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. Sorry for typos especially now because I didn't have time to review the last half of this chapter!

Chapter 5 – Forgiving Is Difficult

August 20th, 2012 8:45pm

When Grace finally found the right address, she paced the sidewalk for a few minutes. She couldn't do this. She had to do this. How could she do this? How could she have done this to Luke? She agonized, staring at the house as she paced, biting her lip and tapping her hand against her leg anxiously.

By the time five minutes had passed, Grace had progressed to the porch. She approached the door and reached a finger to ring the bell before yanking her hand back and turning around. She reached the top step when she again turned around and sauntered back to the door. She glanced towards the driveway at the side of the house and saw a car so, she was pretty sure he was there. If she rang the bell, chances are he would answer. Slowly, now that she was in front of the door, she reached out a fist, in preparation of knocking, but then stopped. She pointed her finger again and it was just about at the buzzer when a voice surprised the hell out of her, causing her to yank her hand away and cover her heart.

"Can I help you?" The woman's voice spoke as she came up the walk with a dog on a leash. Grace froze. This couldn't be happening. "Hello, I said could I help you?" Joan asked, as she stood at the bottom of the steps, a little leery since the person whose back she was staring at hadn't responded.

Grace clenched her eyes and sighed. This was going to happen eventually, might as well be now. "I heard you just fine, Girardi," Grace turned around. Joan almost lost grip on the Irish setter's leash as he wagged his tail, causing his whole body to shake, and offered a friendly bark in Grace's direction. Grace waited for Joan to compose herself. Joan's mouth hung open and her eyes dilated so badly that it looked like there was nothing but pupil in her eyes. Grace swallowed hard as Joan's features began to regain their composure.

"Wha…What are you doing here?" Joan began to slowly climb the stairs, in the similar guarded fashion that Grace's father had with the dog in tow.

"I could almost ask the same…I thought I had your brother's address," Grace tried to stem the awkwardness between them to no avail as she stood in front of the door and Joan stood at the top of the steps on the porch, crossing her arms.

"I live here," Joan looked at Grace expectantly.

Grace nodded. "Look, Uhm, I was just…looking for your brother-,"

"He already left," Joan cut her off. Grace moved aside from the door so that Joan could let the dog in. "And I promised I'd walk Skillet before I left so…" She turned back to Grace after locking the front door. She glanced at Grace and then headed down the steps.

"Girardi, wait," Grace descended the steps to come face to face with Joan again.

"What are you doing here, Grace?" Joan pulled her arm free of Grace's hand. Grace was taken aback by Joan's anger. She felt meek in Joan's presence. The guilt was choking her at the moment, like a sour burp that stuck in the back of your throat burning and eating away are your esophagus and preventing you from doing or concentrating on anything until you got a drink to wash it away.

"I…just, I came to see everyone…not just Luke," Grace finally spoke.

"It's a little late for that, Grace, don't you think?" Joan turned and walked to her car. Grace hesitated but followed, talking through Joan's open window to her.

"Look, I know I screwed up-,"

"Do you?" Joan scoffed and laughed sarcastically. She turned her car on and hooked her seatbelt before looking back at Grace. Despite how sincere Grace looked, Joan continued, angry and bitter. Did Grace really understand what she had done? "Do you really know how you screwed up Grace, because really I have to wonder why, then, it took you 6 years to come back. Unless, of course, this was a recent over night realization? What did you wake up yesterday and say 'oh gosh, I totally shouldn't have done that, darn I should try and fix it?' Because I gotta tell you, it's a bit too little too late."

Grace felt speechless. She had been expecting Joan to be angry, especially once she knew about Stone, but she hadn't been expecting Joan's reaction to just Grace alone would be so hostile and bitter.

"If that's all, I'm going to be late for work," Joan made a point of putting the car in reverse so that Grace would step backwards out of the way. Grace couldn't speak. She just watched as Joan gave one last disappointed shake of her head before backing out of the driving and driving off.

It took almost ten minutes for Grace to snap out of her daze. When she came back to reality she was still thoroughly frazzled by the encounter with Joan. She started walking at a fast pace. She watched where she was going and stopped at lights before crossing the street but she wasn't really seeing where she was going. She just walked. She needed to clear everything out of her mind. She needed to track down Luke before she lost her nerve. She was fairly certain she already had lost her nerve. Grace just kept walking.

