Ficlet: Breaking Character
Jaime fingers a fluffy pink blanket, a secretive smile flirting around the edges of her mouth. So she’s having a girl. They’re having a girl. Jaime is carrying another life inside her. A life that she and her husband created. A sister for Jaden, probably an apple-cheeked daddy’s girl for David.
He didn’t tell her they were having a girl.
She doesn’t know why that should bother her, but it does. Her hands shake and her stomach roils. She thinks she might be sick right there; she couldn’t bear it if Jaime saw her. Barely aware of what she’s doing, Emily drops the bundle of tiny clothes on a display table and stumbles out of the store.
Outside, the afternoon sun nearly blinds her with its cheerfulness. Her fingers fumble through her purse until they brush cool metal. She pulls out her sunglasses and shoves them on, silently hoping they’ll hide the wetness in her eyes as she collides with a truth she’s been hiding from herself for too long.
He didn’t tell her they were having a girl.
But why should he? They’re not married. They’re not even dating. Every time her mind has tried to supply the words for what they’re doing, she’s danced away from them. Now she mouths them silently, tasting ashes and something sour: they’re having an affair.
She’s having an affair with a married man.
Warm fingers slipping along her spine, and lower, can’t make up for that fact. Four seasons of playing Dr. Temperance Brennan, and Emily realizes she’s taken a page from her character’s book. She’s compartmentalized her life, dropping the David who kisses her despite her halfhearted protests, into a box that’s entirely separate from the David who goes home to kiss his pretty blonde wife and towheaded son.
It’s an arbitrary distinction, one that Brennan might have been able to make several seasons ago. Maybe even one that David can continue to make.
But it’s not one that she can make…Not anymore.
Her phone rings in her purse, and she knows who it is even before she looks at the number, trusting an intuition that the character she plays, distrusts. Mouth trembling, she lets it keep ringing.
A/N: Feel free to friend me for fic updates. :)
He didn’t tell her they were having a girl.
She doesn’t know why that should bother her, but it does. Her hands shake and her stomach roils. She thinks she might be sick right there; she couldn’t bear it if Jaime saw her. Barely aware of what she’s doing, Emily drops the bundle of tiny clothes on a display table and stumbles out of the store.
Outside, the afternoon sun nearly blinds her with its cheerfulness. Her fingers fumble through her purse until they brush cool metal. She pulls out her sunglasses and shoves them on, silently hoping they’ll hide the wetness in her eyes as she collides with a truth she’s been hiding from herself for too long.
He didn’t tell her they were having a girl.
But why should he? They’re not married. They’re not even dating. Every time her mind has tried to supply the words for what they’re doing, she’s danced away from them. Now she mouths them silently, tasting ashes and something sour: they’re having an affair.
She’s having an affair with a married man.
Warm fingers slipping along her spine, and lower, can’t make up for that fact. Four seasons of playing Dr. Temperance Brennan, and Emily realizes she’s taken a page from her character’s book. She’s compartmentalized her life, dropping the David who kisses her despite her halfhearted protests, into a box that’s entirely separate from the David who goes home to kiss his pretty blonde wife and towheaded son.
It’s an arbitrary distinction, one that Brennan might have been able to make several seasons ago. Maybe even one that David can continue to make.
But it’s not one that she can make…Not anymore.
Her phone rings in her purse, and she knows who it is even before she looks at the number, trusting an intuition that the character she plays, distrusts. Mouth trembling, she lets it keep ringing.
A/N: Feel free to friend me for fic updates. :)