A Most Graceful Life Ch. 05

"It just eats at me, Grace," Stephen said finally, trusting himself enough to look her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, lightly caressing his cheek before wiping away a tear. "So this is the cause of your disturbances at night? Your nightmares?"

Stephen stiffened somewhat, "You know about that?"

"I can feel it," she said, quietly. "The very first night when you released me, you started that sequence of dreams as well as last night too. I gently pushed them from your mind, to allow you to sleep without those interruptions.

"It was you then? Why I haven't been having those nightmares?"

Grace nodded.

"That explains it now," he said, still deep in thought.

"I can see why it bothers you so much, but it's not your fault."

"I have a hard time believing that," he replied.

"It wasn't, Stephen," she said, forcing him to look at her. "Danny had his own free will and chose to go knowing the situation. How does that blame fall back on you?"

"I could have done more. I could have taken their keys from them. I could have gone myself. I could have done just about anything, Grace!"

Grace just simply shook her head, and gently led him by the hand to the bed. She gestured for him to lay down, and then casually straddled him, forcing him to look at her. "There was nothing more that you could have done to stop them. What happened was on Danny. And this Rob person, too. You, being the responsible and good friend that you are, did everything in your power to stop it, but ultimately came up short. Do you know why?"

"Because I'm not as good of a person as I like to believe I am?" Stephen whispered.

"Because you can't control free will," Grace corrected. "You're not a genie, Stephen. You just command one," She smiled.

"Then why does it hurt so bad, Grace?"

"It hurts so bad because you lost someone so close to you. In something that you know could have been prevented, so that makes it more tragic. But the only person that could have prevented that was Danny, not you."

"You make it sound so rational. So easy, but it's hard for me to just get that and move on."

"Master, please trust me," Grace began, reverted back to her original title for him. Stephen perked up, noticing the change as well. "I can't lie to you. It's part of the rules behind my submission to you. You could not have done anything more to prevent what happened. If you had tried to intervene further, you just would have emboldened them, in spite of you. They were going to go no matter what. Trust me on this."

Stephen gently nodded his head.

"Even though I've only known you for two days, you continue to surprise me with how great of a man you are. You are kind, loyal, intelligent, and you care deeply for those that you love. You are thoughtful, moral, and show a maturity that is well beyond your years. You are among the best of men. It's time to stop blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault."

Stephen nodded once more.

"I'm sure even if we could ask Danny today, he would agree with me," she smiled gently.

"Is there a way? You know, that you might be able-"

"No, babe. Rule number three, remember?"

Stephen smiled weakly, "Yeah, I do. Sorry, it was worth a shot."

Grace shared his smile, and reached down to kiss him deeply. "Are you going to be okay?"

He took a moment to think about it, before finally nodding yet again, "I think so."

"Good!"

"Sorry, Grace. I didn't mean to ruin the mood tonight," he said while looking up to her. "Just kind of came up and all."

"Who said the mood is ruined?" She looked at him with a flirtatious smile.

"Well, mine is after that," he chuckled.

"Aww, shucks," she pouted, playfully.

"Rain check? Until tomorrow morning?" he laughed.

"I'm going to hold you to that, mister. It's important not to let your genie get over-horny after all. Could make me go nutty."

"I'll remember that one, Grace," he chuckled.

"You'll still hold me tonight, though, right?" She asked, as he pulled the blankets back.

"You couldn't get out of that if you tried!"

Stephen got up and got undressed from his work clothes, before finally slipping on a pair of gym shorts and a just a simple tank top for sleeping. Slipping back into bed with Grace, she rolled into his side and wrapped her arm around his torso, her leg around his, and rested her head on his chest.

"Much better," she purred.

"Agreed," muttered Stephen, as he reached to turn out the light.

"Thank you for another wonderful day, Stephen. This has exceeded every single one of my dreams so far," she whispered.

Stephen leaned into kiss her forehead, "Thank you, too. For everything. For just now. You mean so much to me."

She sniffled, before leaning up to make it a real kiss, filled with passion. "You're everything to me, babe."

As he held her tight and listened to the slowing sounds of her breathing, he was more than thankful to have her in his life. Already, after two days, his life was showing promise and possible turnaround. And it was all due to Grace. She had become the most important person in his life in just that short amount of time, and yet, no one else in his life even knew she existed. That would have to change.

"Grace?" He whispered, softly.

"Hmm?"

"How would you feel about meeting my mom tomorrow?"