WHERE WILL YOU GO?

Author: scarypuffringo

Author's note: This is my fifth Once and Again fic. It takes place in the ending of season three, right in the ending of the last episode. This mainly Eli and Grace, it's not news to anyone that I am an huge fan of the couple, though they never really were a couple in the show but... Anyway, this fic will only have two chapters. Actually it was supposed to only one chapter but this turned out to be kinda big and there a lot of stuff I still want to put here, so I split it in two. I've been wanting to come back writing Once and Again fics and this is me coming back slowly. I've got anther fic planned and it's gonna have a lot of more chapters. For those who still wonder about my last fic, "Where Do We Stand?", well, I've tried to go back writing it but there was no motivation to it. I think it's because so much time has passed and I pretty much forgot what I had planned for the story and rethink it did not work, so I came up with a new one...

The title of this fic is from an Evanescence's song, the idea for this fic popped up into my head when I was listening to this song, so... I hope you all enjoy and please, let me know what you guys think of it.

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"Grace! Grace!" Eli tiredly called again from outside Grace's room. It was the night that Jake and Tiffany got married. "Grace?? Grace, please just open the door... Just let me explain..." Eli pleaded with her but his words were not powerful enough; his words were not powerful enough to melt her doubts, her fears and her pain away. "Grace, please don't do this to me. I... I... ... Grace?" Eli's voice came out in a hearty tone, Grace barely could hear his last words. Suddenly there was just silence and the door between them.

Grace waited inside, hoping he would say something else, something that proved to her it was worth to open the door but she heard nothing instead. Outside, Eli still faced her closed door. He had tried everything, he had used all the arguments he knew to persuade her to open the door and allow him to explain himself but she remained locked inside. Now there was nothing else he could do or say. He lightly touched the door and let out an exasperate sigh. Eli knew it was his fault, he knew that he had hurt Grace one more time and that his actions were hurting him too; it was paining him more than would admit.

Grace plopped jumped off of her bed and tiptoed to her door, she pressed her ears against it and wondered if he was still there. But the realization that Eli was not going to insist anymore dawned to her. She closed her eyes and crumbled backwards against the door and slowly let her body slid down, sitting on floor. She brought her legs up to her chest so she could embrace them, as she did it, she let out a sob while she felt her tears bitterly falling once more.

Eli was about to leave when he thought he had heard something. Eli could swear that he had heard a baffled noise coming from Grace's room. He stepped back, hoping she would finally open the door but again... ... nothing. He stood there in silence, wondering what was going on behind that door. That silence was killing him, something inside of Eli told him that he couldn't just leave like that... Eli raised his hand to knock on her door again but he heard some noises coming from downstairs. He didn't move an inch away, he just stopped and listened the noises more carefully... ... Laughs, Eli heard laughs... Lily and Zoe were laughing out loud. Eli sort of panicked because the next thing he was able to grasp was the voice of his father... ... ...

"E? What you're doing here?" Rick calmly asked when he found his son standing in the hall, facing Grace's door. "Is everything alright? Is Grace okay?"

Eli shook his head in disbelief and with a tone of regret he answered. "Yeah, dad. Everything is fine... Grace is just fine." Eli exited after that, leaving Rick with a feeling that he was, once again, not telling the truth.

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Eli entered his garage and slammed the door shut, he collapsed on his bed as the memory of the events of that evening burned inside his head... ... ...

~*~FLASHBACK~*~

Eli was standing next to the kitchen door, he took a look around, he saw Jessie and Katie talking and laughing, then his eyes continued drowse through the place, the next ones he saw was Barbara, Zoe and Tiffany's half sister playing with Maddie, not very far away from them there was Tiffany and Jake dancing. Eli sighed and finished his drink, when he went to serve himself some more, he saw his father and Lily coming out of the janitor's room, his mind wondered what they might be doing in there but then he shrugged that thought off, he was more interested in getting something else to drink, something stronger than just wine and champagne. The truth was Eli was not enjoying himself, standing there watching everyone else dance and talk to their family and friends wasn't much of a fun to him. As the thought of leaving crossed his mind he caught vision of Grace, also standing alone on the other side of the place. She seemed distant, as if she wasn't even there. Eli couldn't help himself, he started off in her direction and when he reached her, without any warning, he grabbed her by the hand as his own other one grasped her waist and he began to dance with her...

"Care to dance?" He softly said, his voice tuned in a joking manner as Grace frowned in surprise.

Grace giggle and by the time she answered she was already swaying with him through the floor. "No!"

Eli allowed him a half smile. "Good!" With that he began to led her, making her walk backwards.

"What you're doing?" She asked, snorting another giggle.

"Just work with me.'

