A/N: Thanks SO much to all of you for your time, comments, and praise! This has been a lot of fun.
Back in June when I first thought of Grace, I planned to tell the story of Max and Logan's reunion as well. But summer went by too quickly, and now it's less than three weeks before Season 2. After seeing the promos I've decided to stop here and leave the reunion in the far more qualified hands of the DA writers and cast.
Instead, here's a little farewell to Grace (for now). I hope that as Season 2 gets rolling there will be plenty of "space between" this year's events to bring her back now and then as a friend to our friends. (Besides, I want to try writing some non-Grace stories.)
Thanks again!
-----------------------------------------
Jake, the young first-floor admin, looked up as Grace stepped out of the elevator.
"Hey, Gracie. Uck, what's that stench? You smell that?"
"Yup."
"Oh, man! It's putrid! What the frig is it?"
"It's me," Grace said, passing by the admin desk with a grim smile. A drunk had vomited all over her. She was heading directly for the ladies' room, clutching a set of scrubs, a garbage bag, and a big bottle of the disinfectant they used in the operating suites.
"Jesus!" Jake waved a hand in front of his face. "You got company in your office. You might wanna clean up first."
"Who is it?"
In spite of his disgust, Jake smirked at Grace. "It's a guy. And not one who works here."
Grace's heart stopped cold for a moment. It couldn't be .... then she realized Jake was still talking. "Black dude, good looking. Says he's an old friend." Grace's heart resumed beating with a painful thud. "He's dressed nice, so you might wanna --"
"I get it," Grace snapped, hoping to duck into the staff bathroom unseen, but it was too late. To her dismay Bling stepped out of her office, smiling. "Hello, Grace," he said warmly. Flustered, Grace backed away, holding up both hands. "Don't -- " she began.
Bling immediately stopped smiling, though he didn't look angry. "Maybe I better come back another time," he said.
"I'm kind of a mess -- "
"No problem. Just stopped by to say hi. Another time." He turned away and Grace felt a wave of relief, followed by a second wave of pure panic. She was afraid to talk to Bling, and she was even more afraid to let him walk away like that, her last link to Logan and everything that had happened last year. It felt like being abandoned. Impulsively she called out, "Hey, sorry! Don't go!"
Bling immediately turned back. "You sure? It's no big deal."
"Yeah." Grace indicated her ruined clothes. "Just give me a couple of minutes, okay?"
Her hands shook as she locked the bathroom door and stripped off her sodden clothing, dumping it in the garbage bag with a big splash of disinfectant. There had been no contact at all between her and Logan's world for nearly two months now. Not since the night Bling had told her she was free to go, that it was no longer necessary for her to help maintain the illusion that Logan was in Seattle. She hadn't asked any questions. And since then, not a word from any of them -- Logan, Max, Lydecker, even Bling -- until today.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked upset, scared, suspicious. And that was exactly how she felt. What did Bling want? She splashed water on her face, scrubbed her arms and hands, talking to her reflection. "Okay, he can't be dead or anything like that, or Bling would have made a bigger deal out of this. But he's not looking to tell me what a huge mistake he made, letting me go. Same reason, right? Maybe Bling wants exactly what he said he wants, just to know how I am. So how am I? Oh, I don't know. Ugh!" Torn between dread and anticipation, she knotted the garbage bag and after a deep breath, unlocked the door.
"Sorry," she apologized again as Bling leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Crazy day."
"You don't have to tell me. I work around this place once in a while, remember?"
"Right. So. Do you have a few minutes? Want to sit down somewhere? Are you hungry?" She knew she was chattering, but she was horribly nervous and couldn't help herself. As always, though, Bling tactfully pretended to ignore the obvious.
"Tell you what. Let's go get a cup of that delicious cafeteria coffee and sit down somewhere." He looked over his shoulder. "Somewhere we can talk for a few minutes."
"Do you mind the cold?"
"Doesn't bother me."
Grace dumped the garbage bag in her office, threw on her coat over the thin blue scrubs, and took him to the courtyard, where she had not been since the days with Logan. Now, in winter, the trees were bare and brown, and the ground was covered with last week's hard, dirty snow. But the brick path and Grace's favorite bench had been cleared, and the wind chimes in the tree above rang gently in the cold air. They huddled over their cardboard coffee cups, breathing in the steam.
