Organized Crime: Unorganized

Chapter 69

Three weeks later
"Who are we going to see again?" Connor asked as Grace straightened his shirt. 
"His name is Tom and he helped to look after me when I was your ages" she told them. 
"Do we call him grandpa?" Connor asked. 
"I don't know. He was like a dad to me, but I guess you can call him whatever you want" she smiled at them before she rang the doorbell. 
"Coming!" a male voice called from inside before the door flew open "Pumpkin? It can't be" Tom gasped as he grabbed hold of her arms to steady himself. 
"Hey Tom" Grace smiled widely before he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. 
"I went to your funeral, couldn't make it out of the car, but I went" he admitted. 
"I'm so sorry, I didn't think. Rosaline blew a fuse when she found out I was still alive she went to my funeral and everything, she even cried" Grace told him. 
"I'm glad your okay" he smiled, holding her at arms length as he spotted the boys "And who are these handsome young men?" he smiled at them as he squatted down to eye level.  
"I'm Liam and this is Connor" he told him. 
"They're mine" Grace told him, earning a look of surprise "I adopted them from one of the cases I worked" she explained. 
"Well, you'd better come in. Joanne is going to be so excited to meet her grandbabies" Tom smiled. 
"We're not babies!" Connor fired back. 
"Your not? My bad, why don't you young men come in?" Tom smiled at them, moving to the side to allow them all to come in. 

"That all seems awfully..." Joanne drifted off as she searched for the right word. 
"Terrible? Complicated? Rough?" Grace suggested with a small laugh. 
"All of the above" Tom laughed with her. 
"You two are terrible" Joanne laughed. 
"I loved him and I loved the boys too. It all worked out in the end" Grace sighed contentedly as she watched the boys play. 
"It didn't work out with Reilly. So, what about the other guy?" Tom asked. 
"Stop fishing for information" she ordered. 
"Come on, the way you talk about him, your in love with him" Grace sighed deeply. 
"I am in love with him but, I have a lot of healing to do until I can except the love that he wants to give me" she told them. 
"That sounds perfectly reasonable to me" Joanne nodded. 
"Don't leave him hanging for too long. You deserve love pumpkin, don't let it get away" Tom told her. 
"I'm trying. I already feel more like myself and I've only been away from my team for a week" she admitted. 
"You seem different to when you were a kid" Tom commented. 
"I feel it" she admitted "I'm healing. Forgetting what happened to me one day at a time" 
"Your mother knew" 
"Thomas!" Joanne chided her husband. 
"She what?" Grace gasped. 
"She sat outside your room the night after you told her, she watched, she saw him go in and come back out straightening his belt. She told me to go in the next night. She protected you, not me" he admitted. 
"Then why? Why does she yell at me and call me a liar? Why does she act like I wasn't raped?" 
"Because she hates the fact that she couldn't stop it from happening the first time, because she doesn't want to admit that if she was a more present parent then maybe it wouldn't have happened" he told her. 
"Why didn't she tell me?" 
"Because you already never saw her, to her it was easier to be hated than to admit that she hated what that man did too" 
"Your going to say that I need to talk to her, aren't you?" she sighed. 
"Yes I am" 
"That is going to be rough" she sighed again. 
"Yes. But maybe it will be healing too" he suggested. 
"You just want me to get back to James faster don't you?" Grace smiled. 
"Yes I do. Because you deserve love Grace, I've seen you with Nick and Damien, you had love just not in the way that you needed it. James loves you for who you are, despite your pain, love like that shouldn't be wasted" 
"That's what the boys were. Her loves" Joanne told her. 
"Mommy! We found a worm look!" Connor called holding up the wiggling creature. 
"You two are going to have to wash your hands before we eat lunch" she told them with a smile. 
"Ok Mommy!" they both called back. 
"You're a good mother pumpkin" Tom smiled at her. 

The next week
"Ma'am your daughter is here" the receptions told her. 
"Show her in" Rosaline ordered, not bothering to look up from the computer when Grace entered the room. 
"Hello mother" Grace said as she came to stand in front of her desk. 
"Grace, to what do I owe this meeting?" she asked as she slipped her glasses of and faced her. 
"This isn't a meeting mother, this is a conversation" Grace nearly bit in response. 
"Well then what is it, I don't have all day" her mother sighed, crossing her arms over her chest before she let out a dramatic sigh. 
"Mommy I'm hungry" came Connor's little voice from the doorway. 
"There's snacks in the bag sweetie, okay? Mommy will be out soon" Grace smiled at the little boy before, watching until he had disappeared before she turned back to her mother "That's your grandson. His name is Connor and he has an older brother, Liam. They are the terrorist that I slept with kids. I'm offering you a chance to get to know them. Were going to take time to fix us, I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you but, I want to try, if your willing" 
"Why?" 
"Because you knew that he came into my room and you sent Tom to protect me. You protected me although you didn't want to admit that it happened. I'm trying to heal, to fix myself, to glue myself back together and to do that I need to forgive you, to stop blaming you for what he did. This is a step. This is what I need to do, even if I can't forgive you completely" Rosaline put her glasses back on and turned back to her computer. Grace let out a deep sigh before she turned to leave. 
"How about lunch?" Rosaline suggested. When Grace turned back her mother had switched off her computer, removed her glasses and was now standing on her feet. 
"Lunch would be a good start, growing boys eat a lot" she smiled "Tell me something, why did you let me think that you did nothing to stop him?" 
"Because I thought that it would be easier to forget. I thought that you would forget. I didn't think that it would haunt you forever" she admitted. 
"It won't soon" Grace smiled at her "Well, come on grandma" she teased with a smile. 
"I am not being called grandma" Rosaline warned her. 

"Simon, its good to hear from you" Grace smiled down the phone. 
"Oh Grace how you make my heart beat faster" he teased "Have you thought about my offer?"
"I have"
"And do you have an answer for me?" he asked. 
"I think it would be good for me to take some time away" she told him as she ran her hand through Connor's hair as they boys sat at the kitchen counter drawing. 
"And James?" 
"Were not together" 
"But you want to be" Grace ignored his question. 
"I have some conditions" 
"Which is?" he laughed. 
"I want to pick my hours. I want to home for the boys and not just dumping them with a sitter all the time" 
"Is that it?"
"Yes it is" she smiled. 
"Remind me why I put up with you"
"Because I'm your friend and you love me dearly" she teased, earning a laugh from him. 
"How are you?"
"Honestly, I feel more like me than I've ever felt. And I'm actually not to bad as this parenting thing" she smiled. 
"What would you tell Clara?" 
"That I feel more like myself than I have ever felt and that I miss my family. I miss James and I am grouchy when the boys go to bed because I am not getting any and he was so good at it, like so good-"
"Okay, I regret asking now" Simon groaned, making her laugh "Everything is waiting for you" 
"It'll take a few days to sort out my apartment and the boys school but I'll be out as soon as possible" she told him. 
"I look forward to seeing you" he smiled. 
"Me too. Bye" she hung up the phone before she turned back to the boys "How about takeout for dinner?" 
"Burgers!" they both shouted in unison.