Corpus et Animus
Part 2/5

Disclaimer:  I do not belong the characters or anything else you recognize in this fic.  Passions belongs to NBC, JER and a couple of other people, I'm sure.  I am not making any money off of this.  I write fanfic purely for pleasure, although I'm not opposed to receiving feedback :)

Posted: Sunday, April 7, 2002

Summary: A spell gone awry leaves both Grace and Ivy acting strangely.  Sam/Grace and Sam/Ivy.

Note: This is my first Passions fanfic.  I hope you enjoy.  It takes place after Grace and John did the DNA test to determine whether or not he was her son, but since it doesn't deal with any of the stuff after Theresa declares herself Mrs. Julian Crane, let's just say it branches off there.

Thank you to andrea, JupiterHime, AshleyTara and Katie for reviewing the first part.

Also note that I have Support Services.  That means that if you want to receive notice of when the next part is out, add me to your Author Alerts.  Even if you don't have Support Services, you will receive an e-mail when I update.

~*~

“What?” Grace asked. “What are you talking about? Is that you, Ivy?”

“It’s not Ivy, it’s Grace,” the voice on the other line said in obvious distress. “And you know it, Ivy. You stole my body.”

Grace twirled the phone cord around her finger. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Ivy, but I think maybe you should go see Eve. The pain has obviously gotten to you.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. And stop calling me Ivy! You’re Ivy; I’m Grace.” The woman was starting to lose control.

“Look,” Grace said firmly. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, Ivy, but you’re starting to scare me. I’m going to hang up now.”

“Don’t you dare,” she said threateningly. “Don’t you dare hang up on me.”

“Good bye, Ivy,” Grace said.

“Ivy! Don’t - “ She was cut off as Grace hung the phone back onto the hook. She wasn’t the least bit surprised when it rang again only a few seconds later.

Although she was pretty sure who it was, it was no reason to keep from answering politely. There was always the slim chance that it wasn’t Ivy, after all. “Bennett residence,” she said when she picked up the phone.

“We weren’t finished, Ivy!” Grace could barely make out the words, the voice was so hysterical.

“Ivy, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re scaring me. Good bye.” She briefly hung up the phone, but only long enough to disconnect the call with Ivy. Then she took the phone off the hook again, resting it on the counter. A busy signal would only be a tiny annoyance to anyone who tried to call; Ivy ringing the phone off the hook all day would be a much bigger annoyance to Grace.

She finished cleaning the kitchen and went upstairs to her room.

~*~

When Sam came home from work that evening he found his wife waiting for him in the kitchen. She was wearing a hunter green sundress and sandals on her feet and he wondered what the occasion was. He dropped his keys on the table as she came over, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him softly on the lips.

“What’s all this about?” he asked when she took a step back.

“The kids are at Miguel’s house, they won’t be back until ten. I made us a picnic dinner.” He saw the basket sitting on the counter behind her. “It’s a beautiful spring day and I thought we could go to the park, wait for the sunset and then maybe watch the stars come out. It’ll be just like old times.”

“We’ve never done that before,” Sam said, slightly bemused.

“All the more reason to do it now,” Grace answered glibly.

“I don’t know,” Sam started doubtfully, but he stopped when he saw the disappointed expression on Grace’s face.

“Please. When’s the last time we went out on a real date?” She paused only for a second, not giving Sam the time to think that far back. “Too long. Please, Sam.”

He couldn’t deny her, not when she asked like that. “Okay,” he said, taking delight in the smile that broke out across her face. As she grabbed the basket and her coat, he asked, “What brought this on?”

She gave him the basket to hold while she got her coat on. “Charity,” she told him. “Her problems with Miguel lately. I realized that you can love a person with all your heart but then wake up one day and find out that they don’t love you back.”

“You know that could never happen to us,” Sam assured her quickly. He hoped she wasn’t having doubts about him and Ivy again. She smiled sadly, but did not answer. Sam wrapped his arms around her. “I love you Grace,” he said.

“I love you too, Sam,” she whispered.

“Come on,” he said. “We have a sunset to watch.” Her smile was now genuine and he took her by the hand as they walked to the park.

The view from the spot that Grace had chosen was spectacular, but something about it was bothering Sam, although he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. After the meal, they lay on the ground and Sam held his wife in his arms as together they watched the sun slowly sink down below the horizon. It wasn’t until the sun had set completely and Sam could barely see anymore that he realized what was wrong - he and Grace were resting barely a stone’s throw away from the rock where he and Ivy had left their love letters so many years ago.

He shifted uncomfortably. “What’s wrong?” Grace asked drowsily.

“Nothing,” he lied. “My arm’s just falling asleep.”

She rolled over so that she was facing him, their bodies inches away from each other. “Let’s dance,” she said.

Sam was taken aback. “What?”

“Dance,” she repeated impatiently. “We can dance under the stars. It’ll be so romantic. And it’ll wake up your arm.”

Sam didn’t know what else to say, so he pointed out, “There aren’t any stars out yet.”

“They’ll be out soon,” she argued. Standing up, she held her arms out, waiting for him to get to feet. “Look! There’s one now.” She pointed to the sky where there was a faint light, barely visible, but there. Closing her eyes, she recited, “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight. I wish that our love - Sam’s and my love for each other - will remain strong and true for ever and ever, and never lessen or break. I wish that he will always love me as much as I love him.”

Sam pulled her into his arms. “You know I will always love you.”

“And I will always love you,” she replied, staring deep into his eyes. “I always have.”

He kissed her and they started to sway to the song of the stars themselves, inaudible except to the two lovers. When it was over, he lay her gingerly on the ground and, leaving a trail of kisses down her neck, began to unbutton her dress. Things would have progressed further, but suddenly Grace shivered violently.

The spell was momentarily broken and they laughed. Grace started to button her dress back up. “It’s a bit colder than I thought it would be,” she admitted. “Maybe we should get home before you have to arrest me for indecent exposure, Chief Bennett.”

“I’ll have to arrest both of us,” he said, pulling her off the ground. He took off his jacket and put it on her.

“Always the gentleman,” she teased.

“Let’s get home,” he said.

No one else was there, but it was still early so Sam didn’t worry about the kids. Besides, they were on vacation and it wouldn’t hurt them if they stayed out a bit late for once.

“I’ll go get you a sweater,” Sam offered. Grace followed him up to the bedroom.

“I don’t need a sweater,” she said. “I can think of other ways to stay warm.” She took off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor in a heap. Then she slowly began to unbutton her dress as she made her way over to the bed, leaving no doubt in Sam’s mind as to what ‘other ways’ she was talking about to keep warm. “Now, where were we?”

A passionate kiss reminded them both of just where exactly they had left off.

After a passionate, yet tender bout of lovemaking, they lay in each other’s arms, not speaking. Sam yawned, his eyes fluttering. He was quickly succumbing to the need to sleep. Grace curled up beside him, her own breathing deep and regular.

“I love you Sam,” she murmured, already sounding more than half asleep. The small part of Sam’s brain that was still awake heard her, but it took one minute to register and a second minute to realize a response was necessary.

“I love you, too.” He drifted off. The final thing he said before drifting off completely was, “Ivy.”

Lost to sleep, he didn’t hear his wife’s gasp, nor did he know that she, having had been even more asleep than he, was suddenly wide awake, wondering if she had heard what she thought she had heard or if she had just been dreaming.

Sam was the only one who got any sleep that night.

End Part 2