Grace got a little confused. What was Eli up to? She had no idea of what he was going to do but she agreed anyway. "Oh, okay."

Eli made her twirl a couple of times as he kept on moving across the place. He finally stopped when sided up with Rick and Lily who were also dancing. "Hey!" Lily exclaimed in excitement, which caused the two teenagers to look at their parents oddly. It seemed to Eli and Grace that their parents had been crying, their eyes were all red and Lily was acting too weird on them. But Eli didn't want to waste time, he let go off Grace and extended his hand to Lily who accepted the invitation right away. She took his hand and now was dancing with Eli. Rick was standing there and look at his wife and son for a while a smile grew wide on his face, then he turned to Grace and started dancing with her as well.

"Mmm, are you okay?" Eli asked just for the good manners.

Lily sighed and smiled. "Yeah, I am. I'm terrific."

"Good." He nodded then lowered his head. "Mmm... Do you think that Jake would be... You know... ... Do you think that he would be upset if I left right now?"

Lily spotted her step-son and figured why he invited her to dance with him. "Oh, so that's what this is about?" She joked and he grinned at her. "Clever."

"Thanks... ... Now, do you think that..."

"Oh, sure you can leave, Eli. Jake is your boss, not your father. And just between you and I, you're not of his favorite people." She honestly stated.

"Believe me, I've noticed."

Lily smiled again and look at her daughter's way. She saw Grace awkwardly dancing with Rick. "Do you think you can call Grace to go with you?" Eli lifted his head. That thought hasn't crossed his mind but now that Lily mentioned it, it kinda made sense and also he didn't mind spending time with Grace. Actually, the fewest moments he felt some sort of peace inside was when he was with Grace. "Look at her... You honestly can say that she's having more fun here than you are? She loves her father, she loves Maddie and Tiffany too but she's not loving being here. Can you do that?"

"Sure. No big." Eli made Lily twirl and she stopped in front Rick, who knew that it was his cue to let go of Grace and go back dancing with his wife.

Grace smile when she saw her mother so unusually happy. It was like it washer own wedding. "Hey?" She heard Eli's voice and turned. "Listen, I'm gonna take off now... Mmmm I was won-"

"Just let me say goodbye to my dad and Tiffany." Grace promptly replied and rushed to her father and now, step-mother. Eli watched her hug them then move back in his direction. "Let's go."

He blinked a few times and followed her. "Yeah."

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In the ride home Eli and Grace didn't talk much, they were more interested in pay attention to the songs on the radio. As they got there, Grace unbuckled her seat-belt and got out of the car. She opened the front door and Eli followed her. They entered the house, Grace found a little odd that Eli had used the front door since he lived in the garage but she was too tired to make her brain worry about meaningless things.

"Grace?" Called as she started up to the stairs.

She stepped back down and looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. "What?"

"MMm... Mmmm... Ah... Huhgh..." Eli found himself with nothing to say to her. Why he called her? Why he didn't let her go to her room? Whatever the real answer was, it didn't matter at that moment, all he knew was he had to come up with something clever to say to her and if not clever, at least believable. "Are you busy?"

"No. Why?"

"Nothing really... It's just that I thought we could watch a movie or something... or whatever..." He stuffed his hands in pockets. What that came from? Grace wouldn't fall for that...

Grace's mind tried to find a reason for what he was doing but then she reasoned she was being to naive to wonder such thing about him. She thought to herself that Eli was probably just being polite, sympathetic even. He knew that her past with Tiffany and her father was a little clouded. Wanting to be a good friend to him, she said. "Sure." She moved away from the stairs and walked to him. When they were face to face, she put on a smirk and joked a little. "So? Are we gonna watch a movie or something or whatever?"

The side of Eli's mouth kicked up a little as he tried not to smile at her so widely enough. "I choose... 'whatever'. What do you think?"

"Good choice!" The two burst out laughing and Grace started to head to the kitchen, Eli just followed her... ... ...

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"You can't do that!" Grace swatted his arm then Eli disputed with an expression of victory all over his face.

"Sure I can. You're the one who can't play this game. I win for the fourth time!" Eli got up and lift his arms like any other proud champion.

"Cheated!" Grace was outraged, she couldn't allow that. The idea to play poker was, she was petty good at it, since Jake had taught her how to.

"Ah, you don't know that for sure!" He teased her and she got back up on her feet. She was laughing as so was Eli. "No, my price."

"No! I'm not gonna do that." She refused to pay what she owed him.

