Disclaimer: Thanks for reminding me... I don't own anyone... but I may have stolen them...

A/N: Thank you to reviewers, and to answer your question, Chris's family does know that Grace is there.

I see His Eyes through You...

"There was this giganto tree in the schoolyard, right? We, meaning your father, me, Teddy, and Vern, wanted to climb it all the way to the top. So the four of us, with Chris leading, began to climb the tree." Gordie started, watching Grace's expression as he did so.

Her eyes were fixed on Gordie, and she looked like she was concentrating on the story, trying to picture it in her mind. Gordie immediately had a rather comical thought of Grace in her own mind, pushing through unicorns and dolls to see four boys climbing a big tree, and he almost laughed.

"Teddy went up first without any hesitation, holding his thick black glasses in his hand, then Chris went up right behind him, stabling himself on the thin branches that lined the tree, then I went, and Vern was behind me. Vern was always the one who was scare to do anything, and I felt kind of bad for the kid, after all, who likes being labeled as a pussy forever right?"

Grace nodded, "Go on Mr. LaChance." She said, and Gordie winced at his formal name, "Call me Gordie... alright?" he asked, and Grace nodded again, so he went on.

"'Come on you guys!' Teddy yelled back at us, you see, he was already at the top, and Chris was right behind him, but I had no arm strength, so I was a little sluggish. Teddy sat at the exact top of the tree, a huge grin on his face, and Chris sat on a branch below him, I was still climbing, and Vern was behind me.

My hands were rubbed raw from the scratchy bark and all the pine needles, and this tree must've been at least twenty feet tall."

At this visual Grace's eyes widened, and she uttered a small 'Wow' before urging Gordie on with her eyes.

"So once I got to the branch across from Chris, Vern sat on the branch below me, and we were all laughing and having a jolly old time at our feat of climbing this big tree... until we looked down." Gordie paused and chuckled a little, before he went on, "Teddy pulled out a cigarette and started smoking, which brought the rest of us to do the same, but we were all scared out of our wits of the hard ground below us. I think it was Vern who was the first one to talk, he said 'This is boss and all, but how do we get down?' and I just looked at Chris, who shrugged a little and said 'I guess we climb down...' he even put his foot down on a lower branch as if he were about to start, that was the first time I ever saw Chris even a little scared.

'Oh shit you guys are pussies, we just jump!' I heard from above me, and I looked up only to see Teddy flying forward from the top of the tree, screaming. Chris got this sort of weird look on his face and put and arm out to grab his shirt, and all of us were breathin' real heavy.

'What are you doin' Chambers? I could've landed on my feet you son of a bitch! I could've done it! What are you doin'?' Teddy was yellin' and Chris was yellin' back and me and Vern were climbing down just to make sure that the tree didn't snap in half. 'You want me to drop you Teddy? Do you want to die here and now? Don't you want to die like a soldier?' Chris said, and Teddy was silent, and he stopped squirming, and he reluctantly let your dad bring him down to the ground, where he promptly dropped him and walked home in a huff.

I guess he was made and didn't want to say anything he would regret later. Boy, Teddy was mad, the whole way home he was cursing under his breath, but later, Teddy took Chris aside and thanked him. He never apologized, but Chris just thumped his shoulder and smiled.

Teddy was always getting in some kind of trouble. He'd jump in front of trains, and he'd pick fights with guys four times the size of him, and Chris always got him out." It took Gordie a second to realize that he was crying. His eyes were stinging and he felt a pricking at the back of his neck. He turned away and rubbed his eyes, not quite ready to face the small nine year old in front of him.

In a second, Gordie realized that Grace was crying as well, she was sniffling, sitting there pitifully, just looking at the large gray slab with her father's name on it. For a while, the two just sat there, remembering things, just sitting there. And soon, Gordie had pulled Grace onto his lap and had rubbed his eyes until they were dry, "Do you have any stories?" he asked Grace, and she nodded solemnly.

"I do have one…" she said, sniffling some more, and she began her story…

A/N: Alright, I wrote another chapter. The next chapter is going to be Grace's story… I think that the next few chapters are going to be them remembering, review and tell me if you wouldn't read that.