Complicated

Chapter Four: Memory Lane

Simona
You're getting older
Your journey's been
Etched on your skin

James Blunt - 1973

It was late when Grace got home. The case they had been working on was far from over but Mac had also pointed out that both her and Stella needed their sleep and their test results could run over night. Despite the fact Grace agreed with Mac she doubted that she would be getting much sleep tonight. Her mind was still churning over the thoughts and facts of everything that had happened today, from the horrendous bloody foot to the disjointed emotional mess that was between her and Don.

Her slim fingers toyed with the silver chain at her throat. The pendant of St Michael, the patron saint of cops came to rest in the space between her breasts underneath her white tank top.

Don had given her his necklace the first night she had stayed with him. She remembered his handsome smile curving across his five o clock shadow as the two of them lay naked entwined in each other and entangled in his sheets. His fingers were deft as Grace kissed his mouth not once, but twice. He unclasped the sturdy silver chain and replaced it around her own neck. She had tried to take it off, to give it back to him because she knew how precious this necklace was in terms of his heritage, of his honour but Don had refused.

It'll give you strength, he promised in his native New Yorker accent as his fingertip traced the line of her collar bone causing her to shudder with need.

That night Will had used his cigarette to drive the burns into her left shoulder when she'd gotten back to the apartment. It was afterwards when he had apologized for his violence and was soothing the wounds with a damp flannel that she had clasped the St Michael pendant and told herself she couldn't take this any more.

She had packed her escape bag that very night, returned to the Crime Lab in time for her shift and stowed it had the bottom. She had been planning to run, where she hadn't decided but before she could formulate a plan, Stella was dragging her up before Mac and demanding she show him what she had been hiding for the past few months.

Grace couldn't stand to look Mac directly in the eye. She rolled up her wrist length sleeves at Stella's gentle urging, showing him the purple and black fingermarks that decorated her forearm.

"Show him the rest." Stella said in a hushed tone, her own arms wrapped around herself as she reviewed Grace with sorrow.

It had been impossible for Stella to detach herself from this. Grace knew she would have felt the same way if the shoe had been on the other foot. Grace turned around, glad that she didn't have to see the expression on Mac's face. She didn't want to see the disgust and surprise on his features when she tugged up the shirt and revealed the worst.

The cigarette burns were bloody and raw, the skin around each one was singed black with vivid redness flaring around the flesh surrounding each burn. There were five in total, each circle was dotted in a random order upon her left shoulder.

"And now the ribs." Stella requested, swallowing hard as she forced herself to watch the grotesque strip show Grace was preforming.

Grace sucked in a breath, the humiliation flushed across her cheeks as she slipped her shirt back over her shoulders. Her fingers were still holding onto the hem, gripping it until it came to her bra line before she turned around to face Mac.

Mac's expression was unreadable, his hand was by his mouth as he reviewed her body. It was a change for her to feel as if she was underneath the microscope, she found she disliked it. The bruising looked worse this morning then it had last night.