Stronger Together

~6~

Gracelyn was determined to make her father proud so once Michelle's mom dropped her off she rushed to her apartment and did her physics things that her dad gave her she even worked ahead until there was a knock on the door she walked over and checked the peephole it was Peter she opened the door.

Peter took the subway home and went in to his apartment expecting to see may and Grace but he only saw may he then just shrugs it off knowing that she'll be over for dinner he works on his homework and then helps May with laundry and other household stuff but then it makes it's way to 7 and Grace still hasn't come so he decides to go and get her so he walks across the hall and knock on the door Grace opens it "hey aren't you coming for dinner?" He asks

Grace looks behind her at the work she should be  getting ahead on "I have homework sorry maybe tomorrow " she says and goes to shut the door but Peter stops it with his foot .

"Come on Grace your dad shouldn't be home for an hour or 2 and I'm pretty sure May wants to talk to you" he tries his best pleading face but it doesn't seem to work

She sighs "look tell May and Ben I'm sorry but I can't risk getting in anymore trouble I probably won't be around for a while" she then pushes the door shut on Peter and goes back to her work.

Peter just stands there shocked he doesn't know what has gotten into her her father abuses her and now she's trying to spend more time with him does she not see the pattern no matter what she will end up hurt because she isn't badly behaved and her father punishes her and he will always find a way to he then walks over to his apartment and tells May what happened .

May isn't surprised based off of what Ben told her about this morning she honestly assumed it would happen there just going to have to wait until Grace asks for help and realizes she can't do this on her own no matter how long it takes they have to trust her.

It's been a few months and Gracelyn has been avoiding the Parkers doing her fathers science work and she's at the top of her class in school but the beast comes out every night no matter what she does she can't find a way to make him go away and to stop hurting her she's not even letting Michelle's mom drive her home anymore but still she gets attacked every night but she deals and rolls with the punches it could be worse  other people have it worse she repeats to herself multiple times throughout the day

May is worried sick Gracies avoiding her and Ben and Peter none of them have been able to get her to talk to them they'll come and invite her to dinner every night but once she sees it's one of them  she doesn't open the door they even started putting notes under her door but nothing Peter says that he's tried to talk to her in school but she just runs away he's even talked to her friend Michelle and she's doing the same thing to her .May has had enough she's going to talk to Gracelyn even if she has to break into that apartment herself so she grabs a bobby pin from her dresser and walks over to the Baileys apartment and doesn't even try knocking once she unlocks the door Gracelyn gets up from her spot at the kitchen island and holds up her paper "dad look-" she pauses "your not my dad"

May laughs a little trying to hold back tears it's hard to see Grace have to try this hard to impress someone everything is spotless and she knows she still gets screamed at by her dad because yes May stays up and spies making sure her little bean is ok which she's not . "Grace please talk to me I know what's going on I get you want to impress him and sweetie you are so smart and so talented and too kind to have to be punished the way you are please I can't stand seeing you do this to yourself anymore May nearly breaks down.

Grace freezes as soon as she realizes the pain she has caused May to go through she didn't know that her trying to impress her dad would make the Parkers go through the pain with her she wants to handle the pain alone and for the most part she does except May and Ben the only two people who actually know what's going on "I-I'm so sorry I never meant to cause you the pain too I thought this would make my dad happy but it didn't it just made you upset I'm so sorry May I screwed up" there are now tears going down both of there faces

May runs over to hug Gracelyn "sweetie please can we go back to the original plan where you stay with us when your hurt the beating can't get any worse without killing you at this point " May tries to breath through her sobs and communicate effectively she does but it's pretty hard.

Grace is breaking down just as much as May if not more so she just nods in agreement and then goes to her room and grabs a bag and puts some clothes into it she puts enough for a two week stay at the Parkers which is hopefully how long she'll stay away from her father and the beast

Ben returns home that day to see May and Grace on the sofa watching one of the star wars movies he drops his coat and bag as soon as he sees them and runs to Grace hugging her and picking her up "I've missed you so much kiddo" he says tearing up a little but happy to see her out of harms way even if she's only staying for dinner he looks around the apartment "where's Pete ?"he asks

May is just in a state of pure happiness after getting her hmm what is Gracie to her she has an attachment to her but it's not like she's her mom or aunt or family but she looks at Grace as her own kid she scolds herself it doesn't matter all that matters is that she's safe bens question snaps her out of her little spiral "oh he's at Neds again" May responds

Ben just nods and then goes to the kitchen to make dinner for the four of them he decides to make home made pasta because today was a special day and plus he knew how much Grace loved it.

Grace decides to help Ben cook his famous pasta so she can learn the secrets and make it herself one day shhhh don't tell Ben he thinks she just wants to eat the ingredients and she plans to keep it that way the two make the pasta but somehow end up with half of the ingredients covering them head to toe after two or three food fights the pasta is finally done .

As if on cue Peter walks in but not alone "Hey May I invited Ned over for dinner I hope that's ok" he says while he's shutting the door

Ned looks around the Parkers apartment he's been there before but it's a bit messier than he remembers not in a bad way though it makes the apartment look lived in then he spots Grace "woah Peter you have a sister?" He questions surprised that he has never seen or heard of said sister

Peter whips around "what no I don't " he exclaims but then sees Gracie and Ben covered in flour tomato sauce and noodles "Gracie !" He yells and runs over to hug her he uses the hug as a cover up to make sure she's ok he whispers "your all good right your not here for an emergency?"

Grace just smiles "no Pete I'm just sick of letting my dad walk all over me I'm taking Mays offer and staying a while" she whispers back 

Peter can't help but smile wider if that's even possible he might not have known her as well as May or Ben did but he missed her and was happy she wasn't going to let herself get hurt anymore "I'm glad your safe now" he speaks but in a light tone hoping Ned doesn't hear and get suspicious

Graces smile falters a little she realizes that she must've caused all of the Parkers some pain by doing what she did and she never wanted to do that again even if that means giving up hope on her dad the Parkers were people who never showed anything but kindness to her and they showed her what the word family actually means even if they weren't blood related.

Ben noticed Graces faraway expression so he tries to snap her out of it by starting conversation "Hi Ned nice to see you again this is Gracelyn she lives across the hall from us she isn't peters sister " Ben then goes to the dining room table and sits down "dinners served and honestly Grace did most of the work I was just a dead weight"

Grace sits down and can't hold back her laugh "that's not true it was your recipe though you were the one who started the food throwing"

Ben rolls his eyes "let's go back to you complimenting my recipe"

Peter looks around at the now full table that has been missing a person for a long time he is so great full for all of his family to be there and safe he's never had to worry about that before but now that he has accepted Grace into the Parker pack he's going to have to because of her situation he decides not to dwell on it and focuses on what's important his family plus Ned in-front of him enjoying the first true family meal they've had in months now that Grace is home.

AN// hi I hope you liked it if you did you know what to do if not please stop reading  yea bye (1737 words)