Apprehensively, Kristen dialed Deidre's number, and waited while the phone rang. She had promised she would call, and the three of them needed to talk through everything that had happened.
Deidre saw Kristen's number on her cell and swallowed nervously. She knew this call was coming, but didn't think it would be so soon.
"Hello." She said, already knowing who it was.
"Hey," Kristen said, her tone a little subdued. "First off, I'm okay, so … You don't need to worry about that. Edward wandered in pretty late, and still pretty shaken up, but a lot calmer. He's okay too."
"What happened when he got home?" She asked, wondering just how much truth was in what Kristen was saying. She knew Kristen tended to downplay what happened with her boyfriends.
"That's …" Kristen caught herself about to get defensive, and sighed. "A fair question. He was still angry, obviously. He felt pretty betrayed. But he wasn't aggressive. He was more … cold, at first. He didn't want me to leave, though, because it was after midnight by then and … You know Gotham. We talked. It was civil. There wasn't even any yelling. And then we went to bed."
"Why do I have the feeling you're lying to me? You've done it before. There's no way he'd be that civil after … After what happened. What about the hallucinations? The guy seemed to he trippin balls when he left."
"Deidre, I'm not lying to you," Kristen said, angry. "If you can't believe me, then I'm not sure what the point of telling you is. I was surprised by it too, but by the time he came back, the hallucinations were gone, and we talked about what was upsetting us like two reasonable adults."
Deidre sighed, clearly unconvinced. "Okay … I'll trust you but promise me if anything happens … You'll come to me!"
"I will," Kristen reassured her. "I promise. And I'm sorry I got so angry. I should have known that telling you would bring you into this, and you would handle things your own way. You're only trying to look out for me. And I appreciate it."
"Well, to be fair I should have ran it by you first. It's just … I wanted to see how he was out of his safe element … No one is THAT perfect. He seems so innocent and genuine …. If he's not abusive then there's only one other explanation."
"And what might that be?" Kristen asked cautiously.
"Well it's obvious isn't it? He's got to get that energy out somehow … So he's either really great in bed, or really rough. Possibly both."
Kristen burst out laughing. "Well, if you must know, he's fantastic," Kristen admitted. "But the three of us need to sit down and talk about more serious matters … Try to work our way through this mess."
"Aw but mooooom!" Deidre whined, kicking her feet even though Kristen couldn't see it.
"Young lady," Kristen said, jokingly adopting a stern, scolding voice. "I don't want to hear any of your tantrums. You're going to talk to me and Edward, and that's final."
Deidre laughed slightly. "Yeah, I kind of figured. When did you want to get together. I'm kind of between jobs at the moment … So whenever you want."
"That thing the temp agency found you didn't work out?" Kristen asked, concerned. The last time Deidre had been 'between jobs' she'd damn near gotten caught holding up a gas station.
"Naw, they caught me stealing from the register." She said with a shrug. "Manager was a dank anyway." She said raising her hand and picking some peeling paint off the wall.
"You have got to stop doing that," Kristen sighed, shaking her head. "At least at places you work, anyway. Even in Gotham, that's still not a good idea." Maybe more so, since there was always the off chance that your place of work had mob affiliations. "We both have off tomorrow, so come by my place around three-ish?"
"Okay, see you then." She said hanging up the phone without saying good bye, but that was typical of her.
The following afternoon, Kristen heard a knock at the door right on schedule. "Hey," she said, letting Deidre in. "Ed got called in today after all, but he just got out, and should be here before too long."
True to her word not even ten minutes later Ed knocked at the door.
"Hi," Kristen said, opening the door a little nervously. Edward had dropped her off here more than a few times, but he hadn't ever really been inside. The two of them just seemed to end up spending time at his place. "Was it complete pandemonium, or were they just short on competence?"
