A/N: I'm sorry for throwing yet another new character at you, but she really is necessary to Grace's character development and her relationship with Rigsby later on... I think you might be able to guess why.
Once again, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed. You guys all should win prizes for your sheer awesomeness :)
Disclaimer: you would think after this long they might consider giving it to me, but alas, it is still not mine.
A year and a half after finding out about Martin's incident, Grace found the memories of that time slowly seeping in unwanted. She tried to keep them out as much as she could but with prom approaching and her recent visit to Martin the thoughts just wouldn't stay away. She internally berated herself for breaking her unspoken code.
Grace had moped around the house for the first week after the Martin incident but she quickly decided that she was not the kind of girl who fretted over a boy. She made up her mind to be strong and carry on with her head held high, no matter what people said. She knew who she was.
Grace pushed all thoughts of Martin out of her head for the time being because the prom was that night and she was going with Tommy, the cutest boy in school. She had her dress all picked out and her shoes had been bought and her hair appointment made. All in all, she planned to be beautiful.
Grace's sister, Faith, had been very helpful with the preparations. She had already been through the whole prom experience and knew exactly what to expect. Faith was a full year older than Grace and had just come home after completing her first year of college.
"That dress looks absolutely gorgeous on you Grace!" her sister gushed as Grace stood looking at herself in the full length mirror. She smiled and blushed a little bit as her mother walked in and nodded in agreement.
"You look even prettier than Faith did," their mother teased while Faith made a face.
"I don't think that's possible…" Faith argued. "It's not fair that Grace gets the long red hair while I got stuck with stupid blonde. Everybody has blonde hair." Faith fiddled with Grace's hair, making sure all the loose strands were contained in her hair elastics before shaking her head no and pulling Grace's hair out of its up-do. "Your hair should definitely be down with that strapless dress," she added as an afterthought. Grace just nodded and let Faith fix her hair.
After a couple of minutes and a whole lot of brushing, Faith stepped back to let Grace get a better look at herself in the mirror without anyone blocking her view.
"Wow!" Grace exclaimed. "I don't even look like myself!"
"That's not true," her mother said, as she snapped several pictures of Grace in her dress. "You look exactly how you used to look when you would dress up in your princess costumes and run around the house, trying to steal my high heels and pretending to go the ball. The only difference is that now you actually are Cinderella and your date for the ball has just pulled up in our driveway."
Grace smiled and rushed down the stairs as the doorbell rang; she tried her hardest not to trip and fall as she hurried down to open the door. She was too late. A rather uncomfortable looking Tommy stood in the front hallway, holding a corsage and trapped in a conversation with Grace's father.
Grace hurried up to her date in the attempt to rescue him from what she knew would be a very intimidating conversation for Tommy.
Faith and her Mom and Dad all gathered around to say goodbye to Grace as Tommy slipped the corsage around her wrist and started to escort her to his car.
"Be safe! Don't stay out too late!" Grace's mom called after them as they disappeared into the night.
Two days after the prom, Grace was still ecstatically excited about the events that occurred that night. Tommy had been a perfect gentleman, opening doors for her, pulling out her chair, dancing with her, and finishing the night off with a kiss goodnight on her doorstep as he dropped her off back home. She couldn't have asked for a better night.
She definitely thought that she was falling for Tommy and she hadn't felt that way about anyone since Martin. That made what she saw the following week all the more difficult…
The Tuesday after the prom, Grace couldn't sleep so she climbed out of bed and wandered down to the kitchen so that she could get herself a glass of water. As she passed the front door, she noticed a car pull in to the driveway and stop. She heard her sister's high laugh float through the air as she and a boy hopped out of the car and dance up to the house holding hands.
Grace stopped in her tracks at the sound of the boy's voice. She recognized it… but it couldn't be… Faith wouldn't do that to her. Grace stayed at the window long enough to see Tommy bend down and embrace Faith in what seemed to be a VERY passionate kiss that lasted for far too long before he turned and made his way back to his car. Grace heard the sound of a key in the lock and she prepared herself for a fight as an unsuspecting Faith stumbled into the dark entranceway.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Grace nearly shouted at her sister. Faith jumped in the air, fully not expecting anyone to be awake when she got home.
"I was on a date, what do you think?"
"With MY boyfriend! I cannot believe that Tommy is cheating on me with you! I never thought that you would ever do anything like this to me!" Grace shouted, failing to keep her voice down in the night as the anger took over her.
"Shhh!" Faith hushed her sister. "Do you want Mom and Dad to come running down here?"
"You think I care about Mom and Dad coming down here? I don't. You betrayed me, you stole my boyfriend away from me, I wish you weren't my sister!"
"He never was your boyfriend!" Faith shouted back, stepping closer to Grace and clenching her fists. "He never really liked you. He only went out with you because he felt bad about your last boyfriend going crazy and ending up in a mental institution!" Faith finished with a laugh as Grace stepped towards her and slapped her across the face.
"I hate you." Grace said dangerously. "I hope you die."
She turned and ran up the stairs leaving a shaking Faith in the front hallway. Grace flopped down on her bed as tears and guilt consumed her. So much for sleeping tonight…
TBC
I know that Grace doesn't have a mean streak to her... or does she? It has to happen though, it will make sense later, I promise. The more you review, the faster you will find out why!