Good Evening all,
Just a quick apology for any confusion about who is in TR currently. To be brutally honest I didn't really plan it out as closely as I have in some other stories. I did write this over a year ago so I'm sure I had some reason then) but here is the TR team:
Christopher (Snr Sgt)- From memory, I couldn't keep Lawson because he would have known that Grace was coming back and he would have definitely told Josh.
Josh (Sgt)
Grace (Snr Constable)
Michael (Snr Constable)
Stella (Snr Constable)
Hannah (aka Taddy- because she's new, like a tadpole) (Constable)
Leon
Anyway, I hope that clarifies things a little. Please don't worry too much as the others don't make a huge appearance in the story. I need to get myself to a point where I can actually write a good action fic; if anyone has any tips please share them.
But for now; on with the story.
A New Start- Chapter 3
Grace was queuing for drinks for ages, Josh eventually shaking his head. "You two start, I'm gonna go give Grace a hand carrying drinks.
Going over to the bar Josh couldn't see Grace as he skimmed his eyes over the bar. He looked back over to the pool table and shrugged, leaning back against one of the supports waiting for her to come back to the bar. After five minutes his eyes caught the petite blonde struggling against the grip of a young man in his mid-twenties as he pushed her back against the wall in the corridor leading back from the bathrooms.
"Get the hell off me" she yelled as his lips forced themselves against her, shoving him hard. "I'm not interested you prick."
He said something back to her that Josh was unable to hear, grinding his hips against hers before he was pulled off her aggressively and in one swift movement, finding himself pinned against the opposite wall before he could react.
"You keep your fucked up hands off her you hear me? You don't get to touch her. Didn't you hear her telling you to back off?"
The guy laughed. "She just needs a little convincing...that's all."
Josh shoved him harder against the wall. "You stay away from her."
"I'm fine Josh" Grace protested in the background. "Let him go."
"You're lucky she is" he pushed him once more. "You go near her again and you won't be let off so lightly. Now piss off out of here. Go home." Josh let him go, pushing him away back to the bar area before turning back to Grace. "Are you OK?"
She nodded leaning back against the wall, brushing her hair back from her face. "Yeah, I'm OK. I should head off."
"You're shaking" he observed, pulling her into his arms protectively. "You're ok. Don't let him ruin your night."
She took a few seconds to pull herself together, putting her arms around Josh's waist and giving him a squeeze to let him know she was alright. "I'm ok now" she whispered a minute later when he still hadn't let go of her.
He released her slowly, one hand still resting on her hip.
"For the record… I totally had the situation under control," she smiled slightly.
"Yeah I could tell" he agreed, tongue in cheek, "Just being over protective."
"Thanks" she whispered.
He nodded back at her. "You should stay… just one more game. He won't come near you."
"No…no I should just go home."
"He's not going to hurt you Grace. Not while I'm around. If he even looks at you I'll deck him."
"Don't say that. I don't want you to hit anyone Josh."
"If someone hurts you I'm going to hurt them."
"Just.. Stop it. Ok. I don't want to hear that. It doesn't make me feel safe Josh, just scared you'll get hurt. OK? Stop it." She told him off. "I'm gonna go."
Josh nodded at her words, forcing himself to calm down for her benefit. "One more drink?" he offered. "Then we can share a cab?"
She let out a breath and nodded. "One more drink" she agreed, going back with him to the bar, buying the round she had promised earlier, sticking close to Josh as they walked back past the guy from the toilets. "I'm getting too old for this" she laughed setting the drinks down on the table.
"Old. You're not even thirty!" Michael laughed. "
"Mmmm maybe out of practice then," she took a mouthful of her beer.
One last drink turned into at least three more before Grace turned to Josh. "I'm gonna head home. Enjoy the rest of your night."
He shook his head "I'll come with you," getting up. "We're off" letting the others know.
Michael laughed "I knew you'd leave together."
Grace rolled her eyes "Like you and Taddy won't be leaving together?" having watched Michael trying hard all night, the only one to have picked up on it, Taddy completely oblivious to her mates attention.
"As if" Taddy laughed. "In his dreams! Have a good night guys."
Josh laughed when they queued up for a cab. "The two of them? Really?"
"Oh come on Josh, he was trying all night. You're slipping if you didn't recognise 'the moves'."
"That's because I've never had to pull 'the moves'" he laughed.
"Is that right?" she put her hands on her hips. "I recall a few moves…. That wandering hand down my back when you helped me wire up for a bust? Or what about the 'ant' on my cheek? Or should we go for the really obvious one…catching me as I fell off the top of a building?"
"Yeah you're right. I really should have let you fall," he laughed "That was me flirting with you for sure."
"I knew it" she grinned. "We're OK now…right? You don't still hate me?"
"Never did. Was bloody pissed off at you, but I'm over it now."
She smiled, climbing across the seats when they got a cab, giving the driver her address.
"Did you want to come in? I've got no beer but I've got a bottle of red that needs to be drunk."
He nodded, fixing up the driver as he pulled up in front of Graces.
Grace got out, walking ahead to unlock the door. "Um…excuse the mess" she apologised, seeing the toys strewn around the living room. "I didn't expect visitors."
