Matt Casey's nieces and nephew

Chapter 46

Grace was really happy when she saw Antonio standing at the bottom of the stairs that morning. He was talking to Dawson; Natalie, had picked up Ellie then Casey and Jake had already left for work. It was his first day back on the job and things around the station hadn't been the same without him. He grinned when he saw her and opened his arms which she immediately went into, careful to be gentle around his wound.

"Someone missed you." Dawson said as she watched them and Grace turned her head towards her with a smile.

"I'm getting really tired of visiting people in the hospital." Grace looked up at him.

Antonio smiled and dropped a kiss to her head as they separated. "I'm fine." He reassured. "Do you have your homework in that bag." He said as he looked at his sister briefly before turning back to Grace. "I heard about your grades."

Grace rolled her eyes and sighed. "It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" He raised his eyebrows.

"It's a few B's, not F's." She argued. "And I'm working on getting caught up."

"That's because you want to go on a date." Dawson interrupted.

"What date?" Antonio asked with a frown. "With who?"

"A college guy." Dawson said as she crossed her arms and looked at Grace.

"What?" Antonio said. "And Matt is okay with this?"

"Yes, because he trusts me." Grace said as she glared at Dawson.

"Alright, let's go." Antonio grabbed Grace's arm gently and led her out of the door before a fight started. "What was that?" He asked once they were in the car.

"She keeps nagging me about school and every little thing. She's acting all like,"

"A parent?" He interrupted, glancing at her as he drove.

"Well, yeah." Grace said. "But she's being unfair."

"She's just looking out for you, Grace." He explained as he pulled up in front of a diner. "Let's get something to eat and we can talk."

"Only if you promise not to lecture me." She said as she got out of the car.

"No lectures, we're just going to talk." He opened the door. "So, what's going on with your grades?"

Grace sighed as she sat down in the booth. "Nothing happened. It's junior year, I have all AP classes and I'm studying for the SATs. Trying to balance everything was harder than I thought and I got a little behind in some of my classes."

"In three of your classes." He corrected.

"I don't understand why everyone makes a big deal out of a few B's." She said. "Jake got Cs all last year and everyone was fine with it."

"We aren't talking about Jake, we're talking about you and don't forget Ellie gets A+ every time so it's possible." He said. "And you can do better."

"Whatever." She mumbled.

"Grace, lose the attitude." Antonio gave her a stern look. "You know that you are better than this. You've been slacking off this term and it's time to turn it around. I know Matt made a deal with you so I'm going to make one with you too. If you get all A's in your classes, like I know you can, you can continue working at the station during the summer."

"Really?" She asked, surprised and he nodded. "Okay."

"Alright," He nodded. "Now, who's the guy?"

"His name is Ben; he's Charlie's roommate and cousin. He's a freshmen and his major is business. His dad is in the military and his mom is a nurse with the army. He comes from a Christian family so he wants to meet Matt before he takes me out."