Grace/Frankie

…

"I married Nick last night."

Those five simple words cut through Frankie like a knife as they slipped from Grace's mouth.

"Frankie?"

Grace watched as the other woman's smiled faded quickly before she turned and knelt down in the sand, looking out in to the ocean. Grace's heart raced when she saw the sudden hurt in Frankie's eyes, knelling down beside her. She moved a little closer to her, covering Frankie's hand with her own, neither of them saying anything as Frankie just stared ahead of her.

Grace waited until she felt it was safe to speak again, turning to Frankie to see the devastated look on her friends face.

"Frankie, please say something?" She begged.

Frankie released her hand from Grace's before slowly getting to her feet, Grace following her actions.

"Congratulations Grace, is that enough for you."

Grace heard the disdain in her voice before Frankie turned her back on her and made her way back up to the beach house.

…

Robert heard the doorbell, making his way over to open it, surprised to see Grace on the other side.

"Grace?"

"Hello Robert, can I come in?"

"Yes, this is a surprise."

"Sorry, I probably should have called first."

"No no, it's fine."

Robert could see that Grace was preoccupied and so waited for her to talk instead of trying to push her.

"Do you want something to drink, coffee?"

"Coffee? Robert really, it's like you don't know me, Martini, double."

Grace waited for Robert to come back though, passing her the Martini before joining her on the couch.

"Where's Sol?"

"Oh, he took the dog out for it's walk."

"Scared you'll lose him again?"

"Why are you here Grace?"

Grace out her drink on the table, before she turned to Robert who was paying close attention to her.

"You and I, though we may have had our faults. We were always honest with each other, well…about most things anyway." She said sarcastically.

"Your point Grace."

"I married Nick last night." She said quickly.

"You did?"

"You have that look too?"

"What look?"

"The same look Frankie had, except hers was worse."

"Well it's just that, I didn't think you and Nick were that serious. You broke up not too long ago and you've only been back together a couple of weeks? What did Frankie say?"

Grace heard the undertone in Robert's voice when he asked the question.

"Why?"

"I was just curious?"

"No, no it sounded like concern for her, why?"

"Well, it's just that she em, well I…"

"Robert what the hell is going on, I tell Frankie about Nick and she looked close to tears, I tell you and your most immediate concern is Frankie, not congratulating me."

"Grace, surely you've seen it?"

"What?"

"Frankie, the way you two are with one another."

"You mean friends?"

"Oh come on Grace, what you two have is more than friendship and whether you chose to admit it or not, you both know it."

"Robert I…"

"When Frankie was with Jacob and she was moving to Santa fe, you were so upset and miserable without her, and so was Frankie. You two can't stand to be apart from one another for a great length of time. You rely on each other for everything, she loves you Grace and whether you chose to admit to yourself or not, you love her."

"I just married Nick?"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why did you marry him, because it was really what you wanted…"

"Well I…"

"Or were you angry at Frankie about something and when, I'm guessing Nick suggested marriage, you immediately thought of a way of getting to her?"

Grace sat in silence before she nodded her head, looking back up at Robert.

"Robert…I don't know how to handle this one." She whispered.

"It's just us here and I'd like to think we can talk better these days than when we were married, so just be honest with yourself…do you love Frankie?"

Grace felt tears in the corner of her eyes as she found herself nodding her head.

"Then you need to go and tell her, and fix this with Nick."

"I don't want to hurt him, he's a good man."

"If he loves you, then he'll understand."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then it's better to end things now than later when it only gets more complicated, you're talking to an expert."

Grace downed the remainder of her Martini before getting to her feet, Robert following her.

"I need to see Nick, Robert thank you."

"I'm always here Grace, even if we're not married any more."

"I call you later, let you know how much I fucked this up."

"That's the optimism, good luck."

"Thanks, I'm gonna need it."

…

Grace had sent Nick a text just after she left Robert to say she needed to talk, when she arrived at his penthouse, there was Champagne on the table waiting for her and a small red box.

"Nick?" She yelled out.

"Coming."

Nick came out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl of strawberry's, placing them in the middle of the table, before coming over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her. He never felt any response from her, pulling back to see a look he couldn't read on her face.

