Chapter 5

Back to Work

Grace flicked through the paper as she sat at the worktop, sipping her coffee.

"Grace?" Anna called from her bedroom.

"I'm out here!" Grace called back.

"What the hell, it's barely seven a.m. When did you get up?" Anna complained as she padded out of the bedroom in her bare feet.

"A couple of hours ago, I went to my place and showered, changed. Thought I'd come back and say bye before work." Grace smiled and grabbed Anna by the shirt, pulling her to her for a kiss.

"Ugh, freak! Who looks forward to their job?" Grace chuckled and shrugged.

"I like my job, I hate being bored." Anna went to the refrigerator and got the juice out, sipping it from the carton.

"Oh, boring am I now?" Grace turned back to her paper.

"You know what I mean! I need to do things, keep busy." Smirking Anna nudged Graces arm so she could snuggle into her side.

"I thought you were busy, doing me for the past three weeks." Laughing Grace kissed Anna and checked her cell phone as it buzzed on the worktop.

"I did, but now I'm going to be busy doing something else, sadly not you but I think I'll have to live with it. Right, Wayne is outside I have to go." Anna nodded let Grace leave without argument, to be honest Anna was only going back to bed anyway. When Grace stepped out of the apartment, her gun and badge on her hip and her jacket in hand she automatically went to press the button to call for an elevator. She stopped herself and turned for the stairs, taking them two at a time. Jogging out of the apartment building she saw Wayne smiling at her from his car.

"Well, well don't we look lively today? Good as new." Wayne complimented as Grace headed for the passenger side of the car.

"What can I say; you get the good drugs at the hospital." Just before Grace got in she heard the door to her building open.

"Grace wait!" It was Anna. She was still in the oversized shirt but she had found some old shorts.

"What is it?" She asked as she met Anna at the other side of the car.

"You forgot your keys." As Anna handed them to her she kissed Grace good bye.

"Thanks honey, I'll call you later." Anna waved as Grace got back into the car.

"No problem, hey Wayne." Anna greeted Wayne who smiled politely and drove off.

"So how was your three week vacation?" Wayne asked as they drove through the city.

"It was fine just good to be back." Grace replied, looking out of the window. As they drove past the coffee store neither of them said anything. It was full and busy, like nothing had happened. Grace ignored the chill that ran down her spine and looked away.

"Grace I-" She cut him off.

"Don't apologize again Wayne, it's not your fault." Wayne nodded.

"Okay, I won't apologize. I just feel like I should do something, seeing Anna so cut up over you made me feel guiltier." Grace sighed.

"Did you order the hit on me Wayne?" He laughed and Grace nodded.

"Then you're in the clear. Just let's say I owe you one okay?" Wayne nodded and pulled into the precincts car park. They both got out of the car and Wayne's phone rang. As he answered it Grace signalled that she was going to go up to the office and he nodded, his girlfriend on the phone. Grace stepped out of the elevator onto her works floor and felt a comforting sense of home. As she walked around the corner she saw Cho at his desk, frowning at his computer and Jane napping on his couch. She walked through (neither of them noticing her) and knocked on Lisbon's office.

"Come in." Lisbon replied and smiled when she saw it was Grace.

"Hey Boss." Grace greeted awkwardly as Lisbon got up and hugged her.

"I'm glad that you're back with us Grace. If you need some more time though-"

"No, I'm fine." Grace interrupted.

"Okay, then whatever you feel is fine. I don't want to send you on the field immediately though. Right now, you have an appointment with the therapist." Grace stood motionless. She was expecting crappy desk work, not shrinking.

"Um Boss...I didn't apply for any therapy." Lisbon nodded and returned to her desk.

"Of course you didn't but it's mandatory for any agent involved in a serious shooting. You had to go last time, you have to go now."

"But Boss last time I was the one shooting the gun, this time I was shot. Surely that should mean..." Grace trailed off knowing that by the look on Lisbon's face she'd have to go anyway.

"Fine." Lisbon finally said.

"You got me, no it isn't mandatory. But I'm making you go anyway, I still don't think that you're okay since O'Laughlin." Grace opened her mouth to argue but Lisbon carried on regardless.

