Casey and Dawson were scrambling around that morning trying to get ready in time. Casey had just got home off from his shift, Dawson had to be at the Academy this morning and the twins had to be at school. Dawson was making breakfast and Casey was making lunches. They shared a smile, both thinking that they make a good team and Casey realizing this parenting thing was a lot easier with another person to help.

"How were the twins last night?" Casey asked. Having Dawson move in was an added bonus. This way he knew exactly what the twins were up to while he was on shift.

"Well, there's good news and bad news." She said as she cut up fruit for a fruit salad.

"Of course there is." Casey smirked.

Dawson smiled. "Good news is they did their homework and helped with dinner. Bad news is that Jake missed curfew by a half hour and he got detention yesterday."

"For what?" Casey frowned.

"Making out with Rachel in the girls locker room during gym," Dawson said as she looked at him. "You may want to talk to him about cooling it."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Casey nodded. "And Grace?"

Dawson sighed. "Not the best night with her."

Casey stopped and looked at her with genuine concern for his niece. "How bad is it?"

"You know, she was fine when you were in the hospital. I mean it; she was as solid as a rock and strong. But now," Dawson shook her head. "I think she is now realizing how close it was and she's having a hard time because she never dealt with all her emotional stress during it."

"I don't know what to do." Casey admitted. "I can't be here every night and I can't quit my job."

"I don't think it's like that." She said. "Remember how she was after her mom showed up the last time and when Griffin and Ben were here? She got it in her head that she could be taken away from you. Now she knows you will never leave her and she knows she won't get taken away from you, but she doesn't know that something won't happen to you to take you away from her. She knows the job is dangerous and we almost lost you, Matt."

Casey sighed. "I can't change how dangerous the job is."

"Look, I know it seems bad and you're worried but it will be okay. Jake and I already fell apart when you were in the hospital but Grace hasn't dealt with it yet. She's going through it now and it's going to be a little rough. I think the frat party on the weekend was just the start. She's going to rebel again and you're going to have to be there for her."

"I don't understand the acting out for attention thing." Casey said. "If you want my attention, talk to me. Don't do something stupid that will make me mad."

Dawson shrugged. "I think it's more like testing authority or testing to make sure you'll be there when they need you. Just promise me that if she does do something stupid and it upsets you that you won't lose your temper on her or Jake."

Casey frowned. "I won't."

"Matt, I don't want the twins to see you like how I saw you in the restaurant and I don't want them on the receiving end."

"I don't want that either," He said. "I've never lost my temper with them before."

"Gabby, do you know where my gym shoes are?" Jake interrupted as he came into the kitchen. He saw his uncle and quickly tried to escape.

"Freeze." Casey said firmly and Jake turned around. "Speaking of gym, do you plan to actually go to gym and participate in class today?"

"Yes, sir." Jake nodded.

"Good, so I won't have any more of these to sign?" Casey said as he handed Jake the detention slip.

"No, sir." Jake said as he put the slip into his bag.

"I'll pick you up from practise and we'll have the rest of this discussion." Casey said as Jake nodded. "Can you get Grace? Breakfast is ready."

Dawson waited until he was out of ear shot before throwing her hands up. "Seriously? He argued with me about it, saying it was no big deal and laughed it off. He sees you and automatically behaves."

Casey smirked. "Years of practise."

Jake came back down stairs and looked from one adult to the other. "Grace isn't here."

OOOOOOO

Grace stood outside the dance studio, leaning against the wall in the hallway as she waited for her dance teacher. She had called ahead and asked if she could join the college class today to distract herself. Her teacher, Ms. Blake, agreed because she knew something was wrong.

She was dressed for dance under her black parka jacket. She was in her black body suit, black tights, a deep burgundy sheer skirt and a black cardigan that she had thrown on to keep warm. Her hair was up in a sock bun and she was carrying her black tote bag that had her water, slippers and leg warmers.

"Tiny dancer!" Grace smiled when she heard him. "Give me a hug."

Grace dropped her bag and her coat and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he picked her up. "Hey Charlie," She smiled when they separated. He was one of the Teaching Assistant's at the summer program Grace attended and they became fast friends. Each student was paired with an assistant and Grace was paired with Charlie because she was advanced enough individually. They spent the entire summer dancing as partners and although Grace would never admit it, Charlie was part of the reason her and Tyler drifted apart.

"What are you doing here?" He beamed at her. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Grace hesitated. "I just felt like dancing. I called Ms. Blake and asked if I could join class today."

"Something wrong?" He nudged her and Grace just shrugged as she crossed her arms. "Well, you can be my partner and then maybe I can get you to spill."

Grace smiled back as he opened up the classroom. Charlie was the first person she trusted and opened up to in a long time. At first she talked to him because it was easier to talk to a stranger about what she was feeling than someone that knew her. But talking to Charlie helped her. He was a good listener, he always had advice and he had his own story so he had experience.

Grace hung up her jacket and put her bag on the bench at the back of the room after she pulled out her ballet slippers. She sat in the middle of the room and put them on as she watched Charlie talk to Ms. Blake as he got ready. He joined her in the middle of the floor a few minutes later as the students became to come in.

"Okay, class has started." Ms. Blake announced as she walked to the front of the room. "We have a visitor today. Grace is a junior in high school. She completed my summer training program in first place this year and she is better than most of you in this room." Grace tried not to laugh as she knew people were watching her. Ms. Blake was a little intense and very blunt but Grace loved her. "Partner up and let's get started."

