Grace came into the orphanage, her face creased with worry. It was so unlike Carson to be like this. Of course, she was aware that everybody had bad days, but this was more than that…
She hoped that Lucas will be able to get Carson to talk so they can help him. Carson did so much for all of them and it pained Grace to see him like this.
She took off her coat and placed it on the peg. She could hear Lillian talking to the children and she went into the living room.
The scene in front of her made her heart melt.
Lillian was reading to kids, little Tess cuddling to her as her eyelids grew heavy and she let out a small yawn, leaning against Lillian's shoulder. Lillian gently caressed her soft hair and smiled softly at the little yawn.
Almost there.
It was time for children's afternoon nap and half of them already lost the battle, their little snores echoing through the room as they laid on the pillows close to the fireplace, armchairs and sofa.
Grace leaned on the sofa close to Lillian and smiled softly at her sister as Lillian dropped her voice to a whisper, lulling the little ones in the sleep.
After a few minutes Lillian closed the book and slowly put little Tess down at the pillows, covering her with a blanket. She straightened up and stretched her hands, a soft, calm smile on her face. She glanced at her sister and her eyebrows slightly creased.
"Is everything alright, Gracie?", she asked.
Grace slightly flinched, a bit startled as she stared at the sofa.
Looking up at Lillian, she let out a sigh.
"I'm fine… It's Carson", she mumbled quietly.
Lillian's facial expression turned serious.
"What about Carson?", she asked, a feeling of dread washing over her.
Grace glanced at the asleep kids and took Lillian's hand, pulling her slowly aside.
"He came home from the night shift quite upset. It appears that they lost patients last night", she spoke quietly "But, I think that it's more than that. Lucas will try to talk to him."
Lillian grew even more concerned.
"What do you think this is all about?"
Grace shrugged.
"I don't know…I told Lucas to let me know once he knows more", she replied, her facial expression turning thoughtful "I hope that he is okay."
Lillian slowly put the book back on the shelf, falling silent. She hoped that nothing bad was going on in Carson's life. He was such a good man and brought a lot to their lives ever since he moved to Capitol City. She loved having him around and smiled a bit as she remembered their New Year's Eve spent together with kids while Grace went out with Lucas. And now, as the wedding of her sister and Lucas was getting closer, she was spending lots of time with Carson as they were the maid of honour and best man.
It felt good to reconnect after such a long time and she enjoyed talking with him. They resolved all small problems that arose during the wedding preparations… And the way he resolved problem with Helen… well, that was just amazing.
Fixing the blankets on the little ones, Lillian pressed her lips tightly together.
I hope that he is alright.
—--
Friday afternoon was reserved for Grace and Lucas checking on the responses to invitations to their wedding and based on that, starting to work on sitting arrangement.
The plan was to open all the responses and write down the ones who accepted, then work on arranging the sitting in the best way.
Now, if only the two of them could stick to the plan.
Grace took an envelope, opened it, smiled and scribbled down on the paper. Then the next one.
"Lucas, can you get another pair of responses? I am nearly finished with this one", she called out, not looking up.
Only to smile as his fingers placed an envelope in her fingers, but didn't pull away. Instead, he kept their fingers intertwined as he leaned in and placed a long, gentle kiss on her neck.
She let out a shaky breath, her smile growing as her eyes closed.
"You are distracting me, Governor", she murmured gently, surrendering to his loving touch.
As he slowly let go of her hands and stepped to the side, never stopping with lavishing kisses on her skin, Grace cleared her throat, pretending to focus on the responses.
"Right. Now. We have Henry coming, Bill and Molly, Florence and Ned, Minnie and Joseph with their kids, Mei Suo", she swallowed hard and quickly moistened her lips with a tip of her tongue as she felt Lucas slowly moving her hair over her right shoulder and she continued to talk "Harry, Susan, Sally, Eve…", a sharp gasp interrupted her voice as she felt his lips slowly dragging their way up her milky skin. She held the envelope more tightly and tried to pull out another response from it and she was just about to read the next names when her breath got hitched in her throat as she felt Lucas gently and agonizingly slowly suck on her skin. An envelope dropped from her hands as his tongue gently flicked across her skin, eliciting a soft whimper from her lips and she closed her eyes, her head slowly turning to her left to face him "Lucas…", she whispered, her heart racing wildly in her chest.
He took an envelope away from her hand as their gazes collided, his lips an inch away from her lips and he murmured quietly:
"Why don't we leave this for later?"
Grace's heart skipped a beat and she watched him intently as she asked softly:
"How much later?"
Lucas cupped her cheek, his eyes darkening and he whispered:
"About three hours…I didn't see you since yesterday", as he hovered his lips over hers, his voice fell down for one octave and he said quietly "I didn't kiss you for almost 18 hours…and that is way too long", and with those words he leaned down and kissed her, pulling her against him, reveling in the way how she hugged him and kissed him back.
As the desperate need for air made them break the kiss, Grace breathed heavily, her face glowing with a happy smile.
"You are still distracting me, Governor", she whispered into his lips and Lucas smiled, tightening his hold on her waist.
"What, you were working on something?", he asked, pretending to sound serious, causing Grace to giggle.
"I did", she said, an innocent smile on her face as her eyes twinkled mischievously.
Lucas placed a gentle kiss on her rosy lips and murmured quietly:
"What were you working on, Miss Bennet?", he felt Grace's lips curling up in a smile against his own lips and his heart swelled with love for her.
Grace smile widened as she whispered:
"I forgot, Governor", her hands hugged him warmly as she softly added "That's how good you are at distracting me."