10:42 am

After walking blindly for a period of time Grace couldn't figure out, but she thought it was probably somewhere just under an hour and a half, Grace finally stopped to figure out where she was. She still felt agitated and dazed. Her encounters with her father and with Joan plagued her, replaying through her mind like a movie on repeat. Certain phrases reverberated through her head like a broken record.

Grace shook her head and looked at the building in front of her. The hospital? What the hell would lead her here? Grace scrunched up her face as she looked at the building.

"Can I help you, miss?" An orderly who was taking a cigarette break asked as he stamped out his finished butt.

Grace blinked a few times. "No…no, I'm fine," Her voice sounded foreign to her.

"O-kay," The orderly looked at her strangely before turning and going back in the hospital.

Grace stared at the building for a few extra minutes. Why, she wasn't sure, but she did. Afterwards she sighed. She had to go back to the hotel and figure out what her next move was. Maybe she would go back to Luke's house at 5 O'clock and wait for him to come home in hopes that she wouldn't run into Luke again. That was it, that's what she'd do. Grace turned around to start making her way back.

"Whoa!" A voice yelped when Grace collided with someone and the only reason both of them didn't wind up on the ground was due to the other person balancing himself out and grabbing a hold of Grace's arm. He let go quickly and started to apologize, "Sorry about that, I'm a little scatter brained today-," He cut off mid-sentence.

Grace was already painfully aware of who the voice's owner was before she let her eyes timidly travel upwards to his face. Luke had filled out in his early twenties, as most guys did. He was still lanky, but there was a difference. Had he lifted weights? There's no way. His hair was short now and looked like it'd been recently cut. It was only a few inches long and spiked up messily. Grace tried not to let her eyes become locked to Luke's but she couldn't help herself. Once they were locked, she couldn't pull her eyes away from his. The same eyes she'd been staring at every morning and every night for 5 years now locked onto hers.

"Grace…" It wasn't a question, just a statement. It sounded like a desperate call that he'd been issuing since she'd left and now, finally it was answered. He inched closer timidly. "What are you doing here?" He asked. He looked different without glasses. Grace wondered if he had contacts or if he'd gone and gotten that laser surgery. His face was squarer instead of rounded, probably due to his filling out more.

"I…uhm…came to town…to…uhm," Grace scrunched her eyes and forehead, placing a hand on her forehead to scratch aimlessly at a point of her skin that wasn't itchy. "What, what are you doing here at the hospital?" She asked back. Good diversionary tactic, Polk, answer a question with a question.

As if Luke could already read her thoughts, despite the years apart, Luke let the corner of his mouth curve into a grin. At least they were on an even plane, both shocked and nervous; had they both been dying to be in each other's presence for 6 years though, he wondered.

"Oh, uh, blood work," He pointed over his shoulder at the hospital doors.

"Oh, right, right," Grace nodded. "The magazine I work for did an article on all your research. Duh, hospital work." She rambled. Luke opened his mouth to speak but Grace continued. "Listen, I have to get going. I have your number though, I call you later on today," She turned to make a quick exit but Luke caught her upper arm gently.

"Grace, wait," Luke sounded almost as desperate as Grace did when she was talking to Joan. She swallowed hard and turned around to face him again. "With the risk of never seeing you again," Luke kicked himself when he saw Grace cringe, "I'm making dinner reservations at Marco's…for 6:30. Meet me there…we can talk…" He suggested.

Grace eyed Luke's pleading expression. At least he was still quick on his toes. She nodded. "Okay," She agreed.

"Look, I think you at least owe me a dinner-wait, did you say okay?" He asked. Grace nodded. Luke smiled broadly. "Okay," He said. "Oh…I better get inside," He cleared his throat. Grace nodded. "See you tonight," Luke walked for the door, casting a smiling glance in her direction before he disappeared into the hospital.

"Great…now all you need to do is show up to dinner and make him hate you…" Grace sighed and groaned as she ran her hands through her hair. She wanted to kick herself as she started walking again. This time she headed for her hotel. She was going to need to catch some actual sleep if she was going to be ready for tonight-Especially if she had to make a late drive back home to Baltimore if-when-things went horribly wrong. Great, she was already planning and escape.

