AN: Morning campers! I feel bad for my boss. Our jerk DM has her so upset she was in tears the other day. Honestly though... the biggest problem is she cares. She's been there a long time and she's emotionally invested. I on the other hand can always go back to making doll clothes. Or costuming. Or engineering. They have slashed our staffing hours to the bone then tell us we are doing a bad job keeping the store clean and stock put out. I mean there's no one to do it so who knew?
"Good evening, everyone. Some of you are here because you want to work on your marriages, some of you are here because you are considering a formal separation and some of you are already separated and determining if you should remain that way or not." Kelly Westinfall, church therapist said to the small group of six couples.
The divorced ones were obvious. They sat on opposite sides of the room with the exception of Jack and Sam who gave off the impression of two people who were utterly terrified by this situation but pretending not to be. Neither of them was outgoing in the face of random strangers for the sake of being outgoing rather than a means to an end so they sat nervously side by side, resisting the urge to take each other's hand in support.
The therapist looked around the room and easily identified each couple's current marital status by their postures. The Klines were divorcing and most likely to stay that way. The Jamisons and Winslows were here for their pre-banns sessions. The Andersons were going through a rough patch, but still loved each other. The Britemans might go either way. They sat away from each other but there wasn't the animosity that was noticeable with the Klines. The O'Neills… she'd been informed, were seeking an annulment too but their body language suggested it wasn't what either really wanted. She knew then they were the couple she'd need to work with to find solutions to their problems whatever they were, judging by their answers and what she could see with her own eyes.
After tonight, the group would break off into segments. Separate male and female groups, a group for each couple, and a separation of planning a life together with the other group planning a life apart. Oddly sometimes watching other people's marriage fall apart was healthy for the couple on the fence like the O'Neills. Seeing people hate each other sometimes reminded you how much you love your spouse.
"Does anyone have any questions for me?" She asked them as a group.
"Yah, when can I get the hell out of here?" Craig Kline said with a raised hand and a smirk that caused his soon to be ex-wife glare daggers, a couple of nervous chuckles and then an uncomfortable silence followed.
The O'Neills, Kelly noted, inched closer to each other when uncomfortable.
"All right then. Let's talk about the purpose of marital counseling. I realize not everyone will leave here with a better relationship with your spouse or soon-to-be spouse. Marital counseling often brings things to light that your partner would prefer you didn't know. A tendency to gaslight for instance or money spent for and on things you aren't comfortable with or just binge spending in general."
"That's why you can't give women a credit card." Craig interjected, still thinking he was funny.
"Hm, I was referring to gambling and binge drinking, Mr. Kline. Statistically women treat shopping as recreation but men binge spend more money and more frequently." Kelly told the man calmly. "Of course, some of what they binge spend on is alcohol and food." She gave the man a pointed look as he was more than a tad overweight and had the broken capillaries of a career drunk.
Craig Kline harrumphed but finally piped down.
"Now then, as I was stating, I'm going to separate the men from the women for the first couple of full sessions. Mostly to give you the comfort of knowing your spouse won't hear anything you have to say about them if you need to bring up something troubling. After that, we'll break off into groups based on where you are in your respective relationships and finally one on one sessions with me as a couple.
"I ask that all of you be completely honest with myself, yourself, and your partner. This is a safe space. Nothing leaves these walls. I don't make recommendations nor talk to the pastor or the panel that grants annulments. This therapy while required is strictly confidential." She smiled. "For the couple's sessions, for those of you starting out your commitment together, my husband will be joining us. For those of you who wish it for other sessions, he
can join us for those as well."
"Pass." Jack intoned under his breath which made Sam bite her lip and avert her eyes trying to suppress her amusement.
"Ladies, you may remain here. Gentlemen, follow me." Kelly said and walked to the door everyone had entered by. "There are refreshments in the refrigerator and cabinet beside it." She said, right before leaving.
Sam watched Jack leave with a troubled frown.
"I hope there's wine in there." Judy Kline said of the fridge which made most of the women laugh in relief.
"How on earth have you stayed married to that… man?" Carol Anderson asked her.
