Suddenly

Monday Morning

When Grace awoke the next morning, she was surprised to see Hannah still in bed beside her. The shorter blonde had turned onto her side, her body wrapping itself like a cocoon around Ayla's tiny body. The baby had likewise curled into Hannah, her little hand rested on her cheek, the other had her thumb popped into her mouth, per usual.

It gave Grace an odd feeling to see the two of them in such a comfortable and intimate position. Ayla had never really been one to cuddle with anyone else. Josh didn't even allow her in the bed with them, and Tatiana had never slept around her. No, Grace had only ever been the one the baby had slept beside, she was used to the feeling of her baby curled against her chest.

This looked so entirely natural, for some odd reason.

Hannah and Ayla had fallen head over heels for one another, besides the disastrous first time Hannah had kept her while Grace was the lawyers. Grace still felt kinda bad about that, when Hannah had told her about the experience. But, since, the two seemed thick as thieves, maybe they had formed some sort of bond from the experience?

Grace sighed. She really needed to get herself out of bed and use the time without Ayla attached to her hip to get a few phone calls in. She needed to start looking for apartments, and possibly call her old manager.

It had been Mamrie's idea. She told Grace that she needed to start getting a revenue stream coming in again. Anything that looked like she was actually a responsible adult would help in her case to get full custody of Ayla. Sure, she still received some revenue on her previous works before Josh, but something current would certainly be useful.

She sighed and returned to looking at the sleeping pair beside her. She could get used to seeing this.

Her body froze.

Did she really just think that?

What was she thinking!

She was going through a divorce that was sure to be messy and ugly. The last thing she needed was to get herself into a relationship. Especially one with her best friend!

No, this was just stress warping her brain. She needed to clear her mind and start focusing on the task at hand.

She carefully removed herself from the bed. Maybe a morning jog would do her some good.

Two hours later she returned to Hannah's small home to be greeted with her daughter and Hannah dancing around the kitchen while the blonde cooked breakfast.

Once again she felt herself having to push thoughts out how domesticated all of this seemed out of her brain.

Hannah caught her eye as she walked into the kitchen. "See! I told you Mommy would be back, you got all flustered for nothing!" She teased the little child in her arms. "I mean, I read you the note she left and everything."

Ayla's face lit up at the sight of her mother. Her little arms stretched out for her.

Grace gratefully grabbed the baby and pulled her to her chest. She felt bad about upsetting the little girl. Really, she had not meant for the run to take so long. But it felt nice to clear her mind and just run some of her anxiety off.

"I'm all sweaty and gross." She told Hannah.

"Good luck prying her off for a shower. She really is a little koala bear. Beary clingy." Hannah snickered at her own joke, Grace groaned.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as Grace sat on a bar stool and began nursing Ayla as she looked over the morning paper.

Hannah tried her best to keep her eyes diverted. She mentally punched herself, she should've been used to this by now. It really was beginning to become embarrassing.

"So," she tried to keep conversation going, and herself distracted. "What are today's plans?"

Behind her, she heard Grace let out a sigh. "Well, I need to call Joan and see how that is all going. I'm sure she wants more evidence and stuff. I need to get all the photos on my phone printed off."

"Kudos for keeping evidence." Hannah interrupted.

Grace blushed slightly. "I think subconsciously I knew it was the right decision. I wanted to make sure when I finally had enough that someone would believe me."

She hadn't ever really thought about how important those pictures on an old phone would be. How they would help her in protecting her daughter. Over time, she had begun to document what Josh was doing to her for herself. So she could remember what happened, how he made her feel. And why she needed to find her escape.

Looking back now, there had been so many times that she could have ran, but chose to stay. Mostly it had always been out of fear. Grace still didn't know where the courage that had possessed her that morning came from, but she was so incredibly happy that it had. The hardest part was over.

She looked up to see Hannah staring at her, she felt her face redden.

"Sorry, I just got lost in thought."

Hannah smiled kindly. "No problem, dude. I'm proud of you, you know. For leaving."

Grace focused on Ayla's dark head instead of looking at Hannah. "I just wish I had been braver, sooner. Hell, I wish I had never left."

Hannah was silent for a very long time. At that moment she wasn't quite sure of what to say, for the fact that she didn't want to offend Grace, or put her in a position that would make her feel uncomfortable.

After last night, Hannah's old feelings were coming in hard and fast. Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to sleep in that bed, but it felt so wonderful.

This morning when she had awoken to find little Ayla curled up beside her, she had felt strangely whole. The feelings were all so mixed up in her brain.

"Me too." Was all she whispered before turning back to cooking breakfast.