Title:  Reunification

Author:  Lisbeth

Disclaimer:  I do not own these characters.

Show:  Once And Again

Synopsis:  While attending grad school, Grace runs into someone from her past

Rating:  PG for now

Feedback:  Please, please please, I thrive off of it.

E-Mail:  strangefruitgirl@hotmail.com

Chapter 2:  Roll Call

            Grace's eyes shot open at the persistent and annoying sound of her alarm clock going off at 6:00am.  Her first class wasn't until 10:00, but Grace wanted to go out for a run.  The habit had started her freshman year in college.  When the stress got a little too much for her, she began to "exercise" it away.  It came to the point where it became a morning ritual for her.  Grace felt that her day just wouldn't go right if she did not get her mornings run in.

At around 6:45, Grace returned to find that everyone was still asleep.  She took a quick shower and went to get ready for her first day of graduate school.  Even though Grace didn't feel the need the "dress to impress" she still was a little conscious about what she was going to wear.  She settled on a pair of olive green chinos and a sky blue long sleeved ribbed cotton shirt.  It took her about five minutes to blow dry her hair and afterwards she finger combed it until she was satisfied with the results.  Grace wasn't one for dramatic makeup, so she settled on a little bit of foundation and mascara, which she felt opened up her eyes – her lonely eyes.  After a short pause in front of the mirror, Grace was ready to go.

            She descended the stairs and found Rick rummaging around in the fridge. 

            "Good morning.  Since when have you become a morning person?"

            "Morning.  It has grown on me." Grace replied as she reached for a glass. 

            "I'm sorry about Jessie not being able to come down this weekend to visit.  They run her around like a chicken with its head cut off sometimes at the law firm she's interning at."

            "That's ok.  I had to drive up to Chicago anyway to get a few more things settled in.  I walked around the campus for a while to get acquainted with where the buildings are.  I even went buy my books and stuff." Grace said while preparing herself a bowl of oatmeal.

            "So, are you nervous?  What classes do you have lined up on the roster today?"

            "Well, I'm only taking four classes this semester.  I want to kind of take it slow right now.  I'm so used to Boston, Chicago is now kind of like a culture shock or something.  But, all of my classes are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  I'm taking a class on literary criticism, literary theory, Shakespeare, and a class on Russian literature, all in that particular order.  I report to my first class at 10:00 sharp."

            "Why are you up so early then?" Rick said as he put two waffles in the toaster.

            "I need to go by the English Department today to make sure that all of my papers from Boston came in.  I'm paranoid about that stuff a little."

            "Just don't overload yourself.  You remind me of your mom sometimes with that.  She took two weeks off from the show to help get you settled back in, but she still runs around as if she were working a 12 hour shift or something."

Grace laughed at the comment as she quickly finished her breakfast and went to put her empty dish in the sink.  She opened the fridge door to grab an apple and a banana and put them into her booksack then grabbed her car keys.  The clock on the coffee maker read 7:30. 

            "Tell everyone I said goodbye.   I should be back around 2:30 this afternoon."

            "Any last words from the graduate student?" Rick asked.

            "Bring it on" Grace said as she walked out the door.


            Rick continued to eat his breakfast while flipping through some work related papers when Lily walked into the kitchen with Simon in tow. 

            "Hey, good morning." Lily said while going to kiss Rick.  "I heard you and Grace down here a few minutes ago.  Don't tell me she left already."

            "Yeah, she wanted to pass by the English department to make sure everything was settled from Boston.  She seems really excited, in fact, her last words were, and I quote 'bring it on.'"

            Lily laughed while Simon ran to take his seat at the table.  Lily went to the cabinet to take out Simon's favorite bowl and juice cup.  She grabbed a box of cereal and went to fix his breakfast while continuing the conversation with Rick.

            "Well, that was one of the main reasons she returned home.  It's good that her classes are only three days a week though.  She offered to stay with mom on her two days off.  I know mom doesn't like staying with that house nurse."

