike the last time that Cho had been at this house, Grace’s parents weren’t waiting for him when the car pulled up. This time, instead of an early warning system at the gate, someone was obviously looking out a window for them, or at least waiting to hear a car pull up. The front door opened as Grace was taking Allie out of the car seat and the little girl’s feet barely touched the ground before she was running towards her grandparents, excited cries of “Nana! Poppy!” filling the air.
Cho kept his distance, letting the Van Pelts have their reunion, and Grace had to literally go to him, pull him towards the front door.”Mom, Dad,” she said. “You remember Kimball.”
“Of course.” Her mother’s hug was as fierce as it had been four years ago, but this time she was smiling, looking genuinely pleased to see him. “Welcome to our home.”
“Thank you.” Cho nodded at her, feeling somewhat awkward at this almost high school moment that he’d never had in high school - he’d never been the kind of guy that girls would take home to meet their parents. “Sir.” He nodded at Grace’s father, reached out to shake his hand. Amos Van Pelt took it, shook it firmly, for longer than Cho had expected.
“Good to have you here, son,” he said after what seemed like an eternity... “Why don’t we take a walk while the ladies catch up?”
Grace’s mouth opened but Cho knew full well that it wasn’t a question. “Sounds good,” he lied, falling into step beside the older man, doing his best to ignore the way Grace was biting her lip, the worried look in her eyes.
They walked in silence, Cho waiting for Amos to speak, and when he did, the older man got straight to the point. “I believe you and my daughter are seeing one another.”
Cho nodded. “Yes, Sir. We are.”
“And you think that’s a good idea, do you? With the history you two share?”
“History?”
“What you went through four years ago... you think it’s healthy for the two of you to be together after that? Don’t you think you’d be better off moving on with your lives? Separately?”
Cho’s first response to that was a two word phrase that ended in “off” and he had the forethought to bite his tongue, censor himself immediately. Taking a deep breath, he met Amos’s gaze, held it. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered that. That we hadn’t considered that.” Surprise flickered in Amos’s face, something that gave Cho heart. “We’ve talked about it... but how I feel about Grace has nothing to do with what happened then. It’s the time we’ve spent together since then... her and Allie... I can’t imagine not having them in my life.”
It was unusual for Cho to lay his emotions out on the line like that to anyone, let alone a virtual stranger, but he knew how important this was. Family was important to Grace, all the more so after all she’d been through, and Cho was bound and determined not to be the one who drove a wedge between her and her parents. So he said his piece, no matter how alien it felt to do so, and he kept his eyes fixed on Amos Van Pelt as he did so, hoping that he would see the truth, the emotion, behind the words.
Eventually Amos nodded. “Hmmm,” he said. Then, “That’s what Grace said when I asked her that question last week.”
It took all of Cho’s interrogation skills not to let his jaw drop, because Grace hadn’t mentioned a word about that to him. Knowing Grace, she probably hadn’t wanted to worry him given how nervous he was about this meeting, but right now he didn’t know whether to feel appreciative or murderous.
“You know what she said to me, when I asked her that? She told me that once someone asked one of the Beatles what it was like to be a Beatle. And that he said that it was something no one else would understand, apart from the three other people in the band with him. That that’s what it was like for the two of you... that you could not see one another for the rest of your lives but there would still be a connection there... that she couldn’t imagine her life without you in it.”
Grace had never said anything like that to Cho, but Cho remembered sitting on a bench in a graveyard, saying something along the same lines to her. The memory, the fact that she remembered it too, made him smile. “She’s a smart woman, your daughter.”
Amos smiled too. “I know.” Clapping Cho on the shoulder, he turned around, heading back for the house. “Come on...let’s get back to those girls of ours before they think I’m burying you out here. I hope you’re hungry... Violet’s been baking all week.”
An hour ago, Cho wouldn’t have been able to stomach a thing. Now, he nodded. “Actually, I’m starving.”
>*<*>*<
“Well, my dad didn’t shoot you.” Grace grinned that night as she slipped into bed beside Kimball, scooting close to him and pressing her - as ever - freezing cold feet against his considerably warmer ones.
Cho raised an eyebrow, looking down at her as she laid her head on his shoulder. “Turns out the only one looking for a shotgun was me,” he said dryly. Grace blinked, turned her gaze up to meet his and he took advantage of her momentary worry to tickle her ribs. A cheap tactic maybe, but he figured she deserved at least that much. “Why didn’t you tell me you spoke to your dad about us last week?”
He had the satisfaction of seeing Grace’s cheeks grow faintly pink. “I figured you’d want to talk to him yourself...you know, do the whole man-to-man thing. I didn’t think you’d want me interfering.”
