A/N: Thanks much to Sam for supplying me with the fabulous mall idea, betaing for me, and helping smooth out some problems had with Adam characterization.

Grace came home a couple hours later so that she could take a shower and change clothes. She had agreed to meet back up with the others so that they could all go out later on.

The sight that greeted her as she passed by the family room shocked her. Her mother was drunk, which wasn't really an unusual sight. The unusual thing was that her father was in there with her, taking care of her. The Rabbi saw her in the door way and quickly stood and pulled her out into the hall.

"Grace," her father started, regret and sorrow evident in his tone. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said last week. I've been keeping her away from the liquor cabinet all week, but she slipped past me today."

"Gracie!" her mom called out as she peeked her head out of the family room. "Come sit with me and tell me all about this boyfriend of yours."

Grace flinched just thinking about the prospect about discussing Luke with her drunken mother. There was no doubt that in her inebriated state she would ask more personal questions than Grace was willing to answer.

"In a little bit, Mom," she replied, already backing towards the stairs. "I have to go get ready right now."

"Are you going somewhere tonight?" her father asked, more casually than she was used to.

"I thought you were taking care of her," Grace hissed at her father, not wanting to go through the whole guilt trip routine again.

"I am," her father assured her. "That's not why I was asking. I just… wanted to know."

Grace just nodded dumbly, confused by the sudden changes that were taking place. She then headed up the stairs, feeling for all the world like she had stepped into the twilight zone.

After Grace had showered and changed into some clean clothes, she blow-dried her hair. Which was in no way an attempt to fix up, she assured herself. It was just not practical to go out with soaking wet hair.

She headed downstairs and was intercepted by her mother as she tried to sneak past the family room to escape out the door.

"Come sit with me for a minute, Gracie," her mother insisted, a slight slur to her voice. Grace reluctantly complied and took a seat next to her mother on the couch.

"So you have a boyfriend, huh?" her mom asked her, a big, goofy smile on her face. "I was beginning to think you might be a lesbian."

"Well, I'm not." Grace said through clenched teeth. It was one thing for a pig like Friedman to make dumb assumptions about her, but her own mother?

"I know, Gracie," her mom assured her, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder. "Its just that you never dress up, or wear any makeup…"

"I'm not into that stuff," Grace defended, pulling away from the patting hand.

"Tell me, is this boyfriend of yours cute?" her mom asked her in a whisper, acting like a gossiping schoolgirl.

Grace rolled her eyes and didn't answer.

"Its okay if he's not. Those kind of guys usually don't go for girls like you."

"Girls like me?" Grace repeated, giving her mom a hurt look.

"Guys like that usually go for the pretty, feminine girls," her mom rambled on, oblivious to how much her words were affecting her daughter. And as a drunk was apt to do, her train of thought went in a completely different direction. "Were you out all night with this boy?"

"Yes, mom," Grace admitted with a sigh. "We fell asleep working on a project."

"Working on a project?" her mom frowned in confusion. A smile spread across her face. "Alone in his room, am I right? My little Gracie is growing up so fast."

"Nothing happened," Grace told her quickly.

"He didn't try anything?" her mom asked in surprise.

"He's not like that," Grace defended; glad she could honestly say that her boyfriend wasn't a complete horn dog.

"Maybe he's just not that interested," her mom giggled drunkenly, obviously finding this funny. Grace didn't know why that comment stung so much, but it caused a pang deep inside of her. For such a strong-willed, outspoken girl, she had a lot of insecurities. It didn't help that her mom unwittingly stirred those in her a lot of the time when she went on one of her drunken ramblings.

"That's real nice, mom," Grace said, standing up. She suddenly felt very trapped and confined in her house. She needed to get out of there. "I have to go now."

With that she hurriedly headed for the door, grabbing her skateboard on the way.

Halfway on her way to the Girardi's, she stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. She was washing her hands when something reflected in the mirror caught her eye. It was one of those metal dispensers. Staring at it, she absently wiped her hands dry. Cautiously she approached it, seeing that it proclaimed above the coin slot that it was 75 cents.

After staring for a few moments, she gave into her sudden curiosity and dug through her bag for change. She soon found three quarters and pushed them into the coin slot. With a turn of the metal knob, she was soon rewarded with a small, foil package. Her strange urge satisfied, she threw it in her bag and tried not to think about what she had just done.

