Wow, I never expected such amazing feedback from you all! I guess we're all trying to escape what happened in 6x02, right? What are your guys feelings on the Ghost!Grace we're supposed to be getting soon, by the way? It's all a bit weird, right?
She lives in a daydream.
I don't belong.
She is the sunlight.
The sun is gone.
She is the Sunlight – Trading Yesterday
Grace was in her local shopping centre with Liv, Mini and a girl she couldn't really recognize. They were squeezing through tiny gaps in a crowd until they reached a busker. Grace was entranced by the music playing and immediately began to twirl around, completely ignoring everyone watching her. She called out to the girl she couldn't recognize, apparently her name was Franky, and persuaded her easily to come and dance too. She didn't have a care in the world.
Next Grace was in a car with no recollection of how she got there. The driver, who was someone Grace had no memory of, was going too fast for her liking and she was shouting, 'Slow down!' but he wouldn't… couldn't. She was panicking; what was going to happen next?
"Grace," The voice woke her from her terrifying dream and she was thankful for it, as she didn't think she could live through that dream for another second. "Are you alright?"
Grace tried to sit up in her bed and slowly nodded at her Mother. Her father was by her side putting the back of his hand against her forehead to check her temperature. She was acutely aware of the fact that she was covered in sweat despite the fact she was feeling rather cold.
"I'm fine, it was just a dream." Her father narrowed his eyes at her as if she were hiding something from him. She closed her eyes briefly in an effort to calm herself down.
"Well, you're going to be coming home soon, Gracie." Her mother said softly, and Grace smiled back. She missed her room even though she didn't know if it still looked the same as she remembered it. God, this was frustrating. Why can't I remember a single thing?
"Your father and I will be heading out soon, but Olivia and Mini will be coming over to visit you. That will be nice, won't it?" It would be nice.
Her father shook his head at the mention of her two best friends, but Grace wasn't quite sure why. Her mother smiled as best as she could, but her eyes were filled with tears, which Grace thought must be because she had almost lost her daughter. And now her daughter couldn't recall nearly one year of her life, which must be horrible.
Her mother turned to her father and he nodded at her. She squeezed Grace's hand one last time and gave her a kiss on her head before leaving the room.
"I requested her not to cry in your presence. You do not need crying in here." Grace just stared absently ahead of her without replying. Now that they were alone Grace wanted to know what had happened earlier on. Why had that boy claimed to be her boyfriend? Why was her father so determined to keep him away from her?
"Daddy," she started slowly, not really knowing how to word what she wanted to say. "Who was that boy who came into my room earlier?"
Her father remained tight-lipped and angry, but eventually answered.
"He's nothing for you to be concerned about right now." It was what she kind of expected from him. She did not want to back down though.
"Was he my boyfriend?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and trying to meet her father's eyes.
David Blood knew he couldn't lie and say he wasn't (although he really wanted to), because Olivia and Mini would say that he was. He had to make sure Grace wouldn't want to find out more about him though. With a sigh he began his reply.
"Yes, he was your boyfriend. However you had told me many times you weren't happy in that relationship, so that is why I tried to keep him away from you… He's become very obsessive over you since you've been in the coma too."
"Oh…" Grace turned away from her father and stared at her bruised fingers. The boy had seemed a little mental when he came into the room, but Grace had simply thought that was due to concern.
"Shouldn't you leave before Mini and Liv arrive?" Her Father had never wanted any of her friends knowing they were related. David Blood seemed to realize the meaning behind the question almost immediately.
"Ahh… They already know I'm your father." Grace widened her eyes in shock. "You had insisted a few months back that I meet your so-called friends."
She had no idea why her father was talking that way about her friends, but couldn't ask any more questions, as the door suddenly opened.
There were two loud screams and a blur of people. They fell onto Grace's bed, hugging her and not letting go.
"Don't you ever do that again!" Liv was saying, in between a few tears.
"You scared us, Gracie!" Mini said into Grace's left ear. Grace could only laugh and look over at her father over their two bodies. He was staring at the scene before him with a look of pure disapproval.
"You're squishing me!" There was laughter from the girls, as they began to sit up.
