Welcome to Gaia! ::

Elliot continued crying into his hands as Grace started to answer. She did not know why? He smirked and shook his head. How could she not? Drunk enough to not remember? Why would she let herself get that way? What were they even fighting about that night? It seemed like so long ago. Dozens more questions swam through his head as he listened to Grace go on.

"I love you, too, Grace," he finally said, slowly looking at her with tears on his face. "I love you more than anything in this world... You just... have to imagine what I'm going through right now... First I find out that you cheated on me... with Gavin! My best friend! And now... now you're going to have his baby... Right? You are going to have it? Because as much as it kills me to know that you're pregnant with someone else's child, I just can't see you ending it..."

Elliot sighed and wiped the tears from his eyes. "What are we going to do?" he asked sadly. "I... I love you, Grace... but this... I don't know... You're having my best friend's baby..." He put his face in his hands again. "Do you think you could just not tell Gavin?" he asked, looking at Grace again. "We could tell everyone that we were irresponsible and didn't use protection... Pass it off as ours?" He smirked. "But I would know and it would eat me up inside..."

Elliot shook his head. "Gavin should know and take responsibility for his actions... The b*****d... What's if he was sober? What's if he took advantage of you while you were drunk? It could've been rape! You could charge..." What was he saying? His best friend would not take advantage of his girlfriend. He had known Gavin since they were kids; he was not like that.

"No... I want him to pay for what he did, but at the same time I don't want him to be a part of this... What's if he became involved in the baby's life? He would be more involved in yours... and then where would I fit in?"

Elliot smirked and leaned back in the couch, staring across the room at nothing in particular. "Yeah, he has a girlfriend, but after she hears about this she won't be sticking around." Elliot was never impressed by Gavin's choice in girls, but nothing Elliot said could ever change his best friend's mind. "And Gavin isn't like that... He's going to do whatever he can to make up for his mistake..." And that was true. Gavin might seem like a jock and a player and a douchebag... but he was a gentleman at heart.

Elliot closed his eyes. "I'm the one that you love," he mused. She had told him she loved him a few times already today, but for some reason the way she said it now rubbed him the wrong way. "Grace... do you really?" he asked, turning his head to look at her. "I understand that we were fighting that night... but is that really a reason to drink enough to black out? Even I don't do that..."

He returned his attention to the other side of the room, not expecting Grace to come up with a response he wanted to hear. In fact, Elliot was pretty sure anything else she had to say was not something he wanted to hear. All he wanted to do at that moment was get out of Grace's house and just drive away. He did not care where, but the atmosphere in the room was suffocating him. He needed time and space to really think about the situation and figure out what he wanted to do...

Elliot closed his eyes and put his face in his hands, just listening. He looked up when Grace stood and walked to the middle of the room. "Grace..." he said softly as he stood up. He walked over to his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her, resting his cheek on top of her head. "I love you. That hasn't suddenly changed because of a stupid mistake you made... I just... need a little fresh air, I guess... I won't be gone long. I promise." He smiled sadly and kissed Grace gently on the forehead before collecting his things and letting himself out.

Standing on the steps for a moment, Elliot looked up at the sky as the rain hit his face. He drew in a deep breath and somehow managed to not yell out his frustration. Instead, he sighed and got into his car. He did not know where he was going to go as he pulled out of Grace's driveway so he just drove. He started off just going down familiar roads until he took a wrong turn. Not bothering to correct himself, Elliot continued to drive.

He did not know how long he had been driving but he somehow ended up at the park where he first told Grace that he loved her. He parked his car along the side of the road and stared out at the tree under which he first said those three words. He had been trying to see how far up he could climb when Grace worriedly called him down. As Elliot was climbing down he slipped and fell out of the tree. Grace had yelled at him as she made sure he was okay and Elliot just chuckled and called her his guardian angel. He told her how much she meant to him and how he never wanted to lose her before kissing her and saying, "I love you."

Elliot looked away and blinked away the tears. He still did not want to lose her. He loved Grace now as much as he loved her then. Sure, things would be rough with her raising a child that was not theirs, but Elliot was not about to abandon her to do that alone. He started up his car and made his way back to Grace's house.

