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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!
Luke answered the door and stepped back as Grace stormed in.
"So she asks me 'can you and Mr. Girardi work together without starting something?' Hah! What does my personal business have anything to do with-" Grace paused finally noticing Rose sitting on the floor reading a book. She turned to Luke.
"Oh…I'm so sorry I forgot you had Rose today."
Luke chuckled. "No problem. How did the meeting go?"
Grace looked at Rosalia and then Luke, as if asking him if it was okay to talk.
"I can't say much but basically you and Lydia want the same thing."
Luke shook his head. "Unbelievable. I've never given her the belief that I couldn't be trusted with my daughter."
Grace nodded. "I know."
"Grace? Want to read with me?" Rosalia asked.
Grace, slightly taken aback, looked at Luke unsure.
"Um…in a second Rose, I have to speak with Grace okay?"
Rosalia nodded and went back to her book. Luke walked Grace over to the kitchen and sighed.
"I spent the whole morning looking up things that could be brought up in a custody battle. Well um…remember the night Adam went missing in the woods?"
Grace sighed and looked at him pointedly. "Actually the thought that I could loose my best friend like that has never left my brain."
Luke winced. "Right. Well um…they can't bring that up can they?"
"No! That happened when you were a stupid 16-year-old kid. You learned from your mistake and you've never done it again…right?" Grace raised an eyebrow.
"You would have been the first to know."
Grace chuckled. "What matters is how your life affects Rosalia's right now. If you did something dumb like that now, you'd most likely lose her."
Luke nodded looking down at the ground. "Right."
Grace looked at Rose who glanced up and smiled. Grace smiled back.
"Well let me go see what literature you're corrupting her brain with."
Grace went over and sat down on the floor. "Hey, what book is that?"
Rosalia showed her the cover, which showed a big dinosaur sitting on a bed looking at someone who entered the room.
"This looks interesting. How do dinosaurs say goodnight? Well how do they say goodnight?" Grace asked looking at Rose.
"I'll tell you!" Rose took the book and turned it to the first page.
Luke watched them for a few minutes before smiling and heading into kitchen.
Sometime later, Grace had finished reading with Rose and went to see what Luke was doing in the kitchen. At the moment, he was inspecting some chicken.
"I swear that kid has the vocabulary of a 10 year old. She really is smart."
Luke smiled. "Mom said I was talking like that at her age."
Grace nodded. "I can imagine."
Luke looked at her and smiled. Grace smiled slightly then indicated the chicken. "Dinner?"
"Yeah. Just thinking about what else to make with it."
"Garlic red potatoes and green peas? Can't go wrong with that." Grace said.
Luke laughed. "Right. Sounds good. Um…Grace?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you like to stay for dinner?"
Grace looked at him slightly surprised. She was just going to get ready to leave.
"Oh I um…I…well Girardi really wanted company so…"
Luke raised an eyebrow. "Uh have you talked to Joan today?"
Grace looked down embarrassed. Even though she was staying with Joan, she had gotten up before Joan and didn't even see her when she left to go see Lydia's lawyer.
"Joan goes to the community center once a week. She's there tonight."
"Oh…" Grace coughed slightly and nodded. "Well then…sure."
Luke smiled, almost looking relieved. "Great!"
"Okay well…anything I can do to help?"
"No, you just go in the living room and rest. I'll handle everything."
Grace nodded and went into the living room, highly amused.
Rose sat next to Grace and looked at her. "Ever had my daddy's cooking?"
Grace looked at her and smiled. "A few times. Why?"
"He's the best! I think he's almost better than grandpa!"
Grace laughed out loud and Luke made a sound from the kitchen.
"Don't ever tell my dad she said that! I'll never live it down!"
Grace chuckled. "You have my word, geek."
"Why do you call daddy that?" Rose asked sweetly.
Grace smirked. "Because it was a nickname I used for him in high school."
"He let you get away with that?" Rose looked skeptical.
"Actually he did."
"Hmm." Rose got off the couch and ran over to her dad. "Daddy! Do you really let her call you a geek?"
Luke blushed. "Yes."