Eli made a funny face then put a determinate face on. "I've already given you three chances to win this game so you wouldn't have to do it. But now, I'm not letting you get out of it." He nodded, already waiting for her to start. The bet was, if Grace on, Eli had to do her house assignments for a week and if Eli won, Grace had to dance just like Britney Spears and he got to pick the song. "How about 'I'm a slaaaave for you?" Eli put on a sassy smile and moved his shoulders a little as he mocked they way Britney sang the song. Grace began to step back as couldn't contain herself, she was laughing real hard. Eli moved in her direction and kept on his teasing. "I know... What about ... 'Oops... I did it again..." Eli began to sing the song and dance as well. Grace screamed as he started to grab her make her pay. "... I played with your her..." He reached for her but she managed to sway away from him. "... Got lost it in the game... Oh, baby, babe!!!" Eli rushed after Grace and this time there was no way she could escape from him. She was using the couch as shield as Eli stood behind it, with one swift unexpected move, Eli jumped over the couch and ended up tripping on his own leg. He couldn't get ahold on anything, so he crashed on Grace, causing both of them to hit the floor...

"Oh, my head!" Grace half whimpered, half laughed.

"Ouch!!" Eli whimpered as well then he look down at her face and the two burst out laughing.

"Oh my God!" Grace mumbled with a grin as Eli still lay onto of her.

The frenetic laughing slowly faded, suddenly their position hitting them. Their eyes were on locked and neither one of them dared to look away. A few seconds later, Grace was able to feel warm touching her left leg. When they fell, she lifted her left leg and didn't move since then. Eli hadn't noticed but his hand was landed on her bare thigh, when he saw her eyes straying down he realized what he was doing. "I ripped off my dress." Grace muttered and brought her eyes back to his.

Eli let a small smile escape his lips. "Sorry, it was my fault."

"No, it wasn't." She replied and even though he was aware now of what he was doing, Eli couldn't make his hand to let go of Grace's thigh, in fact, he was lightly rubbing his thumb on her skin.

Grace's breath became shallower as they remained that way. Eli found amusing the way she looked at him, it made him wonder what was going through her head. He'd always wanted to know what Grace's real thoughts were every time they were together. Eli watched her lips intently, he was amazed by how full and perfect they were. His tongue liked his bottom lip as one thought couldn't stop screaming inside his head. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't. But could he not? Him and Grace were alone in the house, there was no one to interrupt them this time, she looked so beautiful in that dress and she was lying underneath him... He slowly began to lean in... Grace couldn't believe in what was about to happen... .... ...

"Oh My God!!" Grace screamed pushing him up, off of her then jumped back up as Eli landed on his but. He gazed at her and saw the look of horror on her face, he felt bad and ashamed. He stood and was ready to give her an apology but her words made him laugh instead.

"Cockroach!" She exclaimed pointing at the floor.

"What?"

"Cockroach! I saw it! It passed right next to my face." She explained and he just laughed. Why things had to so damn complicated for him Grace that even a cockroach was able to ruin their moment. "What? Why are you laughing? I hate cockroaches!" He said in her defense.

"Yeah, I know."

"God, my mom is gonna kill when she finds out I ripped off this dress. She just bought it for me." Grace slowly returned to her sense as well as Eli. She pressed her hands against her face and sighed. "Well, I better go change."

"Yeah, me too." The awkwardness was definitely back.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then." She smiled forcedly and went up to the stairs.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Eli replied and watched her disappear. He sighed and part of him tried to convince him it was all a dream. Eli made his way to the garage, half in a daze, half in disbelief, at the minute he opened his door he found a little surprise waiting for him... ...

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Grace took off her dress and put on her pajamas. Every second she remembered what just had happened between her and Eli she had to cover her mouth to keep frenetic laughs from coming out. She felt like she was walking on clouds. She tried to breath deeply and forget about everything but she couldn't. She checked the time it wasn't even eleven p.m, Grace knew that the party was going to last almost all night. The fact that she and Eli still had a few more hours alone in the house brought a smile to her. She jumped off her bed and slipped her slippers on, she headed downstairs then to the garage. Grace stood in front of his door and raised her hand to knock but she didn't do it do. She knew that Eli wasn't expecting her in his room, specially after what almost had just happened. She smiled at the thought of his face when he saw her there, she wanted to surprise him so she just reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

Grace went pale as she stared at the scene in front her. Eli was making out with a half naked blond girl. Eli was so lost in all that lust that it took him and the blond a while to realize that there was someone else in the room. Eli saw Grace standing by his door, it was like she wasn't even breathing. He just got off of the girl quickly but Grace didn't even let him start talking. She just turned away and ran as fast as her feet could go... ... ...

~*~FLASHBACK (fades) ~*~

"Fuck!!!" Eli yelled in anger. He screwed up again and now he had no idea of how to make things better... ... ...

TBC