Downward Spiral

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:


Chapter 52 (Breakroom Gossip)

The carpeted hallway of the courthouse was lit by amber lights and small windows spaced about three feet apart. Peering out the windows, someone could look down on the cars zipping by and enjoy the skyline where buildings met the clouds.

At the end of the hall was an elevator with brass doors, tiled floor, and mirrored walls. It was a common transport from the law office to ground floor and the break room.

Standing in the center of the elevator was a woman with long brown hair that rolled around the shoulders of her velvet purple blazer and long matching slacks. She had a blue shirt underneath and a necklace with a diamond pendant resting easily on her slacks. A Styrofoam coffee mug was gripped by a manicured hand and red painted nails.

Taking a small sip of her coffee, the woman's piercing brown eyes panned the long hallway. There was a breakroom on this floor, but she preferred the ground floor as it was the most popular. She did use the one on the current floor from time to time, when she wanted to be alone.

Of course, the one at ground level had its wild frequenters whom she sometimes joked about being literal hens.

Making her way to the ground floor, the sound of hyena-like laughter and cackles chimed in her ears like a drumline, pounding more excessively and louder with each step she took. She started to smile and raised her eyes towards the ceiling. "More your scene than mine, old friend, but I do enjoy their company."

She wasn't sure what it was about the women of the breakroom that she liked, but she almost craved their company. They were more peckish for gossip than the group of high schoolers that used to come around when she was younger. She despised gossip, and normally shied away from being involved in their routine conversations, but enjoyed listening to them and silently pondering their personalities.

The ground floor break room wasn't all that large, just a fifteen by ten foot room with sand colored walls and brown carpeting. The tables scattered about the area were circular. There was a refrigerator positioned next to the marble topped cabinets along the back wall, and a porcelain sink in the center of them.

"I can't believe she said that!" Cried out one of the women. The woman took a deep breath and entered the room slowly, hoping to make it to her food first. "Oh my god, can you believe what Randy would say."

Another woman, tall, with curly grey hair and wire glasses resting on the tip of her nose, waved her hand at the blonde and shook her head. "Oh please. Paula, Randy is just as bad." It wasn't long ago that she was subject to office gossip, but she made it clear to the ladies that she didn't want to be the center of gossip and would not tolerate anything being said of her when she wasn't around or able to back it up.

They managed to get right her love affair with a doctor that paid routine visits to the building, but my how wild their stories had become. Ranging from her being close to death and the doctor reviving her with only his bare hands, to a number of crazier tales.

"I don't know Janet." Paula leaned over, curling her lips and raising her eyebrows. "Did you know she and Randy might actually have a thing going on?"

"Really?" Asked a third woman. She was more rotund, had long silver hair and rounder glasses than Janet. "That's juicier than Ms. Klein and Dr. Tyler!" Raising her eyebrows, the woman set her coffee cup down on the counter and opened the refrigerator. Spotting the Tupperware container with her name upon it, the woman let out a calm sigh and grabbed the container.

A fourth woman, heavyset and with a flush of grey and white hair going down to her chin raised her rounded head and closed her eyes. "Oh Sharon, not even close." At least Nancy had her back on the matter of gossip. "But I heard through the grapevine, that she and the rugged doctor might have a child together!"

With a cough, she shook her head and placed the container down onto the counter. She removed a saran-wrapped sandwich, then the small salad bowl with it, and proceeded to unwrap it.

"Really Nancy? At her age?" Janet leaned forward, her eyes opening wide. "Are you sure?" The woman dropped her shoulders and looked back at the four, wondering if they were aware she was there and this was their way of telling her they wanted her to sit down with them. "Oh men in their forties should have a vasectomy."

"Why?"

"Can you imagine having a baby at forty? Possible but difficult on the body."

"Sure, but I think the child is older."

The woman turned her back to the counter, leaning against it and raising the sandwich towards her lips. She blinked twice, watching the women with a smirk, then chewed a bite of her sandwich.

Another woman entered the room, she was closer to her age and wasn't a usual part of the gossiping hens. Sensing she didn't need someone getting the wrong idea about her, she swallowed her bite and moved forward. "What did I say about talking about me without my being here to back things up?" The four women gasped aloud and waved happily at her.

"Trina, come sit!" Paula proclaimed. "We were waiting for you."

"Yeah." She picked up her coffee cup and moved to the table, taking a seat at the fifth chair. "You knew I was here." Janet leaned away from the table, raising her hand to her chest.

"Of course. We wouldn't talk about you without you in the room." She scooped up some of her salad, humming gently as she took a bite.

"Well don't let me stop you now, but I will fact check you."

The four women leaned in, with Janet leading them in conversation. "No more gossip." Trina's right eyebrow arched and she lifted her head a bit. "We want the full blow by blow. Enough speculation and mystery. You're always going on about how 'that's not correct', but you never tell us how things actually are."

"Boring and uninteresting." She poked a finger out, still smirking. "That's how things are. Nobody should be interested in my life." She was going to have to mention that to Jade. "I eat steak and work out frequently, that is how I maintain my form and physique."