August 20th, 2012 6:30pm

Grace had woken up late, but still managed to make it to the restaurant on time. As she walked in, she could see Luke already sitting at a table by a window, staring out blankly at the world. He looked so different than what Grace could remember and yet he still seemed to retain all those qualities she'd loved, albeit from a distance, for years. He was dressed in a dark gray suit with a blue button down shirt that matched the shade of his eyes and a matching tie. His right hand fidgeted with the corner of a napkin idly as he stared out that window.

Grace felt her hands shaking. Luke was different, of course he was after 6 years but he was probably close to the person who he used to be. Grace, however, had gone through a transplant of personality and habits. She woke up and got to work on time while keeping Stone on a schedule. She cleaned, she cooked, she accepted invitations to barbecues and parties, she socialized with Dalia and Drake on rare occasions, and she dressed almost nothing like she used to; the proof to this fact lying in the black dress she had donned for the outing. Grace hadn't even remembered packing it. She had thanked her over working brain for getting the wrinkles out before she'd fallen asleep. She was even wearing heeled shoes, even if they were barely heeled.

"Can I help you miss?" The hostess asked.

"Oh, yes, I'm meeting someone here," Grace began to explain.

"Ah, yes, right this way, your escort arrived only moments ago," The hostess lead Grace in Luke's direction.

Luke didn't spot them until they were almost at the table. He hesitated at first, staring at Grace. Grace could feel her cheeks heat up as the hostess left menus and walked away.

"Uh…right this is awkward," Grace reached for her chair.

Luke sprung out of his chair, almost knocking his glass of water over as he did so and shooed her hands away. "Don't complain, it's my job," He offered a smile and held her chair out for her. Grace took a deep breath and sat in the chair as Luke pushed it in, getting a whiff of his cologne. She closed her eyes just until she felt him move and she opened them again before he sat down.

"So…" Grace spoke slowly.

"So let's forget the awkwardness and make this easier on ourselves," Luke suggested.

"What? No, no, it's not-,"

"Grace, come on. We both know it's awkward. And now that that in the open, let's just move on with the night," Luke smiled, opening his menu. Grace followed suit, glad to avert her eyes to the words.

After they had ordered Grace let Luke to most of the talking. He rambled on about is research throughout most of dinner. Grace tried to keep up even though she only understood half of what he was saying, as usual. By the time they got through the main course and decided to forgo dessert, Luke turned the tables on her.

"All right we just spent an hour and a half talking about me," He spoke up. "I want to hear what you've been up to."

Grace almost choked on her iced tea. She finished drinking it and put the cup down. "Well, you know, nothing as interesting as trying to cure a disease," She stammered. "Just writing for the magazine."

"Please, I know you've been doing more than that," Luke smirked.

Grace felt her body freeze. What was he talking about? Could he know? He wouldn't be this calm. Her mind reeled.

"I read your book," Luke spoke again, clarifying.

Grace let out a shaky breath. "Oh…right," She nodded. They talked about her book and the follow up she was going to write until the check came. They argued for five minutes over who was going to pay until Luke finally wrestled the check away and paid the bill.
Once they were outside, Luke convinced Grace to at least let him drive her back to wherever she was staying.

"Grace," He said when he'd opened the passenger door for her. Grace stopped and looked up at Luke, tall as ever compared to her short stature. It had been a long time since they'd been close enough to feel the heat coming off of each other. "I've been waiting so long for you to come back…" He anxiously let the sentence hang in the air.

Sometime in the moment she walked determinedly through the doors of the restaurant to the time she'd spotted Luke, Grace had chickened out on telling Luke about Stone during dinner. Now she felt the burning, sour acidy taste of guilty churning up her throat as she looked at him. The distance between them lessened slightly. How could she let him think it was this easy to have it all back after all the pain she'd caused him; some of which he didn't even know about yet?

"Luke, I-," Grace hadn't gotten another word out before Luke hand had grabbed her right behind her ear and he'd drawn her to him. Grace had waited and longed for this kiss, this touch, for so long that she couldn't pull herself away. Instead she instinctively, with years of stored hunger and desire, delved into the kiss thrust upon her.

Minutes later they separated, breathless. Grace stood with her eyes closed for a few extra seconds, trying to comprehend what she'd just done. She opened her eyes to see Luke just opening his own. They stared, fixated on each other for long moments. Grace blinked repeatedly, stemming her eyes from filling at the hopeful look in his eyes. This was all wrong. Grace cleared her throat and broke their gazes to look down.