Rose looked at them before nodding and running into the hallway towards her room.
"Hey where are you going?" Luke called.
"Washing my hands!" she called.
"Okay. Make sure to get under your nails!"
Grace looked at Luke weirdly. "Dude."
Luke looked at her and smiled painfully. "I know. I became my own father."
Grace laughed.
When dinner was ready, they went to the table to eat. While eating, Rose looked up and Grace.
"How long have you known my daddy?"
"A long time."
Rosalia nodded. "Were you friends at first?"
Luke and Grace smirked and looked at each other.
"Sweetie, Grace only was friends with Uncle Adam, until Aunt Joan and daddy moved to town."
"Then your Aunt Joan wormed her way into my life. It didn't take long for Luke to do the same."
Luke blushed.
Rosalia giggled. "What did you do?" she asked Luke.
"I asked her to be my partner in the science fair."
"You so wanted to ask me to that Crystal Ball." Grace said.
Luke looked around then put a hand to his chest. "Um…hello? This is ME we're talking about! All I cared about was science."
"But you know you wanted to ask me."
"The first time I asked you, the ball was still in it' planning stages."
Grace rolled her eyes. Rosalia smirked.
"You two went to a dance together?"
"Sort of. He went and I came later. We mocked everyone dancing, then somehow ended up having fun."
Rosalia looked at Luke. "Did you walk her home?"
Luke coughed slightly and Grace raised an eyebrow.
"Um…no. Actually I offered but she wouldn't let me."
Grace looked at Rose. "I told him that I wasn't going to let my dignity be crushed by letting him walk me out of the gym."
Luke glared at her and Rose laughed.
"You're funny Grace!" Rose looked at her empty plate and then at Luke. "I'm done daddy."
Luke nodded. "Okay, go play."
Rose smiled and hopped off her chair and went into the living room.
"She is an awesome kid." Grace said.
"Yeah." Luke smiled as he watched his daughter get out her sketchbook and some crayons. "I don't think I ever realized I could love something more than science."
Grace smirked. "Even string theory?"
Luke laughed and shook his head. "Yeah." Luke looked at her. "That really was a wonderful time in my life Grace."
Grace glared at him. "Don't be getting mushy on me now."
"No, I mean it." Luke said.
Grace smiled. "It was wonderful for me too."
Luke looked down at his plate. "So…what are you going to have to do now?"
"Well…Rose seems old enough to know what she wants so most likely the judge will want to hear what she has to say. I also have to prepare my statements and we need to go over the questioning."
"Sounds like a lot of work."
"It is but…hopefully in the end it'll all be worth it." Grace said giving Luke's hand a squeeze.
Luke looked at her hand and looked into her eyes. Grace nodded and pulled away as Rose came back in with a piece of paper in her hands.
"Grace! I drew you a picture!"
"You did?" Grace asked startled. "Well let's see it then."
Grace looked at the picture to see a drawing of four figures. One had long brown hair with a dress on, the other had blonde hair with a leather jacket on, another had blond hair with glasses on and the last figure had brown hair with a sweater on and a canvas in one hand.
"Let me guess, this is Aunt Joan, me, daddy, and Uncle Adam?"
"Uh huh! I found the picture in my room!"
Grace looked at Luke. "My picture's in her room?"
"Well you are an important person in my life. I wanted to share you with someone else who meant the world to me."
Grace shifted uncomfortably and looked at Rose. "Thank you. I will put this on the refrigerator when I get back to Aunt Joan's."
"Yay!" Rose clapped.
Grace wouldn't admit it but her heart twang when the little girl's face lit up at Grace's approval.
Once Grace and Luke were finished with dinner, Grace was helping Luke put the dishes away. Rose stood at the edge of the doorway watching them. They were talking and laughing about something but this wasn't what Rose was paying attention to. She was watching how they were looking at each other. Luke would gaze at her then Grace would turn, smile slightly and they'd just look at each other until they remembered what they were doing and went back to the dishes. Rose saw enough of these movies with Aunt Joan.
Her daddy was in love with Grace. Rose smirked. There was only one thing she could do to make this situation work in her favor.