A/N: This is a pretty long chapter, but hopefully it will be worth it. Sorry for the late update by the way! I wanted to get it out sooner but I've had writers block.

Chapter 10 - ("And what's love without trust?")

It was Saturday morning now, and all of the students that had participated in the field trip were getting ready to leave. Grace grabbed her last bag and then walked over towards Jeff rather awkwardly, "Thanks for all the tips Jeff...They were really helpful."

Jeff tossed her a smile, "No problem Grace. And I'm sorry for catching you by surprise like that. I should have known someone as bright as you would be in this program...Would you mind telling your mother that I said hi?"

"Why?" Grace asked.

"I just...I haven't talked to her in so long and-"

"You know she's getting married soon right? She's getting married to her first husband..."

"That George guy that she talked about? The one that has a family?"

Grace nodded, "That's the one."

He seemed almost hurt by this and Grace raised an eyebrow at him, "You're not sad are you?"

"No," he sighed, "No, of course not. I really don't have a right to be."

"You're right, you don't. You walked out on us, not the other way around," Grace drew in a deep breath before speaking again. She really didn't want to leave on a bad note, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound rude-"

"It's cool Grace. I understand."

Grace gave him a sad smile, "Bye Jeff."

"Bye Grace."

And with that she walked away. She caught up with everyone as they headed towards the bus and Jason nudged her slightly, "Hey."

Grace smiled, "Well look who finally wants to talk to me."

"Huh?"

Grace chuckled, "Nothing it's just, you've been so busy with Heather."

"Oh right, look I'm sorry about that-"

"Hey I get it. If Jack was here I'd be ignoring you too," she joked.

"Gee thanks," he laughed with her and she smiled, "...So that's still on? You and Jack?"

"Yeah of course...Why wouldn't it be?" She eyed Jason suspiciously, and she wondered for a second if he knew anything about her scandalous kiss with Grant. The smile was suddenly wiped off of her face and the guilt consumed her again, "Is there something you know that I don't?"

Jason never thought that he would lie to Grace, but he wasn't sure what he should do at this moment, "...I'll talk to you on the bus."

Grace swallowed a lump in her throat, "Alright..."

"Hey Adrian." Jack was in his bedroom as he talked to Adrian on the phone.

He was at home even though he had one or two classes to attend, and he was just hoping that he wouldn't miss out on anything important this Saturday. He was ready to go to school, but Samuel was coming over today and they had to go over questions for the case. Ally was coming over as well, and the two of them, as well as his mother, would all sit down and talk.

His father still wasn't home, and he wouldn't be home until next week, but from what Jack had heard from his mother, his father was doing some amazing missionary work. A good portion of children were already accepting Christ into their life, and Jack was inspired by his father because he was doing something life-changing.

"Hey Jack! What's up? I have to get to class soon and - Hey I asked for a HOT chocolate! This is cold as ice! Qué demonios acabas de decir! -"

Jack chuckled as he heard Adrian yell over the phone. She could be really fiery at times, "Uh Adrian?"

"Ugh, sorry. Apparently this guy doesn't know what hot chocolate means."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the coffee shop at our school," Adrian said.

"I thought Clementine usually worked morning shifts."

"She had to take the day off and so they put some idiot in her place. Not that Clementine and I are really friends but at least she knows how to make me some hot chocolate."

"Alright," Jack chuckled, "Well I was just calling to ask you if you could send me the homework for the classes that you have with me. I won't be coming to school today."

"Oh yeah no problem...Why aren't you coming today if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well I have to run through questions with my lawyer for this whole suing the school thing."

"Oh right...I wasn't sure if you were going through with that. Good luck Jack."

"Thanks Adrian. Oh and I'm getting my casts off today," he said in an excited tone. He was so ready to get his cast off that it wasn't even funny.

"Really! That's great! Well I'll talk to you later Jack, I have to get to class."

"Right of course...WAIT! Adrian can I ask you something before you go?"

"Uh yeah sure, what is it?"

"Have you talked to Grace?"

"Hmm, come to think of it I haven't. She usually texts me everyday but I haven't talked to her in a few days. She comes back today right?"

