Disclaimer: I own nothing of Once and Again, or the song Someday We'll Know. I just love the two of them and meshed them together in my mind!
Author's notes: Thanks again for everyone that is reading...it means theworld to me. Wanted to say that this story is almost finished. Not much left to go. I'm working on other fics and I'll probably start postingvarious fics I've finished as well. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy!
Someday we'll know
why Samson loved Delilah
Rick and Lily awoke from their nap completely rested. They were in the kitchen having some coffee when the phone rang. "Hello? Oh hi! We were just talking about you and yes, we were going to come get him in about an hour. We were just deciding which one of us would call you. No, no, you don't need to keep him there for dinner. Thanks for the offer but we'll probably have something special here before his grandmother and uncle have to leave. Yes, they're both here. I want to thank you for watching him these last few days. It has been a madhouse around here. Yesterday we played the waiting game almost all day and...oh, never mind. You don't need all the maddening details. Just wanted to say thank you and we owe you. Your son is welcome here absolutely anytime he wants and for however long he wants to stay. Well, once everyone leaves here. Where do I begin?" Lily said while laughing. Rick smiled and heard the kitchen door open. He knew it would be two of the kids; he just wasn't sure which two. Lily smiled at her daughter and went to the living room to finish the call.
"Hey Dad. Hope you and Lily didn't mind that we took a nap in the garage." Eli had his arms around Grace as he stood behind her with a huge smile on his face.
"No, we don't. We trust that the two of you were sleeping." Eli stepped around Grace and made his way to the table to sit down with his father. Before he could sit, Rick smiled and said, "Eli."
Eli gulped. "Yeah Dad?"
Rick laughed. "You missed a button son. Were you trying to put your shirt on in a hurry? It seems Grace buttoned her shirt just fine."
Eli closed his eyes and sighed. He opened his eyes and saw Grace looking over at him smiling. "Why do I feel like I'm 15 again? You know I get hot when I sleep. I got hot and took my shirt off and that's all. Honest. I swear."
"What are you swearing about now E?" Jessie said as she and Zoe returned.
"Why is it the two of you are always around when I'm in trouble? It's always been that way. I'm wondering if you have learned to plan it over the years." Eli stood and walked over to his sister and flipped her ponytail. He got a drink out of the refrigerator and asked Grace if she wanted one.
"No thanks. And Eli, you may want to fix your shirt before my mother is off the phone. Mom may not laugh like your dad did." Grace said while chuckling.
"His shirt? What made your father laugh about your shirt and why won't I laugh? Eli?" Eli decided Lily walked into the kitchen at the wrong moment and realized he would have to answer. "Well, do I get an explanation? Wait, Eli, did you miss a button? You did. I didn't notice the missed button earlier. Girls, when you made your trip out to the garage for the junk food was Eli fully clothed?"
Jessie giggled as Zoe's mouth dropped open. "Wait, how did you know we made a run for junk food? How did you even know he had some out there?" Jessie and Zoe looked at one another trying to figure out how she knew. "Mom, how do you always seem to know everything but never let on that you know anything? Is that a mother trick I don't know about?" Zoe was perplexed while Grace joined Jessie in laughter.
"It is definitely a mother thing. I have learned that over the years watching her. I have decided its one of the many gifts your mother has. And why is the telephone ringing again?" Rick picked up the telephone. "Hello? Geoff? Okay, hold on and I'll see if I can find her." Rick put his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and quietly said, "Grace, I'm sorry. It's Geoff. He says he needs to speak to you. Said it is important. Do you want me to tell him you don't want to talk to him? I could lie and say I can't find you."
Eli stood beside Grace and said, "Grace, you don't have to talk to him if you don't want to. If you think you can't."
She looked at Eli and said, "Yes I do. I can handle this. I'm fine, really. I will be okay." Grace wasn't sure she'd actually be okay or not.
Grace took a deep breath and took the phone from Rick. "Geoff, hang on a minute, I'm going to the other room." Before she left the kitchen, she looked at Eli and mouthed, "I love you" to him.
