Just after the clock struck eleven that night Pop's watched FP check his watch every few minutes and look out the front windows every five. Grace was meant to be there right now and every second she wasn't, FP got more worried.

Splitting her week between Riverdale and Manhattan seemed to be working – five days here. Four days there. He missed her when she wasn't there. FP realized just how quickly you could get used to having someone in your life.

When she wasn't there, he worried and it wasn't like he could leave the town anyhow, let alone the state if she needed him. His past was coming back to haunt him.

Still on nights like this when the snow was getting heavier by the minute, he worried. Too many scenarios in his mind. Cars and dark road and snow. Gracie even after all these years was still a bit of a rev head. Well known for her accidents, that's why he drove most of the time. She scared the crap at of him.

"She'll be here. Don't worry" Pops told him

"God, I hope so"

He kept himself busy. FP walked to the furthest table in the restaurant and wiped it down and continued one down the line, even though he had done it half an hour ago and no one had been there since.

Suddenly her car ripped down the street and into the parking lot and straight into a spot by the door. She locked the door and walked up Pop's front steps before opening the front door.

Grace playfully and melodramatically stumbled across the floor towards FP

"So tired. Need sleep"

She playfully fell into his arms before he dipped her almost right to the ground before Gracie giggled with her eyes closed. She held on to his shoulders a little tighter as he stood them both back up straight.

FP picked her up and carrying her over to one of the stools before going into the back.

"You know other than his son" Pop's told her "You're the only one that can make him smile like that"

"Nah, I don't do much"

"You do more then you know"

"I want to make this work, Pops'. I really do"

"Then it will work, Grace"

She had never been in a relationship this real before. FP was real. Not some trust fund baby, that was all about appearances or a Musician that, let's face it screw anything in a skirt cos he could. FP and Grace made the decision to come home to one another every day. Be there with one another, for one another. No matter how ugly the situation was.

She was thirty three and finally in an adult relationship. Gracie didn't know if that was a good thing or just plain sad.

"You hungry?" FP called out from the back

"The grills are off. Its almost midnight"

"The grills are never off" Pop's chuckled

FP threw the tea towel over his shoulder and walked back out to the dining area.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Hmm" she said her mouth moved to the side before muttering quietly "This morning"

"Tiny bowl of granola?"

"Maybe"

"Babe!"

"I've been busy, Baby"

"Too busy to land yourself in the hospital for malnutrition"

"Wow, look at you going into drama queen mode"

"Shut it" FP called back walking into the kitchen

"Pop's back me up here"

"Nope"

"Well can I order then?"

"No. you'll get what you're given and you'll like it"

Pop followed FP out the back and all she could do was watch them. She rolled her eyes and got her own damn soda. It wasn't like she didn't know where everything was at this point.

"Guys, come on I've put on a stone since I've been back" she called out them

"Where your big toe?" FP shot back

"And if you have, good" Pop's agreed "You're still too thin, Gracie"

"Can I take it to go then?" She got no answer but was pretty certain, the answer would be yes anyhow "Extra fires please? So I can eat in the car and not fall asleep"

Ten minutes FP walked out with two bags over flowing with food. Grace just looked at him wide eyed and horrified

"I can drive you" he offered. She just slowly shook her head

"You still have two hours left. I'll be fine. I promise"

"Window down. Radio on full. Go slow. Eat your food and call me when you get home"

"Yes, dad"

FP watched her walk out to her and drive off, with a pang of fear or regret, maybe envy but at least he knew that she was safe.

What he didn't see was a silver Porsche Cayenne pull out from the shadows and follow her all the way home.

Just as they were cleaning down the grills and mopping the floor, the tin bell on top of the front door. FP resisted the urge to roll his eyes, He knew this place was open twenty four hours but, come on, it was three o'clock in the morning

"Alice Cooper, did the other witches kick you out of the coven at the ritual sacrifice tonight?"

