Title: Truth

Author: Evidence

Rating: PG

Author's Notes: Thanks to D and Maple Street. This is from Maria's perspective but is still a JSR story. And spoiler alert for the season ending eps.

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It always haunted her.

Knowing the secret when it was suppose to be hidden. Pretending that nothing had changed in their marriage, pretending that she felt the same. Probably the most hurtful thing was knowing you were the second choice that your husband, the man you were once crazy in love with, had found someone else and that someone held more a place in his heart than you ever did. Not only did the other woman become his soul mate but even when he swore it was over, it wasn't. Yes there wasn't any late night meetings or cash being withdrawn for a hotel room but there was something there lingering between them. She tried her best to be the "good wife" but had tired of being an actress in her marriage. The chance of a move was a great opportunity for her. Not only career wise, although that possibility was inviting but also a test to see who he truly cared about. Could he leave the other woman behind?

She could remember clearly the first day she ever met him at a dinner party for the then mayor of Chicago. He was working as an agent and she was a lawyer not looking for love. She had a long-standing relationship fizzle just a few months before and the prospect of meeting someone new didn't interest her. But there he was laughing and taking to the police commissioner. His hair black as night and nearly crew-cuttish, a glint in his eyes. She was staring at him, she couldn't help herself and he turned and looked at her. He smiled and she smiled back.

Before the dinner party was over he had introduced himself, "Jack Malone." His voice set shivers down her spine and when she shook his outstretched hand she could see he felt it too. Life was happy and good. They spent time together going to the movies, eating out, just enjoying very mundane things like reading the newspaper together.

And then the fly was put into the ointment. She was offered a chance to work in New York City, more money, better position. She so wanted to take it but what about Jack? She couldn't leave him. He didn't take the news well, he didn't want to move. They fought; she broke off the relationship and took the job.

For five months she stayed in the city enjoying work, meeting new friends and trying not to think about him. Then one day he showed up at the courthouse dressed in a leather jacket and carrying a dozen red roses. They went to lunch and he told her he had taken a job at the missing person's unit in the Big Apple. She was astonished. She asked him why.

He answered, "Because I can't be without you."

It was a defining moment in their relationship. They moved in together, married and had two daughters. And then they began drifting apart whether it was work or just being together too long, things began falling apart. Eventually he wound up in his colleague's bed and their relationship became completely strained.

Now she was asking him to make a choice, a choice that would lead finally to the truth of it all. She began packing some of her various mementos up. One dropped from her hand as she tried to place it in a box- it shattered into pieces- a glass Christmas tree Jack had bought her their first Christmas in New York. She threw the remains of the tree in the trash trying not to cut herself or cry.

The end