A/N: Well, I really hope you all somewhat like the Grace issue. And that you enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think. :-)
As soon as Alicia stepped off the plane she immediately called Grace from the nearest pay phone she spotted at the airport. She hadn't noticed her phone had battery had died while she was at Will's and there wasn't any time to charge it. She put in Grace's number, and it rang out. She tried Zach; he didn't pick up either. She then tried the home phone but again no one answered. She slammed the phone back on the hook, frustrated, and got a few strange looks. She got out of the airport as fast as she could and took a taxi back to her apartment. As she walked into her apartment, she called out for the kids. And again, no answer. They must still be with Peter, she thought to herself. She walked into her bedroom and dropped her bag by the foot of the bed. She took out the phone charger and plugged it in. It turned on after a minute or so and she dialed Grace once more.
"Mom?" Alicia knew immediately that her daughter was crying. There was no mistaking it.
"Grace, honey, are you okay? Where are you and Zach?"
"Mom." She did nothing but cry, and cry. She was, understandably, very upset. Alicia didn't know what to feel. She had done so much to try and protect her children, especially her daughter and here they were, stuck in the worst possible situation that could ever happen.
"Grace, talk to me." She now started to get anxious and her voice was reaching that pitch when she starts to cry.
"Mom?" Zach had taken the phone, and he too sounded upset.
"Zach. Tell me what is going on? Where are you?"
"We're at dads. We've been trying to call, was your phone off?" He sounded angry and Alicia couldn't blame him. When something like this happens you want to call your parents and feel safe but she had been absent.
"I'm sorry honey, my phone went flat. How has this happened?" She needed answers, and she wasn't entirely sure that Zach had any but it was definitely worth the try finding out.
"I… I don't know how it happened. Dad is trying to sort it out, but mom. Grace is not okay. We keep getting calls from people at school and just random people. It's so annoying. It's getting crazy."
"Okay, I'm coming to you right now. I'm leaving home now. I'll be there soon, okay Zach?"
"Okay, I'll let dad know."
"I love you, and tell Grace I love her."
"I will. Love you too." Alicia hung up, grabbed her keys from the kitchen and left for Peter's right away.
As she arrived to Peter's, Alicia didn't know whether she should just try walking through the door or knocking first. Peter usually knocked when he came by her apartment but this was a crisis and she wasn't sure. She stood at the door and kept either reaching up to knock or going for the handle. She stayed there for a few minutes and eventually decided to just knock. The door opened and she saw Zach standing there.
"Hey mom. Come in." He greeted and opened the door further to let her in. She reached out to him for a hug and heard Grace calling out.
"Is that mom?" Alicia heard from somewhere else in Peter's apartment. She was still upset and Alicia could hear that she was still crying.
"Yes, Grace. I'm here." She heard fast footsteps coming towards her and then Grace appeared. She was red in the face with tear stains on her cheeks and more falling from her eyes.
"Mommy." Grace barreled into her mother and gripped her tightly.
"Oh sweetie, it's going to be okay." The girl just started to cry uncontrollably. Alicia stroked her hair and gave her a kiss on top of her head every now and then. Alicia turned her head to Zach who was still standing at the door.
"Zach, honey, where's your dad?"
"He was here… He left to go talk with Eli about it a while ago." Alicia tried her hardest to suppress the urge to yell out how Peter could leave his daughter at this time. Of course something had to be done but apparently Peter couldn't even stand to be in the same room with her. Alicia started to lift Grace off her body gently and took her face in her hands.
"We'll figure all this out, okay?" She said softly. Grace nodded while wiping her tears away with her sleeves. "How about you go sit down with Zach for a bit while I call dad and see what he knows."
"Okay." Grace gave her one last tight hug and walked into the living room with Zach following her. Alicia dug through her bag looking for her phone. She walked through the relatively unfamiliar apartment until she reached the kitchen and then dialed Peter's number.
"Alicia, good." He sounded stressed, and busy. What wasn't normal about that, Alicia thought to herself.
"Hi Peter. Please, just let me know what the hell is going on."
"Okay. Here's what we know. Someone anonymously sent information about Grace being… On this site. We think it was uncovered because of all this mess surrounding the divorce. Reporters and people who want money or fame or whatever are trying to find dirt and I guess someone found something." His voice immediately got angry. Alicia could tell he would be gritting his teeth to try and suppress his anger. "No one is actually releasing any photos or footage, obviously for legal reasons that she is a minor and some of it is nudity." Alicia pressed her hand to her forehead; it was too crazy for this to happen. It couldn't be happening, and yet it was. "Eli is trying to figure out who sent this information in. He probably won't find anything, but we have to try."
