Chapter 5

“Maybe you shouldn’t wear that tonight…it doesn’t really go.” Grace commented as Cassidy put the bracelet on.

“Holly Spencer gave me this on the morning of my wedding, Grace. I have worn it to every formal occasion since then, and I’m wearing it tonight.”

“It’s been five years, Cassidy…maybe you should try and…get on with your life.”

“I *have* gotten on with my life. I’ve been guiding my kids and basically running the organization, I have friends and I’m perfectly – content.”

“But you’re not happy.” Grace replied. “What about finding someone else to get serious with?”

“I don’t want someone else, Grace.” She pulled up her hair carefully. It had gotten long in the years since. “I’m just fine.” She pulled on the deep blue shoes which matched the gown perfectly.

“I never said you weren’t…but how are you supposed to get over something that’s been haunting you for five years if you don’t try and meet someone new…I’m not saying you have to marry someone else…just meet them.”

“I’m never getting married again. Never. And I’m not all that interested in a casual fuck at forty-something either.”

“I never said you had to. But you can’t really move on if you’re still married to a ghost.”

“I’m just fine living like I am.” But something seemed to have made her think, for she gently placed the bracelet back in the box when she reached in for the sapphire earrings.

“I just worry about you.” Grace said, putting her own shoes on.

“Don’t. Come on, my boy’s seventeen now. Tonight’s about him.”

They went downstairs.

“Can I get you a drink, Cassidy?” Andrew Greene came up to her, offering a glass of wine.

“Yes,” she replied. A little bit of casual flirting was one thing. She *did* flirt sometimes… this wasn’t anything different. “You may. How are you?”

“Well my night certainly has improved in the last five minutes. Having fun?” He flashed her a smile.

“I am now.” She returned the smile, brushing her hand against his as she took the drink. “Thank you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” He replied. “You look especially lovely tonight.”

“You dress up quite nicely yourself.” She took a moment to admire. Yes, he did look quite nice. Not Garrett, though. Never Garrett… she had to stop, this was exactly what Grace had said. But it was hard… “Very nicely.”

“So tell me…what will you do, now that the last of your children has grown up?”

“I… don’t know,” she admitted. And it was true. This meant no more organization, either… it would be in her son’s hands.

“Well we can’t have that….we should find you something to do.”

“I guess so… I’m sure I could think of a few ways to occupy my time.”

“Really? Would you care to share any of these ideas?”

“Maybe.” She smiled a bit. It really *had* been a long time since she’d done any serious flirting.

Andrew returned the smile and placed a hand on her arm. “Would you like to go out for a cup of coffee or dinner sometime?”

She could see, over his shoulder, Grace watching intently. “Yes… I think that would be nice.”

“Yes…yes it would. It’ll give us a chance to get to know each other better.”

She simply smiled… then after a moment’s hesitation, she softly kissed his cheek.

Andrew smiled at her. “Would you like another drink?”

“I think I would.”

“Good.” Andrew got her another glass of wine.

Cassidy mused that she probably should have stopped after that fifth glass.

Andrew kissed her neck as they went into the hallway.

It was nice, being kissed. She’d tried so hard to convince herself she hadn’t missed it, that it was something she didn’t need – in truth, she’d simply forgotten.

“God you’re beautiful.” He told her, kissing her eagerly.

Slowly, unplanned and unexpected, they made their way upstairs.

Andrew paused at the top of the stairs to pick her up. “Point me in the right direction.”

She did, pointing toward the door at the end of the hall. The bedroom. She mussed his hair.

He opened the door and set her on the bed, managing to kick the door shut behind him.

Cassidy had no idea how her hair had fallen down or where her shoes had gone, but she didn’t really care as he sat on the bed next to her.

“I didn’t mean for us to end up here.” He told her after a minute. “I really did want to take you to dinner.”

Dinner? Yes, he’d mentioned that, many drinks ago. “I know.”

“I didn’t want this to be like some random drunken thing.”

“Shh.”

He leaned down and kissed her, placing his hands on her waist.

She found herself lying back on the bed, unbidden, and suddenly fought to stop herself. No. This wasn’t right… nevermind that she hardly knew him, that he was just one of many agents… kissing had been one thing, but to do this here, in the bed she’d shared with her husband, this… this was betrayal. “I can’t,” she said suddenly.

