Before I start, massive thank you to everyone who's reviewed/favourited/Story alerted :D Makes my day. In fact.. *sends you all hugs and cookies*

As you can see, I've decided to carry it on. This chapter's actually a little rambly but everything will become clearer in my next chapter. Enjoy :)

Two and a half weeks later, Grace found herself sat at her desk for the first time in ages. Everything felt different. Jane was back with them after his trial but even he seemed different. A little quiet, more reserved. She had heard Cho telling Rigsby earlier that 'Jane looks almost as crappy as Grace', a remark which hurt her a little but she had decided to ignore. After all, it was Cho. He was blunt like that.

Of course, after the revelations that the last of her two weeks off had brought her, she wasn't surprised that she looked crappier than they had expected. Even the thought of it made her feel nauseous. She couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell someone. There must be someone in the whole of the CBI who could understand and help her. Normally, her first port of call when she had a problem would be Rigsby but this wasn't really a Rigsby kind of problem. He'd just freak out. Cho.. Now, that would be funny. Jane would probably try and help her but not while he was so withdrawn.

Grace glanced behind her and through the window, where her boss was busy filling out a huge stack of paperwork. It wasn't really fair to disrupt her now. No, her personal life was her own. No one needed to hear about it. Surely though, they would find out sooner or later?

Sooner. Definitely sooner.

Although maybe later was better.. It'd give her a bit more time to think..

But if she did it sooner..

Grace groaned and slammed her head down on her desk. Her mind was numb with exhaustion and worry. She had spent a week panicking, going through each and every option she had available to her and had come up with nothing.

Why couldn't Craig had just been a nice, normal guy who actually loved her? Then all this would have been so much simpler. She wouldn't be so scared, she'd be happily married and everything would be alright. Now, she wasn't sure that anything would ever be alright again.

That's enough, she decided. She was going to face it. She was just going to tell someone and have done with it. Grace scraped her chair along the hard floor and stood up, heading out to Lisbon's office. She paused at the door, arguing silently with herself about whether or not to enter but she shook all rational thought away and knocked loudly.

'Come in.'

Grace pushed the door open slowly. Lisbon looked up at her expectantly.

'What's up?'

'I have to talk to you..'

Lisbon gestured to the empty chair opposite her. Grace nodded gratefully and sat, playing with her fingers as she often did when she became nervous.

'So? What was it you wanted to tell me?'

Grace jumped at Lisbon's words, taking a deep breath to steady herself before speaking.

'I.. I..'

'Van Pelt, spit it out.'

The redhead sighed and closed her eyes as her courage suddenly evaporated. Some things were best kept to herself.

'I don't feel so good. Would you mind if I took off?'

Lisbon frowned. She knew the younger agent wasn't exactly telling the truth, but she decided to appease her. After all, she did look kinda pale and tired.. Maybe Grace was back too soon. Maybe the two weeks that she had given her hadn't been long enough. It was unlike Grace to ask to go home. Instead of battling it out, she simply nodded and agreed.

'It's fine. Go get some sleep. You look like you could do with it.'

'Thanks Boss..' Grace stood up quickly and headed back out to her desk for her purse and jacket. Her head was pounding and she felt as though every last drop of her energy was gone. She just needed to sleep now. Yeah, sleep. The cure for everything.

Well, except this. As much as she wished it could, this was one thing that sleep wouldn't be able to cure. This was something she'd just have to sort out herself.

Thanks for reading folks, keep those reviews coming