Disclaimer: I own nothing and no character from the Mentalist. They are property of Bruno Heller and the producers of the series

A/N: Thank you to those of you who reviewed, sent a PM or just read! Hope you like this one too! This is a bit sappy and fluffy – but what's wrong with that every now and again?

GLUE

Grace looked at the figurine in front of her and smiled fondly. The ornament was of a little, flame haired girl and had been a present from Grandma Van Pelt for Grace's 4th birthday. It didn't matter that it wasn't the most tasteful thing she had ever seen, to Grace it was beautiful and special and so she had been mortified when she had chipped it.

Grace had been determined to fix it, but wasn't sure how to, so she had first gone for a tube of common craft glue. She had found the faults in this glue though. It was great for certain jobs but not this one, the important one. Grace couldn't help but draw parallels between herself and this glue. She had applied the glue with all good intent just as she had in her relationship with Wayne, and it had stuck. But not for long. Just like this glue, at the first sign of stress she had shown her weakness. She had peeled it off and broken the bond and that precious thing was chipped again.

She had then realised that she had to use the superglue. Again the parallels were obvious – but this time not with Grace. This glue was clear, just like he was - his intent, his love, his honesty and willingness to sacrifice. This glue was strong and did the job asked of it without question. She smiled as she thought about her strong, loyal, straight arrow. The smile turned to a sob as she read the side of the tube. Permanent Hold. That's what did it. She knew, she just knew.

Just like the beginning of their relationship, she had been the one that wasn't strong enough to admit to the feelings. And yet she knew in her heart she could call and he'd come running. But she couldn't and wouldn't. She didn't trust herself to have the sticking power to hold it together when that precious thing came under attack. So she must let it be. See their beautiful thing chipped and know that she had been too weak to hold it together.