Grace [SEBASTIAN STAN]

XLIV: real life

XLIV. GRACE—CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Complete and utter bliss.

That's what Grace Capuano felt whenever she woke up in his arms. The feeling of his warm skin against her own. The way his grip would tighten around her or when he would pull her closer. It felt like...home. And she never wanted to end this moment.

She lightly smiled when his arm moved from around her waist to across her chest, pulling her even closer. Her fingers began slowly trailing up and down his arm in a soothing manner.

She would miss this.

He was leaving again, and Grace didn't quite know if she was ready for it. It was only two months. They'd done it before, and they'd made it through. They can do it again.

It wasn't much longer until he woke up, stirring slightly and releasing a low groan. Clearly he was still tired.

"Tired?" Grace asked, placing a short kiss on his knuckle as she rubbed the back of his hand.

"Hm," he mumbled, placing a kiss on the back of her neck. "Good morning. How long have you been up?"

"Only about ten minutes. Not long," she replied. "Did you sleep well?"

"I always do next to you." She smiled as he nuzzled his head into hers, releasing on last sigh before saying, "I vote never getting up. How about you?"

Grace turned around so she was facing him, placing her hands on his t-shirt covered chest. "I think we have to. You leave in eight hours."

"That means six more hours of laying here," he pointed out, pulling her into his chest completely. She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. "Can I just stuff you in my suitcase and take you with me?"

"As much as I want to go with you, I'd rather not squeeze into a suitcase," Grace replied, smiling. "Plus, I'm pretty sure you can't smuggle someone onto a plane. I'm not a drug. You can't just smuggle me."

"Oh, on the contrary, I think you are."

"Stop it," she giggled, before pushing herself away and sitting on the edge of the bed. "What do you want to eat? I'm hungry."

Sebastian groaned, the sound immediately muffling as he rolled his face into a pillow. "You're always hungry."

            "Sebastian, I need my daily coffee!"

            At the sound of his name, he pulled his head from the pillow, scrunching his eyebrows at her. "Did you just full name me?"

          "Maybe." She shrugged, standing up from the bed before turning to face him. His eyes trailed down her body as he let out a low chuckle. On the sides of her head were two French braids — completely normal. On her body was an extra large t-shirt and a pair of black shorts — also completely normal. And on her feet were long socks that had unicorns and skittles littering the surface — not so normal.

          "Cute socks. Steal those from Bubba?"

           Grace squinted her eyes at her boyfriend, grabbing the pillow beneath his head and whacking him with it before leaving the room to head to the kitchen. Sebastian joined her a few minutes later, watching as she scrambled around the kitchen in search for everything she needed to make her coffee.

"Do you have everything packed?" she asked as she started the coffee maker and sat herself on the counter.

Sebastian frowned. "Uh, yeah. Just a few last minute things, like tooth brush and stuff."

"Okay, because I'm taking you and Bubba to the beach later, which means you have to have everything packed before you leave. I don't want to rush."

"Okay."

Grace furrowed her eyebrows, pulling Sebastian between her legs. His hands immediately rested on her bare thighs as her arms looped around his neck. "What's wrong?"

"I just — I don't want to leave you here again. It's selfish of me to continuously leave you here alone and expect to come back and have everything be completely okay — like I didn't just leave you alone for months."

Grace frowned at his words. She didn't know he felt this way, and if she knew, she certainly wouldn't let him feel like this. Sure, she missed him when he was gone, and sure, she wished he didn't have to go, but it was his job, and he loved it. She wasn't going to stop him from doing it, because she would want him to support her if the roles were switched. She would never keep him from something he loved.

          "Sebastian, don't do that. Don't blame yourself for any of this. Now listen to me, okay?" He nodded quickly, tightening his mouth as he did so, as if to keep his tears away. "You're not selfish. You're not leaving me alone. You're not doing anything wrong. You're working, and I fully support you with it. Please don't worry about me. You don't have to."

          "But I do, Gracie. I do worry and I don't like being away from you."

          Grace gave him a sad smile, moving her hands on top of his. "There's only two more months. We've done it before, and we can do it again. I promise."

          He squeezed her hands with his own, nodding before slowly pressing his lips against hers. She smiled into the kiss, moving her hands to the sides of his face as she loosely wrapped her legs around his waist.

            And once again, she found herself in complete and utter bliss.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: let's make a list of the things stacie has yet to do but I would love for them to do:
—do the dirty
—say those three words (I cry)
—and steal baby bubba from danny and wren and run away to paradise