Gracie couldn't move from her bed, not only would she risk pulling out her IV and various monitors if she tried to stand, but her legs were like jelly. It wasn't long before the door swung open to reveal Rachel, holding a giant teddy bear and an equally astounding bouquet of roses.
"Rachel," Gracie cried out. Conflicting emotions of relief and panic filled her. If she lived a normal life she would be able to see her girlfriend without fear of being found out, "Please, you can't be here," she tried to stand up and stumbled.
"I've got you," Rachel caught her before she fell.
"Please," she grabbed the IV stand for support, "Just go, my sister will be back any second," Gracie begged and tried to shove Rachel out of the door. Another stomach pain jabbed Gracie in her belly.
"What's going on?" Riley arrived, as if on cue. She didn't have to have met her to know who Rachel was, all she had to do was see the way Gracie looked at her. "You need to go," she demanded.
But Rachel didn't move towards the door, instead, she stood defensively in front of Gracie and inched closer to Riley.
Riley stood her ground, "I'm serious!"
Rachel shoved Riley, and Riley shoved back. Before Gracie could catch her breath, she watched as Rachel approached Riley again, raising her fist. She could hear the sound of her hand colliding with Riley's face as Gracie collapsed, hitting the floor with a thud as loud as the punch.
Waves crashed against the pillars that held steady a rickety old pier, with each wave, the whole platform shook and Gracie started to lose her footing. She stumbled but managed to hold on to the metal handrail, slick with rain and salt water. Why she was standing on the edge, she didn't know. All she knew was that, for some reason, she couldn't walk to the shore.
A larger wave curled and dispersed onto the decking, bringing cold water around her feet. When the water washed away, it pulled her with it. She tried to hang on, to keep her feet steady, but the water had other plans. She slipped down, now dangling from the rail by just her hands.
The water below began to settle quickly, it wasn't acting like normal water. Within minutes it had completely dried, and Gracie was now hanging above a cluster of jagged rocks, her hands slowly sliding loose from the rail as the rain continued to beat down on her skin.
A hand touched Gracie's, it was dark so she couldn't see who it was, but she grabbed it, and the stranger pulled her up to safety. She was over the handrail, her feet planted firmly on the deck. She was safe.
At least she thought she was.
When she looked up at the person who had saved her life, it was the last face she wanted to see, and by the looks of things, the last face she would ever see again.
John was still holding onto Gracie, he was gentle at first. He was always gentle at first. But suddenly, he pressed her body up against the handrail, crushing her. When she cried out in pain, he pulled away and looked her in the eye. She thought maybe he'd realized what he was doing was bad, then he proved her wrong.
He grabbed her by the wrist and flung her over the rail. He could move her ragdoll-like body with such ease. He dangled her above the rocks again, she screamed out for help but no one was coming to save her.
John had the power in his hands, he could pull her to safety again, but instead, he chose to let go of her, sending her plummeting into the rocks below.
"No!" Gracie sat up and found herself back in the hospital bed. She was panting as Lilah rushed to her side. She examined her surroundings, making sure it was just an awful nightmare. She looked up at Lilah. "What happened? Where's Rachel? And Riley, is she okay?" She tried to get up again, but Lilah held the frantic girl still.
"It's okay, don't worry about them, just focus on yourself," she pleaded, "How's the pain now?"
Gracie was confused, was everything that happened all part of her nightmare? "It hurts," she squirmed, "What happened?"
"You had surgery, part of your stomach lining split open. It was repaired and you're going to be okay but only if you start taking care of yourself," Lilah sat down and took her hands, "You have got to stop bottling things up, it almost cost you your life this time." The remnants of running mascara showed that Lilah had been crying, and she was trying not to cry again.
"I'm sorry," Gracie wrapped her tired arms around her foster mother and wept into her shoulder, "I didn't mean for everything to get so messed up."
"I know you didn't, baby," Lilah rocked the sobbing teenager until she finally calmed down. "You have another visitor."
The door opened, and standing in the hallway next to her foster siblings was Jason.
"I'll let you guys talk," Lilah left the room.
"I was so worried, it sucked not being able to talk to you, but Marco's been keeping me in the loop," he hugged Gracie, but her arms stayed at her side. The only person she wanted to see was Rachel.
"I'm fine," she said bluntly. She avoided eye contact and pulled her hand away when he reached for it.
"I've missed you these past couple of days," Jason tried to get Gracie to look at him, but her glassy eyes stayed fixed on the floor, "What's going on? Are you in pain? Should I get your moms? A nurse?"
"Stop it, I'm fine," she insisted. Gracie wiped a tear away and looked at him. It was time to come clean, no matter how much it would hurt him, he deserved honesty, "Jason, I've been lying to you."
"Whatever it is, you can tell me," he reached for her hand again, and she folded her arms.