"Come back for coffee," Luke blurted. Grace looked up at him again. "Please…we need to talk about more than just where we've been working."

Grace swallowed hard. She knew she had no choice. She did have to tell him, after all. Slowly she nodded. Luke smiled as she climbed into the seat and he closed the door. The ride back was filled with sideways glances and small chit chat.

They had only been in the kitchen of the house making coffee for ten minutes when they heard the front door open and some laughter. Grace tensed. Luke smiled at her.

"Joan's gonna freak when she sees you, come on," Luke grinned as he took Grace by the hand and started to head for the living room. Luke was right though-Joan was going to freak.

Luke and Grace reached the foyer and Joan and her companion froze right before the steps. She stared at Grace as her face went cold. Her male counterpart stuck out his hand at the awkward silence.

"Hi, I'm Wyatt Cole," He said to Grace.

"Wyatt, this is Grace," Luke smiled as he introduced Grace. Grace shook Wyatt's hand.

"Ohh, I've heard a lot about you," Wyatt smiled. Luke blushed.

"All of it bad, I'm sure," Grace said. Wyatt and Luke laughed.

"I can't believe you came back here," Joan stood in front of Grace and crossed her arms.

"Joan," Luke looked at Joan strangely.

"So what, she gives you those sad pathetic eyes and says I'm sorry and that's it, you accept it?" Joan turned on Luke. Wyatt stood back, confused. Luke didn't have time to respond because Joan rounded on Grace again. "I told you this morning, Grace, too little too late. You forgot about us for long enough, it's time we forget about you."

"Joan," Luke said more sternly now, as Grace stood motionless. "Knock it off."

"No," Joan said shortly. "Do you even know what you did to him? Huh do you? No you don't! You don't know what he had to go through because you were too chicken to stick it out and muddle through like the rest of us!" Joan yelled. She wasn't angry just because Grace had abandoned Luke. She was angry because Grace had abandoned all of them, including Joan. "And Adam…what you did to Adam! And me, Grace! You just dumped us all because we weren't too blind to see that you needed help! Now you want to forgive and forget? Well that's not gonna fly. Get out."

Even Luke was stunned at Joan's anger. Grace teetered for a moment, she glanced at Luke and then walked towards the door. She grabbed the jacket she'd brought, which she'd used to put everything she needed in the pockets, and opened the door.

"Grace, no, don't leave," Luke pushed past Joan. Grace turned to look at him.

"No, it's all right. She's right," Grace nodded.

"At least let me get my keys and drive you," Luke suggested. Grace nodded slowly and Luke turned around to go find his keys in the kitchen, casting a glare at Joan as he passed her. She looked down at her feet. Wyatt had abandoned the fight, confused and had gone up to Joan's room to give them space. Joan walked over to Grace, unable to control herself. She grabbed Grace's jacket from her hands and tossed it out the door towards the porch.

"I want you out of my house, you can wait outside," Joan ignored the items that fell out of Grace's jacket.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you this badly," Grace said before stepping through the threshold. Joan watched her start picking things up.

"Joan, what the hell is wrong with you?" Luke came through the door and started helping Grace.

"It's okay, I've got it," Grace said quickly, but it was too late. Luke had already paused over the plastic photo holder. His hand hung in the air above it, perfectly still. His eyes remained focused on the picture in front of him. Grace's face smiled back at him, smashed up against a little boy's face as the boy sat in her lap and she hugged him.

"Go run away again. It's what you're good at," Joan spit out. She really wanted to stop. She wanted to calm down and think about her reaction to Grace rationally, but she couldn't.

"Joan…shut up," Luke said breathlessly. Grace watched Luke's hand over the pictures, afraid to look at his face. He wasn't looking at her anyway; he was staring at the picture. "Go upstairs with Wyatt, Grace and I…need to talk alone."

"Luke you can't seriously be-,"

"Joan!" Luke roared, holding his right hand up to silence her. The volume of his voice made Joan flinch. "Just…go," He ordered. Joan hesitated for only a second and then turned on her heel and went up the stairs. "Grace…" Luke finally spoke as he picked up the photo holder. His hands shook a little as he slowly, gingerly flipped through it.

Grace closed her eyes. She was afraid to open them. How could she look him in the eyes now that he knew her lies? Was it technically lying if you simply withheld information? Luke had never asked causing Grace to deny, so she simply had withheld information.

