Really random; just had the urge to write. Has no middle, beginning or end. One-Shot... maybe. Hope you enjoy.
"I've been ignoring this big lump in my throat... something's missing. Whatever it is, it feels like it's laughing at me through the glass of a two sided mirror"
It was 1:33am 10-year-old Fletcher was sound asleep in his room unaware of the argument taking place in his parent's room at the moment.
"Rachel come on!" Frank said with a sigh getting up from his spot on their bed walking past her towards their bathroom.
They always had little disagreements, mad at each other one minute and over it in the next. The arguments meant nothing; it was just how their relationship worked. They'd express what they were feeling and get over it. There was something about this argument, though, that was gnawing at Frank on the inside. He didn't know what it was, but this particular fight felt different to Frank; a bad feeling was creeping up on him.
"Frank just hear me out," Rachel said following Frank into their bathroom.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I heard you the first time." Frank stood in front of the sink and began brushing his teeth.
"Frank…" Rachel said sternly, watching him through the mirror he was standing in front of, obviously vexed by his non-understanding.
She noticed him glancing briefly at her reflection in the mirror, then back at himself, continuing to brush his teeth. Rachel knew she was asking a lot but she really needed him to understand where she was coming from. Frank rinsed his mouth out and turned around almost bumping into Rachel not realizing how close she was standing to him. She stood her ground, hands on her hips, annoyance etched in the features of her beautiful face. Sighing Frank folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the counter, looking Rachel directly in her eyes, "I'm listening."
Taking a deep breath, annoyed at having to explain herself a second time, Rachel tried to get through to Frank again.
"Calvin got in touch with Bill and told him to let me know that he was in town and he really wanted to have a sit down with me."
"About what?" Frank questioned raising an eyebrow, his arms still folded across his chest, annoyance and impatience written into every single one of his features.
The trained bodyguard usually wouldn't let his emotions show; never wanting to let the other person know what he was feeling. The only people he ever bared his true emotions to was his family and right now he wanted Rachel to know just how uncomfortable he was with the whole situation.
Hesitating by the expression on his face Rachel replied, "Well, I could assume, but I honestly don't know"
At this, Frank dropped his arms to his side, shaking his head and sighing, as he attempted to walk past Rachel out of the bathroom. She quickly sidesteps to stop him from leaving, putting her hands on his bare chest pushing him back a bit. "Frank ... Just..." she says pausing trying to collect her thoughts. "Look I wasn't going to go initially. I told Bill to tell him I wasn't interested but..." She trailed off sighing, temporarily distracted by the gleam reflecting off the small silver cross necklace that hung around Frank's neck.
" I ... I realized that I have a lot of things I want to get off my chest concerning him bailing on me after we had Fletcher. It's just a conversation baby, that's it. "
"You can't do that over the phone ... or email" Frank questioned only half joking, mumbling the last part under his breath.
He understood her reasoning but he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about the whole situation. Why now after all these years. He especially though it was odd on Calvin's part. 10 years and now he wants to "talk"? Frank didn't trust it.
Rachel gave him a look, clenching her jaw slightly "Can you not be a smartass right now?" Usually his dry humor entertained her but right now she wanted to choke him.
"No, not really" Frank retorted.
Through her agitation her lips twitched as a smile tried to break thru. "Haha" she said sarcastically with a smirk.
"Your obviously going to do what you want anyway Rachel, so why are we even having this conversation" Frank questioned, growing more and more agitated by the minute.
It was late and they weren't doing anything but talking in circles. He knew in his heart that Rachel was going to do this whether she had his "permission" or not. Once she had her mind set on something that was the end and very little could persuade her to do otherwise. They were both stubborn as hell, which is where the arguments arose most of the time, no one wanting to give in.
"Because…" Rachel said, dragging the word out. "I love you, & it would be nice to have my very handsome fiancé's blessing." She finished.
Her tone noticeably softened with that statement as she stepped a little closer to Frank, who slowly unfolded his arms allowing Rachel to press herself up against his torso and wrap her arms around his neck. If it was anything else she probably would have let it go, but she couldn't shake need to do this. She needed answers and she was going to get them.
Rachel frowned as Frank sighed, resting both of his hands against the counter instead of wrapping them around her.
"Please?" She questioned searching his face for answer.
"Whatever Rachel" Frank stated flatly, shaking his head as he removed her arms from around his neck and walked out of the bathroom.
Rachel watched him go, a bit disappointed; this is not the way she wanted it to go. She felt a strong urge to follow him and continue their conversation but decided against it. It was going on 2am and she knew Frank still had to be up early for a meeting in the morning. She opted instead to take a long shower hoping it would relax her.
Rachel walked out of the bathroom and started getting ready for bed, glancing over at Frank a couple of times wondering if he was still awake. She smiled a bit thinking he looked like a little kid with his black basketball shorts on (that posed as his pajamas), lying on his back, sprawled out on their bed with his left hand somewhat over his face.
As Rachel continues her nighttime routine she watches Frank's reflection in her mirror as he shifts a little and looks over at her before closing his eyes again, signaling to her that he's still awake.
Although half asleep, Frank couldn't get their conversation out of his head. He wanted to let it go and just sleep but he still had one more question to ask.
"When are you supposed to be having this 'sit down' anyway?" Frank asks eyes still closed, in a sleepy voice. He had gotten comfortable and almost fell fully asleep until he heard Rachel come out of the bathroom.