"You okay sweetheart, how did it go with Frankie, did you tell her our good news."

"Oh yeah, I told her." She laughed.

" Great."

"Nick I…"

"Come over here, I have something for you."

Before Grace could answer, he had her hand and guiding her over to the table, picking up the red box and handing it too her.

"For you." He smiled, placing a kiss to her cheek.

Grace released a shaky breath before opening the box to see a pair of blue sapphire diamond earrings looking back at her.

"Oh Nick, they're beautiful."

"Beautiful earrings for a beautiful woman."

Grace allowed him to kiss her again before she closed the box and put it on the table.

"Grace?" He asked concerned.

"I can't do this Nick?"

"What, the earrings? I know they're a bit much but you deserve them."

"Not the earrings Nick, this, us. I shouldn't have married you?"

"Grace, you're scaring me."

"I was so angry at Frankie, because of the wedding and her general "I don't give a fuck" attitude, and when you asked me to marry you I just thought, fuck her. To hell with Frankie, to hell with everything, d something that makes you happy."

"And you have."

"But I haven't. I married you out of anger at Frankie and that was wrong of me, perhaps getting back together with you in the first place was wrong. She was driving me crazy, and Brianna was ruining my business and I just wanted a release, and then I saw you again and you calmed me. Seeing you again, it made me realise how much I missed you, but I'm seeing that now, it was more for a friend than a boyfriend. I'm sorry Nick, I really thought it was you I wanted to be with but it's not."

"Frankie?"

"Frankie, if you'd seen her face when I told her we had gotten married. She didn't even look that devastated when Robert and Saul came out to us. This really hurt her and I was too blind to see why, until now."

"I always knew how much she meant to you, that's why I accepted that I would always come second to Frankie, I have to be honest though, I didn't see this one coming."

"I'm so sorry Nick."

Nick looked back at Grace, aware of how hard all of this was on her, he wanted to be angry, yell at her but he couldn't find it in him. He took her by surprise when he leaned in and hugged her tightly.

"Go to Frankie, talk to her. Get things sorted between you, I'll get the necessary paperwork and I'll get the marriage annulled."

"Are you sure?"

"Grace, all I ever wanted was for you to be happy and if that's not with me then, that's just the way it is."

Grace leaned in and kissed him one last time.

"Can we still be friends?"

"I hope so, I know I still want you in my life, whatever aspect that might be."

"I never deserved you."

"Sure you did, go and see her."

"Thank you Nick, for everything."

"I'll be in touch."

…

When Grace arrived back at the beach house, the place seemed extremely quiet.

"Frankie?" She called out.

She didn't get an answer, so she went out on to the deck, where there was still no sign of her. She decided to make her way down to the beach, walking a few years before she spotted her sitting on some nearby rocks, a joint in her hand.

"Frankie." She yelled out.

Frankie heard the familiar voice, looking to her left to see Grace walking over to her, the pain in her chest returning.

"Go away Grace, I want to be alone."

"Yeah, well tough shit."

"Fine, I'll go somewhere else."

Frankie started to walk way when she felt Grace grab her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

"Frankie, please wait."

"I have nothing to say Grace."

"Well that's a first."

"Fuck you."

"I'm sorry Frankie, I'm sorry that I dropped the whole marriage thing on you like that, it was wrong of me."

"How could you marry him."

"Because I thought I loved him, I was angry at you and Nick suggested marriage and I went with it."

"You thought you loved him?"

"I never should have married Nick last night, I shouldn't have been with Nick in the first place. I see that now."

"So who should you have been with?"

Grace was aware that Frankie knew fair well what she was getting at but she was going to make Grace work for this one. Grace figured that she deserved it, given how she'd behaved. Grace, a little nervous moved in to Frankie's space, taking her face in her hands, kissing her forehead before she leaned down and kissed her on the lips, she immediately felt Frankie respond to her, feeling Frankie's arms going around her waist.

"So…was it worth it." Grace asked.

"Yeah, it was worth it." Frankie smiled back at her.

"Can we go home now."

"Lets go."

Grace and Frankie walked back hand in hand, towards the beach house, back where they belonged.

…

-Fin