"Right. Of course." They both paused, unsure of what to try and say next. Peter had informed Alicia of all he knew and there wasn't much else to know.
"How's Grace?" He asked her with a low voice.
"She's… I don't really know. She's just crying. She's upset, Peter. I don't know what she's thinking or even feeling. It isn't easy. It's the worst thing to happen."
"Understandably." He paused. "I don't mean to bring it up…"
"Bring up what?" She probed, carefully.
"Where were you this morning when it all went down?" Alicia took in a deep breath. She had let the kids know that she was going to New York for the weekend, but she didn't tell them why. She only mentioned it was work, which was a lie but she wasn't sure if they'd be okay with her seeing Will. She knew that they wanted her to be happy, but she didn't know if they were ready to handle something like her and Will. And now wouldn't be the most ideal time to bring it up, with them and especially not with Peter.
"I was… In New York for work and my phone had gone flat." She couldn't tell if he was going to believe her or not. It was definitely not the truth and after so long of knowing one another, he could usually tell when she was lying.
"Okay. Well you're there now, which is the important thing." Regardless of what he believed, he chose to forget about it. She was thankful for that, but she had a feeling that he knew where she was precisely.
"Grace. We have to tell mom." Zach mentioned to his sister.
"No. She can't know we know. I thought you stopped this, by the way." She managed to say through her sobs.
"I thought so too, but it was out there for I don't know how long. I'd assume people would take screenshots or something. Sorry Grace, but people are horrible and would do that." He said warily.
"Do you think Stiles told people?" She looked at her brother, pleading to him with her eyes to give her some good news.
"Maybe. I don't think he was all that happy that I hit him." She laughed, and it made Zach a little happier that she still had a sense of humor in this time. "If you want this to stop, we have to tell mom. It's the best thing to do, Grace. We already kept it from her last time and it has gotten worse."
"I don't want to. We'll get into so much trouble for saying anything in the first place." She was getting irritated with Zach.
"Grace…"
"No. We're not telling mom."
"You're not telling mom what?" Alicia inquired as she walked back into the room.
"Busted…" Zach whispered to himself.
"What are you not telling me?" Alicia asked again, with raised eyebrows.
"Nothing. It's not important." Grace said quickly. Zach shot her a quick look of panic.
"We-"
"Zach, no!" Grace almost screamed at him.
"Shut up Grace, we're telling her."
"Don't tell her to shut up, Zach. Just tell me." Their mother said calmly as she walked slowly towards them and sat down across from them in one of the grey lounge chairs. Grace was panicking, her tears had stopped.
"I don't want to." Grace said, tensely.
"Then I will."
"Somebody just tell me already." Alicia raised her voice, getting sick of their tug-o-war game. Zach looked down to his feet.
"We knew."
"Ugh, I hate you!" Grace yelled at her brother and turned away from him, tucking her feet up beneath her on the couch and folding her arms.
"You knew what?" Alicia asked both of them, confused.
"We knew that the webcam was hacked and that Grace was on this site thing." Zach said softly, scared of his mother's reaction. Alicia froze, processing the information. She clearly didn't hear him correctly.
"What?" She said, quietly, intensely.
"When I thought someone was RATing your computer, it was actually someone else RATing Grace." Alicia slowly shook her head, trying to figure it out.
"How long ago did you find out?"
"A couple days after I thought it was just your computer."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Zach went silent. He looked over at Grace who continued to not give them any eye contact.
"I don't know. We just didn't." Zach finally said. Alicia nodded to her son and looked over to Grace.
"Grace, why didn't you say anything?" Grace glanced over at her mother who gave her a worried smile.
"I don't know… You were busy with your firm thing, and like Zach said, we just didn't." And just like that, an ocean's worth of guilt washed over Alicia. She always wanted to be there for her kids and let them know they could tell her anything, but to them she seemed too busy for them. It was like getting a baseball bat to her stomach. Alicia stood up and went over to Grace and sat down next to her.
"Sweetie, I will always have time for you. You can come to me about anything at any time. I'm so sorry you thought that I didn't have time for you." Grace turned back around and leaned against her mother who just held her.
"Now that we're here, is there anything else that you have to tell me?" Alicia threw out there. Grace tensed up a little bit, wondering if Zach would say anything about it being Stiles.
