Note: I'm really not happy with the way things have turned out for my girl Jada on the show, so this story will be different. She and Rafe will still end up together in it though because they're my heart. I hope you stick around for the wild ride. Thanks to all who have favorited this fic or followed so far. I'd love to read comments too. See you around!
Knowledge:
As Jada made a beeline for the exit of Basic Black, in a rush to escape the stale, charged air of the photography studio and put some distance between herself and Eric and Nicole, she had a lot of questions and doubts running through her mind, but she decided that there were four things she was sure of.
1. She really could only depend on herself. Ever since her father died and her mother left, she'd been on her own. She'd had friends, not close friends, but friends. She'd been married, but it hadn't worked out. Her ex was emotionally unavailable, and she was too busy with her career, so they'd parted ways, mostly amicably. She loved her job, and she knew she was good at it, but sometimes, admittedly, it did get lonely. A badge and gun didn't keep a person warm at night.
Moving to Salem, Rafe and Eric were the first two people to really befriend her. Rafe was her boss and married, so she showed deference to him by not getting too close or emotionally involved, but she did appreciate the man. Eric, on the other hand, was single and had claimed that although he would always have some feelings for Nicole, he was ready to move forward. Maybe some part of Jada had never quite trusted in that completely, but she had wanted to. She'd really liked him. He was hot, sweet, and sensitive. What wasn't there to like about Eric Brady? Jada could have really fallen hard for the guy had she allowed herself. Maybe she had gotten halfway there without even realizing or expecting it. But she'd been afraid to totally surrender her heart to him and now she understood why: because if she had, she'd feel even more broken than she did right now. And she didn't want to feel broken. She was a strong woman. At least she liked to think she was. She worked hard to be independent and self-sufficient. There were a lot of good people in the world, but at the end of the day, they could disappoint you, or die like in the case of her beloved daddy, so it was just best to rely on yourself.
2. She was glad she had never let herself fall completely in love with Eric. Because she'd be a total mess if she had. As it was, she felt like a mess just for having the feelings she did. Feelings she wished she could turn off but couldn't. Walking into that studio and seeing him with Nicole was a complete gut punch. She felt physically ill. Her hands were shaking and clammy, her stomach was knotted up, her head was swimming, and her eyes burned with tears that she would not let come. She would not cry over a man, certainly not one she never said those three little words too. For which she was grateful. She'd been falling hard for Eric, but she would not let herself fall any further now. He'd burned the bridge between them when he took his ex against a wall. Jada just needed to forget the two of them existed. The only problem was that they wanted her to keep their secret and she worked very closely with the man they wanted to keep said secret from. Which brought her to the third thing she knew for sure.
3. When you're most trying to avoid someone, that's when you're sure to run into them. Jada was determined to return to The Brady Pub and pack up her things and move out before anyone noticed she was gone. However, the moment she walked in the door of the busy family establishment, her boss spotted her from his corner table where he sat sipping a cup of coffee with an introspective look on his face. He was the one person Jada did not want to see that day under any circumstances because she knew something he didn't. Something that would surely break his heart. She had witnessed his wife betraying him in the worst way imaginable and yet she was expected to sit on that knowledge and pretend she'd never seen anything at all.
Jada was a naturally honest person. She didn't pull any punches. She knew she needed to tell Rafe the truth, that she would tell him the truth, but she didn't relish doing the deed. He was her boss. It was going to make things hella awkward around the office water cooler once she clued him in that his wife was sleeping with her ex-husband. More importantly, she didn't want to hurt him. She'd herself had a little taste of humiliation and hurt that day and knew it would be multiplied tenfold in Rafe who had been best friends with Nicole long before they were ever lovers. How was Jada supposed to look into that man's eyes and flay his spirits with a tiny little carving knife?
Still, she knew what she had to do.
4. The best laid plans usually go awry. Jada had to tell Rafe the truth, somehow, someway. Even if it royally sucked. She was going to right then. Really, she was. Except when he called her over, her legs started trembling. The lights in the establishment seemed to lose their brightness. The loud chatter of conversations and plates clattering faded away. The nausea she had been fighting all day was mostly gone, but now she felt incredibly light-headed, and her footsteps were heavy. So damned heavy. Each step she took, she felt like she was slogging through thick maple syrup.
When she felt she could not take another step, her legs buckled. As the lights went out, she heard a voice calling her name: "Jada! Jada!" Two strong arms enveloped her as the welcoming embrace of pitch blackness overtook her.
She didn't know anything anymore.
