CH3

"Grace, I'm so sorry. I didn't have anything thing to do with it though." Nathan said over the phone.

"Then explain the picture." Grace demanded.

"I can't, maybe Will had it with him and it fell out of his pocket."

"He doesn't have a copy. Just get your ass to my office."

"20min?" He asked.

"Fine."

• • •

When Grace got back with coffee Nathan was waiting patiently at the door. She let him in and they went up to her office in silence. She showed him the picture. "Oh Shit." He said.

"What?"

"I gave that picture of us to some small town friends of mine. They were staying with me after we broke up."

"You stupid son of a bitch!" She screamed. He sat down looking at the floor. "What the hell made you…?"

"They're the kinda people who could do such a thing. I never thought they would get it in they're head…" Grace picked up a large heavy book and whacked Nathen over the head with it.

"Owwww!" He screamed. "Gracie!"

"I want names, addresses, phone numbers." She demanded.

"Anything. I can't believe the stupid sons of…" He said.

Grace gave him pen & paper and he started writing it down. "Is he OK?" Nathan asked.

"He'll recover." She said not wanting to talk to him. She knew it wasn't really his fault but she was too angry to have anything to do with him.

"Are you OK?" He asked her.

"Why the hell is everybody asking me that? I wasn't the one who… I'm fine."

He handed her the list with six or seven names on it. "Could have been all or any of them. Gracie, I'm so sorry. Is there anything else I can do?"

"Yes, call the police, tell them this, and offer to testify in court."

"Of course. I'll call you when I get more information."

"Good." She answered.

"May I go now?" He asked.

"Fine."

• • •

"Nathan?" Jack asked on his way into Graces office. He nodded. "What happened to you?" He said referring to the large lump on his head.

"Don't worry, I deserved it."

"Grace found out you were cheating on her or something?"

"Worse. It's a long story." Nathan answered.

"K," Jack said. And they both kept walking.

Jack walked into Graces office. "Where's Karen?"

"Out." Grace answered.

Jack took that to mean she was coming back sometime soon so he sat down and Grace sipped her coffee. "Gracie, did you hear about the gay guy that got beat up?"

Hear about it? She thought, I haven't been thinking about anything else. "I don't want to talk about it." She said looking at the floor; she couldn't lie to him.

"Why? You don't care."

How dare you accuse me of not caring. It was my best friend for fuck's sake. "What the hell make you think that?" she snapped.

"Grace, are you OK?" He asked realizing how agitated she was getting. He thought about it a little, "Grace did you know him? A friend of Will's?" He asked his tone more sympathetic. She hadn't made eye contact with him all day and he turned his head to see her face. There were dark circles under her eyes, she was quite pail but had far too much energy to be sick; she was clearly disturbed. She didn't respond to his question.

He thought about it a little more, "Oh, my, god, Grace! It was Will!" He said shocked and out of breath.

Grace nodded, trying to keep herself from crying. He put his arms around her, to both stabilize himself and comfort her. "Gracie." He said softly. "Is he OK?"

"For now, the doctors put him on powerful pain medication for the first couple days."

"Did Nathan…?" Jack asked.

Grace answered before he finished the question. "Not really, some of his friends…" She started crying.

"Gracie, are you OK?" Jack asked.

"No. No, I'm not. This whole fucking thing was my fault; I was the one who first got involved with Nathan…"

"Gracie, it's not your fault. It's nobodies fault except the people who did it."

"But…"

"No buts…" He said.

"Jack, I'm just so worried about Will. I can't believe this is happing."

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" He asked.

"Will told us not to." She answered.

"Karen knows too?" Jack asked.

Grace nodded. "She and Rosario are taking care of him now. He was worried about you. He's trying to protect you."

"Oh, Gracie." He said softly. They stayed and held each other both of them crying.

"Oh Jack, I'm so confused. I'm scared and angry and hurt and I feel so guilty because I feel like this is all my fault. And I'm so angry I feel guilty for being scared… And so alone…"

"What are you scared of?"

"Of what this could do to Will, and that something like this might happen again."

"It's no more likely to happen now than it was a week ago… The difference is that now you know it can happen. As for Will he's been through more than you know, he'll be OK. You're not alone Grace, we are all here for you both, we care about you and Will."

"Thank you Jack, I needed to hear that. I need to go home, walk with me."

"Of course." He answered.