            "She's worse than my third grade teacher Lily.  She treats your mom like she's five years old.  She treats us like we're five years old."

            "I think you're over-dramatizing it a little, don't you think?  Now that I think about it, I need to call Dr. Bader about that medication he has mom on.  Is it me, or is she sleeping too much lately?"

            "Lily, you can't expect her to be so gung ho about everything.  If she's tired, let her rest.  Well, I have to go.  I'm having a telephone conference with Sam this morning.  I'll see you tonight" he said as he gave Lily a quick kiss and hugged Simon before he walked out of the door.

            While everything that Grace was worried about paper work wise was indeed settled, Grace still had a little bit of time to kill, so she strolled around the campus for a while.  There was a coffee house nearby called Rumi's and Grace stopped by to read up on the campus map and her class schedule.  Even though there was nothing to be worried about, Grace was nervous about being a stranger in unfamiliar territory.  She knew that the fear would fade as soon as she got acquainted with the campus. 

            At around 9:45, she left the coffee house and walked to the English building.  Grace climbed up three flights of stairs in the building which was beginning to get a little crowded now that classes were being dismissed.  Her first two classes were small, the kinds that Grace liked.  She felt that more interaction could be shared with the other students and her professors with smaller classes.  Even though the classes looked very interesting, they also looked very boring.  But, everyone has had at least one class like that in their lifetime was what she concluded. 

            The Shakespeare class was more interesting. It would focus on Shakespeare's lesser know plays, the ones that didn't get all of the attention that some of his other works did.  She had her official first assignment, to read The Two Gentlemen of Verona for Friday.  The class had about twenty people in it, including undergraduate students.  The professor dismissed the class thirty minutes early and that gave Grace the opportunity to eat the fruit she left the house with that morning, even if she was sitting in the hallway.  

            As she climbed up a flight of stairs, a smile spread across her face at the thought that she only had one more class that day.  The clock read 1:53 as Grace walked into Room 428.  This room was almost an auditorium.  There were well over 200 seats.  While some students had already found their seat, Grace had her eyes searching on the front row.  When saw an empty chair, she bolted to it as if it were some sort of grand prize.  While there was still some time before the class started, Grace would observe the people walking in the room.  The classroom was divided up into two sections by a small set of stairs.  Grace chose to sit on the section to the right of the stairs. 

She found it hard to believe that this would be a popular class at moments.  She even rolled her eyes when she saw two boys with fraternity logos walking in talking about a keg party the night before. They reminded her of people she went to high school with.  She liked to call them frat rats.  As she internally rolled her eyes she was frightened at the thought that these were the kinds of people who were going to run the world one day.

            "Excuse me, is this seat taken?" a girl suddenly asked.

            "Oh, no."

            "Thanks.  I'm Sharon Darrow." The girl said as she extended her hand.

            "Grace Manning." She said as she shook the girls hand.

            "Are you new here?  It's just that I'm an English student and I'm pretty familiar with a lot of the students in this area of academics."

            "Well, I'm starting on my masters.  I grew up around here, but I went to college in Boston."

            "Cool.  I'm two years shy from my PhD.  This is my first time with Dr. Sutton and I've come prepared.  My cousin, Byron, had her three years ago and he gave a few tips.  First, don't ever show up late.  This woman despises tardiness.  Second, if you need the bathroom, go before or after class, never leave the class in the middle of a lecture unless it's like an emergency or something.  And finally, this woman practically feeds off of class participation."

            "Well, thank Byron for me." Grace said smiling at the thought that she may have a friend in this girl.

            "I'll thank him for us both." Sharon said just as Dr. Sutton walked into the class.  

            Dr. Sutton carried with her a brief case and she was dressed as if she were going to attend court later on that day.  Some would say she looked a little stuffy even.  As she walked up to the blackboard she began writing the title of the class.

