Aaaaaaaand here we go, guys! I hope this isn't disappointing.
She was standing in the bathroom in front of her sink, wiping off her makeup, when Christophe appeared suddenly, quietly, in the doorway.
"Tu la baises, n'est pas?" he said quietly, expressionless. ("You're fucking her, aren't you?")
The question caught Maura off guard and she turned to her husband. "Pardon?" ("I'm sorry?")
"Jane," he clarified. "Tu couches avec elle." ("You're sleeping with her.")
Her face flushed and she turned back toward the mirror, resuming her makeup removal. "Why do you say that?"
"You weren't at all against Jane going to the restaurant last night, just because the children wanted her to. The way you talk to each other. The way you look at each other. I could go on..."
Looking at the mirror in his direction, Maura asked, "And how do I look at her?"
"Tu es amoureuse d'elle?" he asked, instead of answering his wife's question. ("Are you in love with her?")
"What difference would it make if I am?" She took a deep breath.
"We're married!" he growled.
"Are we?" Maura replied sharply. "You don't seem to act as if we are."
"Putain de merde! Would you answer my question, Maura?" Irritation flashed across his face. ("For fuck's sake!")
Maura leaned forward closer toward the mirror and wiped off her lipstick with the now-stained disposable makeup removal wipe. "What difference does it really make at this point? Seriously?" With a deep breath, she continued, "We haven't even been together in over three years."
"So you are fucking her," he said with finality.
"It's not just sex," Maura finally replied, turning to face him.
"Incroyable," Christophe muttered. "Elle n'a même pas vingt ans, quoi!" ("Unbelievable... she isn't even 20!")
"Et alors?" Maura commented. "Quel âge a ton amante? Vingt cinq ans? Ca ne veut rien dire." ("So what? How old is your lover? Twenty five? It doesn't mean anything.")
His face blanched. "Comment-" ("How-")
"You're not as discreet as you think you are," Maura replied, turning back once more to the mirror. Setting the soiled makeup wipe beside the sink, she leaned closer to her reflection as she said, "And how I didn't bother to find definitive proof before recently truly makes me question my intelligence. How many others have there been, Christophe?"
"Does it matter?" he replied.
"Humor me," Maura said. Satisfied that her makeup was properly removed, she turned toward him, leaning her right hip against the counter as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Five," he said.
"So you've been with six women in three years?" Maura clenched her jaw.
"No, in five," he clarified.
"You've been having affairs since Ethan was born?" Her nostrils flared.
"Once you realize the woman you love will never love you the same way, it hurts too much."
"Yet you continued having sex with me for two more years!" she pointed out hotly. "And what do you mean by 'the woman you love' exactly?"
"I fell in love with you. I didn't mean to, but I did," he said quietly. "A part of me still does and I think that part of me always will."
"You didn't think that was important to tell me?" Maura couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"How could you not know, Maura? You know everything! You analyze everything," he argued.
Eyes cold, nearly expressionless, she simply stated, "That wasn't what we agreed on when we decided to marry each other."
"Et merde, l'accord! Malgré cela je suis tombé amoureux de toi!" he spouted out in rapid French. He breathed in deeply. "I woke up one morning and suddenly realized I wasn't just fond of you. I didn't just find you sexy. You were beautiful and sexy and the way I suddenly felt when I looked at you wasn't like before." ("To hell with our agreement! I still fell in love with you!")
After the blonde said nothing, he continued. "But you weren't in love with me and I knew you never would be. It hurt far too much to be with you and eventually I had to stop torturing myself."
"I can't force something that isn't there, Christophe," Maura said.
"I'm not asking you to," he countered. "But I'm gone for two months and suddenly you've fallen in love with a 19 year old girl?"
"Woman, Christophe," Maura corrected. "Jane is a woman."
"Peu importe!" he said. "Elle est trop jeune!" ("It doesn't matter! She's too young!")
"Je l'aime. Je suis amoureuse d'elle," she replied. "Her age means nothing to me. ("I love her. I'm in love with her.")
"And Ethan and Samantha? Do they know you're together?"
"No. I'll tell them when it's time for them to know."
"You want to leave me for her?"
Maura stared him straight in the eye, lips pressed in a thin line, but said nothing.
He stepped forward, moved to where he was standing within inches of her. Cupping her jaw with his right hand, placing a hand on her lower back to pull her in close, he quietly asked, "Tu es sûre?" ("Are you sure?")
She brushed his hand away from her face and scowled as she took a step back. "Ne me touche pas, et oui, j'en suis sûre." ("Don't touch me, and yes, I'm sure.")
