"Now another wintertime has come and gone
The pigeons feeding in the square have flown
But I remember when the vespers chimed
You loved me once upon a summertime"

It was inevitable, really; it didn't matter what Grace's intentions were. Will came back, and after the obligatory recap of his trip, Grace tried to find a window, but couldn't. And then Jack came back, and it got even harder. A couple of days became a week, two weeks, three. The forget me nots started to wither and fade in the vase. And their namesake promise seemed to wither and fade right along with them. Because by the time those flowers started disappearing into themselves, any evidence that Grace and Karen had found something in each other vanished too. On the surface, it didn't seem to phase Karen; her poker face around the guys was impressively impenetrable. But Grace knew better. After three weeks of living with the truest version of the dark haired woman she had ever known, of course she knew better. Which is why she tried to find the right words around Will, tried to open each window she came across.

But she could never find the right words. And every window seemed shut, stuck in place no matter how hard she tried to open it.

What crushed Grace more than anything at first was how Karen made it look so easy, going back to the way things were without complaint. She knew that couldn't be the case; she knew they couldn't have spent their time together like they had for the last few weeks without it meaning something, without it meaning everything. But the dark haired woman was so good at hiding it that sometimes, Grace was convinced she had imagined the whole thing, that the heat of the summer and the lack of clients to keep her occupied conspired against her to create a vision she could have sworn she lived through, but she had no proof to back up her story. She watched Karen be her usual bubbly self around Jack as he caught her up on his cruise and she told him how dull it was around here without him (it was for show, Grace knew that, kept telling herself that, but it still hurt). She watched Karen fall into her usual sparring matches with Will, and Grace couldn't help but wonder if what happened between them was fueling her wit this time around, if she was taking her frustration out on him without anyone questioning it because this was just what they always did. She watched Karen go back to her usual Vogue without any fuss, like there was never a time when that wasn't part of her routine. And Grace was left trying to tell herself that it was better this way, when she knew that it wasn't.

She wanted to say something, talk it all out when they had a moment alone in the office. But when the boys came back, so did Grace's clients. And if it wasn't Jack hanging out by Karen's desk filling her in on his last date or Will dropping in to take Grace out to lunch, it was Grace trying to talk this client out of wicker or Grace trying to talk that client into the overstuffed chair that would absolutely bring the whole room together. By the time things slowed down for the day, Karen was always halfway out the door, heading back to an empty manse, leaving Grace to head back to 9C with a jumbled mess of words that could break the cycle and no way to untangle them.

Finally, a few weeks after the boys' return, when the rush of clients died down for the moment and there was no threat of Will or Jack crashing the party, Grace was alone with Karen, knowing she had to take advantage of the opportunity now, or else waste another few weeks trying to find another opening. She sat at her workspace for a moment, watching the way Karen studied the magazine in her hands with such a laser focus that Grace wondered if she would even hear her if she spoke up. But she knew she had to try. She knew she had to say something, if only to prove to Karen that she was trying.

If only to prove to herself that she could.

"Hey," she murmured, slowly making her way to Karen's desk, the butterflies in her core starting to pick up their pace the closer she got. She wondered why she felt so nervous when she trusted Karen more than she had ever trusted anyone. She realized that was exactly why she was nervous, that because she trusted Karen more than anyone, Karen could let her down more than anyone. She tried to steady herself and speak up anyway. "You know, we haven't really talked about...everything...since the guys came back. Maybe we should."

The dark haired woman's smile seemed so out of place, it devastated Grace. "Honey, what's there to talk about?"