Perhaps a little nicer than chez Edward in terms of location, but a good deal smaller and far less interesting in its layout, Kristen's apartment seemed to be comprised entirely of books and cosy places to read them. All available wall space was devoted to shelves full of books, most arranged alphabetically by author. End tables displayed tidy stacks of them, and even the kitchen table had one or two recent reads sitting there, waiting to be picked up again. The subjects varied some; there was a respectable grouping of classics, a decent science fiction section, a growing horror selection, and the odd conglomeration of questionable romance novels that Deidre had thrown her way over the years, but the vast majority seemed to be mystery novels. A comfy chair was tucked into a corner, always near a good light source.
"Can I get you anything?" She asked, as she showed Edward to the kitchen table, where Deidre was sitting with a steaming cup of tea.
"Water, please." He said taking off his jacket and hanging it on a coat rack nailed to the wall by the door. "It seemed Carter thought it a good idea to quit without notice and the other forensics scientist they had on shift was …. Well, let's say Rubix would do a more competent job of it." He said not looking at Deidre as he came into the kitchen.
"At least someone had the good sense to call you," Kristen said, filling a glass of water for Edward and coming back to the table. She handed it to him as she sat down, feeling the unspoken tension of the situation begin to set in.
"So who wants to start?" Edward asked sitting back in his chair, sipping his water.
"I guess I will," Kristen said. "Since I'm the one who knows everybody … I owe you both an apology. I needed to talk to someone, but …" she shook her head. "The way I handled this hurt both of you. Edward … I shouldn't have told her things that affected you as well, certainly not without at least letting you know about it. The way you found out … That was even worse. I never should have put you through that. And Deidre … I've brought you right into all of this, and I've worried the hell out of you."
Deidre crossed her arms and looked at the table. "Yeah well … I might have been out of line bringing it up without telling you." She said.
"I'm going to have a hard time trusting either of you, but Kristen says you can be trusted so … I'll forgive you both, on the condition you don't tell anyone else." He said though he didn't sound too amused.
Kristen winced at that, but she nodded. "Who else would I even tell, Edward?" she said quietly.
"I don't know … I didn't even think you'd tell her. I didn't even know about her, so I don't know who else you would tell." Edward said blankly. "Why don't you tell me, since you seem to be avoiding it."
"There isn't anyone else I could tell," Kristen said, staring back at him, clearly hurt by the implied accusation. "Even if I wanted to. Do you think I just decided to run off and gossip about it?"
"I don't know what you were thinking when you told her!" Edward said though he remained calm.
"Guys, this isn't helping anything. We all fucked up. That's why we're here to talk about it." Deidre said. "I understand you're having some trust issues Ed but Kristen didn't actually tell me. She tried keeping as much as she could from me, she just needed someone to talk to. It was me that figured it out. I went for worst case scenario and happened to be right."
"Anyway," Kristen said firmly. "Deidre is my oldest and best friend. I can trust her with absolute certainty. If you really think I'd go blabbing about this to just anyone …" she looked down at the table, trying to hide how upset she was as she finally voiced it. "I had no idea you thought I was that stupid."
"Neither did I." Edward said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Though no … I don't think you'd go blabbing to just anyone … But she's not exactly anyone is she?"
That stung, but Kristen didn't verbally acknowledge it. She knew he was just upset about what she had done, so she could excuse it this time. But she could feel all of the doubts she'd set aside rising up to the surface again. If he really thought that … then maybe this time wasn't so different after all. "No," she said, dismissing that train of thought for now. "She's not. We have a history."
Deidre glanced between them. "Do you want to bring up college?"
Ed looked between them confused. "What happened in college?" He asked curiously.
"You probably should know about that," Kristen sighed. It was a lot of baggage to put on Edward at once, but she didn't want there to be any more poorly timed surprises. Better to get everything out in the open, so they could all see what they were dealing with. "We used to date," she said simply, before adding: "It was a long time ago, and our relationship has been platonic for years, but … it wasn't always. So … now that's out in the open." She watched his expression anxiously, without knowing how he would react. She knew some men would be threatened by it. Others might be morally outraged. Others still might be far too interested in the details and demand a reenactment. She really had no idea what to expect from Edward.
