Grace & the Windy City (Chicago P.D)

Chapter 18- 2 Months Later...

"Hey Grace?" Adam asked. He was leaning against the kitchen island sipping his coffee.

She tiredly looked up from her history textbook that was resting on her forearm. After what happened up north, she somehow made the return to school a few weeks later. However, it didn't last long. At first she thought she was ok, then one day something set her off and "the incident" happened. After another week spent at the hospital, in a different unit this time, it was decided she would do online school the rest of the year. Her life now consisted of therapy with Dr. Charles and online school. Riveting. Lucky for her, the school year was 6 weeks away from ending.

"Mm yeah?"

"What did you mean a while back when you talked about lying and cheating 'just like Dad'?"

This caught Grace off guard a little, so she closed her textbook to answer. She was glad that for once he wasn't bringing up the whole kidnapped-and-taken-to-a-cabin-by-a-serial-killer thing. She dealt with that everyday as it was. She also wasn't keen on discussing their father, but it was time he knew the truth.

"Adam, Dad cheated on my mom. It was like the cherry-on-top for their divorce. It was bound to happen and that finalized it." she pushed her reading glasses further up on her nose.

Adam looked crushed. "What? He never told me that."

Grace shrugged, "I guess he didn't want the image you have of him to change, but that's kind of hard to do after two divorces. Plus, you've always been the closest with him, between us and Kate."

"Is that what triggered your mom with her drinking? The divorce?"

"She's always been that way, but the divorce is when it got really bad again. It's why I bothered to go visit her."

Adam wondered how with each hardship Grace went through, she always came out on the other side. He thought about whatever kind of mother-daughter relationship Grace and Colleen had would be over now, but decided he wouldn't feel guilty. No matter how often Grace looked out for her mother, he had a responsibility to look out for her. Someone had to.

"Do you have any idea who it was Dad cheated on her with?"

Grace laid her head back against the pillow on the sofa and tried to remember. "I never found out exactly who, but I do know it was someone on the force. I heard some officers gossiping about it at some Barbecue last Spring."

Hm. Adam wondered who it could be.

"I need to get back to my history paper." she hinted.

"Yeah, go on." he waved her to return to her work. While Grace highlighted a sentence in her textbook, Adam checked with Voight for a time on the undercover drug buy they had planned.

"When do you have your appointment with Dr. Charles today?"

"At 3. Why?"

Adam shook his head, "No reason. I need to head into work for a bit."

"Don't stay here on account of me," she yawned.

"Hey man." Kevin nodded to Adam as he walked up the stairs to Intelligence. He was already at his desk reviewing a file on his computer. "How are things with that cute firefighter from 51?" he teased.

Adam flashed his typical smirky smile. "They're going alright."

"...And Grace?"

"Grace is...ok, for now. I'm thankful the media left the story alone after a week. Things have been tough for her since the whole Severide thing, though. She doesn't show it, but I can tell."

Voight appeared from his office, "Alright everyone listen up..." he started to explain the drug buy that was going down, and taped up photos onto the board of the people involved.

While he meandered on to the unit about the details, Adam thought about other things. Other things like Grace. She was doing alright lately, but it was an uphill battle after these last few weeks.

It was late afternoon when Grace got out of her appointment with Dr. Charles at Chicago Med. She was a bit startled, and looked like she'd just had a revelation of some sort. She burst out of the hospital doors doing her best to keep breathing at a normal pace. Lately at her appointments, they'd been going over everyone's favorite topic: the kidnapping. Going over the details in therapy was supposed to help lessen the severity of the PTSD, apparently.

Grace whipped out her cell phone and dialled Adam.

"Adam! Hey...yeah I'm ok, I just got done with it. I have a question. How did you find me that day?"

Adam explained the part Matt Casey had in helping find her. She had to go to the firehouse.

Grace was dressed in lounge shorts and a large black sweatshirt, one of Adam's old ones, basically pyjamas but that's what she normally wore to her therapy appointments. Her normally smooth, long brown hair was now cut 4 inches shorter, to her shoulders and was tied up in an unpolished ponytail.

After speaking to her brother, it was clear she needed to speak to Matt Casey about that day. She knew Abigail was on shift and would be done soon, and that meant Matt would be too. So, Grace parked her car and waited on a bench by Firehouse 51, soaking in the late May sunshine. She bounced her right knee up and down anxiously waiting for the Firehouse to empty. She would have gone in, had it not been for the awkward encounter with Severide last month. Before Grace started thinking about all of that again, she noticed the front door open and people starting to emerge. She blinked her glassy eyes a couple times and took her airpods out while she stood up and searched for Matt in the small crowd. Grace saw him and he walked towards the sidewalk, where she was standing.

"Hey, Grace. How have you been?" Matt asked with a sympathetic tone.

"I just spoke with Dr. Charles for like, two hours." Grace started, ignoring his greeting. She sounded almost manic. "I was thinking more about how they found me...you know, that day. Like, how did they know?"

Matt nodded, and looked invested to what Grace was beginning to explain.

"My brother told me that you had spoken with Antonio and the next day he mentioned to my brother I was up at the cabin. First, the chances of you picking up your phone that day; I still have no idea why, especially on your day off. Then the fact that our conversation came up when you and Antonio were talking...and from there, how it all went down. Hours would have been added onto the investigation if you hadn't answered the phone."

Matt was humble, and his reaction showed that. His head was hanging a bit low and he looked worried for Grace. "Have you talked to Antonio?"

Grace nodded. He saved her twice— first, when he told Adam she was at the cabin and second, when she fell through the ice and he pulled her out.

"He came and sat with me in the hospital that night after the thing with Severide." Grace shared, as she noticed Cap and Tony from the corner of her eye, which meant Severide wasn't far behind.

She continued on, "I keep thinking back to a million different scenarios— Adam thinking I was at Becca's or at my mom's. Maybe he eventually would have tracked my phone. But in the end, that man would have killed me." Grace put her hands to her head. Even saying it out loud, she was in disbelief.

Matt noticed Grace's eyes were extra glassy. "I'm just glad you're safe now." he said slowly.

Grace almost began to cry, but she felt comforted by the calming effect from what she smoked.

"Thanks, I guess is what I'm trying to say. I don't know. It sounds so weird because what happened is out of some made-for-TV movie, but it's true. I'm going through a whole realization, if it wasn't already obvious." She laughed at herself a little at the last part. This was her new normal, for now at least.

"I'm glad you were in need of my expertise that day." Matt put it simply.

A few minutes later, Grace was back in her car and pulled out onto the street in a daze, but also, a little at peace.