Grace knew she shouldn't be surprised by Karen's answer. It was the default, one of those answers always at the ready when things seemed like they were going to get too real, to make whoever it was aimed at believe that it wasn't such a big deal, even if it was. She remembered the way Karen tried it on her the day before Will came back, the day she eventually told Grace that she was bracing herself for the shadows and Grace made a promise she thought she could keep. But Grace thought they had gotten past trying that. Grace thought that by now, they could dive into the truth without having to use a mask. Grace hated that Karen felt like she had to use one now. "Karen, come on…" She pulled a chair up to Karen's desk so she could be on her level as she spoke, looking her directly in the eye. "Look, I know I haven't talked to Will yet, but that doesn't mean I won't. I swear, it's only-"

"Gracie, stop," Karen said gently. "I told you before, it's okay. I knew what the deal was. I'm not mad at you. You're just not ready yet."

No. That wasn't it. Not at all. Not even slightly. She was so incredibly ready, the impatience for the moment when they could finally be open about it was coursing through her body. It was telling Will in a way that wouldn't make him hate Karen the way he hated Leo-the way he initially hated Nathan-that made her hesitate. But she knew trying to make Karen see that wouldn't do any good, not when she's made up her mind about Grace's motives. So she sighed her defeat, shifted her gaze to her lap. "I'm trying," she said a bit lamely, unable to think of anything that could remotely make this okay.

Karen reached out, slid her hand over Grace's. "I know you are," she murmured. "And I know you've built the whole thing up in your head, like it's this impossible hurdle to jump over. But honey, you shouldn't worry about it so much. It's not going to go as terribly as you think, telling him. You said it yourself, he wants you to be happy. He'll get used to it. Whatever objections you think he might have won't last." She gave Grace's hand a small squeeze, but it didn't feel the way it usually felt. It didn't have the promise and possibility in it that it once did. And it broke Grace's heart. "I know you're not ready to see that yet. But I'll be here when you are."

Grace wanted to say something, anything. She wanted to move in closer. She wanted to kiss Karen. God, she wanted to kiss Karen. She wanted to do something that would give both of them a little bit of hope. But the second she decided to make some kind of move was the second the phone began to ring, piercing the silence, jolting them out of the moment. In an instant, Karen let go of Grace's hand to pick up the phone in a rare bout of work ethic and effectively put an end to the conversation with an overly chipper "Grace Adler Designs" as she put the phone to her ear.

Just like that, Grace felt the loss of that touch the same way she felt it that first day, when Karen let go to pay for the forget me nots that set the tone for the next three weeks. Except this time, she realized there wasn't the same chance of that touch coming back to spark her.

The redhead stood up, pushed her chair back to its original spot before walking over to her drafting table, waiting for the moment Karen would hand the call off to her. She saw the look in the dark haired woman's eyes and wished she could place the feeling behind it. She picked up the phone and wanted to hang up just as quickly, because whoever was on the other line clearly could wait while she sorted out something far more important. But she saw how quickly Karen went back to her magazine, and she knew that the window that had once been opened ever so slightly was now shut for the time being.

They couldn't keep going like this. Grace knew that. It would drive her crazy to sit across the room from Karen without being able to fall into all of the things that so quickly constituted their reality over the summer. And as much as Karen wanted to pretend she was fine with all of this, Grace knew that it couldn't be the case. Not after all that time they shared. She was going to do something about it; she had to. She would find a moment tonight, when she and Will were both home, and she would tell him everything. She wouldn't give him an opportunity to interrupt, would give him the whole story and then brace herself for the whys and the buts and the "Are we talking about the same Karen?" that would almost certainly happen. She would suck up the criticism. She would get past it. She would. Because she'd finally have Karen by her side. They would pick up where they left off. Will would realize how right this was, even if it felt a little strange to him. He would eventually be happy for them. They would embark on a life filled with street cafes and forget me nots and dances across the hardwood floor. It would be real.

They were so close to making this real.

All she had to do was say something.

Every time a holiday came around, it made her ashamed that she let it go for this long. It made her determined to fix it. They reached Halloween, and she thought she could tell Will about what happened over the summer, assure him that it wasn't a trick, that it was the sweetest treat. They reached Thanksgiving, and she thought she could casually drop it when it was her turn to tell everyone what she was thankful for. They reached Christmas, and she thought she could turn it into a gift for Karen and herself, finally being able to be out in the open like they once were.

