It was a couple of weeks later and Grace had been spending a lot of time with Maria. Maria had ended up telling Audrey about Grace as she was finding it too difficult to hide things from her. She was not ashamed of Grace. She just did not want to scare the girl and overwhelm her.

It was Sunday and Grace arrived at her mother's house early afternoon. She walked into the house and sat down on the sofa. She just wanted to have a lazy day.

"Hey, how are you?" Maria asked as she walked into the room. She was glad that Grace had a key to the flat now as it meant that she felt she belonged in this house.

"I'm fine. Oh, can you come with me to an appointment tomorrow?" Grace asked.

"Sure, does Rachel know about it?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, she does" Grace said shrugging.

"If I couldn't come would you have to go alone?" Maria asked concerned.

"Nah, Joyce was going to take me but then I said I'd prefer it if my mum took me and she was fine with that. Rachel agreed too" Grace said, and Maria nodded slightly cautiously.

Following Day

Maria arrived outside the local secondary school just before the bell rang. She sat waiting for her daughter and was surprised to see that she was one of the first people out.

"So where am I going?" Maria asked and Grace told her the name of the local hospital.

"It's a big hospital. Are you sure you know where you are going?" Maria asked Grace and the girl nodded. They quickly parked the car and Maria paid the meter while Grace made sure she knew where she was going.

They then walked to the area, Grace was speed walking and Maria was struggling to keep up.

"Woah, slow down a little" Maria said as they finally turned a corner.

"Sit down and I'll register" Grace said quietly. She did not come across rude and Maria nodded and sat down. It was not until she sat down and looked around that she realised where she was. She waited until her daughter returned and then looked at her.

"Why are we at the sexual health clinic?" Maria whispered. Maria knew that they held a walk-in clinic a couple of times a week but did not know much more about them. Grace bit her lip and Maria turn around to look at her.

"Grace" Maria said but the girl did not even look at her. To Grace's relief, they were called in quickly and they walked in and sat down.

"What can I do for you today?" The nurse practitioner, Susan asked.

"I'd like to go on birth control" Grace explained.

"And is this mum?" Susan asked and Grace nodded.

"Are you sexually active?" She asked and Grace shook her head.

"No, it's just in case" Grace explained

"Do you have a boyfriend? A partner?" Susan asked and Grace nodded.

"Yeah" Grace said.

"How old are you, Grace?" Susan asked leaning forward.

"I'm 14, but I'm 15 in two months" Grace said confidently.

"What does Mum think about this?" Susan asked looking at Maria.

"Well I didn't know about this until a minute ago" Maria said before she took a deep breath. "I think we need to have a chat about this before you go on anything. I was 15 when I had Grace, I understand what it's like being a teenager and of course I want you to be safe but there is more to it"

Grace nodded and bit her lip. She wished she had just spoken to her mum.

"What type of birth control were you thinking about?" Susan asked and Grace shrugged.

"The pill I suppose. Isn't that what everyone is on?" Grace said and Susan shook her head.

"They're different types of birth control. Why don't you take this leaflet and have a look?" Susan said and Grace nodded.

"Birth control helps in different ways. How are your periods?" Susan asked and Grace looked around unsure what to say.

"Are they regular?" Susan asked and Grace shook her head.

"How long ago did you stay?" Susan asked.

"Like just over a year ago" Grace said.

"I think it's important that you don't go on birth control too early especially if you're still developing and your hormones are all changing" Susan explained. Grace nodded.

"Talk to your mum about this and remember you can come back any time" Susan said, and Grace nodded. She stood up to leave and Maria followed on behind. They walked silently back to the car and as they drove they were silent. Grace was trying to work out if her mother was driving her to the children's home or her flat.

"Are you mad at me?" Grace asked nervously and Maria shook her head.

"I'm not mad, I just, I don't know how I feel" Maria said honestly.

"Do you not want me anymore?" Grace asked even allowing a couple of tears to slip down her face which was unusual for her. They had just arrived in the street and Maria stopped the car and looked at Grace.

"Grace, never. I will always want you" Maria said before pulling the girl into her arms.

"But we do need to have a chat" Maria said and told the girl to get up the stairs into the flat.

Grace quickly ran up the stairs, she was nervous to talk with her mum, but also got a slight thrill from it as well. She had never had a grown-up conversation with another woman before. Maria was relieved that she had asked Kurt to look after Liam as this was not a conversation, she'd want him to over here.

