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

Chapter 3 – Come Back To You

August 20th, Monday, 6am

Grace groaned slightly, covering her eyes from the rays of light protruded through the open curtains like daggers jabbing parts of her eyes through her eyelids. She would have stayed asleep if the phone next to her ear hadn't started ringing. Grace's head shot up off the pillow. She looked around, dazed and confused about her whereabouts for a second before her brain cleared itself of its cobwebs, and she remembered where she was. Quickly she stopped the painful noise reverberating through her head by answering the phone.

"Hello?" She mumbled, rubbing at her eyes to get the crust away from her lashes.

"Mommy…I had a bad dream…" Stone's voice came through the line sullen and jerky. He sniffled and Grace heard a whimper escape him.

She sat up in the bed now, pulling her knees up with her right arm as she rested her forehead down on her kneecaps. "What kind of dream kiddo?" She asked. The pangs of guilt readily nipped at her insides, like a person with a cut inside their mouth that they couldn't stop licking, thus sustaining their cut for longer than necessary. Grace welcomed the guilt. She felt like she deserved to be punished for returning to face these demons without Stone. She was lying. She would be lying later on in the day when she spoke to her father.

Stone described his dream through sobs. He had been lost in a forest and he was calling out for Grace, only she wasn't coming for him. Grace scrunched up her face and fought back tears as she listened to him crying while he recounted the harrowing tale, which eventually led to him being attacked by wildebeests who wanted Bark, his favorite stuffed puppy; only bark had thwarted the attack, sacrificing his left ear and his right back leg and an eyeball in the process of saving Stone.

"I'm sorry, baby, it's okay," Grace said groggily. "You're awake now. Everything's all right. Bark's okay isn't he?"

"Y-yes…" Stone sniffled.

"I'll tell you what," Grace compromised. She didn't want to be away from him anymore than he wanted to be away from her. "I'll do everything I have to here as quick as I can and I'll come back by Wednesday and you'll have me all to yourself. How's that?"

"Okay…" Stone said slowly. He sniffled once more.

"And, I'll bring you to get pancakes for dinner too," Grace suggested.

"Promise?" Stone brightened up at this idea.

"You betcha," Grace replied, glad he was recovering now that he was waking up more fully.

"Okay mommy," Stone agreed. "I'm s'posed to go eat cereal now."

"Okay. You tell everyone I said hi, okay?" Grace instructed.

"Sure mommy," Stone replied.

"And Stone?" Grace continued, "I love ya kiddo,"

"I know. I love you to mommy," Stone replied before hanging up. Grace listened to the dial tone for a few seconds before sliding the phone back down to its receiver. She wrapped both of her arms around her drawn up knees and rested her head sideways against her kneecaps, looking over out the nearby window. Talking to Stone only made her think of Luke more. Adam was right; Luke did deserve to know. Grace shuddered slightly. What if Luke had Stone taken away from her because of all the lying and never telling him about Stone? Could he even do that? Grace was pretty sure Luke had more money than her. She'd heard some of the writers talking about him a few months back when they were doing an article on Luke's current Leukemia research project. She had been afraid to read the article, knowing that there was a photo spread of Luke and his team hard at work in some science lab.

Grace knew it was only a matter of time before Adam cracked and told Joan or Helen about Stone. She felt sick to her stomach when she thought about what Joan's reaction would be. The last time she'd seen Joan had been at the bus station. It was pouring rain and both of them were soaked. Joan had done everything, including standing in front of the bus until a security guard removed her so the bus could drive away, to keep Grace in Arcadia. Joan had cried throughout the whole encounter, screaming angrily at Grace for running away.

Grace had kept her composure until Joan had jumped in front of the bus, nearly getting killed and sobbed that Grace was a chicken and if she was going to leave everyone behind then Grace would have to take Joan out to do so because she was leaving over Joan's dead body. Grace had wiped at her silent tears for the whole ride to Baltimore at the guilt. When Joan found out she had a nephew she didn't know about that was now five years old, she was going to go ballistic. Helen probably would too. Lord knows what Luke would do.

Grace sighed. She had to get moving. Her father would be at the Synagogue by 7am. Reluctantly, she rose from the bed and went about starting the hotel's coffee maker before picking out some clothes and then heading for the shower.

