Once and Again 1. Default Chapter

Grace took in the smell of the airport. She was finally home. How she missed the smell of pure home. Her mom, her dad...everything that made home, home.   
  
It had been over 3 years since she's back. She had been on her own in the big city for so long, she couldn't imagine how it would be like to wake up and have breakfast ready on the table, or her clothes ready and have her family greet her in the morning and have her family say goodnight when she goes to bed. She hailed a cab, just like she used to do in New York. The cab driver glanced at her.   
  
"Where to, miss?" He asked her. Grace looked weirdly at him. This was something she had to get used to all over again. Polite, civilised human beings in a small town like this. She gave him the address of her parental house and within a couple of minutes she stood there in front of a house where she had good and bad memories of. She found herself smiling. How she missed all of this. Rick had obviously not painted the front porch yet, unlike what he promised three years ago.   
  
She took a few steps until she stood in front of the door. Her bags beside her. "Not the time to chicken out Gracey-poo" she thought to herself, before snickering at the word 'Gracey-poo'. She closed her eyes as she reached for the doorbell.   
  
"I'M COMING" she could hear her mom yell. Grace gripped her bag she had in her hand more tightly as sweat started forming on her forehead.  
  
Lily opened the door and literally froze. A young lady similarly looking like her oldest daughter was smiling upon her. Her brown almond shaped eyes. Her small lips. They were all the same but the rest...Her once short brown hair was replaced by long curly brown locks and she had a little make-up on. Her little girl had make-up on.   
  
"Hey mom" Grace muttered out loud. Lily who was still frozen, couldn't stop gawking. She just gawked and gawked.   
  
"Mom? Are you all right?" Grace asked worriedly. Lily shook her head awake and reached out her arms to Grace. She grabbed her and held her tightly as tears rolled down her cheeks. Three years of not seeing her daughter was terrible and now all of a sudden her daughter was back. She was happy but mostly shocked. When reality dawned to her she pulled away from the hug and looked at her daughter demandingly.  
  
"Wait a minute..what are you doing here when you're supposed to be in college?" Lily asked her daughter, silently praying that she had a good explanation. She looked at her scaredly. With that look only mothers could give you.  
  
"Did something happen? Did someone hurt you? Tell me what happened?" Lily franted. Grace bit her lip and rolled her eyes. She giggled and placed her hands on her mother's shoulders.  
  
"Mom, I'm fine, nothing bad happened but right now I'm tired, I'm hungry and I smell. Can I at least freshen up and have something to eat before you can grill me?" Grace begged. Lily obliged as she helped her daughter carry her bags inside. Grace looked around her and jumped up and down happily. Everything was exactly the same. Not a single thing moved. This was her home.   
  
"I made some apple pie" Lily said as she covered her mouth with her hands. She still couldn't believe that her daughter was back. A sob tried to escape but she remembered that her Grace didn't like to get all sappy. But to her surprise Grace put down the bags and rushed to her mother, embracing her once again with all her might.  
  
"I have missed you so much" Grace uttered as a sob escaped from her mouth. She could smell her mother's parfume that was so comforting and so warm. She took a big sniff before she pulled away and went upstairs. She looked at the pictures that were plastered against the wall of the staircase. Herself in younger years and a lot of the rest of the family. Then she saw one of her step-brother, Eli with his band making weird faces. For a split second she touched the frame and grinned. How long has it been since she last saw him? They've spent a weekend together when he, Zoe and Jessie visited her in NY the first year she was there. She couldn't believe that three years passed by just in a blink of an eye. Her eyes moved to a picture of Justin on his three wheeler, smiling unto the camera. She smiled and suddenly regretted missing all of the memories of her little brother. She only knew him from pictures her mom sent her and vice versa.   
  
Quickly she took a shower and sat on her old bed in her old room. Aside from a few new posters that belonged to Zoe, nothing has changed. She looked around and smiled. First she was hesitant to go home but now she's here, she couldn't be happier. As soon as she put on some clothes and dried her hair she went downstairs. The smell of her mother's apple pie couldn't come in a better time.   
  