"Yup."

"Well maybe we can have a double date. Me and Omie, and you and Grace."

Jack didn't say anything for a moment, but what Adrian said was enough to tell Jack that Grace hadn't told Adrian about whatever she did with Grant.

"Alright I'll let you go then."

"Bye Jack!"

"Bye Adrian."

Click.

Jack sighed. He felt a mix of emotions. He wasn't sure what to believe at the moment, and he knew that he wouldn't get the full story until Grace came home today, but he wasn't sure if he really wanted to see her anymore. Just the thought of her being with someone else after everything that they just went through made him want to cry and scream all at the same time. Yet at the same time he couldn't believe that Grace would do something like this. Not after all the phone calls and 'I love yous". He wondered what he did wrong this time. He was trying to be a faithful boyfriend to her, but maybe he just wasn't enough.

He didn't have time to wallow in self pity though, because his mother called him downstairs and told him that it was time for his appointment.

"That's weird," Grace said as she messed with her phone.

"What?" Jason asked.

"Jack didn't text me back. He usually texts me back like not even a minute later. Maybe...Oh wait! Maybe he's getting his casts off today. I haven't talked to him about it but he did tell me he had a doctors appointment with them a few days ago and they said he was cleared."

Jason looked over at Grace guiltily, "I don't think that's all of it Grace..."

Grace raised an eyebrow at Jason, "Ok tell me what you know. What's going on seriously?"

He looked over at Heather and Grant. They were sitting together but they didn't seem like they wanted to have a conversation.

"Ok Grace if I tell you...You have to promise not to freak out."

"Ok, I won't I promise just...please tell me whatever you know," Grace begged.

Jason drew in a deep breath, and in a whispered tone he proceeded to tell her about the text that Grant sent to Jack. He still wasn't sure if it was true that Grace had cheated on Jack, but he noticed the way her face turned red and how nervous she was getting and he thought that maybe Grant was right after all.

"Grace...Is it true?"

Grace felt like she was choking on something when Jason told her. She couldn't breathe for a minute. Everything was crumbling down in her mind, and she knew that was dramatic, but she really didn't want to lose Jack. They were doing so well. She loved him.

"Will you excuse me for a second?" Grace mumbled to Jason quietly. She could feel the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. She didn't even wait for Jason to answer her question as she got up and threw dagger eyes in Grant's direction.

"What the hell did you do Grant!"

Although there were only five people on the bus including the teacher, it seemed to grow even more quiet. The tension could be cut with a knife as Grace stared at Grant. She wanted to punch him and cry all at the same time, "Why are you doing this to me! What the hell is your problem!"

Grant looked over at Jason, "Dude really, you sold me out?"

"I think she deserves to know. Look, I'm not playing any sides here. Whatever happened, happened. I'm not in it."

Heather looked over at Grace and Grant nervously, "I think I'm going to find another seat...This is your guys' problem so..." And with that she got up quickly and moved next to Jason.

Grace was barely listening to them, all she could see right now was Grant. How screwed up could he be? She thought to herself.

"Grace look...I know you're mad-"

"Mad?" She chuckled bitterly, "I'm beyond mad! How could you just meddle into my relationship like that! You know that I love Jack! And I love him more than I will ever love you Grant! That kiss was a mistake. And for the record you kissed me, and not the other way around."

Grant chuckled bitterly, "You're a hypocrite and a liar Grace. You always want the light to be shined on you. You had just as much part in that kiss as I did. You didn't stop me. You could have said no when I asked you, but you didn't. So stop feeling sorry for yourself, because if you really wanted to be with Jack, you wouldn't have let me get to you on this trip!"

Before Grace could say anything the bus driver called her name, "Grace Bowman! Have a seat!"

She didn't even look his way as she took a seat by herself in the back. She was on the verge of tears, but the worst part was that she felt that in some way he was right. She did have as much part in that kiss as he did. She did make the mistake of kissing him. And because of that she wasn't sure if she could be in a relationship right now. She wanted to change, and to fix herself. But Grant still had no right to do that to her. He was supposed to be her friend. But he was far from that. One thing that she most certainly knew was that things were going to be different the minute she returned home.

