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It all really started when Dr. Grace was trying to find out why Astrophage went to Venus. He and Carl were building the model when Carl spotted his watch. It’s not unusual for someone to wear a watch but it was the type of watch that made it strange. It was a stupidly expensive watch, like the type of watch you would need to save for years on a teacher’s budget. So how in the world did Dr. Grace, a middle school science teacher, get that watch?
As Grace and Carl worked on the box, he asked. “Where did you get that watch?” Carl asked, it was an innocent question but it made Grace freeze up.
“Ummm it was a gift,” Grace said after a second, which made Carl suspicious.
If it was just a gift, why was he so hesitant about it? And how rich are Grace’s friends? Carl was about to press more but something else grabbed thor attention and he eventually forgot about it.
The next time someone noticed was on Stratt’s Vatt, it was dinner and everyone was tired from a long day. Grace was sitting with Ilyukhina, Yao, DuBois, Dimitri, and some other scientists , talking about nothing in particular. But Olesya, being the ever observant menace she is, noticed something on Grace's wrist, a very expensive watch. “Gracie! Where’d you get that watch! Is very fancy!” She asked.
Grace, who was very tired, and wasn’t thinking, answered, “My husband gifted it to me.” then went back to eating his dinner.
Olesya gasped and Grace’s eyes widened, realizing what he said. He immediately stood up and high tailed it out of there. Olesya looked around at the rest of the table, eyes wide. Everyone else was stunned. “Okay so we have to figure out who Grace's husband is right?” Dimitri asked.
“Duh!!!” Olesya exclaimed, “Gracie has had a husband all this time and we never knew!?!”
“I think this is why he never told us,” Yao said, continuing to eat his dinner.
“Oh hush,” Olesya waved him off, pulling out her phone, “Let me look him up.”
“How did you get a phone?!” Shapiro asked, “I’ve begged Stratt to let me use my phone!”
“Perks of sacrifices yourself!” Olesya answered happily while furiously typing, “I get away with a lot here.”
Shapiro slumped back into her seat, “I guess that makes sense,” She sighed.
Olesya looked up from her phone, “Hmmm I might be able to get you your phone,” Olesya winked.
“Really!?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Olesya smirked, then went back to typing.
“I wonder if Director Stratt knows who he is,” DuBios wondered out loud.
“DuBios you genius!” Olesya yelled, “I’ll ask her if I can't find anything!”
It turns out, Olesya couldn’t find anything. Absolutely nothing. She checked Instagram, Tik Tok, facebook, twitter, any articles mentioning Grace, google also came up with nothing. He’d done a great job keeping it private, wow.
So Olesya only had about two options left, ask Stratt about it, or ask Gracie about it. Both chances were low but it was worth a try. If Stratt was willing to tell her, it would be immediately, Grace would bounce around the subject for a while. So to Stratt’s office she went, knocking loudly on her office door. “Who is it?” Stratt asked, clearly annoyed.
Olesya didn’t care and walked in, “Hello Stratt!” Olesya greeted cheerfully.
“Ilyukhina,” Stratt acknowledged her, not looking up from her laptop, “Do you need something?”
“Yes! So it’s now known that Gracie has a husband, care to share who it is?”
“Dr. Grace has asked me not to share that information.”
“So you know who it is!”
“Yes.”
“And you won’t tell me who it is?”
“That is correct.”
Olesya swore in Russian, “And I was hoping this would be easy.”
Olesya walked to the door, “Ooh and one more thing!”
“Mmhmm?”
“Could you maybe get Annie her phone pleaseee?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Stratt said, an almost unnoticeable smile on her face.
“Score!!!”
So Olesya went to the science lab, where she would most likely find him. And what do you know, there was Grace hunched over his desk, texting someone. Since when has he been allowed a phone?
Olesya slowly creeped into the lab, trying to be as quiet as possible. She crept up slowly behind Grace, sadly not able to see his phone, and whispered, “Boo!”
