Story Title: It's Not a Perfect Universe
Rating: T - Changed
Disclaimer: 'Nough said
A/N: Sorry for any typos, feel free to let me know about them.

Chapter 2 – And Now You Want To Ask Me "How"

August 19th, 2012, Sunday (Evening)

"Okay, you just have to sign on this line Miss Polk and this is your room key," The woman at the desk, Her nametag read Elsa, put the keycards on the counter next to the paper Grace was signing.

"Thanks," Grace replied stiffly as she put the pen down and took the keycards. She turned around and walked over to the elevators with her rolling suitcase in one hand and a duffle bag thrown over her shoulder. Grace felt rigid and robotic as she moved into the elevator and rode it to her floor where she stepped out and made a right up the hallway and trekked to room 465.

Once inside, Grace put her bags in the corner and dropped heavily onto her back at the end of the bed, keeping her legs bent and her feet on the floor. She covered her face with her hands and groaned at herself.

"What the hell am I doing here?" She asked herself aloud. Her stomach grumbled angrily back at her and Grace turned her head to look at the clock on the nightstand. Green numbers glowed back revealing the time; 6:30pm. When was the last time she'd eaten? Grace couldn't remember. With a deep sigh she forced herself up and grabbed the belongings she needed before heading back down into the lobby and out onto the street in search of food.

Arcadia hadn't changed much, Grace discovered as she walked along. As usual on a Sunday past 6pm, most of the shops Grace strode by were closed or closing until finally she spotted a café on the corner. This was new. Grace didn't remember the café ever being there. Nevertheless, a café meant food and coffee, two things that Grace needed desperately at the moment.

"Just one?" The bubbly hostess queried as Grace approached. Grace did her best not to roll her eyes as she nodded and the hostess grabbed a menu and led Grace to the outside patio area. There were only three other tables out of the total of 10 that were occupied; two with couples and one with a group of what looked like four high school kids cramming for a test or project while downing cup after cup of caffeine-the liquid crack of choice for some if not most high school kids. Grace felt a brief pang of nostalgia for those times, cramming for one of their AP science classes in the Girardi garage with piles of junk food, and the coffee pot temporarily relocated to the garage for more efficient use. Those were the night they never got to sleep and barely studied as much as they wanted to but still managed to pull at least a C+ on the test the following day.

"Can I just say, I totally read your book!" The bubbly hostess interrupted Grace's thoughts as Grace sat into one of the seats at the table in front of her. The hostess, with the nametag reading Molly, smiled broadly, gushing. She had spoken loud enough to cause the other three tables to stop their conversations and look at Grace inquiringly as they were wondering who she was. Grace glanced around. Two of the high school kids seemed to don looks of recognition and they turned to whisper amongst themselves and a couple of the other patrons seemed to recognize her as well. Grace squirmed uncomfortably, trying to smile at the hostess.

"Uhm…thank you," Grace wasn't used to this. Sure she'd done a few book signings, but that was different; she had been prepared for that, she hadn't been caught off guard then.

"All of my friends have read it to! Oh they're just going to die when I tell them you were here!" The hostess stopped a passing waiter and took a piece of his order pad paper and an extra pen and thrust it under Grace's nose. "Would you sign this?" She asked eagerly.

"Uhm, sure," Grace took the paper and laid it down on the table before grabbing the pen. Molly, thanks for the reads and the killer table. All the best, Grace Polk. Grace did her best to do her rock star signature, which she'd honed at Stone's request when he found out she would be signing books. She handed the pen and paper back to Molly, who squealed in delight, almost jumping up and down.

"Thank you so much! You rock!" Molly cheered. "Camden will be right out to serve you! Thanks again!" Molly all but danced as she headed back to her post to seat some other guests.

It took Grace a minute or so to recover from her shock. She offered a few tight smiles and nods to the other customers who were trying to nonchalantly stare at her and failing miserably, before she finally opened her menu.

"Hey, I'm Camden, I'll be your man toy for this evening," The waiter, Camden, smiled broadly at his joke, probably knowing it was lame. He looked a few years younger then Grace; probably a college kid working to pay his way through. He looked like he belonged in California with his shaggy dirty blonde hair falling into his caramel colored eyes that contrasted against his deep brown tan. The sleeves of his white button down shirt were rolled up to his elbows and his black pants hung just a little low on his hips with a towel protruding out and hanging over the side of his apron, which held a handful of straws and a couple of order pads and pens.