When she didn't respond he looked over in her direction, eyebrows raised waiting for her to answer. She glanced at him briefly before going back to what she was doing.
"Tomorrow morning" Rachel responded quietly.
She knew she should have brought it up to him earlier or even a few days ago but she had really just decided that morning that she was going. She glanced in Frank's direction knowing he wasn't happy.
Frank narrows his eyes at her before sitting up fully on the edge of the bed closest to Rachel glancing at the clock going on 3:30am.
"Tomorrow morning?!" Frank repeats, visibly irritated, no longer sleepy. "As in today? As in a few hours from now?!" Franks asked incredulously.
Rachel sighs, getting annoyed at how Frank insisted on dragging out this fight. She was now the one tired and sick of trying to explain herself to her hardheaded fiancé.
"When did you plan on telling me? After the fact?" Frank questions.
"Baby, look..." Rachel starts, trying to calm Frank down once again. "I'm sorry, okay? I just decided I wanted to go this morning and I didn't know how to explain it to you and not start an argument. Okay? Now it's late, you have to be up a couple of hours so can we please just drop it and go to sleep?" Rachel says hoping that will get Frank to back down.
"Rachel..." Frank starts sternly, shaking his head, but is cut off by his now very irritated fiancé who spins around in her chair to face Frank.
"You know, I'm starting to think that you have a bigger problem than just not wanting me to talk to Calvin. I'm mean what's your real issue here Frank?" Rachel's spouts, clearly more upset and irritated than before. She tried to be reasonable and understanding, but now he was just making it impossible she thought. So if a fight is what he wants, a fight is what he going to get!
"What?" Frank asks, clearly confused at where his fiancé was going with this.
Rachel gets up and walks to the opposite side of the room a few feet away from Frank before she turns to look at him arms folded across her chest.
"I'm starting to think you don't trust me. Is that your problem?" Rachel asks basically throwing daggers at Frank with her eyes while looking a bit hurt.
Frank softens a little at his fiancé's words and the look on her face. "Of course not. You know I trust you, wholeheartedly Rach." He says as he stands up taking a few steps towards her. He notices that Rachel's demeanor has softened a bit so he continues.
"But that doesn't mean I trust Calvin or should have any reason to." Frank explains.
As fast as she softened, she quickly goes back into defense mode. Rachel couldn't believe him!
"Frank saying you don't trust him is basically saying you don't trust me! You don't trust me enough to know I'd stop something from happening if he were to try something."
"Why would you even put yourself in that situation in the first place?!" Frank fires back, raising his voice slightly.
He absolutely didn't understand Rachel's reasoning at the moment. Of course he trusted her but he didn't know Calvin and him showing up out of the blue to "talk" to his fiancé was absolute bullshit to him! There had to be something more behind it.
"Oh? And what about you Frank?" Rachel's throws back, hurt at even the thought of Frank not trusting her.
"What about me Rachel? What are you talking about?" Frank asked once again baffled at what she was getting at.
"You and these overseas trips? How do I know what goes on over there? That's you putting yourself in a situation for something to happen"
Franks looks at Rachel incredulously for a few moments before he responds. Is she insane?
"My going overseas is entirely different from you wanting to sit down with your damn ex. I'm working when I'm over there and you know that!" Frank says pointing at her briefly before putting some distance between them.
"Do I?" Rachel questions arms still folded over her chest. Rachel didn't like where the conversation was headed but she couldn't seem to stop herself.
Frank pauses for a moment staring at Rachel in disbelief, gripping the back of the now vacant chair that Rachel had been sitting in earlier.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Frank demands, staring directly at Rachel.
She didn't actually think… believe that he… No. She couldn't. Rachel trusted him. He knows she does and he's never given her a reason not to. Everything he does is with her best intentions at heart so where was she going with this? Where was this coming from?
Before Rachel knew what she was saying the words were out of her mouth and there was no way to take them back.
"I'm just saying maybe there's some truth to what I read in those magazines that write about you with this women and that women when your over there. Anything you care to tell me?"
As soon as the words left Rachel's mouth she knew she messed up. Her heart sunk looking at the hurt look on her fiancé's face.
Frank was absolutely speechless. He let out a slight laugh out of amazement of what she just said and shook his head as he walked past Rachel without looking at her.
Rachel closed her eyes and put her face in her hands, sighing deeply as Frank walked passed her.
"Frank, baby, I'm sorry… " Rachel started but was cut off by the slam of their bedroom door closing behind Frank as he exited the room.
"Dammit" She muttered shaking her head, as she walked over to their bed and flopped down on it. She knew her request would probably end up with them arguing, but never thought it would turn out like this.
What the hell was wrong with her? She didn't even mean what she said, but the argument got so heated that she couldn't stop herself. Frank was one of the few men she actually did trust with everything she had. The only reason she even knew about the stories in the paper were because of that idiotic manager of hers. Even then she paid them no mind so why bring it up now?
Sighing Rachel wondered if she should go see where Frank went, but decided against it. He was clearly angry and she had no idea what to even say to him at the moment. Instead she pulled back the covers on his side of their bed and climbed in. The pillow smelled just like him as she snuggled down into it trying to make sense of what just happened.
If you like it, I may turn it into an actual story :). Let me know.
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, just my thoughts. Beginning lyrics belong to Rihanna.