She was so obviously sincere that Cho could only shake his head. “Sweetheart, next time there’s anything to do with your family, please. Interfere.”
Her smile grew wider as she snuggled into his chest, one arm wrapping around him. “I still can’t get used to that,” he heard her murmur.
“What?”
“You. Calling me sweetheart.” She pulled away from him, rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling. Her fingers picked at the threads of the patchwork quilt that her grandmother had made. “I just...” She shrugged. “I guess I never picked you for a pet names guy.”
“I’m not.” She looked surprised, but there was no point lying about it. “It just slips out sometimes. I’m still getting used to it too.”
“It’s not that I don’t like it,” she said hurriedly. “I do. It’s just that...”
Propping himself up on one elbow, he turned to face her, his hand closing over both of hers thereby saving her grandmother’s quilt from an untimely end. “It’s a big change.”
Even without this change in their relationship, he knew Grace well enough to see relief in her face, heard it in the breathless sigh she let out. “Yeah,” she agreed, wrinkling her nose. He’d never noticed her do that until a few months ago; now he found it adorable. Which was most unlike him - just another change to deal with. “You know... don’t you... how I feel? About you, I mean? I mean, I know I don’t say it but my track record... my last two relationships haven’t exactly ended well...”
She was rambling, tears not too far away and his hand moved from her hands to her cheek, thumb moving slowly over the skin there. “I know.” Leaning forward, he brushed his lips over hers gently. “I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”
>*<*>*
VI - The Chapter's Been Written
“You don’t have to do this.”
Standing face to face, Cho took Grace’s freezing, trembling hands in his, thumbs trying to rub warmth into the knuckles. She gave him the tiniest of smiles, one that reminded him of Allie’s when she was doing something that scared her and was trying to be brave, and the sight just about broke his heart. “I mean it, Grace,” he told her. “I do this... you don’t have to.”
She nodded, looking over his shoulder, her jaw tight with resolve. “I know. But I want to.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to say, “All evidence to the contrary” or words to that effect but he knew better. “I’m here,” he told her, like he’d told her so many times before. “Any time you want to leave, you just say the word.”
Another tight nod. “Let’s go.”
They walked side by side up the path into the facility, Grace standing close enough to Cho that he could feel her body heat, but not holding his hand like she normally would. Cho hadn’t realised until just that moment how much he’d come to enjoy the sensation of her hand in his and was surprised to find how much he missed it. He knew it was nothing personal, that it was just to do with this place, with the reason that they were here. He might have come here every couple of months for the last five and a half years but Grace never had, had never even asked him about it.
Until last night when she’d told him she was going with him.
He’d told her she didn’t have to, even used Allie as an excuse, until she told him that Allie had a play-date after school and that he was wasting his breath. She’d had that look in her eyes then, the one he mentally called her “Lisbon laser”, the one that meant that he had no chance of changing her mind and he’d gracefully retired from the discussion, a small part of him still thinking that she wouldn’t really go through with it.
Except she had, and she was walking down these halls side by side with him looking more uncomfortable than he had seen her in many a long day.
The lounge was quiet, only one man inside, his white tunic and top almost blending into the couch on which he sat. His pale skin and blond hair only added to the illusion, one Cho never got used to, one that always sent a shiver down his spine.
“He looks like a ghost.” Grace’s whisper was the same thought he had every time he came in this door and he reached over and took her hand, squeezed it tightly. It wasn’t for her though, not entirely at least - he needed it just as much as she did.
“He’s never talked, not in all the time I’ve been here...the doctors say he never does.” Part of the breakdown they’d said, a product of the things he had seen, the things he had done. For a long time, there had been a part of Cho that hadn’t believed that, hadn’t wanted to believe that - after all, he’d seen Jane fool people before. He didn’t think that any more though - not after this long. Wishful thinking, he’d told himself because much like his earlier realisation about Grace’s handhold, he hadn’t realised how much he enjoyed working with Jane until the world went to hell around them.
“So what do you do? Just talk to him?”
Cho pulled a paperback out of his inside pocket. “Read mostly.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if it helps... if it does anything for him...”
Grace’s smile was small, but her touch on his arm was warm. “It helps you.”
She knew him too well.
Going over to Patrick, he sat in his customary seat, Grace sitting beside him, her back ramrod straight. Cho said his hellos and when Grace didn’t, he opened the book to the previous session’s ending position and began to read.
He didn’t know how long he’d been reading when he felt a hand on his shoulder, a gentle pressure. Grace was standing, her face ashen, freckles standing out in stark relief. “I’ll be outside,” she whispered. “I just...”
“Go. I won’t be long.” He meant it, but when she left the room almost at a run, he hastened his reading just enough so that he wasn’t lingering long.
