"Cass?" Garrett muttered, kissing her neck.

Cassidy opened her eyes after a moment. "Mmm... yeah?"

"Get dressed. We've got reservations in a half hour."

Cassidy groaned. "Where are we going? What am I supposed to wear?"

"It's a surprise, and a dress."

"What kind of dress?"

"A nice one."

"You aren't helping? How formal are we talking?" She asked, trying to get an answer from him again.

"Formal. I don't know!  Just...a nice dress." Garrett smiled.

"Then I think I shall manage." She sighed. "Except that we have to get up."

"We do." Garrett said, sitting up.

At that she got up. "Then I'm going to shower."

 

“Can I come?” Garrett asked.

 

“If you do we’re never gonna be ready to leave within a half hour.”

 

“Right.  Smart girl.” Garrett got up.  “Dad and Gavin wanted to meet with me anyway before we went.  Shouldn’t be too long.” He said.

 

“You probably want to put some pants on before you go downstairs.”

 

“Yeah.” Garrett replied, pulling his clothes on.  “I’ll call you when I’m done.”

 

“Have fun.”  She kissed his cheek and headed for the bathroom.

 

Garrett went downstairs to his father’s office.  “You wanted to see me?” He said, entering the room.

 

“It’s about Grace.  She wants to come here, she wants to work with us,” Gavin said, looking thrilled at the thought.

 

“You got laid, didn’t you?” Garrett asked, at one glance at his brother.  “Did you ever stop to think she could be setting us up?”

 

“Of course I stopped to think it, and it’s none of your business.  She’s not setting us up, she really does want to come here.  But she needs us to get her little brother somewhere safe or she can’t.”

 

“How can you be sure? She knows how you feel about her, Gavin.  Garrett has a point.  She could be manipulating you.” Nathan said.

 

“But no one’s stopped to consider that that little lying whore of his might be manipulating him, right?  When he’s the one that’s going to inherit all this?” Gavin said, suddenly angry.

 

“Cassidy’s different.  She’s always been loyal to us.  Grace hasn’t, she’s Callahan’s daughter…who do you think she’s going to be loyal to?” Garrett demanded defensively.

 

“Whoever she chooses to be, and she chose us.  You just don’t like hearing that your girlfriend’s a slut.”

 

“No more than yours.”

 

“Shut up, I don’t care who happens to be a slut.  Furthermore, Cassidy has yet to sleep with any of her family members, Gavin, so stop trying to rile your brother,” Nathan said firmly.  “I think you both have good points.”

 

“Well we can’t really be to sure until someone more….impartial talks to her.” Garrett said.  “Someone she can’t manipulate so easily.”

 

“I’m not being manipulated!”  Gavin yelled.

 

“Shut UP!” Nathan roared.  “I’ll talk to her.  Go… go away.”

 

“Fine, I’m just…going to propose to Cass now.” Garrett said.

 

Nathan brightened at that news.  “Good!  She’s a good girl.  I’ll let you tell your mother when you two get back.”  He was wearing a genuine smile, something that had become rare as the boys had gotten older.

 

“Thanks, Dad.” Garrett said, walking out the door.  “CASS?  LET’S GO!”

 

Gavin fairly chased his brother out.  “What’s the matter with you? You can’t just – she’s a little – I don’t believe you’re doing this!”

 

Cassidy emerged from upstairs, nicely dressed and hair done up.  “What’s wrong, Agent Shithead?”  She asked Gavin with a smirk.

 

Garrett took Cassidy’s hand.  “You look stunning.”

 

She smiled.  “Thank you.”

 

Gavin headed upstairs to where Grace was kept and walked in.  “Hi.”

 

Grace stood up.  “Hi.”

 

“They’re going to send someone else up to talk to you.  Seems I’m too easily manipulated.”

 

“Not Cassidy.  I do not want to talk to her.”

 

“Oh don’t worry, she won’t be home tonight.”

 

“Where’s she going? Gavin…are you okay?”  Grace gave him a look of concern.

 

“Fine.  I’m great.  Just hate my family, including the future Mrs. Garrett Spencer.  He’s asking her tonight, and she’s sure as hell not gonna say no.”

 

“What?  But…but she’s unstable!”

 

“What does he care, as long as she’s a good fuck?  My parents think she’s great, he thinks she’s great, and the only duties she’s really gonna have are to have a crapload of little boys to take over when Garrett retires and to keep putting out.”

 

“That’s not fair.  Why the hell does she always get everything she wants?”

 

“How should I know?  Maybe they’ll be unable to have kids and he’ll have to ditch her for a new toy.”

 

“Then she’d probably try to kill him.” Grace shrugged.  “Why do they think you’re too easily manipulated?”

 

”Because we slept together.”

 

“So?”

 

“So you’re using that I have feelings for you or something.”

 

“But I’m not…I woke up and you were here and we slept together…I was really using you.” Grace said sarcastically.

 

“I know you’re not, you know you’re not, but my brother thinks sex is about power, so therefore he’s convinced my dad that you might be.”

 

Grace sighed.  “Huh…and he made me out to be a huge slut… right?”

 

“Of course.  He didn’t like it as well when I said Cassidy was a whore, though.”

 

Grace looked out the window.  “What time is it?”

 

“About seven.”

 

“At night?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Want something to eat?”

 

“Please.” Grace replied.  “The bowl-less cereal that I didn’t eat just didn’t seem to fill me up.”

 

“What do you want?”

 

“Food.”

 

“I need to know what you want so I can have it brought up for you.”

 

“I don’t know…macaroni and cheese….whatever you have.”

 

“I can get you anything from a peanut butter sandwich to lobster to filet mignon.  What do you want?”

 

Grace shrugged.  “Chicken primavera.”

 

“You got it.  See wasn’t that easy?  Just ask.”

 

“In that case…can you bring me some soda or something…and maybe some ice cream?”

 

“Yes, and yes.  And the chicken’ll be up in a minute.”

 

“Okay.”

 

 

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