I don't own Scott and Bailey.
Leaving Thoughts of Adrian.
Janet Scott watched as her husband drove away to his dads house, running away like a spoilt child that hadn't gotten his way. She blinked back tears, but she wasn't sure if they were furious tears or happy tears. Janet was angry that her mother and daughter, who by the sounds of it had sparked the last argument between her mother and Adrian, but she was angrier with Adrian than her children or her mother.
She may've lashed out at him, saying those things about his father, but it was okay for him to say nasty, spiteful things about her own mother without consequence was it? Janet knew her mother and Adrian weren't friends, he'd always resented her advice about raising the girls, but she was pissed he hadn't taken it on the chin and simply followed her advice.
Like an adult.
As she stood on the doorstep of her home, the very home HER mother had helped buy for the newly weds to live in, Janet rewound the memory of the latest fight between her and Adrian.
She'd called him petulant and sulky, and she'd meant it, just like she'd meant what she'd said about his useless father, Darren. Darren was an old and handicapped man, but it was all his fault, smoking away like that, and he was the same as his son. Janet prayed her children had inherited more from her than their father, she didn't want her girls to marry people and end up like Adrian.
Janet remembered only too well the stories her easy going mother in law had told her, how Darren had once been a vital and energetic man, full of life and laughter, like Adrian had been like when they'd first met and gotten married, she remembered how wistful her mother in law had been then. When she carried on she told her daughter in law, who she'd liked from the moment they met because she felt she was what Adrian needed, the stories had changed. Janet had thought it funny at the time, but looking at the breakup now she realised her mother in law had tried to warn her about how Darren's family, the Scotts on the male side, had always gone from cheerful men to sullen men.
Her mother in law, Janice, had obviously seen how Adrian had changed, becoming more and more like his father.
Adrian had become his father, and Janet had found solace in her work, and it was fortunate she had. Janice had never had a job, relying on Darren to pay the bills and look after the family. How time's changed. Janet noted the similarities in name, Janet. Janice. Two women who'd made the mistake of marrying the most boring people in the world. Maybe the latest in a long line.
Janet had no trouble mentally sorting her husbands problems, he was bone idle, he was indifferent, he was petulant - yeah, she'd already mentioned that, but she was sorting them out in her head, he never made the effort to look after the girls and her. That time last year when that bastard Geoff didn't really count. Oh, sure he'd raced from work and met her at the hospital, but after a while when it was determined she was okay, he went back to his usual self although he made the effort to really care.
No, it had been her mother who'd become the glue that held her family together. It had been her mother, Gill, and Rachel who'd helped her family the most. Gill had gone on a massive rampage through Manchester, pressing every connection for Geoff, relaying his sunken and grey face around the country so he couldn't walk down a street without anyone noticing him.
Rachel and her mother had helped the girls with little or no support from Adrian, who'd clearly felt he'd done a good enough job in driving them to the hospital to visit her and make sure they'd gotten their meals and taken to school in time, but it had been her mother and Rachel, who'd somehow managed to juggle her work with spending time with the girls who'd liked and idolised her from the moment they'd met.
The thought of her best friend next to Gill made her smile. Rachel, like many of her friends, wasn't a great fan of Adrian. Janet's lips pursed as she remembered how one of her girls had locked herself in the bathroom, and Rachel had talked her out, scolding her by telling the story of how Janet had talked down someone who'd wanted to commit suicide when that rapist bastard Stelikos got off thanks to that bastard barrister Rachel had dated, stupidly talking about her work.
Rachel would listen to her when the truth came out, their friendship was too fine for her not to notice her mood in the morning. She knew when she went in for work she would still be in shock from kicking her husband out. Rachel would support her, helping her in anyway she could, even visiting her children.
Janet took a breath, and walked back inside her house. She didn't look back or expect Adrian to come home.