Stay Safe

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Atlanta Georgia, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Lab Room

Alicia took off the latex gloves she was wearing and disposed of them in the waste bin. April joined her in disposing of the gloves and said, "So, how is everything going with Mr. tall and handsome. I would ask about Grace, but you leaving every hour to check on her pretty much spoke for how you feel about her." Alicia tucked a stray locket of hair behind her ear and started packing her things and organizing her workplace as she replied, "It really feels like she is my child which I guess she is, but she is always on my mind and I find myself constantly worrying about her." April came up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder giving her a warm smile saying, "I'm glad and happy with how you are dealing with all of this I mean some people don't take unexpected parenthood as well as you have, however you seem to have tried avoiding the question, so I will ask again how is everything going with your farm boy that has a pair of perfect blue eyes to match with Grace's." Alicia just sighed at this and said "You know things are complicated I mean it really feel like we are two hormonal teens again. I think that we both don't know exactly what to call ourselves, but we like where we are at right now. I mean when I came out from the shower this morning with nothing but a towel on, I didn't really mind the fact he was there, and he certainly didn't seem to mind for the couple of seconds. I do actually just want to take this slow and sort of enjoy what I had ruined when we were younger. April just shook her head and said, "You know it's not the same you're not like that anymore." Alicia sent her a grateful look in thanks. April took the hint about choice of topic and instead asked, "So what are you planning to do for the rest of the day." Alicia finished getting her things in order and grabbed her purse before responding, "I'm going to take Grace to the store to get some groceries for the week." They both exited the lab and headed down the hallway until they split with Alicia going to pick up Grace and April heading out of the building with both saying their respective goodbyes.

Alicia opened the doors and went to the caretaker Trish and said, "Hey Trish I came to pick her up, is she sleeping now?" Trish turned to her and replied, "Yeah I just got her down a couple of minutes ago. You know it's a good thing you basically come every hour to check on her because you seem to have this calming effect on her which made her very easy to take care of." Alicia gave her a shy smile and barely gave a whisper, "I can't help but worry over her." Trish smirked while taking her to where grace was sleeping saying, "The best parents always do. I keep up with the gossip around here pretty well and nobody knew you had a child it was very surprising." Alicia switched to a slightly uncomfortable look as she tried coming up with a believable reason, going with, "I tend to keep things private." They both reached Grace and Alicia walked up to her and slowly picked her up as carefully as she could which thankfully worked as She stayed asleep.

Alicia whispered a quick thanks to Trish and took grace in her arms out of the building. Towards the parking lot where she opened the door to her 2008 Chevrolet Avalanche and placed Grace in her car seat and began buckling all the safety straps around her even though she knew that she was pretty much indestructible. As she was heading back to the driver's side, she felt a breeze from behind her and while she had a guess as to who it was however what she actually saw was something she wasn't expecting. Clark was standing there with a bouquet of pink proteas fidgeting slightly under her gaze.

Clark tilted them bouquet towards her and said, "So you ready to go grocery shopping." Alicia gave a chuckle and said "They're beautiful and pink proteas stand for courage and strength, so I see somebody did their research, but you didn't have to get me flower's Clark I mean I was half expecting you to be needed to stop some monster. You being here was a good enough surprise for me." Clark opened the door and said, "Spending time with you is always a pleasure." Alicia stepped into the Avalanche and Clack closed the door behind her and went around to join her on the passenger side.

Clark buckled his seatbelt then looked behind him to the sleeping grace then turned to grace who sent him a finger to the mouth. They both sat in silence for the ride, but it wasn't an awkward silence for them instead it was a more of a peaceful silence where they both enjoyed each other's warmth.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Atlanta Georgia, Publix

Alicia pulled into the parking lot for Publix and asked, "Clark would you mind taking her out while I get the carrier." Clark nodded and began undoing safety straps. It was only about a ten-minute drive to the Publix near their apartment which was another ten-minute drive back to the apartment from there. Alicia put the baby carrier on and Clark walked over to her with an awakening grace in his arms who was trying to soak in the new surroundings and asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to carry her, it's really no problem I don't mind?" Alicia shook her head adamantly and said "No, Honestly I feel such a connection to her that I can only explain it as a motherly feeling and its nice to have her with me like that." Clark just sighed and nodded as Alicia locked the car and they began walking into the Publix.

Clark grabbed a cart once the sliding doors opened as Alicia pulled the list out of her purse. They entered the store with Alicia guiding where to go as Clark pushed the cart and put everything in it. They followed this pattern for every aisle up and down until they got done with the aisles and started to pick out fresh produce. Clark took a pause and asked her "Hey do you mind if I go use the restroom quickly." Alicia half paying attention to what he said and half paying attention on getting the proper bananas just told him, "Yeah sure its fine." Clark walked faster than average to the restroom while Alicia was trying to decide between two bunches of bananas.

Alicia Started thinking 'Which one should I go with, this one looks a little too ripe, but this one is bruised.' She was taken out of her thoughts as Grace began trying to reach for the ripe bananas and chuckled at the action commenting, "Well I guess you made the decision for me." She placed the bananas in a bag and then placed it into the cart. While doing that someone approached her from behind and turned her around.

Alicia turned around and froze, she was sort of expecting Clark to be there but was instead horrified to see the same guy from the bar a couple days ago that wouldn't let her go and immediately wrapped an arm around Grace. The man looked at her with a scowl saying "I don't know what the hell you did to me but I was passed out in an alley and woke up without my wallet, So why don't we get out of here to discuss what happened in private." The man grabbed her wrist but before she could yell for help and before he could actually pull her in any direction, he feels what could only be described as a hydraulic press clamping down on his own wrist. The man looked up to see an extremely activated Clark who told him, "You are going to release her right now before I throw you into a wall. You are then going to leave because if I ever see you come near my girlfriend or my daughter, I will break every bone in your body." The man was terrified, and he could have sworn that under his gaze the building got hotter. He immediately let go and backed away from them before full-on sprinting out of the Publix.

Clark let go of his hardened gaze and morphed it into one of care and apprehension towards Alicia and Grace asking her, "Are you okay? Did he do anything to you? Do you need me to do anything?" Alicia let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and let her arm fall from the protective position it had around Grace. Alicia just looked at him gratefully and answered, "Yeah, we're fine, thank you for saving us." Clark could see that her eyes were still a bit unnerved and said, "I will always be there for you when you need me. Now are we ready to go to check out." Alicia gave him a nod and they went to a cashier, paid for their items and began heading back to the car however as they began walking out of the store Clark wrapped an arm around her waist and Alicia just rested her head on his shoulder while they walked to her Avalanche.