By the end of the three hour class Grace had managed to make herself feel somewhat better. When she danced she was able to block everything else out and just concentrate. Taking a break from her thoughts really helped, but as she pulled off her ballet slippers everything started to come back.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong yet?" Charlie asked as he sat beside her.

"Matt was in an accident just before Christmas." Grace said. "He was trying to save a baby and a beam collapsed and fell on him and he got trapped."

"He's okay, right?"

"Yeah," Grace nodded, putting her ballet slippers in her bag. "He had to have surgery but he's okay now and he's back to work."

"Well, that's good." Charlie said. "So what's the problem?"

Grace stayed sitting on the floor and just stared at herself in the mirror. "I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right inside of me anymore. I feel kind of lost."

Charlie frowned. "What do you mean?"

Grace shrugged. "I can't figure out why I always go back to being that scared little girl. I finally have a normal life with an adult that is around and actually cares what happens to me. I mean, Dawson even moved in and I've never felt so much like a family but I can't shake this nagging feeling I have."

"That something will go wrong?"

Grace nodded. "I always do this. Things are good but all I can think about is now I have so much more to lose if something does go wrong. It has never been more clear to me how dangerous Matt's job really is. And I can't figure out if it was the accident or if I'm just so damaged from my parents that I don't know how to be happy."

Charlie frowned as he listened to her. "You know my Dad's in the military right? I remember when I was kid all I ever knew was that he was gone a lot. Then I got older and realized what he was actually doing. I begged him to quit but he told me-"

"That is was his job?" Grace interrupted.

"No, that is was who he was. That the world needed people like him that were willing to defend their country and fight for what is right. He reminded me that a lot of people used to make fun of me because I was a straight guy that liked to dance. But being a dancer was who I was and the world needed people to be able to be who they are and do what they love. He said that in a way, what he does allows me to do what I love." Charlie looked at her. "Does he love it?"

Grace sighed. "Yeah, he does."

"Then you need to stop thinking about how dangerous it is and how many ways it could hurt him and instead think about all the ways his jobs helps other people." He said. "It's what I did and it helps. How many people has Matt helped or saved? How many people get to go on to live their lives and their dreams because of him?"

"I don't know," Grace shrugged. "But I know it's a lot."

"It gets better." Charlie said. "Besides, when I was a junior all I wanted to do was run away from my life. I was tired of school, tired of not doing things I wanted, tired of being a kid that seemed to have no choice. I wanted to do things for me that made me happy. I wanted to be an adult, with an apartment downtown and a real job and I wanted adult friends and adult relationships. I think everyone has some kind of meltdown during junior year and starts to feel lost in this world because the world is constantly telling you to find yourself."

Grace smirked. "Are you going to tell me to define myself instead?"

Charlie grinned. "No, I think you know who you are."

"Thanks Charlie," Grace nodded. "I've missed talking to you."

"Anytime you need me, you just call." He said as he stood up and reached out his hand to pull her up.

OOOOOOO

Grace thought about going home but she wasn't ready yet. She wished Charlie didn't have to run off to class. She really liked to talking to him, and she knew it was partly because she had a crush on him. But he was older and she was smart enough to know that he wasn't interested. She figured if something was going to happen between them it would have happened already.

She wandered around the city for a bit, taking a tourist approach and making the most out of her absence from school. Grace ended up at the Fire Academy; a part of her wanting to see all those who died in the line of duty. She didn't know why, she just wanted to see it.

Grace walked down the hall, walking past the big red pillars with that read HONOUR and DUTY until she came to the display case that held the badges. She scanned the rows and rows of them, until one caught her eyes; Andy Darden.

She remembered how hard it was for the Darden boys to lose their Dad, even a year later. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to stand in front of this case and see Casey's name. Would she feel sad? Would she feel angry? Or would she feel honoured that her uncle died in the line of duty, protecting citizens of Chicago? If he had died in that fire, would the fact that he saved a baby be any comfort?

Grace didn't know any of the answers, but she knew she never wanted to find out. She turned to leave but stopped when she saw him standing there, silently watching her. He took a few steps forward and stopped in front of the case, looking in with a slight frown of pain. Grace looked into the case and forgot that he had lost his father. They had talked all the time, but that was something they never spoke about.

"Dawson called me." Mills said. "Told me you took off because you were upset and scared of losing Casey to the job. I had a feeling you'd be here."

"Dying on the job is supposed to be a great honour." Grace said. "Did you feel honoured when you lost your Dad?"

"No," Mills looked at her. "The honour lies within willing to risk your life for someone else."

"So even though your Dad died doing this, and you know what it feels like to have him taken away, you would let your own kids feel that too?"

Mills frowned slightly as he looked at her. "It's a selfless job, Grace. I chose it and that means I chose to risk my life."

"It's funny how nobody ever talks about what risking your life means to your family."

"Look at it from the other side. How much do you have to lose someone to let them do something so dangerous? Whoever I end up with is going to have to love me more than the fear scares them." Mills tried to explain. "You'll drive yourself crazy getting caught up in what could go wrong. This," He pointed to the wall. "This doesn't happen often. And you forget that he has all of us looking out for him."

A/N: Next chapter will have be Casey and Grace centric. I just have a few things to figure out on how I want them to connect so that Casey can calm Grace's fears. Please Review!