RP LOG with thinbluegee | Back to the grind
[Simultaneous to THIS and THIS]
Stuart was seriously struggling to shake the sensation that his desk belonged to someone else and he was intruding. With Euan apparently checking out extremely quickly, his stuff was still all over the place, and even though he had scooped a lot of it up and covertly stacked it at the back of Gee's desk without her realising, he was still finding it hard to get his feet at work again. He swivelled back and forth his his chair a little, still feeling a little woozy at times. Ironic, when he first got on a boat, he spent the first few days puking his guts up while he found his sea legs. Now he was back on dry land, there was another odd sensation of being too still. He wished his inner ear would make up it's fucking mind. A mind which kept wandering back to Tom, and sex, and everything between. They had no cases yet, and he was a bit at a loss, leading him to start playing with an elastic band, twirling it over and over between his fingers while he rocked back and forth on his chair.
Until he accidentally let go of it and it flicked over the desk and hit Gee in the head. Stuart stilled, his face immediately sporting a guilty look as he braced himself for an explosion. She had been in a foul mood all morning, this could be the proverbial straw and she was the proverbial camel.
Gee's eyes had shut when she'd felt the rubber band hit her head. Truth was she'd already been contemplating getting up and tipping over Stuart in his chair, but that wasn't fair. She wasn't angry with him. She was actually happy to have him back. Only right now everything he did - anyone - did was grating on her nerves. One of uniforms had copped a mouthful from her earlier chewing too loudly in the cafeteria. She figured it was safe to just keep her mouth shut and fume quietly. It was no one's fault but maybe her own that she had falled for an Irishman that was harder to have a conversation with than a brick wall. No matter what her responses were she always seemed to say the wrong fucking thing, and not be worthy of his trust or affection.
She picked up the rubber band from where it fallen on her desk and glared across at Stuart as she just dropped it into the waste basket next to her and tried to get back to her paperwork. Only she caught site of Euan's belongings on her desk and her nostrils flared before she stood up and scooped it all up to throw it all into the waste basket as well. If he wasn't even going to be in the same fucking station, then he didn't need his fucking belongings did he? "He doesn't need anything because he's Euan fucking Fitzpatrick," she hissed out loud, finishing her thought verbally without realising.
Stuart had just quietly watched her for a few moments before he gave a slight shrug. "Welcome back, Stuart. So nice to have you here. We really missed you. How's things? How's that lawyer of yours that's got wrapped around a traffic light pole by a murderer? He doing well?" he reeled off to himself lightly, nudging the trash can towards him with his foot and leaning over to dig out what looked to be Euan's leather diary and an expensive looking pen with something engraved on it. He set them on the side of his desk and had a look to see if she was trying to bin anything else that could be of importance to the Irish detective.
Gee blinked, Stuart's voice cutting through the haze of anger and she just stared at him before her features crumpled and she got up to move around to his side of the desk as she hugged him tightly. "I don't know about the royal 'we', but I've really missed you. I'm sorry I'm such a bitch right now." And even as she pulled back she saw more of Euan's things and started dumping them, too. But she left the diary and pen where it was on Stuart's desk. He had been right to save them. "Is Tom okay?"
Stuart reached over and gently caught her wrist, stopping her with the dumping run. "For every one of his things you chuck in that bin, I want you to toss out something of your own," he challenged, looking up at her and watching her closely. "Tom'll be fine once he gets back into the swing of things. He's back where he belongs."
Gee frowned at him, and wrestled her wrist out of his grip and did start to dump her own things as well. "Desks look too fucking cluttered anyway. Time to start fresh. You're back, we don't need all this shit around reminding us of a bad time, do we? No, we don't. See? It's fine. I'm really just saving him the hassle of throwing out his shit anyway. He doesn't want to come back, so he won't need any of it." After everything except the paperwork, mugs and Euan's diary and pen found its way into the bin she finally stopped, and gave Stuart a sweet smile. "Good. I'm glad. Really glad. You did the right thing taking care of him. See? He did need you."
Stuart scrunched his nose up and leaned back in his chair. Considering her mood, any talk of Tom just had him feeling like he was being patronised. She was clearly distracted by other things. "Remind me to never fucking land in hospital while you're my partner. I might come back and find my dick in the trash can," he snorted, resting his hands behind his head. "He cannae come back, I'm here. He goes where he's posted, end of story. All CIDs are gagging for good sergeants, which I hear he is. I'm starting to think you've deluded yourself into believing he deliberately burst his appendix to get the feck away from you."