"I've never waited on someone famous before so you'll have to forgive me if I offend you," He offered a wink. Obviously, Molly had already gushed to the whole restaurant that Grace was here, as if she was some huge Hollywood star and not just merely a magazine writer and published author. Grace looked at Camden blankly for a minute. "So what can I get you?" He continued, seeming to pick up on her weariness.

Grace shook her head and looked down at the menu in her hand. "Uh…I'll go for the biggest cappuccino you've got…and I don't know whatever your most popular salad is, surprise me," Grace shrugged. She probably wouldn't eat it anyway. She closed the menu and handed it to Camden who nodded and walked away to place the order.

Feeling uncomfortable under the stares and whispers, Grace reached into her leather knapsack and pulled out a yellow legal pad and a pen. She heard some of the whispers increase as she started writing and did her best to ignore them. Thankfully, for once, her phone rang and disrupted Grace's thoughts. She reached into the bowels of her bag and managed to retrieve the phone.

"Hello?" She replied after punching 'answer' with her thumb and stuffing it against her ear.

"Hi mommy!" Stone's voice echoed back through Grace's ear.

"Hey you," Grace felt herself smiling as she replied, despite the aching in her chest; right now she would have given almost anything to be in the same room with Stone so she could accept one of his infamous bear hugs. He would act like he was sneaking up on her, like a grizzly bear and then growl mightily as he jumped up and latched on; he would wrap his arms around Grace's neck and his legs around her waist and usually he roared like a lion, unsure what kind of growl a bear would make in this situation until Grace laughed so hard that she had to catch her breath.

"I miss you," Stone continued. "Are you coming home soon?"

"Well I miss you too," Grace confessed, "I'll be home before you know it, kiddo." Grace had to admit, it was strange to hear these things from herself, even after 5 years.

"Tomorrow?" Stone persisted. He wasn't used to being away from her more then 24 hours. He sounded worried, as if he thought Grace wasn't going to come home.

"No, not tomorrow, but soon, I promise," Grace assured him. "What are you guys doing?" She tried to change the subject.

"We made cookies and we ate bunches of 'em," Stone replied readily. "And now we gonna watch movies!" He cheered.

"Oh yeah?" Grace replied offering up a small laugh for Stone's sake, "I sure wish I could watch a movie and eat cookies."

"Me and you can mommy, when you come home," Stone suggested.

"Is that a promise? Because I'll be very sad if it's not," Grace smiled to herself.

"I promise!" Stone cheered.

"All right, I have to go now, you go watch that movie and go to sleep when Chelsea tells you to, okay?" Grace said.

"Okay mommy," Stone replied readily. Grace heard him yawn; Jade and Pierce must have had fun tiring him out for sure.

"Goodnight," Grace said, starting their usual nightly sayings.

"Sweet dreams," Stone yawned again.

"Sleep tight," Grace continued.

"And don't let the bed bugs bite!" Stone cheered back, laughing.

Grace laughed back for him. "I'll see you soon," She promised him one last time before they both hung up. Grace sighed as she slid the phone back into the abyss in her bag. She spotted Camden heading towards her with her order, so she put her notepad and pen away and thanked him when he put the salad and cappuccino down.

After guzzling down the huge cappuccino and picking at the Thai salad Camden had brought, Grace paid for her meal and left. She decided she would take a walk before heading back to the hotel. She wasn't going to go and meet with her father until the morning, after all. He was probably going to try and convince her to go and see her mother.

Grace walked for half an hour before turning around and heading back to her hotel. She passed different sights and was swept back into memories; some good, some bad. She passed the movie theatre and remembered that horrible film festival she wound up at with Luke and of all people, Friedman. She smiled sadly to herself when she remembered Luke showing up without his shoes because he'd gone to look for her at the Anarchist meeting and wound up burning his shoes. She was walking past an old clothes store and was remembering the time she'd gotten Luke a leather jacket, wondering if he still had it laying around like art, when she plowed right into someone else.

Both Grace and the person started to apologize and that's when Grace froze, recognizing the voice easily. She stared at the person as he started gathering the things that had fallen from her bag.

"I'm so sorry, I should have been looking where I was-Grace?" Adam's voice was still meek and quiet when he spoke, despite his alarm at seeing Grace. He blinked a few extra times; probably thinking he was delirious as he stood. Grace climbed her way to her feet and slung her bag back over her shoulder, accepting the few items that Adam rigidly held out to her and putting them into her bag. She cleared her throat.