"It's good to see you, Grace. How are you?"
Grace opened her mouth to say something funny, couldn't think of anything, then reluctantly settled for the truth. "Look, how I am right now is dying of curiosity. I don't want a lot of details, I just want to know what happened -- I mean, did they --" She stopped. The words wouldn't come out.
"Fair enough. Headlines only?"
Grace nodded.
"Let's just say they've crossed paths again. Wasn't quite the way Logan thought it was going to be, but it happened."
"Okay." In spite of herself, she was stunned. After all that, Max had let herself be found? For a moment she was angry, then she stopped herself. This was none of her business now. What did she care? "And? Is there a happy ending?" she asked carelessly.
"Too soon to tell. Things are a little ... complicated."
Complicated. Same word Max had used. I don't even want to know what this is about, Grace realized. "Too bad," she said shortly. "Anything else?"
"Nope. Not unless you want to hear it all."
Grace stuck her fingers in her ears. "I can't hear you, I can't hear you," she chanted like a little girl, and Bling laughed.
"Understood. Besides, I wouldn't put all that on you. I didn't come to talk about Logan. I came to talk about you."
"Sure. Wanna hear about my hot new boyfriend? My fabulous luxury cruise to Mexico?" She meant to be flippant, but the words came out sharper than she had intended. And just saying the word 'Mexico' out loud gave her a chill.
Bling frowned. "Very funny. Now I want a straight answer. How you doing?"
Grace gave up. "Oh, I don't know," she admitted. "I wish I did have something to brag about, but the truth is, I've just gone on living my life. I'm still trying to process everything that happened, and I don't have any brilliant ideas for what's next. Boring, huh? But that's me for you."
"You're not boring. But maybe you're a little bored."
"You mean without Logan? He's a great guy, but --"
"That's not what I meant." Bling settled himself more comfortably on the bench. "Look, Grace, one of the reasons I came by today was to tell you I know you saw Max and helped her out."
"You what?"
"She told me all about it."
"Are you serious? Did she tell --"
"I don't think so." He glanced around, lowered his voice. "Her sister is fine, by the way."
"Good," said Grace faintly.
"You did a good thing that night, Grace. And afterwards too."
"That's me. Good Deeds R Us."
Smiling, Bling shook his head. "Now I know you've been hanging with Max. You're turning into Wisecracks R Us. Can we get serious for a minute? I want to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
Bling leaned forward. "Do you believe in destiny?"
Grace was startled. "That's a serious subject, all right."
"Do you?"
"No." Grace was definite. "I wouldn't last a day here if I believed that God had all these folks destined for suffering. Or, to bring it closer to home, I'd never tell Logan that he was destined to end up in a wheelchair. That's obscene. It wasn't written in the stars. He was shot by a person who made a deliberate choice to do something evil."
Bling nodded thoughtfully. "What about the good kind?"
"The good kind of what?"
"Destiny. Being in the right place at the right time."
"That's not fair, is it? I'll take the good kind of destiny, but pretend the bad kind doesn't exist? That's cheating."
"Maybe." Bling hesitated. "But here at the hospital, you must have seen some things that aren't so easy to explain. There must have been times you thought some power was moving events. A good power."
Grace sighed. "Sure, but ..." She shrugged. She wasn't really in the mood for mysticism. "Why?"
"Mind if I talk about myself for a minute?"
Grace nodded.
"Grace, you and me, in a lot of ways we're coming from the same place. We didn't know Logan back when, in his old life. That's only a story to us. We met a guy who needed help, gave him that help. That's all it was at the start.
"I remember when I first got the job with him. To me, it looked like a damned good gig. Rich guy, nice apartment, no family hanging around expecting me to be a housekeeper or a masseur or any of that nonsense. Just a nice, quiet, steady job."
He smiled at Grace. "But you know how it is. He's got a way of making you care about him. As he got better, got back to work, one way and another I got involved. At first it was just knowing how to dump all of his computer files in an emergency. Later, it was a lot more.
"And you know what? I really started digging it, Grace. I still do pt work to earn money, but what I do for Logan -- I wouldn't give it up for anything. Not now."
"What's that got to do with destiny?"
At first she thought he had changed the subject again. "After the Pulse, I set aside thinking about the bigger picture, you know? The meaning of life and finding myself and all that. I just wanted to keep a roof over my head until the world settled down a little bit.