Gee let out a rush of air before she turned around to sit up on Stuart's desk. She gripped the edge as she leaned forward, watching her feet swing. "I know he didn't fucking burst it on purpose. I'm not that delusional. He was genuinely sick, and he got his appendix removed. He just lied to Vee about having it removed before. We were talking when he woke up and he was telling me about where the scar really came from, and all I did was just say that he didn't have to tell me anything if he didn't want to. He's just fucking woken up from surgery! I didn't think he'd quite have the energy for a D&M. I didn't mean for it to come out sounding like he had to not tell me anything ever, or that I was fucking placating him which I know is what he was bloody thinking. He just told me he was tired, so I just left him to it." She looked at Stuart, and offered him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for fucking up your first day back."
Stuart shrugged. "Nay a whole lot that could fuck up how I'm feeling right now," he admitted with a small smirk. "So, he voluntarily opened up to you - finally - just like you wanted him to, and you tell him he doesnae have to tell you anything he didnae want to? You dinnae actually mind to stop and realise the fact that him voluntarily telling you was an indication he did want to tell you? Maybe anaesthetic makes him vulnerable! Maybe he was feeling shit and that's when he taps into his feelings the best? Fuck, Gee. Were you placating him?"
Gee raised an eyebrow. "How are you feeling right now?" She started to get the guilty look of a puppy being told off, and could barely maintain eye contact with Stuart. If only he'd been around to tell her she was being an idiot before. "Well, no. Of course not! I just wanted him to take it easy. I wasn't trying to tell him I didn't want to know, or I didn't appreciate him opening up. I just figured he really did need to take it easy. He'd nearly fucking exploded! That's not something you rush out of."
"Pretty damn fecking awesome," Stuart confirmed and then held his hands up. "Depends what it was he was telling you. If it was his favourite colour and what brand of toilet paper he prefers, fair enough, can wait. But if it was something vital, maybe he didnae want to be taking it easy. Maybe he actually needed to say it then and there because saying it any other time was outta the question. Was it something you needed to know at that point?"
Gee opened her mouth to reply but then she looked at his hands, and her gaze fixed on his left hand in particular before she grabbed it and looked at the ring. "Is that... You fucking bastard! You don't even call to tell me? And then you let me act like a fucking witch all morning, and sit on something this fucking huge? Jesus, Stuart. I can't believe it... When did it happen? What did he say?" She was looking at him again as her eyes flicked over his face and she seemed like she was just trying to read his mind to get the answers. "Yes, it was."
Stuart snorted with a laugh. "I wasnae hiding anything. You've been in a fecking foul mood, I dinnae want to be in one too. So sue me. It only happened the night before last, final night of the cruise. He asked me to marry him, only thing was, I was already planning on proposing to him. I was going to do it that night too. It was a mutual yes," he said with a sweet, happy smile. But he sighed, looking up at her beyond his fingers that she was studying. "I havenae even had a chance to tell my family yet, and you cocked up. Subconsciously, mind. He was trying to tell you something you did placate him. If that pissed him off, tells me he isnae the sort to tell anyone much at all. Maybe there was more he wanted to say, but you telling him he didnae have to? You might nay get that window open again."
"Jesus, you guys even propose in synchronisation. It's sickening, you know that? No one should be that sexy and happy, and wonderful." She stuck her tongue out playfully, Stuart's news helping to dig her out of her mood. She kept a hold of her hand, resting it in her lap as she played with his fingers. "Congratulations, love. Really. This is great! So is there a date yet? You need to tell your family, Stuart. And I know I fucked up... But he fucked up too! He could have just poked me in the eye and kept talking. I don't know what to do."
"I will tell them, as soon as I can get them all in one room together. They're spread from arsehole to breakfast right now. So much fecking happened while I was gone, and suddenly Jules and Kenzie are here in London too. My head hurts trying to keep up with it." Stuart watched her play with his fingers. He couldn't deny that he was loving how the ring looked and felt there, like it just belonged. "Aye, alright. Okay. How huge was the thing he was telling you? To him, what would it be on a scale of one to ten?"
Gee raised her eyebrows. "Really? Is everything okay?" It really did look like it belonged. Gee smiled softly as she spun the ring around his finger. It fit snugly, but still had enough movement so he wouldn't wind up with a serious dent in his finger, or have circulation cut off. "Ten being gargantuan? I'm going with... eight."
Stuart pulled his lips to the side. "From what I can deduce from Gus, aye. It is now. A couple of days ago? Maybe nay. But Brades is currently staying at a hotel with Kenzie, and all signs point to him wanting to maybe step into the dad shoes with her bairn. Gus seems to think he's well stepping into the lover shoes with her, apparently something that kicked off in our kitchen," he said, nose scrunching up. "Iain's happy with things seeming to be going smoothly, Cal has apparently nay been trying for a third bairn so it doesnae upset Bradie, Gus is in limbo but wants to be with Jules more than he wants to breathe fresh air, Brades is all over the place like a dogs breakfast and may have had a ninja fuck before he knew Kenzie was in London, and me... I have to try and slot them all into place somewhere to tell them I'm engaged," he explained wryly. "Eight's big. You need to talk to him. Tell him you want to know what he needs to tell you. You also need to stop making it look like he has every reason to regret moving to London," he added with a pointed look in the trash bin where all of Euan's stuff was.
