state of grace ✦ leon goretzka

d r e i u n d d r e i ß i g

author's note; this is the final chapter of this book. i don't want to boast at all but this is the work that i am most proud of and thank you so much for being with me and leon and grace in every part of the journey. thank you for every vote, every read, every comment; i love y'all so much! i haven't decided yet as to wether i want to continue on with their story because obviously there's a lot left for me to uncover like the confed cup for a start, the whole season after and then documenting his move to bayern, but i'm very very unmotivated atm and this chapter leads off very nicely i hope and the way i ended it makes me want to leave it at that so i don't like y'know taint the story?!

but anyway, here is the final chapter of state of grace. i hope you all loved reading this as much as i loved writing it ❤️ thank you again!!! xxxxx

also, play state of grace, which i've linked above :) hopefully you'll find leon and grace between the lyrics!

december thirty-first

THE REST OF THE FINAL DAYS OF 2016 rolled along smoothly for Grace. Though Jonas left not long after Christmas, she occupied herself by continually wandering around the blisteringly cold city and completing article after article either on the fancy cream lounge downstairs, or the sun tan chair beside the covered pool outside. She found that she quite liked it in Paris and that kind of scared her a little bit. The change felt good, but it wasn't wholly welcome. Certainly, from an outsider's point of view, Gelsenkirchen was no match at all compared to the City of Light, but for Grace, it should and would always be Gelsenkirchen in her heart.

As said, she took out Mathéo and Antoine around the city for a day and on that day, she certainly felt like a tourist from how much they knew about the city, even as 10 year-olds. It was slightly hectic- read: Grace almost left behind Antoine on the metro- but they got through it. It was nice; she got to bond even more with her half-brothers through football talks and hot chocolates in cute cafés. Of course, with every pull she felt towards her half-brothers, the more she longed for her full-blood brother. Gale really loved Mats and Mars, despite the short time they spent with each other, and for Gale was Grace trying with the Lacroix family. This was what he would've wanted.

She had one full day left in Paris before she left to go back to Germany around midday on the first day of 2017, and it was New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, that New Year's Eve was going to be spent tucked up in the mansion probably watching some corny NYE American film with some popcorn- until she got a text.

-

from Julian Draxler
hey grace :) i heard you were in paris and i am too with like, no friends and no plans for nye. heard from leon you didn't have any plans either, so how about we catch up? and maybe go out at night? i'm staying at the peninsula!

from Grace Bauer
no friends, no plans?! congrats on the move btw! ugh i can't believe he told you that, but sure! sounds like fun, what time should i come over? le's okay with this, right?

from Julian Draxler
more than okay :) he doesn't want his best friend and best girl to be lonely and brooding on nye, and we're friends, grace! i have so much to tell you and leon has the emotional range of a teaspoon so i need other insight! how about as soon as you can? like, right now?

-

So, about an hour later, Grace found herself on the doorstep of what seemed to be the fanciest, grandest hotel in the city and she was thinking just about how her life had changed since that fateful day in August. Why and how did she suddenly have friends who could afford to stay at the Peninsula? Why and how did she now have a millionaire second family? Why and how did she have a superstar boyfriend? It was crazy.