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A/N: Lol, you guys will like this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter.

Thanks for the reviews, and this is the actual last update of the night. :) Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty Four:

I was going to rip her hair out. I mean, really, I would have preferred the screaming match that I was avoiding with Jace to listening to her call him another sickening pet name or watch her hang off his arm. Apparently, Dr. Grissom liked whores. Dumb whores. How this woman ever became a criminalist, I don't know.

We went to a pizza place on the ship, avoiding the main dining room because I knew that that was where Jace would expect me, and I took my leave from them early, seriously out of patience for this woman. I wanted to spend some more time with Dr. Grissom, despite knowing that he was happy and had moved on without me, because his mere presence made me happier… calmer. I mean, the nail marks in my arms don't support that statement, but I've said that I had a temper… there would have been a lot more damage, and of the external variety, had I not been with Dr. Grissom.

I went to the room after that, to find Jace pacing anxiously. "Sara! Oh my god, honey, I've been looking for you everywhere! I was about to call and have the crew start searching for you!" He wrapped me up in a hug, but I tensed beneath him, stepping back.

When he looked at me in surprise, I fixed him with my best glare. "So… Mercer and Murdoch. They're… pretty environmentally friendly, aren't they?"

His eyes got wide. "Uh… Well, they… they…" He trailed off, and I crossed my arms over my chest in aggravation.

"…Do you remember the conversation we had, back when you were getting all those job offers, about which company you ought to work for?"

He swallowed, "Now, Sara, honey… I told you I wanted to work for this company because they were the first. The other ones might not have ever looked at me, if Mercer and Murdoch hadn't offered me so much money… There's no way to know if we would be this successful if they hadn't—"

"So while I was saying that I was uncomfortable, having so much money… talking about charities and the piece of the proverbial pie we were consuming and… and saying that the only real benefit was that we could afford to lessen the negative impact we had on the earth… You were telling your bosses how signing a contract with an oil company with substandard environmental regulations could get them a deal, and you were telling them that having factories overseas and paying those people more than five hundred times less that you make in a year—you, not us—would save millions, which would in turn go back to line their pockets and fund…What? The purchase of private jets and privately owned islands and… and… ten houses for two people?!"

I was yelling now, and the walls were certainly not thick enough for me to think I wouldn't be overheard, but I didn't care. I couldn't help it, right now. "…While I was researching every suit company to make sure you only wore environmentally friendly clothes to work… and packing your lunches with organic and free-range everything… You were telling your bosses that if they threw their waste into the oceans instead of into a landfill or, hell, I don't know, finding a way to produce their products in a way that was less harmful… You said, 'fuck, if it'll save us all a buck or two, I guess I don't give a shit what kind of world I'll be bringing my children into!'"

I was panting, shaking, my whole body on alert, and Jace looked alarmed. We'd fought before, and he'd seen me lose my temper, but it had never been directed so fully at him. I tried hard to restrain myself, in our fights. Believe it or not, I was still trying… I was failing, but I was trying.

"Sara, honey… Calm down. Stress isn't good for you right now. …Okay? Come sit down and let me explain…"

He reached for my hand but I snatched it out of his grasp. "I'm not sitting down or calming down! You can try to explain… but if I'm stressed, it's because my husband, whom I love and trust, has been lying to me."

"I didn't lie!" He said indignantly, and I scoffed.

"You lied by omission! If I went and slept with some guy and you didn't ask me the question directly, would it be okay for me to not tell you about it?!"

"What?! No! Of course not!"

I raised an eyebrow, no longer yelling, my voice low and cold. "Well, then you lied to me. So go ahead, try to explain this…"

He let out his breath in a huff, exasperated. "Well, first of all, I didn't advise any of those policies. They were in place when I was hired, honey. The majority of what I've worked on is restructuring the hierarchy and the departments in the company, and heading up payroll. I mean, I oversee the rest of that, but I have no power to change it. They don't want to change it!"

"So, you decide that while your apparent financial genius is coveted far and wide, you'd like to keep helping one of the worst companies out there, because, like I said, as long as it lines our pockets, it doesn't matter what kind of world I bring our children into."

"Argh!" He said, frustrated with me. "Lining my pockets?! Sara, we live in a house we could afford making a quarter of what I make a year, with you staying at home! We give nearly seventy-five percent of everything I take home to your various charities."

"My charities?" I asked with hands now on my hips.