They reached New Year's Eve, and she turned it into a resolution, without realizing the fact that she never once kept a single New Year's resolution she ever threw out into the universe.

Every time a holiday came around, it made her ashamed that the let it go for this long. It made her determined to fix it. But then it frustrated her when she couldn't figure out the right way to go about it, just like she couldn't figure it out in the early aftermath, when it wouldn't have been as big of a deal as it was now. It frustrated her that the words didn't come to her. It frustrated her that she let it go for so long that there would now be layers upon layers of questions, and she would have to explain herself in ways she wouldn't have had to if she had been brave enough to take the first chance she had. And it made her stop paying so much attention to the holidays.

By the time Winter was at its most bitter, Grace had mastered the ability to seemingly turn back time, sliding into the woman she knew herself to be before the events of last summer, her mask so believable that at times, she was able to forget for a little while that she had outgrown this version of herself months ago. She and Karen found a groove that resembled their old normal. She saw the way Karen was able to make it work for her. She learned to deal with it herself and tried her best to find some happiness in it. But there were still times when the mask started to slip. There were still times when she looked for an open window. There were still times when it crushed her when she couldn't. But to have Karen in the way she had Karen before that summer-to have innuendo and loaded glances and the million other things Grace would lie and say annoyed her if it meant saving a little face-was better than not having Karen at all.

After a while, she had begun to think she could live like this and be okay.

But then the weather started to turn. Then the birds started singing a little louder and the sun started shining a little brighter. Then it started to feel like summer again. Then the memories got stronger, so vivid that they were all Grace could see at times. She would break for lunch and head out into the city and start walking the path that led to their street cafe for a few minutes before she realized what she was doing. She would pass by flower stands and glance over, trying to spot the forget me nots before she caught herself and shifted her gaze. She would listen to the music Will put on to unwind and wish that eventually, he would land on the song that could bring Karen back to her, if only in her mind. The memories wouldn't leave her alone. And she couldn't take them not being her reality anymore.

She had to do something. She had to tell him. She had to release the secret she swore to Karen she would never keep. Maybe if she told him, it would make her feel better.

She doubted that it would. But she knew she had to tell him anyway.

Grace left another fairly silent day at the office and headed for 9C, realizing Will hadn't made it home yet when she walked through the door. She kicked off her shoes, got comfortable. And then she headed for the stereo, making her way through their music collection until she found what she was looking for, sliding the CD in, holding her breath until she heard that opening piano that used to make Karen's eyes light up as she asked for a dance. It had been months since she last heard this song; in the first few weeks after Will and Jack's return, she would listen to it when her best friend wasn't around, as if it would motivate her to say something sooner rather than later if it brought up the memory of Karen's arms around her waist and voice against her ear. But the longer Grace's silence went on, the harder it was to listen to it without feeling the weight of her guilt. Now, though, she couldn't help herself, stayed close to the stereo as if taking one step away from it would make everything fall silent. She didn't care if it made her feel guilty, and she didn't care if it made her feel sad. She needed to hear it. She needed to remind herself how wonderful the world could be. She needed to feel this, so she could explain everything to Will the right way.

Although she had to admit, as beautiful as the song was on its own, she didn't think the singer on the recording could ever compare to the way Karen sang like it was the truth.

When the song ended, Grace put it on again. She wanted to be surrounded by it. And somewhere in the middle of the third go around, Will walked in the door, setting his briefcase by the fireplace before heading straight for the wine in the kitchen. Grace could feel his eyes on her, could feel him trying to figure out why she was hanging around by the stereo as he reached for a wine glass and a corkscrew. He asked her a question she didn't pay attention to. And she knew that what was on her tongue wouldn't answer it. There was no way it made sense with whatever he wanted to know.

But she finally saw a window that was open, just a crack. So it spilled from her lips anyway.