"It's been challenging that's for sure." Judy said. "Hi, I'm Judy." She put out her hand.
"Carol." Carol turned to the rest of them.
"Lorie."
"Marie."
"Corkie."
"Sam."
The women smiled at each other. "Something tells me the men won't be nearly as interested in getting to know each other." Lorie said with amusement.
Sam giggled. "Jack is going to sit there, frowning at everyone and trying to get out of answering questions."
Marie laughed. "Then he'll get along fine with Mike." She said with a quick grin. "Military?"
"Yup."
"Same."
"It's the Springs. Might be quicker to say which of them isn't." Carol pointed out.
"Lance is a statistical analyst." Corkie said in the dreamy voice only the young and in love manage.
"That sounds dreadful." Judy said. "That idiot I married is a car salesman. Don't buy from his lot. He's shady as shit." She said in disgust.
"Someone isn't patching things up." Carol said with a chuckle as she passed around waters.
"What about you?" Judy asked Carol pointedly.
Carol sighed. "I don't know if we can but… I'd like to try." She said sadly and screwed up her face, trying not to cry.
"Oh, honey." Judy said apologetically and hugged the other woman. "Whatever happens, it's for the best. That moron I married wants to marry his secretary and doesn't have a million dollars to bribe a priest." She grinned evilly. "I'll let him get the annulment, but he's going to work for it. My divorce attorneys are already sucking him dry as we speak and I'm paying a lot for them to do so."
"I think I'd just walk away." Sam said thoughtfully.
"After what that man has put me through, he deserves every ounce of pain I give him. He might be going to jail anyway. I think he's cooking his books and I'm not afraid to get him arrested for it." Judy said savagely.
Sam wondered if she'd have felt the same way about Jonas eventually had she not left him when she did.
"Now then, gentlemen, let's all sit down and get to know each other. As you seem inclined to be outgoing, Mr. Kline, you can go first." Kelly said to him pointedly.
"Name's Craig Kline." He said and adjusted himself before continuing. "I own a used car lot on twenty five. If you need a great deal, look me up." He told the other men with a smug grin.
"And why are you and your wife Judy here with us?" Kelly reminded him.
"'Cause the old battle ax wants a divorce and I want this sweet little number that works in billing. She wants a church wedding so I need to get rid of the old one before I can get my hands on the young new one." The man told the rest of the men in the room with a leer.
Jack looked away from him. Someone should warn that kid he's trying to seduce, he thought.
Kelly looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue. "And you?" She pointed at another man who like Jack didn't seem to want to be there.
He sighed. "Name's Mike Briteman. Been married oh 'bout twenty years now and we don't know how to talk to each other now that the kids are grown, I suppose." He admitted with a shrug.
Kelly nodded. That was a fairly common problem for couples with empty nest syndrome. "And you?" She said of a younger man with an eager grin.
"Hi. I'm Lance, Lance Winslow. Corkie and I are really excited to post our banns soon." He said grinning.
"We look forward to that." Kelly told him kindly. "You?" She said pointing to Jack.
Jack sighed inwardly and bounced his knee while looking off in the middle distance. "Jack O'Neill. Sam and I work together. Some paperwork got filed wrong with the military and we're accidently married on paper but haven't been living together or sleeping with each other." He said flatly. May as well just get it out there, he figured.
"Interesting." Kelly said and looked at the man sitting next to Jack, who was still bouncing his knee. "You?"
"Yah, um, hi, I'm Bill Anderson and I'm not sure why I'm even here. I thought everything was fine."
Jack gave the other man a sympathetic look.
Kelly noted Jack's reaction then turned to the last of the six men. "You?"
"Brian. Lorrie and I are getting married real soon so this was the next step. It's nice to meet you all." He said with a sincere smile.
"There's always one of them." Craig muttered.
Under normal circumstances, he and Sam would have laughed about what a jerk Judy's husband was. He suddenly realized they still could. The shrub wasn't in town every week. He could still be her friend. It would just hurt sometimes. Okay… almost all of the time… but it hurt more to treat her like a stranger.