Gracie discovered

[Jordanna]

A week and a half after Caroline Rosenstein's murder, Foxy Malone returned to the Paragon Club with the intent to perform.

It was a prospect about which he had mixed feelings. Entertaining was his first love, and he had missed it during his hiatus--but after so much tragedy and revelation, he no longer felt like the carefree and impish character his audience had known Foxy Malone to be. The things he had learned, about the world and about himself, had aged him at heart. Some of the familiar Foxy sparkle had worn away. A bit of applause might refresh his polish, but he knew he would never be quite the same again.

In some ways, he couldn't help feeling that wasn't such a bad thing.

When he walked into the Paragon Club, the first person he encountered was Grace Duval--an occasional dance-and-comedy partner of his, whom he had not seen since before things blew up. Upon seeing him, she broke into a smile, and rushed forward to hug him.

"Foxy! It's so good to have you back!"

"Hey, Gracie. Good to see you, too." Alex gave her a peck on the cheek. Marty and a few of Grace's chorus-girl friends had once envisioned them as a couple; however, their feelings toward each other were much closer to those of a protective big brother and a playful little sister, and they were both content with that.

Grace's smile faded as she pulled away from him. "How's Sid holding up?"

Alex grimaced inwardly. His wife was murdered, his daughter's gone mutant, and he's harboring a fugitive at his house--how do you think he's holding up? Outwardly, he only shook his head and said, "It's gonna take time. I think he'll be ready to come back to work in a few days, though."

"I'm glad. We've all missed him. Both of you," Grace added with a grin.

"Ah, you're just saying that because you get to use the private dressing room when we go on together." Alex cuffed her shoulder companionably. "Speaking of which, if there's anybody in there, you can kick 'em out. I'm gonna need you tonight. I want to dust off the old Count Malininov number."

"Great!" the dancer chirped. "I'll dig up the costumes, and leave yours in your dressing room. See you after your first set."

She bustled off, and Alex smiled ruefully. Back in the place he still thought of as home, and surrounded by his "family"--or at least his other family--he had begun to feel almost Foxy again.

[Jordanna]

It took longer than Grace had expected to locate the costumes she was looking for, and when she did, she found a tear in the sleeve of her Victorian dress. After another mildly irritating search, she tracked down thread and a needle; then she retreated into the dressing room to sew the sleeve herself, leaving the door open.

She had only gotten as far as threading the needle when a brash voice intruded.

"Well, ain't that quaint! A little lady sewing."

Grace startled, giving out a small yip as she pricked her finger. Wringing her hand, she glared toward the open doorway... and a crawling feeling came over her as she saw Tony Comancini at the threshold, casually leaning one shoulder against the doorjamb.

Everyone at the Paragon knew who Tony was--and no one liked him in the least.

"What do you want?" Grace asked indignantly as she rose from her seat, drawing more closely around her the long kimono she was wearing over her slip.

Tony straightened with a shrug. "I'm lookin' for Sid. Thought he might be back on the job by now."

"Well, he isn't. He's still taking care of his children," Grace said firmly. "Can't you just leave the man alone and let him grieve?"

"Business don't stop to mourn," Tony replied coolly. "Sid knows that."

Grace scowled. "Is that all you've got to say about your own cousin's death?"

That hit a nerve; she could see it in the shift of expression in Tony's dark eyes. He took a step into the room, closing the door behind him, and a prickle of fear crept through her.

"No, it isn't," he said, in a low voice. "And that's why I wanna talk to Sid... But if he's not here, maybe I'll just stick around for the show."

The look on his face made Grace feel very much like a piece of meat in a tiger's cage, and she began moving in the direction of the door. He watched her with cruel amusement as she edged around him slowly, wary of turning her back on him.

She was almost within reach of the doorknob when Tony's arm shot out, catching her wrist and jerking her toward him. His other arm circled around her waist as he used the weight of his solid frame to push her back against the wall. Before she even had a chance to cry out, he was kissing her forcefully.

For a moment, Grace instinctively struggled and kicked in his iron grip. Then her revulsion and panic merged with memories of another, distant time and place... and she had no conscious control at all over what happened next.

