Grace smiled for the first time that evening. "I'd like that, Carey."

Carey smiled back. "Good. Now I'm going to get out of here and let you get some sleep." Reaching over she tugged the blanket that had fallen away when she pulled Grace over, and tucked it back up around the young girl. "Sweet dreams, Grace," she said as she stood to leave.

"You too." Grace watched her leave. Wow. She's proud of me. Those words warmed her from the inside as she let herself believe them. Smiling, she rolled over on her side and closed her eyes, the pain of the last hour easing. And the fist that had been gripping her insides slowly releasing its hold. Things were not the way she wanted them, but Carey was proud of her. That was enough for now.

Try as she might, Grace just could not pay attention to her homework, her eyes flitting up to catch a glimpse of the woman sitting in the recliner. Carey had been quiet these last two days since she had found out about how she felt, and Grace couldn't help wondering if her being there was making her uncomfortable. When Carey caught her looking again, she quickly looked back down at the book in her lap.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Grace, I'm too tired to play this game tonight."

"Sorry." The teen looked down at her notebook. "I guess it's been really hard for you having me underfoot."

"I miss my closet but other than that it hasn't been too bad," Carey said. "Was that the question?"

"No," Grace said. "Do you want me to trade places with Jan?"

Carey removed her reading glasses. "You mean you stay with Instructor Gage and Bowen comes here?" She shook her head. "Why change things now?"

"Because of me," Grace said. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"And you think sticking me with Jan would make me comfortable?"

Grace looked down. "No."

"Look at me. Do you want to trade places?"

“No.”

"Is it going to be too hard for you to stay here?"

Grace thought about it. No matter how much it hurt, she could not deprive herself of even one minute more with Carey. "It might be," she admitted. "But I want to stay." She wiped at a tear. "Please."

Carey nodded. "I'm not the one that brought it up," she said, leaning forward in her seat. "Grace, I know it hurts, and what I had to say was hard for you to hear, but I need you to know that I do care about you. If you need to talk, I'm here."

"It does hurt," Grace said, swiping at another tear. "I feel like there's something wrong with me."

"Not wrong," Carey said. "Incomplete. A whole new life is going to begin for you soon and you have to give yourself time to live that life before you can even think of giving yourself to another person. You have to take that lump of clay that is your future and mold it into something, make yourself into someone. The someone you want to be."

"What then?"

"What do you mean?"

Grace looked down. "What if I do that? Get my degree, start a career, achieve those goals I've been making for the last five months. Would you consider me...you know...that way?"

"I don't know," Carey said. "And I can't allow myself to even think about the future in those terms because of the way things are today. I want to be your friend, Grace. I'm your mentor now and that's not going to end after graduation. In many ways, I feel like a big sister to you. As for anything else, I can't, and I know that while it hurts now, someday you'll understand why."

If circumstances were different. The words echoed through Grace's mind long after she had closed her eyes for a sleep that refused to come. Goal number one, Carey. So how do I get that goal? Become what she wants in a lover. Succeed at college. Get a degree so she'll see me as an adult and not a screwed-up kid. Can't do anything about the age but wait. She sighed and laced her hands behind her head. What else? Get a job, save money, get good credit to show her I'm responsible. Stay out of trouble, there's one of the biggies. No way in hell she'd choose me if I got myself into a mess. Sitting up, she listened carefully for several seconds, then quietly went over and turned on the lamp. You're always telling me to make a plan for the future, she thought as she opened her notebook. She wrote Carey's name at the top of the paper. Now, steps to achieve goal.

"Thank you for coming, Mr. Waters," Carey said, gesturing at the chair. "Please have a seat. I'd like to speak to you for a few minutes before we bring Grace in."

"Fine," he said. "How's she doing?"

"She's had a few rough spots, but overall she's done a complete turnaround from the first day she arrived here," Carey said. "You should be proud of her, I know we are."

"I am," he said. "And if there's anything I can do for her, just tell me."

"She told you she passed her GED test?"

"Yes," he said. "I told her I'm going to take down my trophy fish to make room for her diploma."

"I'm sure that made her happy," Carey said. "Mr. Waters, Grace doesn't know this yet, but after tomorrow, she's going to be released from state custody."

"That's wonderful," he said.

"At that point, she has to be released to her legal guardian."

"Her mother," he said.

"She's seventeen," Carey said. "She can choose which parent she wants to live with. But," she cautioned, seeing the hopeful look in his eyes. "Her early release is conditioned on her staying in Iroquois County for six months." She watched him work through the problem.

"I can't get it done by tomorrow but I can move here if I have to," he said.

"She can live on her own once she turns eighteen," Carey said. "The problem is the next month."

"It would really hurt but I could probably swing a hotel for that long," he said. "I have some savings bonds I've been holding onto." He rubbed his beard. "Then I'd have to get her set up in an apartment. Help her find a job or get into school. Can she?"

"I've done some research, Mr. Waters," she said. "If she goes to Iroquois Community College, and if she takes a student loan, there are enough grants and programs to help her cover tuition. A part-time job would cover her living expenses but I'm not sure if she'll be able to handle rent, especially in a college town."