Gee's mind was struggling to keep up as she listened, but she eventually thought she had it all in hand. "So get them all at yours and Tom's. They're all in London, yeah? Unless Cal's gone back home, in which case just get him on speaker phone. They're all definitely going through a lot but just... tell them. It might actually help them out right now to have that kind of happy news laid out. They love you, you're their brother. They'll come together if you just ask them to." Gee bit her lip as she glanced down at the bin as well before she gave him a sheepish smile. "It makes it easier to take to him."
"I will, I will!" Stuart laughed. "It's nay a conspiracy, I'm nay hiding anything. With my family, it just takes a lot of strategic, tactical planning. Mind the family I'll be marrying into, too. Ethan's practically Tom's brother, who is attached to the Morgan clan. Eight fecking kids. Just need to get them all in the same room. Turfing his stuff makes it easier? Get well soon, Fitzpatrick, why dinnae I just toss all your irritating junk in the bin for well wishes? Are you trying to bed him, Gee, or piss him off outta your life for good?"
Gee's mouth fell open slightly. "Eight? Plus your five? Fuck. Maybe you should just hire a hall?" She leaned over into her inbox and fished out a blue envelope. "Or just hijack this Phillipe's party? Am I supposed to know him?" She set the invitation in front of Stuart before she hopped off his desk to pick up the bin and started to fish out hers and Euan's things out again. She started to place them on her desk, rearranging as she went so Euan's things got mixed in with hers. She also blankly refused to acknowledge any tears that suddenly welled up. "We just can't seem to go smoothly for very long."
Stuart took the envelope and made a 'I dunno' noise with a shrug. "Not even sure I know what a Phillipe is." He pulled the invitation out and read over it. "Uh... aye, Ethan's business associate, I think. If I remember rightly. Havenae ever personally met him. French bloke, twin. Did you see this was addressed to you and Fitzpatrick, by the way?" He shook the paper out a little, his detective mind kicking in. "This is expensive paper, and it's print is metallic. I am never going to get used to this rich thing. Aye, I know that feeling. I keep waiting for everything to fuck up again. Cannae help it. But still, you cannae just leave it like this. I dinnae know what it was he was trying to tell you, but are you even willing to admit it was some sort of step forward?"
Gee frowned as she snapped the piece of paper back up. "Does everyone think we're a couple except for us? I feel like I'm out of the loop of my own bloody love life. He's a twin?" She looked at the invite again before she sniffed it cautiously. "It even smells rich. You're going to be a permanent part of the rich set if you marry Tom. How does that feel?" She tucked the invitation into her back pocket as she looked at Stuart. "You can't really believe things are going to fuck up even now? He said yes. He's going to marry you. You're going to marry him. That's huge. Yeah... of course I am. Only we took a step back in the same breath."
"I thought you agreed to date him?" Stuart asked in confusion, still wondering what the fuck had all gone down while he was away. It felt like he had been gone a lifetime. "I dinnae know, I think so. I'm just relaying what I heard, I havenae met them. I guess we just all interweave enough now to land us invitations to rich bloke parties. It's supposed to feel different? I dinnae. I'm still me. I'm still going to eat Cornflakes outta the packet on the days I'm running late for work and I'm still gonna scratch my butt if it's itchy. Rich people are just like us, they just have more to lose when fuck up. Cannae I? Because I do. You cannae go through shit like that and nay have it stick in your mind. It's always there, niggling at the back of your mind. I'm nay saying it isnae huge, I'm just saying... we're still healing. Tom probably isnae ever going to be as confident as he was before his accident. You know, maybe that's something for you to think on, too. You havenae told me what it was Fitzpatrick told you, but you gave it an eight. Chances are, it changed his life too. Maybe it's something he just doesnae want to talk aboot anymore, but knew he had to. Guy's probably confused. You were all with the wanting him to open up to you and nay be mysterious, even just a wee bit, but when he does you tell him he doesnae have to tell you? Feck, I'd be confused too. The male brain, isnae so deep sometimes, you know. He's gotta be feeling weak, off his game."