"I don't have anything else. Promise." He voiced. Grace relaxed again, grateful that her brother wasn't such a big blabber-mouth.
"I don't have anything either." Grace mentioned.
"Okay, good. Now, Grace, dad and Eli are getting on top of this and we're all going to make sure it goes away."
"Thanks." She said quietly. She was mostly concerned with how things would be at school. Her school friends had already tried to call her and ask if she was okay but half of them just wanted to know information like 'Did you know it was happening?' and 'Did you set it up yourself?' Grace knew they were just being mean and judgmental, but she was incredibly mortified about the whole issue. No one would ever look at her the same. They'd either have an incredible amount of sympathy for her, or just blame her for not realizing what was happening and Grace didn't think she would ever be ready to face it all in school. She knew that Zach would get the same questions she would, and that he would be better equipped to deal with it. He was tough and resilient but Grace was fragile. She had definitely grown up over the past year or so, she had gotten more confident with herself but something like this breaks you. You are left vulnerable and exposed, literally in this case. Grace broke apart from her mother.
"I'm just going to go to my room. I don't feel like talking anymore." She just wanted to crawl into bed and hide under the covers until it was either all over, or she died. She didn't care which came first.
"Sure. I love you, you know that." Alicia told her.
"I love you too." Grace got up from the couch and walked out of the room. Alicia turned around and faced Zach, who looked nervous.
"It's pretty bad, isn't it?" Zach asked.
"Yes. It's pretty bad. We're handling it though." Alicia tried to assure her son the best she could. He was old enough to understand how bad it was, he was smart, but it didn't make it any easier. It made it worse knowing how bad it was and both Zach and Alicia were concerned about how bad it would actually get.
"Do you want to come home with me later?" She asked.
"I… I don't know. You'll have to ask Grace." Alicia nodded.
"I think I might want to stay here." Alicia was a little stunned by her son.
"I'm not mad at you for not telling me you knew, if that's what you're worried about. I'm not pleased that you didn't tell me… But I'm not going to be angry with you."
"It's not that. I just want to be with dad." He said carefully.
"Oh, okay. Well it's fine. I'll let you stay here. I don't expect you to go to school tomorrow though. I know it's important you go, but I know the blow back both you and your sister will get from this so if you want to stay away from it, I'm okay with it. Only one day though."
"Okay, thanks mom. I'm going to go to my room and study then." Zach gave his mother a small smile and left. Alicia just sighed heavily and fell back onto the couch. It was stressful, of course it was. She was horrified that something like this would happen to her little girl. She knew Grace was probably getting unwanted attention on account of her showing off her beauty, more than Alicia definitely liked, but she didn't know it would lead to something like this. She didn't understand that there were people out there who would be this sick and twisted. She was still just a teenager, it wasn't right.
While sitting alone, Alicia decided it was time to call Cary and check in with him. She made her way slowly back to the kitchen and went to call him.
"Alicia, hey." He sounded surprised that she was calling.
"Hi, Cary. How is everything there?"
"Uh, it's good, but really, how are you doing? How's your daughter?"
"It's getting sorted out. She's… Well, I don't know. She is upset about it, but I think she's going to be okay eventually."
"If there's anything I can do, or anyone here, just let me know."
"Thanks Cary, I think we're okay for now. Is there anything at work I can do?"
"No, no, no. You are still on you time, Alicia. Be with your family. Seriously, I'd feel like a jerk if I were to say come into work." She managed to let out a small laugh.
"Alright. Thanks Cary. I'll talk to you later."
"Sure. See ya." Alicia had to admit that Cary was most likely the best person she had worked with. He took things very seriously but he was also a little laid-back. Sometimes Alicia hated that in him, but he always did his work and made sure that the rest of their associates did too. He was getting really good at just saying the right things to her. The most comforting and understanding things, and yet he encouraged her at the same time. She really couldn't ask her for a better partner, even if she had told herself that before, she would probably say it for years to come.
At 8PM Alicia had decided to go back to her own place, Grace going with her. She wasn't entirely pleased that Zach wasn't going with her also, but he was old enough to make his own decisions and if that meant staying with his dad then she would have to accept it.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier. I had stayed as long as I could but I had to get Eli on this and get to the bottom of it." Peter told her as she was ready to leave.