"Sit down and I'll get us a drink" Maria said as she disappeared into the kitchen. She made herself a coffee and Grace a hot chocolate before walking back to the living room.

"Why didn't you speak to me?" Maria asked as she sat on the edge of the sofa and placed the hot chocolate on a coaster on the table.

"I'm sorry" Grace said.

"Hey, you don't need to be sorry. I was just wondering what I did wrong" Maria explained.

"You didn't do anything wrong" Grace butted in quickly.

"Then why didn't you speak to me?" Maria asked confused.

"I don't speak to anyone. I didn't know if I could speak to you or how to bring it up" Grace asked looking down.

"You just have to say and we could have found some place private and had a chat about it" Maria said as she moved back down to the sofa.

"I know what its like, that it's embarrassing speaking to your parents about sex. I know that's why I didn't speak to my mum" Maria explained, and Grace nodded. Her mother was right, she was embarrassed.

"Are you really thinking about sex or is it because you've heard people saying that's done it?" Maria asked.

"Other people" Grace admitted.

"You do know that people say they've done it when they haven't and often they do it once just to say and then don't do it again" Maria explained and Grace nodded.

"It's just, I feel like I have to do it because then that'll be in my mind rather than what happened to me in the past" Grace admitted and Maria nodded.

"I know I don't fully understand what happened before but I want you to remember that having sex and being raped or abused are completely different" Maria explained and Grace nodded.

"I just don't want you rushing into anything" Maria said as she started to play with Grace's hair. Grace nodded.

"I understand now. I don't want to have sex. I just thought that if I went on the pill then people would guess I was having sex and stop going on to me about it" Grace explained.

"Don't you ever let someone else pressure you into doing anything" Maria said and Grace nodded. She was glad they had spoken. Maria knew that they still needed to speak some more but it was enough for just now.

"Come and get a hug" Maria said as she lay down and pulled her daughter on top of her. She started rubbing her back until the girl relaxed and moved onto stroking her hair.

"Mum" Grace asked and Maria nodded. This was the first time Grace had actually called her mum rather than just referring to her as mum.

"How come you always do the right things for me? Like I had a sore stomach a few weeks ago and I didn't even say but when you hugged me, you rubbed my tummy and I felt better. Today you rubbed my back and I felt better too. You always know how to help me get to sleep" Grace went on to say and Maria smiled.

"It's because I'm your mum. I just know what to do for you" Maria said kissing the girl on the head. They cuddled for a bit longer before Maria heard Kurt coming up the stairs with Liam. She didn't bother getting up as she knew that Kurt had a key.

"Hello, is it okay Liam comes back just now?" Kurt asked noticing the two of them snuggled up.

"Of course, come and join us" Maria said, and Liam smiled before jumping up on top of Grace.

"Arg, you are getting heavy" Grace said cuddling up with Liam.

"Not as heavy as you are" Maria said, and Grace threw her mum a look but Maria knew that the girl was only joking.

They stayed like that for a bit longer before Maria said she needed to get up and make the dinner. After dinner, Grace decided she was going to go back to Tabitha House as she was tired.

"Okay, give me a minute" Maria said as she followed Grace to the door.

"I'm going to have to tell Rachel" Maria stated, and Grace made a face.

"I'm sorry sweetie but I have to. I want you to move in with me and I don't want to lie to Rachel" Maria explained. Grace nodded. She understood.

"And we are still good?" Maria asked and Grace smiled. Maria pulled the girl into her arms and told her to phone when she was back at the car home.

Maria quickly phoned Rachel was it was only 5:30. Rachel answered, and Maria explained what had happened today. Rachel thanked her for being honest.

"Did you speak to her about it or do I need to?" Rachel asked.

"We had a really good chat about it" Maria explained, and Rachel smiled.

"Really fantastic. Grace doesn't like speaking to anyone about sex so you did well. She won't even speak to us about the changes she's gone through" Rachel said. "It's usually something the care workers speak to them about but Grace refused so they asked me to try. She was exactly the same with me"

"She was really open today but I understand that we'll probably have to have some other conversations in the future" Maria explained.

They spoke for another 10 minutes or so before Maria hung up. It wasn't long later that she had a text from Grace and as usual the girl called her to help put Liam to bed. Maria was relieved that they were back to normal again.

Sorry for the delay :( Hope this is okay :)