"Yes, be careful with her." David Blood said in tones, which suggested he was talking about something much bigger than what was happening right now. He gave a curt nod in their direction. "I will be back in approximately two hours, Grace. Goodbye."
He gave her a quick tap on her head, which made Grace feel a bit like a dog, and then turned to leave. She decided to put her suspicions about her father's strange behavior to the back of the mind.
Mini hopped off the bed and got comfortable in the chair her father was previously sitting in, meanwhile Liv stayed lying next to Grace. She felt completely happy to have her friends by her side; despite the fact that she wasn't too sure how much she had forgotten about them.
"How is Nick?" This was the first question that formed in her mind, so she blurted it out. This question was greeted with raised eyebrows.
"What?" Mini asked in confusion.
"Are you not dating him?" Realization dawned on Mini's face and she let out a loud cackle of laughter. Liv joined in.
"Fuck, this is weird." Liv stated once the laughter abruptly stopped.
"What else don't you know?" Mini asked, placing one hand on Grace's arm and stroking it. Grace shrugged uselessly, as she found that question extremely difficult to answer.
"I don't know who my boyfriend is. I don't remember what I was doing in Morocco. I can't remember the last time I danced… There's so much I can't remember." She sniffed and turned to look up at the ceiling.
"Hey, you'll remember soon." Liv said consolingly, while trying to get Grace to look back at them instead of at the ceiling.
"We can tell you what we know about you and Rich. You're a pretty fucking lucky girl, you know." Mini said teasingly, while giving Grace's arm a squeeze. Grace stopped looking at the ceiling then. She was even more confused now, because her father had basically said she was in a bad relationship. Shit, why can't I just remember all this?
"Yeah, you were first helping him out, so he could get some metal clunge -"
Grace yelped and threw her hands to her ears and started humming a tune.
"Don't tell me anything!" She nearly shouted. "I want to remember it myself, I don't want to have to be told it."
She removed her hands from her ears when she thought it was safe to hear what her friends were saying again.
"Fine." Mini said a little grumpily. She had obviously been prepared to tell her all about her romance with Rich.
"What can you remember then? Anything from the past year?" Liv asked, looking up at Grace.
"Bits." Grace mumbled, trying to concentrate on the dream she had and the fact it felt real.
"I remember being in a shopping mall with you two and a girl named… Franky? But I don't really know who she is. And being in a car… I guess that was my accident."
Grace stopped; she felt scared all over again.
Mini and Liv gave each other a meaningful look. A nurse came into the room and spoke merrily about how Grace was doing so much better.
"Uhm… excuse me, nurse… uh… what's your name?" Mini asked, while standing up to get a better look at her badge. "Pauline? Can I talk to you for a minute?"
She gave an awkward smile at the others, as Pauline nodded a little unsurely. When they got out of the room, Mini was wringing her hands together due to her nervousness.
"I thought she wouldn't be able to remember the accident. Is there something wrong? I mean why can she remember that, but not other things?" Mini bit her lip. She had a feeling that Grace regaining her memory wasn't supposed to work like this. Pauline gave her a little smile to show that she understood why Mini was nervous, but there was no need to be.
"Honestly it works differently for different people. Some people remember patches and gain them back in a random order, like what seems to be happening with Grace."
"She can't remember her boyfriend, will she soon?" Mini began chewing on fingernails, which was another bad nervous habit of hers.
"Oh, Rich? Just give her time." Pauline smiled, she must have known Rich pretty well when he spent most of his time trying to break into Grace's room, Mini thought.
When Mini returned, Grace was eyeing her questioningly.
"I was just checking if they could give you some vitamin drinks or something, because no offense Grace, but your face is looking seriously pimply." Grace raised her eyebrows at her, as if to say, 'seriously, that's what you're worried about?' Because Grace thought the fact that her face was still hideously scarred would be a bigger concern. Still Grace smoothed her face with one hand to see if she could feel for any spots.
Mini took out her phone to text Rich about Grace. He had begged her to let him know if she mentioned him at all or if her memory was improving. She was feeling incredibly bad that Grace had no recollection of the guy she had once almost married and loved with all her heart.
Yeah… bad chapter, but needed this filler before the next chapter which will/should (I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing right now, haha) be Rich trying to get Grace to remember him. Hopefully you're still enjoying it!