But, as she left the gas station, all she could think about were the memories of kissing and waking up next to Luke, her mother's words, and the small package she had just bought.

Joan opened the door to find Grace standing there, skateboard in hand, and looking like she was deep in thought. Judith and Adam had yet to show up, and Joan held her hairbrush in her hand, still in the process of getting ready.

"Hey Grace," she greeted, frowning at how distracted her friend seemed to be.

"Yeah," Grace replied absently, stepping into the house. "Your brother upstairs?"

"Whoa, déjà vu," Joan commented, remembering the last Saturday Grace had shown up like this. When Grace just stared at her blankly, she cleared her throat. "Yeah, he's up there."

Grace nodded as a way of thanks and headed up the stairs. Upon reaching his doorway, she found him sitting on his bed, working on the diagrams for their potential projects. He looked up as she entered, as if he had sensed her there. He gave her that lopsided half-smile that always made her pulse pound before going back to his drawing.

Grace remained rooted in her spot, taking him in. He was wearing khakis and one of his many short-sleeved, button up, plaid shirts. The top button was open so that she could see the little hollow between his collarbones. She had a sudden, strong urge to taste the skin there. A little surprised and freaked by her thoughts, she gulped.

Luke looked back up at her when he realized she hadn't moved, concerned. He put aside the diagram and moved over to her. He could practically feel the waves of confusion and nervousness rolling off of her.

"What's up?" he asked softly, laying a gentle hand on her arm. Grace suddenly got hit with the sense of déjà vu that Joan had mentioned before, yet at the same time marveling how much things had changed just within this last week.

"Nothing really, my mom just said some stuff. I had to get out of there," she responded, searching his eyes. He had told her he loved her, and she had told him the same. He hadn't mentioned it again, which she was sort of grateful for, but it was still so obviously there. And he was attracted to her…right?

Finding herself needing to know, she wrapped her arms around him suddenly and kissed him fiercely. He seemed surprised by her sudden assault, but returned the kiss just as intensely. She pulled back gasping for air and tried to assess his reaction. Pleased with the glazed look in his eyes, she quickly returned her lips to his.

Luke was a little thrown as the kisses grew more and more sensual, but wasn't about to complain. He was so wrapped up in kissing her, that he didn't notice as she started to unbutton his shirt. It was only when she laid her hands on his bare chest that he realized what she had done.

"What… what are you doing?" he managed to rasp out. She responded by pulling him in again and sucking on his lower lip. He groaned as she ran her tongue along his lip before opening her mouth against his again and stroking his tongue with hers. She gently pushed Luke backwards until his legs hit the end of his bed. He was so lost in her steamy kisses that he barely registered her pushing his shirt off all the way and pushing him back onto the bed.

It wasn't until he had a lapful of Grace and she was guiding his hands up her shirt that he realized how fast things were progressing past their normal make-out sessions. The sudden awareness of how desperate her actions seemed hit him like a bucket of cold water. He broke the kiss and withdrew his hands from under her shirt, startled to realize that he had been precariously close to feeling her up. She protested immediately, guiding his hands back underneath her shirt as she moved to lick at that enticing little hollow she had been admiring before. Luke yanked back a bit more forcibly than the first time.

"Grace, what are you…" he cut himself off as she reached behind him and into her bag. He looked at her questioningly as she pushed something small and foil wrapped into his hand. He dared to look down to find himself holding a condom. Lubricated, it proclaimed across the front. Shock and disbelief written across his features, he looked back up at her. She was watching him intently, biting her lip and looking quite uncertain.

The full meaning of the situation finally clicking in Luke's mind, he grabbed her by the waist and all but tossed her off of him and onto the bed. Grace sat frozen on the bed, startled by Luke's unexpected roughness, as she watched him pull on his shirt. Tears stung in her eyes, threatening to escape. Maybe her mother was right after all; maybe he didn't find her attractive at all.

"You don't want me," she stated in a small voice, hugging her legs to her chest. Luke looked back at her. He had never heard her sound so vulnerable before.

"That's not it," he told her, sitting back on the bed. He looked her over, temptation to do exactly what she had been asking for still at the forefront of his mind. "At all. Trust me."

Grace looked over at him to catch him looking at her almost longingly. She felt a thrill at his obvious desire for her that was present in his now dark blue eyes.