She could already picture a furious Jack and a disappointed mother.

And as she closed her eyes she imagined that maybe God was furious with her too.

Jack's phone was beeping, and he glanced at it as he waited in the hospital for his cast to be taken off.

It was Grace. He refrained from sighing, knowing that his mother would ask him what was going on if he did.

He turned his phone to silent and placed it back in his pocket and his mother looked at him curiously.

He rolled his eyes, "What?"

"You're not going to answer your phone? You always answer your phone."

He remained silent.

"It could be Grace you know?"

"Yeah I know. And it was Grace...I just don't want us to be interrupted when they come to take these casts off. Besides it's a full day. I'll just talk to her when she comes back."

His mother wasn't buying it, and he knew that. Sometimes he really hated how she could sense when something was wrong. Other times it was amazing because he didn't have to tell her and she would just be there to comfort him. But right now, he really didn't want to talk about it. He was still waiting for the full story himself.

"Did you two get into some type of fight?" she asked.

He had to calm down before he raised his voice. He wasn't mad at his mother, he was just upset with everything. He was annoyed with the fact that there was a high chance that Grace and Grant did something together, "No, we didn't get into a fight alright? Really right now I just need a day. I'll talk to her when she gets home."

"Alright honey, sorry if I upset you."

"You didn't."

Before they could continue their conversation the door opened, and in came a smiling doctor.

"Alright Jack, are you ready to take these casts off?"

Jack smiled, "I'm more than ready."

"And you think that this plan will work?" Leo eyed Ally and Chloe. He was hesitant about this plan to get Mickey arrested.

"Leo...I'm sure. I know Mickey like the back of my hand, and so does Ally," Chloe said in a reassuring tone as she smiled at Ally.

"Chloe's right Mr. Boykevich. I think this can really work."

"When is he supposed to be coming?" Leo asked.

"Tonight," Chloe said as she bit her lip to hold back tears. It wasn't so much that she was afraid of seeing him. If anything it was the exact opposite. She wanted to see him, to tell him what he had done to her. He took her away from her own family. He made her feel disgusted with herself for so long. He took away her childhood, and in order to move on from all of that, she needed to see him locked up, where he belonged.

"I'll get the police on it. I really hope this plan works Chloe. I don't want you in danger," Leo muttered nervously.

Chloe smiled, "Don't worry Leo I won't."

"You can call me dad you know?"

For a moment Chloe paused. Leo was like her dad. In a way he was even better than her dad. Her dad took off before she was even born, but she always had a sort of vision of him. She imagined him as kind and caring, even though he never sent her any letters or bothered to get in contact with her. She still hoped that he would one day.

"Ally, would you mind going upstairs? I need to talk to Chloe alone."

Ally looked over at Leo and smiled, "Um yeah sure no problem. I need to call my parents anyway and figure out where they are at the moment. I'll see you later Chloe."

"Alright," Chloe smiled.

Once Ally made her way upstairs Chloe looked at Leo curiously, "What is this all about?"

By the smile on his face she knew that it couldn't be anything bad, but she still wondered. He pulled out some papers and handed it to her and she raised an eyebrow as she scanned over them. She looked at him nervously, "A-Adoption papers?"

"The choice is up to you...But I would love to have you in my home, and I think Ben could really use a sister to help him out."

Chloe couldn't help the tears that fell down her face. She had always expected her parents to come back and try to get a hold of her. But in all honesty, they never really cared what happened to her. She pulled Leo into a hug and he laughed as he hugged her back, "I take it that is a yes?"

Chloe nodded, "...I'm gonna have a real home, and a real family now."

The doctor had finished checking for any swellings, or tenderness in Jack's bones a few minutes ago, and now the doctor was in the next room talking with a few of the other doctors who had checked his injuries when he first came to him. The door opened and the doctor came back with a surprised look on his face. He took a seat and eyed Jack excitedly, "Now usually with incidents like this after you take the cast off you have to go easy for a few weeks or sometimes even a month. Now I've checked the bones and the tissues with a group of medical workers who specialize in this, and it's really surprising to see that all of your injuries seem like they are completely healed, aside from some swelling in your left arm."