"Tes parents ne seront pas heureux, et les miens non plus," he replied. ("Your parents won't be happy. Mine either.")
"Je m'en fiche ce que mes parents y pensent," Maura told him with a scoff. ("I don't give a damn what my parents think about it.")
Christophe's eyebrow raised. "Meme si elle est si jeune?" ("Even if she's so young?")
"Mes parents peuvent s'occuper de leurs affaires," Maura said. ("My parents can mind their own business.")
"T'es vraiment sûre, Maura?" His brows furrowed. ("Are you really sure, Maura?")
Maura could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she started to speak. "Oui, je veux être avec elle, Christophe. S'il te plaît, laisse-moi faire ça." ("Yes, I want to be with her, Christophe. Please, let me do this.")
"Vas-y alors. Je ne m'en fous plus," he replied, forcefully throwing his hands up in surrender as he turned on his heel and left Maura standing there. ("Go ahead then. I don't give a shit anymore.")
Her eyes fluttered closed as relief flooded her body and a smile crept onto her face.
Closing the bedroom door behind her, Maura leaned back against it, her lips curled into a small smile as she looked at her lover. "He confronted me."
Concern appeared on Jane's face.
"It was fine." Yet the moment where Christophe briefly pulled her against him flashed through her mind. It wasn't something she needed to tell Jane because it would only serve to upset the young woman, but the slightly uncomfortable memory was still there. "Mostly." She added.
Slight anger flickered in Jane's eyes, her nostrils flaring just barely. "Mostly?" she questioned.
Looking down, Maura quietly admitted, "He was in love with me. Is. To a certain extent, anyway."
"And yet he cheated on you?" Jane rolled her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause that makes total fucking sense," she said sarcastically.
"He's been cheating on me since around Ethan was born. He wasn't very specific, but he said it was after he realized I would never love him back. Eventually it became too hard for him and that's why he pulled away from me." Finally she looked up again.
"Well that's rich." Jane scoffed.
"Anyway, it's done. Now all I have to do is have Erin draw up the divorce papers." With a deep breath, she smiled at her lover.
"You okay?" Jane rose from the bed and slowly walked toward Maura at the door. When the older woman stepped away from it and toward her, she opened her arms and embraced Maura tightly.
A nod against Jane's shoulder was Maura response. Even so, she became overwhelmed with emotion and couldn't stop the tears from gathering. She tried to sniffle as little as possible, but Jane caught it nevertheless.
"Babe, are you crying?" She pulled away, her hands lightly gripping Maura's upper biceps. "Why?"
"It just feels so surreal," Maura explained, still sniffling.
Jane's heart dropped to her stomach. Her first thought was that Maura was regretting everything. "A-Are you sure this is what you want?"
"Oh, mon amour, yes." She reached for Jane's hands and brought them together in front of her, cupping them with her own and bringing their hands to her chest. "Everything that's happened is just overwhelming. The past two months have been a whirlwind," she said quietly. "But I want this. I want you. I do."
"Is there a 'but' in there?" the brunette asked hesitantly.
Maura shook her head with a small smile. "None whatsoever. I promise."
"So this is it? We can really be together?"
"Yes," Maura said softly. "Christophe and I still have to make all kinds of arrangements, but that's it."
Suddenly Jane cupped Maura's face and pressed her lips eagerly to her lover's. "I love you," she mumbled against the older woman's soft lips. "I love you so much."
Before Maura could even reply, Jane picked her up and spun around in circles.
Instantly Maura's arms wrapped tightly around her lover's neck. "Jane!" the blonde squealed, laughing. "Put me down," she said more quietly.
Jane slowly lowered Maura back to the floor. "Shit, that hurt!" she exclaimed, grimacing.
"Of course it did! That wasn't the best idea, you know," Maura said, her tone sympathetic.
With a shrug, Jane simply said, "I know that now." She rubbed briefly at her ribs. "I feel like we should celebrate somehow, but it's already nearly 10 and don't you have to be in bed soon?"
With a sigh Maura nodded, wrapping her arms low around Jane's waist.. "But I'm sleeping in here with you tonight, of course."
Briefly Jane squinted at her lover. "I would hope so."
"I just have to get together some things and I'll be back in a few minutes. I imagine Christophe stomped off to his office downstairs, so I shouldn't have a problem," the older woman said quietly.
"You sure?" Her brow wrinkled in concern.
