State of Grace

These are the hands of fate, you're my Achilles heel.

"You didn't tell your parents," Scott made his way into the kitchen where I was hurriedly buttering some toast. I stopped buttering when he spoke and looked at him guiltily.

"I'm sorry… I guess I just forgot," I lied. "I've been really busy at work, it must have slipped my mind. How did you find out I hadn't told them?"

"I rang them last night to see if they wanted to come out for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate. My parents thought they might make the trip in to the city as well," Scott said, still clearly disappointed in me. I felt a surge of annoyance at him. He had no right to be disappointed in me. They were my parents and this was my life and he was pressuring me into things I didn't want to do.

"Oh, what did they say?" I asked shortly.

"They said they'd be happy to," Scott answered.

"Great. I'll be home late tonight, don't wait up," I snapped, grabbing my toast and heading towards the door. I had to be in court today and I needed to have a briefing with the client before the trial started so I didn't want to be late.

"Wait, why are you dressed so nice?" Scott asked suspiciously, taking in my considerably shorter than normal skirt and extra time I'd taken with my hair and make up. It didn't really worry me that he was suspicious, I knew he knew nothing about Duncan and it was just like him to get jealous for no reason.

"Dwayne Howard's trial starts today. The judge is a man," I explained. Not totally a lie, though not the reason I was trying harder than usual. I'd given up trying to pretend like I didn't want Duncan, and it would be nice to make him sweat a little, so I'd decided to dress a little sexier. No big deal, Duncan already said he wasn't going to do anything so it was really just to tease him. And I didn't really give a fuck what Scott thought about it so I walked out of the apartment and slammed the door behind me.


I didn't bother taking my ring off today as I was going to be in court all day and wouldn't see any of my colleagues. I expected by the time I got back to the office everyone would be gone. I didn't really need to go back to the office, but I couldn't go to Duncan's until 8pm, when he put Ariel to bed, and court was dismissed at 5pm.

Unfortunately, Monica was still there and she noticed the ring immediately.

"Oh my god, is that…?" she squealed, grabbing my left hand. "You're engaged?" she looked up to me for confirmation. I nodded curtly. "When?" she demanded.

"On the weekend," I answered tiredly.

"And you kept it a secret? Why?" she was still admiring the ring.

"Just… wanted to keep it to myself for a few days," I said with a strained smile.

"Aww! Well, congratulations! You're so lucky. Scott is such a great guy! I'm heading home now," Monica smiled. "I didn't think I'd see you for the rest of the week. Aren't you in court?" she remembered.

"Yeah… I just had some stuff for another case I had to… check," I lied. Monica gave me a look of confusion before shrugging and heading out to her car.

"Bye, Courtney! Congrats again!" she called. I sighed as I walked to my office, knowing everyone at work would know of my engagement by tomorrow. Monica was such a blabbermouth.

I tried to do some work but I couldn't focus, I kept thinking about seeing Duncan. I wondered if it was pathetic to wait at work for two and a half hours just to see him. Maybe I should just go now. I'd met Ariel before, it's not like he was against me seeing her. Surely me coming around later was just for my benefit, so I didn't have to wait while he got her ready for bed? Or maybe Gwen would be there. Maybe the real reason I had to wait was because Gwen would be around until eight and then she would go… somewhere. Although if that was the case, he would have just told me. It was no secret he was with Gwen.

I ordered some chinese and at that, but at seven thirty I decided I couldn't wait any longer and I drove to Duncan's place. He buzzed me up without a word again, so I guessed it must have been fine that I was early. He opened the door with Ariel in his arms.

"You're early," he stated.

"Yeah I…" I started. I realised now I looked way too eager, showing up half an hour early. He must have thought I was a total idiot. Luckily Ariel saved me from having to come up with an explanation.

"Hey, it's you," she said.

"Uh, yep. It's me!" I agreed. Duncan waved me inside and closed the door behind me.

"You're about to go to bed, aren't you princess?" he asked his daughter. Ariel shook her head.

"I'm not tired anymore," she said, followed by a huge yawn.

"If you go to bed, Courtney will tell you a story," Duncan promised. I looked at him frantically with a shake of my head. He just grinned and turned back to Ariel. "How does that sound?"

"Okay," Ariel agreed, somewhat reluctantly. "But Daddy, you can't listen. It's got to be a secret girl story, like when Mommy tells me," she asserted.

