The Accident ••• an AJR Fanfic

• 1: I Can't Believe It •

"We're gonna head out." Ryan says, walking toward the door. He and Adam were spending the day in the city.

Gracie was sitting at the island in the apartment working on an assignment for college, and Jack was across the room doing the same thing.

"Have fun" Jack says from his chair in the corner of the living room.

Ryan and Adam slip out the door and Jack lets out a long sigh.

"You good, Jack?" Gracie asks.

"No. My brain hurts." He says, rubbing his eyes.

"Well, I can't help you with that." She giggles.

"Ugh I need a break from this." Jack says, setting his laptop down and getting up. He walks over behind Gracie and wraps his arms around her and rests his head on her shoulder. Gracie continues typing furiously on her laptop.

"Looks like you're doing just fine on this." Jack comments, with a slight attitude in his voice.

"Yeah I am actually." She says, with just as much attitude back.

She stops typing and turns her head toward Jack's and gives him a quick kiss. He kisses her a few times on the neck in return.

"I think I'm gonna take Shay for a walk. I need to get out of this apartment." Jack says, his head still on Gracie's shoulder.

"Okay." She replies.

Jack walks over and grabs Shay's leash and hooks it onto her collar. Before leaving he walks over and gives Gracie a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you." He says, smiling down at her.

"I love you too." Gracie says back, looking up as he walks across the room to the door.

"Come on, Shay." He says, opening the door and making a kissy sound with his mouth. Shay excitedly runs out the door into the hallway. Jack laughs a little and walks out after her.

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Gracie heard a scratching at the door. She gets up from her laptop, confused. She opens the door and sees Shay sitting there. Where did Jack go?

Shay started running down the hallway in the direction of the stairs. Gracie ran down the hallway after her. Shay stopped briefly before walking down the stairs. She looked back, making sure Gracie was following her.

Shay was at the bottom of the stairs and barked a few times. Gracie was still far enough behind to where she couldn't see what she was barking at.

Gracie was stopped in her tracks as she turned the corner. At the bottom of the stairs she saw Jack collapsed on the floor. Shay was sitting next to him, with one of her paws on his arm.

"Oh my god, Jack!" She yelps and runs down the stairs toward him.

She could see him breathing and he had a pulse, so that calmed her a little bit. She called 911 and sat on the stairs while she waited for them to get there. She also called Ryan, and he said they were on their way.

She moved to sit on the floor next to Jack, and she gently touched his hair. Her breath quickened as tears came stinging to her eyes. Shay stepped over and licked tears off of her cheek, and pushed her body against Gracie's.

It just then hit her, that Shay somehow knew exactly what to do. She left Jack here, and found the right apartment, and got Gracie to come down here. And she was protecting Jack and trying to comfort Gracie.

"Thank you, Shay." Gracie says, half crying, half laughing.

Gracie ran her hands along Shay's back as more tears streamed down her face.