"Then why…?" She asked, confused to why he hadn't just gone for it.

"You were upset because of your mom," Luke told her, looking her in the eye. "You aren't ready."

Grace knew he was right; she hadn't exactly been doing it for the right reasons. She decided to take offense anyway.

"How DARE you!" She found herself shouting at him, jumping up from the bed in outrage. "How dare you tell me what I am and am not ready for?"

"Grace," Luke said quietly as he stood as well. He cautiously wrapped an arm around her and led her back to the bed to sit. She seemed to kind of deflate at his touch. She knew yelling at him was just misplacing her anger. "What exactly did your mom say to you?"

"She assumes I sleep around or something. Not that she cares or anything," Grace told him bitterly, staring at his floor so that she didn't have to look him in the eye. "She thought we were, you know. When I told her we weren't she said that it was because no guy could find ME attractive."

Luke moved closer to her and brushed her hair away from her neck.

"That's not true," he told her firmly. He leaned in and kissed her neck before continuing. "You're beautiful," he stroked her cheek with his other hand and leaned in to whisper, "and I love you."

Grace turned to give him a sweet, heartfelt kiss, one that was nothing like the heady kisses they had shared only minutes ago.

"And when we're both ready," he continued after they pulled back. "I would most certainly want to make love to you."

Grace blushed slightly, embarrassed yet intrigued by his low husky voice. It was times like this that she could swear that he was years older. She should have known she was done in from the first time she saw the intelligent, handsome, and gentle man that lay beneath the awkward, geeky teen exterior.

She wanted to tell him that she couldn't imagining that happening with anyone but him; that she could never even picture being with anyone else the way she was with him. But she didn't have his way with words, or the courage to let him know she'd even thought about their future. So she simply kissed him again, all her worries about her mom that she had come over with melting away.

Grace went downstairs when Joan called up to them to get their butts down there. Luke had told her to go on down and he'd be right behind her. When she told Joan this, she rolled her eyes and went upstairs with the full intention of dragging her brother out herself.

Joan walked through the doorway, arms crossed.

"C'mon Luke, we're gonna go do fun stuff now," she told him. When he didn't budge she commanded, " Drop the science stuff, geek, you're coming with me."

"Yeah, just a minute," Luke told her distractedly. Joan huffed, uncrossing her arms as she glanced around the room. Her eyes fell on something sitting on his desk. She walked over and picked it up, examining it. Panic gripped her as she turned towards her brother.

"Luke…"

Luke heard the serious tone her voice had taken on and looked up. He saw her standing there with the condom Grace had left there, looking at him questioningly. He gulped, unsure of what to tell his big sister. He decided against saying anything and grabbed it out of her hands, tossing it swiftly into his underwear drawer.

"You didn't see that," a no arguments tone clear in his voice.

"Yes I did!" Joan proclaimed loudly. "Why do you have that? Grace is going to flip!"

"She knows I have it," Luke said casually as he returned to his diagram. He should have known that she wouldn't let it go.

"She does?" Joan asked, looking at him in disbelief. "You bought a condom, Grace knows this, and you're still alive to tell the tale?"

"Little louder, please," Luke told her sarcastically. "I didn't buy it."

"Are you telling me Grace bought it?" Joan persisted, not believing that story for one second.

"I'm not telling you anything," Luke informed her stubbornly. Irritated, Joan stomped out of the room. Luke let out a huge sigh of relief upon her exit.

Grace didn't know what hit her when suddenly Joan stormed down the stairs and yanked her by the arm into the garage.

"Did you buy that condom in Luke's room?" Joan asked, straight to the point. Grace gaped at her for a moment before her mouth snapped closed and she flushed brightly. She shifted uncomfortably and looked at the floor.

"You did!" Joan exclaimed in surprise. Grace looked extremely flustered as Joan started to sputter. "You were gonna 'do the do' with my brother!"

"I don't think the whole neighborhood quite heard you," Grace muttered sarcastically. "I don't see how this is any of your business."

"You're my best friend; he's my brother. How is that NOT my business?"

"You were going to do it with Rove," Grace pointed out, finally looking Joan in he eye. Joan opened her mouth to retort, but had nothing to say back to that.

"Well, okay," Joan admitted defeat, running a hand through her hair. "I would ask if you love him, but I already know that you do. And I would say be careful, but I saw the condom, so I know you will be. I guess all that's left is… have fun? Oh, ew, not that either. Okay, Just never ever let me catch you doing…" Joan visibly shuddered. "…that."