"Rove," She offered a slight, awkward nod. Of all the people she left behind in Arcadia, Adam had been the one she was most afraid of leaving. She'd been too angry with Luke when she left to worry about the repercussions of her actions and she'd been fairly confident that whatever weird hobbies Joan would pick up would keep her occupied as usual anyhow. Adam, however, was still dealing with the years of emotions surrounding him about his mom, and he was still trying to reconcile completely with Joan to at least be comfortable friends again-frequently pulling Grace in the middle. Grace had been terrified for a long time that Adam might hurt himself, like her mother had. She'd subscribed to the Arcadia newspaper even, just to peruse the obituaries, in case anything had happened. It dawned on her that she'd stopped reading them two or three years ago.

Adam stared at her now with his mouth open, trying to come up with something intelligible to say. "You…what…but when…" Was all that he had managed to say.

"Good job Rove, now all you need is the why and the how," Grace tried to pull off a smirk and to curb the awkward moment.

Adam reached a hand out and tapped Grace's shoulder; just to make sure she was real. He blinked a few more times as Grace bit the corner of her lip and chewed at it nervously. Before Grace could say anything else, Adam reached out and drew her to him. She didn't even have time to react to stop him. He hugged her tightly to himself and she was pretty sure she heard him sniffle.

"Wow, I abandon you and you welcome me back with a hug?" Grace tried to joke, "Talk about ironic. The Prodigal Grace returns."

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," Adam replied sternly, still holding on. Grace nodded against his shoulder.

"I know," She confessed. Adam finally released her and they stared at each other for a while. "Right now?" Grace finally asked.

Adam nodded. He reached out and grabbed her hand to keep her from bolting; he knew her too well still. "Come on, we'll go to my place." He turned and started walking. Grace wanted to protest but she just couldn't. She owed it to Adam. She owed it to a lot of people, in fact.

So Grace let Adam lead her down a familiar road. After a little while she followed him up the steps of his house. It felt the same as it always had.

"Where's your dad?" Grace asked as she sat on the couch with her legs pulled up under her, facing Adam. He handed her a mug of coffee as he sat down at the other end of the small couch with her. He looked down at his mug for a minute, solemnly and then glanced at Grace after she took a sip of her own cup; three sugars and no cream, wow, Rove still did know her well.

"He, uh," Adam's breath hitched and he cleared his throat, looking down away from Grace, "He died," Adam's voice was a quick whisper before he put his mug to his lips and took a sip.

Grace stared at Adam in shock. She felt her eyes begin to burn; after all she had known Carl Rove for as long as she'd known Adam. Grace put her mug down on the table next to Adam's. "Rove, I'm-,"

"It's all right," Adam cut her off, fidgeting with his hands; clearly he was uncomfortable talking about this. He stood and went to the window, leaning against its frame and looking out with his arms crossed tightly against himself. He sighed. "He was in a wreck, two years ago. He was on his way into work, at night. Some kid in a stolen truck ran a red light when the cops were chasing him…hit him right at his door on the driver's side," Adam stared out the window bitterly. "Mr. Girardi came to tell me…they said the other guy was going so fast that…uhm…dad was dead before he could even realize what was happening basically," Adam cleared his throat again. "The other driver didn't even have a scratch."

Grace wiped at her face before Adam could turn around. "Adam," She used his first name, "I-I'm sorry…if I knew-,"

Adam shook his head, turning around to face her. "What ifs aren't a good way to live life," He cut her off. He walked around and sat back down at his end of the sofa. "So tell me what you've been doing for 6 years-besides magazine writing and book authoring?" He asked now. It was then that Grace noticed copies of the magazine she wrote for strewn across the table in a big messy pile, among which lay a copy of her book.

"Not much besides work," Grace cringed as she lied.

Adam knew better. He crossed his arms. "Don't make me go onto your book's homepage and leave messages about what a softy you really are and how you totally love country music even though you deny it," He threatened feebly.

Grace sucked in the corner of her bottom lip. She didn't want to lie to Adam but what if he told Luke or worse, Joan? After a sort stare down with Adam, Grace reached to her leather bag. She grabbed a little plastic photo holder and held it against her chest.

"I swear to you Rove, if you tell this to anyone…anyone at all…you're a dead man…" She said seriously.

