Title: Recovery
By: Lisa Marie aka youcrazything
Spoilers: Anything up to "The Cat" and the prequel, Mystery Girl
Summary: Sequel to Mystery Girl. Luke and Grace continue to progress through their relationship as the science fair nears. Meanwhile, things with Grace's mom must get worse before they can get better.
A/N: Thanks to all the people who knew about this in advance and patiently waited on it. Enjoy!
Friedman looked up from searching through his locker to see his friend heading towards him. Luke had a smile on his face and looked a lot more lighthearted than he had been earlier that week. Friedman had a suspicion that the source of his friend's miserable demeanor throughout the week had been the one and only Grace Polk. However, it seemed that he was now over whatever funk he had been in.
"Hey buddy," Friedman greeted him when he reached the lockers. "You seem a lot more cheerful today."
"I am," Luke proclaimed. "Everything is… just wonderful."
"Would I be wrong in assuming the source of your earlier frustration was a certain short, angry blonde?"
"No," Luke admitted, scratching his head. "You wouldn't be wrong."
Friedman only nodded, his suspicions now confirmed.
"Well, I'm glad you finally came to your senses, man. The girl digs chicks, it was sad to see you following her around like a lovesick pup."
"Now that you are wrong about," Luke announced, grinning widely. "Grace and I have been together since May." And damn, but did it feel good to finally be able to say that out loud.
Friedman stopped everything he was doing and stared at his friend. With a deep, painful breath, he slowly shook his head.
"Never thought I'd see the day when Luke Girardi became dillusional."
"What?" Luke asked, grin gone and an annoyed look taking its place. "I am not dillusional. Grace and I got together at the beginning of summer, but she wanted to keep it secret. Over the weekend, Joan and Adam found out, so now our relationship is out in the open. And then, yesterday afternoon-"
"Sure, buddy," Friedman, said, patting his shoulder in sympathy as he walked away.
Luke just stood there, looking after his friend in disbelief.
Grace was shaken from her mini trance when Judith and Joan suddenly appeared at either side of her in the hallway.
"Hey Grace," Joan greeted her with a knowing smile. "Things are good now, huh?"
"Yeah," Grace answered, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Cool, coz I was planning on stealing your boyfriend to help us study tonight."
"Wait," Judith interrupted, surprised. "You have a boyfriend?"
Grace rolled her eyes, annoyed at the sudden attention that was being directed at her.
"Oh yeah," Joan said slyly. "Apparently Grace and Luke have been secret lovers since the summer."
"Luke? Your little brother, Luke?" Judith asked, shocked and amused all at once. She turned her attention back to Grace. "That's like something straight out of a soap opera."
Grace sped up slightly, wanting nothing more to escape to her locker. As they neared her locker, she saw that Luke was leaning against it, hands in his pockets and looking as cute as ever. He was obviously waiting for her, and her heart skipped a beat as she came up to him. He gave her a sweet little smile and she couldn't help but smile back before tackling her combination. She shoved her bag in her locker, slammed it shut and turned back around.
Judith had a knowing smirk on her face and was glancing back and forth between Grace and Luke. Rolling her eyes, Grace fell into step with Luke as they walked to his first class. Without warning, Judith came up behind them and squeezed up between them, wrapping her arms around each of their shoulders.
"It's like the perfect romantic story," she said, grinning cheerfully. "The last two people you would expect finding true love together."
Luke just stared at her blankly, not quite sure what to think of all this. Grace glanced to one side of her head where the offending arm protruded, then turned to glare at Judith as she went on about true love. When Judith took no notice to the icy stare, Grace grabbed the offending arm's sleeve with her thumb and forefinger and lifted it off of her shoulders. She quickly ducked under and drifted over to Luke's other side and far away from any more assault attempts. Judith looked a little taken aback and, after a few more seconds of glaring from Grace, dropped her arm from Luke's shoulders as well. Grace grabbed Luke by the arm and dragged him off in the other direction.
"It's cute really," Judith decided, looking after them as she and Joan continued to their class. "How possessive she is of him."
Joan just shrugged in response.
Later on in the Physics classroom before the bell, Luke was sitting with Friedman and Glynis waiting for class to start. Friedman was trying to enlist Glynis to help his "disillusioned" friend.
"…He thinks that he and Polk are an item or something." Friedman was telling Glynis, pity evident in his voice. "Poor guy."
