Graceila pulled a red sweatshirt over her head and grabbed her keys from the kitchen counter. She had finally made up her mind. If her best friend was going to befriend an idiot like Jordan Collier, then Graceila was going to make certain he knew that he'd have to deal with her if he screwed things up. She might be losing Elizabeth but that didn't mean Graceila would let her best friend go without a fight.

She slammed the door behind herself and locked it. One of the neighbors opened their front door and looked out into the hall to see who was making such a racket. Graceila glared at the old woman but bit back the sarcastic retort that came to mind before she said something she might later regret. Hot, angry tears stung her eyes as she fought to keep them at bay.

Mike sat behind the wheel of his barely running car, smiling his same goofy grin. His fingers were tapping the steering wheel in time with the song playing on the radio. When he saw how serious Graceila looked, his smile became a frown and his fingers stopped their tapping. He waited for her to get in before saying anything to her.

"What's this about?"

"I'm trying to save Lizzie from making the biggest mistake of her life," Graceila replied, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, "and if I can't do that, then I'm going to give Jordan Collier hell."

Mike took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. Okay, we can do that."

Graceila adamantly shook her head. "No, not us, Mike. Just me. I have to do this alone. You understand, right?"

Mike nodded a bit as he pulled into traffic. It was late afternoon and traffic was light for a weekday. He drove toward the 4400 Center. It was the only place Graceila could do what she wanted to do. Mike knew this without having to ask Graceila where she wanted to go. He shot her a worried glance but kept quiet. There was so much he wanted to say to his girlfriend right now but Mike just bit his tongue and drove.

Jordan Collier looked out on the city of Seattle from his office's big, bay window. He hadn't heard back from Shawn in sometime and wondered if that was a good thing. It could have meant that Shawn was too busy keeping Elizabeth entertained to call or it could have meant that Shawn was too busy placating Elizabeth to call. Jordan sighed as he turned the situation over and over in his mind.

He knew it wouldn't change things to make a call to Shawn himself so Jordan walked over to his desk and sat down. Jordan knew that patience would pay off in the end. He just had to find a way to pass the time until Shawn returned to the Center. Like always, Shawn would come to him and fill him in but that would take time.

As Jordan looked over some of the items on his desk, he heard a commotion just outside his office door. He stood up behind his desk, pushing a button on his phone to contact his secretary.

"What's going on out there?"

There was a beep indicating a response was eminent but when Jordan didn't hear anything but a snippet of an argument, he got worried. He rounded his desk and was only a short distance from the door when it flew open. He took several steps back, careful not to stumble and watched as a small, Hispanic girl tried to fight off two of Jordan's security officers.

"Let her go," Jordan calmly said. Someone as feisty as this girl deserved a moment of his time. He straightened his jacket and smiled at the young woman, realizing that his assessment of her age had been off once she had been freed from the guards. She was certainly no 'little girl'.

She glowered at him, brushing some of her black hair from her face. "We need to discuss something of importance to us both," she spat at him.

Jordan's smile turned into a fatherly sort of frown. He waved the guards out of his office and gestured in the direction of his desk. "Please, come in and sit down. I'm sure whatever it is that's on your mind, we can work it out like adults."

The young woman stomped toward the desk with Jordan in tow. She practically threw herself into the chair and watched with a weary eye as Jordan rounded his desk and sat down. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for Jordan to say something before stating her case.

"What can I do for you?"

"You can leave my friend alone for starters," she retorted.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you're referring to, Miss ..."

"My name is Graceila Gomez and I'm talking about my best friend," she said. Disdain tinged her voice as she struggled to remain calm. "You have someone named Shawn Farrell running her around town, making promises to her that you certainly can't keep. I'm not going to sit idly by while you break her heart."

Jordan steepled his fingers and grinned. "You're talking about Elizabeth Davenport," he said with a nod. "Well, I can't speak for Shawn, obviously, but I doubt that he'd make her empty promises."

"I know your kind, Collier," Graceila said with a shake of her head. "You'd tell Elizabeth anything to get her here and what's worse, she believes in what Shawn's telling her."

"I don't see why that's a bad thing."

Graceila gritted her teeth, biting back her real response. She considered her next words very carefully. "You wouldn't but I do. I don't want to lose her. You might not understand that but I'm the only family she has left. What you can offer her, I can't but you could never give her what I have to offer. The trouble is what she wants is what you have to give her."

"I don't think I understand where you're going with this."

Graceila sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You wouldn't. I don't know what I thought I could do here. Maybe I thought I could appeal to your more humane side. Obviously, I gave you too much credit."

"If you're worried about Elizabeth," Jordan replied with an air of seriousness, "maybe you should be discussing this with her instead of with me."

"I would," Graceila said, irritated by the way he spoke to her. She didn't like people talking down to her and Jordan certainly seemed to do that. "The problem is she's not listening to me anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Graceila growled and angrily stood up. "This was a complete waste of time," she spat at him with a shake of her head. She stormed toward the door. She felt Jordan's hand on her should and tried to shrug it off, but his grip only got tighter.

"You don't have to lose her," Jordan softly said. "Arrangements can be made, if it's what Elizabeth wants, and you could join her here. If what you've said is the truth, I'm sure she'd like that. Maybe that's something you should talk to her about."

Graceila closed her eyes against the tears she could feel forming already. She started to shake her head but stopped herself. She bit her lower lip to keep it from quivering. The last thing she had expected from Jordan Collier was the one thing he did. He offered her, in all kindness, the chance to join her best friend in the one place she had vowed never to go. Then again, she had already been there and although she hadn't really looked around, Graceila had to admit to herself that the building was quite beautiful. She sighed as she considered Jordan's offer.

"Maybe I will," Graceila whispered in reply.