AN: Glad to read that some people are this in this fandom. And thanks to Lady Alanna Solo for the support. You're great :-)


"Oh. My. Goddess."

Michelle knew a hangover when she had one. And even if this one wasn't one of the worst she'd had in her life, it still wasn't comfortable.
Seeing her surroundings, her first thought was that she had had an alcohol induced one night stand. Again.

"Dammit. Owowowow-ow." Even her own whispers hurt her head.
Okay, you've done this. Stay calm, move slowly, very very slowly and than find some pain-killers and water.

Before she could wonder about why the light didn't sting in her eyes, she felt her stomach churn.
As fast as possible, but as slowly as necessary, she moved out of the bed and room. Thank all the mighty powers loving her! The door to the bathroom was wide open.
She ran in, gave the door a push behind her and said hello to the drinks of yesterday night.

"If I could only say I'd never drink, but-" Speaking drained her too much of the energy she had left.
She flushed and got up to rinse her mouth. Seeing herself in the mirror, she flinched.
Michelle had looked miserable in her life before, but this...this was just crrepy. Even to herself.
Without thinking about her manners, she opened the cabinet behind the mirror and searched for some pills to at least smoothe her headache.

Nothing.

Which damned household didn't have painkillers?!
The answer hit her quite literally.

Hubble's.

The Flower-household.

Hubbel Flower's houshold.

Her husband's houshold.

And his mother's.

Michelle groaned.
She took the few steps back and slouched onto the lit of the toilet.
Wiping her hands over her sweaty face, she tried to sort out what that means.

The only person in her life -except for Talia- who seemed to care if she lived or not, had married her and brought her to this...this...place.
Her mind was too foggy, her brain nothing more than a bunch of cotton balls wanting out, she couldn't even find a proper course for this town with the ironic name.

"Michelle?" Hubbel's voice was soft, but for her it was a horror-movie-scream.
She heard his footsteps moving towards the bedroom, than he said her name again.
A deep sigh was all she could muster at the moment.

"Here you are." He knelt down in front of her and laid his hands on her tights.
Again a wave of memories hit her.

She had slept with Hubbell.
Not on the first night, but when the reception for the wedding took places in the story below them.
Not the reception for the wedding, because they married in Vegas, but whatever party his mother wanted to have.

His mother.
She must have a hangover too after all, the last thing Michelle remembered was sitting with Fanny at the only bar around here and having more than a few glasses.

"She mad at me?" Michelle hadn't moved, her hands were still over her face, her arms still propped on her elbows.
Hubbell brushed a flyaway hair behind her ear. "I'm sure it's not your fault. Mother had to let all that restrictions go somewhen."

"So she blames me."
"She tries to."

Silence.

"Could you stop?"
"Stop? What?"
"Being so nice to me." She didn't care that she sounded like a whiney child.
"Michelle..."
"No, Hubbell, as I said, I'm a monster and you shouldn't like me."

For a brief moment, she wanted to say something else instead of like. The word where only two letters of like where different.
She knew how he felt.
And somewhere, deep inside her, she knew one day she wanted ot feel the same for him.
Because after all she'd done to him, he deserved it.

"You're no monster, Michelle," the way he said her name. With so much tenderness. "And nothing you could ever do would make me like you less." He did say like, didn't he? He didn't say something he had to know she wasn't ready to hear.

"Hubbell?" She looked up, searching for his eyes. "I will make this work, okay?"
The smile threatened to split his face, and the way his eyes lit up almost made her cover hers because of the brightness.
He pulled her to her feet and hugged her. Carefully, she felt, as not to break something. Inside or ouside.

"We will work this out together! And I promise, it will be worth your while."
He pulled back to look at her face. Seeing how miserable she looked his gaze softened and he returned to being his worried self.
Michelle saw the emotions change in his eyes. Never was she able to read so much in so tiny space. Body-language, yes. Facial expressions, sure. But eyes? Rarely.
Right now, Hubbell's eyes showed what she wanted and feared the most: someone wasting their time on her. She was like a bad-luch-charm. She-

"Hey," he smoothed his thumb over her cheek, pulling her out of her partly-but-still aftermaths of her drinking more than soda. "Why don't you take a shower?"
The witty remark died on the way to her lips. Instead she nodded, never lookign away from his eyes.
Keeping her steady by holding onto her upper-arms, he planted a brief kiss on her forehead.

"I'll bring you a few pain-killers. I try to pry them out of mother's hands." He winked at her and than closed the door behind him.
Frozen, Michelle stared after him.
Stunned, she wiped at her cheek, looking at her hand after doing so.
Why was she crying now?

She took a deep breath to pull herself together, but the tears leaked on and on.
Before long she stripped and stepped into the shower cabin, intending to pretend it was water from the pipe and not from her eyes that run down her cheeks.
u-_-u