"What can I do to help?" he asked.


SIX MONTHS


“Am I ever going to see you again?"

"Grace, I can't answer that question," Carey said. "Neither of us knows what the future will bring."

"I hate this," the teen said, wiping her eyes. "I don't want to leave you."

"You knew this was coming," Carey said, wishing she knew the magic words to ease Grace's pain. "It's time for you to make those goals a reality."

"I love you," Grace said, wrapping her arms around Carey's waist and resting her head on the older woman's upper chest.

"I know," Carey said softly. "And I care about you, very much. It can't happen, Grace. I know you understand why."

"I do." Grace said. "But I still don't like it."

Carey smiled, gave Grace a quick hug, then stepped back. "I have something for you. Stay here." She went to the bedroom and returned a moment later with a brightly wrapped box. "Happy graduation." Her smile grew when she saw the wide-eyed look in the teen's blue eyes. "Careful, it's got some weight to it."

"What is it?"

"Set it on the table," Carey said. "It's actually a few presents. Take the lid off." Grace did. "Open the manila envelope first. Careful, there's a bunch of papers in there." Carey watched excitedly as Grace pulled out various forms and applications along with an Iroquois Community College catalog. "You'd still have to get a student loan and a part-time job to make ends meet, but those are the application forms for all the tuition programs and grants that I could find that you qualify for. It's enough to cover your tuition and probably your books too."

"That's great, but I can't go," Grace said, setting the papers on the table. "I still have to serve another month at Crestwood, and classes start in two weeks."

"Uh-huh," Carey bit her cheek to keep from smiling too much and giving everything away. "Open that second envelope." She bit harder as the teen pulled out the legal papers.

"Modification...probation..." Grace looked at her. "I'm free?"

Now Carey could not keep the smile in check. "Signed by Judge Grimm himself. He's the one that sentenced you here, wasn't he?"

Grace nodded. "Bald, no sense of humor. Gets angry easily."

"Uh-huh, I bet having a clown-haired teenager mouthing off at him had something to do with it, don't you think?"

Grace colored and nodded. "A bit, I guess. How did you get him to do this?"

"What makes you think I had anything to do with it?" Carey waited a beat. "Actually all I did was send some letters to the judge along with a copy of your record here and mentioned that forcing you to serve that month at Crestwood would keep you from being able to attend ICC."

"Some letters?"

"Instructors Gage and Donaldson had something to say about you as well," Carey said. "Now that just means that the judge has agreed to release you on probation provided that you stay in the county and attend school. You have to meet with a probation officer weekly and submit to random urine tests. That's not going to be a problem though, is it?"

Grace shook her head vigorously. "No, not a chance," she said, the realization sinking in. "I can go to college."

"Registration is next week and classes start the week after that," Carey said. "Not much time to get everything ready but I know you can do it."

Grace set the judge's order down and touched the stack of aid forms. "And I really can afford this?"

"I believe so," Carey said. "We'll sit down later and go over the figures, but I checked them out a few weeks ago and I came up with enough to cover the major expenses with some left over for the unexpected." She tapped the box. "Next. Now be careful, don't drop it," she said as Grace reached in. The teen ripped through the tissue paper that Carey had so carefully wrapped around it the night before.

"A computer?" Grace pressed the button, opening the laptop. "Oh my God, it's a computer."

"Let me explain," Carey said. "It's not new. My friend Leslie gets a new one every two years for work and this is her old one. It's missing whatever you need to get on the Internet, and there's no printer, but she said something about using the disks and the school printer."

"Sure," Grace said, her eyes wide as she looked over the black laptop. "You put what you want to print on a disk, then use the school's computer and printer to print it out." She closed the laptop, her fingers delicately brushing the surface. "I can't believe you got me a computer." Setting the computer on the table, she surprised Carey by leaning over and giving her a big hug. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, Grace. I don't know much about computers," Carey said. "But Leslie said it's more than enough for school. She said it has a word processing program and some other programs you'd find useful."

"This is great," Grace said, sitting up and touching the laptop again. "It's got a CD/DVD drive built in." She grinned at her mentor. "Now I really am ready for college."

"Not quite," Carey said. "Come on, there's more in the box."

"More?"

"Just a little bit," Carey said. "I hope you like blue." She watched as Grace pulled out a blue backpack. "For carrying your books to class."

"Oh, it's great," Grace said, "It even has wheels." She opened the hook and loop sections. "It's got a place for pens and other stuff. Hey it's even got a mirror."

"Yeah, well, worry more about having a pen that works than your makeup," Carey said. "Your last present is inside the pack. You should have seen me standing at the computer store trying to pick it out."

Grace's eyes lit up more, if that was possible. At least it seemed so to Carey. "An encyclopedia. Two CD set. Oh, this is the really good one." She flipped the case over and glanced at the back. "Yeah, this is the one with the built-in detailed atlases and world timelines. Oh look, it can do footnotes."

"So it's a good one, right?" Carey asked, not certain until that moment that she had bought the best one. The smile on Grace's face answered her question. "I'm glad you like it. All of it."

“Go ahead, open it."