Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: PG
Summary: It tore Bree's heart out to send Gabrielle away, but she knew she had no other choice but to do the right thing for Gabrielle . . . and her children.
Warnings: Femme Slash
Word Count: 1,388
Date Written: 16 May, 2011
Timeline: Takes place at the end of "I'll Swallow Poison on Sunday"
Disclaimer: Gabrielle, Bree, Juanita, Carlos, Andrew, all other characters mentioned within, and Desperate Housewives are & TM ABC and other rightful owners, not the author; are used without permission; and may not be used without permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Bree stared at her closed door for a long time after Gabrielle had walked out of it at Bree's own insistence. Her mind and heart whirled, caught in chaotic disagreement. Part of her couldn't believe that she had just made the newest love of her life walk out on her, but the other part, the sensible part, her brain and even a part of her soul, knew that she had done the right thing. She had done the only thing that could eventually give Gabrielle back the happiness she deserved.
Finally, as though shifting through slow quicksand in a dream, Bree turned, walked over to her favorite chair, and sank down into its comforting, cushiony depths. Only there did her tears finally start to fall. She didn't know how long she sat there, but as she sat, time ceased to exist and memories filled her mind. Tears streaked down her mournful face as she recalled every kiss she had ever shared with her Latina girlfriend, every stolen touch and seductive caress, every laugh and tear. She could even recall a few happy times with her kids, when she had actually thought that she could reign in the wild, little Hellions and teach them to live better lives.
Bree remembered how stricken Gabrielle had looked when Carlos and her children had left them, and Bree sobbed aloud. She knew she had done the right thing, but her heart and soul were hurting viciously from Gabrielle's departure. Her love had left a huge gaping hole inside of her, but Bree knew that time would heal what she was feeling. It always had. It had taken a long time for her to get over her husband leaving her and a longer time still for her to recover from Keith moving down to Florida, and it would take a longer time yet for Bree to recover from losing her best friend and dearest lover.
Nobody had ever sparkled in her eyes like Gabrielle or made her feel the way she did. Bree had recognized a need within herself long ago to feel wanted and desired, and Gabrielle had done that every moment they had been alone together. After they had finally stopped running from their feelings for each other and admitted to their budding love, Gabrielle had never failed to seize an opportunity to run her hand over Bree's flesh or grasp her and kiss her passionately when they were certain no one was looking. Just a mere look from Gabrielle's deep, chocolate brown eyes set Bree's very soul aflame with a burning need and desire unlike any she'd ever felt before, and no matter what they did together, Bree could never get enough of her beloved Gabrielle to quench those roaring flames.
And yet now she would never have her again. She would never get to hold her in her arms again; to run her hands through her long, silky hair; or cover her beautiful face with feather-light kisses. She would never get to feel her soft, supple flesh again; drown in the breath-taking beautiful orbs of her eyes again; or fill her mouth with her wild, Latin tongue. She would never get to even talk to her again. She'd see her probably almost every day right across the road, and yet she would never get to be with her again, neither as lovers or even as friends.
Carlos had seen to that, and Bree had helped him. Bree's sob echoed through her lonely house, whose size seemed to get bigger to her imagination every time she was abandoned in it again. She had sent Gabrielle on her way, but, Bree reminded herself, wiping her tears from her face and eyes only to have more fall in their place, she had done the right thing. She'd learned long ago that doing the right thing was never easy and often the hardest thing to do, but this time, doing the right thing was proving to be the hardest task yet. Still she had done it. She had saved Gabrielle.
She had saved the woman she loved, and no matter how much it pained her, she could not regret doing so, Bree told herself. She'd seen the hurt in her love's eyes when Carlos and her children had left her house, and she had known the instant Gabrielle had felt crushed when her children had ran out of the bedroom and straight to their father, completely ignoring her in the process. Gabrielle might not have a maternal instinct, and her children were certainly hellions, but they were still her children. Every child was a miracle, Bree knew, though none more than a mother's own children.
Carlos had turned the kids against them, and having her babies run from her had been ripping Gabby's heart out. She would never have been the same without their love, and Bree knew that the light, sparkle, and love that was her beautiful Gabrielle would have died if her children had stayed away, which Bree knew they would have. They viewed her as a monster, and that hurt though nowhere near as badly as having to send her beloved away and into the arms of her husband.
That might be where the world thought she belonged, but they both knew better. Gabrielle belonged in her arms, as Bree did in hers, but a mother's first and foremost rightful place would always be with her children whenever they needed her. Gabrielle's daughters needed her, and she would be with them, where she belonged, even if it tore both their hearts asunder for her to do so. Bree sighed. She'd wait, she vowed. If she had to wait until the girls had grown up and gone on their own, if Gabrielle still wanted her then, she would gladly take her back into her arms, hold her tightly, and love her forever more, but for now, and for as long as her kids needed their mother, Bree would wait with the patience, even if forced, of a Saint.
Not that Gabrielle made it easy. Sending her away, especially when Gabby had looked up at her with her big, teary eyes and pouted in denial, had been the hardest thing Bree had ever done, but it had been the right thing. Children needed their mothers, and it was the mother's place to be there for them through everything, no matter what happened. Bree knew that more than most for it was the most unspeakable of sins that she had done, the covering of a murder, even if completely unintentional, that had made this all happen. She was paying for that sin now, but she would never regret having done it.
Her cell phone's ringing finally pierced Bree's thoughts. She didn't know how long it had been buzzing and almost didn't answer it, but her own maternal instinct told her to see who was calling. She slipped it out of her pocket and took a deep breath. Her son needed her, as he had then though on nowhere near as dire a level, or at least she hoped not, and she would be there for him as she always had been and would help Gabrielle to be for her daughters.
Holding her head high and proud, Bree answered her phone. "Hi, Andrew. What's wrong, honey?" She listened to him about his latest failed attempt to bring home his boyfriend, and as she did so, she knew again that she had done the right thing. Children were miracles, and it was up to their mothers to be there for them when the rest of the world turned sour and bad.
She had always been there for her beloved Andrew, and she would make sure that Gabrielle stayed where she needed to be for her daughters. She would miss Gabrielle, more so, she knew, than she'd ever missed anybody who had ever left her before in all her life, but she would not regret. She had done the right thing, both in saving her son and in rescuing Gabrielle from herself and the effects of their love and Bree's own greatest sin, and she would never regret it. That vow etched solemnly in her mind, Bree wiped the tears from her face and moved on to be there yet again and always for her son.
The End