“I’ll see you soon, Patrick,” he said as he was going, looking down at those unblinking blue eyes that were staring straight ahead at who knew what.
He was halfway to the door when he heard a familiar voice.
“He didn’t win.”
Cho whipped around faster than he might have believed possible, but Patrick Jane sat in the same position with the same facial expression he’d had every time Cho had seen him in this place.
For a long moment, Cho stood there, waiting for something, anything, that might tell him he had only been imagining things. When nothing came, he left to join Grace.
>*<*>*<
VII - Kept Turning Pages
Once again, Cho found himself and Grace crawling around the living room floor, picking up toys and books after Allie had gone to bed. It wasn’t the first time that it had happened since Grace had moved back to California; in fact it was somewhat of a ritual for them. There was one major difference though, the same difference that there had been for the last six months. It was a new living room, a living room that they shared in the house that they shared, and Allie was up in the room that she had picked, that Cho had painstakingly painted to her exact requirements - and, he remembered it with a grin, they had certainly been exact.
“I thought we were going to get her to clean up after herself when we moved in here,” Grace said dryly, her voice bringing him back to reality and Cho chuckled in response.
“We’ll get there,” was all he said and that was Grace’s cue to chuckle.
“I love your faith.” She continued on her path around the floor, tossing toys into various bins and baskets. He kept his eyes on her, partially to admire the view, partially to track her progress. His heart began beating more quickly as she neared him, and for the briefest moment it seemed to stop altogether when she stopped moving, gaze fixed on a small box lying beside a pile of toys. “Kimball,” she said slowly, never taking her gaze from that small box. “What’s that?”
Cho made his way nearer to her. “It’s a box.”
The Lisbon laser made its appearance, albeit a very watered down one. She didn’t point out that she already knew that, stuck with, “What’s inside it?”
“Look and see.” When she didn’t move, Cho tried not to worry about what that might mean and put it down to simple shock. Reaching out, he took the box in one hand, opened it up with the other.
“Kimball...” Kneeling now, one shaking hand went to her lips as she stared at the diamond solitaire winking in the light.
“Grace.” Shifting so that he was on one knee, he extended the box towards her. “I could say a million things about how I love you and how you mean everything to me. But that’s not me. Besides, you know it already anyway. But I do. Love you. So... will you marry me?”
For what seemed like forever, she stared at the ring, then looked up, her eyes meeting his. A single tear slipped down her cheek as she whispered the word, “Yes.”
He kissed her, then slipping the ring on her finger and kissed her again.
They forgot about the rest of the toys that night.
When they told Allie their news the next morning, she squealed with delight, hugged them both and started planning her bridesmaid’s dress - very pink and Barbie was the prevailing theme.
But when she asked if she could call Cho “Dad” when after the wedding, Grace cried again and Cho felt a distinct lump in his throat when Grace once again said yes.
>*<*>*<
The wedding was a small, intimate affair, taking place in the church in Grace’s home town where Grace and Allie had both been baptised. The only guests present were family and a few close friends, and in something both Grace and Cho considered a coup of miraculous proportions, there was no media contingent within a hundred square miles. That was part of the reason they had kept the details quiet, kept the guest list small, even though everyone in the small town knew what was happening. Fiercely loyal to the Van Pelt family though, nobody was going to spill the beans, another reason for having the wedding there - neither Cho nor Van Pelt were vain enough to believe that the American people-slash-media were still interested in them after so much time had passed, but both were cautious enough not to tempt fate.
Allie got to wear her pink dress, though not Barbie pink, Grace and her mom having talked her out of that particular choice. Cho wore a tuxedo, not because he wanted to but because Allie really wanted him to, and when he and Grace talked about it, she admitted that she’d like him to wear one too. “You’d look so handsome,” she said with that look in her eyes that made him weak at the knees and he was a goner after that.
As for Grace’s dress, it was not the princess confection that Allie had taken to drawing, but it was long and white, halter necked and slinky and when she walked down the aisle towards him, Cho had to swallow a lump in his throat. She had never looked more beautiful and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was.
Before they said their vows, they lit a candle in memory of Wayne. Their joined hands held the taper, their other hands held Allie’s as they remembered the man who meant so much to them all. As they turned and returned to their places, Cho could see Wayne’s mom in the congregation, wiping her eyes carefully with a handkerchief. She managed to give him a smile and a nod, the latest blessing from her. She’d been more supportive of his relationship with Grace than they had any right to expect, but she loved Allie and could see how happy Cho made her and Grace. “That’s all Wayne would have wanted,” she told them when they told her about the change in their relationship.
As they said their vows, neither Cho nor Grace could stop smiling.