"Grace…" His voice spoke her name barely above a whisper again. This time he placed a hand on her shoulder and Grace's eyes instinctively snapped open. Petrified, she turned her gaze up towards his, aware that she was fighting off tears and hating herself for it. "How…when…why…"

"Now all you need are the where and the who?" Grace cringed at her own words.

"Let's go inside." Luke suggested.

"How could you not even at least call and tell me?" Luke was nearly shouting after Grace he and Grace had spent almost an hour talking about Stone. He had reached a stage of anger now after Grace had rummaged around in her jacket pockets and produced more pictures for him to look through. He was barely looking at Grace. Grace understood why; he was too captivated by the pictures of his son.

"I didn't know until a few weeks after I was already gone," Grace tried to explain even though she knew that no possible explanation could excuse what she'd done. "I was freaked…I didn't know what to do. I didn't have a ton of money. I know it was wrong, I've been well aware of it since I found out-,"

"Then why didn't you pick up the damn phone or come the hell back?" Luke punctuated his sentence with a firm fist to the table, shaking the photos and his coffee mug. Grace jumped slightly and Luke clenched his jaw, inhaling slowly. "Sorry…" He said slowly. When Grace didn't speak any further, he looked at her and instantly an internal conflict arose within him. He hated to see Grace reduced to staring at her slightly shaking hands as she fended off tears. He could tell she was fighting not to shed them not to keep up a tough act but because she felt and knew that Luke had a right to be angry and she didn't have a right to guilt him into feeling bad for her.

Luke let out a long breath. He noticed Grace fingering a thin case under her hands. He couldn't see anything written on what looked like a CD inside the case.

"What's that?" Luke mustered to ask. He ran a hand through his short hair and sighed. The anger was leaving him and he was trying to assess the situation to figure out a solution.

"I uhm…" Grace hazarded a short glance at Luke and then at the disc in her hand. "You got a DVD player?" She cleared her throat.

Luke nodded and stood. He shook his head for Grace to follow him. Grace lagged a little bit behind Luke as they ascended the stairs. It felt to Grace like she was walking to the gas chamber, or the electric chair. Each step was exaggerated and painful to Grace. Each one could have been her last. They turned and went left up the hallway. The upstairs in the house was set up like two suites. To the left was a door and to the right was a door. Grace assumed the one to the right with the closed door was Joan's room.

Luke opened his door and was greeted eagerly by the Irish setter Grace had seen early. After a quick hello and a pat on the head to the pup, Skillet, he rushed up to Grace and sniffed at her repeatedly until Luke told him to go lay down. He held the door open and let Grace walk through before shutting it. Grace took in the room. It was vast and open, the size of two master bedrooms due, probably, to a lot of renovation. The room itself was shaped like a square with an offshoot against the right wall in the form of a walk in closet and his own bathroom, which, from Grace current point of view looked rather large. On the wall between the closet and the door to the bathroom was a bureau with a mirror on it.

Along the left wall was a small arrangement of a pseudo-living room. There was an entertainment center with a 40" flat screen TV on it. Inside the entertainment center was a VCR, a DVD player, the newest version of play station, and a few other devices Grace couldn't recognize. Strategically placed about 6 feet away from the entertainment center was a large cushy couch that stretched to accommodate a chaise lounge on its corner. A coffee table sat between the couch and the entertainment center. Down the wall past the entertainment center in the corner was a desk that curved around the corner to accommodate what looked like multiple linked MAC computers. There were three different flat screens hovering about the desk and a large rolling leather chair sitting atop the hardwood floor.

About 8 feet behind the couch was Luke's king sized bed, perfectly done. At the foot of the bed was a bench that held extra pillows when the bed was turned down. The seat of the bench opened and contained a hamper that was slightly overflowing with clothes. Various objects lay about in the room like a chewed up tennis ball, a dirty dog bed, some sneakers, and crumpled up papers.

"You can sit down, it's okay," Luke motioned to the couch. Grace slowly made her way over and sat down on the edge of the couch, leaning her right arm on the armrest. She reached a shaky hand out and gave the disc to Luke. Luke took it from her and went about putting it into the DVD player. He sat down close, but not too close, to Grace-in the middle of the couch with the remote in his hands.