Jack couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, "So I'm healed!"

"Yes, but we still want you to take a few weeks off of football, and we also want you to attend physical therapy for a month so that we can be sure that everything is ok."

Jack wasn't really listening, but he nodded anyway, "Thank you so much for this!"

"I don't know how it happened, it must be a miracle."

Jack smiled as he thought about God and then he replied, "Yeah, it must be."

Jack and Didi shook hands with the doctor as they exited the room. Didi smiled and hugged her son, "I'm so happy for you honey."

"Me too mom, things are finally looking up.

"Yeah, oh and I almost forgot! We're pushing back the reviewing for the court case until tomorrow because Grace just got home and I thought you'd probably want to see her. Kathleen invited us over for dinner. Isn't that exciting?"

Jack held back a sigh. Not everything was looking up.

...

Meanwhile, Grace, Kathleen, and Tom were all getting dinner ready. Kathleen was chuckling as Grace paced around, making sure that everything looked good.

"Oh darn it! The cookies, I forgot the-"

Kathleen held up the plate of delicious cookies and Grace sighed in relief. Kathleen giggled at her, "Honey you've seen Jack before, what's the big deal?"

"I just...I don't want anything to go wrong. I haven't talked to him all day. He hasn't answered my text messages-"

"Didi told me that he had to get his casts taken off today."

Grace faked a smile, "Oh...right."

Kathleen grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and smiled, "Grace, nothing's going to change. Gees, you were only out there for a week. What happened?"

"What? Nothing, nothing happened I just...Sorry you know what, this is more so about Jack's mom than me. I know she's not my biggest fan," Grace muttered sadly. And it was half way true anyway. She knew that Jack's mother never really approved of their relationship, but there was also that little fear of seeing Jack knowing that he already knew about what she did.

She mentally cursed. Why had she listened to Heather? She thought.

The doorbell rang and Grace felt like she was going to throw up as Tom went to answer the door.

He smiled when he saw the Papas', "Hell-O!"

Jack smiled, "Hey Tom."

Jack and Didi made their way inside and Didi started chatting with Kathleen. The two of them had a pretty good relationship despite Didi's disliking for Grace. As the two of them talked, Grace tossed Jack a soft smile. She hugged him and she was surprised that he hugged her back.

"I really missed you Jack."

Jack had a hard time believing that, but he really didn't want to get into anything in front of his mom and her mom, "Yeah..."

The dinner seemed to go by painfully slow, and Jack wasn't sure if he could really go through it. He kept glancing back at Grace, who was smiling at him happily. He couldn't bring himself to do the same thing. He knew that he shouldn't have been too upset. He had slept with other girls, he had cheated on her long before she ever did the same thing to him, but he felt like he was putting all of his feelings out on the line and she was just saying screw you to them.

"This dinner is great Kathleen but I'm just really full. Do you mind if I excuse myself and head outside?" Jack asked politely.

Kathleen tossed him a smile, "Oh yeah sure of course. But if you want something more, Grace whipped up some cookies."

Jack forced a smile, "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Grace looked over at him worriedly and then she asked her mother if she could be excused as well. Kathleen let her go and the two parents began talking again, without a clue of what was going on.

Jack was sitting outside and gazing at the stars. He loved how quiet it was. He felt like he could just sit there for hours. He barely heard the light footsteps approaching him and he jumped a little when Grace tapped him on the shoulder.

"Mind if I sit?"

Jack shrugged, "It's a free country."

Grace sighed as she took a seat next to Jack, "Jack...Can you at least look at me?"

He felt his eyes getting blurry, "I don't know if I can...Just tell me that it's not true Grace. Tell me that whatever Grant was talking about was all a lie, and that you didn't do anything with him."

"Jack..."

"Please," he said in a pained tone.

"Jack I can't lie to you about that..."

He continued to avoid her gaze, "...Why?"

"Jack it's not what you're thinking..."

"Did you have sex with him?"

