WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS
An Annie 2014 fic
Grace/Will
Grace Farrell and Will Stacks had been so busy getting paperwork signed so that Will could officially adopt Annie, opening the reading centre and getting all of the other foster kids taken care of financially. Will had even given Ms. Hannigan an apartment big enough for the girls. They were so busy, they barely had time to talk to each other unless it had to do with Annie. They didn't mind of course, Annie had been what brought them together in the first place.
To spend more time with Will, almost every morning Grace would run from her apartment through Central Park to Will's penthouse. She would stop and pick up bagels on the way and bring them for Annie, Will and herself. She had just enough time to drop Annie off at school and run home to get ready for work. Yes, her life was busy, but that was okay, she was used to it.
On this particular Wednesday morning, two months after Annie had begun to stay with Will for good, Grace took her usual route through the park, running through the familiar trails. She stopped at a bagel shop close by Will's apartment and after placing her hand on the sensor in the elevator, made her way to the top floor.
"Hey guys." She called as she let herself into the apartment. No one was around. She placed the bagels on the table. "Will? Annie?"
"In here, I'm being tortured." Grace smiled when she heard Annie's voice. She followed the sound until she ended up in Annie's bedroom. Will was trying to get Annie's hair into a couple of pigtails. Grace laughed. "Thank you. Grace help."
"Ok, ok. Will, I'll finish Annie's hair. Go and toast are bagels." Grace said, grabbing the hair brush from Will's hands. "Morning", she whispered to him.
"Morning beautiful." He whispered back. Grace smiled. She had just run all the way here and had absolutely no make-up on. Her black leggings were faded almost to grey, her Oxford t-shirt sweaty and her runners dirty but when Will called her beautiful she believed it.
"I can totally hear you guys." Annie said from the chair she was sitting on. Will just shook his head and walked out of the room and into the kitchen. "You know that you two can talk in front of me right? Just no kissing, kissing is gross."
"One day that will change Annie." Grace said, starting to fix the girls hair.
"Gross. I don't think so."
Grace smiled and finished up Annie's hair and the two of them made their way into the kitchen. "Here you go ladies, toasted bagels with strawberry cream cheese".
Annie quickly went to the dining room to sit down and eat her breakfast while Grace went into the kitchen where Will was still toasting his bagel. "Grace, we need to go out."
"What?" Grace looked confused.
"Like on a date. We've been so busy with everything."
"We have." She agreed. "So when do you want to go like on a date?"
"Tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Tonight."
"Hey are you guys coming in to eat or what?" Annie yelled from the dining room.
"We're coming." Will yelled back. Grace just shook her head. Annie and Will were actually a lot alike.
They came into the kitchen and Annie was almost finished with her breakfast. "So," she starts, her mouth still full, "where are you guys gonna go on your date?"
After breakfast, Grace left Annie and Will to get back home and ready for work. Today she had to check in on the literacy foundation in the morning and after lunch she had to get to STACKS and resume working on the one-week phone charge. Then, her date. Her and Will hadn't really gone on an official date since Annie brought them together. Will was very cryptic about it though, telling her to wear something casual.
She was halfway through Central Park when she got the strangest feeling that someone was watching her. She stopped for a moment to stretch and catch her breath and took this opportunity to look around. She saw no one. She shook the thoughts from her head and continued her run.
She was almost home when she heard car tires screeching to a halt. It was a van and out of the sliding doors came two men chasing after her. She ran as fast as she could to get away from them screaming, but they caught up with her. One of the men grabbed her leg and she went down. Then everything went black.