"Right," Grace said, amused. "Coz I'm itching to have you see me like that."

With a roll of her eyes Joan said," Well, now that that's settled, I want to never think about this again."

"Exactly my thinking, Girardi."

When Grace and Joan came back from their discussion in the garage, Luke was finally present downstairs, sitting quietly with Adam and Judith as they talked. Luke's eyes immediately lit up upon Grace's entrance into the room, and he sat up straighter. Grace gave him a tiny smile; flattered by the way he always noticeably reacted to her presence.

"So are we all ready to go to the mall?" Judith asked Joan, obviously growing impatient and needing a fix for her shopoholic tendencies.

Grace, Adam, and Luke collectively groaned.

"We're going to the mall?" Adam asked, giving his girlfriend an incredulous look.

"I am having terror filled flashbacks to middle school," Luke whined. At Grace's questioning look he told her, "She used to drag me to the mall when her friends couldn't go. She has an addiction. Its deadly."

"Shut up, dweeb brain," Joan said, whapping Luke in the arm with the back of her hand.

"The mall is the fiery pits of hell," Grace commented as Luke moved behind her for protection from his sister. "Rove and I even made a pact to never set foot in that corporate run, teeny bopper filled death trap."

"Oh come on you guys!" Joan pleaded. "We'll have so much fun!"

Judith nodded excitedly in agreement while the other three looked at Joan doubtfully.

"There's something for everyone," Judith insisted. "They have an art store, this place with really cool scientific gadgets, and even a couple of stores with shirts that have quirky little sarcastic phrases. You guys will love it!"

Fifteen minutes later, Joan and Judith skipped joyfully through the entrance of the mall, while the other three friends cautiously stepped foot in the bright, people filled space. Grace took one look at the gum snapping, belly baring girls that passed them and attempted to make a run for it. Adam grabbed her arm, preventing her from moving.

"No way Grace. If I have to suffer through this then so do you," Joan giggled madly ahead of them. "And, I am going to go try to keep my girlfriend from going off the deep end."

"You're too late," Grace said with a snort as Adam caught up with Joan and hooked his arm through his.

"Years too late," Luke agreed, gently placing a hand at the small of Grace's back as they went deeper into the so called pits of hell.

Judith and Joan squealed when they reached a DEB store and quickly made their way in. Adam reluctantly let Joan pull him in as well.

"He is so whipped," Grace commented, sadly shaking her head.

"Yeah, well, he loves her," Luke defended; the part about being whipped a sensitive subject for him.

Grace turned her attention away from observing the trio in the store when she heard the serious tone his voice had taken on. Glancing up at him, she was slightly startled to see that he was staring intently at her. Her expression, which had been expressing her doubt about the safeness of running around unprotected in the mall, softened as she took a moment to just silently look at him, her lips slightly curving up.

"Yeah, I suppose."

Breaking eye contact, she looked nervously around the mall again. "I'm telling you though, dude. There's something about this place. Gives me the creeps."

"Eh," Luke said with a shrug. "Not so bad once you get used to it."

Grace cast a doubtful look in his direction. Luke stepped in, closer then she was usually comfortable with in public.

"If you want, I can help you take your mind off it," he told her suggestively, hand moving to wrap around her waist. A bit flustered by his suggestion and nervous about the public display of affection, she pushed his arm off her.

"Dude! We're in public!" she whispered harshly.

"Photo booth," Luke pointed out, tilting his head towards the small little booth about twenty yards away. Glancing between the booth and Luke, Grace bit her lip in contemplation. With a sigh of resignation, she grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him over to the small booth. A quick glance around confirmed that they had not drawn attention to themselves, and Grace yanked the curtain back and shoved Luke in. Before Luke knew quite what had happened, Grace was attacking his lips with her own.

Luke desperately tried to hold onto Grace the best he could as they shifted about in the small space, trying to fit somewhat comfortably. When Grace slammed into the machine rather hard, Luke broke the kiss to sit in the bench. Coaxing Grace into his lap, he eagerly brought his lips back to hers.

After a moment a sudden, bright flash erupted in the booth. Startled, they looked towards the source of the interruption. It took Grace all of two seconds to realize where the flash had come from and start to squirm in Luke's lap in an attempt to escape. Realization swept over Luke and he stilled Grace with a laugh.