"Now I see the world ain't gonna settle down any time soon. And I'm starting to think that maybe this stuff that we've gotten ourselves involved in -- maybe he's right about that. Maybe this is our big picture, right here, right now. Today.
"Maybe I'm being offered a chance to be a part of that. And you know what? I'm thinking, I'm gonna take it." He leaned back on the bench, watching Grace.
"Destiny," she said after a moment.
"Maybe so," he agreed.
She nodded. "And you're thinking maybe ... destiny is making me an offer too?"
He smiled. "Admit it. It wasn't all bad, that night with Max. She told me you handled yourself pretty good."
"I'm honored."
At that, he laughed out loud. "Oh, I wish I'd been a fly on the wall that night." Then, growing serious, he added, "So you'd be just as satisfied if you never heard from any of us again?"
"Well ... "
"Yes?"
"I'd think a lot more of your theory if it weren't for the, uh, personal issues involved. But if you think I want to go back there, you're mistaken."
"Agreed. Now is not the time. But one of these days ... who knows?"
Grace didn't answer. She couldn't. He was right. Part of her had loved the adventure. But there was no way she was ready for more, not right now. If she could have torn her feelings for Logan right out of her heart, maybe ... but she still hadn't quite figured out a way to do that. Finally, unconvinced, she said, "I don't know. I think my work here is done, you know?"
He didn't push it. "Something to think about. Will you do that?"
"Sure," Grace smiled. He'd been good to her. She'd put that thought away for a while and take it out again some sunny day when she hadn't seen any of them for a long time.
He looked at his watch. "All right. I'd better run."
Together they walked down the brick path and through the doors into the hot, noisy hospital corridor. He gave her a hug. "You take care, okay? And I'm not going to say goodbye. Just, until we meet again."
She breathed on her cold hands. "You sound pretty sure about that."
Over Bling's shoulder, she saw Jake waving at her. "Hey Grace, where ya been? Fifth floor's looking for you. They wanted you up there ten minutes ago."
"I have to go," she said apologetically, signaling Jake that she'd heard him.
"See you," Bling said quietly, and before she reached the elevator doors, he was gone.
Back in June when I first thought of Grace, I planned to tell the story of Max and Logan's reunion as well. But summer went by too quickly, and now it's less than three weeks before Season 2. After seeing the promos I've decided to stop here and leave the reunion in the far more qualified hands of the DA writers and cast.
Instead, here's a little farewell to Grace (for now). I hope that as Season 2 gets rolling there will be plenty of "space between" this year's events to bring her back now and then as a friend to our friends. (Besides, I want to try writing some non-Grace stories.)
Thanks again!
-----------------------------------------
Jake, the young first-floor admin, looked up as Grace stepped out of the elevator.
"Hey, Gracie. Uck, what's that stench? You smell that?"
"Yup."
"Oh, man! It's putrid! What the frig is it?"
"It's me," Grace said, passing by the admin desk with a grim smile. A drunk had vomited all over her. She was heading directly for the ladies' room, clutching a set of scrubs, a garbage bag, and a big bottle of the disinfectant they used in the operating suites.
"Jesus!" Jake waved a hand in front of his face. "You got company in your office. You might wanna clean up first."
"Who is it?"
In spite of his disgust, Jake smirked at Grace. "It's a guy. And not one who works here."
Grace's heart stopped cold for a moment. It couldn't be .... then she realized Jake was still talking. "Black dude, good looking. Says he's an old friend." Grace's heart resumed beating with a painful thud. "He's dressed nice, so you might wanna --"
"I get it," Grace snapped, hoping to duck into the staff bathroom unseen, but it was too late. To her dismay Bling stepped out of her office, smiling. "Hello, Grace," he said warmly. Flustered, Grace backed away, holding up both hands. "Don't -- " she began.
Bling immediately stopped smiling, though he didn't look angry. "Maybe I better come back another time," he said.
"I'm kind of a mess -- "
"No problem. Just stopped by to say hi. Another time." He turned away and Grace felt a wave of relief, followed by a second wave of pure panic. She was afraid to talk to Bling, and she was even more afraid to let him walk away like that, her last link to Logan and everything that had happened last year. It felt like being abandoned. Impulsively she called out, "Hey, sorry! Don't go!"