Josh took her hand gently, turning her back to face him, "Forget it."
She let out a breath and shook her head. "Wine right? I'll go grab some glasses," pulling her hand away she went into the kitchen grabbing a bottle from the fridge.
Josh sank into her lounge, throwing a toy truck onto the ground that he'd just sat on. "Ah Gracie, I think Thomas has a dent in him now."
"I don't think that was you. Mummy stepped on him the other day. He hasn't noticed, my foot did though," she laughed coming back into the lounge room with a bottle of wine and two glasses, sitting on her feet on the lounge beside him before pouring them both a glass.
Josh laughed taking the wine off her and sipping his glass. "Did you have a good night?"
"Yeah I did" she smiled. "It was good to get out again. It's been a while."
"You should do it more often. I know you've got a kid now but you still need to make some time to do things for you."
"I do… "
"Like what?"
"I do a job that I love. It makes a huge difference. I was working in dispatch when we moved to Sydney, driving myself crazy with stupid phone calls. I was only there for three months and I had to go off early and I started back there part time when Justin turned two but I hated it. I was so bored. Hearing the callouts and not being able to do anything was just a pain in the butt."
'I meant socially" he laughed.
"We barely had time for a social life before I moved to Sydney," Grace laughed. "No. Anytime I get now I should be with Justin. God knows I'm out too much as it is."
"Funny… I remember us having some very social times."
She laughed at him, "Yeah I know… it's all such a blur now though. Like, sometimes I think those few months were all just a dream."
"Good dreams Gracie."
"The best" she whispered, reaching forward for her glass. "Good times" she added smiling.
Josh moved his hand to rest on her knee, squeezing it gently. "Were you sick?"
"When I went off early?" she checked as Josh nodded. "Yeah I was. I got pretty sick and they ended up diagnosing pre eclampsia. I was useless at work so had to go off and was in hospital from seven months on bed rest. God I was bored, and scared, and resentful…but mostly just bored" she added with a laugh. "Lucky he was born a few weeks early because I might have killed someone."
"Resentful?"
She nodded. "It's horrible isn't it? I like to blame it on exhaustion…but it wasn't…not really. I'd gone from this amazing job where I was on a constant adrenaline rush and had fallen in love with a wonderful guy who showed me a side of life I'd never experienced before, to a subdural haematoma, in a hospital bed, telling my husband that I was leaving him, hoping to start a new life with this spunky guy, to all of a sudden being pregnant in a new city with no friends, no real job and resenting the baby, and Conor for making me so sick and just miserable. "
"It's not horrible… I mean. You love your son, right?"
"More than anything else in this world Josh. The second he was born any resentment was forgotten. The last eight months had been worth it. I don't think I ever really forgave Conor though. We were never the same after I told him. We were never going to be. He knew I was only staying with him for Justin's' sake."
"So what happened? Justin would have been almost three when you moved back here?"
Grace gulped down the last of her wine, pouring herself another glass. "We fell into a routine. I banned sex when I started having complications in the pregnancy… it was just an excuse really…but it worked, and after Justin was born I was even less interested. I'd deliberately fall asleep in the nursery or on the lounge most nights just to avoid having to go to our room. Eventually I just put a couch in the nursery and slept on that. He…he hated it….which I do understand. It wasn't his fault either...we'd never been the same since I told him about you and Justin had just pushed us further apart."
"Is that all?" he asked, knowing there was more to the story.
"Yeah… Oh my God I can't believe I'm telling you about my sex life with Conor. But yes, we just grew apart and I decided to move closer to Mums."
"So tonight…and you freaking out when I held your wrist?"
"God you are such a copper!" she brushed it off, having another mouthful. "I'm sure you can fill in the blanks."
Josh gritted his teeth, feeling the rage boil inside him. "If he laid a finger on you…"
"You will let it slide… for me" she told him firmly. "You of all people getting involved… it would only make it worst. Although he already thinks I'm down here 'shacked up' with you."
"You seriously expect me not to deck him?"
"I will seriously deck you if you try. I know how you work…and you don't scare me. I'd hit you!"
"I scared you a few months ago."
"Yeah you did…but you weren't talking to me then and you were a different kind of mad. I thought for a minute you'd changed as well. Conor…he was never someone that I thought would be a threat to me. He was so gentle when I married him, even when you knew him. He just, I think he got jealous. Every guy I spoke to was another fight. I made an effort with him for the first few months in Sydney but then I was sick and then…I just didn't care. I threw everything into Justin and he was jealous of his own son. I still remember the look on his face when he realised he'd actually really hurt me. He scared himself that night. I think he was more scared than I was."
"He broke your arm?" Josh checked.
"Yeah" she nodded, cradling it again instinctively. "We were having an argument and he caught me off guard. I still can't believe I didn't react quicker. I don't even think he meant to strike me."
"So you left? Please tell me you left that night Gracie…"
"Ummm"
"Oh God you didn't stay" he asked, feeling the anger rise again. "Grace!"
"I knew he wasn't going to hit me again. The next part was my fault…I gave him the impression we could work things out while I organised for Justin and I to move to Sydney. When I told him a few weeks later that we were leaving the next day…things went downhill."