"I think you set off the camera," Luke said, stating the obvious.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Grace growled at him, frantically trying to wiggle free again.

"Grace, calm down," Luke said soothingly, trying to still her movements again. "You'd think someone was pointing a gun at you, not a machine taking your picture."

"Same difference!" Grace exclaimed just as the camera went off again. "Ack! Let me go!"

"We should just let it be," Luke suggested, when she started to relax beneath his fingers soothingly stroking her back. "Maybe even get a good picture or two out of it."

Grace resisted the urge to attempt to flee again to look at Luke like he had grown another head.

"C'mon," Luke prodded, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder, facing the camera. Grace was about ready to elbow him in the face in her desperation to get away, but caved when Luke laid a soft kiss on her neck. With a sigh, she leaned back into him stiffly and looked into the screen as another flash went off.

Turning her face so he could look in her eyes, Luke leaned his forehead against hers.

"See, not so bad."

Feeling a sense of comfort wash over her from the smile Luke gave her, Grace relaxed completely against him and smiled back. Barely aware of another flash, they giggled quietly together at the humor of the situation. After a moment, they went silent, looking into each other's eyes. Luke slowly leaned in and softly touched their lips together. A final flash went off as their lips connected fully.

A whirring noise brought Grace back to her surroundings and she pulled away. With wide eyes, Grace scrambled out of Luke's lap. Poking her head out of the curtain, she quickly snatched the printouts from the tray.

"Just my luck, doubles," Grace commented, holding up the two strips. With a grin, Luke swiftly snatched one of the strips out of her hands and pocketed it.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Keeping them. For memories sake," he told her, smirking.

"Dude, no. We are going to burn them."

"Burn them?" Luke asked, looking rather crushed. "You're that opposed to having pictures of us?"

Looking at his crestfallen face made Grace instantly regret her gut-reaction freak out. He pulled the pictures back out and reluctantly moved to rip them. Grace shot out her hand, stilling his movement.

"Luke, no." The use of his name didn't go unnoticed as she folded his hand securely around the strip. "Keep it." She took a deep breath. "And I'll keep mine."

"Really?" Luke asked with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah," She assured him, leaning forward to kiss him softly. "We should go back to find the others now."

"Hey, where did you guys run off to?" Joan asked as she came up behind Luke and Grace. They shared a secretive smile before allowing Joan to come in between them.

"Geek Boy started warming up to the whole mall thing. Dragged me through some crazy shops." Grace covered, complete with an eye roll and an aggravated tone to make the story believable.

"Fun," Joan commented, clearly thinking otherwise. "Oh, Judith, we have to go into Claire's! C'mon Adam!"

"Looks like we're on our own again," Grace said with a sigh as the trio split ways again.

"We could always go back to the photo booth," Luke suggested playfully, eyebrows raised.

Grace gave him a mock annoyed glare and poked him in the stomach.

"Very funny, rocket boy."

"I thought so."

Grace threw her stuff down on the ground when she entered her room that night. With an exhausted sigh, she flopped down on the bed. Joan and Judith were like Energizer bunnies, running every which way in the mall for hours on end. Grace was slightly disappointed that Luke hadn't tried to convince her to go back to the photo booth. It had been hard to be close to him for so long without laying a few kisses on him. Thankfully they had managed to get some extra quality time together after arriving back at the Girardi's house. Grace was tired, but in a rare, giddy mood.

She took her jacket off and hung it up on her bedpost. Thinking about the mall reminded her of the photo booth. And thinking of the photo booth led to the realization that she hadn't even seen the pictures that had been taken of her and Luke. She reached into her jacket's pockets and just as her hand hit the slides, the phone shrilled next to her.

"Grace?" a voice she recognized as her father's said after she picked up.

"Dad?" she asked in confusion. Hadn't he said he wouldn't be working late?

"I tried to call your cell phone earlier, but you didn't answer…"

A frown appearing on her face, Grace dug into her jackets pocket and pulled out her phone. It was off; the battery must have died when she was at the mall.

"What's going on?" Grace questioned, becoming increasingly concerned by the distress obvious in the rabbi's tone.

"It's your mother…"

A/N: Yeah, sorry guys. Had to leave you with a cliffhanger…