"Oh FP, that's only on nights with a full moon" she sniped back "Even your wit smells of burgers and fries"

"That's the air conditioning"

"Can I get a coffee?"

"Sure I can do that" he chuckled "This thriving metropolis keeping the Riverdale presses going all night?"

"Yeah, the word is your girls back in town"

"Yep"

"Pity she's not a little younger. You could have adopted her as your very own"

"You must be tired, Alice. You can come up with something better than that" He pouring her a coffee and putting the pot back "and that is exactly where I am headed"

"Fifty bucks says she's on her computer still working" Pops told him

"Pop's, that's a sucker bet. That's exactly where she'll be" FP chuckled

"Maybe you can tell her a bedtime story and tuck her in, FP"

FP walked out from behind the counter and picked up his jacket, which was sitting beside Alice

"Oddly enough, if she's awake, that is my plan." He lent in closer to Alice before whispering "Well, kinda"

Not one person in that diner couldn't read between those lines. It took all Pop's will power, not to burst out laughing.

When he got home, she wasn't awake like he had first thought. She had fallen asleep on the sofa, in front of the fire with a full bag of food on the floor next to her. FP shook his head before picking up the food and taking it into the kitchen.

He returned to the longue room, picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Gracie didn't wake up until they were halfway up the stair. When she mumbled

"Food"

"I put it in the fridge. Got it covered"

"Okay" she barely uttered before falling back asleep again, over his shoulder, not moving a single muscle.

#

She woke up to rustling at the end of her bed. She sat up and crawled to the end of the mattress to find FP on the floor picking things up. Suddenly there was a five inch heel in her face

"How do you walk in this things?"

"Very carefully"

"Such a girl"

"Oh, you love it" she said laying back down "I'm so hungry"

"You haven't eaten in this decade so you know. You would be"

"What are you doing up?"

"Shower"

"When did we turn into an old married couple?"

"When I moved in" FP told her walking out of the room

She put on the warmest sweater she owned and went down to start the fire. She had forgotten how cold Riverdale could be. In truth, it wasn't much different to New York still, it seemed to shock her sense.

Just as the fire started to rev up, someone knocked on her on her door. It was seven thirty and Grace automatically went into panic mode. Who knocked on someone door so early?

As it turned out a redhead teenage boy, looking for food. Otherwise known as her nephew.

"Hey Kiddo"

"Aunty Gracie"

"Warm up in the living room" she called out walking away "You want some breakfast?"

"You cook?"

"Of course I cook" she laughed

"I've never seen you cook"

"That because you've only ever seen me in New York and no one cook in New York, because let's face it we don't need too. Plus I live with two men now, food is essential"

"Plus its Jughead"

"Exactly"

He sat at the breakfast bar and watched her effortlessly work three burners on the stovetop, like she was spinning plates in the air. She didn't even break a sweat. Maybe it was all the time she spent at Pop's these days

"Its good to see you so happy, Gracie"

"Was I sad before?"

"No but not this happy either"

The front door opened and shut again before Jughead stood in the door

"Hello, other growing human. I'll make you a plate"

"The trailer was broken into last night"

"What? Where you there?" she said rather loudly.

"No, I was with Betty but when I went to pick up some stuff. The door was open and the place is completely trashed"

She moved over to the staircase and yelled "Forsythe"

When he arrived downstairs as beckoned, Grace was already on the phone to Keller and Jughead had joined Archie at the kitchen bench, both shovelling food into their mouths to record speed.

"What's going on?"

"Someone broke into the trailer" she explained

"What?" he questioned his son "Are you okay? Was there anything taken?"

"I wasn't there but I couldn't see that they had stolen anything"

"The sheriff is going to be over there is an hour" Grace told them as she slid a plate over the counter top to FP and picked up her handbag "Gotta go meet Fred"

"Woah" FP said grabbing her wrist and pulling her back gently "Have you eaten?"

She stole a piece of bacon off his plate

"I have now"

She walked out of the house as FP sighed. This was clearly one battle that they were constantly going to struggle with.

