Complicated

Chapter Forty Nine: Freak

There's a place downtown,
Where the freaks all come around.
It's a hole in the wall.
It's a dirty free for all.

Kesha – Take It Off

The coffee shop around the corner from the precinct was a refreshing change from the stifling sensation Grace had been feeling inside the Crime Lab. The open planned space and the glass walls made her feel confined and she had spent the majority of the day trying to keep her facial expression neutral so that her colleagues didn't suspect that something was a miss in her world.

It had been a struggle for her not to pick up the phone and call Don immediately to tell him the good news. Grace knew he was busy working with Sam and he didn't need the distraction right now. Drawing the answers they sought from the young boy was proving to be more difficult than they had anticipated.

Grace didn't want this to end up another one of the conversations they had to have in work because they were too busy to get a second together at home. She wanted this to be something for them both to experience, she wanted to feel Don's hands on her, touching her stomach, getting a feel for their baby. She wanted to see the proud smile on his handsome features as his vibrant blue eyes lit up at the news.

The connection Grace felt to this baby both terrified and excited her. She had been scared that she couldn't love something that technically didn't exist yet but the truth was she loved this baby even more than she could possibly have imagined.

Grace had been horrified at first, overwhelmed at the possibilities that presented themselves but once she had become accustomed to the idea she couldn't help but enjoy it. Adam had been right this morning when he had talked her through the initial panic. This baby wouldn't want for love.

The two of them were going to be parents. The thought was more thrilling now than it had been before and Grace was already planning for the future, building up ideas and plotting their next move. Grace didn't need to ask herself how this had happened. Two months ago back in Barcelona she had forgotten to pack her contraceptive pill. They had bought condoms at the airport but they had been far from careful in regards to their love making.

Maybe deep down inside she had wanted this to happen. Now was as gooder time as any to settle down and start a family. They were young and established. She was comfortable in her role as a First Grade Detective and Crime Scene Investigator and Don could only climb higher in regards to the NYPD. Mac was knowing and understanding in regards to situations like this, or rather Grace imagined he would be. Grace and Don both had money saved in rainy day accounts so finances at the current moment weren't a problem, there was a lot to prepare for and she looked forward to it.

Grace smiled at Jaime the coffee barista as she stepped up to the counter, the red haired girl already putting in a blueberry muffin in a white take out bag. Grace came here at least once a day to feed her coffee habit, more if she was on a long shift.

"Usual drink order Detective Sullivan?" Jaime asked her, beaming with that sweet sunshine smile.

"Tea instead." Grace requested, with a shake of her head.

Grace had googled her caffeine intake while she in the elevator on her way down here and discovered she was at least two cups over her daily intake allowance which was one a day. The amount of coffee she consumed on a daily basis according to a Danish Study could increase her chances of miscarriage by fifty nine percent if she made it up to eight cups. Admittedly Grace was on four at least. She was cutting down to one a day after learning this new information. She wanted this baby so badly now that it was here.

"I've double cupped it for you." Jaime said helpfully, raising her eyebrows. "By the way that guy over there asked me to give you this the next time you came in."

Jaime pointed her finger towards a table behind Grace. Grace glanced over her shoulder, following the direction the barrista was indicating towards as Jaime slipped a folded napkin into Grace's hand with a phone number written on it.

The guy sitting at the circular table by the entrance door rose his cup of coffee as if in greeting. He was good looking in a craggy way. He was built like a quarterback, his shoulders were huge and muscular. She estimated he was around six foot, four from the length of his torso as he straightened his spine in anticipation.

It was clear from the muscle definition underneath his worn navy blue T-shirt that he worked out. His black curly hair was a little unruly on the top of his head but it suited his attractive features. The stubble on his features was well groomed, his grin was wide and welcoming but in his hazel eyes Grace saw something predatory.

It was instinctive. Grace couldn't explain it any other way. Every single impulse in her body was screaming for her not to engage this man. There was something animalisatic in the way his eyes drank in her body. The lust in his gaze was mingled with something else, something that she couldn't comprehend and terrified her only on a level she could describe as primal.

The fear was irrational but it was potent. The fight or flight response existed in every single human being for a reason. Her heart began to beat a little faster in her chest as Grace gathered up the coffee cup, and the take out bag letting herself exhale a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

The key to situations like this was to show no fear and she was never one to back down in the face of a challenge. Her mind flitted to the tiny life form developing inside her womb. Maybe it was time to start, she considered as she took strong steady strides through the coffee shop. Her hand slapped down onto the surface of the table, leaving the napkin with the guy's phone number crumpled underneath her palm.

"I'm married." Grace told him, tilting her head to meet his soulless eyes.

His large hand came to rest on her own. Grace felt her body tense under his touch. There was a lot of power underneath this man's fingertips and suddenly she was very aware of it. She saw nothing in his eyes, they were devoid of emotion. The emptiness frightened her as his lips curled into a perverse snarling smile.

"This is all just sport for me, baby girl." he murmured.

His voice was deep and rich, it sounded like a caress across her skin and Grace resented it. She could tell there was something sick inside this guy. Grace had seen it before in psychopaths but she had never been on the front line. Being face to face with one was eerie. There was a possibility that she was being paranoid but somehow Grace didn't think so. Even now Grace was regretting the fact she'd left her Glock locked upstairs in her desk drawer.

"I don't play games." she snapped coldly, tearing her hand away the stranger's grasp before exiting the coffee shop.

"Your already in one." Dale Maplin told her retreating back, watching as Detective Sullivan crossed over towards the other side of the street.