"I'm in love with Karen."

She didn't mean to blurt it out like that. But if she beat around the bush like she was originally planning on doing, there was a chance she would never say it. There was a chance that the cycle would keep going when all she wanted was for it to stop. She saw the way Will froze in place, his brow furrowed like she had just spoken in a language he didn't understand. "Okay…" he drew out, waiting for her to keep going.

"Look, I know this sounds insane, but it's real. We were real. It only lasted for a few weeks over the summer, until you and Jack came back from your trips. It wasn't even something I was looking for. But nothing was happening at work, and Karen thought it would be a good idea to go outside and find a better way to kill time than just sitting in the office, and...I don't know, I guess it just brought up a lot of feelings I tried not to think about. She bought me flowers. We got close in a cafe. I took her home with me. We danced to this song. I fell in love with her.

"I tried to say something when you came back. I was pretty close a few times. But I kept thinking about what you might say. That I had just left Leo and I was still a little vulnerable. That I was rushing into something to get over the divorce. That I was crazy because it was Karen. And I guess I just wasn't ready for you to burst my bubble like that. But she didn't want this to be a secret, so we just kind of ended up backing off until I told you. And now it's almost been a year, and she probably doesn't even feel the same way about me anymore. But I just thought you needed to know. I can't have this be a secret anymore."

She looked him in the eye, saw the surprise written all over his face. She saw the way he was trying to process everything, the way the gears were turning in his head. She saw the way he took a breath to try to respond. And she watched as he formed the words.

"Wow...all I wanted to know is if I should pour you a glass, too."

Grace furrowed her brow until she registered the wine bottle in his hands and the glasses on the dining table. "Oh. Sure, I guess," she said softly, watching him in silence as he poured. "So…" she started as she grabbed the glass Will held out for her. "What do you think?"

"What do I think?" he asked. She hated that. She hated when people bought time by repeating the question (she paid no mind to the times she had been guilty of doing the same thing). She just wished he would get on with it. And as if he could read her mind, he said, "I think...it's surprising. I mean, Karen? Karen bought you flowers? The woman who likes to call them poor people's jewelry? That woman bought you flowers?"

Grace sighed. "See what I mean? You wouldn't have believed me if I told you. You don't believe me now that I've told you."

"Sweetie, I believe you, I just...didn't realize she had such a soft side to her."

"Yeah, well…" Grace trailed off, at a loss. She wasn't quite sure what she pictured when she thought about this moment, but it definitely wasn't this. But maybe Will saw that. Maybe that was why he seemed to soften as he made his way to the couch and motioned for her to follow.

"Come here," he said, waiting for her to turn off the stereo and join him. When she did, he slid his hand over hers. "I can't believe you waited so long to tell me."

"Well, can you blame me? Can you honestly say you wouldn't have judged me?"

"Yes! Gracie...I know I've been a little hard on your boyfriends in the past, and I know Karen and I don't always get along. But...I don't know, there's something very real about her, even when she flat-out denies it. And it's always been clear that she cares about you. She and I may get into it from time to time, but in spite of all the times she's tried to take a few jabs at me, I don't think she'd ever willingly hurt you." He took a breath like he was trying to figure out how to word what he was about to say next. Grace wondered if she should start bracing herself now. "Look, maybe I would have been worried about you jumping into something so soon after the divorce. I'll give you that. Maybe I would have thought that you were trying to get past it all a little too quickly. But you're a grown up. You know when something feels right and when it doesn't. If it feels right to be with Karen, then who am I to stop that?"

Grace felt the weight of it all finally start to slide off her chest when he said that. "Really?" she asked.

Will pulled her into his arms. "Really," he said before he kissed the crown of her head. "Now, if you had told me you were getting back with Leo, this would be a whole other thing entirely…"

"Oh god," she groaned into his chest, making him let out a short laugh. "Don't even joke about that." She pulled away just enough so that she could meet his gaze. "You're not weirded out by it?"