"What! Jack no! I just...He asked me if he could kiss me so that he could get over me...And I let him," Grace muttered softly. She placed her hand on his and he wanted to shove it away but he didn't. He turned and faced her now.

"Jack I'm really sorry...I never meant to hurt you-"

"But you did...And I've hurt you too. All we do is hurt each other Grace," he replied.

"Jack...I know we've done some bad things to each other-"

"We use other people to make each other feel jealous. We're all over the place when it comes to what we want...And I just don't think that-"

"Jack...Y-You cant be breaking up with me." She looked at him with sorrowful eyes and he wanted to turn and look away but he didn't.

"The truth is Grace, you could never completely trust me after I slept with Adrian, and I could never tell if I actually loved you after I cheated on you," Jack said, "...Grace I want to be with you...But what do you expect me to do? If you loved me Grace, you wouldn't have let him kiss you. And if I loved you when I first told you that I did, I wouldn't have cheated on you."

Grace felt like she couldn't breathe. Her throat felt dry as she looked at him, "So that's just it? You're just going to give up?"

"Grace I think we just...we need some time-"

She pulled her hands away from him as she ran a finger though her hair, "Jack I'm sorry. It was a mistake. A big mistake!"

"I think I should go Grace." He stood up as he grabbed his phone and sent a text to someone.

"Wait Jack, where are you going?"

"Just tell my mom not to wait up. I'm just gonna take the bus somewhere."

"With what money?"

"I have what I need."

She looked at him like he was crazy. He sighed as he kissed her on the cheek, "I just need some time to myself alright? I have a lot going on and it's...It's bigger than you." And he wasn't lying. With the trial, and the nightmares, and the fight. He did have a lot going on.

He walked away without ever looking back at Grace, and Grace felt like she was going to cry all over again. She was expecting him to yell at her, for them to scream at each other and then make up like in the movies, but his reaction completely blew her away. She didn't expect this at all. She didn't expect him to just walk away. Jack had always fought for her, even when she pushed him away. And now she felt like he was just giving up on her.

It was late and Jack knew that, but he didn't care. He was over at the fight club once again, which was right on Ramyer Street, a total of thirty minutes from where he lived. He had taken the bus there and Joe was more than surprised when he saw him. The loudness of the music almost gave Jack a headache as he entered the building. There were a large amount of people at the fight club and a large supply of alcohol.

"Jack! You got the casts off! It's a little late to come here to train though."

"I know," Jack said, "I was just wondering if I could crash here or something. I mean I know it's a fighting place but I figured there might be a spare room or something? And then I can wake up early tomorrow and we can start my training."

"There's one room that I think might be open. We're actually having a celebration for one of our members who won so I don't know if you'd be able to get any sleep. I won't charge ya though, not today anyway. You sure you wanna stay here?"

Jack nodded, "Just for the night. I won't be intruding all the time."

Joe chuckled, "Alright boy. But hey how tired are you?"

"Not much, but I figured I needed something to do."

"Why don't you join the party?" Joe asked.

Jack shrugged, "Yeah sure."

Joe smiled, "You remind me a lot of myself you know that?"

...

Before long Jack was enjoying the party, but Grace was constantly in his mind. Not even the music could make him forget about it. He wondered if he had taken things too far. He wondered if maybe he shouldn't have made a big deal about it all, but he couldn't answer the question. As he continued dancing, he noticed that the lights had dimmed, and he looked at Joe curiously, "What happened to the lights?"

Joe smirked, "This is the entertainment portion of the party."

"What do you mean?"

Joe laughed, "Just watch the show."

Jack picked up on it as he watched the crowd cheer. His face paled.

They were strippers.

But that wasn't what really shocked him.

Standing there in front of the crowd was a girl that he had talked to quite some time ago. He barely noticed him inching his way towards her as he stared at her in a shock, "Shawna?"

A/N: And cut! So oooh, I threw in a familiar character. If you guys don't remember Shawna, she was Duncan's older sister that Jack had a short fling with when he did that mentoring that after getting busted for fake ID's. They ended up breaking up because of the age difference. I decided that I wanted to bring in Shawna because for some reason I really liked her character on the show. Thanks for reading!