"I can't do this anymore, Karen."
Jimmy tried to be patient. He really tried to understand her, but it wasn't easy.
When he left the prision, he knew they were still talking to each other. He knew Derek helped her during all the time he was away, and Jimmy was grateful about that.
What he wasn't grateful about, was the way Derek managed to keep controlling her, keeping her under his spell. Well, the truth was, Jimmy never quite understood their relationship - Karen always said they were just friends, but fuck, friends just don't make out on couches.
Still, Jimmy wasn't worried about cheating. He knew Derek was with Ivy, and they were having a baby. The man was trying to do the right thing, so it wasn't like he was going to cheat.
When they were at rehearsals, Karen and Derek never talked to each other about other things than Hit List, like they used to do before. But they still talked to each other. "It's not a big deal... We're just having drinks, catching up. I'll come back soon." Every friday, they were having drinks. Every friday, the same thing - 'it's not a big deal', 'we're just catching up', 'I'm not coming home late'. Jimmy wondered if Derek was telling Ivy the same thing, or he just didn't tell her anything at all.
In the beginning, he really didn't get upset - he knew Derek was important to Karen, and he was trying to be respectful about the people she liked. He loved Karen, and if having drinks with Derek every friday made her happy, he was okay with that.
But fuck, things got worse. Suddenly, Karen started to get distracted, distant, and not only from him. Jimmy was worried. Ana was worried too; she told him she could feel that Karen was somehow sad. Everytime he tried to ask her what was wrong, she lied. "I'm tired, that's all."
When Jimmy asked Derek what was happening, he could read the confusion on his face. Derek had no idea she was acting like that, because hell, she seemed pretty happy when she was around him.
The confusion inside Jimmy's head, however, disappeared when Ivy decided to show up at a Hit List rehearsal. When she entered the room and went to kiss Derek, Jimmy could see Karen frowning for a second. She got uncomfortable, and tried to avoid looking at the couple. She went out, saying she would grab some food, even though they weren't at the lunch break. Jimmy understood.
She loved Derek. And not as a friend.
"I can't do this anymore, Derek."
Ivy really tried to make things work between them this time. After all, they were having a baby and it was time to stop playing and start acting like grown ups.
They were actually doing really fine in the beginning. When Derek said he loved her in his speech, and when he seemed okay with the idea of keeping the baby, Ivy truly believed she could give them a chance.
She regrets that decision day after day.
It started with the distance. She was busy with Bombshell, he was busy with Hit List and due to the fact that she decided not to move in with him, they rarely saw each other, keeping contact mostly via cell phone.
They talked a lot, though. They talked about the baby, about their future, but the thing was - Ivy always understood Derek. She was one of that few people that could easily see Derek through his Dark Lord façade. So she could feel that he was more excited about the idea of having a baby than their relationship itself. He was more excited about the idea of giving the world a part of him, than giving her his heart.
And yet, she wasn't afraid of cheating. But not because she trusted Derek. She wasn't afraid of cheating because she had the chance to witness Karen and Jimmy's relationship. And Jesus, the girl had turned Derek down like, twice. It wasn't like she was going to cheat Jimmy. She was trying to make things work with him, after the disaster that was her relationship with Dev.
But Sam convinced her that she was being paranoid. He convinced her that Derek loved her. And she believed that for a while.
Until of course the day she decided to pass by Hit List's rehearsals. It wasn't lunch break, but she saw Karen leaving the room. She continued to talk to Derek, but he couldn't keep his eyes off the door. She knew he wanted to follow her, but he respected Ivy too much to simply do that.
She saw his face going to relief, when Karen came back, to worried, when he saw her and Jimmy talking before he stormed out of the building and she headed to the dressing room.
It wasn't the first time she had the chance to see the way Derek looked at Karen. It wasn't the first time, and it wasn't going to be the last one neither. She decided right there that she couldn't. She just couldn't.
Because deep inside, Ivy knew Derek loved Karen. And not as a friend.
A/N: omg I hope the timeline is not confusing here. You see, Jimmy says "I can't do this anymore" when Karen comes back to rehearsal. And Ivy says "I can't do this anymore" when Karen goes to the dressing room. Anyways.
Thanks for reading? R&R are appreciated. (btw idk if this is one-shot or not. I kinda thought of continuing this in the dressing room, when Derek follows Karen but I don't knowwww)