It may have been a broken road that led them there, but they were there, together and nothing else mattered
>*<*>*<
VIII - Here at Last
It was a sunny day, without a cloud in the sky and Cho was sitting on the back porch. It was, he reflected, much like the day when his life had changed, the first day he had met Allie when she was just a baby. He often remembered that when sitting out here, amazed at how much his life had changed, amazed at how happy he now was, how he couldn’t imagine his life any other way.
Today though, he wasn’t in Iowa at the Van Pelt’s house. He was in California in his own back yard and he was looking at the lawn, at the little boy tottering around, chasing after the small dog that looked to be halfway between terrified and having the time of his life. The boy showed no such confusion though; his laughs reached all the way back to Cho and made him grin broadly.
Suddenly, a shadow fell across him and he looked up to see a very serious face staring down at him with troubled eyes. "Hey there, Allie," he said, extending an arm to her, waiting for her to sit down and snuggle into him. "What's got you so serious?"
Allie sat down beside him but a way apart from him; the better, he thought, to see his face. "I was playing at Jessie's house yesterday," she began. "And her brother was there."
"'Mmm-hmmm." Cho kept his face straight and his mouth shut. He had his own opinion of Jessie's brother, and it wasn't favourable - he reminded him far too much of himself at that age.
"He said it was weird that you called Wayne Wayne. Because he said that's my real dad's name and it was weird that you and Mom would call your son after him." Tears brimmed in Allie's eyes and Cho reached over and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head for good measure.
"You listen to me," he told her, his cheek on top of her head, her face buried in his shoulder. "The next time Jessie's brother, or anyone, says something like that to you? You tell them that your dad and I were best friends. That we would have done anything for each other. And that when your mom and I fell in love after he was gone, we both agreed that he'd be happy I was taking care of you both. And that we named your brother after him because he was one of the finest men I ever knew and we wanted to honour him."
There was the distinct sound of a sniff from Allie and he tightened his grip on her, smiling to himself when she returned the pressure. "I love you, Daddy," he heard her say and he had to swallow against the sudden lump in his throat.
"I love you too, Allie," he said, giving her another long moment before she straightened up and smiled at him from under red-rimmed eyes. "Now, how about you go and rescue the dog before your brother gives him a heart attack?"
With a giggle, Allie ran off, sneaking up behind Wayne and picking him up, spinning him around. The little boy let out a shriek that was half protest and half delight. Cho was smiling when another shadow fell across him and he looked up to see his wife standing there, her smile a touch forced, her eyes a little red. "Nicely done," she observed, sitting down beside him.
"I don't like Jessie's brother," he told her. "He sounds like a little punk."
Grace's lips quirked up in an almost smile. "He is," she said. "He's also thirteen years old and likes to tease his little sister and her friends."
"About something like that?" Cho turned his head sharply towards her, and she raised her hand as if to ward off any further comments.
"He went too far...I'll talk to Janet about him." Grace's tone said loud and clear that that was an end to the matter and Cho was happy to let it drop. If he knew one thing about his wife, it was when she used that tone with that look in her eyes, it didn't pay to do anything else. "You know what day today is?" she asked him a couple of minutes later.
He did. Of course he did. "Ten years," was all he said, taking her hand in his.
"Did you ever think... back then..."
"Nope." Cho could say it with a chuckle, one that she shared. "But however we got here... we got here."
Grace nodded, swallowing hard. "You make me happy, Kimball," she said quietly. "When I never thought I would be again. I don't know if I thank you enough for that." A pause, a squeeze of his hand. "Did you mean what you said to Allie? That you think Wayne would be happy for us?"
"Are you kidding me?" Cho snorted. "He'd kick my ass. Or try to."
He was half joking, but only half because the one thing he’d always known about Wayne was that he wanted Grace to be happy, even if it couldn’t be with him. Grace knew that because her face lit up in a brilliant smile and she laughed that laugh of hers that always made his heart skip a beat. "Come on," he said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. "Let's go rescue that poor dog."
Hand in hand, they made their way down the back porch steps to play with their children.
V - Nothing Standing In My Way
Things hadn’t much changed in the tiny Iowa town since the last time that Cho had driven down the main street almost four years before. The rental car still attracted curious stares, though this time they turned to waves when people recognised Grace in the passenger seat. Nothing had changed in Cho’s emotions either; he was as nervous now as he had been then, albeit for a very different reason.
The reason being, of course, that things that had changed vastly for him and Grace.
As if she was aware of his thoughts - and she probably was, adept as she was at reading his silences - Grace reached over and put her hand over his. “It’s going to be fine.”
He lifted an eyebrow but didn’t take his eyes off the road. “You mean I shouldn’t be worried about your dad coming after me with a shotgun?”
