-Grace-

I grunted, ignoring the chaffing that cut into my belly – just below my breasts – as I leaned over the side of the tub, bleaching hysterically. Vaguely, I remembered that Sam had once mentioned that I tended to obsessively clean everything when stressed. But that thought was quickly replaced as I squeezed the sponge and continued my bout, until I heard a round of over-exaggerated coughing behind me.

"You know, Grace, there was a lady on that show 'My Strange Addiction' who was addicted to bleach. I think I have the number, if you want." Cole snickered, Sam rolling his eyes beside him.
"Cole, you're a fucking comedian, aren't you?" He retorted, my tone as icy as I could make it. Which seemed to startle Sam – he knew I was used to Cole's constant teasing. I'd never really reacted to his taunts like this before.

"Ooh, feisty Grace. Droppin' the f-bomb. I like it." Cole sneered, winking before turning away – distracted by the beep of a microwave in the background. I continued to furiously scrub the tub before standing and rinsing it off. Behind me, I heard Sam sigh – and in my mind's eye I could imagine him running one of those large-palmed hands through his hair. The scent of the bleach burned my nose, stinging those extra-senses I had been prone to since those months ago. But the painful sting took my mind off of Isabel and other Isabel-related things. Sam sat down on the toilet seat, observing me as I rinsed the tub out. In the back of my mind, I realized just how far he'd come. He's come from kicking and screaming and crying whenever he saw this bathroom door open to being able to quietly sit only inches away from his worst nightmare. My heart ballooned with a mix of pride and a swell of affection, but an aching sadness that he would even be like that in the first place. I turned, gathering up by cleaning supplies and standing tall again before I was suddenly blocked by a much taller Sam. He cupped both of my cheeks with his hands, looking me in the eyes with a brow quirked before he pressed our lips together softly.

"What's the matter, Grace? You're not yourself." He pecked my lips again. "Yesterday you arranged all the pasta and wiped down the kitchen, and now you're bleaching the house and cursing out Cole." He pointed out, ever observant.
"It's just… nothing." I pulled away from his hold, ducking under his arm and squeezing past his side to flee the tiny bathroom with my bucket of cleaning solutions, ready to head upstairs to begin bleaching that bathroom.

Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath me and my bucket dropped as I was thrown over Sam's broad shoulder. He laughed, holding me by my waist and thigh. I squirmed, but he simply tightened his grip and tossed me onto the couch, despite my vocal protests.

He leaned down above me, his forearms bordering my face as he locked his amber eyes onto mine. "Grace, is something wrong with you? Me? Cole? Isabel? What's wrong?" He repeated. I may have cringed a bit at Isabel's name, because Sam's face flashed with something of realization.

"So it's Isabel. What happened?" He prodded, refusing to let me up.

"I… nothing, Sam! Nothing. Everything's fine! I swear." I plastered the best fake smile I could onto my face, swallowing.

"Come on, Grace! I'm not falling for that. Just tell me!" He pried.

"Nothing is wrong, Samuel K. Roth." I narrowed my eyes a bit, savoring the surprised look from the use of his full name.

"Grace Brisbane, you tell me what's wrong right this instant." He switched tones, to the stern we're-going-to-talk-whether-you-want-to-or-not voice that was normally used solely when Cole misbehaved. I pushed him off me and sat up, crossing my legs.

"Nothing. Is. Wrong."

He continued to stare at me for a bit, obviously disbelieving.

"Sam, nothing is wrong. Nothing is serious. I promise." I responded again, my tone softening.

He sighed, standing straight and walking to the kitchen – glancing over his shoulder as he did so. Once he was out of sight, I scrambled to pick up my bucket and supplies and fled up the stairs – snatching a phone from the cradle-charger as I did so. I quickly dialed Isabel's number, locking the bathroom door behind me and running the sinkwater just in case Sam decided to follow me back up.

"Hey Grace." Came the response on the other end. I felt somewhat guilty, especially because Isabel sounded like she'd just woken up, or something.

"Isabel, we have a problem. A big, big problem."
"What? Is Cole okay? Sam? You? What happened?" her tone changed from sleepy and groggy to alert and concerned in less than thirty seconds.
"No, yeah, everyone's fine. It's just that, I can't lie to Sam. He knows me too well and I feel awful lying to him. He knows something is up, but he doesn't know what and it's making him even more suspicious." I rambled, sighing deeply as I finished my sentence.

I heard her sigh on the other end, a few moments of heavy silence passing between us before she spoke again.

"You can tell him, Grace, I guess. Knowing Sam he'd figure it out when I got there, anyway. But make him swear on his fucking life he won't even breath about it near Cole. Tell him if he does I will personally set a mousetrap on both of his testicles." She half chuckled, her voice containing a soft amusement. Here I was, sitting and freaking out about her fucking pregnancy, and she was chuckling.

"Not funny, Isabel!"

She must've thought I meant about Sam getting his ball's chopped off, not the fact that I was the only one seemingly taking this seriously, because she responded; "Okay, alright, sorry. I know you need those. But tell him if you need to. Cole can't know, not yet, Grace. Sam needs to understand that. I 'gotta go, my mom's getting suspicious because I've been in the bathroom for more than my normal shower time and I don't need her listening to me throw up."

"Alright. Bye." I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose as I hung up. I exhaled deeply and leaned against the sink. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I heard a soft knock come from the door, followed by Sam's inquisitive voice. I stood, turning the sink off and unlocking it as I slowly pushed my way out of the bathroom. Before I could even speak, I was bombarded by Sam's voice.

"Look, Grace. I'm sorry I was prying before. I should've stopped asking. It's none of my business and if something were really wrong I know you would tell me. It must be really important and one of those girl's only best friends thing that guy's can't or don't understand and I'm sorry for being irritating." He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked me over with those gentle, honey-gold eyes.

I needed to tell him.

It was killing me, seeing him be nothing but concerned for me and completely believing my all-out lie.

"Sam, I haven't exactly been honest with you…" I started. I saw his eyes grow wide and continued quickly; "That thing with Isabel… it's more than just a silly… "girl's only" secret… it's serious…."