"I did, doesn't mean we're entitled to group invitations. And we've still only had the one date which ended in a trip to Amsterdam. Which was... the best weekend ever. Everything seemed to work. I let go of the stick up my arse, and we relaxed, and we hung out and there was lots of hot sex." She reached up to touch her hair, feeling some of the strands falling out of the ponytail. Her hair had been growing longer, and she hadn't had a chance to get it cut yet. "I guess I can't really complain. A party might be nice. I'll have to get some new clothes, or something though. Not sure I have anything suitable. I guess you're right about rich people being just like us, but still... You're going to be pretty comfortable. You won't ever really have to worry about anything again." Gee reached out to give his shoulder a squeeze and smiled reassuringly. "He's safe now, though. I know it was some pretty heavy shit, but what are the chances of it happening again? The driver's locked up, Tom's all healed up... I know it'll take time to feel safe again, but he's got you. You really don't think he'll get back up to full strength confidence wise?" Gee took her seat again once the bin was empty, and looked across at Stuart. "So as a male, how would you want... me to make it up to you?"
Stuart scrunched his nose up with a soft snort. "He's marrying me, nay buying me. I've got plenty to worry about that isnae anything to do with money. Money's never been much of a consideration to me, my family was always comfortable. I willnae change, I feel awkward in those rich environments. Took me days to find my feet on the cruise, and even then, we didnae spend much time socialising with the other people. I say it's worse for him. He's going to have to come to cop functions as my date... a lawyer in a room full of cops," he laughed. "I would just want you to chill, frankly. If I'm trying to tell you something important, dinnae be telling me you dinnae need to know if it's actually something important. As for everything else, I dinnae know, love. It took me long enough to start knowing how to read Tom, I'd be screwed trying to read Fitzpatrick. He's Irish, for starters. And no, I dinnae think Tom will ever be quite the same. I'm nay saying he'll nay get his strength back, he's got it back, I'm just saying he'll see the world through different glasses now... which I'm betting is what happened to Fitzpatrick at some point. He isnae like he is just because he was born that way. Nay one is like that naturally."
Gee shook her head with amusement. "It is for me. I've never been around that kind of money. I'll be scared to say, or do the wrong thing. What if I forget my deodarant? Too much pressure... But this party, it's not going to be too bad, is it? We'll deal, yeah? I don't even know if Euan will be able to come. Or if he'll want to be my date. Shit, I've really fucked up. Of course I wanted to listen! But then I just had to be a dumb fucking cow and try and tell him to shut up. I can't read him, it's impossible. Half the time I'm flying blind and just wind up with my head up my arse." She smirked at the image of Tom being Stuart's date to the cop functions. "At least you'll know Tom can give as good as he gets. I think he'll rather enjoy the chance to have a go at all us coppers. It is what happened to Euan, but I just... I can't tell you. Not even Vee knows. I feel strange knowing things she doesn't know, and I also feel... special."
Stuart's eyebrows shot up. "It's something she didnae know? And that still didnae ring warning bells?!" He put his hand over his eyes with a small, wry groan. "You know those puppy pre-schools? You need to go to one for girlfriends. What if he just wanted to tell you because he needed someone to support him right now? Because if she doesnae know, sounds huge to me. She's his BFF. At the end of the day, he still took a dive here at work, people still thought he was poisoned. Everyone knows about it. Maybe he just... needs you, Gee?"
She started to chew on her bottom lip as she looked at him, her big blue eyes filled with unshed tears. "I really am a bad puppy, aren't I? I just bloody left him. I walked out. I'm such a fucking idiot. I could kick myself." She let out a frustrated growl as she kicked the side of her desk instead.
"Jesus, Gee," Stuart murmured, pushing up out of his chair to perch on the desk beside her. Luckily the department was pretty quiet at that point. He tucked his arm around her and gave her a squeeze. "Look, go see him. Talk to him. I'll tell the boss you ate a dodgy bacon butty for breakfast. If we get any cases landing on our desk, I'll call you, fill you in."
Gee blinked rapidly so she didn't start crying, and cause a scene. Let the officers that were here just think she was frustrated over a case. She rest her forehead against his cheek briefly as she sniffed. "Thank you, Stuart. I really am glad you're back, you know. Congratulations again on the engagement. Don't forget to kill some time by sending Tom some naughty emails."
Stuart patted his jacket pocket where his phone was. "I'm a step ahead of you. He already has naughty pictures waiting in his inbox. I just need to keep telling myself nay to ring him and check on him every fifteen minutes. It's nay easy leaving the love of your life in the hands of someone else..." he added, looking at her pointedly and letting the words hang in the air for a few moments. He stood up and gave her a nudge. "Go. Dinnae feck it up this time."
The words hung in the ear before giving Gee a bitch slap into action and she picked up her jacket off the back of her chair, and slipped it on before kissing Stuart on the cheek. "You're gonna make one hell of a husband, Detective Evans. Just know that. Love you, partner."
Stuart smirked and gave her a small salute. "Cheers, love. Call me."
