Title: No objection to you

Category: GL eventually

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Luke is embroiled in a bitter custody battle with his ex. Grace is his lawyer, appointed in a special case.

AN: I do not own or know the characters. Rosalia is the product of my imagination. I also must thank Sam for all her help in getting this started!

Grace walked into her small apartment and set her briefcase down on the chair. She went into her bedroom and changed into comfortable shorts and a long shirt. She had been working this custody case for two months now and she finally gave the last arguments for her side. Hopefully all would go well. Grace grabbed her paper and got a bottle of water before settling into a chair to read. Within moments of sitting down, her phone rang. Grace reached over and grabbed it before answering.

"Hello?"

"Um…Grace?" a hesitant voice asked.

Grace smiled. "Geek?"

Luke chuckled. "Hey Grace. How are you?"

"Ugh! Exhausted! How are you?"

"I'm doing okay. I'm just taking a rest at home."

"Ah. California can still go on without the famous Luke Girardi?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "As I'm sure Manhattan can't live without Grace Polk."

"Yeah, yeah. So what's up?"

"Um…well…it's about my situation with Rosalia's mother."

Grace nodded. She knew the situation very well thanks to both Joan and Luke himself and she felt for him. "How is that going?"

"Kind of slow. Grace, I was wondering…would you mind coming down here and representing me? It would make me feel better if you were on my case."

Grace didn't know what to say. Luke was actually asking her to do this for him.

"Wow…I'd love to come down and help you."

"Really?" Grace could hear the shock and excitement in his voice.

"Really. I just have to close this case, which should be by next week, and I'll be on the first flight to California."

"Oh…Grace, thank you! Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me."

Grace chuckled. "I'm pretty sure I can tell. I'll call you later with flight details, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks again Grace."

"Don't mention it."

"Bye Grace." Luke said.

"Bye geek."

Luke chuckled and hung up. Grace hung up and shook her head.

Grace was right and within a couple days, she was finished with her case and got a flight for California. Joan, Adam and Luke decided to meet Grace at the airport all together.

They didn't have to wait long before Grace's flight came in. Once the doors opened, they waited as the crowd of people cleared out. Joan was the first to spot Grace and she jumped up and down excitedly. Grace walked out and looked around before spotting the group. She grinned and walked over.

"Hey!"

"Grace!" Joan walked over and hugged her catching Grace off guard.

"Girardi!" Grace warned.

"Oh stop it I was excited." Joan said pulling away and looking Grace over. She looked just like she did when she was 17. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Neither have you." Grace saw Adam and smiled. "Hey!"

"Grace!" Adam walked over and hugged her before pulling away. "It's so good to see you!"

"You too." Grace chuckled. She looked at Luke and smiled. "Hey geek."

"Hey." Luke walked over and hugged her before pulling away. "Thank you."

"Hey I don't do this for just anybody." Grace said. "Now let's go. I want to meet this kid I'm helping you fight for."

Luke chuckled and they went to get her bags before heading to Adam's ex-girlfriend's place where Elizabeth and Rosalia were. Christina was outside reading a book when she spotted Adam's car. She got up and went to greet them. She smiled when she saw Grace.

"Hey Grace. It's good to see you again."

"You too, Chris." Christina rolled her eyes. Only Grace could get away with calling her that. Christina and Adam had met in college and had a similar situation to Luke's. The only difference was they tried to stay together for the baby but decided they were better off as friends. They didn't have any problems raising Elizabeth, which were grounds for Joan and Grace finding Christina acceptable.

"Where're the kids?" Adam asked.

"Inside having lunch. Come on in."

They went into Christina's house and headed into the kitchen where two little girls were eating sandwiches and chips with milk. Grace had met Elizabeth a couple times when Adam brought her to New York for art shows but she had no doubt which child was Rosalia since Rosalia had her dad's bright blonde hair and Elizabeth had dark curly hair like her dad. Elizabeth looked up and grinned seeing her daddy. She hopped off the chair and went to greet him.

"Hey daddy! I drew you a picture! Want to see?"

"In a minute, sweetheart. Hey, do you remember my friend Grace?" Adam indicated his friend.

Elizabeth looked at her trying to familiarize her. Grace chuckled.

"It's okay kid, don't give yourself a brain meltdown."

Elizabeth giggled and looked at Grace. "I remember you! You call daddy and Aunt Joan by their last names."