True to his usual schedule, Rabbi Polanski showed up at the Synagogue just a few minutes after 7am. Grace sat atop the steps in front of the entrance, waiting for him. She watched him fiddle with the keys as he started to ascend the stairs. He only got four or five steps up before he lifted his head and stopped in his tracks, staring at Grace in disbelief.

Grace rose to her feet. "Dad," She spoke nervously. It was kind of hard to gauge his reaction when he was just standing there staring at her while barely blinking. Grace remembered that look. Last time he'd given her that look was when he returned home to see the police escorting her mother away. At first he just looked at Grace blankly. After everyone had left, however, he'd spent hours screaming at Grace for bringing other people into their business until it was almost sunrise. Grace had tried to explain that it wasn't her fault, if only to get him to stop, but that hadn't worked. The result? Grace had to pack, so she could go stay with Rove while the police sorted everything out. Grace decided that wasn't a good idea. She was 18 anyway, why did she have to stay with anyone? That's when she headed for the bus station, after she threw Luke out of her house.

"What are you doing here?" The Rabbi ascended the steps slowly, taking each one at a cautious pace like he really thought slow and steady would win the race. His reaction was a little less warm than Grace had expected, but she took it...well, gracefully. What, did she really expect him to just come running up and sweep her into his arms and tell her how wrong he was, how he'd failed her? No, Grace hadn't expected that; she just wished it could have been that way.

Grace took a deep breath. The hot, humid summer air made her lungs constrict slightly, or was that just the pain and guilt? "I came to see you," She finally spoke when he was face to face with her.

The rabbi raised an eyebrow. "What for?" He stepped past Grace and began unlocking the Synagogue doors. His questioning glance was cautious, but reserved.

"I'm not here grubbing for money if that's what you think," Grace furrowed her brow as she jostled and repositioned the bag on her shoulder, gripping her hand to the strap.

The rabbi offered a slight sideways nod of his head. "That's good. Good. I take it you're doing well on your own then?" He stepped aside and held the door open, nodding now to invite Grace in. Grace had learned to see through her father about the same time she figured out just what an alcoholic was. Still, she played along.

"Been writing for a magazine," Grace stepped through the open door and waited for her father to follow her. They started up the familiar hallway and towards his office. "Wrote a book that's been on the New York Time's Bestseller's list for almost 2 months." She knew her father wasn't really listening as he clambered behind his desk and sat down, rummaging mindlessly through some papers. Grace wondered why anyone would take advice from someone who was even more lost than she was.

"Mm-hmm, good, that's good Gracie," He nodded, looking at a specific pile of papers through the glasses positioned on the tip of his nose. Grace rolled her eyes and reached into her bag. Her fingertips played with the edge of the photo holder, flicking at it as she contemplated her next move. Before she really thought about the repercussions of her next action, Grace pulled the photo holder out of her bag and gave a glance at the first picture. It was taken in the hospital not long after Stone had been born. Grace underhanded the album towards her father like an old ratty tennis ball. The plastic container of pictures hit the pile of papers the rabbi was engrossed in and slid a few inches until it was on the edge of his desk. This caught his attention.

Rabbi Polanski didn't move at first. He simply averted his eyes to look at the picture. After staring at it for a good long minute, he turned just his eyes up to Grace in anticipation.

"That's Stone Adley Polk," Grace spoke easily. She was surprised at how easy the information came pouring out of her as her father sat motionless, soaking it up. "Born on March 3rd, 2007 after 56 hours of labor. 9 months and he looks nothing like me. He sounds nothing like me except, well, for some of the things that he says of course. He has my temper, you know the one you and mom cultured for so many years," Grace could feel her eyes begin to burn but the words just kept coming. The rabbi moved now, sitting back in his chair, absorbing this information.

"He hates peas but he can't get enough of radishes when you put them in front of him. When he was two he wouldn't go anywhere if it meant leaving Bark, his favorite stuffed animal behind. Luke doesn't know he even exists. Rove didn't even know until last night. No one in this town knew. He knows who all of you are, even if it's only from seeing pictures, so I figure hey why the hell not showcase off some pictures of him to you?" Grace was growing angry. Her father hadn't even picked up the pictures to look at them. "He's pretty much everything I'm not, and you know I'm pretty close to thanking God for that because I'm well aware that I'm whacked in the head, but then again you know that too don'tcha dad?"

