Chapter 3

Recovering

Considering her injuries that could've been quite easily fatal, Grace was doing rather well. Her doctor told her that she was healing a lot faster than the average gunshot victim. Not that a lot of them survived. He simply said the odds were in her favour; she was a healthy young woman and the shooter had bad aim. Any better aim and she could've been dead in minutes. When Lisbon had called Grace to inform her of the minimum of a three week vacation she had to take however, she wasn't completely thrilled.

"You get an entire three weeks off with pay! How can you not love that?" Anna was putting up a very good argument as she helped Grace pack her things from the hospital room, ready to go home.

"I'm just not that type of person, I like my job. And I can't just sit here for three weeks, twenty one days, five hundred and four hours-"

"You don't know how many minutes that calculates to do you?" Grace laughed lightly and shook her head.

"No, I don't. But if it supports my argument that desk jockey's can be a little under the weather then yes, I can work it out." Anna rolled her eyes disapprovingly at Grace.

"A little under the weather is like colds and coughs. You are the equivalent to hurricane Katrina, therefore supporting my theory that you should stay home and let me look after you." Grace sighed, defeated as Anna walked over to her and kissed her.

"Don't you want me to take care of you?" Another kiss and Grace was convinced.

"Yes, of course I do but-"

"No buts! That's fine; I can live with the fact that you only want me for my body." Grace laughed again, forgetting her stomach. Gripping it she sucked in a breath and Anna was by her side instantaneously.

"Be careful, I'll have to stop making you laugh. You'll burst your stitches or something equally gross." When she was satisfied Grace wouldn't drop dead she resumed to packing her things away.

"Good after noon ladies." Grace's doctor appeared in the doorway.

"Here are your pills, two of these," he shook a vile at her.

"Before bed and one of these," he shook a box at her.

"When you wake up, but be warned they can hold some pretty serious side effects." Anna nodded went to reach for them. He pulled them just out of her grasp, frowning down at her.

"You may want some other vital instructions just until your stitches have healed." Moving around Anna he put the pills into Grace's palm and took her clipboard from her bed, frowning through his glasses. He was young, dark haired and rather tall. Good looking too, he had a sort of Hugh Jackman/Robert Pattinson thing going on.

"No extreme sports, heavy lifting, running marathons etcetera, etcetera blah, blah. The obvious stuff really." Grace nodded, ignoring his obvious way of trying to be charming.

"But one last thing, make sure to tell your boyfriend to be gentle with you tonight, if you catch my drift." Grace sighed internally (almost aloud) at his feeble attempt to hit on her. It seemed that now she was leaving, she was no longer his patient and it was no longer against the rules to sleep with her. Her initial reaction was to say:

'Yeah, dumb ass, the guy who shot me got your oh-so-subtle drift' but that would make him be stingy on the drugs. And the way her abdomen was throbbing told her that she needed to be his friend right about now. Then she thought about giving him the obvious answer, telling him she was gay and there was no man, easy mistake to make and all. But that was too much effort. And by the look on Anna's face, if she didn't take evasive action fast, then heads will roll.

"Okay, I'll tell him just that." Grace replied and walked over to Anna, giving her the pills.

"Oh by the way, make sure to be gentle with me later, honey if you catch my drift." Anna winked and smacked Graces behind as they headed for the exit, leaving the doctor looking lost and confused. He had a little disappointment in his face too. Walking down the corridor they fought all urges not to laugh – Grace mainly because she could hurt herself by doing so. The whole drive home was annoying to Grace. She couldn't drive and she didn't dare trust Anna with her own car. So she was stuck in a small, compact with Anna swearing in strings of insults that Grace had never even heard before. It was a relief when they arrived outside of their apartment building.

"That jerk off on that intersection, did you see the crap he pulled?" Anna asked as Grace got out of the car.

"Yeah, and I think you alerted the entire neighbourhood of it." Ignoring her dig Anna got Grace's bag and walked up the steps with her.

"So, I got a surprise for you." Anna told Grace.

"You have? Now I'm excited." Grace headed for the stairs only to see Anna waiting by the elevator.

"What are you doing?" With a high pitched 'ding' the doors opened and Anna gleamed.

"The super wouldn't fix it so I called my brother, told him you got shot and can't walk up those stairs every time you need something and I'm not here. He said you owe him some free parking tickets." Smiling Grace stood in the elevator next to Anna.

"I have never used this elevator before." Anna said mindlessly.

"Your brother knows about us?" Grace asked, feeling guilty that in the four times she'd spoke with her father she had not once mentioned Anna. Or the fact that she was a lesbian...or the fact that she was dating at all.

"Yeah, of course I did. He's cool about it, he's known I was gay since we were like fourteen." Grace looked at her wide eyed.

"Oh come on, it's not that young. If it helps I didn't lose my virginity until I was sixteen." Anna said as the elevator came to a halt and she walked out with Graces stuff. Grace stood staring after her in disbelief. When the doors went to shut Anna's hand shot in between them and forced them open.

"Come one then." Grace obeyed and followed Anna to her apartment silently. When they were in Anna went to Grace's room and put her stuff away whilst Grace sat on the sofa. The TV was on low and there was a half drank, cold mug of coffee sitting next to a cold piece of toast.

"Sorry about the mess." Anna told Grace from behind her.

"I saw you on the news and I just went straight to the emergency room." Grace shrugged but Anna cleared the plates away anyway.

"Who was it?" Grace asked, Anna's comment about her teenage years still bothering her.

"Who was who baby?" Anna called over the running water of the kitchen sink.

"The guy...or girl...whoever it was, who took your virginity." Anna re-appeared, wiping her hands on her jeans.

"You say that like they pinned me down and forced it from me kicking and screaming." Grace went to gasp but Anna stooped her.

"No, no, no I'm not saying I was raped or anything! Sorry, that came out wrong. It was supposed to be a joke. What I mean is, I gave it to them happily if I do say so myself." Grace nodded and positioned herself on the couch in a way that wasn't painful, but it was proving to be rather difficult. Anna sat at one end and Grace leant on her, which was much comfier.

"She was head cheerleader, completely beautiful. Man after man would nearly kill themselves for a night with her. I however, just needed to provide my intelligent brain for an SAT's study session. One thing leads to another and we're with eachother all night. I woke up the next morning and she was gone. I tried to find her but she wasn't in school. The next day I saw her and she completely ignored me...it was like I didn't exist. She never spoke to me again." Grace felt bad for her.

"Oh, that's terrible. Give me her name and I'll look her up. Book her for an unpaid parking ticket or something." Anna laughed and shook her head.

"No, it's alright; it was probably for the best. She was so high maintenance. I would've rung her neck if she had stuck around." Despite the tough front Anna put on Grace could still hear the hurt. Grace was still with her first girl, she couldn't imagine being left behind like that. Dropped as if it meant nothing, as if you meant nothing. A she lay there with Anna stroking her hair she thought about how much she hadn't told her. Nothing really. Nothing about her and Wayne, about her lost boyfriend getting a bullet to the head, about how she still hadn't really gotten over it. Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Anna said and Grace shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I got it." Getting up Grace walked over to the door opening it. When she saw who was standing there though she nearly passed out. The impact of the person standing there at her door was a hell of a lot more than getting shot.

"There's my Bracey Gracey!" She was pulled into a hug before she could say anything.

"Who is it honey?" Anna asked and Grace pulled away from the hugger who was staring at Anna with a confused expression on their face.

"Anna, this is Amos...my Dad..." Anna's face dropped just like her father's arms dropped from around her. For a brief second when her dad gave her a glare Grace wished that she had been killed by that bullet.