Grace nodded. "That I do." Grace looked at Adam. "That's what the kid remembers about me? I thought it would have been the rant I went into when I found out what she was learning in school."

Adam chuckled. "Grace, she's six."

"I knew that." Grace looked at Christina who just shook her head.

Rosalia got up from eating and went over to hug her dad. "Hi daddy."

"Hey little star." Luke hugged her. "I want you to meet a friend of mine."

Rosalia nodded and looked up at the woman in the leather jacket and dark boots.

Grace smiled at Rosalia. "Hello."

"Hi." Rosalia said shyly.

Luke smiled. "Rose, this is Grace. Grace, this is Rosalia. We call her Rose."

"Cool." Grace walked over to Rosalia. "Hi. Your Aunt Joan told me a lot about you."

Rose gave Joan a look. "All lies I'm sure!" she said.

Joan scoffed and Luke chuckled. Grace nodded.

"I like this kid." Grace said. "Uh Luke we should probably go over the facts so I understand what's going on."

"You want to get to work already?" Luke asked. "I thought we'd rest before…"

"I've already conjured up an opinion of Rose's mother based on comments made by Girardi. But I can't really use those when arguing in front of a judge now can I?" Grace patted his arm and went into the living room.

Luke looked at Joan who chuckled.

"Rose, how would you like to bake cookies with your favorite Aunt Joan?"

Rosalia smiled and nodded. "I want to get my hands on the dough."

"Mommy, can we make cookies with them also?" Elizabeth asked.

"I have an idea. Let's make a contest out of it. Whoever gets the cookies in the oven the fastest gets to have the very first cookie."

The girls readily agreed and Joan chuckled.

"Hey Adam, will you be our referee?"

Adam nodded. "Sure."

Joan took Rosalia's hand leading her to the main ingredients in the kitchen. Adam, Christina, and Elizabeth quickly followed. Luke chuckled and went into the living room to meet Grace.

Grace sat on the couch with a notepad and a pen in hand. Luke sat beside her.

"Okay…so what qualifies Lydia to be a bad parent?"

"Um…well she goes out with her friends nights and she always has dates. She brings guys home with her and a couple times Rose has woken up from a nightmare and when she went to see her mom…"

"Okay I don't need the details, dude." Grace sighed. "But does she do anything for Rosalia's sake?"

Luke sighed. "She takes her for appointments she has. She gets her to school. But she forgets to pick her up and I get a call from the school saying Rosalia is still there."

"Right." Grace made some notes in her notebook. "What qualifies you as being a better parent?"

Luke chuckled and shook his head. "This is weird."

"What?" Grace looked at him.

"You asking me these questions."

Grace smiled. "I have to. It gives me an idea of what I should say. You know this, geek, you helped me with the whole Jack and the Giant thing."

Luke nodded. "Don't remind Joan or Adam. To this day Adam won't read that story to Liz."

Grace nodded. This she knew.

"Anyway um…I read to her. I take her out to movies, to eat, and the park. When she's sick, I give her medicine and stay with her until she's better. I love her. She's my little girl and I want her to be happy. It's almost sad when I go to pick her up, she runs to me like lightening but when her mom comes to get her, she lingers by my side."

Grace sighed. "I don't even know the kid and already I know what she's going through."

Luke frowned. "Grace…"

Grace shook her head. "Nope. Not going there this time. This whole trip is about your daughter. I don't even want to think about it."

Luke nodded. "Okay. I won't push it."

"Thanks geek." Grace looked down at her pad to make sure she had most of the stuff she needed. "Okay um it would be a good idea for you to keep a logbook. Write down the things you do with your daughter, what she tells you about visits with her mother, and take photos. Like just candid moments."

Luke nodded. "I can do that."

Grace smiled. "Great."

"Daddy! Come help us with the cookies!" Rosalia called. "Lizzie and Christie are winning!"

Luke looked at Grace who nodded.

"Go we'll finish this later."

Luke nodded and went into the kitchen. Grace was writing when Adam came in.

"Okay, you have to be the referee. Liz insists that three against two is unfair and I'm helping her now."

Grace rolled her eyes. "I'm no one's referee, dude."

"Grace!" Joan called.

"Okay, I'm coming!" She followed Adam into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. As she watched the group, her eyes fell on Luke and Rosalia. Rosalia had some dough in her hair and Luke was gently picking some out. Seeing Luke being so fatherly was weird yet it seemed…right.