Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT FIVE - PART THIRTEEN

She knocked quietly on the door, instantly being asked to come in, only for Jon to look up, his expression instantly changing to something uncomfortable, something guilty. He moved to stand, but Grace lifted her hand, stopping him, causing Jon to exhale, but not in relief, never in relief. If possible, ridden with more guilt than he had already expressed beforehand.

"The lectures are ready." Jon told her which had Grace nod, neither of them saying anything else for a long moment just starring at each other, before Jon lowered his gaze, not daring to look at Grace any longer.

"Have you come to a decision about what's going to happen with me now?" He wanted to know, which had Grace shake her head after another moment.

"No." She told him as she took the seat opposite of his office desk.

Somehow it was funny, for Springer didn't care. For him, people do die sometimes. He didn't even consider punishing Bates for his terrible judgment, which showed Jon that he had been wrong before. For Jon had believed for a while that maybe Grace came on too strong, maybe she was too stern, maybe Jon Henry's way was the right way. Maybe his loyalty lay wrongly with the Kazanskys but then he realised what he had done, what he had done to this people and their families, and he knew Springer was no leader, for he did not care for the foot soldier. Not when they weren't dying in a large enough number for him to notice. Grace was different. She cared about each and ever of them. Cared about their families. She felt with the mothers waiting for their sons to return, the kids waiting for their parent. She knew what it was like to wait and wait. She knew what it was like to suffer for someone up there didn't care for the foot soldier.

"If I do nothing, I'm not any better than Cain and if I do something, I have to turn against a friend." Grace told him which had Jon grimace for a moment, before shaking his head.

"You wouldn't turn against a friend." He said. "You would bring justice. That's the very thing I asked of you after what happened with Cain. I can't expect you now to just look away after what I did. I want us to be better than Cain and his people." Jon told Grace and with every word he said, her will to go through with it, to show the ice in her veins and punish wrong behaviour melted a bit more. She couldn't do this, never had to do this before. Grace wasn't willing to punish her own friends, and yet what other choice did she have when she refused to become like Cain, who allowed his people his friends free reign. Even though most likely due to their reasons than to why Grace wanted to allow Jon to go unpunished.

"Even if that would mean that I would have to cast you out?" She wanted to know.

"Even then. Don't break any rules for me." He told Grace, who tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowed while she watched him closely.

"What the hell even happened? I don't understand how you let it escalate like that." The youngest Kazansky pointed out, which had Jon duck his head.

"I don't know." He answered but that wasn't good enough for how could Grace trust him when Jon didn't even know what had gone wrong, what or rather how he managed to land himself in a situation like this. For if he didn't know, didn't seem to trust himself, how could Grace trust him with anyone else ever again.

"That's not good enough." She warned him, which had Jon nod.

"I know." He said to her, as if that would change anything. "But I can't give you any other answer."

She wished he would at least tell her that he thought he was doing the right thing. Showing resilience, staying strong and unmovingly steady but Jake said that Jon knew that he was wrong, that he had realised that what Jake said was the truth and that he was risking good people's lives. Jake had been so sure that Jon realised what was happening that Jon answering that he had no idea how things could go so wrong made Grace warry of him.