Neil frowned as Grace sped out of the office at 5pm sharp for the third time that week. And it was only Wednesday.
He walked over to Terry's desk, knowing that if Grace were to share anything with anybody then it would be Terry. Especially since Neil himself hadn't been particularly available to talk with as of late.
"What's going on with Grace?" he asked. Terry replied,
"I'm not sure. She had a phone call from her mum at the end of last week, and since then she has been leaving at 5pm every day."
Neil nodded, before heading back to his office. He glanced at his watch, then changed his mind, grabbed his coat and headed home. Jake had a night home from hospital tonight before they went to see if he was in remission, and they were planning on staying up watching films and eating junk food.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Grace walked up to the children's cancer ward, where she quickly sat down on a chair sat by a bed, grasping a child's hand tightly. The child smiled lightly at her, before leaning over a plastic bowl to be sick.
"It's okay Annie," she murmured softly, stroking the back of her hand with her thumb, "Your sister's here now."
The little girl looked tiredly over at her, and whispered, "Love you Gracie," before falling asleep, still gripping Grace's hand.
"Love you too Annie," Grace whispered back, trying to hold back the tears, as she traced random patterns with her thumb on the back of the small hand she was holding.
And with that, she did what she had been doing for the last 3 days. She pushed her phone headphones into her ears, set her alarm for 5am, and leant over to fall asleep, resting her arms, which were acting as a pillow for her head, on the bed.