"It'll play automatically…" Grace said slowly. "I-I knew what I was doing was wrong, Luke…Dalia and Drake, two of my, I uhm, friends helped me compile this…"

Luke nodded and kept his attention on the screen. The first thing to appear was a camera shot of Stone, lying in a bassinet blinking awake and staring up as his hands and arms twitched out of his control and he wiggled slightly. The words Stone Adley, day 2 in white text appeared at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds as Stone uttered a gurgle and started to drool slightly.

"At least make it a big drool, kiddo, this one's for Daddy," Grace said awkwardly as she filmed. Her hand reached out and wiped off his face with a loose cloth.

The video went on for almost a half an hour. It showcased videos and pictures featuring Stone for the past 5 years. It included birthdays, first steps, first words, drawings Stone had given Grace, holidays, soccer (Stone's favorite sport), pre-school play and graduation, Stone and Grace playing in the yard, and other various events. Luke was already crying silently as he watched by the end. The end was a video taken what looked like two years ago when Stone was 3. Stone was seated on Grace's lap on the floor of a living room with a large photo album in front of them on the coffee table. Grace pointed to the picture as she used her other arm to hold Stone securely in her lap.

"Okay, who's this?" She asked.

Stone giggled and turned his face to look at her. "That's you mommy!" He cheered triumphantly.

Grace smiled broadly at him and nodded. "Oh you think you're smart huh?" She asked. Stone nodded. "Okay, and this?" She pointed to another picture.

"It's me!" Stone dramatically leaned forward imitating his smile in the picture and pointing to his chest.

Grace laughed along with him and tickled his stomach. "Okay smarty pants, who's this?"

The person controlling the camera was standing at an angle where the pictures Grace was pointing to were visible on the screen.

"Mommy, that's daddy," Stone replied to a picture of Luke. Luke stared at the screen in shock.

"That's right," Grace nodded. Stone went on to identify Joan, Kevin, Adam, Luke's parents and even Grace's parents and a few other people. Right after this scene was a video at Stone's 5th birthday party. Grace had taken him to a quiet corner and asked him if there was anything he wanted to say to anyone on the video. Stone had nodded timidly and asked in a whisper if he could say something to his Daddy. Grace had said yes and Stone looked into the camera with a big grin before waving and shouting out 'Hi daddy!'

The screen turned black and Grace wasn't sure if she wanted to look at Luke, but she knew she had to. She turned her head and discovered Luke still crying silently with his eyes fixated on the blank screen.

"I wanted him to know," Grace finally spoke. "Even if I was too chicken to come back. I know you deserve better than this, Luke," Grace had troubled pushing the tears out of her voice. She felt a few of them break free and traverse down hr cheeks but she did nothing to stop them.

Luke turned to face her. He reached a hand up against his better judgment and used his thumb to wipe Grace's cheek dry. Against Grace's own better judgment, her face curled itself against Luke's palm instinctively. Her face scrunched in worry. Luke knew without a doubt that scenarios were running through her mind. He hoped she didn't think he would go far enough to take Stone away from her. He may have still been angry, but he wasn't blind enough to know that he would still do anything to get Grace back; with the added bonus of his son. Grace averted her eyes from him.

"Why did you do this to yourself?" Luke was aware of the strange tone his voice had taken. He was still trying to process all of this. Grace looked at him. "How could you not trust me Grace? After everything. How many times did I prove-,"

"I know you did," Grace looked down again. "It kind of snowballed on me. I thought about coming back every day. But then I chickened out and I know it was stupid, and I know you were right, and I know all I've ever done is screw us up, and I'm sorry and I know this nothing I can say or do that could ever atone for everything I've done, so I'll just, show myself out," Grace stood and headed for the door. "I'll call you when I get back to Baltimore and give you time to figure out what you want to do, if you want to call a lawyer or whatever-,"

"Grace, stop it," Luke followed her and grabbed her arm before she got to the door. She turned around to look at him.

"Luke…" Her eyes shook as they filled. "I never meant to…" Grace choked on her words. Luke drew Grace to him, sliding his right arm behind her back and brushing his left hand through her hair. Grace wasn't sure how long she stood there, shaking and crying against Luke. She took in his familiar smell and the comfort he was offering her. It wasn't too long before the guilt began to eat at Grace and she started to doubt herself. She tried to pull free from him.

"I have to go," She tried to wriggle away. Luke held onto her tightly.

"Stop," He said next to her ear as he held her to him. "Stop running away from me, Grace…I love you."