“Nah.” There was a tinge of amusement in Grace’s tone. “I made Mom promise to hide the ammunition.”
At that, he did look at her, saw her looking straight ahead with her lips curled up in a smile. The sight made him smile too, made him relax slightly, because ever since things had changed between him and Grace, that’s what her smile did to him.
It worked until they pulled into her parents’ driveway, Grace hopping out to open the gate, Allie hopping up and down with excitement in her car seat. When Grace got back in, he made to put the car into drive, but her hand closed over his again, stopping him. “Kimball, I mean it... it’s going to be fine.” She leaned over then, pressed her lips to his briefly before patting his hand. “Let’s go.”
Unlike the last time that Cho had been at this house, Grace’s parents weren’t waiting for him when the car pulled up. This time, instead of an early warning system at the gate, someone was obviously looking out a window for them, or at least waiting to hear a car pull up. The front door opened as Grace was taking Allie out of the car seat and the little girl’s feet barely touched the ground before she was running towards her grandparents, excited cries of “Nana! Poppy!” filling the air.
Cho kept his distance, letting the Van Pelts have their reunion, and Grace had to literally go to him, pull him towards the front door.”Mom, Dad,” she said. “You remember Kimball.”
“Of course.” Her mother’s hug was as fierce as it had been four years ago, but this time she was smiling, looking genuinely pleased to see him. “Welcome to our home.”
“Thank you.” Cho nodded at her, feeling somewhat awkward at this almost high school moment that he’d never had in high school - he’d never been the kind of guy that girls would take home to meet their parents. “Sir.” He nodded at Grace’s father, reached out to shake his hand. Amos Van Pelt took it, shook it firmly, for longer than Cho had expected.
“Good to have you here, son,” he said after what seemed like an eternity... “Why don’t we take a walk while the ladies catch up?”
Grace’s mouth opened but Cho knew full well that it wasn’t a question. “Sounds good,” he lied, falling into step beside the older man, doing his best to ignore the way Grace was biting her lip, the worried look in her eyes.
They walked in silence, Cho waiting for Amos to speak, and when he did, the older man got straight to the point. “I believe you and my daughter are seeing one another.”
Cho nodded. “Yes, Sir. We are.”
“And you think that’s a good idea, do you? With the history you two share?”
“History?”
“What you went through four years ago... you think it’s healthy for the two of you to be together after that? Don’t you think you’d be better off moving on with your lives? Separately?”
Cho’s first response to that was a two word phrase that ended in “off” and he had the forethought to bite his tongue, censor himself immediately. Taking a deep breath, he met Amos’s gaze, held it. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered that. That we hadn’t considered that.” Surprise flickered in Amos’s face, something that gave Cho heart. “We’ve talked about it... but how I feel about Grace has nothing to do with what happened then. It’s the time we’ve spent together since then... her and Allie... I can’t imagine not having them in my life.”
It was unusual for Cho to lay his emotions out on the line like that to anyone, let alone a virtual stranger, but he knew how important this was. Family was important to Grace, all the more so after all she’d been through, and Cho was bound and determined not to be the one who drove a wedge between her and her parents. So he said his piece, no matter how alien it felt to do so, and he kept his eyes fixed on Amos Van Pelt as he did so, hoping that he would see the truth, the emotion, behind the words.
Eventually Amos nodded. “Hmmm,” he said. Then, “That’s what Grace said when I asked her that question last week.”
It took all of Cho’s interrogation skills not to let his jaw drop, because Grace hadn’t mentioned a word about that to him. Knowing Grace, she probably hadn’t wanted to worry him given how nervous he was about this meeting, but right now he didn’t know whether to feel appreciative or murderous.
“You know what she said to me, when I asked her that? She told me that once someone asked one of the Beatles what it was like to be a Beatle. And that he said that it was something no one else would understand, apart from the three other people in the band with him. That that’s what it was like for the two of you... that you could not see one another for the rest of your lives but there would still be a connection there... that she couldn’t imagine her life without you in it.”
Grace had never said anything like that to Cho, but Cho remembered sitting on a bench in a graveyard, saying something along the same lines to her. The memory, the fact that she remembered it too, made him smile. “She’s a smart woman, your daughter.”
Amos smiled too. “I know.” Clapping Cho on the shoulder, he turned around, heading back for the house. “Come on...let’s get back to those girls of ours before they think I’m burying you out here. I hope you’re hungry... Violet’s been baking all week.”
An hour ago, Cho wouldn’t have been able to stomach a thing. Now, he nodded. “Actually, I’m starving.”
>*<*>*<
“Well, my dad didn’t shoot you.” Grace grinned that night as she slipped into bed beside Kimball, scooting close to him and pressing her - as ever - freezing cold feet against his considerably warmer ones.