"Oh, I'm weirded out by it," he nodded before he let a smirk play across his face to let her know he was joking. He braced himself against Grace's nudge as he tried to get serious. "Honestly, no. I mean, I've seen how close you two have gotten over the years, I guess it was bound to happen eventually. It's different. But different isn't bad."

Well. Grace couldn't argue with that.

She leaned back into the couch and took a long sip of her wine. "Different isn't bad. But it's gone," she said, softly letting the fate she had accepted hit the air.

"How do you know?" Will asked. "How do you know if you don't talk to her?"

"Will, why would she wait this long for something she wasn't sure was going to happen?"

"Probably for the same reason you decided to tell me at all, when you could have just let it go. She loves you."

"You don't know that. I don't know that."

"Then go find out. Talk to her. Figure out where you stand."

God, he made it sound so simple, like everything didn't depend on those words. Like she would be the same person if she ever found out she lost Karen like that. Just the thought of it stole her voice, reduced her to a whisper. "I don't know if I can."

"Grace, come on. You told me. The world didn't end. And I'll be here for you no matter what she says; we can work through it. So what's holding you back now?"

Time, she wanted to say. The fact that she kept waiting because...why? She was selfish? She didn't want it to hurt when she told him? She didn't want to make it awkward for herself? She had so many reasons that she could give him. But then she remembered what Karen said the first time she tried to talk about it, a few weeks after Will and Jack came back from their vacations. She remembered how Karen told her she'd be there when Grace was ready. And Grace was ready. She had no reason to expect that Karen was still waiting (although, unless she was keeping it a secret, Grace wasn't aware of any new romances in her assistant's life). But she was ready. She wanted to let Karen know what she had done. She wanted it to lead to everything she had been dreaming of for the last year. But if it didn't, she knew she wouldn't be alone. She knew Will would be by her side, and she knew he would be gentle.

She didn't want to think about what would happen if Karen turned her down.

But it didn't seem so impossible now, to live through it if she did.

She just wanted to know if there was still a chance.

So really...what was holding her back?

"Nothing," she said, surprised by how much she meant it.

Will smiled and clinked his glass with Grace's in solidarity. And as the sound rang out, her mind started to clear itself of all the obstacles that once cluttered it. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe it would be everything she wanted. Maybe it would be everything she feared. But she knew Will was right. She knew she had to talk to Karen. And she knew it had to be soon. She drained the rest of her wine as she tried to figure out what to say when she got into work the next day. Because if she wasn't going to do it tomorrow, she wasn't going to do it at all.

And she needed to do it. She needed to know. Even if it ended up breaking her heart.

She wanted to ease into it. She didn't want to spook Karen off. After all, it had been nearly a year since they were together; to dive into this now the way she dove into it with Will last night could very quickly turn into a disaster. For all Grace knew, Karen didn't feel the things for her she once did. For all Grace knew, it would be easier to keep pretending like those three weeks were just a dream. For all Grace knew, they didn't have a chance.

But she had to try.

She knew it would be a slow day in the office, the only thing on her calendar being her usual lunch date with Will which, if she was being completely honest, she was slightly dreading; she figured he'd be asking her more about what it's been like to work in the midst of the history she has with Karen, and she was in no mood to field those questions. But even with the promise of what would surely be an uncomfortable meal, there was plenty of time to try to get Karen's attention. There was even time to try a plan B, if whatever she came up with first failed (she could always hit Will up for advice if she absolutely needed to; he would grudgingly agree to help even if he was still getting used to the idea of his best friend falling for her assistant). So she gave Karen enough time to settle in for the work day ahead, gave herself enough time to make it convincingly look like she was focused on her business and not the woman sitting across from her. She opened up a sketchbook and took a pencil to it, drawing it along the paper in random twists and turns that she hoped looked like actual work. And when she couldn't take the silence anymore, she started to hum. Soft at first, to where she wasn't sure if Karen could even hear her.

