Title: Bed of Lies
Author: TheDreamyOne and Gypsy
Email: sdjolly@bellsouth.net
Rating: PG-13 (some language; brief sexual situation)
Synopsis: Frank finds contentment is a still pond; the ripples one pebble cause can go on indeterminately.
Disclaimer: UC:Undercover and its characters don't belong to us. However, Shay, Frankie, Thomas, Deirdre, LJ, Ariel, Jessie, Katie, and a few others do. No infringements intended, so don't sue. You wouldn't like what you'd get anyway.
~~~
She sat at the vanity diligently applying her makeup. Soft hues combined with her pale skin to achieve the desired effect. She was beautiful and she knew it. The phone rang suddenly and she reached for the cordless phone at the side of the vanity and answered it quietly.
"Are you ready?" the husky male voice asked.
"Yes. Rather a timely return to his life, don't you think?" she replied.
"Isn't it what you want? What you've always wanted?" he asked impatiently.
"Yes. He should be mine...should have been all along," she answered. Yet, somehow, he never found her as irresistible as other men did. He had tossed her aside without so much as a look back. She hated him for it, and yet, she had never stopped loving him.
"You'll meet the wife tomorrow. He's in for a rude awakening."
*****
"Hey Sis," Frankie called as she entered the break room of the SOG headquarters. "Eating again, huh?"
"I can't help it. This kid is insatiable, just like his father," Shay replied with a smirk and a rub to her belly. Nearly through her seventh month she had a nice sized basketball where her abdomen used to be. "So what brings you to hell, Sis?"
"Oh that's rich. Hell is it? I think you're just cranky because you haven't gotten any lately." Frankie chuckled as she sat at the table and plucked a bagel from the pile at the center of the table.
"Ha ha...very funny. Frank's out of town, you know...otherwise..." Shay smirked. Pregnancy hadn't really been a problem in that area...yet. "I just miss him."
"He'll be back tomorrow, darlin'."
"Thank God for small favors...just why are you here, Frankie?" Shay asked, suddenly realizing Frankie hadn't answered her earlier.
Frankie shrugged. "I don't know exactly. Deirdre called this morning and asked that I meet her here. She just said I would be needed on a personal level."
Shay frowned and pushed her plate away, her bagel only half eaten. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that. Has something happened to Frank and you're just afraid to tell me?"
Smiling, she reached across the table and gave Shay's hand a firm squeeze. "Don't you think I would tell you if I knew something? Donovan's fine...and I have no idea..."
Cody poked his head into the break room. "Uh...guys...Burkholtz is here...and she brought some leggy blonde with her. Said to get your asses out here now."
"Deirdre said that?" Frankie balked. Even in the short time she had known her, her mother didn't speak to her like that.
"No," Cody replied shaking his head. "The blonde said it. She's rather...impatient."
"Sounds like a bitch to me," Shay replied, pushing herself out of the chair with a groan and a hand to her lower back. "So tell her I'm hurrying...a whale can only move so fast out of water."
Frankie laughed good-naturedly at her friend. "You only think you look like that...you've barely gained anything with this kid."
"Yeah, yeah..." Shay mumbled as they headed for the larger conference room.
"So what's so damned important you drag a pregnant woman away from her trough," Frankie demanded jokingly when she drew up to her mother.
Deirdre poked a thumb toward the blonde. "We have a little fly in the ointment here."
"Whaddya mean?" Alex asked, seating herself at the conference table, eyeing the bottled blonde with the exquisitely made-up porcelain features.
"She means," the blonde finally spoke and turned her full attention to the very pregnant woman seated beside Alex, "that you are not married to Frank Donovan. I am his wife."
Passersby might have heard the collective jaws dropping in the conference room; it was that audible. Jake had come up behind Frankie and Shay and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. With Frank out of town, he felt Shay was his responsibility. His love for his teammate and friend went beyond the norm of friendship and passed into family. He was her children's godfather and had already been asked to be the unborn's as well. She was his sister for all intents and purposes and he knew his wife felt the same for Shay.
Shay was speechless. How could this woman come into their world and make such a ludicrous declaration? Still, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of unease and reached up to her shoulder to grasp Jake's hand. Who was she and why had Frank never mentioned that he had been married before? She was lying, but to what purpose?