"How?"
Graces face fell as she remembered, tears flooding her eyes. "Justin disappeared."
"He disappeared? How? You lost him?"
She shook her head, reaching over for a box of tissues grabbing one. "No… he was kidnapped. I have never been so scared in my life Josh. For seventy-two hours my baby was gone. He was thirty months, three weeks and two days old." Grace pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them to her body.
Josh slipped his arm around her back, rubbing her shoulders. "You don't have to tell me anymore Grace. It's ok. You've got him back and he's safe and he's happy."
She shook her head, continuing. "Conor…he was just as shocked as I was. I was a mess Josh...I mean, you've never seen me like I was in those few days. I was frantic. I remember begging to be allowed to join the task force. And then…I started getting interviewed. They were asking me if I'd kidnapped my own child, they found out about our airline tickets and thought it was me."
"…Conor?"
She nodded. "Oh God… " she dropped her face into her knees, her body shaking with sobs. It was three long minutes before she composed herself enough to continue. "He kidnapped his own child…left him alone…in the cold…in some rental in western Sydney to prove that I needed him around or something. To scare me? I honestly don't know what he was trying to do. He said he needed us, and that I needed him. For those three days he got what he wanted, I cried on his shoulder. He wouldn't have wanted to harm him…he loves him…but I don't know… I really don't know what he wanted to achieve."
"You've got him back Grace. He's healthy and he's happy and he's with his mother who loves him to death."
She nodded. "Yeah… I'm sorry" she sniffed. "I wasn't going to tell you. I think I've had too much wine. I try not to think about it."
"I'm glad you did. It explains a lot. What happened to Conor?"
" He was arrested but he's got no record and it was his child… he got community service. Which I agree with…he wouldn't survive in gaol. And he's not a bad person. But I took the matter to court the following day. I was granted full custody. We moved the following week. I haven't spoken to him, my lawyer deals with him now. I know he wants to visit soon. I'm not going to object, he loves his son, but it will be so closely supervised it'll be worse than Big Brother."
"You're more generous than I would be."
"No… I'm not. I'm bloody pissed off but Justin needs to know his father. And despite everything, he's not a bad man. I think I drove him to it. My brothers said they'd take Justin for me. Conor won't do anything with them around."
"Grace this isn't your fault. How he acted was completely irrational. Maybe we shouldn't have done what we did but it doesn't give him the right to rough you up or to kidnap your child. Stop feeling guilty."
"I can't help it" she admitted.
"You've never let go of the guilt from being with me, have you? Gracie…"
She looked up at him, her eyes still puffy from her tears "I've never let go of you," she admitted.
Josh reached out, his thumb gently brushing a tear off her cheek before leaning in and pressing his lips against hers, his right arm snaking around her neck as her lips responded to his, pulling her closer into him.
Grace pressed her tongue against his lips, forcing them open so she could connect more deeply with him, her own arms wrapping around him in a desperate attempt to get closer.
After several moments of frantic contact they separated, both breathing heavily as Grace rested her forehead against his. "So I'm a MILF hey?" she asked cheekily, her breath warm against his cheek.
"That's right" he confirmed, loosening his grip around her neck, and kissing her again, moving his arm down to her back as he lowered her onto the couch. Her own arms reached frantically for his shirt, pulling it over his head in an effort to reach the familiar muscular body she knew was below it. Once free of its constraints Josh pushed her down onto the lounge, kissing her harder as Graces hands ran over the freshly exposed skin, reacquainting herself with the body she had craved for four years.
Josh's hands moved lower, slipping up under the soft white lace of her dress and resting on her hip bones, tracing their form as her hand moved into his hair, her fingers running over his scalp sending a shiver down his spine.
"This needs to come off Grace" he murmured.
Grace groaned in response, her arm moving back down to Josh's neck, looping around as her other arm pushed herself back into a seated position. Josh's hands swiftly moving to the zip at the back undoing it and lifting the dress over her head before swallowing hard at the sight of the matching white lace bra and panties set.
Allowing herself only a brief second of enjoyment at his expression Grace arched her back, leaning back against the side of the couch pulling Josh down with her. Josh swallowed again, taking in the body that had changed significantly since the last time he'd seen it. The muscles were tight, a sure sign of the fitness and hard work the young mother had to have completed to keep up with the physical demands of tactical response but there were now faint stretch marks, evidence of the child she had carried. Running his fingers up the lines, he paused just below her breasts, leaving his hands there as he leant down to kiss the nape of her neck.
Grace had frozen as she felt his eyes and then his hands examining the changes in her body, but quickly found herself moaning again as his lips moved down her neck in obvious approval. Her own hands moved to his pants, undoing his fly as Josh slipped his behind her to release the catch on her bra.
"Not here" she whimpered as his lips trailed further south to the sensitive skin of her breasts. "My room."
He nodded, easily picking her up, Graces legs instinctively wrapping around his waist and her arms tightly around his neck. Josh slowly walking backwards following Graces instructions to the bedrooms, kicking his pants off as he entered the room, setting Grace delicately down on the mattress in front of him.