Slowly, the rabbi reached out and picked up the pictures. He leafed through them gingerly before he ventured a glance at his daughter.

"Nothing to say? No anger? Hurt? No curiosity?" Grace raged on. "You want more? All right then. When he was 4, he got the flu so bad his temperature was 104 for a whole day, that's nearly fatal in case you didn't know. At 105, your brain cooks itself. Until now he hasn't spent more than 18 hours away from me and I honestly don't know what I'm doing here when you don't even care about what's just been revealed to you."

"I never said I don't care about this," The rabbi replied before tossing the pictures back to Grace. The bitterness was still there in his voice after all these years. "I am wondering, however, how you've managed to keep this a secret for so long, Gracie. Because if you think just coming back here and telling the world you have a son now is going to make everything better, well you're mighty mistaken child."

Grace looked down at Stone's big toothy 5-year-old grin. She closed her eyes for a moment and slipped the pictures back into her bag, shaking her head.

"You can blame me for mom all you want," She hitched her bag up onto her shoulder tighter. "I'm not the one who conned a congregation into believing you had the perfect little family," She walked for the door but stopped when she was halfway through. "And I sure as hell didn't force the alcohol down her throat…nor did I give myself those bruises," Grace flinched slightly, "Did you know she almost…" She shook her head and cut her words off. "I'm sorry to bother you."

"Gracie, come on now," He called after her but it was too late, Grace had already made it halfway up the hallway by the time he'd called out to her. She walked right out of the Synagogue and proceeded up the street, unsure where her next stop should be-she had blocked the world around her out, preventing her from hearing her father calling after her.

After walking for nearly thirty minutes Grace came upon a familiar diner and her stomach decided it was time for some breakfast. So she went into the diner and asked for the booth in the back corner since it was the hardest booth to see from nearly everywhere else in the diner. She was hoping to avoid all the attention she'd gotten at the café. After all who knows whom she could run into here? Grace wasn't sure she could handle another run in after Adam and her dad.

"Here you are, Miss," The old waitress Grace remembered from when she and Luke would come in the diner at all hours in the early a-m to get coffee and ice cream after Grace knocked on his window and dragged him out, set a plate of food in front of Grace and refilled her coffee. Grace offered a thankful nod.

"Is there anything else you need?" The waitress asked.

"No, no I'm good," Grace assured, "Thank you."

"You just call if you need anything, Hon," The waitress said as she walked away to refill some other customers' coffee cups.

Grace began to dig in immediately. She was starving after only picking at food for two days. Her sunny-side up eggs were just runny enough to dunk her sandwich, made out of a slice of French toast with home fries stuffed inside it and folded in half, before taking a large enough bite to warrant some extra chewing than normal-followed by a nice chug of her coffee.

It wasn't long before Grace managed to give herself a stomachache. So with her newly found heartburn in place, she paid for her meal and left her tip before leaving.

Grace looked at her watch. It was 8:15am; fast breakfast. Where was the next stop? Grace sure as hell wasn't going to go to her house where she knew her mother would be; not after the way her dad reacted. Grace sat down on the corner, on the edge of a rickety old bus stop bench to think about her next destination. She pulled out some gum from her bag as she contemplated.

"You're about to lose Luke's address, dear,"

Grace looked to her left and raised an eyebrow at the old lady sitting there on the bench with grocery bags filling up her lap. Grace looked around just to be sure the woman was talking to her.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Grace questioned the odd woman who was smiling warmly at her.

The woman pointed a wrinkly outstretched finger at the edge of Grace's leather knapsack. Grace thought it looked kind of like the skin on a chicken before you cooked it, only less yellow. It looked, deceivingly, as if it would just peel right off if you pinched it and pulled but as soon as you got to a joint, boy did that skin stay put. Grace shook her thoughts free and followed the woman's hand. There was a piece of paper hanging just barely onto the corner of her bag, jerked out and almost lost probably when Grace reached in for her gum.

"You're about to lose Luke's address," The old woman repeated with a warm smile.

"Oh…oh!" Grace snatched the paper as a breeze flew through them. "Uh…thanks. Thank you," Grace nodded to the woman before staring down at the address scrawled on the scrap of paper. It was obvious to Grace as she looked at it that she'd written it while only half awake and agonizing over whether or not to call Luke.