Cho raised an eyebrow, looking down at her as she laid her head on his shoulder. “Turns out the only one looking for a shotgun was me,” he said dryly. Grace blinked, turned her gaze up to meet his and he took advantage of her momentary worry to tickle her ribs. A cheap tactic maybe, but he figured she deserved at least that much. “Why didn’t you tell me you spoke to your dad about us last week?”
He had the satisfaction of seeing Grace’s cheeks grow faintly pink. “I figured you’d want to talk to him yourself...you know, do the whole man-to-man thing. I didn’t think you’d want me interfering.”
She was so obviously sincere that Cho could only shake his head. “Sweetheart, next time there’s anything to do with your family, please. Interfere.”
Her smile grew wider as she snuggled into his chest, one arm wrapping around him. “I still can’t get used to that,” he heard her murmur.
“What?”
“You. Calling me sweetheart.” She pulled away from him, rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling. Her fingers picked at the threads of the patchwork quilt that her grandmother had made. “I just...” She shrugged. “I guess I never picked you for a pet names guy.”
“I’m not.” She looked surprised, but there was no point lying about it. “It just slips out sometimes. I’m still getting used to it too.”
“It’s not that I don’t like it,” she said hurriedly. “I do. It’s just that...”
Propping himself up on one elbow, he turned to face her, his hand closing over both of hers thereby saving her grandmother’s quilt from an untimely end. “It’s a big change.”
Even without this change in their relationship, he knew Grace well enough to see relief in her face, heard it in the breathless sigh she let out. “Yeah,” she agreed, wrinkling her nose. He’d never noticed her do that until a few months ago; now he found it adorable. Which was most unlike him - just another change to deal with. “You know... don’t you... how I feel? About you, I mean? I mean, I know I don’t say it but my track record... my last two relationships haven’t exactly ended well...”
She was rambling, tears not too far away and his hand moved from her hands to her cheek, thumb moving slowly over the skin there. “I know.” Leaning forward, he brushed his lips over hers gently. “I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”
>*<*>*
VI - The Chapter's Been Written
“You don’t have to do this.”
Standing face to face, Cho took Grace’s freezing, trembling hands in his, thumbs trying to rub warmth into the knuckles. She gave him the tiniest of smiles, one that reminded him of Allie’s when she was doing something that scared her and was trying to be brave, and the sight just about broke his heart. “I mean it, Grace,” he told her. “I do this... you don’t have to.”
She nodded, looking over his shoulder, her jaw tight with resolve. “I know. But I want to.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to say, “All evidence to the contrary” or words to that effect but he knew better. “I’m here,” he told her, like he’d told her so many times before. “Any time you want to leave, you just say the word.”
Another tight nod. “Let’s go.”
They walked side by side up the path into the facility, Grace standing close enough to Cho that he could feel her body heat, but not holding his hand like she normally would. Cho hadn’t realised until just that moment how much he’d come to enjoy the sensation of her hand in his and was surprised to find how much he missed it. He knew it was nothing personal, that it was just to do with this place, with the reason that they were here. He might have come here every couple of months for the last five and a half years but Grace never had, had never even asked him about it.
Until last night when she’d told him she was going with him.
He’d told her she didn’t have to, even used Allie as an excuse, until she told him that Allie had a play-date after school and that he was wasting his breath. She’d had that look in her eyes then, the one he mentally called her “Lisbon laser”, the one that meant that he had no chance of changing her mind and he’d gracefully retired from the discussion, a small part of him still thinking that she wouldn’t really go through with it.
Except she had, and she was walking down these halls side by side with him looking more uncomfortable than he had seen her in many a long day.
The lounge was quiet, only one man inside, his white tunic and top almost blending into the couch on which he sat. His pale skin and blond hair only added to the illusion, one Cho never got used to, one that always sent a shiver down his spine.
“He looks like a ghost.” Grace’s whisper was the same thought he had every time he came in this door and he reached over and took her hand, squeezed it tightly. It wasn’t for her though, not entirely at least - he needed it just as much as she did.
“He’s never talked, not in all the time I’ve been here...the doctors say he never does.” Part of the breakdown they’d said, a product of the things he had seen, the things he had done. For a long time, there had been a part of Cho that hadn’t believed that, hadn’t wanted to believe that - after all, he’d seen Jane fool people before. He didn’t think that any more though - not after this long. Wishful thinking, he’d told himself because much like his earlier realisation about Grace’s handhold, he hadn’t realised how much he enjoyed working with Jane until the world went to hell around them.
“So what do you do? Just talk to him?”