"You have to understand," Sharon said, "You are the most intriguing piece of talk here." Trina lowered her fork and turned her head a bit, looking confused and uncertain. "You don't talk about yourself much, so we only have our idle chatter to fill the blanks about who you must be."

"Wow." She laughed to herself and rolled her eyes upwards. Once married to a man of mystery, evidently she became a woman of mystery herself. Evidently the saying was true, she turned into the person she married. "I prefer observing and listening opposed to doing all the talking. You do the talking, I observe, that's how this relationship works so well. It's worked so well these last few years, why change up now?"

Paula's eyelids fell halfway and the woman's thin lips curved into a smirk that matched her own. "Because we want to know, and will keep talking about you until we've figured you out." With a sigh of defeat, Trina shrugged and picked up her pepperoni, ham, and cheese sandwich.

"Fine. I'll fill you in on a few details, but by god I'm not giving you my life story." She looked into their eyes and chuckled. "Lord knows that's giving too much to this thing of ours."

She wasn't sure exactly where to start, but she was at least grateful to have an opportunity to set things right. "Here's the deal." She sipped on her coffee, then took a bite of her sandwich. "I tell you some 'juicy information' about myself, and you don't gossip or talk about my life anymore. Will that work?"

"Aw, but your life is so fun."

"No. No it is not." She laughed gently and set her sandwich down. "I don't need the entire building talking about me or figuring out who I am." Hell, there were probably enough college students in all of California doing exactly that. "So I would prefer not to be the subject of office gossip."

"Got it."

"You have our word," Nancy replied. The others nodded, often following suit with Nancy since she was the older of the group. "We won't talk about you anymore. Just let us know a few things…"

"Sure." Trina took another deep breath and grabbed her coffee cup. "I can do that." The others thanked her and she closed her eyes. "For starters, this outfit I'm wearing? A good friend of mine, since passed, bought it for me a very long time ago." She grasped the cup firmly and hummed. "Also, the doctor…my fiancé…has a brother that is directly responsible for our being together. The brother was a mutual friend."

"Significance?"

"Getting to that." She didn't want these women to assume things about her past, so she wanted to be careful not to give them too much while at the same times she knew some of what she had would require a bit more information.

She accurately had a child with every man she slept with, she wasn't a slut or a whore. These women could be old enough to understand that, while at the same time, they may be old enough to whisper judgements amongst themselves.

"Because a man I dated in my past, an abuser, impregnated me." The women scrunched their faces and nodded as she raised the cup towards her lips. "I didn't have the wherewithal to take care of a baby at the time, and was in fear of mine and her life. So I gave her up for adoption. The man that adopted her would be Jason."

"Oh, I see. You didn't know him, or did you?"

"I did not." She sipped the drink, inhaling through her nose and swallowing carefully. Her soft sigh seemed to push the cup from her lips. "Now his brother happened to be a part of these crazy friends of my sister." She hummed and opened her eyes halfway to peer out at the women. "Kind of like you guys. They had their thumbs on the pulse of society and had to know what was going on in the world."

She spoke with a degree of sarcasm meant only for herself, and to her pleasure, the women nodded without catching the ire. "So you knew his brother?"

"Correct. Beck has spent years trying to convince me to meet Jason, and he finally got that to happen. In a very crafty, skillful way…Getting me hired by his good friend, Judge Baker, who happened to do work daily with Jason."

Sharon turned her head, with one skeptical eye looming over her. "You were married once, weren't you?" Her heart broke at the memory of Jesse. It still hurt, and it would always be a source of pain, but thankfully she was able to move past that.

"Right. I'm widowed." Her fingers tightened around the cup as she lowered it to the table. She released the cup and folded her hands in her lap. "Jesse was a good man, a fantastic man. I loved him dearly and will always love him."

Sharon raised a hand, motioning towards her. "You love this man as well, right? Jason?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation or doubt in her mind. She needed to explain how it came to pass that they were together, however, otherwise they may get the wrong idea. "I want you all to bear in mind that I never approached him. Even now, he first approached me. I told him who I was, but that did not deter him."

"Good, that's good. What about your sister? You don't talk much about her. Why?"

"There's some contention there." Trina shrugged and picked up her fork. "I'll always care about her, but I can't take care of her or continue to watch over her. She's got a personality disorder that has really taken its toll on her. Not to mention my friend, Beck, is still trying to take her in for something she did long ago."

Beck was actually closing in now. As much as it pained her, she knew her sister would face justice eventually. Beck still worked as a detective, teaching as an adjunct professor on Tuesday nights with one class a week. He also taught an online course. He enjoyed teaching, and was likely to leave the force to teach full time.

Once his primary goal was finished, that was the plan.

"Now." She leaned forward, raising her eyes towards the women. "Where shall I begin?"


We've seen her present day, still don't know much about her current life but we're getting there. What are your thoughts here? Fine day for office gossip