But soon enough, she could hear the dark haired woman join her.

Grace sneaked a quick peek at Karen and found her with her focus still on her magazine, almost like she didn't register the fact that Grace was the one who put the song in her head, almost like she didn't register the fact that she was humming at all. The redhead wondered if Karen even realized what they were humming, that it was their song, the one they used to dance to every night. So she turned her eyes back to the sketchpad and took it one step further, parting her lips, making every effort to stay in the lower, more controlled register of her voice as she sang.

"I'm so proud
You chose me from all the crowd
There's no other girl I'd rather be"

She could feel Karen's gaze shift to her, could feel the way it was so charged with confusion and curiosity and (could it be?) hope, the electricity of it nearly threw her off. But she knew she had Karen's attention now; there was no way she could stop.

"I could laugh out loud
I'm so lucky to be me"

Grace let the final note ring out for a second before she set her pencil down on the drafting table and looked up from her sketchpad, meeting Karen's furrowed brow, waiting for her to break the silence that ached to be shattered.

"Honey, why are you…" Karen started to ask, unable to finish the question.

Well. Here you go, Grace. Now or never.

"Because I told him last night. About everything." She saw the look of surprise on Karen's face, bit her lip to keep from smiling over the fact that she could surprise Karen at all. "I know I should have done it a long time ago. Turns out you were right all along. I was waiting for a right time that would never come. And I hurt you-I hurt us-while I waited." God, she knew Karen would never admit to being hurt by that, but it didn't make it any less true. And that truth tasted so bitter as she held it in her mouth. "Karen...I'm not expecting anything to come out of this. I mean, it's been a year. For all I know, you've moved on in ways that I can't. But it's like I told you; you mean too much to me to be a secret. He needed to know, regardless of whether or not there's still a chance. Because you're still my pride." She took a breath, knowing she was about to take a risky leap. They never said it out loud in the three weeks they had together, although she felt it every day of their time together and felt it every day since. And if she was going to do this, she might as well go all the way. "I still love you."

She swore she saw Karen's lips start to curl into a smile, and she hoped to god she didn't imagine it. "Gracie," she murmured, her voice soft and sweet. "I-"

The whirr of the freight elevator coming to life cut in, startling each of them into silence before Grace let out a small, frustrated groan. Because she knew it was Will, coming to get her for lunch. And she could kill him over his terrible timing. She deflated a little when the elevator door opened and Karen ripped her gaze away from her like they had just been caught red handed. Because of course they weren't going to talk about this in front of an audience, even if the audience knew everything. Karen wasn't about to open herself up like that in front of him. And Grace didn't want her to. Grace wanted this moment to themselves. Grace wanted Will to get right back on that elevator and leave without a word. But she knew that wasn't going to happen. So she gave herself a second and put on as bright of a face as she possibly could.

"Are you ready?" he asked, before he shifted his gaze to Karen like he could sense he just interrupted something.

Grace nodded as she fumbled for her purse. "Let's go." She saw the way Will still had his eyes on Karen, saw the way Karen began to notice and lock her stare on him, like they were in some kind of silent showdown neither one of them was sure they'd win. She knew they were each studying each other in a completely new light, and she couldn't stand it, knowing how quickly it could turn into another one of their razor sharp back and forths. She quickened her pace, tried to pull Will towards the elevator before either one of them said anything to the other, only felt like she could breathe again when the door closed and the elevator started its descent.

She tried her hardest to be present for him. But she couldn't help it; her mind was with Karen. And she wished the rest of her was, too.

Grace barely heard anything Will said to her over lunch; she was too occupied with what happened before his arrival, thinking about what Karen was about to say before the elevator stopped her, dreading the possibility of being let down easy. And when she did hear him, she found herself dodging the questions she expected to dodge. No, nothing happened before he got to the office. Yes, everything's fine. Yes, Karen's fine. Well, she wasn't the reason he was there, so why should she have to say anything to him? She wasn't acting different, she was acting like Karen. Yes, really. Don't worry. It's not awkward. Yes. Really. Everything's fine. Stop asking.