"Yeah, just like you are bringing our children into the world." He snapped back.

"Don't talk to me like that! This is your fault! You misrepresented the company you work for, knowing that because their offenses are mostly in the third world, I wouldn't find out unless some activist group brought it to my attention or I specifically researched your company, which I shouldn't have to do. I should be able to trust you when you say you're working for a good company!"

"And you misrepresented your relationship with Dr. Grissom!"

I actually took a full step backwards. "…Excuse me?"

He took a step towards me. "Don't think I didn't see the way you two looked at each other last night! The way you were glaring daggers at his girlfriend! I had him taking you out to dinner, thinking that some intellectual stimulation would break you out of whatever mood you had been in when you should have been excited—Our wedding was a week away, and you were moping around, crying, staying in bed all day… What was I supposed to think? Apparently, you were moping over him, and I sent you off to be wined and dined!"

I narrowed my eyes. "…How dare you? You're blaming me because you sent me off with a man, and you somehow think it means something because I didn't like his bimbo girlfriend?"

"Then why were you so upset that week!?" He demanded, and I told him the explanation I had come up with at the time, when I'd expected him to ask and he hadn't.

"Because I was getting married in a few days and not one member of my family was going to be there!" A sob slipped out at my words. In truth, this had bothered me too, but it was even harder to think about than the whole issue with Dr. Grissom, so I had pushed it out of my mind. His gaze softened, and he moved over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I… I'm sorry honey. … I should have realized. You said you were fine giving yourself away, but…"

I pulled out from under his touch. "But instead of having my mom come to me right before I got married, I had your mom, the woman who was given free reign as long as three requirements were met, and who neglected to follow even one of them."

He frowned. "…I didn't know about that any more than you did, honey. I yelled at her for it… You heard me do it."

I shook my head. "You're right…something you did over a year ago should make up for the months of lies, as well as the accusation you just threw out there. Here, I'll stay here, and you can go get in contact with your bosses and tell them that we're headed towards some valuable rainforest and if they haven't taken the opportunity to ravage it yet, I'm sure there's some financial gain in it if they feel so inclined. And I won't be mad at you, because you yelled at your mother, once, for ruining our wedding."

I headed to the bathroom but he stopped me, "Sara… Can't we at least just talk about this?"

I shook my head slowly. "No. …I'm going to go take a shower, cry for twenty minutes, and then curl up in bed. And you are going to contact a steward about bringing you a rollaway for the night, because you are not sleeping in that bed with me."

He frowned. Even in our worst fights, I had never sent him from our bed. "…Don't you think you're overreacting a little?"

I shook my head again. "No. …You didn't owe that company anything. They gave you wealth that you claim not to care about and which we give away anyway. You had choices… you could have gone anywhere else. You could have made the demand that instead of a higher salary and a corner office, that they could only have your services if they changed their ways. Or, you could have applied your considerable talents to some smaller, local businesses who would be willing to make the changes. You could have worked in nonprofit, helping them write grants and manage their money so that they could do more with less. …Instead, you lied to me, your wife, about the company you worked for and the money you made, because you had some bizarre sense of loyalty to them. …When you start acting like your first loyalty is to your wife, we'll talk again about whether you can come back into bed."

"Sara, this is dumb! I paid for this cruise so—"

"So what, exactly? So because you make more money, I lose all control? I can't kick you out of bed when you lie to me for a year about something that you know is important to me? …You know what, you're right. You're my sugar daddy, and I'm just your little wifey, right? Mrs. Jace Wendt. Why don't I just go lay spread-eagled on the bed, still and silent, so you can claim your conjugal rights in peace? Because you have the money, so you have the power, right?"

"Sara," he began, obviously thinking I was overreacting. And maybe I was… but he was acting so… unlike himself. So horrible. I felt like lashing out was not only the correct course of action, but the only course of action.

"No." I interrupted, surprised at how calm I had remained. "You make a choice, right now, about how you view this marriage. You climb into bed, and you are the man who wears the pants. And when I leave you and take the baby and half of anything you make for the next nineteen years of your life, you can tell me how good it feels to have the power and to control the money. …Or, you call the goddamned steward with your tail between your legs, and you can sleep alone until I feel like I can even look at you again."

I turned away from him, slamming the bathroom door behind me, taking the time to lock it, turn on the shower… and then collapse in tears on the floor.

Fucking men.