"She's fine." Eli said with a sigh.
"But are you?" Zoe asked the tough question again.
"I'll be fine. I'm not the one that was supposed to get married today. I am not the one whose life was flipped upside down in one weekend. There isn't much of my life that has changed. There wasn't much in my life to change." Eli glanced toward the living room as Lily smiled.
"You say you're fine but I don't think you are. Your world has been flipped just as much as hers and you know it. You will both be fine in the end but right now I'm sure neither one of you knows which way is up or down for that matter. That's okay E, you continue to convince yourself there isn't a thing wrong and that your heart isn't pounding knowing she is on the phone with the man she was supposed to marry. What? Someone needs to make him realize its fine for him to be scared. He has never let himself admit to being scared even though he's felt it. Have you Eli?" Lily knew she was right. She knew in her heart she went about it the wrong way but she knew it had to be said. Lily never thought Eli would admit she was right and was surprised when he did.
"I'm scared. Terrified actually. Yes Lily, you're right. What if she doubts me? Doubts us? Goes back to him? I couldn't take it, I really couldn't. I love her, I really do. There, you have all heard me say it. I am in love with Grace. And I am scared. Now I feel sick." Eli walked to the table and sat down beside his father.
Zoe looked at Eli and said, "Eli can I talk to you? In private? It's important." She had questions that were eating her up inside and she couldn't wait for the answers anymore.
"I just sat down. Alright, yeah sure, let's go outside. We'll count planes too." Eli looked at the confused faces in the room. "It's what we do. We go outside and we count airplanes. Helps us think." He and Zoe walked out the door into the sunlight.
"Shoot. What's on your mind?" Eli asked.
"You lied." Eli gave her a puzzled look.
"How did I lie?" he asked.
Zoe took a deep breath to prepare herself. "You said you hadn't been back here in two years. Everyone thinks you have been nowhere near here for the last two years. Everyone except me. I know Eli. I saw you. Twice. Once it was raining. I can go get my journal and give you the dates. Don't look at me all shocked and surprised. Did you really think no one at all would ever know?" Zoe looked toward the sky in search of planes hoping he would do the same and would stop glaring at her. "It's alright though. I understand. You just needed to come back here to touch base. See where it all began. Go back to the beginning of your love. Say something Eli. Explain it to me, please?"
"You saw me?" Eli honestly thought no one would see him. He truly thought he could slip into town, drive to the house, watch to see if Grace was there, catch a glimpse of her and leave town before anyone knew. He was wrong. Zoe nodded and he sighed deeply. "I don't know. I was not expecting it to rain that night. I ended up getting a hotel room instead of going back in the rain. I should have stayed here. I should have found the courage to knock on the door and stay. Dad and Lily would have loved it."
Eli sighed once more and continued. "The other time you saw me, I just wanted to see her. I was desperate. I missed her so much and I was afraid I would forget her face...that I would forget her voice and I never wanted to do that. I was just too afraid to knock on the door. I was too afraid to come home for a visit. I didn't know how things would be and I didn't want to lose anything more. God Zoe, I love her so much I couldn't think straight. I felt better once I saw the house though. This big old house made me feel so much better. Warm. Happy." Eli finally looked back at Zoe and knew she somehow understood. "You're going to tell them aren't you?"
Zoe looked at Eli and said, "No, I'm not. Well, I already told Jess but I have not and I will not tell Grace, Mom, or your dad. No one else will know unless you tell. Which by the way, I think you should. Maybe not the parents but you need to tell Grace. She deserves to know. She's not going to be mad at you or anything and you know that. Eli, why didn't you tell her? Did you always doubt her love that much? You should have had more faith in her...in the two of you." Zoe could see the love they felt all those years ago and was baffled at how neither Eli nor Grace could see it or trusted what they felt enough to act on it.