Elliot chose to stick to roads that he was familiar with and was pulling into Grace's driveway in less than five minutes. He looked up at her house and took a deep breath before getting out of his car. He walked up onto her front porch and raised his hand to knock on the door. However, he stopped his hand and instead reached for the handle. Taking another deep breath, he opened the door and walked inside.

After closing the door behind him, Elliot walked into the living room. "Grace?" he asked after he did not find her there. He walked into the kitchen and found an open cookbook on the table. He paused for a moment to look at the recipes on the open pages before continuing his search. Did she go somewhere? he wondered, making his way to the foot of the staircase. "Grace?" he called out before going upstairs.

As he was climbing the stairs, Elliot started to wonder where Grace was. The house was quiet but the front door was unlocked. Did she just not hear him? Elliot reached the top of the stairs and walked toward Grace's bedroom. "Hey Grace? I'm back..." He knocked on the door and pressed his ear against it. "Hello?"

"Did you think I would leave you alone for so long?" Elliot walked into the room and wrapped his arms around Grace. He chuckled when she told him she thought he was a creeper. "You know I am," he joked. He then let Grace go and followed her downstairs. "It wasn't that firm a belief... I just... felt the need to let myself in this time around. After all..." He grabbed Grace's hand to stop her and get her to face him. He then raised a hand and brushed his fingers gently across her cheek. "I wanted to tell you that I came to my senses... I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to stay by your side and we're going to get through this." He smiled and pulled Grace into another hug. "I love you..."

After a few moments they finally broke apart and Grace put on her shoes, saying that she had to buy things for dinner. When she asked if he wanted to tag along, Elliot shrugged. "Sure, I've got nothing better to do. Do you want to run? Or do you just want to take my car?" He pulled out the keys from his pocket and jingled them in front of Grace's face. He hoped she would chose the latter because he was not exactly dressed for a run.

Elliot chuckled when Grace said she would call the police on him. "Do it! I dare you." He smirked. "It won't stop me from checking out such a beautiful woman." Smiling, he followed her down the stairs. Once at the bottom, he confessed to her that he was not about to let her go and was grinning from ear to ear when she hugged him back. "I'm not the best boyfriend," he told her before kissing her on the forehead. "Far from it."

Elliot waited for Grace to make her decision and did a little dance on the inside when she said they should take his car. He got blisters on his feet the last time he tried running in Converse and was not about to experience that again. Grace took his hand and led the way outside, locking the door behind them. Elliot automatically unlocked his car doors as he and Grace laughed and ran through the rain. Once in the safety of his car, the sky brightened and a loud crack sounded nearby.

Elliot took Grace's hand and kissed it with the hopes of calming her down. "We wouldn't get fried by lightning," he told her as he started up his car. "That doesn't exactly happen often... does it?" He pulled out of Grace's driveway and took his time driving through the rain. A trip that usually took maybe five minutes ended up being more like 10. Elliot parked his car as close as he could to the store and looked over at Grace. "You ready?"

Elliot smiled at Grace's response and opened his door as well. As he ran across the parking lot, he reached behind him to lock his car. "I really should keep an umbrella in my car," he told Grace once he joined her. He shook the rain from his hair and noticed Grace staring across the parking lot. She quickly looked away but not before Elliot go the chance to see what she was looking at. Even through the rain, he could not mistake his best friend's truck. Gavin was probably the only person in town to drive a truck so obnoxiously big. Elliot turned back to Grace and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on," he said, walking closer to the doors so they would open automatically. "It's warmer inside."

Elliot followed behind Grace, his eyes scanning the shelves as he thought about what he might want to snack on. He was reaching for a box of cookies when he heard a small 'oof' and his best friend's voice. Elliot's heart sank as he turned to face Gavin. "Hey man," he said, hesitantly shaking his friend's hand. "It has been pretty crappy..." He glanced at Grace and saw that she was avoiding Gavin's gaze. Elliot slipped an arm around her waist and held her close as he listened to them chat. "Yeah, she wasn't feeling well so I offered to help her buy groceries and then make dinner for her folks... Let's just hope I don't burn the place down." He chuckled before kissing Grace on top of her head. "Anyways, not trying to be rude or anything, but Grace and I really should get our shopping done..."