Her vision abruptly faded to a misty grayness, and she felt herself simply melt out of Tony's grasp.

The mobster uttered a violent expletive, but Grace barely heard it. She was overwhelmed by her own alarm as the realization sank in of what she had done--albeit unintentionally. Falling back on some instinctive knowledge of how to move in her incorporeal form, she flowed away from him, and groped blindly with her now-diffused sense of touch for a familiar reference point in the room. When she found the edge of the dressing table, she drew into herself, willing her body to come together in a solid form again.

Just as it was that first time long ago, and the few times since then that she had dared to try dissolving, Grace didn't know exactly how she managed to rematerialize herself--but she did it. She felt a moment of swooping dizziness, and suddenly she was standing there, wide-eyed and trembling, leaning heavily on the corner of the table.

She gasped a breath into her empty lungs, and looked around for Tony with a sickening dread. He was standing across the room, with his hands still frozen in almost the position they must have been in when he was grappling with her. He had turned pale, his expression twisted with shock and disgust.

"You...!"

Grace flinched away, hiding her face behind her hand as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Show's over, Tony. Get outta here."

Grace's heart skipped a beat. She looked up--and to her astonishment, she saw Alex Malone standing in the doorway. With another flash of horror and shame, she wondered when he had opened the door, and how much he had seen.

Tony turned his venomous glare upon Alex. "So is this another one of Sid's 'friends of the family'?" he sneered, jerking his head in Grace's direction. The words had no significance for her, but Alex reacted to them visibly.

"She's my friend." The young entertainer's voice was perfectly steady; Grace thought he had also made it a little deeper, perhaps trying to seem a bit less unimposing to the big, muscular mobster. "I told you to get out."

The Comancini godfather gave a disdainful snort, but he slowly moved toward the door, with Alex's glare locked on his every move.

"If you tell anyone about this," Alex said quietly, as Tony reached the door, "I know some people who're gonna hear about a little business you and your goombahs were discussing when you met here last month."

For an instant, something malevolent flashed in Tony's eyes; then it softened to a dark, half-admiring amusement. He smiled like a shark.

"You're a smart little fox, eh?" he seethed.

Alex refused to look away from Tony's sharp stare. "No, not smart. Just a nicer guy than you."

Tony's hard gaze lingered upon Alex for a moment. Then the mobster broke into a low, grim chuckle, and with a dismissive gesture, he sauntered out of the room.

The moment Tony was through the doorway, Alex closed the door and physically leaned his back against it. He raised to his face a hand that was trembling just a little, and Grace realized her gentle-natured friend must have been astounded by his own audacity in facing down the crime boss. He was still for a moment, collecting himself; then his hand dropped to his side, and he met Grace's frightened and humiliated gaze.

"It's okay, Gracie," he said softly.

Grace's nerves finally unraveled, and she sank down onto the floor. Leaning against the cushioned seat of the dressing table, she laid her head on her arms and broke down in sobs.

After a moment, she felt a weight settle on the seat as Alex perched on its edge. He made soothing noises as he rubbed her bowed back.

"Did Tony hurt you?" he asked, when her tears began to subside.

Grace sniffled and shook her head, then hesitantly looked up at him. "You... saw what I did." It wasn't a question.

To her surprise, Alex grinned. "The look on Tony's face was priceless." Then he frowned, and asked with a rather anxious note in his voice, "That wasn't the first time you did that, was it?"

Another shake of the head. "I... was seventeen the first time." She raised her teary eyes to his. "I've only done it a few times since. I don't even really know how! I just wanted to forget it, and... and be normal..." Her eyes welled up again.

"Shh." Alex gently raised her to sit on the seat beside him. "I know how it is, honey. Believe me." He hesitated, then said quietly, "I'm part of the same club."

His friend gave a start, looking up at him with bewildered eyes. He nodded ruefully and touched his throat, raising his eyebrows significantly.

"Oh, Foxy," she said softly, laying her head on his shoulder.

"I guess we've got a lot to talk about." There was a sense of grimness as Alex paused. "There's so much going on, Gracie. Now that I know what I know about you, I think you should know everything."