            "This is English 502:  Russian Literature.  I am Dr. Sutton and now is the time for anyone to leave if they just realized that they are in the wrong class."

            As the two frat rats got up and walked out the door, trying to play it off, Dr. Sutton walked up to the desk in the middle of the class where she had previously placed her brief case and took out a stack of papers.  She divided them up into two piles and handed one pile to the left section of the class and the other to the right section as she continued.

            "This is your course syllabus.  On here you will find my office hours, office number, phone number, e-mail, etc, etc, etc, just in case you need to contact me.  The required books are listed as are your assignments and test dates.  I'm assuming that this class is filled with grad students who can read, so I won't waste our time going through it.  If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask me.

            I will start off by mentioning my pet peeves.  If you are going to be more than five minutes late for class, don't bother showing up.  It's rude to both me and your classmates.  If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get the notes and assignments done.  If you happen to be absent on the day of an exam, you will have the opportunity to retake it at the end of the semester.  But, I wouldn't miss them if I were you, because the make-ups are all essay.  If you think you will be absent on the day of a test or when an assignment is due, talk to me about the possibility of taking it or turning it in early.  Please use the bathroom before class, or just wait until class is dismissed. If you have some kind of medical problem with your bladder, please let me know about it.  Turn off your cell phones and pagers when this class is in session, or put them on vibrate or whatever.  Just as long as I don't hear them, I'm ok. 

            I also like class participation.  I find that if a student who has a borderline grade participated in class, I will bump the grade up higher.  If it is an intellectually interesting comment relating to what we are discussing, then say it.

            I run a tight ship around here.  I expect a lot of my students and I don't like people who come in here expecting an easy ride.  If you don't think you'll be able to do the work, then I suggest you walk over to the Deans office and drop this class.  With that being said, lets begin!" Dr. Sutton said.

            As she walked to the blackboard, everyone pulled out their notebooks and began preparing for note taking. Grace wrote the date on the top of her page and was ready to begin.  She felt nervous about the class, but at the same time excited.  She liked to be challenged, and Grace always found that the classes that demanded a lot of her work wise were almost always her favorite.

            "This class will focus in on the great masters of Russian Literature.  We will focus in on Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Mayakovsky, and Chekov."  Dr. Sutton continued her lecture on the importance of studying literature and how it relates to life itself.  It was the same babble that Grace had heard many times before in other literature classes she had taken.  She almost memorized the speech. 

In the middle of the lecture, Dr. Sutton walked up to her brief case and pulled out another stack of papers. "Before I forget, this is the roll sheet. I'm not going to go through it one by one to see who is here and who isn't.  I'm going to pass it around the class and I want you to put your signature next to your name on the sheet."  She gave it the left section of the class to start off with while she continued on with her lecture. 

About twenty minutes later, the roll sheet finally made its way to the right section of the classroom.  It soon reached Sharon and finally it reached Grace.  As Grace glanced at the page, she was about to turn the page to find her name when she noticed a name that stood out like a light in the dark – August Dimitri.  She froze.  It was if the world had stopped dead in its tracks.  For a brief second she thought that it couldn't be him, there were probably hundreds of other men by that name.  But, she still recognized his handwriting, and that was his indeed his signature.  She could feel her heartbeat rising up and her hands suddenly felt like they were in a freezer for hours. She quickly turned the page to find her name and hoped that no one noticed her moment of panic just now.  When she found her name, she tried to give her signature, but her hand was shaking so bad, she couldn't steady it. After she signed the page, Grace handed the sheet to the person behind her without even turning her head.  For the next few seconds she reminded herself to breathe over and over again, but it just didn't seem to help.  Her heartbeat was still beating at the fast and steady pace.  She even thought that it would somehow jump out of her chest and run out of the classroom.  Grace looked down at her watch and saw that there were only five minutes left to class, but it felt like five years to her.  All the while, all she could think of was if he noticed her.  Did he see her walk into the classroom?  Grace's insecurities had risen up in her once more about how no one ever really noticed her.  But still, five years ago, he noticed her.  But could he ever do it again?