Grace flinched and locked his phone, then looked at Olesya, “Oh hey Lesy, what’s up.”
“Oh nothing, just the fact you’ve had a secret husband this entire time and never told me,” Olesya complained, “I’m your best friend! I should know these things!!!”
Grace chuckled sheepishly, “Yeah sorry about that, we’re pretty private about our relationship. It has caused a lot of drama before.”
“Soooo, who is he?” She asked expectedly.
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”
“So what!? Tell meeee!!!”
“Alright, you want to know who it is?”
“Yess!!!! Come on, tell me already!!”
“Tom Ryder.”
“What..?”
“You heard me.”
“You’re married to Tom Ryder? The Tom Ryder?”
“Yup,” Grace said, popping the ‘p’.
“How do you even know him??”
“My brother does stunts for him, met him on set.”
“You have a brother!?!”
“Yeah? Is that so hard to believe?”
“No, you just never talk about him!”
“It never came up!”
“Oh bullshit! We were just talking about our families last week and you didn’t say anything!”
“No one asked!”
“Ughhh, you are so difficult sometimes Gracie!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Stop bothering me, I need to do some stuff for Stratt.”
“Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah,” Olesya mocked but stayed right where she was as Grace pulled out his laptop, “Can;t believe you’re married to Tom Ryder, hell I’m surprised you’re even married, you never wear a ring!”
“I don’t like to wear mine in the lab, or anywhere on the ship really. I’m afraid I’ll lose it.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a bit while Grace typed away. Then Olesya jumped up, “I have an idea!” She exclaimed before running out of the lab. Grace just kept typing.
It was a normal lunch, the food was mediocre, and the chatter was at a reasonable volume. Grace had his back to the door and was eating while trying to finish some paperwork before his class later. Then he heard a voice yell, “RYRY??”
He knew that voice! He turned around to see his beautiful husband standing on the other side of the room. He immediately got up and ran towards him, “Tom!!”
Tom also started running towards him, colluding with him in a crushing hug. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’re here!!! How are you here!? Did Stratt kidnap you!? Are you okay!? How is Colt?! Cortland? Claire? Holland? Holly? Lars?! Driver?!”
“Hey, hey baby it’s ok, they're all ok,” Tom soothed, “I wasn’t kidnapped, I was offered the opportunity to see my amazing husband, who is saving the world, and I couldn’t resist.”
Grace was crying now, “Oh my gosh, I’ve been so worried, I couldn’t reach any of you guys here, I was only given a phone to reach Stratt when needed. Everything else wouldn’t work!”
“No one’s blaming you, we know how hush hush this has been. We’re all so proud of you.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Grace sobbed.
“I know, I’m so glad I’m here too,” Tom said softly, breaking apart the hug so he could look at him.
Tom couldn’t resist it any longer, he gently brought Grace in for a kiss, making it soft and slow. He didn’t care that a bunch of people were watching them in stunned awe. Grace returned the kiss with a ferocity of a starving man. When they broke apart, they chucked and hugged again. It was stupidly sweet.
“C’mon, let me introduce you to my friends,” Grace said, pulling Tom to the table he was originally sitting at.
“Wow, I’m surprised you have friends, I thought you were just being the reclusive scientist like you usually are,” Tom teased.
“Shut up,” Grace chuckled.
Soon they made it to the table, where everyone was looking at them, stunned.
“Guys, this is Tom Ryder, my husband,” Grace introduced Tom.
Yao recovered first, “It is very nice to meet you Mr. Ryder.”
“Please, just Tom is fine. Thank you so much for all that you’re doing.”
Grace introduced the rest of the crew and his other friends. Tom and the others exchanged stories about Grace, much to his dismay.
“Y’know, it was actually Olesya who convinced Stratt to get me here,” Tom told the table.
“What!?” Grace exclaimed, he turned to Olesya, “How!?!?”
She just shrugged, “Perks of being sent to your death.”