Word Count | 4,251
Stuart was seriously struggling to shake the sensation that his desk belonged to someone else and he was intruding. With Euan apparently checking out extremely quickly, his stuff was still all over the place, and even though he had scooped a lot of it up and covertly stacked it at the back of Gee's desk without her realising, he was still finding it hard to get his feet at work again. He swivelled back and forth his his chair a little, still feeling a little woozy at times. Ironic, when he first got on a boat, he spent the first few days puking his guts up while he found his sea legs. Now he was back on dry land, there was another odd sensation of being too still. He wished his inner ear would make up it's fucking mind. A mind which kept wandering back to Tom, and sex, and everything between. They had no cases yet, and he was a bit at a loss, leading him to start playing with an elastic band, twirling it over and over between his fingers while he rocked back and forth on his chair.
Until he accidentally let go of it and it flicked over the desk and hit Gee in the head. Stuart stilled, his face immediately sporting a guilty look as he braced himself for an explosion. She had been in a foul mood all morning, this could be the proverbial straw and she was the proverbial camel.
Gee's eyes had shut when she'd felt the rubber band hit her head. Truth was she'd already been contemplating getting up and tipping over Stuart in his chair, but that wasn't fair. She wasn't angry with him. She was actually happy to have him back. Only right now everything he did - anyone - did was grating on her nerves. One of uniforms had copped a mouthful from her earlier chewing too loudly in the cafeteria. She figured it was safe to just keep her mouth shut and fume quietly. It was no one's fault but maybe her own that she had falled for an Irishman that was harder to have a conversation with than a brick wall. No matter what her responses were she always seemed to say the wrong fucking thing, and not be worthy of his trust or affection.
She picked up the rubber band from where it fallen on her desk and glared across at Stuart as she just dropped it into the waste basket next to her and tried to get back to her paperwork. Only she caught site of Euan's belongings on her desk and her nostrils flared before she stood up and scooped it all up to throw it all into the waste basket as well. If he wasn't even going to be in the same fucking station, then he didn't need his fucking belongings did he? "He doesn't need anything because he's Euan fucking Fitzpatrick," she hissed out loud, finishing her thought verbally without realising.
Stuart had just quietly watched her for a few moments before he gave a slight shrug. "Welcome back, Stuart. So nice to have you here. We really missed you. How's things? How's that lawyer of yours that's got wrapped around a traffic light pole by a murderer? He doing well?" he reeled off to himself lightly, nudging the trash can towards him with his foot and leaning over to dig out what looked to be Euan's leather diary and an expensive looking pen with something engraved on it. He set them on the side of his desk and had a look to see if she was trying to bin anything else that could be of importance to the Irish detective.
Gee blinked, Stuart's voice cutting through the haze of anger and she just stared at him before her features crumpled and she got up to move around to his side of the desk as she hugged him tightly. "I don't know about the royal 'we', but I've really missed you. I'm sorry I'm such a bitch right now." And even as she pulled back she saw more of Euan's things and started dumping them, too. But she left the diary and pen where it was on Stuart's desk. He had been right to save them. "Is Tom okay?"
Stuart reached over and gently caught her wrist, stopping her with the dumping run. "For every one of his things you chuck in that bin, I want you to toss out something of your own," he challenged, looking up at her and watching her closely. "Tom'll be fine once he gets back into the swing of things. He's back where he belongs."
Gee frowned at him, and wrestled her wrist out of his grip and did start to dump her own things as well. "Desks look too fucking cluttered anyway. Time to start fresh. You're back, we don't need all this shit around reminding us of a bad time, do we? No, we don't. See? It's fine. I'm really just saving him the hassle of throwing out his shit anyway. He doesn't want to come back, so he won't need any of it." After everything except the paperwork, mugs and Euan's diary and pen found its way into the bin she finally stopped, and gave Stuart a sweet smile. "Good. I'm glad. Really glad. You did the right thing taking care of him. See? He did need you."
Stuart scrunched his nose up and leaned back in his chair. Considering her mood, any talk of Tom just had him feeling like he was being patronised. She was clearly distracted by other things. "Remind me to never fucking land in hospital while you're my partner. I might come back and find my dick in the trash can," he snorted, resting his hands behind his head. "He cannae come back, I'm here. He goes where he's posted, end of story. All CIDs are gagging for good sergeants, which I hear he is. I'm starting to think you've deluded yourself into believing he deliberately burst his appendix to get the feck away from you."