Finally, the class was dismissed. She quickly told Sharon goodbye. Grace fled the room and went straight to the bathroom.  She locked herself into a stall and released a breath that she felt she was holding in for years.  She didn't know whether she should be ecstatic or terrified as she was on the brim of tears.  "How could it be?" was all she could ask herself.  She sat in the stall and heard girls walk in and out of the bathroom as she tried to collect herself.  What if he were waiting for her outside of the door?  She didn't want to think of that.  She didn't even want to think.  She felt her heart beat rise up again and even felt a little nauseated. 

After a few more minutes of silence, she walked out of the stall and washed her hands.  She somehow tried to wash her nervousness away and relished the warmth from the hand dryer.  Grace checked herself in the mirror to make sure she still looked somewhat presentable and took a few cleansing breaths before she walked out of the bathroom. She walked down the empty hallway and descended the stairs as she headed for her car.  Her watch told her that she had spent over fifteen minutes in the bathroom. 

As Grace got in her car, she felt the wave of emotions flood over her once again.  She didn't cry though.  She told herself that she couldn't cry over a man who she knew didn't harbor the same feelings for her.  All this time she thought that she was over him, but by just seeing his name and signature brought back every single memory she ever had of him.  Grace knew she was setting herself up for heartache again, and for a moment, she even considered dropping the class.  She started her car and began the drive home.

When the silence became unbearable, she quickly pressed the button which turned on the cd player in her car.  Her PJ Harvey cd was in and the last minute of "Good Fortune" was playing.  Then, as the third song came on, Grace immediately turned the volume up.  It was "A Place Called Home."  Years ago, Grace designated it as their song. The memory came back to her as the first few lines were being sung.  One day, I know, we'll find a place of hope. Just hold on to me.  Just hold on to me.  Walk tight, one line. You're wanted this time.  There's no one to blame, just hold on to me.  As the tears began to flow Grace began to sing along, "Come on my love.  I walk, I wade, through full lands and lonely.  I stumble.  I stumble.  With you I wait to be born again, with loves comes the day.  Just hold on to me." 

Grace scolded herself for letting it come to this.  She had always told herself that she would never again let someone get to her like August Dimitri had gotten to her.  She failed miserably in that task.  The rest of the drive gave her plenty of time to collect herself and dry up her tears.  As she pulled into the driveway she checked herself in the mirror to make sure the tell tell signs of her crying weren't noticeable.

She walked into the living room to find Lily and her grandmother watching an afternoon talk show.  Lily was flipping through a magazine while Barbara was busy concentrating on the television. 

"Hey mom, grandma." Grace said as she acknowledged the two of them.

"Hey honey, how was school?" Lily asked.

"It was good.  My classes seem really interesting.  I even have my first assignment already.  How are you feeling today grandma?"

"Good.  Today, Oprah did a show on women in their fifties.  They showed them dancing and doing all sorts of things.  I used to do stuff like that." Barbara said with glee.

As Grace walked into the kitchen, Lily followed her.  Grace observed how childlike her grandmother was now.  It saddened her to think that a woman who used to be so independent and strong was now reduced to having everyone around her take care of her.  Lily pulled out a pack of chicken breasts she was planning on grilling for dinner.  She positioned herself in a way to where she could always drop what she was doing to go check up on Barbara when she needed to.  She asked Grace to take out the onions and bell peppers to chop up. 

"Are you ok?  You're quiet.  Is there a class you're worried about?" Lily asked.

"No, I just have a little headache, that's all.  I took something for it though." Grace lied. 

As she pulled out the chopping board and knife, Grace began to chop up the vegetables for dinner.  She wanted the subject of school to be dropped so she brought up something else to discuss.

"So, is Les creased that you took two weeks off from work or something?"