Cho pulled a paperback out of his inside pocket. “Read mostly.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if it helps... if it does anything for him...”
Grace’s smile was small, but her touch on his arm was warm. “It helps you.”
She knew him too well.
Going over to Patrick, he sat in his customary seat, Grace sitting beside him, her back ramrod straight. Cho said his hellos and when Grace didn’t, he opened the book to the previous session’s ending position and began to read.
He didn’t know how long he’d been reading when he felt a hand on his shoulder, a gentle pressure. Grace was standing, her face ashen, freckles standing out in stark relief. “I’ll be outside,” she whispered. “I just...”
“Go. I won’t be long.” He meant it, but when she left the room almost at a run, he hastened his reading just enough so that he wasn’t lingering long.
“I’ll see you soon, Patrick,” he said as he was going, looking down at those unblinking blue eyes that were staring straight ahead at who knew what.
He was halfway to the door when he heard a familiar voice.
“He didn’t win.”
Cho whipped around faster than he might have believed possible, but Patrick Jane sat in the same position with the same facial expression he’d had every time Cho had seen him in this place.
For a long moment, Cho stood there, waiting for something, anything, that might tell him he had only been imagining things. When nothing came, he left to join Grace.
>*<*>*<
VII - Kept Turning Pages
Once again, Cho found himself and Grace crawling around the living room floor, picking up toys and books after Allie had gone to bed. It wasn’t the first time that it had happened since Grace had moved back to California; in fact it was somewhat of a ritual for them. There was one major difference though, the same difference that there had been for the last six months. It was a new living room, a living room that they shared in the house that they shared, and Allie was up in the room that she had picked, that Cho had painstakingly painted to her exact requirements - and, he remembered it with a grin, they had certainly been exact.
“I thought we were going to get her to clean up after herself when we moved in here,” Grace said dryly, her voice bringing him back to reality and Cho chuckled in response.
“We’ll get there,” was all he said and that was Grace’s cue to chuckle.
“I love your faith.” She continued on her path around the floor, tossing toys into various bins and baskets. He kept his eyes on her, partially to admire the view, partially to track her progress. His heart began beating more quickly as she neared him, and for the briefest moment it seemed to stop altogether when she stopped moving, gaze fixed on a small box lying beside a pile of toys. “Kimball,” she said slowly, never taking her gaze from that small box. “What’s that?”
Cho made his way nearer to her. “It’s a box.”
The Lisbon laser made its appearance, albeit a very watered down one. She didn’t point out that she already knew that, stuck with, “What’s inside it?”
“Look and see.” When she didn’t move, Cho tried not to worry about what that might mean and put it down to simple shock. Reaching out, he took the box in one hand, opened it up with the other.
“Kimball...” Kneeling now, one shaking hand went to her lips as she stared at the diamond solitaire winking in the light.
“Grace.” Shifting so that he was on one knee, he extended the box towards her. “I could say a million things about how I love you and how you mean everything to me. But that’s not me. Besides, you know it already anyway. But I do. Love you. So... will you marry me?”
For what seemed like forever, she stared at the ring, then looked up, her eyes meeting his. A single tear slipped down her cheek as she whispered the word, “Yes.”
He kissed her, then slipping the ring on her finger and kissed her again.
They forgot about the rest of the toys that night.
When they told Allie their news the next morning, she squealed with delight, hugged them both and started planning her bridesmaid’s dress - very pink and Barbie was the prevailing theme.
But when she asked if she could call Cho “Dad” when after the wedding, Grace cried again and Cho felt a distinct lump in his throat when Grace once again said yes.
>*<*>*<
The wedding was a small, intimate affair, taking place in the church in Grace’s home town where Grace and Allie had both been baptised. The only guests present were family and a few close friends, and in something both Grace and Cho considered a coup of miraculous proportions, there was no media contingent within a hundred square miles. That was part of the reason they had kept the details quiet, kept the guest list small, even though everyone in the small town knew what was happening. Fiercely loyal to the Van Pelt family though, nobody was going to spill the beans, another reason for having the wedding there - neither Cho nor Van Pelt were vain enough to believe that the American people-slash-media were still interested in them after so much time had passed, but both were cautious enough not to tempt fate.
Allie got to wear her pink dress, though not Barbie pink, Grace and her mom having talked her out of that particular choice. Cho wore a tuxedo, not because he wanted to but because Allie really wanted him to, and when he and Grace talked about it, she admitted that she’d like him to wear one too. “You’d look so handsome,” she said with that look in her eyes that made him weak at the knees and he was a goner after that.
As for Grace’s dress, it was not the princess confection that Allie had taken to drawing, but it was long and white, halter necked and slinky and when she walked down the aisle towards him, Cho had to swallow a lump in his throat. She had never looked more beautiful and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was.