Grace turned her head upwards and stared at Luke. Did she really hear that right? "H-how could you…after…"

"I told you before you kicked me out that I'd be waiting for you to come back," Luke replied. "We have a lot to make up for," He nodded.

"I should…get back to the hotel," Grace cleared her throat.

"No," Luke shook his head, running his hand over her cheek again. "Stay here…please?" He asked. Grace eyed him. Luke stepped away and put his hands up innocently. "I'll sleep on the couch. I have some pajamas you can borrow."

Grace inhaled deeply, thinking it over. She nodded slowly. "Okay…I'll stay."

"Okay, I'll grab some clothes for you," Luke began rummaging in the bureau for some sweats.

Forgiving is difficult to forget isn't it possible/ Living with a diary of regret/Never let it take control/It's falling short/You're human, don't worry…/It's not the first/It won't be the last/Honest mistake/It's not a perfect universe/That was the past, promises break/It's not so bad, it could be worse/Uh huh…uh huh…uh huh…uh huh… uh huh…uh huh…Uh huh…/Expectations ser me up, disappoint/To commit is challenging/Maybe gives me more room, to create/In this state of balancing/It's not all your fault/We're human/Don't worry… It's not the first/It won't be the last/Honest mistake/It's not a perfect universe/That was the past, promises break/It's not so bad, it could be worse/ Uh huh…uh huh…uh huh…uh huh… uh huh…uh huh…Uh huh…/There's not much to say/If all is forgiven don't you feel that way/ But as long as we live to tell/It's a story, so don't be sorry/ It's not the first/It won't be the last/Honest mistake/It's not a perfect universe/That was the past, promises break/It's not so bad, it could be worse/ Uh huh…uh huh…uh huh…uh huh… uh huh…uh huh…Uh huh…

A/N: What do you think? Luke was a bit of a softy…but come on!

Chapter title is from "Promises Break" by Michael Tolcher.

Responses: Sam – Warm up them vocal chords after this chap! Sorry, you loved the cliffhanger and you know it! Ah, I'm not sure how I'm going to play the Rabbi card. Ah, I almost made myself cry with his nightmare. Thanks dude, much love!

MDM79 – Chapter 3, I figured Adam was easy going enough, and knew Grace long enough to accept Grace back after running into her. Chapter 4, Ah, I did to the Leukemia for a reason, but I knew you'd like it too! Thanks on the chicken skin! Thanks dude, much love!

TJ-TeeJay – Thanks. I don't know if Grace is going to know the old lady was God, yet. I'm heading over to read your update in the morning (sorry dude, I'm totally about to pass out). I hope you liked the way I handled Luke's reaction! Thanks dude, much love!

Butterfly Dancing – I waited longer than the right day to update but I hope you did well on your tests! You could always solve for G & L instead of X &Y. Lol Stone rocks…heh! There still may be some surprises…keep your eyes peeled for clues! Thanks dude, much love!

Hezziebob182 – Woohoo addiction! To fanfic at least. Did ya like the reaction? Thanks dude, much love!

Tiff – Awesometabulous? Hm, it's growing on me. I might be yes. It depends. They've still got a lot of discussing to do, don't worry. Why advertise, no one else wants to join our fun cheesy lame coolness dude! Thanks dude, much love!

Kool-Wolf – Dude! Thanks! Was this long enough? I never knew you could review that fast, yo. The rabbi card will be played again, worry not. Hate you back! Violence to you!

Sayxanything – You know you loved my cliffhanger! Don't lie to you! Ah turmoil…yay! P.S. – Loved the water gun thing on the journal, lol. Thanks dude, much love!

Annieca – Thanks for the encouragement. You don't suck at reviews, relax! Random fact: my middle name's Ann. The thing about the pregnancy timing: I was referring to when a woman starts dilating at about 3 centimeters. You have to go to 10 centimeters in order to actually be in labor. It takes varying times to go from 3 cm to 10. It took my one cousin almost a week. Mind you her water didn't break during this time, it's just what your body does. Normally, the labors will last 13 hours before the delivery. Unless the baby's in trouble, or the parents request it, normally they try not to operate and do a cesarean. My other cousin was in labor for three days, complete with contractions until her water finally broke and she was dilated enough. The hospital sent her home at one point and told her to come back the next day. Anywho, 56 was a random number I pulled out. Call it poetic license if you'd like. )