Gee let out a rush of air before she turned around to sit up on Stuart's desk. She gripped the edge as she leaned forward, watching her feet swing. "I know he didn't fucking burst it on purpose. I'm not that delusional. He was genuinely sick, and he got his appendix removed. He just lied to Vee about having it removed before. We were talking when he woke up and he was telling me about where the scar really came from, and all I did was just say that he didn't have to tell me anything if he didn't want to. He's just fucking woken up from surgery! I didn't think he'd quite have the energy for a D&M. I didn't mean for it to come out sounding like he had to not tell me anything ever, or that I was fucking placating him which I know is what he was bloody thinking. He just told me he was tired, so I just left him to it." She looked at Stuart, and offered him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for fucking up your first day back."
Stuart shrugged. "Nay a whole lot that could fuck up how I'm feeling right now," he admitted with a small smirk. "So, he voluntarily opened up to you - finally - just like you wanted him to, and you tell him he doesnae have to tell you anything he didnae want to? You dinnae actually mind to stop and realise the fact that him voluntarily telling you was an indication he did want to tell you? Maybe anaesthetic makes him vulnerable! Maybe he was feeling shit and that's when he taps into his feelings the best? Fuck, Gee. Were you placating him?"
Gee raised an eyebrow. "How are you feeling right now?" She started to get the guilty look of a puppy being told off, and could barely maintain eye contact with Stuart. If only he'd been around to tell her she was being an idiot before. "Well, no. Of course not! I just wanted him to take it easy. I wasn't trying to tell him I didn't want to know, or I didn't appreciate him opening up. I just figured he really did need to take it easy. He'd nearly fucking exploded! That's not something you rush out of."
"Pretty damn fecking awesome," Stuart confirmed and then held his hands up. "Depends what it was he was telling you. If it was his favourite colour and what brand of toilet paper he prefers, fair enough, can wait. But if it was something vital, maybe he didnae want to be taking it easy. Maybe he actually needed to say it then and there because saying it any other time was outta the question. Was it something you needed to know at that point?"
Gee opened her mouth to reply but then she looked at his hands, and her gaze fixed on his left hand in particular before she grabbed it and looked at the ring. "Is that... You fucking bastard! You don't even call to tell me? And then you let me act like a fucking witch all morning, and sit on something this fucking huge? Jesus, Stuart. I can't believe it... When did it happen? What did he say?" She was looking at him again as her eyes flicked over his face and she seemed like she was just trying to read his mind to get the answers. "Yes, it was."
Stuart snorted with a laugh. "I wasnae hiding anything. You've been in a fecking foul mood, I dinnae want to be in one too. So sue me. It only happened the night before last, final night of the cruise. He asked me to marry him, only thing was, I was already planning on proposing to him. I was going to do it that night too. It was a mutual yes," he said with a sweet, happy smile. But he sighed, looking up at her beyond his fingers that she was studying. "I havenae even had a chance to tell my family yet, and you cocked up. Subconsciously, mind. He was trying to tell you something you did placate him. If that pissed him off, tells me he isnae the sort to tell anyone much at all. Maybe there was more he wanted to say, but you telling him he didnae have to? You might nay get that window open again."
"Jesus, you guys even propose in synchronisation. It's sickening, you know that? No one should be that sexy and happy, and wonderful." She stuck her tongue out playfully, Stuart's news helping to dig her out of her mood. She kept a hold of her hand, resting it in her lap as she played with his fingers. "Congratulations, love. Really. This is great! So is there a date yet? You need to tell your family, Stuart. And I know I fucked up... But he fucked up too! He could have just poked me in the eye and kept talking. I don't know what to do."
"I will tell them, as soon as I can get them all in one room together. They're spread from arsehole to breakfast right now. So much fecking happened while I was gone, and suddenly Jules and Kenzie are here in London too. My head hurts trying to keep up with it." Stuart watched her play with his fingers. He couldn't deny that he was loving how the ring looked and felt there, like it just belonged. "Aye, alright. Okay. How huge was the thing he was telling you? To him, what would it be on a scale of one to ten?"
Gee raised her eyebrows. "Really? Is everything okay?" It really did look like it belonged. Gee smiled softly as she spun the ring around his finger. It fit snugly, but still had enough movement so he wouldn't wind up with a serious dent in his finger, or have circulation cut off. "Ten being gargantuan? I'm going with... eight."
Stuart pulled his lips to the side. "From what I can deduce from Gus, aye. It is now. A couple of days ago? Maybe nay. But Brades is currently staying at a hotel with Kenzie, and all signs point to him wanting to maybe step into the dad shoes with her bairn. Gus seems to think he's well stepping into the lover shoes with her, apparently something that kicked off in our kitchen," he said, nose scrunching up. "Iain's happy with things seeming to be going smoothly, Cal has apparently nay been trying for a third bairn so it doesnae upset Bradie, Gus is in limbo but wants to be with Jules more than he wants to breathe fresh air, Brades is all over the place like a dogs breakfast and may have had a ninja fuck before he knew Kenzie was in London, and me... I have to try and slot them all into place somewhere to tell them I'm engaged," he explained wryly. "Eight's big. You need to talk to him. Tell him you want to know what he needs to tell you. You also need to stop making it look like he has every reason to regret moving to London," he added with a pointed look in the trash bin where all of Euan's stuff was.