"Peter, really, it's fine. I understand. Of course you had to go sort it out. I'm glad that that's what you did." She gave him a weak smile. It had been tense between them for months. He most likely wouldn't ever get over the fact that she had said she loved Will, and she didn't expect him to.
As Grace emerged from her room with her school bag and her small clothes bag Peter walked to the door and opened it up. Grace went to her father and hugged him tightly. Zach came out soon after to see them off.
"Call if you need anything, okay Zach?" Alicia asked her son as she wrapped her arms around him.
"I will, yeah." He lifted one arm up around her, not getting into the hug.
"Okay, we better go." Alicia and Grace left Peter's and began to drive home. Grace was silent the whole drive home and just gazing out the window, not really looking at anything. As they got back to the apartment, Alicia asked Grace if she wanted anything to eat.
"I can make pancakes?" She offered.
"No, I'm not really hungry." Grace brushed off.
"You haven't eaten since lunch."
"I'm just not hungry. I'm going to go to bed early." Grace said as she slowly walked to her room and closed the door loudly. Alicia wanted to be there for her daughter, but didn't want to feel like she was encroaching. The best she could do was just being in the same house as her. If she wanted to talk it was only a few steps away.
Alicia didn't feel like eating either and went straight to her bedroom. She sat on the end of her bed and closed her eyes. It was possibly the longest day she had in a long, long time. And the issue at hand had only just begun. She was tense all over and wanted the day to be over. She wanted the whole week to be over already. Instead of sleeping, she ran herself a hot bath. She lit some candles in the bathroom and got herself a big glass of wine. She slipped off her clothes and sunk into the hot water. She took a gulp of her wine and let herself relax. After ten minutes she reached for her phone and called Will.
"Hey. Hi, how's it going?" The sheer sound of Will's voice made Alicia feel better. It didn't matter what he said, just something made her feel better.
"It's crazy. I don't know what's happening anymore. Grace is being distant, which I understand. She's mortified. Zach doesn't even want to be in the same house as me though. And there are some real fucking creeps out there in this city." She didn't have the energy to filter her thoughts and words. She was very much over having to do that.
"I know. It's wrong. I don't know why people would do this. I have no idea who would be stupid enough to tell the media about it."
"Someone who wants a quick pay-day, I'd imagine." She took another sip of her wine.
"I'm sorry for Grace… It really can't be easy for her."
"No, it isn't. I can't even think what type of state I'd be in if this happened to me when I was her age. It's extremely humiliating. She's getting these horrific calls and messages about it. The kids at her school won't leave her alone." She heard Will take a deep breath.
"I'm sorry I can't do more." He said quietly.
"Just talking to you makes me feel better, so that's enough."
"I wish I could be there for you."
"Me too." Alicia was surprised that she wanted him there with her. It was a serious family issue, and she wasn't sure how he felt about family, especially a family that wasn't his. She wanted him to be there and properly meet her kids and see if they could make it all work, but it really wasn't the right time for any of that. She just wanted to be held by Will and let him just take away all the hurt and pain she was feeling for a few hours, at the least. She was definitely careful about letting him into her family. Not that she didn't want it, but it was just so soon after her separating with Peter. It was something new to her kids, and she was always going to be concerned for them. They always come first for her, and she wasn't certain how they would accept a new man into their life. She was usually opposed to it when her mother would bring home a new guy. She sure as hell didn't like the type of half of them, they were just scumbags and they would soon be gone but Alicia and Owen hated almost all of them right away. Obviously Will wasn't a scumbag, he was a very good man but it was never easy for a child to accept that their parents would be with other people. It was normally uncomfortable for them.
"Are you okay?" Will interrupted her thoughts.
"Oh, yeah. I'm okay. As okay as I can be."
"It was only half a day, but this place feels really empty without you here." Will mentioned.
"I'm in my home, with my daughter but somehow it feels pretty empty without you here with me."
Alicia talked to Will for a while longer, mostly just hearing him talk and her listening to the sweet and soothing sound of his voice. She eventually got out of the tub as the water started to get cold and as she had finished her glass of wine. She could barely get to sleep, and when she finally had it was one of the worst night's sleep she had ever gotten. She awoke early in the morning and checked on Grace, who was fast asleep. Alicia would let her take a couple more days off from school than Zach because it was just cruel to put her through the torture she would receive from the kids there.
As Alicia left Grace's room she heard a light knocking at her door. She made her way to the door, hesitant to open it, but she wondered who it could be. She steadily opened the door and was instantly shocked.
Will stood in front of her, with a beaming smile.