Bling immediately turned back. "You sure? It's no big deal."
"Yeah." Grace indicated her ruined clothes. "Just give me a couple of minutes, okay?"
Her hands shook as she locked the bathroom door and stripped off her sodden clothing, dumping it in the garbage bag with a big splash of disinfectant. There had been no contact at all between her and Logan's world for nearly two months now. Not since the night Bling had told her she was free to go, that it was no longer necessary for her to help maintain the illusion that Logan was in Seattle. She hadn't asked any questions. And since then, not a word from any of them -- Logan, Max, Lydecker, even Bling -- until today.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked upset, scared, suspicious. And that was exactly how she felt. What did Bling want? She splashed water on her face, scrubbed her arms and hands, talking to her reflection. "Okay, he can't be dead or anything like that, or Bling would have made a bigger deal out of this. But he's not looking to tell me what a huge mistake he made, letting me go. Same reason, right? Maybe Bling wants exactly what he said he wants, just to know how I am. So how am I? Oh, I don't know. Ugh!" Torn between dread and anticipation, she knotted the garbage bag and after a deep breath, unlocked the door.
"Sorry," she apologized again as Bling leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Crazy day."
"You don't have to tell me. I work around this place once in a while, remember?"
"Right. So. Do you have a few minutes? Want to sit down somewhere? Are you hungry?" She knew she was chattering, but she was horribly nervous and couldn't help herself. As always, though, Bling tactfully pretended to ignore the obvious.
"Tell you what. Let's go get a cup of that delicious cafeteria coffee and sit down somewhere." He looked over his shoulder. "Somewhere we can talk for a few minutes."
"Do you mind the cold?"
"Doesn't bother me."
Grace dumped the garbage bag in her office, threw on her coat over the thin blue scrubs, and took him to the courtyard, where she had not been since the days with Logan. Now, in winter, the trees were bare and brown, and the ground was covered with last week's hard, dirty snow. But the brick path and Grace's favorite bench had been cleared, and the wind chimes in the tree above rang gently in the cold air. They huddled over their cardboard coffee cups, breathing in the steam.
"It's good to see you, Grace. How are you?"
Grace opened her mouth to say something funny, couldn't think of anything, then reluctantly settled for the truth. "Look, how I am right now is dying of curiosity. I don't want a lot of details, I just want to know what happened -- I mean, did they --" She stopped. The words wouldn't come out.
"Fair enough. Headlines only?"
Grace nodded.
"Let's just say they've crossed paths again. Wasn't quite the way Logan thought it was going to be, but it happened."
"Okay." In spite of herself, she was stunned. After all that, Max had let herself be found? For a moment she was angry, then she stopped herself. This was none of her business now. What did she care? "And? Is there a happy ending?" she asked carelessly.
"Too soon to tell. Things are a little ... complicated."
Complicated. Same word Max had used. I don't even want to know what this is about, Grace realized. "Too bad," she said shortly. "Anything else?"
"Nope. Not unless you want to hear it all."
Grace stuck her fingers in her ears. "I can't hear you, I can't hear you," she chanted like a little girl, and Bling laughed.
"Understood. Besides, I wouldn't put all that on you. I didn't come to talk about Logan. I came to talk about you."
"Sure. Wanna hear about my hot new boyfriend? My fabulous luxury cruise to Mexico?" She meant to be flippant, but the words came out sharper than she had intended. And just saying the word 'Mexico' out loud gave her a chill.
Bling frowned. "Very funny. Now I want a straight answer. How you doing?"
Grace gave up. "Oh, I don't know," she admitted. "I wish I did have something to brag about, but the truth is, I've just gone on living my life. I'm still trying to process everything that happened, and I don't have any brilliant ideas for what's next. Boring, huh? But that's me for you."
"You're not boring. But maybe you're a little bored."
"You mean without Logan? He's a great guy, but --"
"That's not what I meant." Bling settled himself more comfortably on the bench. "Look, Grace, one of the reasons I came by today was to tell you I know you saw Max and helped her out."
"You what?"
"She told me all about it."
"Are you serious? Did she tell --"
"I don't think so." He glanced around, lowered his voice. "Her sister is fine, by the way."
"Good," said Grace faintly.
"You did a good thing that night, Grace. And afterwards too."