Eli was speechless. He knew Zoe had grown up over the years but until this weekend, he hadn't realized exactly how much. She knew everything, had known everything for a long time and yet, never confronted him with questions. She was the one that pushed him to the breaking point, knowing he had to tell Grace he was in love with her. "Thank you Zoe." He said with a smile.
"For what?" Zoe asked.
"Everything. You have been there all weekend to tell me I am an idiot. You told me to get my ass in gear and tell your sister I love her. You know we could be on our way to the church right now. I would be miserable. I have a feeling though, that if we were in fact on the way to the church you would still be telling me to get my butt in gear and tell her exactly how I feel before she made a mistake and I made an even bigger mistake by letting her go. Thank you Zoe. I owe you." Eli smiled at her and put his arm loosely around her shoulder.
"You're not getting out of answering my question though Eli Sammler. No matter how many times you thank me. Tell me why you didn't tell her you came here. Tell me why you never told her until this weekend you were madly in love with her. Dammit, tell me why you didn't believe in the strength of your love. You had to know she's loved you forever. You knew before the parents got married that she had a crush on you." Zoe looked at Eli and stopped. "My god you didn't know. You really did not have a clue. She had it bad for you. Always has. Boys are blind. Boys are dumb." Zoe laughed as Eli playfully pushed her away. "What? You are. Plain fact...boys are dumb and blind." Zoe stated.
Eli laughed. "Yes we are. We are blind, dumb, and complete wimps when it comes to love. We'd never survive if it weren't for the amazingly brilliant females in the world." Zoe glared at him. "Okay, okay, I give. Yes, I was trying to change the subject again but do you blame me? This is tough. I don't even understand it all that well myself." Eli sighed and looked up in the sky and said, "Number one."
"What are you doing Lil?" Rick questioned his wife as Jessie watched her and began to laugh. "You look confused."
Lily stopped pacing. "I don't know what I'm doing so leave me alone." She looked at her husband and said, "Okay, I cannot decide if I want to hear what Grace is saying on the telephone or if I want to hear what Zoe and Eli are talking about in our yard. Can you blame me? After this weekend I think I deserve to spy at least a little on someone. I mean, my daughter was supposed to get married today and I found out yesterday from her she's already had sex with my stepson before she ever told her fiance she wasn't marrying him which was all before I ever found out she wasn't getting married. I am her mother for goodness sakes. I have no idea what my other daughter is secretly discussing with the same stepson in the backyard. My other daughter who was in fact instrumental in forcing my oldest daughter and stepson to realize they were madly in love with one another and had been for years. What are they discussing? And no Jess, I don't always have that mother's instinct where I know everything." Lily stopped and sighed.
"I can help you out. At least I can probably help with what Zoe and Eli are discussing. No, I shouldn't tell you. She may be out there convincing him to tell you himself. Now you're going to make me tell you aren't you? Shut up Jess." Jess was quiet.
"Make you tell what?" Grace said walking back to the kitchen with the phone in her trembling hand.
"Gracie, are you all right?" Lily asked her daughter.
"I'm fine. Tell what Jess?" Grace was not letting Jessie avoid the question no matter how worried her mother was about her.
The kitchen door opened and Eli and Zoe walked in. Eli heard Grace and knew she was upset. "Jess, what aren't you telling Grace?"
Jessie turned and glared at her brother. "No Eli, it's what you aren't telling her. It's what you haven't told anyone. Sorry but Zoe told me and I think you and Grace should take a walk out to your spot and have a talk don't you Zoe?" Jessie looked at her stepsister and waited for her to answer.
"I uh well..." She sighed. "Yes Eli, I told you outside you need to tell Grace. Don't worry Grace, nothing bad about it at all. He's just being a complete and total boy and we all know how boys are." She smiled as everyone in the room looked at her with confused faces.
"Okay, okay. Grace shall we?" Eli held out his hand, Grace held on and they walked to their special spot.
"Oh will someone please tell me what's going on? I am a mother and I just really want to know." Lily said with a sigh and a smile as everyone laughed.