"Remember when you came over for dinner? And Danny said all that stuff... about me," she waited for a response but he just looked at her, "I wasn't lying when I said I liked you, but what he said, it's true."
"Gracie, I don't care that your bi," Jason laughed. "Were you really that worried to tell me th-"
"I'm not bi," she cut him off, "I'm gay. And I've been seeing someone behind your back."
Jason stood up, taking a step back. His eyes drifted from hers to the floor as he stood contemplating in silence, and then he looked at Gracie again. The heartache in his eyes could be felt just by looking into them
"You've been cheating on me?"
He didn't care that she was gay, he only cared that she'd betrayed him and allowed him to go on deluding himself.
"I'm sorry."
"How long?" He ran his fingers through his hair in disbelief.
"I tried to tell you, I never meant to hurt you, I swear."
Instead of raising his voice in anger, his volume dropped as he begged, "How long, Gracie?"
Gracie unhooked the necklace he gave her and passed it to him, "From the start," she swallowed the lump in her throat, "I'm so sorry."
Jason snatched the necklace from her hand and stormed out of the room, throwing the flowers he'd bought her in the trash on the way out.
Gracie allowed herself to cry over him, she would never have feelings for him the way he wanted her to, but Jason was still a good person, and not only had she hurt him terribly, but she'd lost a friend.
Maia saw Jason leaving, so she went into Gracie's room to see if she was okay.
"Hey," she said. She looked tired and worried. "Mom's at the police station with Riley, and Mama's just gone to get some coffee. I said I'd sit with you until she gets back."
"The police station? Why? Is Rachel okay?"
Maia squinted at Gracie, confused, "She's fine, just a bruised shoulder. That bitch almost broke Riley's nose, why do you care what happens to her?" She was getting annoyed that Gracie was seemingly defending a girl who attacked her sister.
"Oh my God," the heart monitor hooked up to Gracie started beeping as her pulse sped up. Gracie never imagined Rachel could be capable of violence. And she never thought she would intentionally hurt someone who was just looking out for her. "I- I didn't know she would do that, I swear, I-"
"Why was she here? And why are you trying to justify what she did?" Maia was more than annoyed now, she was getting angry. "Don't you remember what her dad did to you?"
Marco walked in after hearing the commotion, "Gracie, you have to relax, you're making yourself worse," he gently pushed her back down in her bed, "What's going on with you two?"
Gracie ignored Marco, she was too floored by Maia's remarks, and her panic quickly turned to an anger that matched Maia's. "Of course I remember, I'll never be able to forget it," her jaw tightened, "But the keyword there is me, he did it to me! And anyway I told her not to come here but she was worried about me," Gracie defended herself, moreover, she defended Rachel; the girl who had just assaulted her foster sister.
"Oh yeah, so worried that she just had to start a fight with our sister, why are you being so dumb?"
"Because I love her!" Gracie yelled, "Okay? I love her, and I know her." She came to a conclusion that rationalized Rachel's behavior, "She wouldn't have done anything like that unless she felt threatened, she must have been protecting herself."
The whole ordeal was blurry for Gracie, she was unconscious for most of it, for all she knew Riley could have been the one to throw the first punch. Admittedly, it didn't sound like something Riley would do, but it also didn't sound like something Rachel would do either.
"You love her?" Maia scoffed, "You love her so much that you cheated on her with Jason all that time?"
"Hey!" Marco called after his sister as she started to leave, but Gracie wasn't going to let her get away with that.
"You're judging me?" She stood up, leaning on her IV stand again, and followed Maia out into the hall, she shoved her, "You've slept with every guy in your grade, and you're judging me for one mistake?"
"Gracie!" Marco yelled again and tried to get between his sisters but Maia shoved back, "Stop it, both of you!" It might have gotten worse if Lilah hadn't come barreling down the hall, she pulled Gracie away while Marco held his twin sister back.
"Back to bed, Gracie, now!" Lilah said as the two of them went back into Gracie's room, "What the hell is going on?" She yelled, but Gracie stayed quiet, mostly because she was trying not to cry. The guilt hit her like a train, she couldn't believe she would treat Maia like that. "Silent treatment? Really?" Lilah sighed and bent down to eye level with Gracie who was sitting on her bed again.
"I'm sorry," Gracie whimpered. It was all she could say, there were no other words for how guilty she felt.
Lilah sighed, "You can't treat people like that, especially family," she tried to be as comforting as possible, while still letting Gracie know that what she did was wrong.
"I know, I didn't mean it. I'll apologize to Maia, okay?" She muttered, exhausted mentally and physically.
"I know you're going through a lot, sweetheart, but you've got to talk to us about these things."