She couldn't remember the last time she lied to him so much so easily. But she didn't know what else to do.

When she came back to the office, Grace could sense a shift in the air, but she couldn't quite figure out why. Nothing seemed out of place, nothing seemed like it changed in the time she had been off with Will. Maybe that martini glass on her desk had been refilled a couple of times, but Karen was still seated at her post, eyes cast down on her magazine, almost like Grace had never started humming, never got the dark haired woman to join her, never sang the words back to Karen that she always made sound like the truth. And Grace's heart started to sink, because she was right back where she started. God, they were so close. The words she wanted to hear were on the tip of Karen's tongue; she could feel it. She had to believe they were. But even if they were, who's to say Grace will ever hear them after today? If Will could so easily interrupt such an important moment between them without realizing it, who's to say he won't do it again? And who would want that? Who would want a relationship where you can never be sure when someone will be dropping in on your most intimate moments? No wonder Karen didn't look up when she came back. No wonder she was silent. No wonder...

Grace lost her train of thought, stopping in her tracks as she took in the sight of her workspace.

Because in the middle of the table, on top of that open sketchbook decorated with the random pencil scratches she drew to busy herself just hours ago, was a fresh bouquet of forget me nots.

Grace couldn't contain the gasp of surprise that escaped her. Impossible. She couldn't believe they were real. Even after she picked them up and felt the weight of them in her hands, she couldn't believe they were real. She couldn't believe that Karen had gone out of her way to do this, to make sure that these were waiting for her return. She couldn't believe that after nearly a year of waiting for this moment, of trying to get here but never quite knowing how, it turned out to be as easy as a bunch of flowers resting on her drafting table. She was so focused on how vibrant their blue was-just as vibrant as she remembered-that it took her a second to realize there had been a small card resting next to the bouquet. She opened it up to find Karen's handwriting making the words they once danced to look so stunningly beautiful:

I am simply thunderstruck
At this change in my luck

And underneath those lyrics, a postscript in parentheses:

(By the way, I still love you, too.)

Suddenly, the frustration that Grace felt over Will's entrance and the way the timing of it all faded away. Because the way she got the words that were on the tip of Karen's tongue was perfect. The way the dark haired woman brought it all the way back to their beginning was perfect. Their flowers, their song. The way they clearly meant as much to Karen as they did to Grace. It all came together so brilliantly with such a deceptive simplicity. She could feel tears of relief start to rise to the surface, knowing that it wasn't too late, knowing that Karen still wanted her, Karen still loved her.

Karen still wanted to be her pride.

"Thank god..." she whispered to herself. She wanted to break the silence, but the second she turned around and saw the dark haired woman's growing smile, any thought that didn't involve taking in the vision in front of her now became scrambled in her mind. Thankfully, Karen always was one to come to the rescue when it counted.

"Come on, honey. Let's get out of here." She stood up from her desk, grabbed her purse, and held out her hand for the redhead to take. "I don't know about you, but I could go for a cappuccino right about now."

Grace couldn't stifle the laugh that escaped her lips. She rushed across the office, grabbed Karen's hand, and pulled her in to press a kiss to her lips, sighing as the months of silence and longing and pretending melted away. She felt the way Karen relaxed into her body and was overwhelmed by how much she missed this, by how well they fit together, by the way it weakened her when Karen smiled into her mouth, by how Karen still tasted like home.

God, it felt so good to come back home.

"Okay," she murmured as she finally, reluctantly broke the kiss. "Whisk me away."

Karen gave Grace's hand a squeeze before she brought it to her lips and kissed her palm "Gladly," she said, the warmth in her voice still as intoxicating as it was at the start of their daydream love affair. She opened the door to the office, tugging gently on Grace's hand as they left.

And she led her girl out into the haze of the Manhattan summer.