She stood in the midst of the staircase and gawked at the enormous crowd that collected themselves during the short time she went upstairs. Her dad, her sisters, her brothers, her stepdad, her aunt, and her stepmom were all waiting at the end of the stairs for her.  
  
"Gracie" Her dad sighed out happily and amazed at the young beautiful lady that was in front of him. It had been three years since he had seen his little girl and except for Lily, nobody could understand what was going through his heart and mind.   
  
"DAD!" Grace screamed out and immediately stormed into her father's embrace. Her father gladly hugged her tightly and kissed her head. After that it was all about hugging and crying and more crying of happiness. Lily was absolutely thrilled about Grace's homecoming. She even cooked 6 different courses for everyone to eat. The Sammler household was once again loudful and crowded. It was passed midnight and it got too crowded for Grace, she just came home and thankfully she had dodged every question about the real reason she got back or why she left for that matter. She sneeked out to the veranda and just sat there, enjoying the warm summer breeze and the bright stars. In NYC all you heard was traffic, police sirens and people screaming. This was one of the things she missed. Silence.   
  
"Penny for your thoughts?" A voice interrupted her thoughts, she turned her head and smiled when she saw Eli standing next to her before he sat down.   
  
"I was just enjoying the stars" Grace said softly.   
  
"It's nice isn't it? I'm glad you're back Grace" Eli said truthfully. Eli nudged her arm with his elbow and grinned.   
  
"Yeah so am I. So what's new in your life?" Grace asked as she turned to him. He just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Nothing much, still with my band, finished school. Now advertising manager at dad's company. You know...I got my own apartment now. You should see it sometime" Eli said proudly. Grace nodded impressed. She looked at Eli and saw that he had grown up a lot after three years. Lily told her over the phone that Eli had picked up college again and graduated. After that he got himself a place at Rick's company and moved out. He achieved something in his life. And to think that the whole family was scared that Eli would end up nowhere.   
  
"I'm happy for you Eli." Grace said softly. Eli looked at her while Grace focussed on the stars before he too concentrated on the stars. When they were just teenagers, Grace did have a serious crush on Eli and it felt impossible to just sit next to him, calmly and sanely. Now grown and mature she almost laughed at herself for ever feeling so much for her stepbrother.  
  
"Aren't you going to ask me why I'm back? What trouble I've gotten myself into? Who broke my heart? What classes I failed?" Grace summed up all the questions that were thrown during dinner and after. Eli just grinned the way he always does.  
  
"Naw, you'll tell me when you want to." Eli just simply said and Grace smiled. This was the Eli she knew alright.  
  
"Hey did you check out that motorcycle of mine?" Eli nodded towards a beautiful Harley Davidson parked in front of the garage. Grace looked at it with adoration and jumped up before rushing to it with Eli trailing along.  
  
"ELI OMG! When did you bought this?" Grace shrieked as she touched the freshly waxed motor. Eli hopped on the motor.  
  
"I got this from Lily and dad as a graduation gift. Well half of it I have to pay for my own. They paid half. I didn't know you had such an interest for motorcycles" Eli asked amused.  
  
"Are you kidding me? This is not just any bike this is a Harley Davidson! Like one of the most historical..." Grace stopped when she looked at Eli and realized she was babbling. The two of them cracked into a laughing fit.   
  
"Now that, Grace Manning, is one of the things I have missed about you" Eli said in between laughter. After the laughter subsided Eli asked her what she hoped he would ask.   
  
"Wanna take a ride?" Eli asked. Grace's eyes lit up and looked excitedly at the motorcycle. Before she could say yes, she could hear the front door and not long after that her mother appeared.   
  
"Grace, Eli come inside. It's getting a bit chilly. I made some tea" Her mom ordered.   
  
"Since when did my mom become so householdy?" Grace muttered to herself softly.  
  
"Since she doesn't want to lose any more kids" Eli said seriously. Grace was kind of shocked that Eli had spoken so harshly but after seeing the regret on his face, she decided not the get into a fight. Instead she just smiled and walked towards the house.   
  
"Guess I have to take a raincheck on the ride E" Grace simply said and went inside. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Eli! Get your filthy mouth OUT of the bottle!" Grace yelped as she grasped the bottle of milk away from his hands and wiped the opening of it with a paper towel. She put back the bottle inside of the fridge before walking over to the cabinet, and handing him a mug while still glaring angrily at Eli.