"Deal," Duncan laughed. He carried Ariel to her bed and I followed behind, wondering what kind of story I was expected to tell. Ariel snuggled down beneath her covers and grinned at me as I sat on the bed next to her.

"Goodnight, princess, I love you," Duncan said, giving his daughter a kiss before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"Okay, tell the story now," Ariel demanded.

"Uh… what do you want to hear a story about?" I asked her.

"A princess," she informed me.

"Alright…" I said nervously. "Once there was a princess… she… she didn't have any friends because she was so focused on becoming queen that she didn't realise nobody liked her. One day she entered a competition so that she could become the queen. She tried very hard not to let anyone get in her way but there was this extremely annoying boy…"

"Was he a prince?" Ariel interjected.

"No. At least, the princess didn't think he was a prince. She thought he was a peasant. The peasant boy was always trying to get the princess to admit how much she liked him, but the princess kept refusing. But no matter how hard she tried to ignore him, the peasant boy kept trying, until eventually the princess realised that she really did like him… and she kissed him. Even though the princess and the peasant fought all the time and could never agree on anything, she loved him a lot and she thought they were going to get married one day."

"Did they live happily ever after?" Ariel asked.

"No… unfortunately their love was not meant to be. The princess thought she was better than the peasant and kept trying to turn him into a prince. Since he wouldn't turn into a prince she treated him like a peasant. Then there came an evil enchantress who was in love with the peasant, and even though he tried to resist at first, he eventually fell under her spell and they ran away together. The princess was heartbroken and she vowed to never trust anyone again. She spent the rest of her life hating the enchantress and the peasant," I continued.

"This story is sad. I don't like the evil enchantress," Ariel frowned.

"It is sad, because what the princess didn't realise was the peasant was actually a prince all along, and that maybe she was the evil one, not the enchantress," I said. Ariel reached up and touched my cheek and it was only then that I realised I was crying.

"Did the enchantress and the prince live happily ever after?" Ariel asked. I nodded. "Then why are you crying? The good guys won and the evil princess was unhappy," Ariel pointed out.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," I smiled. "Do you think the princess deserves to be unhappy?" I asked her. She thought for a moment.

"I don't think so, everyone should be happy. But maybe the princess just needs to be nice to the prince from now on," Ariel said.

"Yeah, maybe she does," I smiled. "Are you going to go to sleep now?" I asked her. She nodded and immediately closed her eyes. I chuckled and stood up, wiping my face as I walked to the door to eliminate any trace of tears. I was startled to see Duncan leaning against the wall outside the door.

"Everything went okay?" he asked. I nodded.

"She said she's going to sleep. We're you listening?" I questioned.

"Nope," Duncan denied, although I wasn't completely convinced. "Want some food?"

"I already ate, thanks," I responded. Duncan nodded and led me back out to the living room.

"I think she likes you," Duncan said, referring to Ariel.

"Really?" I asked, not entirely believing him.

"Yeah, I mean she was happy for you to tell her a story. And she went to sleep after you did," Duncan pointed out.

"I guess," I shrugged like it was no big deal, but secretly it was kind of nice that Duncan's daughter liked me.

"Hey I have a question. Where's Gwen?" I asked.

"Why do you care? Looking to catch up on all times?" Duncan rolled his eyes.

"What if I did? I'm hanging out with you aren't I?" I retorted.

"Yeah, but I'm hot," Duncan said with a straight face. I raised my eyebrows at him and then burst into laughter. "I'm not joking!" Duncan defended, but he was smiling.

"You're an idiot," I grinned, giving him a playful shove. He grabbed my hand and fell back onto the couch, dragging me with him, acting like my small gesture had pushed him over. Suddenly I was kneeling over him, and he hand one hand wrapped around my wrist and the other against the small of my back, pressing me to him, and the laughter died as my breath caught in my throat. Our faces were so close that our noses nearly touched and I was caught entirely in the moment that I almost forgot I wasn't allowed to kiss him.

"Why do you have to be so enticing?" Duncan whispered. I nearly gave in at those words, I wanted so badly to pull his mouth to mine and devour him, but instead I just gave a small whimper as I disentangled myself from him and stood up.

"I should go," I said quietly.

"No, don't go," Duncan said, almost pleadingly. "I can control myself, I swear," he grinned. But can I? I wondered. I hesitated a moment but decided to stay. I sat back down on the couch next to him, leaving a good distance between us, hoping to ease the tension and cool off a little so that I could function properly.

"So, uh, what happened with you list?" I asked.