"Well, I figured that I needed some down time in the first place.  I'm only doing the show three days a week now that you're grandmother's illness has sort of "moved forward" if you will.  Les said that they would run a few "best of" clips or something.  I know you wanted to go to grad school in Boston, but we need you here.  I hope you realize that."

"Mom, of course I do.  I don't mind.  I know things have been getting a little rougher with her, but that doesn't mean I think you should send her away."

"Grace, you act like we want to do this sometimes!  I don't want to, believe me, but sometimes you have no choice in the matter.  I feel like she's slipping away right in front of my eyes and there is not one single thing I can do to stop it."

"It must bug you to have that feeling of being powerless.   I know I can't stand it."

"Precisely.  I'm trying to be positive, but it's just so hard sometimes.  You would tell me if you had a problem staying with her on Tuesdays and Thursdays right?  I mean, we don't like the home nurse as it is, and it would help us save some money."

"Wait, you mean I'm not going to get paid for this?" Grace joked.

"Grace." Lily said seriously.

"Mom, I don't mind.  I figure it'll be good for me in the end.  I'll be able to get my schoolwork done.  I just have to make sure she takes her medication, eats properly, and doesn't go wandering off right?"

"That's pretty much it for now. Zoe and Simon should be back soon.  He's been dying to try out the new monkey bars at the park and Zoe offered to bring him after daycare."

"I bet she doesn't mind driving around the vehicle while you're off." Grace stated.

"Yeah, well.  She's trying to save up for a car.  Your father is offering to help her out if she can keep a steady job.  She's working at Booklovers you know."

"Oh no.  They're letting her work there?" Grace asked jokingly. 

"She is a good worker.  That's the problem with kids these days.  Everything is handed to them on a silver platter.  They expect everything to come to them and don't appreciate the value of a dollar.  If there is one thing I am going to instill in that girl, it is that lesson.  You, I think you picked it up on your own." Lily said.

As the two continued their conversation, Grace heard the family vehicle drive up.  Simon ran into the kitchen and into Grace's arms.

"Grace!  I did it, I went all the way across the bars after only five tries!" Simon belted.

"That's wonderful!  Did you race with Zoe to see who could do it faster?"

"Zoe was too afraid I would beat her."

"Yeah, that's right!  I was shivering in a panic." Zoe said as she walked into the door.  "So Grace, when am I going to get to drive your car?"

"Ummmm, how about never!" Grace said.

"Oh come on, I'm a responsible driver, most of the time."

As Grace went finished chopping the last onion, she went to wash her hands and exited the kitchen.  She wanted to get a head start on her reading assignment and review over her notes.  Even though she knew she could do it the next day, she still needed something to distract her from him.

Grace plopped herself down on her bed and reached into her backpack for her Shakespeare textbook.  She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for and began reading.  After reading the same paragraph five times, she gave up on the assignment for the time being.  Her thoughts kept running back to August.  She felt like it was like an illness that never really left her body but just lied dormant, waiting for the perfect time to come back and attack her.  Grace hated comparing him to that, but it was the bitterness and anger in her that was talking.

She reached into the night table next to her bed and pulled out the book of works by Chekov that he gave her five years ago.  Every now and then Grace would find herself just staring at the book, touching it lightly, as if it were the most fragile thing.  She opened the book to the page which held the inscription he wrote for her.  She read it aloud, "To the girl with the loneliest eyes – love August."  She forced herself to hold back the tears which were threatening to fall as she put the book to her nose and breathed in the essence of it.  Grace came to love the smell of old books.  It made her wonder about just where the books had been.  Who once owned those books.  The smell reminded her of him in every way possible.  Every time she opened the book, she thought of him.  She wondered what he smelled like sometimes.  She wondered if she would ever get the chance to find that out.

            As her thoughts drifted, Grace heard a knock on her door.  It was Zoe telling her that dinner was ready.  Grace quickly saved up the book and tried to clear her mind of its previous thoughts.  Once again taking a deep breath, she turned off the light and walked downstairs to meet her family.