Chapter 3

The two women eventually managed to clean up the kitchen, and fortunately Bree still had many dishes to spare. She hoped that the entire event would go unnoticed, but to ensure that her erratic behavior would stay a secret, Bree made Lynette promise not to speak of what she had seen.

"Don't ruin this for me." she pleaded before Lynette left her home.

"Listen, Bree. I'm not going to go around telling the world that there were broken dishes in your house. Honestly, I have better things to do with my time. I just don't understand what I would be 'ruining' for you."

"I don't want to lose what I've worked so hard for. A lot of things have happened, and it seems like everyone is just waiting for me to breakdown. It's like they want to see me fail. I need to prove that I can keep myself together." And with those few words, Bree had just confirmed that she had been drinking. Although Lynette already knew this, her thoughts were now entirely justified. "I want to be recognized as the strong person that I am."

"You mean perfect."

"Excuse me?"

Lynette shook her head, disappointed that even after all Bree had been through over the past year, she was still stuck on her image of perfection. "Nothing. Listen, I'm not going to say anything. We'll just pretend this never happened, okay?"

"Thank you." Bree smiled, closing the door behind her.

Chapter 4

Lynette kept her promise. She never breathed a word about the incident to anyone. Bree viewed her as a good friend for doing this, but Lynette faced an internal struggle. She desperately wanted to help her neighbor, rather than pretend that she didn't have a problem. Over the next few weeks she saw that Bree was consistently getting worse. The physical signs were the most obvious. Her eyes were glassy, and no matter what time it was, she always looked exhausted. Yet somehow Gabby and Susan didn't seem to notice a thing. Or perhaps they too simply pretended not to.

Bree, however, faced much more of a struggle than any of her friends. She could no longer make it through the day without a drink. She didn't see herself as an alcoholic, because in her mind she didn't depend on alcohol. She just used it when needed, which happened to be a number of times each day.

Rather than drinking her problems away, she easily could have tried talking to a friend. But she was much to stubborn to do something like that. At this point she wasn't even avoiding the fact that she had a weakness…she was ashamed of who and what she had become. Alcoholism can be interpreted as the 'easy way out' and Bree did not want anyone to think that she had it easy. She refused to fall prey to their judgment, so she isolated herself, knowing that no one could possibly understand her the way she could understand herself.

A few weeks after the initial 'kitchen episode', Bree, Gabrielle, Susan, and Lynette all congregated in Bree's home for a few rounds of poker. As usual, each woman was expected to talk about her day for a few minutes, and gossip for a few hours.

"You know what I heard," Susan began. She always seemed to talk the most, dishing the dirt on practically everyone who ever walked by a road sign for Wisteria Lane. She carried on for quite some time, rambling about who is sleeping who, along with the recent noises she's heard coming from the Applewhite's house. It was alright for a little while, but Bree was losing her patience with every passing second. She wouldn't have had any problem getting through the evening if she had a glass of wine, but she didn't want Lynette to be suspicious. So, while all of her friends had a drink, she simply had a glass of lemonade.

Susan spoke for a while longer, followed by Gabrielle who began to discuss the personal lives of other women on the street. Bree tried to concentrate on other things. She thought about the laundry that still needed to be done, and the plants that needed watering, but nothing seemed to help. Finally, she snapped.

"Do any of you girls realize how absolutely despicable your behavior is?" she questioned, staring directly at Susan while occasionally looking over at Gabrielle.

The two women exchanged glances, they had never heard Bree raise her voice. "Bree, is there a problem here?" Susan asked.

"We have been sitting around this table for almost an hour and 20 minutes, and all you seem to be concerned with is the lives of other people. I doubt anyone mentioned here tonight even gives you a second thought." Her tone was much too harsh. Subconsciously she was just frustrated because her friends seemed to care so much about people they didn't even know, and weren't the least bit concerned with her.

The three women looked remotely shocked. Bree usually enjoyed gossip just as much as they did. In fact, she often had the juiciest news. "Okay, then. I think we're done here. Thanks for a lovely evening, Bree. Really." Gabrielle muttered, as she quickly rose from her seat, leaving for the evening.

The redhead simply ignored her neighbor's exit, and tried to carry on with the game. "Well, are we going to finish this game or not?"

"You know, you seem um…really tired. Maybe I should just go." Susan began.

"Maybe." Bree responded. She was never one to basically kick someone out of her house, but she needed a drink and she didn't want anyone to be there.

"Are you okay?" Susan suddenly felt concerned.

"I'm perfectly fine, I just have a lot of housework to do. I'll speak with you tomorrow, Susan." Bree escorted her neighbor to the door, and then went back to the table and began cleaning up. She avoided the fact that Lynette, who had been silent throughout most of the evening, was still sitting there. Bree assumed that if she didn't bother to notice Lynette, she would have to leave. Unfortunately, Lynette was much too smart for Bree's elementary tactics…and much too good of a friend.

"I'm not going anywhere." she blatantly stated.

"I never said you had to." Bree replied, trying to avoid the amounting tension in the air.

"I'll help you clean up then." The conversation was dry. Lynette picked up a few glasses and leftover hors d'oeuvre platters. She washed a couple of utensils before beginning her 'interrogation'. "Bree, what just happened in there?"

"I thought everyone- well, mainly Gabby and Susan, were being incredibly childish, so I took it upon myself to put an end to their behavior."

"What are you even saying?"

"Lynette, please don't lecture me."

"I know you've been drinking." Lynette's face was stern. "I see it in the way you look, the way you've been acting…Bree, this isn't you."

Bree gave her neighbor a cold, hard stare. "I can't believe you sometimes. You think you know everything about me. Well, you don't. Please leave."

"I battled an addiction myself, I can help you." Lynette persisted.

"Addiction! Oh, now I have an addiction. Well isn't this refreshing. Sorry Lynette, but your ADD medication has nothing to do with me."

By this point, Lynette began to take offense from Bree's words. "Fine. You don't want my help? That's great. Less stress on my back. Deal with this whole thing on your own, I really don't care." Of course she didn't actually mean everything she said, but Lynette wasn't willing to tolerate Bree's attitude.