"What list?" Duncan looked at me quizzically.

"You know, people you wanted to make amends with," I prompted.

"Oh that. You were the last one on it," he shrugged.

"I was last? Why?" I pressed, slightly offended.

"I knew you'd be the hardest," he explained. It didn't escape me that he still hadn't apologised to me. But then I hadn't apologised to him either. Telling that story to Ariel made me realise I hadn't exactly been all that kind to Duncan. But what he had done to me was way worse, and I would never apologise before he did. We sat awkwardly in silence, the past hanging over us like a dark cloud, ruining the mood. Although perhaps that was for the best.

"Want to play a board game?" Duncan finally broke the silence.

"A board game, really?" I asked sceptically. He really had turned into a dad.

"We could make it interesting…" Duncan wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Duncan…" I warned, giving him my sternest look.

"What? I meant we could turn it into a drinking game," Duncan said innocently. "Unless you're scared," he dared.

"That does not work on me anymore," I informed him.

"Okay, sure whatever." Duncan said casually.

"But… it might be fun?" I gave in. Duncan grinned and ran off to get the game and the alcohol. I knew drinking in Duncan's presence probably wasn't the smartest idea, but it was better than what I originally thought he was suggesting, which was taking all our clothes off.

Duncan returned with a half full bottle of vodka, two shot glasses and Snakes and Ladders.

"If you land on a snake you have to take a shot," Duncan instructed, sitting on the floor.

"Okay," I agreed, joining him on the floor.

"Also if you land on a ladder."

"Duncan!"

"Okay, just snakes then," Duncan grinned.

I don't know if Duncan somehow rigged the board, but we both seemed to keep landing on snakes, and an hour later we were still only half way up the board and both of us were off our faces. I rolled the dice and moved four spaces, then poured myself a shot.

"That's a ladder, you idiot!" Duncan laughed as I threw back the shot.

"Oh whoops," I started giggling uncontrollably. "Also, we're out of vodka." I shook the bottle.

"Okay from now on every time you land on a snake you have to remove an article of clothing," Duncan winked. Or at least he tried to wink but it was more like a wonky blink since he was so drunk.

"Fine," I agreed, (stupidly). Duncan rolled and immediately landed on a snake, so he pulled his shirt off. I tried hard not to stare but I don't think I was very successful as I could see Duncan smirking at me.

"Roll the die, princess," Duncan commanded. I did as I was told and managed not to land on a snake, much to Duncan's disappointment. I got through three rolls without landing on a snake.

"This game is dumb," I slurred, screwing up my nose.

"You agreed to the rules!" Duncan reminded me. I sighed and started unbuttoning my top with Duncan watching me hungrily. I looked him in the eye as I undid each button slowly and seductively.

"You're right, this game is dumb," Duncan said huskily as I threw the top to the ground.

"We should stop before this goes any further," I whispered. Duncan nodded in agreement. I felt my head start to spin from the alcohol so I lay down on the ground. "Remember that time we stole food from Chef's fridge?" I giggled.

"'Course," Duncan grinned, lying down beside me. "I remember everything about that night." He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down on me. "I knew you'd come to check on me in the fish cabin." He said as he began absentmindedly (or perhaps consciously, who knows) tracing shapes on my bare stomach. I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation of his fingertips across my skin.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"I knew you wanted me," he said knowingly.

"How could you know? I didn't even know," I laughed.

"Took you long enough to figure it out," Duncan murmured, his fingers snaking lower, down to the top of my skirt. I bit my lip, knowing I had to stop him. My eyes snapped open and I grabbed his hand.

"That's enough," I warned. Duncan held his hands up and I grabbed my top, standing up, feeling a little dizzy. "I need to go home."

"You can't drive," Duncan pointed out.

"I can't stay here!" I snapped.

"At least let me call you a taxi," Duncan implored.

"Okay. Thanks."

The taxi was there in five minutes and I got in and told the driver my address, all the while feeling the lingering touch of Duncan's hands on me, and wondering if I could be so strong as to make him stop next time.


Can't believe I actually finished this chapter when I have so much else I'm meant to be doing...

I literally start each chapter with an idea in mind of where it's going to end up, but it never seems to go the way I plan haha so I hope you're all enjoying it!

Thanks for all your opinions on who Courtney should pick, I think I know how it's going to end now but I'll keep it a secret for now (although y'all will probably guess haha)

Don't know when the next update will be, sorry if it's not for a while!

Have a nice weekend! xx