"And?" He asked, waiting for some kind of shocking news. If that was it, they played it up to be a lot worse than it was.
"And…" Kristen blinked, surprised at his non-reaction. "That's it. I take it that doesn't bother you, but … It just kind of seemed like something you should know."
"Okay. I appreciate you telling me." He said.
"That's it? Your girlfriend is hanging around her ex and you don't care? Especially after you just said you have a hard time trusting her."
Edward didn't say anything, he knew his response would end one of two ways, a fight, or pity, and he didn't want either.
"It's … a different kind of trust, maybe?" Kristen asked uncertainly, trying to understand. She knew for certain that none of the other guys she had dated would have been so unfazed by this. She didn't even like to think what would have happened if Dougherty had ever found out.
"I want to trust that you wouldn't cheat on me …. On the one hand I do. You're right it's another kind of trust. But at the same time, I've said that so many times before if it did happen, I doubt I would be shocked." He said calmly. "Look, honestly it doesn't matter to me that you used to be a thing. And I'm not going to ask you to promise me not to do anything like … That … with each other. I just hope I'm not wrong this time in trusting you." He said trying to hide the vulnerability in his voice.
"Edward …" Kristen looked deeply saddened by Edward's lack of certainty. After everything she'd stood by him through, did he really still think that? She reached over and took his hand in hers. Thinking back, she wouldn't be surprised if Brittany had cheated on him at some point. "I would never do anything that deliberately hurtful." She wished she could make him believe her.
Edward looked up at her, taking her hand in his. "And I'd would never do anything to hurt you." He said leaning forward and kissing her softly. Deidre leaned back in her chair and cleared her throat.
"Ahem …. Ew …. Cooties." She said sarcastically.
Kristen returned Edward's kiss, reassured, before she turned to Deidre, laughing. "What are you, five?" She shook her head. "Okay, so … We've got all that out in the open. So, does anyone have any other concerns, worries, or boundaries to talk about?"
"I think we covered everything." Edward said looking up at Kristen. "Unless there's anything you wanted to talk about?"
"No," Kristen shook her head. "I think we've been over everything major." She still felt upset, and she knew Edward was a long way off from completely forgiving her, but at the same time oddly reassured. They could work through this madness somehow.
"Okay, well, I don't know about you, but I want to order pizza." Deidre said getting up from the table, honestly really hating serious sit downs and now that it was over wanted to lighten the mood. "You guys want to stay for pizza?"
"Well, I do live here," Kristen pointed out, mildly amused. Though she did spend more time over at Edward's place lately. She wasn't sure if he wanted her around right now, though. After everything that had happened, things still felt a little shaky between them.
"I know, but I thought I'd crash here, since you know …. You're never here anyway. And if you're staying we could have a girls night. Or a uh … Girls, and guy night. Whichever." She said with a perky shrug.
"Deidre…" Kristen said, a slight suspicion growing in her mind. Deidre had mentioned she was between jobs again. "Are you being evicted? …. Again?"
"What makes you ask that? Honestly Kristen, I just want to have a good night. And if that means I do so alone in your apartment while you have hot kinky makeup sex at his place … Or in your room …. Then so be it." She said taking a small container of ice cream out of the freezer before picking up Kristen's phone.
"By all means," Kristen sighed with a slight smile. "Make yourself at home. You know where everything is, just don't make a mess." She looked over at Edward, unsure how to read his expression right now. "What do you want to do?"
"I think I'm going to head home. I had a long shift, I'm kind of tired. And I don't feel like triangular shaped pieces of grease is going to help my stomach any." He said, his stomach had been upset all day and he had put it down to stress and lack of sleep. Perhaps he should just go home and sleep for a bit. "I'll see you at work tomorrow okay?" He asked.
"Okay," Kristen said, kissing him on the cheek. He was looking pretty worn out. But then, he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. She blamed herself for that. "You go get some rest."
(A/N - Reviews are what keep us going. We loooooove them. Please please please. Thanks in advance. *smiley face*)