| Vacation - by kyrdwyn |
| Rated: G Spoilers: None Synopsis: Gil's house is just way too quiet |
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| CSI, Gil Grissom and company, and places and etc are all property of Anthony Zuiker, Alliance Atlantis, CBS, and other companies. They did not condone this fic, and I am not getting paid for it. I write because I want to. All other characters not appearing on CSI in any way, shape, or form that appear in this story are my property. If you have any comments - good or bad, feel free to e-mail me at: toxicrev@yahoo.com |
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| The house was quiet when he got home that afternoon. Too quiet for a house that usually held the laughter of a ten year old. He stood in his living room, looking around, suddenly realizing that the house was too neat. There were no toys on the floor, no school papers scattered on the table, no cartoon shows blaring from the television. It was rather depressing, actually. A year ago this silence and neatness had been the norm in his life. Nothing to disrupt his job, his routine. In short, nothing to come home to. He could spend days at work, seeing the inside of his house only to shower and change clothes. Though he'd never thought about it at the time, he realized now how empty his life had been. Sighing, he sat down on his couch and kicked his shoes off. He lay down lengthwise, propping his feet up on the armrest, staring at the ceiling. The silence was deafening, oppressive, a reminder of what wasn't there. While there had been times in the past year that he had wished for this silence, he now hated it with a passion. His colleagues had noticed his return to his old habits, but had said relatively little about it. They understood why he rarely went home. He wouldn't be home now, but he'd had so little sleep in the past week that he'd almost done something stupid. So he'd left and come home, but he doubted he would be able to sleep anyway. He wanted to call out her name, to get up and look around for her, find where she was hiding, what she was doing. It would be foolish, he knew. She wasn't in the house. She wouldn't answer. He ran his fingers though his hair in frustration. He got up and went to his bedroom, not looking into hers. Not wanting to see the pictures of her on the walls and the bed that was neatly made, unlike the mess she would leave every morning when she got up. It was too painful. He didn't bother to undress; he simply lay down on top of his bed. He should at least try to get some sleep, he knew. He was still staring at the ceiling an hour later when his phone rang. Sighing, he picked it up, hoping it would be his work, a reason to leave the house. "Hello?" "Hi Daddy!" He sat up, closing his eyes and smiling at the sound of the cheerful voice on the other end of the line. "Hi sweetheart. How are you?" "Great! Grandma and Grandpa and me went to the beach today! Grandpa helped me make a sandcastle and we've got pictures so you can see it!" "I can't wait. I'm glad you're having a good time." "Daddy?" her voice wavered. "Yes, sweetheart?" "When can I come home?" Her question surprised him. "I thought you were having a good time with your grandparents? Why do you want to come home?" "I miss you." "I miss you too, hon. It's only a little while longer, then you'll be back home." "Okay." She didn't sound convinced. "Oh, Grandpa wants to talk to you." He heard muffled sounds before another voice came through the line. "Gil? Hey, it's Bud. How are you doing?" "I'm alright." Bud laughed. "Let me guess - your house is too darn quiet and you don't know what to do with yourself so you spend all your time at work." "How did you know?" "Elizabeth had the same problem every time she let Gillian come visit us. Drove her nuts." Gil chuckled softly. "Listen, Gil. How would you feel about Gillian coming home early?" He was silent - he wanted nothing more than to have her come home to him, but he didn’t want to deprive her grandparents of the chance to see her. "I, uh…" Bud's smile came through in his voice. "She really misses you, Gil. And frankly we can only take so much of her enthusiasm before she wears us out. Think about it at least." "I will." "Great. Gillian wants to talk to you again." The phone was passed over on the other end. "I love you, Daddy." "I love you too, sweetheart. I'll see you soon." "Bye Daddy." "Bye, Gillian." He hung up the phone, elated and depressed at the same time. * * * * * Two days later, Grissom was in the lab with Sanders, working on DNA profiles for Warrick and Catherine's case. Though Grissom technically had the night off, he was still in no mood to be at his house. A muffled sound from the hallway behind him made him turn. He stared in surprise as Catherine stood there, Gillian holding onto her hand. Gillian broke away from Catherine and ran to him. "Daddy!" He grabbed her into his arms and swung her up into a hug. "Gillian! What are you doing here?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "I missed you and Grandma and Grandpa said it was okay for me to come home early. I wanted to surprise you, so Grandpa let me call Ms. Catherine and ask her to pick me up." He kissed her on the forehead. "Well, you did surprise me, sweetheart. I missed you too." "I would have said something but Gillian really wanted to surprise you," Catherine said with an apologetic smile on her face. He shook his head. "I'm glad you didn't." "Well, good. Now get out of here - it's your night off! I'll finish up here," she said with a mock frown that was ruined by the smile still in her eyes. "Thanks, Catherine," he said as he set Gillian down. She grabbed onto his hand and tugged him out the door. He smiled as he followed her out the door, glad to be going home to a house that would be filled with her laughter. |
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