"Drop another one, why don'tcha," Cody remarked scornfully. "No way Donovan is married to anyone but Shay. She's his life, Miss..."
"Mrs.," the blonde replied. "Mrs. Daphne Donovan; formerly Daphne Charles. And I can assure you, I am quite sane...and quite in the right on this."
"Oh get bent!" Frankie snarled softly. She could feel Jake's grip tightening on her shoulder. Day by day he was getting more and more like Frank in his calm and cool demeanor. At times it was irritating and at times it was a welcome refuge.
Shay watched as the blonde produced document after document with Frank's signature. Application for marriage license, submission of blood tests, receipts for wedding rings and the final notarized marriage certificate. She only stared at them, her arms folded protectively over her belly as if to shield their unborn son from the atrocity.
"This is ridiculous," Frankie cried incredulously. She glanced at Shay who had yet to say a word and was beginning to look a bit too pale. "Don't you worry; we'll get to the bottom of this."
"Ya know...of all the low down dirty things to do...come in here when Frank is away and unable to refute your claim...and spill this filth to his pregnant wife. What the hell kind of barracuda are you, lady?" Alex spat.
Daphne's chin rose in defiance. No one spoke to her that way and she would not have it. "It is my life and I want it back...and I don't care who I have to step on along the way."
"Again, get bent babe. You're 'stepping on' the wrong people here. Now get out before I throw your ass out."
"Give it a try, if you think you can handle it, Mrs. Shaw." Daphne stared icily at Frankie. The look she bestowed upon Frankie was akin to looking down at someone, as if Frankie were beneath her.
Frankie had been about to lunge at Daphne when Jake's grip shifted from her shoulder to both of her upper arms. About the time she took a step forward, Jake yanked her back and kept an iron grip.
"This isn't the time or the place," he whispered in her ear. "Later, when she's alone and when we've proven the truth. Then I'll be the one to lock you and her in a room and wait until she screams for mercy. But not right now. Take care of Shay first."
Shay raised herself from her chair slowly, the hand covering her belly clutching the shirt she wore buttoned over her maternity skirt. It was one of Frank's dress shirts. When he was away for any length of time, she always took comfort in wearing his clothes. The need for that comfort was tenfold when she was pregnant. "Miss Charles...and I shall call you that until such a time comes that my husband backs up your claim and declares our marriage a sham, you may leave now. You are not welcome here. I'm sure you can give Director Burkholtz the information of where and how you can be reached."
Deirdre smiled approvingly at Shay. She kept her calm and declared her dominance and position in Frank's life. He would be proud of how she handled this cold and calloused man-eater. That was precisely what Daphne Charles was or what her background check had uncovered. She knew with the help of Donovan's team, they would get to the bottom of this situation. In the meantime, she had some bad news to deliver to Frank. Unfortunately, he was not here to receive it. He was with the Washington bureaucrats going over last year's budget comparison to actual expenditures.
"Agent Donovan, it is my unpleasant duty to inform you in Agent Frank Donovan's stead that he has been put on suspension until this matter of his bigamy can be resolved. Bigamy is a crime, Agent Donovan, and if he is found guilty...he may be looking at jail time."
"Deirdre!" Frankie exclaimed in horror. She knew her mother held Frank in high regard and couldn't understand how she could be a part of this. "Surely you're joking! I know that Frank would never do anything like this! At least give him a chance to dispute this looney's claim before you put him on suspension!"
Deirdre waited until Cody and Jake had walked Daphne Charles toward the door before answering. "Frankie...this isn't easy or pleasant for me, but it is my duty. Her accusations make no sense and yet she had documentation to prove her claim. And worse yet...there were no divorce or annulment records to be found."
Frankie, Alex, and Shay each shook their heads in disbelief. Deirdre could see the pain in Frank's wife's face and it looked as if she was about to faint. "Shay...you need to sit down, you don't look well."
She shook her head and brushed past everyone. She picked up her purse and withdrew her car keys. Unshed tears blurred her vision and she knew she wouldn't be able to drive. "CODY!"
Cody ran back into the room quickly, hearing the panic in Shay's voice. They had worked closely as partners over the last couple of years and he had learned to read her well. "I'm here, Shay....what, what?"
"Ta-take me home..." she managed to squeak out while fighting back the tears. She refused to cry, because there was nothing to cry about. She was Mrs. Frank Donovan and that was that.
--
to be continued...