Title: Why did You do It?

Summary: After surviving Maroon's blackmail, Roger's frame-up and an attempted murder on their lives, Roger and Jessica's relationship will be tested greater than all three combined: the questions after.

Author's Notes: This is Jessica's turn after Roger's Metamorphosis. Do you really think Roger is going to just let it slide just because it's all over and everything's alright again? Would you?

XOXOXOXOX

The front door opened and the toon furniture cheered at the arrival of the house's occupants.

"Jeepers! Am I glad we're home!" Roger exclaimed, large floppy feet crossing the living room.

The clicking of Jessica's high heels followed, her red dress flowing behind her. Roger looked over his shoulder.

"Jessica, you don't have to bake a carrot cake. Were you able to sleep well or eat well during… um…" his blue eyes slid to the side as his feet shuffled. A warm hand on his shoulder made him looked up.

"I'm fine, darling."

"Well, I'm still fine with leftovers! It had been a sthpendous day that Eddie saved!" he said, bouncing towards the kitchen.

Jessica smiled, watching him. He wasn't the only one who was glad they're home.

XOXOXOXO

Jessica decided that she could never figure out the rabbit she had married.

She silently stole a glance at Roger chomping on his salad. What did he feel when he saw those pictures Mr. Valiant take? What did he thought all those times he was on the run?

A cold stone formed in her stomach. Had he hated her?

She had been so afraid to know before; she resorted to knocking him out to keep him safe.

After being held hostage by Judge Doom, Jessica had finally broken through her cool pretension when Roger crashed down on the Acme factory's floor, eyes blazing with a gun in his hand. He had looked so happy to see her; Jessica didn't care why he wasn't acting like someone who had just discovered his wife cheated on him.

A scraping sound was heard and Jessica broke away from her thoughts. Roger hopped up to a high stool to wash the dishes. Jessica smiled. Even though he broke a lot of plates, he still insisted to take half or more of the work load in the kitchen. She silently stood by his side to wipe the clean ones dry–and to catch the ones that would slip from his fingers.

Silence stretched inside the kitchen. Roger continued to wash and Jessica continued to dry. But as the moments tick on, Jessica gradually felt it.

A looming heaviness in the air.

As the last plate clink back to the drawer, Jessica sighed. She stared at its contents, unable to look at him –or the tension surrounding them.

"You must have thought I'm a horrible person," she finally said.

Roger stared at his wife. He had been this close to losing her. He shook his head, fiddling with the band of his glove.

"You never went behind anyone's back, Jessica. You would divorce me" –fear gripped her momentarily at his words- "before you would leave me for another man… I mean for a man."

"You are a man, Roger," she whispered. His rabbit ears barely twitched at her words. She knew Roger was a let-bygones-be-bygones person, but there was no way this thing behind them was really behind them unless…

"Why did you do it?" he asked quietly, so quietly, the silence became almost tangible.

Jessica paused, closing the drawer. When her veil of red hair swept across her cheek, she didn't bother to tuck it behind her ear. "Maroon needed to blackmail Mr. Acme," she said, the silence eating the volume of her words. "He said he'd fire you if I won't do it."

"So that's your solution? To be used?" he demanded. Jessica stared, surprised at the hurt shining his eyes.

"Roger…"

"Jessica, you didn't have to do that! I would have quit if you have told me!" he exclaimed. While her emotions tended to build up, long and tedious; Roger's emotional waves form in short bursts from tremendously high to tremendously low –never be there a middle ground.

"It's your happiness for mine- "

"Don't say that!" he snapped.

"-laughter is your life!" she yelled, her own voice rising.

"And you're my wife!"

Roger rarely gets mad, Jessica knew that. And when he does, it was always a righteous anger that she herself was now becoming indignant of.

Jessica tucked her hair behind her ear, her chest heaving. "Roger, you have so much ahead of you, I don't want to be the cause of your-"

"No!" The air rang with the conviction in his voice, stunning the air into silence. "You should have told me!"

Roger narrowed his eyes from the stool he was standing on, arms gesturing with flinging energy. "Instead, you didn't want me making the hard decisions too! It's not even difficult! I would have chosen you! You just thought I couldn't handle it!" he shouted with fists at his sides, frustration evident in his face.

Jessica stared at him, her eyes starting to sting. Her teeth bit the inside of her cheek for composure. She knew not a lot of people took him seriously –too silly, too clumsy. Even if she knew him more than anyone, was she also one of them?

Roger deflated at the sight of her in the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

He never moved so fast before a tear could roll down her face.

Jessica clutched him as soon as he grabbed her into an embrace. Roger felt her body caved into sobs.

"Oh, Roger, I'm so so-" She was close to collapsing in his arms but Roger remained standing upright on his chair.

"Ssshh… I'm sorry too. You went through more than I did," he winced, remembering his blissful ignorance while Maroon blackmailed her. I should have known something was wrong. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

In the absence of Eddie's past suspicion, Dolores' moment of judgment and everybody else's skepticism, Jessica finally allowed herself to cave. Her arms wounded tighter, relishing the feel of Roger in her embrace.

Roger was glad that she couldn't see his face. Tears were falling too from his eyes as she let it all out, feeling her hurt just by holding her.

They stood there in a silent embrace. Entwined, unable to see each other's faces but both feeling the storm beginning to pass.

Roger let her be the first to let go. Wordlessly, she was about to lead him upstairs when he stopped her. Roger lifted her chin, smiling at her emerald eyes.

"My big break in Maroon Studios wasn't the best thing that happened to me, you know," he said quietly. "I would have given it all up in a second."

Roger was almost tackled off the stool as Jessica grabbed him into her arms. Horrified, he held her helplessly as Jessica began crying all over again.

"Honey, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have- please don't cry!"

His pupils shrank into tiny dots when he felt her whole body reverberate with a wail. He wrapped her closer, rubbing her back, trying to soothe her as she held on to him.

Roger waited for her sobs to subside. When she quieted down, he felt her shift in his arms. Relieved, Roger let her go but suddenly yelped.

Lips crashed into his as Jessica tugged him close. Heat, desperation and a raging river of words unsaid coursed from her to him –a raging storm of fear and guilt. And Roger kissed her back, gently, soothingly until Jessica's shoulders loosened. Her hands slackened and they broke apart. Their chests expanded and narrowed with breathe still heavy. They gaze at each other, a communication with no words mending the fray of that invisible but tangible thread.

Her purple-gloved hand rubbed his shoulder. I'm sorry.

Roger tucked her veil of hair behind her ear, looking at her emerald eyes. I'm sorry, too.

Silently, Jessica held his hand and led him upstairs.

Movies and fairytales both got one thing in common that Jessica never bought: Happily Ever After. But for now, she could believe the feeling she got as they silently prepared to go to bed: Everything's going to be alright.

As they lay down to sleep, Roger's face finally broke into a smile when he saw a shadow of Jessica's smile –peaceful, relaxed…

Breathtaking.

Roger finally succumbed to the sandman's spell.

Entwined in each other's arms, Jessica felt an overwhelming glow that after all that had happened, it had ended with Roger safe and back to her.

Laughter is a powerful thing. But there are other powerful forces in this world.

THE END.

Author's Notes: No relationship is perfect. Not even them.

The things I've learned from wise people:

1. "Where there is potential for the greatest love, there is also the potential for the greatest pain."

2. "What does not come to the surface, cannot be healed."

3. "You can say that all feelings are categorized as either love or fear. To state the obvious, love feels good; fear does not. To grow simply means we transform experiences of fear into experiences of love."

How about you? What have you learned about the other powerful forces in this world?