Before they said their vows, they lit a candle in memory of Wayne. Their joined hands held the taper, their other hands held Allie’s as they remembered the man who meant so much to them all. As they turned and returned to their places, Cho could see Wayne’s mom in the congregation, wiping her eyes carefully with a handkerchief. She managed to give him a smile and a nod, the latest blessing from her. She’d been more supportive of his relationship with Grace than they had any right to expect, but she loved Allie and could see how happy Cho made her and Grace. “That’s all Wayne would have wanted,” she told them when they told her about the change in their relationship.
As they said their vows, neither Cho nor Grace could stop smiling.
It may have been a broken road that led them there, but they were there, together and nothing else mattered
>*<*>*<
VIII - Here at Last
It was a sunny day, without a cloud in the sky and Cho was sitting on the back porch. It was, he reflected, much like the day when his life had changed, the first day he had met Allie when she was just a baby. He often remembered that when sitting out here, amazed at how much his life had changed, amazed at how happy he now was, how he couldn’t imagine his life any other way.
Today though, he wasn’t in Iowa at the Van Pelt’s house. He was in California in his own back yard and he was looking at the lawn, at the little boy tottering around, chasing after the small dog that looked to be halfway between terrified and having the time of his life. The boy showed no such confusion though; his laughs reached all the way back to Cho and made him grin broadly.
Suddenly, a shadow fell across him and he looked up to see a very serious face staring down at him with troubled eyes. "Hey there, Allie," he said, extending an arm to her, waiting for her to sit down and snuggle into him. "What's got you so serious?"
Allie sat down beside him but a way apart from him; the better, he thought, to see his face. "I was playing at Jessie's house yesterday," she began. "And her brother was there."
"'Mmm-hmmm." Cho kept his face straight and his mouth shut. He had his own opinion of Jessie's brother, and it wasn't favourable - he reminded him far too much of himself at that age.
"He said it was weird that you called Wayne Wayne. Because he said that's my real dad's name and it was weird that you and Mom would call your son after him." Tears brimmed in Allie's eyes and Cho reached over and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head for good measure.
"You listen to me," he told her, his cheek on top of her head, her face buried in his shoulder. "The next time Jessie's brother, or anyone, says something like that to you? You tell them that your dad and I were best friends. That we would have done anything for each other. And that when your mom and I fell in love after he was gone, we both agreed that he'd be happy I was taking care of you both. And that we named your brother after him because he was one of the finest men I ever knew and we wanted to honour him."
There was the distinct sound of a sniff from Allie and he tightened his grip on her, smiling to himself when she returned the pressure. "I love you, Daddy," he heard her say and he had to swallow against the sudden lump in his throat.
"I love you too, Allie," he said, giving her another long moment before she straightened up and smiled at him from under red-rimmed eyes. "Now, how about you go and rescue the dog before your brother gives him a heart attack?"
With a giggle, Allie ran off, sneaking up behind Wayne and picking him up, spinning him around. The little boy let out a shriek that was half protest and half delight. Cho was smiling when another shadow fell across him and he looked up to see his wife standing there, her smile a touch forced, her eyes a little red. "Nicely done," she observed, sitting down beside him.
"I don't like Jessie's brother," he told her. "He sounds like a little punk."
Grace's lips quirked up in an almost smile. "He is," she said. "He's also thirteen years old and likes to tease his little sister and her friends."
"About something like that?" Cho turned his head sharply towards her, and she raised her hand as if to ward off any further comments.
"He went too far...I'll talk to Janet about him." Grace's tone said loud and clear that that was an end to the matter and Cho was happy to let it drop. If he knew one thing about his wife, it was when she used that tone with that look in her eyes, it didn't pay to do anything else. "You know what day today is?" she asked him a couple of minutes later.
He did. Of course he did. "Ten years," was all he said, taking her hand in his.
"Did you ever think... back then..."
"Nope." Cho could say it with a chuckle, one that she shared. "But however we got here... we got here."
Grace nodded, swallowing hard. "You make me happy, Kimball," she said quietly. "When I never thought I would be again. I don't know if I thank you enough for that." A pause, a squeeze of his hand. "Did you mean what you said to Allie? That you think Wayne would be happy for us?"
"Are you kidding me?" Cho snorted. "He'd kick my ass. Or try to."
He was half joking, but only half because the one thing he’d always known about Wayne was that he wanted Grace to be happy, even if it couldn’t be with him. Grace knew that because her face lit up in a brilliant smile and she laughed that laugh of hers that always made his heart skip a beat. "Come on," he said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. "Let's go rescue that poor dog."
Hand in hand, they made their way down the back porch steps to play with their children.