Glynis leaned forward to look past Friedman at Luke, who looked rather annoyed.
"That's because they are together," Glynis informed Friedman, giving Luke a small smile. Luke sat up straighter in his seat. He had almost forgotten that Glynis already knew. Grace had mentioned something about a confrontation, but he had been to preoccupied trying to soothe her sudden jealous streak to think too much about it.
"I saw them together," Glynis added when Friedman just looked at her blankly. Friedman slowly turned to face Luke, amazement written across his face.
"You converted Polk?" he questioned in wonder. "You are like a god! You have to tell me your secret."
"Friedman," Luke said in exasperation. "She was never, is not, and never will be a lesbian, okay?"
"How do you know for sure?" Friedman pressed.
"Trust me, I know," Luke insisted, realizing too late how loaded that statement sounded. Glynis looked at him, startled, while Friedman looked at him in awe.
"How far did you get with her, man?"
"That's really none of your business," Luke stated firmly, disgusted with his sex-crazed friend.
Joan and Adam walked into the classroom then, halting any further conversation on the topic. Adam headed back to his seat, but Joan dawdled near her brother's table.
"Hey, it's my favorite little brother," she said in a syrupy tone, obviously sucking up to him.
"What do you want?" he asked, well aware of her tactics.
"Join our study group tonight," she insisted, still in a falsely sweet tone. "We have that huge test on Monday and we could really use the smartest guy around to help us."
"Sure," Luke said dismissively. Studying for physics was as easy as breathing for him, so it wasn't that big of a favor. "I've been helping Grace study anyway."
"No fair," Joan pouted. "You're giving her unfair girlfriend advantages."
"Yup," Luke agreed without hesitation.
"What happened to sister privileges?"
"You still have them," Luke assured her. Joan smiled happily and wrapped her arms around his neck in a loose hug.
"Thanks, you're the best," she said before she released him.
"That'll last all of a day," Luke commented as she went back to her seat. Grace entered the room and plopped down in her seat with a sigh.
"You're coming over to my house tonight. Luke's gonna help us study," Joan told Grace after she sat. Luke turned in his chair to face them.
"We should probably work on the science fair project as well."
Joan snickered at this, earning a glare from Grace. Surprisingly, it was Adam who commented.
"There wasn't a lot of work going on last time, yo."
"Shut up, Rove," Grace shot back at him. Adam only smiled and went back to sketching in his notebook. Grace chose to ignore the peanut gallery and turned her attention to Luke.
"I'll look over the list you gave me and toss out the lame ideas," she promised, uncapping her pen to doodle in her notebook.
"Lame ideas?" Luke repeated, somewhat offended.
"What?" Grace asked, not seeing the big deal. "Not everything you do can be brilliant."
Deciding that she had complimented him more than insulted, Luke smiled and nodded, then turned back to the front of the room as the bell rang.
That night Grace, Adam, and Judith were over at the Girardi's getting ready to study. Joan was in Adam's lap and they were being extremely cuddly and disgustingly cute. Judith kept "aww"-ing and going on about how adorable they were while Luke simply ignored them and Grace controlled her urge to vomit. She watched with undisguised disgust as Adam whispered something in Joan's ear and she let out a girlish giggle. Grace turned to Luke.
"Promise me if I ever make a sound like that, you'll put me out of my misery."
Luke smiled fondly at her and moved so that he could stroke her hand that was resting on the table.
"Promise."
Luke turned back to flipping through his notes, but continued to stroke the back of her hand with his thumb. It was so subtle that the others probably hadn't noticed, but Grace found a strange sense of pleasure in not feeling like she had to hide. Maybe being out in the open with their relationship wasn't so bad after all. She smiled to herself and discreetly entwined her fingers with his.
Luke looked down at their joined hands, over at the others, then back at Grace. He looked pleased at her show of affection, but opted not to comment. Instead, he made sure he had everyone's attention and started going over the material in an efficient manner.
Later on, Judith, Adam, and Joan decided to watch a movie before the two guests would head home. Luke and Grace passed on the movie, deciding to go up to his room to work on their project instead.
"Hey you two," Joan called out as they were about to go up the stairs. "Make sure to get some work done between making out."
Luke shook his head in amusement while Grace rolled her eyes. Neither responded as they turned to continue up to his room.