Grace squinted up at him, and he smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, it's a long story, and it's getting longer every day." He gently pulled away from her and stood up. "Don't worry about the show tonight. I'll go solo. Just pull yourself together, and after my act, we'll go somewhere and talk." His blue eyes darkened gravely. "I'm gonna trust you with an awful lot, Gracie. Will you trust me?"

Smiling sadly, Grace wiped her eyes. "I'm not scared of you... just Tony." She hesitated. "Do you really know something you could blackmail him with?"

Alex grinned. "Nah. That is, not officially. I just figured he wouldn't like 'someone' to know just about anything he and his goons have to talk about."

Grace gaped at him. "But he might hurt you because he thinks you do know something!"

"Believe me, honey, Tony's about the least of my problems right now. You'll understand that when you hear what I have to say later." Alex patted her shoulder. "Just wait for me here, okay?"

"Alright, Foxy," Grace murmured, and watched wonderingly as Alex slipped out of the room.

[Jordanna]

"So now you know the whole story."

Alex folded his arms, leaning his head back in the driver's seat of his car, and looked over at Grace beside him. It was well past midnight, and they were sitting in the dark, parked at a lonely place on the waterfront.

He had told her everything--about Nick Tiernan, about Miriam, even about Tara. In three years, he had come to know Grace as a friend whom he could trust implicitly, and now that he knew she was a mutant as well, he felt she would be safer knowing the truth of what was happening. He was sure Sid and Miriam wouldn't hold it against him for confiding in her.

"It's so terrible." Grace wiped her eyes with a tissue. She had grown teary at several points during his story, especially when he told her the facts about Caroline and Tara. Like everyone employed at the Paragon Club, she loved Sid, and it clearly hurt her to know how much he had suffered.

"Yeah. I feel like I've woken up and looked at the world for the first time in years--and I don't like what I see." Alex sighed. "The way I feel, it's not about being mutant or human anymore. It's all come down to plain ol' good and evil." He shrugged sadly. "Maybe that's the way we all should have been seeing the world in the first place."

"So what happens next?" Grace asked quietly.

"Well, Miss Dawson has hooked up with a priest, who runs a church with a mostly mutant congregation. He seems to think he can help us spread the word about Tiernan. There's gonna be a meeting, but I'm not sure when."

"I'd like to be there," Grace said, without hesitation.

"Think about it, Gracie." Alex looked gravely at her. "You don't have to get yourself into this. You can still go back and live your life just the way you have, and be safe. It isn't your fight."

"If it's your fight, and Sid's, then it's mine," Grace replied resolutely. "You could have walked away from it too, but you didn't. I feel the same way."

Alex smiled ruefully. "I knew you would. I think I oughta be sorry I told you all this... but I'm not."

"Good." Grace patted Alex's shoulder. Then her expression grew somewhat troubled, and she added, "I don't know what I can really do to help, but I want to try." She hesitated. "I think it's time I started to figure out what I can do with my power."

"Be careful!" Alex cautioned her. "That trick you pulled on Tony was kinda scary to see. I wasn't sure you were going to... come back."

"I wasn't either," Grace admitted. "But you see? That's why I've got to learn. I never should have ignored it in the first place." She smiled sadly. "I won't be ashamed of what I am anymore, but I'll try to use it for something good. You've already taught me that."

"Oh, that's fine," Alex sighed, with a self-deprecating sarcasm. "Me, the shining example of the unapologetic mutant. Believe me, no one of us was ever more scared of getting found out than I was. I'm still scared of being outed publicly."

"But you've opened up to the people you can trust," Grace pointed out. "That's more than I've done."

Alex grinned. "I guess when you don't know who to trust is when you need someone to trust the most."

Grace laughed softly. "I know you just said something profound, but I've got no idea what it is."

With a chuckle, Alex patted her arm. "Okay. I'll let you know when the meeting with the priest is gonna happen. I'll also have to tell Sid and the others about you," he added.

"I know." Grace nodded reassuringly. "If you can trust them, so can I."

Alex nodded. "I'll take you home now."