Disclaimer: I own no part of Once and Again, it's characters, or its actors...I own no part of the song or lyrics of Someday We'll Know. I am simply a fan of both...

Notes on this chapter: For this chapter, in the beginning paragraphs, I have the thoughts of the three major characters...how they feel about what happened the last couple days and what they may be thinking.

Thank you for reading, replying and I hope you enjoy!

I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow

Grace

That went better than I thought it would. Geoff didn't put up much of a fight. Maybe he's okay with it. No, knowing Geoff he's got some sick demented plan to win me back. Well, he wont. I don't love Geoff. Or, I'm not in love with Geoff. Wonder if I ever truly wanted to marry him at all? What was I thinking? I was thinking how much I missed Eli and I had to prove to myself I could love another man. Okay, so inevitably it didn't work of course. Still, I tried. Unsuccessful as it was, I still made the effort. How could I possibly have ever dreamed I could forget my love for Eli? They always told me I was intelligent. Sure. I am so intelligent I let Eli get away and planned to marry a man like Geoff without a second thought. Stupid. Idiotic. Brainless. Asinine. No more. I'm downright brilliant as of today.

Geoff

Well, isn't this a hell of a predicament? I thought I was getting married tomorrow. For that matter, I thought I was going to surprise my love and get married tonight. And now look, I'm sitting alone in my car in a park talking to myself. Great. I went to school all those years to be able to get the job I always wanted, found the woman of my dreams and then, the day before we're to be married I catch her in bed with her stepbrother. All the while their families are scheming to get me out of the way so the two of them could be alone together. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not marrying into their incredibly dysfunctional family. The exes who are all there together in that house at any given time and friendly with each other to boot. No, I'm content with my parents who've been happily married almost 40 years and my two quiet sane brothers. To hell with Grace Manning and her family. I don't need her. Well, I eventually won't need her...or want her...or miss her terribly. Someday I'll find my happiness...the woman of my dreams...my pot of gold.

Eli

Okay, the door shut. They're gone. I'm here. Why'd I let her go? She shouldn't be alone with him. Who knows what he'd do. No, she's strong. She knows I'm here. Grace knows I'm completely in love with her. That woman has more strength than she'll ever give herself credit for. She is so much stronger than I am. She's so much more intelligent than I am. I was a complete and utter idiot for too many years to even want to think about. That's in the past. Never again will I ever be afraid of love. I'll never be afraid now that I've got Grace in my life again. Our beautiful love appearing like a rainbow after a storm. It stormed all over this city today and now we've got our rainbow.

Jessie and Zoe later...

"Oh my god Jess, the storm's over. I think we should warn them. I'll bet we're too late. I bet you he's there and he found them. Jess, we ate an entire meal and had how many hot chocolates? Yeah, too many. All because we didn't want to interrupt anything. We can't save them now. My sister and your brother are going to kill us." Zoe stood and put her coat on. "Let's go Jess" she said and made her way to the door.

Jessie stood, grabbed her coat and purse, paid their bill, and walked to the car with her sister. 'My sister. Years ago that statement would have made me physically ill if I'd thought about that and I can't imagine had I said it aloud. And now, now Zo is my sister. We even have nicknames we use for one another.'

"Whatcha thinkin Jess? Thinkin' about Katie?" Zoe asked with a smile.

"What? No, I was not thinking about Katie. Why'd you ask me that? I haven't thought about her in years." Jessie hoped Zoe didn't see through her lie. She glanced at her and sighed. "Alright, what is it little miss matchmaker? Now that Grace and Eli are finally together where they belong are you trying to mess with my love life?"

"No Jess, your lack of a love life. Are you seeing anyone? Anyone at all? No, no you're not. I know you still love her and you need to admit it. Eli drove from New York to stop Grace from marrying big dumb Geoff. Now dammit, what are you going to do for Katie? So she moved. You still go to her house. You sit in your car in front of her house like a lost puppy. You sit there and think about your missed opportunities and stubbornness and plain stupidity. Do you honestly think Eli never once came home? Please. Okay, so I only saw him twice but both times he was in a rental car in front of the house just staring. Grace wasn't even here. Still he sat and stared and then he left. I never once asked him about it because I figured in time he'd come to his senses."

Zoe touched Jessie's arm hoping it would help get her point across. "Don't do that Jess. Don't hide your love and let it eat you alive. That will kill you. Now, we're here and I've finished my lecture. Learn something today sis, please. Learn to show your love. Learn to live."

Jessie pulled up in front of her mom's house and turned off the car. She sighed and was stunned when Zoe leaned over and gave her a hug and said, "I love you big sister. Now let's save the love birds. Wait, where's Grace's car? Eli's car is here. Oh, that's not looking good. Let's see what happened." The two got out of the car and made their way to the door, all the while both saying their own silent prayers that everything was okay with Eli and Grace.

Eli heard the car and ran downstairs thinking it was Grace. He flung the door open only to find Jessie and Zoe standing there. "Oh, it's only you. Well, don't stand there staring, come in. What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Eli turned and sat down at the table.

"E, where's Grace? Or should I ask? Did everything go okay? We would have been here sooner but...umm, well, the storm was bad and all and..." Jessie didn't want to tell him the whole truth. Zoe wasn't afraid to.

"Eli, we didn't get here sooner because neither of us wanted to see you and Grace, you know,doing whatever you may have been doing. Ugh, that just makes me nauseous to think of you and my sister. Oh, anyway, we didn't want to interrupt anything so we got some hot chocolate. Then we realized we were hungry too, so we ate. Sorry. Geoff didn't show up did he? Where is Grace?" Zoe was afraid to hear Eli's answers and braced herself.

"Grace is with Geoff. I was on my way back to Lily and Dad's house." Eli didn't elaborate on any other details after hearing his sisters knew Geoff was on his way there and decided to eat instead of trying to stop him or at least give Eli and Grace a warning. 'I want to see them squirm. Okay Eli, look sad and destroyed.' "Why didn't the two of you get here sooner? You could have warned us he was on his way. Here we were in the storm and out of nowhere he shows up. Not cool girls." Eli stood and turned away from them to hide his smile.

"Oh E, I'm sorry. We didn't exactly know he was on his way...did we Zo? No, we didn't. So you and Grace didn't get to talk? You didn't work anything out? All this time she's been with Geoff? Damn Eli, I'm sorry." Jessie felt guilty and walked toward her brother to give him a hug. She stopped. She heard him laugh. "What's so funny Eli?"

"You. The two of you are hilarious! Yeah Geoff showed up and yes Grace is with him. He didn't show up until after, as you so eloquently put it, did whatever we did. You were gone for hours. Didn't you realize what time it was? So yes, it was a good idea you stayed away because you would have interrupted us. You are too easy to fool. Come on, let's go. We've got to get to the house to let everyone know we're okay."

He looked at his sisters and sighed. "No, I'm not calling them and giving them news like this over the phone. Face to face. Certain things must be said face to face, right Jessie? I've got to tell everyone Grace isn't marrying the idiot. What are those stunned looks for? What, do you really think thatwe would be togethertodayand she would still marry the idiot? No, certainly not. She loves me. She even said it. More than once. Grace loves me and I love her. Oh stop it, leave me alone. Let me have my moments of joy and my trip back to adolescence since I don't remember all that much of it. Now, let's go. We've got a wedding to undo." Eli took his sisters' hands in his and together they walked out the door, looked up in the sky and saw a beautiful rainbow. "Yes, life is good" Eli said with a smile.