Once there, they managed to show some self-constraint by not attacking each other upon stepping into the room. Instead, they sat on Luke's bed to discuss the ideas.
"I circled the ones that I chose," Grace told Luke as she handed him her copy of the packet.
"Thirty ideas and only three were not 'lame'?" he asked her, a bit insulted.
"I was wrong," Grace admitted, shrugging. "They were all brilliant ideas. I just chose the ones that sounded the coolest."
Luke basked in what he was sure would be the closest thing to a compliment one could receive from Grace. He looked to see which of his ideas were deemed "cool" by Grace.
"Looks good," Luke amended with a nod of his head. "Do you want me to explain anything further?"
"Sure," Grace said, lying down on her side so that she was still facing him and her head was propped up on her hand.
Luke paused a moment before delving into an explanation on one of the projects, enjoying the way she never seemed bored with his long explanations. She just made herself comfortable and looked up at him expectantly.
"Contrary to what some may think, gravity isn't secluded to the earth alone," He informed her. She nodded slightly, a clear sign to him that he had her full attention. "Gravity affects everything. Say for example, if I were to try to measure the rate at which an apple falls from a tree. I could never get a true measurement because just by me being there, the apple would fall differently. It would be attracted towards me and fall at an angle, therefore effecting how it falls."
"So, you're saying that everything, even you and I, have some sort of gravitational pull?" Grace asked. Luke lay down on his side in front of her, mimicking her pose.
"Exactly what I'm saying. Everything has the same amount of gravitational pull, the only reason that objects fall and that we are grounded on the earth is because of its sheer mass."
"But wouldn't objects of the same mass be attracted to each other then?" Grace countered playfully, enjoying the fact that not only was Luke letting her be involved in his explanation, but that she could actually keep up with it. Luke smiled at her and rested his hand on her waist. Grace was suddenly aware of just how close he was laying to her. She had a sudden flashback to the last time they had collaborated on the science fair and the sexual tension that had inevitably come with it.
"Probably, if it weren't for the strength of the gravity of the earth pulling them down. But, yes, gravitational pull can still be observed between two objects. Which is where this project would come into play."
"Oh, I've already seen gravitational pull in action," Grace told him, flirtasiously laying a hand on his chest.
"Yeah?" Luke asked, looking down at her hand on him, then back up at her. "How's that?"
"Like this," Grace whispered as she leaned in slowly to kiss him.
"Definitely a pull there," he murmured to her, pulling back just enough so that she could hear him. She smiled as he returned his lips to hers to kiss her more fully.
After their movie was finished, Joan told the others that she was going to go upstairs to check on Luke and Grace. She reached Luke's door and knocked softly. She had learned her lesson about just barging into rooms throughout the past week.
She frowned when she still received no response the third time she knocked. With a sigh she opened the door and hoped the reason they weren't answering wasn't because they were too wrapped up in each other. She cautiously entered through the doorway and found herself smiling at the sight that greeted her. There were papers strewn across Luke's bed, and in the middle of it all they were fast asleep. Luke lay on his back with his arm curled around Grace, who was snuggled up against his chest. It was possibly the cutest thing she had ever seen.
She hurried back downstairs and motioned Adam, Judith, and her mother to follow her back upstairs. They looked at her in confusion, but followed her anyway. She motioned for them to be quiet and led them to her discovery.
"Aww," Judith cooed upon seeing them curled up together. Joan glanced over at her mother, realizing that she might not exactly approve.
"I guess they fell asleep working on their project," Joan whispered to her, hoping she wouldn't be upset.
Helen only smiled and, after a moment more of watching her son sleeping so peacefully with his girlfriend, ushered everyone out of the room.
"Should I call her father to tell him she's staying over?" Helen wondered out loud once they were downstairs. Joan gaped at her in shock, certainly not expecting that.
"She used to crash over at my place all the time," Adam told Helen. "He probably won't even notice."
Joan noticed the bitterness in her boyfriend's tone, and instinctively knew it had nothing to do with jealously over her getting to spend the night.
Helen didn't quite know what to do with that information, so instead of responding, she offered to let the other two to stay over. Joan's eyes lit up at this and Helen laughed.
"You guys can stake out the living room," she turned to Judith. "I'm counting on you to keep those two out of trouble."
"Mom!" Joan exclaimed as her mother winked at Judith.