Grace had in fact completed her call to Luke at least once. She closed her eyes, remembering his ragged voice when he'd answered the phone. Grace hadn't actually realized that she had dialed the full number until Luke had spoken.

"Joan, I swear…if someone's not bleeding or dead…" Luke's tired voice came through the line husky and dry. She'd woken him up. Luke had trailed off when Grace had snapped to reality and realized what she'd done at which point she'd gasped, emitting a slight yelp.

"Who is this?" Luke had then inquired. Grace tried to answer, she really did. But all of the things she had been longing to tell Luke since the moment she'd told him she never wanted to speak to him again seemed to just be swarming around in her brain. They meshed together and prohibited Grace from forming a coherent thought and uttering it.

"Hello? Is this what you think of as a good prank call?" Luke sounded slightly more awake now despite the yawn he spoke around. "Cause I gotta tell you, it's kind of lame."

After another lost moment of trying to speak, Grace slammed the phone down onto the receiver.

"You should go visit him," The old woman spoke. She stood up and gathered her bags as the bus came into view distantly up the road.

"Huh-oh, wait, what?" Grace looked at the woman confused. "Do I know you?" She asked once more.

"No sugar, you don't, but I know you, Grace," The woman smiled.

Grace raised an eyebrow suspiciously. At first, for a fleeting moment, Grace thought that this old woman could possibly read her articles or may have read her book, but the way the woman smiled at her told a different story.

"You'd be surprised how forgiving some people can be, Grace," The old woman spoke before Grace could get a word out. The bus pulled to a stop at the corner. "Let your feet lead you where you need to go," She winked before a young man, who really looked like a delinquent, offered to help her onto the bus. The old woman smiled and thanked the boy who appeared more like a hoodlum than a nice young man as he helped her. Grace was left to stare after the bus as it pulled away.

Long after the bus was out of view, Grace stood off the bench. She stared down at the address, gliding her thumb across it and nibbling at her bottom lip. That's when she made her decision. The decision, in fact, that could-no, would-change the course of the rest of not only her life but Stone's too; and maybe a few other lives. Grace did her best not to think as her feet thudded against the pavement in quick succession as she strode as quickly as possible without running since her short legs wouldn't accommodate for long strides.

I've got no time to kill/Cause it's now or never/Cause the way I feel/It won't last forever/When you're at that point in life/It just has to be tonight./It's a long, long road/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…/Have your thoughts turned bad/ Are you in a prison/ There's no turning back/There's no indecision/You were always there for me/Now it's your turn to be free/It's a long way from home/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…/Sometimes you just have to leave it all behind you/Take a chance/Just know, you're not alone/ It's a long, long road/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…Always come back to you/ It's a long, long road/But I'll always come back to you/I don't know which way to turn/But I feel it's the right thing to do/There's so much for me to learn/But I'll always come back to you…

A/N: And another chapter done. I hope it was worthwhile for you to read. What do you think Luke's reaction should be? Let me know in your review!

Chapter title is from "Always Come Back To You" by Ryan Cabrera.

Responses: Sayxanything – Sup Rove? Cool? Hello we're lame cheesy fun goodness. Stone's my hero lol. No other 5-year-old, cause Stone's awesome! Don't harass me! I kept going! Your turn to update, yo!

Kool-Wolf – Uhm…my guess: it's you! Stone is cool damnit. That was a lot of reviewing in a short span of time dude. Hate you back + violence to you times 3!

Sam – Okay, I'm waiting for the yell! Gotcha, true tone set, good to know. ) Lol when writing those lines I had to recover to continue writing. And it IS the liquid crack of high school (and college) students. You go grab yourself a cup of liquid crack! Thanks for the thumbs up! Don't forget to give me that yell when I start going down.

TJ-TeeJay – Ah, I know you're a sucker for Adam scenes; sorry there weren't any in this chapter. Thanks for the input. Let me know if it starts to suck okay?

Tiff – Fantabulous, I like that. I don't know if Luke's gonna find out or how. Any suggestions miss spoiler Queen?

Butterfly Dancing – No problem on the name thing. I used it cause I loved it. You sound frazzled lol. Glad you feel included! Technically she did call him! He does deserve to know about Stone. Any suggestions for how his reaction should be if or when he does? Haha I'm sorry I interrupted your yoga class! Let me know if you have an suggestions! Thanks again!

Much love to all but Kool-Wolf, in which case violence to you!