GRACE
by Chococat101

Chapter 2

"It all started in college I suppose," Howard started and quickly added, "yes, I went to college Duo-- I worked with Gracie's dad in Engineering. He was a real great guy to get along with-- which Gracie picked up from him--" Howard smiled warmly at Grace and continued, "we became real good friends, even brothers-- I was more of big brother, being that he was much younger than I... which is quite an amazing story... but let's keep with this plot. So anyway, his dream was to be an architect in the colonies and he soon fulfilled it... as he did with all his dreams. The last time I saw Gracie was when she was nine..."
"Right before my sister was born," Grace smiled faintly, but everyone could see the pain in her grin, "You would've loved her too. She took after mom with the silvery-blonde hair and razor blue eyes, but had dad's sense of humour-- even in her young age."
"Did they make it out the war alright?" Howard asked tensely, "And your father?"
Grace looked down with suddenly darkened eyes and slightly shook her head.
All fell silent.
"Well!" Relena broke the silence scratching the back of her head, "I better be on my way! You know, meetings, ending world hunger, feeding Miliardo, the usual... buh-bye!"
And in a gust of wind Relena took off.
"Yeah, I should help her, Miliardo tends to bite people..." Heero nodded nervously and took off in another gust of wind.
Howard was about to say something when the phone rang and a worker came out saying, "It's for you Howard!"
"Coming," Howard stood up and went over.
Duo sat in the seat across from Grace that Howard had been sitting in and took her hand.
Graces eyes opened surprised as she shot Duo a look of clueless innocence.
"I know... how it is to lose someone," Duo whispered, for the first time in his life he had a serious tone of voice.
"It's so hard isn't it?" Grace looked at him, her eyes welling a bit, "not knowing where to go, or what's going to happen to you, isn't it?" She grinned faintly and looked down, "But, I don't suppose you understand where I'm coming from... not many do... they just look at me and say they do because they pity me."
Another first, Duo had no idea what to say as he looked at this girl. Why did she already remind him so much of a female version of himself? Even her hair and it's long length.
Duo smiled changing the subject, "So, you think Deathscythe's a legend, ah?"
"Oh yes," Grace nodded enthusiastically, "All the GunDams are, but Deathscythe is my favorite!"
"Really," Duo grinned proudly, "and why would that be?"
"It's the coolest looking one of course! Black is the ultimate colour! I would've made my..." Grace stopped biting her tongue, "Uh... never mind..."
Duo looked at her curiously.
"Gosh I'm thirsty," Grace changed the subject, "You wouldn't happen to have anything to drink would ya?"
"In there?" Duo looked in the garage, "Nah, well, maybe some milk as old as Howard... but I don't think you wanna take those chances."
He looked at Grace, "What?"
"Do you really think anything is that old," Grace laughed.
"I heard that!" Howard called from inside the garage.
They all laughed.
"Well, why don't I take you out, eh?" Duo stood up and helped Grace up as he continued to hold her hand, "I'm guessing this is your first time on Earth right?"
"Yeah," Grace nodded as she and Duo began walking.
"Well, just you wait babe," Duo put his arm around Grace's shoulders as they started off, "This place is justjam-packed with surprises... and I just happen to be one of'em."
"Well, isn't that a smooth one," Grace grinned as her Hazel Brown eyes looked up into Duo's own purple blue ones.
Duo grinned and they continued on.

Don't hurt this one Duo, Howard thought as he looked at them with the phone to his ear, whatever you do, just don't hurt her.

"That ship you rode in on," Duo started as they sat in a coffee shop and were served their drinks, "Is that Peace Million?"
"Peace Million?" Grace started looking down at her drink with curiousity, "Nah, I don't think so. Just some worthless piece a junk I picked up from the junk yard." Grace took a sip of her drink and lit up automatically, "Wow! This stuff is great! It's so good! I've never had something quite as good as this! Like... like... chocolate only creamy and... milky... yeah! That's it! Creamy Chocolate stuff! This is amazing! Could something taste so good?" She took another gulp, "Man o' man! Where has this been all my life! This stuff is fantastic!"
Duo stared at Grace wide-eyed as she kept on rambling on about her chocolate milk thinking, this chick talks almost as much as I do!
Duo began laughing as Grace moped in her chair staring at her empty glass, "Finish, eh?"
"Hey," Her eyes lit up as she looked at Duo's cup, "You didn't even TOUCH yours."
"Want some?" Duo smirked evilly.
"Sure!" Grace exclaimed and Duo gave her the glass. She took a big gulp and immediately stopped with her eyes wide open as she put down the cup and swallowed as hard as she could, being polite not to spit all over the table.
"Like?" Duo grinned, knowing the answer.
"THAT WAS GROSS!!!" Grace yelled at him, "WHAT IS THAT LIQUID MUD OR SOMETHING? THAT'S NOT THE CREAMY LIQUID CHOCOLATE STUFF I WAS DRINKING!!!"
"Welcome to the world of iced-coffee, babe," Duo leaned back in his chair and sipped down the rest of his coffee.
"Jeez, no wonder you still live on Earth," Grace rolled her eyes, "You need the mud to live off of."
Duo chuckled, "And how do you know what mud tastes like?"
"Because I just drank that stuff!" Grace exclaimed.
"Let's go," Duo smiled leaving money on the table as he got up.
"What's that?" Grace pointed at the paper.
"Money," Duo answered thinking she was joking.
Grace looked up at him innocently, "Well, what's money?"
Duo looked at her wide-eyed and took her outside.
"You don't know what money is?" He asked shocked as they walked down the block.
"No." Grace shook her head.
"And you didn't know what Chocolate Milk was or Coffee either then, right?" Duo stopped and ducked into an alley way.
"No," Grace shook her head again.
"How did you survive this long?" Duo looked at her.
"With my dad's programs and plans built into..." Grace stopped and whispered very softly, "Silence of Death."
"What's that?" Duo asked.
Grace looked down and around then back at Duo and whispered, "My GunDam."