Slipping in the house unnoticed had been too easy for Garrett. Pausing only for a second in the foyer, he saw the party going on. Probably for his son’s birthday…he would be getting the organization…had Garrett really been dead…Garrett made his way upstairs to wait for Cassidy. He’d tell her first…he’d tell her that he was alive… how happy she’d be, he’d missed her so much… Garrett paused outside his bedroom door when he’d heard voices…

“What?” Andrew asked. “What do you mean?”

“I just… this isn’t right,” she said.

“I know we don’t know each other very well…but I still want to take you to dinner.”

“I know you do, I’m not questioning that… I just… we can’t do this. Not now. Not here…”

“Oh…” Andrew slid off of her. “Well... why don’t we just start with dinner? Tomorrow night?”

She nodded, getting to her feet.

“You…you might want to try and sleep…you had about nine or ten glasses of wine.”

“I lost count… thanks.” They walked to the bedroom door and she opened it for him, intently focused on the floor.

“I’m glad you found ways to keep my wife occupied during my absence.” Garrett practically snarled at the man who ran for his life.

Cassidy stood still clutching the door knob. “You’re dead… you’re not… why are you haunting me?” She nearly wailed, letting go of the door and falling to the floor.

Garrett walked over to her and helped her to her feet. “I’m not dead, Cass. I’m alive.” He kissed her forehead. “I missed you.”

“I wanted to die, Garrett, I wanted to go with you…” she choked out.

“I’m not dead.” He repeated, laying her on the bed. “I’m right here. In the flesh.”

She didn’t understand, but she knew it was him, it was Garrett, and somehow he was there. She kissed him.

Garrett kissed her back. “You need to sleep.” He soothed.

“I want to sleep, I want to sleep with you, please Garrett…” She was playing with his hair, kissing his face, trying to convince herself he was real.

Garrett’s argument died before it reached his throat. He kissed her eagerly.

~*~*~*~

Grace burst through the bedroom door. “My, my, Cassidy, haven’t *we* been busy!”

Cassidy woke up, wondering what the hell she was doing naked in bed, and turned over. Andrew had said something about dinner, oh God, she hadn’t… she screamed.

“What? It wasn’t *that* bad, was it?” Grace asked.

“I just made love to my dead husband!” Cassidy yelped. God her head hurt.

“What?” Grace asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!?” A familiar voice practically roared and Garrett sat up. “Do you want something or just come for the show?” He asked sarcastically.

Grace blinked. “You…you’re supposed to be dead.”

“Right, so should I just drop dead now to satisfy you?” He barked, putting an arm around his positively bewildered wife.

“You shouldn’t have to…you should already…” She trailed off and practically ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Cassidy looked at him blearily. “Garrett?”

“Yeah, Cass?” He asked, kissing her forehead.

“I… I’m so confused and I think my head’s going to implode… what’s going on?”

“Shh, it’s okay, baby…I’m back now.”

“I don’t understand…”

“I’m alive, in case you haven’t noticed…and judging from last night, you *definitely* noticed.”

“Mmm… you’ve always been a very talented man.”

“Yes, I know.” Garrett replied, kissing her neck. “I missed you…I’m sorry I had to stay away for so long.”

“If you’d stayed away much longer I probably would have wound up bedding someone else.”

Grace walked downstairs and into the kitchen, still looking completely bewildered.

“Morning, honey,” Gavin said cheerfully. “What’s wrong?”

Grace kissed him and shook her head. “I don’t know if what I saw was real.”

“Oh? Why, what happened?”

“Well, I went to wake Cassidy up and…she must’ve had a change of partners or something last night…”

“What??!?”

“Well…we know that Cassidy left the party and went upstairs with Andrew…”

“Yeah? And who’s she up there with now?”

“Garrett.” Grace replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

Gavin jumped to his feet. “Garrett?!? Cassidy – eurgh – your sister’s fucking GROSS, Grace!”

Grace just stared at him for a second. “What?”

“She slept with her SON?!?”

“NO! Oh God no!” Grace exclaimed. “Not *that* Garrett.”

“I’m sorry, the only other Garrett I know of is Ivy’s son.”

“Gavin Spencer…you have one of the sickest minds I have ever come across…and I’ve known some pretty perverted people!”

“That must be where the fish story came from. But who are you talking about, Grace?”

“What fish story? And I told you, Garrett.”

“Garrett’s dead, Grace, and the reason they never found him was because he got blown into tiny little pieces. And apparently a few agents spread a rumor that we like to use tuna fish for… nasty purposes.”