"That's a way to greet somebody a good morning. What crawled up your ass today?" Eli snapped and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Your foul breath" Grace snapped back.

"Yeah well don't forget Manning, you used to adore my breath." Eli smirked while Grace grimaced with utter disgust. Jessie, who heard the conversation between her siblings, turned the corner to face both Eli and Grace. She slumped into the kitchen with an annoyed you-woke-me-up-with-your-pointless-bickering look on her face.

"Guys, you are supposed to be the older ones of the Sammler/Manning offspring. Not two baboons that just escaped from the zoo." Jessie groaned. Grace and Eli looked at each other with raised eyebrows for a split second and chuckled.

"Don't forget to pick me up after cheerleading practice tonight Jess" Zoë reminded as she entered the kitchen grabbing an apple.

"What am I? Your dog? Get a ride from somebody else. I've got better things to do" Jessie protested as she turned her head to Zoë. Annoyance written on her face.

"Fine I'll just tell my mom that you are too busy sucking face with that guy Lucas than pick me up. I'll just get a ride from a senior. And if I don't get home, we'll see who gets in trouble then!" Zoë retorted while Grace, Jessie and Eli looked shocked at what Zoë just blurted out.

"Zoë that's enough, I will pick you up after work." Eli said sternly.

"Why do you even bother? She should learn how to respect other people instead of being a class a bitch all the time" Jessie hissed.

"I am so not participating in this conversation" Grace raised her hands and hurriedly walked out of the kitchen.

Soon Jessie and Zoë were bickering and yelling at each other. Lily and Rick walked into the kitchen and stared blankly at the scene in front of them.

"Nice to know nothing has changed" Lily sighed.

"Coffee dear?" Rick offered, ignoring the horrid sound of their kids calling each other all kinds of names.

_[[Rick: You'd think that the older they get, the wiser they'd get. -Sighs in frustration-]]_

"I HATE YOU" Zoë stormed out of the kitchen and stomped with her feet up the stairs into her room, including the necessary slamming door.

"YEAH WELL GO CRY ME A RIVER, YOU HORRENDOUS, IMMATURE BABY!" Jessie screamed after her before she grabbed her bag and stormed out of the kitchen door.

"Nuts" Eli sighed as he shook his head in distaste and he too walked out the door, leaving Lily and Rick behind with just utter shock and confusion written on their faces.

_[[Lily: They don't mean that laughs nervously. We all love each other...-speaks doubtfully- We do!]]_

"Honey, let's get out of here." Rick suddenly spoke out. Lily looked at him questioned.

"Yeah sure but not right now, I promised Zoë I'd drive her to school today and Justin..." Lily said turning to her watch.

"No what I meant was, let's get away for the weekend. Just the two of us. I mean now Grace is back, she can watch Justin or we can bring them over to Jake, or to Judy or even to Karen. I need to be alone with my gorgeous wife. No kids. No yelling and bickering. No exes. No family members. Just you and me" Rick said seductively as he wrapped his arms around Lily's waist. Lily ran her fingers through Rick's hair and smiled sweetly.

"Oh for Heaven's sake! You guys are married!" Zoë exclaimed appalled as she passed them by to get the milk and quickly left the kitchen again, making sure both Lily and Rick heard the gagging noises she made.

"As tempting as that sounds..." Lily started after the interruption

"We can't leave this household...I mean, Zoë is being the teenager from hell, Justin's...well Justin's just a bloodsucking toddler, Grace is being so secretive about college and NY, Eli's pigging out our whole food supply and leaves Jessie angry and hungry!" Lily summarized. Rick sighed; he knew his wife wouldn't jump in too quickly.

"You worry too much. The kids will be fine. Grace can handle Zoë and Justin. Eli can stay for the weekend so that Grace has some help with the kids. Jessie can take care of herself, or she can go to her mother's." Rick assured.

"MOM I'M GOING TO BE LATE!" Zoë growled as she waited impatiently by the front door.