Gee's mind was struggling to keep up as she listened, but she eventually thought she had it all in hand. "So get them all at yours and Tom's. They're all in London, yeah? Unless Cal's gone back home, in which case just get him on speaker phone. They're all definitely going through a lot but just... tell them. It might actually help them out right now to have that kind of happy news laid out. They love you, you're their brother. They'll come together if you just ask them to." Gee bit her lip as she glanced down at the bin as well before she gave him a sheepish smile. "It makes it easier to take to him."
"I will, I will!" Stuart laughed. "It's nay a conspiracy, I'm nay hiding anything. With my family, it just takes a lot of strategic, tactical planning. Mind the family I'll be marrying into, too. Ethan's practically Tom's brother, who is attached to the Morgan clan. Eight fecking kids. Just need to get them all in the same room. Turfing his stuff makes it easier? Get well soon, Fitzpatrick, why dinnae I just toss all your irritating junk in the bin for well wishes? Are you trying to bed him, Gee, or piss him off outta your life for good?"
Gee's mouth fell open slightly. "Eight? Plus your five? Fuck. Maybe you should just hire a hall?" She leaned over into her inbox and fished out a blue envelope. "Or just hijack this Phillipe's party? Am I supposed to know him?" She set the invitation in front of Stuart before she hopped off his desk to pick up the bin and started to fish out hers and Euan's things out again. She started to place them on her desk, rearranging as she went so Euan's things got mixed in with hers. She also blankly refused to acknowledge any tears that suddenly welled up. "We just can't seem to go smoothly for very long."
Stuart took the envelope and made a 'I dunno' noise with a shrug. "Not even sure I know what a Phillipe is." He pulled the invitation out and read over it. "Uh... aye, Ethan's business associate, I think. If I remember rightly. Havenae ever personally met him. French bloke, twin. Did you see this was addressed to you and Fitzpatrick, by the way?" He shook the paper out a little, his detective mind kicking in. "This is expensive paper, and it's print is metallic. I am never going to get used to this rich thing. Aye, I know that feeling. I keep waiting for everything to fuck up again. Cannae help it. But still, you cannae just leave it like this. I dinnae know what it was he was trying to tell you, but are you even willing to admit it was some sort of step forward?"
Gee frowned as she snapped the piece of paper back up. "Does everyone think we're a couple except for us? I feel like I'm out of the loop of my own bloody love life. He's a twin?" She looked at the invite again before she sniffed it cautiously. "It even smells rich. You're going to be a permanent part of the rich set if you marry Tom. How does that feel?" She tucked the invitation into her back pocket as she looked at Stuart. "You can't really believe things are going to fuck up even now? He said yes. He's going to marry you. You're going to marry him. That's huge. Yeah... of course I am. Only we took a step back in the same breath."
"I thought you agreed to date him?" Stuart asked in confusion, still wondering what the fuck had all gone down while he was away. It felt like he had been gone a lifetime. "I dinnae know, I think so. I'm just relaying what I heard, I havenae met them. I guess we just all interweave enough now to land us invitations to rich bloke parties. It's supposed to feel different? I dinnae. I'm still me. I'm still going to eat Cornflakes outta the packet on the days I'm running late for work and I'm still gonna scratch my butt if it's itchy. Rich people are just like us, they just have more to lose when fuck up. Cannae I? Because I do. You cannae go through shit like that and nay have it stick in your mind. It's always there, niggling at the back of your mind. I'm nay saying it isnae huge, I'm just saying... we're still healing. Tom probably isnae ever going to be as confident as he was before his accident. You know, maybe that's something for you to think on, too. You havenae told me what it was Fitzpatrick told you, but you gave it an eight. Chances are, it changed his life too. Maybe it's something he just doesnae want to talk aboot anymore, but knew he had to. Guy's probably confused. You were all with the wanting him to open up to you and nay be mysterious, even just a wee bit, but when he does you tell him he doesnae have to tell you? Feck, I'd be confused too. The male brain, isnae so deep sometimes, you know. He's gotta be feeling weak, off his game."