“Oh GROSS! Okay, I stand corrected; *they* have the most sick minds I’ve ever come across. And apparently Garrett’s not as dead as we all think.”

“I’m sorry, there are states of dead?!?”

“Either that or my sister just fucked her husband’s corpse. Her husband’s talking corpse at that.”

“Well she *was* pretty drunk… if we’d found a body I wouldn’t have put it past her.”

“Okay, Gavin…how did the body get upstairs, and WHERE THE HELL DID IT LEARN TO TALK?!?!”

“I have no idea… but they had talking horses so why can’t they have talking corpses?” In truth Gavin wanted to run up the stairs – his brother was alive, and he was so happy about it that *he* could almost have kissed him. He was feeling… giddy. And that was an entirely new experience.

“Baby…corpses…and horses for that matter can’t talk.” She stopped, feeling his forehead with the back of her hand.

“Ah, well, a horse is a horse, a corpse, a corpse…” He laughed. “Honest to God, Grace, you saw him? With Cassidy?”

“He sat up and asked me if I wanted something or just came for the show.” Grace replied. “Maybe you should sit down before you pass out or have a heart attack or something…”

Gavin bolted up the stairs, flinging open the bedroom door. “Garrett!”

“WHAT?” He growled. “Don’t you people know when to knock? Especially a man’s bedroom, God, you interrupted for the second time what is clearly a two person moment.”

Gavin fairly charged over to hug his brother while Cassidy dove for cover under the blankets.

“Get the fuck off of me right now! Have you lost your damned mind?” He threw Gavin onto the floor. “What the hell is wrong with you??”

“I don’t care, you can bang your wife all you want… you’re honest-to-God alive?”

“Thanks for letting me know, I wasn’t sure there for a minute. Will you get out?”

Gavin left, closing the door behind him and going downstairs cheerfully.

Cassidy emerged from the blankets after a moment. “He’s gone?”

“He’s gone. And before anybody else can barge in…” Garrett got up and locked the door.

“See anything you like?” Grace asked as he came back downstairs.

“Well yeah, the fact that my brother was breathing was a good thing. Beyond that… I saw Cassidy dive under the blankets, so you can guess what’s going on up there now.”

Cassidy laughed and gently touched his face when he came back to bed. “That’ll take care of that.”

“Tell me you didn’t actually go in there.” Grace said.

Garrett kissed the back of her hand. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too…”

“I gave my brother a hug for the first time since I was five.”

Grace raised an eyebrow. “You gave him a hug. While he and Cassidy were other wise distracted.”

“God, Cassidy…you’re so beautiful…”

“They weren’t romantically entangled when I was in there.”

She was playing with his hair again. “You look so good… you haven’t changed.”

“It’s been five years…we’ve both changed…” Garrett pointed out.

“I hope not…I know you’re happy that he’s alive and all, but I don’t think you ever want to see *that* much of your brother.”

“No… I don’t think so either.”

“You’ve… aged a bit. You look… I don’t know, dignified. Still very handsome.”

“Your hair is longer,” Garrett remarked, looking at its full length. “I like it.”

“So…tuna fish, huh?”

“Apparently so, depending who you ask. But everyone says it was my idea.”

Cassidy nodded. “I liked it like this… a little bit different… a little bit older-looking, I guess.”

Grace just shook her head. “That’s ew…that’s gross.” she handed Gavin back his coffee.

“It’s elegant.” Garrett replied. “Not old.”

“You look older. I see a few grays sneaking in,” she teased good naturedly.

“No way…” Garrett smiled. “You must be seeing things…there aren’t any grays on *this* head.”

“No, no grays.” She kissed his cheek. “But maybe your grandson’ll give you a few.”

That caused Garrett to feel a slight twinge of guilt. “Grandson?”

She nodded. “Ivy’s married. She named him Garrett, after you…”

“How old is he?”

“He’s about two. Her husband’s a good man, he’s with the organization.”

“Wow…now I do feel old…”

“He’s adorable… a little bundle of trouble sometimes, but he’s precious.”

“Who’s this little punk our Ivy’s gone and married?”

“Derek Walker,” she told him, snuggling against him.

Garrett thought for a second. “I think I remember him…just about started with the organization before I left…”

She nodded. “Maybe we should shower and go downstairs.”

“Somehow, if we shower, I doubt we’ll get downstairs soon.”

She shrugged. “Oh well.” And with that she led him to the bathroom.

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