"I..." Lily muttered

_[[Lily: Rick is just amazing....he knows exactly what I want and need. But sometimes he forgets that I have obligations....and right now my major obligation would be keeping Zoë away from sex, drugs and tattoos]] _

"MOM!"

"We'll talk about this later, I'll see you tonight. Love you" Lily said hurriedly and briskly kissed him before heading to the front door. Rick wanted to protest but before he could, Lily had already left.

_[[Rick: Lily's a great woman but most of the time she places our marriage last behind everything else...]]_

"So...what are you going to do all day Grace?" Rick asked trying to make some conversation.

"Uh, I don't really know. Stay at home I think, watch TV" Grace said, her eyes not moving away from the TV. Rick blinked a couple of times.

_[[Rick: Talking to one of the kids is always....fun]]_

"Are you sure, you'll be alright here alone? If we had known you'd come home we would have taken some days off or something. I'm sorry Grace" Rick repeated what Lily just asked Grace half an hour ago.

"It's fine really." Grace gave him an assuring smile and returned to the TV.

"Oh...okay...well...I guess....uh....I should go to work then..." Rick said.

"Bye Rick" Grace said after him. Grace flipped off the TV and sighed boringly. As if on cue, the phone rang. She quickly reached for the phone, too glad that somebody ended her dullness.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe! Watcha doin'?" A female voice replied. Grace didn't have to ponder any longer on whom it was. She knew the voice of her best friend any time any place.

"It's so great to hear your voice. Everybody's gone and I am left alone again! Ugh, why did I ever stop with college..." Grace babbled.

"Grace! Will you hold your horses please! I have some big news to tell you. Well good and bad news. Which one first?" Lana said

"Bad"

"Okay....uh....don't get all crazy on me okay. Ashton, he, he got engaged last night with Jenna."

Grace almost dropped the phone. Her Ashton had gotten engaged to that bimbo that stole him away from her. She gritted her teeth, ignoring Lana calling Grace's name worriedly over the phone.

_[[Grace: He's 22 years old for Pete's sake. Bastard -A tear slips down her cheek that she quickly wipes away-]]_

"GRACE ANSWER ME!" Lana screamed over the phone. After overcoming the big shock she blinked a couple of times before gripping the phone tighter.

"Uh yeah I'm still here. H-how did you find out?" Grace asked.

"They had their engagement party at the restaurant where Amy works. She saw everything. Grace...." Lana stopped and sighed "You know he doesn't deserve you! Forget about that piece of trash."

"Uhm, what is the good news?" Grace asked softly. She wasn't in the mood to talk anymore. Not even to Lana. Right now all she wanted to do was crawl up her bed and hide beneath her sheets.

"Guess where I am?" Lana asked

"In Jason's bedroom?" Grace rolled her eyes.

"I'm in Chicago, honey! I'm home! My dad's going through his 5th divorce and he can't keep up with alimonies so he decided to pull us back home and go to community college here." Lana said cheerfully

"And that's great news?" Grace asked confused.

"Duh...we can be together again! Grace you and I are a duo. We're like Siamese twins that cannot be separated. Not now, not tomorrow..."

"Not ever" Grace finished, rolling her eyes. Lana giggled over the phone.

"Anyway, I am just exiting the airport so I don't think I will see you today but tomorrow, I will pick you up and we're going to catch up all right? Oh hon, got to go, Chad wants to use my phone to call his girrrrrrrrrrrrlfrieeeeeeeeend" Lana giggled obviously being a complete pest to her brother.

"Alright, CALL ME!" Grace ordered and hung up the phone. She quickly went to her room and did what she wanted to do ever since she heard about Ashton. She hid beneath her sheets and just laid there without a sound.

When she heard the front door open, she threw the blankets off her body and rushed downstairs to see who it was. It was Jessie just throwing her bag beside the door.

"I HATE THAT OLD WENCH. I have to do this report for English and it's like 400 pages. Has she totally gone senile on us? Wasn't college supposed to be fun? Ugh! To think that I was so excited about college. I don't know how you could do it all alone in New York. I would have crapped my pants" Jessie exclaimed in frustration and threw herself on the couch. Grace just smiled meekly at her. She remembered her first year in college, though tough but fun.