#

After her meeting with her brother, she went straight back home to a two hour long conference call and now sitting on the floor of her living room in front of the fire, surrounded by swatches and paper, in front of her laptop. Grace was in another ecosphere. Living and working in two places wasn't as easy as she thought it was going to be. The things she always needed, where somewhere else and things were getting increasingly more difficult. Her staff were starting to slack off because they could and Grace just couldn't handle the drama anymore

Then she get on a plane and come home. FP would take care of her and that was new for Grace. Not only to have someone take care of her but for herself to let them.

Suddenly her phone buzzed. It was a texted from Jug

Come to the wyrm

It was random but given what had happened over night. Grace knew that it was important. Jughead wasn't as tough as he made out. The break in might have rocked him, more than he was letting on. So Grace dropped everything and grabbed her keys.

Once she got there, her mood had changed a little. Grace locked her car and walked straight in the front door of the Wyrm.

Truthfully she was a little ticked off that Jughead was here during the day, On a Wednesday. He should be at school or if he did want to be in class, writing for the paper or something. Being at a biker bar wasn't ideal and if he thought she was going to keep this from his dad, Jug had another thing coming. Grace knew she should cut him some slack given what happened this morning but she wanted him to have everything he wanted in this world and he couldn't do that skipping school.

Suddenly her phone buzzed in her bag. She dug it out and saw it was FP. She didn't want to lie to him but she also wanted to keep Jughead confidence. So she decided not to answer the call. Grace sighed and threw her phone back in her bag before opening the front door

"Jug" she called out Grace saw him by one of the pool tables. She would have chastised him right there and then, if it wasn't for the look on his face "What's wrong?"

"Behind you"

"What?" she chuckled

"He's warning you. Sweet kid, has no clue"

She spun around wide eyed and stared at her ex. Centimeters away from her face with a pistol.

"Dalton, what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you"

"Heard of a phone?" she asked harshly

"Like you would have picked up"

She slowly made her way around, so she was blocking Jughead from anything. Sure the gun was on her right now but Grace was far from worried about herself.

"You wanna talk. I need Jug gone"

"I'm not doing that"

"I'm going to be worrying about him, while you talk to me. Let him walk out of here and I'll stay here as long as you want"

"Yeah right"

"I'm serious. There is nothing more important to me then this kid. I need him safe"

"Gracie" Jughead protested

She didn't show Dalton any emotion what so ever, she didn't give him the satisfaction of knowing how fast her heart was beating or how much she thought she was going to be sick.

"I need him safe"

"Fine" Dalton agreed "Just don't go to the diner to warn you Dad"

She walked over to Jughead calmly and slowly. She stood there in front of him and played with the labels of his jacket

"Nah, Jug is more a Kellermen's fan. Aren't you?"

She eyes roamed his face as she tried to see if he understood what she was trying to tell. Jug frowned before looking over at Dalton

"Yeah, better milkshakes there"

Her hands run down his arm before she turned him towards the front. She walked behind him the whole time. Did she really think that Dalton was going to shoot Jug in the back?

Right now, she wasn't going to take any chances. Not with this person currently in her arms. They got out the front door and Jughead turned around and she knew he didn't want to go. She smiled and nodded her head

"Go" she told him softly

Grace didn't move or closed the door until she could no longer see him. She took a deep breath before looking back to Dalton

"It didn't have to be this difficult" He told her

"Well, it was hardly going to be easy given our history"

"See that's the thing. You're only remembering the bad things. It clouding your judgement. There was more good than bad"

"I wasn't treated as an equal, as a partner; I was treated as your little pet, with a silly job"

"Why did you stay so long?" he asked

"I didn't know the difference. I didn't know there was better"

"A criminal outlaw burger boy, is better?"

"More then you could ever understand"

She knew that she was playing a dangerous game but Grace needed to keep him there until Keller could get there. Grace just needed to talk Dalton in circles.