"I did, doesn't mean we're entitled to group invitations. And we've still only had the one date which ended in a trip to Amsterdam. Which was... the best weekend ever. Everything seemed to work. I let go of the stick up my arse, and we relaxed, and we hung out and there was lots of hot sex." She reached up to touch her hair, feeling some of the strands falling out of the ponytail. Her hair had been growing longer, and she hadn't had a chance to get it cut yet. "I guess I can't really complain. A party might be nice. I'll have to get some new clothes, or something though. Not sure I have anything suitable. I guess you're right about rich people being just like us, but still... You're going to be pretty comfortable. You won't ever really have to worry about anything again." Gee reached out to give his shoulder a squeeze and smiled reassuringly. "He's safe now, though. I know it was some pretty heavy shit, but what are the chances of it happening again? The driver's locked up, Tom's all healed up... I know it'll take time to feel safe again, but he's got you. You really don't think he'll get back up to full strength confidence wise?" Gee took her seat again once the bin was empty, and looked across at Stuart. "So as a male, how would you want... me to make it up to you?"
Stuart scrunched his nose up with a soft snort. "He's marrying me, nay buying me. I've got plenty to worry about that isnae anything to do with money. Money's never been much of a consideration to me, my family was always comfortable. I willnae change, I feel awkward in those rich environments. Took me days to find my feet on the cruise, and even then, we didnae spend much time socialising with the other people. I say it's worse for him. He's going to have to come to cop functions as my date... a lawyer in a room full of cops," he laughed. "I would just want you to chill, frankly. If I'm trying to tell you something important, dinnae be telling me you dinnae need to know if it's actually something important. As for everything else, I dinnae know, love. It took me long enough to start knowing how to read Tom, I'd be screwed trying to read Fitzpatrick. He's Irish, for starters. And no, I dinnae think Tom will ever be quite the same. I'm nay saying he'll nay get his strength back, he's got it back, I'm just saying he'll see the world through different glasses now... which I'm betting is what happened to Fitzpatrick at some point. He isnae like he is just because he was born that way. Nay one is like that naturally."
Gee shook her head with amusement. "It is for me. I've never been around that kind of money. I'll be scared to say, or do the wrong thing. What if I forget my deodarant? Too much pressure... But this party, it's not going to be too bad, is it? We'll deal, yeah? I don't even know if Euan will be able to come. Or if he'll want to be my date. Shit, I've really fucked up. Of course I wanted to listen! But then I just had to be a dumb fucking cow and try and tell him to shut up. I can't read him, it's impossible. Half the time I'm flying blind and just wind up with my head up my arse." She smirked at the image of Tom being Stuart's date to the cop functions. "At least you'll know Tom can give as good as he gets. I think he'll rather enjoy the chance to have a go at all us coppers. It is what happened to Euan, but I just... I can't tell you. Not even Vee knows. I feel strange knowing things she doesn't know, and I also feel... special."
Stuart's eyebrows shot up. "It's something she didnae know? And that still didnae ring warning bells?!" He put his hand over his eyes with a small, wry groan. "You know those puppy pre-schools? You need to go to one for girlfriends. What if he just wanted to tell you because he needed someone to support him right now? Because if she doesnae know, sounds huge to me. She's his BFF. At the end of the day, he still took a dive here at work, people still thought he was poisoned. Everyone knows about it. Maybe he just... needs you, Gee?"
She started to chew on her bottom lip as she looked at him, her big blue eyes filled with unshed tears. "I really am a bad puppy, aren't I? I just bloody left him. I walked out. I'm such a fucking idiot. I could kick myself." She let out a frustrated growl as she kicked the side of her desk instead.
"Jesus, Gee," Stuart murmured, pushing up out of his chair to perch on the desk beside her. Luckily the department was pretty quiet at that point. He tucked his arm around her and gave her a squeeze. "Look, go see him. Talk to him. I'll tell the boss you ate a dodgy bacon butty for breakfast. If we get any cases landing on our desk, I'll call you, fill you in."
Gee blinked rapidly so she didn't start crying, and cause a scene. Let the officers that were here just think she was frustrated over a case. She rest her forehead against his cheek briefly as she sniffed. "Thank you, Stuart. I really am glad you're back, you know. Congratulations again on the engagement. Don't forget to kill some time by sending Tom some naughty emails."
Stuart patted his jacket pocket where his phone was. "I'm a step ahead of you. He already has naughty pictures waiting in his inbox. I just need to keep telling myself nay to ring him and check on him every fifteen minutes. It's nay easy leaving the love of your life in the hands of someone else..." he added, looking at her pointedly and letting the words hang in the air for a few moments. He stood up and gave her a nudge. "Go. Dinnae feck it up this time."
The words hung in the ear before giving Gee a bitch slap into action and she picked up her jacket off the back of her chair, and slipped it on before kissing Stuart on the cheek. "You're gonna make one hell of a husband, Detective Evans. Just know that. Love you, partner."
Stuart smirked and gave her a small salute. "Cheers, love. Call me."
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