"I know you're going to say you're fine, just go okay? A few weeks and if the therapist says you're not suicidal then fine, stop going. But for now you're already late, so go. And that's a order." Grace silently left the room, not closing the door behind her. When she walked past Jane toward the elevator he was awake.

"Hey Grace it's good to have you..." She didn't listen to him, she just carried on walking. He shrugged and picked up the newspaper. When Grace got to the therapists office she apologized for being late and then was taken to another room where she waited. Her leg twitched as she sighed, checking her watch. She was already bored.

"Good morning Grace." The therapist was a woman not too much older than her. She had brown hair and average height. Everything about her was pretty average Grace thought.

"How are you today?" Shrugging Grace looked at the clock on the wall.

"I'm fine." The therapist sighed.

"Look I know you don't want to be here. Just like you didn't the last time you were but you might as well make some use of it don't you think?" Grace sighed again, dramatically.

"I'm sorry but what do you want me to say? I don't feel anything about the shooting." Her therapist nodded.

"Okay then, tell me what is new with you. Anything good happen lately?" Grace thought about something that wouldn't lead to questions but then decided that was inevitable.

"I'm dating someone. I think it's going pretty well and I see it getting serious."

"That's good. Do you not feel any connection between this relationship and your previous with O'Laughlin?" Grace laughed.

"No, not at all, her name is Anna. She is nothing like he was, she's kind and funny and sweet. He was using me, he was a liar." The therapist didn't say anything. She nodded.

"So, you do not find it strange that you go through a traumatic experience with someone you fell in love with and then you suddenly feel things for a woman?" Grace shook her head,

"No, I think that O'Laughlin really hurt me and I found someone who makes me feel like it is impossible to be hurt again."

"So you never liked men?"

"That's not what I said. I think I loved Wayne very much, and I will always hold feelings for him but right now, I love Anna. I think she helped me realize my mistakes." Grace concluded.

"So Wayne was a mistake?" Grace slanted her eyes.

"No, that is not what I said either. I loved Wayne but I was clouded, I never even considered falling in love with a woman." The therapist nodded and Grace shook her head, telling herself how truly ridiculous this was.

"Have you shot anyone since O'Laughlin?" Grace snapped her head back to the therapist, stunned.

"I'm sorry to be so blunt Grace, but you refuse to talk about things I need to have a raw reaction from you."

"No." Grace told her curtly.

"There we go; a raw reaction." She told Grace with satisfaction.

"I didn't react!" Grace argued but growled under her breath at the woman's grin.

"You told me no, you don't want to talk about it. The reaction is that you shut down, not able to talk." Grace ignored the small part of her that yearned to tell the woman how she felt, how she had the bad dreams, how she never told Anna. How she was afraid to. Somehow though she pushed it all to the back of her mind and stood up.

"We're done here." She told the therapist and left, silently. The woman let her, knowing she had gotten enough out of her.

"Grace, what're you doing here?" Lisbon asked as Grace walked to her desk.

"I'm done." Lisbon didn't argue, seeing Grace's obvious upset.

"Well good, I need you and Rigsby to go on a call." Grace practically jumped out of her seat to Rigsby's side. She didn't talk though, not in the elevator. Not in the car. Not even at the docks were they were finding a witness.

"Special Agent Wayne Rigsby here and I'm wondering if you had a Ryan Murphy working here today?" As Rigsby flashed his badge a young man looked over to Grace and him. Grace looked back at him.

"Wayne..." She muttered and the guy ran. Grace fell behind him, chasing him. She could hear Rigsby falling further and further behind, his lack of fitness kicking in. She was fit though, she could run. The guy turned out into a storage space full of metal pipes and skidded, nearly falling. He slowed enough for Grace to grab his collar and pulled him up though.

"Hey!" Wayne called as he fell behind Grace.

"You bitch!" The guy told Grace as he punched her in the face, right in the eye.

"Ouch!" Grace punched the guy in the stomach twice and handcuffed him.

"Easy..." Wayne warned as he took the guy off her hands. She was ready to give him a black eye. Her temper was getting worse, she had noticed. But she ignored it, following Rigsby to the car.