Complicated

Chapter Thirty Eight: Catch Up

It's been so long, that I haven't seen your face
I'm tryna be strong,
But the strength I have is washing away
It won't be long, before I get'cha by my side
And just hold you, tease you, squeeze you
Tell you what's been on my mind

Akon – Right Now

It was eight am and Don had spent the night alone twisted up in the white sheets. He had managed to grab a few broken hours of sleep on and off throughout the time but he never slept well when Grace was on nights. He could tell from the tangle of sheets on Grace's side when he'd walked in and that she had trouble sleeping too. She didn't adjust well to working nights despite the fact their bedroom had heavy set blinds to block out the light.

To give her her due she never once protested or complained. It was part of their job, she accepted that. Don would just be glad when this week was over so the two of them could actually spend some time together. For now he would take all the stolen moments he could get.

Hence why he was stepping off the elevator right now, a cardboard cup carrier in his hand from Starbucks and a small take out bag in the other.

The blinds to Grace and Danny's shared office were open and Don could see his wife on the opposite side of the glass sitting at her desk. Her head was tilted back towards the ceiling as she rubbed both hands across her face. He could already hear her groan as he opened the door to her office shutting it quietly behind him. Her head jerked towards him as she pulled her hands away from her weary features.

"You look like hell." Don stated as he set down the carrier of Starbucks coffee.

Grace raked her hands through her dark hair drawing it away from her face before tying it into a small ponytail at the nape of her neck with the hair elastic she had secured to her wrist. Her black eye liner was smudged underneath her tired eyes, Don reached out with his thumb and gently rubbed away a smear of the dark Kohl from the curve of her cheek.

"It's everywhere isn't it?" she sighed, disentangling the coffee cups from the cardboard holder before chucking it into the bin at the edge of her desk.

"You fell asleep at your desk again huh?" Don smiled instead of answering her question as used his fingertips to nudge the bag of croissants towards her. "Breakfast."

"Sheldon woke me up five minutes ago." Grace confirmed, taking off the lid to her coffee cup before taking a deep gulp.

The expression on her pretty features was one of supreme bliss as she swallowed the coffee.

"God, I love you so much right now." she muttered, setting her coffee down and tugging open the bag of croissants before breaking into a wide smile. "Apricot jam too!"

She held up the tiny glass pot of the orange substance and a plastic knife in delight. Just seeing her light up like this made the extra effort he'd gone to this morning well worth it. Don took a slug from his coffee cup watching as she smeared the jam along the top of her croissant.

"I was going to come see if you were free for lunch today." Grace informed him before taking a bite out of her croissant and moaning in joy.

"Depends where we are with the case but otherwise I'm up for it." Don told her, wrapping both hands around his coffee cup. "Did Mac clear that week we were looking at taking off next month?"

"He did." Grace responded. "What about your Lieutenant?"

"Jess said she'd cover so there wasn't anyway he could really say no." Don said, raising his eyebrows as a smile began to to curve across his handsome features. "A week to ourselves in Barcelona. Dad's friend refuses to charge us for the villa, says we're doing him a favour by checking in on the place while he'd visiting the States."