"Grace, have you been like this all morning?" Jessie asked looking at Grace's apparel. Her hair in a messy bun and still in her PJ's.

"Yeah so?" Grace asked.

"You need to get a life" Jessie muttered and turned on the TV.

"Oh you're the one to talk, besides I was waiting till one of you would come home so we could do something" Grace rolled her eyes.

"What you want to do?" Jessie looked at Grace as she shrugged.

"Get an ice cream or something, anything" Grace replied dully.

_[[Jessie: Something's up with Grace...as if she's going to talk to be about what's bugging her -rolls her eyes- ]]_

"Sure..."Jessie hesitated and Grace dashed upstairs, screaming that she will be dressed in 5 minutes. Jessie could only oblige. And true, within 5 minutes Grace jogged downstairs in her casual outfit. Jessie grabbed her car keys and they left.

After a quick drive they arrived at the ice cream parlor. They ordered a banana split and shared it together in silence.

"Eli" Jessie suddenly blurted. Grace looked up to face Jessie in confusion.

"What about Eli?"

"Did you leave because of Eli?"

"Partly, I left because I wanted to. Nobody forced me Jess."

"Why'd you come back?"

"What is this? The 20 questions?" Grace snapped and seeing Jessie's hurt expression made her regret her bitchiness.

"In New York I met this wonderful guy, Ashton. We dated for a good two years. Until I found him screwing some chick I introduced him to. I don't know, after that New York became too small of a city for me. I had to get away from him, just get away from the whole situation" Grace continued. Jessie was shocked that Grace actually opened up to her. They weren't on bad terms when Grace left but they weren't exactly peachy keen either.

"Wow. What about college?" Jessie asked

"I'll tell you if you promise not to tell a soul about this" Grace said taking a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, it must be bad?" Jessie replied scared.

"Well it depends how you look at it. If you look at it from my point of view it's not that bad. If you look at it from my parents' point of view it would pretty much be terrible. But you know, I am 21 for God's sake...If I am allowed to drink alcohol I'm probably allowed to make my own decisions right? I mean..."

"GRACE! You're babbling! Just tell me alright?" Jessie forced

"I quit college." Grace whispered softly and after that Jessie's spoon dropped, making everybody look at their table.

"Y-y-you quit? Lily's going to kill you! After that, Jake will and after that the whole family will. Have you totally lost your mind? You just had to stick for one more year Grace and you would be done! You would have succeeded in letting your parents' dream come true" Jessie cried.

"But okay, damage is done you can always finish here. I mean you do want to finish college right?" Jessie continued, calming herself down.

"Well..." Grace doubted on how to put it gently.

"GRACE!" Jessie shrieked as she jumped from her stool.

"Jess, you're acting like an insane person!" Grace pulled her back down.

"Yeah it takes one to know one! Grace what happened to you? You were this person I looked up to. When I last saw you, you were this smart, determined, organized girl and now you're...you're....you're a big mess!" Jessie cried

"Thanks a lot Jess! You know why I told you? Because I thought that out of all the people here, you would be the one I could talk to and trust. Obviously I was wrong, big time" Grace scolded.

"You know you can trust me but it's just, wow Grace give me some time to get over this shock. I mean, you do realize what Lily would do when she finds out right?" Jessie got no reply from Grace so she continued.

"Let me get this straight, you're not going back to college and you're trying to hide this from the family for...how long?"

"I don't know! I don't know anything anymore. All I know is that I failed almost all my classes, got dumped by my boyfriend who claims to find the love of his life which by the way isn't me, I'm back in Chicago with my mother and step-father, and I have no clue, absolutely no clue when everything will be just alright! I want my old life back. Can you help me with that Jessie? I just want my old life back" Grace yelped.

_[[Grace: That felt really good -breathes out-]]_

"It's going to be okay" Jessie could only mutter.

_[[Jessie: Wow the great Grace Manning isn't so perfect after all...How come I'm not too pleased about that? -looks questionably at the camera-]]_

"We should get going, Lily must be home by now" Jessie said softly. She paid for the ice cream and the two of them went home again.


End file.

Once and Again, Drama, Romance