"Sure thing Mrs. G," Judith responded.
"I'll go make the phone calls," Helen announced and left them to set up the living room to sleep in.
Grace groggily awoke to find herself feeling the most rested she had been in a while. She kept her eyes closed, and just relished feeling so relaxed. She couldn't place what it was that was so warm and comfy that she was curled up against at first, but as she breathed in the unique scent, recognition swept over her. Her eyes opened and her suspicions were confirmed. She was lying in Luke's bed, wrapped up in his arms with papers scattered on the bed around them.
Slowly she lifted her head off his chest and propped herself up on her arm so that she could look at him. She silently studied him for a few moments, a soft smile playing on her lips. She almost didn't want to wake him; he looked so peaceful. She loved how he could look so sweet and boyish, yet so kissable at the same time.
Inching herself up closer to his face, she softly kissed his slightly parted lips. He stirred in his sleep, his hand clenching and unclenching around her waist. She experimentally sucked on his lower lip lightly. He moaned softly and shifted closer to her. She pulled back slightly to look at him again and traced his jaw line with her fingertips. She knew he was close to waking up when his eyelids fluttered. She lowered her lips to his one last time and let them linger there until he began to respond. She then pulled back to see his bright blue eyes looking up at her.
"Hey," Grace said quietly with a small smile.
"Hey," Luke responded sleepily.
"I think we fell asleep last night. How come no one woke us up?"
"I don't know," Luke responded, sitting up. "Let's go see."
"Think I could at least brush my teeth?" Grace asked, standing up to stretch. Luke was momentarily distracted by the flash of skin he was greeted with when her shirt rode up. He gave himself a mental shake and tried to focus on what she had asked.
"Uh, sure," he said before leading the way to the bathroom. He searched through the cabinet above the sink for a minute before producing a brand new toothbrush. He offered it to Grace, who took it gladly. He grabbed his own and they brushed their teeth side by side.
"Minty fresh," Luke commented when they finished. Grace smirked at him before pulling him in to give him a minty kiss. With a giggle she backed away, keeping her arms around his neck.
"The better to kiss you with, my sweet," she said jokingly in a low voice.
"My sweet?" Luke repeated in amusement. She let go of him and gave him a sheepish shrug. As she walked past to head out of the bathroom, he grabbed her around the waist from behind.
"My sweet," he whispered in her ear. Grace shivered despite the unwanted sweet talk. "I kind of like it."
"I don't," Grace protested, scrunching her nose up in disgust. "I'm not a candy bar, dude."
Luke just chuckled and refused to let her go as she tried to walk out of the bathroom. He tightened his hold around her waist and nuzzled her neck with his nose. Grace was a little surprised at how cuddly Luke was daring to be with her. He used to be at least a little afraid of her, now he was risking calling her cute little names and snuggling up to her. Not that she would ever admit it, but she kind of liked it.
Between Grace trying to get out of the bathroom, and Luke trying to hold onto her, they ended up stumbling out the door into the hallway. Grace found herself giggling despite herself as Luke practically waddled behind her just so he could hold her. Suddenly Kevin wheeled out of his room in front of them. They both stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing him. Kevin arched a brow at them, and Luke dropped his arms from around Grace and stepped back away from her. Grace cleared her throat uncomfortably and muttered that they had to go and pointed vaguely in the direction of the stairs. Kevin only laughed and wheeled past them to go take a shower.
Soon after, Luke and Grace appeared in the doorway to the family room where Joan, Adam, and Judith sat watching cartoons. Joan looked up at the couple lingering in the doorway.
"Hey guys," she greeted with a smirk. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah," Luke answered, having already gathered that everyone was quite aware Grace had spent the night in his bed. "We did."
"I'm sure," Joan answered back, smirk still in place. "Come watch brainless TV with us."
Grace and Luke looked at each other and shrugged as if to say "what the hell?". They went over to sit on the floor in front of the couch. Joan passed them the box of pop tarts and they each took one.
"Cartoons are just a government plot to brainwash kids minds," Grace ranted, munching on her pop tart. "The whole concept is to-"
"Grace!" Joan interrupted, annoyed. "Brainless TV watching. Means no thinky, no talky."
Grace just rolled her eyes and succumbed to the fascination of watching the coyote somehow continuously survive numerous explosions and falls.