Thank you, so much for reading and thanks to, tudorrose33, sash queen of the jungle and guest, for reviewing. They really put a smile on my face and inspired my confidence. Here is the next chapter and Roland and Grace will be present in this, I promise.

Chapter 2

Grace looked through the window to Roland's office. He was looking down at a pile of paperwork and looked like he was going through it. She knew better though. He was wearing the same face he had when she had handed him the telegram about his son. He was grieving but he wasn't sharing it with anyone. She knew that he didn't tell her everything but, she had still thought that he could talk to her about what he was going through. She understood what it was to grieve for a child better than most.

With that thought she made her decision and knocked on his door, without waiting for his command to enter.

He looked up from his paperwork, when she entered and Grace saw that his eyes were red and sore from crying. She closed the door but stayed standing.

"What can I do for you, Matron?" he tried to make his voice sound as normal as he could but there was a crack that was easily recognisable. Grace paused for a moment before she spoke.

"You don't have to pretend with me, Roland. I know that you're hurting." Her voice staying level

His resolve was close to breaking but he kept it up well.

"Did you have something, worthwhile to say, Matron, or did you come here for the sake of lecturing me?" he asked icily, accusing eyes locked on her

Grace was slightly taken aback by his reaction but managed to remain calm.

"I just wanted to comfort you. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"I never asked for your sympathy or your pity!" he told her sharply going back to his work

"I'm not offering either," her calm façade was slipping "I wanted to tell you that you don't need to be alone in your grieving."

He said nothing so she continued

"I know what you're going through."

His head snapped up at her comment, the anger in his eyes was plain to see. He pushed himself up from his chair and advanced, towards her, around the desk. When he was standing directly in front of her, he spoke to her in little more than a whisper but it was filled with malice.

"You've never had children, have you?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat, which had formed thanks to his question. If she told him the truth he would likely see her as the rest of society did. If she didn't, he would keep on letting his grief eat at him from the inside.

"Answer me!" he snarled

"No, I haven't had children." She whispered back. Lying to him would be better. Telling him the truth may mean that he would push her away totally. At least this way she could try to help, even if she didn't succeed.

"Then how the hell do you think you know what I'm going through!" he shouted

"Just because I haven't lost a child, it doesn't mean I haven't lost people I love!" She shouted back at him

There was silence for a while as they just glared at each other. Both had eyes full of fire, anger but underneath there lay hurt and pain.

Her expression softened

"I know that it hurts, I do, truly, but you can't bottle it up." She tried to calm, but feeling such a hypocrite. She had bottled her emotion up when….

"Look at us Roland, look at this situation. You and I are friends and here we are having a shouting match." She placed her hand gently on his arm "This isn't you. The man I know, my friend, has been taken over by grief. By bottling up your grief, it will just come out in explosive moments, like this. Your grief is eating you up from the inside and it won't just hurt you, it will hurt other people too."

Will you let me help you? She pleaded

He said nothing but removed her hand from his arm

"I have work to do, Matron Carter, I suggest you get on with yours." He spoke sharply but the pain was still clear to hear.

Grace felt her anger rise to its full height now; it was hard for her to keep from shouting at him again.

"I am not going anywhere." She said adamantly, taking her place on the opposite side of the desk to him.

He glared at her again

"You can glare at me all you like, but you're not getting rid of me." She retorted, folding her arms over her chest "I am going to sit here until you share your grief with me."

"Well you'll be sitting there for a long time then."

"I don't care how long it takes. I will just sit here until you talk to me."

He looked back at his paperwork and trying to focus. He wasn't very successful. It took him only a minute to become angered by her presence.

"Why do you care so much?"

She didn't answer him just continued staring at him.

"For God's sake woman! Answer the question!" he shouted at her in his frustration at her silence

She raised her eyebrows at him but remained silent.

"This isn't making me want to talk to you. It just wants to make me throw you out of this office, with rather a lot of force!" He said angrily. He waited for a few moments more, expecting her to move or react in some way. When she didn't his anger came rising to the surface. He stood from his desk, went round to her and pulled her from the chair.

"I am giving you one final warning! Leave of your own free will or I will throw you out!"

She was staring at him defiantly, unmoving.

"Right, you asked for it!" he snapped

He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the door. In the next moment, both Grace and Roland weren't sure exactly what happened. All they knew was that her hand made sharp contact with his face and his head snapped to the side. He gaped at her after the slap, which she had dealt him and she was in an equal state of shock. After the angry mood that he had been in before, she was sure that he would be angry enough to slap her back. What he did though was a complete surprise. She felt him push her up against the wall of his office and his lips crash into hers. She wasn't sure how to react, at first but her lips melted against his and, they were soon kissing furiously, as he pushed her even harder into the wall. After a while, his lips moved to her neck, his breathing was laboured yet he still kissed her neck, leaving a trail of kisses down her neck and across the top of her breasts through her uniform.

Grace suddenly came to her senses and pushed him away. She loved him, yes, but she couldn't let him do anything that he would regret later on. He stumbled away from her.

"Grace?" he looked her, eyes full of questions that she knew that she didn't have the strength to answer for him.

"Don't say anything that you are going to regret, Roland." She stated as calmly as she could. With that she walked from the office, without another word.

Thanks for reading and please review.