"That's me. Good Deeds R Us."
Smiling, Bling shook his head. "Now I know you've been hanging with Max. You're turning into Wisecracks R Us. Can we get serious for a minute? I want to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
Bling leaned forward. "Do you believe in destiny?"
Grace was startled. "That's a serious subject, all right."
"Do you?"
"No." Grace was definite. "I wouldn't last a day here if I believed that God had all these folks destined for suffering. Or, to bring it closer to home, I'd never tell Logan that he was destined to end up in a wheelchair. That's obscene. It wasn't written in the stars. He was shot by a person who made a deliberate choice to do something evil."
Bling nodded thoughtfully. "What about the good kind?"
"The good kind of what?"
"Destiny. Being in the right place at the right time."
"That's not fair, is it? I'll take the good kind of destiny, but pretend the bad kind doesn't exist? That's cheating."
"Maybe." Bling hesitated. "But here at the hospital, you must have seen some things that aren't so easy to explain. There must have been times you thought some power was moving events. A good power."
Grace sighed. "Sure, but ..." She shrugged. She wasn't really in the mood for mysticism. "Why?"
"Mind if I talk about myself for a minute?"
Grace nodded.
"Grace, you and me, in a lot of ways we're coming from the same place. We didn't know Logan back when, in his old life. That's only a story to us. We met a guy who needed help, gave him that help. That's all it was at the start.
"I remember when I first got the job with him. To me, it looked like a damned good gig. Rich guy, nice apartment, no family hanging around expecting me to be a housekeeper or a masseur or any of that nonsense. Just a nice, quiet, steady job."
He smiled at Grace. "But you know how it is. He's got a way of making you care about him. As he got better, got back to work, one way and another I got involved. At first it was just knowing how to dump all of his computer files in an emergency. Later, it was a lot more.
"And you know what? I really started digging it, Grace. I still do pt work to earn money, but what I do for Logan -- I wouldn't give it up for anything. Not now."
"What's that got to do with destiny?"
At first she thought he had changed the subject again. "After the Pulse, I set aside thinking about the bigger picture, you know? The meaning of life and finding myself and all that. I just wanted to keep a roof over my head until the world settled down a little bit.
"Now I see the world ain't gonna settle down any time soon. And I'm starting to think that maybe this stuff that we've gotten ourselves involved in -- maybe he's right about that. Maybe this is our big picture, right here, right now. Today.
"Maybe I'm being offered a chance to be a part of that. And you know what? I'm thinking, I'm gonna take it." He leaned back on the bench, watching Grace.
"Destiny," she said after a moment.
"Maybe so," he agreed.
She nodded. "And you're thinking maybe ... destiny is making me an offer too?"
He smiled. "Admit it. It wasn't all bad, that night with Max. She told me you handled yourself pretty good."
"I'm honored."
At that, he laughed out loud. "Oh, I wish I'd been a fly on the wall that night." Then, growing serious, he added, "So you'd be just as satisfied if you never heard from any of us again?"
"Well ... "
"Yes?"
"I'd think a lot more of your theory if it weren't for the, uh, personal issues involved. But if you think I want to go back there, you're mistaken."
"Agreed. Now is not the time. But one of these days ... who knows?"
Grace didn't answer. She couldn't. He was right. Part of her had loved the adventure. But there was no way she was ready for more, not right now. If she could have torn her feelings for Logan right out of her heart, maybe ... but she still hadn't quite figured out a way to do that. Finally, unconvinced, she said, "I don't know. I think my work here is done, you know?"
He didn't push it. "Something to think about. Will you do that?"
"Sure," Grace smiled. He'd been good to her. She'd put that thought away for a while and take it out again some sunny day when she hadn't seen any of them for a long time.
He looked at his watch. "All right. I'd better run."
Together they walked down the brick path and through the doors into the hot, noisy hospital corridor. He gave her a hug. "You take care, okay? And I'm not going to say goodbye. Just, until we meet again."
She breathed on her cold hands. "You sound pretty sure about that."
Over Bling's shoulder, she saw Jake waving at her. "Hey Grace, where ya been? Fifth floor's looking for you. They wanted you up there ten minutes ago."
"I have to go," she said apologetically, signaling Jake that she'd heard him.
"See you," Bling said quietly, and before she reached the elevator doors, he was gone.