Grace

Chapter 61

I woke up pretty early and carefully wiggled my way out of bed. For a wonder I didn't wake Ben up in the process. I slipped my feet into fluffy slippers, pulled a dressing gown on and made my way into the lounge. A lamp was already on, on one of the coffee tables and the TV was on a low volume allowing me to pick a way through to the kitchen.

I'd never thought palaces could be so quiet with them being so big. I guess I'd always thought about them as if they were still the super busy places they used to be, the buildings that nations were ruled from. That wasn't the case. Even though we were in the middle of London, there wasn't much noise at all.

Apart from the boom of unexpected thunder that made me scream. I jumped backwards and nearly fell over.

"Grace?" Christian called.

The lights came on blinding me. I cried out again and was then turned around by a pair of strong, rowing hands.

"You ok?" Ben asked quickly.

"Fine," I smiled. His hair was all over the place. "Really. The thunder surprised me that's all."

"That's it?" he asked. "I'm going back to bed."

His joggers were inside out too.

"Do you want a bacon roll, Grace?" Christian asked.

Another crash of thunder came and his eyes flicked to the window.

"I'm not hungry, but I'd kill for a decent brew."

"Then you're in luck. Couldn't sleep?" He went back into the kitchen.

I followed and sat on one of the stools at the island whilst he made tea. "I'm not a morning person, but once I'm awake I'm awake. You?"

"Thunder woke me up," he said again and looked uneasily out the window as a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder came at almost the same time. It was so close you could see the purpleish blue light and hear the electricity snap.

"That was cool!"

"Speak for yourself," he muttered and shuddered. "Here's your tea. Let's go sit in the lounge."

He took the sofa that had a coffee table next to it and I curled up in the overstuffed arm chair that was next to that.

"Ben's changed a lot since he met you," Christian began and shifted a little to tuck a sock clad foot under his thigh. "He's happier."

"It's because you're back. He's been really worried about you."

"I know," he sighed. "But if you recall, it was his idea."

I nodded. "He nearly called you back once or twice after Canada. And then again after the park. That's when he began to really understand what terror attacks are... When we both did," I finished quietly.

"I would say you have no idea how scared I was when I heard, but..."

I thought back to that night when the crazy woman attacked Ben. I remembered the fear of the moment, how I refused to leave Ben for a second until I absolutely had to leave and the relief I felt when he came to my dance class. It was almost impossible to believe it happened less than six months ago. So much had changed since then and I'd seen and been a part of scarier things.

"I wish I didn't."

"Me too. Ben told me about what happened with Master Clarke."

I smiled a little. "He was under a lot of stress too. Ben and I weren't in good shape, Clara even worse, Chi blaming herself for Josh... It was... it was awful. But we were all there for each other. Mostly the guys went on as normal so that we were distracted from thoughts, they helped keep us busy. I dare say Ben talked to them quite a bit."