Bubbles wallowed in a sort of spectacular emptiness, a certain hollow unease that descended upon her without her consent. She probably shouldn't just be sitting there; the repairmen were coming in a few minutes, and the bathroom was still a horrendous mess. Tile and glass everywhere – the least she could do was to clean it up.
But no. Bubbles was on Phillip's edge of the bed, checking every now and then to make sure Paul hadn't blasted anything. She looked down at the quarter-folded sheet of notebook paper gripped in her clammy hands.
Should she open it again? Would it make a difference? This slip described Phillip's opinion of Bubbles perfectly – in 1998. She shouldn't care about it this much.
Bubbles opened it. God, there it was again! Phillip and Bubbles in harsh wax outlines holding hands, their love manifest in a lopsided red heart floating above their heads. It was such a romanticized version of their actual relationship that it made Bubbles a little sad; nothing was ever that perfect, and Bubbles's curse hadn't done much to help the case.
Why had Phillip kept that paper all these years? It didn't mean anything, and after the Incident it was probably a strike against him. Nobody would have wanted to be caught dead with a Powerpuff, especially right after the Incident.
Bubbles would know; Sara Bellum was often bullied in those early years for looking a great deal like Bubbles the Powerpuff Girl.
Surely someone had told him to throw it away! It wasn't like he had just forgotten about it; he was able to bring it up at the drop of a hat yesterday. No, he was completely intentional in his keeping the paper. But… why?
Bubbles couldn't wrap her head around it. Was he not satisfied with his marriage with Sara Grey? Had he been hoping for something better, some predestined romantic love a five year old could have conjured up?
That couldn't be! Could it?
It could.
But why would he have stayed married for seven years, then? He hadn't been grouchy or anything about being married to Sara; on the contrary, he was the sweetest, most amazing husband Bubbles could have ever hoped for. He had been that way when they first met, and he miraculously managed to keep it up for seven straight years. Even after Bubbles had revealed her true identity yesterday, Phillip was as kind and understanding as ever.
He was almost too perfect. Too good to be true.
Of course, she hadn't really done much with him since revealing her true identity. He still had plenty of time to be put off by it, to do something horrendous and hurtful because of it. But Bubbles didn't really get that vibe from him. He hadn't only accepted Bubbles; he had embraced her. He had divorced Sara of the spot, ripped off her wedding ring, and presented it to Bubbles as fast as he possibly could, that very night. He was as in love with Bubbles as he was with Sara.
Completely overlooking the short while when Bubbles had found him huddled over the hole in the bathroom, of course.
God, she had forgotten about that! How could she have forgotten about that? It was horrible, that face he made at her. That ghastly, terrified face – her was scared of her. Grabbing the chunks of his house that Bubbles Utonium, the girl he had married mere hours before, had blown off.
Set the blast one foot to the left and it would have been chunks of Paul he was holding.
How come it took until then, in the middle of the night, for Phillip to show his true fear? Why had he tried to hide that fear from her? Was he protecting Bubbles from seeing him shocked, or was he blocking her from his true feelings about her?
Did he prefer Sara Grey?
Maybe that was it. When Bubbles had revealed true identity, maybe he had remembered the Incident first. Maybe he had hidden his fear overnight and through to the next morning, doing the little things just as he had always done so as to arouse no suspicion. Maybe he said he had left for work when really he had run away, driving as far from Bubbles as nine hours would take him. It would give him a chance to make sure that, by the time Bubbles had noticed, he would be lost for good.
That still didn't explain the paper in Bubbles's hand, though. That damn paper! It was the extra piece that didn't make sense; that, and the last seven years of love.
Maybe Phillip already knew everything. He had admitted to knowing about 'the light show,' as he called it (Bubbles was still a little hurt over that). He could have figured out a lot of Sara Grey's hidden past; seven years living in the same household gave plenty of sleuthing opportunities.
But then again, she had lived with John and Lily in the orphanage for nearly twice as long as she'd been married, and they never figured out anything despite being her two best friends in the world.
Then Bubbles remembered that picture John had shown her one day, that one with the man he claimed to be his 'father' who looked an awful lot like the Professor. Maybe they did know something…
If they didn't know, Bubbles decided that they should. She told Phillip, her spouse; why shouldn't she tell her two best friends in the world? It shouldn't be too hard the second time around, especially with Phillip there to back her up.
On the other hand, she didn't want to ruin their mood. The dinner was offered to celebrate their first child; it would be simply rude of Bubbles to kill the celebration with her outrageous reveal. Bubbles thought that she, before doing anything she'd regret, ought to talk this out with Phillip when he got home.
Assuming that Phillip would come home. He could be halfway to Mexico by now.
Damn it! How could she even think such things? Phillip had been the greatest man a woman could ask for seven years in a row to her! She had absolutely no reason to be bitching! But her mind was being pulled to shreds with conflicting theories – either Phillip loved Sara or he loved Bubbles, either he knew all along or was scared out of his wits at the reveal. The worst part was, each theory had its own soft but tangible evidence to back it up: he loved Sara with the last seven years of married life, but he loved Bubbles with the drawing he kept secret in his drawer. He knew all along with his impressive composure during her reveal, but lost the flawless exterior late at night when Bubbles caught him crouched over the hole in the bathroom, pale and crying and clinging onto shards of glass.
What did God expect her to think? She had to go to dinner that evening to either reveal or not reveal her true identity to her best friends with her husband whom, for the first time, she was worried may not come home from work.
***Author's Note***
Sorry I'm late guys. I'll be honest, I don't have a good reason; I was marathoning iCarly. That show has so much dry humor and an incredible pun game, and it does that meta thing where they make fun of their own T.V. show by having the character say what would be stupid to see in a T.V. show and then having the character do that thing. It's great :)
Also, here it is. Now that Bubbles is alone post-reveal, she can finally question Phillip's perfect husband nature. I know Lord Darth Yoda in particular had been wondering about that for a while now (like, for several months).
Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing, and tell me what you think! I'll catch you again in April, when hopefully having the weekend to write will make publishing on time easier.