"I can't take it, I can't," Gracie raised her voice as the floodgates opened and everything she'd been feeling came pouring out of her, "I'm sorry that she came here, I'm sorry that I lied about her, I'm sorry I pushed Maia, and I'm sorry that I ever came into your lives. All I've done is screw things up for your family," she broke down in front of Lilah's eyes.
"Oh, baby."
Gracie pulled away from Lilah as she reached out to cradle her, "Don't do that, don't be nice to me after all the trouble I've caused!"
Lilah ignored her foster daughter and wrapped her arms around her anyway, "You can stop trying to push me away, I'm not going anywhere," she said firmly, "None of us are, okay?"
She cried and allowed Lilah to comfort her, "You're not kicking me out?" She squeaked through her tears.
"No, God no, Gracie."
"Then are you gonna ground me for longer?"
Gracie was confused, surely she deserved some sort of retribution for all of the strain she'd caused the Tuckers. If this had happened in any of her previous foster homes there's no telling what kind of reckoning she'd meet.
"I think being in here is punishment enough, don't you? The food here is worse than Stella's cooking," Lilah joked, and Gracie laughed, "There's that smile."
"She does make a mean BLT though."
Just like that, the tone of the conversation shifted. It was one of the things that Gracie admired about Lilah, she would be so angry one second, but when one of her kids was hurting she knew exactly what to say to make them feel better. Gracie was truly starting to see Lilah as a mother, and Stella too. But she couldn't get her hopes up yet.
Gracie looked up at Lilah, "Is Riley gonna be okay?" She still couldn't believe that Rachel would hit someone.
"She'll be fine, she just had a nosebleed. Stella's bringing her back here now to get checked out."
"Is she in trouble? For fighting back?"
"We can talk about this another time," Lilah's phone started ringing, "It's Stella, she and Riley are here, I'll send Danny in to sit with you for a little while, I won't be long," Lilah kissed Gracie on both cheeks and hugged her.
"Hey," Gracie was expecting Danny, but she wasn't expecting Maia to follow him in.
"Maia, I'm so sorry," Gracie tried not to cry again, "I didn't mean any of the crap I said to you, I swear."
"No, I'm sorry," Maia walked up to Gracie and wrapped her arms around her, "I was acting like a freak, but you're my sister too and I should have been looking out for both of you," she was crying.
'Sister,' Gracie loved hearing that word. "I love you, all of you guys," Gracie pulled Danny into the hug too, and seconds later, Marco came in.
"Hey, no group hugs without me," his long arms could reach around all three of them.
"Look," Gracie pulled away and used her sleeve to dry her eyes, "You don't have to ask your moms to keep me, after today I get it if you want me to move out," Gracie was certain that the Tuckers wouldn't want to adopt her now, so she wanted to make sure she could leave with as much dignity as possible.
"Stop being so dumb," Marco said with a laugh, "We told you, Gracie, we're family. You can't get rid of us now."
The girls both burst into tears again and then started laughing, but the room fell silent when Riley arrived.
Marco, Maia, and Danny all shuffled out of the room and stood in the hall, where Lilah and Stella were lingering by the door.
Riley shut the door and walked closer to Gracie, "Are you okay?"
"Me?" Gracie looked at Riley, her nose was all bruised with remnants of dried blood around her lips, her left eye was slowly turning a dark shade of yellow, and she was wearing a hospital gown just like Gracie's. "I'm fine, are you? I'm so sorry that any of this happened, you have to know I never wanted anyone to get hurt."
"I know that Gracie," Riley sat at the end of Gracie's bed and crossed her legs, she reached for Gracie's hand, "I know that you care about all of us, and you care about her."
Gracie felt ashamed, but her feelings for Rachel weren't going to go away, "Yeah, I do," she bowed her head.
"But you have to choose," Riley's words were like a slap in the face, but Gracie knew she was right, "If you want to be part of this family, you can't stay with her."
Gracie hung her head, "I know," she prepared herself to lie, "And I'd have to be an idiot if I didn't choose you guys."
"Really? You'll stop seeing her? And delete her number?" Riley had to make sure she was clear.
"Yes, as soon as I get my phone back," Stella and Lilah had taken all of the kids' phones until they were ungrounded.
Gracie wasn't seriously considering ending her relationship, but she was beginning to think it would be better for everyone if they just cooled off for a while, Rachel would understand. Riley hugged Gracie, "Are you really okay?" Gracie asked.
"I have a mild concussion, they want me to stay overnight, but I'll be fine."
Gracie's guilt was festering inside of her, "I'm so sorry."
"And moms said that both of us will be back in our beds by tomorrow night, and we're going to ask them about the adoption then."
"Maybe you should hold off for a little while," Gracie suggested, "Lilah was kind of mad at me, and I'm sure Stella is too, I just think it's best if we wait until everything has settled down a little."
"Sure, whenever you're ready," the girls hugged again before Lilah came to tell Riley to go back to her bed.