Adam held his hands up innocently. "Feel free to maim me if I do," He swore.

Timidly, Grace held out the plastic flip photo holder. It was like the kind you find in a wallet. There were 6 pictures in it: one for every one of Stone's birthdays and one of Grace and Stone that Dalia had taken at last 4th of July's barbecue. Adam took the photos carefully and flipped through them. Grace watched his eyes widen, especially at the last picture. Stone, at 5 now, was the picture of Luke. He had the same eyes, the same dark sandy blond hair, and that curious inquisitive look that said 'I know more than any human should possibly know at my age, seriously.'

"Grace…" Adam was at a loss for words. He looked shocked, but mostly he looked hurt that Grace hadn't contacted him to tell him about this.

"He turned 5 in March," Grace said quietly. She let Adam do the calculation in his head silently. He turned his head up and looked at her, in surprise. Grace nodded, answering his unasked question. Adam looked back down at the picture of Grace and Stone.

"What's his name?" He asked Grace.

"Stone," Grace replied, waiting for a joke. Adam looked at her quizzically. She shrugged and offered a small smirk, "That's sure what he felt like coming out," She tried to lighten the situation.

"Grace," Adam looked her dead in the eyes. "You should really go and see Luke."

Grace inhaled deeply, pressing her lips together in thought. She shook her head. "No," She finally replied.

Adam looked at her, confused. "Grace, really. You really should go see him," Adam cleared his throat. Grace could tell there was something more to this, but she was feeling trapped. "At the least, he deserves to know-,"

"Okay, I've got an early day tomorrow, I have to go," Grace gathered her things and threw her bag over her shoulder. "It was great to see ya Rove, I promise I won't disappear from you again. Still got the same number here? I'll call, I swear-,"

"Grace, wait," Adam grabbed Grace's shoulder. Grace stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. "I won't tell anyone but…please just trust me…before you leave Arcadia…you should look Luke up-even for just a meeting over coffee. I know it'd mean the world to him. He still hates himself for turning your mom in for the abuse," Adam frowned as Grace looked at him now. "Even though we all know it was the right thing for him to do…" Adam continued.

Grace nodded. "I will think about it," She promised as Adam followed her onto the porch. Adam reached out and hugged her one last time.

"I'm going to hunt you down if you don't call or write this time…" He told her.

Grace nodded. "See you around, Rove," She said before heading down the steps and up the walkway.

Grace did tell the truth to Adam; she thought about looking Luke up all night while she couldn't sleep. She had even taken the phone book out and found his phone number and address. She had halfway dialed his number three times before hanging up, deciding it was too late at night. Finally, around some time early in the AM, Grace had fallen into a guilt ridden restless sleep with the phone and the phone book lying next to her head on the bed.

I didn't come this far/For you to make this hard for me…/And now you want to ask me "how?"/It's like-How does your heart beat, and why do you breathe/How does your heart beat, and why do you breathe? Why did you come here/You weren't invited/You were on the outside-Stay on the outside/And now you want to ask me "why?"/It's like-How does your heartbeat and why do you cry/ How does your heart beat/And there are some thing that I'd like to figure out/There are some things that…I can do without/Like you and your letters that go on forever/You and the people that were never friends…/Never friends/Never friends/With all the things that you could be/You never could learn, how to be me/And now you want to ask me "how?"/It's like-how does your heart beat, and why do you breathe? How does your heart beat, and why do you breathe/ How do you breathe?

A/N: Just some quick notes, I'm in a hurry at the current moment. I know a couple of people had trouble getting to this url yesterday, that wasn't me, sorry!

The chapter title is from "How" By Lisa Loeb.

Responses: Tiff - How'd the French test go?

Trace (AKA, at least to me, Rove) - Sorry for the irony ) Do you still like Stone? I like Stone. Anywhoo, update damn you!

Michelle - Thank you for the name! I'll keep it going until my muse gives out. I don't know if I'd call this a vacation persay, but, hey it might turn into one. )

Sam - Still early on and working out the kinks. Let me know if it starts going down hill. I'll need a heads-up.

My note from the previous chapter still stands - For those of you who want to be lame and join in cheesy fun goodness known as RPing our own season three-ish, email me at glory12783 at yahoo dot com. Yes we know it's lame, but dude you know it's fun! We're setup on greatest journal. I will supply you with a link to check it out if you're interested in being lame too!