Maura nodded with a smile. She stood on her tiptoes briefly and pecked her lover on the lips. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Bare feet dragging on the kitchen floor, Jane squinted in pain as she flipped on the light. Perhaps she should tell Maura to get a nightlight in the kitchen for midnight snack and drink runs. She shuffled over to the fridge and pulled open the door, reaching inside for a bottle of water. When she closed the door, she nearly screamed.
Christophe was standing in the doorway, a glass tumbler filled with an amber colored liquid in hand.
Gone was the sleepiness she'd had when she walked into the kitchen.
"Are you proud of yourself?" he asked, tone cold.
"For what?" Jane asked. "Getting a bottle of water out of the fridge?"
"For stealing my wife away from me," he all but growled, taking a step closer.
Instinctively the young woman took a step back. "I didn't steal her," Jane replied sharply. "But if you ask me, you'd already kinda thrown her to the side, hadn't you?"
"I love her!" He clenched his jaw.
"You have a funny way of showing it. She doesn't love you and you know it," Jane replied. "It's too late anyway, isn't it? She's already made her decision." Inside she was shaking, but she was desperately hoping it wasn't showing.
"You don't deserve her. You're a 19 year old girl who knows nothing about the real world."
His words sparked anger inside of Jane and the anxiety disappeared. "You can't stand it, can you? The fact that she's leaving you for a woman, and a woman who's literally half your age. Men do it all the time and no one bats an eye." She scoffed. "But when a woman leaves her husband for a younger lover, especially a woman, it shows how truly fragile the male ego can be."
"Fuck you, you little brat," Christophe said, jabbing his index finger in Jane's direction.
"No, thanks," Jane replied snarkily. "You're not my type. And maybe you should put down that drink before you do something stupid."
"What exactly do you think I'm going to do?" His nostrils flared.
"I don't know," Jane said, taking another step back as a precaution. "But I'm pretty sure whatever it is, it'd upset Maura and I think she's the last person you wanna piss off right now."
"Ah bon? Why is that?" he asked cockily.
"Because you know Maura could get custody of Ethan and Samantha before you even blinked." Jane could see the retreat in his eyes instantly, saw his grip tighten on the glass in his hand.
"I love my children," he said in a low voice. "I have been a good father. If I've never done anything else good, I have been a good father."
"Which is exactly why you should put down that glass and just walk away," Jane replied quietly.
"You don't deserve her. You don't."
"I know I don't," Jane agreed. "Nobody could ever be worthy of Maura, but for whatever reason, she wants to be with me. I think you just have to accept that."
"You're only a teenager." His words were still tinged with anger and the anger intensified as he continued speaking. "You could never make her happy. You don't know a goddamn thing about life."
Jane clenched harder at the bottle of water in her hand. "Maybe I don't have a lot of life experience yet, but I have one thing you don't that already makes her happy."
Christophe sneered. "What could you possibly have that I don't?"
Refusing to back down, the young woman stared him straight in the eye. "Her heart." Her point made, Jane walked right past him.
A hand reached out and wrapped her around her wrist.
Jane stopped in her tracks and turned to face him, looking down at his hand on her wrist before meeting his eyes. In a low voice she warned, "I'd advise you to let go of me right now."
"And if I don't?" he asked cockily.
"Do you really want to find out?" Jane all but growled.
Eyes narrowed, the Frenchman released her wrist, but didn't step back.
"I didn't think so." Without another word she left the kitchen and headed back upstairs to her sleeping lover.
"Jane?" Maura sleepily mumbled as her lover climbed quietly back into bed. "Where'd you go?" She rolled over on her side to face Jane.
"Just to get some water downstairs," Jane whispered.
Molding her body along Jane's, Maura wrapped her arm around a slim waist and nuzzled against Jane's arm. "You're tense. E'rything okay?"
Not sure if she wanted to tell the older woman, Jane hesitated. Clearing her throat, she quietly said, "Yeah, it's fine. I guess I'm just a little anxious about all of this and didn't realize it."
"S'okay. S'all gonna be okay, mon amour." With a kiss to Jane's arm, Maura pulled herself tighter against the young woman.
"Yeah," Jane said simply.
"Love you," Maura said.
Placing a kiss to the crown of her lover's head, Jane echoed the sentiment.
The long-awaited confrontation is finally over! Thoughts? Curious to see what you think will happen next... :)
pour les français: si vous voyez des fautes grammaires aux phrases en français, pouvez-vous m'envoyer un message privé? ou bien si quelque chose (une expression idiomatique, un mot, etc.) est mal choisi(e)? je ne parle plus français régulièrement. :-( merci en avance xx