She leaned her forehead on his forehead and both of them chuckled. She smiled softly as she took in his gorgeous dark eyes, bordered with black thick eyelashes and a sparkle of love in those orbs that she knew was shining just for her.
Grace kissed him gently and as she pulled away slightly, she pressed her lips tightly together as if she was trying to keep the delicious taste of his lips on hers as long as possible.
"How did it go last night?", she asked cautiously. They didn't have a chance to talk earlier as Lucas had to attend the Parliament assembly this morning. It dragged on longer than he thought it would thanks to John and his continued undermining of Lucas' Bill.
Lucas took a deep breath in.
"We talked. A lot. It turns out that the death of that woman and her baby awoke memories of Amber in him, particularly as it is her birthday in two days", Lucas said quietly.
Grace's face fell, her good heart aching in pain.
"Oh, no", she said quietly "Lucas, we have to do something. He shouldn't be alone on her birthday. It is this Sunday, right?"
Lucas nodded, his facial expression turning sad and serious. He really wanted to help his good friend.
"I agree. And we will think of something", he said as they slowly let go of each other and sat down. He took one envelope and gently kicked his desk with it "But, there's more", at Grace's questioning glance, he added "It appears that Faith kept on calling him all these years after she chose not to go with him to Baltimore and object to the idea of marriage."
Grace's eyebrows creased in confusion.
"I don't understand", she said "Why is she calling him if she doesn't want to be with him?"
Lucas raised his eyebrows in disbelief at what he was about to say.
"She calls him to get medical advice when she isn't certain in her medical judgment", at Grace's slight gasp of shock, he shook his head "Apparently, the last time she called him was a few days ago to ask him about some cardiac disease."
Grace's eyes widened in shock.
"Lucas, that is just plain cruel!", she said almost angrily "What is he, her consultant?! She rejected the man and by keeping on calling him she doesn't give him a chance to heal!"
Lucas nodded, his facial expression serious.
"I agree. He said that at first he thought her calls used to make him think that there's still a chance for them", he shook his head once again as he remembered what Carson said "However, once she started to mention Nathan, he realized what was going on. And then it just hurt. Now it's only making him angry."
Grace huffed out a breath.
"Well, good! He should tell her to stop pulling on his sleeve everytime she doesn't know how to resolve a medical matter!", Grace snapped and tore one envelope open like it was all its fault. Suddenly, she thought of something and turned to look back at Lucas, her eyes opening wide "We didn't invite her to the wedding, did we?"
Lucas shook his head, letting out a breath of relief.
"No, no", he shook his head "I would never do that to Carson."
Grace exhaled deeply.
"Me neither", she looked back down at the envelopes and a list of guests and shook her head, grumbling quietly "Unbelievable. The nerve of that woman."
Lucas wrote two more names down on the paper and glanced at his beautiful fiancée. He saw that adorable little frown back between her eyebrows which told him that she was concentrating hard on something.
Just like she was when she struggled to take off his bowtie the night after the Ball.
Smiling gently, he leaned down and cupped her right cheek, causing her to slightly flinch in surprise only to smile warmly as he placed a soft kiss on that determined little frown.
"What are you thinking about?", he asked quietly as he caressed his fingers across her cheek.
She smiled softly as she looked up at him, her eyes full of love that he knew was all reserved for him.
"Do you like bowling?", she asked, causing Lucas to slightly crease his eyebrows in confusion before he replied:
"Bowling? Yeah…just didn't play that for years."
Grace's smile widened.
"It's okay, I will teach you", she said and added in a conspiratorial tone of voice "What do you think that you, me, Lillian and Carson go for a game of bowling on Sunday?"
Lucas' lips slowly started to curl up in a smile.
"I think that you are a genius, my love", he replied and taking her hand, he kissed her knuckles "That way we could take his mind off everything and he won't be alone."
Grace gave him a short, sharp nod, her index finger pointing at him.
"Exactly", she said, her smile never wavering from her lips. She smiled even more as Lucas' hand wrapped itself around her waist and she snuggled into his side, her eyes widening comically "But, first, let's finish with this… Otherwise, Lillian will strangle both you and me for slacking."
Lucas chuckled.
"You mean for distracting each other?", as she glanced at him sideways, stifling her laugh, he winked at her and she shook her head at her handsome fiancé's silliness.
—--
She's the top, she's got the world on a string,
She makes me boogie, makes me do anything, yea yea.
Hey now, touch the sky,
You've got a certain kind of look in your eyes.
Well, she's a miracle, she's all that I need,
Like the water and the air that I breathe, yea yea.
Hey now, reach the sky,
There's a certain kind of look in your smile.
And I know what love can do,
Yes I know what hearts can do.
The big love is taking the wheel,
The big love goes head over heels,
The big lust, bring it into the small world,
The bigger, the better.
Big love, waiting to catch the big one,
Head over heels, the big one,
Bring it into the small world,
I'm building the big, big love,
I'm building the big, big love.
It's kinda strange, a bit mysterious,
I gotta take it oh so so serious, yea yea.
Hey now, touch the sky
You've got a certain kind of look in your eyes.
It used to be so hard so lonely at night,
Well, she's my baby and I'm feeling alright.
Hey now, move the sky,
There's a certain kind of look in that smile.
When I'm making love with her,
When I'm making love to her, yea.
The big love is taking the wheel,
The big love goes head over heels,
The big lust, bring it into the small world,
The bigger, the better.
Big love, waiting to catch the big one,
Head over heels, the big one,
Bring it into the small world,
I'm building the big, big love,
I'm building the big, big love.
It has to be a big thing,
It's bringing me to my knees,
Has to be a big thing,
Big thing.
Ya know what I'm saying…
("The Big L." - "Roxette)